“Break Night” (*1/2 out of four) was a misfired crime melodrama about a stubborn young hood (Jared Abrahamson) who within one night has to repay a debt to a vicious loan shark, try to avoid a crooked parole officer and his NARC partner, and try to run for his life from a former partner with a grudge all while he tries to win back the love of his life who has fallen into her own personal hell of drugs and crime. Sounds like a crackerjack underworld thriller but is uninvolving and unpleasant. Abrahamson’s sincere performance and Brittany Perk’s striking music score are only virtues. The type of movie that cries out for Martin Scorcese or Richard Price at their prime.

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“Bad Stepmother” (*1/2 out of four) was a lame thriller about a brother and sister (Logan Huffman and Sofia Vassilieva) whose father mysteriously dies and they return home to their New Orleans estate where their vindictive stepmother (Kristy Swanson) will stop at nothing to obtain control of their inheritance and family money. Laughably obvious movie should be predictable to anyone from the first 15-20 minutes. Swanson has had so much plastic surgery she is starting to look like Amanda Peet.

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“Your Move” (*1/2 out of four) was a drab action melodrama that doesn’t move fast enough about a former soldier (Luke Goss) whose wife and daughter are kidnapped and has to search through the bowels of the foreign underworld and tangle with a corrupt detective (Robert Davi) to find out what happened. Charismatic martial arts star Goss makes his ineffectual directing debut; film looks cheap, is heavy and draggy, and even the action scenes aren’t particularly well-staged. Davi played this same role practically in “The Goonies” 30 years ago and can do this in his sleep by now.

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“The Post” (*** out of four) was an absorbing true story about a cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents regarding the Vietnam War and how the first female news publisher (Meryl Streep) and a hard-nosed and determined editor (Tom Hanks) at the Washington Post sought to expose the truth, in spite of the consequences with the government and other media. An interesting old-fashioned story about the determination of journalism and truth is well-acted and well-detailed but offset by a certain remoteness which prevents it from excelling. A solid effort from director Steven Spielberg but this cannot match the intensity or sweep of the recent newspaper-journalism drama “Spotlight.”

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“Trafficked” (*** out of four) was a searing, engrossing story about two young girls (Elizabeth Rohm and Kelly Washington) who are abducted and sold into the sex-trafficking business and enslaved in a brothel in Texas where they become friends with other inmates and make a daring attempt to reclaim their freedom. Almost nail-bitingly intense at times and all-too-real and well-captured by its cast and by director Will Wallace, even if the subject matter is often hard to watch. Both Ashley Judd and Sean Patrick Flannery are terrific in change-of-pace and key supporting roles.

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“The Howling” (0 stars out of four) was a stupefyingly awful horror show about a group of teenagers and bad actors (Elizabeth Saint, Zane Casablanca, Wendy Morgan) on a night out in a remote farmland who soon realize that the terrifying myth of bloodthirsty creatures is true and they are soon attacked and rampaged. Dreadful filmmaking and acting and complete lack of scares and thrills turn this into a rockbottom bore. Film features some of the ugliest black-and-white cinematography of recent memory. Incidentally, this is not a remake of Joe Dante’s “The Howling” but makes it and its sequels look like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by comparison

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“The 13th Friday” (* out of four) was a laughably inept horror movie that looks like it was made and put together for about as much as it’ll cost to rent on Redbox. A group of thrill-seeking teens (Lisa May, Khu, Melissa L. Vega and others) return to the haunts of a terrifying serial killer and (yawn) all hell breaks loose. Title is the most clever thing here but this has absolutely nothing to do with the “Friday The 13th” series which looks like Hitchcock at his prime compared to this. It’s no wonder 13 is such an unlucky number. Avoid at all costs.

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“Acts Of Violence” (** out of four) was a violent and unpleasant action melodrama about an ex-soldier (Ashton Holmes) whose sister is kidnapped by human traffickers and he teams up with his military brother (Cole Hauser) and a burned-out cop (who else but Bruce Willis) to track her down and end the large-scale ring of trafficking. Holmes is no Liam Neeson and this is no “Taken” (or even “Taken 2”) but good cast and action scenes make it watchable despite its sordid subject matter. Hauser once again proves he’s a solidly underrated character actor; Willis sleepwalks his way through his umpteenth role as a cop

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“Cats Kill” (*1/2 out of four) was a horrendous horror thriller about a group of young girls who are tourists from NYC (Alanah Rafferty, Kay LOren, Caycee Black) and travel for a weekend getaway to upstate NY in the Catskills (get the title now?) but they are besieged by a female lunatic who attempts to trap and torture them. Numbingly bad acting and dialogue and low-rent production make this a real chore to sit through even though it’s mercifully short at only over an hour. Upstate NY deserves better horror movies in its name.

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“Battalion” (** out of four) was a standard-issue action melodrama made right off the assembly line about a group of newly recruited U.S. marines (Jesse Richardson, Ellen Williams, Michael Thomson) who are sent to the front lines of an escalating battle in the South Pacific with otherworldy and bloodthirsty aliens. Yet another rip-off of “28 Days Later” and “Alien” but doesn’t have the style or originality of either; a few decent action scenes and performances but that’s about it.

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