“Keeping Up With The Joneses” (**1/2 out of four) was a good-natured but uneven comedy about a suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) who befriend their new neighbors (Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot) but come to find they are actually government spies embroiled in an international espionage plot! Alternately funny, silly, contrived, and action-filled this never hits the bullseye but remains watchable through-out thanks to its charismatic cast. Overlength begins to drain the fun out of the movie towards the end. Hamm is well cast; Galifianakis is much less annoying than usual.

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“A Doggone Christmas” (**1/2 out of four) was a likeable children’s comedy about a cute puppy with telepathic abilities who works for the C.I.A. but escapes their clutches and is taken in by two kids around the Christmas holidays but the C.I.A. is in full pursuit to retrieve him. Fast-paced movie is aimed squarely at kids who are likely to love it and their parents should find it reasonably entertaining. Not bad for what it is. Beautiful South Carolina scenery is a plus and the dog is great!

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“Solitary” (**1/2 out of four) was an interesting but continually downbeat melodrama about an alcoholic (Katharine Lee McEwan) whose life spirals out of control when she has an affair, her husband subsequently leaves her, and she is arrested and imprisoned when her best friend dies after she was drinking-and-driving in a car crash. McEwan is empathetic in a grim story about the numerous effects of alcoholism on one’s behavior and their family but film doesn’t have much of a point and thus it’s impact is limited. About on par with other films (“Flight”, “Ironweed”, “Drunks”) about alcoholism and its consequences.

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“Loving” (** out of four) was a curiously unmoving true story of Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga) who were sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958 for being an interracial married couple and how this led to a landmark Supreme Court case in 1967 which overturned state laws and made interracial marriage legal. Well-acted and captures the aura and atmosphere of Southern politics and racial divide but limited in its emotional power and never as soaring or compelling as it could have- and should have- been. Even the ending which covers the historic court outcome is awfully subdued. Similar storyline of marriage and politics in the Old South was captured with more complexity and emotional fire in “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”, “Foreign Student”, and “The Long Walk Home.”

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“Grave Walkers” (*1/2 out of four) was a fairly awful zombie/walking dead retread set in a small college town in which supernatural forces locked in a police basement jail come to light and then procede to threaten the police force and the surrounding town. By-the-numbers pastiche of “Dawn Of The Dead”, “Assault On Precinct 13”, and many other (better) movies. Bad performances perfectly mesh with bad special effects and production although the music score by Ari Kirschenbaum is good. Tony Todd picks up a few bucks in a supporting role as a pastor but he would have done far better making “Candyman 4” instead.

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“Billy Lynn’s Longtime Halftime Walk” (*1/2 out of four) was a misfired war melodrama about a 19-year old Iraq war veteran (Joe Alwyn) who returns home for a victory tour and a halftime appearance at the Super Bowl. Film jumps back-and-forth between the present and his flashbacks to the war but since both sections are dry and tedious it hardly makes a difference. Director Ang Lee received accolades for being the first film to use large-scale 150 MM film format but you’d be hard-pressed to tell even a shred of difference from regular film. A well-meaning but complete bore. Alwyn’s fine performance is wasted.

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“Officer Downe” (** out of four) was a murky adaptation of the graphic novel series about an unstoppable police officer (Kim Coates) programmed for justice and to clean up the streets. Elsewhere, a rookie cop (Sam Witwer) begins to discover a conspiracy within the department involving experiments and dead officers. Stylish, violent, and absolutely empty action melodrama owes an obvious debt to “Robocop” and “Judge Dredd” but remains watchable. Dazzling cinematography by Gerardo Madrazo easily outclasses the script and acting.

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“Fourth Man Out” (*1/2 out of four) was an inept comedy about a none-too-bright car mechanic (Evan Todd) who turns 24 and decides to tell his three rowdy buddies and his strict family that he is gay which results in various complications. Interesting story about coming-out-of-the-closet and homosexuality is dumbed down by crude, stupid screenplay and unlikeable characters. The seriousness of this issue completely eludes the makers of this mess. One touching scene between the main character and his mother is the only moving scene in the film but that comes at the very end. For a sharper and nonexploitive look at the same subject, watch “Threesome” or “In And Out”.

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“Walk Of Fame” (* out of four) was a dreadful time-waster about a group of struggling actors (Scott Eastwood, Jamie Kennedy, Laura Ashley Samuels and others) who come under the tutilage and guidance of an eccentric acting coach, played by a pitifully hammy Malcolm McDowell. If you wonder how a movie with this kind of cast could be sent straight-to-Redbox with almost no fanfare, proceed at your own peril. You can hear the dialogue landing with a thud repeatedly and Jesse Thomas’ terrible direction is no help. “Walk Of Shame” would have been a more apt title for this complete mess.

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“Blowtorch” (** out of four) was a fizzled NYC underworld crime melodrama about a struggling single mother (Lois Robbins) whose drug-dealing son is murdered. When the NYPD detective (William Baldwin) on the case isn’t able to come up with any answers, she takes the law into her own hands and begins investigating her son’s cohorts and the main henchman he worked for (Armand Assante). What starts out as a gritty crime movie about living in the city and struggling to survive becomes heavy-handed and awfully implausible. By the end, it’s hard to believe anything or care about the outcome. Disappointing directorial debut for Kevin Breslin who has been an actor in various New York dramas over the years.

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