“Dream Scenario” (*1/2 out of four) was a maundering comic melodrama about a middle-aged college professor (Nicholas Cage) who starts to realize that something is very wrong because everyone keeps telling him they are seeing him in their dreams! Don’t look for more plot than that or much of anything else. Inane and irritating movie could have been a half-hour “Twilight Zone” episode. Hard-core Cage fans (I’m not) might like this better. This somehow received strong praise from many film critics and the Toronto Film Festival but not this FB reviewer.

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“Loop Track” (*1/2 out of four) was a desultory psychological thriller about a man (Thomas Sainsbury) on the verge of a psychotic breakdown who retreats to the wilderness where he is terrorized by a ravenous creature- or this simply a figment of his imagination? Give writer/director/star Sainsbury credit for trying to tackle psychological and social issues in the framework of a horror story but the result is wan and wandering. Spectacular New Zealand locations are one of film’s only assets.

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“The Iron Claw” (*** out of four) was a heartfelt biography of the Von Erich brothers (Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White) who were groomed by their stern father (Holt McCallany) and became legends in the intense world of professional wrestling in the 1980’s. Compellingly and compassionately told with uniformly strong performances all around. Starts to lag a little in the midsection but regains its momentum for a strong and sincere finish. Chavo Guerrero (who plays The Sheik) also was film’s wrestling consultant.

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“Smart Home Killer” (** out of four) was a needless and unnecessary suspense thriller about a single mother (Natalie Brown) and her young daughter (An’wn O’Driscoll) who survive a deadly attack and then move into a so-called smart home with multiple security cameras but they soon realize that they are not fully safe and someone is watching them and still planning on killing them. Glamorously shot and lit by David Perrault and efficiently directed and made but ridiculously obvious and predictable. Title is somewhat ironic since anyone who has seen a thriller and is “smart” will be miles ahead of this.

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“Rebel Moon: Part One- A Child Of Fire” (*1/2 out of four) was a colossally derivative sci/fi extravaganza set on the edge of a distant moon in which a mysterious stranger (Sofia Boutella) and a former general (Djimon Hounsou) lead a rallying war against the Motherworld (Fra Fee, Ed Skrein, and others) who positioned themselves as a tyrannical ruling force. Director Zack Snyder throws in probably every sci/fi element he (and you) could probably think of from spare parts of endless movies but the film this will likely remind you of most is David Lynch’s “Dune” and not in a good way. Lots of extravagant effects for sci/fi geeks and Snyder die-hards but it’s all pretty joyless and empty.

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“Breakwater” (** out of four) was an overly familiar and trite melodrama about an ex-con (Darren Mann) who is released from prison and tries to track down the daughter (Alyssa Gross) of his mentor (Dermot Mulroney) from prison but this places them all on a collision course of fate and consequences that questions all of their identities and alterior motives. Watchable but never much more than that; good performances help to keep film on track but it’s never as incisive or involving as it might have been. Film’s only real distinction is it was shot on a single camera without any add-ins or effects.

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“Bad Behaviour” (* out of four) was an inexcusably bad melodrama about a former child actor (Jennifer Connelly) who attempts to repair her relationship with her daughter (Alice Englert) by going to a retreat led by an eccentric spiritual leader (Ben Whishaw) but they all find that the road to redemption can be one long shaky road. Earnest movie full of good intentions but also full of molasses pacing and leaden dramatics and winds up a self-righteous snooze. Connelly is more flat and wooden than usual; Englert also wrote and directed and this marks her ungainly feature-film directing debut.

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“Angel Baby” (*1/2 out of four) was a thirdhand melodrama about a wife (Isabel Cueva) and her husband (Dan Thiel) who suffer the devastating death of their twin children and move to a remote cabin in the wilderness where (yawn) they are overtaken by an evil supernatural entity that threatens to tear them apart. Does it ever happen when people move to a cabin and live happily ever after? Film is so hollow and solemn that you could mistake it at times for a parody except it’s not funny (or the least bit scary). Rebecca De Mornay is wasted as a town bartender.

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“The Unbinding” (** out of four) was a mundane documentary-like horror story about occult researchers (Greg and Dana Newkirk) who are called in after a strange statue is found in the Catskills which leads to an escalating series of paranormal activity phenomena and they have to uncover what may be behind things. By the fairly low and awful standards of these things, this isn’t bad and is told with a cautionary sense of dread, but film simply isn’t very revelatory or scary. One more found-footage/documentary thriller with “Blair Witch” in its DNA.

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“Three Blind Mice” (*1/2 out of four) was an excessively ugly and unpleasant horror melodrama about a recovering drug addict (May Kelly) whose family go with her to the middle of the wilderness to help her get off drugs but they are naturally besieged by a group of vicious killers and she has to use what she has learned from selling and using drugs to stay alive. Passable beginning soon goes out the window as film goes way overboard with numbing gore and cerebral violence. Watch “Mousehunt” again instead.

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