“Catfish Murder” (** out of four) was a tame suspense melodrama about a single mom (Gina Holden) whose life is turned upside down when her young son (Quinten James) is arrested and accused of murdering a girl (Zoe Christie) that he met online and she is unsure of whether to immediately support him or to uncover whether or not he actually did it. Beautifully shot by Robert Rindeau and has an intriguing initial framework but descends more into the routine by the time of its predictable conclusion. Inauspicious English directorial debut of noted Kurdish director Soran Mardookhi.

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“Bad Things” (** out of four) was a muffled horror psychodrama about a group of young women (Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabeth Dexter-Jones, and others) who go to a hotel for a weekend getaway and find that strange occurrences are happening. Could there be a serial slasher on the loose or is it actually one of them who is the killer? Marginally better than most of its genre thanks to some stylish touches from writer/director Stewart Thorndike but still pretty routine and takes too long to get going. Not quite a “bad” movie but mediocre; watch “Very Bad Things” again instead.

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“The Engineer” (** out of four) was a pretty mild action espionage thriller based on true events about a former C.I.A. agent (Emile Hirsch) who is called back into action for one of the biggest manhunts in history to find criminal mastermind Yahya Ayyash (Adam Haloon) who oversaw multiple suicide bombings and mass destruction in Israel in the mid-90’s. Initially strong and engrossing with some sharp dialogue and topical plot details but film gradually sputters and loses its momentum and focus more as it goes along. Robert Davi has a small but key role as an Israeli businessman; him and Hirsch also starred in this week’s “Inside Man” together.

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“Abducted By My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story” (** out of four) was an ersatz story about the title girl (Summer H. Howell) who was groomed and then kidnapped by her high-school teacher (Michael Fishman) who loved her as his own. Film is based on true events but has been sanitized and synthesized into a by-the-numbers mystery potboiler which rings false. Decent acting tries to give this some conviction but film doesn’t stand out from dozens of other stories about kidnapping and runaways.

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“Inside Man” (** out of four) was an uninvolving true-crime potboiler about a disgraced NYPD detective (Emile Hirsch) who seeks personal and professional redemption by going undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate affiliated with the mob (Robert Davi, George V. Andreakos, and others). Overly familiar and derivative story of police corruption, mob ties, and fake NYC accents. Hirsh is atypically unconvincing in the lead as a tough NYC cop. Bo Dietl who was a real life undercover cop here plays an NYPD captain. Incidentally, this has no relation to the far superior Denzel Washington/Spike Lee 2006 film of the same name.

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“Sanctified” (** out of four) was an earthbound Western set in 1890’s North Dakota in which an outlaw (Daniel Bielinski) is rescued from death and nursed back to health by a nun (Tiffany Cornwell) and they strike an unlikely relationship as they guide each other to salvation and a church in the heart of the badlands. Scattered moments of emotional power and resonance and good performances from the 2 leads are offset by film’s meandering nature and sluggish pace. Far better than many other neo-Westerns over the last decade but far from the leagues of Peckinpah, Leone, and even Walter Hill.

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“Heart Of Stone” (*** out of four) was a rock-solid espionage thriller about an intelligence operative (Gal Gadot) for an international peacekeeping company who has to battle internal sabotaging at her own agency and other duplicity to race against time and stop a lethal hacker (Jamie Dornan) from accessing weapons that could lead to worldwide destruction. Crackling thriller in the vein of the “Bourne” series hardly stops to take a breath and never stops moving. Film has some obvious story and character flaws but are more than compensated by film’s action and Gadot who is first-rate as usual.

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“Back To The Drive-In” (** out of four) was an affectionate but minor documentary about the rise and fall of drive-ins in America and how they began making a semi-comeback in the wake of the pandemic but how keeping many drive-ins alive and open has been a struggle and film focuses on one such family in particular and the ongoing difficulties they have in a declining economy and competition with local multiplexes. Interesting at times especially for those who love drive-ins but never really all that revelatory and explorative as it should have been. 2017’s “At The Drive In” focused on similar themes and issues with drive-ins.

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“Reminiscing Shadows” (** out of four) was a fast-paced but uninspired urban action melodrama about a series of brutal homicides that is gripping the entire country and a pair of rugged homicide detectives (Toy Cook and Nina Holley) who are assigned to take them down at all costs. Not bad and told with some style by writer/director Jason Martin but is never able to rise up past the routine. Watchable and has a compact running time of about 75 minutes but still something you’ve seen hundreds of times before by now.

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“What Remains” (* out of four) was a static character melodrama about a small-town pastor (Cress Williams) who has to challenge his own feelings of forgiveness when the convict (Kellan Lutz) whp murdered his wife is released on parole; meanwhile the town sheriff (Anne Heche) investigates another murder that may or may not be related. Heavy-handed dramatics and molasses-moving script and direction render this nearly unendurable; Williams’ strong performance is wasted. Heche is wasted in one of her final film roles.

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