“You’ll Never Leave Me” (*1/2 out of four) was a vaporously generic suspense thriller about a woman (Christie Leverette) who survives a severe car accident that leaves with overwhelming grief and anxiety and soon meets a new Mr. Charming (Cameron Jebo) and is swept off her feet until she realizes there may be more to him underneath his smooth veneer. Plastic and predictable thriller seems like it was synthetically spit out of a machine. Jebo’s character is bizarrely named Jimmy Conway (same as Robert De Niro’s character in “Good Fellas”) but to put it mildly this trifle will “never” be in the same leagues as that masterwork.

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“Stab! Kill! Die!” (* out of four) was a rockbottom horror clinker about a woman (Laura Leone Hancock) who soon finds that she’s being manipulated and overtaken by a violent alien parasite and then (as if this wasn’t bad enough) encounters a group of cannabalistic cheerleaders (Danielle Korda, Janessa O’Hearn, and others) who are stalking and killing their way through the woods. Yet another cheezoid horror thriller that looks like it was filmed and edited on someone’s cell phone. Laughably dumb dialogue is matched by awful acting which turns this into an unintentional laugh riot but please don’t misconstrue that as a recommendation.

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“The Warrant: Breaker’s Law” (*1/2 out of four) was a lumbering follow-up to the 2020 Western showing Marshal John Breaker (Neal McDonough) and his deputy Bugle Bearclaw (Gregory Cruz) who have to travel cross-country to deliver a dangerous criminal (Dermot Mulroney) but plans go astray when he escapes in a small mining town and they have to track him down and put a stop to his reign of violence once and for all. By-the-numbers Western with usual vistas, gun standoffs, and gruff empty threats; the usually dependable McDonough is one-note and blank here. For die-hard fans of the genre only.

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“97 Minutes” (*1/2 out of four) was an unwieldy action potboiler about a 747 plane that becomes overtaken by terrorists but an undercover interpol agent (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) tries to thwart their efforts and save the passengers while a crew officer on the ground (Alec Baldwin) tries to navigate the whole situation and bring them home. Cleverly titled film plays out in real time but all ingenuity ends there; film has nothing that “Air Force One” or “Nonstop” or even “Executive Decision” didn’t do better years ago. Both Rhys-Meyers and Baldwin do what they can with murky roles but this still isn’t worth your “minutes” of time.

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“Criminal Network” (** out of four) was a stylish but empty action melodrama about two brothers (Adam Stars and Joshua Copeland) who take very different paths in life but find themselves bounded by loyalty even as it takes them through the violent underbelly of the London underworld. Co-star Starks also wrote and directed and knows where to position his camera and move his story but it’s a story we have seen numerous and multiple times over the years and is overly derivative. This type of fare was already beginning to show its ware with “Lock, Stock, And 2 Smoking Barrels” over 25 years ago.

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“Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts” (**1/2 out of four) was a sturdier entry in this blockbuster series about an ex-military electronics expert (Anthony Ramos) who becomes involved with the Maximals who are a new faction of the Transformers as they join the Autobots as they all rally in a battle to save all of mankind but battle large-scale battle and destruction to proclaim victory. Seventh in the “Transformers” series is allegedly a prequel to the original; a definite improvement over previous “Transformers” entries as this at least does something different and injects more characterization and plot elements involving Ramos’ character but still manages to go on too long and get too (no pun intended) mechanical after a while which wears down on the fun. Kudos, though, to injecting great ’90’s hip-hop songs (with particular nods to The Wu Tang Clan) on its soundtrack to keep things lively.

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“Pollen” (** out of four) was a sodden horror melodrama about a young woman (Ava Rose Kinard) who gets assaulted at work and finds that what was once her dream job has descended into a surreal nightmare as she finds herself struggling to keep her sanity and safety as she is mentally unraveling between the real world and her violent imagination. Writer/director D.W. Medoff seems to be trying for a horror melodrama in the vein of early Cronenberg surrealism but results are overly cerebral and dull. Too intelligent and audacious to be dismissed but overall too unpleasant to easily enjoy.

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“The Devil Comes At Night” (*1/2 out of four) was a pointless horror thriller about a former boxer (Ryan Allen) and a woman (Adrienne Kess) who become trapped in a local farmhouse and must work together and overcome their differences when they are stalked to the death by a local cannibal cult. Mildly engrossing at first but grows slower and sillier as it goes along instead of building and progressing. All-too-obviously inspired by George Romero’s classic “Night Of The Living Dead” which is still being ripped off over 50 years later.

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“TLC Forever” (*** out of four) was a very well-done documentary about the legendary 90’s group who overcame various struggles to become one of the most successful female groups of all time and how the 2 surviving members T-Boz and Chilli stuck together and maintained their friendship after the early death of their third member Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes. Truncated and softened at times, as is the case with many documentaries, but definitely worthwhile for fans featuring a lot of good interviews both current and present.

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“Master Gardener” (** out of four) was a curiously muted and aloof melodrama about a master horticulturalist (Joel Edgerton) with a lengthy past of drugs and crime who now spends his days tending to the luxurious estate of his employer (Sigourney Weaver) but finds himself at a personal and emotional crossroads when he develops a sexual attraction to one of the other workers (Quintessa Swindell). Writer/director Paul Schrader once again shows his affection for loners and moral ambiguity but this muddled effort shows he’s not the “master” storyteller and filmmaker that he once was (“Taxi Driver”, “Light Sleeper”, etc.). Weaver is wasted in a thankless role and Edgerton is unusually stiff and blank in the lead.

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