[7] Inner-city teenagers band together to protect their south London neighborhood from an alien invasion. This one’s for fans of monster movies, with interesting creature effects and a talented young cast. It kinda bugs me that the heroes (or anti-heroes) are all petty thugs and pot heads, but I guess that’s one of the things that distinguishes this flick from other monster fare. Leading man …
[5] A charmless, mediocre retelling of the 1985 cult favorite about a high school boy who discovers a vampire has moved in next door. Despite being penned by Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Marti Noxon, the script moves far too fast, passing every opportunity to build tension or suspense. Colin Farrell is better than usual as the vamp, but he can’t conjure half the swagger …
[7] Everyone associates George Romero with his zombie flicks, but if you ask the director, he’ll say the dark character study Martin is his favorite work. Martin is a young man (John Amplas) who believes he must drink blood in order to live. Early in the movie, Martin moves in with his cousin (Lincoln Maazel), a superstitious old man who whole-heartedly believes Martin is “nosferatu,” …
[6] J.J. Abrams’ comprehensive homage to Spielberg’s early career is a decent spooky kids’ adventure movie. It does a good job stirring nostalgia among 30-somethings like myself. It’s not as mysterious or suspenseful as one might expect from Abrams, the creator of TV’s Lost and producer of Cloverfield. But it does have a solid emotional grounding like much of Abrams’ other work. The film is …
[7] Director Ridley Scott returns to the Alien franchise in a movie that attempts to shed light on the mysteries of his original 1979 film. On one hand, I’m not a fan of exposing mysteries that have enraptured Alien fans for several decades. But if that has to be the mission, Prometheus is at least entertaining in its execution. Structurally, the film is almost a …
[7] Director Bruce McDonald does a commendable job building tension and suspense in a movie that takes place almost entirely in one room with four actors. Think Talk Radio meets 28 Days Later. The film is also a terrific showpiece for character actor Stephen McHattie, who stars as Grant Mazzy, a disgruntled shock radio DJ stuck in a small Canadian town. The film is at …
[7] More of a verite, psychological approach to the slasher genre than most of the ’80s slasher windfall, William Lustig’s Maniac rises above its exploitation roots by putting us inside the killer’s mind and keeping us there, even as his sanity starts to unravel. The killer’s back story may be a little cloying, but Joe Spinell delivers a terrific leading performance, and the dream-like ending seals …
[4] As far as I could tell, Xtro is about a father who is abducted by aliens, then returned to his family as a strange alien-human hybrid. But I’m not sure. First, there’s a weird crabby-looking monster in the woods, then it rapes a woman, then the woman gives birth to a fully-grown man (the single reason to see this movie. The man begins to …
[6] Blake Lively stars in this claustrophobic thriller about a woman trapped by a great white shark in a shallow ocean cove. Director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, House of Wax) captures the beauty of the Australian surroundings (passing for Mexico in the movie) and gives us some cool surfboarding footage before the shark fin disrupts the peace. The Shallows is at its best when Collet-Serra is winding …
[7] Fans of Drive and Only God Forgives director Nicolas Winding Refn should find his latest effort beautiful and interesting. Outsiders may find it frustrating. Elle Fanning headlines a strong cast, playing an underage model trying to make it big in Los Angeles. She sorta has a boyfriend (Karl Glusman from Gaspar Noe’s Love), and may be attracting same-sex adoration from a makeup artist (a wonderful Jena Malone) …
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