[4] Four teenagers decide to lock themselves in an underground bunker for three days of a good time, but when a mutual acquaintance doesn’t return to let them out, things start to get hairy. The concept is okay, but the twisty script shows its hand too early in the game and there isn’t a relatable or engaging character in the bunch. With Desmond Harrington, Thora …
[5] This Australian TV movie from Peter Weir is a subdued psychological thriller about a woman who grows increasingly frustrated and fearful of an eccentric plumber. Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) throws in a little commentary on the issue of class prejudice and does a good job building some suspense, but the stakes aren’t high enough, nor the motivations dire enough, for the movie to …
[7] Gregory Peck plays a prosecutor terrorized by Robert Mitchum, a recently released convict Peck sent to prison eight years ago. Director J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone) takes his cues from Hitchcock and crafts a film that can compete with much of Hitch’s work (it helps to have Bernard Herrmann doing the music.) The censors put just enough of a damper on the film …
[6] You really aren’t supposed to return to a well too many times. But in the case of the Scream franchise, I was still thirsty. So I drank… and the water’s still good! Of course the novelty has worn off, but unlike many other horror franchises, the characters have grown and developed, and gosh-darn it, you actually care about Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers, and dopey …
[4] Director Renny Harlin’s cut of this film is more quickly-paced and energetic than Paul Schrader’s (both films feature the same story and most of the same cast), but it has the misfortune of stepping in a big pile of silly toward the end. Is that Beelzebub or Bugs Bunny we’re supposed to be cowering before? Stellan Skarsgard is great as a younger Father Merrin (Max …
[6] Ryan Gosling plays a young prosecutor pitted against slicker-than-snot Anthony Hopkins, representing himself in a trial where he’s accused of murdering his wife. Hopkins is about to get away with everything, but Gosling is determined to poke a hole in Hopkins’ seemingly air-tight alibi. The casting is safe and predictable, but the script is fairly tight and twisty, and kept me engaged to the end. With …
[3] James Marsden, Thomas Jane, and Piper Perabo star in this wannabe animal attack movie that’s really just an overwrought drama about estranged brothers burying the hatchet. The squabbling between the two men (all the men in the movie, actually) gets pretty tedious, and you have to be prepared to get some cheese sprayed on you as well — Perabo’s character is deaf, and she …
[7] A social worker investigates a mother and her two adult daughters who take care of a 21-year-old man who wears diapers, sucks baby bottles, and sleeps in a baby crib. The family insist the man has the mental and emotional capacity of an infant, but the social worker’s not so sure. The Baby isn’t the dirty, fetishistic film I thought it would be. Director Ted Post …
[6] Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara star in the second adaptation of the Stieg Larsson novel about a journalist and a computer hacker who work to solve the mystery of a missing woman. Is there perhaps something wrong with the fact that The Social Network is more exciting than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? People looking at computer monitors and holding board meetings shouldn’t be …
[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 …
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