Horror, 103 Minutes, 2010
With almost no tweaking this could easily be a remake of “Poltergeist” [IMDB]. Although the haunted house angle (which was completely superfluous to begin with) is abandoned early the plot has all the same touch-points. Josh and Renai’s son, Dalton, enters into an unexplained coma that appears more like normal sleep than anything medical. Surrounding this are terrifying visions and things that go bump-in-the-night.
Family, 86 Minutes, 2012
My 10 year daughter loved this movie. I didn’t. Like other attempts to enbiggen Dr. Suess to feature-lengths it’s too self-indulgent with its own ideas and loses the soul of the source material. “The Lorax” was a simple story with some very basic themes – most of which seem to have been lost in this translation.
“I Spit on Your Grave” on IMDB
Horror, 108 Minutes, 2010
This is not a movie for a first date… or a third for that matter. Or, in fact, any week were you might want to actually have sex… on second thought make that any month. This is a remake of the controversial 1978 classic horror movie of the same name [IMDB]. Often mislabeled an exploitation film the original was anything but sexual. (While I’m sadly sure that some people must enjoy this kind of brutality it was clearly not the intention of the film to cater to that audience.)
Thriller, 90 Minutes, 2009
The grunting, slobbering core of this movie is an unwieldy, multi-tentacled plot that drags itself into your living room, sits in your favorite chair and demands, “what kind of snacks you got?” It sits there eating your food and throwing what it thinks are insanely clever ideas at you for 90 minutes then gets up. That’s when you notice the smell and the movie’s core, noticing your look of disgust, admits: “By the way, I shit in your chair.”
“Texas Killing Fields” on IMDB
Crime Thriller, 105 Minutes, 2011
I have to admit I’d never heard of this movie before. My wife started it before I came into the room and when I saw the title I assumed “B-grade horror”. Then when I started seeing the cast I thought, “Hey – this is an actual real movie!” And indeed it was – A-list actors and everything!
Drama, 99 Minutes, 2010:
Just to clear the field, to begin with this movie revolves around kids dying of leukemia. Much of it takes place in the hospital room of two kids dying of leukemia. The rest of it deals with the parents of those two kids who are dying of leukemia. Basically if you’re already sick of hearing about kids dying of leukemia then you probably won’t like this movie much.
Thriller, 95 Minutes, 2009
While the description and the title may lead you to instantly think “slasher flick” (I did) there’s actually a deeper story here. It doesn’t always work (and sometimes it really doesn’t work) but it’s an honest attempt to break the mold and for that alone it deserves some love.
Horror, 83 Minutes, 2009
I was a little put off when this started up and I discovered the production company was “Mountain Dew Green Label Studios” About 20 minutes in we also get treated to some elaborate art created primarily with Mountain Dew. Yes, this is a movie funded by soda pop and featuring soda pop. (Although, to be fair, they really weren’t that heavy-handed about it.)
Thriller, 117 Minutes, 2011
Survival thrillers are a favorite of mine. Seeing people use the materials at hand and overcome incredible odds never gets old. I assumed I’d see men at their breaking points MacGyvering weapons and overcoming fierce wolves. Unfortunately this isn’t that kind of movie (although it repeatedly probes in that direction). But I really thought it was and I must admit that I had a very hard time switching gears and it definitely colored my perceptions.
Horror, 80 Minutes, 2008
The original “It’s Alive” [1974, IMDB] is a camp-horror classic. It was over-the-top, silly and just serious enough to keep it from completely disappearing into obscurity. The idea is simple: a woman gives birth to a mutant baby that kills people. This 2008 remake take the same premise and tries to make a straight, emotional horror movie. It pretty much fails completely.
