I enjoyed the hell out of this film. Proof that good actors and an engaging script don’t need much of a budget. One twist was easy to spot, one took me by surprise but was nicely set up. Well worth a rental. Really.

FF=0

Can I just ask “Why?” Really. The actors were sleepwalking, but even if they’d been at the top of their game, still…Why? Yeah, I know, to turn a buck (which I don’t think they did). You can’t improve on certain films. The Wolfman is one of them. So is Bride of Frankenstein. (Let’s make a pact that if anyone announces a remake of that we do the angry villagers scene – for real.)

FF=3

NOT a feel-good film. Good performances but the spectacle of this self-destructive, compulsive womanizer making one horrendous decision after another gets old very quickly.  I didn’t FF much because I was waiting to see some glimmer of self-awareness, some hint of a possibility of redemption, but alas…

FF=1

This came highly recommended, but Jackie Chan’s uncharacteristically lifeless performance brought the film down.  And the travails of Chinese immigrants in Japan’s underworld had little resonance.

FF=4

In martial arts, Michael Jai White is sort of the anti-Bruce Lee. No little cat cries or funny faces, no eye-popping acrobatics. He’s an irresistible force who methodically demolishes his opponents.  The downside of that is he never comes up against anyone who seems a real threat.  A by-the-numbers revenge plot fills the spaces between the fights.  Meh.

FF=2

I streamed this while wrapping gifts. It’s a good-bad movie – soooo bad you have to keep watching. I have to give writer-director Eric Fosberg credit for his ballsy disregard of genetics, aerodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics, politics, plot logic, story continuity, character development, physics in general and biology in particular. The recurring question is: Can this get more ridiculous? The relentlessly consistent response: Yep. And as if there’s not enough badness in the script, it stars Tiffany (the singer) and Barry Williams (Greg Brady). How can you resist? Perfect for Bad Movie Night.

FF=2

A film with a fatal identity crisis. Confused and confusing. Shia Lebeouf is miscast, Gordon Gekko has lost his mojo, all of which are bad enough, but to exacerbate this unfocused mess with the off-key wails of David Byrne in the background…much of my FFing was through the soundtrack: awful, awful, awful.

FF=3

For popular music fans, even if you aren’t a Nilsson fan (I am). A singer-songwriter whose voice was like a musical instrument. He wrote the sublime (“Without Her”) and the ridiculous (“Put de Lime in de Coconut”) before the rock lifestyle drove him off a cliff. I learned from the film that “One” (covered by Three-Dog Night) was inspired by a busy signal on his phone. (You can hear the D-minor chord going chink-chink-chink with the same meter.) Now THAT’s cool.

FF=0

She’s in her 70s and has had so much plastic surgery that only her lower lip has any genuine mobility. But her energy… sometimes I think I’m driven, but I’m a slug in a beer puddle compared to this old battle ax. (I don’t mean that as a pejorative. She’s an indefatigable warrior who’s been through a lot of battles and still takes no prisoners.)

FF=0