Any film that can’t exist without the protagonist making an unimaginably stupid, selfish, stupid, reckless, stupid, narcissistic, stupid decision at the onset, had better be one of the best damn movies ever made to overcome that. Sinister does not come near surmounting that enormous burden. And when, after finding that first home movie, El Protago doesn’t grab his wife and kids and run like hell, the film only digs a deeper hole.

FF=5

I can sum this one up in 2 words: Un Watchable. (Such a beautiful looking movie, I truly wanted to be engaged but could not.)

FF=8

This was on the tube. I stopped to watch. A few chuckles, some family warmth. Basically a by-the-numbers 3-act comedy with some good points about the absurdity of current PC parenting theories but no surprises. You can find worse ways to kill 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. You can find better.

FF=1

An effective twist on some familiar ghost story elements. I liked Annabel’s arc. Not the usual good vs evil dynamic. And definitely not a welcome-back-to-the-sunshine ending.

FF=2

I saw this back to back with The Snitch and Dwayne Johnson did the better acting job. No kidding. Whatever happened to the Brad Pitt of Twelve Monkeys and such? He’s become a collection of mannerisms doing a table reading. (See the Ocean films for further evidence.) (Haven’t seen World War Z yet – is he better?) Andrew Dominik’s attempt at Tarantinoesque monologues is clueless and flat as a junkyard tire. What a disappointment.

FF=3

Big-name cast but a by-the-numbers script totally lacking in nuance and sooo predictable. For Walken completists only, otherwise watch 7 Psychopaths again.

FF=3

I put off watching this because nothing pains a libertarian heart as deeply as racial hatred. We judge people by their actions, not their genes. Jackie Robinson endured a shitload of hatred. The film didn’t shy away from that, and I was squirming at times, but it’s worth the trip. He wasn’t on the Dodgers because of affirmative action or a quota system. The guy was a freakin’ phenom. After his first season, managers started looking for “the next Jackie Robinson,” and the racial barriers dropped like dominoes.

FF= 1

A very good, if not original, action film. Once you suspend disbelief about the White House being taken so quickly (it couldn’t be that easy, could it?) and the apparent fact that Secret Service men have not been taught to take cover but instead to stand in the open and return assault-rifle fire with side arms, it becomes Die Hard at the White House, sans the wise cracks and the interesting villains. (See the White House Down review for a comparison.)

FF=2

I loved this, but then, I’m a Penn & Teller fan and a sucker for illusions and prestidigitation. Plus I love caper films. This is both. The illusions are brilliant and the plot is twisty and turny and, like all good magic tricks, full of misdirection. It may not be your cup of tea, but it’s mine.

FF=0

I love biter bit tales, and this film has the perfect setup: A gang of psychopathic killers hijacks a couple who look like easy prey, but the guy is not at all what he seems. No, he’s not an ex-Navy SEAL, he’s a psycho too – in fact, he makes the gang look like Quakers. (I’m not giving anything away – it’s in the trailer.) It owes not a little to David J. Schow’s “Pick Me Up” and comes down to which psycho are you rooting for? There’s some inventive violence, but neither the story nor the characters have arcs. And so (to extend the image) it left me with a flat feeling.

FF=3