Review – Thunder Force

For the most part we’ve got yet another quirky-dumb Melissa McCarthy comedy, this time about a pair of mis-matched best friends who gain superpowers and battle villains who are trying to take over Chicago. But a couple of points stood out. I was genuinely awestruck that they’d ask Octavia Spencer to play a Black woman whose super power was invisibility and then show absolutely no self-awareness about it. And I had to check the trivia notes to find out how they faked the scenes where characters eat raw chicken just so I could sleep at night. See if desperate

Review – Blood Vessel

There’s the tiniest germ of a good concept here: among the art treasures looted by the Nazis was a pair of ornate coffins containing vampires. Sadly, all the potential that had to weave into an entertaining story is squandered by the decision to stash them in the cargo hold of a deserted ship that happens to end up boarded by the occupants of a life raft. Predictably enough, this hodgepodge of Allied soldiers and sailors spend more time bickering with each other than they devote to doing anything practical to save their own lives. Even the title is a dumb pun. See if desperate

Review – Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula

I’m not sure what – if any – actual connection this South Korean zombie apocalypse picture has with Train to Busan other than name and theme. But if it’s a follow-up, it’s a worthy one. It’s sort of a Dawn of the Dead to the first one’s Night of the Living Dead, with the story starting four years after the start of the zombie plague and the remaining population of South Korea in full survival mode. Action and gore abounds as a small group of smugglers try to get a truck full of American money past a vicious gang and a few million zombies. The plot takes some intriguing twists, which adds nicely to the well-crafted scares and chase scenes. Worth seeing