Review - I Am Not a Serial Killer

Maybe not, but he is still pretty creepy. Alas, he’s the town’s only hope against a homicidal supernatural being. As indie horror goes, I’ve seen worse. Mildly amusing

Review - A Christmas Horror Story

William Shatner phones in a performance as a radio shock jock in the bracket for four horrible holiday horrors. Most of this is predictable and dull. But then there’s the last entry, a showdown between the martial arts skills of Santa Claus and Krampus, with a heavy dose of zombie elves thrown in for good measure. See if desperate

Review - The Angry Birds Movie

This has all the depth of plot and character one is entitled to expect from a movie based on a Flash game in which players use a slingshot to fling birds at flimsy structures full of green pigs. The animation is better than I thought it would be, and they spent a chunk of change on the cast (including the “voice” of Sean Penn as a bulky bird who communicates only in grunts). But the moralizing is directionless, and the story never manages to overcome its own stupid. See if desperate

Review - The Dead Room

Family flees haunted house. Ghostbusters show up to investigate. So we’re getting two horror cliches for the price of one. The filmmakers are clearly trying for “psychological,” but all they end up with is “boring.” See if desperate

Review - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Tina Fey takes a stab at a semi-serious role in a drama about a US journalist in Afghanistan. When the story focuses on the sometimes-wacky-sometimes-perilous job of reporting in a war-torn country, the picture is actually pretty good. Unfortunately we also get the usual Fey character, caught between her role as a competent professional and her inability to self-actualize without a man. Mildly amusing

Review - Holidays

Here’s yet another horror anthology cobbled together from holiday-themed shorts directed by different folks. Predictably, it’s a mixed bag (I continue to believe that Kevin Smith’s best days are well behind him). At best it’s good without being great and at worst it’s diverting and not much more. Mildly amusing

Review - London Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen, the London version. Once again the President (Aaron Eckhart) is imperiled by terrorists, and once again his favorite plays-by-his-own-rules Secret Service agent (Gerard Butler) comes to the rescue. The conspiracy this time around is so vast that everyone up to and including the Buckingham Palace guards would have to had been in on it. But those explosions sure are nice and loud. Mildly amusing