A man is given one hour to make a difficult decision: Financial ruin or protect his family by killing someone.
Tag Archives: Crime
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
What we’re seeing with “Mutant Mayhem” is what happens after every movie makes a bang at the box office. The “The Spider-Verse” movies were so beloved and influential that we can expect studios to ape its animation and storytelling style for at least a few years. The first of what will probably be many to come is “Mutant Mayhem.” Jeff Rowe’s animated movie is a new re-imagining of Eastman and Laird’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise, but aimed a lot more toward Generation Z. That’s both a quality that improves what producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldbergh aim to be the beginning of a new wave of popularity for the Turtles, and a hindrance.
Sympathy for The Devil (2023)
Director Yuval Adler’s “Sympathy for the Devil” is a movie for the Nicolas Cage fan base, those people that love to see Nicolas Cage go berserk and completely the chew the scenery for ninety minutes. It’s as if Yuval Adler went on set and told Nic Cage to just be Nic Cage, because out of all the Nic Cage performances in his repertoire this is the Nic Cagest you’ll see. He Nic Cage’s the hell out of this movie. “Sympathy for the Devil” is part horror movie, part survival thriller, part crime thriller and part mystery. It’s “Collateral” but on acid.
Cobweb (2023)
I’ve always had a soft spot for horror movies that present themselves as dark twisted versions of fairy tales, and Samuel Bodin’s “Cobweb” is one of the highlights of the sub-genre. “Cobweb” is a dark and twisted tale of family that watches almost like and Edward Gorey folktale that’s suddenly sprung to life. It’s shocking that Lionsgate hasn’t promoted this movie at all, since as we’re entering in to the Halloween season gradually, “Cobweb” is the perfect dose of autumnal tinted horror. Director Samuel Bodin manages to concoct a mystery horror film that is not just creepy, but suspenseful and twisted all at the same time.
Fear The Night (2023)
It pains me to say this but “Fear the Night” is by no means top tier when it comes to survival home invasion thrillers. I love Neil Labute, and I love Maggie Q, I think they’re both great. I also love me a good home invasion film or survival film. But “Fear the Night” feels like someone along the way watched 2011’s “You’re Next” and thought: I can do that! “Fear the Night” has all the obvious influences with none of the context or subversive behind it. The villains even attack with their faces covered and garner their own hunting weapons including a bow and arrow.
Quicksand (2023)
There’s that funny meme on the internet about how fiction always warned us about quicksand but very few of us rarely come across it. It’s funny also how there aren’t many movies revolving around the idea of being stuck in quicksand. Andrés Beltrán approaches the idea with a survival thriller that’s quite good, but doesn’t re-invent the wheel. When it comes to films of this ilk, everything you think is going to happen does happen, and the movie doesn’t mind hitting on those tropes along with handing us an ambiguous finale that felt kind of like a cop out.
The Flood (2023)
So basically, Brandon Slagle’s “The Flood” is “Assault on Precinct 13” but with killer alligators. That’s it. That’s the whole of the concept and premise. You can fill in the rest, if you’ve been watching movies for a while; which is not to say that “The Flood” is a bad film, it’s just not something that I haven’t seen before. Truth be told, there are nuggets of a great film embedded within “The Flood” but if you’re expecting a full on alligator siege movie in the vein of “Crawl,” then your best bet is looking elsewhere.