Thursday 20 Jun
 
 

Terror on a Train

Not to be confused with the ’80s slasher Terror Train — but, oh, how I wish it were! — 1952's Terror on a Train finds Glenn Ford (Superman: The Movie's Pa Kent) as Peter Lyncort, a bomb diffuser whose home life with his spouse (French actress Anne Vernon) is currently as explosive as his work life.
06/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Monk

For several years, I’ve intended to read Matthew G. Lewis' 1796 novel, The Monk. I even bought a snazzy trade-paperback edition with an introduction from Stephen King. Never got around to cracking it open.
06/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Last Exorcism Part II

Unlike many moviegoers, 17-year-old farm girl Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell, The Day) has no memory of the events of The Last Exorcism, a found-footage smash of three years prior. The Last Exorcism Part II finds her taking steps to build life anew, beginning in a boarding house for troubled girls, where the deeply devout Nell is exposed to such heretofore corrupting influences as lipstick and rock music and YouTube and cotton candy.
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

The ABCs of Death

Suspense novelist Jeffery Deaver once praised the short-story format, writing that the minimal time investment on the part of the reader allows the writer to get away with endings he or she cannot in the long form. In other words, the writer can be meaner, more devious. He's absolutely right, and the theory applies wholesale to The ABCs of Death, more or less a horror anthology depicting "26 ways to die."
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

Ninja III: The Domination

Don't ask why Ninja III: The Domination begins with a ninja assault on a municipal golf course. Just be grateful it does. You also may wonder why its sex scene employs a can of V8: Don't question it. Just lie back and enjoy it.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Science Fiction · Skyline
Science Fiction

Skyline


None November 18th, 2010

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Some reviews are respectful examinations of a movie's successes and failures. Others are simply death panels. Guess which kind this is?

Brothers Colin and Greg Strause ("Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem"), a pair of crackerjack effects wizards, really want "Skyline" to be the foundation on which a popular franchise can be constructed ... and they come close. All that's missing are believable acting, a coherent script, a budget, imagination and an audience willing to fork over the cost of admission to sequels.

On second thought, forget it.

Eric Balfour (TV's "Haven") and Scottie Thompson (TV's "Trauma") are a couple from New York who are visiting an old pal (Donald Faison, TV's "Scrubs") who's made it big in some business or other on the left coast when the City of Angels is attacked by space aliens that look like the offspring of the creatures from "Independence Day" and something out of H.P. Lovecraft.

Who, if anyone, will find the courage to fight the good fight? Who, if anyone, will get out alive? Who, if anyone, gives a flying doughnut?

Yes, it's every bit as bad as you've heard, with an ending that is no ending at all, but just the setup for an anticipated sequel. If you thought "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was lousy, this one will have your movie club forming a suicide pact. It's a Drano cocktail for the eyes.

This, my children, is as bad as mainstream genre cinema gets. "”Doug Bentin
 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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