October 10, 2022
MR. HARRIGAN'S PHONE
Director: John Lee Hancock
When Mr. Harrigan passed away, Craig put the old man's iPhone into his casket with him. However, it would seem that Craig still had a directly line to his good friend. Initially, there would just be cryptic text messages from him. Later, when he called Harrigan's phone to "tell" about a problem at school, the problem would be "solved" for good the next morning.
Jaeden Martell as Craig (also Colin O'Brien as young Craig) had a great rapport with the venerable Donald Sutherland as Mr. Harrigan. It never felt like a suspense film at first, just two people two generations apart who develop a unique friendship. There was also some sharp commentary about the cellphones and the world wide web.
The movie began with Craig reading various classic novels aloud for Mr. Harrigan, so I did not expect the turn to horror it would take. Only later did I learn that this was based on a recent Stephen King novella, then it made sense why it felt so familiar. Like other King works, the horror element was there, but it was a young person's coming of age that was the main point. 7/10
Director; Mike Barker
Magazine writer Tiffani Fanelli (Mia Kunis) was about to get married to wealthy preppy Luke Harrison (Finn Wittrock). One day, a documentary filmmaker Aaron Wickersham (Dalmar Abuzeid) wanted to interview for a film he's making about an explosion in posh private school she attended before where she was the only one who survived.
It turned that Ani was the victim of a vicious rape by three of her rich classmates at Brentley School. One of these rapists, Dean Barton (Alex Barone), is still alive and is now a popular wheelchair-bound advocate for gun control. Should she reveal this crime against her and risk her current social status and coming wedding?
Mila Kunis's Ani was a woman still possessed by a terrifying experience she suffered in her past. She is angry, and getting angrier all the time every time she sees her rapist Dean being admired for his advocacy work, despite getting away with the abuse and assault he had done to her. Chiara Aurelia was very good as the young Ani, as well as Scoot McNairy who played her professor Andrew Larson. 6/10.
Director: Bryan Goodman
Will Spann and his wife Lisa were going through a rough patch in their marriage. They were driving to Lisa's parents' house as she requested for some time apart. Along the way, they made a stopover at a gas station. While Will was filling up the tank, Lisa went inside the store to buy a bottle of water. She never made back to their car.
As distressed husband Will, Gerald Butler tried his best to keep this B-movie afloat. However, all the supporting characters were very hammy -- from Jaimie Alexander (who played the wife Lisa) to Russell Hornsby (who played the Detective Patterson) to Ethan Embry (who played the redneck guy "Knuckles"). The actors playing the guy at the store counter and Lisa's parents were even worse.
There was really nothing much of consequence that happens in between. There was that incongruous sequence set in a meth lab in the woods, probably just included so that this "action" movie would have its requisite gunfire exchange and explosions (even if it came out of nowhere). It is one of those vapid action movies where you can just fast forward through to the end to see whether he can find his wife or not. 1/10.
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