Bullets 'n' Babes

Don't Talk to Strange Men (1961) **½ Quaint, low budget British chiller about a naive teen girl who makes the mistake of answering a public phone only to find a grooming pervert on the end of the line. Requires a certain suspension of disbelief - lead actress Christina Gregg was 22 - but the premise...

The Assassin Next Door (2009) *** Isareli drama-thriller stars the gorgeous Olga Kurylenko as a guilt-ridden assassin who forms a bond with her neighbour - a pregnant, battered wife. I didn't care for the digital photography, but once I got past that I found much to admire. Feminists will approve of...

Proud Mary (2018) **½
Loose remake of Gloria with Taraji P. Henson as the gun-totting killer protecting a young boy.
Nothing special, but I didn't mind it.

Nurse (2013) * Splatter comedy(?) Utter drivel, extremely badly made. I confess to skipping thru large chunks of it. Katrina Bowden (the blonde) is an attractive girl and decent actress, the main lead is the opposite, and I can only assume they cast her based on her willingness to disrobe at every o...

Shelter (2017) **½
Israeli agent is assigned to babysit Lebanese spy whilst she waits for safe passage from Germany to Canada.
Overly complicated drama-thriller is flat given the promise of the material, but at least the central relationship is interesting.
There's a better film in here somewhere.

American Sniper (2014) *** Good true life action-drama from Clint Eastwood starring Bradley Cooper as record-breaking Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. The tragic ending is sensitively handled and not allowed to overshadow Kyle's heroism. The Hunter's Prayer (2017) ** Not bad thriller has conflicted assa...

Beyond Suspicion aka Bent (2018) **½
Surprisingly good thriller has framed cop Karl Urban embroiled in murder and intrigue.
Has an old school feel, which I guess made my response kinder than most critics.

Dark Crimes (2016) *½
Jim Carrey is a Polish cop (with an Irish accent) in this moody, seedy thriller.
Incomprehensible and boring.

The Connection (2014) **½
Righteous judge Jean Dujardin tackles the Marseilles heroine trade and departmental corruption in long, but fair 70s set crime saga.

Robocop 2 (1990) **½
Watched this a couple of months back and forgot to post a quick take.
Not a classic like the original, but violent sequel has enough satire and balls to be worthwhile.

The Principal (1987) ***½
Reckless teacher James Belushi vows to clean up the worst school in the city.
A long time favourite of mine.

Big Man on Campus (1989) ** AKA The Hunchback Hairball of L.A.(!)... which pretty much sums up this goofy movie. Funnier than it should be, but keep your expectations low (brow). Blind Spot (2017) *½ Right-wing Belgian police chief's run for political office is jeopardised by a deadly personal griev...

Black Butterfly (2017) *½ Has-been author Antonio Banderas makes a fatal mistake picking up surly hitchhiker Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Slow burn thriller creates an atmosphere in its early going, before warping into a patently ridiculous mess. The twist ending actually makes sense of some of what we've ...

The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) ** Corrupt Egyptian cop investigates the murder of a glamorous singer in Cairo. The ingredients - sex, scandal, and corruption - are all present, but this murky thriller is a chore to wade through. Some good scenes, particularly in the second half, but it's not really...

The 15:17 to Paris (2018) *** Three American heroes taking out an Islamic terrorist on board a commuter train sounds like a sure fire premise, but Clint Eastwood took a huge risk by casting the men as themselves. This gives the film a certain verisimilitude, but it's also clear that these guys aren'...

Crenna was better in the sequels.

First Blood (1982) **½
Strong first act, runs out of ideas after that.
Stallone and Dennehy are great, Crenna not so.

Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985) **½
Cartoon sequel drops (most of) the first film's pretensions and serves effectively as a formula blow-shit-up action picture.

Unforgiven (1992) ***
Clint's multiple Oscar-winner lays bare the myths of the old west.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) ***
As good a sequel as they could have done.

Greta (2018) **½
Psycho chiller is just gripping enough for one to forgive its silliness.

Dragged Across Concrete (2018) *** Long, but engrossing crime thriller in which two suspended cops stumble onto an armed gold robbery. It's always great to see Mel Gibson in roles like this, and he delivers his hard-boiled dialogue with aplomb. I did have two issues with the film, however: 1. The di...

A Kind of Murder (2015) ** Architect Patrick Wilson becomes fascinated with wife killer Eddie Marsen, then his own neurotic wife commits suicide - or does she? Muddled period thriller plays like a TV movie with a few f-words. Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith; there's probably a decent film to ...

Father Figures (2018) **
Twin brothers Owen Wilson and Ed Helms (eh?) go on a search for their father long thought dead.
Weak road trip comedy drama never comes close to hitting the target.

Batman Returns (1992) *** How Tim Burton got away with turning this Warner franchise into a perverted, twisted nightmare I'll never know. First one made tons of money. Same reason Joel Schumacher got carte blanche with Batman and Robin. Yeah, it was more of a rhetorical question. ;) Joel Shoemaker'...