The Beta Test is a strong satire that blends several different genres into one!

A married Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, murder and infidelity.

Jim Cummings once again shows how much fun he has while directing and acting with his films. The Beta Test is a very interesting little movie that criticizes Hollywood agents and it definitely delivers quite well, first off Jim Cummings absolutely steals the show in the leading role. His performance is energetic and quite hilarious as well, the movie itself is a very interesting blend of humor, suspense and drama each of which compliment each other quite well and build every scene. What makes this movie stronger is Jim Cummings’s style, he takes his traditional style that’s in a lot of his films also with the help of PJ McCabe who’s also in the movie, they both create something different from what Cummings’s usually does and it 100% works. A very strong social commentary that actually does bring something new to the conversation, go into this one knowing as little as possible!

The Beta Test is available on all VOD Platforms!

8/10 B+

Quick Reviews: The Djinn and I Am All Girls (2021)

A mute boy is trapped in his apartment with a sinister monster when he makes a wish to fulfill his heart’s greatest desire.

The Djinn is another one of those “careful what you wish for” movies, what’s interesting about this one is it does try to at least do something a bit different, having it all in one location is definitely interesting and worked for the most part. The acting and writing were both solid enough and had some genuine creepy moments as well, what holds this movie back however is the ending. The ending really felt like the movie ran out of steam and went with something far weaker than the rest of the movie, I also do wish the main character Dylan Jacobs had some more actual development. But what for The Djinn is it’s not bad at all, it’s a decent horror movie if you can get past the ending.

The Djinn is now available on VOD!

6/10 C+

A special crimes investigator forms an unlikely bond with a serial killer to bring down a global child sex trafficking syndicate.

I appreciate what I am All Girls is doing (bringing attention to a real life child trafficking case) however the movie itself is just not that good. It starts out as a very run of the mill thriller but then gets better as it goes on which is nice but it’s too little too late by the time it starts getting good. There really isn’t anything noteworthy here in terms of acting and writing it’s all just simple average, I will say this is definitely better than Marsh’s previous movie “Hunter Killer” I suggest looking up the real story and skipping this movie.

I Am All Girls is now available on Netflix!

5/10 C

The Night (2021) Movie Review

An Iranian couple living in the US become trapped inside a hotel when insidious events force them to face the secrets that have come between them, in a night that never ends.

The Night is a movie I wanted to love really badly but unfortunately completely falls flat during the second act. The Night starts off pretty great, it establishes a great atmosphere that is pretty haunting and gets under your skin with a couple moments that are genuinely creepy. Some of the acting is also pretty solid as well which I really appreciated, however that all ends during the middle of the second act. The twist really did not work for me at all, it comes right out of nowhere and really does not fit the movie all that well. It completely changes the tone of the movie which is a huge shame because this movie did have was quite great, the writing is fine enough but left a lot more to be desired. It’s unfortunate how The Night turned out because this is the type of horror movies I usually really appreciate and that I’m a huge fan of. It’s by no means a bad movie just one that could have been a lot better.

5/10 C

No Man’s Land (2021)

Border vigilante Bill Greer (Frank Grillo) and his son Jackson (Jake Allyn) are on patrol when Jackson accidentally kills a Mexican immigrant boy. Bill tries to take the blame but Texas Ranger Ramirez (George Lopez) sees through the lie, spurring Jackson to flee south on horseback across the Rio Grande to become a gringo “illegal alien” in Mexico. Chased by Texas Rangers and Mexican federales, Jackson journeys across deserts and mountains to seek forgiveness from the dead boy’s vengeful father (Jorge A. Jimenez), as he falls in love with the land he was taught to hate.

Yeah this barely did anything for me, No Man’s Land is by Conor Allyn who previously did Walk.Ride.Rodeo which was a terrible Netflix original, this is definitely an improvement but that doesn’t make it good. Frank Grillo is great as always, he does a decent job with what he’s given. The filming is quite beautiful there are some great shots that capture the beauty of the setting really well. That’s where it ends for me, Jake Allyn is just not interesting enough as an actor to keep you invested into the film, it feels way too long with a running time of 114 minutes but feels like 2 and half hours long. There’s a lot of scenes that could have easily been cut as well, the character development also has a tough time here. While yes there is some of it there really isn’t enough for audiences to get completely invested into the characters. Overall a very forgettable movie, I can easily see why IFC did not advertise this at all.

4/10 D+

Hunter Hunter (2020)

Joseph and his family live in the remote wilderness as fur trappers, but their tranquility is threatened when they think they are being hunted by the return of a rogue wolf, and Joseph leaves them behind to track it.

What saves Hunter Hunter is the last 20 minutes, everything else before then is nothing noteworthy at all. Once again this is another film that I feel IFC Midnight hyped up way too much for whatever reason they tend to do that a lot. Hunter Hunter starts out with nothing special outside the atmosphere that was actually really well done. Once the film reaches the last 20 minutes it actually starts getting pretty crazy and very suspenseful as well, there’s some really decent character structure and a lot of unexpected events happen it’s quite great. It’s such a shame that the rest of Hunter Hunter could not be like the last 20 minutes. However that doesn’t mean the movie is bad, there’s some decent acting and writing which keeps the movie going. I do feel Shawn Linden has a lot of potential as a director and would love to see what he does next, but this was disappointing.

6/10 C+

Farewell Amor (2020)

Reunited after 17 years, an Angolan immigrant is joined in the U.S. by his wife and daughter. Now strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment, they discover a shared love of dance that may help them overcome the distance between them.

Farewell Amor is a tale about a family being reunited after 17 years, it’s a very captivating story that keeps you invested to the characters the whole way through. What’s special about Farewell Amor is it gives you some perspective from each of the family members and what they feel or think about the reunion. It’s truly a beautiful film that captures a ton of emotions and ends on a beautiful note, the acting is quite great as well as the writing that felt very raw and down to earth. The actions of the family feel very genuine to the point where it’s almost like watching an actual family. Farewell Amor does suffer from a few script issues that could have been fixed, but it’s overall a very strong film that I highly recommend checking out.

8/10 B+

I bored the Devil to death

A man descends into paranoia after trapping what he believes to be the devil in his basement, but things take a dark turn when his family unexpectedly arrive for Christmas. This movie was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s good. It’s one of those horror movies that really doesn’t stick with you once it’s finished, what the movie does get right is the atmosphere and the filming. The two combined gave a solid result, the main problem is the character development…it’s very non existent and even when there is some it’s hard to makeout if it even is development. This is also another one of those cases where IFC Midnight hyped this up WAY too much, the movie also tries to borrow from many other types of movies but it just doesn’t work well. The acting and writing are fine enough but really don’t offer anything great. I can only recommend this movie if you have nothing else to watch, it’s harmless enough but not something I would ever want to sit through again.
5/10 C