More Quick Takes

Sharks in a Lost City

2017’s low budget shark cage malfunction thriller ’47 Meters Down’ starring Mandy Moore did well enough to earn a sequel in ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged,’ which follows another group of unsuspecting young women (high school girls this time) scuba-diving in the ruins of a submerged Mayan city of archeological significance as they’re hunted by roving sharks.  With a budget doubling its predecessor’s (though still a frugal $12 million), ‘Uncaged’ does offer somewhat higher production value if not a proportional increase in thrills. 

Grade: C

Hide and Kill

When I saw the trailer of the blood-drenched horror-comedy ‘Ready or Not’ starring Aussie actress Margot Robbie, whom I later discovered to be actually Aussie newcomer Samara Weaving (niece of genre veteran Hugo), I knew it’s a movie I just can’t miss.  Its simple story of a young bride who walked into a living nightmare when she married into a wealthy old-money family and forced to play a game of seemingly harmless hide-and-seek is a delicious, gory slice of slaughter-fest heaven.  Who said rich people don’t strike unholy deals with the Devil?  I wish there are more movies like this. 

Grade: A 

Angel Got Framed

Had someone told me back in 2013 that ‘Olympus Has Fallen,’ the R-rated action thriller starring Scottish He-Man Gerard Butler as a super “die-hard” secret service agent/glorified bodyguard of the president who saves the day, would go on to become a franchise, I would likely have branded him or her a lunatic.  Alas, here we are six years later with the third installment in what is being called the “Fallen” film series, ‘Angel Has Fallen,’ which sees our super secret service hero framed by nefarious behind-the-scenes forces for a failed assassination attempt on the very man (Morgan Freeman) he had sworn to protect.  Yeah, right.  For fans of the series, it’s more of the same and what we’ve been hungering for.  For everyone else it’s just meh. 

Grade: B 

Frozen in Time

High concept thrillers with a sci-fi twist can often be a hit-or-miss affair, and the latest low-budget Blumhouse release ‘Don’t Let Go (Relive)’ definitely falls into the latter category.  The story of a LAPD detective (David Oyelowo) who mourns the death of his beloved niece only to be given a second chance to prevent her murder after she calls him “from the beyond” offers an interesting premise to say the least, but the execution and pacing fell flat in a case of promises unfulfilled.
 

Grade: C+