film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
A brilliant, if demented, concept could have been The Purge for parenthood, but it is inadequately explored, and then abruptly dropped by a sudden ending. The entire third act of the film is missing.
The demonic-possession subgenre isn’t exactly one crammed with quality cinematic experiences, but it hits a dull, unscary new low with this inept flick.
So bad that the projector attempted suicide multiple times during the opening-day public showing I attended.
The first Ghost Rider was awful, but this one might not be so bad, if Neveldine and Taylor bring their Crank insanity…
If Jonah Hex can talk to the dead, then he’s probably the only one (apart from Ned the Pie Man) who could have any meaningful interaction with this movie.
Recently, the members of the Online Film Critics Society voted on which comic book movie slated for release in 2010 we’re most looking forward to. We chose from this list, which includes, as far as I can determine, all the comic book movies currently on the schedule: Dead of Night The Green Hornet Iron Man … more…
It’s visually incomprehensible, emotionally empty, thematically nihilistic, almost entirely plotless… and it thinks those are virtues.
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… So the guys who did Crank and Crank: High Voltage — Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor — are back… and it looks a lot like a lot of other shit we’ve seen before, doesn’t it? Prisoners forced to play bloodsports? A game that’s really real? Gee, why … more…
Take a look back at everything I wrote about the first *Crank,* and how wrong and evil and amoral and filthy and sordid that flick was, and double it. No, quintuple it. Also: quintuple how much I laughed.
