People have been buzzing about the found-footage superhero film “Chronicle,” starring Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Alex Russell. Having seen the trailers, it would appear that this original film about teenagers discovering their superpowers could be a contender for being one of this year’s best films. Brazilian movie site Cinepop has a new poster of the film up on their site. The poster shows one of the teenagers either causing an explosion or trying to stop it. Either way there is a fire blast, people running, a car in the air and a very realistic air of a kid out of control that I would equate to the seminal…

A pumped-up remake of the same-named 1984 vampire horror-comedy, “Fright Night” represents a well oiled machine of goosed senses that unfortunately has no clearly defined motivating purposes, even within genre confines of its own story. Fun and engaging performances carry the movie a great distance, but it eventually bogs down courtesy of loosely defined stakes (no pun intended) and poorly incentivized action. The story centers on Las Vegas high school senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), who lives with his single mom real estate agent, Jane (Toni Collette), and has successfully pivoted away from his geeky past enough to bag a popular girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots). Things get turned upside down…

Title: Scream 4 Directed by: Wes Craven Starring: David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson and Marley Shelton Running time: 111 min, Rated R, Available on Blu-Ray Sidney Prescott from the previous Scream films is back in Woodsboro on a book tour, and it just so happens to be the anniversary of the original murders that started the series. Ghostface is back as well, making his “What’s your favorite scary movie?” inquiry calls and the body count rises again. Sidney, her cousin Jill, Chief Dewey and his wife Gale do what they can to survive the ordeal and unmask the new killer posing as Ghostface….

Title: Killer Elite Director: Gary McKendry Starring: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Yvonne Strahovski, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Aden Young Killer Elite begins with the “Based on true events” tagline. It just so happens the 100 minute feature could have actually happened; as it is based off a book titled, The Feather Men, whose author has been coy on whether or not the content in the pages contain actual truths. Looking into the facts after seeing the film may have one appreciating this standard action piece a bit more. Either way, seeing Jason Statham in this type of role & script once again, we can finally coin the…

Title: Blades of Blood (AKA: Like the Moon Escaping from the Clouds) Directed by: Joon-Ik Lee Starring: Seong-hyeon Baek, Seung-won Cha and Kim Chang-Wan Running time: 108 minutes, Rated R In 1592, Korea is threatened by Japanese invasion. Mong-hak Lee is a power hungry revolutionist who uses the rebel army to overthrow the government before Japan can take over. A blind swordsman Jung-hak Hwang, the bastard son of a nobleman Gyeong-ja and Lee’s former courtesan Baek-ji are trying to catch up with Mong-hak Lee with reasons of revenge for his wrongdoings, before Lee meets his fate with the impending invasion. I watched this DVD with the English dubbing, which I…

Title: Super Hybrid Directed by: Eric Valette Starring: Shannon Beckner, Oded Fehr and Ryan Kennedy Running time: 94 minutes, Rated PG-13, available on standard DVD A car is brought into a Chicago police impound garage after an accident. The mechanics who work there soon realize that the car has a mind of its own and is able to change its appearance to other car models to elude them, while devouring anyone who comes near. Didn’t they do this before? Oh yeah, it was called Christine…and then Maximum Overdrive. Did we really need another “killer car” movie? The mechanics pop the hood and a den of blue snakes tries to attack…

Title: Assassination Games Director: Ernie Barbarash Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Kevin Chapman, Ivan Kaye, Andrew French, Serban Celea, Michael Higgs, Kristopher Van Varenberg, Bianca Van Varenberg If or when extraterrestrial aliens ever dissect the full and complete library of our entertainment options, they will surely be somewhat puzzled by our fixation, per capita, on lawyers, ER doctors and hitmen. Murder, of course, in theory represents the ultimate in dramatic stakes, but given the genre preoccupation with for-hire killings, one could be forgiven, from the outside looking in, for thinking this was a growth sector with no tangible ceiling. The latest movie to till this earth is Assassination Games, the first action entry…

If the Beatles and the Rolling Stones spawned their own dueling fanbases, connoisseurs of late 1980s and early ’90s action flicks often have their own disagreements about the merits and appeal of Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. While the former generally smashed heads and cracked skulls with the disposition of a sullen ox, the latter had a more compact frame, and a kind of balletic karate skill set to match a slightly more engaging personality. Known as “The Muscles From Brussels,” the Belgian-born Van Damme would put his stamp on the action genre with a string of increasingly profitable hits like Death Warrant, Double Impact, Universal Soldier and Timecop,…

Title: Point Blank Writer-director: Fred Cavaye Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gerard Lanvin, Elena Anaya The title Point Blank is one of those perfectly generic and innocuous film monikers that indicate “thrills” without any cumbersome specificity whatsoever. One hears it and immediately envisions a dozen or more well-worn video and DVD coverboxes – with Steven Seagal, Jeff Speakman or, now, the latest WWE superstar attempting to transition into acting, clutching a handgun and mean-mugging the viewer, all underneath a font that conveys skirmish and exploit. This is one of the reasons that it’s a somewhat strange fit with this French import — an action thriller yes, but hardly a nuance-free, vengeful…

Title: Tekken Directed by: Dwight H. Little Starring: Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Tamlyn Tomita and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Running time: 91 Minutes, rated R, available on standard DVD Based on world renowned fighting video games by Namco, the year is 2039 and the world has been ravaged by world war. Territories are now run by corporations, the largest of which is Tekken. The only event that keeps public morale going is watching the Iron Fist tournaments. When Jin Kazama’s mother is murdered, Jin volunteers in the tournament and is set to take vengeance upon the Tekken leader Heihachi Mishima whom he knows was involved. He discovers his mother was once a…