Reacher, Season Two, on Prime

In Lee Child’s novels, Jack Reacher is a decorated veteran, whose medals and citations include a Purple Heart after surviving the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Yet, he ultimately sabotaged his own career because he was more interested in justice than politics. Viewers will see his fateful last case as in the Military Police Corps through flashbacks when he learns somebody is killing former members of his fictional investigative unit in season two of showrunner Nick Santora’s Reacher (adapted from Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble), which premieres Friday on Prime Video.

Reacher is a blues-loving veteran, so everyone should identify and sympathize with him. After the military, Reacher took up drifting, essentially emulating the lifestyle of many of his itinerant blues heroes. Fortunately, his old Sergeant, Frances Neagley figures out a way to contact him when members of the 110^th Investigative Unit start to turn up dead.

At first, they only have one body, Calvin Franz, who always idolized the big guy, but soon two more are discovered. However, in addition to Reacher and Neagley, ladies’ man-turned-family man David O’Donnell and Reacher’s former work-wife and not-so-secret crush Karla Dixon are also present and accounted for. However, their former colleague Swan is missing-in-action. The question will be whether he stayed a friend or turned foe. The remaining 110th is lucky in one respect. Det. Gaitano Russo, the cop assigned to Franz’s case, might have a prickly personality, but he is scrupulously honest.

A whole heck of a lot of henchmen and assassins will be killed (mostly in self-defense, mostly) during the course of season two. Like the first season, each episode of Bad Luck and Trouble features plenty of gritty action and a satisfyingly high body-count. The only thing season one lacked was a strong villain, but season two rectifies that with Robert Patrick, who is appropriately ruthless as Shane Langston, the corporate head of security pulling most of the strings.

Alan Ritchson is still perfectly cast as Reacher (whose description in the Child books is nothing like little Tom Cruise). He still looks huge and has the same swagger from season one. Ritchson also quickly develops solid chemistry with Serinda Swan (from Coroner). Together, they deliver a lot more heat than the first season. Swan also shows off some serious action chops of her own that could make her the breakout star of season two.

Dark Asset, Starring Byron Mann and Robert Patrick

Sometimes, "super-soldier” programs turn out great, like with Captain America and sometimes they create monsters, as in Universal Soldier. The chip implant “John Doe” received definitely follows in the latter tradition. Even though he has the latest revised software, “Doe” still goes rogue anyway in Michael Winnick’s Dark Asset, which releases today in theaters and on-demand.

The nefarious Dr. Cain hoped to show-off Cain’s augmentations to a visitor from “the agency,” but it is clear Agent Wilds has both ethical and practical reservations, even before “Doe” pulls off an incredibly violent escape. Apparently, the former Special Forces guinea pig managed to change his passcodes and Cain’s augmentations helped him do the rest.

Even though Cain’s financial backers, including the criminally bland former Senator Benson, have dispatched their early, sexier female “super-spies” to liquidate Doe, he still takes the time to chat up Jane in a hotel bar. In fact, he will tell the skeptical business traveler all the dirty secrets of Dr. Cain’s organization. Frankly, it is hard to see how he would know about so many other super-spies’ backstories, but he does. Regardless, you have to wonder why he thinks his crazy yarn will seduce the super-model looking woman. She can’t help wondering herself.

The basic premise is certainly familiar, but Winnick and co-scripter Terri Farley-Teruel try to dress it up with the pick-up line flashbacks. It is a little too cute and the twists are a bit too obvious. However, it is fun to see action genre vet Byron Mann get a starring role. He always has action cred, but it is also amusing to watch him smirk and charm his way through the courtship scenes with Helena Mattsson, playing Jane.

The Rising Hawk: Ukrainian Historical Action, with Robert Patrick

Back in the 13th Century, a hearty community of Ukrainians faced an invasion from the east. In this case, it was a Mongol army rather than the ununiformed troops of Putin’s moribund Russian regime, but the implications were pretty much the same for the invaded. However, the rough-hewn highlanders faced adversity before, so they are not afraid to fight for what’s theirs in John Wynn & co-director Akhtem Seitablaev’s The Rising Hawk, an English-language, Ukrainian-American co-production, which releases tomorrow on-demand.

Zakhar and Rada’s older son Ivan is the brawny one, but his younger brother Maksim is the really tough one. Zakhar understands how that works. He looks like an old farmer, but when outside forces threaten their peaceful valley, he will be the one to rally their defenses. In contrast, Tugar, the warlord who appointed himself “Boyar” of the region, will cave and capitulate when confronting Burunda Khan’s army. That is endlessly embarrassing for his crack archer daughter Myroslava, who is unambiguously encouraging Maksim’s romantic advances.

Things really come to a head when Maksim kills the Khan’s son while rescuing women abducted from the valley. Zakhar’s community will have to stand alone, along with two notable allies: Myroslava and Bohun, an unstable warrior Maksim also freed from the Mongols, who holds a deeply personal grudge against his former captors.

The first forty minutes or so are a bit slow, but Hawk gets pretty cool when the fighting starts for real. The hack-and-slash action is often brutally realistic, but also impressively cinematic. Wynn and Uzbek filmmaker Seitablaev give the film epic scope, capitalizing on the mountain vistas (the Carpathians, they’re not just for Dracula movies anymore), while keeping the action gritty and viscerally personal.

Tone-Deaf: Baby Boomer vs. Millennial

Conflict is inevitable between Millennials and Baby-Boomers, because both generations grew up believing they were the center of the universe. That natural hostility will ignite some bloody mayhem in this exercise in suburban horror. However, most viewers will equally root against the two anti-social antagonists of Richard Bates Jr.’s Tone-Deaf, which opens today in New York.

The Baby-Boomers brought us Woodstock, the New Left, disco, and a president who “didn’t inhale,” but Bates presents the widowed Harvey as the youngest and angriest member of the “Greatest Generation.” Thanks to Airbnb (or a similar site), he meets and instantly dislikes the nauseatingly entitled Olive, who will rent his large but creepy Ventura County home for the weekend. She hopes to unwind for the weekend, after breaking up with her deadbeat boyfriend and getting herself fired through her snarky, passive-aggressive work-place behavior. Unfortunately, Harvey’s malicious mischief will ruin the plan.

For reasons never really explained, Harvey is suddenly obsessed by the idea of taking a human life. His first try is pretty sloppy, but he will get better as he practices on minor characters. Of course, Olive will be the main event, unless Crystal, her self-absorbed commune-dwelling mother, suddenly starts acting responsible and assertive.

There are a few clever lines in Tone-Deaf, but the jokes mostly fall flat. It has none of the razor-sharp wit of Bates’ Trash Fire—just the caustic attitude. Frankly, Bates doesn’t even seem to understand what the Baby-Boomers represent. Instead, he just falls back on grouchy old-timer gags, like Grumpy Old Men with a body-count.

Nevertheless, it should be readily stipulated Robert Patrick can still play a genre heavy like nobody’s business. In fact, he out Nic Cages Nic Cage, in a good way, as the wildly unstable, sometime delusional, and possibly dementia-addled Harvey. Patrick has yet to get the post-T2 credit he deserves, but this is not the film that will usher in his renaissance.

As Olive, Amanda Crew mostly hits the same one-note of flippant disdain for the world over and over, which is probably appropriate for her character, but it quickly grows old and tiresome for the audience. It is sort of mind-blowing to see Kim Delaney playing her mom, but she creates a reasonably credible hippy persona.

The title is a reference to Olive’s dreadful piano stylings, but it suits the film perfectly. Frankly, it is unclear whether the film really understands the generational differences it tries to skewer. Of course, if you identify with Generation X, you can just say a plague on both your houses. Regardless, viewers of all ages can safely take a pass when Tone-Deaf opens today (8/23) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

Last Rampage: Robert Patrick as Gary Tison

Gary Tison secured a place in history for his family. Unfortunately, it was with the landmark death penalty case, Tison vs. Arizona. He exerted a dysfunctional Svengali-like control over his sons that made everyone suffer, particularly their victims. With their assistance, Tison escaped from prison, igniting a spectacularly ill-fated flight from justice. If ever there was a compelling argument for the death penalty, it would be Tison, who chillingly comes to life in Dwight Little’s true crime drama, Last Rampage (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

While doing well-deserved time, Tison was a model prisoner, so he was duly moved to a lower security annex. In retrospect, that was a huge mistake. His three sons just sauntered in on visiting day, just like they always did, except this time they had a picnic basket full of guns. At least Tison was a loving father, albeit in a seriously warped way. His cellmate and fellow escapee Randy Greenwalt was a stone-cold sociopath. Donnie Tison, the only Tison brother exhibiting any capacity to think for himself clashes early and often with Greenwalt. Their father will also try to shift the blame for the worst of the post-escape crimes on his former cellmate, but it is hard for the Tison boys to ignore what they see with their own eyes, especially for Donnie.

Of course, it is not just their father who poisoned his sons’ heads. Their mother Dorothy is sort of like a Lady Macbeth-instigator, who keeps herself in a willful state of denial regarding her husband’s dangerously erratic nature. Sheriff Cooper already lost friends and colleagues to Tison, so he will have Tison’s wife and semi-estranged brother closely watched.

Rampage is a somewhat frustrating film, because it assembles some truly terrific performances in a cookie-cutter TV-movie-of-the-week package. Frankly, Robert Patrick’s charismatic ferocity as Pops Tison will be an out-and-out revelation for those who only know him as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 and subsequent self-parodying appearances. In a more distinctive film, his performance could have been a dark horse awards contender.

Likewise, Heather Graham is unusually intense playing against type as Ma Tison. It is a neatly calibrated performance that leaves viewers unsure to what extent she has been deluding herself about her beloved husband. As always, Bruce Davison is rock-solid as Sheriff Cooper, providing a grounded, moral center to the film. John Heard only appears briefly, but he makes the most of it as the “colorful,” ethically questionable Warden Blackwell. Chris Browning is also all kinds of creepy as Greenwalt, but in a quieter, clammier, low-key kind of way, which nicely compliments Patrick’s flamboyant bluster. Sadly, the Tison brothers are rather dull compared to everyone else.

You have probably seen some of Little’s earlier films, like Halloween 4 or Marked for Death, back when going to the latest Steven Seagal film in theaters was a serious option instead of a depressing joke. Most of his recent work has been in episodic television (Bones, Prison Break, Nikita), so maybe it was inevitable Rampage would have a TV vibe. Nevertheless, Little brings out the best in his cast and the film’s late 1970s period details are spot-on. It is certainly far more polished and professional looking than Do It or Die, another recent true crime indie film helmed by a TV veteran (a comparison only a handful of us truly intrepid film dissectors would ever think to make).

Patrick and Graham really do some first-rate work in Rampage, so it is a shame it will probably not be screened and covered more widely. As big-screen storytelling, it is serviceable at best, but the turns from the two well-known co-leads could change viewer and industry preconceptions of them. Recommended as a future Netflix or Shudder stream, Last Rampage opens this Friday (9/22) at the Laemmle Music Hall.

Eloise: Crazy in Michigan

It was yet another large employer in the Detroit-area that closed in the late 1970s. Technically, a few administrative support jobs remain to this day, but most of the 78 buildings are vacant or demolished. Yet, unlike the factories forced out of business, not so many locals mourned the passing of the Eloise Mental Hospital. Of course, the bad vibes generated by all that shock treatment of whatever will not simply evaporate. It still lingers, waiting to ensnare a group foolish enough to venture into the spooky abandoned section in Robert Legato’s Eloise (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Jacob Martin is rather surprised to hear he potentially stands to inherit his estranged father’s fortune and even more confused to learn the only complication is the Aunt Genevieve he never knew he had. Presumably, she died while committed to Eloise, but the remaining skeleton staff is in no hurry to retrieve her file from “the annex.” Being proactive but misguided, Martin’s childhood pal suggests they break in and find it themselves, with the help of Eloise internet historian Scott Carter.

It turns out, Carter is the special needs brother of tough-talking doe-eyed bartender Pia Carter. As one would hope and expect, she is against the misadventure, but the dudes already have him fired up, so she figures it will be easier for her to just go with it. Of course, that turns out to be a profoundly bad call. The Carter brother holds up his end, leading the group to the annex rather directly, but nobody is prepared to deal with the ghosts of Eloise past, particularly the sadistic director, Dr. H.H. Greiss. That old cat just doesn’t know when to give up the ghost.

Screenwriter Christopher Borrelli arguably takes the road less traveled in the third act, opting for a Twilight Zone sort of complication rather than a standard issue gore fest. In fact, the big twist is pretty clever, yet it is sufficiently supported by the groundwork already laid.

Frankly, Eliza Dushku doesn’t seem to be trying very hard as sister Pia (a name that is probably considered bad karma in Hollywood). Conversely, Chace Crawford is a better-than-average stubbly-faced horror movie protag. P.J. Byrne goes all-in as the slightly problematic brother Scott, which is both good and bad. However, it is always fun to watch Robert “Terminator Cop” Patrick glower and do his thing as Dr. Greiss.

Admittedly, Eloise will not transcend its genre and become a crossover breakout hit, but it is considerably more ambitious than it needed to be and features a cast that should hold considerable appeal to fans. When judiciously considered, the verdict comes back: pretty good. Recommended for horror movie regulars, Elois opens this Friday (2/3) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

Sundance ’15: Hellions

One of the nice things about Manhattan walk-ups is trick-or-treaters never knock on your door. Instead, it is the local businesses that have to deal with them. Sure, you might think you would miss the little dears until you see Bruce McDonald’s Hellions (clip here), which screened during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Dora Vogel just got the super exciting news that she is pregnant—on Halloween. Seriously bummed out, she mopes around the house waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up, so she can spring the good news on him. However, he is running suspiciously late. With her mother and obnoxious younger brother out trick-or-treating, Vogel is stuck dealing with the persistent little buggers who keep coming to the door. They just aren’t satisfied with the dregs of her candy. When they show Vogel the head of her baby-daddy in their trick-or-treat bag, she realizes these little monster are as evil as they seem.

Of course, any horror fan knows the demonic trick-or-treaters really want the baby growing at a supernatural rate within Vogel. It turns out carrying a Halloween baby is a dangerous proposition in this paganistic neck of the woods. The creatures seem to be able to summon all kinds of elemental and inter-dimensional forces to help terrify Vogel. Somehow, the previously calm and rational Dr. Henry and Corman the local copper manage to reach Vogel, but they are essentially ineffectual dead meat. At least Corman brings guns, but they won’t be enough to stop the maniacal moppets. Only salt seems to do the trick.

McDonald certainly sets the creepy scene in Hellions, but compared to his cult classic Pontypool (arguably the best zombie film since the original Night of the Living Dead), it feels rather conventional. Granted, he opens it up rather well, turning the Vogel house into a surreal nightmarescape. Still, the film always fundamentally boils down to Vogel getting chased kids wearing burlap sacks.

Robert Patrick (T2, The X-Files) is still pretty awesome, delivering instant genre credibility as Corman. Rossif Sutherland also helps flesh out the good doctor, beyond being mere meat for the grinder. Unfortunately, Chloe Rose is a bit of a dull scream queen.

McDonald and cinematographer Norayr Kasper give the film an eerie, otherworldly look. Arguably, the implications of the film also support gun-ownership rights, because you never know when your home will be overrun by hellions. It gets the job done, but Pontypool admirers will be disappointed it isn’t more ambitious. Recommended for mostly fans of Patrick and evil children horror movies, Hellions is sure to make the genre festival rounds after premiering as a Park City at Midnight selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.