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By Mark Saldana  Rating: 2.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Jennifer Garner brings a fiery intensity to her lead role in Peppermint, a film that also delivers some incendiary action sequences.  However, these positive elements are simply not enough to elevate this movie above the average revenge flick.  An undercooked script with underdeveloped characters keeps this… Continue reading Review: PEPPERMINT

By Mark Saldana  Rating: 2 (Out of 4 Stars) Inspired by the gothic novel by Sarah Waters, Academy Award nominated director Lenny Abrahamson (Room) has created a gloomy and occasionally eerie film that looks gorgeously dank and has plenty of mood to spare.  However, given all of its fine world building and aesthetic wickedness, the… Continue reading Review: THE LITTLE STRANGER

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) In 2014, directors Jonathan and Josh Baker released a short film titled Bag Man which further inspired the inventive filmmakers to do a feature film version of the story.  Four years later, the Bakers have returned with a finished product, an entertaining movie called Kin. Though… Continue reading Review: KIN

By Jan Hamilton Set in England, shortly after the Second World War, this movie is a combination of the British country manor drama and a scary movie, which are my favorite and least favorite movie categories, respectively. The film tells the story of young Dr. Faraday and his strange experiences with the Ayres family. Thirty… Continue reading Review: THE LITTLE STRANGER

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Now that smart phones, computers, internet and social media play such large roles in most people’s lives, it was only a matter of time before movies would follow suit.  The Blumhouse horror features Unfriended and Unfriended: Dark Web have both attempted to use electronic media in… Continue reading Review: SEARCHING

By Mark Saldana  Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) While there have been several films where an underappreciated and taken-for-granted housewife finds an escape from her usual rut, this particular film definitely has some strong assets in its stars Kelly Macdonald and Irrfan Khan.  The two talented and charming actors share an enjoyably awkward chemistry… Continue reading Review: PUZZLE

By Mark Saldana  Rating: 1.5 (Out of 4 Stars) From Brian Henson, son of late Muppet creator Jim Henson, comes a movie which attempts to entertain adult audiences with raunch, shock and awe, but ultimately falls flat. The Happytime Murders takes puppet characters similar to Jim Henson’s Muppets and places them in adult scenarios of… Continue reading Reviews: THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS