VIRAL [2016]

Paranormal Activity director-duo Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost getaway from the found footage genre for the so-so parasite outbreak horror Viral.
The plot mostly follows two high-school sisters who fight to survive during a viral outbreak that leads to a frightening quarantine.
The film was wise to build a strong believable bond between the siblings because that's really the only thing of interest in this film.  It constantly steers off course and begins focusing heavily on horror aspects of the genre we've seen too much of or isn't fleshed out enough to care about.  It could have been a twist on the tired tropes by being more about the relationship, much like the far superior Maggie but instead it loses it's brave ambition and falls into been there done that far too often.  It's loaded with so many potentially interesting elements it comes off as just frustrating to see them ignored.

2 brave rats out of 5

LUCY [2014]

Writer/director Luc Besson sets out to have great fun with the ludicrous sci-fi/thriller Lucy.  Whether or not the audience has as much fun depends on their ability to suspend their disbelief.
Scarlett Johansson plays a drug mule who gains amazingly cool psychokinetic abilities when the drug accidentally leaks into her bloodstream and opens up previously unused parts of her brain.  It's an interesting role that plays like a hybrid of her Avengers' Black Widow role and the alien from Under The Skin, while Besson seems to channel Inception, Limitless and 2001: A Space Odyssey.   What's frustrating is it tries appear smarter than it really is by getting into the science of things, which is more distracting than interesting.  It's nothing but good ol' fashion SFX action with a great cast the elevates it just a bit more than it might deserve.

3 Dinkineshs out of 5

WARM BODIES [2013]

50/50 director Jonathan Levine's adaptation of Isaac Marion's zombie romance novel Warm Bodies is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Branded as "Twilight with zombies" gained it an unfortunate rep but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was more Edward Scissorhands than sparkly vampires.  It's well acted, occasionally funny and breathes some new ideas into the tired zombie genre.  However, it has a difficult time balancing comedy and horror which makes for a very bumpy ride.  Had it leaned closer towards the comedy and inserted a bit more wit into the dialogue it might have worked, instead of taking the silly premise just a tad too seriously at times.

2½ zombies with a wicked vinyl collection out of 5

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE [2011]

Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (the writers behind Bad Santa) direct this surprisingly good romantic comedy-drama Crazy, Stupid, Love.

I was expecting cliche after cliche and a number of generic songs played over "dramatic" scenes, which it occasionally resorts to but it mostly focuses on developing the conflicts and faults of the ensemble cast of well-written characters. It's a wonderfully harmless character study balanced with the right amount of comedy, romance and drama to make it bearable, if you're prepared for the unlikely "happily ever after" ending.  

3½ "A"'s for assholes out of 5