Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus (1996)

Don't you hate when a film series randomly changes to Roman numerals?

After time-travel portal hopping, it's a bit of tonal whiplash to go back to a straight S&S film. The cheap television budget removes the rest of its charm. Marc Singer still looks great in the role (he hasn't worn a shirt in three movies), but it's hilarious to me that his right-hand companion Ruh has turned from a black panther to a Bengal tiger to now a fully-fledged lion. Continuity has never been this franchise's strong point, but that's the least of its issues.

This made-for-TV movie marked the end of the film series proper, though it continued on the small screen for three seasons as a syndicated TV series.

1 Shroud of Agony out of 5

The Time Shifters (1999)

aka Thrill Seekers

Casper Van Dien plays a newspaper reporter who stumbles upon a connection between historical disasters, even though they took place decades apart. Time travel is afoot. He braces himself for some shitty acting (not all of which is him) and jumps head first into TV Movie land.
The story is okay. Anyone well-read in sci-fi will know where things are going before they get there, but newcomers might be more impressed.

2 bad years out of 5

STARSHIP TROOPERS [1997]

Director Paul Verhoeven takes Robert A. Heinlein's sickly propaganda pulp novel Starship Troopers and turns it into a satirical sci-fi slap across the face to war, fascism and the U.S.'s fear of the unknown.
As a war film it's ruthlessly violent, loud and deceivingly appears to glamorize violence, as a satire it's just as ruthless only on a completely different level of wit, humor and cunning.  Like Verhoeven's Robocop, the film works just as well as a cheeky satire as it does a SFX spectacle of explosions and death.  There's a few groan-worthy moments that don't do anything for the narrative or message but I suppose without it we wouldn't be engaged with these witless pro-militarized characters.

4 censored news reels out of 5

THE PACT [2012]

Nicholas McCarthy's ghost story The Pact starts out overly rushed and littered with some questionable performances.  I was ready to write it off.

Then suddenly at the 30 minute mark it took a turn into the scary and fully absorbed me into this strange sunny California world.  It staged several frightening scenes in the stark daylight which normally is difficult to make effective but they pull it off with flying colors leading me to scream like a little girl in one moment.  It never really falls into the clichéd scares, silly twists or tries to be too smart for it's own good.  A simple scary little film that manages to rise above it's multiple plot holes.  

2½ holes in the wall out of 5

SLEEPY HOLLOW [1999]

Director Tim Burton and Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker loosely adapt Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow and turn it into a slasher flick homage to the Hammer films.

It's visually stunning, musically powerful and features a top-notch performance from Johnny Depp, but a script that stinks of multiple rewrites and an awkward performance from Christina Ricci drags it down a bit, sometimes brining nearly bringing the pacing to a complete halt.  

It's not quite a film to lose your head over but enough to please Burton/Depp fans.

3½ bleeding Trees Of Death out of 5