+1 [2013]

Director Dennis Iliadis' frightening sci-fi/thriller +1 is like taking Can't Hardly Wait and twisting it into one of the weirder episodes of Fringe.
The idea of watching two realities collide is intense when it's well done, however +1 keeps getting good then falling apart then good again.  It's a bit of a rough ride with an insanely cool idea that completely falls apart by the end.  I suspect they didn't know what to do with the story for a complete feature length and probably would have worked a lot better with a good 20-25 minutes cut out.  Still, the curiosity of how it was all going to play out kept me entertained till the very end.

3 flaming tennis balls out of 5

THE PURGE [2013]

The Purge is an intense and quite often frustrating home invasion thriller from writer/director James DeMonaco.
It starts out quite intriguing with an attempt to deliver a message to viewers but ultimately gets lost in the mix of stupid character choices and mind-numbing predictability.  I expected the worst, based on the more than horrible reactions but I suspect a lot of it had to do with the touchy material that most "wishy washy" people found very uncomfortable to think about it.  The film's biggest disappointment is that with a bit more thought the fantastic concept wouldn't have been put to waste with such a shitty execution.

2 flower bouquets out of 5