Mercy (2026)

Taking a page from the Minority Report pre-crime handbook, and set in the scary near-future (2029), the A.I. Justice System has charged a man of killing his wife, and he has only 90 minutes to prove his innocence or be executed in this sci-fi techno-thriller that plays out in real time. The catch is that it mostly takes place in a virtual courtroom, where he has to beat a 97.5% probability by gathering evidence from all the data uploaded to the internet at his disposal.

This could have easily turned into another screenlife War of the Worlds-type situation, but mercifully, it's handled a lot more competently. It's easy to get swept up in the logistics and breakneck pacing. It falters in the final third, but it's interesting enough to grab your attention and hold it there for its duration.

2½ gut instincts out of 5

Unfriended (2014)

An innovative take on the found footage genre, the film's POV is seen through one character's computer screen. The story is unraveled before our eyes in real time as if we were the ones moving the cursor around and typing in search bars. Instead of this feeling tired, it was fresh and really drew my attention. Plotwise it was almost too similar to the real life cyber bullying tragedy of Amanda Todd. The characters are stereotypical high school archetypes each with an obvious tell which leads to a series of poorly filmed death scenes. It's no surprise this was originally intended to air on MTV as the dialogue is juvenile and shallow. While I'm sure the filmmakers intended the glitchy video interference heavily featured throughout Unfriended to add a sort of familiar digital texture, it actually became abrasive to the eye. The promising and innovative concept is the only real highlight here. The suspense is lost in the second half as the horror degenerates into long pauses followed by jump scares and screaming matches between characters.

2 never have I evers out of 5

Wanted (2008)

Even if you’re willing to accept that skilled assassins can bend bullet trajectories, the level of bullshit in every other aspect of Wanted is off the scale. If you stacked it up, it'd rival Everest.
I tried to bend the trajectory of the DVD as I flung it out my window. I failed. I’d forgotten to be part of a training montage beforehand.

1½ threads out of 5

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER [2012]

With Timur Bekmambetov directing and Tim Burton producing the big screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter I was expecting some campy, ridiculously violent fun with some dry wit about it.

Instead, it takes an overly serious route that is both dull and boring, with the exception of two entertaining action sequences.  Shame.  A waste of a potentially dumb, fun popcorn flick.  

1 horse-tossing vampire out of 5

Day Watch (2006)

After a brief introduction, Day carries on from where Night Watch left off. However, while Night was consistently good, Day isn't. The first half is a mess and some attempts at humour fall flat. If you can endure it the last hour will make the journey very worthwhile. It pulls out all the tricks and leaves a very satisfying but equally prodigious ending.
Once again, the International release is heavily cut (by 14 minutes). Get the Unrated Dir Cut if you can. We may never see part 3 becuase Hollywood bought the rights to it and they don't make Russian films in America.

3½ birthday parties are a pain out of 5

Night Watch (2004)

Anton has a moment of selfish abandon and his whole world turns to shit as a result. He gets thrown into the first ever big budget Russian fantasy film that's heavy on FX but also heavy on story. It's a highly original, perfect antidote to the Hollywood garbage we're spoon-fed annually.
There are two versions of the film. If you have the one with the crazy subtitles you have the International version. It has some new scenes and some scenes cut making it 10 minutes shorter than the original Russian version. Try and find the release that has both.

4 sideways shuffles into the gloom out of 5