White Boy Rick
directed by Yann Demange
(R, 1 hour, 51 minutes)
A tough-as-nails cast battles against an underachieving script in this uneven story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI in Detroit during the crack-cocaine era of the 1980s before ultimately being abandoned by his handlers, arrested for drug-trafficking, and sentenced to life in prison. Based on a real person and real situations. With Jennifer Jason Leigh, Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Dern, Brian Tyree Henry, Bel Powley, Eddie Marsan, Piper Laurie; directed by Yann Demange.
The Predator (R, 1 hour, 47 minutes) A boring, too-long, but good-looking blockbuster wannabe in which a lethal gang of alien hunters returns to earth, where only a sorry array of ex-soldiers and an out-of-sorts science teacher stand in their way to prevent the end of the human race. With Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Alfie Allen; directed by Shane Black.
A Cam Life (not rated, 1 hour, 15 minutes) An unusual documentary, filmed in Colombia, Romania, and across the U.S., in which Andy Weiss and Billy Sorrentino provide access to the top studio owners, performers, clients, and websites of the multi-million-dollar adult entertainment industry. With Tori Black, Jessa Rhodes, Nicole Aniston, Lilly Ford.
Brown Girl Begins (not rated, 1 hour, 10 minutes) It's 2049 on a forsaken island known as The Burn off the coast of Toronto where the poor are confined; the lives of the islanders depends on young Ti-Jeanne, an unwilling priestess, who must survive a possession ritual that killed her mother so she can take her place as a Caribbean priestess and save her people. With Mouna Traore, Nigel Shawn Williams; directed by Sharon Lewis.
Bayou Caviar (TV-MA, 1 hour, 51 minutes) You'd be better off taking the family out to look at Christmas lights or return unwanted gifts, but if this is the only film you can find to watch on a chilly December evening, don't say you weren't warned. Set in New Orleans (one of the production's few benefits), this is a sloppy, mean-spirited, and too-complicated mess that gets rolling, more or less, when a powerful Russian-Israeli oligarch gets kicked out of the United States, which triggers a bizarre array of events that involve a boxer, blackmail, a Hollywood sex scandal, and a lot of top-shelf caviar. With Cuba Gooding Jr., Famke Janssen, Richard Dreyfuss, Gregg Bello; directed by Gooding.
Monster Party (not rated, 1 hour, 29 minutes) A dark comedy for those who relish super-violent bloodletting, this suspenseful shocker introduces viewers to three teenage thieves who infiltrate a mansion dinner party secretly hosted by a serial killer cult. WIth Julian McMahon, Robin Tunney, Brandon Micheal Hall; directed by Chris von Hoffmann.
MovieStyle on 12/28/2018