The Night Clerk (2016)

I think we are supposed to be relieved when the 'Norman Bates' secret of a hotel night clerk with Asbergers is out and turns out to be not quite what we suspected because this thriller seems to think that that is the end of the matter and moves breezily on, apparently unaware of a whole lot of concerns and questions and 'but-hold-on-a-minutes' the viewer has about this witness to a hotel room murder who becomes embroiled in an investigation; it's an initially intriguing but ultimately ŕather sad little thriller.

★★☆☆☆

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Ready Player One (2018)

The ragtag bunch of best friends has been replaced by a ragtag bunch of avatars of virtual strangers; the Fratelli family is an evil mega-corporation; One-Eyed Willy's treasure is an Easter Egg worth trillions hidden in a virtual world stuffed full of unamusing pop culture references - and the fun is in short supply in Steven Spielberg's busy but soulless millenial update of The Goonies.

★★★☆☆

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Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

This movie's raison d'etre is to bring pubescent boys and strippers, sex and gore together and to make it seem clever and not just another movie that brings pubescent boys, strippers, sex and gore together, but the giveaway that this is in fact just another not-very-clever movie with pubescents, strippers, sex and gratuitous blood and guts is the fact the movie could just as easily be called, Strippers' Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse - there's not much evidence in this zombie outbreak movie that the scouts' preparedness and resourcefulness is any better than the stripper's.

★★☆☆☆

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Mud (2012)

A man on the run enlists the help of two boys adventuring on a remote part of the Arkansas river and over the course of helping him the boys learn about life and love, in this part-Huckleberry Finn, part-Tom Sawyer, part-Stand By Me coming-of-age suspense drama.

★★★★☆

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