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Dreyfuss is a former mobster resorting to violence in a film whose delightful score can’t save it from being a hot mess

The best thing about this crime melodrama is the score, credited to composers Shane Endsley, Ben Wendel and Nate Wood (all part of a jazz group called Kneebody); it is a weird, lilting horn-led underlay to the action, full of keening melodies with an urban, smoky nightclub vibe. It’s a delight – but seems to have almost no relation to the action we see on screen. You might almost imagine that the group’s work just happened to be what was playing in the editing suite when the film was being cut together and a quick deal was done to add class to what is a deeply indifferent, muddled drama.

Written and directed, somewhat ineptly if we are being honest, by Adam Lipsius, The Last Job tells...

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By Giacomo Selloni

Crime Story is a film that tries to sell an improbable story. Though there are some good performances here, enjoyment of the film hinges on the viewer's ability to suspend disbelief.

We first meet our anti-hero, Ben Myers, via voiceover. Richard Dreyfuss's voice is easily recognizable,as is the scene. He's been shot and wounded and is being questioned by paramedics on the ride to the hospital. Briefly, we're treated to what must be his life, and mistakes, passing before his eyes. Claiming to be "based on actual events," we are now informed that we are going to a point in time "12 hours earlier."

Ben Myers is a 71 year-old man. We get this information from the paramedics in the first scene. When we first see Ben, we also see that he is obese. He and his second wife, Nan,...

Worse things have happened to Oscar winners, but it’s still unfortunate to see both Richard Dreyfuss and Mira Sorvino flailing in the inept muddle of “Crime Story.” Playing a semi-estranged father and daughter thrown into crisis mode over a few hours’ course following a home robbery, the stars are not exactly at their best here.

But then the odds are sharply stacked against them, as writer-director Adam Lipsius’ film has the feel of an enterprise whose script wasn’t quite ready for “action!”: Half the dialogue sounds haplessly improvised, with sporadic voiceover narration coming off as an equally forlorn attempt to belatedly cohere a half-baked whole. Such things do not a taut crime thriller make, and “Story” (previously promoted as both “”The Last Job” and “Reckoning”) also fails as a rather maudlin dysfunctional-family drama, among other things. Saban Films is opening the feature in 10 U.S. cities this Friday,...

Ever since seeing Creepshow (1982) when it first arrived on video, I’ve been enamored with anthology films; reaching back to Amicus’ ‘60s and ‘70s treasures like Tales from the Crypt (1972) all the way up to Epic Pictures’ Tales of Halloween (2015), omnibuses scratch a very particular itch for this viewer. Falling somewhere in the middle of my terrorline is From a Whisper to a Scream (1987), a proud and nasty addition to the sub-genre. This bugger does not mess around.

Released by Moviestore Entertainment stateside and by Cineplex-Odeon up here in Canada the following year, From a Whisper to a Scream (Aka The Offspring, which is what I knew it as) made back its $ 1.1 million budget plus a few dollars more, and the film received mixed reviews from critics in its limited release. Scrappy and mean, with a delightful turn from Vincent Price in the wraparound, From a Whisper to a Scream...