WARWICK SHOWCASE 

BULLET TRAIN
* * * ½
(Wacky, Violent, Convoluted)

This wacky, violent, convoluted action movie is filled with out-of-control characters, and even a snake-on-a-train.

Brad Pitt plays a hired assassin on a modern bullet train speeding through Japan, running into a bevy of bad people who want to hurt him badly as he attempts to locate a briefcase and escape with it.

If you can follow the plot, which includes flashbacks and characters and scenes that eventually connect, you are as sharp as Joyce, who had to explain a few things to me.

The British “twins’” accents made it harder.

Watch closely and you’ll catch a couple of uncredited cameos.

Too many coincidences turn the movie into one big farce, but there is plenty of action to keep you involved, right up until the wild and crazy conclusion.

Pitt is always fun to watch, as his reactions to what is going on around him and to him is hilarious.

If you can stand the blood and guts spilled all over the train, you’ll have a good time.

BODIES, BODIES, BODIES
* * * ½
(Twisted Plot Mystery)

It was a dark and stormy night. Eight wealthy young adults gather at David’s parents’ mansion for a night of fun and games. Sophie brings her new girlfriend, Bee.

The group mingles, talks about old times, drinks and does drugs and eventually gets around to playing their favorite game, “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”, where they slap the person next to them, drink a shot and fake a murder. Then they must determine who the supposed killer might be.

At this point, I’m cursing Joyce for making the right decision to skip this one.

Then the movie takes a sudden twist. David is found to be quite dead, his throat slashed.

Whodunnit?

The group searches for clues, accuses each other, brings up past indiscretions, argues and fights, as more of them die in mysterious ways.

The film can be viewed on two levels. First, the pretentions of the young rich brats, and second, a clever game of making sense out of the murders and how they are connected.

The ending will surely catch you by surprise, as the remaining participants discover what happened. There is one obscure clue that you probably won’t catch but will provide a big aha moment.

The final line in the movie is also a winner.

“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” is like nothing I’ve seen before, with an ending that will satisfy you.

WARWICK SHOWCASE AND AVON

EMILY THE CRIMINAL
* * ½
(Modern white-collar crime tale)

Emily can’t pay her bills. She dropped out of college and had a minor blip on her record which prevented her from getting a good job,

She worked at a catering service but needed more money to get out of debt.

She is enticed to become a “Dummy Shopper,” buying big ticket items with fake credit cards with stolen numbers and getting paid part of the profits.

Emily becomes involved with Youcef, who runs the scam, and gets involved deeper and deeper until she finds herself living in fear and danger.

When things turn bad, Emily looks for a way to escape.

The ending may surprise you, as this slow-paced indie film shows that crime may pay.

NETFLIX

THE AGE OF ADALINE
* * *
(Fantasy Love Story)

If you can accept the outlandish premise, this Netflix movie is an interesting love story with a surprise twist.

Adaline is involved in a deadly car crash that includes lightning stopping and starting her heart. The result is that she doesn’t age. This becomes an embarrassment at first and a problem as she grows older and still looks the same.

To avoid problems, she moves and takes a new identity every 10 years. Her only steady contact is her daughter, who over the years looks like her mother (Ellen Buryston).

Bue don’t you know it. She is relentlessly pursued by a handsome young man and falls in love with him. What to do?

He takes her home to meet his parents (Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker). Won’t tell you the rest, but you are in for one of the most bizarre endings ever.

DAY SHIFT
* *
(Vampire Movie)

Jamie Foxx plays a non-union vampire killer who is in serious debt and separated from his wife and daughter.

He has help from Snoop Dog (brief appearance) getting back in the union, with a condition that a nerdy office employee follow him around, and he only works the lesser-paid day shift.

Lots of running around, heads chopped off, vampire blood everywhere.

Forget it.