Coming Attractions- The Surfer

 

Director- Lorcan Finnegan

Release Date- May 2, 2025

You can see the transition to nutty Nicolas Cage towards the end of the trailer, and everything leading up to his breaking point. Cage obviously seems like a nice guy, carrying around some heavy emotional wounds. Going by the trailer, The Surfer will be loaded with carnage and violence, when Cage finally snaps and he decides to stand up to the local bullies.

The Surfer’s trailer shows a lot, but it’s also trailer that does a good job of hyping up the movie. There’s an eeriness and strange vibe here, showcasing a movie that potentially has strong emotional depth about a man, who’s just looking for peace, but he chooses violence to protect himself and his son. Cage churns out A LOT of movies, but he’s been far more consistent over the years, so hopefully he’ll continue that streak with The Surfer.

Bait/Bait 3D (2012) (Spoiler Review)

**This review contains spoilers**

On an Australian beach one day, a lifeguard named Rory (Richard Brancatisano) is out in the water, unaware of an impending shark attack. Meanwhile, Rory’s best friend and fellow lifeguard, Josh (Xavier Samuel) is on the beach with his new fiancé and Rory’s sister, Tina (Sharni Vinson). As the shark devours the first victim, Josh tries to save Rory before it’s too late. Using a jet ski, Josh is able to speed through the calamity in the water, but Rory is mangled to death by the shark before Josh has a chance to save him.

After a year passes, Josh, too traumatized to work as a lifeguard anymore, settles for a job at a local supermarket. Depressed and unable to forget about the past, Josh sees a chance to start over, when Tina strolls into the supermarket one day with her new friend, Steven (Qi Yuwu). But Josh doesn’t have time to reconnect, because his boss and the store manager, Jessup (Adrian Pang) interrupts the happy moment.

Meanwhile, in the same supermarket, Jaimie (Phoebe Tonkin) jeopardizes her boyfriend, Ryan’s (Alex Russell) job, when she’s caught shoplifting by the supermarket’s security guard and Jessup. Jaime is lucky enough to have her father Todd (Martin Sacks), who is also a police officer, receive the call for an arrest, but Todd decides to give his daughter a slap on the wrist instead. In the parking garage, Doyle (Julian McMahon) and Kirby (Dan Wyllie) plan a robbery to steal all the cash from the safe inside Jessup’s office, but Todd is able to foil the robbery. In the same parking garage, Kyle (Lincoln Lewis) pushes his girlfriend, Heather (Cariba Heine) to fool around in their BMW. And unbeknownst to Kyle and Heather, Ryan is in the garage working on his hippie van.

Out of nowhere, a giant tsunami wave destroys most of the city, while flooding the supermarket. To make matters worse, two twelve foot Great White Sharks swim into the chaos, with one circling the parking garage, and the other lurking inside the flooded supermarket. With a severely injured Todd unable to walk, the surviving group includes Josh, Tina, Steven, Jaimie, Doyle, Kirby, Jessup, and others with Ryan, Kyle, and Heather stranded in the parking garage. Josh assumes the role of leader, but he’ll have to overcome his fear of sharks, and some bitter feelings towards Tina to survive and ensure the safety of the group.

Weird, weird cast here. On one hand, you have Vinson, Samuel, McMahon, Tonkin, and Sacks, who all deliver decent to solid performances, with Vinson providing the best overall performance in the cast. But on the flip-side, you have so many terrible and mediocre performances to drag the movie down, with Pang being one of the worst.

And on top of that, the bad side of the cast has one too many unlikable and annoying characters. Heather is a run-of-the-mill narcissistic, whiny, and materialistic girlfriend, who shows too much concern for protecting her little dog, Bully. Kyle is a meathead jock/douchebag, Jessup is the overbearing boss, and Kirby is the sleazy thief/wannabe tough guy. As far as Rory goes, yeah his character is important, but it’s not fair to judge Brancatisano’s performance, because his character completely disappears after the shark attack.

Bait includes every typical and clichéd character you can think of in a horror survival film, where the main characters are barricaded inside a seemingly inescapable death trap:

-The uncooperative whiner (Jessup), who complains about everything.

-The one selfish person (kirby), who does something to jeopardize the safety of the group, so they can have a better chance of saving their own ass.

-The one person, who goes off on his own to fix a problem (in this case it’s Steven cutting off the power, so broken and live cables won’t hit the water), and of course, something goes wrong, and Steven dies.

-The tough and resourceful hard ass (Doyle), who miraculously pieces together some random contraption to save the day. Or he’s the guy, who comes up with most of (if not all of) the plans.

-The brave hero (Josh), who constantly risks his life to save everyone, while assuming the role of leader in the group

-And of course, you have someone, who’s suffering from a serious injury (Todd). But they don’t want to hold the team back, so they try to contribute, but they can’t……and in the grand scheme of things, Todd is still the weak link in the team.

Predictability is a big problem for Bait. You can see everything coming, and it’s not hard to predict every event in the entire movie step by step after the opening scene. You knew Jaimie would eventually change her attitude, and do something brave and selfless to prove to her father she’s capable of changing, and she did (Jaime jumps into the water to lure a shark towards her, giving Josh and the others time to set up a trap). You could see Steven’s death coming, Josh and Tina trusting each other again and becoming a couple didn’t surprise me, and for being such jerks, you knew Kirby, Kyle, and Jessup would suffer horrible, agonizing deaths, and they did.

But I’ll give Bait credit for a few eye-catching images. The next to final shot of the movie shows Josh and Tina holding hands, while they’re standing together with the other remaining survivors, and looking on in horror at the devastation the tsunami caused. Watching this one shot, you really feel the sense of relief for the survivors fighting and struggling to overcome more than one close call. Also, the final shot of the movie shows a shark randomly jumping out of the water to devour a flying seagull for a “it’s not over yet” cliffhanger. All of my complaints aside, it was a nice way to close out the movie.

And to be fair, Bait never tries to be too complex, and making a smart horror film wasn‘t the goal here. Bait should give gore fiends everything they want and more, and for a low budget film, the special effects aren’t that bad. In the end, Bait provides enough bloody carnage and gruesome, gory deaths to warrant a guilty pleasure pass. So yeah, if you’re looking for some passable dumb fun, and if you’re into shark attack horror movies, Bait is worth a try.

Rating: 5/10

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Bait/Bait 3D (2012) (Minor Spoiler Review)

**This review contains MINOR spoilers**

At a supermarket in Australia, a small band of survivors are trapped inside a flooded supermarket after a giant tsunami wave destroys the city. The surviving group including, Tina (Sharni Vinson), Josh (Xavier Samuel), Doyle (Julian McMahon), Todd (Martin Sacks), Steven (Qi Yuwu), Jaimie (Phoebe Tonkin), Ryan (Alex Russell), Jessup (Adrian Pang), Kirby (Dan Wyllie), and others will have to put aside their differences and work together to survive.

In the parking garage, Kyle (Lincoln Lewis) and Heather (Cariba Heine) try to use their BMW as shelter, but they’re forced to find another way out after the windows crack. Both groups are caught up in bickering and finger pointing, but a bigger problem emerges, when two twelve foot Great White Sharks swim into the supermarket and parking garage.

Weird, weird cast here. On one hand, you have Vinson, Samuel, McMahon, Tonkin, and Sacks, who all deliver decent to solid performances, with Vinson providing the best overall performance in the cast. But on the flip-side, you have so many terrible and mediocre performances to drag the movie down, with Pang being one of the worst. And on top of that, the bad side of the cast has one too many unlikable and annoying characters.

Bait includes every typical and clichéd character you can think of in a horror survival film, where the main characters are barricaded inside a seemingly inescapable death trap:

-The uncooperative whiner, who complains about everything.

-The one selfish person, who does something to jeopardize the safety of the group, so they can have a better chance of saving their own ass.

-The one person, who goes off on his own to fix a problem (in this case it’s cutting off the power, so broken and live cables won’t hit the water), and of course, something goes wrong, and that person dies.

-The tough and resourceful hard ass, who miraculously pieces together some random contraption to save the day. Or he’s the guy, who comes up with most of (if not all of) the plans.

-The brave hero, who constantly risks his life to save everyone, while assuming the role of leader in the group

-And of course, you have someone, who’s suffering from a serious injury. But they don’t want to hold the team back, so they try to contribute, but they can’t……and in the grand scheme of things, they’re still the weak link in the team.

Predictability is a big problem for Bait. You can see everything coming, and it’s not hard to predict every event in the entire movie step by step after the opening scene. But to be fair, Bait never tries to be too complex, and making a smart horror film wasn‘t the goal here. Bait should give gore fiends everything they want and more, and for a low budget film, the special effects aren’t that bad. In the end, Bait provides enough bloody carnage and gruesome, gory deaths to warrant a guilty pleasure pass. So yeah, if you’re looking for some passable dumb fun, and if you’re into shark attack horror movies, Bait is worth a try.

Rating: 5/10

Looking for a change from Batman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man? Then get know the world's newest superheroine Freechelle Fantabulous for only $0.99 by following the link- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EFLI6VK

Or take a trip into world of madness that includes comedy, horror, and the supernatural in my book of short stories, also only $0.99-  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EFMYZ0U

Follow me on Twitter here- https://twitter.com/LQuigleyFan1

And don't forget to like both of my Facebook pages, because the Mitch MacReady 2 Facebook page includes quotes from both ebooks that can't fit into Tweets-

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Paranoia (2013)

**This review contains spoilers**

Fed up with being an entry level scrub at the Wyatt Corporation, Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth) puts all of his eggs in one basket with a presentation, that could change his ordinary life. With his teammates and friends by his side, Adam gives it his all with a pitch about a new technology for social media, but Adam’s presentation doesn’t impress Nicholas Wyatt (Gary Oldman), the owner and boss of the Wyatt Corporation. The failure of the presentation and a smart remark costs Adam and his friends their jobs, but Adam decides to get a little payback by using a company credit card to run up a sixteen thousand dollar bill at a night club with his friends.

The very next day, Adam is taken back to the Wyatt Corporation against his will by Wyatt’s enforcer and personal bodyguard, Miles Meechum (Julian McMahon). Threatening to press charges against Adam for credit card fraud, Wyatt gives Adam a choice: he can either go to jail, or he can accept a mission from Wyatt to become a spy and infiltrate the Eikon Corporation, Wyatt’s top competitor, so he can learn about and eventually steal a prototype that will change the landscape for technology, and give US soldiers a better fighting chance in the battle field. Using jail time and the hopes of providing a better life for himself and his ill father, Frank (Richard Dreyfuss) as motivation, Adam accepts the offer.

Courtesy of Wyatt’s team and his top assistant, Judith (Embeth Davidtz), Adam receives a makeover, so he can look the part of a hot shot executive with new suits and a lavish apartment. After his first presentation, Adam catches the eye and gains the trust of Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford), Wyatt’s former mentor turned rival and the owner of Eikon. But to pull of the heist, Adam must deceive, Emma Jennings (Amber Heard), Eikon’s Director Of Marketing, and Adam will have to fight his feelings for Emma after a one night stand with Emma before his mission started.

Adam has second thoughts about his promise to Wyatt after receiving a warning from an FBI agent named Gamble (Josh Holloway), but Wyatt uses Frank’s life as collateral, if Adam decides to pull out. Adam is given a deadline to steal the prototype after Wyatt senses betrayal, but at the last possible second, Jock pulls a trump card, that will alter the course of Adam’s mission.

Make no mistake about it. Liam Hemsowrth is the biggest problem here, because the entire story revolves around his character. Hemsworth is such a dull, boring, and uninteresting leading man. And I’m sorry, but he’s not believable as this suave and crafty businessman/whiz kid, who’s one step ahead of everyone else. I have no real complaints about Amber Heard’s performance, but her character is so clichéd (more on that later). Julian McMahon is just there, and he could’ve been replaced by anyone else. And I wish Josh Holloway had more screen time. He had so much potential, as the hard ass FBI agent, but his character is limited to sporadic appearances (in fact, I only counted three: the one at the bar, the one at the house, where Gamble goes to warn Adam about Wyatt, and at the end during the big arrests).

So yeah, the veterans take the cake here. Richard Dreyfuss steals every scene he’s in, making Hemsworth look more inferior in the process. Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford are fantastic here. Oldman is so slimy and detestable throughout the movie, as the rich and power hungry corporate asshole. Ford has his moments as a vulnerable old man, but towards the end, when Jock shows his true colors, Ford does a wonderful job of transforming himself into a villain, who’s just as (if not more) despicable than Oldman.

The rivalry between Jock and Wyatt is the driving force behind Paranoia. Oldman and Ford really sold the hatred and bitterness between both men, and their face to face duels are the highlights of this film. I’m pretty sure you’ve all seen this part in the trailers and TV spots, but it’s a lot more intense, when you actually see it in the film, and the events leading up to it. Jock and Wyatt are going at it, and the heated part of the argument concludes with this:

Wyatt: “YOU STOOD ON MY SHOULDERS!”

Jock: “And now I’m standing on your neck!”

Unfortunately, Paranoia is suffocated by too many clichéd characters. Adam is the typical Average Joe, who wants a better life, and he’s willing to do anything to get it, until he realizes he went too far and made a mistake. Amber Heard’s Emma is a horribly bland “strong woman in the business world, who outworks all the men to prove her worth.” Yeah, Ford and Oldman’s characters are power hungry business men, but they get a pass from me, because their performances are the backbone of this film.

And the predictability? Yikes. Paranoia deserves some credit for a handful of genuinely shocking twists at the end, but the through the motions story before the big finale almost put me to sleep. Adam wanting to back out of Wyatt’s deal, Emma giving Adam a second chance, and falling in love with him after the one night stand, Adam wanting a second chance with Emma after he betrays her, Adam setting the wheels in motion to turn the tables on Wyatt and Jock, and of course, when Adam tries to steal the prototype, everything goes wrong. Oh, and giving away a lot of the major plot points in the trailers didn’t help anything.

Plus, Paranoia is loaded with “Big Brother” material. Adam is being monitored by Miles and other Wyatt associates at his apartment with surveillance cameras, and the Big Brother paranoia (no pun intended) is a reoccurring theme throughout this movie. My reaction to the Big Brother themes and social commentary? Meh. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before in other mainstream mystery suspense thrillers, and the fancy technology and cool graphics couldn’t help Paranoia stand out amongst the pack. 

With all that said, I didn’t hate Paranoia. As a thriller, yeah Paranoia is a snoozer and pretty generic (you can see the dramatic big arrests scene and downfall of empires aftermath/ending coming from a mile away), but it’s hard to take your eyes off of Ford and Oldman (Richard Dreyfuss deserves credit too), especially when they’re on screen together. Paranoia definitely had the potential to be a better thriller. With a different director (Robert Luketic‘s style is very bland, and for a thriller, Paranoia is severely lacking in the suspense and thrills department ) and a better leading man, Paranoia could’ve been one of the better summer films this year, easily.

Rating: 4/10

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