Opening Today: Double Barrel: Sige, Iputok Mo!

Directed by Toto Natividad; stars AJ Muhlach, Phoebe Walker, Jeric Raval, Ali Khatibi

Crooked cops recruit drug pusher to assassinate notorious gangsters. Walker admits that she and Muhlach “were new to the action genre, but our director made things easy.” She recounts: “I am happy to play a character that’s very different from my past roles. I felt as if I was as gorgeous as Angelina Jolie during filming!”

Rough Night

Directed by Lucia Aniello; stars Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Jillian Bell
Pals’ wild bachelorette weekend goes off the rails. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers thinks “the women are terrific company … too bad you can’t say the same for the movie.” New York Observer’s Thelma Adams concurs: “Formulaic feminism makes for a rough watch in this chick retread of ‘The Hangover.’”

Aftermath
Directed by Elliott Lester; stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maggie Grace, Scott McNairy
Family man grapples with loss after a tragic plane crash. Sunday Times’ Jonathan Dean calls it “somber and slow … [this] basic bereavement-pusher is far more humane.” Variety’s Peter Debruge quips: “Watching Schwarzenegger attempt to emote amounts to exactly that: Watching someone attempt to emote.”

Armed Response

Directed by John Stockwell; stars Wesley Snipes, Anne Heche, Gene Simmons, David Annable

Soldiers encounter malevolent forces in high-tech compound that’s under siege. USA Today’s Brian Truitt relates: “Good news for those who need a little bit of 1990s nostalgia.” Criticalhit.net’s Trevor Davies rants: “Strengthens my long-held theory: You can’t have enough low-budget Wesley Snipes action movies.”

Fairy Tale Dragon City

Directed by Tatsuma Minamikawa; with the voices of Bob Carter, Makoto Furukawa, Wataru Hatano

Mage and his cronies travel to an island kingdom, to save the world from chaos. Theouterhaven.net’s Karl Smart raves: It’s “everything you should expect from a Shonen anime movie.” A Myanimelist reviewer differs: “First part is pure ecchi fan service … Story is rushed and had the team hopping from scene to scene.”

Hard Target

Directed by Simon West; stars Dominic Cooper, Connie Nielsen, Tom Felton, Gemma Chen

British special commando hunts down a terrorist who’s detonating a biochemical bomb. Everythingaction.com sums it up as “a solid action-thriller [that’s] not going to break the mold.” Ocmoviereviews.com laments that it’s “about as thrilling as painting a wall and the the action is pretty shoddy.”