Lock Up (1989)

 

 

With only six months left of his sentence, an inmate is transferred from a minimum security prison to a maximum security prison by a vindictive warden.

Tough prison camp thriller is watchable for its cast, but adds nothing new to the genre.
 

Halliwell (no star): "Nasty and sadistic, with no redeeming qualities."

Maltin*1/2: "Missing are Linda Blair, John Vernon, a lesbian guard, and 15 gratuitous showers; you do get a body-shop montage backed by Ides of March's "Vehicle." Bottom of the world, ma." 

 

 

Red Planet (2000)

Astronauts, and their robotic dog AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Evaluation and Evasion), search for solutions to save a dying Earth by searching on Mars, only to have the mission go terribly awry.

It's quite a regular sci-fi adventure with maybe a bit too many obstacles packed into the plot, but manages to entertain in an old-fashioned kind of way.

Halliwell (no star): "Dreary science-fiction, with the actors inhibited by their space-suits; nothing interesting happens very slowly."

Maltin**: "Utterly ordinary sci-fi saga...Looks good, but covers awfully familiar dramatic turf."