In Rock Star, I can respect Mark Wahlberg’s performance, and some of those in the supporting cast like Timothy Olymphant and Jason Flemyng, but it’s a clichéd drama that never quite hit the, ahem, right high notes to make for an engaging drama.
Torque is a biker version of The Fast and the Furious (from its producer no less) sans any memorable characters and includes terrible dialogue, a lame story (even for a movie like this) and even worse visual effects culminating with an awful, and confusing, finale.
Used Cars is not only a biting and dark satire but it’s also very funny and pretty edgy even by today’s standards to the point I’d doubt a film like this would get widely released. Kurt Russell is fantastic in the lead role and the supporting cast, led by Jack Warden, is wonderful as well.
Ride Along had the potential to be a good action-comedy and despite good on-screen chemistry between its two leads, it gets bogged down with a clichéd screenplay and ho-hum direction.
Get Carter might’ve been yet another unnecessary remake and although hardly perfect is at least passable entertainment, though there’s nothing about it particularly memorable despite decent performances from Stallone and Cook.
Grudge Match is an affable sports comedy which only works due to the charisma and on-screen status of Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone alongside a nice collection of supporting players including Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin and Kim Basinger, who all contribute so much from a lackluster screenplay.
Wild at Heart is a, well, wild ride featuring bucko performances by Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe while it’s fun seeing Laura Dern in a different role.
Young at Heart is a great romance/music/drama but it features good performances from its three leads, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and Gig Young but otherwise it’s just a nice little movie that, no doubt I will forget in a day’s time.
Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a well made if not slightly disturbing or off-putting 1980s British drama featuring three great performances.
American Hustle might be a tad overrated and certainly director David O. Russell took influence from Martin Scorsese and maybe a bit of Oliver Stone in terms of tone and style, but the movie’s success lies squarely on an all-star cast who mostly give great performances headlined by Christian Bale and Amy Adams.
No Holds Barred is silly and yet a lot fun with the overacting from Hulk Hogan and Tommy “Tiny” Lister and Kurt Fuller milks his villainous scenes whenever possible reminding you why the 1980s was such a glorious time for overkill in the acting department.
I understand Nurse 3-D is B-movie schlock and all but there are too many flaws to ignore, most of all a lead actress who is utterly terrible with flat line deliveries hard to disregard even with a script containing some truly corny dialogue. On the plus side, Katrina Bowden is wonderful and even though I didn’t care for the movie, it’s hardly the worst I’ve come across and the 80-minute running time goes by like a breeze.
Although Desolation of Smaug is an improvement over Unexpected Journey, I still wasn’t crazy about the installment with the action scenes, albeit well filmed, seemingly blurring from one to the next and you once more had references to LOTR, a series I have far more interest in re-watching and caring about than this one thus far. Still, fans will probably get more out of this than I did so on that front, it might be worth a rental.
In Fear had a decent concept but with one character who not only makes illogical decisions but is downright unlikeable and a “twist” that is revealed halfway through, the movie flounders until the very end and a message that feels tact on though I understand what the writer/director was after.
The Pirate Fairy actually isn’t a bad little film that, albeit geared more toward the younger age group, has some good animation and voice work plus the story is well written. While I might not revisit it anytime soon, it’s still a slight recommendation for families.