The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Seventh Season is hardly terrible but it’s clear the writing and stories weren’t as strong and with Nina Dobrev’s departure, the series needs to end, which it will next season. Still, I’m sure hardcore fans might find it entertaining.
Midnight Run is a great and wonderfully simplistic and wildly entertaining movie featuring two great performances by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin whose characters work well off one another.
The Huntsman: Winter’s War isn’t terrible yet clearly a movie that should never have been greenlit (at best might’ve served well as a TV series with an unknown cast). Even so, there’s some moments that worked, the visual effects were OK and I did enjoy the ensemble cast, mainly Hemsworth and Chastain.
The Nice Guys didn’t quite match my expectations but the laughs still were there and I did enjoy the bro chemistry that developed between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling to the point I was able to overlook a story that seemed to get stretched a bit too thin, especially going into the third act. It’s no Kiss Kiss Bang Bang but still well worth watching.
Where this series started as a fun good bad movie, American Ninja 4: The Annihilation turned into just a plain old bad movie that oft Cannon Films are known for. Although we did get the return of Michael Dudikoff, and his presence at times were welcoming, it wasn’t near enough to make the movie watchable.
American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, on the whole, might not be as good as its predecessor but it still contains that fun one would expect from a 1980s Cannon Film release. The acting isn’t the best but both Michael Dudikoff and Steve Price possess just enough to make the film watchable.
American Ninja is not a ‘good’ film in the traditional sense yet god help me, I liked it for just how 1980s it feels and looks. The acting isn’t great and the scriptwriting was horrible, yet Michael Dudikoff and Steve James managed to save it from itself and made a really fun bad movie.
The Trust had a lot going for it if only the filmmakers could’ve kept the (dark) comedy aspect in the crime-caper going through the third act but we get an almost 180 flip and although it goes to the title, it doesn’t make much sense and not entirely earned. As such, this is at best a rental mainly for the first 2/3rds and some, well, interesting line-readings by Nicolas Cage.
Hardcore Henry is a gimmick movie that displays some impressive camera work, visual effects, stunts and a well rounded performance by Sharlto Copley, yet is thin on story and frankly, I don’t ever see myself revisiting in spite of what the movie has going for it.
The Angry Birds Movie might be fine for younger viewers and the animation looks gorgeous, the voice cast talented and a decent enough core story but the jokes fell flat and I was mostly bored throughout its 90-minute running time.
Scooby-Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is a harmless film for the entire family though if you’re not into the WWE or its roster of superstars, there’s not much to appreciate considering seemingly half of the movie is devoted to them rather than Scooby and the gang.
“Supergirl”: The Complete First Season has its issues, especially early on, yet as the season wore on, the writing got better, particularly the dialogue. But from beginning to end, the casting was pitch perfect starting with Melissa Benoist who is both beautiful and charismatic to pull off a character like Supergirl/Kara.
“The Knick”: The Complete Second Season is another triumph from Cinemax and includes amazing performances by Clive Owen, Andre Holland (who probably was the standout amongst them all), Juliet Rylance and Eve Hewson, though the other supporting members never disappoint either.
“The Girlfriend Experience” is one hell of an experience. It’s probably one of the more sexually explicit shows I’ve seen in quite some time yet there’s a good story at the core with just the right amount of mystery to keep one’s attention not to mention a strong performance by Riley Keough.
“Blindspot”: The Complete First Season doesn’t exactly harness its full potential and there is some predictability in Doe’s character arc, yet I can’t say each of these episodes at least were somewhat entertaining but I can’t say much more than that.