Admittedly, the plot for Man on a Ledge is on the preposterous side with sizeable plot holes but given what it is and the cast gathered, I was still rather entertained. Sam Worthington is for once able to hold his own, albeit with a weaker script, and the supporting cast is impressive. The Blu-ray offers good video and audio transfer but utterly drops the ball in the features department.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island actually isn’t too bad of a movie. Even as an adult, I found it to be fairly entertaining and although I’d hardly say anything in the acting department was great and the characters are paper thin, the adventure and fantasy elements, along with a breezy plot, makes up for any of the movie’s flaws. The Blu-ray meanwhile serves up an excellent video transfer and a more than adequate lossless audio track.
There are many reasons I should dislike, even hate, Gone from the simple story to the one-dimensional supporting characters, but there’s something about Amanda Seyfried that elevates this from forgettable made-for-television drivel to semi-forgettable, slightly entertaining, direct-to-video release. For sure, that’s not high praise but I think if you’re a fan of Seyfried’s, then it might be worth checking out, especially for a slow Saturday afternoon.
Bringing Down the House has its moments and Steve Martin, while not on his game as he had been in the past, has a few hilarious scenes, but as a whole, this isn’t a very memorable comedy. As far as the “15th Anniversary” Blu-ray is concerned, both the video and audio transfers are decent upgrades over the DVD, so if you enjoyed the movie and can find this for under $10, then it might be worth it.
One for the Money is a serviceable crime-comedy but it’s also completely forgettable. Katherine Heigl is OK in the lead role and in fairness to her, I’m not sure any other actress could’ve done that much better of a job. The plot itself is pretty thin and, worse yet, absolutely predictable. As far as the Blu-ray is concerned, it has a couple interesting featurettes and the video/audio transfers are pretty good, so if you’re a fan of this movie or the supporting cast, then it’d be worth picking up, otherwise at best this is a rental.
Dark Tide receives high marks for its underwater camera work but the story is lame and the acting is sometimes even worse. Halle Berry for her part is OK with a limited role. The Blu-ray offers up solid audio and video transfers but there are no features so even if you enjoyed the film, you might want to hold off until it’s around $5.
Beyond actually isn’t too bad of a film. Clocking in at a mere 90-minutes (less without the credits), it has a good flow and the performance from Jon Voight probably is his best in quite a while as he seemed far more measured, avoiding mugging for the camera and instead seemingly provide his character with true emotions. The biggest drawback is the mixing of genres and the movie…
The Father of the Bride two-movie collection is a nice set with two very good movies with more than adequate video and audio transfers which are a solid upgrade over their DVD counterparts. Even though the features are disappointing considering it is a “20th Anniversary Collection”, but with a low SRP, this is well worth picking up.
Clueless is a timeless classic that even 17 years later is still relevant today as it was then even when styles and lingo changes. The movie features some great performances especially from Silverstone who probably deserved more award recognition than she got. As for this Blu-ray, if offers up the same features as the 10-year anniversary DVD and some decent video and audio upgrades.
Underworld: Awakening actually isn’t that bad of a movie, albeit it’s not that great either. It’s probably on par with the previous movies just with slightly lower quality in terms of the cast (Bill Nighy even in a small role is irreplaceable). As it stands, the movie is really short and the visual effects, despite an upgrade in the budget, is mediocre at best, although the make-up and monster effects are alright in an old school kind of way.