I guess its apt timing for this to come out after the New Year’s Eve quasi meltdown, but 2001’s Glitter was as bad as it was 15 years ago; the acting is at best spotty and the story clichéd.
Term Life for sure is not a good movie but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was at least moderately entertained. At only 90-minutes long, it’s a decent enough time-waster but that’s about the extent of it for a movie that will easily be lost in the shuffle of the numerous STV releases.
Sabotage could’ve been better and Schwarzenegger, who wasn’t that bad, was kind of mis-cast with someone like a Russell Crowe probably being better suited for the role. However, the action scenes were well choreographed including the final chase sequence and despite having mostly despicable characters, I still managed to be slightly entertained and engaging, plot holes and all.
Prisoners is certainly one of the better movies to come out of 2013, though I do think it was a tad overrated given the hype. However, the performances from Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal are brilliant and the atmosphere brought by Villeneuve and DP Deakins is absolutely absorbing.
Dead Man Down is a rare film in Hollywood, one that puts character first and action/thrills second, and both fronts are mostly successful. The chemistry between Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace is palpable and although it was “one the nose”, the lost soul’s aspect to their characters is a nice touch. The Blu-ray released by Sony has outstanding audio and video transfers while the features are pretty basic.
I hated Movie 43. I didn’t find the jokes particularly funny – and mind you, I don’t mind crude/rude humor – nor was it very controversial. Instead this looked more like a college film project with a higher budget and one which was made for insiders rather than a larger audience. Interestingly enough, at the premiere, Seann William Scott apparently was the biggest name of the cast to show up which says a lot when the others, even in their small roles, didn’t even bother attending.
Best Laid Plans isn’t a great film but I suppose one could call it a gem of a crime-thriller. The movie is held up thanks in large part due to the performances from Alessandro Nivola and Reese Witherspoon as well as some slick writing by Ted Griffin. Its debut on Blu-ray is less than stellar, unfortunately with subpar audio/video transfers and none of the special features being ported over.
The Ledge has some things going for it with two good performances and two others that are pretty much forgettable, but worse yet, the story doesn’t quite connect and even so, it’s so heavy handed and one-sided that it plays it too safe in making one character somewhat tolerable while the other has little redeemable value, though they try to give him a dramatic back story.