Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
I’d say Ghost in the Shell was one of the bigger disappointments of 2017 but considering what I had been seeing before its release, including the director, expectations were vastly lowered and it was pretty much matched. No, it’s not horrible but in trying to satisfy fans and the general audience, the studio failed at both.
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The Stendhal Syndrome may not be perfect, but with Dario Argento’s amazing direction and unsettling atmosphere, in conjunction with hauntingly creepy performances by his daughter, Asia Argento, and Thomas Kretschmann, it does make for an effective horror-thriller, some aspects truly disturbing.
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Kong: Skull Island isn’t perfect but still fun and entertaining enough with director Vogt-Roberts intermixing monster movie with a Vietnam-era war picture and even the human characters weren’t bad, if not thinly written at times while Kong himself does show a bit of personality and his CGI was pretty good.
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Smurfs: The Lost Village isn’t a very good movie but being aimed at younger audiences, and I suppose Smurfs purists, it’s fine a time-waster and at least does have a nice message to it.
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Overall, not quite as bad as others have suggested, at least what I’ve read online, The Zookeeper’s Wife certainly had an interesting story behind it and despite that and a two-time Academy Award nominee in Jessica Chastain something just didn’t quite click.
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The Fate of the Furious is a perfectly fine entry into the now long-running franchise that doesn’t really show signs of slowing down. The action scenes are well done and although none of the acting, or dialogue for that matter, will impress, I still found myself relatively entertained.
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Doberman Cop wasn’t exactly my kind of movie but it does contain the charms of the 1970s Japanese cinema with some fun cheesiness thrown in for extra measure. This Blu-ray released by Arrow includes some okay bonus features, good video and so-so audio transfers.
Don’t Knock Twice has elements of a solid supernatural horror but on the whole, the film goes down familiar territory and fails to stand out with the rest and will easily get lost in the crowd of the others. Still, this is worthy of a rental as those few scenes were genuinely creepy.
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Pulse (aka Kairo) is one of the best J-Horror films I’ve seen perhaps only behind Ringu, with its unsettling atmosphere and absolutely creepy-as-all-hell, not to mention disturbing, scenes. It’s also a thought-provoking film which, albeit dated with its technology, still applies today.
Free Fire on the surface should’ve been a fun movie and admittedly it was for the first 40-minutes or so, but the remaining 45-minutes seemed to meander with a plot that doesn’t go anywhere and a twist that wasn’t all that great. Still, this isn’t a “bad” movie per se and probably worthy of a rental.
Léon: The Professional is a masterpiece of work from Luc Besson and is easily my favorite and most emotion-filled film to date. The performances by Jean Reno (who deserved an Oscar nomination), Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman were all fantastic in their own distinctive ways.
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The Fifth Element is a mixed bag of a film with some great flare and style but then you add in Chris Tucker and his obnoxious character to balance all that good out. On the plus side, Gary Oldman, as outlandish as his character is, is a lot of fun to watch and Milla Jovovich provides a nice spark.
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3 Generations is a drama that on the surface is seemingly socially important but the final result is half-baked in its story although the performances are at least heartfelt, primarily Elle Fanning.
Although Joe Versus the Volcano didn’t quite match up with my fond memories of seeing it back in 1990, it’s still a fun little romantic comedy that excels with its two charming stars and some truly funny scenes.
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The Jacques Rivette Collection might not be the most loaded of Arrow Film’s releases as there are only a few featurettes, but the films included here are quality work and well worthwhile especially for fans of French cinema, or at least unique pieces of films.
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