Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
The Boy was a tad better than I expected but not by much. The performance by Lauren Cohan might be one of the better aspects as the screenplay could’ve used further development and a third act that was painfully bad, though it is a step up for William Brent Bell over his previous film, The Devil Inside (take that for what you will).
There might’ve been an interesting story behind Backtrack and certainly the final 20-minutes aren’t half bad, albeit it was predictable, yet the previous 70-minutes were a bit of a slog to sit through in spite of a respectable performance by Adrien Brody.
Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre is the latest movie attempting to take advantage of the Sharknado craze and while I guess some might find some fun out of it, I never found it funny and was a chore to even sit through.
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I’d say I was vastly disappointed with Misconduct considering the cast the filmmaker managed to gather but I’ve been reviewing too long to give my hopes up and the studio of late hasn’t had a the best of track records but with the likes of Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins, even in the late stages of their careers, you’d think the script would’ve been better.
When it comes to animated movies, especially those geared solely toward younger viewers (8 and under), I can be lenient when critiquing them but man, Norm of the North has to be one of the worst “modern” animated films in recent memory.
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The Driftless Area isn’t a great movie but it’s still watchable thanks to a few strong performances, specifically Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel and John Hawkes. The DVD released through Sony is pretty basic with only one extra while the video/audio transfers are OK.
I never was fully engaged with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant but it is hard to deny both the technical and performance greatness behind the movie, most notably Leonardo DiCaprio’s impressive physicality that he brought to the role and almost equally impressive was the on-location filming.
The 5th Wave is a movie that maybe five years ago I would’ve been OK with but with so many YA adaptations, it would seem Hollywood will make just about anything and while I don’t think this is the weakest of the bunch, hard to be worse than the Twilight Saga, it’s really not a very good movie.
Alpha and Omega: Dino Digs is a DTV short film (clocking in at only 45-minutes) that was made for kids and kids only. The animation was, most of the time, laughable and looked cheap as heck. Beyond that, the material wasn’t funny.
Although it could’ve been better, I was pleasantly surprised by Regression thanks to Amenábar’s writing and direction combined with yet another great performance by Ethan Hawke with honorable mention for Emma Watson and David Thewlis.
Tumbledown is one of the nice surprises of 2016 showcasing great performances from its two leads, Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis, and while it’s not the most challenging films, I appreciated the understated tone as any movie dealing with death and grief can become overly dramatic.
A Prayer for the Dying could’ve been a great movie and instead, thanks to studio interference, we get something that’s merely ‘good’. The acting from Rourke and Hoskins was probably the saving grace, not to mention Liam Neeson’s brief role, and in the end, I was fairly entertained.
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Jane Got a Gun, when you push away all of the pre-production drama and switch-a-roos, isn’t a half bad western-adventure-drama that features two fine performances by Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton backed up by at least a quasi-interesting story.
The Lady in the Van is a well made drama with another standout performance from Maggie Smith with honorable mention to Alex Jennings. It’s an interesting story that tells a story of an unusual woman.
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“Attack on Titan”: Part I is an incredible anime series and perhaps one of my favorites alongside or just behind “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.” The voice acting is excellent and the story compelling from beginning to end, and that’s to go along with beautiful animation.
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