Neil Blomkamp’s Chappie isn’t quite the homerun some expected it to be with a thin story and even thinner characters but like District 9, it impresses in the technical department with excellent motion capturing and all around solid visual effects. The Blu-ray itself has a nice selection of bonus material while the audio/video transfers are both demo worthy.
Assassin’s Game is the rare “gem” of a film with a once respectable actor headlining relegated to a caricature and starring another who should remain way behind the camera. This is an all around poorly made movie and one can’t just blame the budget because I have seen many low budget movies that weren’t half bad. This one, however, isn’t even deserving of being in Wal-Mart’s bargain bin.
Serena might have been an earnest film worthy of the hype but somewhere in the process, something went wrong. Yeah, it’s got a respectable cast including two Oscar winners who previously worked together and shared good chemistry, a reputable director who has displayed some visual talent and much loved source material with a decent fan base, and yet what we got was a mess.
Asmodexia is the latest exorcism movie and, with the likes of so many others… isn’t very good. The plot has been seen before in some fashion and the acting isn’t the best though the make-up effects weren’t altogether bad. Unless the genre is your thing, it’s not even worth a rental. The DVD itself only has a trailer while the video and audio transfers are merely adequate.
It’s something else, but Camp X-Ray manages to show that Kristen Stewart isn’t a half bad actress (though she still employs the eyes half closed look) and her co-star, Payman Maadi delivers a fine performance as well with the pair sharing a nice on-screen chemistry. The Blu-ray released by IFC is rather basic with thin bonus features while the video and audio transfers are both excellent.
“The Mentalist” season seven isn’t great but still a nice sendoff for a fun, if not uneven, series. The ensemble cast share good chemistry, including the one newcomer, and Simon Baker is as charming as ever while the cases are generally interesting enough. The DVD released by Warner, like the previous season sets, are rather basic and unfortunately we don’t get a nice retrospective featurette on this series’ run.
“Boardwalk Empire” is yet another great show from HBO and although it’s not up to par with “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” or “Game of Thrones,” that standard is hard to meet. That being said, I will say the ensemble cast ranging from Steve Buscemi to Michael Shannon is one of the best and the performances all around, in conjunction with quality writing beginning with Terence Winter, is top notch.
Tracers is not a good movie and it’s easy to see why it didn’t get a wide release and instead quietly was released onto home video. Taylor Lautner actually isn’t the problem, though Hollywood should stop trying to make him into an action star, but instead it’s a ridiculous plot and overwrought character drama that bogged the film down. That said, the parkour action scenes were very well done.
Hombre is a great Western drama with a fantastic performance by Paul Newman to go along with a beautiful cinematography by James Wong Howe and direction by Martin Ritt (The Spy Who Came in Out of the Cold). The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers limited features but the video and audio transfers are both great.
Focus had the chance to be great and instead makes for a good film that reminds you how charming Will Smith can be. Add to that another great performance from Margot Robbie and you’ve got two actors who could overcome any of the issues with the script, and its schitzo storytelling between the two halves, and makes for an all around fun movie that might be worth a rental.
It’s easy to see why Blindsided had a hard time seeing a home video release after some distribution overseas. Michael Keaton is easily the best part of the entire film making it from a utter turkey to something watchable if only one time, though I can’t say it’s worth even a rental.
It’s not hard to see why Jupiter Ascending was delayed 9 months (and I don’t buy the official reasons) as it was one cluster-f of a film and the problem is, it wasn’t even an entertaining cluster-f. The acting is rather wooden though these actors aren’t given much to work with but on the plus side it looks and sound fantastic, even demo worthy, so if there’s any reason to pop this movie in, it’d be to show off your home theater.
I didn’t find Stay as You Are (Cosi’ Come Sei) to be anything extraordinary, though it is controversial, but Nastassja Kinski is fantastic and at least the story itself had some compelling elements. Unfortunately the Blu-ray release fails in almost every category with piss poor video/audio and only a trailer. Even if you are a big fan of this film or of Italian cinema, this is not worth the price.
This release of “Walker: Texas Ranger” is utterly ridiculous. The episode itself might be OK – though I haven’t watched enough to compare with others – but the fact you can buy the third season set, where this episode is available, for basically the same price on Wal-Mart.com, makes this a rip-off and with that I cannot recommend it.
“The Nanny” might not make the list as one of the better sitcoms of the 1990s, dwarfed by the likes of “Frasier”, “Friends”, “Seinfeld” and even “Roseanne” but it’s still a well written and often funny series with the right touch of heart and soul along with a charming ensemble that made each episode so much fun.