Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
The Shadow had plenty of potential but thanks to budgetary constraints and a screenplay that probably could’ve used a polish, that’s all this film is left with. But now 20 years later, it receives new life on Blu-ray to the point hopefully it finds a new audience and Hollywood takes another stab considering the advancement in visual effects with value to the dollar.
Continue reading “The Shadow: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review”
is a poorly made thriller that wants to be Misery but without the top-notch acting and well-written screenplay adapted from a Stephen King novel. I can’t say I hated this movie yet I have no issues saying it’s really bad, just not bad enough to get angry over. There’s no doubt this one will get lost in the fray of other terrible films, though the cover will probably garner some interest.
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is one of the best documentaries made on a single franchise cutting through the typical back-slapping you tend to get with interviews and instead there was honesty about the flaws the movies had, difficulties filming and how the franchise ultimately built New Line Cinema.
“Crossing Lines” as a drama isn’t bad but it is a show carried by its characters which are mostly well done and finely acted led by William Fichtner and Marc Lavoine. The stories do seem culled from “Criminal Minds” but even so, they are compelling enough to make each episode entertaining.
Continue reading “Crossing Lines: Season One Blu-ray Review”
The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box is a perfectly suitable family action-adventure though the ending has much to be desired with muddy editing and poor focus. The Blu-ray released by RLJ offers standard audio/video transfers while the solo featurette wasn’t bad. For what it is, it’s not a bad movie and probably worth renting.
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Man in the Dark is not the best film noir or anything but it kept my attention for its 70-minute duration, though I’d hardly recommend it especially for fans of the genre.
Big Sur is a solid drama featuring great performances, particularly from Jean-Marc Barr while the cinematography and score are both absolutely beautiful. The DVD released by Ketchup Entertainment is pretty minimal with good audio/video transfers but limited in the bonus feature arena.
Cat People is another weird and certainly unusual cult classic released through Shout’s Scream Factory line. The Blu-ray offers up adequate if not, at least to these eyes, over sharpened picture, and solid lossless audio tracks.
Zulu is an exhilarating war-drama with great performances and incredible cinematography by Stephen Dade.
Titus is most certainly an ambitious film and while I didn’t particularly enjoy it and doubtful I’ll ever revisit it, it’s not a complete waste of time, well worth seeing for Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange.
Carrie had the potential to be good with two fine leads in Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore but instead it proves to be yet another remake that wasn’t needed. Not helping matters is a cast that failed to make much of an impression and in the case of Moretz, had one particular scene which was silly.
The Following”: The Complete First Season had plenty of potential with fine performances, a decent enough story but it’s squandered with inept characters and frustrating subplots that are more filler and don’t go anywhere. Still, it’s not a complete waste of time and with only 15 episodes, is at least worth the time commitment.
Continue reading “The Following: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review”
Vikingdom isn’t a good movie, plain and simple. It’s cheaply done, the acting isn’t anything noteworthy and the story is half-baked. But worse of all, it’s just not that interesting of a movie on the whole and I couldn’t care less about anything or anybody. The DVD released by Epic has an OK amount of features while the audio/video is quite average.
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa was far better and a lot funnier than I had expected it to be especially considering the Jackass movies and show never was my cup of tea. However, most of the jokes land and there’s enough plot there to string the jokes and pranks together quite nicely.
Continue reading “Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa Blu-ray Review”
Witchboard is another obscure little horror movie brought to you by Scream Factory and they have certainly put together a nice package with good audio/video transfers a decent amount of features that any fan will enjoy.