War Dogs could’ve been better but as it is, the performances by Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were solid, as was Bradley Cooper’s brief role, yet the story never quite hit its mark for me. At the very least, it is worth a rental.
Jason Bourne had plenty going for it seeing the return of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass after nearly a decade but what we got instead was a pretty much disinterested party involved and a half-assed script that seems to be a cliché of its previous movies.
Mechanic: Resurrection, while not awful and at times passably entertaining, had not reason to even exist, although from my memory was I guess a tad better than its predecessor. The only reason to even sit through this is for Jason Statham who still possesses great charm, otherwise the stunt work isn’t the best and the plot is incredibly thin.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is a letdown mostly because it shows why the final chapter didn’t need to be split into two with extraneous scenes that weren’t necessary in telling the story. On the plus side, the performances for the most part were strong especially from Jennifer Lawrence and the production design, as it was with Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1, was impressive.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 had a lot of potential especially comig after the well received, and all around well made, Catching Fire. What we got instead is what felt like the middle installment of a trilogy that had a thin story and characters who really didn’t develop that much.
Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is heads and shoulders above the first movie which in itself was entertaining. This is a strong and tighter film in terms of story. The UHD release by Lionsgate is more or less the same as its predecessor: a nice 4K video transfer but not quite amazing or worthy of an upgrade.
The Hunger Games is not a perfect beginning as a YA adaptation but it is certainly an entertaining flick and a star-making showcase for Jennifer Lawrence. This UHD/BD release from Lionsgate offers a nice video upgrade but not night and day while the features are all on the UHD disc.
Ice Age: Collision Course is one of the worst animated movies, professionally done anyway, I’ve ever come across. The animation itself was fine but the jokes were terrible and rarely landed and the story is haphazard and lazily done.
Independence Day: Resurgence is merely the latest example of why some sequels are not necessary. Although I don’t think this was awful, and frankly outside of the President’s speech, the first one is hardly great in terms of storytelling, there really is no reason for this to existl.
X-Men: Apocalypse was a pretty big disappointment for me following Days of Future Past and while some of the technical parts were well done, the rest had a very stale vibe with similar story elements rehashed from the first X-Men movie way back in 2000.
Angels & Demons is technically better than The Da Vinci Code in many regards especially in terms of pacing and a tighter story and while Tom Hanks delivers in his performance and Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgard make for fine supporting roles.
The Da Vinci Code has more or less remained the same in my eyes since seeing it in theaters a decade ago. The acting more or less steals the show over a bit of a convoluted story, yet the mystery and adventure aspect makes the nearly two-and-a-half hour running time bearable.
The Great Gatsby has a lot going for it: a charismatic lead actor, a solid supporting cast, some good adaptation work by screenwriters Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, lavish award-worthy set and costume designs and wonderful cinematography, but otherwise it’s empty on any emotional level.
From just the tagline of “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson”, Central Intelligence could’ve been a fun, if not throwaway, comedy but with very few laughs despite the ernest attempts by Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, the film just did not work.
On a technical level, Warcraft isn’t terrible but in today’s and age and the advancement in the visual effects realm, it’s should be a given especially with a big budget tentpole. Outside of the VFX, and as someone unfamiliar with the source material, I found the film to be dull and filled with thinly written characters.