Kick-Ass is a fun, hard-knuckled comic book movie that came many years before Deadpool became a hit it did. The highlights, beyond the R-rating language and violence, are the performances from a very young Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage and Aaron Johnson.
Warm Bodies is a breath of fresh air in what I consider to be the somewhat stale zombie sub-genre with a well written screenplay, based off of a novel, and two wonderful performances from Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer.
Transformers: The Last Knight is another poor entry into a franchise that just won’t die, though its $605M worldwide gross was the lowest so there is hope. In any case, I didn’t feel this was as bad as Age of Extinction but that’s not saying much.
Wonder Woman isn’t a masterpiece but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I loved it, perhaps even more on my second viewing. I know many have complained about the third act, but I felt it flowed nicely and had a thrilling fight sequence; Gadot isn’t a great actress however she was perfectly cast.
Conan the Barbarian isn’t a terrible movie by any stretch but it is one plagued with numerous lifeless action scenes, thinly written characters and at best average performances from the cast. The costume design is OK although nothing we haven’t seen on Xena and the like.
The Legend of Hercules gets to have the distinct pleasure of being the first flop of 2014 at the box office and with critics and audiences alike and for good reason. There’s nothing here save maybe for Gaia Weiss who, albeit in a limited role, was decent (and easy on the eyes).
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial isn’t just a 1980s classic but a classic period and influential to many generations due to a tightly written script, characters we can actually care about and just an adorable little alien who evokes emotions from laughter to sadness. It may not be Spielberg’s masterpiece, but it is timeless.
I didn’t feel The Mummy was a bad movie but worse yet, a completely forgettable one. Tom Cruise never really felt at home, Annabelle Wallis was rather bland in the female lead, Russell Crowe unremarkable in a forced appearance as Jekyll/Hyde and Sofia Boutella makes for a hot mummy, but not very threatening.
The Cabin in the Woods is a well made and darkly humorous horror film that takes on the tropes of the genre quite well and has a pretty good bloody creature clash in the end which was wonderful before an ending that wasn’t nearly that satisfying.
RED 2 isn’t as strong as its predecessor, but still incredibly entertaining thanks to is charming and likeable cast that work well together, even if the plot is a bit forced but that’s a sequel for you.
RED is an incredibly fun action-comedy that excels more on its likeable cast than the actual plot which isn’t that great, but a serviceable vehicle for the aging cast, headlined by Bruce Willis whose more at home in this role than his last couple outings of Die Hard.
Batman and Harley Quinn is a movie that in theory should’ve been great with Bruce Timm as a writer, but what we get instead is a weak story, and what amounted to an average episode of The New Adventures of Batman, where the jokes don’t always land and even relegated to potty humor.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut is one of the best science-fiction movies ever made and still holds today as it did when I (finally) first saw it several years ago. And now it is the latest to get the 4K treatment and it is by far the best presentation in the format I’ve seen yet, putting others to shame.
Baywatch actually was a bit better than I expected as I did manage to chuckle throughout and the film does a good job honoring yet also making fun of the old series (a la 21 Jump Street). This is a worthy rental.
The Lincoln Lawyer isn’t breaking any new ground in the legal thriller genre. The plot itself is less mystery and more character so those expecting some twist might be disappointed. That being said, as somebody who has never been enamored with Matthew McConaughey, here he’s near pitch perfect for the part.