Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Black Butterfly had so much potential but it was nearly all squandered away with a lame-ass secondary twist that even old M. Night would think was awful. But ignoring that aspect, and if I were to turn the movie off beforehand, it’s still a finely acted little thriller.
Deep inside covered by a bunch of fake blood, there’s a serious topic on high school bullying in Devil’s Domain but all that is masked by a poor screenplay (mainly bad dialogue) and so-so performances
State Fair is a fun little musical romp from the 1960s with many of that era’s idyllic romance and music. I’m not terribly familiar with the source material or other versions, but this one is entertaining.
Unforgettable is an ironic name since the film is anything but; however beyond the title, this is just not a good movie, even on a so good it’s bad kind of way. I can’t say either Rosario Dawson or Katherine Heigl gave particularly poor performances considering the script was awful.
The Warlock movies are silly and at least in the case of the first two, they embrace their silliness and although the sequel isn’t as good, there’s some entertainment value, but the first is easily the best while the third is, well, better than expected, not that that’s saying much.
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Stormy Monday is a decent little, and probably little-known, 1980s British crime-drama marking writer/director Mike Figgis’ debut. It features a quad of fine performances headlined by Sting, Sean Bean and Melanie Griffith and a well paced plot.
I’d say Ghost in the Shell was one of the bigger disappointments of 2017 but considering what I had been seeing before its release, including the director, expectations were vastly lowered and it was pretty much matched. No, it’s not horrible but in trying to satisfy fans and the general audience, the studio failed at both.
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The Stendhal Syndrome may not be perfect, but with Dario Argento’s amazing direction and unsettling atmosphere, in conjunction with hauntingly creepy performances by his daughter, Asia Argento, and Thomas Kretschmann, it does make for an effective horror-thriller, some aspects truly disturbing.
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Kong: Skull Island isn’t perfect but still fun and entertaining enough with director Vogt-Roberts intermixing monster movie with a Vietnam-era war picture and even the human characters weren’t bad, if not thinly written at times while Kong himself does show a bit of personality and his CGI was pretty good.
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Smurfs: The Lost Village isn’t a very good movie but being aimed at younger audiences, and I suppose Smurfs purists, it’s fine a time-waster and at least does have a nice message to it.
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Overall, not quite as bad as others have suggested, at least what I’ve read online, The Zookeeper’s Wife certainly had an interesting story behind it and despite that and a two-time Academy Award nominee in Jessica Chastain something just didn’t quite click.
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The Fate of the Furious is a perfectly fine entry into the now long-running franchise that doesn’t really show signs of slowing down. The action scenes are well done and although none of the acting, or dialogue for that matter, will impress, I still found myself relatively entertained.
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Doberman Cop wasn’t exactly my kind of movie but it does contain the charms of the 1970s Japanese cinema with some fun cheesiness thrown in for extra measure. This Blu-ray released by Arrow includes some okay bonus features, good video and so-so audio transfers.
Don’t Knock Twice has elements of a solid supernatural horror but on the whole, the film goes down familiar territory and fails to stand out with the rest and will easily get lost in the crowd of the others. Still, this is worthy of a rental as those few scenes were genuinely creepy.
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Pulse (aka Kairo) is one of the best J-Horror films I’ve seen perhaps only behind Ringu, with its unsettling atmosphere and absolutely creepy-as-all-hell, not to mention disturbing, scenes. It’s also a thought-provoking film which, albeit dated with its technology, still applies today.