20th Century Women is a fine ensemble drama with some great performances, namely by Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig with a compelling enough story. The Blu-ray released by Lionsgate offers up good video and audio transfers and some so-so bonus material.
Assassin’s Creed, from the standpoint of someone who is not a gamer, actually wasn’t a bad movie, flawed for sure, but still decent enough mainly for Michael Fassbender more so than the plot, which was at times confusing, or the writing.
Hyperdimension Neptunia is your typical Japanese anime series with your usual designs and humor, but I did find somewhat entertaining for what it is. This Complete Series set, through FUNimation’s S.A.V.E. line, offers good video/audio transfers while the features are, to say the least, light.
Live by Night was Ben Affleck’s passion project that, ironically, lacked a whole lot of passion on screen mixed in with a hodgepodge of a plot, far too many side characters and performances that didn’t quite connect on screen despite the talent assembled.
Baby Boom was one of many working woman movies of the mid-to-late 80s but does feature a wonderful performance by Diane Keaton and it’s never a bad thing to see Harold Ramis.
How to Succeed in Business… isn’t a great musical as it is quite dated but some of the songs were on the catchy side even when the acting was a bit too broad (i.e. over-the-top) for my taste.
Although 3 out of the 4 movies in these are, well, utter crap, this Wishmaster Collection is a well done addition to the Vestron Collector’s Series and includes some excellent new bonus material for the first film
I know Firestarter has somewhat of a following, I wasn’t as enthralled with this Stephen King adaptation although the performances by Drew Barrymore and George C. Scott were great.
Peyton Place is a well acted and finely made atypical 1950s era drama based on a controversial book. This Blu-ray released through Twilight Time offers up good video and audio transfers and an okay amount of bonus material.
Fences was based on a stage play — and certainly looks it — of the same name and while it does boast a fine cast, headlined by Denzel Washington (who also directed) and Viola Davis, but despite the talent, it’s a talky and often tedious drama with a loathsome main character that even the charming Washington can’t make him very likeable.
Just a scooch too long and featuring music that, personally, I didn’t find all that great, not to mention some questionable performances including that of the legendary Fred Astaire though it’s not like he didn’t give it his all, Finian’s Rainbow was a dud from Francis Ford Coppola.
Passengers might’ve been slammed by critics, was a quasi bust at the box office given its budget and had a misleading marketing campaign, but I for one really enjoyed the lonely aspect of the story that tends to appeal to me and has an interesting premise.
Moana is a fantastic musical animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios and maybe one of the best by the studio since Beauty and the Beast, though in general Pixar is still king with pulling at the heartstrings.
Ghost in the Shell is a well done, beautifully animated anime that not only was the inspiration behind The Matrix but has garnered a large following as well as numerous incarnations both television series and a sequel.
Man Down does shine light on the important subject of PTSD for returning soldiers and as commendable as that is, it’s unfortunate the screenplay does it little justice but I will say Shia LaBeouf’s performance is amazing and it does feature a respectable supporting cast.