Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Queen of Katwe is a charming, uplifting true life drama featuring some fine performances by Madina Nalwanga and David Oyelowo under Mira Nair’s quality direction. The Blu-ray released by Disney offers up great video, solid audio and a nice selection of bonus material.
Cross Wars is just an all around bad movie. The acting is poor however they’re not helped with a shoddy script in conjunction with some laughable visual effects. All of that wouldn’t be so bad if this had the fun factor, it was anything but.
Bells Are Ringing is an absolutely wonderful musical-romance from the 60s and features two charming performances by Judy Holliday and the always suave Dean Martin and come catchy tunes.
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Wait Until Dark is somewhat of a forgotten gem of a thriller with plenty of Hitchcockian elements and features amazing performances by Audrey Hepburn (who receive an Academy Award nomination), Richard Crenna and, especially, Alan Arkin who is absolutely frightening.
Justice League Dark is a middle-of-the-road entry into the DC Animated Universe. It’s also a bit inside baseball in that probably die-hard fans of the comics will get something out if it while others will find it crowded and the magical elements even made it harder to follow.
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Life on the Line is a misfire of a movie if only that they could’ve told a great story of the unsung heroes who work to keep the power on in some of the most difficult circumstances. Instead, this film tosses in a terrible B-plot with unnecessary characters making this just another poor release starring an actor relegated to direct-to-video status.
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The 9th Life of Louis Drax is a mix bag of a film, it’s weird enough to make it an engaging mystery-drama and the young man portraying Drax wasn’t half bad, however the soap opera aspect of the story wasn’t good. In the end, though, if the trailer manages to grab you, it’s probably worthy of a rental.
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The Light Between Oceans isn’t half bad as heart-tugging rom-dramas go and it is better written and acted compared to your typical Nicolas Sparks schlock, but at the same time, despite a talented cast and some great scenes, I didn’t find this nearly as emotional and I can’t see much replay value.
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Parents is a cult classic of sorts and while the first half was a fantastic satire on 1950s suburbia and had some genuinely creepy moments (no surprise when it comes to Randy Quaid) but it quickly loses steam in the latter half and by the end, I found it unrewarding and didn’t find it quite as funny.
Masterminds is a poorly made comedy-caper that has a respectable cast in Galifianakis, Wilson, Wiig and, in a limited role, Sudeikis but both director Jared Hess and the trio of writers can’t make use of any of them with the majority of the jokes failing miserably.
Ballers: The Complete Second Season is a lot of fun especially if you’re either a fan of the NFL or Dwayne Johnson. The stories generally are compelling and this kind of material, given he was a player for the semi-professional Miami U, is right in Johnson’s wheelhouse.
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Battle for Incheon: Operation Chromite is a well made and interesting story from a war that hasn’t been well represented in film form. The performances seem fine though Liam Neeson did tend to chew the scenery.
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Inferno isn’t terrible but it was an underwhelming addition to an otherwise entertaining, if not flawed, franchise. The saving grace, as usual, is with Tom Hanks who makes this entry watchable, otherwise it was a rather forgettable viewing experience.
The Whole Truth is more or less a Law & Order: SVU episode that somehow became a feature-length film. But even so, the acting, albeit nothing profound, was solid enough led way by Keanu Reeves and enough courtroom tension to make this a worthwhile watch.
Bad Day at Black Rock is a wonderful gem of a crime-drama featuring a fantastic cast from Spencer Tracy to Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin not to mention a taut screenplay and conspiratorial plot.
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