Deepwater Horizon is an intense action-disaster flick that takes the genre to the next level considering it’s based on actual events. The performances by Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are top notch while John Malkovich was a bit distracting but still an effective antagonist.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children may not be classic Tim Burton but it is one of his more entertaining outings of late which, with the exception of Frankenweenie, haven’t been great. This might not quite be a film for the entire family as there are darker elements but for older kids, they might dig some of the visuals and characters they might relate with on some level.
An ugly movie from beginning to end, The Orphan Killer was just a bad movie through and through with thin characters and a bad script that we’ve seen numerous times before. As bad as the Saw sequels were, this was even worse even taking the budget into consideration.
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures: Complete Season One is another fun show from Buena Vista utilizing the Star Wars history and putting a comedic twist. The plots are genuinely entertaining and voice casting well done making for a show both kids and adults will enjoy.
Gran Bollito, to say the least, is an unusual drama but with compelling performances by Shelley Winters and Max von Sydow (in drag), this might be worthwhile to those looking for the weird.
Overlong and repetitious with its story, American Honey could’ve used a pass or two in the editing bay at which point it would’ve made for an interesting character, and country study, instead is more on the dull side by the two hour mark (if not sooner).
The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series is a fantastic, if not bulky, set that for anyone who hadn’t picked up the individual sets when they were released by Image Entertainment, might be worth the cost in having in one case.
The Boston Strangler is a well done, if not methodical, crime-suspense-drama featuring a plethora of fine performances from the likes of Henry Fonda and George Kennedy, but the standout is Tony Curtis playing against type as the murderous Albert DeSalvo.
When the Bough Breaks is a laughably bad and overly clichéd thriller with a story that has been done numerous times, especially on the Lifetime Movie Channel and if not for Morris Chestnut who tried so hard to rise above the awful screenplay, this would be an absolute chore to sit through, and even so, it was still rough sledding.
Blair Witch wasn’t a complete misfire of a horror film and as found footage movies go, it’s at least tolerable and features an amiable young cast, however thanks to an overabundant usage of sound design and clichéd jump scares, this doesn’t live up to the potential. Good news is, it is better than Book of Shadows so… it has that going for it.
Florence Foster Jenkins on the whole isn’t exactly a memorable film in of itself but with yet another great performance by Meryl Streep, with honorable mentions to Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg, makes it at least a worthwhile watch if only to see the acting tour-de-force.
Creepshow 2 certainly isn’t as good as its predecessor (which had a fantastic line-up of actors) but this sequel is still a lot of fun with one memorable line (“Thanks for the ride, lady!”). While I wasn’t a fan of ‘Old Chief Wood’nhead’, the other two stories weren’t bad at all.
This adaptation of Ben-Hur wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but that doesn’t mean it should’ve been made. However, at least Jack Huston gives an earnest and heartfelt performance while Morgan Freeman basically phoned in his performance and the visual effects were mostly impressive.
The Driller Killer is certainly an odd little horror-thriller that isn’t technically good per se but fascinating nevertheless with a darkly fun performance from star and director Abel Ferrara (credited as Jimmy Laine).
Downton Abbey is one of more compelling television shows on and between the excellent performances and amazing production and costume designs, it’s easy to see why it has captured audience’s attention on both sides of the pond.