Hannie Caulder is that rare female-led Western with the added rape-revenge angle which would come to more prominence in the 1970s with the likes of I Spit on Your Grave. However, while the “scene” is troubling, the performance from Raquel Welch was fantastic with honorable mention going to Robert Culp.
The Quiet Man very well might be one of Olive’s better releases from their Signature line with some good features and great video/audio transfers while the movie itself is great top-lined by some amazing performances from John Wayne, in a different kind of role, and Maureen O’Hara who is as charming as ever.
The Initiation is your common 1980s slasher film with some shoddy performances but at least a fun quotient that will entertain fans, though for myself this is probably a one-and-done viewing.
Mechanic: Resurrection, while not awful and at times passably entertaining, had not reason to even exist, although from my memory was I guess a tad better than its predecessor. The only reason to even sit through this is for Jason Statham who still possesses great charm, otherwise the stunt work isn’t the best and the plot is incredibly thin.
Although hardly perfect, and doesn’t hold a candle to A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is still an entertaining sci-fi action/adventure that not only brings back the old crew but does a great job introducing a new cast of characters as portrayed by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver.
The Wild Life (originally titled Robinson Crusoe) is a harmless but nevertheless bad animated movie that I’m sure young kids will enjoy but adults could have a hard time sitting through and the animation itself feels cheap not to mention the humor fell flat.
Carnage Park had some interesting things going for it with an almost Western Film Noir aspect intermixed with the apocalyptic-like setting and the performances from Ashley Bell and Pat Healy but otherwise it’s a rather ordinary and forgettable flick.
Snowtime is a well animated movie with a good message at its core, one that both kids and adults could appreciate it and the humor is often fun. The Blu-ray released by Shout Factory offers great video/audio transfers and a so-so selection of bonus features.
An interesting collaboration with producer Roger Corman and a young Martin Scorsese (subsequent films would define his career from Mean Streets to Raging Bull) and while the direction is solid, the performances are what makes Boxcar Bertha memorable, headlined by the David Carradine.
Kickboxer: Vengeance is not exactly the great follow-up to the 1989 classic but at least Jean-Claude Van Damme is back and his appearance alone might make it a worthwhile watch, but otherwise the film is filled with bad acting, terrible dialogue and even the fight sequences are uninspiring.
Murder Weapon and Deadly Embrace are laughable erotic thrillers but I’d be lying if I was entertained by just how bad both were in just about every respect from the editing, acting and writing. If you’re a fan of the low budget 1980s flicks, both might hit the right spot.
Anthropoid is a solid war-drama that started slow but finished really strong with a suspense-filled finale that more than made up for any drawbacks, mainly an emotional distance, that occurred early on, though all throughout Cillian Murphy gives an impressive performance.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a fun pulp action-adventure flick that may not always work but with Ron Ely’s tongue-in-cheek performance, and Superman spoof, it makes for an enjoyable experience.
Nightmare Sisters is a fun, if not silly, supernatural horror film with some, let’s say, questionable acting and shoddy script work, yet it’s the epitome of the 1980s B-movie and for that, I have at least some minor respect for it.
One of David Cronenberg’s earlier works, Rabid is a solid zombie-horror movie that certainly has its flaws but regardless was entertaining until the very end and the performance by Marilyn Chambers, an ex-porn star, actually wasn’t half bad for the material.