Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Ghostbusters (2016) isn’t the hot mess the trailers showed it could’ve been (this year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was far worse) and yet for all of the potential with a talented cast, the screenplay which was co-scripted by Paul Feig, was pretty bad, with the jokes falling utterly flat.
Joshy is a well acted drama-comedy and one should go in knowing it is more drama than comedy but otherwise it’s a bit of a downer film that doesn’t have the best payoff despite the efforts of Thomas Middleditch who does have a few good scenes.
Slugs is a classic 1980s B-movie that is less scary and more hilarious fun that probably would appeal to the B-movie realm of films or grew up in the 1980s. It’s far from amazing but the idea of killer slugs is in itself amusing.
A mixture of 1980s teen comedy with 1980s horror, Vamp technically speaking isn’t a good movie per se but there is some fun to be had and seeing what was likely the inspiration for Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn is interesting.
Skiptrace is the latest direct-to-video turkey that I’ve had the “pleasure” to watch just this year and it’s a sad seeing Jackie Chan in the DTV realm but it’s not hard to see why this one fell flat.
No Escape is an all around entertaining film perfect for a Saturday movie night. No, it doesn’t make you think or have any profound performances but the acting isn’t bad with Owen Wilson serving as a fine everyman type of character and Pierce Brosnan in his small part is a lot of fun. This is probably worthy of a rental.
The Iron Giant is one of the better classic animated movies that have come along in the past 20 years and can compete right alongside Disney’s best, it’s just unfortunate Warner dropped the ball marketing it and instead it bombed at the box office. Thankfully since making its way on home video, the film has found a fanbase.
Continue reading “The Iron Giant: Signature Edition Blu-ray Review”
The Legend of Tarzan is hardly horrible and yet it’s also nothing special in spite of some nice work by the visual effects crew and some ernest performances by Skarsgard and, to a lesser extents Robbie and Jackson while Waltz proves once again as a serviceable villain.
Continue reading “Review: The Legend of Tarzan 3D BD + Screen Caps”
Into the Forest is a somewhat depressing but very well acted drama, with the apocalyptical aspect being a catalyst rather than central plot, and specifically Ellen Page was fantastic. Now, this is not for everybody especially if you’re expecting a thriller and it is slowly paced, but if you’re patient and enjoy character studies, this is worth at least a rental.
Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar is a well written western-thriller film that features a powerhouse and spunky performance from Joan Crawford. The Blu-ray released by Olive Film’s new Signature line offers great video, good audio and a solid selection of bonus material.
High Noon, directed by Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal), is a classic western-adventure featuring a top notch, and a features a thrilling finale, who’s who of the 1950s from Gary Cooper to Grace Kelly to a young Lloyd Bridges.
Despite an interesting story, The Infiltrator is only propelled thanks to its charismatic cast, especially Bryan Cranston who once again turns in a great performance, it’s just a shame the script wasn’t equally great.
From just the tagline of “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson”, Central Intelligence could’ve been a fun, if not throwaway, comedy but with very few laughs despite the ernest attempts by Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, the film just did not work.
Continue reading “Review: Central Intelligence UHD + Screen Caps”
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil is a nice inclusion in Warner’s Archive Collection and while I didn’t particularly think very much of the movie, there’s at least some good elements headlined by another masterful performance from Kevin Spacey and even John Cusack contributes well.
Continue reading “Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil BD + Screen Caps”
Psycho IV: The Beginning actually isn’t a half bad prequel/sequel and features fine performances from Anthony Perkins reprising his iconic role and Henry Thomas as his teenaged counterpart. For a TV movie, it’s well shot and the story is a nice culmination in the franchise following two sequels that were less than stellar.