Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Garden of Evil may not be a well remember Western from 1950s but it’s still a entertaining film featuring strong yet charming performances from Gary Cooper and Susan Hayward. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers good video and audio transfers and in a nice surprise, some respectable features.
One thing you can’t deny, the Italians know how to make some of the more unusual films and the ‘70s they were at their peak. Apassionata isn’t just soft-core porn-like film but instead a study of the domestic, suburban family and the deep, messed up drama that occurs within.
Standoff is hardly a great movie but it is refreshingly simple one featuring two veteran actors who didn’t appear to be phoning in their performances. The writing isn’t the best as it seems the filmmakers were going for some sort of modern western with its dialogue which at times stood out.
Considering the talent involved, Joy should’ve been an easy homerun with a compelling story and top notch actors but instead it meanders in places, others don’t feel entirely cohesive and I just wasn’t all that enamored despite its high points.
Not quite as powerful as it could have been, Clint Eastwood’s True Crime at least offers a couple fine performances and has a compelling enough of a story, though the screenplay could’ve used more work.
Manhunter is probably one of the better psychological thrillers and a tad underrated especially for a film of the ‘80s and while there are plenty of elements from that era (look no further than the electronica score) but the performances are so dang compelling led by William Petersen and Tom Noonan.
Although not as strong story wise as “Cowboy Bebop” or “Ghost in the Shell”, “Terror in Resonance” is still one of the stronger anime shows to be produced. The animation style stands out from the bunch and both the English and Japanese voice cast are well done.
Continue reading “Review: Terror in Resonance: The Complete Series BD + Screen Caps”
The Boy was a tad better than I expected but not by much. The performance by Lauren Cohan might be one of the better aspects as the screenplay could’ve used further development and a third act that was painfully bad, though it is a step up for William Brent Bell over his previous film, The Devil Inside (take that for what you will).
There might’ve been an interesting story behind Backtrack and certainly the final 20-minutes aren’t half bad, albeit it was predictable, yet the previous 70-minutes were a bit of a slog to sit through in spite of a respectable performance by Adrien Brody.
Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre is the latest movie attempting to take advantage of the Sharknado craze and while I guess some might find some fun out of it, I never found it funny and was a chore to even sit through.
Continue reading “Review: Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre BD + Screen Caps”
I’d say I was vastly disappointed with Misconduct considering the cast the filmmaker managed to gather but I’ve been reviewing too long to give my hopes up and the studio of late hasn’t had a the best of track records but with the likes of Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins, even in the late stages of their careers, you’d think the script would’ve been better.
When it comes to animated movies, especially those geared solely toward younger viewers (8 and under), I can be lenient when critiquing them but man, Norm of the North has to be one of the worst “modern” animated films in recent memory.
Continue reading “Review: Norm of the North BD + Screen Caps”
I never was fully engaged with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant but it is hard to deny both the technical and performance greatness behind the movie, most notably Leonardo DiCaprio’s impressive physicality that he brought to the role and almost equally impressive was the on-location filming.
The 5th Wave is a movie that maybe five years ago I would’ve been OK with but with so many YA adaptations, it would seem Hollywood will make just about anything and while I don’t think this is the weakest of the bunch, hard to be worse than the Twilight Saga, it’s really not a very good movie.
Although it could’ve been better, I was pleasantly surprised by Regression thanks to Amenábar’s writing and direction combined with yet another great performance by Ethan Hawke with honorable mention for Emma Watson and David Thewlis.