Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Dragon Blade is a respectable enough flick but not much more. The fights are well choreographed, thanks to Jackie Chan who served as the action director, but the story is terribly predictable and Adrien Brody, as fine of an actor as he is, phones in his performance as the primary villain.
The Visit isn’t a bad movie but any stretch and certainly M. Night’s best offering in some time but by the same token, it employs the tired found footage style and although there are some creepy moments, as a whole, it’s not anything memorable. The performances especially that of Olivia DeJonge, are decent enough.
Contracted: Phase 2 is just the latest infection/zombie feature to come in the long line of these that have hit the direct-to-video market. It’s not a terrible movie but it also doesn’t have anything overly memorable but at least the make-up effects weren’t bad. The Blu-ray released through Shout Factory is sadly basic with so-so video and audio and features basically non-existent outside of a couple of trailers.
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“True Detective”: The Complete Second Season is definitely a step down from its predecessor, however, for all of its faults from a needlessly complicated storyline, substandard writing and too many characters (main ones anyway), I still found this season fairly entertaining due to the performances by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and yes, even Vince Vaughn.
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Hitman: Agent 47 might not be a horrible movie experience but it certainly much to be desired with a poor casting choice of Rupert Friend who seems too refined for the role while relative newcomer Hannah Ware came off fairly well. This is the type of film, despite an R-rating, destined to air on FX or FXX with some not-so-creative editing and certainly is not worth a purchase let along a rental.
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War Room is the latest of the growing faith-based films and although they’re not really my thing, those of faith probably will get something out of it and maybe find it entertaining. For myself, the acting is so-so (at best) and the writing isn’t the best.
Pan had some of the right ingredients between a good and capable director and respectable cast but between some odd choices with the soundtrack, mainly a rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, and an utterly joyless film which is surprising for a movie about Peter Pan, it makes for a soulless and forgettable flick.
It’s understandable why fans of the novels hate The Scorch Trials adaptation but as someone who isn’t attached to the books in any way, I found it acceptable and entertaining enough. Sure, the film does have its problems especially with the pacing and bloated story taking it over the two hour mark, yet at the same time I don’t regret seeing it.
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Close Range isn’t good however, I will say at least the fight choreography wasn’t half bad but the acting has much to be desired and the screenplay doesn’t fare much better. But for fans of Adkins and kind of old school, 1990s-esque films, it might be worth a rental or cheap pick-up.
What started off as an interesting story about the Milgram Experiment turned into a bit of a bore of film in the second half, though Peter Sarsgaard does give a fine performance and director Michael Almereyda certainly didn’t go the conventional route in the story and filmmaking style, so Experimenter does at least stand out in that regard.
Mysterious Island is a fun, light-hearted, fantasy flick highlighted by Ray Haryhausen’s incredible effects work combined with Bernard Herrmann’s score. The Blu-ray released under the Twilight Time line offers some decent features headlined by an extensive audio commentary, and good video/audio transfers.
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There’s really no reason for The Transporter Refueled to exist, let alone one without Jason Statham starring. The writing is bad, the action sequences weren’t well directed and came across more as a commercial for Audi, and the performance from Ed Skrein does not make for a fun or kick ass action hero.
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12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is just another bad direct-to-video flick but worse yet, it’s not even a fun bad, just plain bad. The acting is wooden especially on the part of Dean Ambrose who shows no charisma to play the lead and the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. The Blu-ray is rather basic with two thin featurettes, so-so video and adequate audio transfers.
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It’s not hard to see why Heist had a very limited theater run before being released to DTV obscurity in spite of a nice cast between Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Robert De Niro. But thanks to a bad script, with far too many contrivances to ignore, this is the type of movie easily forgotten within a day and thrown in with the rest of the subpar flicks.
1984 is a prolific adaptation based on an equally prolific novel that features some fine performances highlighted by John Hurt and amazing cinematography by the legendary Roger Deakins.
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