Dope is one of the sleeper hits of the summer with its throwback music to the 1990s, a compelling and interesting story, well written characters and fine performances all around but especially from a young and mostly unknown cast.
This Horror Classics: Volume One set of four Hammer Studios films is a solid selection of some decent flicks from the late 50s to early 70s that any classic horror hound will love. For me, I found these four fun enough especially for the cast including Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knights is a fun horror-comedy with some good performances, though none better than Billy Zane who chews the scenery like no other and has a good old time playing the outlandish villain. The movie itself is quite entertaining and features some impressive make-up effects and even the VFX, for its time, isn’t all that bad.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is an interesting if not disturbing expose on the well known yet unknown religion focusing on former members, their experiences as well as a detail history of its origins, belief systems and ideas and why, in spite of certain abuses, has a foothold on some members.
“Forensic Files”: The Best of Volumes 1-3 are a fine selection of episodes and for fans, like I am, it is nice to have these finally to watch at home although it seems at any given moment there is a marathon on Headline News. That said, the SRP on this is a tad much but if you can nab it for under $10, it might be worth it.
On some level, even though I didn’t much expectations for Aloft going in, I was somewhat disappointed especially with Jennifer Connelly and Cillian Murphy starring and while both actors were perfectly fine in their respective roles, the screenplay falters and doesn’t quite deliver with an unfocused message, partially about faith I guess, culminating with what could’ve been a powerful climax.
Mark Nocturna as the latest in a long line of independently finananced vampire horror films and frankly, this one just melds in with the rest. The performances are standard, though striking how far Estella Warren has fallen, and the story is fairly forgettable.
Insidious: Chapter 3 is a competently well made flick with some good scares and decent performances from the main cast with Lin Shaye being a welcome member getting more back story for her character. The Blu-ray released by Sony is rather basic with good video/audio transfers and a forgettable selection of bonus material.
Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood, despite the chaotic and haphazard production, might not be a very good film beginning with questionable casting and so-so acting, even when considering the genre, yet the outcome is a cheesy and semi-enjoyable flick, the kind worthy of a late Saturday night viewing.
Return to Sender is a mixed bag, wanting to be both a revenge film and drama but doesn’t do either very well. However, the acting isn’t half bad led by Rosamund Pike playing well opposite Shiloh Fernandez.
Technically speaking, I Spit On Your Grave 3 is probably a better movie than its predecessors and I’ll give the filmmakers some credit for trying something different, going away from the formula; yet at the same time it makes for a pretty bland flick and the only highlight is certainly not with the writing but the performance from Sarah Butler wasn’t half bad.
I have a soft spot for disaster flicks so something like San Andreas, as goofy as it was featured solid visual effects and even with a thin plot the film still managed to entertain. The acting for what they were given wasn’t bad and once again Dwayne Johnson proves himself to be a great action hero.
There’s really no good reason, beyond the bottom dollar, for a remake of Poltergeist to exist. Technically speaking, it’s not terrible and features some decent visual effects and the acting isn’t half bad, but by film’s end, I could only shrug and wonder what to watch next, feeling neither robbed nor overjoyed with what I just watched.
Chain of Command is the latest of a long string of direct-to-video action flicks with bad acting, terrible dialogue and a poor plot. The only good thing I guess I can say the newcomer, who has no other titles to her credit, Ashleigh Barnett isn’t bad, so that’s something?
“The Big Bang Theory” isn’t my kind of show and Chuck Lorre’s humor doesn’t do much for me, however, the series is quite popular thanks to some geek cred and all. This 2-disc set from Warner is fairly basic with some OK bonus material but solid video/audio transfers.