Jersey Boys is clearly a passion project for producer/director Clint Eastwood and although the cast perform admirably enough, I never quite found the feature that engrossing but admittedly, I also don’t have much of a connection with the music or the group, so those who do (older crowd) might get more out of the movie than others.
A Most Wanted Man isn’t as great of a movie that I’m sure the filmmakers felt it was but, however, it does excel mostly on the shoulders of the late (and great) Phillip Seymour Hoffman along with an commendable supporting cast including Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright, the latter who was underutilized.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For not only is a movie a few years too late, the narrative isn’t quite as strong as the first and the acting, save for a few of the key players, isn’t all that memorable, though Rourke, under seemingly heavier does of make-up, is the biggest highlight with Eva Green taking a close second for her performance and… ahem… assets.
Tammy is yet another lame comedy (with attempts at sappy drama) from McCarthy and company following the tepid Identity Thief but I’m hoping at some point the actress, who can be funny, widens her range instead playing the same type of characters made famous in Bridesmaid.
It’s clear that Deepsea Challenge is a passion project for James Cameron and being one of the richest filmmakers, he can afford to, at least partially, finance an expedition of this magnitude, creating new devices to reach further depths than every explored before.
Drive Hard had a nice concept, and a good cast with Jane and Cusack to boot, but the execution was lousty despite some decent dialogue, however the car scenes were poorly done making for missed opportunities.
The Doctor and the Devils might not be a well known horror-thriller but it’s a well made one headed by fine performances by Timothy Dalton and Jonathan Pryce with a good and darkly fun story.
Good People tells the same story that has been done countless times before but does excel, albeit on a limited-basis, to a fine cast including James Franco, Kate Hudson and Tom Wilkinson, all three of whom do a good job while relative newcomer Omar Sy, to the U.S. anyway, is wasted with a cardboard cutout bad guy character laughably nicknamed Genghis Khan.
I acknowledge that Hercules is not a great movie but as summer blockbuster entertainment, it’s more than functional especially thanks to an ensemble cast led by Dwayne Johnson and some (purposefully) humorous moments that I enjoyed myself.
I acknowledge that Hercules is not a great movie but as summer blockbuster entertainment, it’s more than functional especially thanks to an ensemble cast led by Dwayne Johnson and some (purposefully) humorous moments that I enjoyed myself.
Planes: Fire & Rescue is a perfectly safe animated movie that children under the age of 12 might enjoy but anyone older, especially adults, might find it to be on the dull side. Still, at least the animation is good and I did enjoy some of the voice acting, but it’s hardly enough to get over a subpar script/plot.
Monkey Shines is certainly one of the more interesting entries into George Romero’s illustrious career and although it wasn’t my cup of tea (I guess the monkey killer subgenre doesn’t quite do it for me), yet it does have its moments and Jason Beghe gives a good performance.
There’s really no reason for Step Up: All In to even exist mainly because everything outside of some of the dance chorography was poorly done, in particular a thin story. But, for fans of the series, they might get more out of this as it does bring together some favorites, except for Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan whose presence I think would’ve been beneficial even as cameos.
Although Desolation of Smaug is an improvement over Unexpected Journey, I still wasn’t crazy about the installment with the action scenes, albeit well filmed, seemingly blurring from one to the next and you once more had references to LOTR, a series I have far more interest in re-watching and caring about than this one thus far.
Free Fall is the typical direct-to-video thriller with a plot stretched far too thin, filled with cliché after cliché and acting that’s at best average and is just an all around poorly made flick with little redeeming value.