Internal Affairs is a bit of a forgotten crime-drama overshadowed a few years later by Heat and even only 3 years earlier with The Untouchables. Even so, Richard Gere turns in an incredible performance and playing opposite, Andy Garcia is also top notch. I don’t think it’s a perfect movie and I think it had potential to be better, but director Mike Figgis has a good eye and at least makes an above average genre film.
The first Grown Ups movie wasn’t anything special but it did provide a few laughs and a relatively coherent plot, Grown Ups 2 on the other hand has no real plot to speak of but worst of all, there’s no real laughs and seeing this cast back together is hardly enough to hold the film together.
Monsters University might be one of the weaker outings from Disney/Pixar since Cars, yet there’s enough here to make it an enjoyable experience for the entire family. The return of Billy Crystal and John Goodman is great, the animation is still absolutely amazing and the story is good even if it heavily borrows from other college films, although I suppose one could argue it was paying homage to those movies.
Monsters University might be one of the weaker outings from Disney/Pixar since Cars, yet there’s enough here to make it an enjoyable experience for the entire family. The return of Billy Crystal and John Goodman is great, the animation is still absolutely amazing and the story is good even if it heavily borrows from other college films, although I suppose one could argue it was paying homage to those movies.
The Heat is a fun little twist on the buddy cop comedy and even though it doesn’t nearly measure up to Lethal Weapon both in terms of chemistry or the plot and villain, there’s just enough here to make it worthwhile. Both Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are wonderful together and McCarthy uses every opportunity to showcase her comedic talents, albeit at the expense of a coherent or merely serviceable plot. But I had fun with it and laughed at the right moments.
Idle Hands is a film I initially didn’t care much for but have grown a bit fonder of over the years. The cast is great headlined by Devon Sawa and Seth Green, with Jessica Alba making an impressive appearance early in her career and serves wonderfully as eye candy.
The Colony actually isn’t too bad of a suspense-thriller. It’s a low budget utilizing SyFy-like sets and visual effects (well, perhaps a bit better) but the performances are very good headlined by Kevin Zegers and Laurence Fishburne (in a limited role).
“The Mentalist” is a rare show that takes off from the pilot episode and keeps the high quality until the season finale, thanks to Simon Baker and an ensemble cast that works well together. Now six seasons in, it’s interesting to look back at this first and I still enjoy it as much as I did the first go around.
Mindwarp is an apt title but still a fun little movie with a solid performance from Mr. B-Movie Bruce Campbell and a nice introduction to Marta Alicia, although her career has since been comprised on guest appearances on a variety of television shows.
“American Horror Story: Asylum”: The Complete Second Season is another triumph for FX and although on the whole I liked the first season better, this one has a lot to offer including some excellent performances headlined by Zachary Quinto and Jessica Lange amongst others.
The Purge had an interesting concept but the closer you look, the dumber it was. But if you set the logical aside, and can handle an unlikeable and utterly stupid family, the suspense and thrills are effective and at 85-minutes it’s not a big time investment.
Much Ado About Nothing shows the multiple sides to Joss Whedon able to tell a good story no matter what the budgets or genres are. The merging of Shakespeare and modern film is nearly seamless and the cast is superb.
Airplane II: The Sequel is the perfect reminder of why not every surprise hit should get a sequel. While a few of the jokes work here, most do not and it’s pretty forgettable even if it’s not a bad time-waster.
Curse of Chucky isn’t a great horror film but it’s satisfying and a big step up from Bride and Seed and takes the character back to his roots and away from the stand-up comedy routine from the later outings. Fiona Dourif is a delight in the lead role and Maitland McConnell is hopefully on her way to bigger things after this. While I wasn’t overly thrilled with the film, I’m certain fans of the franchise will love it.
“Robot Chicken”: Season 6 continues to be a successful and very funny series for Adult Swim. The comedy is often gold and Seth Green and company often cross the line offending multiple people and cultures with off-color humor.