Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
“Person of Interest”: The Complete Second Season continues its upward trajectory from its inaugural season. The storylines are richer and more connected; the new supporting characters are great additions with two getting recurring main roles next year.
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The Fugitive remains one of the best action-thrillers I’ve seen in many years and easily a standout of TV to screen adaptations. Despite being 130-minutes long, the film flies by and utilizes each minute with little filler. The performances from Ford and Jones are phenomenal even though neither of them shared more than a few minutes of screen time together.
Stranded is a half-assed sci-fi/horror flick culled together from numerous other, often better, films. The cast for the most part are phoning in their performances knowing exactly what kind of movie this is but giving credit where it’s due, make the most of it during some scenes.
Evidence disguises itself as just another crime-thriller but instead yet the latest in the unfortunately long line of films employing the cheap found footage treatment around half-baked stories. For their parts, the two big names with Radha Mitchell and Stephen Moyer don’t get a whole heck of a lot to do except for staring at monitors so this was probably either a quick payday or a favor for one of the filmmakers
To the Wonder might be one of the most beautiful movies to put on film in the past decade, if not more, but the story and characters are so detached, we only get glimpses of people we are supposed to care about. Yeah, I understand the themes Malick wanted to present, since he practically smacks them over the viewer’s heads, but themes don’t make a good or compelling film.
Slightly Single in L.A. heavily relies on its cast of actors who do their best to overcome quirky pacing and a plot that feels disjointed. Even so, Lacey Chabert is quite good in the main role and is surrounding by a group who make the best out of the humor.
for all its problems, Rapture-Palooza is a still a surprisingly funny movie featuring some great comedic talents headlined by Craig Robinson. Although it does go a bit flat heading into the third act, most of the jokes and religious satire hits the mark making for a fun film.
No One Lives does survive, albeit clingingly, on life support thanks to a simple story, some tense moments and a near masterful and disturbing performance from Luke Evans. This is not a film that will break ground in the horror genre, very few, if any, do nowadays, and the screenplay and acting from some of the supporting players could have been better, but on the whole it’s a worthwhile flick to rent if nothing else comes to mind.
Hanna-Barbera/Warner Animation has released another fun animated film with Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright. The story does have a “been there, done that” feel but the writers throw a loop in to keep the mystery going until the very end. The humor actually works most of the time and the side story of the Fred/Daphne relationship keeps their story moving forward.
Hatchet III is a needless sequel with plenty of gore and splatter but little story. I somewhat enjoyed the first entry and what Writer-Director Adam Green wanted to convey, but the sequel was a mere rehash and this third entry was surprisingly dull to sit through.
Q: The Winged Serpent is a fun little B-movie from the early 80s featuring some bad special effects, though this is part of the film’s charm and why it’s garnered somewhat of a cult following over the years.
Black Rock is respectable little film featuring two daring performances from Aselton, who also served as director, and Bell. The story is good enough to keep one’s attention but the villains are rather one-dimensional, almost Deliverance-lite, and it is brutal in its violent nature that I’m not sure I really would revisit it any time soon.
Passenger 57 is a silly action film typical of the 1990s era but between Wesley Snipes kick-ass nature and Bruce Payne’s delightfully ham-filled villainous performance, it makes for at least a fun viewing even if it doesn’t offer anything new to the genre. But outside of a couple of lines, it’s fairly forgettable.
Scary Movie 5 is an ugly, ugly movie even by comparison to #2 and #4 which were easily the worst of the franchise. But even worse so, this “movie” rivals the crap Friedberg/Seltzer continually puts out and those are some truly awful films in their own right. I’m astonished that credited writers David Zucker and Pat Proft didn’t downright file a lawsuit to have their names removed. The Blu-ray unfortunately does have respectable audio/video transfers but the bonus features are unsurprisingly minimal in content.
The Fog is another classic thriller from John Carpenter featuring good scares without getting gratuitous with the horror (in fact, there is no blood) and a respectable cast..