Driven is an overly dramatic, poorly acted melodrama that never really hits its stride. In 2001 when the movie was released, Sylvester Stallone was still in a funk, aside from Cop Land.
Category: Blu-ray Reviews
Rendition Blu-ray Review
Rendition is an OK film shining light on a controversial practice but the drama is overwrought with over-the-top acting especially from Reese Witherspoon who seemed to have taken the role aiming for another Academy Award. But Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin are quite good in their limited roles.
Killing Lincoln Blu-ray Review
Killing Lincoln is far from a perfect movie but offers some interesting information not many people might know about. The performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson are both respectable especially Johnson who probably deserves an Emmy nomination for his great portrayal of James Wilkes Booth.
Oz the Great and Powerful Blu-ray Review
Oz the Great and Powerful is a fine piece of film making with Raimi and company doing a fine job at least tying it with The Wizard of Oz, although a side effect being, similar to the Star Wars prequels, you kind of delude the mystery of the Wizard by revealing it in a prequel. Even so, though, it’s an enjoyable and entertaining film that doesn’t quite hit its mark yet still passed the time nicely.
Running Scared Blu-ray Review
Running Scared showed me two things: 1) style and substance can co-exist; 2) Wayne Kramer is a hell of a filmmaker even if the script didn’t completely grab me; and 3) Paul Walker shows he does have acting skills.
Ghostbusters Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)
Ghostbusters is a fantastic sci-fi/supernatural comedy which has stood the test of time quite well and is just as entertaining when I first saw it back in the 1980s. As far as this “Mastered in 4K” re-release, I will say the video is most certainly a big improvement over the original Blu-ray release.
Continue reading “Ghostbusters Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)”
Spider-Man Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)
Spider-Man is an OK superhero movie, satisfying enough debut for the web-slinger but that’s not to say it didn’t have more than one flaw. As far as this new re-release goes, the “Mastered in 4K” transfer is wonderful providing rich video and audio transfers but unfortunately, as with the others, none of the features have been ported over.
Continue reading “Spider-Man Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)”
Total Recall Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)
Total Recall “mastered in 4K” Blu-ray, as with the others, provides both excellent and top notch video and audio transfers so if you like the movie and have the proper equipment, maybe it’s worth the premium price, but that’s a big maybe as the current price is around $25.
Continue reading “Total Recall Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)”
The Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)
This “Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray release does offer excellent audio and video transfers but it’s not that much better versus the original Blu-ray release. Add to that this version fails to port over any features so you’re really losing out and if you do already own it, the nearly $30 is REALLY not worth it…
Continue reading “The Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)”
Angels & Demons Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)
This 4K mastered release of Angels & Demons is certainly an upgrade over its Blu-ray counterpart, HOWEVER, it’s not a huge one nor something worth the $15 price point for a release that didn’t bother porting over the features (even if they were placed on a second disc). Still, if you have the proper equipment you’ll see a good difference.
Continue reading “Angels & Demons Blu-ray Review (Mastered in 4K)”
Cloak and Dagger Blu-ray Review
This WWII film noir features splendid performances from Gary Cooper and Lilli Palmer and good cinematography by Sol Polito and direction by legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang.
The Enforcer Blu-ray Review
Although Olive Films’ releases tend to be pricey especially since they tend not to contain any features, they do often put out, relatively speaking, obscure titles. So for those Humphrey Bogart fans out there, or fans of film noir in general, this is a good pick-up even in the $20-25 range.
Charlie Zone Blu-ray Review
Charlie Zone has its problems from a low budget which lends to cheaper production values and a so-so supporting cast and a predictable script, but the two leads are both excellent and the story itself is presentable and worth sticking with for the 100-minute duration. Despite the film’s problems, it’s still worthy of a rental.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Blu-ray Review
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunter had an interesting and different premise but from the beginning it never quite found its footing. For one thing, I didn’t buy Renner and Arterton in their roles although the script didn’t help matters so their performances are somewhat forgivable. All told, sadly this is a downright forgettable movie with nothing to offer except for Famke Janssen’s hammy, yet fun, performance.
Continue reading “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Blu-ray Review”
Review: Tin Man Mini-Series BD
While the “Tin Man” miniseries isn’t bad, this budget release however isn’t very good. Although it is nice all of the features were ported over, placing a 4+ hour show on one disc really dilutes the video and audio presentation to average levels compared with the original RHI release which was far better and still available for purchase on Amazon.com for (at the time of this writing) only a couple bucks more.