Brainstorm might not be a perfect sci-fi flick but it’s easy to see why this has garnered a following since the DVD release in 2000 (and subsequent 2009 remaster) with great performances from Christopher Walken and the late Natalie Wood.
Even with some necessary suspension of disbelief, Frequency is a well crafted film with fine performances from Jim Caviezel, Dennis Quaid and Andre Braugher. The story is finely written and the premise is certainly interesting and above all else, original.
The Horse Whisperer is an all around beautiful movie. The story is both heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting, the cinematography is Oscar-worthy (unfortunately it was not nominated), the direction inspiring and the acting, especially from Redford and Thomas, amazing.
Spawn is a poorly made feature film with campy, over-the-top acting, laughable visual effects, lousy editing and a choppy story that doesn’t give the main character any sort of development. Simply put, this wasn’t a very good adaptation of an otherwise, last I read anyway, cool comic book series.
Impostor isn’t a terrible film, at least not as bad as some have made it out to be, but it does come across amateurish in its style (Fleder seems to love using angles), but the acting isn’t too bad and the production design and, given the budget, visual effects is OK. This isn’t the kind of film that will challenge your brain and compared with other Philip K. Dick adaptations, it’s a mid level release.
American Reunion is a great finale to a funny and heartfelt franchise. For a certain generation this cast and characters have meant so much and to find them back together is a great accomplishment by the producers and filmmakers. The movie itself has some memorable moments and thankfully doesn’t restrain itself to the timeline of the direct-to-video sequels.
O is a harrowing movie headlined with strong writing but even stronger performances from a young and impressive cast, primarily Mekhi Phifer and Josh Hartnett. The Blu-ray offers up an OK video transfer but the DTS-HD MA more than makes up for it even when not all the features from the DVD were ported over.
Step Up doesn’t exactly rewrite the music genre but for what it is, it’s a fun movie with some great beats and nice chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. This new Blu-ray release offers up only average video but the audio more than makes up for it as the bass goes into overdrive shaking the floor and walls.
Phenomenon is a well acted and finely dramatic film that seemed primed to be Oscar bait, especially in the acting category if you see a few of the scenes. However, it doesn’t hold much replay value because while the story is well done and features some fine direction by Jon Turteltaub, it’s just one of those movies that’s only worth one viewing every few years, despite a fine performance from John Travolta.
The Faculty is a great movie that takes the old Invasion of the Body Snatchers story and rather than turning it on its head, just gives a slight twist but leaves everything else relatively in line. It also helps that, like the Scream movies before, it’s self aware of the kind of movie this is.
Blade II is a great movie and one of the better comic book films to be released in the past decade. Having Guillermo del Toro helm this entry was one reason for its success especially in the visual realm. The action is well shot and the suspense is maintained throughout. It also features a good performance from Wesley Snipes as well as Ron Perlman who make for a cool baddie.
If you’re looking for a breezy family film, elements that are often missing from modern movies littered with sexual content and questionable material, you can do worse than Mirror Mirror. The movie has fine performances from Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer, the visual effects are pretty good and the story itself, while obvious and predictable, is at least interesting enough to keep your attention until the end.
Overall, Wrath of the Titans isn’t a bad movie, just a poorly made one. It apparently cost $150 million and it seems you can see every penny of it on screen with some decent visual effects, good production design and well made costumes. However, the characters are paper thin, the story unexciting and the action ultimately forgettable.
Ransom is a well made crime-thriller propelled by some great performances from Mel Gibson and Rene Russo and the story never gets old or is overly complicated and instead plays it straight as a thrilling cat-and-mouse game.
Barbarella might not be everybody’s cup of tea, it certainly wasn’t mine, but there are certain aspects one can appreciate beginning with Jane Fonda’s performance. Otherwise, the film is a bit too far “out there” though it does have some great, memorable, scenes.