Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
The Specialist is the tale of three movies: Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone are in one (average film); James Woods in another (an over-the-top but fun one); and Rod Steiger, with help by Mr. Camp himself Eric Roberts (in a bad film) who seemed to be on a different page from everybody else. As a whole, this is an uneven movie with poor pacing for the first two-thirds and it wasn’t until the action-packed finale that things come together.
Super Hybrid borrows ideas from several other movies and that’d be all well and good… if it had at least been an entertaining flick. Instead it’s a boring horror movie with card-board cutout characters – and a caricature in the case of one –, a mundane story and just an all around inane plotline to begin with.
It’s too bad that the series went in this direction as this third entry in the successful Spy Kids series is downright awful in every way imaginable. The story itself isn’t very exciting, the acting is at best passable and the plotline with the Toymaker doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
It’s another installment in the franchise and Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams continues to be a fun action-filled adventure for the kids. However, this time around I wasn’t as enthralled with the plot as it became tiring to get through. That said, there are far worse films out there and much worse for families so it’s still a passable movie.
Spy Kids is a fun little movie that kids will enjoy and even adults might find amusing. The acting by the kids was actually decent enough and unlike so many other child actors, they never got on my nerve which is a feat in itself.
Copycat has been compared to Silence of the Lambs and Se7en. I don’t quite agree as both of those are easy suspense-thriller classics in my book, but it still is a solid thriller that features a couple good performances and is well written and finely directed.
Despite some decent visual and practical effects, Red Planet is just an ordinary movie in that hellish spot between the good and bad making it a forgettable film as a whole.
Bridget Jones’s Diary is still after all these years, 10 to be exact, is a great British comedy with three fine performances. The Blu-ray itself is decent enough with good video and audio transfers and all the features from the DVD were ported over so anyone thinking of upgrading will not miss anything.
Despite only having a relatively short 97-minute running time, Source Code is a far more impactful film than others that are a good 40-50 minutes longer. The reason in part to this is the efficiency of director Duncan Jones who jumps in to the mainstream after the success of indie hit Moon and makes a splash.
Tekken is just the next in a long line of failed game to film adaptations. I didn’t feel this was a bad movie, just an average one. It held some entertainment value but not nearly enough to recommend this.
Wild Cherry is yet another comedy trying to repeat/copy better movies but doesn’t measure up in any way. I do have some respect for Tania Raymonde for her, um, “commitment” but otherwise it’s more cheap shelf filler at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Marvel Knights “Iron Man: Extremis” and “Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.” are two decent motion comics which I’m certain will thrill fans of each character and the comic book they are based upon. For me, I’ve never been a big fan of the motion comic but even so, they are entertaining and at a low price is worth picking up especially if you don’t already own the individual DVD releases.
It is what it is and if you’ve been waiting for the much anticipated battle of the 1980s pop stars intermixed with some truly awful CGI then Mega Python vs. Gatoroid is the film for you. The Blu-ray has an average video transfer, adequate audio and a minimal amount of features. This is the type of title that will comprise of a Blu-ray bargain aisle or bin.
I don’t think Sucker Punch is a movie one should be dismissive of. Yes, an argument can be made that this is basically CGI porn and the story can be nonsensical but I think somewhere in here there is a compelling movie, it just gets lost in the CG and fantasy worlds.
Continue reading “Sucker Punch: Extended Cut Blu-ray Review”
Like him or not, Uwe Boll lives on churning out one crap movie after another, and BloodRayne 3 is no different. Obviously the man has the personality, ego and I guess enough charm to get the financing for his films and this latest, while not completely awful, still wasn’t a good movie at all.
Continue reading “BloodRayne: The Third Reich Blu-ray Review”