Vampires isn’t a great horror movie and certainly not top shelf in John Carpenter’s vast resume, but it does have its moments, including a fun performance from James Woods, and an interesting, even unique, origin of the vampires.
NOVA: The Planets is an alright documentary series though I have seen better produced from The Science Channel and the like, though this is still well worth checking out for anyone interested in our outer-space neighbors.
Into the Ashes had some potential but the first 35-40 minutes were meandering at best, dull at worst and nothing in the remaining hour could make up for it, though even then, some storytelling choices were a bit odd.
The Aladdin: Signature Collection Blu-ray is virtually the same from the Diamond Edition from four years ago, though this is a nice set if you don’t already own that version as the video and audio transfers are both excellent and the bonus material were at least fine.
Aniara to say the least isn’t exactly a feel good movie of the year, but it is at times haunting, if not depressingly beautiful… The acting is quite strong from the core cast, primarily Emelie Jonsson and Bianca Cruzeiro.
Magnificent Obsession is a wonderful romantic drama featuring two great performances by Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman (who was nominated for an Academy Award), beautifully shot by director Douglas Sirk.
Do or Die is just another poorly made action-adventure film from Andy Sidaris and while yes most of it is rather bad, I did have a little fun watching and can imagine this would make for a great MST3K night with a bunch of friends.
Guns is a ridiculous movie for sure (both in the good and bad way) with an overly complicated and meandering plot alongside some truly bad performances and terrible dialogue, but the movie did at least get me to laugh.
Ma is a movie that has a story that seems to come straight out of the 1990s and today probably would probably air on the Lifetime Movie Network. Octavia Spencer for her part was fine though Diana Silvers served well in an otherwise forgettable thriller.
The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season is a solid enough entry into the series and offers some interesting little twists with the ensemble characters and the departure of one of the original cast in Andrew Lincoln.
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum isn’t a great entry into the franchise due to a weak storyline and character decision-making not making much sense; the action itself still was highly entertaining and even exhilarating; however I do hope the filmmakers find a better balance with story and action in the next film.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a movie I had little expectations for considering, at least from memory, not caring a whole lot for the previous entry, but even then, the film feels every bit of its 2+ hour running time and features paper-thin characters.
The Flash: The Complete Fifth Season was highly entertaining even though I’m not the biggest fan of these “Team” aspects which hurt Arrow, but here, the family dynamic with Barry/Iris/Nora injected some great emotion and the villains were well done.
Hopefully this will satisfy the legendary Francis Ford Coppola. Personally, while I did love Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, and give it an A+ grade, it’s not perfection as the French plantation scene still drags the film down.
Alice, Sweet Alice for some reason has cultivated a following over the 40 years since its release and while atmospherically it was decent, the rest wasn’t all that impressive from the stringed-together plot to some laughable over-the-top performances.