Beirut is an uneven yet ultimately engaging enough drama-thriller helped by the charismatic on-screen performance from its star, Jon Hamm. The geo-political story written by Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy never quite gels but it’s still worth a rental at least.
7 Days in Entebbe is what I would call a competently made average drama-thriller. The performances from Rosamund Pike (especially) and Daniel Bruhl are both well done and the story in of itself was interesting, but how it was presented never gelled quite right. Even so, it’s probably worthy of a rental if you’re interested in the subject.
Alex & Me is a fun little inspirational flick that the family will enjoy, especially anyone in the 10-14 age range, even when things have that sugary, Disney-esque type of humor and a plot that seemed ripped from the 90s.
Take a Girl Like You is a fun little 1970s romantic-comedy romp propelled by the charismatic performances by Hayley Mills and Oliver Reed.
Let’s Make Love is another charming film from Marilyn Monroe and although I didn’t think Yves Montand was a great leading man, I did have a fun time watching them together and an all around engaging story.
My Sister Eileen is a cute and fun 1950s-era comedy-musical with many of the tropes you would expect from the era, and all of it enjoyable thanks to three wonderful performances by Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett and Jack Lemmon.
Terminal had plenty of potential with a respectable cast headed by Margot Robbie who turns in another insane performance along the lines of Harley Quinn, sadly the story wasn’t up to snuff and it had a very artificial cool factor that didn’t work.
Sherlock Gnomes wasn’t awful or anything but between a limited gnome-world and humor that rarely, if ever, landed, it was a bit of a chore to sit through especially when it sounded like the actors couldn’t give two rips either.
Spinning Man, while imperfect, does at least try something new to the sometimes tired crime-thriller genre, taking viewers away from the investigation aspects and looking into the lives, and particularly mind, of a prime suspect and his devolution.
Thoroughbreds is one of the more unsettling movies I’ve seen in some time featuring two tremendous performances from what should be the next generation of talented actors in Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Acrimony is hardly terrible but it’s also par for the course of a Tyler Perry film. The talents of the lovely Taraji P. Henson are utterly wasted as she doesn’t get to show anything other than hostility considering any nice moments of the character went to the younger version.
The Midnight Man is just another in a long line of indie horror with a half-baked story, cardboard cutout characters and average performances even by the more experienced actors like Robert Englund and Lin Shaye. Skip this turkey.
Pacific Rim: Uprising is a visually impressive but vapidly empty sci-fi action-er with mostly paper-thin characters, though they try giving Boyega more to work with, but I’m kind of over destruction porn and the third act takes it up a notch and an ending that sequel-baits.
Tomb Raider might be the exception to the rule of an actually good video game adaptation, and not in a so bad it’s good like the Jolie version. I genuinely enjoyed the action sequences and Alicia Vikander really embodied Lara Croft in the character’s current form, quite well.
The Hurricane Heist could’ve been a great B-movie action-er but outside of some genuinely funny moments, this is the sort of plot I’ve seen many times over the years, most of them destined for the DTV market, where this one should have landed. As it is, this is not in the least terrible and probably passably entertaining at times.