Planes: Fire and Rescue err Wings: Sky Force One, like its predecessor, is a knockoff of Disney’s Planes which in itself sad, though even worse, we get this one which copies its sequel. The animation is dodgy, the voice acting is OK while the story is only suitable for very young audiences while adults may find it to be tedious.
This is a trashy movie with terrible acting and an all around bad and disgusting screenplay… even by Lifetime Channel standards which are already pretty low. Beyond that, it’s a horrible cash grab and is nothing more than tabloid dribble offering innuendos and unsubstantiated stories which should place this squarely into fictional territory.
Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse is yet another forgettable SyFy Original Movie that is more filler for that station than anything. Its uber-cheap production budget is evident with utterly laughable visual effects, subpar acting and a paint-by-numbers script that utilizes the same formula of other TV movies used in the past 10+ years. The DVD released by Anchor Bay is really basic with no bonus material and average/adequate audio/video transfers.
Gutshot Straight maybe had the best intentions at being a solid crime-drama but instead falls far short with a half-baked plot, some so-so acting despite a respectable supporting cast led by Stephen Lang and Ted Levine, and shoddy editing that stymied any momentum early on.
This “Garfield”: Holiday Collection is perfect for the fans as these aren’t the easiest to find and to have five of them on one disc, to go along with a fun interview with Jim Davis, makes for a nice set and well worth the price especially at or below the $15 SRP.
The “Robot Chicken”: Christmas Specials collection is geared more toward casual fans as, from what I can tell, everything on this disc was previously released in some fashion in the season sets, features included. The DVD itself has OK audio and video while the commentaries are at least entertaining.
Going on 11 seasons, “Two and a Half Men” has shown its age although it never was my brand of humor, though Chuck Lorre-created series rarely are, but when Charlie Sheen was canned and with the departure of Angus T. Jones, even the inclusion of Amber Tamblyn couldn’t help liven up dried up jokes and half-assed plotlines.
Premature obviously is predicable but still is a nice twist on reliving the same day plot device and actually attempts to provide an explanation for it. The cast, which outside of Alan Tudyk and Katie Findlay (“The Killing,” “How to Get Away with Murder”) is mostly unknown, all work well with one another while the script has some funny, if not “American Pie”-inspired, humor.
Throwdown is plain and simple a bad movie, which I guess is a bit disappointing if only the DVD cover at least looked professional and I am a fan of Vinnie Jones especially when he’s given a more substantial role. Instead we got some false advertising and an amateurish movie on the whole.
“2 Broke Girls” isn’t the funniest show around and is basically right at home on CBS with the rest like “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory” with some raunchier humor and two hotter women to make it at least watchable. The DVD released by Warner Brothers unfortunately has scaled back in the features department with only some deleted scenes and a gag reel included.
Under Wraps I’m guessing, based on the credits, was a Kickstarter campaign and on the whole is a harmless animated film (though it is only 47-minutes long) for kids to watch, though it seemed to be done on the cheap especially when filmmakers forgot to remove an FX company’s watermark, though it does go by quickly… The DVD released by Arc Entertainment is basic with OK audio/video transfers but with no features, there’s not much to this release.
Locked In actually isn’t a bad movie and despite some shortcomings with the screenplay/story, the acting from the main cast are pretty good and there’s enough there to keep one’s attention. Still, at best this is only worth a rental unless you can nab this for under $5.
The Taking of Deborah Logan, which was produced by Bryan Singer, isn’t terrible but it’s also just the latest in a slew of found footage horror films. The acting isn’t bad and there are a few creepy moments but not nearly enough to give this a recommendation. The DVD released by Millennium has OK audio and video transfers and the solo feature is forgettable.
Hellion features strong performances from Aaron Paul and newcomer Josh Wiggins surrounding a well written dramatic story that overly compelling yet for the cast it’s worth at least one viewing. The DVD released by MPI has good video and audio transfers and a forgettable featurette, though it is interesting to watch the short film for which this was based upon.
Autumn Blood is slow-moving, a bit too slow actually, but the performance from hopefully star-in-the-making Sofia Lowe at least makes it tolerable and not a complete waste of time. The DVD distributed by Arc Entertainment offers up good looking and sounding video and audio transfers but there’s nary a feature in sight.