Pan had some of the right ingredients between a good and capable director and respectable cast but between some odd choices with the soundtrack, mainly a rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, and an utterly joyless film which is surprising for a movie about Peter Pan, it makes for a soulless and forgettable flick.
It’s understandable why fans of the novels hate The Scorch Trials adaptation but as someone who isn’t attached to the books in any way, I found it acceptable and entertaining enough. Sure, the film does have its problems especially with the pacing and bloated story taking it over the two hour mark, yet at the same time I don’t regret seeing it.
What started off as an interesting story about the Milgram Experiment turned into a bit of a bore of film in the second half, though Peter Sarsgaard does give a fine performance and director Michael Almereyda certainly didn’t go the conventional route in the story and filmmaking style, so Experimenter does at least stand out in that regard.
Mysterious Island is a fun, light-hearted, fantasy flick highlighted by Ray Haryhausen’s incredible effects work combined with Bernard Herrmann’s score. The Blu-ray released under the Twilight Time line offers some decent features headlined by an extensive audio commentary, and good video/audio transfers.
There’s really no reason for The Transporter Refueled to exist, let alone one without Jason Statham starring. The writing is bad, the action sequences weren’t well directed and came across more as a commercial for Audi, and the performance from Ed Skrein does not make for a fun or kick ass action hero.
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is just another bad direct-to-video flick but worse yet, it’s not even a fun bad, just plain bad. The acting is wooden especially on the part of Dean Ambrose who shows no charisma to play the lead and the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. The Blu-ray is rather basic with two thin featurettes, so-so video and adequate audio transfers.
Pawn Sacrifice isn’t one of Zwick’s best movies, which for me is still The Last Samurai, but it’s still an adequate drama with strong performances by Tobey Maguire and Michael Stuhlbarg, the latter of whom deserves some award recognition. The Blu-ray release offers good video and audio transfers but falls far short in the bonus material department.
Mississippi Grind is a well meaning and generally finely acted drama but the screenplay probably could’ve used a little more work in fleshing out the friendship between its two main characters, though to be fair, the acting by both Mendelsohn and Reynolds does at least make this watchable.
“Game of Thrones”: The Complete First Season starts off strong and continues to its brutal season finale with brilliant performances from its vast cast from beginning to end along with award-winning production and costume designs. This new Limited Edition Steelbook release is more or less the same as the previous releases but comes with an upgraded Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
The Perfect Guy is a forgettable yet still watchable suspense thriller with fine performances from Sanaa Lathan and Morris Chestnut while Michael Ealy is quite as effective outside of being a creep. That said, it is a plot seen in numerous number of Lifetime Original Movies just with better production values and talent.
At First Sight is by no means a great romantic drama but Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino make for a charismatic couple though the pacing is a bit off and follows the generic formula; that said, it’s at least watchable. The Blu-ray released by Olive is basic with only a trailer but good video and audio transfers.
“Fear the Walking Dead” doesn’t have much to offer over its parent show but the performances by the likes of Cliff Curtis and Kim Dickens aren’t bad even when their characters act like utter dumb-asses. Perhaps the second season it’ll hit its stride but as of now, I’m not sure there’s really reason for it being.
While it’s an interesting title and Virginia Madsen is one fine actress in more ways than one, the actual execution of this 1987 horror film doesn’t come close to living up to its title and instead is a frankly dull film and has nothing to do with zombies in the classic sense (flesh eating types).
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Smell of Fear is easily the weakest of the three movies with the bulk of the humor connecting in the opening and end sequences, the latter courtesy of Leslie Nielson’s physical comedy, with the middle part eliciting a couple chuckles but little else.
Minions is a harmless but still average film that kids will certainly love. That said, this is something that probably would’ve worked better as a short for either a TV special or showing prior to the eventual Despicable Me 3 theatrical release.