Streets of Fire is a rare breed of film that features a unique yet familiar style and with some interesting casting choices, two of them brilliant with the young Diane Lane and Willem Dafoe.
Gold was something of a missed opportunity. The story in itself was interesting while the theme presented by director Stephen Gaghan has a familiar feel that we’ve seen numerous times before.
Saturday Night Fever is a movie that transcends time. It’s a movie that no matter how old you are, you can relate in one way or another. Of course, it also helps that it features probably one of the best soundtracks ever released and a fantastic performance by a young John Travolta.
Caltiki: The Immortal Monster is a quirky 1950s Italian flick that is part silly, part respectable for its effects work that is worthy of watching if only for that aspect, and viewing with friends might make for a fun time.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe was one of the better surprises of the year (so far) with a compelling enough plot and two great performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch.
Django, Prepare a Coffin is one of the very few quasi-sequels to the original and on its own, is actually not a half bad spaghetti western and features a charismatic and entertaining performance from Terence Hill.
The Marine 5: Battleground is yet another bad entry into a franchise that should not even ever been a franchise in the first place. The problem is, this movie doesn’t fall in the so bad, it’s good territory and thus is a slog to sit through till the bitter and predictable end.
This feature debut from Sam Peckinpah is a classic western featuring three fun performances by Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea and Mariette Hartley.
Never Too Young to Die has received a cult following over the past 30 years with my first understanding only a year or two back when it was featured on Red Letter Media’s “Best of the Worst” series. Seeing it in its entirety for myself, it certainly has earned the bad its good moniker.
Mars is a flawed yet still entertaining mini-series where I found a little more interest in the scripted, with some interesting characters, dramatic part versus the documentary, though I wish that portion was a movie of its own. Still, this is worth a rental.
The Handmaid’s Tale is an unusual movie to get released to Blu-ray under Shout’s Select line though it’s likely due to Hulu producing a television series based on the novel. As it is, it’s a bit plodding at times but the acting is top notch from the Natasha Richardson to Robert Duvall as a despicable human being.
Why Him? is certainly not very good but harmless enough and perhaps worth a watch if only for Bryan Cranston and even James Franco who at least were somewhat entertaining to behold as they both appeared to be having fun.
War on Everyone certainly caught me by surprise and it is in apt title in a few ways. This is also one of the more un-PC movies I’ve come across and thanks to that, as well as the performances from Skarsgård and Peña, at least makes it memorable even when the pacing was off.
Hidden Figures is a delightful film telling a generally unknown story about three black women who were crucial to the USA’s journey to space; it features three solid performances led way by Taraji P. Henson.
Of these two movies, I found House to be the more entertaining but House II does have its moments but it veers far more into the slapstick comedic territory than its predecessor. As far as this release goes, it is unfortunate that the third and fourth movies weren’t included (they are in the Arrow UK release).