Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Romance & Cigarettes is an odd ball of a film, a mixture of genres and while I can appreciate what director John Turturro attempted to do, it just didn’t quite work but with a cats like this headlined by the great James Gandolfini, to go along with Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet, might make at least watchable.
Continue reading “Review: Romance & Cigarettes BD + Screen Caps”
War Pigs actually isn’t as terrible of movie as some make it out to be… but the acting is subpar and the story itself is limited but clocking in at just over 80-minutes it at least makes for a quick watch that ultimately isn’t satisfying yet I can’t say I’m overly disappointed considering this is a DTV flick.
Heartbreakers is an entertaining and all around fun crime-comedy featuring good performances all around but especially Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt who are wonderful together and the sole reasons this movie still works today going on 14 years.
Léon: The Professional is a masterpiece of work from Luc Besson and is easily my favorite and most emotion-filled film to date. The performances by Jean Reno (who deserved an Oscar nomination), Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman were all fantastic in their own distinctive ways and it’s just an all around well made flick with good mixture of drama and suspense.
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Dangerous Game is an uneven and quite frankly frenetic film that happens to have some strong performances especially from Harvey Keitel that it keeps it from being a complete turkey. The Blu-ray released by Olive Films is rather limited with only a trailer and average-to-adequate video and audio transfers.
Scorpio had the ingredients to be a fun espionage thriller but instead it meanders and never fully comes together in spite of solid performances by Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers good video and audio transfers but falls short in the features department, though the commentary isn’t bad.
Where Deadly Prey was so bad its good, Deadliest Prey is just plain bad and could really be considered a remake with a very similar plot and generally the same shots (not to mention virtually the same type of opening credits). Perhaps others might get something out of this turkey, I myself will never revisit it.
Deadly Prey is one of the best bad movies ever made and if it were only that, I’d give it a better rating but most everything on this release was terrible. The video had almost a VHS quality to it and the audio is limited. There are some bonus material so it’s not a complete dud but considering the price, it’s a tad steep and only worth it at a bargain bin cost.
Broken Lance is a well made studio Western from the 1950s that features, no surprise, top notch performances most notably Spencer Tracy. The shooting locales and production design is commendable to go along with Leigh Harline’s score, which is available as an isolated track.
Fatherland isn’t great but the performance from lead actor Gerulf Griffiths wasn’t bad and the story at least held some interest. That said, this really isn’t my cup of tea but might be worth checking out at some point. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers so-so video/audio transfers and sadly no bonus material to peruse.
The Fifth Element is a mixed bag of a film with some great flare and style but then you add in Chris Tucker and his obnoxious character to balance all that good out. On the plus side, Gary Oldman, as outlandish as his character is, is a lot of fun to watch and Milla Jovovich provides a nice spark.
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Bad Boys I & II is another bang-bang series from Michael Bay and although I disliked the sequel, the original at least is enjoyable enough. The pairing of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence offers fun chemistry between the two and the action scenes are at least unique in some sense although done to death by Bay himself to the point where you’re not sure if you’re watching Bad Boys or Transformers.
Tinto Brass isn’t a filmmaker for everybody and in my small sampling of his films that have been released on Blu-ray, its apparent I’m not as enamored with him compared with others. The Voyeur is no different but it does have interesting cinematography. However, this Blu-ray release has substandard video, average audio and limited number of bonus features.
Sense & Sensibility is a well made adaptation of the Jane Austen classic headlined by a stellar cast but especially Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant and is well worth watching as it has its heartfelt but funny moments. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has good video and audio transfers and a fine selection of bonus material.
Shadows and Fog is one of the more forgotten films in Woody Allen’s repartee and for the most part, it’s not a bad little comedy though it is typical Allen in terms of his performance and writing. Clearly it’s nowhere near the quality of Manhattan or Annie Hall, or more recently Midnight in Paris, but it might be worth a watch.