One would think when you get Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron on the same screen and an intriguing storyline it would make for, at minimum, an entertaining science-fiction thriller. Instead, The Astronaut’s Wife is a complete mess with subpar performances, a story that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and direction that is at best sloppy.
Brainstorm might not be a perfect sci-fi flick but it’s easy to see why this has garnered a following since the DVD release in 2000 (and subsequent 2009 remaster) with great performances from Christopher Walken and the late Natalie Wood.
Even with some necessary suspension of disbelief, Frequency is a well crafted film with fine performances from Jim Caviezel, Dennis Quaid and Andre Braugher. The story is finely written and the premise is certainly interesting and above all else, original.
The Horse Whisperer is an all around beautiful movie. The story is both heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting, the cinematography is Oscar-worthy (unfortunately it was not nominated), the direction inspiring and the acting, especially from Redford and Thomas, amazing.
Impostor isn’t a terrible film, at least not as bad as some have made it out to be, but it does come across amateurish in its style (Fleder seems to love using angles), but the acting isn’t too bad and the production design and, given the budget, visual effects is OK. This isn’t the kind of film that will challenge your brain and compared with other Philip K. Dick adaptations, it’s a mid level release.
Step Up doesn’t exactly rewrite the music genre but for what it is, it’s a fun movie with some great beats and nice chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. This new Blu-ray release offers up only average video but the audio more than makes up for it as the bass goes into overdrive shaking the floor and walls.
Phenomenon is a well acted and finely dramatic film that seemed primed to be Oscar bait, especially in the acting category if you see a few of the scenes. However, it doesn’t hold much replay value because while the story is well done and features some fine direction by Jon Turteltaub, it’s just one of those movies that’s only worth one viewing every few years, despite a fine performance from John Travolta.
The Faculty is a great movie that takes the old Invasion of the Body Snatchers story and rather than turning it on its head, just gives a slight twist but leaves everything else relatively in line. It also helps that, like the Scream movies before, it’s self aware of the kind of movie this is.
Blade II is a great movie and one of the better comic book films to be released in the past decade. Having Guillermo del Toro helm this entry was one reason for its success especially in the visual realm. The action is well shot and the suspense is maintained throughout. It also features a good performance from Wesley Snipes as well as Ron Perlman who make for a cool baddie.
Ransom is a well made crime-thriller propelled by some great performances from Mel Gibson and Rene Russo and the story never gets old or is overly complicated and instead plays it straight as a thrilling cat-and-mouse game.
The Meatballs Blu-ray release is a mixed bag with decent audio and video transfers but disappointing in the features department especially considering the making-of featurette was not transferred over (no doubt due to the rights being with Sony).
Bettie Page: Dark Angel is an all around bad movie, poorly acted and gives no insights into the character and instead is more of a porn film than anything of substance. The lead actress certainly has the look down but the acting is poor, although I can’t blame her too much given the director doesn’t have much going for him.
Clueless is a timeless classic that even 17 years later is still relevant today as it was then even when styles and lingo changes. The movie features some great performances especially from Silverstone who probably deserved more award recognition than she got.
Lionsgate has repackaged these re-releases in anticipation for the upcoming Avengers live action summer blockbuster, so if you already owned these you’re getting the exact same content except in a more convenient single Blu-ray case.
This “High-Powered Action Pack” might not have the greatest movies – Equilibrium and The Lookout are the best – but at a low SRP of $30, it comes to $5 per movie and maybe less depending on which store you go to (i.e. Best Buy had it for $10), so if you’ve enjoyed any of these and don’t care about features or average audio/video transfers, then by all means check it out.