Fever Pitch is a fun British romantic drama featuring solid performances from Colin Firth and Ruth Gemmell. It’s filled with good drama providing background into Firth’s character and his obsession with “football” over-layered with his personal drama as an adult, giving layers to what could’ve otherwise been a fluffy film.
Commitment is a half-decent martial arts movie with some good fight scenes and a semi-coherant and compelling story with a fine primary character.
Boiler Room unabashedly takes its cues from Wall Street and Glengarry Glenn Ross with a clip from the former being shown and quoted by the characters, so kudos for at least not denying it and claiming to be original through and through. The performances are mostly solid but the screenplay and in particular, the ending needed work because it had potential to be memorable.
Anna Nicole is the typical Lifetime Channel tripe with subpar acting, even from actors who tend not to be half-bad, and screenplays seemingly written by interns. The gravest sin going against this movie is that you really don’t learn a whole lot about her past and instead we get most of the items we saw in the news.
Samson and Delilah is one of Cecil Deville’s lavish spectacles with wonderful vistas and color cinematography that is absolutely beautiful and probably one of the reasons the movie has endured as much as it has. The two leads are fine in their roles though hardly memorable but admittedly it’s not a story I was enamored with to go along with a screenplay that isn’t the best in terms of dialogue.
The Knot has few funny moments yet the cast seemed to get along at least making for a one-off viewing of a romantic comedy that offers little else. The DVD has OK video and audio transfers but lacks any features.
The Agony and the Ecstasy is a massive production and features two fine performances by Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison; it’s also an interesting, widespread, story that keeps one’s attention through the 2-hour running time.
“Legit”: The Complete First Season is outrageous from the opening scene until the end. Jim Jefferies is hilarious in all his offensive glory and along with a great supporting cast led by Dan Bakkedahl and DJ Qualls, this is a funny show that might not be for everybody but if you can handle off-color humor, it’s well worth checking out.
The 300 Spartans is a extravagantly made war-drama with impressive costume and set designs to go along with the hundreds of extras.
MGM once again goes the well with this now Rocky: Heavyweight Collection which only has a remaster of the first film while the other 4 (Balboa already looks great) are left with old transfers which are nice but nothing notable. Except for a throwaway game, all of the features on the 7th disc have been ported over and placed on the Rocky disc so you’re not going to be missing anything.
Battle of the Damned is yet another poorly made direct-to-video action vehicle for Dolph Lundgren. The story has a been-there vibe, the acting from the supporting players is questionable and the effects are poor, though expected for the kind of budget this movie must’ve had.
The Front is a welcoming drama seeing Woody Allen playing it mostly straight and sans his quirky persona he’s relied on over the years, albeit most of the time with success.
The Blue Max is a well made, and very long, war-adventure-drama featuring fine performances from George Peppard and James Mason and has well done flight fight scenes to be put on film for the time.
Twilight Time’s release of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a long ignored title within the MGM catalogue line, is a fun flick featuring excellent performances from Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges set against the beautifully photographed backdrop of the Midwest.
Scarecrow is yet another terrible Syfy Original Movie that features, outside of the two leads, a no-name cast whose characters only serve to be flesh food for the villain but worst of all it’s just not that scary. This DVD release has no bonus material and although the video is average, the audio track does have some oomph to it.