Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
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.
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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.
The Eddy Duchin Story is a well acted, if a bit stretched out, music drama featuring fine performances from Tyrone Power in the title character role as well as Kim Novak.
I don’t mind admitting Chicago is an amazing musical that holds up just as well today as it did 10 years ago and still deserving of its 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture. The performances, both in acting and singing, from Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere are astounding not to mention Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly also turn in wonderful performances.
“Dallas”: The Complete Second Season is another solid year of great drama and some fantastic acting most notably from the late great Larry Hagman who unfortunately only had a few episodes before his passing. The DVD released by Warner Brothers has some good bonus material and the audio/video transfers are both well done.
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Sorority Party Massacre fails in almost all phases from the title itself, the casting, acting and direction. I understand what the filmmakers were going after, mixing different movies and genres but it doesn’t mesh well enough, unfortunately because it did have the opportunity to be the fun kind of bad movie instead of just plain bad.
The praise for Million Dollar Baby might have waned over the years and upon its release got its fair share of spoofs, but 8 years later I still loved just about every minute of it even if it’s as depressing as all hell.
Stop-Loss is a well made war-drama featuring several fine performances from Ryan Phillippe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum. I wasn’t floored by the film and it doesn’t even compete with the best war movies and it doesn’t possess much replay value, but it might be worth a watch.
A Chorus Line certainly has its fans and detractors with the latter angered at how it was adapted and although I’ve never seen the stage play, I can’t say I’d blame them as it’s not a very well made musical, though the opening musical number was catchy and some of the performances from the stage players weren’t bad.
Death Wish is quintessential 1970s crime and grit and with the performance of Charles Bronson makes it a classic in its own right. It’s a fairly thought-provoking flick as well about vigilante justice and its effect on society though even on that front, its skin deep.
Two Weeks Notice isn’t the most memorable romantic-comedy or anything but Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock share good chemistry together even if the story is a bit thin. The catalog Blu-ray released by Warner ports over all of the features from the DVD and offers a moderate upgrade in both the picture and audio.