The Fantasticks is a well done musical with good production designs and (in a good way) is a fun throwback to the musicals of the 60s and 70s especially in its style. Outside of that, it’s a nice movie but nothing I feel will revisit anytime soon, though for those who haven’t seen it, might be worth a look.
Odd Man Out is a very well made and tense film noir thriller featuring incredible performances by, most notably, James Mason and Robert Newton. The Blu-ray itself released by Criterion Collection offers good video/audio transfers while the features are well done, headlined by an archive documentary about Mason.
Wild Card is one unusual film if only that it comes across as a mish-mash of a feature film mixed with some kind of TV pilot with the variety of colorful side characters and a patch-work of a plot. Statham for his part though was fine albeit no different than any of his other run-of-the-mill crime-thrillers and the supporting cast was good but often underutilized to the point of being useless (Jason Alexander for instance has one scene and is not seen again… at all).
Digging Up the Marrow had an interesting idea being a mixture of fantasy and horror and putting a mockumentary twist on both and while Adam Green proves yet again to be an affable guy (as demonstrated in his numerous commentary tracks), the plot never quite gels though I can’t say it’s not at least worth a rental.
The Voices is certainly not a movie for everybody. The film is as dark of a comedy that has come down the pike in some time yet it further shows that Ryan Reynolds is actually a fairly versatile actor it’s just that the choice of certain projects hasn’t been the best. If you were a fan of “Dexter”, at least its early years, then this might be worth checking out if only as a Red Box rental.
It’d be an understated that Zardoz is one unique, and bizarre, movie from the subject to costumes but well worth checking out thanks in large part to Sean Connery in one of his most… interesting performances. The Blu-ray released through Twilight Time offers good video/audio transfers and although the bonus material is limited, the two commentaries are pretty good.
Everly is one of the more unambitious yet ambitious films I’ve come across. The action is relatively well shot and Hayek, considering what she had to work with, wasn’t terrible (not great either) and she seemed to hold her own in the fight scenes. However, with that said, it’s very uneven in tone and genre.
Escape from New York might be far from perfect, but it’s an entertaining flick with an outstanding, and subdued, performance from Kurt Russell and a fantastic electronic score from Carpenter and Howarth. This new 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release from Shout Factory is phenomenal not only porting over the features from the previous CE release but includes a few more goodies for fans to peruse.
U Turn is not one of Oliver Stone’s strongest films, although it is one of my favorite of his (taking into consideration I’ve never been a big fan of his), but features a great cast and fantastic performances by Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. The Blu-ray distributed by Twilight Time might be limited in features but the video and audio transfers might make it a worthwhile purchase, though as usual, it’s not a cheap release.
It’s another solid release (well re-release) of a classic film from Twilight Time with Journey to the Center of the Earth. The film does come across as dated not so much for its effects, which are still impressive for its time, but the pacing isn’t the best.. Even so, it’s still a fun flick to check out and one of the better Journey film adaptations.
It’s become common place for a few years to find Nicolas Cage on the front cover a direct-to-video movie and normally I can appreciate it for his insane performance but with Outcast he’s merely a supporting player with the charmless Hayden Christensen taking front stage. It’s not a well made movie but it’s also not terrible, just utterly forgettable and even boring.
Behind Enemy Lines isn’t particularly well made and the performances are so-so, but it is somewhat entertaining and has its moments, though at times it looks like a product of the 1980s. The Blu-ray released by Olive Films is mixed. The video is acceptable but the audio has much to be desired as does the lack of bonus material.
I know Bio-Dome has its fans but it’s a weak imitation of Dumb and Dumber just with jokes that don’t land and two leads that are more annoying than funny. So it’s a strange movie to get the HD treatment on Blu-ray and for such a high price, $20 retail at the time of this writing, is a bit (i.e. very) extreme considering the video is just OK and the audio is substandard.
Echoes isn’t that well made of a movie, with plot twists coming two miles away, yet the cast is amicable enough headlined by Kate French and there’s enough to at least make it a passably entertaining flick to watch on a Saturday night with a breezy 86-minute running time. The Blu-ray released by Anchor Bay is very basic, which makes the SRP a bit on the high side, but the video and audio were both alright.
The Imitation Game probably gets a solid “B+” for sheer entertainment value but a “D+” for accuracy, something that is an unforced error as the real life story of Turing, as well as co-inventor Gordon Welchman, is interesting enough without having to introduce non-existent plot points and changing around characters to fit the dramatic story the filmmakers wanted to tell. Even so, the acting still is top notched especially by Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley.