Permanent is a quirky 1980s-era family-comedy that most works thanks to the three leads, but especially the talented youngster Kira McLean. It’s just a light-hearted and well-written film that both teens and parents can appreciate.
Small Town Crime was one of the better films of this early 2018 year that excels thanks to a strong cast led way by John Hawkes with special note toward Robert Forster and Clifton Collins Jr. in smaller roles.
The Executioners isn’t anything special but still a quickly-paced, if not also a poorly edited, horror-thriller with an okay twist and at least features some fine performances, for the most part, from its leads including Jemma Dallender.
Bitter Harvest tells an interesting, and topical, story about the Ukrainian country and its people battling against the Stalin-led Soviet Union. The performances are mostly well done headlined by Max Irons.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a rather big disappointment for me since I did really enjoy The Force Awakens and the things J.J. Abrams setup, writer/director Rian Johnson tore right down, and this coming from a casual fan. But there are some things to like such as the production designs, visual effects and some of the performances.
Full Moon High was the lesser of the teen werewolf movies that spawned out of the 1980s, taking a backseat to Michael J. Fox’s Teen Wolf, which was released four years later. Even so, there were a few humorous moments and Alan Arkin did a fun job in the lead.
The Sacha Guitry Four Films were not exactly my forte nor did I have much interest in the subjects or the filmmaker himself, but it’s hard not to appreciate his talents behind and in front of the camera.
Acts of Violence is a misfire of a movie that probably wanted to tell a serious story about human trafficking but never quite got there thanks to a clunky script and some thinly written characters.
The Seven-Ups might not be one of the more well-known crime-dramas that came out of the 70s and although the filmmaking aspects weren’t exactly top-notch when compared to its counterparts, the chase scene alone was worth the admission.
Murder in the Big House is a tight little crime-drama with some fine performances from its lead, particularly Van Johnson and Faye Emerson.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a well made and taut crime-drama featuring some wonderful performances by Dana Andrews and John Fontaine, to go along with a twist-filled story.
No Escape is an all around entertaining film perfect for a Saturday movie night. No, it doesn’t make you think or have any profound performances but the acting isn’t bad with Owen Wilson serving as a fine everyman type of character and Pierce Brosnan in his small part is a lot of fun. This is probably worthy of a rental.
The Chastity Belt isn’t consistently funny but did have a few amusing moments, though it did get a few extra points just for the cover which I still continue to chuckle at.
The ‘Burbs is one fun comedy with a dash of horror that excels primarily due to Tom Hanks’ charms versus anything with the script or even the character. Not sure why I hadn’t seen it before, but the replay value is high.
Pitch Perfect 3 is the conclusion to a trilogy that honestly didn’t need one. I can’t precisely remember why I enjoyed the first two only to say that I did (according to my ratings on IMDb) but this one was pointless and even the music doesn’t overcome a disorganized plot, even though the cast at least seemed to be having a good time.