Carnage Park had some interesting things going for it with an almost Western Film Noir aspect intermixed with the apocalyptic-like setting and the performances from Ashley Bell and Pat Healy but otherwise it’s a rather ordinary and forgettable flick.
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Snowtime is a well animated movie with a good message at its core, one that both kids and adults could appreciate it and the humor is often fun. The Blu-ray released by Shout Factory offers great video/audio transfers and a so-so selection of bonus features.
An interesting collaboration with producer Roger Corman and a young Martin Scorsese (subsequent films would define his career from Mean Streets to Raging Bull) and while the direction is solid, the performances are what makes Boxcar Bertha memorable, headlined by the David Carradine.
Kickboxer: Vengeance is not exactly the great follow-up to the 1989 classic but at least Jean-Claude Van Damme is back and his appearance alone might make it a worthwhile watch, but otherwise the film is filled with bad acting, terrible dialogue and even the fight sequences are uninspiring.
Murder Weapon and Deadly Embrace are laughable erotic thrillers but I’d be lying if I was entertained by just how bad both were in just about every respect from the editing, acting and writing. If you’re a fan of the low budget 1980s flicks, both might hit the right spot.
Anthropoid is a solid war-drama that started slow but finished really strong with a suspense-filled finale that more than made up for any drawbacks, mainly an emotional distance, that occurred early on, though all throughout Cillian Murphy gives an impressive performance.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a fun pulp action-adventure flick that may not always work but with Ron Ely’s tongue-in-cheek performance, and Superman spoof, it makes for an enjoyable experience.
Nightmare Sisters is a fun, if not silly, supernatural horror film with some, let’s say, questionable acting and shoddy script work, yet it’s the epitome of the 1980s B-movie and for that, I have at least some minor respect for it.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is a letdown mostly because it shows why the final chapter didn’t need to be split into two with extraneous scenes that weren’t necessary in telling the story. On the plus side, the performances for the most part were strong especially from Jennifer Lawrence and the production design, as it was with Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1, was impressive.
One of David Cronenberg’s earlier works, Rabid is a solid zombie-horror movie that certainly has its flaws but regardless was entertaining until the very end and the performance by Marilyn Chambers, an ex-porn star, actually wasn’t half bad for the material.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 had a lot of potential especially comig after the well received, and all around well made, Catching Fire. What we got instead is what felt like the middle installment of a trilogy that had a thin story and characters who really didn’t develop that much.
Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is heads and shoulders above the first movie which in itself was entertaining. This is a strong and tighter film in terms of story. The UHD release by Lionsgate is more or less the same as its predecessor: a nice 4K video transfer but not quite amazing or worthy of an upgrade.
The Hunger Games is not a perfect beginning as a YA adaptation but it is certainly an entertaining flick and a star-making showcase for Jennifer Lawrence. This UHD/BD release from Lionsgate offers a nice video upgrade but not night and day while the features are all on the UHD disc.
The Jungle Book is a success in Disney’s obsession with adapting beloved animated movies into live action features and while the likes of Maleficent and to some extent Cinderella weren’t great, this one is entertaining for almost the entire family, though some scenes might be a tad too frightening for younger viewers.