X-Men: Apocalypse was a pretty big disappointment for me following Days of Future Past and while some of the technical parts were well done, the rest had a very stale vibe with similar story elements rehashed from the first X-Men movie way back in 2000.
The Sea of Trees is a movie more about regret than loss or grief and while the screenplay could’ve used some work, the film itself is worthwhile if only to watch an excellent performance from Matthew McConaughey and to some extent, Naomi Watts even if her character is clichéd.
While John Little’s documentary probably could’ve used some better editing, perhaps from a more experienced traditional director, there’s no doubt the passion is there for Lee.
My Way is a nice almost fly-on-the-wall of the literal small town girl coming to big city Los Angeles tale and details how Rebekah Starr’s life changed both professionally and personally.
The Exorcist III isn’t a great movie and can’t touch the original, yet it’s a big step up from the awful sequel and the performance from Brad Dourif and to some extent George C. Scott, is well worth the price of admission along with some genuinely creepy/scary scenes.
On Dangerous Ground is probably not a well known movie in the film noir “genre” but offers solid performances from Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan and a compelling enough story to engage any fans, albeit this is not exactly a memorable movie on the whole.
Nighthawks has elements that is quintessential for the time and features a Stallone performance that I doubt anyone would remember while Rutger Hauer basically stole the show in spite of Stallone cutting down that role and beefing his up during the edit process.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is a messy movie that, as the box office showed, never should’ve been made. The actors seemed uninterested and probably were in it to make a few (million) bucks, Depp especially, but beyond that, it’s such a thin story.
Ghostbusters (2016) isn’t the hot mess the trailers showed it could’ve been (this year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was far worse) and yet for all of the potential with a talented cast, the screenplay which was co-scripted by Paul Feig, was pretty bad, with the jokes falling utterly flat.
Joshy is a well acted drama-comedy and one should go in knowing it is more drama than comedy but otherwise it’s a bit of a downer film that doesn’t have the best payoff despite the efforts of Thomas Middleditch who does have a few good scenes.
Slugs is a classic 1980s B-movie that is less scary and more hilarious fun that probably would appeal to the B-movie realm of films or grew up in the 1980s. It’s far from amazing but the idea of killer slugs is in itself amusing.
A mixture of 1980s teen comedy with 1980s horror, Vamp technically speaking isn’t a good movie per se but there is some fun to be had and seeing what was likely the inspiration for Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn is interesting.
Skiptrace is the latest direct-to-video turkey that I’ve had the “pleasure” to watch just this year and it’s a sad seeing Jackie Chan in the DTV realm but it’s not hard to see why this one fell flat.
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.
Angels & Demons is technically better than The Da Vinci Code in many regards especially in terms of pacing and a tighter story and while Tom Hanks delivers in his performance and Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgard make for fine supporting roles.