Complete Unknown is a movie that excels more due to the acting, that of Rachel Weisz and, to some extent, Michael Shannon rather than the plot or writing, but on those it was at least compelling storytelling.
It’s not hard to see why Jupiter Ascending was delayed 9 months (and I don’t buy the official reasons) as it was one cluster-f of a film and the problem is, it wasn’t even an entertaining cluster-f (unlike Batman & Robin). The acting is pretty wooden though these actors aren’t given much to work with.
Gotham: The Complete Second Season is another solid year for Fox with some compelling plotlines and although I think they might be overdoing it delving into Batman’s rogues galleries, it is at least in keeping with the Rise/Wrath of the Villains stories and the casting is also well done.
Adventure Time is a fun series that, although I’m not entirely in love with compared to others, but through its whopping 42 episodes (down from 52 from last season) is wonderful and a fine short time-filler give each episode is only about 12-minutes long.
Lady in White is a movie with a mish-mash of ideas from social commentary to supernatural thriller to crime mystery and in none of those respects entirely works. However, the performances are pretty good headlined by Lukas Haas and despite sluggish pacing, the film managed to keep me entertaining until the end.
Shout’s Collector’s Edition of Child’s Play might not be a homerun compared with their other CE’s, but it’s still a nice release with an improved video transfer, solid lossless audio and a nice selection of bonus features including a new commentary with Tom Holland and a couple nice featurettes.
Free State of Jones was an ambitious film for Co-Writer/Director Gary Ross who tends to be a filmmaker who makes nice, uplifting, films (see Seabiscuit) and this is no exception, though given the subject, it should’ve been better. That said, McConaughey and Mahershala Ali turn in excellent performances.
I have little doubt the filmmakers put their all into Satanic and despite some respectable enough performances by the young cast, Sarah Hyland especially, the story just lacked anything new or creative. The final act is a mess though I did think there were elements that almost worked, but not nearly enough to save the rest.
The Neon Demon, for some, might be a unique experience but for me it told an age old story and when you strip away the bizarre scenes and over-stylezed sequences (which I generally liked in terms of the look), there’s nothing new here.
This “Collector’s Edition” of Carrie from Shout Factory is pretty darn good for a pretty darn good movie by suspense-maestro, Brian De Palma and features amazing performances by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.
It’s easy to see why Approaching the Unknown has received less than stellar reviews and if you’re not into slow moving, character-driven flicks, this one might bore you to tears. However, I found it mostly to be entrancing mainly for Mark Strong.
Shout Factory’s Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection lives up to its name with a healthy collection of bonus material bringing a fair number of those involved back together to reminisce and also presenting good video and audio transfers.
Season six of Hawaii Five-O is still strong not so much for the storytelling but the core cast which are really fun headlined by Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan with honorable mention to Chi McBride whose presence is always welcome.
Although the last few seasons of Dexter were flawed (to say the least), the entire series still possesses some entertainment value and one can marvel at the performance by Michael C. Hall who was pretty consistent even in those weaker seasons.
The Exotic Dances of Bettie Page is more for completists, owners of previous docs and movies about the 1950s pin-up girl who has a large fan base that probably has only grown over the years.