The Da Vinci Code has more or less remained the same in my eyes since seeing it in theaters a decade ago. The acting more or less steals the show over a bit of a convoluted story, yet the mystery and adventure aspect makes the nearly two-and-a-half hour running time bearable.
The Iron Giant is one of the better classic animated movies that have come along in the past 20 years and can compete right alongside Disney’s best, it’s just unfortunate Warner dropped the ball marketing it and instead it bombed at the box office. Thankfully since making its way on home video, the film has found a fanbase.
The Legend of Tarzan is hardly horrible and yet it’s also nothing special in spite of some nice work by the visual effects crew and some ernest performances by Skarsgard and, to a lesser extents Robbie and Jackson while Waltz proves once again as a serviceable villain.
Impractical Jokers: The Complete Fourth Season is pretty much up to snuff with its previous three seasons with even more, and sometimes, awkward challenges/skits that from the first episode, in Miami, had me laughing for a second time.
Into the Forest is a somewhat depressing but very well acted drama, with the apocalyptical aspect being a catalyst rather than central plot, and specifically Ellen Page was fantastic. Now, this is not for everybody especially if you’re expecting a thriller and it is slowly paced, but if you’re patient and enjoy character studies, this is worth at least a rental.
Guilt is just like any other of these crime-dramas of late like How to Get Away with Murder and The Killing, though both of those series are/were superior to this which takes more than a few cues from the real-life case of Amanda Knox accused of murder in Italy and the media circus that proceeded. Fans of any of Shonda Rhimes dramas might find the series entertaining; I didn’t.
Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar is a well written western-thriller film that features a powerhouse and spunky performance from Joan Crawford. The Blu-ray released by Olive Film’s new Signature line offers great video, good audio and a solid selection of bonus material.
High Noon, directed by Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal), is a classic western-adventure featuring a top notch, and a features a thrilling finale, who’s who of the 1950s from Gary Cooper to Grace Kelly to a young Lloyd Bridges.
Despite an interesting story, The Infiltrator is only propelled thanks to its charismatic cast, especially Bryan Cranston who once again turns in a great performance, it’s just a shame the script wasn’t equally great.
The Great Gatsby has a lot going for it: a charismatic lead actor, a solid supporting cast, some good adaptation work by screenwriters Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, lavish award-worthy set and costume designs and wonderful cinematography, but otherwise it’s empty on any emotional level.
From just the tagline of “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson”, Central Intelligence could’ve been a fun, if not throwaway, comedy but with very few laughs despite the ernest attempts by Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, the film just did not work.
The Guyver 2 — or Guyver: Dark Hero as it’s credited – has a nice fun fact to it, even more so than its predecessor but is bogged down by an exhausting 2+ hour running time. Fans of the series will probably appreciate it.
Somewhat of a cult classic at this point, The Guyver is a silly and all around cheesy sci-fi action flick that is no doubt bad but watching it with a group of friends, you can go all out MST3K on it.
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil is a nice inclusion in Warner’s Archive Collection and while I didn’t particularly think very much of the movie, there’s at least some good elements headlined by another masterful performance from Kevin Spacey and even John Cusack contributes well.
Psycho IV: The Beginning actually isn’t a half bad prequel/sequel and features fine performances from Anthony Perkins reprising his iconic role and Henry Thomas as his teenaged counterpart. For a TV movie, it’s well shot and the story is a nice culmination in the franchise following two sequels that were less than stellar.