The Final Word on Physical Media
The Driftless Area isn’t a great movie but it’s still watchable thanks to a few strong performances, specifically Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel and John Hawkes. The DVD released through Sony is pretty basic with only one extra while the video/audio transfers are OK.
I never was fully engaged with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant but it is hard to deny both the technical and performance greatness behind the movie, most notably Leonardo DiCaprio’s impressive physicality that he brought to the role and almost equally impressive was the on-location filming.
The 5th Wave is a movie that maybe five years ago I would’ve been OK with but with so many YA adaptations, it would seem Hollywood will make just about anything and while I don’t think this is the weakest of the bunch, hard to be worse than the Twilight Saga, it’s really not a very good movie.
Alpha and Omega: Dino Digs is a DTV short film (clocking in at only 45-minutes) that was made for kids and kids only. The animation was, most of the time, laughable and looked cheap as heck. Beyond that, the material wasn’t funny.
Although it could’ve been better, I was pleasantly surprised by Regression thanks to Amenábar’s writing and direction combined with yet another great performance by Ethan Hawke with honorable mention for Emma Watson and David Thewlis.
Tumbledown is one of the nice surprises of 2016 showcasing great performances from its two leads, Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis, and while it’s not the most challenging films, I appreciated the understated tone as any movie dealing with death and grief can become overly dramatic.
A Prayer for the Dying could’ve been a great movie and instead, thanks to studio interference, we get something that’s merely ‘good’. The acting from Rourke and Hoskins was probably the saving grace, not to mention Liam Neeson’s brief role, and in the end, I was fairly entertained.
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Jane Got a Gun, when you push away all of the pre-production drama and switch-a-roos, isn’t a half bad western-adventure-drama that features two fine performances by Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton backed up by at least a quasi-interesting story.
The Lady in the Van is a well made drama with another standout performance from Maggie Smith with honorable mention to Alex Jennings. It’s an interesting story that tells a story of an unusual woman.
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“Attack on Titan”: Part I is an incredible anime series and perhaps one of my favorites alongside or just behind “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.” The voice acting is excellent and the story compelling from beginning to end, and that’s to go along with beautiful animation.
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Black Mama White Mama is a classic 1970s blaxploitation starring Pam Grier and while this isn’t her best role of the era, it’s still a solid entry. It’s a fun little movie that’s ever the more enjoyable for just how it looks and feels like the ‘70s.
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Countdown is your typical WWE production with shoddy acting, bad writing and pedestrian direction though on the plus side, at least Ziggler possesses some charisma which was often lacking in these other films. Still, as poorly made as the film was, it’s at least watchable and there’s at least one well done scene, so… there is that.
Countdown is your typical WWE production with shoddy acting, bad writing and pedestrian direction though on the plus side, at least Ziggler possesses some charisma which was often lacking in these other films. Still, as poorly made as the film was, it’s at least watchable and there’s at least one well done scene, so… there is that.
“Eden of the East”, and its two feature films, is an incredibly fun and often inventive anime series with well written characters. At only 11 episodes, and about 3 hours for the movies, it’s not a big time investment and is worth watching with an engrossing storyline.
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Death Becomes Her definitely has its moments and even though it was made in 1992 well before the visual effects technology had taken off to what it is today, but it features some respectable effects, particularly with the hole in Hawn’s stomach. Outside of that, the jokes don’t entirely work but at the very least the core cast work well against one another, Streep especially.
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