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.
Anastasia is a well made movie of one of the more intriguing stories in modern history: the existence of the sole survivor of the Romanov family. The performances all around are well done headlined by both Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner and in conjunction with director Anatole Litvak, it’s a film well worth checking out even if it’s fictitious.
A well made movie from Todd Haynes, finely adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s best-selling novel, Carol features strong performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, which really propels the plot and makes it so engaging from beginning to end.
Cherry Falls isn’t a very well made horror flick because for one, the killer isn’t nearly as mysterious as the filmmakers wanted it to be and it clearly took more than a few cues from Scream with a mixture of horror and comedy.
#Horror is an apt title as it was a horror show from beginning to end… and not in a good way. The logic is non-existent but I could overlook that but when you have basically nothing but obnoxious characters, the majority pre-teen girls who were annoying, it was tough to sit through and early on I was rooting for the killer.
Although hardly perfect, and doesn’t hold a candle to A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is still an entertaining sci-fi action/adventure that not only brings back the old crew but does a great job introducing a new cast of characters as portrayed by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver.
Clean Slate is a nice comedic vehicle for Dana Carvey playing to his strengths and although the plot doesn’t exactly stretch well for the duration of the running time, and not all of the jokes quite work, it’s still well worth checking out.
The Manchurian Candidate is a movie for its time, fear of communism and an idea that I’m sure some find merit today, a politician being controlled by a foreign government or, as is the case with the 2004 remake, corporation. The film also excels in the acting department with top notch performances by Sinatra, Harvey and Lansbury.
Bandits probably could’ve been better with a tighter script but the performances from the core cast, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett, are all fantastic that it makes the film as a whole fairly entertaining.
Exodus is a lengthy (3.5 hours) and although it’s hard to watch in one sitting, it does feature some strong performances by Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint to go along with an interesting story in conjunction with the adaptation by Dalton Trumbo and Otto Preminger’s masterful direction.
Rage of Honor is a blissfully cheesy 1980s action/martial arts flick that might not feature great performances but the fight scenes aren’t terribly choreographed and it has enough of the fun factor to make it so entertaining.
I will give Mill Creek some credit for churning out these catalogue titles, especially ones, such as Double Team, Sony wouldn’t even think of releasing on Blu-ray, and with a bargain basement price of $15, and cheaper buying on Amazon, it’s not a bad deal at $2-3/movie.
LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Cosmic Clash isn’t as good as its predecessors, and obviously a far cry from the LEGO feature films, but it’s a fun movie especially for younger viewers and at only 78-minutes (w/ credits), it at least flies by.
Species was a fun guilty pleasure. No, it wasn’t great but at least it gave us a quasi-star in Natasha Henstridge and some quality effects work. The sequel was dumb but had some minor entertainment value but as Hollywood tends to do, they milk a franchise for its worth. The third and fourth movies were, frankly, crap.
The first movie was a fun guilty pleasure. Species II is just plain guilty of being a bad film all around. The writing is poor and the acting was at best phoned-in, though Natasha Henstridge at least seemed to give it her all and she might be the only reason it’s even watchable.