Empire State had a lot to offer beginning with a semi-respectable cast beginning with Dwayne Johnson and Liam Hemsworth, both of whom were wasted and Emma Roberts was even worse with a bit role with very few lines and not a whole lot to do.
The Stranger Within is not the worst movie I’ve seen this year, but it’s still really bland. The story is all over the place and the acting isn’t anything special, though special credit to Estella Warren for being able to keep a straight face. This is something I’d expect to air on the Lifetime Channel but that might be an insult to Lifetime as some of their movies are at least acceptable entertainment; this one is merely forgettable.
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 mainly because Luhrmann smashes over the head what the movie’s message is rather than let it unfold in a more natural way.
The Fugitive remains one of the best action-thrillers I’ve seen in many years and easily a standout of TV to screen adaptations. Despite being 130-minutes long, the film flies by and utilizes each minute with little filler. The performances from Ford and Jones are phenomenal even though neither of them shared more than a few minutes of screen time together.
Evidence disguises itself as just another crime-thriller but instead yet the latest in the unfortunately long line of films employing the cheap found footage treatment around half-baked stories. For their parts, the two big names with Radha Mitchell and Stephen Moyer don’t get a whole heck of a lot to do except for staring at monitors so this was probably either a quick payday or a favor for one of the filmmakers
To the Wonder might be one of the most beautiful movies to put on film in the past decade, if not more, but the story and characters are so detached, we only get glimpses of people we are supposed to care about. Yeah, I understand the themes Malick wanted to present, since he practically smacks them over the viewer’s heads, but themes don’t make a good or compelling film.
“The Good Wife” is one of the mostly unknown gems of network television featuring incredible performances, in particular from Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, Josh Charles and Archie Panjabi. As a new viewer going into this fourth season, I actually was surprised at how enthralling the show was as it got me hooked from the first episode and I recommend checking it out as it is an entertaining legal drama.