Cleopatra remains an epic classic today in every fashion both in front of and, oft because of, behind the camera. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison are magnificent in their respective roles and the spectacle that are the production and costume designs are incredible.
Just from the title and its above title star, one knows what to expect from something like 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded. The original was hardly anything special although John Cena wasn’t terrible and Robert Patrick made for a formidable villain, but here, with a lower budget, things got scaled down from the production design to the script which seemed to be a wannabe Saw story with less-than-intricate plot points anyone can see coming 15 miles away.
In Old Arizona is an interesting time piece of cinema and old Westerns. As the back cover states, this was the first major Western to use the new technology of sound and the first “talkie” to be shot outdoors. Personally, and not a fan of Westerns in general, I found it to be lackluster but Warner Baxter’s performance did stand out.
“Perry Mason” Season 9, Volume 1 certainly begins to show signs of fatigue for the long-running series but even so, each episode, as plug-and-play as they tend to be, are still entertaining. And with only the second part to go, the series will be complete to which point I hope CBS Entertainment will choose to release the TV movies onto DVD. But I digress, as with the other season sets, this is pricey given there are no features and it is only half of a season.
A Good Day to Die Hard is an all around poor excuse of an action movie. Yes, some movies can rely loud explosions and insane action set pieces but those other films were not culled from the Die Hard name. The Fast and Furious franchise can get away with it because frankly, and no disrespect, they’ve never had the most clever or intense storylines and even characters. The Blu-ray at least is top notch even if the movie was not.
Driven is an overly dramatic, poorly acted melodrama that never really hits its stride. In 2001 when the movie was released, Sylvester Stallone was still in a funk, aside from Cop Land.
Rendition is an OK film shining light on a controversial practice but the drama is overwrought with over-the-top acting especially from Reese Witherspoon who seemed to have taken the role aiming for another Academy Award. But Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin are quite good in their limited roles.
Killing Lincoln is far from a perfect movie but offers some interesting information not many people might know about. The performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson are both respectable especially Johnson who probably deserves an Emmy nomination for his great portrayal of James Wilkes Booth.
Oz the Great and Powerful is a fine piece of film making with Raimi and company doing a fine job at least tying it with The Wizard of Oz, although a side effect being, similar to the Star Wars prequels, you kind of delude the mystery of the Wizard by revealing it in a prequel. Even so, though, it’s an enjoyable and entertaining film that doesn’t quite hit its mark yet still passed the time nicely.
Oz the Great and Powerful is a fine piece of film making with Raimi and company doing a fine job at least tying it with The Wizard of Oz, although a side effect being, similar to the Star Wars prequels, you kind of delude the mystery of the Wizard by revealing it in a prequel. Even so, though, it’s an enjoyable and entertaining film that doesn’t quite hit its mark yet still passed the time nicely.
Running Scared showed me two things: 1) style and substance can co-exist; 2) Wayne Kramer is a hell of a filmmaker even if the script didn’t completely grab me; and 3) Paul Walker shows he does have acting skills.
Ghostbusters is a fantastic sci-fi/supernatural comedy which has stood the test of time quite well and is just as entertaining when I first saw it back in the 1980s. As far as this “Mastered in 4K” re-release, I will say the video is most certainly a big improvement over the original Blu-ray release.
Spider-Man is an OK superhero movie, satisfying enough debut for the web-slinger but that’s not to say it didn’t have more than one flaw. As far as this new re-release goes, the “Mastered in 4K” transfer is wonderful providing rich video and audio transfers but unfortunately, as with the others, none of the features have been ported over.
Total Recall “mastered in 4K” Blu-ray, as with the others, provides both excellent and top notch video and audio transfers so if you like the movie and have the proper equipment, maybe it’s worth the premium price, but that’s a big maybe as the current price is around $25.
This “Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray release does offer excellent audio and video transfers but it’s not that much better versus the original Blu-ray release. Add to that this version fails to port over any features so you’re really losing out and if you do already own it, the nearly $30 is REALLY not worth it…