“NCIS: LA” is one of the few spin-offs that actually works. It’s far enough removed from the mothership and yet shares the same type of chemistry that takes the show away from crime-of-the-week to something a bit more meaningful. The third season DVD has some good storylines going for it, allowing for each character to get some screen time and more background.
The American President is a fun romantic comedy/drama headlined by a great cast but especially Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.
The Devil’s Advocate is, dare I say, a devilish supernatural suspense-thriller with excellent performances from both Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves.
The Avengers is one of the funnier movies of 2012. It perfectly brings together these heroes into a story that, albeit, is fairly mundane but with action and adventure which is both fun and thrilling under the tutelage of Joss Whedon..
“Gossip Girl” is a fun tween soap opera with various storylines which help keep the attention span even when the episodes can sometimes sputter. The DVD itself offers up good video and audio transfers and a decent set of features, though it’s still fairly light and only worth one viewing. Given the price, and assuming you’re a fan, this fifth season is worth it.
Queen of the Damned is a fine movie that had the potential to be far better. The performance from Stuart Townsend wasn’t bad though hardly memorable while Aaliyah wasn’t impressive but in fairness, her character was limited and had little to work with.
In spite of a lack of special features, this Katy Perry: Part of Me release is worth picking up especially if you’re a fan of her work. It offers some insight into her life although while watching it does seem one is still kept at arm’s length in really knowing her.
The Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures is a great set for fans of the franchise. Each of the film’s 1080p HD transfer is amazing to go along with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. The only drawback is that features from the previous releases, including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were not ported over.
The front cover for Bait might make it look like another generic poorly CGI’d director-to-video monster flick, but I enjoyed this; it’s a mixture of Jaws meets The Poseidon Adventure with some adequate visual effects (better than anything on SyFy), fun thrills and just an all around enjoyable film.
in spite of the issues I had with the story and the luck the main character had to have in order to even survive, The Game still is an entertaining movie with some fine performances to go along with excellent direction from David Fincher and cinematography by Harris Savides.
This Judge Dredd release is campier compared with the recent one but like most of Stallone’s films of the 1990s, it does have a certain charm even when the acting can get… hokey.
Rosewood Lane might’ve had potential if it had gone through the screenwriting process a couple more times but even so, I wasn’t at all impressed. Rose McGowan gives an adequate performance I suppose and relative newcomer Daniel Ross Owens tries his best but instead of making for a threatening villain, he’s instead a perplexing, even confusing character.
Snow White and the Huntsman had great potential between the cast (Charlize Theron especially), adequate direction from Rupert Sanders, and some truly impressive art and production design. However, for all the good the film has going for it, everything else is kind of bland. The opening of the movie is fine but the middle portion meanders and Kristen Stewart has limited emotions making it difficult to really care about what happens to her.
Some might call Halloween III: Season of the Witch to be a misunderstood classic and although I didn’t really care much for it, if it hadn’t been for Halloween being in the title, it would not have received the backlash it did back in 1982 and still today.
Halloween II doesn’t stack up well against its classic predecessor but it still holds some entertainment value thanks in part to Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dick Warlock’s interpretation of The Shape.