Mary on paper at least had plenty of potential and with a recent Academy Award winner at the helm in Gary Oldman, this was an all around disappointing film with poor editing and weak plot and characters.
The Gallows Act II might be a slight step up from the first film if only because it’s a traditionally shot film versus the found footage style, but the story still isn’t the best and the acting mostly subpar (though I did like Ema Horvath in the lead).
IT Chapter Two is slightly better than the first movie mostly because I found the visuals to be more interesting, though still not scary and while I liked this ensemble, never really found much of an emotional connection.
Jake Speed has its best intentions but unfortunately thanks to the lack of charisma from the main actor, and some half-baked writing, this comes across as a D-grade Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Hustlers had some potential and the story its inspired by was interesting, however in spite of an impressive performance from Jennifer Lopez, everything else was pretty much a letdown.
The Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection is an amazing set from Shout Factory that, along with 28 fun films, had great audio and video transfers across the board to go along with a nice selection of bonus material.
Silver Bullet is by no means a good movie or even all that entertaining, though the acting from Busey and Haim were good and the effects work was fairly impressive considering the time period.
Big Trouble in Little China isn’t one of my favorite films of the 80s nor is it one of my favorites from John Carpenter, but despite some lackluster character development and a plot that feels a bit disjointed, ignoring all of that makes for a fun flick.
The Kitchen is the epitome of an un-ambitious movie that is less of a love song to the crime-dramas of the 1970s and instead features a myriad of topes and clichés from the era.
Operation Crossbow isn’t what I’d call a great World War II era film, but still all in all rather well made with a finale that easily outweigh some of the middling scenes that came before. That said, any fan of WWII movies, this is still well worth checking out.
It might be too simplistic to call Crimson Peak style over substance, but I couldn’t quite embrace this gothic-romantic in spite of some incredible production designs and a couple fine performances by Hiddleston and Chastain.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark wasn’t terribly ‘scary’ so much but still creative, with the influence of Guillermo Del Toro as executive producer, and all around entertaining with a respectable group of young actors.
The Teen Titans: The Complete Series release is a great set especially if you didn’t already own the individual releases, plus it saves a small amount of shelf space for those lacking it.
RoboCop all these years later still holds up rather well, and Peter Weller as the title character was the perfect choice for the role and featured a respectable ensemble supporting cast, including Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cos, with special mention to Karen Allen.
Angel Has Fallen is pretty much in-line with the first two movies, meaning they’re fine time-wasters but not top-of-the-line action-thrillers and it is on the predictable side. Still, thanks to Gerard Butler and the indispensible Morgan Freeman, it still was an entertaining thriller.