Reprisal is just another forgettable direct-to-video thriller from the illustrious Grindstone Entertainment production company and it’s also another film featuring a lackluster performance from Bruce Willis.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a well made adventure film featuring solid performances, namely Gabriel Byrne and Jeremy Irons and fairly impressive for being screenwriter Randall Wallace’s directorial debut.
The First Purge is by far the weakest of the four movies of the franchise and it’s not even close. Weak plot and thinly written characters torpedoed a series that was on a decline and for myself, I’m pretty much done.
In My Country is a finely acted drama from Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche telling an interesting and well written story based off of a novel.
Skyscraper isn’t a terribly impressive action film even by the mindless entertainment kind, but it is passable enough even if the plot heavily borrows from The Towering Inferno and Die Hard.
Queen of Outer Space is a cheesy yet also somewhat dull of a 1950s era science fiction genre, though still a lot of fun for just how bad it is and a fun time can be had, MST3K-style.
This X-Men: 3-Film Collection is okay and does come with good video upgrade and already solid audio, however the big downside with this set is that the studio failed to port over the second discs for each film which contained some expansive documentaries.
While hardly bad, Punisher: War Zone suffers mostly from a thin story and a tonal mismatch from the serious Punisher character versus the ever so cartoony villain and the campy performance from Dominic West.
The Punisher is probably a mid-tier comic book movie and while it’s certainly not great, I did find it mostly entertaining mainly for Thomas Jane rather than the plot or thinly written villain.
Scarlet Diva is by no means a bad movie, just not quite fully fleshed out and does have some amateurish filmmaking and style, though for what I’m sure was a considerably limited budget, not too bad.
Puppet Master: Littlest Reich is a reboot to the long-running franchise and while it’s not a great film, still had some fun entertainment value and as a fan of Thomas Lennon, was nice to see the actor in a lead role.
With the success of the Barbershop movies, and with at the time Queen Latifah’s growing fame following her Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Chicago, it’s no surprise there would be a spin-off with Beauty Shop which had a good heart at its core.
Barbershop 2: Back in Business is a fine sequel and although, as with the first film, isn’t my cup of tea in terms of comedy but any fan of Ice Cube or Cedric the Entertainer might find it entertaining.
Barbershop is a fun enough ensemble comedy that actually shows some depth for Ice Cube unlike some of this crappy family adventure fare.
Siberia had the opportunity to be a compelling little crime-drama along the lines of A Simple Plan (same author and screenwriter) and although Ana Ularu was impressive in her performance, Keanu Reeves was a bit flat with some tepid dialogue.