I can give some credit to writer-director Damien Chazelle’s vision and what he was trying to accomplish, and it does seem this was a passion project but with a 3-hour running time, there was a good chunk that could’ve been removed.
Runaway Train is a great suspense-thriller and one of the few success stories from the Canon Group, garnering strong reviews and even two Academy Award nominations for Voight and Roberts.
No Solicitors is just one of those movies you see on the shelf at a Wal-Mart and probably, for good reason, pass on by. The acting isn’t the best however I don’t mind seeing Eric Roberts hamming it up in a scene or two.
The Condemned 2 is merely the latest dumb direct-to-video to come down the pike with clunky dialogue, mundane action and poor acting albeit at least Eric Roberts was semi-enjoyable in his role for whatever that’s worth. No doubt if this sells well we’ll see a third entry probably starring Dean Ambrose or something.
Jesse might’ve been well intentioned, and certainly a passionate project for the writers and director, but the outcome was a spotty script, subpar acting and an all around boring film not worth the time, energy or money. The DVD also is less than desirable with an average video, substandard audio and basically no special features.
Camp Dread is one bad horror film, amongst so many others that have come and gone; a movie that the likes of Eric Roberts or Danielle Harris couldn’t save. The DVD released by RLJ Entertainment is pretty minimal with OK video and audio transfers and nary a featurette to be found, though to be honest, that might be a good thing…
Beyond the Trophy isn’t a good movie. Perdiod, end of the discussion. The performances are at best wooden including Michael Madsen and the story is filled with cliché after cliché to go along with a poorly written script. Add to that, the production values are pretty bad making for a terrible looking picture.
The Specialist is the tale of three movies: Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone are in one (average film); James Woods in another (an over-the-top but fun one); and Rod Steiger, with help by Mr. Camp himself Eric Roberts (in a bad film) who seemed to be on a different page from everybody else. As a whole, this is an uneven movie with poor pacing for the first two-thirds and it wasn’t until the action-packed finale that things come together.