Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
Bound is still my favorite of The Wachowskis movies, even above The Matrix, which itself has also aged quite well. This one has two amazing performances from Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano for his part was wonderfully chaotic.
Continue reading “Bound: The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Review”
Face/Off certainly had a few silly moments but this is a great action-thriller featuring fun performances from Travolta and Cage equally, and both veteran actors seemingly having a blast playing off of one another.
Bound is still my favorite of The Wachowskis movies, even above The Matrix, which itself has also aged quite well. This one has two amazing performances from Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano for his part was wonderfully chaotic.
Blockers is neither great nor bad. There were moments I did genuinely laugh and at its core there is a positive message, though in some respects, the film does re-iterate a few themes from American Pie. The cast were mostly fine, though Ike Barinholtz was perhaps the highlight.
It’s, well, Inconceivable how a movie like this could get made as the story has been done numerous times before, no doubt countless Lifetime Movies, but worst of all, been done better before with the likes of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. As it is, there’s not much to really enjoy from this.
Somewhere in there, The Scribbler is a good concept but poorly executed from both the direction and screenplay, though at the very least Katie Cassidy does well in the title role while the supporting cast, as impressive as they might be, were either miscast or, in the case of Gina Gershon, vastly underutilized.
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.
Despite its 7 Academy Award nominations, The Insider is a woefully under-appreciated drama filled with excellent performances and a compelling story. Al Pacino, Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer are all incredible and Mann’s direction, alongside Dante Spinotti’s lense, makes for a near masterpiece.
Although there is a coherent story for LOL, for whatever reason, while watching, something felt “off”. I’m not sure if it’s a translation thing going from French to English but whatever reason it results in a film featuring several melodramatic scenes which are utterly laughable rather than significantly effective.