The High Note is a fine music-drama-comedy with some good performances from Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross, but can’t say this is a terribly memorable film and unlikely will remember a month from now.
I’m unsure exactly why anyone would want to buy Anaconda on Blu-ray, especially this being a double dip for Mill Creek, unless you fall into the category of finding this to be some sort of classic so bad its good kind of flick.
With an incredibly stupid story, bad visual effects, and some terrible acting ever imagined possible, Ghost of Mars will go down in history as one of the worst Sci-Fi/Horror around. Kind of surprising this is came from the legendary John Carpenter.
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.
Fist Fight is exactly what I was expecting: Charlie Day’s talents being underutilized, Ice Cube scowling most of the time, jokes falling completely flat and a story being stretched even with its short 85-minute running time.
xXx: Return of Xander Cage, like the first movie, is technically not good but with that had over this entry was a sense it was competently made and was for sure this was a good 8-10 years too late. Having said that, they seem to be set up for a truly fun fourth movie.
Barbershop: The Next Cut is the latest installment in the vaunted series and actually might be the best of the four (including the Beauty Shop spin-off). No, the acting isn’t the best as Ice Cube’s range isn’t exactly that great, but the story has a fine emotional core and it’s a solid advancement for these characters.
Ride Along 2 is no better or worse than the original. You’ve pretty much got the same type of jokes and the performances from its core cast isn’t anything special, though presumably they at least had a good time while filming. The action is rather ho-hum and although I don’t mind Kevin Hart, even he seemed to be going through the motions.
These three sets are more bargain releases for Mill Creek Entertainment with titles previously on DVD and in some cases Blu-ray so unless you don’t already own these, it might be worth picking up at $10 a pop, though don’t expect any frills and the video and audio transfers are so-so at best.
22 Jump Street, as with its predecessor, was a surprisingly hilarious movie both mocking the genre while also giving us a half-decent plot, even if its copied from the first for a fair portion of the movie, and two leads who share some great on-screen comedic chemistry and timing.
These five movies released by Mill Creek are merely cheap cash grabs that can be had at most Wal-Marts (apparently) for a mere $2.88 and trust me, you get what you pay for: no features, no real menu and basic audio/video transfers. I suppose if you only want the movies and couldn’t care less about the audio, it might be worth picking up.
Torque is a biker version of The Fast and the Furious (from its producer no less) sans any memorable characters and includes terrible dialogue, a lame story (even for a movie like this) and even worse visual effects culminating with an awful, and confusing, finale.
Ride Along had the potential to be a good action-comedy and despite good on-screen chemistry between its two leads, it gets bogged down with a clichéd screenplay and ho-hum direction.