The Resident Evil: Complete Collection is a nice enough set and while I don’t think much about any of the six movies, a couple more serviceable than others, each one benefits from the 4K transfers and come with a good selection of bonus features.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse isn’t terrible and never made me angry, yet doesn’t get near the good-bad realm. However, I still like Milla Jovovich in the lead here and the addition of Sienna Guillory was nice.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a fun sequel and watching them in succession, kind of enjoyed this one a bit better as it does include a great villain in Moriarty played by Jared Harris, and his ability to go up against Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes.
Robert the Bruce, although not a sequel, picks up where the events of Braveheart left off and stars Angus Mcfaden (who also co-scripted) and Jared Harris. The Blu-ray release comes with a commentary and a featurette.
Certain Women is a fine independent quasi-ensemble-interconnected ensemble that features some wonderful performances by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone.
This Robert Zemeckis helmed WWII romance-drama doesn’t exactly live up to its potential. While the production and costume designs were impressive, I found the performances particularly that of Brad Pitt, to be stilted and a story that failed to connect emotionally.
Far from perfect, Man from U.N.C.L.E still has some entertainment value thanks more for the cast including Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer combined with the direction by Guy Ritchie unleashing the cool factor in droves with the 1960s style, rather than with the story.
There’s really no good reason, beyond the bottom dollar, for a remake of Poltergeist to exist. Technically speaking, it’s not terrible and features some decent visual effects and the acting isn’t half bad, but by film’s end, I could only shrug and wonder what to watch next, feeling neither robbed nor overjoyed with what I just watched.
The Quiet Ones actually isn’t a completely awful film and I wouldn’t be hesitant to at least recommend a Red Box rental, but the problem is what started off with some truly dark and spooky atmosphere devolved into the supernatural crap seen numerous times before. That being said, Jared Harris at least isn’t bad and with a short running time, it’s not a chore to get through.
Pompeii is plagued by ho-hum direction and a poor screenplay and story that fails to give any breathing room for, especially, character development and a reason why we, the viewer, should even care about the events or the relationship.
I might take some heat for saying this, but I didn’t think The Mortal Instruments was that bad of a movie. No, the cast wasn’t exactly the best with a few roles needing re-casting, but the story was at least half-coherent, if not sloppy, and Lily Collins for her part seemed to have carried the main role fairly well.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a satisfying sequel but at nearly 130-minutes, it does get a bit long in the tooth by the two-hour mark. Even so, the continuing chemistry between Downey and Law is fantastic and the new additions of Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace makes this at least a worthwhile rental.