Sep 152019
 

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is by no means terrible but it certainly is a weak ending to a franchise and the main issue with this movie is lacked any real emotion, even though the technical aspects weren’t bad.

 

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May 272018
 

Red Sparrow is a mixed bag of a movie that excels on Jennifer Lawrence’s brave performance and some beautiful photography from both director Francis Lawrence and the cinematographer, but the film is bogged down by thinly written characters and a sometimes half-baked story and script.

 

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Dec 132017
 

mother! might’ve had some things going for it and there’s no doubt Aronofsky doesn’t fit into a box like other directors, but this allegorical movie was a complete misfire, particularly in the second half.

 

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Mar 152017
 

Passengers might’ve been slammed by critics, was a quasi bust at the box office given its budget and had a misleading marketing campaign, but I for one really enjoyed the lonely aspect of the story that tends to appeal to me and has an interesting premise.

 

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Nov 082016
 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is a letdown mostly because it shows why the final chapter didn’t need to be split into two with extraneous scenes that weren’t necessary in telling the story. On the plus side, the performances for the most part were strong especially from Jennifer Lawrence and the production design, as it was with Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1, was impressive.

 

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Nov 082016
 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 had a lot of potential especially comig after the well received, and all around well made, Catching Fire. What we got instead is what felt like the middle installment of a trilogy that had a thin story and characters who really didn’t develop that much.

 

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Nov 082016
 

Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is heads and shoulders above the first movie which in itself was entertaining. This is a strong and tighter film in terms of story. The UHD release by Lionsgate is more or less the same as its predecessor: a nice 4K video transfer but not quite amazing or worthy of an upgrade.

 

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Nov 082016
 

The Hunger Games is not a perfect beginning as a YA adaptation but it is certainly an entertaining flick and a star-making showcase for Jennifer Lawrence. This UHD/BD release from Lionsgate offers a nice video upgrade but not night and day while the features are all on the UHD disc.

 

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Oct 202016
 

X-Men: Apocalypse was a pretty big disappointment for me following Days of Future Past and while some of the technical parts were well done, the rest had a very stale vibe with similar story elements rehashed from the first X-Men movie way back in 2000.

 

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May 112016
 

Considering the talent involved, Joy should’ve been an easy homerun with a compelling story and top notch actors but instead it meanders in places, others don’t feel entirely cohesive and I just wasn’t all that enamored despite its high points.

 

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Apr 042016
 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is a letdown mostly because it shows why the final chapter didn’t need to be split into two with extraneous scenes that weren’t necessary in telling the story.

 

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Jul 162015
 

X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut, while not as strong or tightly paced as the theatrical version is still well worth checking out especially for fans. The Blu-ray released by Fox is a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, the audio and video are incredible, there’s a fine selection of bonus material but I’m not sure why they didn’t port over the features from the first release.

 

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Jun 022015
 

Serena might have been an earnest film worthy of the hype but somewhere in the process, something went wrong. Yeah, it’s got a respectable cast including two Oscar winners who previously worked together and shared good chemistry, a reputable director who has displayed some visual talent and much loved source material with a decent fan base, and yet what we got was a mess.

 

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Mar 072015
 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 had a lot of potential especially comig after the well received, and all around well made, Catching Fire. What we got instead is what felt like the middle installment of a trilogy that had a thin story and characters who really didn’t develop that much (though at least Lawrence’s Katniss does make a bit of progress) and is merely there to bridge one movie to another. This is a case where splitting two movies was a mistake and I think it would’ve made for a solid final entry.

 

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