The Secret: Dare to Dream is inspired by the best-selling self-help book and stars Katie Holmes, Josh Lucas and Jerry O’Connell. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack released by Lionsgate is currently available for purchase.
Brahms: The Boy II is a sludge of a sequel to get through and while I didn’t care much for the first movie, this one somehow manages to be even worse, a dull film with very few, if any, redeeming qualities.
Dear Dictator certainly is an interesting concept and sometimes biting satire, that never really comes together, not to mention Michael Caine, for as charming as he is, was ridiculous, though I guess he had a good old time. On the positive side, I did like Odeya Rush who seems to be the next up-and-coming star.
Batman Begins is perhaps one of the best superhero origin movies ever made, maybe slightly behind Superman but ahead of Iron Man. The performances from (most) of the cast is solid and Bale was genius casting helped by a legendary supporting cast.
The most intriguing aspect of Steven Soderbergh’s latest heist film, Logan Lucky, was who exactly wrote it as “Rebecca Blunt” apparently doesn’t exist. Beyond that, the crime and comedy aspects didn’t appeal to me at all and I found the film to be a bit dull at times.
My bias for this movie aside, Disturbing Behavior is at least an entertaining little thriller with some fun moments that sets it apart from others of the like. The cast is a lot of fun especially for Nick Stahl and William Sadler in his brief role, not to mention seeing Katie Holmes playing against type.
The Singing Detective is a bit jarring in its presentation yet there’s some fine moments especially with the performance from Robert Downey Jr. and to some extent Mel Gibson if only for the weird hairpiece and make-up which was more distracting than anything. The Blu-ray release by Olive is decent enough I guess but there were some minor issues with the video while the audio is better than expected. That said, for the money it’s a bit much.
Woman in Gold may not be as powerful of a drama as I’m sure the Weinstein’s wanted or expected considering the subject and starring Helen Mirren, but even so, it’s still well done with solid performances all around. The Blu-ray released by Anchor Bay has an OK selection of bonus material while the video/audio transfers are both great.
Well intentioned for sure but ultimately Days and Nights, written and directed by Christian Camargo, is a fairly dull film with some OK acting from a nicely put together named cast; despite the talent involved, it just was not an engaging flick. The DVD released by MPI features good video/audio while the bonus material is relatively basic.
The Giver is a perfectly acceptable sci-fi suspense/thriller but outside of being passable, it doesn’t really offer much else, although Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep both help keep it afloat from a story that falls a bit short in terms of weight.
Teaching Mrs. Tingle was never my favorite film but with some biting dialogue and an amazing performance from Helen Mirren, challenging Meryl Streep in The Devil Wars Prada, this teen dark comedy has gathered a following over the years, far more than when it was released back in 1999.