Event Horizon is a movie I’ve seen a few times and my ratings ranged from 3.25-3.75 with this go-around on the lower end. There is some entertainment value but the film doesn’t exactly reach its full potential.
Red Heat is a sometimes engaging and entertaining 1980s-era actioner but the pairing of Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Belushi never had much of on-screen chemistry, though if you’re a fan of action schlock, probably worth checking out.
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum isn’t a great entry into the franchise due to a weak storyline and character decision-making not making much sense; the action itself still was highly entertaining and even exhilarating; however I do hope the filmmakers find a better balance with story and action in the next film.
Hopefully this will satisfy the legendary Francis Ford Coppola. Personally, while I did love Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, and give it an A+ grade, it’s not perfection as the French plantation scene still drags the film down.
The Mule isn’t some profound film and even as a character drama, not terrible exceptional, but seeing Clint Eastwood back in front of the camera and delivering a great performance is well worth the cost of admission.
The Matrix Trilogy is one of the more disappointing franchises having started off incredibly strong but the scripts for the two sequels relied too heavily on philosophical gobbledygook that it made it hard to watch, despite the (generally) great visual effects.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is a fun and ultimately entertaining comic book movie and although it doesn’t measure up, at least in its depth, to other Marvel movies, still is a movie the entire family can watch and enjoy.
The first three Predator movies are fine entertainment with the sequels not quite reaching the level of excellence in my book, though I do greatly prefer the first movie over the others if only for the quality direction from McTiernan and Schwarzenegger’s tough man and charm appeal.
Mission: Impossible III is a nice change-up from the lame sequel with a better emotional core for Ethan Hunt as a character and Cruise seemed far more at ease in the role compared to M:I-2.
The Matrix isn’t as philosophical as it wants to portray itself, and there are certainly silly moments, but it is still a lot of fun and most of the visual effects still hold up rather well nearly 20 years later.
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.
The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition does plenty things to correct the hacked up theatrical version though if you didn’t like the plot the first go-around, the UE won’t change your mind. For myself, as a fan of Batman in particular, found it entertaining mainly for Ben Affleck’s portrayal as the Dark Knight and a nice glimpse of what’s to come for Gadot’s Wonder Woman.
Standoff is hardly a great movie but it is refreshingly simple one featuring two veteran actors who didn’t appear to be phoning in their performances. The writing isn’t the best as it seems the filmmakers were going for some sort of modern western with its dialogue which at times stood out.
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. The Blu-ray released by Universal does offer up a good selection of bonus material and the video/audio transfers are top notch.
Man of Steel had the opportunity to be a lot better but as it stands, I actually found it enjoyable and kind of liked some of the changes Zack Snyder, David Goyer and, in small part, Christopher Nolan, made, but I can understand why others would be fervently against them. However, and acknowledging it doesn’t hold a candle to the Donner classic, it’s a new beginning for what is hopefully a serviceable franchise and universe.