The Lost City is a perfectly watchable action-adventure-comedy that combines Romancing the Stone and Uncharted and while I can’t say it’s anything amazing or even memorable, it’s fine as a one-time viewing and rental.
Ocean’s Eight isn’t as slick of a film compared with Ocean’s Eleven, but despite a lacking and bland cinematography and some jarring dialogue, I did generally find this entry into the franchise mostly entertaining for the ensemble cast.
Our Brand is Crisis isn’t a bad movie per se but it’s one with some identity issues. Personally, it might’ve worked far better as a satire on American politics but they decided to use the country of Bolivia as a stand-in. This is the type of movie that screams rental, not much more.
Minions is a harmless but still average film that kids will certainly love. That said, this is something that probably would’ve worked better as a short for either a TV special or showing prior to the eventual Despicable Me 3 theatrical release.
This Two-Disc “Diamond Luxe Edition” of Gravity is a quality release though this should’ve been what was released originally. What you get over the original version are a couple new features including a 42-minute historical featurette and the new Dolby Atmos audio track which is a fine upgrade, though the original DTS-HD MA 5.1 track was pretty darn good on its own and Atmos takes it to the next level.
Gravity is certainly one of the better movies, though not the best, to come out of 2013 and between the technological achievements by Alfonso Cuarón and the VFX crew, a taut story and Sandra Bullock’s performance, it’s one heck of a journey that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s not a movie for everybody and admittedly Cuarón utilization of symbolism is at times a bit laughable, I still recommend this movie.
Two Weeks Notice isn’t the most memorable romantic-comedy or anything but Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock share good chemistry together even if the story is a bit thin. The catalog Blu-ray released by Warner ports over all of the features from the DVD and offers a moderate upgrade in both the picture and audio.
The Heat is a fun little twist on the buddy cop comedy and even though it doesn’t nearly measure up to Lethal Weapon both in terms of chemistry or the plot and villain, there’s just enough here to make it worthwhile. Both Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are wonderful together and McCarthy uses every opportunity to showcase her comedic talents, albeit at the expense of a coherent or merely serviceable plot. But I had fun with it and laughed at the right moments.
Demolition Man is a fun ride and one of Stallone’s better entries in the 1990s second maybe to Cop Land and just ahead of Cliffhanger. One can’t discount Wesley Snipes who to that point had been the hero and takes a fun villainous turn with an over-the-top performance that matched up well with Stallone’s macho personality.