Fast Times at Ridgemont High comes to Blu-ray for a second time, now getting the Criterion Collection treatment with an upgrade video transfer and a new interview feature; between the two worth the price, along with a really funny movie.
The Angry Birds Movie might be fine for younger viewers and the animation looks gorgeous, the voice cast talented and a decent enough core story but the jokes fell flat and I was mostly bored throughout its 90-minute running time.
At Close Range is a bit uneven but still effective character drama headlined by a few great performances especially by Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Despite some flaws, it’s a compelling story and worth checking out at least once. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time is nice and all with good video/audio transfers yet again comes at a high price.
The Gunman isn’t terrible and some interesting ideas but the execution was lacking through Sean Penn gives a solid performance though the supporting cast was a complete waste especially Ray Winstone and Idris Elba, neither of whose talents were adequately tapped in to. The Blu-ray released by Universal is a tad weak with no bonus features but the audio and video transfers are both excellent.
State of Grace might not be the most well known drama especially in Sean Penn’s extensive filmography but it is a well done, if not overdrawn, flick worth checking out mainly for the performances especially by Gary Oldman who is at his finest. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has sufficient audio/video but is limited in the special features department.
U Turn is not one of Oliver Stone’s strongest films, although it is one of my favorite of his (taking into consideration I’ve never been a big fan of his), but features a great cast and fantastic performances by Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. The Blu-ray distributed by Twilight Time might be limited in features but the video and audio transfers might make it a worthwhile purchase, though as usual, it’s not a cheap release.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a film with so much potential squandered for the sake of a buck using blatant in-movie advertising but instead of furthering the story, they only served to take one out of the film despite some good performances, particularly Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig, with honorable mention for Adam Scott for playing one of the biggest/best cinematic douchebag.
Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad no doubt blew the opportunity to be a special crime-drama and instead it stumbles trying to emulate other gangster movies in the past. Still, I couldn’t help but enjoy the movie especially the performances from Brolin, Gosling, Robert Patrick and Sean Penn that it makes for a worthwhile viewing even with its flaws.
in spite of the issues I had with the story and the luck the main character had to have in order to even survive, The Game still is an entertaining movie with some fine performances to go along with excellent direction from David Fincher and cinematography by Harris Savides.