Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
This is Where I Leave You is a bit uneven where the comedy seemed to work far better than the overindulgent dramatic areas. Jason Bateman and Tina Fey are both great but by far Adam Driver steals the show to the point I kind of wish his character got his own movie, a dark comedy in the vein of Bad Santa perhaps.
In Rock Star, I can respect Mark Wahlberg’s performance, and some of those in the supporting cast like Timothy Olymphant and Jason Flemyng, but it’s a clichéd drama that never quite hit the, ahem, right high notes to make for an engaging drama.
Stop-Loss is a well made war-drama featuring several fine performances from Ryan Phillippe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum. I wasn’t floored by the film and it doesn’t even compete with the best war movies and it doesn’t possess much replay value, but it might be worth a watch.
As far as sequels go – and with horror sequels specifically –, Scream 2 is a success. Yes, it utilizes much of the same formula as the original transplanting high school for college and adding some depth to those who went through those events, but the suspense aspects more so than horror or cranked up a notch.