Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wednesday Mini-Movie Reviews

Today I will go over DVD/BR (Blu-Ray), RB (Redbox) movies as there were too many for yesterday's post.

Catching Fire: 3 (BR) - While a notch above the original with good production and direction, this franchise still bothers me as a rip off from the Japanese version Battle Royale.  And give me a break about the book as it's pretty obvious where the author gotthe idea from the first place. While the first hour is a lot of yacking about everything I couldn't care less about, the second hour does have a lot of action but it doesn't matter as I give up on this franchise. That cliff hanger pushed me to the edge where it forces you to wait for the next installment like Twilite, which goes down as the worst franchises of all time, at least for me. This includes a commentary with Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend where I worked as a background actor) and who I met during an Apple Store Conference. Very nice and answered my questions about filmmaking 101 and a 2 & half hour making of, is worth picking this disc besides my disappointment with the movie itself.

Out of the Furnace: 2 (BR) - Bale goes up against Harrelson. While the actors do a good job in keeping the audience interested till the final predicitment the movie overstays its welcome with a dissapointing confrontation finale. It plays more like a play more than anything else. Supporting cast of Defoe, Whittaker and Casey Affleck all do a great job but just doesn't add much to the story itself.

Inside Lewyn Davis: 1 (BR) - Overrated boring movie on a self involved musician who you couldn't care less about. It didn't feel like they got the Greenwich Village folk scene right. The songs were lame. I could go one forever and but got to many reviews to do. And they were pushing this at Oscars and this got a nod also. This could have over 6 hours of features and I wouldn't see this again. Maybe running over a cat didn't help matters. This is not entertainment. And I don't care who made this! No Country For Old Men is still overrated.

The Book Thief: 2 (BR) - Excellent cast but overlong and very depressing witha sad ending. The accordian was a nice touch tho. The narrator was the Grim Reaper which was completely unneccessary as this was from the book but didn't translate at all for the movie. Recommended for history lovers and on that level it works.

Enemies Closer: 2 (RB) - Van Damn and Director Peter Hyams (both from Timecop) get together again for this nod to 80's macho films with no budget. The night scenes were so dark you couldn't tell what was going on which did a great job on hiding the fact there was no budget for this. (Hymans started as a cinematographer). The 2 for Van Damn for playing a evil nut job. What happen to Director Hyams? Capricorn One, Outland, 2010, Timecop and he does this? It's obvious a favor to Van Damn as they are good friends but couldn't they find a better movie or at least something with a budget?

Welcome to the Jungle: 2 - Note: This is such a stupid silly movie with really bad corny comedy, it does have Van Damn showing he's got a sense of humour and he alone gets that 2 rating. He does some funny stuff and has some good one liners but not enough. For the curious and Van Damn fans only.

In Fear: 1 (RB) - Couple goes around in circles which turns out to be  a maze setup by a killer.
This was getting some raves at festivals ofr its premise as this is a thriller and not a horror movie.
Good idea that gets boring real fast.

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