An ingenious mystery, The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case is full of suspense and intrigue. When a member of an elite high I.Q. club attempts to pull off the perfect murder he'll have to outsmart Lt. Columbo in order to get away with it. The storytelling's very good, and does an excellent job at creating rich, interesting characters. The writing is also quite impressive, especially in developing tension and unraveling the mystery. The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case is a smart and captivating thriller that's especially well-crafted.
Kevin Smith adapts his cult hit comedy Clerks into an irreverently funny animated television series. The show follows convenience store clerks Dante and Randal as they get into wacky hijinks, and of course the lovable rapscallions Jay and Silent Bob pop-up from time to time. Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, and Kevin Smith reprise their roles and are joined by recurring guest stars Alec Baldwin, Charles Barkley, and Gilbert Gottfried. The writing is especially clever, with a lot of witty satire about sitcoms and hilarious TV and movie parodies. Additionally, the animation style is quite unique, with a rugged design scheme that has a simplistic sort of charm. However, Clerks wasn’t really given a chance and was cancelled by ABC after 6 episodes (of which only 2 aired…out of order).
Full of laughs, The Internship is a smart and heartfelt comedy. The story follows two out of work salesmen who land internships with Google, but to succeed they'll have to find a way to re-invent themselves for the digital age. Featuring a great cast, the film stars Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, and Rose Byrne. Vaughn and Wilson deliver their usual dry, satiric comedy, and it works pretty well. However, the shameless Google propaganda becomes rather distracting. Despite the formulaic plot structure and the stereotypical characters, The Internship is a lot of fun and has a positive message.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 1 is a dark, but hilarious, comedy from FX. The show follows the antics of a group of friends that run a bar in Philly. The writing is rather sharp and can get pretty outrageous with its brand of humor. But sometimes it pushes the envelope too far, and gets overly vulgar and crass. However, the rawness of the show is part of its charm; to that end it’s shot very simply, using limited locations and camera angles. Season 1 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a bit uneven and has some trouble establishing the tone of the series, but it also delivers plenty of laughs and is a lot of fun.
A truly pathetic film, Ocean's Twelve tries to get by on charisma alone...and fails. It's pretty clear from the start that there's no story, and that it's just being made up as it goes along; to the point where Julia Roberts's character ends up impersonating Julia Roberts (which is beyond stupid). And, the characters have been rewritten and changed to fit this idiotic story. Additionally, there's no intrigue or suspense to the heists. The actors still have some good chemistry, but that's about all that the film has going for it. Ocean's Twelve is a lackluster sequel that no one seems to be putting much effort into.
Once again the Bond series passes off recycled material as a new film, but For Your Eyes Only somehow makes it work. When a covert British naval ship carrying a ballistic missile control system onboard is sunk, Bond is tasked with recovering it before it's found and sold on the black market by mercenaries. The film hits the usual action beats, and they're done pretty well; adding intensity and danger to the film. And, Carole Bouquet's performance is fairly strong (as far as Bond girls go), but the henchmen are nothing special. For Your Eyes Only delivers all the usual Bond tropes, but mixes things up enough to stay adventurous and exciting.
The infamous Moonraker is notorious as the worst of the Bond films and turns the series into a comedic farce. This adventure takes James Bond into space, where he has to stop a megalomaniacal villain from poisoning the planet as part of a nefarious plan to re-build the human race. Jaws returns for a second bite and becomes a much more interesting and compelling henchmen. However, Lois Chiles is an incredibly lackluster Bond girl, and is nothing but dead weight. But what's most disappointing is that everything's derivative of the previous films. Some of the ridiculousness of Moonraker is fun and entertaining, but the film just doesn't hold together.
James Bond comes face-to-face with his ultimate nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in You Only Live Twice. The US and Soviet Union are being pushed towards war by SPECTRE, and it's up to James Bond to stop them. The series once again goes big, with space shuttles, secret volcano lairs, and ninja armies. And the plot holes are equally as big, highlighting the poor writing of the film. Yet the action is as good as ever, delivering some spectacular fight sequences. With You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery leaves the series with a bang.
From Russia With Love continues the Bond story in an exciting new adventure full of exotic women, deadly assassins, and megalomaniacal villains. Picking up shortly after the last film, SPECTRE plots revenge on Bond by orchestrating a plan to steal a Russian cipher device while also framing James Bond for murder and espionage. Sean Connery returns as Bond and delivers a strong, compelling performance. However, the story has a few too many tangents and meanders a bit. But despite the film's weaknesses, From Russia With Love is a solid and entertaining action thriller.
Bond....James Bond. Ian Fleming's ultimate spy gets his big screen debut in Dr. No. The story follows MI6 secret agent James Bond, who is sent to Jamaica to look into the disappearance of an operative who was investigating the activities of the mysterious Dr. No. Sean Connery crafts an iconic character in James Bond, whose charisma carries the film. But, the plot is rather thin and the writing is poor. Unfortunately, Dr. No hasn't aged very well and comes off as a little hokey and underwhelming.
Scream meets Groundhog Day in the satiric horror film Happy Death Day. Tree Gelbman discovers that she’s trapped living the same day over and over again, being killed by a masked stranger, and attempts to break the cycle by finding out who her killer is. Jessica Rothe gives a pretty strong performance and does a good job at subtly changing the character as she goes through the different death cycles. However, the murder mystery isn’t really that interesting or well-constructed. In fact, the killer and their motivation seem rather arbitrary. Happy Death Day is a weak slasher film, but it has a fun concept and is entertaining.
A seminal ‘80s sitcom, Night Court dispenses hilarity in its 13 episode first season. When a young, eccentric judge is appointed to the bench he brings an unconventional way of delivering justice that’s lighthearted and fun. The writing’s pretty cheesy and formulaic, with a laugh track that goes off right on queue. But Harry Anderson and John Larroquette are able to breakout of what could have otherwise been stereotypical roles and bring a lot of charisma to the show. Additionally, some interesting guest stars make appearances, including Michael J. Fox, Charles Napier, and Yakov Smirnoff. However, there are several changes in the main cast that causes problems developing chemistry between the actors. While Season 1 of Night Court is a little rough and stereotypical, it’s still tremendously entertaining.
iZombie goes from mediocre to just plain bad in Season 4. After Zombie Seattle is turned into a walled off city Chase Graves becomes a de facto military governor and attempts to keep the peace between humans and zombies, and prevent the US military from attacking; meanwhile Liv smuggles in humans and turns them into zombies, leading to overcrowding and starvation (and she’s the “hero”). The show’s attempt to cast Liv as a hero fighting for human/zombie co-existence is total crap and makes no sense, and her turning people into zombies is a complete 180 for the character; who has been searching for a zombie cure since the beginning of the series. On the other hand, the subplot about Angus McDonough becoming the leader of a zombie religious cult is incredibly interesting and has a lot of potential, and Robert Knepper does an excellent job with the character; making him a captivating villain that’s dangerous and charismatic. But that never gets explored in much depth. Everything in Season 4 of iZombie is upside down, which is probably why the CW is making its next season its last.
Labyrinth is a bizarre and surreal fantasy tale from writer/director Jim Henson. In the film a young girl slips into a dreamlike world and must navigate a labyrinth that confronts her with her innermost demons. Jennifer Connelly gives a strong performance and interacts seamlessly with the puppet characters. However, it's David Bowie's inspired performance as the Goblin King that's most captivating. Aside from acting, David Bowie also wrote and performed several songs for the film that are absolutely spellbinding. There are some issues with the storytelling, but the puppetry is amazing. Even with its flaws, Labyrinth is an exceptionally imaginative and creative film that's a lot of fun.
Stand By Me is a compelling and touching coming-of-age film by director Rob Reiner. Based on a novella by Stephen King, the story follows four friends who go searching for the body of a missing kid, hoping to claim a reward. Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell, the film has an impressive cast that has great chemistry together and gives incredibly good performances. The characters are also exceptionally well-written; feeling especially real and relatable. And, the costumes and set designs have a remarkably authentic 1950s Americana look that has a nostalgic quality to it. Additionally, the soundtrack is extraordinarily well-done; capturing the playful, carefree youth of the characters. A wonderful film about friendship and the loss of innocence, Stand By Me is a timeless classic.
From the History Channel comes the biblical epic The Bible, a ten part miniseries covering both the Old and New Testament. Starting with Noah and the Flood, the episodes proceed to tell most of the major, well-known bible stories; Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses freeing the Hebrews, King David, Samson defeating the Philistines, and of course Jesus’ ministry and crucifixion. However, some of the Old Testament episodes seem kind of rushed, squeezing in two or three stories per episode. And there’s a kind of reverse whitewashing, making the characters as racially diverse as possible (despite most of them being Jewish) and Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a de facto 13th apostle. Yet for the most part, it stays remarkably faithful to Judeo-Christian tradition. The production values are really quite good (better than a lot of other biblical television dramas) and the writers do an impressive job at condensing the major events of the Bible and constructing a connecting narrative that flows rather well. A powerful and inspirational miniseries, The Bible delivers a spiritual message that still resonates with audiences.
With David Duchovny leaving the show, Chris Carter tries to wrap up The X-Files in Season 7. After recovering from contact with an alien object Mulder rejoins Scully and investigates the Millennium cult (with the help of Frank Black), the death of a magician following an impossible magic trick, a new interactive first person shooter video game that’s killing it’s players, and run into a genie who puts an ironic twist on wishes. Additionally, Mulder finally finds the answers to what happened to his sister, Scully goes on a secret mission with the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and the Cigarette-Smoking Man tries to reconstitute the Syndicate. The show even does a cross-over episode with the Fox hit reality series Cops (“X-Cops”). Gillian Anderson writes and directors her first episode (“All Things”) and Duchovny also writes and directs an episode (“Hollywood A.D.”). Unfortunately Season 7 doesn’t provide any good answers to the series mysteries; the alien craft stuff in “The Sixth Extinction” is all nonsensical gobbledygook, and “Closure” completely rewrites the Samantha Fox mythology. On the other hand, the show manages to feature a number of interesting guest stars, including Mark Pellegrino, Lance Henriksen, Constance Zimmer, Tobin Bell, Garry Shandling, and Tea Leoni. Season 7 brings an end to another chapter of The X-File, yet opens show up to new possibilities.
Blitz is yet another Jason Statham vehicle that under delivers. When London is terrorized by a serial killer (known as Blitz) who's targeting cops, a rogue cop (aka Statham) must go outside of the law in order to bring him to justice. As plots go, it's not a bad one, and there's a subplot or two that helps to heighten the intrigue. But, the film lacks the focus to hold the action and suspense that the story attempts to build. Yet despite its problems, Blitz is still a pretty entertaining crime thriller.
A modern update of Day of the Dead, Patient Zero is a frightening horror-thriller. In the aftermath of a rage virus that turns people rabid, a secret underground military base experiments on the infected looking for a cure; but when they discover an Infected who’s intelligent and doesn’t react like the others they start to question everything they think they know. Featuring Natalie Dormer and Stanley Tucci, the film has a pretty strong cast, and the writers do a good job at setting up the post-apocalyptic world and the Infection. Additionally, the action scenes are well-done and full of suspense. Yet the blood and gore never gets gratuitous (as most zombie/virus films want to do). Patient Zero is a smart and exciting Romero-esque horror film.
Incredibly boring, The Amityville Murders tells the true-ish story of the 1974 DeFeo murders. In the fall of 1974 troubled teenager Ronald DeFeo Jr. is slowly driven mad by an abusive father and shadow spirits until he snaps and kills his entire family. Unfortunately there’s no real suspense, as Ronald looks and acts crazy from the jump. And despite a few attempts to attribute Ron’s spirit visions to drugs use and hints at possible mob involvement, the film clearly depicts the supernatural as real and responsible for the murders (as Ronald and others claim). The performances are rather bland and none of the characters are all that interesting. Among the myriad of films made about Amityville, The Amityville Murders is one of the weaker and more forgettable entries.
Based on a limited run comic book, Dark Matter is a thrilling science fiction adventure series. Season 1 follows the crew of the mercenary ship Raza, who wake up from stasis with no memory of who or where they are, leading them to band together in an uneasy alliance as they search for answers and decide whether to resume their old lives or begin anew. The casting is especially good; particularly Canadian Idol's Melissa O'Neil, who has a magnetic screen presence and impressive physicality (making her a compelling action heroine). And, the special effects and set designs give a real lived-in, tangible feel to the show's universe. The serial storytelling is also well-done, building multi-episode arcs that are exciting and full of intrigue. Still, the series relies on a number of common sci-fi tropes; such as clones, evil robots, and warring corporate powers. Yet overall, Dark Matter shows a lot promise and delivers a strong first season.
A rote crime thriller, Acts of Violence is a pretty standard revenge film. When a young woman is abducted her fiancé and his two brothers team-up to find her and discover that she’s being held by a crime boss who’s running a sex trafficking ring. Featuring Cole Hauser, Shawn Ashmore, Sofia Bush, and Bruce Willis, the film has a fairly strong cast. And the action scenes are especially well-done. However, the script is rather weak and does a poor job at integrating the main plot with a subplot about a burned out cop who’s investigating missing girls and gets a lead on the crime boss who’s behind their abductions. Also, the film doesn’t really develop a sense of family between the brothers. Still, the performances by the cast are able to make up for some of the script’s weaknesses. While Acts of Violence is underdeveloped, there’s a fair amount of suspense and intrigue and it does some interesting things with the material.
Face/Off is a high adrenaline thriller from acclaimed director John Woo. The story follows anti-terrorist agent Sean Archer who's surgically altered to go undercover as terrorist leader Castor Troy, but the op goes wrong when Troy is able to assume Archer's identity. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage lead the cast and bring a lot of charisma to the film. And whatever one thinks of John Woo, he knows how to shoot action. The story has a few failings, but the action is riveting and intense. As popcorn action movies go, Face/Off is an entertaining, nonstop thrill ride.
Stallone and Schwarzenegger team up for the action thriller Escape Plan. When a security expert goes undercover to test the escapability of a secret CIA prison he's betrayed and left there to die. The film does a good job at developing mystery and tension, particularly in how it sets up the escape. However, the acting is pretty mediocre; except for Jim Caviezel, who creates a strong, interesting character. Escape Plan has some problems, but it's still an entertaining and provocative film.
The old '80s & '90s action stars are back for another round in The Expendables 3. The series' trademark stunt casting is rather underwhelming this time, losing more than it gains as Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Harrison Ford are poor substitutes for Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Still, Mel Gibson is a good get and makes for a charismatic villain. The plot is typical action movie schlock, but it works well enough. However, the film buries the lead by holding back on the old action stars kicking ass and limiting their screen time. Yet when all is said and done, The Expendables 3 is an enjoyable film that delivers plenty of explosive action scenes.
"You can't beat a classic." The Expendables 2 ramps up the action and delivers an explosive, adrenaline fueled thrill ride. This time the Expendables are hired to recover a map of a former Soviet plutonium mine that a terrorist group is attempting to exploit. Most of the cast from the first film return and are joined by Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Director Simon West handles the action exceptionally well and is able to utilize each of the main actors effectively. However, the dialog is a bit weak and there's a fair amount of cheesiness in the film. Still, when it comes to raw, adrenaline-pumping action, The Expendables 2 can't be beat.
An exciting action-comedy, RED 2 is an incredibly entertaining spy thriller. When classified documents are leaked that link retired CIA agent Frank Moses to a black ops mission in Moscow he's forced to go on the run from government assassins seeking to cover up the mission. The plot gets a little convoluted, but ends up being a rather fun adventure. The comedy's a little rote, but the actors are able to make it work. Most of the original cast returns, and are joined by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins. And, the visual style incorporates an interesting animated comic aesthetic that helps to create a lighthearted, high-energy tone for the film. RED 2 is a little formulaic, but still delivers an enjoyable romp.
From Hallmark Entertainment comes The Poseidon Adventure, a rather cheap and poorly made updated adaption of Paul Gallico’s adventure novel. When a terrorist attack capsizes the S.S. Poseidon during a luxury cruise a group of passengers band together and struggle to reach the outside; meanwhile the military attempts to find the missing ship and get a rescue crew to her before she sinks. The terrorist angle is a real WTF kind of curveball that creates all kinds of problems. However, most of the other changes aren’t that bad and explore some of the characters that were left out of the Irwin Allen version. But the script is just awful and the acting is garbage (despite featuring some talented actors). Also, the digital effects and blue screen work are atrocious. Even by Hallmark TV movie standards, The Poseidon Adventure is pretty abysmal.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets ratchets up the crazy by a factor of 10. This time Ben Gates is on a quest to find the lost City of Gold in order to prove that his great grandfather wasn't a conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, and Jon Voight return, and are joined by Ed Harris and Helen Mirren. Cage and Kruger easily slip back into their roles and recapture the magic that made their characters so fun in the first film. However, this plot is just too convoluted to go with. There are a lot of fun moments, but the adventure's not as interesting or entertaining as the original. The story is weak, but National Treasure: Book of Secrets manages to deliver a fun and solidly entertaining adventure.
More blood must be shed in order to get out of the assassin world in John Wick: Chapter 2. After settling up with the Tarasov family retired assassin John Wick is ready to return to a peaceful, quiet life, until an old friend shows up with a marker demanding that he honor it by killing one of the members of the High Table. Once again Keanu Reeves gives an excellent performance, making Wick an incredibly compelling character who’s a tortured soul that adheres to a strict code of honor. And the fight choreography and gun-fu are extraordinarily well-done and remarkably intense. However, the worldbuilding is a little convoluted, with nearly everyone being some type of assassin (or part of the supporting infrastructure). But despite a few small problems, John Wick: Chapter 2 is a thrilling, non-stop action film.
