Movie Review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Movies that come with a considerable amount of hype always run the risk of disappointing, of letting someone down after the buildup. It is always a fear of mine, I may listen to some of it, but I try not to get too wrapped up in said hype for fear of letting it sway my actual feelings about any given film. The Autopsy of Jane Doe is the latest film to arrive with a lot of hype and positive buzz around it. Friends messaged me asking if I’d seen it, positive comments on social media, even Stephen King is singing its praises. So, while I was anxious to see it, I went in trying to keep myself in check, just in case.

Movie Review: The Bye Bye Man

You know, there are movies every year that I know I should not see. Movies that look terrible and do not deserve to be seen. Sometimes I am successful at avoiding the temptation, but other times I am not so good at staying away. In the case of The Bye Bye Man, I saw the trailer and immediately put it on the avoid list. I have to be honest, it looked horrible, suffers from a terrible title, and what looked to be a ridiculous premise. Somehow, I found myself with some time to kill and that movie fitting right into the time available. Can you guess what I did? Of course you can. I sat by myself in a theater being bored for 90-minutes.

Blu-ray Review: Train to Busan

This past summer, I had the opportunity to check out a new zombie film from South Korea, it had been garnering a lot of buzz and I was curious to see if it would live up to the hype. The movie is called Train to Busan and it more than lives up to the hype. The film turned out to be an amazingly executed zombie film that delivers the action and also carries a strong emotional hook. It ramps up a little slowly, but it gives us characters, characters that are interesting and make us invested in their survival, or lack thereof.

Movie Review: Underworld - Blood Wars

Hard to believe the Underworld franchise has been chugging along for more than a decade and is looking at at least one more sequel before all is said and done. I actually used to enjoy this franchise, led by a latex-clad Kate Beckinsale. There is plenty of potential in an epic tale of a war between vampires and werewolves. I used to anticipate each new episode in the series to see just what was going to happen, even when they replaced Beckinsale with Rhona Mitra and took us into the past to see early monster altercations. Now, I look at a new Underworld movie and think “Another one?” It doesn’t help that I revisited the franchise recently and found them to be kind of dull. Stylish, but dull.

Movie Review: Sleepless (2017)

It’s January again. You know, that time of year when expanding Oscar-bait movies fight for theaters against a wave of cheap and/or low expectation titles at the local cinema. It is a feast or famine month, depending on your point of view. I decided to take a shot with an early 2017 release that has a little star power in its favor, with Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, and Dermot Mulroney on the cast listing. The movie is called Sleepless, and, to be honest, when I first saw the trailer, it felt like a lot of movies that have come before it. With that said, I was pretty sure what to expect going in, and I was not disappointed. Well, maybe I was.

2016: Favorite Movies of the Year

For 2016, my overall viewing was down, but I was still able to see a lot of really good movies. I would go so far as to say that I saw more excellent movies than I was expecting to. Of course, there are always those that I miss and I have to say that the late year crop of Oscar-type movies have not really excited me. Whether my lack of interest is due to the change in my viewing habits or taste, or that it is a weaker than usual Oscar class, I do not know. In the end, I don’t think it matters. The fact remains, I saw 19 movies that racked four stars or higher over the year. Below are said movies, all of which were seen in a theater.