Lock Up (1989) – John Flynn

I haven’t watched all of Sylvester Stallone’s films for the blog, but of all of them, Lock Up is arguably thee worst one that I’ve watched to date. It’s horribly done, underuses Donald Sutherland, which is arguably a crime, and despite shooting on location in an actual prison, nothing works. Stallone’s character says that three…

The Mighty Quinn (1989) – Carl Schenkel

I don’t think The Mighty Quinn ever found the right tone. They don’t quite get the island life vibe right. A film that is supposed to be a mystery, thriller and comedy has to walk a fine line, and it never seems to be able to do that. It’s no fault of the cast, Denzel…

Stargate: Atlantis (2007) – Missing, and The Seer

Carl Binder pens Missing which first aired on 9 November, 2007. Keller (Jewel Staite) and Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) head out on a mission together to see the Teyla’s people, the Athosians, in their new home. Unfortunately, when they arrive they discover the colony is missing. The primary suspects are a warrior tribe known as the…

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – Robert Mulligan

The moment I finished Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, I knew it was tome to check out the cinematic version, another hole in my viewing category. Gregory Peck headlines as Atticus, a role that garnered him an Academy Award. The film garnered two more wins, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Set/Art Dec. It received…

Gotcha! (1985) – Jeff Kanew

I remember greatly enjoying Gotcha! when I rented it on video back in the day. And though it’s always been floating round in the back of my mind, I haven’t watched it since… until now. And let me tell you, this one stands up. There’s a couple of things that don’t stand the test of…

Deathtrap (1982) – Sidney Lumet

Ira Levin’s whip-smart stage play, Deathtrap, was adapted for the big-screen and saw Michael Caine square-off against Christopher Reeve in this captivating cat-and-mouse, twisting thriller. Micheal Caine is playwright, Sidney Bruhl. He’s just had his latest stage thriller flop on opening night. It’s his latest failure in a string of them. Things are exacerbated, when…

The Shallows (2016) – Jaume Collet-Serra

Blake Lively stars in a tight little actioner that runs shy of 90 minutes, but features some crisp and beautiful location and underwater photography. Lively is Nancy, a med student who has journeyed to Mexico to surf a secret beach that her mother once surfed long ago when she learned she was pregnant with Nancy….

Ravenous (1999) – Antonia Bird

I like Robert Carlyle, I like Guy Pearce, and there’s some really horrific stuff in this film, but I have to be honest, the musical score kept ejecting me from the film. Beyond that it’s a tightly crafted film about cannibals, using the story of the Donner Party as a loose launching point. Guy Pearce…