It Came From Letterboxd (08/09/2017)

The thought occurred to me that I don't review many older movies, whether its something that's only a couple years old or a few decades old. Well, that and how there some recent movies that don't give me enough material for a full review. When it comes to movies that fit that description, I tend to talk about those on my Letterboxd page. Here are a few of those reviews for your reading pleasure...

LEGEND (1985)

An ethereal experience unlike anything else from this era in fantasy cinema. It's simplicity is more than redeemed by the mesmerizing atmosphere created through the beautiful score and, of course, the absolutely gorgeous visuals. Through Scott's brilliant direction, we get all of that and one of Tim Curry's greatest performances. Wrongly maligned during its original release, I'm happy it's gotten the recognition and respect it deserves.
[Rating: 4.5 out of 5]

DREDD

Sure, some of the CGI hasn't aged all that well; but, it's still a pretty fun, hard-knuckle sci-fi action picture in the vein of stuff like Die Hard and Assault on Precinct 13. The blood is great and it gets the original comics in ways that the Stallone version just couldn't. Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, and Lena Headey are top-notch and the pace is breakneck. Overall, a real blast.
[Rating: 4 out of 5]

THE SHALLOWS

Man, does Jaume Collet-Serra know how to direct a B-grade picture in the classiest, most polished way possible. Plus, there's a whole bunch of other nifty little tricks. Like a good Blake Lively performance, one of Marco Beltrami's better scores, some decent blood effects, and an adorable little bird named Steven Seagull. Not much more you could ask for from a summertime shark flick.
[Rating: 3.5 out of 5]

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017)

And now an open letter to Disney:

Unless you get a filmmaker who actually has something interesting he (or she) can do with the material, you must do the following: STOP DOING LIVE-ACTION REMAKES OF YOUR BACK CATALOG OF ANIMATED CLASSICS! Just stop it.

(end letter)

To put it simply, this is the Gus Van Sant's PSYCHO of Disney movies. A film so lazy, cynically-made, and pointless that I wouldn't be shocked if they just used the actual script from the far superior 1991 original with a few extra lines added. Its moments like this where I'm Bill Condon is wasting his time directing dreck like this instead of films like Kinsey, Gods & Monsters and that (hopefully awesome) Bride of Frankenstein reboot. What a waste of talent and time on needlessly remaking the tale as old as time.
[Rating: 1.5 out of 5]

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Those were just a few of these mini-reviews. Comment and hit me up on your preferred social media platform to let me know if you want to see more of these. In the meantime, take care!