Money DVD Review

• Actors: Jesse Williams, Kellan Lutz
• Disc Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2017
• Run Time: 86 minutes

        Despite being a dialogue-driven suspense film primarily set in a single location and shot at a brisk pace, Money feels like what happens when an independent film is approached the same way a studio film is made. There is more preoccupation with casting actors that have pre-existing fame (a.k.a. platform) to help sell their film, even if these particular actors are not the best or most talented for the job. In other words, the production of Money was ironically so preoccupied with making money that the film ultimately suffers because of it. A somewhat clever script is often destroyed by actors who aren’t always up to the task of handling some of the clumsier dialogue and one-dimensional characterizations.

London Heist DVD Review

• Actors: Craig Fairbrass, James Cosmo, Mem Ferda
• Director: Mark McQueen
• Disc Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: English
• Region: Region 1
• Rated: R
• Studio: LIONSGATE
• DVD Release Date: July 11, 2017
• Run Time: 95 minutes

        London Heist is a crime film directed by Mark McQueen, who is best known for his work on numerous British reality TV series, and co-written by Craig Fairbrass, who has written himself the leading role in this forgettable vanity project. Previously titled Gunned Down, London Heist has a plot as generic as each of its titles. There are heists, betrayals, shootouts, corrupt cops, and all of the other trappings of the genre, though none of the elements are elevated enough to make this film anything but forgettable. The right actor in the lead role may have had the ability to save the movie from feeling so generic, but Fairbrass was not this actor.

Song to Song Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchet
• Director: Terrence Malick
• Disc Format: Widescreen
• Language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R
• Studio: Broad Green Pictures
• Release Date: July 4, 2017
• Run Time: 129 minutes

        In the first half of Terrence Malick’s career, he only made a handful of films, and now he seems to be churning them out every couple of years. For fans of his work, this may be good news, but the quality and thoughtfulness suffers with the speediness of each release. The stylistic concerns that have taken over his latest wave of films often take precedence over any attempt to write a well-constructed screenplay before starting filming, and the filmmaker’s improvisational style now mostly contains sequences of his actors doing nothing in the most self conscious way possible. It often feels as though Malick has placed a camera in front of the cast and told them to do something. This rarely ever feels natural, which seems to be the intention of improvisation in filmmaking, and instead results in a kind of contrived silliness that rarely resembles real human behavior.

T2: Trainspotting Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Miller, Ewan McGregor, Kelly Macdonald
• Director: Danny Boyle
• Producers: Danny Boyle, Bernie Bellew, Christian Colson, Andrew MacDonald
• Disc Format: AC-3, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish, English
• Dubbed: French
• Audio Description: French
• Region: Region A/1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Rated: R
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: June 27, 2017
• Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2019
• Run Time: 117 minutes

        Danny Boyle has never directed a sequel, but it is fitting that he would start with the film that made him an international success. While Shallow Grave had proven his talents as a director, Trainspotting proved his ability to create a lasting hit. Part drug film, part heist film, and part coming-of-age drama fueled by its energetic soundtrack, surreal cinematography, and postmodern editing, Trainspotting was an instant cult classic. T2: Trainspotting is a sequel 20 years in the making, and it brings back these same elements, with themes that have matured even when its characters have not.

Dirty Dancing DVD Review

• Actors: Abigail Breslin, Colt Prattes, Sarah Hyland, Nicole Scherzinger, Tony Roberts
• Director: Wayne Blair
• Disc Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1
• Studio: LIONSGATE
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2017
• Run Time: 135 minutes

        Dirty Dancing is a film which has had lasting success, despite being of questionable quality. It is the type of film that has a dedicated fanbase willing to ignore any critical shortcomings, and we have seen this taken advantage of with countless anniversary releases, a sequel (by name only), a stage version, and now an ABC original TV movie adaptation of the original. Wholly unnecessary, horrendously miscast, and torturously overlong, fans of the original were quick to denounce this remake when it aired on television just over a month ago. Rather than extending the embarrassment any longer than necessary, the film has quickly been released on DVD for suckers mistaking the similar cover art for the original campy cult classic.