Happy Birthday Clint Eastwood!

New Release Tuesdays

It has been slow on the new release front minus the biggest movie of the year so far and a few other smaller titles.  I cannot blame anything for being behind, the baseball season stinks and I am not that busy so here we go:

12 Strong- 12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain, the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban.  This was a very good action flick that was not as violent as say Lone Survivor but still solid.  I enjoy Michael Shannon in anything. 

 

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell- The sequel finds Burt Gummer and his son Travis at a remote research station, where they must go up against Graboids that have been converted into living weapons.  I do not think I have seen any of the other Tremors movies but always enjoyed the original, it’s a classic monster movie.  I doubt I will see this and I see that Syfy passed on a Tremors series with Kevin Bacon.

Winchester- Ensconced in her sprawling California mansion, eccentric firearm heiress Sarah Winchester believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.  A nice looking haunted house flick with a good story behind it. 

Batman Ninja- Batman, along with several of his allies and adversaries, finds himself transplanted from modern Gotham City to feudal Japan. DC continues to give as solid animated flicks and this one reminds me more of a Power Rangers movie but has some really cool animation and the style changes at story points sometimes.  A solid animated flick. 

Black Panther- T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake.  Yes, this is as good as everyone claims and director Ryan Coogler is on a roll.  It is really cool how they made this like a James Bond film.  

Fistful of Dollars- A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.  I bought this title more times than I care to mention but it seems worthy of another upgrade as reviews have it looking as good as the film has ever looked even with the colors still a bit off.  I am a sucker and will order this very soon.

  

15:17 to Paris- Three Americans discover a terrorist plot aboard a train while in France.  Eastwood has been exploring real life situations in his last few films and scored on American Sniper and Sully but misses the mark on this one.  I think the first issue is the real-life heroes play themselves in the movie and tow thirds of them suck and the other third is descent at best.  The screenplay is weak and there is no build-up to the main event but when it does get there this is where Eastwood makes a difference and stages a very exciting, nail biting, climactic event.  This movie ranks on the very bottom half of Eastwood’s library unfortunately.