Posts by Jeremy Butler

“You have the skills of a cop, and the constitution of a cold-blooded killer. What better combination can there be.”

There are clearly no heroes in this revenge tale, making it kind of hard to decide who to root for. If anything, it is bad versus slightly less bad. Dean Cain stars as Mason Danvers, a once-honest cop who gets himself locked up on to seek revenge against the criminal who murdered his wife. Revenge, now there is a subject that never gets old; however, in the case of Vendetta it is likely it will get old very fast. I had high hopes, as the premise had my interest, but the overall presentation was a lot less cerebral than I had hoped, coming off more cause-and-effect rather than cat-and-mouse.

I’ve heard whispers about this series for quite some time but never really knew much about it. Given that Hallmark is not really a channel I frequent, I suppose not being knowledgeable about it is understandable. I was slightly confused when this disc came across my desk; I was sure if it was a television series or if it was a made-for-television special. Turns out it’s a series which follows a city girl from a prominent family that relocates to a small town and accepts a position as a schoolteacher. Upon her relocation, she catches the eye of a young Mountie. Now given that I’m coming in at the middle of the story, I’m going to ask the readers to bear with me as I get my bearings with this series.

Petty crime and literature: makes you wonder how often the two coexist. In the case of Phantom Halo, the two coexist quite often and very successfully. The introduction of the literature through the guise of street theater sets the stage for the criminal activity and provides elegance to what would possible been a dull story. However, in my opinion, the two need one another to provide a compelling story. Though admittedly there are times when one aspect seems farfetched or pulls focus from the other, in the long run it is these two themes together that make the overall film exceptional.

Jokesters takes a long time to get to the point. The plot is extremely long-winded to the point that I questioned if the long awaited gruesome stuff would ever come. More time was spent on the setup, specifically the wedding reception sequence, than on the actual climatic events of the movie. Some of the setup was entertaining but it didn’t take long before I was considering hitting the fast-forward button just to get to the good stuff. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I put the disc in, but it didn’t take long for me to put together all that was going to happen (well, maybe not all; don’t want to come off like a know-it-all).

I have often wondered how blood feuds got started in the western times. The Hatfield and McCoy feud is the most legendary, of course, except before long how the whole ordeal started just became a bunch of he said/she said. In the case of Echoes of War, it turns out that the feud that is sparked between the McCluskeys and the Rileys began over a just cause; however, the battle was bit one-sided and slow-paced for my liking. Not the mention the film does a bit of a 360 on me that really turns me against the person I spent the entire movie sympathizing with.

I’m really over parody movies, and this one is no exception. The cheesy dialog and recycled storylines from more popular movies fail to strike a chord with me. Is it just me, or does it seems like parodies are nothing more than the bullies of the film industry? Makes sense, right, seeing as their sole purpose is to poke fun at other movies with no originality or real substance to them. Well, in the case of Tooken, it appears that we have run out of movies to parody and are resorting to people. Well, not people per se, merely characters brought to life by the same actor; I won’t mention which actor. However, that part should not be that difficult for you to guess once we dive a little deeper.