The Digital Movie Collector

  Another Free Rental The free movie rental strikes back from Family Video. When I was returning the Force of Nature rental, I still had a free rental that expired in a week. I had been eyeing 1917 movie for some time and decided this was the best time to watch it. When I rented it, I was told this would be much better than my previous rental. If ever in doubt, ask the friendly staff at Family Video. They will let you know what they have heard and what they have seen. They were right. Review A little spoiler for this movie. The movie is so well filmed that it appears the whole movie is a single shot. It is extremely well done. In addition, the cinematography is very well done. Wide shots to let you know where you are and close shots to get the characters emotions. This alone started swaying me to purchase this movie. The beginning of the movie felt a little like Lord of the Ring with Sam and Frodo off on an adventure. This last about halfway through the movie before you are brought...

 The Mighty Have Fallen I feel like this movie was trying to draw viewers in by casting Mel Gibson. The trailer made it feel like Mel's character was a retired Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon. The movie turns out to be not even close to the same league as the Lethal Weapon movies. I had thought about picking up this movie but was fortunate enough to have a free rental from Family Video. This was not one of Mel's better films in either story, character, or even his acting. Review The movie starts out in the middle for several minutes before showing events 8 hours prior and moving forward. I feel this was only done to show Mel's character in the first scene and to add a little suspense to persuade viewers to continue watching the movie. I have to admit it works and you end up waiting a good portion of the movie to see how events unfold. By this time, you will realize they must have put much of the films budget into casting Mel (or at least if feels like it). The film did not ...

  The Amells After CWs Arrow, Stephen Amell and his cousin Robbie Amell star in this movie about people with powers living in the real world. Sound familiar? It also combines the main character trying to do something good but ending up on the wrong side of the law. Again, sound familiar? It should as this is just a combination of movie plots into one science fiction film. With both Amells staring in the movie, I almost purchased this movie. Fortunately, Netflix already has this movie. Review This is an independent film that apparently went through a fundraising campaign to actually get made. The effects are rather good. The acting was decent and come close to getting you emotionally connected with the characters. I am a little disappointed with Stephen's character as it feels like they may be typecasting him into roles with limited emotional range. See his portrayal of Casey Jone in Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles: Out of the Shadow as another example of limiting his range. I have seen...

Book To Film I listened to the audiobooks on this six part series before watching the original three movies that were made in Swedish. This is appropriate as the movies take place in Switzerland. What also makes these movies much better than their remakes is that the movies cover books 1-3 where the remakes only cover books 1 and 4. Currently the original three movies are free with Amazon Prime. Yes, you will need to use English subtitles to follow but surprisingly you should be able to catch several words as they are very similar in both languages. I saw they were free at one time on a service (I believe Netflix) but missed my opportunity to watch them. They were on sale a few weeks ago on Vudu and I almost bought them just to watch as the books (at least the first three) were amazing twits filled with mystery. I was glad I was able to watch them on Amazon Prime and was not disappointed. I am not sure how the English dubbed are but the original is spectacular. Review I must point out ...

  Retro Movie Time I decided to go back into my archives and watch the first Christopher Reeve version of Superman. This time on my home theater 8' screen since I did not get to watch this in the theater the first time. Something to enjoy having your own personal theater during this pandemic. Makes you feel like you are at the theater minus the cost of tickets and concessions. I admit it does also lack the smell of theater popcorn and the excitement of a crowd watching something for the first time. Review Watching it again, I see how even with the special effects at the time made you believe a man could fly. The cast was amazing but even better is what is sorely missing in today's high budget movies, great cinematography. To actually see the movie without all the blur effects is refreshing. The focus was on Superman and just blurring the background when he flew or ran. Today's movies have all these great details that they blur away. You would think studios would want to get...