Category: Film Reviews

By Mark Saldana Rating: 2 (Out of 4 Stars) When director Michael Bay first announced that he would not return to direct another Transformers movie after Transformers: Dark of the Moon, many frustrated movie goers, including myself, breathed a collective sigh of relief.   I think we hoped that this meant either the end of what turned… Continue reading Review: TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

By Renee’ Collins Rating: 2.5 (Out of 5 Reels) Director Michael Bay brings us yet another installment of the Transformer eye candy series.  An automobile mechanic and his daughter make a discovery that brings down the Autobots – and a paranoid government official – on them (IMDB).

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Feeling more like a standard music artists’ biopic and less like a musical, Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the Tony Award winning and critically acclaimed Broadway musical seems to lack a vibrancy and energy that I expected.  I have never actually seen a stage production of Jersey… Continue reading Review: JERSEY BOYS

By Mark Saldana Rating: 1.5 (Out of 4 Stars) With the first film, I remember liking the way screenwriters Kerry Merryman and David A. Newman incorporated elements of Steve Harvey’s book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, into an otherwise cliché and formulaic romantic comedy. At least that film had that quality going… Continue reading Review: THINK LIKE A MAN TOO

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) I have to say that this is one of the more difficult reviews I have written, and perhaps have yet to write. The controversial subject matter of the film, along with my personal beliefs on said material must be set aside to objectively critique the film. … Continue reading Review: OBVIOUS CHILD

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) How much character development should a movie provide for its audience so that they care about said characters?  This is a question I pondered after leaving William Eubank’s film The Signal.  I have my screening guest to thank for making me take this subject under consideration.  As… Continue reading Review: THE SIGNAL

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Every summer movie season has its expected share of sequels.  So far, Amazing Spider-Man 2 wasn’t so amazing, while X-Men: Days of Future Past revitalized a long running franchise that has had its share of ups and downs.  In 2010, DreamWorks Animation started a potentially successful… Continue reading Review: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars)  22 Jump Street is one of two very different sequels ( the other being How to Train Your Dragon 2) opening this week. Still, these two follow-ups do have something  in common with each other.  They are both well done second installments that more than satisfy, but don’t outshine their predecessors. Directors Phil… Continue reading Review: 22 JUMP STREET

By Mark Saldana Rating: 2 (Out of 4 Stars) This country fried noir of a film features a superb cast delivering remarkable performances, but has little else to offer. Well, to be fair, the movie does have some lovely tense, edge-of-the-seat moments, but the reasons why the characters are in these situations and their motivations… Continue reading Review: COLD IN JULY