The Bluff (2026)

 

A rare pirate movie. And even rarer that it was violent–not some pansy amusement water ride yawner. The Boys wreck havoc on a tranquil beach village. Nearly everyone in the film dies. Spoiler alert! But it’s a mostly fun time watching it happen. 

Rating: C+

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

 

The humor made this Marvel offering palatable, despite the run-of-the-mill fight scenes. 

Rating: C

Star Trek (2009)

A lunar surfaces' worth of plot holes didn't help this reboot win me over to the franchise.

Rating: C-

Pete’s Dragon (2016)

More than anything, Pete’s Dragon reminded me how much I’m going to miss Robert Redford after he’s gone. The man’s a national treasure. The movie itself was ok.

Rating: C-

Doom (2005)

Skip the movie and go straight to the game. If you're not into games, listen to a NIN album.

Rating: D-

Riddick (2013)

A case where a franchise continues to decline with each additional film. While there were some entertaining sequences, none of them combined merited the making of this third installment. Enjoy the first, then stop.

Rating: C-

Ghost Ship (2002)

That opening scene was just disturbing. Unfortunately shock value was all this movie had going for it. Plot and acting were crap.

Rating: F+

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

I want to write a competent review, but I can’t get that annoying accent out of my head from Chekov’s character. It’s unbearably bad and completely comical. That can’t be what they were going for. Oh, and the movie has all the requisite scenes of our heroes nearly getting shot, speared, exploded, melted, pulverized, etc. It's hard to feel any suspense when everyone's invincible.

On the plus side, it looked and sounded fantastic. There were bits of clever writing throughout, and it was nice to see Sherlock in the starring role of a feature film.

Rating: C

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

The sequel to Pitch Black, with more connections to the first film than I anticipated. Plenty of action to hold your attention. A pretty good follow-up.

Rating: C+

Dredd (2012)

Ten times better than the deplorable Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd. The post-apocalyptic future cityscape looked adequately gritty and realistic. The setup up was tightly scripted and sufficient to engage the viewer in the bloody mayhem to come. We may have seen the main plot device—working one’s way to the top of a building of bad guys—many times, but it’s still entertaining when done right. This is no award winner, but it’s a killer action flick deserving of a sequel.

Rating: C+

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

A good, not great, sequel by Greengrass. I definitely prefer Doug Liman, the director of the original. Some fantastic action sequences, but the story got away from him. The flow was off and the occasional jerky action sequences couldn't save it.

Rating: C+

Priest (2011)

Visually stimulating but intellectually shallow. Not really a vampire movie in any sense of the genre. Reminded me of "Legion", another weak Paul Bettany endeavor.

Rating: D+

Red (2010)

Funny, but I would have preferred the humor even darker. The action was surprisingly amped up for a PG-13 movie. I appreciated that. Not sure I bought into the romance between Willis and Parker. Still, a very entertaining film with a cheeseball ending.

Rating: C+