Eight movies hit the DVD rack this week. Eye in the Sky highlights this lukewarm batch of releases which also features two documentaries, another Tina Fey disappointment, another generic Bruce Willis flick, another low budget shark horror and another shining example of 2016’s love of the sequel. Here’s MHT’s guide to what to buy, rent, stream or skip for June 28th:
Eye in the Sky (Check out our Movie Hot Take from this year)
Super Simple Synopsis: Tense “capture” or “kill” thriller with all the modern amenities of today’s war on terror, drones and all.
Why Buy?
You love Helen Mirren. You want a different kind of war movie with more thinking than fighting. You know he hasn’t been gone long but you miss Alan Rickman already.
Why Rent?
You don’t anything about war movies or Helen Mirren or Alan Rickman but this movie’s got Aaron Paul, bitch!
Why Stream?
You’re not all that fascinated by modern warfare but damn if those British accents don’t make you want to watch almost anything.
Why Skip?
You’d rather make love.
MHT Verdict: Buy it!
Eye in the Sky is one of the best movies of the first half of 2016. There are a few performances that could be remembered come Oscar season although voters typically don’t have that good of a memory.
Back in the Day (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: Generic boxing movie where the boxer’s biggest fights are outside the ring.
Why Buy?
You have an unhealthy love of boxing movies.
Why Rent?
You figure any movie that has Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover and Michael Madsen can’t be that bad.
Why Stream?
You have to watch every movie Mike Tyson makes an appearance in.
Why Skip?
You only watch boxing movies tied to the Rocky franchise. (Don’t worry that’s still a lot!)
MHT Verdict: Stream it!
Back in the Day doesn’t look overly promising but it does have a solid supporting cast and boxing movies always seem to work.
Elstree 1976 (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: Documentary about the actors and extras of the Star Wars franchise.
Why Buy?
You have a nerdgasm over everything Star Wars. (Well, except for that Holiday Special. And Jar Jar. Fuck Jar Jar!)
Why Rent?
You’re a big fan of Star Wars but sometimes documentaries bore you.
Why Stream?
You want to be technologically relevant as well as culturally relevant in your way you choose to satisfy your Star Wars curiosity.
Why Skip?
You’re holding out for a documentary about the making of Spaceballs.
MHT Verdict: Rent it!
While Elstree 1976 looks to be a compelling documentary, it doesn’t look like one you’ll need to watch multiple times.
Fastball (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: A baseball documentary featuring (surprise!) Kevin Costner as the narrator.
Why Buy?
You love cinematic baseball.
Why Rent?
You have to know how they turn talking about a fastball into an 87 minute documentary.
Why Stream?
You figure if you support Kevin Costner’s baseball projects, it’ll make it less likely for him to stray and make crap like Criminal.
Why Skip?
You’re afraid they’ll pull the ol’ switcheroo and this documentary will actually be about the ’90s rock band Fastball.
MHT Verdict: Rent it!
It’s hard to imagine this not being at least a little compelling if you are a baseball fan.
Kung Fu Panda 3 (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: Like the first two movies except more characters. The sequels always have to introduce more pointless characters. I think it’s a rule.
Why Buy?
You own the first two movies.
Why Rent?
You’ve seen the first two movies.
Why Stream?
You’ve been in the room when the first two movies were on and they caught your attention a few times.
Why Skip?
You didn’t see the first two movies or didn’t like the first two movies.
MHT Verdict: Skip it!*
Not sure what you’ll get from the third one that offers anything new. (* if you liked the first two, I’m not really sure why you’re asking my opinion. Go ahead and watch away.)
Precious Cargo (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: The wait is over! Bruce Willis and Mark-Paul Gosselaar together!
Why Buy?
You’ve been hoping, dreaming and waiting for a Willis/Gosselaar action film.
Why Rent?
You enjoy nothing more than watching Bruce Willis go through the motions on his way to another cash grab.
Why Stream?
You’ve been streaming every season of Saved By the Bell and now your streaming service won’t stop recommending this.
Why Skip?
You have taste?
MHT Verdict: Skip it!
I love Die Hard and I’m a fan of Bruce Willis but these occasional forays into obvious cash grabs have to stop. We expect it from Zack Morris but Bruce, you’re better than this!
Shark Exorcist (Did Not Review)
Super Simple Synopsis: The Exorcist meets Jaws… If both films had no budget were poorly written and had actors with zero acting ability.
Why Buy?
You love wasting money.
Why Rent?
You’re having friends over and you’re going to pretend to be the cast of MST3K.
Why Stream?
You rolled over on the remote, this accidentally popped on and the batteries fell out.
Why Skip?
You watched the trailer.
MHT Verdict: Skip it!
I was set to recommend to stream this for the pure campiness of a film about a possessed shark… then I watched the trailer. Wow! Just wow!
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Check out our Movie Hot Take from this year)
Super Simple Synopsis: The almost, sort of true story of a war correspondent in Kabul in 2002.
Why Buy?
You love Tina Fey no matter how many bad movies she makes.
Why Rent?
You didn’t want to see this when you thought it would be a critical success but now that critics are kind of down on it, you have more interest. You’re difficult like that.
Why Stream?
You’ve seen so many commercials for this thing, you’re going to put it in your queue eventually.
Why Skip?
You’ve fallen for this before. You’re not going to let Ms. Fey fool you again.
MHT Verdict: Stream it!
So, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wasn’t that bad. Actually, if the marketing wasn’t so far off the mark, it might have been more enjoyable the first time around.
Finally I get to see whiskey tango foxtrot again!!! 🙂