I watched Jacob's Ladder all the way through finally. It was ok. I wish they spent more time showing more paranormal stuff because the visuals they had going were awesome.
I was watching a lot of silent hill playthroughs in the recent weeks and recently watched Silent Hill Shattered Memories playthrough. I recall the devs mentioning they were heavily inspired by movies like Jacob's Ladder and Shattered Memories definitely did. Very sad ending. I didn't have access to Jacob's Ladder deleted scenes but read there was one that was part of the ending that his ex-wife was in the house, and when he sees her, she manifests into an image of him which would lead in to his understanding of the situation rather than how it was in the original ending.
The ending is sad and it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions. I guess purgatory is supposed to be a vision of what his life would have been like in New York in a few years if he had survived the war? There's also no way he could have known about the experimental drug they slipped into the soldiers' food. I'm not sure if the chemist talking to him was supposed to be divine revelation or if that was the chemist's own purgatory, having to talk to all of the people his drug killed. I also really liked this quote: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you", he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth."
The House at the End of Time http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2640474 This movie was a bit rough until the reveal happens.. then it totally hooked me. Very well done. The sound in this movie is done really well.
The Siege of Firebase Gloria Pretty entertaining for R Lee Ermey's performance and the over the top 80's cheesiness of the action scenes. It's full of war movie cliches, but they come across as more hilarious than anything. The ending where Ermey puts his paralyzed buddy out of his misery is pretty hardcore stuff, man. 7/10
3 Days to Kill Kevin Costner has been making some decent movies lately! I thought this was gonna be some sort of Bourne knockoff about an aging CIA agent. But it's actually 70% comedy and 30% exaggerated violence/action movie. Amber Heard has a small role and is as hot as ever. 7/10 - Overall it was very enjoyable, would recommend on Netflix.
Thief A very stylish and entertaining early Michael Mann crime drama starring James Caan. Not quite as good as Heat, but I still really enjoyed it. 8/10
If you ever decide to watch Blackhat, lower your expectations drastically. I'm a big Michael Mann fan so I pumped myself up, boy oh boy was I disappointed.
The Gambler Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman give good performances. Brie Larson seems miscast and looks bored. The movie seems a bit Oscar-baity and like it's striving for some deeper meaning but never seems to have much of a point, and the ending is predictable and weak. This was a remake, and I'm guessing the original film from the 1970s with James Caan is better. 6/10
Jupiter Ascending It has Mila Kunis as Space Cinderella, Eddie Redmayne as Space Dracula, Channing Tatum as a wolfman with rocket shoes, and effeminate gay stereotype robots filling out forms at the Space DMV. Space Dracula's evil master plan is to suck the goo out of Earthlings so he can bathe in it and then sell the magical goo for a huge profit. It ends with Wolfman and Cinderella punching out Dracula and blowing up his goo factory. I wish I could say this movie was intentionally campy. But it has very little self awareness of its own badness, and is exactly the kind of thing that would have been featured on MST3K. 1/10
Kingsman The Secret Service A Bond clone that's far, far better than any of the recent Daniel Craig Bond movies because it gets what made the older Bond movies work: over the top villains, cool gadgets, one liners, action scenes, and sex with hot chicks. I'd actually put it up there with the best Bond films in terms of quality and would love to see some sequels. 9/10
Sat through Dracula 3000, not sure why... Erika Elaniak looked way past her prime, and Coolio was the best actor of the bunch.
Fifty Shades of Grey No romantic chemistry between the leads, wooden acting, dreadfully bad dialogue, bland, vanilla sex scenes that only a prude would find risque. I watched it for the lulz hoping to see something trashy. It did not deliver and I don't understand the hype. Also take away Grey's good looks and money and he's basically just a stalker who likes to beat women who would be the villain in any other context. 1/10