Up first this week is Spiritwalker a very solid sci-fi action drama out of South Korea. A man is in a car accident and has no memory of who he is. After 12 hours his consciousness jumps into a new body and those around him think he’s the person who the body belongs to. Without any memories he has to piece together who he is, what is going on and who is involved all while changing bodies every 12 hours. It’s very well made and well acted, but I do think they pushed it a bit too far. There’s a drug the gangsters are involved with and there are dirty cops and federal agents so there’s a lot to pay attention to. I did still like it overall, quite a bit actually, but some of it could have been held back a little. I can 100% see Hollywood remaking it in the style of Source Code or Looper. South Korea has been putting out some really good movies and this is the latest recommended one.
Second we have Servants. Ever watch a movie and know it’s well made and well acted, but the subject matter just doesn’t hold your interest? That’s Servants. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the movie, but I have no desire to watch it again. Set in 1980 Czechoslovakia it’s about two men at a seminary trying to become priests, but are conflicted on their beliefs opposite the Communist regime. If they continue writing and pushing their propaganda they become targets of the government, but can they turn their backs on what’s happening and become informants against others around them? Again, there is nothing wrong with the film, but the subject matter is something you either find interesting or you just sit through it to see how it ends. The leads are good and the film has plenty of style, but it’s something I can’t see myself returning to.
The last two releases come from Mill Creek Entertainment. Both are fun collections of a ton of movies. First is Through The Decades: 1980’s Collection. The 10 films include the body swapping films Like Father Like Son and Vice Versa, the comedies Roxanne, Punchline and Who’s Harry Crumb? and dramas Blue Thunder, Suspect, Band of the Hand, Little Nikita and The New Kids. As a kid I was a big fan of Like Father Like Son because Kirk Cameron was big at the time as was Dudley Moore. Vice Versa was also wildly popular because of Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold. Roxanne is still one of Steve Martin’s best and Punchline with Tom Hanks and Sally Field is underrated. You can never go wrong with the late John Candy in Who’s Harry Crumb? and Blue Thunder is classic 80s action. Suspect stars Cher, Dennis Quaid and Liam Neeson. Band of the Hand I wasn’t overly familiar with but Stephen Lang is also underrated. Little Nikita has the late River Phoenix in a Soviet thriller and The New Kids sees 80s bad boy James Spader as well an 80s bad boy.
Second we have Through the Decades: 1990s Collection which I loved. The 1990s were my prime years of getting into film so this is perfect for me. Like the 80s collection this is a mix of comedies and drama. The comedies involve Housesitter with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn and The Matchmaker with Janeane Garofalo. James Spader returns in White Palace with Susan Sarandon and Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander. One True Thing has the late William Hurt with Meryl Streep and Renee Zellweger. Donnie Brasco is based on a true story starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. The Devil’s Own is Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford! The Freshman is Marlon Brando as a mob boss with Matthew Broderick as the kid working for him. Anaconda is the cult classic with Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight. I What You Did Last Summer is Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar 90s horror classic and The Deep End of the Ocean is Michelle Pfeifer, Treat Williams and Whoopi Goldberg drama. A very good mix of films.
The Nerds Templar 