Not a lot for us this week so up first is Barbarians. Not to be confused with Barbarian that hit theaters a few weeks back this stars Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) and Tom Cullen (Downton Alley) in what could have been a solid horror flick. A friend and I have discussed how horror films from Ireland and the UK don’t rely on their gothic pasts enough and could have great films based on lore with druids and pagans, etc. I thought this was going to be one of those types of films because of an obelisk that is talked about, but ultimately it ends up just another home invasion movie. I completely thought the obelisk would be a key to the film bringing in hundreds of years of lore, but nope just four friends in one location with some bad guys. The acting is fine and it looks fine, but I wanted something totally different. It’s not unwatchable or anything, but I had much different expectations.
Second we have The Twin. Teresa Palmer stars as a mother who is involved in an accident and loses a son. Her, her husband and other son move to Finland to escape their grief. Her husband has a Finnish background and fits in, Palmer feels out of place and is still coping with her loss from the accident. While there the people give her looks and another woman seems very weird. Her living son starts acting odd and he thinks he’s the dead brother. Now for a while it’s pretty standard, but it throws in a completely wild twist. You expect some sort of reveal, but I will say I didn’t quite guess this one. Palmer is fine, but I am shocked that she’s doing these lower end films now and am not quite sure what happened to her career. The twist makes the film worth seeing even if most of the movie is pretty generic and by the book up until that point.
Next is Moon, 66 Questions out of Greece. I don’t know if something got lost in translation, but this one went over my head. I understand the basic premise, an estranged 20 something year old woman comes back to take care of ailing father who can barely walk and practically doesn’t talk, but did I miss something else? It seemed like there was some looks between them and scenes that I thought were going with a molestation vibe. Maybe I put too much into it, but I definitely thought it was going in a weird angle. It does have a reveal, but I guess I expected more of a punch in the face reveal or I completely misunderstood it and was right all along. The lead actress is very good, but I genuinely believe I missed something in this one.
Ed Sullivan’s Rock & Roll Classics from Time/Life is pretty darn impressive. This 10 disc collection features some of the biggest names in music history like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Jackson 5, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and more. This is a must own for classic rock and music fans. Time/Life box sets are always amazing mixed with live performances, interviews and footage we haven’t seen in decades or in my case never saw. Plus this has a bonus disc of stand up comedy from the show featuring legends like Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Richard Pryor and more. The comedy performances are worth the price alone never mind the fact that you’re getting songs by The Rolling Stones, CCR, Marvin Gaye and others. All uncut and original too. Ed Sullivan aired long before I was born, but I grew up on this music thanks to my parents and brother/sisters. With the holidays coming up, this is a perfect gift for the music fan in your life. This was amazing to me.
Last we have Walker: Season 2. This actually came out last week, but I didn’t get my copy in time to review it then. When Supernatural ended Jared Padalecki immediately jumped to this Walker: Texas Ranger reboot. I like it, but don’t necessarily love it. Whereas the original starring Chuck Norris was campy, this one wants to be timely and very now and that’s unfortunate. It’s more story driven than action based like the Norris version as well, but Jared Padalecki is fine. It must be doing decent because there’s now a prequel spinoff series. I wish it didn’t take itself as seriously and let Padalecki do more action along the way. It isn’t a bad watch, but it should be lighter like the CBS reboots (Hawaii 5-0, MacGyver) were.
The Nerds Templar 