Guido Henkel

Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Triple 9
Guido Henkel  |  Sep 30, 2016
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Dirty-cop movies are nothing new, and for any film in the genre, it would be easy to simply reach for established tropes to tell the story. When you have an entire gang of cops that serves the Russian mob, however, things are almost certain to spiral out of control, and in Universal’s gritty action fest, Triple 9, they do so hard and fast.
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Pixels
Guido Henkel  |  Feb 26, 2016
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Traditionally, I avoid Adam Sandler films, for the simple reason that I just don’t think he’s funny. In the case of Pixels, however, I made an exception because the theme of retro arcade machines definitely appeals.

As aliens invade Earth, disguised as digitized characters from old-school arcade favorites, the military is stumped. Nothing could prepare them for an assault of video-game nemeses, and neither their tactics nor their weapons are a match for these attackers. That’s when the president calls upon old pals from his nerdy teenage days spent at the arcade, and with their lightning-fast reflexes and ingrained strategies, they set out to stop the onslaught of deadly avatars.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Spartacus
Guido Henkel  |  Jan 29, 2016
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Stanley Kubrick’s legendary depiction of a slave uprising in ancient Rome has long since entered the annals of cinema history, so there’s little else to say about this beloved movie. Produced long before the advent of digital filmmaking, it is an ambitious masterpiece, an incredibly lavish undertaking with scenes that assemble thousands of extras while driving home the story of one man making all the difference in the world.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Escape From New York
Guido Henkel  |  Aug 11, 2015
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When it comes to dystopian movies of the 1980s, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York clearly stands out as one of the hallmarks of the period and genre, creating a futuristic vision of a society that has deteriorated to the point where the prison system has become a world entirely of its own. In fact, crime in America has gotten so out of hand the entire island of Manhattan is converted into a maximum-security prison from which there is no parole, and where the inmates—a merciless yet colorful lot—are left to govern themselves. But after terrorists strike Air Force One, tough-as-nails convicted bank robber Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) cuts a deal to rescue the president, who has survived a crash-landing within the walls of New York City only to be held hostage on the eve of a critical global summit.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
John Wick
Guido Henkel  |  Jun 05, 2015
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Action films come in various flavors: Some are more story-driven, others less so. John Wick is clearly on the low end of this scale, with no plot to speak of, instead relegating itself to a 100-minute nonstop shoot-out, a movie where taking a breath is as impossible as taking the film seriously. Playing unapologetically to a testosterone-addled, teenaged male demographic, the film is furious and explosive on the one hand, yet flat and characterless on the other. But if pure adrenaline-infused action is what you seek, John Wick may be right up your alley. Just don’t expect it to make any sense.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Get on Up
Guido Henkel  |  Apr 29, 2015
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By their very nature, biopics are a mixed bag. On the one hand, they tell the story of a person in the limelight with achievements viewers are familiar with, while on the other, they explore sides of the person that have typically escaped the public eye. Striking the right balance between the two is the key. Get on Up takes a look at the life of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, a man whose musical legacy can be heard and felt in almost every bit of popular music today. The film jumps liberally between different periods of Brown’s life in anecdotal form, covering his childhood, his meteoric rise to stardom, the fall, the comeback, and everything in between. While it feels a bit disjointed at times, the film nonetheless manages to draw a portrait of Brown and what drove him to become one of the most recognizable names in music.
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