Here is the latest batch of mini reviews of The Movies I’ve Recently Seen From My Amazon Prime Video Account

As always, check here for other mini reviews columns tacking several movies of various years in time.

I’m Still Here (2010)

When JP rocks the mic, he rocks the mic right.

This is the second (or third) time I have seen this film in its entirety and it gets better upon repeat viewings. This remains an overlooked gem of a comedy, with Joaquin Phoenix playing an out of his mind Joaquin Phoenix in the mockumentary. Phoenix skewers the media and celebrity with his plan to quit acting and become a rapper. If the premise didn’t give it away, you will watch in awe at the events that transpire. One of the beautiful things about this hilarious film is that it is unrelentless and never gives in to viewers. We want answers but don’t get them. The joke is never up, but it is always on us. Phoenix hip-hop career fails and falls deeper into drugs, depression but so many celebs are in on the fun, yet never give us the satisfaction of knowing. You’ll enjoy the scene where he rails on Leo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire’s predicament by comparison to his. Or the moment where he orders some hookers on a drug fueled binge. Or his epic fight with a…you get it. If you appreciate this sort of thing, this is high art and epic acting at its finest.

Elizabethtown (2005)

Dunst and Bloom lack romantic fire in Cameron Crowe's off-kilter pic.

Orlando Bloom once had a failed attempt at becoming a mainstream lead, and this was his test to the market. Here, Bloom, opposite Kirsten Dunst, got his rom-com on in a Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) film. If you can’t hit here, you probably don’t deserve your spot in the lineup. Unfortunately, for Bloom, Dunst carries him in this pic. He shows little comic chops as a man down in the dumps from a failed shoe design that cost Nike-esque company billions of dollars. His Drew meets Dunst’s, Claire in middle America on his way to his father’s funeral. The film lacks a spark amongst the leads, despite Dunst’s best efforts and Crowe’s script fails to recapture the glory of some of his past successes. I think this one also stung his career, because with his struggling follow-up We Bought A Zoo, it’s been more than a decade since he’s had a hit. Hopefully, his career can rebound at some point, but this one is an unfortunate pass, due to a lack of laughs or romance for that matter. Too bad.

The Warriors (1979)

The Warriors bare the burden of their battles with bare chests in vests.

“Can you dig it?” If you are familiar with Shaq’s often used refrain, he is quoting this cult classic. The Warriors, which its been years since I have seen, is a gang/escape film about a gang trying to get back to their Coney Island turf, while dodging rival gangs and the cops. The acting is stale, but the plot surprisingly works and the tension is ratcheted up during several key scenes in Walter Hill’s directorial effort. The Warriors, the titular gang, are wrongfully pinned for a murder they didn’t commit which places them at the mercy of countless rival gangs, including guys with bats in baseball unis, girls that lure them with sex and guys that use roller skates to capture them. The classic sound of clanking bottles, which has reverberated over the years with me – “Warriors, come out to play!” is effectively used in a climactic scene. This is one to just revel in for its genre if you are chilling on a Friday night. Can you dig it? I did.