Author: BO

The first half of “Blow the Man Down” is as close to a replication of an early Coen Brothers effort as we’re likely to see in this day and age. Surprises are plentiful, violence is abrupt, and characters are thickly sliced, while the action takes place in a distinct setting few productions choose to explore. Writer/directors Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy don’t expand their tribute for the entire endeavor, electing to use such an appealing launch to develop their own take on crime and punishment, finding freshness with an original vision for community history and pressure. “Blow the Man Down” delivers an intriguing dramatic evolution during its run time, with Cole and Krudy (making their feature-length helming debut) proving themselves to be exciting storytellers and wise when it comes to assembling their cast of young actresses and seasoned players. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making her directorial debut, Katharine O’Brien (who also scripts) appears to put a lot of personal experience into “Lost Transmissions,” or at least defined consideration to give the effort a sense of lived-in pain. The story examines the state of mental health when it’s denied care from a system built to deal with it, detailing the confusion and panic when such necessary support is lost, leaving the burden of supervision on those ill-equipped to handle it. There’s a lot of passion in O’Brien’s work that’s slightly torpedoed by the feature’s unwillingness to commit to a fully developed story, preferring to be a movie about experiences, keeping episodic. The viewing experience wavers, but core elements of concern are showcased with ideal sharpness, keeping O’Brien on a mission to communicate a feeling of helplessness from those actively searching for help. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Human Capital” is very reminiscent of the Oscar-winning 2005 feature, “Crash.” I know just the mere mention of “Crash” gets many a cineaste’s blood boiling, but the screenplay by Oren Moverman (adapting a book by Stephen Amidon and an Italian film from director Paolo Virzi) offers a look at the interconnected lives of desperate souls dealing with pain, shame, and loss, with a central event of violence acting as a sort of hub of mystery that permits examination of all the participants. Director Marc Meyes doesn’t aim for pretentiousness with his picture, but he does get caught up in few overcooked passions, striving to find a storytelling balance that periodically eludes him. “Human Capital” is very broad at times, but Moverman has interest in these individuals, and Meyes assembles an impressive cast capable of finding behaviors and feelings the production has trouble reaching. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Hooking Up” offers a very dramatic premise, but the feature is more interested in surveying the comedic potential of the material. The writing presents troubling experiences involving two very anxious characters, both facing incredible attacks on their sanity and health as they try to keep things cool on a day-to-day basis. There’s a great deal of potential in tracking the challenges found in these lives. However, co-writer/director Nico Raineau isn’t comfortable remaining in the bubble of worry, searching for ways to make “Hooking Up” approachable, often going silly with the effort when there’s a distinctly sobering tone waiting to claim the picture. Thankfully, Raineau has his cast, with leads Brittany Snow and Sam Richardson adding enough charisma and timing to stabilize the tonal imbalance the helmer struggles with as he tries to find his way through murky psychological spaces. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Swallow” appears intended to be a major showcase for the acting skills of Haley Bennett, who takes a producing role on the picture, gifting herself a little more control over the final product. It’s been a rocky road for the talent, who failed to breakout in efforts such as “The Girl on the Train” and “The Magnificent Seven,” with “Swallow” delivering a juicy leading part that’s completely focused on her abilities, offering a tonal challenge with strange material that deals uncomfortably with obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. The good news about the movie is that it truly makes the most of Bennett’s screen appeal, and she delivers refreshingly alert work for director Carlo Mirabella-Davis, skillfully reaching some interesting psychological spaces as the feature conjures plenty of compelling darkness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As actors scramble to find their place in superhero cinema, Vin Diesel takes a chance on “Bloodshot,” a big-budget adaptation of the cult comic book character, trying to bring his sludgy charisma to a sci-fi tale about a super soldier on the loose. As with most Diesel endeavors, he’s the least interesting element in the production, but this take on the titular bruiser (who’s been around since the early 1990s) has a few surprises to share before it becomes another tepid actioner for the star. A sense of the unexpected is what “Bloodshot” needs more of, and additional mayhem would be nice too, as so much of the feature is devoted to expositional needs, keeping what promises to be a roller coaster ride of death and revenge into a largely talky effort that’s constantly attentive to explaining its complicated premise. The end result doesn’t do much for Diesel’s filmography, but at least the man still has Groot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Hunt” was originally due for release last September before it was hastily shelved by Universal Pictures, who didn’t want to be responsible for the film at that time. Some blame real-world violence for the cancellation, while others suggest the charged political content found in Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s screenplay may have been the reason for its dismissal, with the studio unsure such material had a place in an increasingly divided country. Now, six months later, the movie is finally being released, or perhaps toss hastily into theaters, and while the project carries a certain air of danger, it’s mostly dreadful, offering an underwhelming sense of humor and horror, perhaps revealing that any delay wasn’t ordered due to fear, but out of growing shame. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Jason Orley is trying to go a little softer with his take on bad influences in “Big Time Adolescence.” It’s a comedy, showcasing all sorts of tomfoolery from young men unable to grow up, but the screenplay is attentive to the sensitivities of the situation, striving to approach the reality of a corrupting presence in a teenager’s life without losing the entertainment value of the whole offering. “Big Time Adolescence” battles superficiality at times, but there are laughs to be had and hearts to be squeezed, as Orley understands the primary crisis of the movie, where a teenager is caught between the person he was raised to be and the toxic attention he receives from an unlikely source of friendship. It’s been done before, but the helmer provides dramatic stability to best understand the issues at hand. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Benh Zeitlin made his big debut with “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” a restless study of fantasy and childhood that managed to trigger a response at the box office and collect a handful of Oscar nominations. But that was 2012. It’s been quite some time since Zeitlin made a movie, building expectations for his follow-up, and he’s settled on the story of “Peter Pan” for “Wendy,” a reworking of J.M. Barrie’s beloved book and play, which once again returns the helmer to a restless study of fantasy and childhood. Content to repeat himself, Zeitlin uses “Wendy” to dig deeper into his favorite themes of youth and aging, working with an amateur cast to best summon a special level of excitement and raw emotion. The vision for the feature is there, but the execution is fatigued and familiar, straining to summon a dark magic with screen poetry we’ve seen before, and in a much better film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2017, there was “The Snowman.” Intended to be the beginning of a detective series for the character Harry Hole, his initial outing was plagued with production and editing problems, turning an adaptation of a Jo Nesbo book into a bizarre mess. “The Postcard Killings” doesn’t have the same marketplace profile or notable cast, but it shares a cluelessness with “The Snowman,” trying to make something noteworthy from a book (titled “The Postcard Killers”) by James Patterson and Liza Marklund (who co-scripts with Andrew Stern), but nothing seems to go right for the production. Burdened by a severely limited cast, strangely self-destructive editing, and poor direction from Danis Tanovic, “The Postcard Killings” is quite tedious before it becomes unintentionally hilarious, with its drive to be a sincere serial killer mystery at odds with its poor execution. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com