Author: BO

I’ve written this before and I will write again: Quentin Dupieux enjoys the strange stuff. The writer/director likes to make odd little movies, and he’s done so with exciting creativity, unafraid to reach some macabre places while often pursuing sly silly business. He made himself known with 2011’s “Rubber,” the killer tire picture, and continued with entertainingly oddball endeavors such as “Wrong Cops,” “Wrong,” and “Reality.” Staying true to his helming habits, Dupieux returns with “Deerskin,” which tells the tale of a special jacket and its relationship with an increasingly deranged man. Mercifully short and to-the-point, “Deerskin” never bites off more than it can chew, with Dupieux slowly but surely exploring a tale of insanity and filmmaking, offering all the dark comedy and violence one expects of a guy who’s graduated from tires to fringed outerwear when conjuring up cursed, malevolent objects. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Bad Education” plays like a chiller pulled from the darkest area of a screenwriter’s brain, coming up with tale of personal corruption that’s tightly braided with the American educational system, finding rot, literal and otherwise, within an institution meant to buttress the future. It’s frightening to note that the picture is actually based on a true story, with the saga of Roslyn, New York superintendent Frank Tassone brought to the screen by writer Mike Makowsky (“I Think We’re Alone Now”), who has the delicate task of exploring vain and greedy characters with specific attention to their inner lives. “Bad Education” avoids true crime grittiness to be more understanding with motivations, giving director Cory Finley a chance to portion out the shock value of the story, which creeps along, making critical discoveries about seemingly normal people in a riveting manner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After building her resume with short films, actress Amy Jo Johnson makes her feature-length directing debut with “Tammy’s Always Dying.” While a working actor for nearly three decades, Johnson will be forever known as The Pink Ranger in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” delighting young audiences with her youthful spark and ability to sell complete weirdness with a straight face. And now she’s an accomplished moviemaker, taking command of Joanne Sarazen’s intensely introspective screenplay, capturing the material’s dire examples of mental instability while mastering an unusual sense of hope in the making. “Tammy’s Always Dying” has all the ingredients of a grungy indie production, but Johnson makes it all feel human, taking care of her characters and extracting wonderful performances as she shapes an atypical mother/daughter tale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2018, the release of “Beastie Boys Book” was a surprising development for a band that prided itself on denying any closer inspection of its working parts. It was a massive tome (572 pages), filled with Beastie Boys history, guest commentators, photos, and even recipes, doing a fine job showcasing the lovable impishness of co-writers Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz as they strived to celebrate their professional achievements and highlight the fantastic mystery and humanity of Adam Yauch, who passed away in 2012. “Beastie Boys Book” was a smash success, inspiring Diamond and Horovitz to take the tale on a tour, transforming the pages into a multimedia presentation that delivers basically the same information, only with a bit more intimacy and visual evidence. Shot at the King’s Theater in Brooklyn last year, “Beastie Boys Story” is the document of the live show, offering those unable to see the event a chance to enjoy Diamond and Horovitz’s longstanding partnership, walking through the early years of the group as three teenagers with hardcore ambitions turned into one of the biggest rap acts in music history. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Chris Hemsworth is often cast in physical roles, with producers working very hard to transform him into an action-ready leading man. Recently, he’s done time in “Men in Black: International” and “12 Strong,” while continuing his work in the MCU as Thor in three recent features, but “Extraction” is meant to be his “John Wick.” Directed by Sam Hargrave, a veteran stuntman (in charge of the mayhem found in “Avengers: Endgame” and “Captain America: Civil War”), “Extraction’ makes a very specific attempt to deliver controlled chaos for its audience, going feral with extended chase sequences and moments of highly choreographed brawling. It’s Hargrave’s helming debut, and his instincts with editing leave much to be desired, but the raw power of the movie is impressive, making good use of Hemsworth’s non-Thor appeal, offering the performer a chance to pound bad guys and deal with his character’s potent sense of protection. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cult movies aren’t born, they’re made by audiences willing to put in the time and money to celebrate features that either died while trying to be mainstream, or never stood a chance when offered for universal acceptance. Cult entertainment is a topic that’s been explored repeatedly in all forms of media (it’s bread-and-butter content for podcasts), but director Danny Wolf hopes to provide expanse and access with “Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time,” which is a three-part examination of cinematic offerings that’ve become a secret language for some, creating legacies few could predict but millions adore. First up is “Volume 1: Midnight Madness,” which delves into the genesis of the cult film as we know it today, inspecting a handful of pictures that managed to survive distribution woes, studio mismanagement, and initial audience apathy to develop into special events that celebrate all the weirdness and wonderfulness of their filmmakers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Martha Stephens made a distinct impression in 2014 with “Land Ho,” a film she co-directed with Aaron Katz. A deeply idiosyncratic picture, “Land Ho” endeavored to understand the subtleties of male friendships, using the premise of a unique trip to Iceland to examine the interplay and extremes of such a pairing. Losing Katz, Stephens embarks on a solo flight with “To the Stars,” which takes a close look at the details of female relationships when pressure builds inside a rural community during the 1960s. “Land Ho” was a bit of a lark, funny and proudly weird, but “To the Stars” is far more sobering in its depiction of broken hearts and troubled times. Screenwriter Shannon Bradley-Colleary eventually turns to cliché to find a way to close the effort, but there’s true emotion winding through the movie, which takes its characters seriously, treating their wants and needs with a wonderful level of respect, gifting the feature refreshing power when it comes to primal emotions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filmmakers love to make movies about the history of the Bushrangers, and the saga of Ned Kelly is a particular favorite, with his story repeatedly brought to screens of all sizes, presenting different creative visions a chance to get to the core of Kelly’s violence and bruised sense of honor. Talents from Mick Jagger (in 1970) to Heath Ledger (in 2003) have played the man, offering different takes on dangerous behavior, but it’s George McKay (recently seen in “1917”) who’s permitted to go bonkers with the part. “True History of the Kelly Gang” isn’t your average period outlaw experience, with director Justin Kurzel (2015’s “Macbeth,” “Assassin’s Creed”) looking to shake things up with his take on the Kelly Gang, blending in brash cinematic style and punk rock attitude to fully realize the primal instinct found within the screenplay by Shaun Grant, who adapts a 2001 novel by Peter Carey. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

25 years ago, there was “Braveheart.” It was a passion project for director/star Mel Gibson, who delivered a lengthy take on Scottish history, with primary attention placed on masculine pursuits and vivid violence. It was the little epic that could, going on to strike oil at the box office, collect critical accolades, and dominate the Academy Awards, collecting a Best Picture trophy. While Gibson obviously benefited the most from the whole experience, he managed to launch a few acting careers along the way, bringing greater exposure to talents such as Brendan Gleeson, David O’Hara, and Catherine McCormack. And then there was Angus Macfayden, who was new to the big screen at the time, making his moments count in the important role of Robert the Bruce. Macfayden couldn’t maintain professional momentum (appearing in follow-up films such as “Warriors of Virtue” and the “Saw” series), inspiring him to return to Scotland for “Robert the Bruce,” which isn’t a sequel to “Braveheart,” but the producers probably won’t correct anybody believing it to be one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

30 years ago, there was “Kindergarten Cop.” The Ivan Reitman comedy presented a muscular star in Arnold Schwarzenegger in a picture that was sold as a family comedy, but was actually a hard-edged PG-13 thriller with some stretches of cuddly silliness and romantic tingles. Parents at the time weren’t pleased with the marketing switcheroo, and they probably won’t be delighted with “My Spy,” which also provides PG-13 surges of violence and language while trying to widen beefy star Dave Bautista’s screen appeal. The new release is very reminiscent of the 1990 hit, with the exception of entertainment value. Watching Schwarzenegger deal with little kids while blasting away at bad guys is one thing, seeing Bautista’s natural stiffness mingling with jokes and googly eyes is another, with the whole thing overseen by the director of “Second Act.” This is not progress. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com