Author: BO

At this point, there probably won’t be another “Jackass” sequel. The guys are getting up there in age, and wear and tear on the body isn’t a party in your forties. Johnny Knoxville seems to understand the shelf life of his stunt days, working to build a bridge between self-harm and acting with “Action Point,” which isn’t a sequel to 2013’s “Bad Grandpa,” but shares a similar interest in pranks and stunts, mixed in with some relaxed Knoxville mischief. “Bad Grandpa” was a surprise, offering good-natured nonsense and decent direction for its type of entertainment. “Action Point” is the opposite, handling a surefire concept with low energy and a limited appreciation for the finer points of slapstick. It’s not fun, which is a bewildering response to a movie that sets Knoxville and a cast of goons loose inside an amusement park where safety is of no concern. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s not easy to make a surprising film about a true story that was covered extensively in magazine articles and news reports, and inspired a popular book. However, the makers of “Adrift” are willing to give it a try, working a little movie magic to turn known quantities into renewed suspense, recounting the story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft, who entered a hurricane while sailing across the Pacific Ocean, only to come out the other side with a severely damaged boat, while her fiancé, Richard, was washed overboard. It’s a harrowing tale of survival, but in the hands of director Baltasar Kormakur, “Adrift” isn’t always about the details of self-preservation, maintaining a tight grip on the romantic aspects of Tami’s tale as a way to remain marketable to a wider audience. Suspense is there intermittently, but the screenplay doesn’t trust inherent dangers and tests of endurance, downplaying real-world horrors to coast along on Hollywood conventions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The market is saturated when it comes to raunchy, R-rated comedies that primarily use the scattergun art of improvisation to secure jokes, with recent efforts such as “Game Night” and “Blockers” trying to push make-em-up silly business on fatigued audiences. “Ibiza” doesn’t have a radical approach to funny stuff, remaining in line with similar productions, but it does possess a wonderful velocity for its madcap events. It’s a terrifically high-energy movie that’s certainly light on plot, only submitting basic romantic conflicts and travel challenges, but it has timing, with director Alex Richanbach working to keep “Ibiza” flowing along as fast as possible, creating an appealing screen party with game actresses and a throbbing EDM soundtrack, also providing a steady run of laughs to support all the goofiness.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director John Cameron Mitchell enjoys eccentricity and celebratory chaos, solidifying his creative interests with his first two endeavors, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Shortbus.” Mitchell’s last feature was 2010’s “Rabbit Hole,” a sensitive drama that widened his cinematic world view, showcasing his gifts with actors and ability to mute his wild side when necessary. “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is Mitchell’s return to insanity, or at least his version of it, reuniting with his performance art habits for this adaptation of a Neil Gaiman short story, which requires quite a bit of on-screen hustle to transform into a proper movie. “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” isn’t complete, but that’s the way Mitchell wants it, going loose and free with this valentine to punk music and the mysteries of the universe.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Blumhouse Productions receives a lot of credit from the media for their success stories, employing a simple low-budget approach to horror endeavors to achieve their monetary goals. They’ve had their triumphs, but for every “Get Out” there’s a “Delirium,” which joins pictures like “Visions,” “Curve,” and “Stephanie” as another paint-by-numbers genre exercise for Blumhouse, whose see-what-sticks approach to film production coughs up a new instantly forgettable story of murder and insanity. Perhaps the original screenplay by Adam Alleca was once a beaming example of chiller craftsmanship and psychological layers, but in the hands of director Dennis Iliadis, the end result is a dull take on encroaching madness and single location hellraising, rendered incomplete by choppy storytelling and an overall drowsiness that makes it difficult to maintain patience with 90 minutes of routine frights.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Late last year, James Franco collected numerous accolades and awards for “The Disaster Artist,” a surprisingly sincere dramatization about the making of “The Room.” However, while it was a successful directorial outing for the actor, it was hardly his only helming gig of the year, also responsible for two other movies (“In Dubious Battle” and “The Institute”) in 2017, with an additional six over the last five years. It’s the type of work output that puts Tyler Perry to shame, but while Franco’s fast, he’s also not very attentive to screen details, churning out experimental projects as a way to expand his thespian horizons, not necessarily refine his filmmaking chops. “Future World” is his latest grab-bag of tone and performances, this time trying on the world of “Mad Max” for size, seeing what he can do (with co-director Bruce Thierry Cheung) with a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The short answer: not much.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Social Animals” plays it safe with its subject matter, taking a long look at the wandering hearts and minds of unhappy people trying to conquer their confusion and chart a different course in life. There’s a bit of arrested development going on, and a lot of domestic disturbance issues. Pieces of millennial anxiety are present as well. Writer/director Theresa Bennett isn’t going for originality with her dramedy, but she does have a valuable perspective on character, managing to form living, breathing people in the midst of clichés, taking at least some of their personal issues as seriously as the effort’s tone allows. “Social Animals” makes a few ill-advised turns during the run time, but it offers a satisfying peek at the difficulties of being an adult, especially when facing relationship woes and professional failure.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The story of “A Kid Like Jake” details careful steps of observation as two parents of a four-year-old child try to assess his place in the world once they pick up on her transgender future. It’s not an easy tale to tell, with screenwriter Daniel Pearle adapting his own play, laboring to take something very intimate and give it a bigger sense of life and stakes for the screen. He’s mostly successful, as “A Kid Like Jake” does very well putting forth a state of normality that’s corrupted by anxiety, keeping focus on the parents, who wrestle with various issues, trying to care deeply for their child as she goes from the bubble of home life to the social challenges of kindergarten. There’s no sensationalism here, just honest feelings and relatable concern, with Pearle making sure to keep challenges realistic, doing whatever he can to shoo away the artificiality of a television movie.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last year, Guillermo del Toro won an Academy Award for “The Shape of Water,” which depicted a loving, sexual relationship between a mute woman and humanoid amphibian. This year, director Xavier Gens drinks from the same creative well, only his “Cold Skin” showcases a more mysterious love triangle between two salty men and the female humanoid amphibian they both strive to possess. Gens doesn’t share del Toro’s love of fantasy and textures, but he does offer intermittent intensity with his latest, which is just strange enough to pass, finding oddity often competing for scene attention with overblown dramatics. “Cold Skin” struggles to maintain pace and surprise, but Gens has the right idea more often than not, staying true to an operatic take on man vs. nature, creating something that’s better with the dark and violent stuff than anything psychologically profound.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been many attempts to bring “Fahrenheit 451” to the screen over the last decade (Mel Gibson came awfully close on the few occasions), but now seems like the perfect time to revisit author Ray Bradbury’s iconic tale of government authority and the death of knowledge in America. The producers of the new adaptation are certainly careful not to assign the material to any specific presidential rule, which is a smart move, but the atmosphere of “Fahrenheit 451” is recognizable and its themes timely. It’s only a shame it’s not a better picture, with writer/director Ramin Bahrani generally fumbling the futureworld horror of the premise, which demands a more intricate touch than the problematic helmer is capable of offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“In Darkness” attempts to pay homage to the work of iconic director Alfred Hitchcock, and, to a lesser degree, similar cinematic tributes arranged by Brian De Palma. However, to bring out the best Hitchcockian elements from any story, some sense of pacing and a gradual tightening of suspense is required, and “In Darkness,” which arrives with the best of intentions, doesn’t have the same nail-biting interests. Co-writer/director Anthony Byrne doesn’t generate much tension in the feature, which is nicely mounted but lacks a great amount of oomph, playing everything carefully to a point of inertia. Games of murder, betrayal, revenge, and torment are played, but Byrne doesn’t bring anything to a boil.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Misandrists” is not a movie built for a casual viewing. It’s the latest from writer/director Bruce LaBruce (“Hustler White”), and he’s not known for his careful way with onscreen elements, often using forward sexuality and heightened personalities to keep viewers on their toes. With “The Misandrists,” LaBruce explores the beginnings of an uprising, using black comedy to detail the happenings at a female-centric revolutionary group as they’re infiltrated by a man and confront rising doubts about their mission. It’s a very strange picture but also a fascinating one, and while the helmer doesn’t have a significant budget to bring many of ideas to life, he has his interests in odd events orchestrated by unbalanced characters, which gives the film a pleasingly off-kilter vibe, going a long way to cover certain limitations LaBruce can’t avoid.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com