Author: BO

We know about “Mr. Church” because of Eddie Murphy. He’s the star of the picture, emerging from a brief hiatus from film acting (last appearing in 2012’s “A Thousand Words”) to participate in a low-key melodrama about a tender relationship between a complicated cook and his young charge. While Murphy has played it straight before (in “Dreamgirls” and parts of “Life”), “Mr. Church” demands the star mute his natural charisma and comedic timing, going bloodless to portray a loyal guardian. Without Murphy, the feature probably wouldn’t see the inside of multiplexes, and he’s easily the best part of the effort, with his stoicism actually refreshing while director Bruce Beresford strives to soak the endeavor in syrup, smothering whatever scope and sincerity the screenplay originally possessed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Bridget Jones. 2004’s much-maligned-but-not-that-bad sequel, “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,” tried to amplify the appeal of 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” overreaching where the original endeavor was effortlessly charming and warmly silly. 12 years is a long time to wait around for the next chapter in the series, and while “Bridget Jones’s Baby” isn’t the perfect sequel, it’s an entertaining one, with returning director Sharon Maguire (who sat out “Edge of Reason”) restoring some character to the slapstick comedy, working hard to make sure Bridget has a little more to do this time than bounce around the frame in a klutzy blur. Timing isn’t quite there, but laughs are plentiful. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1999, “The Blair Witch Project” came out of nowhere, conquering the box office and almost managing to out-buzz “The Phantom Menace” that summer. It was the indie film that could, becoming a sensation that, for a moment, blurred the line between cinema and reality, convincing some that its verite-style haunting in the woods had actually occurred, and we were all watching a snuff movie. With success came a sequel, 2000’s “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2,” which wisely avoided rehashing the original effort, going deeply self-referential, but also amazingly stupid. The Blair Witch phenomenon immediately cooled afterwards, placed on a pop culture display shelf, but it was clear that the lucrative premise wasn’t going to stay dead. And now there’s “Blair Witch,” which is established as a sequel to the 1999 megahit, but is actually a remake, with director Adam Wingard once again entering the deep woods with curious characters, tempting the evil that resides in the dark. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Osmany Rodriguez and Matt Villines (often billed as “Matt and Oz”) built their reputation creating digital shorts on “Saturday Night Live,” constructing oddball music videos and conjuring ideas that often poked fun at dark emotions. Sadly, Villines passed away last July, leaving “Brother Nature,” the pair’s feature-length directorial debut, their final collaboration. Committed to the pursuit of silliness and comedic escalation, Matt and Oz generate an agreeable sense of lunacy with the picture, which shakes up formula through funky characters and strange disasters, doing what they can to disturb expectations with this take on a family vacation nightmare. “Brother Nature” does enough to keep itself alert, and it’s consistently funny, with the helmers wisely populating the cast with “SNL” vets and charming actors to help lubricate the madcap antics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Snowden” plays to director Oliver Stone’s strengths, offering the man who gave the world “Platoon,” “Wall Street,” and “Natural Born Killers” another opportunity to cinematically vivisect American policy and people, continuing his quest to inspire a popcorn-dusted uprising. The saga of Edward Snowden is an obvious match to Stone’s eyes-wide-open worldview, and he brings his helming swagger to the feature, which carefully dramatizes a decade in the life of America’s most famous whistleblower. However, as passionate as Stone is about the material and the man, he doesn’t know what type of film he’s making, keeping “Snowden” trapped somewhere between an intricate bio-pic and the least interesting “Mission: Impossible” sequel ever. Stone has the smarts to make this picture ignite, but he fumbles the tone, which often teeters between terrifying and ridiculous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of “Chariots of Fire” and “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” Hugh Hudson knows his way around a period drama containing heightened historical conflict. But the filmmaker has been away from the camera for 16 years, having slipped creatively with the wooden “I Dream of Africa,” which was almost a parody of his previous work. Hudson finds his balance once again with “Finding Altamira,” which isn’t a flashy effort, and budgetary shortcomings are obvious. It’s heart and passion that drives the feature, which delves into a war between science and religion armed with exaggeration, but star Antonio Banderas manages to find spaces for humanity, delivering a satisfying take on frustration and parental protection as Hudson and his screenwriters trying to dramatize a tricky time in Spanish history. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Good Neighbor” is an intriguing mix of suspense and vulnerability, striving to be a voyeuristic mystery set in today’s omnipresent media society. It’s not a film of big ideas, but it does successfully communicate youthful impulses to destroy just for the opportunity to be part of an event, with desires amplified by YouTube-inspired dreams of video fame and traditional teen bonding. “The Good Neighbor” isn’t a successful movie overall, but parts of it are nicely executed by director Kasra Farahani, who can’t seem to connect individual triumphs in performance and anxiety. It’s provocative work at times, but also painfully obvious, making for an erratic viewing experience where the urge to tune out is periodically interrupted by engrossing turns of plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Daniela Amavia doesn’t make it easy for the audience in “A Beautiful Now.” Inspecting waves of depression and life mismanagement hitting an aging dancer all at once, the picture almost resembles a filmed play, showing most interest in its ensemble and their special ways of working out character detail while managing paragraphs of dialogue. The verbosity of the effort is occasionally aggravating, but the core emotions of “A Beautiful Now” come through with real power at times. Amavia makes her feature-length helming debut here, and she’s managed a sensitive take on gut-rot feelings and suicidal urges, trying to understand the people behind pronounced agitation instead of indulging tiresome hysterics from beginning to end. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Author: The JT LeRoy Story” is a difficult nut to crack. It’s a documentary that doesn’t document anything, instead serving as an opportunity for writer Laura Albert to clarify her intentions when she willfully committed fraud to achieve literary success, generating a persona to help project the authenticity she didn’t necessarily have. She’s a practiced liar, and director Jeff Feuerzeig never bothers to confront her destructive impulses, creating a celebration of deception and the cheap high Albert enjoyed as she played puppet master from 1995-2005. It’s difficult to understand who “Author: The JT LeRoy Story” is for, with fans of LeRoy likely to be disgusted with a front row seat to Albert’s unrepentant opportunism, while newcomers might be bewildered that Feuerzeig felt the need to devote an entire feature to a woman who clearly can’t be trusted to tell the story of her own life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Slow burn doesn’t even begin to describe the “Ixcanul” viewing experience. It’s a film of complete stasis at times, but the fact that writer/director Jayro Bustamante is able to find a mesmerizing creep to the picture is a major achievement. A full immersion into culture, poor decisions, and responsibility, “Ixcanul” is not a feature that exits the system quickly, gradually locating outstanding character detail and, surprisingly, potent social and political commentary, making it much more than an admittedly hypnotic series of thousand yard stares. Bustamante doesn’t have much here besides his evocative vision, but he makes his moments count, following a plot that’s filled with common adolescent blues and disasters, yet arrives at a completely unpredictable destination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screen Gems has a September formula, and it’s been working wonderfully for the studio. They struck gold with 2009’s “Obsessed,” finding an audience hungry for thrillers featuring unhinged characters and wild acts of survival. In 2014, “No Good Deed” did well, and 2015’s “The Perfect Guy” also successfully milked the genre. And now there’s “When the Bough Breaks,” their latest offering of exploitation, this time taking on the world of surrogacy and youthful instability. It’s a pre-heated slice of PG-13 escapism from director Jon Cassar, who did a nice job with last winter’s Keifer Sutherland western, “Forsaken.” However, most moviemaking instincts now fail the helmer, who, after a strong start, cranks up the stupidity of Jack Olsen’s screenplay, ignoring the potential for a clever, devious nail-biter, only interested in making the most obvious visual and dramatic choices with this uninspired picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nearly 15 years ago, director D.J. Caruso graduated from television productions to his first feature-length helming gig, “The Salton Sea.” There was promise in the oddball picture, hinting at grander films to come from the moviemaker. And then Caruso decided to chase studio work with “Disturbia,” “Eagle Eye,” and “I Am Number Four.” Suddenly, seeing Caruso’s name on a production could technically be classified as a threat. “The Disappointments Room” is finally seeing the light of day after multiple delays and the bankruptcy of its releasing studio, but there’s no celebration to be had with this nonsense. Co-scripting with Wentworth Miller, Caruso goes to the murder of children to inspire horrors for “The Disappointments Room,” turning real-world anguish into B-movie exploitation, sold with stale style and unexpectedly amateurish performances. It was on the shelf for years, and it should’ve stayed there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com