Author: BO

A year after making a directorial splash with the Academy Award-winning “Dallas Buyers Club,” Jean-Marc Vallee returns to screens with “Wild,” a similar effort concerning a tortured protagonist working toward enlightenment while facing the possibility of a physical and mental breakdown. Sustaining his reputation as a thoughtful helmer with an interest in the enormity of the human spirit, Vallee captures intimacy in the middle of nowhere, guiding star Reese Witherspoon to one of her best performances. Tending to the nuances of memory and the suffocating weight of guilt, Vallee makes “Wild” very real and periodically profound, allowing a full understanding of motivation and realization behind Cheryl Strayed’s punishing 1,100 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s room for interpretation with the 1977 musical “Annie,” but perhaps the 2014 adaptation is a little too far removed from its source material. Given a pop music makeover and a populated with a cast of non-singers, the new take on “Annie” is missing the charm and Broadway bellow of previous incarnations, resembling more of a music video than a major league song and dance effort. Borderline obnoxious and terribly miscast, the picture struggles to drum up moxie and sentiment, working through the familiar and unfamiliar in mechanical fashion, highlighting director Will Gluck’s inexperience with movie musicals and his suspect appreciation for music in general. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s telling that “Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb” is arriving five years after the franchise’s last installment, “Battle of the Smithsonian.” Clearly, there’s some hesitation from the money people concerning the future of these expensive pictures, with the previous chapter grossing less than the original. To help restore some pluck to the fatigued series, “The Secret of the Tomb” elects rehash over innovation, once again pitting hapless security guard Larry against a community of magically animated museum displays. While director Shawn Levy isn’t one to push himself as a filmmaker, it’s disheartening to see how mediocre the movie is, essentially repeating itself to emerge likable again, encouraging an already dreary screenplay. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While “After the Fall” isn’t the timeliest movie about the economic collapse of the United States, it does capture a sense of frustration with the pressures of unemployment and the humiliation it brings. Editor Saar Klein makes his directorial debut here, and it’s strong work despite a script that doesn’t capture the complexity of the premise, often giving in to sympathy when a more robust examination of the characters is necessary. Still, pressure points are crisply executed and star Wes Bentley is offered a chance to break his habitual screen iciness, contributing to an unusual take on financial ruin that teases criminal exploits, but somehow retains its interest in matters of personal responsibility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The final chapter of Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” “The Battle of the Five Armies,” brings the anemic series to a blazing close, pulling out all the stops to make it the most violent, emotionally stirring, and propulsive of the trilogy. Yet, there’s still very little reason to invest wholeheartedly in this troubling sequel. Mistaking noise for giant adventuring, Jackson shifts into overkill with “The Battle of the Five Armies,” a film that lives up to the promise of its title, but doesn’t know when to quit. As striking as the visuals are, as thunderous as the war becomes, this is still a superfluous continuation that has almost nothing in common with the previous installments. And if you’re a fan of Smaug, or expect anything near closure on the dragon laboriously set-up to be the primary antagonist of this world, perhaps another moviegoing choice this holiday season will be more satisfying. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Arash Amel and director Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en Rose”) are looking for a fresh way to dramatize the life and times of Grace Kelly. Not interested in tracking the career of the popular actress, the team elects to slice a wedge out of her most volatile years, attempting to stir up intrigue and domestic discomfort with a look at Kelly’s adjustment period during her early days as the Princess of Monaco. It’s a laudable attempt to find an approach that allows for the unexpected, but “Grace of Monaco” indulges in melodrama, diluting its emotional impact and understanding of its subject to play like the average Lifetime Movie, only with exceptional technical credits. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’m not sure what’s bothering Chris Rock when it comes to the state of his comedy, but his latest, “Top Five,” feels like a purging of ideas and long gestating resentments. It’s his third directorial effort and arguably his best work as a helmer, coming the closest to managing his habitual inability to land a consistent tone. “Top Five” is a mess, but it’s a hilarious mess, portioning out the wacky and the sincere with some degree of approachability, despite how false the feature feels at times. Still, when it’s funny, it works alarmingly well, capturing the coarseness of Rock’s comedy and his ease with other comedians. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The story of Moses and Ramses has been explored in all forms of media time and again, with each production sticking close to the highlights of plagues and sea-parting, approaching a biblical story with emphasis on catastrophe. One might expect director Ridley Scott to sense such obvious repetition, doing whatever he can to avoid familiarity. With “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” Scott tries to out-spectacle the competition, transforming the tale into a CGI-heavy blockbuster with plenty of carnage, populated with a scenery-chewing ensemble. The only element truly innovative is the physical appearance of God, but that isn’t enough to keep the film awake long enough before it conjures the end of the world in its final act. As handsomely mounted as it is, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is disappointingly routine. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Zero Motivation” is an Israeli production that plays like an American workplace comedy, or perhaps a distant cousin of “Stripes.” Set on a military base, the feature observes the banalities and unfortunate power plays that make up daily life, following a select group of soldiers as they deal with predictability, periodically encountering shocking events and crushing disappointments. It’s a dark comedy that could use a pinch more silliness, but writer/director Talya Lavie has firm handle on behavioral nuance and storytelling, submitting three connected tales of false hope, betrayals, and tests of friendship, while supplying a different perspective through its female protagonists and Israeli setting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s controversy surrounding the release of “Dying by the Light.” Removed from a film he wrote and directed after producers couldn’t find value in his early cut, Paul Schrader has rejected the final production, making claims that substantial work continued on the effort long after his dismissal. View the feature with this protest in mind, and yes, one can see where Schrader’s ideas remain and where the Hollywood B-movie mindset takes over. However, after the wretchedness of Schrader’s last picture, 2013’s “The Canyons,” it surprises me that anyone would want to see what the helmer originally had in mind for this terrorist thriller/meditation on mortality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Atom Egoyan is often listed as a preeminent Canadian moviemaker, but his actual resume displays a wide range of failures and successes. He’s capable of greatness (“The Sweet Hereafter”), but he’s also masterminded borderline unwatchable work (“Where the Truth Lies”). “The Captive” explores Egoyan’s interest in mainstream suspense, overseeing a lurid abduction mystery with a riveting opening, only to slowly introduce basic cable elements to the story that help to thin out its initial complexity and threat. “The Captive” certainly holds the potential for a compelling study of deteriorating characters, and it works quite well for the first half. Once Egoyan loses interest in an intelligent way out of a harrowing plot, the effort sinks to the level of cheap thrills and easy resolutions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com