Author: BO

War documentaries are plentiful these days, with productions of all shapes and sizes working to impart the horrors of conflict, with special attention to daily unrest in the Middle East. These are important stories, crucial to the understanding of cultural divides and the true impact of violence, but few have a gimmick to help ease audiences into the thick of chaos. “Point and Shoot” has an odd central figure in Matthew VanDyke, an OCD-anxious, everyday American who decided to embark on a “crash course in manhood,” hoping to unearth some sense of self-worth by speeding into the heart of danger. Armed with a video camera that rarely left his side, VanDyke experienced the intricacies of conflict close-up, eventually moving past spectator status to take part in a rebellion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The premise of “Poker Night” is better suited for the short film format, where its small surprises and ambitious structure could be more succinctly communicated, thus improving its sucker punch mentality. As a feature, “Poker Night” often doesn’t know what to do with itself, sweating to fill up a run time with windy monologues, overacting, and jumps in time that doesn’t do the effort any favors. Writer/director Greg Francis is clearly aiming to shape a serial killer mystery with hard, masculine edges, but the picture is impossible to take seriously, finding its mix of dark comedy and shock value painfully awkward, unfunny, and devoid of scares. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are few horror films with the dramatic depth and patience of “The Babadook.” An Australian production, the picture explores real and imagined threats with interest in a blurring of psychological lines, pushing cinematic terrors into the realm of depression. It tends to sinister business beautifully, establishing a frightful monster while playing with the anxiety of dark corners, and it’s genuinely scary in ways few genre efforts can manage to achieve. But there’s another level to writer/director Jennifer Kent’s work, allowing a traditional run of chills and mounting chaos to have new meaning, fulfilling as both a scare machine and a gripping portrait of delayed grief. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private were always the highlights of the “Madagascar” films. Their blend of spy satire and slapstick was good for a laugh in movies that needed the help, creating memorable asides away from the main characters, stealing scenes whenever they slipped into frame. “Penguins of Madagascar” is their first solo feature (after headlining a successful television series), posting the question: can this simple joke be stretched from a few minutes to an entire picture? The answer is yes. Restoring some old-fashioned silliness into animated filmmaking, “Penguins of Madagascar” is a frequently hilarious and exciting effort that hands these tiny action heroes a big screen adventure worthy of their wonderful idiosyncrasy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One could argue that 2011’s “Horrible Bosses” tapped into the frustration of the average working stiff — the 9-to-5ers facing wretched superiors who abuse and discard without a second thought. Or maybe the feature was the crude movie du jour, pulling audiences in during a dry spell in American comedy releases. Either way, the picture was a hit, paving the way for a sequel three years later, and one that’s determined to top the previous endeavor’s comfort with vulgarity, stupidity, and, worst of all, improvisation. “Horrible Bosses” was a terrible offering of funny business, sloppy and dull all around. “Horrible Bosses 2” somehow sinks lower, stumbling through a meaningless plot while fumbling around in the dark for jokes. And it’s ten minutes longer than its predecessor. Oof. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Foxcatcher” is a film that’s so deliberate, it doesn’t just get under the skin, it possesses an unnerving force born from attentive direction and committed performances. It tells the story of John du Pont and his intense relationship with Olympic wrestlers Mark and Dave Schultz, but it’s not always a linear appreciation of a toxic union. Instead, director Bennett Miller (“Moneyball”) creates a series of haunted silences punctured by unsteady behavior, creating an exceptional mood of unease that aids appreciation of these fractured psychological states. “Foxcatcher” isn’t interested in speed, just character, and it achieves a stunning depiction of obsession and jealousy, punctuated by a devastating true-crime conclusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Calling in favors from all over Hollywood, writer/director John Herzfeld (“15 Minutes,” “2 Days in the Valley”) gathers a promising cast for “Reach Me,” an Altman-esque collection of characters and neuroses, sold in clusters of conflicts. Probing the anxieties of interconnected residents of the southwest, Herzfeld has the potential to create a colorful and sincere atmosphere of introspection, especially with a plot that details the highs and lows of the self-help headspace. The picture is sincere but always on the wrong side of melodrama, failing to come together as a revelatory whole. Herzfeld is determined to make these puzzle pieces fit, yet there isn’t much to solve with “Reach Me,” which gradually limps to a cop-out close. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Theory of Everything” is an interesting title for a bio-pic that only provides a surface appreciation for Stephen Hawking and his now ex-wife, Jane. The “Everything” part is most certainly avoided here, replaced with an average study of a brilliant man and his dutiful wife, with their ups and downs carefully tended to by the screenplay, which ultimately has most interest in the couple’s strange dynamic. “The Theory of Everything” is given a substantial boost by its stars, who deliver exceptionally nuanced performances. They’re often the glue holding the picture together, finding director James Marsh trying to find the romantic poetry of this union instead of tending to the textures of such an unusual relationship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After two successful films, a choice has been made to turn the last chapter of “The Hunger Games” saga into a pair of movies. While an argument could be made that creative breathing room is the reason behind the sudden expansion of sequels, it’s most likely colossal financial possibility that’s driving the decision. Much like “Twilight” and “Harry Potter,” the studio wants to keep the cash machine powered for as long as possible, even willing to torpedo the fantastic momentum that was left after the conclusion of 2013’s “Catching Fire.” “Mockingjay – Part 1” returns viewers to the world of Panem and its power struggle between President Snow and Katniss Everdeen, but instead of providing economical storytelling and a nail-biting pace, the movie slows down the series to a dead stop, now subjected to the repetition and stasis the previous efforts largely avoided in their quest to shave Suzanne Collins’s books down to a manageable single-feature size. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com