Author: BO

One would have to be a Grinch to be anything but a puddle of tears at
the conclusion of “Any Day Now.” After all, it’s a potent story about
human rights, set during a time when injustice toward the gay community
was a common occurrence, finding those capable of great love shut down
simply due to their sexual orientation. However significant the story,
it’s difficult to swallow how co-screenwriter/director Travis Fine
treats the effort, selecting a Very Special Movie approach for material
that deserves nuance and patience, relying on shameless manipulation to
communicate simple ideas on prejudice and parenting. Every melodramatic
cliché is handed the white glove treatment in this maudlin misfire. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was a genuine
moviemaking risk. The first chapter of an expensive, unproven trilogy,
the picture carried an extraordinary level of doubt alien to most
features, with the fate of a studio and the career of director Peter
Jackson tied to its success. But it hit, hit huge, becoming one of the
biggest movies of the noughties, while commencing a bold fantasy series
that helped to redefine epic filmmaking for an entire generation. At
least the Extended Cuts did. We don’t speak of the Theatrical Cuts
anymore. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” marches into theaters 11
years later, only now there’s a different type of pressure on the
financiers and Jackson: expectations. They be a brutal mistress, matey,
yet “Journey” manages the weight with some degree of grace, making sure
longtime fans are sated while urging the prequel into directions unique
to this new trilogy of hobbit and dwarf travel. So bust out the elf
ears, heat up a square of lembas, and pack in the pipe-weed. It’s
finally time to return to Middle-earth. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1971, “Wake in Fright” (also known as “Outback”) made its celebrated
debut at the Cannes Film Festival, but it was a difficult feature,
finding trouble collecting an audience in its native Australia, soon
slipping into obscurity without television and home video releases to
keep it fresh in the minds of movie fans. Over time, it was believed to
be lost. Decades later, a print was located, polished up, and returned
to glory, resulting in the reissue of powerful, frequently horrifying
picture from director Ted Kotcheff, perhaps finally receiving the
audience it deserves. Brutal, but in a deceptively causal manner, “Wake
in Fright” submits one the sharpest depictions of Outback life I’ve come
into contact with, imagining the vast land as a sun-baked prison from
which there is no escape. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Much of “Hyde Park on Hudson” is devoted to misdirection. With the
gorgeous wilderness of the titular location, polished and primed period
details, and the central casting of Bill Murray as Franklin D.
Roosevelt, it’s a not a film that outwardly suggests a troubling tale is
approaching. Even the marketing pushes a tone of jovial antics
featuring the 32nd President of the United States. However, while the
movie is playful at times, it’s primarily an unsettling tale of
submission detailing affairs and humiliations, though one that’s
habitually respectful to the participants. While it refuses a deep
inhale of distress, “Hyde Park on Hudson” successfully undertakes a
challenging story with a welcome detachment, preferring to focus on the
characters, not the larger fallout from their actions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Broken Lizard is no longer a brand name, it’s a warning label.
“Freeloaders” arrives from Broken Lizard Industries, and while it
doesn’t boast the comedy troupe’s participation beyond a few cameos and
producing credits, the feature falls perfectly in line with their style
of crude and clueless comedy. Although the effort is mercifully short
(72 minutes long), “Freeloaders” is a lazy, unfunny film that doesn’t
make an effort to dream up interesting situations and create memorable
characters. A few odd touches stand out, but not for reasons that
contribute to the entertainment value of the movie, finding the picture
lifeless and in dire need of genuine screenwriting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With found footage endeavors, we’ve seen giant monsters tearing through
New York City, ghosts haunting a suburban California home, and adults
getting lost in Maryland woods. Are you ready to watch one about
pedophilia on Arizona freeways? “Amber Alert” is the latest entry into
the DIY moviemaking sweepstakes, only this time the results are
painfully amateurish, frustratingly dim-witted, and just a touch too
tasteless. If the sound of child being molested and moronic lead
characters endlessly bickering is your thing, perhaps the feature won’t
feel like swallowing glass for 70 minutes. For everyone else, “Amber
Alert” is a repetitive, dreadfully padded event, employing a real-world
horror to fuel cheap shocks and a bogus dissection of moral
responsibility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

At this point, I’m positive Gerard Butler selects his scripts by
blindfolded dart throw. There’s really no other way to explain why he,
and a bevy of capable actresses, could be drawn to such a shallow,
predictable hodgepodge of plasticized feelings and sitcom mechanics.
“Playing for Keeps” has moments where its intent as a human story of
yearning and regret is visible, but it takes a considerable effort to
find, forcing ticket buyers to wade through abysmal dialogue and
unfortunate performances to locate a few passably endearing moments. The
rest of the feature is determined to chase nonsense, with the whole
thing so awkwardly orchestrated, I’m surprised director Gabriele Muccino
kept his name on the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Fitzgerald Family Christmas” represents a return to the basics for
writer/director/star Edward Burns, who long ago shot to fame with his
indie darling, “The Brothers McMullen.” Taking supporting work in awful
movies (like the recent “Alex Cross”) to support his micro-budgeted
filmmaking habit, Burns looks to resuscitate a little of the old
Irish-Catholic magic with his latest endeavor, which reunites him with
“McMullen” stars Michael McGlone and Connie Britton. Encouraging the
dysfunction is a seasonal setting, providing Burns with a fertile
battlefield of sibling discontent and parental resentment, creating a
prickly but inviting familial atmosphere that offers enough variation in
woe to ease the script out of its occasional dalliance with clumsy
melodrama. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A costume drama like “Cheerful Weather for the Wedding” has to have an
emotional hook, some type of profound feeling that eases the rigidity of
the characters and their carefully mapped banter. Mercifully, the
feature has such a grip, though it’s not as tight as hoped, only just
enough to register momentarily before the entire effort washes away.
Charmingly acted and bravely concluded, “Cheerful Weather” entertains
intermittently with its stiff-upper-lip community interplay, only truly
taking command when it focuses on unspoken desires and stymied
confessions, creating more of a captivating fuss with its fixation on
misery over any attempt at biting wit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bring up climate change in a crowded room and a fight is likely to break
out. It’s a controversial subject that raises the ire of those
passionately involved with educational efforts and individuals out to
dispel the notion of such a global event. Sensing an impasse on the
issue, environmental photographer James Balog decided to document the
shift himself, traveling to the far reaches of Iceland, Greenland, and
Alaska to capture unprecedented glacier melt with a multitude of
cameras, hoping to create unforgettable time-lapse shots that might
convince those still wary about the climate reality facing our planet
that something needs to be done. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com