Category: Film Review

Run times are climbing steadily in today’s marketplace, with productions seemingly locked in battle to inflate theater sits just to be considered substantial, possibly justifying ticket prices while overloading storytelling requirements. And then there’s “Trauma Center,” which is 81-minutes long and isn’t about anything of note. Such a picture begs the question: would you rather sit through an extended movie that’s trying too hard or a slight endeavor that has nothing to share? “Trauma Center” has brevity, which is appealing, but writer Paul Da Silva and director Matt Eskandari don’t have much else for their contained thriller, which could easily transform into a taut cat-and-mouse game set inside of a hospital, but the filmmakers don’t share that ambition, taking things slowly to no particular destination, allowing cliché to support the whole feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filmmakers have repeatedly returned to the “The Body Snatchers,” inspiring many adaptations and riffs on the 1955 novel by Jack Finney, which provides a central attack on identity and control that’s fertile ground for thrillers. “Little Joe” isn’t a direct adaptation of the book, but co-writer/director Jessica Hausner is clearly influenced by the work, downplaying the sci-fi concept to create something slightly more sinister concerning the perils of genetic modification. It doesn’t offer screaming highlights, but “Little Joe” has incredible mood and a real sense of mystery. Hausner steps carefully but confidently with the picture, delivering an unusual creeper that effectively works with the confusion of paranoia and squeeze of parental anxieties, with the helmer delivering a multifaceted chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Daniel Isn’t Real” is probably the film 1991’s “Drop Dead Fred” should’ve been. Instead of offering mind-numbing monkey business with the premise of an imaginary friend returning to the adult life of his inventor, “Daniel Isn’t Real” goes pitch-black with the concept, treating the invisible partner as a driving force of encroaching madness. Co-writers Adam Egypt Mortimer (who also directs) and Brian DeLeeuw (adapting his 2009 novel) don’t mess around with the story, transforming one young man’s fight for sanity into a violent journey that crosses through mental illness, cosmic dangers, and destructive behavior. It’s an unhinged endeavor at times, but a fascinating one, bravely avoiding cutesiness to remain in Hell, where Mortimer feels most comfortable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s impossible to escape the familiarity of “Playmobil: The Movie,” which tries to do for the German toy line what “The Lego Movie” did for Lego. The screenplay (credited to Blaise Hemingway, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland) doesn’t make the effort to become its own thing, adhering closely to the formula that made the brick-based picture such a colossal hit. Trouble is, Playmobil isn’t quite as popular as Lego in the toy marketplace, and the company’s first foray into feature-length animation is missing a sense of exploration, unwilling to do something with this toy universe that hasn’t already been done by other endeavors. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For his fifth release of 2019, Nicolas Cage takes a few ferocious bites out of noir-ish entertainment with “Grand Isle.” The picture, scripted by Iver William Jallah and Rich Ronat, is a little bit of everything, mixing bits of Zalman King, Tennessee Williams, and Eli Roth to come up with an exhausting B-movie that’s aiming to be crazy enough to pass. Sadly, director Stephen S. Campanelli (the wretched 2015 thriller, “Momentum”) doesn’t have the energy to pull off major feats of juggling with the material, and while the first half of the feature is passably diverting, the second half gives in to complete ridiculousness, painting over the few positives the effort has. Once again, at least there’s Cage, who strives to be the most interesting thing in the film, portraying mental illness in a way only he can, giving “Grand Isle” the character work it needs more of. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A few years ago, writer/director Daniel Schechter paid a visit to the land of Elmore Leonard with his adaptation of “Life of Crime” (based on the book “The Switch), crafting a surprisingly effective crime comedy with decent twists and fine performances. Avoiding the same sort of creative expectations, Schechter reaches for a Woody Allen/Noah Baumbach vibe with “After Class,” which eschews storytelling rigidity for a free-flowing helping of neuroses and family issues in the heart of New York City. The working parts of the movie are instantly recognizable, dealing with pain and fear in life and love, dusted with some darkly comedic material, but Schechter provides a lived-in vibe for the effort, collecting strong performances and enough relatable behavioral challenges to secure a compelling foray into the abyss of human fallibility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I See You” is a collection of twists and turns in search of a story to tell. While my hope here is to avoid spoilers, it’s difficult to discuss the picture without some discussion of content, as screenwriter Devon Graye doesn’t any exploration easy on the sensitive details. He’s trying to make a Chinese box, messing around with genres and characters to keep viewers on their toes, as the film’s mission is to utilize as much misdirection as possible before new perspectives on the central crisis are revealed. “I See You” is many things, and none of them really work, with the shifting nature of the storytelling throttling suspense, and actual reveals are either preposterous or disappointing, leaving the audience with hope that yet another trick is being planned to get a feature that often derails back on track. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While David Lynch recently organized a return trip to “Twin Peaks,” writer/director Jennifer Reeder wants to keep the celebration going with “Knives and Skin.” While not directly an ode to Lynch’s exploration of the damned, Reeder certainly pays tribute to the helmer’s ways with garmonbozia, manufacturing her own take on the twisted residents of a seemingly normal town, where the death of a young girl begins to unravel everything. Reeder likes to keep matters tangled and unreal at times, and her stab at a screen mystery is attempted with dull storytelling skills. She’s better with the weird stuff, but just barely, as “Knives and Skin” quickly loses itself to strained idiosyncrasy, often showing its work when it comes to conjuring screen oddity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While forever interested in the working parts of crime and punishment, Martin Scorsese is perhaps best known for his command of gangster cinema, but hasn’t made a true mafia effort since 1995’s “Casino.” The “Goodfellas” helmer returns to the well with “The Irishman” (titled “I Hear You Paint Houses” on the film), but now he’s an older man, with less interest in the slam-bang steps of an underworld awakening. With Steven Zaillian adapting a 2004 book on the life of hitman Frank Sheeran, Scorsese delivers all sorts of charged encounters and deadly showdowns, but he also preserves the bleakness of the material, which studies the rise of an enforcer, but also the aftermath of a life misspent. “The Irishman” runs an impossibly long 209 minutes, but Scorsese is endeavoring to treat Sheeran’s saga as an epic, and one that goes beneath the gloss of the lifestyle to expose the true price paid for devoted criminal service. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Rian Johnson took a bit of a beating with his last picture, 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Endeavoring to generate a few surprises to make his space opera sequel stand out, Johnson ended up with a passably engaging but deeply flawed “Star Wars” adventure, and a portion of the fanbase was extremely vocal with their disappointment. He’s back with “Knives Out,” which plays like the clearing of creative pipes, moving away from Reylo and Green Milk to play a game of “Clue” with a cast of eager actors. As with every Johnson endeavor, attempts at wit are pronounced, making cutesiness the co-star of the show here, but he does have a certain hunger to reclaim filmmaking mojo, enjoying the reliability and shock value of the murder mystery genre, baking himself an Agatha Christie cake to share with like-minded folks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Olga Kurylenko has participated in a number of action films (“Quantum of Solace,” “Centurion”), but she’s never been offered the opportunity to be the main attraction in bruiser entertainment. Kurylenko’s wish is granted with “The Courier,” which tracks a game of survival for a woman caught in a dangerous international incident. The actress is clearly the best thing in the production, displaying admirable commitment to all sorts of physical entanglements and bloody makeup. The rest of “The Courier” can’t live up to her energy level, with co-writer/director Zackary Adler stumbling with a poorly plotted endeavor that plays into most VOD cliches, including the hiring of a major actor (in this case, Gary Oldman) to stand around, bark a few lines, and collect a fat paycheck. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Lena Waithe takes on the enormity of racially charged police shootings with “Queen & Slim.” It’s a vital topic for analysis, and Waithe has all the passion in the world to bring to the material, striving to tap into the fear and frustration of being black in America these days. There’s a lot going on in the picture, which does manage to introduce interesting points about influence and power. However, while “Queen & Slim” initially gives off the impression of complexity, it quickly becomes clear that Waithe only wants to paint with primary colors while creating her portrait of social disorder. The movie can’t be dismissed for being so simplistic at times, but it’s difficult to watch the feature become afraid to challenge itself, truly finding a way to address these hostilities and maintain its flow as a film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Steadily building a career making unusual tales of survival, director Bong Joon-ho reached a new height of oddity with his last effort, the “super pig” adventure, “Okja.” Returning to reality, the helmer takes on class divide in Korea, with the haves attacked by the ingenuity of the have nots, with “Parasite” a wickedly clever chiller that provides a distinct reflection of a global society to come. However, Bong isn’t making an overtly political movie, using his sense of humor and appreciation for horror to come up with a crackerjack endeavor that’s packed with surprises. “Parasite” even rivals the superbly managed insanity of Bong’s “Snowpiercer,” trading the extremes of a dead Earth for the unnerving intimacy of a luxury home, finding a more humanized look at the damage people inflict on one another. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Chadwick Boseman has spent the last few years playing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, doing his duty as T’Challa, king of Wakanda in “Black Panther” and the last two “Avengers” blockbusters. Typically drawn to playing powerful men, Boseman makes a move for the supercop genre with “21 Bridges,” which returns the actor to the realm of the real, at least this appears to be the original intent of the project. Screenwriters Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan aim to deliver a gritty police actioner, using the confines of Manhattan as a playground for agonized characters and heavy violence. What ultimately makes it to the screen isn’t as defined, with the writing lunging for any cliché it can find, while Boseman is trying to summon the presence of Sidney Poitier with his performance, only to be stuck striking poses in an incredibly limp thriller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The only person to truly appreciate the wily ways of “Synonyms” is writer/director Nadav Lapid. He’s using a cinematic space to explore the inner turmoil of a character stuck between cultures, and Lapid also provides commentary on political and military behavior as it factors into the history and future of France and Israel. There’s much to study with “Synonyms,” but Lapid has no interest in a straightforward understanding of a polluted headspace. He’s making a performance art piece with star Tom Mercier, chasing every whim to make the effort as unpredictable as possible. In that respect, the feature is an incredible success. However, without any triggering emotional involvement or showing interest in storytelling, Lapid has basically turned his therapy sessions into a two-hour experimental film, and not one that encourages viewer response. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marketplace expectations were muted before the release of 2013’s “Frozen,” with Walt Disney Animation Studios trying to build on the success of 2010’s “Tangled” by ordering up another fairy tale musical, only with a more pronounced sense of family ties and empowerment. “Frozen” didn’t simply dominate the box office for weeks, it became a cornerstone of Disney entertainment, transformed into video games, theme park attractions, short films, toys and games, and, in 2018, a Broadway musical. The picture became an omnipresent event, with the anthem “Let It Go” becoming the most played song in the history of minivans. Now Disney wants another bite of the apple, delivering “Frozen II,” which doesn’t need to accomplish much to connect to its target demographic, but returning directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee aren’t interested in a cheery return visit to Arendelle, going darker with a sequel that’s trying to age-up with its audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the release of 2018’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” documentary, it’s clear we’re in the midst of a “Fredaissance,” with renewed interest in the life and teachings of Fred Rogers returning to view. Solidifying such a welcome movement is “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” which isn’t a Mr. Rogers bio-pic, but a profound understanding of his mission to identify emotions and celebrate people. There’s no schmaltz here, as screenwriters Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster approach the Rogers universe carefully, remaining respectful but honest about the PBS star, while showing precise attention to what turned him into a source of comfort for millions of viewers. There’s feeling flowing throughout “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” and there’s Tom Hanks, who ascends to new professional heights by playing Fred Rogers not as an icon, but a being of immense compassion and curiosity, avoiding caricature to absolutely nail the essence of a seemingly simple, but decidedly complex man. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Charlie’s Angels” has been banging around pop culture for the last 43 years, and will probably continue for another century. There’s something about the mix of female spies and costuming potential that keeps producers coming back for more, and now the brand name returns to the big screen after a 16-year-long absence, with writer/director Elizabeth Banks trying to reignite the flames of fandom with…well, “Charlie’s Angels.” It’s a new world of big missions and bad men for the Angels to conquer, and Banks is an unlikely choice to guide a mid-budget actioner. She aims for expected style and attitude, but whiffs big time with the rest of the endeavor. Instead of a rousing bruiser that pays tribute to those who’ve Angel-ed before, the production offers a wooden empowerment experience with the kind of drab cinematic chaos one might expect from the helmer of “Pitch Perfect 2.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Steven C. Miller hasn’t enjoyed the most creatively fertile career, recently managing a string of VOD projects with basically the same title (“Submerged,” “Marauders,” “Arsenal,” “First Kill”), while his last endeavor, 2018’s “Escape Plan 2: Hades,” was recently disowned by its star, Sylvester Stallone. Excitement isn’t really Miller’s specialty, but he does have an interest in violent encounters, finally connecting to a story in “Line of Duty” that demands a little more emphasis when it comes to bodily harm. Miller (not to be confused with colleague Brian A. Miller, who gifted the world “Vice,” “Backtrace,” and “Reprisal”) seems alert with “Line of Duty” (which, amazingly, doesn’t star Bruce Willis or Nicolas Cage), assembling a slightly energizing bruiser that’s heavy on the stunt work and blessedly limited in scope. It’s not a career rejuvenator, but it has a pulse, and that’s good enough to pass. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Now that 2003’s “Elf” has become a holiday classic and a merchandising behemoth, Disney has finally come around with their own version of the elf-out-of-water tale. With “Noelle,” writer/director Marc Lawrence is determined to follow the “Elf” structure, constructing a holiday odyssey where a marginalized member of the North Pole community is tasked with entering human society, experiencing all possible awkwardness and cultural collisions. Instead of Will Ferrell, Lawrence brings in Anna Kendrick, eager to use her chirpy personality to embody the Christmas spirit as it’s newly challenged by family fear and Phoenix heat. “Noelle” is harmless fluff, but it’s definitely no “Elf,” missing any sizable laughs and delightful mischief, with Lawrence missing opportunities to craft a blazing comedy, electing to make a bland one instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com