Category: Film Review

“Cats” isn’t a movie that needs to be reviewed. It’s made for a very specific audience, and a large one at that, as the original Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (which debuted in 1981) has been an enormous success, dominating the West End and Broadway during their incredible initial runs (grossing billions over time). People love “Cats,” and now it’s time to bring the stage to the screen, only without the comfort of leotards and makeup. Tom Hooper, who scored big with his film version of “Les Miserables,” strives to do something a little different with the musical, giving his cast an exhaustive CGI makeover, with hopes to deliver a sense of the real to material that feeds on inexplicable events. Those who understand everything about the show will probably fall in love with Hooper’s effort, which is extensive. The rest who aren’t up on their Rum Tum Tugger will likely find the picture baffling — it’s as weird as it gets, and often remains in no particularly hurry to get anywhere of note. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, “Little Women,” has inspired a great number of adaptations. In fact, there were two attempts to pay tribute to the beloved book just last year, with a modern reimagining (starring Lea Thompson) and a BBC miniseries that made its way to PBS stations. There’s been a lot of “Little Women” recently, which is perhaps why writer/director Greta Gerwig has elected to shake things up for her version of Alcott’s work, taking a machete to the narrative to experiment with thematic emphasis, doing away with a natural build of emotion to make sure the movie is hers. Gerwig collects a decent cast and supports the effort with strong tech achievements, but her take on the March siblings and their tangles with love and loss is disappointing, mangling the magic of the source material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To help bedazzle the brown paper bag that was the last James Bond movie, 2015’s “Spectre,” director Sam Mendes constructed the illusion of a continuous take as 007 infiltrated a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico City. The action moved up and down, weaved around buildings, and followed a few furious action beats with technical skill, creating one of the few highlights found in the picture. Taking the one-shot concept to the extreme, Mendes applies such concentration to “1917,” which follows the odyssey of two British soldiers crossing dangerous terrain in World War I. Such cinematographic showmanship doesn’t really lend itself to cruel tales of military duty, but “1917” tries to respect War is Hell realism, even when it can’t pull off such sincerity. Mendes makes a striking film, but not a consistently enthralling one, finding the production’s gimmick occasionally throttling its pace and intensity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There was once a lengthy period of time when writer/director Terrence Malick didn’t make any films. Now he’s issued his sixth release in the last decade. There’s a clear creative purge going on with the notoriously press-shy helmer, who’s been trying to lead with his efforts, not his explanations, resulting in a wildly uneven collection of semi-experimental endeavors that all share the same drive to merge dramatic poeticism with striking visual achievements. “A Hidden Life” has no surprises, closely adhering to the Malick way of cinema, wandering through turmoil and thought over an extended run time (this one clocks in at 174 minutes). What’s slightly different here is the use of a surprisingly clear narrative, with Malick settling into storytelling as he wrestles with wartime history and supports the needs of a true life tale of integrity challenged by God, evil, and family. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One should probably never expect much from a Michael Bay movie. He’s made a fortune with his action epics, recycling stunts and explosions while changing the players, recently collecting bags of money for his “Transformers” productions, while mere piles of money for his foray into “serious” filmmaking, “13 Hours.” Bay has his formula, and nobody’s asking him to change his ways, least of all Netflix, who’ve brought the director to their streaming empire with “6 Underground,” hoping the repetitiveness of it all will translate to a large viewership. Bay doesn’t change anything for his latest endeavor, which is either a warning or a validation for fans of the helmer, who delivers another massive boom-a-thon, offering no surprises or thrills as he paints by numbers to deliver product, not cinema, finally reaching the self-parody phase of his career. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While in possession of an unwieldly filmography, there was once a time when Clint Eastwood could be counted on to deliver compelling character studies with some degree of dramatic grit. He’s even made a few masterpieces along the way. However, the Eastwood of today doesn’t care much for nuanced understandings of behavior, now perfectly content to film community theater productions in the least amount of time possible. After last year’s head-slappingly clumsy “The Mule,” Eastwood returns with “Richard Jewell,” which offers a shockingly simplistic take on the 1996 Centennial Park Bombing, with the helmer (joined by screenwriter Billy Ray) peeling away any realistic complications as he turns the saga of Richard Jewell into his latest cartoon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2017, Josh and Benny Safdie unleashed “Good Time,” focusing all their cinematic powers to create a winding ode to brotherly protection, created with distinct visual and aural intensity, along with outstanding performances. The siblings return with “Uncut Gems,” and they go even deeper into the abyss of personal delusion and addiction, only this time they’re bringing Adam Sandler along for the ride, and he’s never had a role quite like this. Ferocious, hypnotic, and blissfully deranged, “Uncut Gems” is a singular viewing experience brought to life by the Safdies and their talented crew, offering 100% glorious chaos for 130 minutes as the story follows one trouble man’s desire for redemption he hasn’t earned. The illness of this endeavor is outstanding, and while the viewing experience is often akin to being buried alive, there’s not a moment in “Uncut Gems” that isn’t completely intoxicating. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” wasn’t a towering achievement in fantasy filmmaking, but as a long overdue sequel to 1995’s “Jumanji,” it did the trick, finding a way to connect to the previous movie while establishing its own universe, transforming board game threats into video game mayhem. The picture delighted audiences in a major way, becoming a massive hit over the holiday season, and now the gang is back two years later with “Jumanji: The Next Level,” which is being sold as the next chapter in the franchise saga, but it’s more of a remake of “Welcome to the Jungle,” adding a few new characters to the mix to revive introductory confusion to the gaming realm, forgoing a thrilling new odyssey for the players from the last endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Jay Roach has a history with politically minded moviemaking, enjoying the sometimes stranger-than-fiction details of American power plays, studied in such pictures as “Recount” (exploring the 2000 presidential election), “Game Change” (detailing the 2008 presidential election), and now “Bombshell,” which samples national illness during the 2016 presidential election. Roach certainly has a fetish for exposing the inner lives of leaders, and while his latest isn’t a Donald Trump expose, it tackles his biggest supporters, exploring the reign of Fox News founder Roger Ailes and his extended history of sexual harassment. Screenwriter Charles Randolph has an incredible story to tell, endeavoring to present it from a female point of view, gathering all the Fox News stars and sycophants to populate an engrossing tale of abuse, paranoia, and battered professionalism, examining how a cable network was challenged from within during a critical moment in the country’s history. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While director David Cronenberg mastered his own remake with 1986’s “The Fly,” it’s difficult to imagine anyone having the bravery to rework one of his pictures. Jen and Sylvia Soska step up to the challenge of reinterpretation with “Rabid,” which is an update of a 1977 Cronenberg hit, and a particularly gruesome one at that. The Soska Sisters are no strangers to the gore zone, and while they can’t possibly outgun Cronenberg, they remain respectful of his strangeness, doing very well with the ghoulish oddity of the material, finding some fresh ideas with old ideas. “Rabid” delivers the violent goods with enthusiasm, with the Soskas once again commanding an engaging, grotesque genre offering, continuing their impressive run of B-movie delights. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

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