Category: Film Review

After struggling to find their footing with their remake of the French chiller, “Martyrs,” directors Kevin Goetz and Michael Goetz aim to bring a more American crisis to life with “A Violent Separation,” which sorts through family hostilities and murder in a rural southern location. The setting is familiar but always has potential, and screenwriter Michael Arkof has a vision to braid together domestic issues and resentments, aiming for a grand sweep of simmering hostilities. “A Violent Separation” doesn’t meet all its creative goals, but the helmers do try to manufacture gut-rot acts of guilt and maintain a mood of paranoia, with hopes to get the feature up to speed as something suspenseful and meaningful when it comes to the ties that bind. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

While dabbling in television direction, Amy Poehler makes her feature-length helming debut with “Wine Country,” and it’s amazing how long it’s taken her to make the career leap. To help cushion the experience, Poehler has stacked the cast with friends and frequent collaborators, trying to give the effort a lived-in feel to best support the material, which examines the anxious highs and lows of a 50th birthday party weekend in Napa Valley, California. Joined by screenwriters Liza Cackowski and Emily Spivey, Poehler guides a pleasingly scattered production, merging her skills with casual comedy with tales of tattered bonding, unleashing incredibly talented people on a production that welcomes shenanigans. There’s room for sobering realities, but “Wine Country” mostly remains silly and quite funny, with Poehler happy to let her cast run wild with emotional mood swings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It feels uncomfortable to criticize “Poms” for its many filmmaking issues. It’s a harmless picture that’s meant to inspire an older audience commonly unrepresented in mainstream releases, presenting them with mildness all around. However, such vanilla interests fail to sustain the viewing experience, with the feature playing like a basic cable production, showing no interest in amplifying jokes or developing compelling obstacles for characters who could use a little more in the way of personal and athletic challenges. “Poms” is made for a specific audience, but that crowd deserves a little better than this movie, which has the potential to tear off into a proper farce, only to be more comfortable as a saccharine, predictable underdog story. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Third time’s the charm? Not in the case of “The Hustle,” which is a remake of 1988’s “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” which was a remake of 1964’s “Bedtime Story.” The tale of two con artists and their special way with manic swindling is certainly ripe for a periodic reworking, and the new film delivers an update with a female point of view, turning to Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson to play parts previously worked over by Michael Caine, Steve Martin, Marlon Brando, and David Niven. The shake-up is necessary, but Jac Schaeffer’s screenplay isn’t adventurous, playing the do-over game by reviving scenes from the earlier features, unwilling to color outside the lines with a premise that could do with a change in scenery and plotting. If you’ve seen “Bedtime Story” or “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” you’ve seen “The Hustle,” only the newest version is least effective, least refined version of the tale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

The world of “Pokemon” has been around since 1996. However, its true popularity has always been a mystery, finding the fanbase treating the brand as a secret code (at least in America), permitting its producers to make a fortune without the burden of overexposure, with the last wave of “Pokemon” mania hitting in 2016, after the release of a beloved augmented reality game. The source material has been turned into movies before, plenty of them, but they’ve been animated, some very cheaply too. Now comes “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu,” which brings the characters and their battles to the big screen with a large budget and the participation of U.S. actors, giving this universe its first real test of global appeal since the late 1990s. People seem to love “Pokemon,” and “Detected Pikachu” tries to be respectful of such adoration, blending fan service with blockbuster intentions, coming up with a feature that’s enjoyable, but only when it takes matters seriously. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Tapping in the social issue zeitgeist, “Working Woman” takes a very potent look at the state of sexual harassment in the workplace. It’s an Israeli production from co-writer/director Michal Aviad, who uses brief moments of personal invasion to create an overall view of horror, approaching the subject from an achingly human point of view. “Working Woman” isn’t a message movie or a melodrama, but an unsettlingly realistic assessment of shame and confusion, examining how a spirit is diminished, and nearly destroyed, by unprofessional and criminal actions. While small in scale and deeply internalized, the feature is tremendously powerful and frightening, skipping hysterics to cut to the core of the hot button issue. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It was difficult enough to bring “The Lord of the Rings” saga to the screen, and now movie producers seek out the source of all the fantasy magic with “Tolkien,” which serves as a bio-pic of the famed Middle-Earth creator, J.R.R. Tolkien. Instead of returning to the depth of fantasy that turned the Englishman into a household name, “Tolkien” tries to remain an emotional event, studying how small ideas from a brilliant mind develop into iconic pages filled with creatures, quests, and harrowing acts of survival. The production can’t fit in everything and it shows, but the feature remains powerful in parts, with actor Nicholas Hoult doing a superb job pulling out the inner life of the author, giving much more than a simple understanding of creative influences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For those who complain about the death of originality in filmmaking these days, here’s “The Professor and the Madman,” which explores the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Now there’s a tale that’s rarely explored, with the production taking inspiration from a Simon Winchester book to bring such specificity in invention to the screen. It’s a strange subject matter, but one worth investigating, bringing in actors Mel Gibson and Sean Penn to dramatize an unlikely partnership forged by a mutual love of words and obsession. “The Professor and the Madman” has screenplay issues, messing around with tonality one too many times, but there’s something interesting in the central crisis of language, with the production capturing the fever of research and breakthroughs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are not a lot of sellable elements for “Tater Tot & Patton.” It’s a low-budget movie set in South Dakota, missing any sort of traditional cinematic polish. One of the picture’s main stars in Jessica Rothe, who recently watched her star rise after participating in two “Happy Death Day” features, making her beloved in genre circles. Beyond that, the production has to rely on emotional textures and gorgeous imagery, and thankfully there’s both. While the title suggests something poppy, “Tater Tot & Patton” is more reminiscent of early 1970s filmmaking, where initial unease, slightly comedic in tone, is only masking abyssal pain and addiction, with writer/director Andrew Kightlinger (“Dust of War”) using the stillness of his locations to mine some real heartbreak, finding interesting drama along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The softening of Seth Rogen hasn’t been easy for Hollywood. He’s not the cuddly type, and while his forays into romantic and domestic comedies have been limited, a few have scored, including 2007’s “Knocked Up.” For “Long Shot,” Rogen attempts to play a more traditional leading man role, tasked with making screen magic with co-star Charlize Theron, with hopes to mute his usual tomfoolery and sell the part with more wit than nonsense. “Long Shot” gets most of the way there, and while Rogen doesn’t stray too far from his comedy crutches, he finds a way to develop a performance while dealing out his usual stoner jokes and penis references. Perhaps chemistry with Theron is a bit of a reach, but Rogen dials down some wackiness in an effort to allow the feature a chance to reach the heart along with the funny bone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“The Intruder” is not a film that requires a tight respect for logic. It’s a PG-13 thriller for the mass audience, with screenwriter David Loughery showing little interest in normal human behavior when dealing with a feature that’s primarily out to make viewers squirm and scream. However, there’s a breaking point for this type of entertainment, and “The Intruder” quickly finds it, delivering a small-scale chiller that’s obsessed with keeping its characters dumb, almost to a point where a medical explanation should be required to properly identify some of their choices in the film. Loughery has already made this picture, several times in fact (also scripting “Obsessed,” “Penthouse North,” and “Lakeview Terrace”), and he’s no closer to mastering the formula. He’s proudly offering a low-wattage viewing experience, while director Deon Taylor gives the material a bland VOD rhythm, extending the nightmare long past its expiration date. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

2019 appears to be the year where attention returns to the exploits of Ted Bundy, one of the most savage and recognizable of serial killers from the 20th century. In January, director Joe Berlinger debuted “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,” offering viewers a chance to see the murderer work through his own thoughts and delusions, presenting a clear view of a madman trying his best to deflect attention away from his inner evil. And now Berlinger returns with “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile,” which dramatizes Bundy’s life with girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall and his experiences in and out of custody while dealing with mounting legal issues. The helmer provides an abundance of Bundy material for consumption, but with “Extremely Wicked,” he aims to slip inside the skin of a lunatic, with star Zac Efron perfectly matched to the charms and impatience of the monster, submitting an impressively nuanced performance that often single-handedly carries the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’m sure when most people think of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the image of a short, heavily accented woman with defined opinions on the ways of sexual response comes to mind. She achieved the peak of her fame in the 1980s, becoming a hot accessory to any television program, happily sharing her unique personality with the world. While it seems Dr. Ruth Mania has died down in the intervening years, director Ryan White hopes to reignite interest in the subject with “Ask Dr. Ruth,” a documentary that charts the now 90-year-old woman’s turbulent life and her rise to pop culture dominance, leading with a sincere mission to educate viewers and listeners about the wonders of their genitalia. White is also determined to reestablish Dr. Ruth’s credentials, making clear points about her authority and groundbreaking ability to offer direct advice concerning the critical needs and desires of those searching for guidance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After making her mark with comedies in the 1990s, actress Lin Shaye found a fresh way to keep her career going in 2000s, becoming a fixture of horror entertainment, especially through her involvement with the “Insidious” features, making a franchise initially about other actors her own. She’s been terrific in these haunted house experiences, but “Room for Rent” isn’t looking for Shaye to stand still while nightmarish visions do all the heavy lifting. Director Tommy Stovall wants to keep Shaye active here, providing her with a meaty role as a seemingly simple woman who loses all contact with reality while managing a bed and breakfast. “Room for Rent” doesn’t ride off the rails like the best psychological thrillers, but it has Shaye, and she’s excellent here, supplying raw emotion and a credible nutso factor to help buttress the production when it eventually runs out of ideas. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is “Avengers: Endgame,” acting as a culmination of all the hard work that’s been put into these diverse superhero stories, taking some characters to their natural conclusions, while offering supporting players a chance to shine in future installments. It’s the second half of an adventure that began with last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” which arranged an apocalyptic showdown between the Avengers and Thanos, offering faithful audiences an exciting and surprising sequel that was littered with questions of mental scarring and mortality, offering a cliffhanger conclusion to best lathered up viewers for another battle between good and evil. “Avengers: Endgame” works hard to give fans exactly the type of epic experience they’ve been waiting patiently for, but screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely come up a little short in the satisfaction department. They provide compelling character business and powerhouse emotionality, but as a continuation of the risk-taking Thanos saga, the feature isn’t quite as daring as expected. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“Family” uses the world of the Insane Clown Posse to explore the nature of belonging and connection. It’s not exactly the first example that comes to mind with considering the warmth and dependability of community support, but writer/director Lara Steinel enjoys the extremity, wisely throttling ICP involvement as she examines a tale of a woman and her niece trying to figure out their place in the world when so-called normality just doesn’t fit their needs. Steinel invests in jokes and heart, and she makes a frequently hilarious movie with “Family.” Perhaps it’s a little undercooked in some areas of the screenplay, but Steinel gets to the point with the effort, also using star Taylor Schilling in a previously unseen way, with the actress exploring newfound deadpan silliness in what turns out to be one of the best performances of her big screen career. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Fred Wolf must be a fantastic person to meet. As a filmmaker, he’s been responsible for two of the worst pictures of the last decade (“Mad Families” and “Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser”), but he always manages to find work, with his career basically supported by his association with the two “Grown Ups” movies, partially responsible for the saga’s depressing fixation on DOA humor. Wolf gets another at-bat with “Drunk Parents,” trying to cash-in on a trend concerning tales of withered guardianship, highlighting the antics of adults tasked with responsibility getting into tremendous trouble with R-rated antics. Wolf’s a dreadful screenwriter and an abysmal director, and while I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, “Drunk Parents” is an additional stain on an already blackened resume, delivering another round of grim jokes and desperate performances trapped inside a farce that has no discernible movement. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Josh Lobo doesn’t have many professional credits to his name. He’s a newcomer who’s taking the same path as many first-time helmers, turning to horror to figure out his big screen vision, trusting in a genre that’s typically very kind to such low-budget ambition. Thankfully, there’s little to forgive about “I Trapped the Devil,” which is accomplished work from Lobo, who bathes the feature in mood and style to dress up traditional suspense in different ways, pulling up a handsome effort with pockets of genuine unease. Labeling the movie slow-burn is being kind, but Lobo on a mission to make his contractually obligated run time, moving through the Christmastime nightmare inch-by-inch, making sure every corner of the endeavor is tended to. “I Trapped the Devil” takes its sweet time to get where it’s going, but the reward is a chance to see an obviously talented director take his first step with an eerie endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy was a literary persona created by thirtysomething Laura Albert, who built a backstory concerning an abused teen who found his voice through writing, detailing his experiences with homelessness, drugs, and depression. Albert needed someone to embody LeRoy for publicity purposes, finding help from Savannah Knoop, who was ready to play the part. The resulting fraud and general media mess managed to make both participants known beyond their original desire for fame, and now the pair have separate movies to help defend their reputations. Albert was the subject of the extremely suspect 2016 documentary, “Author: The JT LeRoy Story,” handed substantial screen time to directly address the controversy she created. And now Knopp has “JT LeRoy,” which uses their memoir to inspire a rebuttal of sorts, with the new film offering tremendous compassion for Knopp’s participation in the chaos. Both projects claim to be rooted in truth, but neither feature seems to be honest about what really went down between Knoop and Albert. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “Conjuring” Universe has been going strong since 2013, with the original James Wan picture spawning a slew of sequels and spin-offs, with each production warmly received by audiences craving big scares from the supernatural unknown. The quality of a few of these titles is up for debate, but as proven with last fall’s “The Nun,” viewers aren’t exactly expecting much more out these endeavors than the basics in jump scare gymnastics. Understanding that, “The Curse of La Llorona” doesn’t really bother with a plot or a backstory, charging full steam ahead as a fright machine, working in as many shocks, jolts, and booms as possible while offering a tenuous connection to the world of “The Conjuring.” It doesn’t do much, and perhaps that’s all it needs to do, but “The Curse of Llorona” gets tiresome in a hurry, trying to skate by on the bare minimum of dramatic effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com