Category: Film Review

The guys in the Scandinavian comedy “Heavy Trip” aren’t just a heavy metal band, they play “symphonic, post-apocalyptic, reindeer-grinding, Christ-abusing, extreme war pagan, Fennoscandian metal.” It’s the level of specificity that that makes the feature a complete blast, with screenwriters Jukka Vidgren, Jari Olavi Rantala, Aleksi Puranen, and Juuso Laatio (who co-directs with Vidgren) making it a point to pick up on idiosyncrasy whenever they can, braiding oddity and cartoony antics effortlessly. “Heavy Trip” is hilarious and a valentine to the primal release of black metal, but the filmmaking presented here takes special care of character and situation, keeping to classic comedy rhythms while going very particular with musical interests and cultural immersion, ending up with a wonderfully unique endeavor.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When one considers the kings of cinema from the 1970s, there’s plenty of information out there to explore their creative viewpoints, personality disorders, and career ups and downs. We’re talking Scorsese, Friedkin, Coppola, and Altman, and even more mainstream masters like Lucas and Spielberg. But Hal Ashby? The man’s an enigma, even with books about his life on store shelves. He’s the one with perhaps the greatest run of iconic features, and there’s really no sense of the man who pushed those pictures through production. Director Amy Scott is hoping to change that perception with “Hal,” her cinematic journey through the life and times of Ashby. Scott comes armed with interview audio and correspondences, ready to deliver a portrait of the helmer that’s never really been seen, especially in recent years. With “Hal,” Scott captures the essence of the artist, creating an active, enlightening documentary in the process.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Drew Goddard made a big splash with 2012’s “The Cabin in the Woods,” his helming debut. It was a production plagued with problems and missed released dates, yet, when it finally hit screens, it offered a knockout mixture of frights and funny, with Goddard one of the few able to balance the tricky tonality of a horror comedy, especially one that’s glazed up with self-referential humor. Weirdly, it took Goddard six years to get another project up and running, with “Bad Times at the El Royale” his long-awaited follow-up to the genre hit, which takes his career in a slightly different direction, trading mischief for pulp, assembling a crime thriller that returns him to the concept of hellacious doings within a single setting. Unfortunately, Goddard appears less interested in economical, ferocious filmmaking this time around, keeping “Bad Times at the El Royale” long-winded and intermittently exciting, often favoring production polish over storytelling urgency.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With his last efforts, “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” director Jeremy Saulnier has managed to become one of the more compelling helmers working today. He’s interested in violence, the ugly, gruesome kind so many movies avoid depicting, and he’s committed to character, always pushing for deeper psychological inspections with his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Macon Blair. He’s made masterful, low-budget pictures, and now he’s moving into more permissive areas of production, with his latest, “Hold the Dark,” a more epic undertaking that submits a manhunt scenario, but show more interest in primal behaviors and dark awakenings. Previous creative successes highlighted Saulnier’s skill with monetary and dramatic boundaries. “Hold the Dark” doesn’t offer the same discipline, and the farther it reaches into the unknown, the less essential the film becomes.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nearly a decade ago, Robert D. Siegel was in an incredible creative position. He wrote the screenplay for Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” crafting an outstanding character study of a broken man from a pain-filled world trying to make things right for himself and what remains of his family. Siegel also directed “Big Fan,” his look at the ways of mental illness filtered through the world of sports star worship. Both pictures delivered original visions in well-worn genres, cementing Siegel’s position as a creative force to pay attention to. Siegel finally returned to screens with the screenplay for 2016’s “The Founder,” and now directs again with “Cruise,” his ode to the masculine pleasures of the cruising scene in Queens, circa 1987. It’s a feature that tries to get by on period atmosphere and thespian heat, but, coming after “Big Fan,” it’s a disappointment, finding the helmer getting caught in cliché he managed to avoid before.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The automobile is an intimate space, and one that’s not inherently cinematic. There’s not much one can do with a few seats, riders, and a destination, requiring some supreme filmmaking sorcery to find something interesting with a setting that doesn’t allow for much bodily movement. “Ride” endeavors to be a thriller, pitting a rideshare driver against the growing menace of one customer who has his own plans for the evening, creating a scenario that should result in a sustained nightmare. What writer/director Jeremy Ungar actually comes up with is about 25 minutes of serviceable threats and charged banter before he runs out of inspiration. “Ride” is a one-act play trying to be a big screen pulse-pounder, but there’s not enough here to fill what’s already a scant run time of 76 minutes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We just did this a month ago. Rooster Teeth’s “Blood Fest” brought the concept of a real slaughterama found at a Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights-style event to the screen, doing so with a good amount of gore and a defined sense of humor, trying to sillier than sinister. “Hell Fest” has virtually the same plot, following a group of young people into a remote theme park set up to celebrate the wonders of being scared, only to be targeted by a real threat inside the property. The main difference between the two movies is that “Hell Fest” has unintentional laughs. Director Gregory Plotkin doesn’t have the budget to do much of anything with the setting, going the repetitive route with this slasher effort, struggling to give the tired routine of kills and paranoia some necessary energy, which doesn’t come as easy as it should. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“A Star Is Born” isn’t crossing fresh cinematic terrain. It’s been done before, three times in fact, with versions produced in 1937 (starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March), 1954 (with Judy Garland and James Mason), and in 1976 (with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson), giving co-writer/director Bradley Cooper plenty of guide rail to work with as he mounts what’s ultimately a mixture of the films, but mostly favors the greasy despair of the bicentennial rock musical. It’s a Teflon plot, delivering romance, stage performance, and tragedy, and Cooper understands what the audience is looking for. His “A Star Is Born” is handsomely mounted and profoundly felt at times, becoming an “Actors Studio: The Movie” take on music world misery. It’s also an overlong and somewhat confusing endeavor that always favors emotion over editing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, “Little Women,” has inspired many adaptations, as recently as this very year, with the BBC trying their hand at creating a mini-series version of the story. Such repetition makes sense, and so much of this tale of the March Sisters and their struggle to find themselves is irresistible, giving co-writer/director Clare Niederpruem a head-start when it comes to delivering compelling dramatics. While it’s a popular book to bring to all forms of media, it’s not an easy translation to make. While the production tries to streamline some subplots and disconnect from a few characters, this new “Little Women” has ideal charm and, most important of all, sincerity, offering the faithful a heartfelt update that respects Alcott’s prime message of familial love while inoffensively trying to modernize the saga for a more contemporary teen audience.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nobody involved in “Night School” needs to put in any effort. Director Malcolm D. Lee had a massive hit last summer with “Girls Trip,” so he’ll be making variations on the film for the next five years. All star Kevin Hart has to do is show up for close-ups and scream and he’s good. And Tiffany Haddish is still working on her sudden rise to national consciousness after a supporting turn in “Girls Trip,” sticking with the sense of humor that broke her into the big time. It’s hard to condemn the professionals for not trying to make something special with “Night School.” It’s there, it’s raunchy, and it’s programmed to have some heart. However, laziness is a big problem with this dispiriting comedy, which could’ve been so much more than the feeble collection of gross-out jokes and wayward riffs it currently offers. Nobody particularly cares about the final product, and such apathy keeps the feature anchored to the ground for nearly two hours.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I Think We’re Alone Now” deals with a largely undefined post-apocalyptic world. However, screenwriter Mike Makowsky doesn’t go for violent wasteland ideas with feral characters, instead examining the limits of loneliness and the comfort of routine when all else is lost. It’s more of a personality piece than a customary story, at least for the first two acts, providing a spare but compelling inspection of an empty world, and how such vastness of quiet is processed by the two people left to experience it. Director Reed Morano follows up her achingly sincere 2015 picture, “Meadowland,” with something more mysterious, and while she fumbles the landing, the helmer does create spaces, emotional and geographical, worth exploring.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Jonathan Sobol was last seen in theaters with “The Art of the Steal,” a heist comedy that tried to play in the same sandbox Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh often reside in. The results weren’t perfect, but the picture maintained appeal, eased along with a lively sense of mischief (having Kurt Russell around certainly helped). Sobol sobers up some with “The Padre,” a darker take on the manhunt routine that never wants to play as bleak as it initially seems. Sobol tries to keep the film approachable as it details grim events and greets questionable characters, and he achieves a good portion of his tonal goals. Acting efforts from Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, and Valeria Henriquez help the cause, but “The Padre” gets by on screen energy, keeping chases and intimidations close as a revenge story transforms into road journey before morphing into heist movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We’re moving into a new age of nostalgia, with “Summer ‘03” taking a trip in time, back to an age when cell phones were miraculous simply because they could send text messages and teen humiliation was only beginning to form the foundation of internet exchanges. Writer/director Becca Gleeson doesn’t mummify her feature with endless references to gadgets and atmosphere, preferring to use slightly more community-minded time to launch her own take on a coming-of-age dramedy, trying to treat raging emotions with some level of realism while constructing a screenplay that’s softened by quirk and distracted by supporting characters. “Summer ‘03” captures the endless summer vibe with ease, only struggling when it comes time to address the severity of bad decisions, with Gleeson giving in to hysterics too easily.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The collision between humans and monsters is once again recycled for family entertainment in “Smallfoot,” with the picture’s focus on neurotic, sheltered yetis about to have their whole world shattered. The feature is an adaptation of a Sergio Pablos book, but the production goes out of its way to be its own thing, eschewing a sustained run of madcap antics to become a musical of sorts, with periodic breaks in the action to do some singing and dancing. “Smallfoot” has color courtesy of co-writer/director Karey Kirkpatrick (“Over the Hedge,” “Imagine That”), but it’s a laborious film that’s too caught up in exposition to have much fun with itself, with an uneven balance of mischief and metaphor. Whatever amusement manages to make it all the way to the screen doesn’t last for very long.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Donald Petrie has been here before. 30 years ago, he helmed “Mystic Pizza,” a low-key dramedy about life around a pizzeria that co-starred Julia Roberts. And now there’s “Little Italy,” another dramedy about life around a pizzeria (two of them to be specific), and this one offers Julia’s niece, Emma Roberts, as one of its main attractions. Perhaps Petrie is trying his luck again after striking out with many duds (“My Life in Ruins,” “Just My Luck,” “Welcome to Mooseport”), but he’s an impossibly bland filmmaker, and “Little Italy” is another offering from his creative kitchen that has no discernable flavor. 1988 can only happen once, leaving Petrie struggling to do something with his latest endeavor, which plays everything so safely, it’s exhausting long before it’s obnoxious.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“All About Nina” is a difficult film to watch. It’s partially engineered to be that way, with writer/director Eva Vives endeavoring to create a screen space that’s suffocating and unrelentingly bleak, using a tightening grip to support a character study of a thirtysomething woman suddenly facing the demons she’s been unable to outrun. The movie is a churning assortment of abrasive personalities and self-destructive behaviors, but somewhere in the middle of all the hostilities, there’s supposed be some faint light of realization, giving viewers an exit out of the darkness Vives supplies. It’s hard to sense any sense of achievement here, but there’s plenty of pain to go around, giving actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead a meaty role that demands a full-body commitment to both the abyssal agony of the part and her vocation as stand-up comedian.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The curious career of Alexander Nevsky takes another deadening turn with “Maximum Impact,” the Russian actor’s latest attempt to achieve some level of global fame with a Hollywood-style actioner. Nevsky’s big but he can’t act, electing to surround himself with a highly bizarre collection of thespians who are known for taking any type of paycheck role that comes their way. Nevsky’s got the physical presence, but his energy reserves run low in this painfully amateurish production, which doesn’t take long to shed any level of seriousness, emerging as a parody of VOD thrillers, with director Andrzej Bartkowiak trying to make sense of Ross LaMann’s loopy screenplay, which tosses cliches and characters into a blender, making B-movie paste that’s impossible to make sense of, much less enjoy.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I can’t think of a movie more perfectly suited for a Sunday afternoon matinee than “Tea with the Dames.” It’s a film about friendship, camaraderie, and memory, taking viewers to the English countryside to spend 80 minutes with Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, and Eileen Atkins as they discuss themselves and others for director Roger Michell. While not without some moments of gravity, “Tea with the Dames” is as delicious as its sounds, breezing through easy banter that’s been in play for decades, with cameras capturing a friendship among actresses that’s developed with care and respect. Michell knows what he’s doing here, wisely getting out of the way as the Dames feel around for topics, digging up personal history as they discuss their lives, offering fascinating perspectives and triggering unexpected bellylaughs along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

There’s a lot of information out there concerning the life and times of Gilda Radner, including her years on “Saturday Night Live” and her 1989 autobiography, “It’s Always Something.” The challenge for director Lisa Dapolito is to reach beyond established evidence and create a more intimate study of Radner, and “Love, Gilda” manages to do just that. Utilizing home movies and diary pages, Dapolito embarks on a psychological odyssey with Radner’s own thoughts driving the documentary, examining her fears and frustrations as the picture surveys numerous successes where the comedian’s own brightness of spirit was the very thing that defined her stage appeal. “Love, Gilda” is missing a few key perspectives here and there, but it’s a rounded understanding of Radner’s experience and her headspace as she tried to navigate the demands of fame, the quest for love, and hope for inner-peace. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

While writer/director Dan Fogelman has made other movies (2015’s “Danny Collins”), one would never know that by simply watching his latest endeavor, “Life Itself.” Best known as the creator of the NBC show, “This is Us,” Fogelman’s small screen addiction to melodrama doesn’t sit well in multiplexes, attempting to replicate the smashing fates formula that’s served him well on network television. Playing like a T.V. pilot that badly wants to be taken seriously as an R-rated inspection of human connections, “Life Itself” makes the crazy creative decision to be completely unlikable. Downright odious at times. It’s enough for Fogelman to be manipulative, which every frame of this picture is, but it’s another to be completely tone-deaf with characterization, turning the film into a twisted game where the audience is actively rooting for death to win in the end.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com