Category: Film Review

While Guy Ritchie is trying to secure a place as a go-to director of monster-budgeted adventure films, there’s still a push by some to replicate the crime pictures he left behind. Writer/director Hadi Hajaig may have a plethora of influences he’s paying tribute to in “Blue Iguana,” but it’s hard to escape the blanket of pop music, stylistics, brohiem bickering, and casual ultraviolence of the endeavor. “Blue Iguana” wants to be a wild ride with criminals and the mishaps they encounter while trying to pull off a plan, but Hajaig gives the effort a lightness that makes it float away, wasting too much time trying to be funny when the heist movie really needs concentration on sharper scripting and underworld stakes.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After working for decades as an assistant director, Jonathan Watson finally takes command of his own production with “Arizona.” Scripted by Luke Del Tredici (“30 Rock”), the picture is a darkly comic thriller that carefully establishes the setting and characters, but enjoys the hunt more than the meet and greets. It’s the rare chiller that could use more meat on its bones, with Del Tredici hesitant to add more substance to his writing, which merely sets things up for a few prolonged chases. Watson’s ready to show off his command of suspense and violence, and “Arizona” has plenty of tense stretches, but such sustained intensity starts to wear out the endeavor at the midway point, making set-ups the most appealing elements in the feature, while payoffs take too long to find their way.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Down a Dark Hall” is based on a novel by Lois Duncan, an author whose works have been used to inspire many movies, including “Hotel for Dogs” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Duncan’s YA-leaning vision provides a sufficient directorial challenge for Rodrigo Cortes, who’s handed a mission to make the common genre setting of a gothic boarding school situated in the middle of nowhere interesting. Duncan supplies an enjoyably bizarre reason for hellraising, and Cortes almost finds a way to sustain weirdness for 90 minutes, but “Down a Dark Hall” only gets to its second act before it loses interest in mystery, eventually relying on sound and fury instead of the oddity that initially makes it fairly compelling.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Ever get the feeling the film you’re watching wasn’t actually finished? It’s not a common sensation, but it’s an impression returned to repeatedly in “An L.A. Minute,” which plays a lot like a feature where everyone gave up during the production process, simply releasing half-realized work just to put a dreary moviemaking experience behind them. Director Daniel Adams displays no noticeable leadership with the endeavor, which meanders from scene to scene, vaguely stroking themes and issuing dismal performances, while the picture as a whole suffers from a lack of focus. Perhaps there was something to the screenplay by Adams and Larry “Ratso” Sloman, but “An L.A. Minute” is numbing viewing experience that’s missing most of the essentials required to pull off whatever Adams is trying to communicate.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Well, it was great while it lasted. Just two years ago, director Peter Berg suddenly seemed interested in becoming a filmmaker of integrity, trying to void his system of “Battleship” residue by switching focus from adrenaline-pumping actioners to a true-life disaster (“Deepwater Horizon”) and a police procedural (“Patriots Day”). It was a one-two punch that suddenly elevated estimation of Berg’s previously dubious ability to put a movie together, joined by Mark Wahlberg, who also worked a bit differently to tackle something more explicitly dramatic. The results were impressive, with the pair discovering a new kind of screen intensity that didn’t involve comic book jingoism or exaggerated masculinity. Of course, both features failed to drum up much interest at the box office, forcing Berg back into testosterone-huffing mode, with “Mile 22” a fairly transparent attempt to reclaim industry standing, taking command of an ultraviolent, barely coherent black ops extravaganza that’s all about making noise and spilling blood. Professional editing and cinematography need not apply. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

While major horror franchises receive all the publicity and adulation, the “Puppet Master” series has been hanging on in one form or another since 1989, nearing its 30th year of staging slaughteramas featuring small, malicious toys. Fresh blood is being introduced to the fatiguing story, with “Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich” trying to reposition the brand name for future installments, giving it a new massacre mile to walk while still tending to a few of the sights and sounds fans have come to expect. Granted, I’m no expert when it comes to all things “Puppet Master” (a saga that’s unfolded over 11 sequels, prequels, and spin-offs) but it’s hard to resist the utter strangeness of a bottom shelf staple that’s brought in Thomas Lennon and Charlyne Yi to star, while the screenplay is provided by S. Craig Zahler, who previously created the genre brutalizers “Bone Tomahawk” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99.”  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Perennial provocateur and man of mischief Spike Lee has always made films about racial hostility and growing unrest in America, but his instincts are uncharacteristically sharpened for “BlacKkKlansman,” which finds the helmer trying to pull off one of the most mainstream features of his career while still pouring his cinematic DNA all over his latest joint. Lee’s fired up with the effort, but tries to remain respectful to the steps of suspense and police procedure, in charge of an undercover cop story that doubles as a cruel reminder about racism and its longstanding hold on the nation. “BlacKkKlansman” isn’t subdued by any means, but Lee is atypically patient with the tale, making careful moves to strengthen his comparisons, fuel his outrage, and still remain faithful to a tale of cops looking to make the largest bust of their careers.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

After watching his brother Allen find his way as a solo director, Albert Hughes (formerly of the helming duo The Hughes Brothers) finally gets one to call his own in “Alpha.” Allen went to crime and male posturing to make his mark with 2013’s “Broken City,” but Albert goes in a completely different direction for his endeavor, about 20,000 years into the past, taking audiences into a time of man and creature and hostile environments, with the director laboring to pull off his best Caroll Ballard impression with “Alpha,” a survival picture that’s big on atmosphere but light on suspense. Albert certainly knows how to put together a striking image, but his work here feels incomplete, with the production aiming for a grander adventure than what actually ends up onscreen.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is an adaptation of Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel, returning to a darker age of acceptance to examine the unsavory details of a gay conversion camp. It’s a potent snapshot of intolerance, but executed in a subtle way, with co-writer/director Desiree Akhaven not banging a trash can lid with the material, electing to highlight the ways of religious condemnation as it takes on the formidable foe of human nature. “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is perceptive and sharply performed, and Akhaven creates an evocative depiction of the titular character’s submersion in guilt, left to Evangelical sharks as she tries to take hold of her identity during an already turbulent time of adolescence.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is an adaptation of Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel, returning to a darker age of acceptance to examine the unsavory details of a gay conversion camp. It’s a potent snapshot of intolerance, but executed in a subtle way, with co-writer/director Desiree Akhaven not banging a trash can lid with the material, electing to highlight the ways of religious condemnation as it takes on the formidable foe of human nature. “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is perceptive and sharply performed, and Akhaven creates an evocative depiction of the titular character’s submersion in guilt, left to Evangelical sharks as she tries to take hold of her identity during an already turbulent time of adolescence.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“Crazy Rich Asians” is an adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel, which proved to be so popular, it inspired a series of books concerning class volleying and family anxiety, with the first chapter taking the action to Singapore. It’s an exotic location, impressively magnified on screen by director Jon M. Chu, who drenches the picture is style, color, and heightened performances, just to make every frame of this endeavor shine as brightly as possible. It’s a considered effort, but the labor doesn’t extend to the plot, finding “Crazy Rich Asians” lacking when it comes to dramatic invention, delivering the same old conflicts and situations, with the staleness of the plot contrasting harshly with the vibrancy of the imagery. Chu is armed with a charming cast, and they help aid digestion of the leftovers found in Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli’s screenplay, which plays everything very comfortably to ensure mainstream acceptance.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Director Sylvain White (“Stomp the Yard,” “The Losers”) doesn’t have much to work with in “Slender Man,” and he knows it. The PG-13 horror story is an expansion of an internet creation intended to give readers the willies and inspire a viral-like obsession with creative representation. The Slender Man myth is meant to be a campfire story, avoiding a deeper inspection of what exactly a creature that looks like Jack Skellington is meant to do. Screenwriter David Birke doesn’t develop the elusive apparition and White tries to bury what amounts to 90 minutes of nothingness in style, repeating the same shots and ideas for suspense until the end credits roll. “Slender Man” isn’t as tasteless as feared, but it’s about as languid as expected, becoming yet another nondescript genre offering meant solely for the sleepover demographic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

In recent years, summer shark movies have become a tradition, offering audiences a chance to experience the horrors of the deep from the comfort of the multiplex. In 2016 there was “The Shallows,” and last year, “47 Meters Down” managed to surprise box office prognosticators by becoming a major hit for an extremely low-budget picture. Now the stakes are raised with “The Meg,” which not only delivers a massive prehistoric shark to terrorize everyone, but the feature itself is delivered with a healthy amount of spectacle, turning the stillness of the open ocean into a battleground fit for a typical seasonal blockbuster. “The Meg” is big, loud, and just silly enough to reach a mass audience, as director Jon Turteltaub pays careful attention to the escapism aspects of the production, making more of a PG-13 adventure than a fright film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

The helming team of Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell is known as RKSS, and a few years ago, they reached into the past to inspire their post-apocalyptic adventure “Turbo Kid.” A cheeky ode to VHS entertainment from the 1980s, video games, and teen cinema, “Turbo Kid” presented a valentine and a lampoon, building an enchanting low-budget world with exaggerated retro flair. RKSS returns to their childhood with “Summer of 84,” with this round skipping silliness to delve into a murder mystery of sorts, staying in the warm bath of adolescent entanglements, but pushing the mood into something more threatening. There’s a lot of sleuthing going in “Summer of 84,” and while the title suggests a nostalgic romp around one of the best moviegoing seasons of the 1980s, RKSS actually dials down cutesiness for something darker and slower.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Movies do not get more ferocious than “A Prayer Before Dawn.” It’s an adaptation of Billy Moore’s book, which detailed his time behind bars in Thailand, becoming the lone Englishman in a sea of locals who weren’t welcoming to the outsider. Director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire treats the source material with the utmost respect, replicating a harrowing living event with extreme attention to violence of the mind and body. “A Prayer Before Dawn” is frightening to watch but always engrossing, with Sauvaire going procedural to immerse the audience in the threats and rituals of a claustrophobic world, creating an evocative viewing experience that’s rooted in horrific encounters, but also refreshingly clear about the ravages of self-destruction, emerging as perceptive summary of addiction set in a vividly rendered Hell on Earth.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last spring, I reviewed “Loveless,” an outstanding Russian drama about parents forced to confront their own toxicity when their child goes missing and nobody seems to really care. It had a lot to say about emotional and physical abuse, doing so with specific interest in the war between a separating couple, with personal issues trumping family welfare. Now there’s “Custody,” a French production that tunnels into the darkness of divorce, exploring the troubles of separation, especially when one participant in a dying affair doesn’t care to let go of the union. “Custody” is more of a dramatic experience than “Loveless,” but it carries a similar fixation on the anguish of children, giving it a proper gut-punch feel while still tending to the needs of storytelling as writer/director Xavier Legrand examines the horror of divorce and the destructive power plays it inspires.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An adaption of a 2008 novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” has a significant challenge in overcoming its title. It’s a marquee massacre, simultaneously pinpointing its audience and repulsing newcomers with what initially appears to be the ultimate in Stiff Upper Lip postwar adventuring in England. Fussiness remains, preserving its cultural construction, but “Potato Peel Pie Society” manages mild charms and emotional deep cuts as it sorts through literal and psychological wreckage tied to the horror of German occupation in the 1940s. It’s not a stunning endeavor, but director Mike Newell gets parts of the whole right, maintaining appealing intrigue and performances.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Crude comedies are often troublesome, with most in a hurry to be offensive without being funny, hoping to get by on shock value. This year has been especially strange for R-rated entertainment, but “The Package” is trying to be the most outrageous of them all, and there’s something endearing about its mission to be absolutely grotesque. There’s a lot of extreme behavior and visuals in the picture, but screenwriters Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, along with director Jake Szymanski, push through the basics in riff-happy entertainment to fine something inspired in the midst of utter nonsense. “The Package” has its issues with pace and substance, but there are big laughs to be found along the way, with the central grossness of the plot getting the movie to a level of playfulness that’s not often found with this type of vulgar funny business.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Garry Marshall passed away two years ago, but his spirit remains in “Dog Days,” with screenwriters Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama trying to replicate the formula that turned vanilla pictures like “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve” into hit films. There’s no holiday to celebrate in “Dog Days,” with the magic of canines the reason for this multi-character gathering, finding pet antics and tales of wounded hearts keeping director Ken Marino busy. Much like Marshall’s later output, this feature is a jokeless, aimless concoction that relies completely on cutesiness, with a large ensemble handed very little guidance when it comes to funny business while Marino layers on sticky sentiment, trying to master a heartwarming celebration of companionship that’s disappointingly predictable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

To give themselves a premiere acting opportunity, Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs wrote a screenplay that makes ideal use of their individual talents, pairing them in a buddy dramedy that’s rich with location detail found in Oakland, California, soaking the writing in a culture they know from personal experience. The partners also take on heady subjects such as guns, masculinity, and trauma, filling “Blindspotting” with all kinds of nervous energy that permits vivid performances. As a screenwriting debut, it’s an impressive accomplishment, taking on the big subjects of the day from a fresh, honest perspective, all the while retaining personality required to manage potentially suffocating situations. “Blindspotting” is sharp, surprisingly funny, and smart about the ways of the modern world, with Casal and Diggs carrying the picture with thrilling ease, delivering vulnerable work to best support their perceptive scripting debut. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com