Category: Film Review

When Robin Williams died in 2014, he took a part of the entertainment industry with him. The comedian, actor, and all-around madman seemed almost indestructible and definitely indefatigable, and when he passed, there were few words that could pinpoint exactly what the mood of the world was when Williams left it. “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind” is an attempt to wrap both arms about the experience of being one of the fastest, funniest people of all time, and director Marina Zenovich almost touches fingertips, creating a documentary that’s light on extreme detail, but generally gathers the basic elements of Williams’s personal and professional experience, asking viewers to fill in the gaps with personal recollections while the feature covers most of the essential movements in an extraordinary life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Equalizer” started life as a television series for CBS in the 1980s, making Edward Woodward into an unusual force for justice, celebrating the steely authority of an older man. 2014’s “The Equalizer” handed the lead role of Robert McCall to Denzel Washington, who also projected wizened confidence as the titular vigilante, only instead of a mild reprise of network television heroics, director Antoine Fuqua cranked up the ultraviolence, with plans to make the pain McCall inflicts as vivid as possible. It was overkill in a dim movie, but “The Equalizer” found something of an audience, with the fanbase large enough to lure Washington back into McCall’s shoes for “Equalizer 2.” Keeping in line with traditional sequel mentality, Fuqua recycles most of everything that was found in the original picture, serving up the same scenes of intimidation and graphic punishment to stoke the fires of a newfound franchise.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Deborah Haywood goes dark for “Pin Cushion,” her feature-length debut as a writer/director. She’s made a movie that introduces itself with extreme quirk, and slowly but surely poisons it with tremendously unsettling scenes of emotional abuse. Haywood attempts to communicate the pain of the outsider, and one who isn’t adjusted to the cruelties of the world, and she’s amazingly accurate in her summary of despair. However, while bleak, “Pin Cushion” has its artful achievements, dramatic potency, and fantastic lead performances from Lily Newmark and Joanna Scanlan, who march into horrors as instructed by the helmer, but find ways to make doom relatable, especially for female audiences hunting for an accurate overview of juvenile bullying in the connected age, while most mothering fears are realized in this disturbing chiller.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2008, Director Gus Van Sant made “Milk,” his passionate bio-pic of activist and politician Harvey Milk. It was work that felt vital and intimate, with Van Sant’s focus on the nuances of the story resulting in a vivid depiction of a noble life tragically ended by another. And then there was nothing for a decade, finding Van Sant obsessed with quirk (“Restless”) and environmental issues (“Promised Land”), hitting rock bottom with “The Sea of Trees,” an unexpectedly inept pass at mournful cinematic poetry that was soaked in confusion and pretention, becoming one of Van Sant’s worst films. Mercifully, “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” is a return to form for the helmer, who offers a passion project that actually plays like someone who doesn’t want to let go of the moment, showcasing a newly recharged director eagerly exploring the struggle, dark humor, and unexpected grace notes of life.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Luke Sparke really likes “Red Dawn.” And who could blame the guy, as the 1984 actioner is an engaging ride with harrowing violence and a premise that toys with war film clichés while still delivering its own sense of honor. Sparke’s second movie is “Occupation,” and it’s basically a remake of “Red Dawn,” only instead of an Earthbound threat attempting to take control of America, the screenplay goes a little bigger, finding Australia under siege, with evil alien forces arriving from space, and they don’t come in peace. It’s the resistance versus the galaxy in “Occupation,” with Sparke layering on the clichés to fill his feature, which may be appealing to those who live and breathe this type of entertainment, but the helmer doesn’t bring anything new to the alien invasion subgenre.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Spy games are everywhere on television these days, with small-scale stories of suspicion within global conflicts ideal fodder for weekly shows, adding a serialized element to develop characters and motivations. “Damascus Cover” has to work extra hard to emerge as something special, offering a decidedly cinematic sway to coax viewers into theaters. And yet, co-writer/director Daniel Zelik Berk makes a creative choice to dial back thrills as far as possible, almost to a point of complete stoppage. “Damascus Cover” aims for retro entertainment, trying to set up a Middle East chess game between spy agencies and the people caught in the middle of hostilities, but there’s not enough gas in the tank here, finding star Jonathan Rhys Meyers doing all the heavy lifting when it comes time to add some intensity to the comatose effort.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With confusion. That’s how it ends. But writer Brooks McLaren senses a creative challenge with the doomsday effort, playing a careful game of mystery with the pieces of this puzzle, exploring the end of days without actually identifying the steps toward extinction. McLaren doesn’t want to make a disaster movie, which is commendable, using elements of panic to create a character study, but one that indulges in action film cliches one too many times, diminishing the integrity it’s working to achieve. “How It Ends” delivers the vague shape of the apocalypse, but it’s a frustrating sit, continually interrupting compelling stretches of drama and terror with low-wattage stunts and tedious sequences of back roads survival.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While "The Divine Order" shares a story of gender discrimination, misogyny, and marital woes, it's almost refreshing to find the tale taking place in Switzerland, avoiding American hostilities for once. The change in location is most welcome, with writer/director Petra Biondina Volpe examining the pains of womanhood from a different perspective, and while American influence remains, the screenplay showcases a distinct cultural fingerprint as it details the jail sentence of being a woman in 1971. "The Divine Order" has its melodramatic urges, but it's an excellent overview of personal need with sharply defined characters, returning to an era of global change with a few details that mirror today's social turbulence. Volpe taps into the zeitgeist and shares a period saga of equality, creating a picture that's essential viewing for those interested in a wider perspective on feminist challenges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

“Sorry to Bother You” marks the feature-length directorial debut for musician Boots Riley and, for this grand occasion, he’s elected to construct a picture that’s often defies description. Imagine if Mike Judge and Michel Gondry joined forces to make a Spike Lee Joint, and that’s part of the experience watching “Sorry to Bother You.” It’s a unique vision of the world as it exists today, using wit and blunt force to comment on racism, greed, and powerlessness, but it’s also a silly movie for the first half, with Riley showcasing surprising chops with absurdity, trying his best to undermine expectations as the story begins to reveal layers of insanity. It’s not an especially tight creation, but Riley’s enthusiasm for his big moment is understandable, on a mission to go crazy with his first film, with hopes to make a lasting impression on the audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

For his third release in the last seven months, Dwayne Johnson once again portrays a mighty hero up against impossible odds. There was the video game world of “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” and the…video game world of “Rampage,” but “Skyscraper” aims to be a more traditional offering of search and rescue, mashing together elements from “Die Hard” and “The Towering Inferno” to make a modern blockbuster, with gobs of tech tossed into the fiery chaos. Writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Central Intelligence”) keeps his influences close, but doesn’t learn much from them, manufacturing a flat, routine Rock-against-‘em-all thriller that’s big on CGI spectacle but very limited when it comes to the creation of true heart-stopping sequences. Other films have done what “Skyscraper” is doing, and they’ve done it better, rendering the feature numbing instead of nail-biting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The poster art for “Siberia” displays star Keanu Reeves with a shotgun, looking mournfully at the ground, as though he’s about to unleash complete hell on those who’ve wronged him. In a post-“John Wick” world, this is how all of Reeves’s movies are going to be sold to audiences, but it’s important to note that his new film is almost nothing like his old ones. Screenwriter Scott B. Smith doesn’t care much about overt violence, and revenge is hardly the motivation for the story. In reality, Smith goes the opposite direction, trying to unearth a love story in the midst of freezing locations and games of suspicion. “Siberia” is aiming to be noir-ish and contemplative, but it’s uncomfortably muddled most of the time, finding Smith trying to reach for a special mood of psychological disturbance, while director Matthew Ross struggles to locate any sign of life. Another “John Wick” this feature most certainly isn’t.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Eugene Jarecki is concerned about America. He’s the documentarian behind “Why We Fight,” “Reagan,” and “The Trials of Henry Kissinger,” making him a filmmaker who’s not afraid to dig into politics to inspire his work, often concentrating on the evolution of the country as it marches from perceived glory into gray areas of conduct, possibly leading to its permanent downfall. For “The King,” Jarecki tries out a more lighthearted way to explore American divide, acquiring a 1963 Rolls Royce once owned by Elvis Presley, using the aged automobile to travel around the nation, visiting cities important to the icon’s legacy while interviewing fans, friends, and musicians in the back seat. The result is a complete mess of a movie, but one that’s fascinating to watch for most of its run time, with Jarecki managing to capture the sweep of the country and its internal ache, only to let the picture’s gelatinous structure wear it down more often than not.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Jody Hill returns to feature-length moviemaking with “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter,” finally following up his 2009 dark comedy, “Observe and Report.” Hill’s been involved with television for the last decade, guiding such shows as “Eastbound & Down” and “Vice Principals,” where he’s masterminded all kinds of craziness, often with collaborator Danny McBride. With “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer,” Hill softens some to examine the troubled mind of a divorced dad trying to making a lasting impression on his son, creating a parody of basic cable hunting shows while attempting to show a degree of serious with emotional ruin. Comedy is here, but not always a priority to Hill, who’s aiming for more of a character study than a laugh riot, and this picture doesn’t benefit from a general muting of silliness.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Having Shana Feste in charge of “Boundaries” is initially unsettling. The writer/director hasn’t inspired confidence with her previous endeavors, making messes out of “Country Strong” and the “Endless Love” remake, and “Boundaries” isn’t material that initially appears headed in the right direction, working with dysfunctional family and disoriented single mom cliches. It comes as a surprise that the picture works as well as it does, but Feste is smart about casting, giving a pro in Vera Farmiga and a legend in Christopher Plummer a chance to buddy up for this road dramedy, which takes a look at the frayed ties that bind. It’s the best thing Feste has made to date, which isn’t saying much, but she shows newfound interest in emotional authenticity here, giving sitcom material a few deeper grooves of interesting behavior.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Rob Reiner has always been a political person, but his passion for world events and Washington D.C. activities has taken over his career as a filmmaker over the last year. Eight months ago, there was “LBJ,” a study of the 36th President of the United States. And now there’s “Shock and Awe,” which also examines a presidency, only this time from the perspective of journalists searching for proof that the man in charge is a liar. Reuniting with “LBJ” screenwriter Joey Hartstone and star Woody Harrelson, Reiner attempts to craft his own “All the President’s Men” with “Shock and Awe,” which takes a look at the invasion of Iraq after 9/11, highlighting the struggle of reporters tasked with understanding presidential motivation, making connections between military preparation and the politicians pulling the strings.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Kings” is a movie that has a time, place, and talent to bring unusual perspective to the 1992 L.A. Riots. And yet, writer/director Deniz Gamze Erguven doesn’t have anything to say with the feature, which thrives on chaos, not drama. Erguven made a remarkable impression a few years back with the French film “Mustangs,” but she has no vision here, adding clumps of urban distress, social outrage, and racial hostility to a tale of domestic unrest, while the actual riots barely factor into the picture. “Kings” is a mess, edited with a butter knife and emotionally constipated, with Erguven giving up on a focal point as she mashes together subplots, hoping that this weird combination of sobering reality and light comedy will somehow gel on its own.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Franchise fatigue is a very real issue with animated features, finding certain productions struggling to dream up something worthwhile to keep up monetary interests and, more often than not, the best ideas have already been used up. Originality isn’t an issue for “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” as the previous two installments haven’t been all that inspired to begin with, giving the screenplay free reign to do anything it needs to do to keep the characters busy for 90 minutes. For returning director Genndy Tartakovsky, “Hotel Transylvania 3” is a shot to purge all his cartoon reverence into an unlikely second sequel, cranking up the silliness and general rubbery nonsense to point where the actual plot gets in his way. Tartakovsky is making this one for himself, folks, and while he’s attentive to expectations (don’t worry, there are fart jokes), he’s also going bananas with previously unseen scale and manic animation, making the endeavor the best of the series just by sheer energy alone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

With the success of “The Purge” and its sequels, there’s clearly an audience for dystopic visions of the near-future, where a world teetering on the edge of chaos finally plunges into darkness. Writer/director Mike P. Ryan sets up to the plate with “The Domestics,” his take on end-of-civilization horrors, and, unlike “The Purge,” he seems to understand the need for pace and performance when feeling out the edges of inhumanity. It also helps to have an unusual setting, with “The Domestics” a “Mad Max” riff that crosses Wisconsin, finding Hell on Earth in Midwestern surroundings. Ryan has fresh ideas and rhythm to go with his cinematic tributes, with the film also taking notes from “The Warriors,” setting up a chase picture that’s heavy on barbarity and oddity, and smart enough to only take a few pit stops as Ryan arranges apocalyptic violence and bits of dark humor.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Ideal Home” brings writer/director Andrew Fleming back to screens after some time away, last seen with 2014’s disappointing “Barefoot.” Fleming was once a promising filmmaker with a string of creative successes in “Threesome,” “The Craft,” and “Dick,” but he lost his vision along the way, getting stuck with underwhelming fare such as “Hamlet 2” and an ill-advised remake of “The In-Laws.” The good news is that Fleming is back on solid ground with his latest endeavor, and it’s one from the heart, taking a comedic look at gay parenting in “Ideal Home,” which does an impressive job riding the line between camp and syrup. It’s a silly picture, which helps to extract a good number of laughs, but the effort also gives Fleming some much needed inspiration, finding his helming mojo with a very funny movie.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director James DeMonaco ran out of macabre ideas with 2016’s “The Purge: Election Year,” taking matters to their natural conclusion by serving up the same style of carnage as the previous two chapters, while somehow encouraging the worst acting the series has ever produced. With nowhere to go, DeMonaco now pulls a prequel out of his back pocket, which provides a chance to refresh a moldy premise for future sequels, keeping the low-budget mayhem going for another two years. “The First Purge” isn’t here to provide answers or even properly set up the cruel American order that’s established the free-for-all murder night. It’s simply DeMonaco making yet another terrible exploitation movie, only now he fully exposes TrumpWorld touches that were teased in the last installment, turning alleged subtext into finger-painting to fully pander to the target audience.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com