Category: Film Review

“The Nile Hilton Incident” takes a common detective story and positions it into the middle of world-changing history. It’s a special way to squeeze suspense out of a lukewarm mystery, with the story taking place during the countdown period to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, giving the production an end game of protest chaos (partially inspired by police brutality) that hangs in the air like a toxic cloud. Writer/director Tarik Saleh is smart to bring the picture to a boil in this special way, as the rest of the “The Nile Hotel Incident” is largely lacking in suspense and intrigue, with its cultural fingerprint doing most of the work as the journey winds through corruption, blackmail, and murder.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The biggest story this weekend isn’t the film “Tulip Fever,” but the fact that feature was even released. Shot three years ago, the picture has stumbled since its creation, missing release dates and subjected to various hands tinkering in the editing room. The initial idea was to bring Deborah Moggach’s popular book to the big screen, but development and post-production woes had a different plan. And now it’s been slipped into theaters on one of the worst weekends to release a movie, condemning what was once intended to be a major Oscar season force to the land of obscurity. The truth is, “Tulip Fever” isn’t a terrible effort, it’s merely a mess, and a tedious one at that, with too many cooks in the kitchen trying to flatten down all the oddity that was likely a primary point of pride for director Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”), rendering the endeavor without much personality or drive.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a lively last couple of years for Taylor Sheridan. Entering the entertainment industry as an actor, Sheridan made a transition to screenwriting, scoring major successes with “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” my choice as the best film of 2016. While he’s directed before (the little-seen “Vile” from 2011), Sheridan graduates to the big leagues of helming with “Wind River,” which puts him in the driver’s seat for his own material, now in charge of grim criminal and police procedural interactions he was previously limited to simply writing about. While it doesn’t have the definition and timing of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” “Wind River” is an assured addition to Sheridan’s oeuvre, once again examining an alien setting with concerned characters, fashioning a western out of contemporary grievances. It’s mournful, more pained than exciting, but it offers some real craft from Sheridan, who proves he has a long career ahead of him, should he choose to remain fascinated with the cruelty of life.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

William H. Macy has enjoyed an incredible career as an actor, with lauded turns in such classics as “Boogie Nights” and “Fargo,” while his presence in other productions has managed to salvage lesser films. He’s even made an impression on pay cable with the long-running show, “Shameless.” Macy is now transitioning to direction to help refocus his professional ambition, making his debut with 2014’s largely unseen “Rudderless.” To make more of an impression, Macy abandons most of his dignity to craft “The Layover,” a profane, mildly raunchy comedy that’s big on silliness but shockingly low on laughs. Perhaps in Macy’s mind, “The Layover” is a throwback to goofy European farces from the 1960s, but it plays far more uneventfully in 2017, struggling to do something, anything, that might trigger a smile.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2011’s “Goon” was a real surprise. Not only was it an effective comedy that prized a degree of silliness, it was a decent hockey picture as well, living up to the legacy of “Slap Shot,” arguably the greatest hockey picture of all time. “Goon” found its identity early, forging ahead as a brutally violent summary of life as an enforcer, following Doug “The Thug” Glatt as he learned the ugly business of hockey, which requires the beating of men to keep fans interested and testosterone flowing during games. It took the producers long enough, but now there’s “Goon: Last of the Enforcers,” which picks up Doug’s story at the end of his playing days, hoping to find dramatic inspiration in a retirement situation. While “Goon: Last of the Enforcers” has its share of blood-spattered fights and weirdo supporting characters, it goes a little soft, which doesn’t feel appropriate, especially after the freewheeling shenanigans of the original movie.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Four years ago, “In a World…” turned actress Lake Bell into a writer/director. It was a valentine to the world of voiceover professionals and a neuroses-laden behavior from itchy characters, establishing Bell’s interest in feelings and mild jesting, though she was much better with confrontations than hugs. Bell returns to the power of ellipsis with “I Do…Until I Don’t,” which goes deeper into intimacy, this time taking on the brutality of marriage, exposing its nuance, hostilities, and strain of commitment, but with a pronounced comedic approach that find Bell in a Woody Allen mood, picking up on behaviors instead of giving her story a major presence. While her debut had charm to save it, “I Do…Until I Don’t” tries too hard to silly and sincere, finding Bell’s effort to preserve a causal vibe crushing its lasting appeal.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a good reason to hope for the best when it comes to the career of Noomi Rapace. She’s a wonderful actress and an atypically focused talent, often drawn to characters with severe psychological damage. Her skills were put on view recently, in Tommy Wirkola’s “What Happened to Monday,” which challenged Rapace to play septuplets, each with a distinct personality. While she’s had her professional ups and downs, she’s trapped in career carbonite in “Unlocked,” which sticks Rapace in the middle of a terribly formulaic thriller, which often plays like a television pilot. She’s handed another roughhouse role here, tasked with mastering spy-on-the-run moves, and Rapace is one of the few highlights of “Unlocked,” which is faced with tough competition on screens big and little, but doesn’t pursue anything novel or ferocious enough to make a deep impression.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

No matter what “Death Note” does, it’s going to be subjected to intense scrutiny. It’s an adaptation of a popular Japanese manga that debuted in 2003, which spawned a media empire with live-action features, a television series, a musical, video games, and an anime offering. This universe has been covered numerous times, but not from a Western perspective. Enter director Adam Wingard, fresh off his swing-and-a-miss reimagining of the “Blair Witch” franchise, who’s tasked with making sense of this strange concoction of adolescent woe and pure horror. Wingard has the right idea when it comes to screen style, but for everything that actually happens in the story, there’s not much of a movie beyond basic offerings of gore and demon visitations. As grand as the franchise has become around the world, this “Death Note” doesn’t learn from its mistakes, showing little regard for plot as the picture manufactures disorienting character leaps and a non-ending to reward those patient enough to sit through it.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As music documentaries get more specific with their subject matters, education grows, exposing viewers not just simply to artists, but the worlds they inhabit, the camaraderie they’ve built, and the mysteries they encourage. “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” should be a precise cut into the artery of American music, discovering the origin of national sounds, with most early rock and roll rooted in Native American culture. Directors Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana embark on quite the journey with “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World,” attempting to change the “narrative” in industry credit, but also basking the glow of various First Nation creative triumphs that have largely gone unnoticed. It’s ambitious, and it doesn’t always work, with the helmers biting off more than they can chew with this exploration of achievement. Culture sensitivities are always welcome, but Bainbridge and Maiorana never seem to share a vision for the feature, which largely remains respectful of its interview participants, but fails to build into something profound.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s wonderful that there’s growing awareness of autism, especially in cinema, which, in recent years, has gotten serious about the subject, with brave filmmakers searching for ways to tell inclusive stories as a way to demystify the disorder, exposing its mysteries and reinforcing its unique sacrifices. Director John Asher has firsthand knowledge of the subject, co-parenting an autistic boy (his ex being famous anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy), making his perspective on the rituals of raising special needs child valuable to “A Boy Named Po,” which is dedicated to his kid. And yet, Asher, and screenwriters Colin Goldman and Steve C. Roberts, seem terrified of following through on a realistic feature, turning “A Boy Named Po” into TV movie-style viewing experience, hitting conflicts and emotional beats with a sledgehammer, while the ending is borderline inexcusable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Directors Benny and Josh Safdie don’t like to take it easy on their audience. The helmers behind “Daddy Longlegs” and “Heaven Knows What,” the Safdies love to turn their cinema into an endurance test, using extreme close-ups to inspire claustrophobia and creating characters who are addicted to bad decisions. “Good Time” is the new addition to their festering oeuvre, and it’s their finest work to date, finally masterminding a way to play to their strengths of diseased cinema and still tell a compelling story, with this round of anguish devoted to the dogged determination of brotherly bonds. “Good Time” is the most accessible Safdie production to date, but that’s not an invitation to all, as the feature requires ticket-buyers to be prepared for a grueling viewing experience, but an exceptional one, nudged along by star Robert Pattinson’s career-shifting performance.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

About five years ago, James Cameron elected to convert his 1997 Oscar-winning, pop culture dominating smash hit, “Titanic,” into 3D, trying to stir up some renewed excitement for the feature and add to his collection of 3D achievements after turning “Avatar” into the biggest movie of all time. Now he’s back with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which doesn’t instantly lend itself to the 3D conversion process, requiring some delicate tinkering to bring out a worthwhile viewing experience that expands on the depth of the original theatrical release. With “Judgment Day” already an absolute classic and one of Cameron’s best pictures, there’s little need for such gimmickry to justify a return to the multiplexes. But, for 3D-heads, Cameron does a tasteful job creating immersion into the blockbuster, sustaining balance between the original cinematography and new layers of distances and pointy metal threats.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In an incredible feat of timing, “Bushwick,” which is about the division and crumbling of the United States, comes out during a month were it feels like the county is about to be torn apart by a second Civil War. It’s a little eerie watching the feature, which explores the unraveling of society during a violent invasion, and it’s not the first time directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott have prepared something unsavory for viewers. Two years ago, the pair masterminded “Cooties,” which turned elementary school kids into bloodthirsty zombies. They’ve sobered up completely for “Bushwick,” and for this strange tale of domestic upheaval, Murnion and Milott construct a fluid, vivid depiction of battle zone panic and desperation, approaching the horrors of a war movie from an interesting point of view.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While there have been many films covering the millennial experience, few have captured the social media plague like “Ingrid Goes West.” It’s a tale of obsession that name-checks “Single White Female” in the screenplay, deflecting obvious comparisons to the 1992 female-on-female stalker cult effort, but screenwriters David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer (who also directs) tap into a specific position of fixation, using the full exposure of social media to manufacture an uneasy dark comedy about personal need, and there’s potent commentary about the overshare generation, which teases satirical highs. “Ingrid Goes West” doesn’t sustain its overview of delusion, but it gets most of the way there, showcasing sharp insight and sly wit as it investigates the madness of exclusion.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If you must steal, steal from the best. That appears to be the motto of “Ghost House,” a fairly obvious riff on Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror extravaganza, “Drag Me to Hell.” Many filmmakers have lifted from Raimi before, making director Rich Ragsdale part of a club, but where “Drag Me to Hell” was a thunderous, enchantingly bizarre tale of a young woman cursed, “Ghost House” (curiously, also the name of Raimi’s production company) merely offers a few neat visual ideas while grim acting and an overbearing score generally wear down the feature’s capacity to impress. Ragsdale appears eager to please here, which is a good thing, but this Thai chiller tends to be more abusive than frightening, though there’s potential for something macabre that keeps it moderately interesting, but never satisfying. If there’s one thing Ragsdale does exceedingly well, it’s his ability to remind the viewer just how well Raimi pulls off this kind of visual nightmare.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Instead of undertaking a full-on recreation of the formation of The Smiths, Co-writer/director Mark Gill has decided to forgo an examination of Steven Patrick Morrissey’s ascent to music dominance and simply focus on years of transition in the 1970s. This was long before the world understood the Morrissey brand name, when he was just a depressed, intelligent young man with a Shangri-Las fixation trying to figure out his way in the world, albeit the world of Manchester, England, where the skies are always gray, residents are temperamental, and flowing rivers mock those who can’t escape the city limits. It’s “Smiths Begins” in a way, a rock and roll origin story much like Anton Corbijn’s “Control,” only the emphasis here is on the slow burn of sadness, tracking Morrissey’s response to constant disappointment, paralyzing shyness, and isolating intelligence.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For family entertainment in the summer of 2017, there have been movies dedicated to the inner lives of cars, minions, squirrels, and emojis. Perhaps it’s time for a human story. “Leap” endeavors to provide a slightly less manic distraction for younger audiences, examining the inner light of an orphan dreaming big, finding herself with a chance to become a star ballerina in Paris in the late 1800s. Directors Eric Summer and Eric Warin make the feature’s entertainment value a priority, but the helmers seem terrified to stay away from formula, slowly erasing everything that makes “Leap” appealing just to keep up with animation expectations. There are plenty of likable elements in the picture, and it serves its purposes as an empowerment tool, but the production spends too much time on autopilot, failing to follow through on its rather bold decision to tell a tale that doesn’t involve cuddly, slapstick creatures.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Genre filmmakers love the yuletide season, which provides opportunities to generate terrible things happening to (seemingly) innocent people. It’s that contrast between the jolly spirit of Christmas and the barbarous evil of men that’s inspired a few interesting efforts. Answering perhaps the most famous of the bunch, “Black Christmas,” is “Red Christmas,” a low budget chiller that takes on the challenging, audience polarizing subject of abortion while still tending to slasher cinema formula. While not exactly a lump of coal, “Red Christmas” has its issues, the least being star Dee Wallace, the beloved actress who gives the lead role everything she’s got, doing a more successful job communicating panic than her director, Craig Anderson. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Hitman’s Bodyguard” is supposed to be a comedy. However, it also desires to be an action film, and an R-rated one at that. To achieve such a restricted rating requires a bit more brutality than the average adrenalized endeavor, but screenwriter Tom O’Connor has a strange way of providing that extra inch of merciless behavior. In the opening five minutes of “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” the villain guns down a helpless woman and her child in cold blood, looking to prove a point to a man he’s intending to intimidate. And so the laughs begin. Actually, they never start in this misbegotten movie, which has the idea that it can somehow recover from such a chilling act with jokes about Ace of Base and “that’s what she said” one-liners. Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t have much of a funny bone or even a special way with big screen chaos, remaining dead weight from beginning to end, wasting the time of a lot of talented people.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When Steven Soderbergh teased retirement from feature filmmaking after the pay cable debut of “Behind the Candelabra” in 2013, I doubt few truly believed he was going to give up the habit. He returned for the Cinemax series, “The Knick,” and now Soderbergh is back in an “Ocean’s Eleven” mood with “Logan Lucky.” One might expect something more profound from a revered director returning to the big screen (his first theatrical effort since “Side Effects”), but he’s in a silly mood for this West Virginia-branded caper, mounting a heist movie that’s big on broadness, with chewy, dim-witted characters trying to outfox one another while screenwriter “Rebecca Blunt” orchestrates a twisty, procedural event for the audience to snack on. It’s light stuff, which is a nice change of pace for Soderbergh, who, for the first time in a long time, seems genuinely interested in providing an entertaining ride, albeit with total boobs in the driver’s seat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com