Category: Film Review

There’s a movie to be made about the life and times of George Lazenby, and “Becoming Bond” isn’t it. Part documentary, part reenactment, the feature struggles to share Lazenby’s colorful experiences, where the Australian car salesman became a male model, eventually finding his way into the starring role of 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” taking over the role of James Bond from Sean Connery, who left his post at the height of his Bondian fame. A rehearsed rascal, bruiser, and raconteur, Lazenby does sit down with director Josh Greenbaum to recount the steps toward his legendary one-film duty as 007, but “Becoming Bond” often plays like an iffy “Funny or Die” short, lacking polish, focus, and laughs to truly become the raucous celebration of a bad business decision it wants to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been many movies about the frustrations that arise with writer’s block. It’s not an inherently cinematic affliction to explore, requiring some genre boosts to keep the mad tango between artist and inspiration twirling along. Director Brian Goodman (who previously helmed the terrific 2008 drama, “What Doesn’t Kill You”) and writers Marc Frydman and Justin Stanley have a few tricks up their sleeves with “Black Butterfly,” which endeavors to tap into the insanity of the creative process, doing so through the guise of a thriller that attacks both physically and psychologically. “Black Butterfly” is likely to divide audience with its twists and turns, but it’s rarely dull, perhaps best appreciated as a higher minded exploitation effort than a brain-bleeder with occasionally iffy working parts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Most filmmakers don’t want to portray evil in a straightforward manner, especially real-world villainy, which is often too nuanced to simply fit for a black hat. “The Wizard of Lies” has the difficult task of humanizing Bernie Madoff, the stockbroker and investment advisor who built a Ponzi scheme that defrauded clients on a grand scale, erasing 65 billion dollars from those counting on a secure financial future. An adaptation of Diana B. Henriques’s book, “The Wizard of Lies” certainly isn’t a cinematic shoulder rub, with director Barry Levinson attempting to understand the psychological and technical details of the scheme, which, for Madoff and his family, became a daily reality, giving the production a compelling perspective to work with as it figures out a way to make a Bernie Madoff movie without immediately crucifying its dastardly subject. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2011, director Andrew Rossi brought viewers into the offices of the New York Times for “Page One,” a documentary exploring the daily experience of journalism in its highest form, making note of writers and challenges that go into the creation of news. It was a fascinating look at the mechanics and personalities that make up the newspaper, and “Obit” returns to the same location, only this time director Vanessa Gould takes a deeper dive into a specific type of coverage for the New York Times, examining the construction and care of the obituary department. Like “Page One,” “Obit” is a fascinating inspection of 9-5 work, highlighting the research, writing, and personal touches of the obituary section, with its staff trying to make their assignments something special, continuing a prized tradition of the paper. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Originally a series of YA books from author Jeff Kinney, the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” brand name found its way to the big screen in 2010, introduced with an uneven, unappealing adaptation that basically confirmed Kinney’s world was better suited for the page, where its cartoon shenanigans could be left to the imagination. Two terrible sequels followed (the last released in 2012), each met with flat box office returns and overall audience indifference. However, profits were made, inspiring Hollywood to try again, reawakening the saga of Greg and his hapless family for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” which completely recasts and refocuses the franchise, though co-writer/director Dave Bowers (who helmed the last two movies) returns, hellbent on proving his unpleasant comedic vision for this feature, ending up with the worst “Wimpy Kid” sequel yet. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If there’s one person capable of bringing the life and times of poet Emily Dickinson to the screen, it’s Terence Davies. The director of “The House of Mirth,” “Sunset Song,” and “The Deep Blue Sea,” Davies has focused his career on artful pursuits, fascinated by social showdowns and private desires, all the while developing helming interests that lean toward the painterly, making beautiful pictures that value cinematic art. “A Quiet Passion” isn’t a traditional bio-pic of Emily, missing many years and life-changing movements. Instead, it remains tight on its subject, keeping poetic purging constant, but also setting out to grasp artistic drive, which is often motivated by an unquenchable thirst to be understood. Davies finds the edges of Emily’s life, but he’s primarily motivated by mood, keeping viewers immersed in the moment as the poet hones her talent and begins to share it with outsiders. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Survivalist” isn’t made to comfort its audience. It’s punishment from writer/director Stephen Fingleton, who’s determined to communicate the horrifying end of civilization with this survival chiller, which depicts savagery, betrayal, and sacrifice with a disturbing matter-of-fact tone. It works because it’s meant to be frightening, understanding an all-too-real possibility of global breakdown, but it remains intimate, focusing on the plight of three characters locked in an uneasy situation of trust, dealing with their own issues while threats from the outside world creep into view. “The Survivalist” is harrowing and savage, and Fingleton is largely successful with his tonal and visceral goals, only periodically allowing the ugliness of this story to reach beyond its grasp. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2012’s “Prometheus,” director Ridley Scott’s was looking to take the “Alien” franchise in a whole new direction, moving past xenomorph mayhem to reach the very nature of existence, challenging ideas of gods and monsters with a promising concept that allowed very little time for Ripley-esque survival games. It was met with critical indifference and audience derision. “Alien: Covenant” isn’t interested in making the same mistakes, and while it’s a sequel to “Prometheus,” it mostly severs what little existential ambition remained at the end of a wildly disappointing movie. Scott would rather remake “Alien” than answer many of the questions left behind five years ago, using “Covenant” to recycle the same old cat and mouse game with a fresh assortment of blue-collar space workers. Scott is seriously spinning his wheels here, and what’s worse, he seems to be proud of all this inanity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2015, comedian Amy Schumer made a strong impression with her starring debut, “Trainwreck.” Under director Judd Apatow, Schumer managed to be hilarious and heartbreaking, displaying impressive range in what ended up being one of the top performances of the year. For her follow-up, Schumer stays with the silly business in “Snatched,” a kidnapping/survival comedy that’s rarely consistent, but periodically hilarious. It’s Schumer’s attempt at a buddy comedy, and one where she’s wisely paired up with Goldie Hawn, famously coming out of semi-retirement (her last acting gig was 2002’s “The Banger Sisters”) to join Schumer, creating warm, amusing chemistry, helping “Snatched” crawl out of the tonal whoppers and dead spots it occasionally finds itself in. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After scoring two massive hits with the popular and surprisingly sly “Sherlock Holmes” series, which effectively refreshed a stuffy literary world with some clenched-fist energy and funky comedy, director Guy Ritchie attempted to bring the same firepower to another aged property, 2015’s “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Lightning didn’t strike a third time, with woeful miscastings and lethargic timing hindering what should’ve been a jaunty spy game with distinct period style. Weirdly avoiding a third “Sherlock Holmes,” Ritchie now turns his attention to Arthurian legend, hired to jazz up material that’s been revived repeatedly for screens big and small, with each production striving to be the hot take on round tables and swords in stone. Cruelly, Ritchie remains in “U.N.C.L.E.” mode with “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” which takes the wilds of magic and action and transforms it all into a disappointing lump of a movie, but one that Ritchie does his damndest to keep alive with every trick he’s capable of producing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“One Week and a Day” is about parents going through the grieving process after losing a child, but its first image is one of household sport, watching the father battle opponents on the family ping pong table. It’s the first of many surprising directions for the story, which offers a more grounded, authentically human take on personal loss. The Israeli picture marks the feature-length directorial debut for writer Asaph Polonsky, who captures realistic response to an impossible situation of mourning, locating the comedy, fear, and frustration of life in motion. “One Week and a Day” contains moments of expected heartache, but its primary mission is to follow particularly scrambled characters for an eventful afternoon, studying the confusion of this aching new reality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actor Pat Healy has been involved in a few very uncomfortable films, playing unsettled types in “Compliance” and “Cheap Thrills.” For his latest directorial effort, Healy collects every darkly comedic trick he’s picked up while working in front of the camera, joining screenwriter Mike Makowsky for a twisted romp that examines escalations in violence and fetishism, making “Take Me” a decidedly weird and often surprising viewing experience. The production doesn’t always sustain momentum, but Healy manages his opening and closing to satisfaction, while leaving plenty of room for himself and co-star Taylor Schilling to communicate a specialized situation of mutual antagonism, making excellent scene partners as the oddity of the movie ebbs and flows, sometimes spilling over in the best ways. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Comedian Jeff Garlin is an acquired taste, with his pinched voice, casual delivery, and fondness for the uncomfortable moments in life fueling successful careers in stand-up comedy and television, appearing on the popular HBO program, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Along the way, Garlin has attempted feature film direction, helming “I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With” and the improvised comedy, “Dealing with Idiots.” Both were highly amusing efforts that showcased Garlin’s comfort with actors and stillness, trying to find the funny in awkward encounters and everyday frustrations. Taking a slight detour into genre moviemaking, Garlin mounts “Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie,” a strange whodunit that adds to his cinematic interests in weird wit, once again turning to a talented cast to make magic in a relatively calm, but silly, manner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When one considers the filmography of director Doug Liman, a certain adrenaline level comes to mind. He’s a helmer who embraces the visceral possibilities of cinema, drawn to stories that emphasize physical peril and group mayhem, and he’s quite good at making a sweat-drenched mess. Think about efforts such as “The Bourne Identity,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” which all shared delirious peaks of bold action, mixing raw energy with precise chorography. “The Wall” brings Liman to the Iraq War, but instead of going haywire with an oft-used setting, he settles into a simple study of battling temperaments and survival skills in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, “The Wall” is a disappointment, carrying more of an iffy experimental tone than a richly suspenseful atmosphere, watching the production try to cook up something heart-racing with almost nothing to work with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Tracktown” is all about the details. Making her feature-length co-writing/co-directing/acting debut is Alexi Pappas, an accomplished long-distance runner and recent Olympian trying to bring elements of her life to the screen. Playing to her strengths, Pappas tells the story of a young runner suddenly facing the pressures of a world beyond training and competition, joining fellow filmmaker Jeremy Teicher to give “Tracktown” a lived-in feel to help inspire a bizarre coming-of-age story. Delayed adolescence, first romance, and mother issues generate the drama of the effort, but Pappas and Teicher are at their best with the particulars of the running world, giving the movie a distinct personality when it moves away from formula and samples athlete routine, allowing its star to relax and simply exist in the world she’s creating. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Following the recent “Dad’s Army,” “Whisky Galore” is another remake that looks to revisit beloved British material with contemporary timing. It’s a reworking of a 1949 Ealing Studios Comedy, making another pass at a strange but true World War II story, offering director Gillies MacKinnon (“The Playboys,” “Hideous Kinky”) a chance to reassess older material with some degree of hindsight, permitted a shot at fixing the shortcomings of the original picture. Unfortunately, MacKinnon doesn’t reach down deep enough, showing signs of stress as he juggles the broadly comedic movements of “Whisky Galore” and its often sobering sentimental side. It’s a digestible feature, a safe matinee choice, and while it’s easy on the senses, it could be strong and should be funnier. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Grief, and its many stages of evolution, is the focus of “Violet,” which marks the feature-length directorial debut for Bas Devos (who also scripts). Following a chain of artistic freedom that wraps around the works of Bela Tarr and, soon after, latter-era Gus Van Sant, Devos devotes himself to the power of film imagery, telling as much of the story in silence, permitting cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis full command of the effort, dictating moods with shots that either ripple with meaning or trail off into nothingness. “Violet” is a specialized sit for a specific moviegoer, dealing with death in a manner that feels distant for much of the picture, yet the pain of loss comes surging into view periodically. While Devos gets a little too wrapped up in his process, trying to remain elusive, he certainly has a vision for the endeavor that braids art with ache, looking to make sense of personal loss. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While hardly a risk for Marvel Studios, the 2014 release of “Guardians of the Galaxy” was a bit of a curveball for comic book movie enthusiasts. Up to this point, it was mostly a brand name business, with the studio careful to use their biggest names to help secure what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Guardians of the Galaxy” didn’t offer superheroes, just various aliens, sold with a funky presence by co-writer/director James Gunn, who used a tightly curated soundtrack and bottomless enthusiasm for fantasy shenanigans to bring fringe characters to the big leagues of multiplex domination, with audiences falling in love with the rag-tag band of outsiders and their newfound interest in helping those in need. It was an exhaustively charming film, but it also provided a challenge for Gunn, who left plenty of mysteries to solve if a sequel should ever arise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To pull off a disaster movie set inside a high school, animation is the only art form left to handle the enormity and fantasy of the event. Death and destruction are contained within “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea,” a darkly comedic take on adolescent survival (both literal and social) from writer/director Dash Shaw, who examines the plight of a crumbling school with emphasis on quirky, psychedelic visuals and distinctive voice work. “My High School Sinking Into the Sea” isn’t a major offering of animation, but it’s wonderfully creative in its approach to doomsday, with Shaw arranging an idiosyncratic tour of behavior and physical challenges that permit him time to conjure a charmingly low-fi world of teen neuroses. It’s strange work, but accomplished and quite funny when it wants to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While there’s a grand tradition of comedies about stalkers, or at least unstable people, it’s “The Cable Guy” that generally stands out at a particularly pointed look at the difficulties of an unwanted friendship as it evolves from careful pleasantries to something more sinister and consuming. The woefully underrated 1996 Ben Stiller film appears to be an influence on “Another Evil,” which moves the concept of professionalism gone mad to a single cabin location, pitting two characters against each other in a strange waiting game of companionship, which is shadowed by the relative urgency of ghost hunting. Writer/director Carson D. Mell delights in all the discomfort he can provide, overcoming a minuscule budget with a strong sense of dark humor and terrific eye for casting, with stars Mark Proksch and Steve Zissis handling degrees of insanity with outstanding timing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com