Category: Film Review

21 years ago, “Trainspotting” arrived in America. Depicting a heroin hell populated with Scotland’s worst, the picture became a cult hit, reaching a generation that demanded their own story of self-destruction, sold with extreme style by director Danny Boyle and soaked in sneering mockery by screenwriter John Hodge (adapting the book by Irvine Welsh). Two decades later, “Trainspotting 2” has materialized (the actual title is “T2 Trainspotting,” but, come on, there’s only one “T2,” and it’s not a Danny Boyle movie), and it wisely doesn’t try to compete with what’s come before. Building on the idea of lost years and wayward lives, “Trainspotting 2” manages to be a deeper, more meaningful chapter in this brain-scrambled saga, enjoying the rush of nostalgia and renewed danger as it deals with a crisis that’s more universal than substance abuse: aging. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Alice Lowe has amassed a substantial amount of credits as a character actress, making brief appearances in “The World’s End,” “Locke,” and “Paddington.” Her most substantial screen role was found in “Sightseers,” a wonderful dark comedy from director Ben Wheatley, who showed uncharacteristic focus and made the most of Lowe’s screen presence. Taking command of her professional future, Lowe makes her directorial debut with “Prevenge,” also scripting herself a prime role in a slasher film that’s more about the anxieties of motherhood than the piling of dead bodies. Crafted with wit, terrific performances, and some unexpected trips into the gore zone, “Prevenge” is striking work from Lowe, who not only understands the constant concerns that swirl around the journey of pregnancy, but she’s good with violence as well, keeping the feature suspenseful when it isn’t refreshingly insightful. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Much pre-release hype has collected over “Raw,” which shocked some audience members to a point of physical illness during its film festival debut, offering the type of “dare to see it” publicity every movie studio dreams about. The reality is, “Raw” isn’t that extreme, and those who embrace the horror genre on a regular basis are likely going to feel underwhelmed by the grisliness of the effort, which is regulated to only a few brief scenes. Thankfully, the rest of “Raw” is interesting enough to pass, with writer/director Julia Ducournau picking apart femininity and sexual awakening with this tale of cannibalism, constructing a stylish coming-of-age chiller that’s big on bodily fluids and Italian cinema worship. The endeavor is certainly graphic, but it’s also patient with its reveals, which doesn’t always mesh with its shock value intent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Throughout his career, David Byrne has been committed to the arts. World famous for his years as the lead singer of Talking Heads, Byrne has devoted himself to the ways of creation, taking his vision to museums, theaters, and even city streets. And now Byrne has turned his attention to the color guard, an often disregarded dance tradition looking for its moment in the spotlight. “Contemporary Color” is a celebration of music and the color guard, paired with live performances for an evening of musicianship and physical challenges, watching high school heroes put their heart and souls into intense choreography, offered a rare shot at visibility for an art form that demands intense timing, flexibility, and enthusiasm, with Byrne curating the eclectic soundtrack of the evening. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To best detail the end of humanity, it’s interesting to visit a corner of the world that hasn’t found finality yet. “Bokeh” (which takes its name from a photographic event) isn’t a disaster movie, but it does venture into the great unknown within an empty world, following two lovers into the wilds of Iceland, which has become the place to be for recent film productions looking for unusual scenery to backdrop dramatic endeavors. The unthinkable and unknowable occurs in “Bokeh,” but writer/directors Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan don’t indulge spectacle. Instead, they make a relationship picture, and one with atypical points of stress, hoping to find the nuances of love and survival as two people spending time together are left with only each other, struggling to make sense of their new reality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marking their second collaboration, Kristin Stewart once again submits to the enigmatic ways of writer/director Olivier Assayas, following up their lauded work on “Clouds of Sils Maria” with “Personal Shopper,” which once again tempts the troublesome actress into the light of adult performances. Teasing horror highlights with his take on grief and the ghostly beyond, Assayas instead plays a familiar game of misdirection, trying to lure audiences in with spooky events, but never settling anywhere significant, electing to float around sponging up behaviors and revelations. “Personal Shopper” is also a struggle for Stewart, who puts in a professional effort to communicate inner turmoil, but often falls back on fingers-through-the-hair indication that undermines the subtle rise in uncertainty Assayas is ultimately hunting for.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Before he became the affable architect of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise, director James Gunn was once a filmmaker who reveled in extreme violence, always sold with a dark sense of humor. With credits such as “Super” and “Slither,” Gunn’s particular way with tone was always polarizing, and while he doesn’t helm “The Belko Experiment,” his inky fingerprints are all over this oddball slaughterhouse movie. Gunn hands control to Greg McLean, who tries to keep up with Gunn’s scripted vision for nonstop carnage, but so much suffering and whiffed jokes tends to wear down any possible appreciation of the material’s study of abominable human behavior. Gunn cherry picks from the boldest in battle royal cinema (including the 2000 Japanese cult hit, “Battle Royale”), but doesn’t sharpen the effort into a fine point, content to manufacture a massacre, but wary of assigning any deeper meaning to it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The oddly titled “Mean Dreams” is reminiscent of “Mud,” the 2013 Jeff Nichols picture that explored adolescent awakening in the great outdoors while maintaining suspense from troublesome adults. While it doesn’t share the same poetic qualities, “Mean Dreams” has a compelling way with young hearts blurring critical decision making skills, with director Nathan Morlando maintaining a consistent mood of contemplation and confrontation, filling up the effort with enough feeling and tension to satisfy. Morlando does an excellent job tapping into the thought process of a juvenile in love, sustaining that behavioral authenticity as it snowballs out of control, allowing the story to feel energetic when it’s actually formulaic, finding the helmer skilled enough to reanimate clichés. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While it resembles a typical teen picture centered on community shenanigans and troubled times, it’s a relief to report that “Deidre and Laney Rob a Train” has some defined spunk to help it navigate a plot that plays tribute to heist movies and makes time to deal with broken hearts. It’s the latest from director Sydney Freeland, who’s enjoying her most high profile gig to date, coming through with a brightly performed and thoughtfully written (by Shelby Farrell) dramedy that takes time to celebrate individuality, the value of education, and confront the universal fear of change. “Deidre and Laney Rob a Train” can be a silly film, but its heart is always in the right place, supplying meaningful themes and characterization, which are always supported by fantastic performances. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The experience of fraternity pledging is usually depicted a certain way, putting heavy emphasis on the brutality of hazing rituals, which often push pledge minds and bodies to the breaking point, guaranteeing lasting loyalty. Rarely does a film showcase the initiation process as one of hearty exchanges and firm handshakes. “Burning Sands” is the latest in a long line of college disaster movies, but it manages to locate a few new avenues of humiliation to explore, taking in the choreographed barbarity of fraternity life at a black college, pitting the savagery of daily abuse against clearness of though provided by historical leaders who’ve truly gone through their own version of hell night. “Burning Sands” has a problem with formula and predictability, but it’s also distinct in its point of view, with co-writer/director Gerald McMurray creating terrific scenes of anxiety and confusion to help support a periodically disappointing feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Douglas Schulze should be commended for at least trying to pull off something a little different. “The Dark Below” is thriller cinema, and a B-movie that’s searching for ways to unsettle its audience, also hunting for a gimmick that might help the feature to stand out from the genre pack. First and foremost, the film is partially set underwater, with the lead character struggling to survive under ice. Secondly, there’s no dialogue for the majority of the effort, with Schulze using silence as a way to shake up expectations. “The Dark Below” supplies an unusual viewing experience, but not a satisfying one, with Schulze coming up short in the chills department, exhausting the audience with iffy offerings of style that do next to nothing for the endeavor’s fear factor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Like many B-movies, “Atomica” submits a vision for the end of the world. However, it’s a slow ride in planetary decay and filmmaking, with director Dagen Merrill struggling to make a picture that’s basically conversational in nature exciting. There’s some design effort at work in the feature, which gives it a visual presence despite a clear lack of funds to truly bring a dying Earth to life, but “Atomica,” which aims to increase tension through a story of questionable identities and industrial exploration, rarely has the emphasis an endeavor like this requires to rise above its limited means. Merrill wants to transform limited spaces and dark motivations into a Hitchcockian ride, but it rarely grips as tightly as the production would like. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With the release of 2014’s “Godzilla,” Legendary Entertainment kicked off the “MonsterVerse,” their answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only instead of costumed superheroes, the company’s features will tie together building-sized creatures unsure if they want to tolerate or decimate humankind. From a moneymaking standpoint, it’s a tired idea, with seemingly everything open for franchise material these days, but Legendary has enthusiasm for their monsters, building on a best parts of “Godzilla” to inspire “Kong: Skull Island,” which turns the tragic super-ape into a ferocious defender of his jungle territory. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts keeps up the pace, but also spends time on his “Apocalypse Now” and “Jurassic Park” fandom, pouring his energy into a lively picture that brings out a fresh side of the titular menace, making the effort less about broken hearts and stunning beauty, and more about pummeling puny invaders. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2013, director Mike Mendez broke through with “Big Ass Spider,” which miraculously turned a basic monster movie premise into an entertaining ride of thrills and comedy. The film showcased what Mendez was capable of doing with a limited budget and cast, giving the picture some scale to compete with trends in wink-happy schlockbusters. I didn’t make time for the follow-up, “Lavalantula,” which was more of a “Police Academy” reunion than a creature feature, and 2016’s “The Last Heist” was fairly forgettable. Thankfully, Mendez returns to form with “Don’t Kill It,” a wild and inventive comedic chiller that really doesn’t have much of a budget, with the production working extra hard to give the effort some presence with lighting and mayhem, putting its faith in the power of gore and the charms of its lead actor, Dolph Lundgren. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2015, director Alex Gibney created “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” a documentary that attempted to cut the religious organization deep, exposing its curious and possibly destructive practices to the world, with hopes to disturb its secretive methods of physical and mental control. The picture was a smash success, attracting near-record viewers during its HBO debut, bringing Scientology back into the national conversation, stirring up fascinating debate on its methodology. Last year, the show “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” aired to high ratings, providing a look at someone once part of the machine now facing a future away from her once vital network of support, with the actress growing critical of Scientology, dissecting it with an insider’s perspective. And now it’s Louis Theroux turn to take Scientology for a spin, though his documentary, “My Scientology Movie,” isn’t nearly as dire, tracking the comedian’s attempt to replicate the experience of the religion instead of merely highlighting its fallacies, dangers, and mystery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a cult following for 2001’s “Haiku Tunnel,” and those people are going to be very happy that brothers Jacob and Josh Kornbluth have finally decided to return to the source of their only big screen success, albeit unconventionally. In many ways, “Love & Taxes” is another pass at “Haiku Tunnel” without remaking the whole thing, offering writer/star Josh Kornbluth a chance to explain his tumultuous life during the creation of the earlier picture, and doing so in the monologue format, where he’s most comfortable. It’s a performance piece broken up with dramatic interpretations of key events, delivering a mischievous take on Josh’s profound tax problems while director Jacob tries to transform stage work into a beguiling no-budget version of his brother’s ruined life. “Love & Taxes” is a bit unsteady at times, but Kornbluth charm and eccentricity remains as potent now as it was 16 years ago. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To his literal credit, writer/director Martin Koolhoven takes complete responsibility for his latest endeavor, which is titled “Koolhoven’s Brimstone” on the print, picking up where artists such as John Carpenter and Lars von Trier have left off. While there’s undeniable production heft on display throughout the picture, it’s Koolhoven who’s standing up for the effort, which concentrates on lessons of punishment in the American west, frosted with incestual appetites, ultraviolence, and a 148 minute run time. “Brimstone” is punishment, but that’s the idea, trying to inflict as much pain as possible as it explores kinks and sadism, bending genre traditions with an unnerving fixation on prolonged suffering. It’s a brutal film, in aggression and pacing, and I can only hope some of Koolhoven’s helming fee went to some badly needed therapy sessions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Disney has been doing very well with their recent corporate decision to make live-action versions of their animated classics, putting a new coat of paint on old stories and familiar characters, with passable interest in restoring elements of source material. “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Jungle Book” both made a billion dollars at the box office, while “Cinderella” made half as much but won the war of quality. Now the suits have turned their attention to “Beauty and the Beast,” which, to many admirers, is considered one of the finest Disney animated efforts of all time. And what better way to celebrate such an important chapter in the studio’s history than to mount a live-action take that’s largely without heart, soul, musical achievement, visual appeal, and judicious editing. Perhaps maybe, just maybe, we should all confront the reality that Bill Condon isn’t a very effective director. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Before I Fall” isn’t a faith-based production (at least not an overt one), but it provides one of the more stimulating spiritual stories of the past filmgoing year. An adaptation of a 2010 novel by Lauren Oliver, the production does indulge its YA origins, keeping matters of the heart close to the humiliation of high school and home life, but there’s more here than initially meets the eye. Once the feature purges most of its juvenile behavior, it settles into an engrossing study of personal awakening and, gasp, kindness, staying on message as it files through the usual teenage concern. “Before I Fall” isn’t stunning, but that it works at all is kind of miraculous, treating its characters with dignity and taking their hidden concerns seriously. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Jeffrey Blitz hasn’t made a feature film in a decade, and there’s a very good reason why. “Table 19” is his first big screen effort since 2007’s “Rocket Science,” and it’s an attempt to get his helming groove back after years in television, put in command of a screenplay co-conceived by indie golden boys, Jay and Mark Duplass. An overstuffed, undernourished attempt to turn a wedding reception into an intimate character study, “Table 19” isn’t funny and it certainly isn’t profound, stuck in neutral with deeply disturbing, virtually unexplained characterizations and random editing, helping to repeatedly disrupt what initially appears to be a farce, but soon reaches clumsily for something deeper. Blitz is lost here, flailing with terrible scenes, trying to make something meaningful stick with stillborn material and a dead-eyed cast. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com