Category: Film Review

Fans of director Park Chan-wook usually respond to the helmer’s specific way of plot construction and visual intricacy, as detailed in movies such as “Oldboy,” “Lady Vengeance,” and even his last picture, the English-language chiller “Stoker.” Park has a knack for such tightly stitched filmmaking, and he brings his cinematic fetishes to “The Handmaiden,” which resembles much of his previous work, blending darkly comic material with lush direction. As extensive a puzzle as Park has ever attempted, “The Handmaiden” has no shortage of plot twists and turns, delighting in its winding presentation, which successfully wards away predictability by encouraging games of secrecy and personal history. It’s a fine effort from a justifiably lauded creative force who lives to toy with his audience, often employing gruesome developments to do so. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The zombie apocalypse travels to rural Minnesota in “Zombies,” which tries to ride a prominent trend around a crowded pop culture block. Writer/director Hamid Torabpour doesn’t bring much originality or even basic pace to the effort, but if one is solely in the mood to watch the undead being stomped by heavily armed survivors, one could do worse than “Zombies.” It’s unpolished, sketchily performed, and knows very little about screen movement, making the horror extravaganza disappointing to those who demand a fatter budget when depicting the last, bloody days of humanity. Torabpour isn’t messing around when it comes to waves of the titular threat, keeping the feature stocked with rotted flesh and hungry citizens, but the movie isn’t refined, often coming off amateurish once Torabpour pushes for deeper meaning than what’s typically afforded to a crude zombie showdown. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2012’s “Jack Reacher” was an unusual film. An adaptation of the Lee Child book “One Shot,” the feature brought the bulky character of Jack Reacher to the big screen, providing star Tom Cruise with a specific acting challenge of toughness, which he pulled off well for writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. It was an actioner with a unique rhythm, exploding with crunching metal and heavy fists before dealing with an unsatisfying story. The picture did okay at the box office, nothing outrageous, but Cruise has elected to try his luck the character again, returning to avenger duty in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” but this time without the guidance of McQuarrie. His absence is strangely felt throughout the follow-up, which takes the pure intimidation and smarts of the titular character and sets him loose in a shockingly lumpy, lobotomized thriller, which often resembles a television pilot rather than a major movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s surprising to note that “Boo! A Madea Halloween” is the first Tyler Perry feature to hit screens in over two years, with the prolific filmmaker (who averaged two productions per year at one point) taking a break from cinematic pursuits to build a television empire. He wasn’t missed, but time has come to return Madea to multiplexes, and she’s bringing more holiday mischief, with “Boo! A Madea Halloween” following up “A Madea Christmas.” The abrasive character seems like a true fit for the spooky season, and the potential is unexpectedly there to showcase Madea as a next-gen ghostbuster, taking on urban troublemakers with her unique brand of yelling and slapping. Instead of invention, Perry makes the same old movie, recycling his once powerful formula (box office grosses are trending downward) to give the target audience exactly what they expect. The effort has no tricks, and it’s definitely not a treat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Fear, Inc.” began life as a short film, and it’s easy to tell such narrative limitation while watching its feature-length expansion. Screenwriter Luke Barnett has a wonderful idea to help twist the horror genre, crafting a tale where terror and murder are requested by individuals searching for a fresh kick in their dreary lives. It’s like “Saw” in a way, only the victims demand the utmost in intimidation. However, stretching the plot to 90 minutes proves too difficult for Barnett, who tries to massage the material by introducing a self-referential approach, making “Fear, Inc.” a “Scream” knockoff, and an easily fatigued one at that. Big frights and laughs are in short supply here, keeping the viewing experience strangely deflated, especially when the central concept of doomsday participation is primed for a robust exploration. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

That “Ouija: Origin of Evil” manages to top its predecessor, 2014’s “Ouija,” isn’t a particularly astonishing achievement. While inoffensive, the original wasn’t made with care, churned out to fill a Halloween release slot, offering PG-13 thrills and chills to younger audiences in need of a distraction. Instead of sequelizing the profitable movie, the producers head back to the beginning, kind of, taking the prequel route to unearth a fresh round of scares tied to the demonic wonders of a Hasbro board game. The change in scenery and period is welcome, but more important is the talent involved, with co-writer/director Mike Flanagan (“Oculus,” “Hush”) putting in substantial labor to make sure his take on the “Ouija” world is exciting, nightmarish, and overall menacing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The saga of 1994’s “The Fantastic Four” is no Hollywood secret. Over the last two decades, details have leaked about the film’s quickie production and aborted release, with the picture eventually discarded altogether after some promotional work was already underway. It’s one of those industry black eyes, and while journalistic endeavors have explored the creation and disintegration of “The Fantastic Four,” director Marty Langford looks to dig deeper with “Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four,” constructing a documentary that collects stories from those on the front lines. It’s not a cheery tale of creative and financial success, but it delivers a wider appreciation of what was attempted in the 1990s, with B-movie imagination eclipsing the blockbuster intentions later iterations of the property attempted. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While he hasn’t exclusively worked in the genre, writer/director Ti West is usually labeled a horror filmmaker, building his reputation with interesting efforts (“The Innkeepers” and “House of the Devil”), while his last picture, “The Sacrament,” replicated real-world agony with its take on the Jonestown Massacre. Changing up the career view, West embarks on a western showdown tale with “In a Valley of Violence,” challenging his helming skills with a homage to spaghetti westerns, having a ball highlighting all the evil men are capable of. It’s a doozy of a movie, refreshingly spare and focused on the essentials of the tradition, showcasing West’s continued development into a memorable creative force. It’s raw work, but “In a Valley of Violence” snowballs into superbly suspenseful cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Spy comedies are all the rage these days, recently explored in the aptly titled “Spy” and last spring’s disaster, “The Brothers Grimsby.” “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is the PG-13 take on broad adventuring, and its gentleness almost feels like a straitjacket, watching director Greg Mottola figure out a way to make hackneyed writing moderately interesting. He fails, as there aren’t any real jokes in the picture, just pratfalls and tedious encounters with improvisation. “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is safe, borderline cuddly, but this subgenre deserves a more aggressive take on bumbling characters and violent situations. The feature has cast members capable of doing anything, but they master next to nothing, keeping the movie passive and unimaginative. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The trials of adolescence are taken for a surreal joyride in “Girl Asleep.” An Australian production, the picture already has a healthy sense of humor, but Matthew Whittet’s screenplay yearns for something more when dealing with the anxiety of a 14-year-old girl taking a grand birthday leap to a new year of development and socialization. The film is frequently hilarious, boasting a sense of humor that’s a blend of Jared Hess and Wes Anderson, but there’s a dramatic aspect to the effort that’s presented in a theatrical manner, taking viewers into a fantasy world that pinpoints the battle of personal growth in a more literal manner. “Girl Asleep” is highly creative work from Rosemary Myers (making her directorial debut), and while she hasn’t mastered tonal changes, she’s beginning a promising career with this endearingly oddball movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2008, director Courtney Hunt collected critical acclaim for her debut feature, “Frozen River.” She excelled with the intimate character study, establishing nuance and vividness of location, promising a bright career to come. Momentum stopped, or at least slowed with work on television, but Hunt finally returns to screens with “The Whole Truth,” losing her indie spirit in the intervening years. Reviving the legal drama, once so popular in the 1970s and ‘80s, Hunt and screenwriter Rafael Jackson hope to recapture the thrill of sketchy testimony shared by shady witnesses, while touching on the iffy moral core of a lawyer in charge of shaping a version of reality to benefit his case. “The Whole Truth” is compelling, supported by an unusual cast, but Hunt doesn’t bring grit to this mainstream event, which gradually evolves into Grisham-esque nonsense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“American Pastoral” is a good reminder that not every book needs a cinematic adaptation. The film is based on a 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning Philip Roth novel, which intricately stitched together emotional wreckage and culture shock, using the passage of time to detail political and social cancers coming after the post-WWII generation. First time director Ewan McGregor mostly does away with Roth’s details, reimagining the story as a soap opera featuring a dysfunctional family hit with extraordinary changes during the 1960s and ‘70s. “American Pastoral” is ambitious but it’s also a mess, a colossal one at times, spotlighting McGregor’s tone-deaf way with drama and the feature’s inability to find order in Roth’s plotting, jumping from scene to scene without cohesion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Good Kids” was included on the 2011 Black List, an annual Hollywood guide to the “most liked” screenplays. It’s a strange bit of trivia for the film, as it features a scene where the lead character tries to speed up the healing process of a yeast infection by submerging his penis in a cup of yogurt. I wouldn’t trust the Black List. The ghost of “American Pie” haunts “Good Kids,” which aims to provide a bawdy time at the movies, tracking a coming-of-age summer for a group of overachievers, who experience all the sex, drugs, and stupidity they can handle. While a comedy, the picture offers few laughs, generally avoiding any basis in reality to become a cartoon with the occasional blip of sensitivity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s brave of writer/director Angad Aulakh to make a movie like “Autumn Lights,” which defies modern editorial requirements by playing out as slowly as possible, even making a few full stops during its run time. Calling this film slow-burn doesn’t even describe the picture’s movement — it’s defiantly glacial, almost to a point of parody. Aulakh (making his feature-length helming debut) is paying tribute to the gods of European cinema with his tale of disturbance and seduction, trying his luck with an old-fashioned Bergman effort in 2016. “Autumn Lights” benefits from impressive digital cinematography and glorious Icelandic locations, but it’s such a specific viewing experience, demanding those sitting down with it to completely relax expectations and possibly hope as well. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Mattel Entertainment would like to be a major player in the Hollywood franchise game. Rival Hasbro has the “Transformers” series, and the world is already in love with superhero cinema, so it makes sense that the company would try to join the profit marathon with “Max Steel,” which is inspired by a toy line from 2000. Already reworked for a few animated shows and DVD releases, “Max Steel” finally receives a medium-budget big screen adventure. However, instead of playing to the fanbase, the production wants to restart the machine, cooking up an origin story that takes the entirety of the feature to work through. That’s right, there’s barely any Max Steel in his titular extravaganza, which instead sets out to establish the character and his multiple working parts, showing more interest in exposition than action, which makes one wonder why Mattel is even bothering with the effort if they have no desire to exploit the brand name in full. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The last time Christopher Guest directed a feature, it was 2006’s “For Your Consideration.” After riding high with faux documentaries such as “Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman,” and “A Mighty Wind,” Guest seemed tired of the comedic routine, using “For Your Consideration” to test some tonal challenges, which gradually soiled the jokes. After a decade-long break from movies, Guest returns with “Mascots,” but his fatigue hasn’t abated, putting in half-hearted effort with a surefire concept. The film isn’t without laughs, but there’s substantial distance between chuckles, making the bulk of the viewing experience a waiting game for Guest to spring to life and deliver the crushing gags and eccentric personalities that once came so easily to him. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps on a quest to establish his own series of actioners, Ben Affleck settles into a version of “The Bourne Identity” with “The Accountant,” matching colleague Matt Damon in icy stares and blunt hand-to-hand combat. While the feature doesn’t quite have the same globetrotting expanse as the Damon franchise, it shares a similar interest in character, taking on an almost obsessive need to get to the bottom of everyone on screen, even if the picture doesn’t need the explanations. “The Accountant” is a slow-burn thriller with plenty of detail, but it’s not a creation that stirs up the senses, with director Gavin O’Connor crafting only a passably interesting puzzle aided considerably by the cast. It’s a bruiser, no doubt, but not always as engrossing as it could be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

For fans of Adult Swim and finer examples of “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” craziness, “The Greasy Strangler” is probably going to seem familiar. It’s the latest offering of anti-comedy, where the jokes don’t necessarily come from punchlines or situations, but the silences between absurdities, which are cranked up to 11. Co-writer/director Jim Hosking aims to weird out the world with this offering, which ladles on grossness and embraces awkwardness, working to find laughs in the middle of ugliness. And it works with certain expectations and permissiveness. The world of “The Greasy Strangler” is hilarious for stretches of screentime, but the film is also determined to frustrate viewers, succeeding more often than not. It’s a bizarre movie, and not one to be watched casually, targeting a special demographic used to repulsive imagery and grotesque characterization. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Picking a provocative release date, “Desierto” is unleashed on American audiences right before the Presidential election season comes to a close. It’s a tale of illegal Mexican immigration, but executed as a thriller, playing a cat-and-mouse game with broadly defined characters and extended chase sequences. Appreciation for its construction should be universal, as director Jonas Cuaron (son of producer Alfonso Cuaron) keeps the central chase taut and characterization economical. It’s the feature’s politics that will likely polarize viewers, with Cuaron (co-scripting with Mateo Garcia) going full black hat/white hat with the picture, underlining toxic patriotism and pure intentions to make sure the back row understands the conflict. “Desierto” is an effective nail-biter, which ends up saving the movie as it tries to turn a straightforward survival game into “Fox News vs. the World.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actors are typically hired to portray aging rock stars, offered a chance to show off range playing characters usually facing some type of generational exposure or domestic catastrophe. “Ordinary World” tries to separate itself from the pack by hiring an actual musician in the lead role, and one who’s still in demand today. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong stars in the feature, graduating from periodic supporting parts and cameos to carrying an entire picture, giving “Ordinary World” a touch of authenticity behind the microphone. It’s the suburban dad routine that’s less credible when it comes to Armstrong, who tries to keep a stiff script by director Lee Kirk relaxed with a casual turn as a once snarling dude turned into a family man. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com