Category: Film Review

Sometime over the last decade, director Antoine Fuqua got angry. Always a middling director with a love of action, Fuqua sampled excessive violence with 2007’s “Shooter,” but lost his mind with 2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen,” which showed absolute glee in depicting mass murder. The reign of terror continued in 2014’s “The Equalizer,” which took a simple television program about revenge and transformed it into a bloodbath. Fuqua enjoys senseless brutality, which surely helps to distract from storytelling deficiencies, but now he’s walking on hallowed ground with “The Magnificent Seven,” which is largely regarded as one of the finest westerns ever made. The helmer meets the challenge of remake cinema with both fists clenched, ordering up an extended bruiser that revels in brutality, doing away with the restraint of the 1960 classic, replacing widescreen majesty with meaningless savagery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the screenplay for “My Blind Brother, writer Sophie Goodhart (who also makes her directorial debut) challenges the delicate nature of physical disabilities, crafting a comedy that portrays everyone with the same amount of anxieties and flaws, only the able-bodied are a little more sensitive to personal issues. It’s a smart script, resulting in a funny but fascinating study of people trying to be kind and considerate, but somehow losing themselves in the process, which is more of universal feeling than perhaps Goodhart understands. While modest work, “My Blind Brother” shows depth and courage when it comes to darkly comic scenes, with the helmer doing a skilled job of juggling tone while she encourages laughs from unexpected places. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In terms of pop culture history and general geekdom, there are few actors as globally recognized as Leonard Nimoy. Portraying Spock on “Star Trek,” Nimoy’s three-year-long tour of duty on primetime television turned into a lifetime of professional opportunities, giving the actor a flavorful life even while inhabiting a single character for decades. “For the Love of Spock” doesn’t attempt to dissect Nimoy’s life in full, but it does provide a fascinating overview of the man’s rise to stardom and his struggles to keep his career interesting. The documentary’s POV is unique, with Leonard’s son Adam Nimoy stepping up to identify his father as a man and an icon, asking friends and family to help assess an extraordinary existence filled with art, fame, pointy ears, and love. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Goat” is the nickname for a fraternity pledge — a subservient, humiliated young man forced to participate in the worst hazing collegiate minds can conjure just for a chance to fit in and belong to a brotherhood. Co-writer/director Andrew Neel doesn’t skimp on the ghoulish details of fraternity pledging, trying to make “Goat” a powerful document of abuse and privilege while still itemizing all the horrors that go along with the process. It’s often ugly and eye-opening, but what Neel is missing is soulfulness, lacking a human touch in a picture that frequently goes for shock value under the guise of authenticity. “Goat” isn’t a powerful feature, and while details of the crime stick to the senses, little dramatic muscle is flexed, keeping the effort frustratingly distant when it clearly aims for the heart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In recent years, Hollywood has shown an interest in the terror potential of the dybbuk, a malicious spirit often associated with the unfinished business of the dead. With “The Unborn” and “The Possession,” the wrath of the dybbuk was cranked up to spook PG-13 audiences, playing with fantasy and fear to give the demonic presence a cinematic edge. It’s up to a Polish film like “Demon” to set the record straight. Co-writer/director Marcin Wrona strips away visual effects and noise to play a possession rather straightforwardly, depending on the actors to make up for a lack of screen anarchy. Considering the picture is about a supernatural event, “Demon” plays things with a degree of subtlety, embracing the oddity of the event instead of the intensity. It isn’t always out a frighten audiences, but Wrona has some strong ideas about the hollowing out of a man’s soul that keeps the effort engrossing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

The question isn’t if “I.T.” is one of the worst films of the year (it most certainly is), but why does John Moore continue to receive directing assignments? The helmer of “Behind Enemy Lines,” “Flight of the Phoenix” (remake), “The Omen” (remake), “Max Payne,” and the soul-crushing “A Good Day to Die Hard,” Moore hasn’t delivered anything remotely close to a suspenseful moment, original image, or dramatic movement for as long as he’s been working in Hollywood. It’s shocking that he still finds work, and “I.T.” represents his lowest creative point yet. An abysmal, trashy thriller that has no concept of character, escalation, or resolution, the picture simply meanders from scene to scene, picking up whatever sleazy bit of business it can hold in its greasy hands. Moore may think he’s making a provocative statement on the ubiquity of hackable tech, but he’s merely spinning clichés and guiding cringe-inducing performances. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For reasons not clearly understood, “Best Fake Friends” is receiving a modest theatrical release, presumably fulfilling the big screen dreams of director Paul Kampf, who’s been toiling away with homegrown productions for a few years now, perhaps following the Tyler Perry business model of backyard filmmaking. What’s strange here is why Kampf is bothering putting the picture into theaters when it’s obviously best suited for home viewing, with the entire effort assembled with distinct Lifetime Original craftsmanship. “Best Fake Friends” isn’t a good movie, but there are elements that work. Perhaps most damaging to the feature is its lack of cinematic heft, with so much of its “Desperate Housewives” mimicry registering flat and dull. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Since 1991, the “Beauty and the Beast” brand name has been owned by Disney, who turned their animated picture into a box office smash and an Oscar contender. There was a Broadway show and spin-offs, and the company is preparing to renew their pop culture lease with a 2017 live-action adaptation starring Emma Watson as Belle. For director Christophe Gans, the “tale as old as time” demands a return to its fairy tale roots, mounting a semi-traditional take on Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s 1740 story. The helmer behind “Brotherhood of the Wolf” and “Silent Hill,” Gans excels with visuals, and he doesn’t disappoint with his reclamation of “Beauty and the Beast,” which builds a specific world of the unreal to help inspect a core tale of burgeoning passion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We know about “Mr. Church” because of Eddie Murphy. He’s the star of the picture, emerging from a brief hiatus from film acting (last appearing in 2012’s “A Thousand Words”) to participate in a low-key melodrama about a tender relationship between a complicated cook and his young charge. While Murphy has played it straight before (in “Dreamgirls” and parts of “Life”), “Mr. Church” demands the star mute his natural charisma and comedic timing, going bloodless to portray a loyal guardian. Without Murphy, the feature probably wouldn’t see the inside of multiplexes, and he’s easily the best part of the effort, with his stoicism actually refreshing while director Bruce Beresford strives to soak the endeavor in syrup, smothering whatever scope and sincerity the screenplay originally possessed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Bridget Jones. 2004’s much-maligned-but-not-that-bad sequel, “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,” tried to amplify the appeal of 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” overreaching where the original endeavor was effortlessly charming and warmly silly. 12 years is a long time to wait around for the next chapter in the series, and while “Bridget Jones’s Baby” isn’t the perfect sequel, it’s an entertaining one, with returning director Sharon Maguire (who sat out “Edge of Reason”) restoring some character to the slapstick comedy, working hard to make sure Bridget has a little more to do this time than bounce around the frame in a klutzy blur. Timing isn’t quite there, but laughs are plentiful. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1999, “The Blair Witch Project” came out of nowhere, conquering the box office and almost managing to out-buzz “The Phantom Menace” that summer. It was the indie film that could, becoming a sensation that, for a moment, blurred the line between cinema and reality, convincing some that its verite-style haunting in the woods had actually occurred, and we were all watching a snuff movie. With success came a sequel, 2000’s “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2,” which wisely avoided rehashing the original effort, going deeply self-referential, but also amazingly stupid. The Blair Witch phenomenon immediately cooled afterwards, placed on a pop culture display shelf, but it was clear that the lucrative premise wasn’t going to stay dead. And now there’s “Blair Witch,” which is established as a sequel to the 1999 megahit, but is actually a remake, with director Adam Wingard once again entering the deep woods with curious characters, tempting the evil that resides in the dark. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Osmany Rodriguez and Matt Villines (often billed as “Matt and Oz”) built their reputation creating digital shorts on “Saturday Night Live,” constructing oddball music videos and conjuring ideas that often poked fun at dark emotions. Sadly, Villines passed away last July, leaving “Brother Nature,” the pair’s feature-length directorial debut, their final collaboration. Committed to the pursuit of silliness and comedic escalation, Matt and Oz generate an agreeable sense of lunacy with the picture, which shakes up formula through funky characters and strange disasters, doing what they can to disturb expectations with this take on a family vacation nightmare. “Brother Nature” does enough to keep itself alert, and it’s consistently funny, with the helmers wisely populating the cast with “SNL” vets and charming actors to help lubricate the madcap antics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Snowden” plays to director Oliver Stone’s strengths, offering the man who gave the world “Platoon,” “Wall Street,” and “Natural Born Killers” another opportunity to cinematically vivisect American policy and people, continuing his quest to inspire a popcorn-dusted uprising. The saga of Edward Snowden is an obvious match to Stone’s eyes-wide-open worldview, and he brings his helming swagger to the feature, which carefully dramatizes a decade in the life of America’s most famous whistleblower. However, as passionate as Stone is about the material and the man, he doesn’t know what type of film he’s making, keeping “Snowden” trapped somewhere between an intricate bio-pic and the least interesting “Mission: Impossible” sequel ever. Stone has the smarts to make this picture ignite, but he fumbles the tone, which often teeters between terrifying and ridiculous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of “Chariots of Fire” and “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” Hugh Hudson knows his way around a period drama containing heightened historical conflict. But the filmmaker has been away from the camera for 16 years, having slipped creatively with the wooden “I Dream of Africa,” which was almost a parody of his previous work. Hudson finds his balance once again with “Finding Altamira,” which isn’t a flashy effort, and budgetary shortcomings are obvious. It’s heart and passion that drives the feature, which delves into a war between science and religion armed with exaggeration, but star Antonio Banderas manages to find spaces for humanity, delivering a satisfying take on frustration and parental protection as Hudson and his screenwriters trying to dramatize a tricky time in Spanish history. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Good Neighbor” is an intriguing mix of suspense and vulnerability, striving to be a voyeuristic mystery set in today’s omnipresent media society. It’s not a film of big ideas, but it does successfully communicate youthful impulses to destroy just for the opportunity to be part of an event, with desires amplified by YouTube-inspired dreams of video fame and traditional teen bonding. “The Good Neighbor” isn’t a successful movie overall, but parts of it are nicely executed by director Kasra Farahani, who can’t seem to connect individual triumphs in performance and anxiety. It’s provocative work at times, but also painfully obvious, making for an erratic viewing experience where the urge to tune out is periodically interrupted by engrossing turns of plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Daniela Amavia doesn’t make it easy for the audience in “A Beautiful Now.” Inspecting waves of depression and life mismanagement hitting an aging dancer all at once, the picture almost resembles a filmed play, showing most interest in its ensemble and their special ways of working out character detail while managing paragraphs of dialogue. The verbosity of the effort is occasionally aggravating, but the core emotions of “A Beautiful Now” come through with real power at times. Amavia makes her feature-length helming debut here, and she’s managed a sensitive take on gut-rot feelings and suicidal urges, trying to understand the people behind pronounced agitation instead of indulging tiresome hysterics from beginning to end. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Author: The JT LeRoy Story” is a difficult nut to crack. It’s a documentary that doesn’t document anything, instead serving as an opportunity for writer Laura Albert to clarify her intentions when she willfully committed fraud to achieve literary success, generating a persona to help project the authenticity she didn’t necessarily have. She’s a practiced liar, and director Jeff Feuerzeig never bothers to confront her destructive impulses, creating a celebration of deception and the cheap high Albert enjoyed as she played puppet master from 1995-2005. It’s difficult to understand who “Author: The JT LeRoy Story” is for, with fans of LeRoy likely to be disgusted with a front row seat to Albert’s unrepentant opportunism, while newcomers might be bewildered that Feuerzeig felt the need to devote an entire feature to a woman who clearly can’t be trusted to tell the story of her own life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Slow burn doesn’t even begin to describe the “Ixcanul” viewing experience. It’s a film of complete stasis at times, but the fact that writer/director Jayro Bustamante is able to find a mesmerizing creep to the picture is a major achievement. A full immersion into culture, poor decisions, and responsibility, “Ixcanul” is not a feature that exits the system quickly, gradually locating outstanding character detail and, surprisingly, potent social and political commentary, making it much more than an admittedly hypnotic series of thousand yard stares. Bustamante doesn’t have much here besides his evocative vision, but he makes his moments count, following a plot that’s filled with common adolescent blues and disasters, yet arrives at a completely unpredictable destination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screen Gems has a September formula, and it’s been working wonderfully for the studio. They struck gold with 2009’s “Obsessed,” finding an audience hungry for thrillers featuring unhinged characters and wild acts of survival. In 2014, “No Good Deed” did well, and 2015’s “The Perfect Guy” also successfully milked the genre. And now there’s “When the Bough Breaks,” their latest offering of exploitation, this time taking on the world of surrogacy and youthful instability. It’s a pre-heated slice of PG-13 escapism from director Jon Cassar, who did a nice job with last winter’s Keifer Sutherland western, “Forsaken.” However, most moviemaking instincts now fail the helmer, who, after a strong start, cranks up the stupidity of Jack Olsen’s screenplay, ignoring the potential for a clever, devious nail-biter, only interested in making the most obvious visual and dramatic choices with this uninspired picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nearly 15 years ago, director D.J. Caruso graduated from television productions to his first feature-length helming gig, “The Salton Sea.” There was promise in the oddball picture, hinting at grander films to come from the moviemaker. And then Caruso decided to chase studio work with “Disturbia,” “Eagle Eye,” and “I Am Number Four.” Suddenly, seeing Caruso’s name on a production could technically be classified as a threat. “The Disappointments Room” is finally seeing the light of day after multiple delays and the bankruptcy of its releasing studio, but there’s no celebration to be had with this nonsense. Co-scripting with Wentworth Miller, Caruso goes to the murder of children to inspire horrors for “The Disappointments Room,” turning real-world anguish into B-movie exploitation, sold with stale style and unexpectedly amateurish performances. It was on the shelf for years, and it should’ve stayed there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com