Category: Film Review

As the big guys and gals of superhero legend slowly wind down their cinematic reign, more obscure characters are now being tested for multiplex domination. “Deadpool,” which, according the film, takes place in the “X-Men” universe, is perhaps the most daring comic book adaptation yet, with the red-suited antihero a troubling figure of cynicism, sarcasm, and murder, with his journey very different from the troubled but noble titans audiences are used to. Instead of soberly working through yet another origin story, “Deadpool” looks to spice up the norm with a freewheeling sense of humor and loads of R-rated mischief, separating itself from the pack. And it’s a successful experiment, jazzing up the genre with a blast of unexpected energy from an unlikely source. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After taking a detour to make a meditative adventure with 2013’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Ben Stiller is back in the business of being crazy with “Zoolander 2,” his long-awaited sequel to the 2001 hit. Stiller’s always at his best when hip-deep in mischief and slapstick, and while the freshness of the premise is lacking, the sequel’s preference for the absurd is divine, offering a nutso continuation that lives up to the brand name while finding new areas of fashion and media to lampoon. “Zoolander 2” not only satisfies, it explodes with a level of craziness that plays to Stiller’s strengths, making sure to leave the audience with a little more than just rehashed bits. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For more information, please visit soundunseen.com

When the band Twisted Sister comes up in casual conversation (I swear this happens), the first image that usually comes to mind is the cover of the “Stay Hungry” album, which features singer Dee Snider crouched on the floor of an abandoned house, clutching a giant leg of undefined meat while snarling at the camera. It’s the ideal introduction to the group’s legacy, and the entry point for a large number of fans in the 1980s, helping to launch “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” as indefatigable hair metal anthems. And that’s the story most people know. “We Are Twisted F***ing Sister” takes viewers back to the beginnings of the group, with director Andrew Horn meticulously tracking every step of the group’s history, highlighting their unique tale of persistence, survival, and periodic dalliances with bad luck. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s no doubt that “Bad Hurt” is a difficult film to watch, especially as a claustrophobic study of a blue-collar family in the throes of disintegration, filled with enough heartache and tragedy to fill five movies. Miraculously, co-writer/director Mark Kemble discovers a type of beauty in the midst of uneasiness, focusing on the numbing mechanics of routine, the power of myth, and the struggle of love. “Bad Hurt” is powerful work, superbly acted and surprising along the way. Although it makes sure to sand down a few of its rough edges in the end, the material remains startlingly sincere, leading with secure, profound characterizations and a sensational understanding of toxic environments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As B-movie productions go, “Standoff” doesn’t try to be anything more than an intimate showdown between tough guys. It primarily takes place inside a single house, and relies on extended dialogue exchanges to shape most of its story. While other helmers fail to bring to bring their productions to a boil, writer/director Adam Alleca does a fine job with “Standoff,” beating predictability with two strong performances from Thomas Jane and Laurence Fishburne, who breathe life into the feature’s limited scope. Perhaps there’s not much to the effort, but suspense needs are met, while the screenplay preserves a few surprises along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“How to Be Single” arrives in the guise of a female empowerment picture, where the lead characters are tough, independent women who don’t require the comfort of men to enjoy the revelry and adventures of life. At least that’s the idea of the movie for about five minutes, then it’s back to relationship woes and dating scene perils, quickly becoming the very thing it was condemning for a brief, obnoxious moment. A confusing effort from director Christian Ditter, “How to Be Single” at least enjoys pretending to be thematically and emotionally substantial, but the actual feature is a jumble of plots and characters, with no clear way to communicate the state of the sisterhood union. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Michael Moore took a little break from filmmaking after his last effort, 2009’s “Capitalism: A Love Story,” failed to live up to box office expectations set by previous pictures such as “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Moore’s a little out of practice, but he’s lost none of his passion for the docutainment subgenre, returning to theaters with “Where to Invade Next?”, a mostly lighthearted expedition around the globe to collect examples of functional government and social systems that could be transferred to the United States, with Moore our guide into foreign lands working to benefit the greater good. Once again, America and its increasing ills is the helmer’s subject, only for this round of satire and sermonizing, Moore forgets how to juggle his examples, creating an uneven spanking machine that’s only periodically enlightening. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A Swedish actress with dreams of following her vocation to stardom, Ingrid Bergman managed to enchant a worldwide audience during her time in front of a camera, with classics such as “Casablanca,” “Spellbound,” and “The Bells of St. Mary” helping to solidify her status as an industry icon. However, after a charging through a career during her twenties and thirties, Bergman relaxed her desire to act, becoming a mystery to many as she relocated around the globe and enjoyed the comfort of several husbands. “Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words” is director Stig Bjorkman’s attempt to demystify the woman who brought special emotional power to the screen, using access to home movies, diaries, letters, and offspring to shape Bergman’s personality in a way that might surprise even longtime fans. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

25 years ago, the pairing of Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino would’ve guaranteed plump box office returns and film enthusiast concentration, finally bringing acting titans together to have an out-act-athon. In 2016, the thrill is gone, with both men currently scrambling to secure paycheck roles for reasons not entirely understood, willing to torch their legacies for a few extra dollars. While it’s difficult to judge such decision-making, it certainly easy to reject it, with “Misconduct” the latest in a long line of forgettable efforts from both Hopkins and Pacino, who sleepwalk through this dreary, nonsensical movie, professionally trading lines with co-stars as their eyes slowly glaze over. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Joel and Ethan Coen have been to Hollywood before. In 1991’s “Barton Fink,” they constructed a surreal vision of creative Hell, satirizing industry types with a dose of insanity. “Hail, Caesar!” doesn’t share the same interest in self-destruction, but it returns to a position of mischief for the legendary filmmakers, who use the moment to revive and ridicule the Old Hollywood way of business, with its blinding star power, big screen extravaganzas, and habitual troublemaking. While brightly crafted and more playful a picture than “Barton Fink,” “Hail, Caesar!” is missing customary Coen Brother snap. That’s not to suggest it isn’t wonderfully entertaining at times, but the production as a whole seems a little undercooked, perhaps too caught up in the rare opportunity to recreate a specific time in a turbulent business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” has an enormous amount of story to work though, and not a lot of time to do it. It’s an exposition festival peppered with visits from the undead, with nearly every scene packed with one character explaining the rules of this world to another, while the main titles are strictly devoted to a brisk education on the finer points of Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 cult novel. “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is an exhausting picture, madly spinning plates to the best of its ability, but there are moments when the feature's outrageous premise finds inspired execution, or at least takes a minute or two out of its busy schedule to enjoy itself. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Choice” is the 11th Nicholas Sparks novel to make the long journey to the big screen. At this point, it’s difficult to figure out what separates these productions beyond their stars, with the latest effort yet another foray into honeyed North Carolina coastal bliss, idealized romantic, and sudsy melodrama. Despite its comfortable predictability, “The Choice” comes across particularly inept, never paying attention to the toxic central relationship it’s selling and the weirdly dangerous moral it’s manufacturing. Sparks is never one to create gritty displays of human interaction, and the picture is eventually hobbled by its blind obedience to the author’s gooey formula. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What Alejandro Amenabar is looking to achieve with “Regression” and what ultimately ends up on screen are two different things. The director of “Open Your Eyes” and “The Others” returns to his chiller roots with his latest effort, which tries to marry traditional horror stings with a promising dissection of mass hysteria, attempting to bend formula into new and interesting directions. Amenabar doesn’t pull off the tonal experiment, but at least “Regression” strives to shake up expectations. It’s a frustrating sit at times, especially when it serves up the obvious, but there are kernels of invention scattered around the picture that keep it semi-involving, but overall storytelling satisfaction is never found. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a long, hard road to a theatrical release for “Jane Got a Gun.” Hit with contract disputes (original director Lynne Ramsay left the picture on its first day of shooting), casting woes, and distribution setbacks, it almost seemed like the movie was cursed, unable to establish momentum as multiple release dates was scheduled and abandoned. Heck, the original Parisian premiere of the feature was canceled in November due to terrorist attacks. And yet, “Jane Got a Gun” has survived, finally seeing the light of day. Perhaps greatness was never in the cards for the production, but it manages to stand on its own two feet, with a mournful atmosphere that’s nicely handled by the cast and crew, who try to make sense of an impossible creative situation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s fairly easy to lampoon “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The source material is already nearing parody due to its misguided amplification of sensuality, leaving co-writer/star Marlon Wayans with little heavy lifting when it comes to making fun of something that’s already culturally shamed. Of course, this doesn’t stop Wayans, who returns to his juvenile sense of humor with “Fifty Shades of Black,” taking on the E.L. James empire with a no-budget vision for pantsing that sticks close to bodily orifices and racial humor. It’s awful, but you already knew that. On the bright side, at least this isn’t “A Haunted House 3.” Just kidding. There’s no such thing as a bright side when dealing with a Marlon Wayans production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While the wait between the first two installments of the “Kung Fu Panda” series was a surprisingly tight three years, the road to “Kung Panda 3” has been a little longer, with the last screen adventure for hero Po released in 2011. That’s an eternity in pop culture freshness time, putting pressure on directors Jennifer Yuh and Alessandro Carloni to make sure the second sequel was worth the extended production time. Mercifully, “Kung Fu Panda 3” is a respectable continuation of the animated franchise, and while the story isn’t completely engrossing, character charms and creative visual design remain as beguiling as ever. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Finest Hours” is a curious blend of a big-budget disaster movie and a modestly moving inspirational story of courage, politely refusing to commit to any single dramatic tone as it visits crashing waves and pained looks. It's an impressively mounted picture, favoring chaotic scenes of self-preservation as its details the horror of panicked men struggling to keep their ships under control and prevent loss of life as they face impossible odds of survival. And yet, as purely intentioned as it is, “The Finest Hours” isn't as emotionally charged as it would like to believe, gradually revealing an uncomfortable distance from the audience as ocean-based mayhem becomes a coldly realized visual effects display. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Veil” remains locked in a holding pattern between psychological horror and a ghost story, never prepared to take either extreme seriously. Yet another riff on the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, the picture isn’t particularly menacing, laboring to generate the claustrophobia of life inside a doomed cult without exploring its working parts to satisfaction. Director Phil Joanou is gifted a few provocative events in Robert Ben Garant’s screenplay, but the final edit generally strips the feature of intimidation, with cheap scares and lopsided storytelling diminishing attempts to introduce chills. “The Veil” has a certain way with menace, but it never follows through on the sinister business it introduces. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Lazer Team” certainly has spunk, carrying on with extraordinary energy as it attempts to satirize and celebrate the superhero genre. That little of it actually translates to laughs is a disappointment, but the production definitely deserves points for trying. Submitting untested actors in a low-budget action extravaganza, “Lazer Team” tries to get by on noise, cranking up performances and visual effects, but aggression doesn’t encourage comedy, finding the effort gasping for focus as director Matt Hullum struggles to achieve an overall balance of mischief and mayhem. The picture is never quiet for long, which might be enough to please its intended audience, but as long-form parodies go, “Lazer Team” isn’t particularly sharp. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I wish “The Boy” was nearly as fun as it sounds. Inspired by anthology horror shows like “The Twilight Zone,” the feature tries to pack in a few twists and turns as it slowly arranges a semi-haunted house environment for the main character. I suppose expecting something fresh from the director of the “The Devil Inside” is a mistake, but William Brent Bell only wants to cheat his way through “The Boy,” assembling a disappointingly flaccid chiller that’s never quite as amplified or disturbing as it could be, keeping a PG-13 mood of cheap scares and weak screenwriting before it gives up for good in the finale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com