Category: Film Review

It’s been a decade since the release of the last “Star Wars” film (2005’s “Revenge of the Sith”), but the “The Force Awakens” isn’t very interested in the George Lucas prequels. Instead, the new picture is a continuation of the Original Trilogy, attempting to pick up where 1983’s “Return of the Jedi” left off, hoping to rekindle a bit of the old big screen magic with familiar characters and dramatic situations. Co-writer/director J.J. Abrams embarks on a daunting challenge of nostalgia and world-building with the feature, and he’s wildly successful with his revival efforts, triumphantly jump-starting the franchise for a fresh round of sequels and spin-offs that hope to play to all ages and degrees of fandom. As a series starter pistol, “The Force Awakens” packs substantial firepower. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s the pairing of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler that’s immensely appealing about “Sisters.” There doesn’t even really need to be a movie to support the co-stars, as the very idea of shenanigans hosted by two of the top comedians working today is enough to satisfy. However, there is a feature to go along with the billing, and “Sisters” is a modestly successful one, dedicated to showcasing various levels of silliness from Fey and Poehler, who were last seen together in 2007’s “Baby Mama.” While it ends up overstaying its welcome, perhaps mirroring the house party crisis at the center of the story, the film is entertaining, often content to sit back and let the actresses weave their special brand of absurdity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If you think it’s crazy that we’re up to four “Alvin and the Chipmunk” movies, imagine being Jason Lee, who probably signed on for the original 2007 picture as a lark, doing one for the kids while collecting an easy paycheck. Eight years later, and he’s still scolding CGI critters. “The Road Chip” returns the famous singing rodents to the screen after a four year break, and the act hasn’t changed since 2011’s “Chipwrecked,” with the latest adventure covering all the family film basics, including heartwarming brotherly bonding, mild thrills, and bathroom humor. “The Road Chip” is a drag, just like the rest of the franchise, but director Walt Becker at least attempts to liven up the PG-rated banality with oddity, looking to entertain all ages with this unnecessary sequel. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A seasonal mood attempts to survive “Christmas Eve,” a strange multi-character dramedy that’s interested in dissecting the meaning of faith while also providing fart jokes. Writer/director Mitch Davis (who adapts a screenplay by Tyler McKeller) has his heart in the right place with the effort, which strives to put personalities first, enjoying the combustibility of strangers forced into a pressurized situation. If only “Christmas Eve” were funnier, faster, and more profound, with the results playing like an anemic television movie that’s more concerned with filling the time period than extracting the ideal amount of tension. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The life and times of Dalton Trumbo is a sufficient start for any cinematic exploration, but “Trumbo” focuses on the writer’s professional fight during the 1950s, where the proud Communist and successful screenwriter watched as his life was shredded by politics and betrayal, robbing him of his identity during his prime creative years. “Trumbo” isn’t interested is anything beyond the wreckage, while director Jay Roach slips into melodramatic mode once too often. The feature is professionally acted and compelling in bite-sized portions, but the overall arc of suffering is treated like a cartoon in Roach’s hands. He isn’t making a picture about a period, he’s making a period picture, diluting key moments of emotional devastation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Taking his act to the small screen, Adam Sandler attempts to revive career momentum on Netflix, with “The Ridiculous Six” the first of a batch of Happy Madison productions due to be released on the streaming service over the next few years. It’s a smart move for the mogul, and with the burden of box office performance removed, perhaps there’s a chance the old Sandler will reemerge to restore his once mighty reputation as a master of meat-headery. Unfortunately, hope will have to wait for the next effort, as “The Ridiculous Six” offers the same lazy humor that’s plagued Sandler’s career as of late, though the jesting is supported by a handsome, star-studded western extravaganza, but one that never plays as inventively as it could. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After suffering the professional humiliation of having his last movie, 2009’s “Gentlemen Broncos,” endure a canceled national release due to low box office, writer/director Jared Hess finally returns to theaters with “Don Verdean.” Reconnecting to his vast reservoir of quirk, Hess (who scripts with Jerusha Hess) takes on religious charlatans with his latest release, reuniting with “Broncos” star Sam Rockwell to pants the world of make-believe miracles, mixing satire with his established interests in goofball behavior. “Don Verdean” has originality and an appreciation for snowballing incident, and while the effort is entertaining, it’s strange that the film isn’t funnier, unable to carry a more muscular sense of humor befitting a premise that explores fanaticism and fraud. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are different ways to interpret “In the Heart of the Sea,” which comes across as an attempt by director Ron Howard to dissect the will of man in the face of towering adversity, darkened by misguided behavior towards nature. It’s also a disaster movie, with flaming ships, survival challenges, and a roving whale determined to defend its territory. Perhaps there’s more to “In the Heart of the Sea,” but Howard tends to linger on misery, delivering two hours of anguish and contempt, splashed with gore and death. That’s the feature is downbeat and periodically meandering isn’t really a problem. The real confusion is why Howard felt the need to tell this story in the first place, as it never quite settles on a single idea to leave with a sufficiently battered audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” has seen its fair share of big screen adaptations, most notably with Orson Welles’s 1948 effort, Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood” (from 1957), and Roman Polanski’s 1971 production. The latest take on “The Scottish Play” finds a particularly heavy mood to examine, leading the charge with a profound appreciation for violence and madness, transforming the Bard’s puzzle into a raging monster of a movie. Director Justin Kurzel explores his cinematic space in full, grasping the confusion and impulse the drives the saga, while his casting is tremendous, providing an ensemble that bends the steel-like rigidness of the text with burning emotion, finding fresh life in well-worn material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Hitchcock/Truffaut” began life as a 1966 book. Originally a dialogue between film directors Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, the literary endeavor was intended to be a celebration of Hitchcock’s work, with student Truffaut questioning one of his heroes with a week-long interview covering a monumental career. The book soon became a bible for cinema slaves everywhere, offering a look into Hitchcock’s creative process and wily personality, gifting outsiders a peek behind the curtain, hosted by a burgeoning moviemaker who was quickly building his own brand name of quality work with efforts such as “The 400 Blows” and “Jules and Jim.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’ll give Scott Adkins this much: he’s certainly trying. The B-movie action star is working tirelessly to build up a filmography of no-budget bruisers, putting emphasis on his martial art abilities and burly screen presence. He frequently pairs with director Isaac Florentine, with the twosome returning to duty with “Close Range,” a paint-by-numbers thriller that works up a sweat to prove itself worthy in the aggression department. The story is routine, performances are fine, and the location is predictable, but once Adkins and Florentine get their engines rumbling, “Close Range” manages to deliver some compelling combat sequences, blasting, kicking, and stabbing its way through a southwestern war zone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Three years ago, director Tom Hooper tried to wrap his arms around the world with his ambitious adaptation of the hit musical, “Les Miserables.” With “The Danish Girl,” Hooper takes a break from bigness to inspect the life and times of Einar Wegener, who eventually transformed into Lili Elbe, becoming one the first recipients of sex reassignment surgery in the 1920s. It’s an intimate story that demands careful handling, and perhaps Hooper is too respectful of the conflict at hand, as his approach to “The Danish Girl” is to treat the effort as a museum piece, draining the tale of life as the picture slowly welcomes melodrama. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Body” is a psychological chiller that doesn’t have much to work with. It basically contains three main characters and a single location, with writer/directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen scrambling to transform a simple idea into string of pulse-pounding moments. Minimalism has its advantages here, but “Body” isn’t quite the nail-chewer it hopes to be, missing a degree of insanity and eventful storytelling as it tries to update the Hitchcock experience with millennial attitudes. It’s a shockingly brief picture (68 minutes long before end credits) and not without its pressure points, but the feature lacks prolonged snap, only coming alive in certain charged moments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actor Stephen Dorff hasn’t found his groove in recent features, but he’s making an effort to shake up his filmography with oddball choices that attempt to show off some range. In “American Hero,” Dorff portrays a member of the X-Men in a way, playing a man with telekinetic powers facing a troubling existence in a forgotten land. It’s an aggressive performance, but it ends up the only element of the picture that makes sense. Writer/director Nick Love (“The Sweeney”) submits a crude, confused tale of soulful awakening with “American Hero,” habitually unsure what to do with the characters or even how to tell the story, leaving Dorff to do all the heavy lifting as the endeavor spins out of control. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s probably best to pay attention to the Martin Scorsese executive producer credit on “The Wannabe.” Why Scorsese is supporting the picture isn’t known, but few of the ideas contained in Nick Sandow’s screenplay are familiar, including hero worship involving members of organized crime and obsessive drug consumption leading to manic episodes of destructive behavior. Indeed, “The Wannabe” plays like second cousin to “Goodfellas” at times, but even a little homage can’t salvage a wholly unpleasant and meandering viewing experience. Sandow’s intent is to explore a confused mind, but he emerges with 90 minutes of pointless confrontations and softball acting, leaving little story to chew on. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2007, writer/director Michael Dougherty set out to redefine Halloween horror with “Trick ‘r Treat,” a clever anthology effort that emphasized eeriness over pounding terror. For his follow-up, the helmer aims to shake up another holiday with “Krampus,” a Christmas-set chiller that’s trying to scare during the season of giving. Again avoiding cheap thrills, Dougherty creates an entertaining monster mash with the picture, which blends yuletide sensitivities involving dysfunctional families and the wrath of ghoulish creatures. Strangely, the production doesn’t aim to create a roller coaster ride of oddity, preferring to step carefully with its genre offerings, leaving the endeavor feeling slack at crucial moments, but it’s still satisfying overall. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Comparisons to “Bad Santa” will undoubtedly be made repeatedly, but “Uncle Nick” isn’t as conventional as the inexplicably enduring Billy Bob Thornton comedy. Arriving at the holiday season with plans to dissect a dysfunctional family at their very worst, director Chris Kasick and writer Mike Demski (both veterans of “Attack of the Show”) cook up a sharp, sarcastic effort that celebrates the wonderfully deadpan delivery of star Brian Posehn, using the comedian’s elongated way with an uncomfortable moment to give “Uncle Nick” the proper amount of bitterness to help support this domestic unraveling. Hilarious and profoundly dark, the feature is an interesting counterpoint to holiday cheer, offering an engaging lump of coal for those who prefer their Christmas thoroughly soiled by bad behavior. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of “The Great Beauty” and “This Must Be the Place,” Paolo Sorrentino returns to screens with “Youth.” Stepping further into English-language filmmaking, the helmer arrives with a star-studded cast to realize this meditation on aging and experience, with Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Jane Fonda, and Rachel Weisz turning in capable work to best bring out the flavors of Sorrentino’s screenplay. Idiosyncrasies do remain in “Youth,” and the picture tends to value atmosphere over dramatics. It can be a struggle to figure out what Sorrentino wants from his feature, but when all else fails the effort, the ensemble is there to provide a passable sense of focus, creating memorable scenes of introspection. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“MI-5” isn’t just a run-of-the-mill spy thriller, but a big screen spinoff of “Spooks,” a British television series that found a home in America on deep cable. While the title is generic and the plot promises the basics in paranoia cinema, “MI-5” (titled “Spooks: The Greater Good” around the world) actually comes through with surprising clarity, finding pockets of suspense even while it samples material found in dozens of small screen productions. Credit director Bharat Nalluri (“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”), who keeps the picture alert and on the move, confronting the familiarity of it all with commitment to speed and a general awareness that while his effort isn’t going to look like a blockbuster, it can periodically play like one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Wonders” is a special creation that demands a certain level of patience with its winding, almost directionless storytelling. There are many subplots and feelings to explore, but its primary focus remains on a coming-of-age tale concerning a teen girl in the midst of an adolescent awakening while living in a painfully remote part of the world. “The Wonders” is shapeless, but it has meaning and sensitivity, better with moments of contemplation and familial interaction than it is with a larger depiction of dysfunction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com