Category: Film Review

Co-writer/director Jon Watts recently won himself the opportunity to helm the next big screen version of Spider-Man, with his name a surprising addition to the big screen superhero journey. There isn’t anything contained in his newest film, “Cop Car,” to suggest time in the Marvel Universe is a natural extension to his career, unless the next crime-fighting odyssey for the web-slinger involves long passages of stillness, near-silent performances, and a cold-blooded look at the true price of mischief. “Cop Car” is deliberate, which might drive some viewers to give up on it long before it reaches a conclusion, but patience is rewarded with intense performances, darkly comic highlights, and finale that pays off all the waiting with a wallop of suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While trying to sustain a career in Hollywood, recently appearing in pictures such as “Homefront” and “Straw Dogs,” Kate Bosworth has been balancing the money gigs with indie features that ask a little more of the actress. Movies like “Black Rock,” “And While We Were Here,” and “Still Alice” provide richer dramatic possibilities, yet “Amnesiac” is situated somewhere in the middle of creative risk-taking, with director Michael Polish (Bosworth’s real-life husband) attempting to merge exploitation interests with deliberate art-house filmmaking. While packed with scenes of malicious conduct, “Amnesiac” isn’t an effort that’s looking for cheap scares, taking its sweet time to find tension, putting its faith in Bosworth and co-star Wes Bentley. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Juan Jose Campanella is best known for his work on the adult dramas “The Secret in Their Eyes” and “Son of the Bride,” along with his extensive time on television, helming shows like “House M.D.” and “Halt and Catch Fire.” “Underdogs” is his first foray into animation, and to give his production a distinct personality, he’s elected to make a foosball comedy. The Argentine production, “Underdogs” backs up a fascinating premise with a decent amount of laughs, making a soccer comedy on a tiny scale, using cartoon exaggeration to play with visuals and find a fresh way to attack the routine of a sports picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Big Sky” is a story of survival mixed with crime film clichés. The psychological aspects of the screenplay are enticing, taking a long look at agoraphobia, and how such anxiety is managed while trapped in frantic flare-up of self-preservation. Director Jorge Michel Grau (“The ABCs of Death”) struggles with a basics of suspense, and screenwriter Evan M. Wiener (“Monogamy”) looks to create a community aspect of panic, which inches the feature away from an intimate understanding of the lead character and her long road to safety. “Big Sky” is engaging, with select moments locating an intriguing tone of doubt, finding its more conventional ideas and stand-offs intrusive. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As televised intellectual pursuits go, few showdowns have managed to rival the series of debates that took place in 1968 featuring William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal. Two titans of the political and literary realm, the men were paired in an effort to boost ratings, only to walk away from the experience with a newfound hatred of each other. “Best of Enemies” is a documentary devoted to the debates and their aftermath, tracking an impressive display of ego handed a prime time slot to the delight of Americans everywhere, also helping to shape shrieking punditry as we know it today. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Air” offers an intriguing premise, but there’s little evidence provided here that supports the decision to take what’s clearly only enough plot for a short film and stretch it out to feature-length standards. It’s a two-hander acting opportunity for stars Djimon Hounsou and Norman Reedus, who obviously relish the chance to be the main attraction, guiding this concrete-bound post-apocalyptic tale of survival. Co-writer/director Christian Cantamessa guides a sharp, evocative effort, but there just isn’t anything here that demands attention, with much of “Air” handed over to exploratory sequences that feel like padding, trying desperately to make something major out of something minor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although there have been plenty of movies made about the struggle of mountain climbing, with its impossible tests of physical and psychological limitations (the big-budget “Everest” opens in the fall), “Meru” has a different approach to the assembly of breathless participants and frightening heights. Taking an emotional look at the spirit of climbing and the process of taking on one of the most difficult mountains in the world, “Meru” imparts lessons on the value of determination and shares imposing images of the center trek — a quest that threatens the safety of three men in the midst of life-altering challenges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Final Girl” is a directorial debut for photographer Tyler Shields, who takes the opportunity to show off his visual prowess with a minor riff on slasher film formula. Storytelling isn’t his strong suit, as the movie lacks almost any level of suspense or characterization, existing only to show off dramatic lightning. A dismal, uneventful, and pointless picture, “Final Girl” never really knows what it wants to do with its screen time, fumbling psychological examination to play with silly violence, while personalities and motivations are missing from the final cut. It’s a resume effort from Shields, who seems better suited for beer commercials than big screen dramatics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As the title suggests, “Do I Sound Gay?” is a story about the quest for a voice, and for writer/director/star David Thorpe, one that’s masculine is preferable. Using his own mission to fix speech patterns and deepen his voice, Thorpe opens a can of worms with his documentary, touching on a subject that isn’t covered very often in pop culture beyond unfair punchlines. “Do I Sound Gay?” isn’t profound, but Thorpe’s investigation into self-esteem and public personas touches on a few universal truths about identity, while delivering interesting theories about the origin of specific speech challenges and the power of influence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Jenny’s Wedding” tackles the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage, but wisely avoids political leanings to deal with solely with characterization. It’s written and directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue, who scripted “Beaches” and “Veronica Guerin,” but hasn’t helmed a feature since 1991’s “Paradise.” Making a tentative step back into the industry war zone, Donoghue finds a tone of sensitivity with “Jenny’s Wedding,” inching it past the domestic intolerance routine to find genuine human moments of communication and concern. There are plasticized scenes to endure, but the movie commits to a larger arc of personal awakening, which helps to digest the clichés Donoghue clings to. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s a relatively new trend in Hollywood to restart franchises quickly after they’ve stalled. The character of Spider-Man is a prime example, with the web-slinger about to embark on his third big screen introduction in 15 years, watching producers churn out comic book adventures until one resonates enough to support a longstanding franchise. A decade ago, there was a “Fantastic Four,” which delivered an origin story and a visual effects bonanza, but very little entertainment, with the feature, and its lackluster 2007 sequel, failing to lure blockbuster-worthy audiences into theaters. For obvious financial and secretively legal reasons, the “Fantastic Four” have returned, this time shedding colorful antics for a darker, angrier film approach to global heroism, trying to find a fresh concept for understandably suspicious viewers hesitant to shell out lunch money to see the same old superhero stuff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Identifying a fantastic performance from Meryl Streep has become old news, watching the legendary actress tear through varied roles with professional brilliance, routinely refreshing awareness of her screen dominance. Somehow, consistency hasn’t stifled her creativity, coming to every project with a specific identity. For “Ricki and the Flash,” Streep transforms into an aging rocker, perhaps her biggest stretch yet, and she pulls it off with alarming success, more credible as a stage queen than most actual musicians. And yet, Streep’s sublime turn is only a small part of the pleasures offered in “Ricki and the Flash,” which takes a giant step over absentee mama formula to achieve a full sense of humanity and humor. The music doesn’t hurt either. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Shaun the Sheep Movie” is the latest release from Aardman Animations, the beloved company behind “Wallace & Gromit,” “Chicken Run,” and “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” Celebrated for their special cartoon wit and elastic stop-motion animation style, Aardman attempts to bring “Shaun the Sheep” to the big screen after the television series carried on for 130 episodes. Perhaps unfamiliar to American audiences, the farmland characters generate a special style of mayhem in “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” which doesn’t require intimate knowledge of the brand name to enjoy. The Muppet-style slapstick and visual invention works on its own, delivering big laughs and eye candy for a family audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Throughout his directorial career, Bobcat Goldthwait has developed an interest in darkly comic material, sifting through the ruins of humanity to find uncomfortable laughs and unexpected truths. Switching to non-fiction filmmaking for “Call Me Lucky,” Goldthwait constructs a valentine to his hero, political satirist Barry Crimmins. For the extent of his professional life, Crimmins has been inspired by political neglect and deception, all the while harboring a secret that’s fueled his commitment to activism. “Call Me Lucky” is sweet, bracing, sad, and infuriating, with Goldthwait managing a documentary that grasps the basics of biographical storytelling but ultimately transforms into a call to arms, taking the Crimmins path to understand the details of participation in America’s cultural and political direction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Joel Edgerton has emerged as one of the premiere actors of his generation, building a reputation with work in features such as “Animal Kingdom,” “Warrior,” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” He’s also achieved a few screenwriting credits as well, masterminding “The Square” and “Felony.” “The Gift” is Edgerton’s directorial debut, setting out to make a slow-burn suspense effort that pounces on the audience as expected, but ultimately emerges as an offering of sinister business, capturing psychological torment with a dollop of subversion. Edgerton appears completely enamored with his creation, which helps the picture with confidence, but it’s an uneven nail-biter, unable to decide if it wants to freak out viewers with noise or slip under their skin. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last year there was “Gone Girl,” which was the first of author Gillian Flynn’s books to hit the big screen. “Dark Places” is the second wave of domestic disaster from the writer, returning to a place of mental illness and gamesmanship, only here the mystery is more of a “Clue” scenario than a gradual unleashing of psychosis. “Dark Places” isn’t quite as engaging as “Gone Girl,” weirdly sharing similar problems with pacing, but it does offer a few charged encounters that hit heights of suspense and pull decent performances out of the cast. It’s not nearly as buzz-worthy as Flynn’s previous adaption, but the movie manages to find its own toxic perspective. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Over the past year, Nicolas Cage has appeared in a handful of iffy movies, shifting into career survival mode to make it through efforts such as “Left Behind,” “Dying of the Light,” and “Outcast.” While committed to a certain degree, Cage’s dead-eyed screen presence couldn’t mask his interest in a paycheck, committing to pictures that have padded his career, not inspired it. “The Runner” doesn’t radically revive Cage’s appeal, but it does offer him an opportunity to act again, remaining the focus of this political drama, which demands a level of concentration and emotion he rarely encounters anymore. “The Runner” has difficulty assembling its puzzle of dysfunction, but it’s almost worth the price of admission to see Cage give a damn again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The End of the Tour” isn’t a bio-pic of the late author, David Foster Wallace. Instead, it strives to find a way to communicate his soul through conversation, dramatizing a few days in his life that reveal more than he was expecting. Screenwriter Donald Margulies and director James Ponsoldt treat the subject with extreme care, balancing the troubled side of Wallace’s life with his intricate personality and reliance on defense mechanisms. “The End of the Tour” is a verbose but intimate study of intelligence and vulnerability, offering a special perspective on a writer adored by critics and readers, but a man few understood in full. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Samba” is the latest film from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. The pair’s previous effort was “The Intouchables,” a 2011 production that took most of the world by storm, performing like an art-house “Jurassic World,” only really missing its full financial potential in America, where audiences showed little interest in the French comedy. Handed a golden opportunity to make any type of movie they wanted, the team instead returns to intimate character-based concerns with “Samba.” Lightning doesn’t strike twice for the helmers, who force whimsy into a stark assessment of corrupted behavior and daily survival. Although it tries to put on a happy face for mass consumption, the picture isn’t built for cheeriness, ultimately more compelling with troublesome events. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I Am Chris Farley” doesn’t approach the late comedian’s legacy with journalistic intentions. Instead, directors Brent Hodge and Derik Murray prepare a valentine for their subject, warmly recalling his professional triumphs and personal intentions. It’s a sentimental documentary that raises more questions than it answers, but “I Am Chris Farley” isn’t built to inspect the man’s darkness and final days. It’s a mournful remembrance piece that’s teeming with famous faces and provides a swell of appreciation for Farley’s explosive sense of humor, physical gifts, and a sensitive side few were permitted to see as he burned through his career at top speed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com