Category: Film Review

Kamal Ahmed is best known to the public as one half of The Jerky Boys, a telephone prank comedy team that achieved fame in the early 1990s, even taking their act to Hollywood in a 1995 feature film. After leaving the brand name, Ahmed graduated to making movies, crafting horror pictures and gangster sagas, with “Laugh Killer Laugh” perhaps his most personal project. An uneasy mix of childhood trauma, creative expression, and mob enforcer clichés, “Laugh Killer Laugh” wins points for ambition, but doesn’t survive Ahmed’s stiff execution. It’s dark but never profound, while the rest of the effort struggles to achieve consistency, leaving laughs and emotion in short supply. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To enjoy the new comedy “Helicopter Mom,” one must get used to its broadness. It’s not an easy task, with star Nia Vardalos attempting to power the picture’s funny business all by herself, delivering intensely obvious work in the lead role. Her goofiness quickly overwhelms the feature, which fights to introduce its theme of sexual identity and land a few Vardalos-less laughs. Director Salome Breziner (“Fast Sofa,” “The Secret Lives of Dorks”) is too permissive with her star, but “Helicopter Mom” retains some heart and meaning as it struggles to breathe. Perhaps it’s not the most cohesive statement on manipulative parenting, but select moments do shine. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To sit through “Child 44” takes special moviegoing patience. It’s not an especially bad film, but the subject matter concerns a serial killer targeting little boys, murdering them in an especially gruesome manner. The story also takes place in the Soviet Union during the 1950s, creating a sense of gloom and doom with everyday life, finding happiness forbidden and paranoia the national sport. It’s grim work, and taking in the world director Daniel Espinosa is aiming to create requires the ability to withstand the picture’s dedication to punishment. What began as a novel by Tom Rob Smith probably should’ve stayed there, but for those with especially iron-like constitutions, “Child 44” does provide some terrific performances and a full sense of Soviet immersion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2009, I gave “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” a mildly positive review. I feel like I’m confessing a crime here, and perhaps to some cinephiles, I am. Yet, beyond the stupidity, there were a few appealing elements to the slapstick comedy that allowed it some sense of life and action other knucklehead endeavors never even bother to achieve. Hitting it big at the box office, the continuing adventures of Paul Blart were put on hold for reasons unknown, with the security stooge waiting six years to return to screens. For an of-the-moment success, that’s an unwise delay. Time also isn’t a friend to the screenplay, which doesn’t even bother with jokes for this unnecessary continuation, finding “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” simply a vehicle for star Kevin James to showcase his ability to wheeze, flop, and mug. No actual punchlines are included. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Traditionally, fright pictures that utilize the computer tend to fail miserably, often inventing technology or online rules to fit the situation. Last year’s “Open Windows” is a prime example of a browser-based horror effort that went off the deep end just to keep the audience guessing. “Unfriended” is refreshingly minimal with its tech, allowing just everyday tools such as Skype and Facebook to set the scene for its nightmare. A stripped down ghost story that’s more about intimidation than overt violence, “Unfriended” actually works, delivering a reasonable amount of chills, most guided with imagination by director Leo Gabriadze. At the very least, the feature retains a real-world feel as it zips through heated searches, accusatory conversations, and poor internet speeds. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been fascinating to watch the team behind Disneynature adapt to the demands of their audience. With every new release, the original concept of capturing nature as it stands is stripped away, with the features now resembling Disney’s old “True-Life Adventures,” electing to shape a story with footage instead of relying strictly on animal behaviors. “Monkey Kingdom” is their eighth production, arriving a year after “Bears” stomped through theaters, returning to more fleet-footed creatures to study with a smile: the toque macaque. Moving farther away from observation to organize staged scenes of mischief, “Monkey Kingdom” remains a total charmer, only missing a sense of life in motion that’s often the best part of nature documentaries. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With starring roles handled by Jonah Hill and James Franco, “True Story” could be mistaken for the next big Hollywood comedy. Instead of laughs, the picture asks these funnymen to sober up for a grim true crime drama, with Hill and Franco downshifting into sullen behavior to best capture the gray skies of the material, which is based on experiences explored by disgraced journalist Michael Finkel. Indeed, “True Story” is based on a true story, which permits the production a sense of gravity as it analyzes the concept of truth and its relationship with emotion. Pieces are missing, yet the feature remains compelling thanks to fine performances and an icy sense of detachment, finding David Kajganich’s screenplay interested in a moral gray area instead of big thrills. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Gordon Gekko heads into the west in “Beyond the Reach,” which isn’t a sequel to “Wall Street,” but feels like a natural extension of the series. Michael Douglas returns to villainy in the picture, transforming a financial wizard into a hunter of men, and he’s immense fun to watch, managing chewy lines and offering the camera variations on intimidating looks. The rest of “Beyond the Reach” doesn’t live up to his performance, but as survival stories go, it offers a decent amount of thrills and sun-caked frustrations. Get up and leave before the final ten minutes, and the movie provides a compelling ride into disaster. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Chris Messina is currently found on the hit television comedy, “The Mindy Project,” but he’s been a working actor for quite some time. Routinely cast in helpless or handsome boyfriend roles, Messina finally takes command of his career with the dramedy, “Alex of Venice.” Making his directorial debut, Messina manages a startlingly human look at maturity and separation, making specific choices to understand behavior at a primal level while still tending bits of comedy and tragedy that remain dramatically familiar. “Alex of Venice” is straightforward and heartfelt, always more interested in personalities than formula, trying to fight off cliché with nuance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Joining a growing list identifying the longest gaps between film sequels, “Queen and Country” is a follow-up to the 1987 feature, “Hope and Glory.” Clearly, there was something about the original picture that felt unfinished to writer/director John Boorman, who returns to duty after 2006’s “A Tiger’s Tail” to helm the continuation of his personal war story, leaping ahead nine years to study the next generation of global conflict. While “Hope and Glory” was accomplished work, meaningful and confessional, “Queen and Country” is more of a sitcom than a study of uncertainty in shadow of duty. It’s not hopeless, but it’s surprisingly slack, unfocused work from Boorman, who aims for a scattered tonality that reflects the madness of the moment, but mostly loses his way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Gren Wells is best known for writing the 2011 picture, “A Little Bit of Heaven.” It was a spectacularly wrongheaded script that attempted to turn a cancer diagnosis into a foundation for a romantic comedy. The Kate Hudson-starrer predictably died at the box office, but its failure hasn’t deterred Wells, who makes her directorial debut with “The Road Within,” another effort that strives to marry Hollywood convention with sobering human realities. Admittedly, “The Road Within” is a tremendous improvement over “A Little Bit of Heaven,” allowing realism a little more breathing room. However, these moments are fleeting in a chaotic feature, which often turns to cliché too quickly. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Squeeze” is a gambling movie that uses golf as its game of choice. Transferring slick gangsters and quivering marks to the local country club is an interesting idea, and one the promise a unique sets of goals to disturb the routine of the subgenre. Sadly, writer/director Terry Jastrow does next to nothing with potential of the premise, skipping on intensity to satisfy his cast of overactors, while the script doesn’t supply a single fresh idea to match the tension on the links. Perhaps golf fanatics won’t pay close attention to dramatic particulars, but for those hungering for something substantial from “The Squeeze,” disappointment is all but certain. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps feeling inspired by recent acting choices, Ryan Gosling makes a leap to the director’s chair for “Lost River.” A mix of Harmony Korine and Dario Argento, the movie sets out to create a loosely defined screen nightmare, armed with abstract imagery and free-range performances. Definitely not a picture for the impatient, “Lost River” is distinct in its cinematic appetites, finding Gosling having a ball staging exotic horrors and surveying decayed small-town Michigan remains. Of lesser importance is storytelling, as the feature often eschews narrative drive entirely to fixate on wily behavior and stark punishment. It can be infuriating, but it’s also intriguingly surreal, launching Gosling’s helming career with a confident blast of mischief. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The relationship between children and friendly animals is usually a solid foundation for a family movie, offering the target audience the fantasy of undying devotion from a pet, embarking on all types of adventures away from the prying eyes of adults. The French production “Belle and Sebastian” is adapted from the novel by Cecile Aubry, remaining rich with character and European with emotion as it tells the tale of a boy and his enormous dog. Beautifully filmed with attention to open air locations, “Belle and Sebastian” isn’t an overtly manipulative drama, instead trusting the inherent appeal of the titular characters and their fight to remain in each other’s company during the charged atmosphere of World War II. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel has become a yearly tradition, with “The Longest Ride” arriving as the 10th production to use the author’s universe of romance and tragedy as inspiration. Not that any of these pictures are particularly good, but they’ve found an audience (well, most of them), and one that’s maintained a voracious appetite for Sparks’s rigid formula. “The Longest Ride” features love, loss, and North Carolina, making it nearly impossible to stand out from the pack. It’s a paint-by-numbers affair with an absurdly manipulative third act, barely managing to bring the heat with its mismatched co-stars. Perhaps the Sparks-faithful won’t mind, but they certainly deserve better. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Olivier Assayas is a challenging filmmaker, guiding a career that touched on multiple genres and tones, with his primary goal largely focused on creating unsettling cinema with a human perspective. “Clouds of Sils Maria” continues his psychological analysis, only this time he’s looking inward, studying the insecurities of an actress hit from all sides by doubt. While insular, touching on industry issues, “Clouds of Sils Maria” is one of the few Assayas efforts to keep the audience in sync with the story. Hardly obvious but awfully careful, the feature plays an unexpectedly straightforward game of hesitancy, allowing lead Juliette Binoche the freedom to attack the role with startling vulnerability. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Kirby Dick has spent his career creating provocative documentaries. He explored the absurdity of the M.P.A.A. in “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” the silent horror of rape inside the U.S. military in “The Invisible War,” and the hypocrisy of politicians who promote anti-gay legislation in “Outrage.” And yet, somehow, “The Hunting Ground” feels like his most daring work. Even after confronting Washington and Hollywood, Dick finds a greater evil in college campuses around America, with “The Hunting Ground” highlighting a plague of sexual assaults that have swarmed venerated institutions — a harrowing reality that seemingly no one, from cops to college officials, wants to confront head-on. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Kill Me Three Times” presents a puzzle of malicious intent and backstabbing, braiding together three perspectives surrounding an Australian crime. Murphy’s Law plays an important part in James McFarland’s screenplay, using relatively simple tasks of murder to help inspire a string of bad luck and bad news for a collection of characters all engaged in underhanded business. Spiced up with Coen Brothers-style sinister business and dark comedy, but largely skipping opportunities to dig into ghoulish behavior at top speed, “Kill Me Three Times” has the right idea, but it’s missing some crucial levels of escalation, often caught playing cute when it should be downright evil. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Midwestern noir gets another bloody workout with “Cut Bank,” which strives to siphon fumes from the Coen Brother hit, “Fargo,” reworking incidents of small town brutality and community paranoia into its own brew of wrongdoing. The end result shows periodic promise but falls a little short in terms of heated escalation, though efforts from a varied and accomplished cast help to generate an interesting tone of standoffishness and criminal awareness that gives “Cut Bank” some edge it otherwise avoids. Admirers of small-town gamesmanship when it comes to murder will likely be the most entertained, but even the most patient with Matt Shakman’s movie might find their attention wandering away while the film struggles to sustain suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Since it deals with the arts and the primal release of dance, it’s easy to forgive the broadness of “Desert Dancer.” It’s not a nuanced picture, but an arms-flailing identification of suffering and threat, taking audiences into the lion’s den of Iran in 2009, where political change was on the verge of becoming a reality, frightening those weaned on iron-fisted authority. Aiming to become a sensitive understanding of dancer Afshin Ghaffarian’s true story, “Desert Dancer” manages to find pockets of disturbance that matter, encouraging a few honest beats of distress that aren’t smashed by director Richard Raymond’s hammer-like interpretation of antagonism. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com