Category: Film Review

A great exploitation movie will encourage audience participation, triggering cheers and gasps as the material works through copious amounts of unsavory action, often in the bloodiest way possible. “Everly” is not a great exploitation movie. In fact, it’s not much of a movie at all. Screenwriter Yale Hannon and director Joe Lynch have a master plan of low-budget carnage, using a single location to its fullest potential as we watch the titular character slice and shoot her way through an army of baddies. It’s not rocket science, but “Everly” is unusually angry, showing tremendous hostility to its characters and the audience, making the bullet-and-sword show more about suffering than escapism, confusing the production’s ultimate entertainment goal. Unless Lynch and Hannon intentionally want ticket-buyers to immediately Silkwood shower off the ick this effort oozes, I believe they’ve blown a prime opportunity to celebrate cinematic carnage. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Labeled in marketing materials as bio-pic of German poet Friedrich Schiller, “Beloved Sisters” is actually more of a sampling of his history, lacking a birth-to-death arc common to the subgenre. Instead of tracking the origin story of an aspiring intellectual, the feature concentrates on his unusual relationship with two sisters who’ve fallen for him. The uneasy love triangle is perhaps the most enticing development in “Beloved Sisters,” which is best executed with churning emotions and period-specific cruelties, offering director Dominik Graf something to work his fingers through instead of passively recounting Schiller’s admittedly flavorful existence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Elizabeth Banks doesn’t receive the opportunity to act in dramas nearly enough. Her gifts are usually put to use in comedies, where she frequently shines, showcasing a bubbly personality and skill with timing. “Little Accidents” offers no such distractions, offering a bleak view of humanity with its exploration of a coal mine accident and its toxic aftermath. Banks is a highlight, along with a secure cast of downtrodden types, allowing writer/director Sara Colangelo passage into troubling areas of communication situated around a black hole of guilt. “Little Accidents” doesn’t provide a comprehensive dissection of woes, but it chooses its moments carefully and often successfully. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When writer/director Marc Lawrence makes a movie, he always does so with Hugh Grant in the lead role. It’s like a modern day Scorsese and De Niro-style run of collaborations, only instead of churning out classics, Lawrence and Grant are addicted to mediocrity, stumbling through “Two Weeks Notice” and “Music and Lyrics,” and nearly committing career suicide with their last effort, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” Never one to break tradition, Lawrence return to nothingness with “The Rewrite,” a cutesy inside-Hollywood, fish-out-of-water comedy that depends entirely on Grant’s way with a mumbled punchline. A solid supporting cast walks through the picture almost undetected, and the production shows surprising restraint with romantic comedy inclinations. While harmless, “The Rewrite” is ineffective, putting pressure on Lawrence to deliver a warm mood he’s already proven incapable of delivering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I pity the poor marketing lackey put in charge of selling “The Voices” to the public. It’s strange enough to watch the pitch-black comedy, but to gift wrap it in a way that would encourage ticket sales is an impossible challenge. Thankfully, there’s a quality film here that’s worth a look, especially for audiences in the mood for grim events and strange behaviors as the screenplay blends a love story with a serial killer origin tale. Director Marjane Satrapi (“Persepolis”) pulls off an impressive tonal tightrope walk with “The Voices,” and while it isn’t always steady on its feet, the effort is strange enough to connect, creating spaces of comedy and genuine horror that keep viewers interested in this depiction of developing mental illness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Matt LeBlanc has proven himself to be a fairly popular television actor, joining the pop culture legend ranks as Joey Tribbiani on “Friends” and recently showcasing his comedic skills on “Episodes.” Big screen acceptance has eluded the performer, with “Lost in Space” unable to secure him a franchise, and there’s 1996’s “Ed,” which is the only time I’ve ever seen children walk out of a screening. “Lovesick” adds to LeBlanc’s leading man woes, once again attaching his amiable charms to a DOA project, fighting for oxygen while the production introduces all kinds of sitcom formula to generate a sufficiently madcap tone. “Lovesick” lives up to its title, as it’s hard to feel anything but nausea after sitting through it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Lana and Andy Wachowski have endured a bumpy career since the completion of their “Matrix” trilogy in 2003. Efforts such as “Speed Racer” and “Cloud Atlas” have shown customary visual and narrative ambition, but remained unrewarded at the box office, proving to be too esoteric or nutty for the general audience, leaving them in a position of dwindling big studio faith. “Jupiter Ascending” is the Wachowskis most direct attempt to re-enter the “Matrix” mindset, constructing a big-budget fantasy fireworks display that’s primarily devoted to the explanation of the plot. Somewhere between “wow!” and “huh?” resides “Jupiter Ascending,” a nifty looking but ultimately joyless thrill ride that solidifies the siblings as the king and queen of overthinking sure things. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In Hollywood time, it’s been about a thousand years since the release of “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” which introduced the volatile Nickelodeon creation to the big screen. While it wasn’t a smash hit, the picture still managed to do encouraging business. That it took 11 years for a sequel to arrive is a bit of a surprise, but “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” is worth the wait, refreshing the source material’s freakish energy and dedication to silliness for another round of madcap adventuring, with the gimmick for this outing being the opportunity to see beloved characters captured with CG-animation, expanding creator Stephen Hillenburg’s cartoon universe. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Seventh Son” endured some difficulties as it made its way to the masses, missing a few release dates and changing studios. Finally seeing the light of day, the picture arrives late to the party, unleashing a torrent of visual effects and fantasy touches as it attempts to play the kid-lit lottery, adapting a 2004 book by Joseph Delaney. While never boring, “Seventh Son” is shellacked with excess, emerging as a particularly noisy extravaganza, not an imaginative one. Co-stars Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges are amusing to watch, but the movie doesn’t offer excitement, finding ways to make swooping dragons, magical creatures, and heroic destinies quite dull. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’ll admit, when it comes to the filmography of writer/director Eric Schaeffer, I tapped out a long time ago. The “If Lucy Fell” and “Never Again” helmer was fairly skilled at testing patience with flimsy comedies and self-serving dramas, slipping into seriously indie movie mode over the last 15 years to keep his career on the move. Perhaps time apart has softened my Schaeffer sensitivity, because it’s a pleasure to report that his latest, “Boy Meets Girl,” also happens to be his best. A compassionate and mercifully restrained drama, the picture does an exceptional job teasing viewers with punishing cliché, only to subvert expectations whenever possible. It’s a lovely feature, sweet and real, highlighting Schaeffer’s maturity as a filmmaker and his appreciation for softer moments of heartfelt confession. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s easy to poke fun at the current state of Nicolas Cage’s career, but the actor has certainly tried to entertain himself while collecting paycheck after paycheck. 2014 found Cage as an honorable but flawed southerner, a vengeance-minded criminal, an airplane pilot confronted with the rapture, and a testy CIA agent heading out on his final mission. Kicking off the new year, Cage transforms into 15th century crusader who eventually hides out in the Far East, adopting a local outfit and hairstyle. “Outcast” isn’t explicitly a Nicolas Cage movie (it’s more of a supporting role), but he’s the highlight of this overdirected blur of action sequences, spicing up a dull viewing experience with his habitual oddity and unbridled enunciation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Surprises are few and far between in “Love, Rosie,” which coasts entirely on the appeal of its stars, Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. The pair commits to the material with every fiber of their being, but passable chemistry and a few effective moments of introspection can’t scrub off the scent of recycling, as much of the movie plays like a “Bridget Jones” sequel. The talent is likable, but few scenes connect as profoundly as director Christian Ditter envisions, rendering the effort heavy with quirk and an abuse of coincidence, and light with urgent matters of the heart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Possible insanity and aggressive music collide in “Enter the Dangerous Mind,” a loose study of schizophrenia that only work from afar, as any close inspection of its working parts reveals thematic and creative limitations. Electronic dance music fills the picture with grinding and throbbing, but it does little to compliment what attempts to be a study of a psychological breakdown. Directors Victor Teran (who also scripts) and Youssef Delara are unable to use abrasive sounds to cover for a lack of atmosphere, and while a starring turn from Nikki Reed brings out the depth of a desperate situation, “Enter the Dangerous Mind” is more of a surface examination of brewing instability, missing cinematic precision. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Wild Card” is based on the 1985 William Goldman novel, which was turned into a 1986 film starring Burt Reynolds. It was a notoriously troubled production, and it seems the curse has lasting power, returning in 2015 to inspire another deflated pass at Goldman’s idiosyncrasies. Transforming themes of self-destruction and delusion into a martial arts actioner starring Jason Statham, “Wild Card” is one confused picture, endeavoring to find pockets of dramatic depth as it organizes a big screen bloodbath, populated with appearances from actors not traditionally associated with movies where the lead character flings credit cards like ninja throwing stars. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The found footage subgenre finally finds its way to the needs of the lovesick teen. “Project Almanac” spends an enormous amount of screen time trying to sell itself as a scientific take on time travel, buzzing through terminology and scenes of furious basement construction, but this MTV-produced picture really wants to figure out a way to inject adolescent romance into a sci-fi adventure. The resulting concoction of year-leaping agitation and sweaty-palm encounters with crushes doesn’t work, but instead of being offensively bad, “Project Almanac” is merely dull. For a wily, quaking camera take on the needs of the heart, dramatic inertia, not time itself, is perhaps the feature’s greatest enemy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Loft” is actually the second remake of 2008 Belgian picture, only now the action has been transferred to North America, while retaining the services of original director Erik Van Looy. It’s a mystery with a pronounced sexual component, following immoral, unpleasant characters as they fight to clear their names when faced with accusations of murder. Normally, this type of argumentative conflict results in a passable nail-biter, but “The Loft” isn’t up to the challenge of manufacturing surprises. Dim, sleazy, and poorly made, the feature (which was shot in 2011) comes across laughable at times, doing an alarmingly thorough job making decent actors look bad and heterosexuality look worse. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Submarine movies do not come around very often. The subgenre isn’t usually full of surprises, tending to the same routine of underwater pressure and crew hostilities, out to create a perfectly combustible atmosphere within the tightest spaces. “Black Sea” isn’t one to ignore formula, but it has a few twists worth paying attention to, along with blunt but compelling characterizations to hold attention. Director Kevin Macdonald and screenwriter Dennis Kelly essentially update “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” but do so with style and a periodically nail-biting sense of widescreen suspense. “Black Sea” is flawed, but when it clicks together, it does so superbly, giving classic cinema conventions a successful modern spin.
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Mike Binder hasn’t enjoyed the most consistent career, but he’s managed to keep plugging away despite a filmography littered with disappointments. The writer/director of “Reign Over Me” and “Man About Town,” (and let’s not forget 1994’s “Blankman”), Binder tries to cut to the heart of race relations with “Black or White,” a melodrama that uses skin color to complicate a tale of custody and familial relationships. There are laudable elements here worth their screen time, with Binder showing good taste with troubling conflicts. Yet, “Black or White,” despite its best intentions, is often too simplified for mass acceptance, losing big screen appeal once the audience realizes that everything about the picture would be better suited for the small screen. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Fully entrenched in an experimental phase, director Barry Levinson has been issuing uneven work in recent years, hitting a rare high note with the 2012 found-footage shocker, “The Bay.” “The Humbling” sustains his erratic interests, this time exploring the slow, painful grind of artistic command losing its potency, bringing in acting legend Al Pacino to run his fingers along the jagged edges of his character’s despondency. “The Humbling” contains a few intriguing beats of psychological clouding, but it mostly comes across as indulgent, finding Levinson unwilling to give the picture focus when he finds a haze of behaviors and broad performances much more appealing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Mommy” is the latest work from writer/director Xavier Dolan, helmer of “Tom at the Farm” and “Laurence Anyways.” If you’ve seen his previous efforts, you’ve seen “Mommy,” which once again attempts to marry a wandering sense of emotion with bitter behavior, finding visual poetry often taking priority over humanity. The picture can be a frustrating sit as it reaches an indulgent run time, but it’s also Dolan’s best feature to date, showcasing exceptional performances from the cast, who always capture moments of implosion and vulnerability with more accuracy than the creator, getting the film to a place of helplessness that’s absolutely riveting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com