Category: Film Review

Since the advent of digital filmmaking, music documentaries have flooded the marketplace, each production savoring a slice of the industry by sharing anecdotes and showcasing performances. Over the last few years alone, pictures such as “Sound City,” “Muscle Shoals,” and “A Band Called Death” have explored unique stories of adversity and creativity, each blessed with an invigorating soundtrack of flavorful tunes. “Take Me to the River” is the latest effort to deliver musical history to the wider audience, and it’s teeming with legends and memories. Unfortunately, while the work is joyous and respectful, the movie is poorly directed, frequently decimating pure musicianship to spotlight banal conversations that add little to the overall flow of the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a busy year for Liam Neeson, with “A Walk Among the Tombstones” his fifth picture of 2014. After his marquee value exploded with the release of 2009’s “Taken,” it’s been interesting to see the type of material Neeson has gravitated to, selecting a steady stream of blockbuster entertainment (“Clash of the Titans,” “The A-Team”) and downbeat indies (“Chloe,” “Third Person”). “A Walk Among the Tombstones” mixes both interests into one deflated soufflé, with writer/director Scott Frank’s serial killer thriller struggling to inject excitement into a mopey, overly stylized tale of no-nonsense do-goodery. While Neeson commits to the flawed hero routine with grace, the rest of the movie fails to acknowledge its low battery signal during a dismal second half. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After bottoming out with 2010’s “Cop Out,” his stab at a mainstream comedy with broad jokes and big stars, writer/director Kevin Smith stepped back from the movie business, reevaluating just what filmmaking meant to him. He found salvation in a bong and a podcast, returning to screens with 2011’s “Red State,” an interesting misfire that swapped his noted sense of humor for something far more sinister, trying to disturb his audience instead of tickle them. Continuing to mine his revived creative drive, Smith returns with “Tusk,” another demented micro-budget endeavor, only for this round, the horrors aren’t heavenly but frighteningly fleshy, mixing his love for conversation with a newfound interest in the macabre, producing a creature feature that’s original while retaining all the Smith-isms fans love. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Maze Runner” is the latest entrant into the YA box office sweepstakes. While it shares a dystopia setting like its brethren “Divergent” and “The Hunger Games,” this story veers off in a slightly different direction, refusing the rise of the heroine path to play up paranoia and man vs. monster action. The change is refreshing, but “The Maze Runner” is beholden to an adaptation challenge that not only needs constant exposition, but also makes room for a crummy ending that’s not content to give ticket buyers their money’s worth, but demand they immediately save up for sequel. Perhaps a little more thought could’ve been put into the initial installment before a continuation is considered. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Shawn Levy has a way of ruining a perfectly good thing. The helmer of the “Night at the Museum” franchise, “The Internship,” and “Date Night,” Levy isn’t easy to trust with comedy, and he’s virtually untested with the depiction of deep-seated emotions. “This is Where I Leave You” provides a unique creative challenge, forcing Levy to manage a plethora of characters and numerous shifts in tone while preserving a core feeling of family, shooing away melodrama and plastic antics to find the soul of this battered group of sad sacks. While he’s still powerless to sitcom urges, Levy manages to capture dimension and sensitivity, aided in great part by an ensemble who shade their participation carefully, finding satisfying pockets of ache in a familiar but charming look at dysfunction and enlightenment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s unfortunate timing when it comes to the release of “Fort Bliss.” An Afghanistan War-themed drama, the feature has to compete with a plethora of similar productions, each with something to share about state of life on the front lines and back home. Sadly, the marketplace is crowded for this type of tale, yet “Fort Bliss” is worth a viewing. Its setting is familiar, but the emotions contained within are genuine and frequently devastating, contributing to an overlong but truthful inspection of separation and the reality of service. Led by a moving performance from Michelle Monaghan, the film carries heaviness with sensitivity, more interested in the pains of post-service reentry than the usual pressures of a war zone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The last two decades have been a career roller coaster ride for director Terry Gilliam. Acquiring studio faith with 1995’s “12 Monkeys,” the helmer subsequently lost his Hollywood itch with 1998’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and 2005’s “The Brothers Grimm.” The rest of this time was devoted to screaming indies, chaotic efforts such as “Tideland” and “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” which did more to reinforce Gilliam’s frustration with filmmaking, intentionally submitting off-putting pictures as an act of defiance. His latest, “The Zero Theorem,” is reminiscent of Gilliam’s earlier triumphs, acting as almost a sequel to 1985’s “Brazil” with its vision of authoritarian hell and psychological flights of fancy. This isn’t Gilliam reclaiming what’s been lost throughout the years, but it’s refreshing to encounter one of his features and not wish to be somewhere else enjoying the afternoon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s no reason to beat around the bush here: the title “My Old Lady” promises a potent comedy filled with curmudgeons and playful ageism. The actual “My Old Lady” is the opposite of mirthful escapism, wading into surprisingly murky psychological waters as it tries to add a dash of levity to an otherwise potent understanding of dysfunction and loneliness. Instead of silly, it’s raw work, but that doesn’t necessarily discount its advantages, including a wonderful cast and a generous exploration of its Parisian setting. Truthfully, I’d vote for a new title, but since that opportunity is now gone, it’s best to remind potential ticket-buyers to bring down farcical expectations and prepare for something with more substance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Arriving to add some perspective to current unrest in the Middle East is “The Green Prince,” a documentary that’s primarily driven by personal recollection, not visual evidence. Director Nadav Schirman (“The Champagne Sky”) takes a distinctly theatrical route to examine tensions between Israel and Palestine, concentrating on two participants in a larger war, dissecting how men from opposing sides of an agonizing conflict worked together to disrupt violence and secure soulful clarity. “The Green Prince” often plays like an NPR special, but the purity of feeling and inherent suspense of the story remains alert, adding new dimension to a numbing conflict. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An accomplished filmmaker with a hunger for the performing arts, director Carlos Saura brings “Flamenco, Flamenco” to a global audience. Not just dance picture, the movie is a celebration of form and passion, leading with sophisticated footwork and body movement as the helmer organizes 21 performances from a wealth of gifted Spanish musicians, singers, and dancers. It’s lively work, perhaps a bit overwhelming for those not typically versed in the ranks of flamenco performers, but it remains bold enough to impress, offering the viewer an opportunity to soak up the indelible images and sounds delivered, presented with a celebratory concentration from Saura, who clearly adores his work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

You may want to keep your receipt after a viewing of “No Good Deed.” My showing was completely devoid of suspense, passable performances, and basic screenwriting flair. I hope this isn’t a widespread problem. If so, writer Aimee Lagos and director Sam Miller have a lot to answer for with this stillborn thriller, messing up a straightforward exercise in exploitation entertainment. Instead of producing nail-biting tension as the central nightmare escalates, “No Good Deed” is weirdly conversational and bafflingly protracted, laboring to fill 80 minutes with the most tedious interplay seen in an intentionally trashy production all year. The ingredients couldn’t be simpler, yet the end result is lifeless and, worse, boring. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Drop” emerges from the mind of Dennis Lehane, the author of “Shutter Island,” “Mystic River,” and “Gone, Baby, Gone.” The latter is important to note as “The Drop” carries enormous similarities to its film adaption, with both efforts concentrating on the sticky folds of a tough neighborhood, where bad business carries on while daily business continues without question or comment. It’s another dip into working class woe, only here Lehane stuffs in more of a slow burn thriller element, pulling the audience into a troubling situation of deception and antagonism while focusing on building character through strange conflicts. It’s an odd one, but the movie has a terrific curveball that’s worth the patience required to digest all its eccentricities. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I doubt anyone who saw “Dolphin Tale” back in 2011 could’ve imagined such a story was ripe for a sequel. Not only was Winter the dolphin a powerful source of inspiration for visitors to her Florida rehabilitation aquarium, but she proved surprising muscle at the box office, allowing producers an opportunity to continue the drama with “Dolphin Tale 2,” a pleasant follow-up that’s more meaningful than its predecessor, touching on a few choice adolescent dilemmas before it plunges back into Disney Channel-esque habits that are harsh on the senses. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “Leprechaun” series is not precious. Conceived as satiric dig at the unstoppable killing machine craze of the 1980s and ‘90s, the original film merged silliness and shock with some degree of care, launching a franchise that carried on for five increasingly ridiculous sequels, making star Warwick Davis a cult icon and his agent very happy. 2003’s “Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood” was the swan song for the tiny monster, but a decade of dormancy hasn’t been as educational as one would hope. “Leprechaun: Origins” is the inevitable reboot, reworking the goofy premise into an R-rated chiller with a radically redesigned foe. Unfortunately, the production asks the audience to take the whole effort with the utmost seriousness, which somehow makes it even more absurd. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The admirable aspect of “At the Devil’s Door” is how careful it works to disrupt predictability. The horror genre has basically seen it all in terms of plots, tricks, and scares, with most filmmakers beating the same routines into submission, content to recycle to play into profitable trends. Writer/director Nicholas McCarthy doesn’t necessarily introduce new ideas with his picture, but the helmer is determined to keep viewers on edge with twists and blunt transitions, striving to advance a mystery that’s impossible to deduce from the opening act. However, in his attempt to pull “At the Devil’s Door” inside out, McCarthy has forgotten to retain a gripping consistency to the work, rendering the effort distanced when it should snowball into something menacing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There has been no shortage of Elmore Leonard adaptations over the last 30 years, with efforts such as Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight,” and Barry Sonnenfeld’s “Get Shorty” representing the cinematic highlights, while forgettable features such as “Killshot” and “Touch” populate the other side of the creative spectrum. “Life of Crime” isn’t a particularly urgent slice of Leonard, but this take on “The Switch” is appealing enough to pass, with writer/director Daniel Schechter locating a casual rhythm to a pressurized situation, relying on the writer’s way with characters and twists to feed into well-acted adventures with criminals and the hostages who love them. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I wouldn’t advise a trip to the concessions counter before a showing of the German film “Wetlands.” It’s not a movie made to stoke appetites, it’s a creation hoping to repulse in a myriad of ways. Based on a novel by Charlotte Roche, “Wetlands” sets out to the capture the head rush of a broken adolescence, with all its impulses, curiosities, and emotional unrest, and the feature is certainly vivid enough to reach a few high points of experience that are rarely explored on-screen. However, its visual intensity is tiring and incessant shock value tends to weaken emotionality present later in the picture. This is certainly unforgettable work, but often for the wrong reasons. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

James Rolfe has a built a brand name with “The Angry Video Game Nerd,” a popular video game review show that covers the worst the industry has to offer. It’s no polite rundown of faults, but a program constructed with sketches, game play, and cursing. So much cursing. Rolfe’s foul-mouthed routine has turned him into a cult star with gamers, building a fan base interested in terrible product dissected with extreme silliness. Excessive profanity aside, Rolfe’s videos are very entertaining, but is the man who’s built an empire in his basement, screaming into a single camera, ready for a trip to the big screen? “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie” is determined to turn the bespectacled, pocketing-protecting, beer-swilling, joystick-bending boob into a cinematic legend. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Love is Strange” doesn’t emphasize its use of gay marriage to fulfill any political agenda, instead treating the celebration of love as a moment of unity that strengthens bonds and deepens emotions. The film proceeds to display how that connection is tested in unexpectedly subtle ways, focusing on characters facing a seismic lifestyle change while trying to preserve stability to the best of their ability. It’s a tale of tenderness and partnership, with co-writer/director Ira Sachs working to keep melodrama out of the material, preferring to approach the conflicts contained within as ongoing life, remaining observational and respectful with this lovely, mournful picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s influence and then there’s theft. “The Longest Week” lands somewhere between the two extremes, with writer/director Peter Glanz making sure the world understands that he loves the work of Woody Allen and Wes Anderson. It’s difficult to understand why Glanz submits totally to his tributes, as his own work loses its identity along the way, suffocated by an onslaught of memorable filmmaking originally articulated by better filmmakers. I’m all for a celebration of the movies we love, but “The Longest Week” quickly becomes mimicry, losing any emotional pull as it strives to preserve the hospital corners of other, better helmers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com