Category: Film Review

Phil Alden Robinson is a talented filmmaker, responsible for gems such as “Sneakers” and “Field of Dreams.” It’s been quite some time since he last helmed a movie, dating back to 2002’s underrated Jack Ryan thriller, “The Sum of All Fears,” making his latest, “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” interesting before it even begins, as it represents material that pulled Robinson out of whatever semi-retirement state was in. Once the feature gets going, hope for a wondrous return to form is lost, as Daniel Taplitz’s screenplay is soaked in phoniness, while Robinson can’t get his hands around the premise, swinging wildly from farcical elements to wearisome melodrama, offering a shapeless, tedious pass at a self-improvement picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Parts Per Billion” is the type of film that stretches for profundity, but can only reach a punishing ambiance of despondency. Taking on the end of the world, writer/director Brian Horiuchi struggles to create a dynamic doomsday vibe while tending to the intimate details of humanity as it struggles with the inevitable. More dull than devastating, “Parts Per Billion” can’t kickstart a convincing mood of panic, instead resting on tedious existential discussions and relationship woes while stringing together a useless cat’s cradle of character connections, forgoing the larger portrait of desperation to keep everything linked in a contrived manner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The seventh installment of the “X-Men” series, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is determined to remind the viewer that there were only two high-quality chapters, 2000’s “X-Men,” and 2003’s “X2: X-Men United.” The rest of the franchise is treated as mere bumps in the road as director Bryan Singer hopes to reclaim what he lost when he walked away from the series after the first sequel. Renewed comic book vigor is front and center here, restoring the grandeur of the mutant superhero saga, taking the characters to a uniquely dark place of possible extinction that transforms the feature into a game of survival, not slick widescreen heroism. Gritty and mindful of character, “Days of Future Past” is a triumphant return to form for the “X-Men” universe, proving there’s still some life kicking around the brand name after last summer’s snoozy “The Wolverine” missed the mark. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been 13 years since Jon Favreau made a small-scale comedy like “Chef.” In the interim, he’s been busy making blockbusters and helping Marvel get their act together with the eye-opening success of 2008’s “Iron Man” and its sequel. “Chef” returns some much needed spontaneity to the helmer’s filmography, creating a character-based story that trades enormous displays of CGI for the miracle of cooking, using succulent showcases of kitchen creations to lure viewers in while an effectively simple tale of growth and responsibility plays in the background. It’s a lovely picture, brimming with an elastic sense of humor and modest pathos, returning Favreau to a position of behavioral observation, playing around with screen essentials instead of organizing colossal elements of action. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Stand Clear of the Closing Doors” has a story, and it’s a powerful one about the loss of a child, with the searching parent left with limited resources as their worst nightmare is realized. However, director Sam Fleischner doesn’t pay much attention to a narrow dramatic view, electing to create a nervous landscape of sights and sounds to help shape the narrative. “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors” is a wonderfully cinematic effort, brimming with life and tension, while performances from a host of newcomers summon a rich sense of curiosity and despair that instills the picture with a special screen power. Although it never holds much interest in emphasis, it’s a striking, riveting feature that showcases Fleischner as a refreshingly observant talent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Adam Sandler hasn’t been hurting at the box office, yet “Blended” feels like an act of career desperation. The last few years have showcased a fatigued performer unable to revive the glorious insanity of his early work, resorting to drag (“Jack & Jill”), sequels (“Grown Ups 2”), and animated fare (“Hotel Transylvania”) to keep the money train in motion, forgoing the nuisance of actual jokes to plow ahead with bodily function humor and strained broheim shenanigans with equally tired co-stars. “Blended” isn’t a return to form for Sandler, but it resembles an actual movie at times, a quality that’s been missing from his recent output. Never inspired but intermittently amusing, “Blended” brings in Drew Barrymore, a proven Sandler love interest, to pull the star out of his shell, and it works, but not nearly to the extent it should. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Forev” is a micro-budgeted love story that plays with the conventions of a romantic comedy while indulging more than a few clichés to boost its appeal. Perhaps its most notable aspect is star Noel Wells, a newcomer to “Saturday Night Live” who found herself in a crowd of unfamiliar faces, all angling for precious seconds of screentime this past season. With “Forev,” Wells is allowed to show off her skills, and she delivers a funny, likable performance in a charming but unremarkable movie that doesn’t really aspire to be anything but cute. To that extent, it’s a success, hitting a few high points of manic behavior while smoothly managing its predilection towards indie film quirk. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Teenage ennui is pushed into the digital age in Gia Coppola’s “Palo Alto,” an adaptation of James Franco’s 2010 collection of short stories. If the name Coppola sounds familiar, it’s because Gia’s the granddaughter of maestro Francis Ford Coppola and the niece of Sofia. In fact, there is a host of second generation entertainers swarming the picture as well, with Val Kilmer’s son, Eric Roberts’s daughter, and Polly Draper’s son taking starring roles (Michael Madsen’s son and Amanda de Cadenet’s daughter also appear), and even a Gretsky is somewhere around here as well. While casting peculiarities are interesting, “Palo Alto” doesn’t match such oddity, playing it relatively safe with a tale of messed up kids toying with irresponsibility, guided by parents without a clue. It’s wonderfully shot, with moment of rawness, but Coppola can’t shake the suffocating been-there, done-that atmosphere of the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s an expectation of aging on film, a march of maturation that frequently involves quiet dignity or perhaps a comedic impishness that helps to dodge the branding process of senility. “Bright Days Ahead” touches on a rather modern quandary of forced obsolescence, where the old guard of society is lured into the pasture before they’re ready, while any spark of youthful activity refocuses energy in ways often discouraged. “Bright Days Ahead” isn’t profound, but it addresses a certain mentality of disposability as it sweeps through its tale of infidelity, while the lead performance from Fanny Ardant is superbly measured, bringing an interesting internalization to an occasionally, but not crushingly, routine look at the power of flirtation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While Richard Linklater collects deserved accolades for his upcoming experiment, “Boyhood,” and his ongoing “Before Sunrise” series, writer/director Cedric Klapisch has been working the same concept, tracking the lives of special characters throughout the years. The third chapter is what’s become a continuing examination of maturity, “Chinese Puzzle” follows 2002’s “L’Auberge Espagnole” and 2005’s “Russian Dolls,” catching up with these peculiar personalities as they prepare to greet the age of 40, with a fresh set of complications and responsibilities to manage as lives are turned upside down. Keeping up with a decent sense of humor and oddball interactions, “Chinese Puzzle” manages to sustain the mischief Klapisch started over a decade ago, making this update charming and funny when it’s not pursuing artificial conflicts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Over the past two decades, James Gray has directed only four features (“Little Odessa,” “The Yards,” “We Own the Night,” and “Two Lovers”), each with their own style, restless fixations, and beauty. His fifth picture is “The Immigrant,” a period melodrama that’s finally seeing release a year after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, and it fits in perfectly with his oeuvre, using a decidedly cinematic approach to expose raw feelings and gut-rot acts of survival. It’s old-fashioned work befitting its time period, but “The Immigrant” is also gorgeously executed and incisively acted, depicting the isolation of the American Dream with a pure concentration on desperation and manipulation, gifted a sepia glaze to sell the step back in time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A legendary brand name built over the course of nearly 30 feature films, Godzilla has proven himself to be a valuable cinematic icon, with his monster-stomping ways thrilling audiences all over the world. Often the center of citywide destruction, there isn’t much to do with the character beyond large-scale violence, leaving the human factor to guide all these efforts, in a series that kicked off 60 years ago. 2014’s “Godzilla” isn’t a remake but a reboot, hoping to reignite the fervor for creature mayhem with a newly designed King of the Monsters and a supporting cast of talented actors hired to make awestruck faces and smoothly exchange expositional dialogue, with a newfound concentration on heartbreaking scenes of loss. There is might and fury to “Godzilla” that’s often amazing to behold, but its limitations and weird storytelling choices throttle the escapism, while the titular Goliath merely makes an extended cameo in his own picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The stag party is not an uncommon premise for a comedy, permitting filmmakers with ample opportunity to stage all types of drunken debauchery and expose pent-up aggressions. Emerging from Ireland, “The Bachelor Weekend” eschews traditional hell-raising to play out as a comedy of neuroses and secrets, trusting in the significance of character and sharp dialogue to help shape the evolution of a celebration as it goes from hesitation and dismissal to bonding. Hilarious and mindful of heart, “The Bachelor Weekend” does a fine job avoiding expectations, while the cast is simply perfect, managing pathos and punchlines with superb timing and feeling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Poised to become the sleeper hit of 2014, “Million Dollar Arm” plays a familiar feel-good tune to reach a mass audience. It’s a charmer, but not an especially original one, and those on the hunt for more challenging fare should seek their summer entertainment elsewhere. Instead of edge, “Million Dollar Arm” offers heart, assembling an off center baseball picture that’s big with culture clash comedy and character arcs of self-improvement, leaving little to the imagination. While it’s a formulaic effort, it’s not entirely lazy, putting some genuine thought into these personalities and the struggle of the foreign experience without resorting to mean-spirited stereotyping. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Acting veteran John Slattery makes his feature-length directorial debut with “God’s Pocket,” and while the performer has spent a lifetime around numerous filmmakers, absorbing the finer points of tonal balance, his own foray into storytelling often finds its shoelaces tied together. Death is played for laughs, life is miserable, and there’s not a problem that can’t be solved with alcohol in “God’s Pocket,” and while select scenes brim with a deliciously uncomfortable tension, the overall picture feels incomplete, lost in an effort to summon a sense of neighborhood decay instead of following through on interesting subplots and simmering animosities. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As an actor, Dan Fogler has always been a troubling screen presence. Often stuffed into sidekick roles where his red-faced, mumbly sense of humor could be counted on to bring the laughs, Fogler often floundered in hapless pictures such as “Fanboys,” “Good Luck Chuck,” and “Take Me Home Tonight.” With “Don Peyote,” Fogler aims to enhance his shtick with a heavy dose of surrealism, co-creating (with Michael Canzoniero) this expedition into the folds of consciousness, with emphasis on splattered visions, a taste of madness, and musical numbers helping to bring this no-budget effort to life. To write that this is the most appealing Fogler has been on-screen to date doesn’t mean much, but as scattergun, super-freak-out cinema goes, “Don Peyote” is almost patiently weird enough to work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I appreciate how the Austrian horror film, “Blood Glacier” (now there’s an ominous title), has interest is using climate change revelations to jump-start a macabre monster movie. It’s not revelatory, but a nice change of pace, placing the blame for nightmarish developments on man’s misuse of Earth. However, not much is made of the premise, which loses intensity early and often, working to blend classic creature effects with low-budget CGI events, unable to drum up much excitement with either tradition. “Blood Glacier” doesn’t have a rich imagination, and while its locations are gorgeous, nearly saving the viewing experience, the mayhem contained within is lukewarm at best. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Belle” feels like sitting through the rehearsal process of a Broadway play that’s in serious need of work. A period drama from director Amma Asante, the feature is a handsome picture with a promising story in the plight of its lead character, who’s caught between her needs and her place during an unforgiving time. There’s plenty of ground to cover when it comes to English prejudices of the 19th century, but “Belle” would rather play to the back row with emphatic melodrama and neatly ordered subplots. When it comes to the business of slavery and bigotry, there’s little need for such formula, making the effort feel strangely safe and uneventful when detailing grandiose challenges to basic human rights. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although he’s already celebrated the end of the View Askewniverse, and even threatened to retire from filmmaking altogether, Kevin Smith can’t seem to quit his most enduring creation. Last seen onscreen in 2006’s “Clerks II,” Jay and Silent Bob return to the realm of animation for “Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie,” a low-budget affair that plays directly to the Smith fanbase with copious amounts of inside references, crude humor, and weed-scented shenanigans. It’s easy to dismiss the softball screenwriting, but there’s a definite speed to the picture that’s encouraging, sprinting through bits of awful humor in an irreverent manner befitting these stoner superheroes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Moms’ Night Out” is a tamer take on the “The Hangover” formula, electing to play out its mischief as peacefully as possible to preserve its PG rating and respect its Christian inspiration. There’s an acceptable message on the fallibility of motherhood in here somewhere that’s worth screentime to develop, but that purity of feeling is buried under multiple layers of lame jokes and dim supporting performances, while the anarchic spirit the premise hints at never snowballs into a charming, mischievous comedy. “Moms’ Night Out” plays like a failed television pilot, consistently heading in the wrong direction while searching for funny business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com