Category: Film Review

In 2007, writer/director John Carney won over the world with his teeny-tiny indie romance, “Once.” Emphasizing music and profound romantic feelings, the picture managed to make an impression despite little dramatic urgency and low-tech cinematography. Easily identified as a superpower was the feature’s soundtrack, which was often more detailed than dialogue when it came to the understanding of interior yearn. Years later, Carney returns to the realm of performance and poetry with “Begin Again,” attempting to rework formula that served him so well seven years ago. Trouble is, sincerity is missing, replaced by routine and miscasting, and while the songs are pulled off with polish, the rest of the screenplay flounders, hunting for emotional harmony that’s never truly believable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Snowpiercer” is a film that’s here to remind weary moviegoers that the art of cinema is alive and well. Popping out during a summer season of remakes and sequels, here’s an alternative that takes its cues from a graphic novel while establishing its own identity with fierce confidence, offering adventurous ticket buyers the opportunity to be fully transported to a realm teeming with dark humor, brutal action, and genuine discovery. It’s certainly not escapist entertainment, with “Snowpiercer” intelligent and macabre, challenging the viewer with a dystopian vision of class warfare. It’s superb from top to bottom, richly detailed and harrowing, bringing Korean director Bong Joon-ho his first English-language triumph. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Melissa McCarthy is an immensely likable comedienne who has a habit of starring in movies that are well beneath her talent. Add “Tammy” to the growing pile of disappointments (including “Identity Thief” and “The Heat”), though her latest effort isn’t the typical slapstick explosion she’s known for, emerging as something approaching a melodrama, only without the guts to take emotional pain all the way to its natural conclusion. Gripping the creative reins, McCarthy trots out her moneymaking bits to secure her audience, but she’s after a slightly haunted tone with “Tammy,” trying to merge funny business with uneasy interests in alcoholism and the damage of diabetes. It’s a mess, but a periodically amusing mess thanks to a sturdy line-up of co-stars. I’ll give McCarthy this much: she knows how to surround herself with talent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Earth to Echo” is an entertaining picture, but it really doesn’t know what type of movie it wants to be. It’s best described as the first significant attempt to make a found footage family film, merging today’s tech-obsessed youth with Spielbergian awe, liberally borrowing from the “E.T.” playbook, with a dash of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” It’s a cute robot extravaganza without the cute robot, and perhaps 85 minutes of shaky cam isn’t the best idea when the material desires to create an intimate bond with its audience. Still, “Earth to Echo” is nicely performed by its young cast and features motivations that tease a compelling mystery to come. It eventually falls apart under scrutiny, but its target demographic should get a kick out of it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

June’s “Edge of Tomorrow” was an entertaining update of the “Groundhog Day” premise, with its slam-bang action mentality making a nice fit for the story’s scheme of repetition. Apparently, one effort wasn’t enough, but “Premature” doesn’t feature aliens, Tom Cruise, and montages of death. This one is all about masturbation, merging horndog antics with a time restart gimmick, attempting to find a different approach to what’s become a well-worn premise. “Premature” isn’t consistent, but it retains a handful of inspired scenes and a pleasant lead performance from John Karna, who somehow makes it out of this picture with dignity, surviving numerous scenes of sexual and social humiliation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Evelyn Purcell hasn’t directed a film since 2002, and her last theatrical release was 1986’s “Nobody’s Fool.” Perhaps the absence between efforts is why “Heatstroke” comes off so stiff, with her creative muscles atrophied, in need of renewed flexing before taking on the challenge of an African desert adventure, complete with evil poachers and nature’s most dangerous creatures. “Heatstroke” has a few moments with potential, including the use of female leads in an action movie, but it’s strangely unadventurous, dependent on cliché to connect the dots, refusing the invitation to create a genuine nail-biter in an exotic location. The feature isn’t directed, it’s merely survived. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making fun of the romantic comedy genre isn’t difficult, and with most productions gladly gobbling down the same clichés, they already approach satire without knowing it. “They Came Together” has the advantage of actually trying to pants the formula, with “Wet Hot American Summer” and “Role Models” co-writer/director David Wain masterminding a blissfully silly effort that has fun with screen conventions, shredding such repetition with a joyful sense of humor that’s always on the hunt for insanity. Hilarious and rarely interested in mean-spirited evisceration, “They Came Together” is a wonderfully scattered picture, also reinstating hope that someone out there actually understands what a parody film is supposed to look and sound like. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Well, at least we don’t have to deal with Shia LeBeouf anymore, right? “Transformers: Age of Extinction” is an attempt to reboot the series, introducing new characters and goals to refresh what was completely exhausted at the end of 2011’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Reboot probably isn’t the right term for this sequel, the fourth in the series. Readjustment is a more accurate description, as little has changed when it comes to the velocity of the performances and the ear-bleed, eye-melt interests of the action. It’s typical slam-bang-upskirt work from director Michael Bay, who activates his autopilot and pretends that “Age of Extinction” is breaking new ground in the franchise just because it finds a way to introduce the Dinobots. Much like the other installments, if you leave the theater without a headache, you’ve disappointed the producers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When Eli Roth’s “Cabin Fever” was released in 2002, audiences weren’t particularly interested in its blend of comedy and horror. The movie was shuffled in and out of theaters fairly quickly, but the picture’s reputation blossomed on home video, finding its cult audience a little more easily. Strangely, no major continuation was mounted, with 2009’s “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever” a botched production nobody in creative circles seems interested in claiming. And now there’s “Cabin Fever: Patient Zero,” a second sequel that’s more of a franchise reboot, abandoning all ties to Roth’s creation as it sets out to rework the persistent spread of a flesh-eating virus to fit an even lower-budgeted series of follow-ups. It’s not the most ideal situation for director Kaare Andrews, but he makes the most out of a deflating position, crafting not an exceptionally memorable horror film, but at least an entertaining one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Since he’s given up on acting, perhaps directing documentaries is the next best thing for Mike Myers. The reclusive star (who hasn’t been seen in a film since 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds”) picks up a camera and sticks Shep Gordon in front of it, who’s not really famous, isn’t in need, or plays an important part of history (traditional documentary subjects). He’s just an entertainment manager who possesses some of the best stories around, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous for decades, helping to build some of the biggest stars in music and food. Gordon also comes off as a fairly nice guy, inspiring Myers to recount his life and times, hoping impart an old-fashioned message of loyalty and kindness in an industry known for merciless and reckless behavior. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nothing Bad Can Happen” is grim and brutal, but might very well be the rare screen depiction of Christianity that carries beyond simple cinematic reinforcement for the already converted. A German production, the movie seeks to understand the power of faith and how it’s often tested by gale force sin, loosely adapting the story of Jesus to isolate punishment as a test of will and belief. It’s “The Passion of the German Runaway,” but devoid of sermonizing and exclusion, embarking on a vicious journey for the lead character as his devout ways are challenged by those out solely to harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Violette” has a darkness about it that isn’t always easy to process, but it does achieve the striking sensation of a writer striving to find her voice. It’s the hunched-over, furious fingers pose that co-writer/director Martin Provost masters throughout the picture, acquiring a special intimacy with the subject and her vast appreciation for traumatic incident. Perhaps “Violette” overindulges with its run time (130 minutes), but the reward for such excess is a profound appreciation for a woman who struggled with sexism, self-doubt, and a troubled life to create something pure on paper, seeking salvation in the creative process, which is beautifully rendered in this film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

During my experience in moviegoing, I’ve observed that it isn’t easy to bring a Philip K. Dick novel or short story to the big screen. A sophisticated sci-fi writer, Dick’s material needs special care when translated to a screenplay, while a few of his ideas are truly resistant to the cinematic realm, better served in the expansive canvas of imagination literature provides. “Radio Free Albemuth” is the latest attempt to bring a headrush of exposition and ideas into theaters, and while it’s ambitious work, writer/director John Alan Simon is in way over his head with this enormous narrative that connects an alien empire to a Los Angeles record executive, fiddling with fascist government interests, a chart-topping song of revolution, and marital dissolution along the way. It’s a story meant to be consumed in small bites, but Simon attempts to swallow it all at once. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been numerous Woody Allen knockoffs created over the last four decades, but the German production, “A Coffee in Berlin,” has the right ambiance, just not the same neuroses and interest in wit. Writer/director Jan Ole Gerster (making his feature-length helming debut) has the right idea to mount a tribute of some type, but in trying to make his own mark with this somber material, he misses the connection between visual jazz and downbeat dramatics, creating a movie that always seems like it’s reaching for a laugh, only to reveal some type of grim behavior. “A Coffee in Berlin” does have its moments, and Gerster knows how to milk a running gag, but it’s difficult to accept this picture as anything besides confused, no matter how well intentioned it is. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Signal” is a brain-bleeder with surprising accessibility. This is a tricky review to write, as much of the film’s power comes from its secrets and reveals, with a deliberate leisurely pace to help accentuate moments of paranoia and an overall sense of psychological disturbance. Co-writer/director William Eubank conjures elements of “The Twilight Zone” and superhero cinema to help shape this odd but striking effort, and while the young helmer doesn’t have the tightest command of pace, Eubank makes up for occasional cinematic stasis with a convincingly mysterious viewing experience that successfully sustains interest all the way to the final frame. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The whole point of 2012’s “Think Like a Man” was to celebrate the words of wisdom shared by comedian Steve Harvey. Adapting his 2009 book, “Think Like a Man, Act Like a Lady,” the feature embarked on a study of coupling, clashing personalities, and gender solidarity. It wasn’t a good film, but it was a box office hit, with audiences eager to absorb relationship advice from the host of “Family Feud.” For “Think Like a Man Too,” everything that defined the original picture has been wiped away, replaced with straightforward shenanigans, taking the celebration of dysfunction to Las Vegas, where, despite ample evidence of the contrary on television, anything goes. If the first movie was an irritating, poorly managed tale of people in love, “Think Like a Man Too” is straight-up obnoxious. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After a stunning early career with such pictures as “Show Me Love,” “Together,” and “Lilya 4-Ever,” writer/director Lukas Moodysson has spent the last decade floundering with artful, symbolic, but often unsuccessful efforts, trying to reclaim his voice through chaos and strained drama. “We Are the Best!” (his first film since 2009’s “Mammoth”) restores some of Moodysson’s lost mojo, helming a loose, buzzing dramedy about musical ambition and personal expression. Although the movie often goes cross-eyed trying to figure out how to slip out of scenes, it retains joy and a rich sense of curiosity, brought to life through three terrific lead performances Moodysson manages with palpable glee. It’s great to have him back on two feet again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With his last film, 2011’s “Carnage,” director Roman Polanski guided an adaptation of a play. With “Venus in Fur,” the helmer returns cinema back to the stage, exploring the theatrical possibilities of David Ives’s play. It’s a minor boomerang effect that’s enlivened Polanski’s creative side, presenting him with the challenge of summoning tension in tight spaces. However, “Venus in Fur” takes more than a few unusual directions, evolving from a tale of persistence into a full-scale dissection of submission, boosted by two outstanding performances from Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner, who communicate quite a range of reactions to provocative situations, while Polanski, ever the mischievous one, amplifies deceptively casual combativeness into an engrossing psychological flaying. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Jersey Boys” was a sensation on Broadway, charming audiences and even winning a few Tony Awards in a run that continues to this day. It’s a show known for its lively energy, its toe-tapping hit songs, and meaty East Coast attitude. So why is the big screen incarnation such a joyless, tuneless slog? Perhaps most of the blame can be placed on director Clint Eastwood, who doesn’t possess the right kind of rhythm to make the material stand up and sing as it should. There’s also the legacy of Frankie Valli, the star of the show and a man treated so preciously, he’s practically fitted for a halo. Whatever magic was created onstage is missing from the movie, which spends more time mourning The Four Seasons than celebrating what made them a massive group to begin with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Rage” is a generic title for a generic film. After clawing his way back to critical respectability with last spring’s “Joe,” Nicolas Cage boomerangs to paycheck roles with this rather impressively confused thriller, teasing Steven Seagal career territory with his participation in such a low-budget actioner. With dead eyes and stiff hair, Cage simply shows up for this tale of revenge, working through beats of distress and menace that require little effort. Director Paco Cabezas seems to understand the limited interest, working to liven up the picture with stylized brutality, not quite understanding that the screenplay by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller is a meditation on the merciless, cyclical nature of violence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com