Category: Film Review

Out of all the subcultures around, the Brony phenomenon is perhaps one of the most difficult to understand. Bronies are people who identify themselves as hardcore fans of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” a television cartoon program that successfully revived a toy line from the 1980s. These men (women tend to prefer “Pegasister”) have devoted a good chunk of their lives to fandom, celebrating the entertainment value and messages of the show, which offers escapism and guidance in a way few outlets in the real world provide. “A Brony Tale,” directed by Brent Hodge, is a documentary that sets out to explore how the subculture came to be and what it means to its participants, building up to a visit to BronyCon 2012 in New York City. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s difficult to understand what Nick Cannon is trying to achieve with “School Dance.” Co-writing and directing the comedy, Cannon masterminds a grandly profane effort that’s fueled primarily by racial slurs and stereotypes, while storytelling is generally disregarded to stuff the picture with musical performances and celebrity cameos. It’s not actually a film, but a 77-minute-long cry for help from a network talent show host and Disney personality who’s desperately trying to shed his squeaky clean image. “School Dance” is awful, but that’s to be expected from the star of “Underclassman.” The toxicity of the humor here is what’s most surprising. Cannon is clearly out to prove his street credibility, not shepherd a wily urban farce. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Part of me didn’t even want to see “Life Itself,” much less review it. What a strange experience it is to criticize a documentary about a film critic, especially one who influenced an entire generation of writers, myself included. I was concerned about the picture’s treatment of Roger Ebert’s considerable ego and its interest in his private life, avoiding sticky subjects to canonize the man as the world continues to mourn his loss (he passed away in 2013). My fears were unfounded, as director Steve James has crafted a lovely ode to a colorful, almost magical life, unafraid to approach Ebert’s unsavory behaviors and appetites. It’s a layered look at experience and acceptance from a most eloquent man, and while it indulges an inevitable sense of sadness, it manages to capture the essence of the subject in surprising ways. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Scott Derrickson made a name for himself with 2005’s “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” a thoroughly underwhelming demonic possession story that lit up the box office due to impressive marketing efforts. After stints with more horror (“Sinister”) and sci-fi (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”), the helmer returns to his first love with “Deliver Us from Evil,” another exorcism tale mixed with a dash of police procedural. Derrickson has his habits, always favoring cheap scares and iffy acting, but even his limitations can’t keep the picture away from a complete swan dive into stupidity. Overlong, underwhelming, and at times downright ridiculous, “Deliver Us from Evil” intends to find a middle ground between terror and spirituality, failing to illuminate the viewer on both fronts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

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