Category: Film Review

Joel and Ethan Coen make movies a certain way — a thumbprint that’s created some of cinema’s most powerful and delightfully lopsided features. They rarely miss, and even when they fail to live up to expectations, their pictures are exceptionally layered, idiosyncratic efforts that charm with their tight craftsmanship and impish sense of humor. “Inside Llewyn Davis” is perhaps their most challenging endeavor, asking viewers to process the existence of a man who refuses to get his life together, embarking on an aimless tour of his own misery with razor-sharp edges to his personality that cut those daring to get close. Evocative and steadfastly Coen-esque, “Inside Llewyn Davis” is nevertheless a chore to sit through, missing a certain snap that usually comes so easily to the filmmakers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The original “Anchorman” didn’t exactly tear up the box office, but the comedy did fairly well in the summer of 2004 before soaring as a cult hit on home video. It’s odd that it took nearly a decade for a sequel to come together, finding the creative team of co-writer/star Will Ferrell and co-writer/director Adam McKay a little rusty when it comes to the revival of screen insanity. While not quite as snappy as the previous effort, “Anchorman 2” remains loaded with laughs and heavy-handed but clever satire. Missing a certain hellraising attitude, the follow-up nevertheless finds its footing quickly, allowing Ferrell and his supporting cast time to feel around the edges of stupidity, locating old rhythms as Ron Burgundy is hit in the face by 1980. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In an effort to expand his empire, writer/director/producer/star Tyler Perry has set his sights on the holiday season and all the perennial business it offers. “A Madea Christmas” is the eighth film featuring the titular behemoth, though it feels like the hundredth, with Perry serving up the same stale brew of moral lessons and pratfalls, only here the antics are infused with a yuletide ambiance that’s only marginally convincing. Aggressively broad, half-realized, and intermittently inexcusable, “A Madea Christmas” is dead on arrival, and no amount of seasonal cheer and supporting turns from former “Facts of Life” stars is going to steer the sleigh to satisfaction. Even for a Tyler Perry movie, this feature seems excessively cheap and lifeless. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The question posed last year was how director Peter Jackson was going to stretch the thinness of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, “The Hobbit,” to meet the needs of three feature films. With the release of the second chapter, “The Desolation of Smaug,” the strain is beginning to show. Not built for such an extensive big screen adaptation, “The Hobbit” is fighting for oxygen in this sequel, failing to provide a reason (beyond a financial one) why the material should carry on for three years. It’s still enjoyable fantasy fun, but “The Desolation of Smaug” has difficulty coughing up reasons for its extended run time (161 minutes) and legion of characters. And this is only the midway point in the story. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Under normal circumstance, this review of “Hours” would simply note that this is the fourth picture for actor Paul Walker in 2013, following his work in “Vehicle 19,” “Pawn Shop Chronicles,” and “Fast & Furious 6.” However, “Hours” will be forever remembered as one of his last movies, after his death late last month at the age of 40. I’ll admit, I was never a true believer when it came to the acting ability of Walker, who built a career around his good looks and enthusiastic physicality, yet “Hours” truly represents a change of pace for the performer, who delivers some of his best work in this odd thriller, which somehow transfers the bomb-on-a-bus concept of “Speed” to an infant-on-a-incubator ride of suspense and heartbreaking stakes. Walker’s clear limitations remain, but baby steps toward his maturation as a leading man were made here, sadly never to be realized in full. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Last Days on Mars” has enticed a few very talented actors to participate in a production that’s essentially a DTV detour playing into current zombie-everything trends, with a dab of “Alien” flung into the mix as well. It’s derivative and thinly sketched, yet with lowered expectations, the picture has its moments of suspense, articulated by a cast that seems eager to take part in a sci-fi/horror hybrid, allowing them to stretch professionally. “The Last Days on Mars” isn’t going to rock anyone’s world, but accepted as a slightly more refined B-movie experience, and it’s engaging, refreshingly simplistic work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been three years since we last saw a John Sayles film hit the screens, with the moviemaker taking his time between projects, maintaining a dramatic concentration that’s evident in his work. While Hollywood scrambles to adapt best sellers for the cinemas, Sayles creates literary experiences with his features, with his latest, “Go for Sisters,” another patient, layered viewing event marked by its interest in character nuance and the detail of storytelling. A tale of rekindled friendship wrapped up in a mystery, “Go for Sisters” doesn’t bring out the best in the helmer, but it remains an absorbing picture with two exceptional performances from LisaGay Hamilton and Yolonda Ross, who bring sublime presence to an effort that often needs their conviction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While watching “Expecting,” I couldn’t help but feel there was something more to Jessie McCormack’s screenplay at one point. It’s a film determined to submit distinct characterizations, pushing idiosyncratic people into a plot of whirlwind circumstances, including pregnancy, marital distress, and post-rehab addiction recovery. There’s a concerted effort to communicate a fullness of behavior, yet the story carries no weight, floating along like a particularly unmotivated sitcom that can’t quit quirk. “Expecting” starts off promisingly enough, but editorial compromises soon eat away at the viewing experience, changing what appears to be a deeply felt journey of empowerment into a soggy parade of wackiness and hazily defined subplots. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Out of the Furnace” is a rough picture about desperation and grief. It’s the second film from Scott Cooper, who turned heads back in 2009 with the Oscar-winning “Crazy Heart,” his portrait of country music misery. “Furnace” eschews the comfort of song, taking viewers into the bowels of America’s Rust Belt, where jobs are drying up, dreams are dying, and the police have no control over the escalating violence. Channeling the austerity of 1970’s cinema with a touch of folksy poetry, and Cooper builds an impressive engine of aggression with his latest endeavor, flattening and refolding a common tale of revenge to emphasize powerful moments of introspection and trigger-stroking deliberation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cyclist Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven consecutive times, amassed a fortune in endorsement deals, and started his own charity. He almost married a rock star, rubbed elbows with world leaders, and became a sporting celebrity with a face and a brand recognized on a global scale. He also cheated to help achieve victory, using performance-enhancing drugs to help himself conquer competitors, only admitting to this deception in 2013, after a decade of denials. It’s difficult to sympathize with Armstrong’s manipulations, but it’s a little easier to understand his delusion after watching “The Armstrong Lie,” director Alex Gibney’s eye-opening condemnation of the athlete and exploration of his staunch refusal to accept responsibility for his destructive, dispiriting actions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The romantic and political sweep of “Twice Born” feels out of step with today’s moviegoing interests. It’s a throwback picture to a time where thinly glazed global weariness could pass for the recognition of worldly woe, eased along by a heaping helping of melodrama to make the medicine go down. Cinematic tastes have changed, yet director/actor/co-writer Sergio Castellitto clings to the Duraflame fires within for “Twice Born,” a handsomely crafted but empty feature hoping to recreate Eastern European horror and soap opera intimacy, stumbling along with a few less than inspired performances and a script that hopes for tight-jawed sophistication, but can only muster feeble cliche. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are moments in “A Perfect Man” where the material appears to be headed in an unusual direction. These teases of imagination are quickly diverted into formula, making the movie a frustrating sit despite convincing performances and an atypical setting. Director Kees Van Oostrum can’t decide if he wants to manufacture a gritty look at the dissolution of a marriage or a twinkly Hollywood-style romantic comedy, keeping the film trapped in a middle ground of unpleasant behavior and toothless characterizations in dire need of a more robust story. It’s a confusing, awkward picture, though “A Perfect Man” has its fair share of compelling incidents. Just not nearly enough of them to make the effort shine. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Huffing Fellini fumes until he’s blue in the face, co-screenwriter/director Paolo Sorrentino attempts to revive a shimmering Italian atmosphere of pure cinema for “The Great Beauty.” He’s largely successful, constructing a valentine to one of the great filmmakers, but also finding his own themes and obsessions to follow. It’s a gorgeous picture with a few baffling events, though it rewards a lengthy sit (140 minutes) with an impressive tour of Roman architecture, an exhaustive exploration of deep-seated fears and desires, and an unexpectedly potent view of mortality, with Sorrentino generating a full-blooded mood of life in motion facing a lead character who’s uncomfortable with the forward momentum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Some movies shouldn’t be remade. The 2003 Korean film “Oldboy” is practically a religious experience for some cinephiles, making it a curious choice for a do-over, especially one from director Spike Lee. Reheating the plot for American audiences, Lee seems lost here, staying true to the highlights of the original work while rushing through the toxic connective tissue that made the initial picture such a disturbing, distressing tragedy. While toning down his typical stylistics, Lee is the wrong choice for the material, unable to make any sense out of action sequences and character relationships, making his “Oldboy” more of a flip book version of the 2003 production, stripped of its merciless tone and throat-punch conclusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Reviewed at the 2013 Twin Cities Film Festival

Director Alexander Payne has explored the Midwest experience on a few occasions, perhaps most pointedly in 1996’s “Citizen Ruth” and 2002’s “About Schmidt.” “Nebraska” is Payne’s submersion into the sights and sounds of his homeland, coming off his Oscar-winning hit “The Descendants” with a small-scale comedy about fathers and sons, junk mail and stolen air compression equipment. Shot in black and white and sparingly scripted by Bob Nelson, “Nebraska” continues Payne’s streak of delightfully human stories with heavy cultural seasoning, exposing quirks, exploring cantankerous personalities, and generally remaining unafraid to make a rural movie without resorting to caricature. The picture is an absolute treat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s impossible to doubt Judi Dench, but it’s easy to underestimate her. The acclaimed actress and former M in the 007 franchise, Dench rarely, if ever, gives a bad performance. She’s just one of those talents that’s confident and concise. However, in “Philomena,” she’s extraordinary, performing at such a level of emotional communication, it’s startling to witness, making a simple, minor mystery riveting as she commands the screen with her subtlety. Co-star Steve Coogan makes a fine partner in the movie, with the pair developing a sense of intimacy and trust that helps the story find its footing as a tear-jerking, eye-opening journey of a broken heart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After trying to locate some dramatic range in the summer effort “Redemption,” Jason Statham returns to fist-first material with “Homefront.” Although the film is an adaptation of a book by author Chuck Logan, the picture plays more like an old Jean-Claude Van Damme endeavor, only there’s a community of characters to pay attention to instead of the one-man-marauder scenario. As junky, B-movie entertainment with an emphasis on explosions, the feature is passably entertaining, submitting a decent amount of growly escapism and chewy performances. However, “Homefront” doesn’t live up to its potential, relying on Statham’s gifts with stone-faced intimidation instead of trying to manufacture a suspenseful atmosphere that could challenge the bruiser, inspiring the rest of the work to achieve a higher level of engagement. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After flirting with musical interests with 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog” and 2010’s “Tangled,” Walt Disney Animation furthers the Broadway mood with “Frozen,” which seems even more calculated to reignite the blockbuster energy that fueled studio hits from the late 1980s and early ‘90s. Filled with tunes and elaborate sequences, “Frozen” is Disney playing it safe, packing the film with adorable characters, broad villainy, and a marketable landscape of snow and ice. It’s far from revolutionary work, but there’s undeniable charm to be found in the movie, which features wonderful singing, dazzling animation, and some cheeky Nordic humor, helping to enliven what’s often a disappointingly routine picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Black Nativity” takes its title from a 1961 Off-Broadway show written by Langston Hughes, but it doesn’t have much in common with the source material. Instead of slavish recreation, writer/director Kasi Lemmons creates her own take, mixing theatrical staging and broad performances with cinematic intimacy, trying to convey a faith-based story in an unusual manner. She’s marginally successful, establish a raw, low-budget energy to the feature that keeps it surprising, while performances are generally accomplished, selling the morality of the story without dissolving into a puddle of amens. Straightforward but convincing, “Black Nativity” is refreshingly restrained, making it a nice counterpoint to other, noisier holiday entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The last few years haven’t been kind to actor Vince Vaughn. Once a firecracker of a comedic talent, Vaughn hasn’t really charmed audiences in a significant manner since 2005’s “Wedding Crashers,” spending subsequent years trying to land his own holiday perennial (“Four Christmases,” “Fred Claus”), survive indie films (“Lay the Favorite”), and slog through disastrous comedies (“The Internship,” “The Watch,” and “Couples Retreat”). Looking to dial down his rapid-fire persona for a bit of Thanksgiving warmth, Vaughn saunters up to “Delivery Man” as quietly as possible, hoping to come across appealing in a picture that’s programmed to tug at heartstrings. It’s an interesting change of pace for the star, but the movie doesn’t work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com