Category: Film Review

“Cosmopolis” requires viewers to set aside their every thought, perhaps
every motor function too, and focus on the enormous exchanges of knotted
dialogue launched between comatose characters. There’s no possible way
to appreciate the movie in a half-hearted manner, yet writer/director
David Cronenberg isn’t exactly inviting outside interest in this
polarizing work. With its stretches of byzantine conversations,
bloodless characterizations, and inert thematic push, “Cosmopolis” is a
rare miscarriage from the always exciting filmmaker. Cronenberg seems
like he has something specific, possibly devilishly satiric in mind, but
his screen instincts are numb, constructing a feature that lurches from
scene to scene, convinced it possesses a wicked intellectualism it
rarely finds the energy to display. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A great car chase movie should inspire the viewer to leap out of the
theater when the end credits hit, sprint through the parking lot, dive
into their automobile, and burn rubber back home, dodging imaginary bad
guys on the way. It should trigger a dormant recklessness that’s frowned
upon in daily life, creating a surge of pedal-to-the-metal daydreams.
“Hit and Run” doesn’t bring out four-wheeled fantasies. It actually
encourages a great deal of boredom as it lumbers from scene to scene,
placing its emphasis on a troubled relationship between two insipid
individuals, while the “Run” of the title is a rare occurrence, making
more of a cameo appearance as writer/co-director/star Dax Shepard
provides more screen time to dreary drama than an electric pursuit
element most will be itching to dig into. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There has been a rash of supernatural stories with period settings in
recent years, with “The Woman in Black” a box office smash just this
last February. “The Awakening” contains familiar working parts, carrying
a somber tone of torment in a secluded English setting, and while the
material doesn’t win points for originality, co-writer/director Nick
Murphy captures an immersive atmosphere of frights and paranoia,
creating a ghost story with a nice kick and deeply felt emotions. The
surface details suggest a banal return to a formulaic haunting, yet “The
Awakening,” while imperfect, captures an intensity of gradually eroding
conviction that carries the iffy material all the way to the intriguing
head-scratcher of an ending. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I was a great admirer of Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables,” released two years ago. A brutal throwback to the sweat-stained, no-nonsense actioners of the 1980s, the picture was undeniably rough around the edges, yet contained a slick appreciation for genre necessities and broheim comfort. After its unexpected box office success, we’re now faced with “The Expendables 2,” a crisp sequel that employs a great deal of hindsight to move ahead as a possible franchise. Stripped of Stallone’s tendency to ramble, the follow-up is a more traditional bruiser, barreling forward with waves of violence, self-aware humor, and a rowdy supporting cast pieced together out of newcomers, B-actors, and martial art icons. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” forces an enormous amount of whimsy down the throat of its audience in the early moments of the picture, though it doesn’t take very long to develop a taste for the sweet stuff. Heartfelt and genuinely magical, this Disney release is perfect for a family moviegoing outing, touching on themes of parenthood for adults, while kids will likely be charmed by the mysteries presented. A touching fable, “Odd Life” benefits from an eager cast and a unique sensitivity, finding a comfortable, endearing position between a bizarre premise and its enthusiastic execution. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Those used to the animated movie routine of princesses and anthropomorphized animals might find themselves shocked by “ParaNorman.” A macabre adventure that pays tribute to zombie cinema while working out its own scares and iffy stabs at irreverence, the picture is a stunningly animated effort carrying unexpected bite, taking its horror reverence seriously with a ghoulish tale of a community haunting that’s occasionally broken up by traditional cartoon shenanigans. Those tuned into the screen tributes and surprisingly severity of the story will enjoy themselves immensely. Others would be well advised to pay attention to the PG rating, as “ParaNorman” creeps into a few dark corners that aren’t solved with musical numbers or tears. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1970, an album titled “Cold Fact” was released in America. A product of a Detroit-based man known only as Rodriguez, “Cold Fact” (and its single “Sugar Man”) went out into the world with an expectation of success, wowing those in the industry who were knocked flat by Rodriguez’s skills as a songwriter and performer, revitalizing the folk rock genre. The record flopped in the U.S., as did a second effort, 1971’s “Coming From Reality,” leaving the artist without a future in the industry, joining the ranks of millions who tried and failed to make a career out of music. And then it all came to a horrible end in later years, when Rodriguez, after a particularly painful gig, put a gun to his head and killed himself on stage. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sparkle” is a film that should’ve snapped together beautifully. Boasting a promising director in Salim Akil (“Jumping the Broom”), an earnest performance from star Jordin Sparks, and period setting drenched in the miracle of the Motown sound, the feature is also a remake of a 1976 Joel Schumacher-scripted cult hit, which came to inspire the Broadway hit “Dreamgirls.” The material is there for the taking, but “Sparkle” is a disaster, choked out by some of the worst displays of botched screen storytelling I’ve seen in some time. It’s a heartbreaker, especially with all this talent waiting to pounce on the electricity of the premise, not to mention the final screen appearance of Whitney Houston, who passed away in February. Instead of a celebration of music, the movie is a tonal wreck. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the release of 1997’s “The Rainmaker,” legendary director Francis Ford Coppola retreated into his folds of own mind, giving up the Hollywood filmmaking routine to construct personal stories and indulge visual kinks. After “Youth Without Youth” and “Tetro,” Coppola returns with “Twixt,” a bizarre mosaic of grief, mystery, murder, creativity, and vampirism, unleashed inside a low-budget dreamscape that shows little interest in storytelling lucidity. It’s an interesting shotgun blast of ideas and moods from the filmmaker, and while it doesn’t braid together as evenly as Coppola might’ve hoped, the picture maintains a full punch of atmosphere, while giving star Val Kilmer something substantial to play after years of making moronic actioners with 50 Cent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Celeste & Jesse Forever” is an independent production about a marriage in crisis. It’s not the most original concept, but the script attempts to disrupt the norm by greeting the heartache after the domestic divide. It’s the post-marriage movie about marriage, endeavoring to find a sincere take on separation while it stumbles through hoary scenarios and jokes. Although it means well enough, “Celeste & Jesse Forever” is cold to the touch, too exaggerated and fussy to register as meaningful, while laboring through two shallow performances by Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, who come across as more of a dysfunctional improvisation duo than a plausibly aching couple. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Bindlestiffs” is a backyard production from young filmmaking novices that lucked into a distribution deal when Kevin Smith took a shine to the picture’s juvenile hostilities and no-budget aspirations. It’s a heartening story of Hollywood discovery that every indie production dreams of, yet the pixie dust seems wasted on “Bindlestiffs,” a motor-mouthed, overshot gross-out comedy that suggests a larger satire in play, but who could find such stimulation buried under layers of cheap jokes, amateurish performances, and camerawork that’s on par with the average YouTube cell phone video. A few punchy moments are detected through the creative smog, but laughs are a rare occurrence in this labored lark. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Imposter” is a picture that carries authentically trembling suspense, though it’s perfectly at ease dishing out nuggets of information gradually to perfect its atmospheric grip. It’s a riveting feature once the pieces of this true-crime case come together, but it’s not a perfect film, which seems like a letdown when taking into account the psychosis at hand. Wonderful and wonderfully frustrating, “The Imposter” is a documentary as strange as its subject; it’s equal parts repellent and irresistible, trying to make sense out of a missing persons case that consistently seeks to top itself in terms of revelations and procedural dead-ends. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While “The Babymakers” isn’t technically a Broken Lizard production, it might as well be. Outside of the fact it features only two members of the troupe, the picture furthers the wheezy, crude sense of humor that’s stained such films as “Beerfest,” “Super Troopers,” and “Club Dread.” Looking to toy with the anxiety of infertility, “The Babymakers” drops all sense of satire to sprint forward a live-action cartoon, with sitcom-slack slapstick, casual racism, and a few gross-out jokes, draining the premise of its potential. It’s a sloppy effort overall, though brightened by a leading performance from Paul Schneider, an unexpected choice to communicate the pain of conception and the strain of shenanigans. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Campaign” seems like a sure thing. With stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis trading insults in a political satire timed to coincide with an upcoming presidential election, the feature has potential up the wazoo, especially with these two talents and their capacity for screen mischief. Despite initial promise, “The Campaign” often feels like an actual election marathon, anchored by a dreary sense of humor and a bizarre late-inning gush of sincerity that asks viewers to take the broad clowning on display with some degree of seriousness. Much like real politicians, Ferrell and Galifianakis are one-dimensional and possess limited inspiration, depending on volume and strained quirk to pass for humor in a comedy that’s aching for some authentic directorial spark. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although it seemed as though we saw the last of Jason Bourne five years ago in “The Bourne Ultimatum,” franchise-best box office and stellar reviews proved there was still plenty of life in the ongoing story of a C.I.A. assassin on the run from cops, superiors, and himself. The appearance of “The Bourne Legacy” isn’t a surprise, yet the fact that it doesn’t star Matt Damon is, finding the producers scrambling to redirect the series with the same old story under the leadership of a new star. Surprisingly talky and unnecessarily familiar to those who’ve meticulously followed the previous three pictures, “The Bourne Legacy” remains entertaining and sporadically exciting, while introducing a capable focal point in Jeremy Renner, who adapts to the routine quite nicely. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For a mainstream release, “Hope Springs” has some very profound ideas to share about the wilds of marriage and the labor of personal communication, packaged in a broad comedy-drama that enjoys the pressures of discomfort, especially communicated by the likes of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. The odd couple makes for a believable pair of wounded spouses looking for a chance to love again, making the occasionally strained material and pushover direction feel heartfelt and achingly human. It’s far from a coldly precise European dissection of martial life, insisting on a sense of humor to ease viewers into unnerving conversations about sexual desires and long-term commitment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’ll admit, I was completely unaware of “Nitro Circus” before I sat down to watch their debut feature — I’m not a longtime fan, and if that bothers you, stop reading now. The gang’s MTV show, essentially employed to pick up where “Jackass” left off, roots its thrills in the tradition of Evel Knievel, insisting on the adrenaline rush of recklessness, treating the human body as a disposable vessel of comedy and pain, filming the wreckage with a range of HD equipment. Having survived three “Jackass” movies, the PG-13 “Nitro Circus” picture is a breeze to sit through, especially when the producers are more fixated on slo-mo disaster shots than naked men shoving foreign objects into their rectum. However, like its heavily bruised precursor, “Nitro Circus” is an overcooked sham, too broad to take seriously, while treating genuine injury as an opportunity to point and laugh. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s become trendy for art documentaries to celebrate the celebrity culture surrounding the artist in question. It’s a glorification of bratty behavior, subversive activities, and pop culture ascension that can be undeniably entertaining, but rare is the cinematic exploration that uncovers the soulfulness of personal expression. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” is a portrait of a man who’s created quite a name for himself in the art world, currently in a position where he doesn’t even have to physically create his own work for show, leaving the craftsmanship to his staff. Although this lack of a personal touch is startling, the saga of Ai makes it clear this celebrated individual has plenty more on his mind, using his world-famous name to bring attention to his most passionate subject: China. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After spending a few features in the company of movie stars (including “Cyrus” and “Jeff, Who Lives at Home”), filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass return to their no-budget roots with “The Do-Deca-Pentathlon.” Although built around a compelling sporting gimmick, the effort is anything but breezy, refusing to dissolve into predictable comedy beats of discomfort and competition, instead taking a domestic disturbance route, observing the wreckage of a brotherly union returning to an ultimate physical and mental trial in a quest to settle household dominance. Holding tightly to Duplass improvisation and zoom-happy traditions, the picture keeps a laudable distance away from expectations, yet it seldom provides a rich understanding of the sibling dynamic at hand, making for a strangely padded 76-minute-long sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Soldiers of Fortune” is a decent example of a production able to pull something entertaining out of next to nothing. A low-budget actioner with an eclectic ensemble, the feature doesn’t have much in the way of locations, time to perfect filmmaking choices, and a script of significant nuance, yet as B-movies go these days, “Soldiers of Fortune” offers a little more sass and polish than the average bottom-shelf dweller. Engaging, at least for the first hour, the picture knows how to have fun with itself, delivering a dollar store version of “The Expendables” for those who prefer their mayhem limited in scale and their talent affordable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com