Category: Film Review

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

As much as key creative personnel would like to suggest their new version of “Total Recall” isn’t a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger action extravaganza, it is. Perhaps a few of the details have been changed, the setting altered, and the hero’s goals blurred, but the basic structure of survival is a copy of Paul Verhoven’s picture, not inspired by Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story. The question is simple: why would anyone want to redo Schwarzenegger? What was once a vivid, demented runaway train of screen violence has been drained of life, turned into a generic shoot-em-up with vague plot objectives and an interchangeable cast of heavy breathers. Instead of Mars, there’s a refocus on futuristic tech, making this once explosive tale a monotonous mixture of “Minority Report” and “I, Robot.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The found footage genre is growing stale, and one of the architects of the trend, Spain’s “Rec” series, is attempting to shake up the formula with an appealing return to conventional scares. The change is necessary after two wildly inventive features drained every last drop of suspense out of POV fury, taking the franchise in a different direction of pure cinematic focus, shifting the non-fiction to fiction as a way to revitalize a second sequel and create a visual shift that supports plans for an upcoming fourth installment. Extraordinarily entertaining, cheeky yet grim, and enjoyably stabilized, “Rec 3: Genesis” is fantastic horror hellraising, while once again pushing the series in a promising new direction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As is the way with the glacial pace of Hollywood development, it’s been six years since directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris debuted with “Little Miss Sunshine,” the indie hit that launched a promising career for the filmmaking duo. “Ruby Sparks” is their long-awaited follow-up, and while it doesn’t sing like “Sunshine,” it’s a fascinating look at the possibility of mental illness as a form of personal comfort. Best when rough around the edges, the movie holds great potential for an almost bitter exploration of writer’s block and magical realism, although the helmers don’t know when to let go of the story. Regardless of the picture’s habitual display of stumbling, it’s nice to have Faris and Dayton working again, furthering their interest in shattered characters and strange situations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” welcomes back the Heffley Family for another round of screen tomfoolery, this time themed around summer vacation woes. Instead of easing viewers back into the flow of the ongoing PG-rated adventure, director David Bowers stages a moment where the youngest Heffley member, toddler Manny, is observed using a urinal cake as hand soap, and our hero, Greg, is caught in a public pool filled with peeing children. And this is the first five minutes of the movie, folks. It’s a long season for the crude “Wimpy Kid” routine, with this second sequel as lackluster and disjointed as the two films that preceded it. “Dog Days” indeed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Easy Money” separates itself from the crime picture competition with its attention to the nuance of character, not the spellbinding flashes of illegal activity. It’s a raw effort, using a Euro financial crisis atmosphere to engineer a new form of troublemaking, though there’s nothing here that snowballs into a light caper. Instead, “Easy Money” is dark and emotionally textured, keeping the patient rewarded with a genuine depiction of bothered souls caught between dreams of responsibility and the danger of survival. It’s not a film of predictability or resolution, but grit, with director Daniel Espinosa (last winter’s “Safe House”) finding a fascinating tone of helplessness to forcefully slice through the expected tough guy attitude. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I first encountered the work of Elika Portnoy two years ago, with the release of “Immigration Tango,” a wretched film that worked diligently to promote its star/producer/writer as a creative force, designing her own starring vehicle to launch herself as a major actress. “Assassin’s Bullet” is Portnoy’s latest production, accepting story and starring credits, though she’s responsible for five different roles over the course of the movie. It’s a vanity project for a hopelessly wooden performer, but at least Portnoy had the sense to pony up a few bucks for a colorful supporting cast, bringing Christian Slater, Donald Sutherland, and Timothy Spall to Bulgaria in an effort to soften the blow of an exhaustively moronic actioner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Burning Man” is a grueling picture to watch, yet it packs an outstanding emotional wallop despite chasing every impulse to disturb the delicate passage of profound feelings. It’s a film of editorial technique and physical distance, endeavoring to disrupt a formulaic story of self-discovery and loss in a manner that honestly infuriates as much as it captivates. It’s a bizarre approach to a study of grief, yet it maintains an originality that’s laudable. If you decide to purchase a ticket, keep in mind the first 30 minutes are designed to provoke and frustrate, testing the viewer with a chronological disorientation that never relents, requiring outsiders to simply adapt to the blur at hand. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The filmography of writer/director Todd Solondz has a specific tempo of idiosyncrasy in common, yet the manifestation of this deliberate oddness has taken many forms during his career, displaying a particularly vibrant ease with the uncomfortable in 1995’s “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and his best picture, 1998’s “Happiness.” While always an interesting storyteller, Solondz has seen the latter part of his career hit an undeniable repetitiveness, clouding his once crystalline vision for domestic disorder. His latest, “Dark Horse,” offers a wealth of small pleasures, but as a whole, it fails to make much of an impact, exhausting direction the longer it pursues a dreamscape tone that only seems to retain perfect shape in the helmer’s head. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The last 20 minutes of “The Watch” are wonderful. Filled with exciting alien attack antics, a charmingly macabre playfulness, and actors sticking to a script, the climax of the film seizes the potential of the material, bringing on laughs and a little suspense. The rest of “The Watch” is tired, aggravatingly vociferous stuff, with an insatiable improvisational thirst that makes a perfectly agreeable premise look like an audition tape for The Groundlings. Frighteningly unfunny and disappointingly unimaginative, the feature is a missed opportunity on a grand scale, pulling together authentically funny people who spend most of the movie riffing themselves into a coma. It’s the first sci-fi comedy where one roots for more sci-fi. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

At this point, there’s really nothing helping to differentiate between the four “Step Up” pictures outside of the use of 3D. These are interchangeable movies, geared solely toward younger crowds who value the latest trends in dance choreography while enjoying tanned eye candy provided by the chiseled stars of the show. “Step Up Revolution” isn’t the worst of the series, but it’s the laziest, doing away with any type of dramatic substance and basic elements of logic to forge ahead as an extended music video. Perhaps this is all that’s required for most audiences, but when the writing is this flaccid and the performances resemble advanced robotics, a little production imagination could go a long way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Good Doctor” is a classic example of a slow burn picture. Considering the vague creepiness of the titular character, the glacial pace could cause some viewers to lose interest in the delusions and devious plans of the plot. The movie takes a certain amount of patience to watch, and those approaching “The Good Doctor” with an open mind might find themselves pulled into the developing disease. A satisfactory shot at a psychological study with a light suspense coating, the feature maintains a convincing feel for surprises and bad ideas, guided by one of the better performances I’ve seen from notoriously wooden star Orlando Bloom. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’ve seen movies about chimps in space and Muppets from space, but Nazis in space? That’s a new one. “Iron Sky” is a semi-farcical take on a futureworld German invasion, manipulating a low budget splendidly, turning limited resources into a feature that could compete with the blockbusters on a visual scale. However, its sense of humor is on the emaciated side, imagining itself as a Kubrickian romp out to tickle American politics, Nazi taboos, and war picture traditions. It’s ambitious and certainly digestible, but the chaotic nature of the material wears out its welcome quickly, leaving the extravaganza ideal B-movie eye candy best appreciated with the mute button engaged. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Without a doubt, Chris Rock is one of the funniest men alive. He’s an ace stand-up and astute social commentator, a vibrant performer with a lightning wit and agreeable vulgarity. However, there’s always been one thing that’s eluded Rock since he began his career, and that’s big screen comfort. He’s not a natural actor. Despite a filmography that’s spanned 25 years, Rock has never delivered extraordinary work, even under the direction of some of the greats. What “2 Days in New York” represents to Rock’s career is a breakthrough of sorts, with filmmaker/star Julie Delpy managing to massage out most of Rock’s habitual stiffness, guiding the comedian to his first satisfying performance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2005, filmmaker Christopher Nolan introduced “Batman Begins,” an effort to realign the brand name’s cinematic chi, returning the material to its comic book origins and intensity. It was a mission to restore Batman’s big screen roar. The leap of faith worked, transformed into a religion with 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” a blistering sequel that, while lacking surprise, catapulted the Caped Crusader to a moviegoing phenomenon. Strangely, Nolan and his team want to cap their creative reign at three installments with “The Dark Knight Rises,” concluding the saga of Bruce Wayne/Batman with a legitimately epic sequel intended to not only complete the narrative arc started in 2005, but possibly to burn down the multiplex as well. A guttural battle cry and sloppy social commentary, the final chapter of this magnificent series is likely to please those who’ve been waiting patiently for it, blasting forward with a gigantic conflict worthy of Nolan’s directorial gifts, performed by a first-rate collection of old friends and new adversaries. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are movies that deserve sequels, but I’m not sure 1995’s “Showgirls” is one of them. A spectacular display of bad taste with a loathsome final act, Paul Verhoven’s picture was one of a kind, a great conjunction of vulgarities that could only emerge from nutty filmmaking professionals drunk on their own excesses. With the actual rights to “Showgirls” a tangle of legal affairs, one of the supporting actresses from the cult classic, Rena Riffel, has decided to mount her own continuation, ditching the snarling splendor of Nomi Malone to focus on poor little Penny Slot and her withered dreams of stardom. Yes, dear readers, Riffel has made “Showgirls 2: Penny’s from Heaven,” though I’m certain nobody asked her to. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

David Siegel took the real estate world by storm when he founded Westgate Resorts, a timeshare company based out of Orlando, Florida that quickly grew in stature and profit with its slick sales techniques and luxurious accommodations. Soon spawning multiple properties around America, Westgate blossomed into a billion-dollar business, peaking five years ago when the average vacationer could easily borrow money to purchase their dream getaway. The corporation permitted David a lavish lifestyle, a trophy wife in Jackie, and a family of eight children. The man could buy anything his heart desired, and he did, culminating in the construction of Versailles, a 90,000-square-foot home in Orlando inspired by a vacation to France. In 2007, this cavernous dwelling sounded like a great idea. In 2010, the unfinished domicile came to represent everything that soured in David’s life after the financial collapse of 2008. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com