Category: Film Review

“The Raid: Redemption” is a rare action movie, likely to leave those who dare to sit through it covered in bruises. A furious offering of bodily trauma from Indonesia, home to some of the greatest cinematic examples of smashed limbs and brazen stunt recklessness, the picture doesn’t mess around, providing an ultraviolent joyride through all manner of beatdowns. Seriously, this film is not for the faint of heart, taking martial art action to such an extreme, the effort can’t help but tucker out long before the end credits hits. The high doesn’t last for very long, but when “The Raid” finds its happy place as a concussion factory, it’s breathtaking, leaving namby-pamby American product in the dust. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps “Intruders” is for more discerning horror movie audiences. It’s a tense feature, heavy with nightmarish imagery, but its ultimate intentions take the picture out of the genre, disrupting reliable elements of terror with heavy symbolic inclinations that assume a deeper psychological importance. It’s a sturdily constructed chiller with an ambition to land somewhere beyond the norm, and those expecting more of standard boogeyman run of torment will likely find themselves disappointed in the latest effort from director Juan Carlos Frensnadillo. More adventurous viewers will discover a challenging picture that bends reality in a subtle matter, taking an alternative path to sniff out some scares. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sequels generally tend to learn from the film that preceded it. It’s not a rule, but common sense, figuring out a way to up the cinematic ante while still providing the basics that brought audiences in for the first round. “Wrath of the Titans” is the follow-up to 2010’s “Clash of the Titans,” itself a remake of a 1981 cult classic. Finding itself riding the event movie coattails of “Avatar” (boasting hastily post-converted 3D to squeeze paying customers dry), “Clash” unearthed blockbuster box office but surprisingly little love. “Wrath” looks to emphasize positively received elements while bringing a pronounced grit to the franchise, finding a meaner, earthy continuation that strangely ends up making a few of the same mistakes as before. At the very least, this new adventure has stronger CGI and 3D, but there’s not enough improvement in production imagination to make this second chapter leap off the screen. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The first of two pictures based on the Brothers Grimm tale of “Snow White” (“Snow White and the Huntsman” debuts this summer), “Mirror Mirror” takes a largely comical approached to a realm of magic, monsters, and murder. An interesting misfire, the feature, while beautifully designed and photographed, is destroyed by a feeble sense of humor and critical miscasting. Aiming to be a lavish romp with a pronounced wink, “Mirror Mirror” ends up paralyzed by botched whimsy, frantically trying to pass itself off as a rollicking good time when it’s decidedly mediocre, with director Tarsem Singh so concentrated on bejeweling his creation that he forgets to make it funny or even the slightest bit romantic. The delicate fairy tale fabric has been disrupted by slapstick and insistent CGI. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a terrific opening scene in the picture “Footnote” concerning the rumpled frustrations emerging from a father sitting impatiently at a ceremony celebrating his son’s academic splendor. As filmgoers, we’re conditioned to see bright displays of parental pride, or perhaps an extremity of abuse. “Footnote” introduces us to the uncomfortable middle, where there’s no joy and very little mutual admiration. It’s an efficient and fascinating starting point for this strange, darkly comic movie, which asks viewers to bear a domestic strain that will never carry to a resolution, instead locked in an investigative tone of extreme discomfort as a central relationship between a father and son is put to the test with nary a word shared between the two men. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a mystery at the heart of “Apart” that’s dying for a more convincing exploration. A glacial descent into teen anxiety born from a mystery psychological disorder, the feature does a poor job convincing viewers to care about its puzzles and miserable characters. It pouts and shouts, yet “Apart” is looking to build to a powerhouse resolution of unimaginable emotional weight it doesn’t reach, spending too much time on atmosphere, soaking the picture in a repetitive sense of the unknown. “Apart” is handsomely mounted, but far too languid to penetrate the senses in the same mind-blowing manner writer/director Aaron Rottinghaus intends. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s disappointing to report that “Dark Tide” isn’t the type of shark attack extravaganza many will be expecting. While it’s always interesting to find a production that teases one direction before heading off into another, it’s deflating to find this picture left with nothing much to do and nearly two hours to do it. A bewildering bore, “Dark Tide” imagines itself a cross between “Jaws” and a Bergman film, pitting uncharismatic actors against a dreary script that doesn’t go anywhere. High adventure on the vast sea this feature is most certainly not. Instead, director John Stockwell appears more comfortable showcasing inconsequential arguments and murky underwater footage, creating a home movie ambiance that’s wearisome from start to finish. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When approaching a gloomy movie of survival starring Willem Dafoe, it’s understandable to imagine a forbidding picture with a pronounced streak of violence, exploiting the haunting features of one of today’s most memorable actors. It comes as a shock to find “The Hunter” to be a softer film, away from aggressive scenarios of revenge and intimidation to offer more of a procedural event, blended with unpredicted touches of domestic harmony. If it lacks a balled-up fist of engagement, “The Hunter” makes up for its rage deficiency with a tender story wrapped inside a hushed tone of outdoor detection. Sentiment and Dafoe don’t typically intersect on the screen, yet this effort finds a comfortable middle ground for the two to meet. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s understandable to find such fervor surrounding “The Hunger Games.” It’s a large-scale dark fantasy puckered with teen romance and broad displays of heroism, ornamented with sci-fi touches and outrageous characters. The material, created by author Suzanne Collins, is a nice fit for the big screen, creating an extraordinary opportunity for spectacle prepared with superfans in mind, leaving those outside the literary party zone with little to cling to besides a handful of intriguing sequences, a sinister backstory, and some arresting acts of survival training. “The Hunger Games” doesn’t make a seamless transition to blockbusterdom, but it’s sure to satisfy faithful individuals able to keep a straight face while names like Katniss, Glimmer, and Haymitch are thrown around. Those comfortable with Collins’s world will be relaxed enough to process the experience in full. Those new to the books might find themselves questioning plot developments and fascinating character arcs that go absolutely nowhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“October Baby” aims to tell a poignant story about abortion survival, and it does so in the most banal manner imaginable. A tedious motion picture with a pronounced pro-life purpose, “October Baby” is primarily devoted to teary interactions and horrifically strained comic beats, hoping to tackle an unsavory subject matter in a delicate matter, backed by liberal use of montages and dewy cinematography that resembles a coffee commercial. It’s a disingenuous movie without a human moment, reliant on its religious message to entice audiences, barely making a screen effort to tell a persuasive story about a sensitive subject. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An adaptation of the 1952 play by Terence Rattigan, “The Deep Blue Sea” studies the death of an affair and the forced recognition of independence. It’s a somber picture, supported with blasts of classical music to heighten the developing tragedy, and while it dwells in troubling circumstances and crippling personal mistakes, the feature holds steady as an authoritative piece of drama. Director Terence Davies encourages the pain, mixing searing audio and visual elements to tell a fragmented story, soaking the viewer in discomfort and longing as these characters figure out their positions of dignity after the bottom has fallen out of their lives. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” didn’t need to be so middling. Boasting a strange premise and a wildly appealing cast, the effort would’ve done just fine trusting the naturalistic spirituality of the story, leaving the characters to observe the development of an impossible professional assignment. Instead, director Lasse Hallstrom pours a thick glaze over the entire endeavor, taking something charmingly idiosyncratic and turning it into contrived mush for the masses. The filmmaker plays it safe, abandoning any hope for surprise in an exhaustively pedestrian feature that could use a great deal of it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The latest from the Dardenne Brothers (Jean-Pierre and Luc), “The Kid with a Bike” continues their distinctive journey as filmmakers interested in viewing the world with a naturalistic eye, peeling overt manipulation away from their features, focusing on the instinctual actions of their characters. It’s story without meat, yet the textures are unforgettable, trusting the viewer with unexplained acts of devotion and persistence, crafted with equal attention to horror and raw experience. While it’s unlikely to move anyone to tears, “The Kid with a Bike” remains an effective picture with a genuine feel for human behavior, unearthing a direct sense of disturbance and a few select moments of stunning psychological clarity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Brake” has the unfortunate position of following 2010’s “Buried,” with both films sharing the premise of a man trapped in a box for 90 minutes of screen time. With “Buried,” there was Ryan Reynolds and the dire situation of being locked inside of a coffin in middle of nowhere. For “Brake,” there’s Stephen Dorff and a clear plastic box within a moving automobile. It’s a bit of a downgrade in imagination and thespian reach, but it doesn’t entirely rub away the suspense of this effort. Although the two features share uncomfortable similarities, “Brake” works as a budget suspense experience, reaching enough boiling points to entertain, but not enough to block out the ridiculous ending. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s difficult to tell if “Casa de mi Padre” is an experiment or an extended prank. A Spanish-language farce spearheaded by Will Ferrell, this is one oddball feature, making fun of telenovelas and those strange, stationary Mexican movies typically screened on Telemundo on Saturday afternoons. As bizarre as it aspires to be, “Casa de mi Padre” isn’t nearly as insane as it could’ve been. Something tells me the production didn’t want to overwhelm audiences with a steady display of comedic madness, instead portioning out the lunacy carefully, hoping to maintain interest in this spread of Mexican violence, song, and sex. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jay and Mark Duplass have a specialized way of filmmaking they’ve perfected over the years, through pictures such as “Baghead,” “The Puffy Chair,” and “Cyrus.” Their aesthetic, once branded “mumblecore” and fitted for a leather jacket, has now gone mainstream, and so have the Duplass Brothers in a way, with “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” their most accessible effort, fixated more on the millimeter moves of emotional growth than a grand dramatic scheme. It’s a feature of small moments and open hearts, captured with the semi-irritating improvisational and zoom-happy elements the directors favor. Perhaps this is the ideal entry point for those new to the Duplass view of the world, supported by familiar faces visibly enjoying the slack atmosphere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

All is not well in today’s educational system, and Tony Kaye’s “Detachment” is here to push our faces in the failure of those who teach and those who learn. Crafted with an eye toward performance art, the feature is a troubling, exasperating mess of aches and pains, spraying the screen with a morose fixation on dire developments in the average high school community. Impassioned and frequently aimless, “Detachment” is only interested in stirring debate, wallowing in the muck to push viewers up against the wall, forcing outsiders to consider the state of the scholastic union. There’s a searing cry for help here, buried somewhere underneath Kaye’s unrelenting directorial pretension. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“21 Jump Street” is a goof of a film that continually reminds the audience of its superfluousness. Refusing to be the victim of agitated scrutiny from movie geeks, the production makes it perfectly clear it’s in on the joke, striving to find ways to pants the supercop genre and high school cinema, not to mention its foundation as big screen update of a cult television series from the 1980s. Thankfully, “21 Jump Street” understands the basics in absurdity and overstimulation, steamrolling forward as a profane, ridiculous action comedy with two motivated lead performances. It’s no tribute to the original program, but a wink-happy perversion of the concept, raising hell in its own somewhat tedious, frequently hilarious way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The curious career of Nicolas Cage takes another step downward with the release of “Seeking Justice,” a dopey conspiracy thriller that asks nothing more of the actor than to sweat, grimace, and run. It’s not a thespian challenge for Cage, but there hasn’t been much of that in recent years. Instead, it’s another paycheck gig for the once exciting, magnificently peculiar actor, who appears completely detached from the production, keeping to a low-key glumness that suggests a goal of professional survival over an artistically fulfilling dive into a formulaic genre. Perhaps Cage has finally run out of gas. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Decoy Bride” is as formulaic a movie as can be, working with trite romantic comedy clichés and a premise that will likely cause more seasoned filmgoers to break out in hives. It’s a harmless trifle with a Scottish slant, but there are no surprises to be found, leaving the heavy lifting to the cast. Mercifully, the actors collected here are charming and willing to please, with star Kelly Macdonald a lifesaver, giving punishing predictability a light spin with her bright personality and commitment to even the hoariest of sitcom situations. She’s the miracle “The Decoy Bride” needs to remain afloat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com