Category: Film Review

Last autumn, Disney hustled “The Lion King” back into theaters with a slick 3D makeover to help promote a Blu-ray release and sweep up any leftover box office coin from parents on the hunt for family entertainment as schools went back into session. Unexpectedly, the extra dimension proved to be a gold mine, restoring the feature’s pop culture roar, playing to packed theaters while a line-up of new movies not originally released in 1994 were rudely ignored. Was it nostalgia? A fluke? Never one to leave a nickel behind, Disney has dusted off another animated classic for a 3D enhancement, this time electing a softer route with the 1991 Oscar-winning smash, “Beauty and the Beast.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

She’s an international superstar, Hollywood bombshell, mother to a nation of her own, and tireless supporter of human rights. And now Angelina Jolie is a movie director. “In the Land of Blood and Honey” is her filmmaking debut, scripting and helming a harrowing tale of survival during the Bosnian War, selecting a premise that best mirrors her own global concerns, working to spotlight a period of inhumanity that was largely ignored during the early 1990s. It’s a grueling picture to watch, and while earnestly constructed, Jolie displays trouble maintaining the inner life of the piece. She’ll happily serve up sexual violence and disturbing gunplay to smack around her audience, but meaningful characterization is lacking, constipating the soulfulness of the screenplay. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s easier to admire “Shanghai” than it is to enjoy it. A period mystery of debatable allure, the picture is best appreciated for its visual mastery, displaying stunning set design and elaborate noir-flavored cinematography. The movie is a feast for the eyes, yet the thrill of craftsmanship doesn’t carry over to the screenplay, which labors through a tepid puzzle of international allegiances, romantic interest, and wartime chaos. The feature certainly isn’t lazy, but it’s not a good sign to walk away from “Shanghai” more hypnotized by its assembly than its narrative rumble. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Over the last three years, multiplexes have welcomed the release of two moderately successful exorcism pictures (“The Rite” and “The Last Exorcism”) and three blockbuster “Paranormal Activity” movies. “The Devil Inside” is a no-budget effort seeking to combine the two aesthetics into one easily marketable event. Merging found-footage theatrics with demonic ragings, the feature is a formulaic snoozer carrying an enormous amount of exposition and very little scares. There’s just no discernable effort here that’s worth the time and money invested, with co-writer/director William Brent Bell coasting on fundamental fright moves, refusing to challenge the well-worn subgenre past audience expectations. What’s truly scary here is how little “The Devil Inside” invests in legitimate tension. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The best horror movies tend to include the audience on the doomsday celebration, creating a sizable point of entry to develop a lasting feeling of dread. “Kill List” is a deliberately incomprehensible offering of terror from Ben Wheatley, a filmmaker with an obvious command of the motion picture arts, but not someone interested in laying down a welcome mat for visitors to his dark imagination. He’s a fascinating creative force carrying an unusual amount of aggression, with “Kill List” a feature sure to disturb anyone able to make it past the leisurely opening act. Mumbled and intentionally impenetrable, the effort is a taxing sit with enormously skillful screen elements, molded into an interpretive shocker that’s often not worth the time to unravel. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Norwegian Wood” is dark poetry, a tragic love story that combats the inherent cruelty of the tale with lush images of nature and location. It’s a troubling narrative perfectly packaged, unfurling a dramatic sweep of personal loss with a cinematographic precision that generates a specific appreciation of mood when the script occasionally leaves out the details. The expanded air allows director Tran Anh Hung space to feel around the frame, probing for unspoken ways to articulate the difficult relationships and growing pains scattered around this visually striking, melancholy feature film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s much to appreciate about the independent production “Roadie,” and one element that’s fairly easy to detest. For the most part, this is a peaceful character study about lives in neutral, greeting a trio of adults clinging to the eroding vitality and promise of their youth, facing a far more dismal reality miles away from the glory they’ve envisioned for themselves. It’s a humorous, itchy ride of remembrance with one distinct creative speed bump, but co-writer/director Michael Cuesta grasps an appealing mood of discomfort that’s marvelously executed by the cast, hitting a few persuasive beats of disappointment and resignation that keeps the story grounded in an intriguing, lived-in reality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Watching “Shelter” feels like viewing two separate pictures sewn hastily together. One side of the movie is an admittedly engrossing multiple personality disorder dissection with mildly effective suspense inclinations, the other side consists of undefined supernatural elements meant to give the story a unique kick, away from the genre norm. “Shelter” also comes from the screenwriter of 2003’s “Identity,” which is an excellent clue to the head games and cheats contained within. The conflicting speeds of the feature create chaos, derailing a familiar but promising junk food thriller, which tries much too hard to keep the viewer off the scent of a mystery they will likely show limited interest in to begin with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is a deliberately obscure feature, never allowing the viewer access to clarity of thought. It’s an exercise in screen stylistics and editorial precision, overseen by director Lynne Ramsay, who’s worked this routine before in “Ratcatcher” and “Morvern Callar.” Her fussy visual process results in striking images, but little emotional connection to the events unfolding, which require an appreciation of psychological nuance to even begin to understand. Instead, the director keeps outsiders at arm’s length, perhaps even refusing an audience all together, with the film perfectly happy in its own orbit, raising Hell for reasons unknown. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Rarely does a filmmaker approach the internalized disorientation of sexual identity with the same amount of integrity as Dee Rees and “Pariah.” It’s a deeply flawed picture, but the core intensity of contemplation and hesitation is outstanding, allowing the characters a life beyond cliché as they hunt for some form of stability in a tumultuous time of adolescence and domestic discord. It’s a passionate, superbly acted movie, with Rees making her feature-length directorial debut. I have a feeling we’ll being hearing about her dramatic efforts for a long time to come. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

At the very least, “The Darkest Hour” has a unique idea for its attempt at an alien invasion, imagining a world being overrun by beings of pure energy, essentially making the malevolent outer space force invisible for most of the film. To get to the creature feature basics, one must endure a full court press of ghastly moviemaking decisions, creating a dispiriting amateur ambiance with a premise that seems capable of coughing up a few easy thrills. Director Chris Gorak won’t allow any fun to peek through this defiantly lifeless motion picture, which consistently resembles a product that’s been hacked down to the bone in terms of characterizations and plot, trying to hit as many marketable alien attacks as it can over 80 minutes, taking a torch to narrative cohesion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

20 years ago, Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” would’ve been a very different movie — lighter, schmaltzy, and soaring. Today, the feature represents the director’s current tastes in wartime realism and elongated emotional momentum, trying diligently to cater to the old Spielberg screen magic, only to be blocked by a matured filmmaker who’s rusty with this type of material. The two creative sides never quite settle on a consistency for this episodic adventure, keeping “War Horse” unsteady, earnest yet painfully dull. While it seems like grand slam material for the bearded maestro, the story rarely gets off the ground, lost between its dreamy storybook qualities and need to reinforce the bone-chilling tragedy of war. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To be underwhelmed by a Cameron Crowe movie feels awful. He’s a filmmaker with such an open heart, a defenseless master of the soulful ache, and it kills me to admit that I was rarely moved by “We Bought a Zoo,” painfully aware of its well-oiled mechanical parts. It’s a sweet picture, but rarely genuine, working through a formulaic journey of enlightenment and grief in a manner that recalls a particularly flaccid Disney production. Crowe tries valiantly to find crevices of authentic woe, but a few searing moments of honest pain are steamrolled by a feature that wants to be loved in a big bad way. It’s troubling to watch the desperation unfold. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Artist” is perfectly pleasant, affectionate, studied, charming, and masterfully performed. It’s a fine motion picture with an inescapable hook of nostalgia, crafted with care and attention to detail. Its artistry is never in question, and cinephiles will surely slap themselves silly with delight, standing before an affectionate resurrection of the silent film era. Appreciating “The Artist” is simple, enjoying the feature is another matter entirely. It’s tough not to come off as a Grinch with this sort of effortlessly lovable effort, but there are certain productions that wear a broad smile and carry little personality, with director Michel Hazanavicius’s valentine to moviemaking days of yore perfectly, utterly, monumentally…fine. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For most of the world, the character of Tintin is a hero, a staple of literary efforts dating back to 1929. For most Americans, Tintin is an example of stuttering. Enter director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson, who’ve partnered to produce a brand new Tintin extravaganza for the digital age, using motion capture technology to envision a vast world of ruthless pirates, endless deserts, and spunky sleuthing, giving old-fashioned entertainment a slick update. Having no prior knowledge of the character, it’s difficult for me to ascertain how faithful the production has remained to the original material. Beyond detailed comparisons, “The Adventures of Tintin” is a satisfactory but slightly poky romp, saved by marvelous, expressive animation that generates a crisp, colorful feel for the world Belgian artist Herge created so very long ago. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Albert Nobbs” is a picture designed to showcase the versatility of its lead actress. In this case, the star is Glenn Close, a highly celebrated performer who’s been tearing up basic cable in recent years during her stint on FX’s “Damages.” “Albert Nobbs” is a rare big screen outing for Close (her first in four years), and her performance as the titular enigma is extraordinary in its study and interior emotional shiver. It’s a shame there’s more to the movie than just Close, as the conventional screenwriting and distracted direction tends to dilute this powerful show of thespian control. While it never comes together is a satisfying manner, the feature contains a few scattered moments of captivating awakening from Close, making the film worth a view if only to observe the actress find her footing in a challenging, highly bizarre role. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Without causing much of a film culture ruckus, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise has grown into one of the most dependably entertaining action brand names around. Credit star Tom Cruise, who’s guided four installments to different ends of the globe, always looking to shake up the series and refresh its thrill ride allure. “Ghost Protocol” offers the brightest, boldest action sequences of the bunch, merging spotless visual effects with superb smash-em-up stunt choreography, making sure this latest installment packs the hardest punch. It’s difficult to believe that after three exhaustive efforts Cruise would have anything left to give, yet the newest challenge for the Impossible Missions Force is their fiercest, welcoming a director into the fold who knows a thing or two about flexible superheroes and colorful locations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com