Category: Film Review

We’re not faced with the wide release of “Abduction” because Shawn Christensen wrote a scintillating screenplay with engorged silver screen promise. We’re faced with the wide release of “Abduction” because actor Taylor Lautner hit the big time with his role in the “Twilight” franchise and he’s ready to cash in on his fame. What better way to test box office appeal than with a PG-13 actioner that promises mild fisticuffs and heavy opportunity for shirtlessness, delivering exactly what the core demographic is paying their babysitting money to see. The rest of the world? We’ll just sit here, rolling our eyes, watching Hollywood’s latest heartthrob grunt his way through a junky thriller of no distinguishable personality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In dramatizing the true story of Kathryn Bolkovac, “The Whistleblower” is required to confront a few harsh realities of life, investigating and displaying the horrors of human trafficking in explicit detail. This is not an easy film to watch, but a critical story to share with the world, using one woman’s experiences to shed needed light on a growing epidemic of sexual and psychological invasion. However, as vital as the message is, director Larysa Kondracki is making a movie, with the conventions of the thriller genre occasionally stifling the story’s inherent terror. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Killer Elite” claims to be based on a true story, adapting the novel “The Feather Men” by Ranulph Fiennes for the big screen. It’s difficult to buy into anything the picture has to offer, but it’s a determined effort, working with a convoluted script built out of last names and random encounters. It’s a political thriller with bloody knuckles, merging explosive, physics-defying stunt work with protracted exposition, and it rarely works. Nevertheless, there’s some merriment to be devoured for those magically able to block out the story and focus on the slickly produced mayhem. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the very same time period “The Lion King” has returned to multiplexes, flexing substantial box office muscle, “Flypaper” is debuting, in far fewer multiplexes. Practically none. Both endeavors were directed by Rob Minkoff, representing quite a drastic difference in terms of filmmaking interests for the helmer, who once helped to conjure a mighty animated vision of the animal kingdom, only to find himself 17 years later masterminding a low-budget Patrick Dempsey bank robbery caper, and a tepid one at that. Where’s Simba when you need him. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been a great number of exceptional baseball films, but very few films about baseball. “Moneyball” eschews home runs, cutesy player idiosyncrasy, and game day excitement to permit a peek at frosty front office interaction, where the true mechanics of the sport are worked out in full. “Moneyball” is a pleasure to watch, insightful and entertaining all the way, but the educational elements shouldn’t be discounted. Even for baseball fans, the feature illuminates the managerial process, understanding that games aren’t won and lost by the players themselves, but how they’re meticulously assembled as a team. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Dolphin Tale” is a true story of sea creature survival handed a sticky Disney-esque treatment. It’s a script with tight hospital corners and cast with dimpled child actors, hoping to offer mildly inspiring entertainment to family audiences starved for something that isn’t animated. Take it at face value and it’s a perfectly pleasant matinee diversion, overflowing with easy solutions, animal antics, and approachable adversity. Any scrutiny underneath the sunny exterior will reveal some questionable editing, cushy screenwriting, and a few performances ready to burst due to overt earnestness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps hardcore anime and martial arts fanatics will find something to appreciate in the futuristic bruiser “Bunraku,” but there’s very little here for an outside audience to savor. A supremely labored, visually exhausting actioner, the picture is an overstylized, overwritten, overinflated jumble that doesn’t have a clue when to quit. It’s definitely colorful and eager to please, but a little of this convoluted mess goes a long way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Stay Cool” is the latest effort from the Polish Brothers, the identical twins who’ve somehow managed to stay afloat in the industry after a decade of tedious esoteric efforts and box office bombs. Sure, the men have unearthed some exquisite screen poetry during their filmmaking years, but nothing profound, always lost in their own fog of indifference despite plots that encourage engorged passions. “Stay Cool” is their most grounded effort, attacking the formulaic discomfort and confusion of an impending high school reunion. It doesn’t always convince, but it’s the most approachable Polish production to date.

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The obvious question: Why remake a movie largely considered to be an aesthetically sound, culturally significant effort of raw filmmaking from 1971? Why attempt to rework what came so naturally to legendary director Sam Peckinpah? The feature that shocked the world is back in a slightly dopier form courtesy of helmer Rod Lurie, who doesn’t bother reorganizing or deviating from the original material. Instead, he’s lessened the impact of this violent saga, preferring to tell instead of show, straining to introduce a classic to a new generation of moviegoers better off renting the original. Despite its dated appearance and stiff storytelling, Peckinpah infused tremendous threat with minimal fuss. Lurie practically burns his film to the ground, yet can’t summon a single surprise or suspenseful interaction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With “Bronson” and “Valhalla Rising,” Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn established himself as an uncompromising architect of esoteric European cinema, creating two taxing features of poetic structure, brutal violence, and dreamscape storytelling. “Drive” motors the filmmaker over to Hollywood, transferring his persnickety tastes to a heist-gone-bad tale of mobsters and loners and the cars they salivate over. It’s familiar ground, but electrifyingly projected through the director’s cracked prism. “Drive” is a sensational picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I Don’t Know How She Does It” is an apt title for this dramedy since, by the time the end credits roll, there’s not a clarification on how the lead character, you know, does it. A spunky but disjointed rant on the severity of the business world and the nagging demands of motherhood, the feature doesn’t answer any questions, trying much too hard to come across likable and relatable when confronting rather provocative issues of self-loathing and extraordinary stress. To this film, there’s no head-squeezing dilemma of the heart and home a little slapstick can’t cure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There is no anniversary to celebrate here, no special achievement that deserves an “exclusive” theatrical launch. In fact, “The Lion King,” Walt Disney Feature Animation’s crowning achievement, is being hustled back into theaters to highlight a 3D conversion, a gimmick employed to generate some eye-catching publicity a few weeks before the picture makes its long-awaited debut on Blu-ray. Hooray.

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After accepting an invitation to join the Adam Sandler Rodeo a few years back, obediently working a string of cameos and supporting roles for the superstar, comedian Nick Swardson graduates to leading man status with “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star” (shot two years ago). After sitting through this dreadful, monumentally humorless picture, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this is going to be the last Nick Swardson starring role. He’s a fine stage comic (or at least was for a time in the mid-2000s), but his sleepy, sarcastic sense of humor has found considerable trouble translating successfully to television and film. In fact, considering how excruciating “Bucky Larson” is, I regret ever referring to it as a “sense of humor.” It’s now officially a lethal weapon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It feels like every low-budget horror picture is looking for a way to kickstart a franchise, attempting to establish an iconic ghoul that could possibly carry on through various sequels and assorted marketing opportunities. The chiller “Creature” is no different, submitting its own contorted backwaters mythos in the form of Lockjaw, a half-gator/half-human beast keen to gobble twentysomethings and achieve 50/50, XXL horror t-shirt popularity. Too bad his starring debut is a shabby entry in the big screen monster mash, an earnest but far too predictable scary movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Contagion” is a scary movie where the villain is ourselves, the murder weapon our touch. It’s a thriller debuting 16 years after “Outbreak,” the last major virus extravaganza, only this latest effort has been updated to match today’s technological reach and governmental scrutiny, registering with a more subtle sense of fear than whipping around with wild hysterics. It’s a Steven Soderbergh film after all, so it’s going to maintain some equanimity. However, as reserved and procedural as it is, “Contagion” should have most audience members radically reassessing exactly what they touch during an average day. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What a challenging and unusual motion picture this is. “Higher Ground” marks the directorial debut of actress Vera Farmiga, one of the most astute performers in Hollywood today, and she reaches big for her first cinematic offering. A story of salvation and awakening, about religion and spirituality, “Higher Ground” is an exquisitely measured, fair-minded assessment of faith. It’s never mean or condescending. It’s honest and richly imagined, drilling to the heart of commitment and life. It’s difficult material from which to launch a filmmaking career, yet this is a splendidly confident, unexpected movie. One of the best of 2011. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Warrior” is “Rocky” for the mixed martial arts generation, a fact the film itself acknowledges. It’s pure formula from start to finish, yet there’s a wellspring of sincerity here that softens the clichés, at least for the first half of the picture. It’s wholly predictable (Lionsgate marketing has done their part to give away the ending) and occasionally ridiculous, but the passions in play are convincing, often rousing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been over a decade since John Landis last directed a feature-length comedy, spending the last 10 years working on various documentaries, perhaps waiting for the right material to come into view. “Burke and Hare” certainly plays to his sensibilities, combining slapstick comedy, English wit, and macabre occurrences into a sprightly picture that encourages more amused reactions than laughs. Landis is comfortable here, fluid and frisky, but the material just doesn’t have much snap to it. At least outside of all the broken limbs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Apollo 18” is the latest entry in the growing “found footage” genre, popularized in recent years by the blockbuster “Paranormal Activity” films. Instead of rehashing eerie domestic terror, “Apollo 18” blasts into outer space, playing around with history and horror to manufacture a slightly different take on the game of fabricated realism. NASA nuts and conspiracy freaks might find something to embrace here, but the average viewer is likely to be bored stiff by this overlong, underwhelming chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

About this time last year, “Piranha 3D” was released into theaters. Instead of a predicted monstrosity, the picture turned out to be an enjoyable, mercilessly gory romp, retaining ideal exploitation instincts and a marvelous sense of humor. This year’s fish-based horror offering is “Shark Night 3D,” which is about as polar opposite a viewing experience from “Piranha 3D” as possible. Labored, idiotic, and tightly restricted when it comes to violence, the feature is a fiasco on every level of execution, aiming to be some type of camp classic yet cursed with moronic direction that renders the whole thing useless. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com