It’s been a tough year for Zac Efron. His EDM drama, “We Are Your Friends,” posted one of the worst opening weekends of all time. His first offering of 2016 crudeness with January’s “Dirty Grandpa” quickly stalled at the box office. The sequel “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” grossed just over a third of the original’s movie take. And now he’s trying his luck again with “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” teaming up with screamy basic cable star Adam Devine to try to rework the “Dumb and Dumber” formula for twentysomething audiences. Efron is certainly tireless in his pursuit of a big screen career, but his taste in screenplays is abysmal, with “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” yet another creative blight his perpetual shirtlessness cannot disguise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After spending the last handful of years developing surefire hits in “Despicable Me 2” and “Minions,” animation powerhouse Illumination Entertainment returns to original material with “The Secret Lives of Pets,” or least keeps away from the moneymaking minions for a year. The long shadow of Pixar darkens the picture, as much of the movie resembles a sneaky “Toy Story” remix, only instead of plastic cowboys and space rangers, the feature offers time with cats and dogs. Laughs are a rare event in “The Secret Life of Pets,” which is more determined to be loud, spotlighting screaming performances and frantic action that tends to drain the heart right out of the effort. It’s not a disaster, but after managing wit and speed with the surprisingly effective “Minions,” Illumination’s latest endeavor is a bit too desperate to please. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Anne Fontaine has been working for the last two decades, amassing a varied filmography that includes recent efforts “Gemma Bovary” and “Adoration.” “The Innocents” is perhaps her bleakest picture, but it’s also her most accomplished. A haunting look at desperation during an unusual time of liberation, “The Innocents” finds yet another corner of World War II to examine, with Fontaine building an uneasy drama with sensational characterization, defining personalities and troubles with helming precision, but never discounting the emotional power of the tale, despite dealing with a subject matter that welcomes religious and cultural iciness. It’s not a feature to be approached causally, but it captures a place and time superbly. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of “The Last Kiss” and “Seven Pounds,” Gabriele Muccino specializes in sensitive stories with melodramatic extremes. He’s a patient helmer, fascinated by the durability of the human heart and the depth of broken individuals, funneling these interests into “Fathers and Daughter,” another go-around with distraught characters struggling with emotional blockage as they speed toward tragedy. Calling “Fathers and Daughters” Muccino’s most accomplished work in years isn’t exactly a compliment, but he handles certain sections of the tale with refreshing sincerity. The confidence doesn’t last throughout, but before excess suffocates the movie, there’s a sharp sense of loss that carries significant power, almost able to buttress the entire effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

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Although it has the appearance of a traditional rock documentary, “Breaking the Monster” takes an unusual route to familiar sights of band dysfunction and industry pressures. It endeavors to explore fame via the YouTube Generation, showcasing the power of video, not presence, which helped the band Unlocking the Truth achieve cult fame, resulting in a record deal and a shot at mainstream stardom. The clichés are unavoidable, but the participants are barely teenagers, watching the children who make up Unlocking the Truth navigate an adult world of responsibilities while still dabbling in “Spinal Tap”-esque shenanigans. Director Luke Meyer (“Darkon”) has an interesting take on the routine, helped along by the band’s unusual sonic power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cinematic adaptations of Stephen King novels are common, and most do not work. “Cell,” however, is a promising title for a big screen inspection, with the successful 2006 book exploring the ubiquity of technology — a chilling reality when supernatural disaster strikes, creating an easy and widespread circuit of doom. Interestingly, King steps up to co-script this feature, making him part of the creative vision. And yet, even with the author’s control, “Cell” falls apart. While the material seems suited for a ripping horror yarn, the film is missing dramatic pieces and overall enthusiasm, making it more of a summary of King’s work than an engrossing, consistent adaptation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Marauders” joins a growing subgenre of thrillers and actioners that play under the pop culture radar, keeping a low profile with a limited budget, while release publicity is secured with the addition of a single brand name to the cast list. In this case, it’s Bruce Willis, who slumbers through this lukewarm puzzler, barely participating in the story as lead Christopher Meloni does all the heavy lifting. Aiming for sophistication and procedural blue steel, “Marauders” is buried under the weight of exposition. It’s tough for anything of note to happen in the movie when every character is dedicated to explaining everything on screen. And yet, somehow, nothing is clear or, in the end, all that interesting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I don’t know if director Alex Gibney sleeps at all, but it certainly doesn’t seem like it. The prolific helmer has churned out over 15 documentaries in the last decade, covering topics such as musical artistry (“Finding Fela”), disgraced sporting gods (“The Armstrong Lie”), and political ruin (“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”). Gibney is always in motion, which is likely why his latest endeavor, “Zero Days,” feels like it’s on autopilot. It’s an informational explosion, delivering all the facts and figures an audience member could want from a movie, but suspense is missing from the picture, which is so consumed with proving its sophistication, it never bothers to build cinematic energy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What is it about the mysteries of the rectum that bewitch so many filmmakers? While watching “Swiss Army Man,” I was reminded of 2005’s “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” where writer/director Miranda July spent valuable screen time on the idea of two people passing fecal matter between their bottoms, using the (thankfully) imagined visual as a symbol for human connection. “Swiss Army Man” turns to flatulence as the ultimate communication of intimacy, and it uses it quite a bit. Sometimes for comedic effect, other times it’s frighteningly serious about farts, sustaining the passing of gas as a literal and symbolic awakening throughout the entire movie. Not that breaking wind defines the feature, but it plays a key role in a largely baffling, semi-sincere effort, igniting the imagination of co-writer/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (credited as “Daniels”). Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When confronted with the work of author Roald Dahl, there’s always going to be some degree of weirdness. Cinematic adaptations of his work tend the celebrate oddity, inspiring pictures such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” and “The Witches.” “The BFG” isn’t particularly fascinated with darkness in the same manner as other Dahl-branded productions, finding director Steven Spielberg employing his traditional sentimentality to cut through strange happenings involving giants and little kids. “The BFG” means well enough with its sweet side and explorer spirit, but it’s a surprisingly plodding movie, taking its sweet time with introductions, almost forgetting it has a story to tell. Spielberg and fantasy is usually a promising combination, but the feature never gets out of first gear. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Every so often, Hollywood revives its interest in exploring the world of Tarzan, returning to original inspiration from author Edgar Rice Burroughs to fuel another franchise. He’s been recycled for radio, television, and movies, but rarely does the Lord of the Apes receive the big-budget treatment. “The Legend of Tarzan” is a large-scale attempt to revive the character’s popularity for a new generation of filmgoer, with director David Yates forgoing a tangible world for a digital one, creating a collection of animals and environments with plentiful CGI assistance, trying to remain stylish while dealing with familiar artificiality. The lack of natural sweep hurts the picture, but there’s a larger problem in the screenplay, which doesn’t really know if it wants to study the story of Tarzan or use him as a poseable action figure in a tale that seldom inspires awe or excitement. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com