Trying to create a film as severe as he is, Tommy Lee Jones saddles up quite a grim picture with “The Homesman,” his fourth directorial effort and first western since 2005’s “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.” A casual viewing of “The Homesman” is not advised, as Jones is determined to communicate the harsh conditions and mental drain of prairie life. The feature requires a special mindset that’s open to exceptionally managed filmmaking and an evocative sense of location, because when the movie gets dark, and boy does it ever, it also retains a strange beauty about it that’s a testament to Jones’s talents behind the camera and his way with casting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It takes a special touch to make this type of entertainment work. Audiences have seen romantic melodramas time and again, with most barely putting in the effort to engage on an emotional level, merely content to display love, not feel it. “Beyond the Lights” has considerable flaws, but it manages to find intimacy in a way that feels natural, with such warmth smoothly communicated by leads Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker. Writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood indulges hysterics on occasion, but her mission to bring an organic chemistry to the screen is successful, while also targeting the toxicity of current pop queen standards, aiming to spank the music industry while caressing her characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Rarely does a film about a misanthrope achieve any level of laughter. “Listen Up Philip” concerns the daily adventures of a narcissist, a complete monster of a man, yet, in the care of writer/director Alex Ross Perry, the titular character is handled as a full-blooded human being, with his toxic ways played for horror and hilarity. This fine blend of reactions keeps “Listen Up Philip” in motion, allowing the viewer to enjoy the shock value of the ghoul and still settle into his complex domestic situation and curdled social viewpoint. While it eventually falls apart, the feature sustains an intriguing personality and daredevil tone, asking the audience to spend time with total jerk and enjoy it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After forging a career in comedy, most recently presiding over “The Daily Show” for the last 15 years, Jon Stewart is finally ready to direct movies. Naturally, the funny man has gravitated toward the story of Maziar Bahari, a journalist held captive in Iran, locked inside solitary confinement for 118 days. Granted, “Rosewater” does offer a few points of humor along the way, but it’s primarily interested in sobering sequences of interrogation and hopelessness. It’s nice that Stewart is hungry to show off another side to his creative focus, and “Rosewater” is accomplished work. However, it’s exactly the type of viewing experience expected from an Iranian imprisonment story, leaving surprises few and far between. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Jessabelle” is the latest entry in the low-budget horror sweepstakes, with company Blumhouse Productions trying to sustain their run of hits with another chiller of limited scope. A ghost story of sorts with a bayou tilt, the picture attempts to scare with images of menacing spirits and a mysterious past for its lead character. Sadly, all director Kevin Greutert can muster is limp chills and formulaic atmosphere, making “Jessabelle” look like every other fright film in the marketplace. Perhaps screenwriter Robert Ben Garant (“Balls of Fury,” “Herbie Fully Loaded”) once held an interesting idea for a possession story, but the work has been stripped of identity and anxiety, blandly going about its business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jazz is nothing but suffering, at least according to the movies. “Low Down” is the Joe Albany bio-pic, surveying the pianist’s life as he disrupted his musical gift with drugs and selfishness, neglecting his only daughter in the process. This is not a story of sunshine and clarity, but prolonged mistreatment, watching characters struggle for nearly two hours, never quite learning anything about themselves or their demons. “Low Down” has a specific glaze that’s certainly tended to by director Jeff Preiss, but rarely does it hit a note of profundity that revives interest in the gradual unraveling of an irresponsible man. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Wolves” is writer/director David Hayter’s obvious attempt to jump-start a werewolf franchise with superhero overtones. It’s expected work from the co-screenwriter of “Watchmen” and “X2: X-Men United,” who tries to reenergize horror and action with this collection of stunts and heavily made-up actors growling at one another. “Wolves” is ambitious but never completely in Hayter’s control, striving to build a mythology that could be covered in numerous sequels without ever establishing a reason to care about the first installment. It’s loud and violent, but the feature drags more than it should, struggling with iffy performances and lousy visual effects to raise a properly furry screen commotion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

At this point, it would be strange to see a sincere holiday picture that values family time and trusts in the special fantasies of the season. “A Merry Friggin’ Christmas” is the umpteenth variation on the dysfunctional ways of parents and children thrown together for the holidays, and it will receive the bulk of its publicity due to the death of star Robin Williams, who appears in one of his final screen roles. Predictable and largely unfunny, “A Merry Friggin’ Christmas” doesn’t make much of an effort to subvert clichés, wasting a perfectly skilled cast on lukewarm relationship woes and a yuletide appreciation that’s meant to lean toward the farcical, but mostly comes off unimaginative. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Superheroes are big business these days, grossing billions at the box office as characters both famous and obscure score high with audiences hungry for fantasy heroism. It makes sense for the Marvel Comic Universe to hit CG-animation, with “Big Hero 6” providing an opportunity for Disney to bring comic book adventure to a more family-friendly audience. Although considerable changes have been made to soften the source material for the screen, “Big Hero 6” retains its basic sense of courage and high-flying action, while Disney-esque formula brings the heart. This is not groundbreaking work from Walt Disney Animation, but the movie remains fabulously entertaining, with colossal visuals and an endearing character in Baymax, who more than earns his lovable status. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

This review contains strong language.

Insanity comes easy to “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?” A Japanese production from writer/director Shion Sono (“Suicide Club”), the picture is a wild ride of comedy and action, taking great care to preserve brutality and winks as it winds around an askew tale of revenge. The effort is also something of a valentine to 35mm filmmaking, a dying artform that Sono revives with a vengeance in this berserk creation. Funny and frightening, “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?” is a singular piece of moviemaking, thrillingly committed to screen chaos with marvelous comic timing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Diplomacy” takes a corner of World War II history and brings it to life onscreen. The picture marks the return of director Volker Schlondorff, the helmer of “The Tin Drum,” who’s explored the war throughout his career, but rarely has he found a tale this theatrical in design. Adapting a play by Cyril Gely (who co-scripts), Schlondorff ignores the expanse of war to manage a tale of two opposing forces softening in a Parisian hotel, keeping the showdown intimate and the mind games suspenseful. Perhaps “Diplomacy” doesn’t overwhelm with its subtleties and general low-budget take on conflict, but it does offer two tremendous performances from Andre Dussollier and Niels Arestrup and a full sense of torturous deliberation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For a low-budget comedy about carnal desires and bedroom knowledge, “Sex Ed” doesn’t always want to play it silly. Director Isaac Felder and screenwriter Bill Kennedy have a little more on their minds with the material, using the guise of an R-rated raunchfest to sneak in profound statements of character and sexual expertise. It’s a funny film, but hardly the laugh riot promised in early scenes, while the development of personalities and their viewpoints tends to dip into melodramatic territory. Even with considerable flaws, “Sex Ed” does offer a few charms, including a committed lead performance from Haley Joel Osment, whose depiction of dented dignity and comic timing supports the picture when it needs it the most. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Ricky Blitt has enjoyed an extensive career in Hollywood, with emphasis on comedy. Not everything has hit, but his credits include work on “Family Guy” and “The Ringer,” displaying at least an appreciation for silly business. “Hit by Lightning” marks his directorial debut, with Blitt recycling a spousal murder scenario to kick-off his own take on “Body Heat,” only instead of smoldering sex and good looking people, the picture remains chaste and provides Jon Cryer in the lead role. This should be a hilarious feature, but “Hit by Lightning” never gets past mildly amusing, finding Blitt unwilling to spin the effort dizzy with madcap encounters and pitch-black comedy. Weirdly, he plays it safe, leaving the movie disappointingly free of bellylaughs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When Christopher Nolan makes a movie these days, it’s an event. It never used to be this way, but when his Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight,” hit astronomical box office grosses, his importance as a filmmaker grew substantially, making every future project heavy with expectation and secrecy. “Interstellar” arrives without the prelude of major spoilers — a credit to the production, which managed to preserve many of the feature’s secrets before release. However, these key pieces of information are actually quite helpful to any future appreciation of Nolan’s latest, which sets out to match Kubrick and ends up mirroring Zemeckis. “Interstellar” is impressively mounted, boasting inventive and abstract visual effects, but dramatically, the effort fails to trigger much in the way of awe and emotion, at least not the obviously manipulative kind. Nolan’s ambition doesn’t match his material this time around, leaving the picture strangely inert as it seeks to dissect the heavens. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com