David Fincher doesn’t make movies for the audience, he makes them for himself. He’s the curator of his own cinematic museum, keeping the area impeccably lit, free of clutter, and decorated with displays of inhumanity. “Gone Girl” is an apt gig for the deified director, employing his detached appreciation of misery to guide a contemporary mystery that utilizes a traditional offering of twists and turns, but doesn’t appear particularly interested in forward momentum. Based on the best-seller by Gillian Flynn (who also scripts), “Gone Girl” is an artistically sound picture with many delights, also effective as a satiric trident throw into the very concept of marriage. As a puzzler, it leaves much to be desired, with Fincher often too busy doing white-gloved finger-wipe inspections on the corners of the frame to pay much attention to the nail-munching aspects of Flynn’s winding work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s clear at this point in his career that Nicolas Cage will do anything for a paycheck. That’s not to knock the actor, everyone has to pay the rent, but this relatively recent interest in taking any gig that comes his way has created a chaotic filmography, with “Left Behind” his latest career question mark. That’s right, Cage is doing a faith-based movie, and one that’s already been covered by Kirk Cameron in a 2000 effort. The new “Left Behind” is obviously working to erase memories of the previous endeavor, but this remains flimsy material, boasting enough stilted performances and clumsy action to keep its trembling take on the Rapture down to a dull roar. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2013’s “The Conjuring” was a surprise box office smash, earning its success with a quality horror effort that was smart with suspense and well performed. Instead of a sequel to the picture, the studio has elected to cheapen the experience with a low-budget prequel/spin-off, hoping to cash in on a quickie horror release for the Halloween season. I’m sure most fans would rather have a proper “Conjuring” follow-up, but they’ll have to make do with “Annabelle,” a slack chiller that sets sail with startling confidence, only to sink when it actually has to follow through on its ghoulish promises, resulting in an uneven film that makes one truly appreciate the squeezing sense of terror “The Conjuring” offered. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Most cinematic dissections of the Vietnam War concentrate on the either the early years of the conflict, when morale was high and troops were alert, or the thick of the fight, highlighting a drain of innocence and military interest. True to its title, “Last Days in Vietnam” doesn’t pay attention to anything but the final moments of the American presence in the country, searching to understand the chaos that occurred once evacuation procedures lost their ability to manage hordes of desperate refugees. A vital piece in the ongoing puzzle of the conflict, “Last Days in Vietnam” is an eye-opening documentary that captures the charged emotions and troubled leadership that fed into an overall sense of panic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Good People” plays like a movie that was rushed through post-production, with huge chunks of plot cleaved away to get to the visceral content as quickly as possible. It’s adapted from a novel by Marcus Sakey, but certainly doesn’t feel like a story that could fill pages, with anemic characterization holding hands with halfhearted performances. Director Henrik Ruben Genz is handed potential with this tale of moral choices and criminal interests, but there’s just not enough substance to “Good People” to fulfill, while scenes of physical conflict feel like reheated Danny Boyle mechanics, never hitting bold points of suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If there was ever a low-budget VOD thriller that had the potential to transform into a nifty offering of suspense, it’s “Reclaim.” Boosted by a premise that preys on real-world fears of fraud and foreigner isolation, the picture delivers a satisfying opening act, arranging a situation of betrayal that’s credible and somewhat novel for a cinematic exploration. Unfortunately, the prospect of exploring uneasy manipulations proves unappetizing to director Alan White, who pushes aside the complexity of the story to stage tedious chases and shoot-outs, often without the budget to create an authentic portrait of pursuit. “Reclaim” isn’t a disaster, it’s just disappointing and thoughtless after a potent introduction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Building a reputation for sophisticated B-movies, writer/director Nacho Vigalondo returns with “Open Windows,” his first English-language effort. After guiding “Timecrimes” and “Extraterrestrial” through some puzzling turns of plot, Vigalondo’s ambition gets the better of him here. After a suspenseful, inventive opening half, “Open Windows” takes on more twists and incident than it can handle, slowly suffocating a nifty premise that plays the entire film on a laptop screen, drilling into timely technological fears. Overplotted and underwhelming, the feature gets by on sheer novelty for a considerable amount of time, only to be shut down by the helmer’s refusal to play the premise as economically as possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The horror feature “7500” has experienced its share of release date delays and missed seasonal opportunities. Shot in 2011, the picture is finally seeing the light of day, and as expected, the results aren’t encouraging. However, as muddled as it is, “7500” shows promise in its opening act, promising an unremarkable but effective airplane disaster movie, frosted with stock characterizations and jumps of mid-air panic. But such simplicity isn’t enough to challenge director Takashi Shimizu and screenwriter Craig Rosenberg, who try to transform potential catastrophe into a mind-bender with traditional Japanese fright film decoration. It doesn’t work for a myriad of reasons, but it’s certainly not a sloppy effort, just an unnecessary one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One could go cross-eyed looking over the filmography of director Brian Trenchard-Smith. The Australian helmer, transformed into an industry hero in the documentary “Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation,” is the very definition of a “gotta eat” moviemaker, churning out a run of low-budget productions covering all genres and tastes. “Drive Hard” is Trenchard-Smith’s latest work, boasting a premise that seems right up his alley. It’s a car chase extravaganza, with plenty of scenes devoted to panicked banter and squealing tires, tearing all over the Gold Coast. And yet “Drive Hard” falls a little flat, never quite secure in its insanity and perhaps a bit too ambitious with its screenplay, which spends more time building secretive allegiances than it does tending to the visceral highlights I’m certain most viewers would prefer to see. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Something happened to “Hector and the Search for Happiness” during the adaptation process, something that took a novel by psychiatrist Francois Lelord and turned it into a touchy-feely British film with no sense of timing, tenderness, and character. All over the map tonally, with surprisingly little shame, the feature is a complete mess that carries on as a cinematic band-aid offered to moviegoers probably wondering why they’re expected to cry when they had nothing to do with the creation of this picture. “Hector and the Search for Happiness” is aching to be sweet syrup for the masses, but it never once does it stop and question how it’s setting out to achieve such universal love. The message has clearly been prioritized over the plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When producers arrive to adapt the works of author Patricia Highsmith, they gravitate toward her Tom Ripley series, which has spawned numerous movie and television iterations, exhaustively documenting the world of the tentative serial killer. “The Two Faces of January” heads a different direction, and while the menu here still includes death and panic, there’s a fresh sense of paranoia to mine. Writer/director Hossein Amini spins a convincing tale of suspicion with “The Two Faces of January,” generating an inviting level of suspense while preserving the spare details of the crime, utilizing his cast superbly as he feels around the corners of this moody, sneaky psychological thriller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Something has happened to director Antoine Fuqua in recent years. Something that’s made him a very angry man. His filmography has been peppered with extreme violence, with “Shooter” and “Training Day” not shy about sharing graphic content. Last year’s wretched “Olympus Has Fallen” delivered a more malicious Fuqua, with the helmer overseeing a relentlessly, needlessly brutal feature that reveled in its shock value. “The Equalizer” follows the same path to pain, again dishing up scenes of suffering and gore that’s more off-putting than celebratory, turning what should be a thrilling revenge story with an everyday hero into cinematic punishment. A highly ridiculous, extremely unpleasant picture, “The Equalizer” keeps Fuqua foaming at the mouth. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Tracks” has a secret weapon in its outback locations. Bringing the true-life tale of Robyn Davidson and her amazing trek across Australia to the big screen, director John Curran wisely emphasizes the natural expanse and danger of the land, with glorious shots of nature in motion, alternating between punishment and salvation for the lead character. “Tracks” has its share of spirituality and wonderful detail, but it’s often a movie that’s best without dialogue, appreciating the hardship facing Davidson as she embarked on an incredible journey. That’s not to suggest the film doesn’t have dramatic value, but it’s most comfortable covering the daily business of survival in a seemingly inhospitable land. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When it comes to the challenge of bringing the story of Jimi Hendrix to the screen, writer/director John Ridley (who won an Academy Award for scripting “12 Years a Slave”) certainly didn’t have it easy. Denied use of Hendrix’s music to help populate “Jimi: All Is by My Side” with album hits, Ridley cooks up another approach, filling the film with the blues to help inspect the artist’s influences and personal groove. There’s also an amazing performance from Andre Benjamin to hold attention. Even without a familiar sonic presence to provide reassurance, “Jimi: All Is by My Side” gets under the skin of its subject, braiding bio-pic convention and considered editorial work to share a sample of Hendrix during his rise to glory. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Following up their work on the hits “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” animation studio Laika returns with yet another darkly comic vision in “The Boxtrolls,” an adaptation of the book “Here Be Monsters!” Keeping to studio standards, the picture is a bizarre mix of the broad and the terrifying, handed a distinct English tilt this time around to perfect its dry sense of humor. As with everything Laika works on, “The Boxtrolls” is visually striking and intermittently amusing, but a little of this unusual world goes a long way, with pacing and story issues crippling an otherwise enjoyable romp through cheese worship and creature idiosyncrasies. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com