Regular moviegoers, the weekend warriors, are repeatedly assaulted with
images of disaster, often taking on a global reach of apocalyptic doom.
One becomes desensitized to such grand illusions after a while,
regarding the end of the world as a time when the Capitol Records
building eats it, the Eiffel Tower takes a tumble, and Red Square is
reduced to rubble. “The Impossible” is a harrowing reminder of
real-world nightmares, with the film dramatizing the devastation and
anguish that followed the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in a
frightfully vivid manner, taking a refreshingly blunt perspective on the
challenges of survival and the tenacity of the human spirit. Although
it sounds like a downer, “The Impossible” is actually emotionally
satisfying and educational in a way, with director Juan Antonio Bayona
doing a superb job keeping the details vital and the characters
admirably resolute. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Promised Land” is a film filled with unfinished business. Reteaming
director Gus Van Sant with co-writer/star Matt Damon (after their work
on “Good Will Hunting” and “Gerry”), the picture is a messy affair with a
killer hook, bringing a critical environmental issue to the forefront
without much of a game plan to dissect it. Convincing for the first two
acts, “Promised Land” has an adequate grip on character and offers a
slew of terrific performances. It’s an interesting movie, but never
reaches the greatness or significance it imagines for itself, cursed
with a dreadful conclusion that’s strangely non-committal considering
all the passions swirling around the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Expectations that “Save the Date” is going to be a jaunty affair are cut
short in the opening five minutes, when it becomes clear that
writer/director Michael Mohan is going to make the audience feel every
last possible moment of discomfort and empty-eyed reflection. A slog
attempting to resemble a romantic comedy, “Save the Date” doesn’t have
the benefit of likable characters and a reinvention of relationship woe.
Instead, it slumbers through routine conflicts, often in the dullest
manner imaginable, refusing the lure of a snappy pace to wallow in poor
communication contests that grow intolerable as Mohan makes a 90-minute
run time feel like three years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’m not exactly sure what prompted interest is adapting “Ecstasy,”
Irvine Welsh’s 1996 collection of short stories, but it seems as though
the time for material like this to truly take off has passed. A distant
cousin to the chemical behemoth known as “Trainspotting,” “Ecstasy”
attempts to conjure the same sense of insanity, musical muscle, and
impish wit, only to stumble repeatedly as it struggles to put on a
dazzling sound and light show. Director Rob Heydon has the unfortunate
task of following Danny Boyle when it comes to Welsh’s world of
miscreants, and while the movie retains a few gripping dramatic moments,
as a whole it fails to catch fire, with a serious been there, done that
atmosphere the production can’t escape. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Billy Crystal hasn’t starred in a major motion picture since 2002, where
he burned off considerable audience goodwill with the abysmal sequel,
“Analyze That.” There was a bit part in the “Tooth Fairy” with Dwayne
Johnson, but let’s not dogpile on the guy. Considering he’s been away
from screen comedy for an eternity in Hollywood years, perhaps Crystal
could’ve taken just a little more care with his return to the multiplex.
Instead, he’s sprinted back to mind-numbing nonsense with “Parental
Guidance,” an ugly, honestly baffling family comedy that repeatedly
turns to the toxicity of bodily fluid humor to bang its comedic gong.
I’d write that this is the worst production Crystal has been involved
with this year, but we all saw the Oscars. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Victor Hugo’s celebrated 1862 novel concerning crime and punishment has
been turned into a great number of features throughout the years.
However, this “Les Miserables” takes its cues from the 1980 French
musical, which sprouted to blockbuster life when it found an English
translation in 1985. Beloved by millions who’ve grown accustomed to the
safe distances and narrow expanse of the stage production, the movie
smashes the divide between the actors and the audience, with director
Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) creating a decidedly raw and intimate
film that aches to preserve the soulfulness of the performances and the
fiery poetry of the lyrics. “Les Miserables” makes a few controversial
moves along the way, but it is, at its heart, grand entertainment, with a
concentration on anguish that cuts all the way to the bone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With “Django Unchained,” writer/director Quentin Tarantino manufactures
his most unsatisfying film since bursting onto the scene with 1992’s
“Reservoir Dogs.” Not that “Unchained” is a disaster, far from it at
times, actually, but there’s a lethargy here that’s disconcerting,
blocking a lovely view of all the cinematic tributes and screen artistry
that typically resides in Tarantinoland. A violent, winded take on
spaghetti westerns, “Django Unchained” features all the helmer’s
trademarks and casting appetites, locked into an overlong event that’s
sporadically enchanting and daring, lacking the fresh pace and series of
bruising confrontations that helped Tarantino’s last effort, 2009’s
“Inglourious Basterds,” to soar. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Rust and Bone" is a story of perseverance, though it probably wouldn't
be caught dead with that label. The latest from "A Prophet" director
Jacques Audiard, the feature is a defiantly untouchable creation,
refusing the lure of sensitivity to portray human connection and
vulnerability in the most minimal manner possible. Anchored by two
fantastic leading performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias
Schoenaerts, "Rust and Bone" doesn't always understand what type of
movie it wants to be, often caught chasing tangents and unfinished
thoughts. However, the ache of these characters and their formless
attempts to bond under extreme stress is endlessly fascinating,
permitting the effort a full sense of life beyond a surface of
confusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Jack Reacher” is a different film than I was expecting. It’s a
different film than many will be expecting, with the possible exception
of those already engrossed in the Jack Reacher books by author Lee
Child, but even the fanatics might be puzzled by a few of the new
details required to turn a page-turner into a Tom Cruise starring
vehicle. There’s a bite to the picture that’s most welcome, hitting with
a surprisingly hard PG-13-level of violence that gifts the tale a cold
stance of intimidation. But there’s also a story, and it’s a thick one,
with motivations, last names, and vague supporting characters all vying
for attention in an already crowded movie. “Jack Reacher” has moments of
inviting escapism, but it’s also a mystery of debatable importance. In
the end, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie makes an engaging
feature, but often chooses the wrong elements to emphasize. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’ll admit that I haven’t had much exposure to the various shows and
individual performances of Cirque du Soleil, but it’s easy to see that
their debut feature, “Worlds Away,” is little more than a commercial for
the Canadian outfit. For fans, the 3D movie will be a warm reminder of
previous accomplishments and current successes, returning to a place of
extraordinary theatricality and flexibility as director Andrew Adamson
attempts to capture an event that should really be enjoyed live. For
outsiders, “Worlds Away” is an interesting experiment in self-promotion,
though the attempt to build a narrative capable of connecting disparate
fantasy sequences smoothly is botched, resulting in a highlight reel
that grows tiring over 85 minutes of screentime. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For some, Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film, “The Shining,” is an
effective chiller with a triumphantly realized streak of sinister,
otherworldly behavior. For others, the picture is an interestingly
crafted but hopelessly inert experience in directorial indulgence.
However, for a select few, “The Shining” is a big screen Rubik’s Cube of
interpretational delights, with every single frame of the movie
containing a deeper meaning waiting patiently for feverish analysis to
discover it. The creators of “Room 237” actually make an attempt to
deconstruct the work, asking six participants of no apparent fame to
share their study of Kubrick’s labor, with director Rodney Ascher
piecing together a fascinating study of the feature and all the real and
imagined secrets these interviewees have spent the greater part of the
their lives obsessing over. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As everyone knows by now, when Judd Apatow decides to make a movie, it’s
never a tidy, easy event, but an immense outpouring of sensitivities
and improvisations. The director is more of a wrangler, picking the best
moments of imagination and vulnerability to shape the viewing
experience, leaving the end product formless yet filled with enormous
laughs and a manageable level of heartache. A spin-off of his 2007 hit,
“Knocked Up,” Apatow returns to the story of Pete and Debbie, hoping to
expand on the claustrophobia of their marriage as it slams into the
reality of the aging process. The results are uproarious and keenly
observed, continuing Apatow’s satisfying quest to inspect itchy human
behavior with a pronounced silly streak. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The latest Disney film to receive a 3D makeover and a rerelease in
theaters is Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” Coming mere months after the
reissue of “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters, Inc.” continues a positive trend
for the company, who appear to be selecting their upgraded titles
wisely, choosing features that benefit from the additional depth. The
2001 movie is certainly less expansive than “Nemo,” but its vision of a
parallel universe of ghouls working to purge fear out of human children
lends itself to a comfortable visual experience, with a few sequences
revealing some of the best work these conversion efforts have provided
thus far. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Guilt Trip” is a picture where the performances are flavorful but
the production is much too bland. Ostensibly a comedy, the film
strangely avoids anything approximating a joke, wasting humorous
situations and the potential for pace on a falsely sentimental tone
that’s uninteresting and insincere. “The Guilt Trip” is too busy being
totally harmless that it forgets to put in the effort to be hilarious,
which is exactly what ticket buyers want when they plunk down serious
coin to spend 100 minutes with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand. For a
road movie, the feature goes absolutely nowhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a long journey to bring Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel, “On the
Road,” to the screen, which probably should’ve served as a warning to
anyone daring to make the commitment. After 50 years of false starts and
adaptation blues, the work has finally been dramatized, though, after
watching the movie, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would be
excited to turn this decidedly literary creation into a cinematic
experience. Labored and miscast, “On the Road” mistakes droning
meditation for soulful significance, dashing around Kerouac’s
experiences without establishing connective tissue, making the feature
less about the characters and more about the highlights, trying to pack
in as much of the source material as possible, regardless if it flows or
not. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One would have to be a Grinch to be anything but a puddle of tears at
the conclusion of “Any Day Now.” After all, it’s a potent story about
human rights, set during a time when injustice toward the gay community
was a common occurrence, finding those capable of great love shut down
simply due to their sexual orientation. However significant the story,
it’s difficult to swallow how co-screenwriter/director Travis Fine
treats the effort, selecting a Very Special Movie approach for material
that deserves nuance and patience, relying on shameless manipulation to
communicate simple ideas on prejudice and parenting. Every melodramatic
cliché is handed the white glove treatment in this maudlin misfire. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com