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Film Review - The Wicker Tree

Surprisingly, writer/director Robin Hardy didn’t pursue much work in the entertainment industry after the release of his 1973 cult classic, “The Wicker Man.” It makes sense that his return to the screen is a pseudo-sequel/remake/kissing cousin to his previous achievement, with “The Wicker Tree” looking to capture the same pagan terror, this time without Nicolas Cage and the damn bees of the goofball 2006 “Wicker Man” remake. Boldly developing a tone of high camp for this follow-up, Hardy looks to attack expectations by turning the premise into something silly, playing broadly to keep viewers off-guard. It doesn’t work in full, yet “The Wicker Tree” is an interesting failure, ultimately handcuffed by its low budget and thespian limitations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Chronicle

The found footage phenomenon sneaks into the superhero genre with “Chronicle,” an uneasy cross between a Morrissey record and a middling “X-Men” sequel. Chasing a trend with a slightly different goal in mind, director Josh Trank appears to be more interested in wowing his audience than selling a consistent tale of teenagers flirting with ultimate power. Little of the movie’s mysteries are developed, the acting is distractingly obvious, and the teen angst formula is laid on thick as tar, yet when the feature gets mean, it suddenly gets interesting. A visual effects demo reel in search of dramatic impact, “Chronicle” is frustratingly mediocre, absent a visionary filmmaker skilled at extracting a sense of peril from the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - The Woman in Black

During his tenure as the boy wizard in the “Harry Potter” franchise, star Daniel Radcliffe spent very little time away from the grind of blockbuster filmmaking, accepting challenges in the theater over building his big screen reputation. “The Woman in Black” marks the first acting effort from Radcliffe post-Hogwarts, turning to a bare bones chiller that’s almost entirely devoid of dialogue for the actor, instead deploying his well-honed abilities of wide-eyed reaction. “The Woman in Black” contains a few jumps and creeps, but it’s a disappointingly sluggish ghost story without a convincing antagonist. Admittedly, there’s a curiosity factor with Radcliffe’s performance. Beyond that, the picture doesn’t provide much excitement. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - A Separation

“A Separation” is a frustrating sit, as both a dramatic endeavor and a motion picture viewing experience. Anxiety runs red hot in this Iranian production, which unfolds in a purposefully tangled style of lies and half-truths, forcing the characters to communicate in an unrelentingly argumentative manner. It’s an oppressive moviegoing encounter, but a film richly layered by writer/director Asghar Farhadi, who embraces the bulging passions of the players, forcing outsiders to feel the bind of contradictions and oppression of life in the Middle East. Expectedly, the volatility is penetrating, but the feature is methodical, stewing in every last moment of unease and contemplation, stretching to a point where Farhadi is practically lapping himself. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Big Miracle

Schmaltz swallows “Big Miracle” whole. Here’s a film of excessive sentimentality, coating the picture with softball conflicts and interpersonal friction, bonding the subplots together with syrup and tears. It’s a story of whale rescue that doesn’t spend nearly enough time with the whales, trying to inflate itself into an environmental statement and valentine to humanity’s occasional display of selflessness. Disapproving of the feature’s brazen manipulation is like slapping a kitten, yet “Big Miracle” pushes too hard for too long, fogging up the meaning of the movie with all of its heavy breathing, madly dashing for obviousness when a little refinement with such an strange story would’ve done the trick. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - All Things Fall Apart

For the last seven years, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has attempted to become an actor. The rapper has worked his way through the Hollywood system, going from a top-billed behemoth to a DTV mainstay, gradually taking command of his projects as a way to market his interests in full. “All Things Fall Apart” is perhaps Jackson’s most brazen attempt to achieve thespian respectability, co-scripting himself a tender story of life’s cruelties, the dissipation of dreams, and the undying human spirit, employing a backdrop of today’s medical industry and job market frustrations to assist in the accessibility of the material. Straining to be meaningful until its blue in the face, “All Things Fall Apart” is a hackneyed, stilted production, held back in great part by Jackson’s decision to insert himself in the lead role. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

For a pair of comedians who routinely make 11 minutes of television feel like a prison sentence, their debut feature film is surprisingly palatable. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim make the leap to the big screen (or the badlands of the VOD market) with “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,” an aesthetic transition for the weirdo couple, who finally break free from the constraints of their Adult Swim basic cable show to make a royal mess of the multiplex. Keeping to the pair’s modus operandi, it’s impossible to grasp the foolishness on display, but what they’ve cooked up here offers flashes of inspired stupidity and steadfast absurdity. Just skip the Shrim scene and newcomers to this low-budget kingdom of alternative comedy should be able to survive the experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - The Flowers of War

For a film about nobility, sacrifice, and redemption, “The Flowers of War” is an unexpectedly macabre picture that frequently mistakes excess for realism. A work from lauded director Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Hero”), the feature is a grueling sit, combining pedestrian melodrama with harsh images of wartime casualty, drowning salient points on heroism in an ocean of blood. Although it arrives with golden intentions to celebrate an exceptional act of sacrifice, the movie frequently misfires with its earnestness and unseemliness, losing whatever impact it hopes to make after the opening 20 minutes. The remaining two hours is merely an exercise in the obvious and the ugly. Considering the ghastly story being recounted, it’s amazing how little sensitivity the director shows the subject. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - The Grey

Hollywood marketing efforts should never be fully trusted, often shaped by professionals merely looking to exploit combustible elements to guarantee a little box office hustle for the opening weekend. “The Grey” is an excellent example of a movie with misleading advertising, promising ticket buyers a roller coaster ride where planes crash, lives are lost, and Liam Neeson knuckles up with broken booze bottles, looking to plant a few jagged Irish kisses on hostile wolves in the remote reaches of Alaska. “The Grey” is not an overtly ridiculous film, it’s a searing study of survival and death, spending more time with distressed characters facing the end of their lives than the titular predators. Of course, telling potential viewers they’re about to watch a group of men slowly expire for two hours isn’t appetizing, leaving the suits scrambling for marketable elements that don’t even appear in the picture. It’s bad form, tarnishing a thoroughly horrifying feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - One for the Money

Breaking away from her recent focus on shrill comedies (“The Ugly Truth”) and noxious actioners (“Killers”), Katherine Heigl takes a slight career detour with “One for the Money,” portraying a beloved character in Stephanie Plum, the heroine of author Janet Evanovich’s long-running series of mysteries. It’s not a drastic change of pace for the actress, but it’s enough of a character to calm this confounding screen presence. “One for the Money” isn’t a strong picture, but it carries modest appeal that makes a sporadic impression, due in great part to Heigl’s charisma and the feature’s formulaic reliability. Fans of Evanovich’s work should walk away satisfied, perhaps even delighted with the adaptation. Everyone else will simply be able to walk away, which is saying something considering the debilitating toxicity of Heigl’s recent output. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Man on a Ledge

“Man on a Ledge” is one goofy movie. Not in an enjoyably escapist manner, but a grabby one instead, where the production begs the audience to swallow numerous leaps in logic and rational behavior to connect the dots. The premise is undoubtedly exciting, concerning high-tech diamond heists and master plans of revenge, but the clichés outnumber the thrills, rendering the picture surprisingly stale. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone the opportunity to get lost in this collection of whoppers and wonky accents, but with this cast and proven premise, there’s no reason why “Man on a Ledge” isn’t a more exhilarating ride. Seems like a waste of a perfectly snappy set-up. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Perfect Sense

“Perfect Sense” has a killer hook for its take on the end of the world. Instead of bombs or the wrath of nature, the film details the final days of civilization as a gradual loss of sensory function, spreading as a global pandemic. It’s reminiscent of last autumn’s “Contagion,” only here the erosion of society is handled more artfully and rationally, recognizing that such loss of perception wouldn’t crash the planet at first, but bring it to its knees slowly. David Mackenzie’s feature is frustrating at times, possibly too insistent when it comes to screen poetry, but the concept is intriguing, offering enough scenes of oddity and distress to hold attention and occasionally raise anxiety levels. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Coriolanus

Every now and then, visionary filmmakers take on the challenge of contemporizing or reevaluating the illustrious works of William Shakespeare, performing a cinematic blood transfusion of sorts to energize material hundreds of years old. Think Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet,” Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet,” and Richard Loncraine’s “Richard III.” Pushing Shakespeare into a bleak battle zone is director/star Ralph Fiennes and “Gladiator” screenwriter John Logan, who inject “Coriolanus” with burning venom, assembling a tempestuous drama of betrayal and cruel authority that breathes fire and takes prisoners, dragging the material kicking and screaming into a modern environment, with pronounced political and societal parallels. The essence of the picture remains with the Bard, the rest carries on with a wrathful charge, generating frustrating distance and intensity, often in the same instant. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Crazy Horse

Le Crazy Horse de Paris is perhaps the most celebrated nude cabaret in the world, enchanting and seducing visitors since 1951. Today, the company is still going strong, merging a classic vision of performance with the more demanding needs of style in the 21st century, striving to remain a chic hotspot and tourist destination while retaining its identity as a place of artistry and sensuality, established long ago. Documentarian Frederick Wiseman explores the daily rituals and refinement of a Crazy Horse production, studying the formation of the show “Desir,” capturing The Crazy at a time of creative unrest. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - The Divide

“The Divide” is not a feature one should watch to maintain a happy mood. It’s a pitch-black post-apocalyptic drama, teaming with murder, rape, and raw hostility, carrying an ambiance of dread that requires a Silkwood shower after viewing. It’s also a halfway compelling study of dehumanization and survivor instinct, supplying some easily telegraphed yet fascinating scenes of physical and mental decay. It’s not a film for everyone. Heck, it’s not a film for anyone, yet underneath the oppressive atmosphere of this insistently nasty movie are a few persuasive scenes of panic set against a terrifying doomsday scenario. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Underworld: Awakening

It’s been six years since star Kate Beckinsale donned the latex and corset for an “Underworld” adventure, with the producers taking a prequel route for 2009’s “Rise of the Lycans.” It’s good to have the pint-sized porcelain bruiser back in command of a sequel, and with her long-awaited return comes a blessedly simplified resuscitation of the franchise. “Underworld: Awakening” won’t win any awards for sophistication, but what it lacks in refinement it makes up for in wall-to-wall vampires vs. werewolves action. It’s a deafening joyride crammed with plenty of destruction, slowing the development of the plot’s laborious mythos. Stripping down the experience to zero in on mayhem, the producers have reignited the fun factor of the series, keeping the focus on exploitative elements instead of continuing to widen a wheezing brand name. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Red Tails

In typical George Lucas fashion, “Red Tails” is brimming with visual mastery, yet arrives a little light when it comes to searing drama. Bringing the tale of the Tuskegee Airmen to the big screen, Lucas keeps the human elements distractingly simplistic, creating an earnest but often ridiculous portrait of wartime racism and fighter pilot instability. Soaring into the skies, the movie comes alive, taking full advantage of the producer’s interest in digital effects, bringing a visceral push to the dogfight sequences, which are worth the price of admission alone to witness. “Red Tails” is a middling effort with a talented cast, perhaps two rewrites away from greatness. What’s onscreen has moments of grandeur, but there’s not enough to communicate the reverence Lucas clearly feels for this story. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Haywire

I’ll admit there was a small part of me that was hoping filmmaker Steven Soderbergh would be interested in returning some Schwarzenegger-branded brawn the action genre, currently choked out by distracting editorial blizzards and stars ill-equipped to portray bruisers. However, “Haywire” is as Soderberghian as the rest of oeuvre, dragging 21st century beatdowns into a casual European arena, where the plot sits long enough to grow a five o’clock shadow, most of the actors are on break from other commitments, and the cinematography often looks as though it requires a doctor’s appointment. In a strange way, Soderbergh attempts to battle predictability with predictability, though it’s hard to argue with the movie’s sporadic concentration. When “Haywire” wakes up, it’s a blast. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is a frustrating movie to watch. Infuriating at times. It’s a heartbreaking story of 9/11 loss that carries a preciousness about it that nearly ruins the entire viewing experience. Dealing with devastating psychological issues, mind-bending stages of grief, and severe behavioral disorders, the film can’t quite decide if it wants to curl up in a ball and sob for 120 minutes or play lightly with its myriad of mysteries. I’m trying to remain settled on a mixed response to the picture, as there’s much to praise about Stephen Daldry’s latest effort. Nevertheless, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” has the tendency to be obnoxious and overwrought without even realizing it, torching most of the sincerity it intends to convey. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film Review - The Rebound

It’s been a bizarre career for writer/director Bart Freundlich, who made his debut with the 1997 film fest darling “The Myth of Fingerprints,” only to weave between considered fare (2001’s “World Traveler”), family distractions (2004’s “Catch That Kid”), and misguided nonsense (2005’s “Trust the Man”). “The Rebound” marks a career low point for the battered helmer, bottoming out with this wrongheaded, hyperactive romantic comedy. Although it bears the marks of studio intervention, much of the blame remains firmly with Freundlich, who’s incapable of arranging a single honest moment in this uncomfortable, frightfully strained creation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com