“Pride” is as bold and big of an audience-pleaser as I’ve seen all year, practically determined to reach out from the screen and high-five each ticket-buyer. This English production is pretty shameless, but thankfully there’s a heart behind the ham, with director Matthew Warchus mindful of pathos, constructing a picture with a meaningful message of self-empowerment while exploring select characters in full, adding some profound emotions to the dramedy. “Pride” has its subtle moments, but Warchus doesn’t linger for long, more inspired by the larger arc of celebration and love, which successfully softens most displays of strident exaggeration. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last summer, actress Chloe Grace Moretz stated there will never be a “Kick-Ass 3” due to piracy woes (conveniently forgetting that few were interested in the original film to begin with). It was a crushing blow to the faithful, but never fear Hit-Girl fans, “Kite” is here to pick up the slack. A violent study of a teen assassin working in a smoky dystopian landscape, “Kite” creates quite a commotion as it smashes heads and dodges bullets, with the producers displaying a distinct interest in picking up where “Kick-Ass” left off, even bringing in a known Hollywood paycheck-casher (in this case, Samuel L. Jackson) to beef up the legitimacy of such a one-note viewing experience. The similarities are startling at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A journalism thriller with an explosive subject of corruption and cover-up to inspect, “Kill the Messenger” is quite sharp when it comes to the depiction of stomach-churning betrayals and eye-wiggling paranoia. As a complete appreciation of the offenses that eventually overwhelmed writer Gary Webb, less is understood, leaving “Kill the Messenger” a fiery picture with nowhere to go, hitting a few painful incidents of pressure before it’s back in a dramatic gray area. Director Michael Cuesta is a gifted helmer, great with gritty, streetwise tales of survival, and moments score in the feature. There are just not enough of them to shake off a few questions of authenticity concerning Webb’s painful decline. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are many films that deserve sequels, offering fans a chance to revisit favorite characters as they evolve during a new adventure. 2012’s “The Pact” was an effective no-budget chiller, tracking the particulars of a ghost story with encouraging imagination, even if the overall effort felt a little soft. While I’m sure a small profit was eked out of its release, I fail to see the need for a “Pact II,” which returns to the serial killer nightmare, interested in expanding the story for new participants while inviting a few old faces to return. It’s unnecessary, and worse, glacial and uninspired, laboring to come up with a few viable reasons to plunge back into this limited world and manipulate it into a burgeoning franchise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“One Chance” is so eager to please its audience, it practically curls up in their lap and purrs. It’s a broad “crowd pleaser,” which translates into fingerpaint filmmaking intended to stir up basic emotions and supply inspiration to those willing to believe everything the script offers. It’s the true story of Paul Potts, the opera singer who conquered “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2007, but the authenticity of Justin Zackham’s pedestrian screenplay remains in doubt, liberally cleaving away significant moments of Potts’s life to maintain an underdog storyline that rings false throughout. It’s painfully obvious work, ideal for a brain-mushing rental, only registering as sincere when focused intently on leading work from James Corden and Alexandra Roach, who bring life to an otherwise manipulative viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For Burt Shavitz, a simple idea to make a little money selling honey near his home in Maine snowballed into decades of fame and near-fortune, and it's difficult to tell if he cares at all about the bizarre turn in his life. Directed by Jody Shapiro, "Burt's Buzz" details the life and times of the creator of Burt's Bees, a major brand name in the personal care product industry, concentrating on Burt's current position as the face of the corporation, while his life remains committed to country living and aging, creating an interesting contrast of money and comfort that's ideal fodder for a cinematic exploration. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2002, director Aleksandr Sokurov masterminded "Russian Ark." A sweeping exploration of the Hermitage Museum, the picture was a technical and artistic marvel, following through on an ambitious filmmaking design while securing his name as a creative daredevil to watch. Following up such an achievement hasn't been a priority for the veteran Russian helmer, who's most comfortable examining fogged psychological spaces in broken characters, finding an apt challenge in "Faust," an adaptation of the famous German legend. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Watching the competition storm the box office with disaster pictures during the 1970s, producer Roger Corman decided he had to have one too. 1978's "Avalanche" is a low-budget take on catastrophe, this time heading to a mountain resort in Colorado experiencing the worst opening weekend in the history of the industry, with Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, and Robert Forster playing the panicked and heroic as tons of snow descend on a collection of vacationers and athletes, each with their own domestic problems. It's a paint-by-numbers effort from Corman, who wants a big screen emergency, but doesn't want to pay for quality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Two years before he delivered "RoboCop" to the masses, director Paul Verhoeven attempted his first connection to Hollywood-style filmmaking with 1985's "Flesh + Blood." Remaining true to his European sensibility, Verhoeven didn't simply deliver a big screen adventure with swinging swords, damsels in distress, and castle battles, but a picture with distinct elusiveness, eschewing heroes and villains to create a war movie with a sophisticated morality. And rape. Lots of rape. "Flesh + Blood" doesn't display the helmer firing on all cylinders, but it's an interesting chapter in his gore-stained career, unleashing his signature cinematic roar on an industry that often had no clue what to do with him. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

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