Moms’ Night Out Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Sean Astin, Patricia Heaton

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Sony

Release Date: September 2, 2014

Run Time: 99 minutes

 

 

        The mere fact that there is no moral or spiritual lesson engrained into the plot of Moms’ Night Out means a step forward for the faith-based film industry. In the same year that major studios also found source material for their movies in biblical stories, Christian-made films have also started to understand the concept of entertainment. This one is still far from being anywhere near good, and despite a storyline involving mothers, much of the humor appears meant to amuse the children dragged to theaters this past Mother’s Day. There is enough mature material to appease the adults, and the entire subject of the film may go over most children’s heads. In trying to appease everyone, they have made a movie for no one.

 

14 Blades DVD Review

     Actors: Donnie Yen, Wei Zhao, Sammo Hung

Director: Daniel Yee

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: September 2, 2014

Run Time: 113 minutes

 

 

        Donnie Yen has an amazing martial arts background, and when combined with his cinematic abilities this can make him an incredible asset to a feature. This is why it was so disappointing to find his talents weren’t put to full use in 14 Blades, a film which prefers inconsistent special effects over the skills possessed by the cast. Or perhaps Yen is simply getting older, transitioning to a different type of roles. Whatever the reason, 14 Blades feels like a film that should have been better than the average viewing experience it provides.

 

Baby Blues Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Raymond Lam, Kate Tsui, Karena Ng, Hoi- Pang Lo

Director: Po-Chih Leong

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, Widescreen

Language: Chinese

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: September 2, 2014

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

 

        I enjoy horror movies with possessed toys as much as the next person, which is why I found Baby Blues so disappointing. While the end of the film finally utilizes the creepy doll featured on the cover, the first half of the film is more about a cursed pop song than the toy, despite cheesy overlapping footage to insinuate that the doll is using mind control to puppet people’s actions upon hearing the song. Clearly created for 3D theatrical exhibition, Baby Blues also has all of the elements which enhance this medium, despite the fact that brightly lit scenes and slow motion sequences are not conducive to the horror genre.

 

Queen Margot Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Perez, Daniel Auteuil

Director: Patrice Chereau

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: French

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 159 minutes

 

 

        Adapted from the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, Queen Margot gives narrative to the real-life Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, which resulted in an unknown numbers of Protestants being slaughtered in France, 1572. It is a period piece that is absolutely brimming with urgency, rich with details of the period down to the ugliest blemishes. We feel immersed in another time, as though the world that director Patrice Chéreau has created would naturally extend beyond the view of the camera. All of the dirt and the blood which soils all of the fancy French garments bring the period to life in a way that makes the critical praise acquired by the film’s original 1994 debut at the Cannes Film Festival completely understandable.

 

Blood Glacier DVD Review

     Actors: Gerhard Liebmann, Edita Malovcic

Director: Marvin Kren

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Dubbed, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: German

Dubbed: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

        Nearly every element of Blood Glacier seems slightly derivative of recognizable horror/sci-fi film classics, but this is one of those genres where originality is not always the most important thing. There is even a throwback on the style of filmmaking, with practical effects in favor of the computer generated post-production work. German director Marvin Kren isn’t reinventing the wheel as much as he is rediscovering it, and it is a nostalgic journey that any true fan of 1970s and ‘80s horror will relish.

 

Young & Beautiful DVD Review

     Actors: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas

Director: François Ozon

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 93 minutes

 

         

        The saddest aspect of the narrative of youthful prostitution in Young & Beautiful is how derivative it feels. I’m sure that it is an accurate portrayal worldwide, whether young girls becoming escorts as an even more lucrative option than stripping to put themselves through college, or those who take on the profession with no other options. At the same time, the film industry seems to latch onto these narratives far too often, and it just begins to feel like an excuse to encourage the male gaze, with actresses that always look young and beautiful. 

 

A Promise DVD Review

     Actors: Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman

Director: Patrice Leconte

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

 

         There is a long history of understated romance films like A Promise, with desire abstained from because of impropriety or distance. In many regards, I felt as though I had seen this film already, but that will not subtract from the enjoyment for fans of romance films filled with more longing than physical contact. Much of this enjoyment comes from an engaging cast and capable direction from Patrice Leconte. There are some melodramatic indulgences buried in the screenplay, but credit/fault is more likely to lie at the feet of the author of the novel that the film is based on.

 

Vengeance is Mine Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Ken Ogata, Rentaro Mikuni, Chocho Miyako

Director: Shohei Imamura

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: Japanese

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 140 minutes

 

        Vengeance is Mine is the character study of a killer thief on the run, but it keeps the audience at a distance that never fully allows understanding of the deviant actions of our anti-hero. Following in the tradition of In Cold Blood and Purple Noon, the true evidence lies in his murderous actions, regardless of what masks are worn for the public. Director Shohei Imamura takes the real-life events from a 78-day manhunt for a thief and killer, translating the story into something with parallels in Japanese society in the late 1970s.

 

Triad DVD Review

     Actors: Patrick Tam, William Chan, Michelle Wai

Director: Daniel Chan

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: Chinese

Dubbed: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

DVD Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

 

        More heavy-handed melodrama than hard-boiled gangster film, Triad is somewhat of letdown for what the title offers. Perhaps the filmmakers intended to give a more realistic portrayal of the Triad gang lifestyle, but the slow-motion romance scenes destroy this realism rather quickly. Although there are a few sequences of extreme violence, much of the film resembles something you might see in a soap opera.

 

BBC World War I Anniversary DVD Releases

        Coinciding with the 100 year anniversary of World War I, BBC Home Entertainment has released five DVDs of special programming, including documentaries, recreation docudramas, and television movies/mini-series. There is something for every history aficionado in this bunch, because they all take different approaches in bringing the past to life. There are some overlaps in information, but each has the ability to focus on a specific side of the war.

 

Only Lovers Left Alive DVD Review

    

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English, French

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: August 19, 2014

Run Time: 123 minutes

 

 

        Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive is the ultimate hipster vampire film, with pretentious exclusivity in musical preferences taking up more of the film’s running time than anything vampire related. This is perhaps the only vampire film I can think of without a single onscreen vampire bite, and the film’s only death occurring in-between scenes shown. Blood is a source of sustenance, but also becomes another area of exclusivity, with only a strong connection providing the type of choice. Taking the sustenance straight from the source is for the less refined vampires.

 

High School Confidential Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Michael Landon, Russ Tamblyn, Jackie Coogan

Director: Jack Arnold

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Olive Films

Release Date: August 26, 2014

Run Time: 85 minutes

 

 

        This anti-drug juvenile delinquency film may not be as widely known as Reefer Madness (1936), but it may be worse in its attempt to be hip in its message. High School Confidential (1958) stars Russ Tamblyn three years before West Side Story, and is apparently based on the undercover police work done by Texas Joe Foster. Just like the main character is a cop pretending to be the school’s coolest new kid, the film quickly begins to feel like an imitator. Clearly a propaganda film meant to appeal to younger audience because of the current slang utilized in the dialogue, High School Confidential now stands as an embarrassingly hilarious reminder of the past.

 

Favorites of the Moon Blu-ray Review

 
 
 

     Actors: Mathieu Amalric, Katja Rupe

Director: Otar Iosseliani

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Entertainment One

Release Date: August 12, 2014

Run Time: 105 minutes

 

        Favorites of the Moon was one of the films screened at this year’s City of Lights City of Angels Film Festival, a French film fest based out of Hollywood. The new print of this classic film has been digitally remastered for this Blu-ray release of Otar Iosseliani’s surreal absurdist comedy, and it looks great despite being a film best reserved for open-minded viewers. The ensemble intersecting storylines touch upon issues of class, though without ever feeling weighed down by heavy political agendas.

 

Boredom DVD Review

     Director: Albert Nerenberg

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR 

Studio: Entertainment One

DVD Release Date: August 12, 2014

Run Time: 61 minutes

 

 

        Although there are more than a few interesting facts about boredom in modern society within Albert Nerenberg’s documentary, it also means enduring a great deal of the director’s personal sense of humor. Narrated by the director, he claims that the entire idea for a film for boredom was a result of the filmmaker losing his smart phone and having nothing to do while riding the train. While these deadpan jokes can be amusing at first, they grow tiring over the course of the 61-minute run time.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore

Director: Marc Webb

Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, James Vanderbilt

Producers: Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Box set, Subtitled

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony

Release Date: August 19, 2014

 

        I wasn’t overwhelmed by any of The Amazing Spider-Man, though it was a solidly entertaining reintroduction to the popular superhero. Perhaps it was the familiar origins story, the onslaught of similar comic book films, or the fact that the previous Spider-Man series had concluded less than a decade earlier. Whatever the reason, I went into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with very low expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised. While it is an uneven film in terms of storytelling, dragging in large areas of the film despite having attempted to do too much in terms of plot and quantity of characters, there are moments within the film that rival anything from the first installment in the re-franchise.

 

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Dual-Format Review

    Actors: Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles León

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, Surround Sound, Widescreen

Language: Spanish

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NC-17

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

Release Date: August 19, 2014

Run Time: 101 minutes

        How much I enjoy Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Átame!) depends upon on how much I try and intellectualize it. If I take the characters and the screenplay too seriously, I find myself annoyed at their illogical decisions and the gaps in narrative within the story. There is a lot which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but instead conveys an almost intentional artifice in the film’s events. It would feel entirely existent within a fantasy world if it weren’t for the moments of brutal violence that drive the narrative back into reality. They become so much a part of the film’s design that the anticlimactic happy ending is another jolting reminder that we are watching a film. From the film’s opening sequences and the story behind the film’s conception, this seems to be Almodóvar’s intention.

 

Bears Blu-ray Review

     Director: Alastair Fothergill

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS-HD High Res Audio), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Rated: G

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Release Date: August 12, 2014

Run Time: 78 minutes

        Disneynature releases specialize in taking all of the harshness out of nature programs, glossing over heavier realities of life with cute images and humorous celebrity narration. Growing up, I remember watching the old Disney nature live-action films, and that is what I equate with the releases from this new Disney sub-studio. There isn’t much new in the narrative, but it is a nice family-safe introduction to nature documentaries.

 

Hateship Loveship DVD Review

     Actors: Kristin Wiig, Guy Pearce

Director: Liza Johnson

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: August 12, 2014

Run Time: 102 minutes

 

 

        In hindsight, it is fairly easy to understand why “Twilight” was a successful franchise among teenage girls, even before the novels were made into films with heartthrob young actors in the roles. The narrative involves a plain looking girl who single-handedly wrangles the unbridled ‘beastly’ qualities of the two ‘teens’ fighting over her affection. It is a wish-fulfillment fantasy even without the elements of vampires and werewolves. I have never read the short story by Alice Munro that is the inspiration for the awkwardly titled Hateship Loveship, but the film seems a middle-aged woman’s wish fulfillment along similar lines as those in Twilight. Instead of supernatural teenage boys, the female protagonist of this film is able to tame a wild drug addict to be her domesticated partner.

 

The Blacklist: The Complete First Season DVD Review

     Actors: James Spader, Harry Lennix, Ryan Eggold, Diego Klattenhoff

Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 5

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: August 12, 2014

 

 

        I don’t know if it is merely NBC’s tendency to heavily market their most promising new shows or simply the hype of James Spader’s return to television, but somehow I heard more about “The Blacklist” than any other new show this year. Unfortunately, this show also features the creativity of a network show ten years ago, making it feel dated and fairly unoriginal. I can think of several espionage/crime shows that are similar (and in many cases, better), and the real disappointment is how ill-suited Spader seems for the role he plays. Fans will still enjoy his distinct approach to dialogue, but I can’t help but feel like it was a bit forced at times. Mildly enjoyable as “The Blacklist” is, it mostly made me long for the better shows that it borrows from and better characters that Spader has played.

 

Proxy Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Joe Swanberg, Kristina Klebe

Director: Zack Parker

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: August 12, 2014

Run Time: 122 minutes

 

        Although bloated in length, the strength of Proxy lies in director Zack Parker’s willingness to allow the film to be carried by mood rather than plot. In that regard, the first hour of the film is an enigma of success. I was absolutely captivated, but the film’s momentum is hijacked by a plot twist in the middle of the film and what worked for the first hour becomes increasingly tiresome by the end of the 122 minute running time. Despite several strands of various themes throughout the film, Parker never commits to any of them enough for the answers to live up to questions raised. With all criticism in consideration, even in failure I was more engaged by the unique filmmaking Parker’s Proxy than all of the safely mediocre horror movies of recent past.