Massacre Gun Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jo Shishido, Tatsuya Fuji, Jiro Okazaki

Director: Yasuharu Hasebe

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC

Language: Japanese

Number of discs: 2

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Arrow Video

Release Date: April 7, 2015

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

 

          Massacre Gun plays like a yakuza noir, a black-and-white gangster film that is steeped in atmosphere and action. Although it has the distinct feel of a late 1960s Japanese crime film, not unlike the films of Seijun Suzuki, the straightforward narrative is remarkably timeless. Watching this film that is nearing 50-years old, it is not difficult to imagine a modern adaptation by Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino. At the same time, Yasuharu Hasebe’s 1967 film is difficult to imagine without Jô Shishido in the leading role.

 

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Ed Skrein, Karel Roden, Stanley Weber, Dave Legeno

Director: Jim Weedon

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: May 26, 2015

Run Time: 87 minutes

 

 

          The director has changed, but it is still very clear that Sword of Vengeance was made by the same people who created Hammer of the Gods (2013), though this is not necessarily a good thing. The films share producers and writer Matthew Read, but more important, both have an emphasis on visual style over character or plot. Sword of Vengeance has plot and character beyond Hammer of the Gods, but in order to get to these sequences it forces the audience to endure endless over-stylized cinematography (from metal music video cinematographer, August Jakobsson), and senseless slow motion shots that drag out insignificant moments even longer. I can understand fight scenes being slow motion, however derivative of 300 that now seems, but what need is there to drag out a shot of a character riding a horse from one end of the frame to the other?

 

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Harvey Keitel, Forest Whitaker

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Cohen Media

Release Date: May 12, 2015

 

 

          French filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb established himself as an international success with his films about historical violence, including 2006’s WWII drama, Days of Glory, and Outside the Law, a drama from 2010 based on the Algerian struggle for independence following that war. He also made a film in London in 2009 about the aftermath of a series of terrorist attacks in 2005. The blending of fiction with real-life events served Bouchareb well, but he has discarded this successful method of filmmaking in his American films, to their overall detriment. Though Two Men in Town is light years ahead of his American film debut, Just Like a Woman (2012), there is simply not enough relevance within the story of these characters and their suffering. It lacks the same ability to integrate relevance with personal drama that Bouchareb had with his European films, despite strong performances by the cast in the underdeveloped roles and their narrative.

 

1776 Blu-ray Review

     Actors: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard

Director: Peter H. Hunt

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

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: G (General Audience)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: June 2, 2015

Run Time: 142 minutes

 

 

          History buffs and Broadway enthusiasts alike will find much to be admired in Blu-ray release of 1776, the 1972 film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. You kind of have to wonder though; did anyone suggest waiting another 4 years for the production, just to maximize relevance. And fans of “Boy Meets World” will enjoy seeing Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) act out the history instead of teaching it.

 

The Vatican Exorcisms DVD Review

     Actors: Joe Marino, Piero Maggio

Director: Joe Marino

Format: Multiple Formats, Anamorphic, NTSC

Language: English (Dolby Surround)

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: May 19, 2015

Run Time: 76 minutes

 

          Some bad films are actually quite fun to write reviews for, if only because they provide the opportunity for creative insults. Sometimes the filmmakers even fight back (see my recent review for Muck). The Vatican Exorcisms is another film entirely, so poorly conceived and created that there is no joy in writing this review, and even less in enduring the painful attempt at entertainment. Nothing about this film is worthwhile, from painfully bad acting to cheap special effects, all done under the moronic pretense of being a “real” found footage film.

 

Before I Disappear DVD Review

     Actors: Shawn Christensen, Fatima Ptacek, Emmy Rossum

Director: Shawn Christensen

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: May 19, 2015

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

 

          Watching Before I Disappear, I was reminded of the ideology at the center of Whiplash, which says that sometimes the worst thing for an artist is praise and success. Filmmaker Shawn Christensen won an Academy Award for his short film, Curfew, and lazily returned to the same material in feature-length form for Before I Disappear. What started as a clever short has now become a bloated exercise in ego and over-indulgent stylization attempting to make up for the shortage of actual content. I don’t doubt that Christensen has talent, but success may have been the worst possible thing for the quality of his art. 

 

The Blue Room DVD Review

     Actors: Mathieu Amalric, Serge Bozon, Laurent Poitrenaux

Director: Mathieu Amalric

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC

Language: French

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: May 19, 2015

Run Time: 75 minutes

 

 

          There is little to The Blue Room, at least in terms of plot, which is probably why the film is a concise 75-minute length. Based on the novel by Georges Simenon, I can’t imagine what the approach he used to make this material work as a novel, especially since I am left remembering the images of Mathieu Amalric’s adaptation. These striking shots matched by the non-linear storytelling make The Blue Room far more compelling than I would have expected from the material. I suppose this a testament to the fact that Amalric is as talented a director as he is an actor, perhaps even better with the right project.  

 

Still Alice Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish

Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

          There is an irritating trend occurring at the Academy Awards each year; the films that earn Best Actor/Actress nominations and wins have the tendency to walk away with no other awards. One less cynical than I am may assume that this is the Academy’s way of spreading out the accolades, but I see it as the film industry’s way of pandering to the award season with films that are singularly performance pieces. These tend to be indulgent roles which focus on little other than showcasing the star’s acting abilities, particularly if they gain/lose weight, drastically change their appearance in another way, or play some type of mental/physical disability. As spectacular as Julianne Moore’s performance in Still Alice may be, not to mention deserving of the Best Actress Oscar she received, the film surrounding her feels incomplete. Other characters get lost in the shuffle and the male characters are as horribly underwritten as is typically the case of female ones in Hollywood. Does the feminist backlash in cinema have to come at the cost of properly developed male roles? Can’t we have both in one film?

Leviathan Blu-ray Review

     Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, AC-3, Dolby, Widescreen

Language: Russian

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures

Release Date: May 19, 2015

 

 

          Leviathan is not a simple film. The plot is easily described and the approach is fairly direct, but there are layers upon layers of meaning and significance to be garnered from Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film. This is a movie that begs to be analyzed rather than reviewed, leaving me struggling to find the appropriate words for those who have not yet experienced it. While wholly Russian in tone and style, Leviathan is also universally accessible in dealing with issues of pain and suffering. Though there is plenty of political injustice spearheading this struggle, the movie is more interested in the human reaction to the unfairness of life, essentially playing out a modern-day parable from the Book of Job.

 

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

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

Language: English

Region: All Regions

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

 

          Jamaica Inn is one of those films remembered for all of the wrong reason, famous for giving Alfred Hitchcock such an unpleasant experience that it was his last film directed in England before beginning his illustrious career in Hollywood. The casting of Charles Laughton meant that Hitchcock lost much of his beloved freedom, and the film lacks his signature style. He does not even offer himself a cameo. And yet, even at his unhappiest there is still talent to be seen in some of Hitchcock’s climactic moments of suspense. He was the master, indeed. This paired with a typically theatrical performance from Laughton makes Jamaica Inn worth remembering, and occasionally revisiting.

 

Limelight Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Buster Keaton

Director: Charles Chaplin

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

Release Date: May 19, 2015

Run Time: 137 minutes

 

          My little sisters knew who Charlie Chaplin was at 8. I made sure of it. I force every one of my classes to sit through at least one scene from his films every semester that I work as a film professor. I have reviewed each of the previous Chaplin releases on Criterion (The GoldRush, Modern Times, City Lights, The Great Dictator and MonsieurVerdoux) with increased admiration and endless gushing. At the same time, I am aware that there are still many who are unfamiliar with the breadth of his work, in particular the significance of Limelight. The only comparison that I can think to make is to Birdman. Both films are about aging actors taking their last chance at lasting fame in the arena of theater, and both starred actors who seemed to be playing characters who increase in significance the more familiar you are with their previous filmography. Michael Keaton’s prior performance as Batman adds a layer of relevance to his performance in Birdman, as does Chaplin’s iconic role as The Tramp to his performance in Limelight.

 

Make Way for Tomorrow Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter

Director: Leo McCarey

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

          Leo McCarey’s familial melodrama, Make Way for Tomorrow, is deceptively simplistic in story and screenplay. The narrative, however, contains much more than plot; we are exposed to every expression, every reaction shot, with a precision in filmmaking that McCarey carried over from his years of experience in early comedic cinema. Famous for having made the reaction shot a commonplace element in the slapstick of Our Gang and Laurel & Hardy shorts, McCarey achieves just as much success with pathos in the close-ups and deliberate framing of his drama. McCarey understands that body language and subtle expressions are universally helpful in the language of cinema, affecting the audience’s emotional response with both laughter and tears. Make Way for Tomorrow has both, but neither feels contrived; the audience is brought into the story by the demand to participate in the reading of facial expressions, so that the emotional investment is our own. This is the sincerest form of filmmaking, as McCarey trusts his audiences enough to allow them their own personal involvement in the unfolding of the narrative.  

 

These Final Hours Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Sarah Snook, Nathan Phillips, Daniel Henshall, David Field

Director: Zak Hilditch

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 87 minutes

 

 

          These Final Hours is a small Australian pre-apocalyptic thriller with a plot that sounds similar to dozens of movies with much higher budgets. Just reading the film’s description made me feel as though I had already watched it, and anticipated no surprises in its viewing. While I was correct in assuming that the plot would be fairly predictable, the surprise came in how engaged I became with this slightly derivative narrative, mostly due to the strengths in its leading performers and a capable director.

 

Magical Universe DVD Review

     Actors: Al Carbee

Director: Jeremy Workman

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: MPI Home Video

DVD Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 77 minutes

 

 

          Artists tend to be inherently eccentric, which is why documentaries and biopics about their lives are often as engaging as the art itself. While this certainly holds true of Al Carbee, whose bizarre art involving a menagerie of discarded Barbie dolls is matched only by the quirky personality of the artist himself, filmmaker Jeremy Workman seems to be constructing a biography which is mostly rooted in his own personal relationships with the man. Though there is some value in Carbee’s friendship with Workman, specifically because he doesn’t appear to have many other loyal friends in his life, this alone is not quite enough content to fill up a feature film. Even within the first five minutes of the documentary, Workman (who edited Magical Universe, as well as producing and directing) re-uses the same footage twice, which is an instant red flag that the content has been stretched too thin.  

 

The Sleepwalker DVD Review

     Actors: Christopher Abbott, Gitte Witt

Director: Mona Fastvold

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

 

          A lot of independent films are born out of a singularly unique good idea, but fail in the management of the execution. This can happen with poor performances from amateur actors, technical inadequacy in the form of bad cinematography and poor sound, or a screenplay with dialogue that is heavily in need of a rewrite. Surprisingly, all of these elements are effectively carried out within the narrative of The Sleepwalker; all of the leads give consistently solid performances, the film looks and sounds great, and little of the dialogue made me cringe. The problem doesn’t come from the execution, but instead what feels like an incomplete concept for the film itself. Whatever point or end result that filmmaker Mona Fastvold may have been hoping the audience would be left with somehow gets lost. The Sleepwalker is excellently executed but ends up feeling like an empty shell. With all of the effort to crack this nut, it will likely leave audiences feeling frustratingly unnourished. 

 

The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) Review

 

 

 

          The Human Centipede was shocking in concept alone, not to mention filmmaker Tom Six’s unflinching approach to the actual acts. It arrived at the tail end of an era of torture porn horror films, including the final entry of the Saw franchise a mere six months later, but took the genre in a new direction with the inclusion of a mad-scientist angle. Dieter Laser chewed the scenery as Dr. Heiter, carrying out an experiment that Six still insists to be 100% medically accurate.

 

Fifty Shades of Grey Blu-ray Review

      Actors: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Rita Ora, Marcia Gay Harden

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Format: Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: French, Spanish, English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Rated: R

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: May 8, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2016

 

          I am neither sexually frustrated nor artistically ignorant enough to ever find reason to read the pathetically popular fan-fiction book franchise written by E.L. James on her blackberry. Having already endured all four of the Twilight books, I understand the appeal of poorly written soap opera drama (though the reading of those books ensured my disinterest in their film adaptations), and approached the viewing of Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey with a harsh bias and eagerness to write a ruthlessly unfavorable review. While the story itself is as unsatisfactory as I had expected, the characters poorly developed, the situations contrived and unbelievable, the dialogue comically stupid, and the chemistry more forced than a film with Robert Pattinson as the lead, Fifty Shades of Grey is far from the worst film I have seen this year. It wasn’t even the worst film I watched this week.  

 

The Drownsman Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Caroline Palmer, Clare Bastable, Gemma Bird Matheson, Michelle Mylett, Ry Barrett

Director: Chad Archibald

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Run Time: 86 minutes

 

 

          For an entertaining horror film, you need a clever concept and creative execution. While The Drownsman seems born out of a unique idea, the way in which the plot unfolds is never convincing due to the filmmaker’s inability to think through the various elements. The end result feels like an uneven collection of contrived moments borrowed from better films, along with generic performances from the bevy of attractive and unconvincing co-ed cast members. All of this would make little difference if the horror aspects of the film worked, but rules change from scene to scene and the film is as void of logic as it is decent supporting cast members.

 

Black or White Blu-ray Review

      Actors: Bill Burr, Kevin Costner, Anthony Mackie

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Run Time: 122 minutes

 

 

          Though never horrendous enough to destroy the film’s excellent qualities, there are enough flaws within Black and White to make the film feel manufactured and insincere. Despite some great performances by the adult leads, the screenplay backs the conflict into a corner so that only an unbelievable bit of melodrama can neatly tie up the ending for resolution. While this is somewhat forgivable, what is most upsetting is how the larger issues of race are glossed over in favor of the Lifetime-movie domestic clichés that involve alcoholism, drug abuse, and a near drowning to provide the antagonist a moment of contrived redemption.

 

The Pyramid Blu-ray Review

     Actors: James Buckley, Denis O'Hare, Philip Shelley

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R 

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Run Time: 89 minutes

          Unnecessary as another found footage horror film may be, this is far from the worst of what The Pyramid has to offer. As ridiculous as the plot involving aliens and an ancient Egyptian pyramid is, it comes nowhere close to being as absurd as the characters and the dialogue which the audience is forced to endure within the scenario. Even with some of the sloppiest CGI effects used to create it, the creature ends up being the best actor within this bunch, possibly because it never has to weather the atrocious dialogue written by Daniel Meersand & Nick Simon for the human characters.