Author: crunchonthis

New in Home Entertainment

June 20, 2017

Life
Rated R for language throughout, some sci-fi violence and terror
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%
This sci-fi horror flick follows a group of scientists who discover a rapidly evolving life form that will do anything to survive. If you’ve read the synopsis or seen the trailer, you will think that this is just an Alien knock-off pic. And you’d be correct except for one thing – the cast. This film smells of B-movie, but the cast is A-list, which makes you think there’s something more. With Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds heading up the small but exceptional team, you think that you’re going to possibly get a greater than expected experience. The action and the acting are good, but the only thing I was surprised about was how predictable the film was. The characters’ choices and the ensuing results from those choices fall in line with the formula. It’s not all bad though. There are some extremely frightening creep-crawly moments throughout and it is a better-made film than the latest actual Alien franchise pic: Alien: Covenant. B-

South Park: The Complete Twentieth Season
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
Now in its twentieth season on Comedy Central, South Park is still trying to keep it fresh and this season not only delivers the goods comedy-wise, but offers up a remarkable social commentary as well. Watching their take on the recent 2016 election will make you laugh out loud, but the whole season is a buildup of one long joke that by the end isn’t funny but rather shows an honest and insightful look at how social media has had an adverse effect on our population. Its a strange and yet powerful season for a show that keeps pushing the envelope. A-

New in Home Entertainment

June 13, 2017

The Lego Batman Movie
Rated PG for rude humor and some action
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Batman was so popular in 2014’s The LEGO Movie that Warner Brothers immediately gave him his own movie. The story, inconsequential as it is, follows the caped crusader as he both attempts to stop The Joker from taking over Gotham City and becomes more awkwardly social as he befriends and adopts the young Robin. The voice talent here is as good as it gets with Will Arnett as Batman, Michael Cera as Robin and Zach Galifianakis as The Joker. In addition, the movie is extremely funny, most of the time. I think if it were any longer than 90 minutes it might start to get stale, but the pacing is almost perfect and you can’t help but walk away smiling. It helps that these new Lego movies are actually concerned with keeping the adults engaged, thus making everyone in the audience happy rather than just the youngins. B+

 

John Wick: Chapter 2
Rated R for strong violence throughout, some language and brief nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
No one could have predicted that Keanu Reeves could have made such an impressive comeback in a project like the hitman thriller John Wick, but indeed he did, and the filmmakers once again put out some extremely creative violence in this crazy sequel which finds Reeves going further down the rabbit hole as pretty much the entire planet is out to kill him. While the action and violence are highly stylized and fun to watch, the villains could have been much stronger and much more worthy of our time. That being said, the movie is engaging and weird and full of surprises. And although its violence comes at a bad time in regard to current world events, the killing in this film seems so distant from the world we live in that somehow it manages to be enjoyable rather than upsetting. Coming from a non-violent, pacifist film critic, that is saying something. B

New in Home Entertainment

June 6, 2017

Beauty and the Beast
Rated PG for some action, violence, peril and frightening images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Next on Disney’s live-action remake list is this take on their classic tale of a spoiled prince who is transformed into a beast with his only hope being to fall in love and have someone love him in return. With an all-star cast led by Emma Watson as the smart-as-she-is-beautiful Belle, the story is well-served by many actors who turn out to be more than decent singers. While all of the main songs from the movie are included here, rather than throw in songs from the Tony award-winning Broadway show, Disney wrote many brand-new tunes for this remake. While some of the new songs are solid, I would have preferred the Broadway versions as the music for the show is far superior. Overall, this version is hit and miss for me. I’m glad they got creative with the story and I can appreciate the changes, but this is by far my third favorite Beauty and the Beast production from Disney. That being said, it gets the job done in a grand fashion that helps you forgive its flaws. B

Land of Mine
Rated R for violence, some grisly images, and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
In German and Danish with English Subtitles
This Oscar-nominated foreign film tells the story takes places directly after WWII and follows a Danish officer who is placed in charge of a POW camp that forces young German captive soldiers to disarm the thousands of land mines scattered throughout the Danish beaches. What I liked most about this film is that it provides a fresh take on the war with a compelling story we’ve never heard before. They treat it like a story which really needs to be told, with the resonating message being that not everybody we fight in a war is an enemy to us afterward. That we are all humans after all, soldier or not, and in many cases pawns in a larger chess game acting against our own self-interests until true freedom is acquired. It’s a tightly paced, focused film that proves, once again, that there are an endless number of stories about the Great War that still want to be told. A-

New in Home Entertainment

May 30, 2017

Logan
Rated R for strong brutal violence and language throughout, and for brief nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
The year is 2029 and most of the mutants have been wiped off the planet. Left here are Wolverine (Logan) and Professor X who are seeking out their survival in a Mexican border town. But when Logan discovers that a young mutant with similar powers to his own needs his help, he attempts to help her and, at the very least, find her way to safety. If you are like me, you have been gravely disappointed by the Wolverine spinoff films so far. But this is different. And not just because it is very Rated R and filled with graphic violence and blunt darkness. It is different because it is no longer a super hero film but rather addresses bigger issues including, unfortunately, death and desolation. It is now the end of May, and this is still the best movie I have seen this year. It is an emotional roller coaster that takes you to places you might not want to go in a hero flick, but rather on a journey that you neither expect nor welcome. But still the journey, while not pleasant, is important and very much worth the undertaking. A

The Shack
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including some violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 21%
It is hard for a Christian film to get good reviews nowadays, so take the Rotten Tomatoes score here with a grain of salt. But the filmmakers here try with great integrity to bring William P Young’s best-selling novel to life in a way that should, at the very least, make an impact on an audience that wants to see it. The very story is as dark as it gets. A young father (Sam Worthington) loses his daughter to a serial killer, only to meet up with God (Octavia Spencer), Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in the very cabin where her life was stripped from her. The broken man must come to terms with his creator and find a way to move on when that choice was not an option before. Even within Christian circles this story is controversial, but the movie is both artistically and delicately handled here with an exceptional cast and impressive production values. Most of today’s Christian films, I hate to say, truly stink. In spite of this unearned negative critical response The Shack has received, the movie is a nicely created piece of fiction with a strong message that is well-delivered without shoving it down your throat. Yes it has its small problems (Worthington is in and out of his native Australian accent for one), but its issues are forgivable and a step in the right direction for the genre. B

Fist Fight
Rated R for language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug material
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 27%
When a fired teacher in need of anger management therapy (Ice Cube) challenges a fellow teacher (Charlie Day) to a fist fight, the former must prepare for either a legendary butt-whooping or an even worse embarrassment if he cowards out. While the film attempts to make a statement about our current public school dilemma, instead its just spirals into a gigantic mess that it can’t recover from. And while it is filled with a talented cast, you wouldn’t know it from these performances of a horrible and completely unfunny script. D

My Life as a Zucchini
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and suggestive material
Rotten Tomatoes Score 100%
This French stop-motion animated film follows the life a young foster child who attempts to help a fellow classmate get out of the mess she is in when her awful aunt attempts to take custody of her. Beautifully animated with a short but sweet story (the runtime is at 66 minutes), this largely unheralded pic isn’t a bad kids film, but is better served for adults. This American version features some great voice talent including Will Forte and Nick Offerman, and while it is not a box-office friendly family film, for the right audience it will be quite the gem. A-

New in Home Entertainment

May 23, 2017

Get Out
Rated R for violence, bloody images, and language including sexual references
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Key and Peele’s Jordan Peele writes and directs this gigantic hit of a horror film about a young black man going home to meet his girlfriend’s family for the first time. Rather than taking it in an overtly racist and stereotypical direction, Peele here chooses to throw in some incredible surprises as he shocks the audience into feeling comfortable with the racism on display while waiting for the right moment to pile on the discomfort and soon thereafter the sheer terror. You know it’s coming, but you don’t expect what lurks around the corner and the scares are unsettling, as you try to laugh through the awkwardness. While 2017 hasn’t been a stellar year for films so far, Get Out proves that terrific movies might be lurking around where you least expect them, just waiting to pounce on you. A-

The Great Wall
Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy action violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 35%
Hero and House of Flying Daggers director Yimou Zhang brings in Matt Damon to help a group of super fighters take on a dragon invasion with the Great Wall of China being the only thing that can save humanity from the beasts. While all of the elements are there, including a top notch production team, wildly visionary director and an excellent cast of both Hollywood and Foreign actors, the film just never seems to ignite and the whole thing just sort of collapses under its own ambition. This is a movie I was incredibly excited to see, but the excitement quickly turned to disappointment. C

Dheepan: The Criterion Edition
Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
In French and Tamil with English Subtitles
This winner of the 2015 Cannes Palme d’Or tells the story of three strangers from Sri Lanka pretending to be a family in order to escape their war-torn nation for a chance to immigrate to France. While their very presence in the country is a lie, they attempt to contribute with integrity in spite of dangerous challenges within the community they are placed. It’s a tough film to watch at times, but it is beautifully told by an amazing director and an extremely talented cast. When I see films like this and the recent Sin Nombre, it really challenges me to rethink the narrative I have assigned (or perhaps ignored) pertaining to immigrants in my own region and beyond. I really loved the quiet power of this movie. A-

Rock Dog
Rated PG for action and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 39%
Wishing to escape his destiny as a Tibetan sheep herder, a young Mastiff escapes to the city to take up guitar in his journey to become a rock god. With stale animation and a lousy plot, the film is another crappy attempt at filling in the gap when parents really want to take their kid to the movies and nothing else appropriate is showing. Kids might find it an acceptable diversion, but their parents will be less than enthused. D+

New in Home Entertainment

May 16, 2017

The Space Between Us
Rated PG-13 for brief sensuality and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 17%
This sweet sci-fi adventure kept getting pushed back and pushed back until it was released in theaters in February of this year, only to be met with a thud at the box office. Telling the story of a young boy who is born as his mother is on a mission to Mars, only to remain a secret until he comes to Earth to chase down the girl he has been secretly talking to online, The Space Between Us is a nice enough way to spend two hours and doesn’t deserve the bad critical rap or lean audience it was met with. The film has a few problems, but its stars, Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson, cover for them admirably and I found the film to be far better than tolerable, even to the point where it is likable. 2016 proved a tough year for the sci-fi romance mash-up, but this attempt turned out a pretty solid teen romance with a nice twist. B

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Rated R for sequences of violence throughout
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 33%
This sixth and apparently final chapter of the Resident Evil franchise finds Mila Jovovich heading back to Raccoon City to fight one last time with the Umbrella Corporation in order to find the antidote for the disease that has been thrust upon the planet. I don’t want to fool you into thinking that this is some kind of good film, but it’s not as bad as the others, which I guess is as close a compliment as I can muster. There are some nice revelations which makes the writing seem somewhat logical and planned, therefore giving the franchise a goal which I didn’t see coming. Yes it tries too hard to be a Mad Max/Walking Dead hybrid, but it just can’t seem to get there. I’m certain the fans of the series will have a greater appreciation, though, since it might be working through some pretense of creating a good ending more than creating a money-printing sequel. C+

XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of gunplay and violent action, and for sexual material and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43%
For those that consider the Fast and Furious franchise to be too intellectual, there is XXX. This time Vin Diesel is back (rather than the last even more horrific outing with Ice Cube) to fight a rogue government agency who is committing assassinations with crashing satellites. The plot is awful but if you like action there is plenty of it there hoping to disguise the lack of a real story. I didn’t hate it but I did find it mind-numbing and only rarely impressive. I’m sure there’s an audience for this kind of film – but it ain’t me. C-

Paramount Classic Crime Drama Releases
With Mother’s Day gone, its time to start thinking about the dads and I am in love with the new classic Paramount releases this week including The Godfather Trilogy, Chinatown, The Untouchables, Chinatown and Road to Perdition, all in new Blu-ray editions for super cheap. While they don’t feature anything new per se, these are all must-own movies in a slick new packaging, and at around the $10 range, they won’t make you feel like you just got robbed.

New in Home Entertainment

May 9, 2017

A Dog’s Purpose
Rated PG for thematic elements and some peril
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 31%
Like a two-hour-long Hallmark commercial, A Dog’s Purpose attempts to force its audience to cry for pretty much the entire time by showing us multiple stories about a dog going from life to life, attempting to keep its humans happy in spite of their abilities to be good owners or not. While I doubt there are many who will love this film, I think most dog lovers (myself included) will appreciate it and its attempt to capture what it is to be a dog in search of love and acceptance from the world around it. Some of the stories are especially manipulative, such as the police dog storyline, but the truth hurts sometimes, which in its own cheesy way, this film attempts to portray. Yes it is sometimes cruel, but it nonetheless honest in its portrayal of our four-legged friends and what drives them to make us humans love them. C+

Heat
Rated R for adult situations/language, sex and violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
In 1995 Michael Mann brought together Robert De Niro as a bank robber facing Al Pacino as a cop trying to bring him down, in one of the greatest crime dramas of the modern era. This new edition does offer an hour of decent new features, but it would have been nice to instead have a 4k restoration for us cinephiles who truly love this epic drama. So if you already own it on 1080p, this might not have enough to offer in order to purchase again, but if you don’t, or better yet if you haven’t seen it yet, this is one movie you must check out. A

Inside Amy Schumer: Season Four
Comedy Central’s hit sketch comedy show, featuring one of America’s hottest comics, takes a slight stumble after its amazing season 3 (The 12 Angry Men episode had me in stitches) but still provides a tremendous amount of laughter, although it is certainly hit and miss. The season starts off strong as she tries to perform for Hamilton’s Lin Manuel Miranda in a Hamilton knock off, but tends to bore in many of its later season sketches. Still, there is no doubt that this is one insanely funny and talented woman who is willing to take a chance to make us both laugh and think while she explores comedy’s edges. B-

New in Home Entertainment

May 2, 2017

The Salesman
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements and a brief bloody image
In Persian with English Subtitles
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi claimed his second foreign film Oscar with this latest tale about a modern Iranian couple struck by tragedy and emotional damage when the wife is brutally attacked in their home. While the film was probably a huge benefactor of revolt against the recent travel ban, and even the speech upon winning was as much about politics as it was art, the storytelling here is excellent and worthy of accolades regardless. Farhadi’s films are a portal into a world and culture which we as westerners feel to be barbaric and alien, but upon further inspection appear to be incredibly similar to our own. This one in particular is an especially human tale for which it is easy to find empathy and introspection. The couple here are both professional actors performing Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which truly allows the audience to connect with them both on stage and off as they deal with the heavy drama of their own lives. A-

The Red Turtle
Rated PG for some thematic elements and peril
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
This Oscar-nominated Studio Ghibli film finds a young man shipwrecked on a deserted island, desperate to escape. But every attempt to do so is thwarted by a strange creature whose goal is ultimate not sinister in nature. The film contains no words or subtitles and sweeps in and out like a vivid and beautiful dream. At first you find yourself a little sleepy, then pulled in, and finally mesmerized as you discover the secrets and ultimately live the adventure with him. While it is animated and rated PG, I don’t think the little ones will especially love it, but if they do – who knows – you may have a future cinephile on your hands. A-

I Am Not Your Negro
Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent images, thematic material, language and brief nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Upon his death in 1987, James Baldwin had written only thirty pages of a manuscript that was to become the book “Remember This House,” giving the personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Director Raoul Peck here, in this Oscar-nominated documentary, uses his words and archival footage to explore the Civil Rights movement in order to find a deeper connection to modern events. It is a fascinating and well-crafted doc that sheds light on an important era, while trying to make sense of it and its effects on the present. B+

Rings
Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, thematic elements, some sexuality and brief drug material
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 6%
Both the original 1998 Asian import Ringu and the 2002 American remake starring Naomi Watts were terrifying films about a young girl trapped in a well and her revenge upon those unlucky enough to get a glimpse of her story on an ominous video tape. But the attempts to breathe life into the franchise have been a complete disaster. This latest one finds a young girl attempting to understand and help the evil spirit while those around her are meeting their doom. The sad thing is that there is potential here, but there is poor talent involved. The writing is atrocious as is the acting and directing. And while the subject matter has been proven to be scary, the images here are almost laughable. This is an unfortunate and lazy attempt at a sequel. F