4
Kingsman: The Secret Service makes zero logical sense, which would be perfectly fine if its outrageousness were more inspired. Unfortunately, the film winks so often and so long it loses sight of how to make the cheekiness, the action, and the narrative congeal effectively.
8
Before watching Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clemont’s latest, What We Do in the Shadows, I thought that the concept of the mockumentary was dead. Too often are we seeing this storytelling device being used in horror films, comedies, and even action flicks. Shadows breathes from much needed undead life back into the style however, with a clever and uproariously funny film about vampire flat mates.
7.5
I’ll likely piss off some readers, especially horror fans, when I say the slasher genre has pretty much been dead for the last two decades. It has been one of the weakest and most under-utilized subgenres of horror film lore, and looking back, it’s been nothing more than remakes, sequels to remakes and cookie-cutter, cliché-riddled schlock.
1.5
Having a title like Crazy Bitches, Jane Clark’s horror-comedy had surprisingly few of said bitches.
A more apt title might have been “Normal Bitches” or perhaps “Stereotypical Bitches,” but to call them crazy implies that they do something out of the norm. Sadly, that doesn’t really happen, and we’re left with what amounts to a by-the-numbers slasher film that brings little originality to the genre.
8.5
Whether you grew up with 101 Dalmatians or discovered the film in your childhood (like I did) or you hope to revisit it with your children as an adult, Disney’s diamond edition of the 1961 animated classic will make a great addition to your movie collection.
6
Although originally written in the ’70s, the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was made into a movie in 2014, followed by its Blu-ray/digital release this year.
In all honestly, I was a bit upset that the filmmakers made a movie out of one of my most cherished childhood books after seeing a god-awful-looking promo, but the film wasn’t as tragic as its trailer led me to believe and is actually a somewhat funny family film.
3
It’s been nearly sixteen years since the arrival of one of the most anticipated sci-fi fantasy films ever made and one of the most exhilarating and original sci-fi films ever created. One would be reviled by many, and not the one you’d expect, while the other was adored for being so unexpectedly frickin’ cool. The year was 1999. The films were Star Wars-Episode I: The Phantom Menace and The Matrix. It is now 2015, a year where we will not only see a new Star Wars film but also the latest sci-fi epic from the Wachowskis, Jupiter Ascending. It’s a film that is unexpectedly far from cool and surprisingly has much in common with that reviled film that many claimed destroyed their childhood.
3
There’s a lot of dueling in Outcast, most of it involving bland swordfights or heirs angling for a vacated throne. The most entertaining of all the duels, however, is the battle of bad accents between Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. I’d call it a draw. At least when these two actors share the screen there’s something to behold beyond the dreary adventure plot, but their interactions are brief.
6
Before reading on, just know that you don’t have to be a fan of classical ballet to appreciate Jody Lee Lipes' documentary Ballet 422, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and also played at the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival.
Yes, there’s the obligatory opening sequence that zooms closely in on the dancers’ – ahem – well worn feet and quite a bit of ballet jargon that quite honestly went over my head, but for the most part, this 75-minute documentary offers a unique glimpse into the lives of the professionals behind the curtain of The New York City Ballet.
2
Writer-director Pablo D'Stair is back with his third film, Hully Gully, and if you’ve seen either of his other two features, A Public Ransom or Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief, you’ll find yourself in familiar waters here. Like those two, Hully Gully is comprised mainly of two actors, Helen Bonaparte and Carlyle Edwards, who are a couple having a series of seemingly meaningless conversations about life and love while chain-smoking their lives away.
6
Patrick Ryan’s feature debut, Darkness on the Edge of Town, is a gritty Irish tale of revenge, wrought with chaos and violence. The dreary fog-soaked hills of Ireland become the perfect backdrop for this story, which revolves around two best friends avenging the murder of an estranged sister. Though it feels as if no one in this film has a soul, Ryan makes up for it by employing some great visuals and lighting, which, along with and interesting narrative structure, make this film worth a look.
For the last several years before the Oscar telecast the short films that have been nominated for an Academy Award are given a rare theatrical release. Presented as separate programs for each short category Animation, Live Action and Documentary, moviegoers have the opportunity to see the shorts that in the past they would seldom ever get to see. For some it’ll give them a leg up in their office Oscar pools; never worked for this viewer, go figure. Outside of knowing that these films are nominated it can be exciting for a filmgoer because you never know what’s in store and much like previous years many of them pack an emotional wallop.
8
Born out of a fake movie trailer, Justin Simien’s feature debut, Dear White People, is just the right kind of biting satire we need in our current social climate. It’s the type of film that holds a mirror up to its audience and poses a lot of questions about race but doesn’t dare propose any answers.
7.5
One of the most impressive things about Britni West’s Tired Moonlight is that this is a debut film that she wrote, directed, produced and edited – no small feat for a first timer, especially when the end product looks this good.
This portrait of a small town in Montana plays out much like similar slice-of-life docu-dramas, such as Gummo and George Washington, but its realism makes it feel much more like actual documentaries, such as Tchoupitoulas or Bombay Beach. Finding similarities between these films doesn’t mean that there isn’t a hefty amount of originality in Tired Moonlight, however, as West asserts her role as a creative force, melding a complex group of characters with a middle-America backdrop that could easily be any rural town in this country.
7.5
Across the Sea follows Damla (Damla Sönmez) and her American husband, Kevin (Jacob Fishel), as they visit Damla’s family home in Turkey, a beautiful seaside paradise where everyone seems to know everyone else, where small fishing boats bob in the shallow waters and children squeal with joy along the water line, and where there is a dark secret yet to be revealed to its inhabitants.
For the last several years before the Oscar telecast the short films that have been nominated for an Academy Award are given a rare theatrical release. Presented as separate programs for each short category Animation, Live Action and Documentary, moviegoers have the opportunity to see the shorts that in the past they would seldom ever get to see. For some it’ll give them a leg up in their office Oscar pools; never worked for this viewer, go figure. Outside of knowing that these films are nominated it can exciting for a filmgoer because you never know what’s in store and this year’s selections were no different.
