Beyond the Lights Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Danny Glover, Nate Parker

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Director's Cut, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: February 24, 2015

Run Time: 117 minutes

 

 

        It has long been a complaint that there are not enough female directors in the Hollywood system, a point that is marked by an annual reminder in the Academy Awards, which has only seen one female director win in 87 years. I would say that this is more of a reminder how few quality female directors that are working in Hollywood, though Gina Prince-Bythewood stands out as an exception. Beyond the Lights (like Love and Basketball) may simply be a genre film and unlikely of Academy recognition outside of category for Best Song (which the film was nominated for), but Prince-Bythewood manages to elevate the genre with some poignantly relevant social commentary and committed performances from her two stars.

 

The Intruders DVD Review

Actors: Miranda Cosgrove, Austin Butler, Donal Logue

Format: Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: Spanish

Dubbed: Spanish

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: February 24, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

        I was filled with such a sense of déjà vu watching The Intruders that I ended up pausing the film about halfway through, convinced that there was another recently released horror film that had nearly the same screenplay. Even if first-time screenwriter Jason Juravic did not plagiarize the content of this poorly made horror film from another poorly made horror movie, it contains more cliché genre tropes than any of the Scary Movie or Haunted House spoofs with a deadly seriousness that quickly becomes dull. There is a family with a troubled past moving into a notorious new home, ambiguous warnings from the neighbors that conveniently give out no details of the house’s history, and a protagonist with a history of mental instability so that nobody believes her. My imagination has more surprises than this horrendously uninspired horror film.

 

Brotherhood of Blades Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Chang Chen, Cecilia Liu, Qing Ye, Nie Yuan

Director: Lu Yang

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

Language: Cantonese

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: February 10, 2015

Run Time: 111 minutes

 

        There may be a good film somewhere in Brotherhood of Blades, but I would need to watch it again to be able to be able to understand where it is. The narrative contains too many characters and is told in a convoluted manner, so that little makes sense until the very end, at which point it will take a perfect memory to recall who each character is and where their loyalties in the narrative lie. The action is fantastic, making the last third of the film a compelling watch, though the relevance of these sequences would have been increased with a clearer storyline.

Skating to New York Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Dylan Everett, Connor Jessup, Niamh Wilson, Jason Gedrick, Gage Munroe

Director: Charles Minsky

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

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: February 17, 2015

Run Time: 93 minutes

 

        This Canadian coming-of-age adventure film is full of good intentions and rife with errors in filmmaking. The actual shell of the film and its components is actually quite promising, which is why the failed execution is that much more disappointing. There are contrived situations of unbelievable coincidence, dialogue so bad that I can only hope it was mostly improvised, and a narrative structure that sloppily bookends the adventure with a typical sports victory storyline. Not without its moments of accidental charm, Skating to New York still feels like a film with no need for distribution outside of Canada.

 

Fear Clinic Blu-ray Review

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Blu-ray Release Date: May 12, 2015, exclusively at Best Buy now.

 

 

        Fear Clinic utilizes impressive low budget special effects in place of a decent screenplay, believable acting, or direction that is even moderately decent. The special effects department might as well be listed as the film’s director, because that is the only thing to keep this low budget cliché moving forward from one dull scene to the next. Director Robert Hall is best known for his work as a makeup artist, and his filmography as a director has been predictably dominated by this visual aspect, with little to no regard for the narrative aspects of storytelling.