No Way Jose DVD Review

     Actors: Adam Goldberg, Ahna O'Reilly, Gillian Jacobs, Emily Osment

Director: Adam Goldberg

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

        Audiences have been subjected to an array of male protagonists in arrested development since Judd Apatow’s film career took off, making No Way Jose feel a bit underwhelming and derivative. There are moments of sitcom situation humor which are worthwhile, but the story feels aimless and the characters like watered down rejects from a sub-par Apatow movie. Actor Adam Goldberg tries his hand at directing with a screenplay he co-wrote along with first-time scribe Sarah Kate Levy, but neither have enough experience to save the film from meandering aimlessly and often without as many laughs as desired.

The Road Within Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Robert Sheehan, Robert Patrick, Dev Patel, Zoë Kravitz

Director: Gren Wells

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 102 minutes

 

         There is a delicate balance needed when creating a comedy that is also about mental illness. A certain amount of respect and realism must be given to the disease and those who actually suffer with it, but it can’t be so much that it weighs down the plot with cumbersome melodrama. All of this pressure seems to rest on the shoulders of the actors in The Road Within, which adopts the now-familiar road trip narrative so often used in independent cinema. With most of the film containing three characters in a car, the success of the story depends a great deal on the success of these actors.

 

For the Emperor Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Park Sung-Woong, Lee Min-ki, Lee Tae-Im

Director: Park Sang-Jun

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

Language: Korean

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 105 minutes

 

 

         Although For the Emperor is clearly a genre picture, built upon sequences of exciting action and hints of exploitation, the film’s narrative is a combination of several familiar structures. While none of the individual pieces are altogether original, together they make for a fast-paced and unpredictable viewing experience. One moment the film feels like a typical gangster film before slipping into noir territory, and eventually slides into a cat-and-mouse revenge story. Much of the mystery in the movie’s direction comes from the ambiguity found in the mostly silent protagonist, who almost seems modeled after the main character in Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive.

 

Merchants of Doubt Blu-ray Review

    Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, DVD-ROM

Language: English

Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, Turkish, Spanish, English

Audio Description: English

Region: All Regions

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

         These days a political documentary doesn’t seem effective unless it has the ability to infuriate the audience, seemingly to cause some type of action to remedy the social maladies examined. While Merchants of Doubt is certainly able to achieve this with its examination of marketing and public relation spin doctors, what is unexpected is the amount of humor and levity inserted into the exasperating subject matter. With Merchants of Doubt, filmmaker Robert Kenner is able to find an impressive balance between historical information, entertainment, and a call to action. The information is not entirely groundbreaking or new, but provides a concise picture for those who were previously unaware to the shady dealings of powerful corporations.