The Boy Blu-ray Review

Actors: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, Jim Norton, Diana Hardcastle, Ben Robson

Director: William Brent Bell

Writers: Stacey Menear

Producers: Jim Wedaa, Roy Lee, Matt Berenson, Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi

Format: NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Region: All Regions

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Release Date: May 10, 2016

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2018

Run Time: 98 minutes

I almost feel as though two reviews are needed for The Boy; one for the final climactic sequence and another for the remainder of the narrative building up to that point. They simply feel so disjointed from each other that it is almost unfair to compare them together. Far too much of the screenplay relies upon a final twist of sorts, but it mostly just made me feel as though I had been cheated. Had this been a short film, I would not have minded, but the feature length narrative forces the audience to invest in far too much of the slow-burn mystery for the end revelation to be such a cheap cop-out.

Hostile Borders DVD Review

Actors: Jesse Garcia, Roberto Urbina, Veronica Sixtos, Julio Cedillo, Jorge Jimenez

Director: Michael Dwyer

Producers: Alica Dwyer, John Kim

Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: French, English, Spanish

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: May 3, 2016

Run Time: 84 minutes

Hostile Borders DVD Review

        There needs to be some reason for a film to keep my attention, and hating the main character does not suffice. For this reason, I often found Hostile Borders nearly unbearable. Despite ample opportunity within the unique set-up to discuss politics, this inexplicable drama instead forces melodrama and cheap thrills. We spend the entire film with a character that has no apparent opinions beyond her own selfish desires, and even these are often difficult to discern amidst the sparse dialogue given to her and the one-note performance from the lead. Even the most obvious character development you might expect to see is thrown away for mindless action sequences, which are poorly shot and have no gravity since I had no compassion for anyone involved.