Author: Jason Zingale (Page 11 of 112)

Blu Tuesday: Star Trek Beyond, Bad Moms and More

November 1, 2016 / Jason Zingale

Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on social media with your friends.

“Star Trek Beyond”

WHAT: When the USS Enterprise is ambushed by Krall (Idris Elba), a ruthless enemy with a personal grudge against the Federation, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are separated on a hostile planet. With the help of a rebellious alien warrior named Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), the crew must reunite in time to stop Krall from destroying a nearby Federation outpost.

WHY: After all the criticism surrounding “Star Trek Into Darkness,” it was probably time for the franchise to undergo a changing of the guard. But while director Justin Lin and writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung have returned the series to its television roots with “Star Trek Beyond,” it’s easily the weakest installment starring the new cast. That doesn’t mean the movie’s bad – in fact, quite the contrary – but while the decision to pair off the various crew members is a clever idea, it takes away from the group dynamic that worked so well in the first two films. Karl Urban, whose odd-couple pairing with Zachary Quinto’s Spock is the movie’s highlight, gets more to do as a result, but often at the expense of other characters like Sulu and Uhura. “Star Trek Beyond” also suffers from yet another forgettable villain, as well as some solid but unspectacular action. Although it’s still a satisfying addition to the “Star Trek” universe, the ensemble cast and Gene Roddenberry’s characters deserve better.

EXTRAS: There’s a series of featurettes on the writing process, filming in Dubai, production design and creature effects, a profile on Idris Elba’s villain, a tribute to Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin, deleted scenes, a gag reel and more.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

Entertainment, Movies

Blu Tuesday new Blu-rays Star Trek

Blu Tuesday: Lights Out, Nerve and More

October 25, 2016 / Jason Zingale

“Lights Out”

WHAT: When her little brother (Gabriel Bateman) begins experiencing the same visions that haunted her as a kid – a terrifying, supernatural entity with a connection to their mentally unstable mother (Maria Bello) – Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) attempts to unlock the mystery behind its existence in order to rid their family of the demonic spirit for good.

WHY: Based on David F. Sandberg’s short film of the same name, “Lights Out” is a fresh take on an age-old phobia – specifically, being afraid of the dark – that boasts some effective scares throughout its well-paced 81-minute runtime. (New rule: no horror movie should be more than 90 minutes long). Where the movie falters is with its mythology, which creates an entire backstory for the spirit that’s not only absurd but never really fleshed out beyond one scene. Sandberg also fails to introduce a fixed set of rules for his villain, which are constantly evolving as it becomes necessary or convenient to the story. The acting is about as good as you’d expect from the genre, though Teresa Palmer and newcomer Alexander DiPersia are both solid in their roles, while the creature effects are pretty cool for a character that spends most of the film bathed in darkness. There have been better horror movies released this year, but “Lights Out” is a decent addition to the genre that will please a certain subset of fans.

EXTRAS: The Blu-ray release includes some deleted scenes, but that’s all.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

Entertainment, Movies

Blu Tuesday new Blu-rays

Movie Review: “Moonlight”

October 20, 2016 / Jason Zingale

Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, André Holland, Janelle Monáe

Barry Jenkins

A24 is without a doubt one of the most creatively exciting players in Hollywood today. They’ve made it their mission to champion less marketable films such as “Swiss Army Man,” “The Lobster” and “American Honey,” just to name a few from this year alone, opening up a whole new avenue for projects that don’t conform to the traditional studio system. It’s hard to imagine a movie like “Moonlight” developing into the festival sensation (and potential Oscar contender) that it’s become without the studio’s support, even if it might be slightly overrated. Adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play, “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,” writer/director Barry Jenkins’ sophomore effort is a powerful but flawed rumination on identity that chronicles the life of a young, gay black man across three different time periods as he struggles to find his place in the world.

The film opens in the late ‘90s as a soft-spoken boy named Chiron (Alex Hibbert) is chased by a group of bigger kids through his poor, crime-ridden neighborhood in Miami. Chiron comes from a broken home with no father figure and an abusive, crack addict mother (Naomie Harris), so when local drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) takes a sudden interest in the runaway, Chiron immediately looks up to him as a mentor, despite Juan’s involvement in his mother’s drug habit. Several years later, Chiron (now played by Ashton Sanders) has grown into a lanky, introverted high school student who’s become the target of bullying as he tries to come to terms with his sexuality. Chiron finds some solace in his casual friendship with Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), but after a sexual encounter between them leads to a startling act of violence, Chiron’s life is changed forever. In the movie’s final chapter, a completely transformed Chiron – now a muscular, drug-dealing adult (Trevante Rhodes) who hides behind a thuggish facade – must confront his past when he’s reunited with an older, wiser Kevin (played by André Holland) at a Miami diner.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

Andre Holland Mahershala Ali Moonlight Naomie Harris

Blu Tuesday: The Night Of and More

October 18, 2016 / Jason Zingale

“The Night Of”

WHAT: After picking up a young woman in the city and returning to her Upper West Side townhouse to have some fun, Pakistani-American college student Nasir “Naz” Khan (Riz Ahmed) wakes up to find her stabbed to death. In a moment of panic, Naz flees from the scene and is eventually captured and charged for murder. While all evidence points towards him, defense attorney John Stone (John Turturro) believes that Naz is telling the truth about his innocence and offers to help clear his name… or at the very least, get rich off the trial.

WHY: “The Night Of” was originally supposed to star James Gandolfini before the actor’s untimely death, but within the first few episodes of the HBO limited series, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than John Turturro in the role. The veteran character actor is so riveting as the down-on-his-luck attorney that it seems a near-certainty he’ll walk away with an Emmy for his performance. He’s that good, and the same could be said for the rest of the cast, including co-star Riz Ahmed and supporting players like Bill Camp, Michael Kenneth Williams and Peyman Moaadi. However, what really elevates “The Night Of” beyond the typical crime drama is the superb writing by co-creators Richard Price and Steve Zaillian, which delivers a probing examination of the systemic problems in the U.S. criminal justice system (from the police, to the prisons, to the lawyers) and how one crime can affect the lives of not only the accused but the people connected to them as well. Though the actual investigation feels a bit rushed, and the series doesn’t hit as many highs in the later episodes, “The Night Of” is an excellent piece of filmmaking that challenges the way we watch television and tell stories.

EXTRAS: Sadly, there’s no bonus material.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

Entertainment, Movies, Television

Blu Tuesday new Blu-rays Pan's Labyrinth The Night Of

Movie Review: “The Accountant”

October 13, 2016 / Jason Zingale

Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor

Gavin O’Connor

What if Jason Bourne wasn’t an amnesiac super-soldier but rather a high-functioning autistic man with comparable fighting skills? That appears to be the general idea behind Gavin O’Connor’s “The Accountant,” a film suffering from such an identity crisis that it’s unclear exactly what kind of movie he’s trying to make. Though it starts out as both a fairly generic crime procedural and a zen-like character study about an on-the-spectrum math genius struggling to lead a normal life, it completely changes gears midway through and transforms into a straight-up action thriller. The problem is that “The Accountant” never stops being those other movies either, resulting in a convoluted and tonally unbalanced mess that is occasionally entertaining but feels like it’s a few drafts away from a finished product.

Small-town accountant Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) isn’t like everybody else. He’s highly intelligent, a proficient marksman and capable of winning a knife fight with only a belt. In fact, Christian isn’t even his real name; it’s just one of many aliases he uses to stay off the grid. Raised by his sadistic military father, who eschewed traditional therapy for an unorthodox childhood designed to prepare him for the toughness of the real world, the antisocial Christian now moonlights as a forensic accountant for dangerous criminal organizations, uncooking the books to locate missing money. Determined to stay one step ahead of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes division, led by director Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), Christian accepts a seemingly innocuous job auditing a high-profile robotics company after an accounting clerk named Dana (Anna Kendrick) discovers a discrepancy in the finances. But as Christian and Dana get closer to exposing the truth, they’re targeted by a contract killer (Jon Bernthal) who’s been hired by someone within the company to contain the leak.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

Anna Kendrick Ben Affleck Gavin O'Connor J.K. Simmons Jon Bernthal