BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 02/27/2015

FOCUSFocus-2015-Movie

“…you’re better off walking out after the film departs the Big Easy. At least then you won’t be crushed by the incomparable weight of disappointment.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“FOCUS breaks faith with the audience’s previous investment for extended sequences of rug-pulling, cheap fake-outs, and generally jerking us around.” – Sean Burns, Movie Mezzanine

“FOCUS is a stylish and fun con artist film that’s gorgeous looking, in more ways than one; but sadly sputters out of gas towards the final act.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Examiner

“FOCUS is a welcome return to form for Smith even though the swindling and conning taking place gets a bit tiresome in the final act.” – Sam Cohen, Under the Gun Review

“…has a way of peering, cleanly and crisply, at whatever genre its gaze settles on: Romantic comedy, stylish caper flick, thriller, crime drama.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

“You don’t have to check your brain at the door, exactly, but you might want to set it to cruise control.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“In spite of the obvious flaws that it contains, I do find FOCUS to be decent in enough areas to carry you all the way to its conclusion without boring you to the point where you’ll regret watching it.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“The denouement makes us go back over the movie to recalibrate and at least one scene in hindsight doesn’t quite make sense.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

thumbnail_20448THE LAZARUS EFFECT

“It’s literally LUCY and PET SEMATARY combined, but it takes place in a lab.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“LAZARUS is mired in the predictability of its genre conventions, showing its cards on the table before actually playing them.” – Monica Castillo, International Business Times

“..it’s a B-movie that manages to be more than a potboiler..” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

song_of_the_seaSONG OF THE SEA

“Watching the narrative unfold piece by piece is akin to reading a good book, flipping by page after page of a well-worn tome of fables as old as Ireland itself.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“The film has the same heightened sense of adventure one would expect, but it has the courage to let the narrative pace the tale in a gentle, yet surprisingly effective way.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“In the tradition of modern animated films such as THE PAINTING and THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY, SONG OF THE SEA casts its spell regardless of age.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

 

maps-to-the-stars-cannes-2014-5MAPS TO THE STARS

“[Cronenberg’s] body horror pokes at our discomfort with ourselves, and in MAPS the horror is with our heroes, the celebrities we chose to celebrate and the terrible human beings they may be behind closed doors.” – Monica Castillo, International Business Times

“…Cronenberg doesn’t let us laugh. He keeps actors separated, rarely letting them stand next to each other within a frame, giving the dialogue an intentionally stilted quality.” – Jake Mulligan, Dig Boston

“[Cronenberg] pins his characters in isolated single shots — they’re not listening to each other anyway — but all this formal rigor is beside the point when the material is so lazy and cheap.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“In the end, MAPS TO THE STARS is harder to grasp than VIDEODROME or NAKED LUNCH, and like those two films it demands repeat viewings.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

large_ballet422_web_2BALLET 422

“While some of it is interesting to watch, none of it is compelling enough to really capture our imaginations.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

 

 

BOFCA MID-WEEK ROUNDUP – 2/25/2015

Megan Kearns opines on the Patricia Arquette Oscar controversy

Monica Castillo talks Oscar history, the new Aquaman, John Legend & Common’s “Glory” performance and Oscar win, Arquette and Sean Penn’s “green card” joke

Deidre Crimmins talks evil moms for BitchFlicks and reviews WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

SpoilerPiece talks The Oscars (pre-show)

Andrew Crump talks Oscar oversights

Tim Estiloz reports on Eva Longoria’s Harvard honor and interview’s THE DUFF’s Bianca Santos

John Black reviews THE LAST FIVE YEARS and WHAT WE DO IN THE DARK

Jared Bowen interviews Iran’s Parvis Tanavoli on OPEN STUDIO

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 02/20/2015


HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2Hot-Tub-Time-Machine-2

Even though it doesn’t live up to the outrageous quality of its predecessor, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 doesn’t do any damage to the brand that was created in 2010.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“The jokes are rapid and raunchy, the rants border on nonsensical, the dashes of drama are toiling, and the sci-fi references are as thin as the narrative.” – Sam Cohen, Under the Gun Review

“When you drain out the filler of homophobic rape and masturbation jokes from HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2, you’re not left with much else at the scuzzy bottom of this movie.” – Monica Castillo, International Business Times

 

635500985690760008-XXX-MCFARLAND-USA-MOV-JY-3690-68240686MCFARLAND, USA

“MCFARLAND USA is less a sports film and more a film about community, tradition and family. It’s a film about being proud and respecting where you’ve come from, no matter what you manage to achieve in life; however grand or humble.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Examiner

“When you think the movie should be hitting home harder, it doesn’t.” – Sam Cohen, Sumo Skinny

 

 

what-we-do-in-the-shadows1WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

“A bitingly fake documentary about four New Zealand blood suckers sharing a flat: THE REAL WORLD for the undead.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“…A witty gem of a movie. Mixing horror comedy with reality-TV tropes and Christopher Guest’s mockumentary style storytelling…”  – Monica Castillo, International Business Times

“…Waititi and Clement hit the precise balance between playing to the niche and letting the rest of us in on the joke.” – Andy Crump, Badass Digest

 

Timbuktu_01TIMBUKTU

“…the few scenes of violence in the film are so visceral, so disturbing that you’ll be haunted by them long after the lights come back on.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

 

 

The Last 5 Years MovieTHE LAST FIVE YEARS

“Overall, THE LAST FIVE YEARS Years is a pleasant distraction and features solid performances from its leads.” – Monica Castillo, International Business Times 

“Not only does Kendrick have a lovely voice tailor made for show tunes like the ones in this production, but she really knows how to sell a song to the audience through camera.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

 

BOFCA MID-WEEK ROUNDUP 2/18/2015

Spoilerpiece Theatre does FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

Monica Castillo talks GHOSTBUSTERSBenedict Cumberbatch, 31 Days of Oscar and female directors

Sam Cohen looks at the Terrence Mallick-produced THE BETTER ANGELS

Bob Chipman reviews LAW & ORDER: SVU’s controversial new episode

Jared Bowen debuts a brand new OPEN STUDIO

Andy Crump breaks down WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, alternate Oscar viewing, Neil Blomkamp’s possible ALIEN movie and AGENT CARTER

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 02/13/2015

fifty-shades-grey-movie-trailerFIFTY SHADES OF GREY

“What’s important is that the novel began life as “Twilight” fan fiction. That tells you everything you need to know.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“After getting whipped over the rear with the banal story that FIFTY SHADES OF GREY employs, you may walk out of the theater feeling as fatigued as Anastasia.” – Sam Cohen, Under the Gun Review

“It ain’t bad. It isn’t good, either, but it’s also not the train wreck that most people seem to want it to be.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“There’s a really funny, sexy comedy in this big-screen version of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY that would probably have been wonderful were it not also stuck with being an adaptation of the loathsome novel FIFTY SHADES OF GREY.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“The best part of the movie IS the sex.  About 20 minutes of it.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

kingsman-hollywood-film-6-14-6-movies-you-need-to-watch-before-you-watch-kingsman-the-secret-serviceKINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

“Nothing in KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE has the ability to transform into the spectacle that it could have been. It’s an okay movie that could have been made better by simply turning everything up a few extra notches and allowing it to move faster.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE may lack the sophistication of its peers, but damned if it doesn’t know how to have a good time.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“Given the gratuitous gravitas that handcuffs most action movies these days – that whole “With great power comes great responsibility” shtick – it’s refreshing to enjoy an unapologetic thrill ride like KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“For once, we have an inspired genre film that is self-aware and focuses more on the love for that genre instead of throwing jabs at its inconsistencies.” – Sam Cohen, Sumo Skinny

“If Bond’s upper lip has grown too stiff for you, Eggsy’s new breed of spy is bound to raise a few eyebrows.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“What begins as a witty, exciting, and inventive update on the iconic James Bond gentleman spy thriller, descends into a crude gore fest that left me cringing in my seat.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

Valeria Bruni TedeschiHUMAN CAPITAL

“…emotional carnage of all sorts — romantic, sexual, marital — abounds here, the outcome of people keeping secret or holding on to assumptions about others’ worth, or their own.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

“The end result is a muddled mess with a few memorable moments” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“If HUMAN CAPITAL is the kind of thing that’s supposed to pass for great foreign cinema these days, we’re all assuredly fucked.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter