BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 10/02/2015

the-martian2THE MARTIAN

“THE MARTIAN, like MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, reminds us why going bigger is not always better. See this as soon as you can.” – Sam Cohen, Substream Magazine

“Although its smattering of science feels more like sci-fi, THE MARTIAN keeps its cool and controls its multi-linear narrative to make the audience cheer for the protagonist’s survival.” – Monica Castillo, International Business Times

“THE MARTIAN is an ironic title for a movie which pays unabashed tribute to the best and most deeply human in all of us, the will to survive, the scope of our intelligence, the consciousness of ourselves as simultaneously significant and minute in the universe.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“OK, put your hand down, because THE MARTIAN isn’t INTERSTELLAR. It’s better than that.” – Brett Michel, Improper Bostonian

“THE MARTIAN is indubitably a crowd pleaser and audiences will wonder why can’t science always be this fun.” – Max Covill, Impassioned Cinema

“Ridley Scott’s film is cool, confident, stylish, and slick—the cinematic equivalent of a pop song, but one that demands you remember it for years, even decades, to come, akin to any classic Bowie track.” – Greg Vellante, Sound and Picture

“THE MARTIAN is a decent movie in spite of it not being able to drum up all of the qualities needed to make it spectacular.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

“For the first hour or so, The Martian is a gripping space adventure … Unfortunately, The Martian isn’t an hour long adventure movie.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“Scott makes us feel both the excitement and potential danger that space crews must face, or will face, once we get serious about leaving Earth again.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The film may not achieve greatness – but that’s not such a fatal flaw when you’re talking about a Mars survival yarn.” – Kilian Melloy, Kal’s Movie Blog

 

the-walk-joseph-gordon-levittTHE WALK

“Entertaining as it is, there’s a certain technical coldness to THE WALK that keeps it from ultimately capturing your hear the way Zemeckis wants it to.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“THE WALK reminds us of hope, of following our dreams, and all that other cheese that Zemeckis loves pouring into his yarns.” – Greg Vellante, Sound and Picture

“While I don’t see myself watching this multiple times, THE WALK ultimately left me satisfied with what was offered up.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

 

sicario-emily-bluntSICARIO

“If there were a tunnel of light in the darkness, Sicario would be the movie that dashes it away right when you’re most optimistic.” – Sam Cohen, Under the Gun Review

“This film knows how to rattle the senses, and it does so with excellent technical work from all departments.” – Greg Vellante, Sound and Picture

“SICARIO is a different sort of action film; one that both raises the body count and asks the audience to keep thinking throughout the film.” – Deirdre Crimmins, Cinematic Essential

“Sheer cinematic satisfaction.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“…the closest director Denis Villeneuve has come to mastering the slow burn thriller.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“…this is a film that asks us — and then forces us — to face hard questions with no easy moral answers at the ready.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

 

99-Homes-still-600x39999 HOMES

“99 HOMES is the kind of movie that doesn’t receive the sort of attention that it should.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

 

nyff-timeoutofmind-gere1TIME OUT OF MIND

“…Moverman’s purposefully audacious directorial technique is, on a deeper level, trying to teach us how to look toward those backgrounds and into the corners of the frame of our own lives.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“Is the subject matter a downer? Is the film’s erratic progress, and its many poignant, but hopeless, interactions depressing? Yes, fearlessly so, and that’s by design.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

“The fact that no one realizes this man is actually Richard Gere speaks volumes about little attention the average person pays to the homeless.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

 

fresnoADDICTED TO FRESNO

“No topic should be off limits to comedy, but maybe they should be off limits to certain individuals.” – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine

 

 

peac

PEACE OFFICER

“Only now is a national and widespread political consciousness emerging about the problem; will we do something about it, or simply pin more medals on officers who may be poorly trained, unable to rise to the level of cool-headed professionalism the use of their firepower, body armor, and tanks demands they possess, or even happy to use their authority and their equipment against mere civilians? That’s the question the film asks, but it needs to have made its case more clearly.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

 

maxresdefault (19)BREATHE

Breathe is a good film. As Laurent continues to refine her talents behind the camera, it seems more and more likely that she has a great film in her, too.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

 

p10-shoji-home-a-20150305COMING HOME

“…an intelligent, culturally provocative weepie of how one family is destroyed by the corruption of their home country during the 1960s.” – Charlie Nash, Edge Boston

 

 

ShanghaiSHANGHAI

“There is some entertainment value here, but too much of it comes from within the film stable awkwardly from plot point to plot point.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston