BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 06/06/2014

maxresdefaultEDGE OF TOMORROW

“EDGE OF TOMORROW is effective on a narrative level because it intentionally keeps its time travel elements simple. This leaves little room for plot holes and allows you to get lost in its experience.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“EDGE OF TOMORROW offers an entertaining experience for anyone wanting to see an action packed science fiction feature film.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“…a thoughtful, action-packed, and occasionally amusing take on the [time loop] premise melded into the alien invasion story. For summer entertainment, it will more than do.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Smart, fun summer entertainment until the big guns roll in in the fall just before Oscar season.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“While actual video game-derived movies have consistently failed, Liman’s latest perfectly captures the experience of playing a game.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“How wonderful it is to report that EDGE OF TOMORROW has all the signs of a creative team and studio wanting to make a good, borderline-great action spectacular, and the filmdelivers.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“it wants to nail you to the edge of your seat, and does.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

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THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

“The most impressive thing about THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is how effortless the interactions between its main characters feel.” – Evan Crean, Reel Recon

“…Hazel’s personal awareness gives the film a back and forth, empowering her with choice in the face of a conflict so grave that most of us cannot imagine how we might confront it if the shoe was on the other foot.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

“THE FAULT IN OUR STARS will definitely be something that will make a significant amount of people who see it shed a few tears.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“You will laugh. You will cry. You will be surprised that a movie this manipulative is the best teenage love story so far this year.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“It has a lot to say about the fragility of life and what it all means– or doesn’t.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“It has a lot to say about the fragility of life and what it all means– or doesn’t.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

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IDA

“Ultimately, little is what it seems in IDA, but Pawlikowski captures his parade of enigmas and uncertainties with a pristine clarity.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

“…those willing to appreciate finely etched character studies of two women, trying to make sense of a discovered or rediscovered Jewish past, will find this both engaging and moving.– Daniel M. Kimmel, The Jewish Advocate

“This is a new movie about old times, presented, in some ways, in the visual manner of an old movie, though its sensibilities remain utterly contemporary.” – Kilian Melloy, EDGE Boston

 

Night MovesNIGHT MOVES

“Reichardt’s minimalism leaves us to seek out our own answers to the questions she poses, but it’s in how she poses them that NIGHT MOVES leaves its mark.” – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine

“It’s an excellent example of show-don’t-tell; the characters dole out bits of information to each other on a need-to-know basis, and the audience is in the dark as much as each of the characters is.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

the-sacrament-movieTHE SACRAMENT

The film proves compelling even when it’s just about modern men standing dumbstruck by the simplicity of the alien world they’re treading through. – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine

“West’s movie goes all the way around the block, to a cult that’s ostensibly located on the other side of the globe, just so it can get to the haunted house next door.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

 

BOFCA Review Round-Up: 05/30/2014

maleficent-5MALEFICENT

“…no matter where our new cultural fascination with re-imagining iconic Disney villains takes us, we’ll always be able to come back to MALEFICENT and harrumph over its shortcomings.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

“Jolie is the undeniable centerpiece of the film in a role that she alone makes spellbinding and magically memorable.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Examiner

“In the end, MALEFICENT is simply a poor attempt at making a film.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“…the film rides on the strength of Angelina Jolie’s performance and she is, in a word, magnificent.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

A_Million_Ways_To_Die_In_The_West_-_mov-2500_1600x1200_2460232490_genA MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

“The only good thing about A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST  are the cameos that brought a few laughs to what is fundamentally a dull movie at its core.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“There’s so much bodily waste on screen that the film becomes the cinematic equivalent of a cesspool.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 05/23/2014

x-men-days-of-future-past-trailerX-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

“…when the momentum slows for a pep talk (or eight) or takes a dramatic pause to appreciate the gravity of a situation, we start to feel the weight of FUTURE PAST’s over two hour runtime.” – Monica Castillo, Movie Mezzanine

“Although the mechanics of time travel make no sense, somehow DAYS OF FUTURE PAST reconciles all of the previous X-MEN film plots into a movie that does.” – Evan Creen, Starpulse

“X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is a quality film that fans of the X-Men and that universe will probably enjoy.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“It isn’t the best of the series, but it lets fans enjoy younger and older versions of some of the characters and play in this corner of the Marvel Universe.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Although the mechanics of time travel make no sense, somehow DAYS OF FUTURE PAST reconciles all of the previous X-MEN film plots into a movie that does.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

 


Blended movie (4)BLENDED

“Watching BLENDED is a hypothermic experience.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

BLENDED is an upgrade over Sandler’s most recent work, but it still falls short of being entertaining.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“An admixture that doesn’t quite come together, as what might have been a romantic comedy about second chances–with kids–fights for screen time with more typical Adam Sandler fare.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“…Barrymore and Sandler have as much chemistry as two old friends climbing aboard the money train, and there are maybe two laughs in 117 minutes (!). – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

cold-in-july-movie1COLD IN JULY

“Whatever movie you think it will end up being, odds are good that your guesswork will let you down as the rug repeatedly gets yanked from underneath you.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

“The movie twists and turns and thwarts expectations, and it’s a solid, if grim, viewing experience.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

 

 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 05/16/2014

GODZILLAGODZILLA

“Edwards waits too long before directly involving the monster. Instead he spends more of the film’s two hour run time on humans, who don’t feel consequential.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“While the scaly sexagenarian glimpsed here is vastly superior to the wrong-headed monster seen in Roland Emmerich’s disastrous 1998 reimagining starring Matthew Broderick, at least that version of the giant lizard wasn’t reduced to playing a cameo role in his own film.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“Edwards wants Godzilla to matter. He wants us to be in awe of Godzilla because Godzilla is a creation worthy of awe, and not because the film bludgeons us into dazzled submission.” – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine

“The battles are beautifully staged and executed, evoking something not even the original GODZILLA film was able to achieve; which is a feeling of true danger, fright and devastation.” – Tim Estlioz, Boston Examiner

“GODZILLA is certainly a summer movie that deserves to be considered to be a true blockbuster.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“What [director Gareth] Edwards and screenwriter Max Borenstein get is that while Godzilla is a monster, he is a monster we want to cheer.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Edwards enjoys teasing an audience, keeping his creature under wraps, like Spielberg with his shark or his dinosaurs. But Godzilla doesn’t appear until almost an hour into this movie, a test for viewers rather than a tease.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“”Even RETURN OF THE JEDI — the least of the first three STAR WARS films—knew that when cutting away from action, one should cut to more action. And how did no one notice—twice—a 10-story-tall monster lumbering around in a major metropolitan area?” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

MILLION DOLLAR ARM

Million Dollar Arm Film

“Although the part is woefully underwritten, Lake Bell does an exceptional job making the tenant the only likable American in the movie (unless you count liking Alan Arkin for being a curmudgeon). Good as she is, though, she can’t make the transformation of JB from arrogant agent to likable human being believable. Sadly, neither can Hamm.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“The upbeat nature of MILLION DOLLAR ARM prevents me from hating it, but there’s nothing else included that would come close to making it a truly enjoyable experience.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“Yet there’s also the ugly veneer of imperialism driving the film, not because it is deliberately disrespectful to its Indian characters, but because it treats them as little more than props.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

CHEF21

CHEFis a film that succeeds simply by being about a man trying to get his in life order and moving the right direction.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“Is it possible to yearn for life in a food truck?” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

 

double-movieTHE DOUBLE

“…for all of its notable cinematic flourishes, THE DOUBLE is actually the product of one Richard Ayoade, who, in his second directorial effort (after 2010’s SUBMARINE), has managed to take all of those influences, plus a serious dose of Kafka-esque angst, and shape it into something that’s truly one of a kind.” – Andy Crump, In Review Online

 

GODSPOCKETGOD’S POCKET

“The film as a whole, however, never congeals around its seriocomic, slice-of-life plot.” – Kristofer Jenson, DIG

“There isn’t much in GOD’S POCKET we haven’t seen before. In tone, it bears a resemblance to PALOOKAVILLE, a superior chronicle of dim hoods in a dead-end existence. In plot, there’s a touch of Hitchcock’s THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter