February 2015 Movie Reviews

Positive Force: More Than A Witness; 25 years Of Punk Politics In Action
Director: Robin Bell
MVD Visual
Street: 11.25.14
It’s always good to see what is preached in song lyrics, then practiced through example. Director Robin Bell takes the viewer through the extensive history of DC based punk-activist group Positive Force. Bell explores the origins during the Reagan era, the establishment of their communal headquarters, the beginnings of Riot Grrrl, the modern-day controversial affiliation with the mainstream and what it means to be an underground movement. Supporters like Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi), Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile) and Ian F. Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses) lend narratives of their varied experiences with Positive Force. This DVD is also packed with cool bonus features that look into Positive Force’s involvement with groups like the “We Are Family” senior service advocacy group. It also contains sweet music videos from groups like Chumbawamba’s “Rappaport’s Testament: I Never Gave Up” and Anti-Flag’s “You’ve Got to Die for the Government.” There are a lot of films on the gritty, rock n’ roll–inspired lifestyles of punk rockers, but not nearly enough idealize it. It is punk movements like these that inspire viable alternatives and the possibilities of creating a whole new world. So dig this, and be inspired to create something new. –Nick Kuzmack

Taken 3
Director: Olivier Megaton
20th Century Fox
In Theaters: 01.09
In this now trilogy … ugh … Liam Neeson continues to answer the phone and sound as menacing as possible to whomever is on the other side. In the first film, Bryan Mills’ (Neeson) daughter was “taken” by sex traffickers. In the second film, Mills and his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), were “taken” by associates of the people killed in the previous endeavor. Now, no one is “taken” in this film; however, writers Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen must have been “taken” by The Fugitive franchise because it is the exact same storyline. Mills is falsely accused of murdering his ex-wife, so, rather than explaining to authorities his alibi, he decides to set Los Angeles on fire by chopping every law enforcement officer in the throat and destroying every vehicle he comes into contact with. Let me remind you that these are not dirty cops who set him up. They’re just run-of-the-mill officers making a decent living … until some jerk claiming he’s innocent tosses them out of a speeding police cruiser on the highway. We cheered Neeson on in the previous films because he was executing murderers and rapists. Now he’s just a dick. This (hopefully) final chapter is excruciatingly boring, and the only person I was hoping to be “taken” was myself … out of the theater. –Jimmy Martin

This is Where I Leave You
Director: Shawn Levy
Warner Home Video
Street: 12.16.14
When this film’s theatrical release was announced, it was easy to get excited. Casting Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll and Adam Driver as dysfunctional adult siblings sounds like a recipe for success. It’s also an adaptation of the successful novel by Jonathan Tropper (who also wrote the screenplay), which chronicles the tale of the aforementioned dysfunctional siblings as they gather to observe the Jewish funerary custom of sitting shiva—spending seven days under the same roof to mourn the passing of their father. With all of that going for it, however, This is Where I Leave You doesn’t quite work. Despite the talented cast and engaging source material, director Shawn Levy seems to struggle with the mature subject matter—no surprise considering his background in megaplex drivel like Night at the Museum. Though I give Levy some props for tackling a more grown-up story, his penchant for sappy filmmaking overshadowed Tropper’s bruising screenplay, leaving the film feeling lopsided and toothless. Talented as the cast is, their performances were surprisingly withdrawn—with the exception of Adam Driver, Rose Byrne and Timothy Olyphant, who managed to find the emotional resonance of their characters. –Alex Springer

The Wedding Ringer
Director: Jeremy Garelick
Sony
In Theaters: 01.16
First-time director Jeremy Garelick loads his R-rated comedy with rising stars in the comedy world, including Josh Gad (Broadway’s Book of Mormon) and Kevin Hart (Ride Along) as an odd bromance couple. In just 10 days, Doug Harris (Gad) will marry Gretchen (Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), but without any friends to stand in as his best man, he hires Jimmy Callahan (Hart) to create a fake history and pose as his longtime best friend, Bic Mitchum. Gad and Hart are given the opportunity to showcase their comedic timing, and they do so with a positive outcome half of the time. However, the comedy clock is a tad off during the other half. With an R-rated comedy, there’s a balance between comedy and raunchiness. Both of these elements are acceptable and encouraged, but if the jokes completely immerse themselves in total crudeness for the sheer sake of being nasty, then the balance is compromised and the laughs cease. The concept is intriguing and has the possibility of delivering a solid production, but Garelick spends too much time with unnecessary scenes that do nothing but waste time. Does anyone really need to see an elderly Joe Namath be beaten on a football field? The answer is no. –Jimmy Martin