Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (now on VOD, coming to home video in January)

[BE MY CAT: A FILM FOR ANNE is now available on VOD and will be available on DVD and Blu Ray in January]

Review by Eric Sever

If I didn't know it was a movie, I would think it was real. That is one of the greatest and rarest compliments I could give to a found footage film.

With an astounding level of verisimilitude, BE MY CAT: A FILM FOR ANNE almost flawlessly carries the illusion through each of its unsettling layers of reality and fiction.

Supposedly constructed from video found at a crime scene, the movie is framed as the passion project of an enthusiastic and inexperienced aspiring-filmmaker Adrian (played by writer/director Adrian Tofei). He is convinced he has the perfect concept for a collaboration with Anne Hathaway. In an effort to woo the famous star with his directing chops, he hires a few struggling actresses (Sonia Teodoriu, Florentina Hariton, and Alexandra Stroe) to shoot some rehearsal scenes for the movie. He also shoots "behind the scenes" footage of the grueling, often humiliating "directing" style he puts them through. Adrian doesn't have a firm grip on what is real and what is art, and it often ends poorly for the actresses.

Interstellar

Review by Matt Finley

When Christopher Nolan released INCEPTION in 2010 there was some rightful, if overblown, fervor around the fact that a studio had trusted a blockbuster director with an indie film ethos to realize his own multi-million-dollar vision. It was neither a comic book adaptation nor nostalgic remake nor by-committee studio script, and it totally crushed at the box office.

 Fast forward several years, and it turns out the film’s success wasn’t the game-changing industry bellwether some had hoped. Still, it got a lot of people very excited for Nolan's next original outing, and the potential of that future film to further nudge the line between boundary-pushing story concepts and crowd-pleasing action.

Rio 2

Review by Pete Roche

RIO ended with a triumphant musical number at the titular Brazlian city’s annual Carnival.  RIO 2 commences with a similarly bombastic New Year’s Eve celebration, during which director Carlos Saldanha (ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN) reintroduces us to the first film’s amusing animal ensemble. 

Former pet bird Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) has been successfully reintroduced into the wild and has learned to fly.  He and soul-made Jewel (Anne Hathaway) now live atop a sunny sanctuary with their three kids, who between them display all the quirks of your typical teenager:  chubby Carla (Rachel Chow) is musically-inclined daughter with an attitude; brainy Bia (Amandla Stenberg) is a petite Jewel clone; and free-spirited son Tiago (Pierce Gagnon) is a goofy miniature version of his dad.

Les Miserables

Review by Bob Ignizio

Even though convicted thief Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has served his time, he soon learns he is not truly “free”. As he is told by inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), Valjean will be on parole for the rest of his life, forever branded as a thief by his identification papers. Not surprisingly this makes getting a job or even lodgings difficult, and creates a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts that the one time criminal will never be anything but. 

However, when Valjean gets caught after stealing from a church that had given him sanctuary, the Bishop lies for Valjean. He tells the arresting officers that he had given the loot to the man, an act of kindness that sends the ex convict on a journey of redemption. LES MISERABLES is the musical story of that journey.

The Dark Knight Rises

Review by Pete Roche

It’s been four years since we last saw Batman.  But it’s been twice as long for Gotham, whose police force chased their would-be savior into hiding at the end of 2008’s THE DARK KNIGHT.

Harvey Dent has been eulogized (and practically canonized).  The dead district attorney—whom everyone thinks was killed by “vigilante” Batman—even has his own holiday of sorts.  The anti-crime legislation he enacted has kept mobsters and murders behind bars for eight years. 

But maintaining Dent’s untarnished reputation has taken a toll on the men who know the truth behind Two-Face’s own crime spree, Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and trust fund kid-turned caped crusader Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale).