Blue Ruin (now on video)

Review by Bob Ignizio

When we first meet Dwight Evans (Macon Blair) in the grim revenge thriller BLUE RUIN, he's living out of his car and eating out of dumpsters. A police officer takes Dwight aside not to cite him, but to let him know that Wade Cleland, the man convicted of killing Dwight's parents, is being released from prison. Suddenly Dwight has a new sense of purpose. He follows Wade as he is released from prison and kills the man with relative ease. What comes after will be anything but easy.

Dwight realizes his actions have put his sister and her family in danger of retaliation from Wade's family, so after getting her to leave town he sets a trap at her house. When members of the Cleland family show up, Dwight captures Wade's brother Teddy (Kevin Kolack), who eventually reveals the real story of who killed Dwight's parent's and why. By this point Dwight just wants to end the cycle of violence and ensure his sister's safety, but the chances of that happening don't look good.

Wish I Was Here

Review by Pamela Zoslov

There's a scene in Zach Braff's new movie WISH I WAS HERE in which Braff, playing a struggling actor at an audition, gives a fellow thespian (played by Jim Parsons) some advice on how to play the part. I had the urge to give Braff, who directed the film he co-wrote with his brother, Adam, some advice: Stick with the comedy.

The movie, like so many others, starts strongly. Braff, known for his generation-defining GARDEN STATE and his role on Scrubs, draws on personal experience to portray an upper-middle-class Jewish milieu with knowing, sardonic humor. Braff plays Aidan Bloom, an actor with a wife (Kate Hudson) and two kids. Aidan hasn't had a role for a long time (“since the dandruff commercial”), allowing his wife Sarah to support the family. His father, Saul (Mandy Patinkin) pays the kids' school tuition, on the condition that they attend an Orthodox Jewish day school. Aidan's daughter, Grace (Joey King) loves the school and is more devout than her parents; her goofy younger brother, Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) is largely indifferent.

Veronica Mars (now available on demand)

[VERONICA MARS is now available on demand.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

I've never seen the Veronica Mars TV show. Whether that makes me more or less qualified to review its feature length film spin-off, also called VERONICA MARS, depends on your point of view. If you're a fan wondering how it compares to the show or whether the characters feel true to how they've been depicted in the past and so on, look elsewhere. All I can tell you is how VERONICA plays as a film strictly on its own terms.That, and it's kind of cool that this movie was funded by fans using Kickstarter. It is to date the most successful Kickstarter campaign for a movie, meeting its goal of two million dollars in less than 10 hours, and going on to raise just shy of six million dollars total.