Film Reviews: April 27, 2014

Here is a summary of the films reviewed on today's show:

When The Raid 2 is in action mode it really works and this film has some extraordinary set pieces. But the movie is also unnecessarily baggy and the plotting is messy. The sequel isn’t the instant classic that the original Raid was but it is sufficiently entertaining despite its flaws.

The Grand Budapest Hotel comes off a bit self-indulgent on Wes Anderson’s part but the movie is a lot of fun and it is a bit more sophisticated than some of the director’s other work. Those who did not like his other films are certainly not going to like this one and viewers who were iffy about his work may be put off by the style, but those who appreciate Wes Anderson’s films will find a lot of delight in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Draft Day is a competent film and it succeeds as a story of crafty deal making amid the glamor of professional sports. It is not a classic like some of Kevin Costner’s baseball films but it is satisfying enough to entertain sports fans and pedestrian viewers alike.

Heaven is for Real is mostly well made, certainly more so than a lot of recent religious pictures.The filmmakers compromise the conclusion of their story in order to make it palatable to the widest possible audience but it will be a hit with faith based viewers and it will probably connect with a broader audience as well because of its softer sales pitch.

The filmmakers of Transcendence try for something big but they fall short and the film is a spectacular failure. This is an example of a high concept movie that fails because not enough effort was invested in the basic mechanics of the storytelling.

The Lawnmower Man is not a great movie but it is entertaining and it is a very interesting curio of early 1990s digital filmmaking. The filmmakers achieved several technical breakthroughs that make this show historically important and its influence can be seen in later movies like The Matrix and Transcendence. But the digital scenes of The Lawnmower Man also demonstrate the as-yet unrealized possibilities of digital cinema to create impressionistic images that truly create a new reality.