A low-fi indie drama of sisterly reconnection that feels a bit like a cinematic cousin of early Miranda July, vacuumed free of any irony and collagist sensibilities, writer-director Nikki Braendlin’s As High As the Sky deserves credit for maximizing its resources and evoking a certain mood of hedged-in, wallflower protectionism — of tapping into the feeling of someone who’s withdrawn from life. In the end, though, it can’t overcome a general lack of gradation and the unconvincingly established deadpan affect of one of its central characters. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. For more information on the film, which is presently available on DVD and will be available on Hulu, Amazon Instant and Cinema Libre on Demand beginning on June 6, click here to visit its website. (Aunt Kiki Productions, unrated, 93 minutes)

Hitching its wagon in hopeful fashion to any residual goodwill and interest from last spring’s $490-plus million surprise hit Oz the Great and Powerful, animated family musical Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return spins off a story that loosely picks up after the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Waves of indifference emanate from this meagerly imagined yarn, adapted from a non-canonical book by Roger Stanton Baum, the great-grandson of originating author L. Frank Baum. Wasting a voice cast populated with recognizable names, this attempt to cash in on nostalgia for its source material evokes more bewilderment and boredom than excitement or wistful reminiscence. For the full, original review, from Screen Daily, click here. (Clarius Entertainment, PG, 92 minutes)

In last fall’s Nebraska, it was Bruce Dern who set out on foot, against the wishes of his son; in the Oregon-set Redwood Highway, it’s Shirley Knight who does the same, delivering an estimable turn in what amounts to a marginal showcase for fans of the twice Oscar-nominated actress. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. For more information on the film, which opens in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Town Center 5, click here to visit its website. (Monterey Media, PG-13, 90 minutes)

A classily mounted period piece that oscillates between interestingly plotted societal drama and somewhat stuffy and predictable Jane Austen-style handwringing, director Amma Asante’s Belle leans heavily on the unique intrigue that results from a protagonist caught up between different worlds — black and white, rich and disfavored. Never quite content to cast its lot with a grittier and more ambitious tone, this polished and engaging but emotionally gauzy and at times downright frustrating film slugs its way through a lot of dutifully passionate speechifying en route to a conclusion of scrupulously manufactured uplift. For the full, original review, from Paste, click here. (Fox Searchlight, PG, 105 minutes)

An amiable documentary that takes a stab at bridging the divide between food growers and American consumers, Farmland alights upon myriad issues relating to modern agriculture, providing a freshmen-level survey class deeply connected to entrepreneurial endeavor, and the dignity and work ethic of the farmers and families it spotlights. If director James Moll’s film fails to achieve much in the way of cohesive big-picture lift, it’s still steeped in feeling, and intriguing enough to easily win over urban arthouse viewers wanting to see and know a little bit more about how food makes its way to their plates.

Farmland never seems disingenuous, but neither does Moll — an Academy Award winner for 1998’s The Last Days — seem to exercise a great deal of editorial discipline in crafting deep narrative through-lines. Some of the facts seem fancifully sourced, and without verification or pushback; one interviewee claims that consumers get 90 percent of their food from family farms, which contradicts both common sense as well as movies like Food, Inc., and would have to be dependent on a fairly generous definition of the word “family.” At its core, Farmland lacks a thesis statement. Discussions of hot button issues like the organic certification process and GMOs enter the proceedings late, more than 35 minutes in, and seem clipped and perfunctory.

What gives Farmland its punch and connection is the forthrightness and decency of its subjects, the candor with which they share their lives and the even-handedness with which they weigh questions integral to the future of farming in the United States. Meanwhile, Harris Done’s cinematography communicates volumes in its simple beauty, and a closing sequence set to a cover version of “This Land Is Your Land” by Everclear and Liz Phair will spark a swollen-hearted feeling of idealistic connection to the dedication and livelihoods of these hale, hearty, ever-optimistic folks. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. For the movie’s trailer and more information regarding its theatrical exhibition, click here to visit its website. (Allentown Productions, unrated, 77 minutes)

Decoding Annie Parker boasts a deep roster of recognizable faces, including Rashida Jones, Alice Eve, Helen Hunt and Aaron Paul, in addition to star Samantha Morton. This speaks to the enormous potential of its material, which is rooted in the true story of a three-time cancer survivor and the scientific discovery of the hereditary breast cancer gene. In the hands of a first-time feature director with no overarching idea of how to wrangle disparate narrative strands into the shape of anything consequential, however, this well-meaning but hopelessly disjointed period drama comes to resemble nothing so much as a Lifetime movie run amok and off the tracks, unfolding in maddening fits and starts under a series of problematic wigs and skullcaps. For the full, original review, from Paste, click here. (E One Entertainment/Ozymandias Productions, R, 99 minutes)

The bug-eyed social rantings of two-time Grammy Award-winning stand-up comedian Lewis Black get a healthy workout in Lewis Black: Old Yeller – Live at the Borgata, his ninth comedy special, recorded last year in Atlantic City. Apoplectically cycling through irritants great and small, the 65-year-old multi-hyphenate provides an amusing, highly personalized look at the state of modern American life, and its shared intersections with both technology and government.

Black’s sardonic personality — for anyone familiar with him through his “Back in Black” segments on The Daily Show, or anywhere else, to be honest — is the engine that drives a lot of his comedy, which is of the observational variety. After honoring his in-the-audience parents at the top of Old Yeller (some of the artwork of his father, who took up painting after retirement, makes up the backdrop for his show), Black dives headlong into disappointment. He shares that despite the disapproving glances and statements of married people, the greatest disappointment in his life is not his singledom and lack of children, but the 21st century as a whole. Using that as a leaping-off point, he assails his peer group as “the greatest generation at hanging out,” and doing nothing.

Old Yeller leans heavily on the twin pillars of personal agitation and neuroses, but it largely works. When Black is tackling bigger, societal issues through smaller, more relatable comedy (as he does linking Social Security solvency and the mysteries of long division), he’s on fire. Digressions into national health care and the environment (“Earth Day was created when I was in school, and we were doing a lot of drugs”) don’t connect as robustly, but when Black trains his rage on Facebook in an extended rant, there’s a luminousness to his prose and performance, with a couple well-placed epithets used to punctuate his anger.

Running just under one hour, Old Yeller evinces the feeling of a couple missed opportunities; when Black says that, after 25 years of professional travel, he knows some states shouldn’t actually be states, you wish he’d quick-riffed on the best (read: worst) absurdity he’d encountered. Still, when Black circles back late in the show to politics, and how when he was growing up drinking (often to excess) helped Congress actually achieve both equanimity and actual legislative accomplishment, there’s plenty of warped yet keen insight on display. There’s also a hard edge to a lot of this concluding material, and the fact that a viewer can feel a bit of unease gathering in the audience only deepens one’s appreciation for the harsh, borderline profane truth-slinging in which Black trades. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. In addition to its premiere on EPIX, Lewis Black: Old Yeller – Live at the Borgata also hits DVD on May 6, in a slightly longer version, with attendant chapter stops and the like. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here; to purchase via Half, click here. (Image Entertainment/EPIX, unrated, 57 minutes)