The original Kinect with the USB plug on it is simply not hi-res enough for facial mocap. Sadly, even if it was; you need bones in the face to match the mocap data to. That's why I use the Talk Designer. It works with morph data. The new Kinect on the new Xbox One is supposed to capture facial data but again there is the matter of facial bones. I don't have a new Xbox so I cannot test with it.

As for my Mac buddy.... No help at all for those of us on real people wages. He suggested the same software as you found already.