Author: BO

Jason Statham likes to work. And he’s been cranking out movies for quite some time now, with wildly different results. He’s achieved success with his more ridiculous endeavors, including 2024’s “The Beekeeper” (a sequel is coming next year), but he’s certainly not working to stretch as an actor, walking in Charles Bronson’s footprints with actioners that strictly favor his growly voice and physical intimidation, sticking with a one-man-army formula. The latest addition to his filmography is “Shelter,” which looks to pull out a slightly more emotional side of Statham, who portrays a man of solitude suddenly in charge of protecting a girl who needs his help. The screenplay by Ward Perry isn’t an original concoction of spy games and blunt force trauma, but the picture retains some decent roughness, and director Ric Roman Waugh (who was just in theaters with “Greenland 2: Migration”) keeps the usual business of violence and survival decently compelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Angel Manuel Soto showed a bit of spirit with his previous endeavors, guiding “Charm City Kings” and “Blue Beetle” to at least some creative success. He has a lot more trouble with “The Wrecking Crew,” tasked with realizing Jonathan Tropper’s (“The Adam Project”) apparent tribute to buddy action comedies of the 1980s. It’s not a sophisticated offering of character interactions and criminal happenings, going lunkheaded instead with a messy display of relationships and sleuthing. It has a prime location in Hawaii, but Soto commits to overkill to make it through the effort, serving up a loud and dismally written streaming distraction, investing in the non-chemistry between leads Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa, who, try as they might, can’t conquer the overall weakness of ideas Tropper is recycling here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Worldbreaker” plays like an adaptation of a novel that’s missing its first and last three chapters. Screenwriter Joshua Rollins (“Infinite Storm”) throws viewers into the middle of a study of global ruin, rebellion, and survival, creating a semi-sci-fi look at a creature invasion story. However, big moments with CGI threats are limited to only a few sequences, with the rest of the material devoted to parental protection as the tale follows a father desperately trying to prepare his teen daughter for fight for her life. Director Brad Anderson offers some interesting visual ideas with the film, but he’s not particularly concerned with keeping viewers involved in the unfolding drama, with so much of “Worldbreaker” playing unfinished, or perhaps severely edited down. There’s no real introduction and very little resolution, keeping the offering at a distance, despite heavy emotions in play at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Islands” is an unusual film. It’s a mystery in many ways, but it’s also a character study, tracking the days of a washed-up tennis player dealing with the dullness of his life while employed as an instructor for a resort in the Canary Islands. There’s a lot going on with the characters, but co-writer/director Jan-Ole Gerster isn’t interested in raising the dramatic speed limit on the endeavor, trying to remain as slow-burn as possible, allowing viewers to clearly study the story and character reactions. The feature isn’t commanding in a traditional way, despite teasing a few Hitchcockian elements, but it succeeds as something to explore, as Gerster uses his gorgeous locations to help pull viewers into the central situation, and details are present for those with the patience to hunt for them. “Islands” sneaks up on the audience, and while there’s no grand escalation, there are dramatic textures to feel around for, helping to stay involved in a fairly leisurely crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marketing efforts for “Grizzly Night” are hoping to sell the picture as a frightening viewing experience, playing up the size of a bear threat and all the horrors to come. Screenwriters Katrina Mathewson and Tanner Bean turn to history to inspire their nature-run-amok tale, dramatizing the night of a grizzly bear attack in 1967, where a collection of Montana campers were tasked with investigation and evasion as a pair of hulking creatures arrived ready to kill whatever was in front of them. It’s a chilling story of humankind’s folly, eventually inspiring major changes in how to deal with bear-based encounters, but “Grizzly Night” isn’t a pulse-pounding chiller. It’s more of a disaster movie from the 1970s, with director Burke Doeren keeping things weirdly mild as a large collection of characters manage an emergency situation, often without necessary cinematic urgency. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since the release of director Sam Raimi’s last horror film, the incredible “Drag Me to Hell.” The maestro of genre endeavors hasn’t worked too hard since then, overseeing two blockbuster Disney productions (2013’s “Oz The Great and Powerful” and 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”), but clearly he’s been itching to make some big screen trouble once again. “Send Help” isn’t another “Drag Me to Hell,” but it’s relatively close, getting Raimi back to the business of torturous experiences and unusual power plays with a tale concerning two survivors of a plane crash stuck with each other on a deserted island. Raimi-isms aren’t dialed up to 11, but he retains tremendous fondness for deliciously macabre events, and he’s gifted a phenomenal performance from Rachel McAdams, who delivers nuanced, commanding work to help the offering reach unexpected emotions as it details the unraveling of two characters in the middle of nowhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2006, co-writer/director Christophe Gans took his fandom of the video game “Silent Hill” and attempted to translate the console event to the big screen. The film wasn’t impressive, but it did deliver some compellingly ghoulish visuals while it tried to find drama in an exploratory gaming experience. Gans wasn’t around for the 2012 sequel, “Silent Hill: Revelation,” which was a disaster. Perhaps emboldened to right a perceived wrong, Gans stages a comeback for “Return to Silent Hill,” looking to master a reboot of the series, taking primary inspiration from the “Silent Hill 2” video game. Gans (who was last seen with 2014’s “Beauty and the Beast”) seems primed to deliver a refreshed nightmare experience with the sequel, but clunkiness, pokiness, and limited thespian might work to bring down the picture. The helmer hopes to conjure a horror show with some heart, but all “Return to Silent Hill” delivers is a good reason to play the game instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The awkwardly titled “Untitled Home Invasion Romance” represents the directorial debut for actor Jason Biggs. The “American Pie” star hasn’t been seen in much lately, perhaps inspiring him to take control of a production, turning to a script by Joshua Paul Johnson and Jamie Napoli to help inspire a twisty, twisted viewing experience that follows a particularly troubled weekend getaway for a couple on the verge of divorce. The material endeavors to merge madcap comedy and very Coen Brothers-style darkness, with Biggs hoping to end up with a wild tonal ride that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats as everything goes wrong for the characters. “Untitled Home Invasion Romance” doesn’t play out that cleanly, often struggling with atmosphere as the picture lurches from silliness to seriousness without proper transitions, and storytelling here is on the messy side, eventually getting lost in a collection of characters and their motivations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Arco” represents the feature-length directorial debut for Ugo Bienvenu, also co-scripting the offering with Felix de Givry. The pair take on a science fiction tale of time travel, but they don’t obsess over the fine details of such adventuring, preferring to examine a more human response to unexpected friendship, and all the support it entails. It’s an animated picture working with a limited budget, but the production puts in great care when it comes to beautiful imagery and mysterious happenings, keeping viewers of all ages engaged while following the troubles facing a young boy from the future and the girl he befriends in a city of tomorrow. “Arco” is wonderful work from Bienvenu, who puts real care into the production, offering a tender understanding of emotional states and strong future world imagination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While “Mercy” is being promoted as something of a thriller involving the world of A.I. and its all-consuming presence in human life, it’s more of a “screenlife” viewing experience, where most of the feature focuses on a character exploring computer screens and accessing cameras. Screenwriter Marco van Belle has a premise that could work, putting a man accused of murder inside an A.I.-driven courtroom to speed through his case in 90 minutes, giving him a chance to defend his innocence in front of a computer judge. The details of this futureworld (well, just 2029) should be enough to fill an entire film, but director Timur Bekmambetov (who’s been involved in a few screenlife endeavors, including 2021’s “Profile”) insists on making a junkier picture with “Mercy,” going the B-movie route as logic and patience are set aside for cheap thrills and pure ridiculousness at times, while the digital adventuring gets old in a hurry. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Pillion” is based on the 2020 book, “Box Hill,” with author Adam Mars-Jones exploring the loneliness of a gay man unable to find a connection in the world, eventually locating relief from a most unusual person and his particular demands of attention. The story has apparently been shifted around quite a bit by writer/director Harry Lighton, but the core experience remains the same, getting into the tightness of feelings between two men attempting to work out a dominant/submissive relationship. Lighton (making his feature-length directorial debut with the endeavor) examines some dark emotional spaces along the way, but he’s mostly invested in something a tad warmer than expected, focusing on the eternal battle of need with what’s mostly an askew story of commitment that teases some unusual romantic directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Patrick Whistler goes a dark place with “In Cold Light.” It’s a character study about a woman dealing with troubled family members, rough personal experiences, and a heavy past, attempting to find a way back to life after being released from prison. It’s a crime story, but not exclusively, as Whistler strives to add a potent psychological element to the feature, sticking close to behaviors and decisions instead of more action-y encounters. It’s a gritty offering of survival, and it’s mostly handled capably by director Maxime Giroux (“Felix & Meira”), who opts for a more visual experience, focusing on unsettled personalities as special life complications and troubles return to view. “In Cold Light” is dedicated to steely looks and threatening moments, and the picture ultimately finds its way to charged moments during its unusual odyssey into the depths of guilt. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s always a lot of talk about indie cinema, especially movies already backed by corporate financing, but The Adams Family appears to be the real deal when it comes to the idea of creative independence. The clan returns to screens with “Mother of Flies,” once again claiming most of the credits as they add to their growing list of genre endeavors, this time examining the strange ways of woodland witchcraft and the unspoken pain of mortality. Writer/director/stars John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser (joined by Lulu Adams) look to creep into viewer minds with this decidedly slow-burn endeavor about witchcraft and manipulation. If you’ve seen other Adams Family endeavors (such as “Hellbender” and 2024’s “Hell Hole”), you might be more prepared for the stillness of the offering, but such awareness doesn’t magically help the filmmakers and their amateurish ways. “Mother of Flies” has a few interesting ideas on the state of finality and acceptance, but one as to work through stilted dialogue and stiff performances to get there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com