Author: BO

Last August, director Shawn Levy and actor Ryan Reynolds managed to break through the pandemic blues with the box office hit, “Free Guy.” Sending up the wild world of video games, “Free Guy” had spirit and a few laughs, ready to charm viewers with formulaic storytelling. They same can be said of “The Adam Project,” which often plays like a video game, putting the star through the paces as a man from the future looking to set things right in the past. Levy isn’t one to challenge audiences, keeping his latest endeavor breezy and entertaining, but it’s certainly not without many issues. Much like their previous collaboration, “The Adam Project” is glossy entertainment aiming to be heartening while juggling big visual displays of action, which isn’t entirely thrilling, but fits into Levy and Reynolds’s mission to provide easily digestible escapism during troubling times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s important to note that “Outsiders” is being sold as an alien encounter film, with the studio trying to lure an audience typically drawn to tales of weird happenings with strange invaders. There’s a component of the unknown to the screenplay, but this feature is most certainly not the experience marketing efforts are pushing. Instead of danger time with the grays, writer Tucker Morgan and director Delmar Washington hope to use genre fixings to best amplify their social realism material, which examines the experience of a few black characters moving into a remote southern town. There’s a movie to be made about racial hostility involving a specific situation of isolation, but “Outsiders” isn’t it. There’s early promise that something eerie is about to emerge once the plot gets rolling, but Washington doesn’t get the picture to a point of suspense or education, keeping the endeavor quite dull. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Pixar Animation has never strictly targeted children with their movies, but they’ve made a noticeable move to more adult fare in recent years, hoping to challenge family audiences with deeper dramatic offerings and more sophisticated writing. For “Turning Red,” the company takes a look at the unpredictability of adolescence, targeting the early teen years with a tale about a 13-year-old girl who’s transitioning to maturity via full-body red panda breakouts. “Turning Red” will have younger viewers asking a few questions about the demands of puberty, but Pixar keeps matters appreciable with a fantasy tale of giant animal transformation, parenthood, and friendship, with director Domee Shi bringing the broadness of anime to the usual bittersweetness of a Pixar production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The insidious nature of greed drives the suspense of “Gold.” A dystopian survival tale from co-writer/director Anthony Hayes, the picture provides a spare overview of human suffering in a cruel world, which, I know, doesn’t sound like the greatest endorsement, as the feature is relentless in its grim atmosphere of paranoia. However, Hayes does create a gripping viewing experience that’s primarily about physical endurance, with star Zac Efron delivering a committed performance as a man just trying to make his way through the punishment of life, only to come into contact with a situation that could change everything. This reaction to the promise of easy money supports the endeavor, which largely remains in observation mode, extracting plenty of tension from seemingly mundane efforts of self-preservation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Offseason” isn’t based on a video game, but the film definitely plays like one. Writer/director Mickey Keating attempts to summon a spooky mood of investigation in the movie, following a confused woman’s experience in a fog-filled, largely abandoned town, wandering around the area on a quest for answers she’s not prepared for. There’s a heavy “Silent Hill” vibe to the feature, strong enough to pique the curiosity of lawyers I’m sure, but this doesn’t stop Keating, who arranges a screen nightmare filled with strange encounters, threating developments, and thick atmosphere. “Offseason” is a puzzle, but not one that’s begging to be solved, as the picture doesn’t have much of a story to sink into, mostly dependent on strange events involving unstable minds to bring confusion and frights to the endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Viewers will probably have many questions after watching “A Day to Die,” but co-writer/director Wes Miller isn’t too concerned with maintaining coherency with the endeavor. He’s out to pound on the senses with the material, which plays like a dollar store version of 2018’s “Den of Thieves,” dealing with bad guys and not-so-bad guys as they chase after stacks of cash and engage in power plays. Those who’ve been following recent trends in VOD cinema will find all of this very familiar, including rough technical achievements and the appearance of Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo in supporting parts, with these two men incapable of turning down anything, always up for a paycheck. “A Day to Die” is a low-budget action movie, and Miller doesn’t deliver anything more than that, going painfully generic with shootouts and showdowns, often caught skipping on storytelling clarity as this nonsense unfolds. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Surely the dating scene has always been a horror show, with people trying to find other people in a blur of weirdos and creeps. With apps, the situation has grown more complex, allowing people to zero in on hyper-specific wants, and this craving for perfection is brought to a macabre extreme in “Fresh,” which examines one woman’s experience with a seemingly special guy, learning more about his dangerous desires. Writer Lauryn Kahn (“Ibiza”) and director Mimi Cave are out to create something sinister but also knowing, exploring the preliminary stages of trust in a relationship, while staying aware of the dangers facing females on the hunt for a companion while making their way through a world of constant threats. There’s absolutely nothing in “Fresh” that requires 114 minutes of screen time, but an interesting twist on a bad boyfriend concept awaits those with enough patience to make through this twisted endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For reasons not entirely understood, there’s now a surge of movies dedicated to understanding the relationship between television legends, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Last December, there was “Being the Ricardos,” where writer/director Aaron Sorkin took a look at a specific time in these hectic lives, out to identify professional commitment, marital strain, and public scrutiny, going the dramatic route to best delve into these personalities. With “Lucy and Desi,” director Amy Poehler and writer Mark Monroe manufacture a documentary about the subjects and the span of their lives, out to supply a full sense of motivation and inspiration as Ball and Arnaz went from burgeoning performers to the biggest stars in America. “Lucy and Desi” is a celebration of artistic endeavors and an inspection of the domestic experience, giving fans a peek behind the curtain to best appreciate all the couple accomplished. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Eamon O’Rourke has a promising idea with “Asking for It,” merging exploitation trends of the 1970s with social issues of today, working up update the revenge film for a new audience. The story details an underground community dedicated to the protection and satisfaction of sexual assault victims, with this team facing their biggest challenge in the rise of a male power organization determined to destroy females in the name of masculinity. There’s a compelling concept that invites a high-minded take on B-movie mayhem, using enticing extremity to reach viewers with ideas on the screwed-up state of the world. Making his helming debut, O’Rourke doesn’t have the experience to make magic with “Asking for It,” which is repeatedly held back by painful budget constraints and poor execution, leaving a noble endeavor to gradually fall apart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s been a lot of Batman on film recently, with the caped crusader recently released from his Ben Affleck phase for director Zack Snyder with last year’s “Justice League” reconstruction. Not much time has passed, but a new year demands a new Batman, and Robert Pattinson steps up for “The Batman,” which presents a fresh start for the franchise, with director Matt Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “War for the Planet of the Apes”) in charge of a different vision for the same Gotham City misery. “The Batman” has all the ingredients the fanbase expects, dealing with villains, crime, and costumed heroism, but Reeves successfully shakes things up with his noir-ish take on the brand name, turning the picture into a brooding detective story that pays careful attention to character and atmosphere. It’s a lengthy endeavor (175 minutes long), and you’ll feel it, but the reward for such an extreme run time is full immersion in the mental health war that is the Batman experience, with Reeves nailing the brutality and awakening of this complicated dark knight. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com