BRIAN ORNDORF

Author: BO

  • Blu-ray Review – The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover

    Writer/director Larry Cohen takes on a post-Nixon world in 1977’s “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover,” trying to make sense of a presidential mess and American issues by taking a look at U.S. government history. This being Cohen, there’s not a lot of money to help bring an epic study of corruption to life, leaving the helmer to do his usual B-movie thing with the material, pulling together something of a bio-pic without much in the way of polish. “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover” isn’t a particularly big swing for Cohen, who gets very messy while trying to assemble the details of Hoover’s experiences and influences, but he does have a large cast to help bring his ideas to life, including a lead performance from Broderick Crawford that captures some of the inner turmoil that kept Hoover clinging to power for nearly 50 years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – The Beyond

    My personal introduction to “The Beyond” was in the mid-1990s. Quentin Tarantino, newly exploring his marketplace powers at the time, co-founded Rolling Thunder Pictures, intending to bring influential exploitation movies to art-house audiences, with the 1981 Lucio Fulci offering part of the pack (alongside such oddities as “Switchblade Sisters,” “Mighty Peking Man,” and “Detroit 9000”). “The Beyond” was offered as a midnight show, and it was a memorable moviegoing experience (and one I repeated a few more times), presenting a wholly bizarre Italian horror picture to a slightly groggy, probably inebriated audience, allowing its filmmaking charms to hit in a special way. The endeavor remains unique in its weirdness and low-budget ambition, finding Fulci’s determination to generate a fright fest with the seams showing quite enjoyable to watch. The effort is sloppy at times, unbelievably goofy as well, but there’s something special about this messy presentation of torment and suffering, finding Fulci uniquely motivated to create a bizarre, art-inspired screen nightmare. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – They Call Her Death

    “They Call Her Death” intends to be a homage to many things, including spaghetti westerns and drive-in cinema. Writer/director Austin Snell has his fondness for genre filmmaking, trying to work out his wiggles with a picture that aims to provide violent entertainment to fans who won’t mind an extremely limited budget. Ambition is there from Snell, who constructs a revenge story involving a widow hunting down the corrupt men who killed her loving husband, using such cinematic power to drench the feature in blood, also creating a passably striking figure in the main character and her boiling rage. “They Call Her Death” has a few effective moments, especially when it gets into fiery confrontations, but the rest of the offering resembles a filmed high school play, lacking rougher style and at least some degree of urgency these endeavors are known for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – The Nick Millard Action Collection

    Nick Millard made a lot of movies during his career. How many of them were actually good is a matter of opinion, but Millard was unstoppable, churning out homegrown erotica, actioners, and thrillers without any care as to how his endeavors would be received by the public. “Nick Millard Action Collection” picks five of these offerings to share with the public, presenting what appears to be a fairly accurate display of Millard’s directorial enthusiasm and his technical limitations, which occasionally were quite severe. Included on the set are “Street Race,” “Alcatraz 1313-0,” “.357 Magnum,” “Shotgun,” and “One-Armed Warrior,” and every single film presented here is exactly as promised by the titles. “Nick Millard Action Collection” is quite the education on the helmer’s cinematic interests and production ingenuity, working to turn anything, ANYTHING, into a scene for one of his efforts. There’s something quite endearing about such bottom-shelf ambition, but that doesn’t necessarily mean what’s offered here is always a good time at the movies. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Disneyland Handcrafted

    The development and creation of Disneyland is no secret. There’s been plenty of media devoted to the topic, exploring the details of Walt Disney’s seemingly insane dream of creating an entire theme park, and giving himself one year to do it. “Disneyland Handcrafted” is a documentary about the construction of the park, but director Leslie Iwerks (“The Imagineering Story,” “Superpowered: The DC Story,” and “100 Years of Warner Bros.”) comes armed with something many books, television shows, video essays, and newspaper articles don’t have: access to the archives. Iwerks maintains the presence of Imagineers and employees through audio interviews, but the big selling point of “Disneyland Handcrafted” is the presentation of never-before-seen footage from the building of the Anaheim, California project, as Walt was careful to make sure the whole shebang was documented in many ways. For Disneyana types, the movie is an engrossing opportunity to enjoy a nearly 3D-like viewing experience of pure labor. For the rest, Iwerks makes sure to celebrate the creative and physical drive of a massive undertaking, making for a riveting sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

    Gore Verbinski hasn’t made a movie in a decade. He once developed a fanbase with quirky offerings (“Mousehunt”) and scary happenings (“The Ring”), and exploded into mainstream success with the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” features. Sustaining this career momentum was difficult for Verbinski, who hit a wall with 2013’s bloated take on “The Lone Ranger,” and a 2016 return to horror, “A Cure for Wellness,” was basically ignored by the public. The helmer returns with “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” which is a blend of bigness, silliness, and terror, taking command of an ambitious script by Matthew Robinson (“Love and Monsters,” “Dora and the Lost City of Gold”) that tackles the zombification of our phone-based world, following an assortment of characters as they scramble to save humanity. It’s a darkly comedic take on doomsday, allowing Verbinski room to play with tone and intensity as he oversees an unusual time travel/apocalyptic crisis of confusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Shelter

    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

  • Film Review – The Wrecking Crew

    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

  • Film Review – Worldbreaker

    “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

  • Film Review – Islands

    “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

  • Film Review – Grizzly Night

    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

  • Film Review – Send Help

    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

  • Film Review – Return to Silent Hill

    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

  • Blu-ray Review – Take Off

    1978’s “Take Off” is inspired by Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” changing the premise from a painting containing dark magic to an adult film that possesses strange powers. Instead of following the original story, co-writer/director Armand Weston (who would go on to make 1981’s “The Nesting”) uses the source material to fuel his Hollywood fandom, transforming a dark tale into light comedy, with the T.V. show “Laugh-In” a clear influence on the endeavor. “Take Off” is a very silly picture, and also passably ambitious, watching Weston attempt to tell a story that takes place over six decades and tries to pack in as much Hollywood history as possible. There’s adult material as well, but carnal activity also seems like an afterthought in the offering, which is much more interested in the potential for parody and lighthearted antics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – The Maiden

    “The Maiden” is the directorial debut for Graham Foy, and he aims to revive the cinema of Terrence Malick and other filmmakers of his generation with the feature. It’s an atmospheric viewing experience focusing on the behaviors of teenagers as they deal with loss in many forms, processing major changes to their lives in silence as they try to participate in daily routine. There are actually two stories to examine here, as Foy tries to get poetic with “The Maiden,” examining the troubles and isolation of outsiders during turbulent emotional times, often doing so with deliberate distance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – 5 Dead on the Crimson Canvas

    Writer/director Joseph F. Parda was a fan of giallo movies. As one does when they’re young and filled with dreams, he elected to pick up a Super 8 camera and try to replicate the viewing experience, aiming to deliver a little Argento-scented mayhem with his friends in Long Island, NY. 1996’s “5 Dead on the Crimson Canvas” is the result of such labor, offering a homemade version of Italian filmmaking, and such ambition actually gets the endeavor halfway there. There’s a killer-in-black on the loose, a variety of suspects, a handful of victims, and touches of sleaziness to reach exploitational goals. Parda has an idea of what he wants to accomplish, but he’s missing one major thing: screen momentum. “5 Dead on the Crimson Canvas” is a painfully dull offering of giallo turns and unstable characters, going slow and clunky with its presentation of murder and mystery, though the potency of such puzzling is certainly debatable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Untitled Home Invasion Romance

    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

  • Film Review – Arco

    “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

  • Film Review – Mercy

    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

  • Film Review – Pillion

    “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