Author: BO

There are plenty of movies about exorcisms, with the practice of pulling demonic spirits out of innocent souls catnip to genre filmmakers still chasing the high 1973’s “The Exorcist” left behind. After recently enduring the dullness of 2022’s “Prey for the Devil,” audiences are now offered “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which tries to amplify its message of Catholic might by using a real-world man of Satanic action as inspiration, with the evil encounters and experiences of Father Gabriele Amorth (who allegedly performed over 50,000 exorcisms) used by screenwriters Michael Petroni (“The Rite”) and Evan Spilliotopoulos (“The Unholy”), with both men taking previous stabs at the subgenre, coming up short in the fright department. The authenticity of Amorth’s claims are the subject of “The Pope’s Exorcist,” with the material aiming to turn him into a heroic figure of authority, facing a most determined demon working to rattle the man of God. There’s a lot of a same old stuff in the feature, which does have the benefit of an engaged performance from Russell Crowe, but as a chiller, director Julius Avery (“Overlord,” “Samaritan”) doesn’t provide a fresh approach. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nicolas Cage is no stranger to playing vampiric characters, delivering one of his kookiest performances in 1988’s “Vampire’s Kiss.” However, for “Renfield,” Cage is tasked with bringing Count Dracula to life, not just an average lunatic, and the notoriously extreme actor takes the professional challenge seriously. Cage is most of the fun of the feature, putting in the work to create a nightmarish interpretation of the original creature of the night, but the film is more of a graphic novel-style experience than Bram Stoker-minded. Director Chris McKay has some experience in the world of cartoonish entertainment, previously helming “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Tomorrow War,” and he gives “Renfield” a defined sense of silliness and acrobatic violence, going for a semi-lighter take on all the death that surrounds Dracula. There are elements to the effort that don’t connect as intended, but McKay and screenwriter Ryan Ridley try to merge action cinema with an absolute bloodbath, delivering a highly bizarre and periodically electric endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A lot of strange creative choices went into the making of “Mafia Mamma,” which attempts to offer viewers some big laughs and acts of shock value, trying to turn underworld life into a sandbox for star Toni Collette. She’s in Goldie Hawn mode here, asked to carry a story of a personal awakening that also touches on criminal management and broad romantic activity. Collette is more than capable of playing daffy, but her choice of material is underwhelming, with screenwriters J. Michael Feldman and Debbie Jhoon unable to master a balance of light and dark “Mafia Mamma” requires. The picture is all over the place, but it’s never funny, which appears to be the primary goal of the endeavor. Instead of laughs, the effort grows tiresome, which only inspires director Catherine Hardwicke to hit harder when it comes to wacky misadventures in organized crime. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Mummies” is a Spanish animated production that’s hoping to use Disney formula as it explores a world of strange magic and restless characters. Screenwriters Jordi Gasull and Javier Lopez Barreira don’t offer an original take on the needs of a princess and the concern of a future prince, trusting in the familiarity of it all as cartoon shenanigans carry the endeavor. Perhaps younger audiences won’t mind the formula, and there’s something potentially compelling about the concept of mummies on the loose, but the feature isn’t pushing too hard when it comes to excitement, making it hard for those who’ve seen this kind of story before to sit through it again. “Mummies” plays it safe, dealing with slapstick comedy, broad villainy, and the torment of easily solvable problems, and director Juan Jesus Garcia Galocha doesn’t challenge any of it, electing to coast on bright animation and occasional silliness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Christian entertainment receives a necessary jolt of suspense with “On a Wing and a Prayer,” which dramatizes the experience of Doug White, an aspiring pilot caught in a desperate situation when he’s forced to take the controls of a plane after the official pilot dies in mid-air. The picture is based on a true story, and it’s one that just so happens to be structured like a Hollywood disaster movie, with screenwriter Brian Egeston tasked with juggling multiple perspectives as a team of professionals try to help Doug land his plane safely, and if he can’t do that, land in the ocean. “On a Wing and a Prayer” is suspenseful and sharply paced, with director Sean McNamara (“Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite,” “Bratz”) wisely sticking to the essentials of panic, making a mostly lean, procedural endeavor with occasional questioning of God’s way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As a creature of folklore, the Chupacabra is a mysterious beast, meant to inspire fear with its history as a vampiric animal looking to suck blood out of its victims. Director Jonas Cuaron (“Desierto”) tries to rehabilitate the reputation of the Chupacabra with “Chupa,” which seeks to create an “E.T.”-like connection between a boy and a furry baby he learns to befriend, making for a spirited family film adventure. Cuaron endeavors to make something approachable for all ages with the picture, which doesn’t wow with its emotional magic, but gets far enough on charm, elements of Mexican culture, and the innate warmth of a story that involves kids trying to protect a cute critter from harm. “Chupa” is a pleasant feature, with Cuaron offering an easygoing journey of family and honor, buttering up the viewing experience with some nostalgic looks at the way the world once was. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The world of Nintendo’s Mario character has grown exponentially since its debut in the early 1980s. The little Italian man and his mighty jump has developed into a media behemoth, with the “Super Mario” video game series transforming the brand name into an event, leaping out of console play to become a fan obsession in T.V., books, theme park additions, and, of course, the movies. One of the early stabs at a game adaptation was 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.” To a few, the endeavor was a daring reimagining of the character’s adventures in unreality. To most, the feature was a cringe-inducing bastardization of the source material. Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” seeks to take back the big screen, with directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (“Teen Titans Go! To the Movies”) putting in a major effort to respect the Mario universe, delivering a bright, colorful, and swiftly paced odyssey for the Brooklyn plumber that’s packed with references and reverence, absolutely determined to satisfy loyal button-mashers who’ve been let down before. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bob Ross was a painter who hosted his own PBS show, “The Joy of Painting,” which aired for 11 years. He’s the “happy trees” guy, with his bushy hair and unnervingly peaceful on-air demeanor reaching a small but appreciative audience of art enthusiasts and students. Today, Ross is big business, with Bob Ross Inc. protective of his image, but happy to turn the man into a merchandise machine, keeping his spirit and moneymaking potential alive decades after his death. There’s no way the company is going to allow Hollywood to make a Bob Ross movie, leaving writer/director Brit McAdams to invent Carl Nargle, a bushy-haired, unnervingly peaceful character going through major emotional upheaval in “Paint,” which plays with Ross’s world of creativity while generating its own study of a man dedicated to his ego, failing to noticed the changing times. “Paint” does its own thing with the not-really-Bob-Ross experience, and McAdams mostly lands a mellow, periodically amusing character study with this subject, doing his best to avoid a thin parody of a public television legend. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making his way through the film business, actor Scott Caan appeared in many movies, trying his best to establish himself as a big screen presence. It didn’t quite take, but Caan made a wise career decision when he agreed to star in a remake of the television show “Hawaii Five-0,” spending an astonishing ten years with the program, maintaining steady employment as a network player, likely amassing a fortune in the process. Instead of jumping back into T.V., Caan tries his luck again in the movies, creating the screenplay for “One Day as a Lion,” giving himself the lead role in a tale of mistakes and misunderstandings. The endeavor teases a darkly comedic side with aggressive characters and their bristly interactions, but Caan mostly keeps everything simple and slow, putting his faith in mild tensions to carry the effort. Unfortunately, he needs something more than basic antagonisms to make this tale come to life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Richard Connell’s 1924 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” has inspired many adaptations over multiple forms of media, with storytellers routinely drawn to the central idea of hunters going after human prey for sheer thrills. The premise has been done to death, recently too (including a 2022 adaptation starring Casper Van Dien in the villain role), giving writers David Lipper and John Saunders a challenge to bring something different to the screen. This slight deviation from the usual barbarity comes in the form of a semi-feminist take, with “Hunt Club” turning to the ills of modern society to cook up a battle between the sexes. Perhaps there’s potential in such a war, but “Hunt Club” doesn’t take the assignment seriously, electing to skip on sustained action and suspense to meander with humdrum characters and unadventurous direction from Elizabeth Blake-Thomas, who seems reluctant to turn the endeavor into the mean machine it could easily become. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Author Taylor Jenkin Reid looks to bring her novel, “One True Loves,” to the big screen, sharing screenplay duties with Alex J. Reid. The pair have the challenge of transforming a literary experience into a film, and one that deals with tender feelings concerning separation and loss, with Reid using pages to examine the inner lives of characters stuck in a confusing situation of loyalty. There’s a love triangle of sorts to confront, featuring wounded people at their most vulnerable, requiring a moviemaker capable of selling the tender feelings with some level of emotional authenticity while also tending to the soap opera-ish ways the plot. Enter Andy Fickman, who’s not known for subtlety, with the “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” helmer in charge of making something gentle for the masses. He fumbles the assignment, turning “One True Loves” into a mediocre television production, unsure how to handle performances and tone as the endeavor grows increasingly insincere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com