Author: BO

In 2009, there was “Avatar,” which represented writer/director James Cameron’s follow-up to “Titanic,” the film that made box office history. Collecting influences from sci-fi books, movies, and indigenous life, Cameron merged high technology with basic storytelling, emerging with a feature that unexpectedly topped “Titanic,” becoming a phenomenon. “Avatar” was an amazing achievement in the world of visual effects, upping the game for 3D presentations and motion-capture, but it wasn’t the most stimulating offering of drama, as Cameron struggled with his dialogue and the cartoonishness of his characters. Amazingly, it’s been 13 years since the release of the original picture, and now Cameron returns with “Avatar: The Way of Water,” his long-awaited sequel, which increases cinematic power with extraordinary visuals, but the continuation doesn’t stray far from its predecessor, rehashing characterization and plot to reset the franchise for an extended adventure, with multiple sequels already on the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer James Pedersen (making his debut) offers a small-scale battle to the death with “High Heat,” taking viewers into a fancy restaurant where trouble develops for the main characters after hours. Pedersen creates a community of fractured personalities and arranges some itchy relationships to manage, working to build a sense of history and antagonism to best launch this milder action endeavor, which is something along the lines of “Die Hard” in a kitchen. There’s a sense of humor to keep the feature approachable, and while the screenplay struggles with the demands of exposition, Pedersen is putting in more of an effort than what’s typically offered for the genre, while director Zach Golden (“The Escape of Prisoner 614”) aims to maintain some momentum to the film, creating a few lively sequences of violence and intimidation, and he knows to keep the picture as short as possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Almond and the Seahorse” takes a look at the world of traumatic brain injuries, which isn’t a topic that’s usually covered in films. It’s a personal story from Kaite O’Reilly, who adapts her play (with co-writer/co-director Celyn Jones), trying to bring such medical and emotional intimacies to the screen. The feature also marks a change of pace for co-star Rebel Wilson, who’s normally hired for wacky behaviors in silly movies, but now she’s ready for something more dramatic and challenging, trying to inhabit a character stuck in a dire situation of personal loss. “The Almond and the Seahorse” aims to be artistic and soulful, exploring levels of frustration involved with caretaking needs. At its most sincere and direct, the picture has unique power, but the material is also prone to bursts of melodrama, and relationships feel too underdeveloped at times, restraining the complex emotional journey of the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making her feature-length debut as a writer/director is Alison Locke, and she picks quite a story to tell with “The Apology.” It’s a two-hander production that takes place over one night, in a single location, with stars Anna Gunn and Linus Roache gifted an entire movie to explore their characters and the strangely hostile situations these personalities are in. It’s a series of tight spaces, both literally and dramatically, for Locke to examine, working very hard to make what’s basically a short film into a satisfying, 90-minute-long viewing experience. Gunn and Roache are up to the challenge with “The Apology,” which opens with an unexpected reunion during the Christmas holiday and gradually devolves into an understanding of diseased minds and the crippling weight of guilt. It’s a solid endeavor with outstanding performances, and if you’re sensitive to spoilers, this is the place to stop reading, as any basic inspection of the picture has to detail a few of the screenplay’s turns. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nanny” is being marketed as something of a horror film, but it isn’t one. At least not in the traditional sense, with monsters in the dark and danger lurking all around. Writer/director Nikyatu Jusu only uses such imagery to amplify the main character’s headspace, examining the struggles of a Senegalese mother trying to earn money for a chance to reunite with her son, doing so by accepting work raising a different child. “Nanny” has its flashes of violence and a certain fear factor, but all of this noisiness tends to block the view of an interestingly spare but effective summary of employment exploitation when it comes to the immigrant experience. Genuine suspense is summoned in unusual ways, with Jusu showing more confidence with realism than symbolism, depicting an uncomfortable situation of denial while also managing the developing pain of a mother who can’t reach her own child. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Detective Knight: Rogue” was released seven weeks ago. It’s okay if you don’t remember it, few people actually saw it, but it marked the beginning of a trilogy from writers Corey Large and Edward John Drake (who also directs), who don’t have an overall arc to follow over three features, but they have titles, with “Detective Knight: Redemption” hoping to continue the story of the eponymous cop and his hazily defined reason for rage. It seems the three movies were all shot at the same time, trying to take advantage of star Bruce Willis’s limited working capabilities due to his medical condition, and he’s back, kind of, for “Redemption,” with his role basically amounting to an extended cameo. “Rogue” was a rough sit, with Drake struggling to tell a coherent story and manage dismal action sequences, and the same vibe is present in the sequel, which offers a slightly smaller pool of crooks and cops, but shows no creative spark, turning to pure cliché to get by. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With box office grosses trending downward for the “Night at the Museum” live-action series, the franchise was put to bed after 2014’s “Secret of the Tomb,” with producers giving the brand name a much needed rest. Rethinking the core appeal of the material, “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again” tries to restart the premise with an animated take, reimagining a building populated with living statues with more visual and comedic flexibility. Keeping the budget down is certainly a concern for the endeavor, but “Kahmunrah Rises Again” is a breezy adventure with these characters and their addiction to overnight chaos, with director Matt Danner (“Muppet Babies,” “Legend of the Three Caballeros”) aiming to make a fun ride for younger viewers. The helmer gives the target demographic what they want, and while the feature is no epic, often too cartoonish, it loses the obvious fatigue that made “Secret of the Tomb” a chore to sit through. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2020’s “The Binge” had potential. It was a comedic take on “The Purge,” only instead of unimaginable violence allowed across the country for a short period of time, the feature focused on drugs made legal for citizens looking to go crazy for one night. Screenwriter Jordan VanDina had a chance to create a rollicking movie about the wildness of such freedom, and “The Binge” got halfway there, helped along by co-star Vince Vaughn, who worked to make his moments count in a picture that tried to get by on poorly imagined raunchiness. VanDina returns to his creation for a Vaughn-less “It’s a Wonderful Binge,” a sequel nobody asked for but the writer is happy to deliver, and he's newly promoted to the director’s chair, overseeing the next round of binge-tastic shenanigans. The first endeavor felt like a missed opportunity, while the follow-up is a torturous viewing experience, lacking even basic cinematic functions as VanDina lurches from one unfunny, borderline unfinished scene to the next. “The Purge,” with all of its death, destruction, and excruciating acting is actually funnier than “It’s a Wonderful Binge.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Three years ago, director Sam Mendes attempted to recreate the madness of war with “1917,” using filmmaking tricks and a large budget to immerse the audience in violence and panic. It was an epic picture that attempted to overwhelm viewers with sound and visuals, capturing a specific sense of confusion. Mendes goes much smaller for his follow-up but largely remains interested in human psychology, offering a more internalized tale of instability in “Empire of Light,” which examines the pains of mental illness and the power of connection. Mendes goes solo in the screenwriting department, and while his focus is on characters and their issues, he’s also inspecting the power of cinema in other ways, setting the story at a movie palace reaching the end of its lifespan. “Empire of Light” is unwieldy and a bit melodramatic at times, but it does retain sharp technical achievements and performances that capture what the helmer is looking for, creating sensitive moments as life carries people in different directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Something from Tiffany’s” isn’t explicitly a Christmas movie, but it does take place during the holiday season, with the production determined to set a cozy mood of romance and connections in New York City. It’s not a Hallmark Channel endeavor either, with the picture an adaptation of a 2011 Melissa Hill book, giving screenwriter Tamara Chestna (“Moxie”) a chance to approach a tale of mistakes and misunderstandings without being solely focused on vanilla experiences. “Something from Tiffany’s” has a premise straight out of a sitcom, but it doesn’t play exactly like one, and while director Daryl Wein (“Lola Versus”) is tasked with creating a soft film, he fights to preserve as much character and feeling as possible with this type of entertainment. It’s not something that raises the bar when it comes to cinematic achievements, but it hopes to be a bit more honest about relationship complications and a tad less robotic than basic cable offerings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Copyright laws are a funny thing, and they’re about to get funnier in a hurry. Beloved characters from books and movies are being repurposed for horror entertainment, and as the world waits for whatever “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” has to offer, there’s “The Mean One” to tide them over. It’s a take on Dr. Suess’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but instead of pulling ideas from the beloved book, screenwriters Finn and Flip Kobler take most of their inspiration from Ron Howard’s 2000 screen adaptation, which starred Jim Carrey as the Grinch. “The Mean One” can’t afford to hire Carrey and it can’t deal with lawsuits, playing a careful game of mimicry with its tale of a monster in a mountain who hates everything about Christmas. However, instead of planning a heist, this green ghoul is ready to kill. “The Mean One” is a low-budget offering from director Steven LaMorte, who doesn’t have a lot to work with here beyond initial outrageousness. It’s a seasonal slaughterama, but also painfully restricted by monetary limitations, feeling like a cheap quickie when it had the potential to be supremely weird. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been repeatedly said that author Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, “White Noise,” is “unfilmable.” There have been a few attempts to bring it to the screen over time, but nothing has managed to make it in front of cameras until now. Writer/director Noah Baumbach attempts to solve a literary adaptation puzzle with the endeavor, which follows a collection of characters as they face death, worry about death, and think about death. It’s an adventure of diverse tones and rhythms, and Baumbach seems to be the person for the job, coming off his career-best work in “Marriage Story,” where he managed to make the excruciating details of divorce into the best film of 2019. The helmer gets somewhere with “White Noise,” locating paths of anxiety and confusion to follow for the first half of the picture. It’s the rest of the feature that loses concentration, with Baumbach unable to translate some stranger ideas, losing consistency along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Emancipation” explores the story of “Whipped Peter,” an enslaved man who, in 1863, managed to escape his captors, crossing 40 miles of Louisiana swampland with hopes to reach some form of safety with Union officers during the Civil War. A photo was taken of his heavily scarred back, creating a horrifying image of suffering that helped to open some eyes to the barbarity of slavery. Screenwriter William N. College and director Antoine Fuqua endeavor to explore and embellish the man’s tale of survival, trying to add something to the ongoing cinematic study of slavery, but “Emancipation” isn’t a nuanced understanding of suffering and faith in the face of despair. It’s more of a Michael Bay-esque effort, with Fuqua trying to stylize horrors and highlight the adventurous aspects of the chase, losing essential elements of character and stakes along the way. The picture is straining to be an important look at physical and spiritual might, but the fine details of fear are lost in the flashiness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While writer/director Alejandro G. Inarritu made his mark with smaller pictures such as “Amores perros,” “21 Grams,” and “Babel,” he achieved major success with larger, Hollywood-driven productions, enjoying big box office and back-to-back Academy Award wins with “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” and “The Revenant,” making him one of the biggest names in the industry. Cashing in on such creative triumphs and profitability, Inarritu returns to his filmmaking roots with “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” going the passion project route with a permissive budget. The helmer hopes to offer a poetic, wily, and possibly autobiographical understanding of an aging man facing his faults and fears while trying to decode his own existence, and Inarritu certainly delivers a visual experience that captures a swirling sense of reality, taking viewers on an extended ride through pleasure and pain. However, such indulgence doesn’t translate to a powerful sit, as “Bardo” doesn’t exactly invite audience investment, largely remaining cold to the touch as the endeavor pursues any and all moviemaking impulses without supplying dramatic support. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Joe Begos has been kicking around low-budget cinema for just under a decade now, and he enjoyed some success with 2020’s “VFW,” a crazy take on zombie cinema featuring a cast of grizzled acting veterans. “VFW” was terrific entertainment, hitting genre highs with a decent imagination for violence and character interactions. “Christmas Bloody Christmas” is the latest offering from Begos, who doesn’t keep much from his previous achievement outside of extreme lighting to help cover monetary limitations. He goes the punishing route this time, aiming for a Rob Zombie-esque slasher event that details the efforts of a malfunctioning robotic Santa and its killing spree. A promising premise is wasted on rough performances and worse dialogue, with Begos asking fans to sit through tedious conversations for the first half of the picture before switching things over to grisly survival sequences. “Christmas Bloody Christmas” takes a long time to get going, and it’s debatable if it actually arrives anywhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com