Category: Film Review

The making of 1975’s “Jaws” is not a secret. The picture’s troubled production experience has become the stuff of Hollywood legend, and tales of professional struggle and personal camaraderie have been explored in all kinds of media, most notably in a lengthy making-of documentary created for the feature’s laserdisc release (directed by Laurent Bouzereau), and there was 2007’s “The Shark is Still Working,” a marvelous fan-driven overview of the picture that strived to be a bit more comprehensive when handling the many details of the movie and its fans. Now there’s an anniversary to celebrate as Steven Spielberg’s massive summer blockbuster turns 50, inspiring Bouzereau to return to this world for “Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story,” which isn’t exactly complete, but it does the trick, especially for lovers of the suspense classic. Bouzereau treats the assignment as a victory lap, gathering interviewees and footage to celebrate five decades of cinema excellence and influence, covering the basics in moviemaking and personality while adding an oceanic angle to the story, reinforcing the power and majesty of the shark, working to erase the villainous label applied to the creature after “Jaws” was initially released. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One of the nice surprises of the 2019 film year was the release of “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” It seemed an impossible task to make a live-action “Dora the Explorer” picture, and one aimed at a teen demographic, but director James Bobin managed to make an entertaining, creative celebration of the animated world, giving it unusual life. Six years later, Dora is back, only now she’s played by a different actress and the production is working with a little less budgetary might to supply a screen adventure. “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” doesn’t share the same bigness as the previous endeavor, but director Alberto Belli and screenwriter JT Billings recapture most of its spirit in a pleasant sequel that’s greatly enhanced by its actors, with Samantha Lorraine (taking over for Isabela Merced) doing an exceptional job making the main role her own. She’s warm and excitable, helping to enliven “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” when it occasionally gets stuck in storytelling inertia. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The video store. It was once a place that launched cinematic journeys and shaped social connections. Now, most of the business is dead, long killed off by Hollywood’s need to chase profit by destroying profit, and video stores have become the focus for many documentaries, especially independent ones scraping together an appreciation of days gone by. Director Alex Ross Perry has a lot of indie cred, previously helming “Her Smell,” “Queen of Earth,” and the recent rock doc “Pavements,” and he goes where many moviemakers have gone before in “Videoheaven,” striving to assemble an understanding of the VHS generation and the business of the rental days. Perry looks to avoid glops of nostalgia, transforming the feature into a lengthy (nearly three hours long) academic examination of the business and its many influences, using inspiration from Daniel Herbert’s 2014 book, “Videoland: Video Culture at the American Video Store.” Perry doesn’t bring the joy for “Videoheaven,” but he comes prepared with hundreds of clips to back up his ideas, creating a visual trek across the once mighty omnipresence of the industry, identifying its cultural power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actor Jack Donnelly heads to “Fatal Attraction” territory in “Pretty Thing,” making his feature-length screenwriting debut with the endeavor. It’s a study of lust gone wrong, this time involving a sexually adventurous woman and the younger lover she dares to momentarily possess, out to experience the thrill of the hunt. What she actually receives in return is a more complicated relationship that Donnelly takes his time examining, going slow-burn with the picture as it gradually visits other perspectives and tones. Director Justin Kelly (“JT LeRoy,” “King Cobra”) does a fine job sustaining the mysterious ways of “Pretty Thing,” generating a sense of steaminess as the offering delivers early eroticism. He also stays with the turns of the material, capably selling the rising distress felt by both characters as they confront the reality of their pairing. Donnelly generates uneasiness, and Kelly manages to sustain it all the way to the final minutes of the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When it comes to a depiction of the end of the world, there’s a lot of competition for attention these days. Television is especially fond of doomsday experiences, using episodic storytelling to explore the pains of society as it deals with all sorts of survival challenges. “40 Acres” often feels like a series compacted into a feature film, as co-writer/director R.T. Thorne attempts to investigate the lives of his characters from different sides, chasing a few subplots and flashbacks. Thorne wants to create something a bit more meaningful with the movie, mostly saving beats of horror and action until the final act. It’s a laudable attempt to go a little deeper into characterization and mood, but “40 Acres” has plenty of pacing issues, as the helmer often mistakes stillness for suspense. What’s here is human and sensitive, but not always gripping, which is a strange feeling when the material focuses on the dismantling of world order. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2023, “M3GAN” took a release slot during the first weekend in January, and like so many other horror movies, it managed to do some business in the dead of winter. The feature turned into a hit, but perhaps more importantly to Blumhouse Productions, “M3GAN” managed to capture the attention of social media users who became captivated with the film’s weirdness and meme-able offerings. Of course there was going to be a sequel, and director Gerard Johnstone returns with “M3GAN 2.0,” taking over screenwriting duties from Akela Cooper. One could debate that everything about this story was successfully covered in the first picture, but that’s not stopping Johnstone, who does away with any type of suspense or eeriness in the effort, going full speed into campiness instead with a more action-oriented and slapstick-heavy continuation. The meme-ification is prepackaged this time around, and the entertainment value takes a serious hit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Somewhere in the middle of all the Liam Neeson actioners, 2021’s “The Ice Road” was released, offering the usual in the star’s growly screen presence, but placing him behind the wheel for an unusual thriller about navigating wintry, unstable driving conditions across Canada. The feature found a somewhat captive audience during pandemic days, giving Neeson something of a hit during his “say yes to anything” phase. Four years later, and now there’s “Ice Road: Vengeance,” an unexpected follow-up that takes the main character from the slippery terrain of North America to the perilous mountain ranges of Nepal. It’s a big change of scenery for writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh, and, well, there are no ice roads involved in the story. However, there’s roughly the same mix of passable excitement and B-movie silliness to provide an entertaining sit, and while Neeson may be on autopilot at this point, he remains an enjoyably gruff action figure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2022’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” was intended to be a massive conclusion to the second trilogy of “Jurassic Park” movies. It blended casts from both sagas to deliver gigantic action set pieces to go with its Big Idea on the ways of science and the world we all share. Sadly, the feature came up a little short when providing dino action, also struggling with overlength and a surplus of characters to deal with. “Jurassic World: Rebirth” isn’t a sequel to “Dominion,” but it inhabits the same world as the previous effort, with screenwriter David Koepp challenged to keep the franchise going without committing to a new arc of danger, crafting a standalone story about jungle peril that’s meant to vaguely resemble the original 1993 Steven Spielberg film. Director Gareth Edwards (“The Creator,” 2014’s “Godzilla”) is no Spielberg, but he’s darn good with large-scale mayhem. Koepp isn’t quite as disciplined, delivering an offering that takes its time to get to dino rampaging, while the script is determined to handle too much, including personalities and backstory, limiting the usual cinematic rush one expects from the brand name. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dale Dickey has been a highly respected actress for quite some time, entering her fourth decade in the film business. She’s been impressive in various pictures, attracting special acclaim for her turns in “Winter’s Bone” and 2022’s “A Love Song.” Dickey’s a reliable talent, and she receives another opportunity to shine in “The G,” though perhaps “shine” isn’t the right word to use in this cold-blooded crime story from writer/director Karl R. Hearne. “The G” is being sold as a revenge story, but it’s not entirely a thriller, as Hearne favors a slower creep to the effort, creating something that’s more Cronenbergian in tone and shock. Once again, Dickey offers commanding work in the feature, and while “The G” takes time to get where it’s going, the march to doom is interesting, especially when Hearne goes pitiless, preferring a chilling viewing experience over an action-packed one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Danny Turkiewicz makes his feature-length directorial debut with “Stealing Pulp Fiction,” which is an adaptation of his 2022 short film. And it probably should’ve remained a short film, as the screenplay doesn’t exactly provide grand ideas worthy of a lengthier screen examination. The story concerns dumb people getting in too deep when electing to collect Quentin Tarantino’s personal 35mm print of “Pulp Fiction,” which is a very strange idea for a movie, but perhaps there’s some madcap potential in the execution of such a weird plan. Turkiewicz tries to mimic Tarantino loquaciousness when it comes to his characters, but there’s just not much here to hang an entire movie on. Efforts to turn the offering into something madcap fail, and the central caper isn’t very striking, forcing the actors to go big to help Turkiewicz find a bit of life in a fairly sedate comedy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Johnny Martin did okay with 2020’s “Alone,” which was a pandemic horror movie actually released during the early months of a pandemic. Timing was a bit eerie, but Martin managed to sell a small-scale understanding of a zombie apocalypse with some skill. He’s back with “Off the Grid,” which shares the same budgetary restrictions as “Alone,” only this time out the production tries to create a “First Blood”-style display of rural intimidation and survivalist violence. The screenplay by Jim Agnew (“Kill Em All 2,” “Rage”) doesn’t color outside the lines, setting up a basic confrontation between a man in the wild and the corporate stooges coming to get it. Perhaps more twists and turns would’ve been welcome, as “Off the Grid” visibly struggles to get any suspense going, watching Martin oversee a lifeless, poorly edited endeavor that also serves as something of an overacting competition. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Luc Besson has been working to rebuild his career after dealing with scandals, and the monster-budgeted box office wipeout of 2017’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” severely limited his professional opportunities. He’s been moving into smaller films to help with his rehabilitation, but offerings such as 2019’s “Anna” failed to attract much attention, and 2023’s “Dogman” was mostly ignored. Besson goes even more modest with his latest, turning to the power of a smartphone to photograph “June and John,” trying to launch a tale of free-spirited lovers with as little technical polish as possible, aiming to keep a sense of spontaneity to the endeavor, mirroring the energy of the lead characters. It’s a U.S. tale of attraction and impulsiveness for the French director (who also scripts), but his sense of storytelling is seriously out of whack. “June and John” hopes to be cute and meaningful, but the whole thing is bad poetry as the helmer strands his actors with impossibly lousy material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The title “Bride Hard” is obviously a play on the 1988 action classic, “Die Hard,” and it represents the height of the production’s creativity. Instead of doing something inventive or propulsive with the one-woman-army concept, the picture remains content to be a Rebel Wilson comedy, which is a signal to the audience that laughs won’t be happening in this effort. Screenwriter Shaina Steinberg is tasked to create a “Bridesmaids”-like endeavor that highlights character banter and quirks, while director Simon West (an uneven helmer who recently did okay with last winter’s “Cleaner”) is in charge of exaggerated physicality, setting up Wilson to play a master spy aiming to wipe out a criminal enterprise. “Bride Hard” (which was shot two years ago) doesn’t have a brain and it’s not exciting, stuck with dismal slapstick and mostly flat performances while West periodically breaks out some violence to act as smelling salts for the offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2002’s “28 Days Later” offered director Danny Boyle an opportunity to purge his system of Hollywood habits after the troubled releases of 1997’s “A Life Less Ordinary” and 2000’s “The Beach.” Returning to his low-budget roots, armed with crude cameras to complete his mission, Boyle teamed with screenwriter Alex Garland for an updated take on the viral outbreak/zombie film, creating an adrenalized, down-and-dirty horror experience that delivered some feel for imposing atmosphere, and also helped to popularize the sprinting undead movement. “28 Days Later” was a hit, helping to readjust the helmer’s antenna, and a Boyle-less sequel, “28 Weeks Later,” eventually arrived in 2007, also managing to make a profit. Almost two decades later, Boyle and Garland return to this post-apocalyptic world for “28 Years Later,” though they come armed this time with a sizable budget, which doesn’t always fit the weirdness of the offering, as the filmmakers go semi-comedic with the second sequel, but still try to deliver acts of wild, vicious violence. “28 Years Later” gives the moviemakers full creative control of the saga, and they don’t really advance the storyline, preferring to linger on oddity as the endeavor makes its way to a ridiculous non-ending. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The worlds of music and monsters collide in “KPop Demon Hunters.” It’s a musical from co-writers/directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, who seek to explore pop culture trends through the world of animation, allowing fantasy to flow a bit more freely. The material isn’t exactly striking while the iron is hot, but the production has a vision for slickly designed action set pieces and plenty of musical performances, as selling a soundtrack is a top priority for the effort. “KPop Demon Hunters” obviously has a target demographic, and they should be pleased with this overview of heated fandom and band interactions. Outsiders might be a bit more bewildered with the particulars of this story, but the basics in struggle and sensitivity are noted, and the animation remains lively, keeping the endeavor moving forward with energetic visuals and pop star sheen. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After revisiting the inner world of “Inside Out” in a blockbuster 2024 sequel, Pixar Animation Studios goes to outer space for “Elio,” but they remain attentive to the sensitivity of emotions. While the picture has endured a rough production journey (a teaser trailer for a different version of the film debuted two years ago), the endeavor doesn’t come across as hastily reworked or slapdash. Actually, it’s extremely appealing, with directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi pulling together a grand alien adventure that delivers all the laughs, love, and gorgeous animation Pixar is known for. “Elio” deals with heartache, as all of the company’s offerings do, but the material (credited to Julie Cho, Mark Hammer, and Mike Jones) isn’t overwhelmed by sadness, keeping the eponymous character’s journey flavorful and packed with interesting and endearing characters. It's a delightful movie, and another reminder of Pixar’s creativity when they inch away from the financial lure of sequels. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A martial arts champion, Cynthia Rothrock moved from competition to the big screen in the 1980s, quickly becoming the highlights of the Hong Kong productions she appeared in. Supporting roles quickly turned into leading ones, extending her career throughout the 1990s before the action movie business died off. Rothrock has been working on different projects over the last few decades, taking small parts in family pictures and B-movie tributes, but she claims creative control with her latest endeavor, “Black Creek,” making her directorial debut, also taking co-writing and starring credits on the project. It’s a western, but, never fear, there’s a strong martial arts component to the material, which puts Rothrock’s character on the path of revenge, facing an evil casino owner. “Black Creek” intends to pay homage to genre influences and action history, with Rothrock getting some of the old gang back together for another presentation of butt-kicking. Intent is there, but execution isn’t, as the helmer doesn’t prioritize pacing on this unexpectedly glacial effort. Fans of Rothrock’s previous work in bruisers might find their patience tested in full by this overlong (115 minutes) feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

35 years ago, producer Jerry Bruckheimer attempted to bring the intensity and competitive ways of NASCAR to the big screen in “Days of Thunder.” The feature wasn’t very compelling and didn’t light up the box office, but Bruckheimer isn’t done with car racing, returning to even bigger screens with “F1” (a.k.a. “F1: The Movie”), this time offering the world of Formula One to viewers. And he comes heavily armed to help sell such cinematic power, reuniting with “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and writer Ehren Kruger to supply a big, fat, juicy audience-pleasing movie highlighting perhaps the most popular motorsport in the world. “F1” isn’t going to win on originality, but it’s often gloriously adrenalized and bigger than life, delivering an underdog story with high-tech filmmaking and the simple pleasures of star power, working to make sure everyone who invests in a ticket is sufficiently wowed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Don’t Tell Larry” began life as a 2018 web series, offering a no-budget take on workplace politics and relationships, sold with some wackiness. Writer/directors Greg Porper and John Schimke certainly feel confident enough to expand on the original idea, giving the concept a feature-film treatment. Escalation is the name of the game here, putting Porper and Schmike to work dreaming up ways to test the main characters while they endure a hellish week of misunderstandings, accidents, and mistakes as they try to realign office hierarchy, screwing something up at every turn. It’s the stuff of farce, and “Don’t Tell Larry” has its moments, doing just fine with leads Patty Guggenheim, Kenneth Mosley, and Kiel Kennedy. The material isn’t steady and takes too many detours into lazy stupidity, but there’s enough here to entertain for those in the mood for an offering that’s darkly comedic and decently paced. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Improvisational comedy. It’s regarded by some as a breakthrough in funny business, while others view it as the worst the world of humor has to offer. It’s certainly become a major force in screen comedies, and it serves as part of the plot of “Deep Cover,” which is actually credited to four writers, including co-producer Colin Trevorrow, and features very little improvisation. The picture uses this subculture as a way to refresh the crime movie, following the panic of three improv players pulled into a scheme to become undercover cops in London, using their wits to deal with criminals. It’s a fun concept that becomes a mildly amusing offering from director Tom Kingsley, who toys with the unscripted ways of panic and presence, going for a more madcap tone as a potentially simple situation snowballs out of control. “Deep Cover” is kept alive by alert performances, as the story tends to feel overstuffed, finding the writers laboring to extend a short film idea. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com