Category: Film Review

While a few movies didn’t quite meet financial potential, Disney has managed to sustain audience interest in their run of live-action remakes of animated classics. These things have made a ton of money for the studio, and DreamWorks isn’t about to pass on an excellent opportunity to exploit arguably their finest animated film. “How to Train Your Dragon” managed to capture critical acclaim and box office success in 2010, paving the way for two sequels, T.V. shows, and a ton of merchandising. There’s even an entire “universe” based on the franchise at a Universal theme park. And now it’s back, in the flesh (and CGI), with writer/director Dean DeBlois returning to transform a cartoon world into something a little more real, following the Disney template as most of the story, characters, and tone are revived for a redo. While so much of “How to Train Your Dragon” is the same, there’s still life in the brand name, providing a suitably epic return to Berk that’s not as delightful as the 2010 effort, but it does the trick, especially for younger audiences who can’t get enough “Dragon” in their lives. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Two years ago, writer/director Celine Song made her debut with “Past Lives.” It was an offering about longing and life, sold with an indie film tilt that secured sterling reviews and impressive box office, helping to launch her career. She’s back in the thick of yearning in “Materialists,” examining a different processing of love and attraction, which the lead character turns into a type of math to serve her job as a matchmaker. The picture is being sold as something frothy and lively to help lure audiences into theaters, but “Materialists” isn’t a romantic comedy. It’s a more severe understanding of relationships and people, with Song once again refusing to butter up her material, preferring to go to some extremes to fully illuminate her ideas. Tonally, the movie is all over the place, but there are a few wonderful performances to keep the endeavor upright, and the writing contains moments of clarity when it comes to the ways of romantic expectations, providing more sting than sugar in this oddly conceived feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With a few possible exceptions, Scott Adkins has managed to become the best thing about the movies he appears in. Perhaps that’s damning with faint praise, as these productions aren’t always created with the finest filmmaking minds around, and budgets are typically very small, but Adkins keeps moving forward in B-movies, usually prepared to put on a show for action fans. “Diablo” is his latest endeavor, and Adkins nabs a co-story credit for this rescue picture, which pits a desperate American ex-con against waves of Columbian enforcers out to prevent his reunion with a daughter he’s never met. Screenwriter Mat Sansom and director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (“The ABCs of Death,” “The Fist of the Condor”) understand the mission, trying to deliver hard hits and near-misses in the offering, which carries an interesting viciousness. “Diablo” isn’t slick or swiftly paced, but it does retain intensity at times, and there’s always Adkins, who delivers a pleasing turn as a desperate man who’s always ready to fight. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Unholy Trinity” has the structure of an epic, arranging a war of personalities all vying for a hidden stash of gold, willing to kill one another to achieve their claim on a fortune. However, the film doesn’t look all that big and mighty, presented as a low-budget display of western formula that put up enough money to acquire the attention of two name actors. Director Richard Gray (“Robert the Bruce,” “Murder at Yellowstone City”) attempts to sell a battle of men dealing with their past, greediness, and guilt, but a gritty sense of hostility doesn’t emerge in the feature, which has its troubles when trying to sell a more dramatic take on the central conflict. “The Unholy Trinity” has some thespian emphasis to power a few scenes, but there’s not enough to cover the whole picture, which gradually comes to a stop as banal speeches compete with disappointing action for screentime. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The trials of parenthood are explored in “Echo Valley,” but not in full. Screenwriter Brad Ingelsby (“Out of the Furnace,” “The Way Back,” “Mare of Easttown”) examines the increasingly hostile relationship between a mother and her drug addict daughter, but the material isn’t a dramatic understanding of such particular suffering. Ingelsby is more interested in creating a thriller out of the situation, and not an inspired one with intriguing turns and corrupt characters. Director Michael Pearce (“Encounter,” “Beast”) has a committed lead performance from Julianne Moore, but not a firm grasp on suspense in the feature, which has a throttled sense of escalation and a screwy appreciation for its central crisis of motherly love. “Echo Valley” commences with some interesting illness, but once the writing starts to reveal its ultimate destination, it loses almost all of its appeal. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I’m not sure what kind of expectations should be in place for this new release when the filmmaker’s last effort was a 2021 cheapie titled “Coronavirus Conspiracy.” Writer/director James Sunshine somehow returns with “Killing Mary Sue,” which moves away from global misery to simply focus on viewer agony involving an action comedy that’s mostly unbearable. Sunshine doesn’t know what he wants from the endeavor, beginning as something approximating a farce before it slams into concern for characters nobody is going to care about. “Killing Mary Sue” is violent and obnoxious, and the helmer’s job is to transform extremity into a good time with terrible people. Instead, Sunshine keeps the picture shrill and unfocused, bringing a small cast of familiar faces to play around with an abrasive tone the director ultimately has no idea how to manage. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Straw” is Tyler Perry’s fifth feature in two years (a sixth, “Madea’s Destination Wedding,” is due out next month). He works extremely fast, and with this new release, perhaps too fast, as the movie was reportedly shot in just four days, and the finished product definitely reflects a production that didn’t stop to really consider its premise and performances. The material (credited to Perry) details the overwhelming frustration swarming a single mother who’s dealing with every responsibility imaginable, finally breaking from the stress as she takes a gun and tries to collect money owed to her in a bank. It’s a standoff story in many ways, but Perry is also trying to address the plight of women facing impossible odds of survival. “Straw” means well enough, at least during its first half, but Perry’s painfully manipulative ways with drama ultimately torpedo whatever meaningfulness the picture hopes to offer, becoming yet another eye-rolling soap opera for the repetitive filmmaker. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2022’s “Prey” brought the “Predator” franchise back to life after it was nearly destroyed by 2018’s “The Predator,” Shane Black’s inept take on master hunter action. Director Dan Tractenberg managed to get the series back to basics with the prequel, handling a limited budget and small-scale concept with some skill, winning over the target audience and restoring a little critical support for the brand name. The helmer is far from done with this cinematic world, but before the live-action “Predator: Badlands” hits screens later this year, there’s an animated presentation of alien entanglements in “Predator: Killer of Killers,” which is an anthology film that explores other tales of battle and honor throughout the years. Tractenberg and co-director Josh Wassung take this creative opportunity very seriously, launching brutal, bruising chapters of conflict and survival as more Earthlings tangle with barbarians from another world. “Killer of Killers” is perhaps the best “Predator” installment since the 1987 original, as animation makes a winning match to the sci-fi/action needs of the premise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “John Wick” saga found some form of closure in 2023, when the third sequel managed to deliver at the box office and please fans. It was an exhausting journey, but there was a sense of finality to it all. Lionsgate Films isn’t quite ready to say goodbye to the brand name, issuing a spin-off in “Ballerina,” which turns to actress Ana de Armas to continue down the path of pain Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, left behind. Actually, Reeves isn’t entirely done with the series, but this is de Armas’s film, and she makes the most of the action opportunity, providing a pleasant, forceful lead performance in a feature that’s determined to destroy her character. “Ballerina” has endured plenty of production trouble (it was originally shot nearly three years ago, and extensively reworked and reshot since then), making a true director’s vision difficult to discern (Len Wiseman is credited, while franchise overlord Chad Stahelski handled updates), but the picture itself contains plenty of explosive, bruising sequences, which helps to distract from its limited interest in storytelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Emmanuelle” began life as a 1967 novel by author Emmanuelle Arsan, who collected her sexual fantasies and shared them with the world, turning her book into a best-seller for readers interested in a more refined presentation of lust. This literary success eventually spawned a film franchise that began in 1974, helping to launch the career of star Sylvia Kristel during the “porno chic” era. Sequels were made, and soon enough, producers went wild with the brand name in a very “Amityville”-like manner, including “Black Emanuelle,” “Carry On Emmanuelle,” and a television series, “Emmanuelle in Space.” Co-writer/director Audrey Diwan looks to restore a little seriousness to the franchise, delivering a frostier take on amorous activity in “Emmanuelle,” which attempts to remain as serious as possible while dealing with sexualized encounters and games of mystery. The helmer has the right idea when it comes to commitment to the material, but this feature fails to summon heat, or any emotion, really, as Diwan keeps the whole thing mummified while aiming to deliver excitement. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Moviegoers are routinely confronted with offerings of Shark Attack Cinema, as producers are still finding profit in the dangers of the deep sea. “Dangerous Animals” also deals with an aquatic threat involving massive predators, but screenwriter Nick Lepard hopes to subvert expectations for the usual in oceanic panic by creating a different kind of serial killer tale, following the exploits of a madman using sharks to help feed his obsession with taking innocent lives. Director Sean Byrne doesn’t work often (previously helming 2009’s “The Loved Ones” and 2015’s “The Devil’s Candy”), but he’s prepared to deliver something quite strange and semi-disturbing in “Dangerous Animals,” which aims to unsettle viewers with prolonged scenes of suffering and grisly kills. Byrne gets a little carried away when trying to shock his audience, but he generates a compelling nightmare, adding an interesting intimidation factor to an odd study of perversion and death. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Life of Chuck” is based on a Stephen King novella from 2020, and we’ve been here before. Works from the iconic author, especially shorter ones, have inspired a few of the finest King adaptations around, including 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption” and 1986’s “Stand by Me.” That same level of cinematic magic isn’t quite present in the new picture, but writer/director Mike Flanagan (a King Country vet with work on “Gerald’s Game” and “Doctor Sleep”) remains ambitious with the effort, out to scramble minds and soothe souls with the movie, which looks to fold time and space in an attempt to address the human condition. “The Life of Chuck” is all over the place, and Flanagan’s lyrical approach to the endeavor might feel like itching powder to some viewers. It’s a deeply flawed offering of mystery, but the helmer fully commits to the strangeness of it all, which is impressive, clearly out to deliver an inscrutable feature that’s meant to connect in a heartfelt manner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nina Conti is a gifted ventriloquist and comedian who achieved some notice for her collaboration with Monkey, a profane creation offering a voice for its performer as bits and pieces of psychological examination were worked out. Conti elects to expand on the ways of Monkey in “Sunlight,” turning the hand puppet into a full-sized creation, but one still capable of providing a broad understanding of dissociation in darkly comedic ways. Strangely credited as written by Conti and co-star Shenoah Allen, with a screenplay by Allen, “Sunlight” is a semi-improvised inspection of bruised people making an unexpected connection while embarking on a road trip, trying to understand their dire situations while one of the characters remains in a monkey suit for most of the run time. Conti doesn’t have a firm hold on pacing, but she’s open to explore the messiness of the personalities and their road to some form of healing, making a humorous endeavor that’s often surprising and marvelously acted. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filmmakers Brian Crano and David Joseph Craig team up to deliver a shot of dark comedy and mild horror with “I Don’t Understand You.” The pair also claim credit for the screenplay, creating a nightmare scenario of misunderstanding for two men on vacation in Italy (oddly, Amanda Knox is listed as a co-producer), about to experience a seismic change in their lives. Crano and Craig have fondness for the ridiculous in the feature, which takes on some fairly grim turns of bodily harm, but miraculously never succumbs to tonal instability. It’s a weirdly upbeat picture about complete catastrophe, putting the helmers to work reinforcing character and craziness, which gets the endeavor most of the way there. “I Don’t Understand You” is an offering of macabre entertainment, and it’s supported with enthusiasm by actors Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells, who handle the thespian requirements of the effort, which asks them to provide a steady stream of nervous energy as the writing dreams up new ways to ruin a simple vacation for the characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Evan Ari Kelman makes his feature-length directorial debut with “Barron’s Cove,” also claiming screenplay duties. He’s looking to make a deep impression with the picture, creating a tale of agonizing loss and grief, also shaping an unusual revenge story between an emotionally devastated man and the 10-year-old boy he believes murdered his son. There’s incredible bleakness to the material, which ends up becoming its most compelling element, daring to explore the depths of emotional instability and feral thinking during a nightmarish time. Kelman has something with the premise and characters, but he can’t sustain such intensity, eventually transforming the film into a thriller of sorts, which is the wrong way to go. “Barron’s Cove” is eventually sunk by weak creative decisions and editorial indifference, but it does contain a riveting first act, promising a severe study of madness that never arrives. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Ritual” is a little late to the party. Over the last few years, there’s been an abundance of films released concerning the powers of Satan and his insistence that the only way to disrupt faith and humanity is to emerge through possession. There was “The Pope’s Exorcist,” “The Exorcist: Believer,” “The First Omen,” “The Exorcism,” and “Immaculate.” Hollywood loves their demon tales, but “The Ritual” hopes to distance itself from the pack, labeled as “based on true events,” examining the case of Emma Schmidt (a.k.a. Anna Ecklund), an alleged victim of possession who battled evil with help from Father Theophilus Riesinger nearly 100 years ago. Co-writer/director David Midell seems to think there’s dramatic potential in an extremely well-worn topic, and he tries to find the urgency of the story. However, there’s no suspense to be found in this offering, which looks cheaply made and isn’t concerned with creating a fear factor as it slowly reheats scenes from subgenre classics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When “Rad” opened in March 1986, almost nobody bought a ticket to see it. The feature was unable to topple stiff competition in the form of “Police Academy 3: Back in Training” and “Pretty in Pink,” quickly kicked out of theaters and sent to home video, primed to be lost on the shelves of rental stores. However, something happened to “Rad” that was, well, radical. The movie found an audience on the small screen, developing a cult following as the film made its way to cable, strengthening admiration for this weird little endeavor out to celebrate the new ways of BMX competition. Director Michael Kirsch employs this fandom to inspire the creation of “A Rad Documentary,” which is the first (and likely only) breakdown of the production process on the picture, collecting interviews from a handful of people who participated in the shoot. “A Rad Documentary” isn’t quite as tightly ordered or probing as this type of informational journey usually goes, but it’s out to deliver a firm appreciation of the 1986 release, and Kirsch definitely has enthusiasm for all things “Rad.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jesse Armstrong is best known for his work as the creator of “Succession,” a critically lauded television show that collected many awards and some level of viewership during its run. Armstrong uses his newfound power to step into the director’s chair, making his helming debut with “Mountainhead,” which was reportedly shot just a few months ago, making a speedy run to its streaming debut. And there’s a good reason for such a quick turnaround, as the material (also credited to Armstrong) examines a handful of tech billionaires and influencers gathering for a weekend of fun, only to end up in a position of world domination. The screenplay hopes to turn headline news into a chamber piece, and Armstrong comes armed with a few disturbing ideas to get the picture on its feet. “Mountainhead” has its provocative moments and ideas, but there isn’t much of a film here. It’s more of a theater piece, and while it commences with attitude and timeliness, Armstrong kills the endeavor with a semi-incomplete, tonally uneven conclusion, which is one of the great third-act wipeouts in recent memory. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2010’s “The Karate Kid” remake was a monster hit. The dramatic achievement of the picture is certainly open for debate, but audiences showed up to see Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith recreate the martial arts magic of the wonderful 1984 original film. Weirdly, there was no sequel, especially with a brand name that’s happy to go franchise with anything, including a cult television series, “Cobra Kai,” that ended earlier this year. “Karate Kid: Legends” isn’t really a continuation of the 2010 or 1984 feature, as screenwriter Rob Lieber (who did fine work with 2014’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”) is tasked with creating a blend of the old and the older, trying to make something new out of the tight formula the series is known for. The production is in a hurry to get through the details of the plot, but “Legends” is energetically directed by Jonathan Entwistle and charmingly performed by the cast, who help to make the unavoidable predictability of it all actually quite enjoyable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bono has a healthy ego. He’s been part of the band U2 for nearly 50 years, experiencing all kinds of incredible creative and financial success, even achieving a level of political influence as his charitable interests intensified. Nobody thinks more highly of Bono than Bono, and it’s precisely this theatricality that powers all of “Stories of Surrender,” which brings the singer’s one-man show to screens under the care of director Andrew Dominik (“Blonde,” “Killing Them Softly,” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”), who seems to understand the best way to present the performer. Bono’s been big for most of his career, offered a chance to physically interpret sections of his 2022 memoir for an audience at a New York City theater, and this cinematic experience is strictly reserved for fans. However, there’s artistry from Dominik and passion from Bono, collaborating on an emotional journey of achievement and loss that goes a bit beyond the U2 Story, and music supports the odyssey, offering a fresh perspective on old songs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com