Category: Film Review

Warren Adler’s 1981 novel, “The War of the Roses,” has already been adapted for the screen. Director Danny DeVito had his way with the source material for a 1989 picture, committing to a pitch-black comedy that played to his strengths as a visual filmmaker, also giving stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner meaty roles to work with, portraying a divorcing couple looking for ways to destroy each other as they handle the process of separation. And now it’s Jay Roach’s turn with Adler’s tale of domestic horror, trying to find a balance between the crushingly real and the absurd in “The Roses,” written by Tony McNamara. The helmer offers a very interesting take on the battleground nature of the plot, pushing for tremendous wit and sharp performances in a feature that’s almost reluctant to explore the most marketable element of the story. There’s only a brief war in “The Roses,” but Roach manages to find pieces of unnerving emotional authenticity during his quest for exaggeration, maintaining some surprises. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are awful jobs everywhere, but there’s something particularly nasty about employment as a social media content moderator. Such a gig requires staff to study reported videos, determining if these clips break site rules, leaving them open to a full day of watching human misery and extreme behavior. “American Sweatshop” examines the psychological toll of this position, taking a fictionalized look at a character who’s trying to keep herself together after witnessing a particularly haunting video, feeling the violence slowly seep into her system, preventing her from living a normal life. Director Uta Briesewitz steps carefully with the offering, creating a compelling visual odyssey for the main character, whose confusion is a key part of Matthew Nemeth’s screenplay. “American Sweatshop” isn’t always a cohesive endeavor, teasing genre turns and skating over a more direct understanding of the business, but it offers a unique overview of a mental decline, which is capably captured in Lili Reinhart’s lead performance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Griffin in Summer” is the filmmaking debut for writer/director Nicholas Colia, who expands on his 2017 short, “Alex and the Handyman,” which explored a tale of obsession between a boy and his older object of desire. Such concentration remains in the movie, with Colia escalating the main character’s experiences in the arts and his management of family issues, also adding in some heavy Wes Anderson influences as the endeavor often resembles bits and pieces of 1998’s “Rushmore.” “Griffin in Summer” rides into a few rocky areas of tone and language when dealing with the romantic focus of a 12-year-old boy, but Colia handles these swings of intensity reasonably well. He also has a charming lead in Everett Blunck, who does an amazing job with a tricky character, offering full commitment to the passion of the personality and the screenplay’s direct understanding of hidden desire. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An action comedy about a talented getaway driver pulled into a criminal situation that worsens by the moment. Surely 2017’s “Baby Driver” had some influence on the screenplay for “Eenie Meanie,” and likely helped to get the project into production. Shawn Simmons (a television writer making his directorial debut) isn’t quite as flashy a filmmaker as Edgar Wright, but he finds periodic rhythm for the picture, which examines a few points of pressure on a young woman who’s endured a troubled upbringing, trying to find peace while new challenges in life and love come to disrupt everything. “Eenie Meanie” submits a formulaic descent into crime world happenings and heist planning, and dramatic consistency isn’t always there. Simmons ultimately wants something a little more sincere out of the endeavor, which isn’t easy to achieve, but the feature finds periodic clarity in the world of stunts and the understanding of broken hearts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Author Richard Osman struck literary gold with his 2020 novel, “The Thursday Murder Club,” creating a premise and a mystery that attracted plenty of readers. He expanded his world with three sequels, and Hollywood has come calling, with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment producing the first of likely many features based on the book series. Director Chris Columbus oversees the endeavor, working with screenwriters Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote to bring the material to the screen, and they have an advantage with the cast, finding Helen Mirren, Celia Imre, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley inspired choices to portray a collection of senior citizens who get easily charged up around crime, newly tasked with solving a murder that directly involves their retirement village. “The Thursday Murder Club” is exactly as easy on the senses as one expects it to be, creating viewer-pleasing entertainment with reliable talent and enough scripted turns to keep the picture in motion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“What We Hide” has the atmosphere of a YA novel, examining the particular battle of a teenager trying to keep her little sister close after they attempt to hide the death of their drug addict mother from outside interests. Dan Kay makes a return to feature-length filmmaking after 2001’s “Way Off Broadway,” and while he’s struggled as a screenwriter in the intervening years (including “Pay the Ghost” and the ghastly “I.T.”), he finds the right tone for his latest endeavor, which carries a welcome gentleness at times, paying attention to emotionality. “What We Hide” has its less successful ideas, but Kay finds room for characterization to develop and he’s gifted a strong performance from star Mckenna Grace, who works to find some nuance in the lead role, bringing needed depth to scenes of distress. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Sam Hayes investigates the troubled heart of a wayward college student in “Pools,” which represents his feature-length filmmaking debut. He’s not breaking new ground with the endeavor, following the low impulse control of a young woman going through plenty of things as she seeks to cool off during an impossibly hot day without access to air conditioning, seeking relief for more than just heat-related issues. The material is something of a “Breakfast Club” riff in the way it investigates a group dynamic of characters attempting to communicate with one another, but Hayes remains a tad livelier with the offering, which utilizes snappy moviemaking and an occasionally broad sense of humor. “Pools” isn’t profound, but it sustains interest in emotional lives and strange encounters, and Hayes mostly keeps the picture moving as he looks to depict the frustration of a person who feels trapped in their own life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last year, Ethan Coen, half of the famous Coen Brothers, attempted to launch a solo career with “Drive-Away Dolls.” Co-scripting with his wife, Tricia Cooke, Coen hoped to create the first chapter of the couple’s “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” only to have viewers keep their distance from the effort, and for good reason. Coen didn’t leave CoenLand with the endeavor, remaining with a crime comedy that looked cheaply made, featured a few unbearable performances, and generally wiped out when it came to delivering laughs and thrills. Because they work fast and frugally, Coen and Cooke are back with “Honey Don’t,” which represents the next chapter of their vision for violence and goofiness. And, well, lesbianism. Instead of learning from the severe shortcomings of their previous picture, Cooke and Coen submit another dud in “Honey Don’t,” which supplies unpleasantness, even more unbearable performances, and a central mystery that carries no cinematic weight. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Americana” feels like a movie that was meant to come out in 1996. The picture (which was shot three years ago) seems like one of the many edgy indies that arrived after the unexpected success of 1994’s “Pulp Fiction,” with writer/director Tony Tost (making his helming debut) charging up his creative batteries on Quentin Tarantino energy, submitting his own take on criminal and relationship activity involving an assortment of characters. He even plays with time in the feature, which tries to deliver crime world thrills in the open world of South Dakota. “Americana” has some accomplished performances and early scenes of tension, but Tost can’t keep the endeavor upright as it moves into a meandering second half. There’s violence and a treasure multiple people are hunting for, but Tost allows the offering to slowly fall asleep instead of building to a thrilling finale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The world is a pretty bleak place right now, and “Night Always Comes” offers a reminder of the hopelessness that permeates everything in this life. It’s an adaptation of a 2021 novel by Willy Vlautin, who explores the financial ruin of a thirtysomething woman as she spends an entire day trying to make one simple deal to own a home a possibility. There’s a lot on the mind of the material, and screenwriter Sarah Conradt is challenged to make it all make sense for director Benjamin Caron (“Sharper”), who’s also tasked with creating an approachable endeavor despite every moment of the feature being soaked in depression. “Night Always Comes” is almost two movies in a way, opening as a study of desperation before turning into a crime picture, and the mix of moods doesn’t always work. However, potent scenes remain in the offering, which successfully captures the way of life these days for the haves and have-nots. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Released in 2021, “Nobody” was put into theaters by Universal Pictures without any real clue if anyone would show up to see it. The pandemic world wasn’t kind to movie theaters as streaming began to take hold, and star Bob Odenkirk wasn’t exactly a star, primarily known for his comedy pursuits, not his mastery of action cinema. While hardly a major hit, “Nobody” found an audience ready for its very “John Wick”-ian ways, turning a profit during a time when such an achievement wasn’t easy. A four year wait for a sequel isn’t the optimum play for a feature like this, but now there’s a “Nobody 2,” with Odenkirk returning to destroy more bad guys, this time for director Timo Tjahjanto (“The Night Comes for Us”). Screenwriters Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin don’t come armed with a particularly inventive idea for “Nobody 2,” but they offer simple, violent entertainment, creating more of a group effort for the sequel to take some of the pressure off Odenkirk, who remains an oddball action figure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Highest 2 Lowest” isn’t meant to be an original film from director Spike Lee. It’s a remake of a beloved 1963 Akira Kurosawa picture and an adaptation of a 1959 novel. It’s familiar work for those who’ve enjoyed the story before, but Lee is utterly determined to make his own way with the tale, joined by screenwriter Alan Fox. The effort maintains Lee’s DNA throughout, finding the helmer making one of the best features of his career with this examination of a kidnapping and response involving a record label executive already facing all kinds of difficulties on the job. Lee reunites with actor Denzel Washington for their fifth creative collaboration, and the men submit a consistently surprising and dramatically exciting endeavor that finds the helmer firing on all cylinders once again, finding his way through family ties and business trials in unique ways, reconnecting with his artistic soul. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Justic Piasecki makes his feature-length debut with “Relay,” and he offers a very interesting idea about a relationship the develops between two people involved in a whistleblower event gone horribly wrong. It’s a fascinating story that blends procedural action with deep characterization, at times recalling some of the better paranoia thrillers of the 1970s. Director David Mackenzie (who hit a career high with 2016’s “Hell or High Water,” only to come back down to Earth in 2018’s mediocre “Outlaw King”) is tasked with maintaining steady pressure on the audience, creating unusual tension from scenes of communication and surveillance. For the first two acts, “Relay” is excellent, hitting a few logic gaps while generating an impressive amount of suspense, promising a great conclusion to come. A satisfying ending doesn’t arrive, but Mackenzie and Piasecki get most of the way there, handling the nail-biting needs of the tale and its unique study of planning and pursuit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Kate Beecroft makes a kind of docudrama with “East of Wall.” After spending time with horse wrangler Tabatha Zimiga and her family in South Dakota, she wanted to do something with their special energy, creating a loose story of grief and connection for a mix of professional and amateur actors. It’s not an experimental picture, but something that aims to be sincere, soaking in the atmosphere of the household and the locations as multiple personalities are examined. Beecroft has passion for the subjects and a love for ranch life, also offering an unusual dramatic focal point in Tabatha, who’s challenged to replicate her daily experiences and realize the script’s dramatic inventions. “East of Wall” is a modest offering, and doesn’t always provide a commanding viewing experience, but Beecroft’s attention to the family and their relationships maintains raw power at times, finding her ways into the aches and pains of these people and their remote Midwestern existence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the success of 1982’s “Conan the Barbarian,” plans were quickly put into motion to deliver a sequel and help expand the cinematic potential of writer Robert F. Howard’s literary creations with a spin-off. 1985’s “Ren Sonja” was intended to keep the world of Conan going, but it didn’t find an audience, who were offered a visually striking but largely inert fantasy adventure, while Brigitte Nielsen’s performance as the main character left much to be desired. Talk of returning to Red Sonja has been going on for decades, but now there’s another big screen pass at the character and her violent spirit, with actress Matilda Lutz (“Reptile,” “Magpie”) hired to bring the flame-haired warrior to life for director M.J. Bassett (“Rogue,” “Endangered Species”) and screenwriter Tasha Huo. The new “Red Sonja” has a plan for Hyborian Age action and adventure, but not a lot of resources to pull off the adaptation, which often struggles with low-budget visuals and a few critical miscastings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After experiencing a creative wipeout with the 2009 comedy, “Miss March,” director Zach Cregger took some time to reinvent himself. He returned to theaters in 2022, delivering the modestly budgeted chiller, “Barbarian,” embarking on a new career path to disturb viewers instead of tickle them. The film performed well at the box office, but, more importantly, it suddenly turned Cregger into a talent to watch, keeping the movie business interested in his next offering. “Weapons” is the follow-up, and while “Barbarian” was a deeply flawed endeavor, Cregger shows noticeable improvement in his command of tone for the picture. It begins as a terrifying tale of loss involving missing children and the guardians dealing with such an event, but the helmer isn’t strictly focused on examining trauma. “Weapons” gets a tad weirder than that, keeping up Cregger’s impishness and love of surprises in a feature that manages to maintain some dramatic balance for most of the run time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

22 years is a long time to wait for a sequel, especially for a film like “Freaky Friday.” The original/remake/literary adaptation provided big screen appeal for the summer of 2003, delivering a spirited take on body switching mayhem while boosted by engaged performances from stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. It was fun stuff, and probably could’ve handled an immediate follow-up, but an extended wait was encountered instead. “Freakier Friday” arrives to basically deal with the same situation of confusion and cover-up, returning Curtis and Lohan to their roles as overwhelmed characters handling a baffling hit of magic. Screenwriter Jordan Weiss isn’t coloring outside the lines with the feature, but she does a commendable job summoning chaos for “Freakier Friday,” generating a mostly light and zippy adventure that’s just as charming as the 2003 offering, even with some obvious pacing issues. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Julian Glander gets a little weird for his feature-length directorial debut, “Boys Go to Jupiter.” It’s an animated offering of absurdity and screen detail, delivering a Wes Anderson-y spin on the experiences of a 16-year-old kid trying to take on an adult world of financial responsibilities and relationships. Glander plays with dryness and video game-like visuals, but he’s fully committed to the oddity of his screenplay, which demands viewers go with its flow as it visits areas of adolescence, weird science, and late-stage capitalism while it also explores teen dilemmas of life and love. “Boys Go to Jupiter” is a creative effort from Glander, and it possesses enough humor and visual idiosyncrasy to hold attention as the tale dances with unreality and musical interests while visiting the secret lives of Floridians. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Strange Harvest” is a movie that’s been made to resemble a television show. Writer/director Stuart Ortiz makes an unusual creative choice with the picture, which is meant to resemble an episode of true crime T.V., aiming to transform a study of a serial killer into something slick and formulaic, hoping to entice viewers used to such journeys into darkness that streaming companies tend to favor, bringing real-world horror to an audience that loves the stuff. Despite the appearance of realism, “Strange Harvest” is a fictional study of menace concerning the brutality of a murderer known as Mr. Shiny and his reign of terror across a California town. Ortiz creates a mostly credible study of such evil, using interviews and crime scene media to generate an authentic atmosphere of dread for the endeavor. As a technical exercise, the feature delivers on its invented reality, making for an interesting examination of storytelling. Dramatically, the offering is a bit lacking, as there’s a reason why this kind of programming typically runs under an hour in length. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Kristin Scott Thomas has created an impressive career as an actress, working with some of the finest filmmakers around, taking in experiences with such talent as Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Joe Wright, and Robert Altman. “My Mother’s Wedding” is Thomas’s directorial debut, finally taking command of her own production, and she goes a semi-autobiographical route with co-writer (and husband) John Micklethwait, digging into her own past, which involved the presence of two fathers in her life. This experience fuels the screenplay, following three estranged siblings trying to make sense of terrible loss in their lives and their mother’s hope for love again, confronted by change and reflection during a celebratory weekend. “My Mother’s Wedding” is a smaller picture with milder dramatic goals, but Thomas holds it together with help from a talented cast and sincere emotion, exploring how these characters handle their feelings and their maturity when reconnecting with their past. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com