Category: Film Review

As it neared release, 2022’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” didn’t seem like it was going to be anything special, emerging as a sequel few were clamoring for. Co-writer/directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado certainly took the creative challenge seriously, delivering a tremendous picture that easily topped the original in style and dramatic potential, ending up with one of the year’s best movies. The shock still hasn’t worn off, but Crawford and Mercado are back in action with “Forgotten Island,” going the original story route with this examination of friendship and fantasy, along with a lot of Filipino culture. Working with the lessons they learned on “The Last Wish,” and boosted by a post-“KPop Demon Hunters” world, the helmers deliver a hyperactive study of adventure, throwing a lot at viewers while also charming them with vivid characters, big heart, and lots of physical challenges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Last Kiss” is billed as a slasher film, but the screenplay (by Alon Ziv, Krystal Houghton Ziv, and Yoko Okumura, who also directs) isn’t out to terrify viewers with its presentation of a masked killer on the loose. The picture is more of a YA chiller, and one with a premise that reworks Stephen King’s novel, “The Dead Zone,” giving it a loopier spin as the tale follows a young woman trying to decode doom through clairvoyant abilities brought on by kissing potential victims. Okumura, who did well enough with 2023’s “Unseen,” leans into the strangeness of the concept, out to provide more of a ride with the endeavor, not a fright machine. “The Last Kiss” is lightweight and sure to be dismissed by hardcore genre fans, but it’s certainly entertaining enough, held up by spunky performances and a playful tone, making it a perfect fit for sleepover cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Documentarian Nick Davis is trying to communicate a special kind of magic with “You Had to Be There.” The picture examines the 1972 Toronto production of the musical “Godspell,” which wasn’t just a hit show, but a premiere showcase of young Canadian comedy talent, with some of these performers going on to become legends in show business. And it all started with a strange stage show about a hippie-fied Jesus and his followers. Davis endeavors to tap into memories and emotions with the movie, gathering a good amount of the original cast to discuss their experiences with “Godspell” and one another during a unique time in their early careers. We’re talking Martin Short, Victor Garber, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, and Paul Shaffer, with these performers (and more) sitting down to reflect on an experience that, for some, changed their lives. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Musical” is a bizarre feature. It initially seems to be polite enough, investigating a teacher’s inner life as he navigates a failed romance with a colleague and manages the daily drudgery of the job. Perhaps a “School of Rock”-like viewing experience is about to arrive, but screenwriter Alexander Heller isn’t going cute with the material. He creates a comedy, but a very dark one where the primary influence appears to be Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” blended with bits of Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore,” with the picture getting weird with its take on obsession. “The Musical” isn’t always inspired, but most of the endeavor is highly amusing, delivering a viewing experience with surprises and a demented sense of humor that’s capably handled by director Giselle Bonilla. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Goody Goody” is meant to be a horror movie, exploring the tensions of a home birth in the middle of nowhere to get viewers to the edge of their seats. Writer/director Raymond Creamer has a premise that could work, playing up the human experience of birth with the cinematic terror of an undefined evil joining the process, toying with the visceral and the unreal. However, the helmer isn’t all that inspired with the endeavor, taking an extraordinary amount of time to get the story going, and once a threat is somewhat defined, the picture doesn’t do much with it. The overall slowness of “Goody Goody” is maddening to endure at times, especially when it becomes clear that Creamer doesn’t have much to offer with the script, and the whole effort seems like a short film idea that was forced to become a feature-length release. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

At the start of “The History of Concrete,” director John Wilson is in a dark place. He’s recently lost his job as the creator of “How To with John Wilson,” losing a gig that kept him employed for a handful of years, also exposing his particular way of storytelling to a small but loyal audience. Jobs are hard to come by, and fame has its price, with the filmmaker’s voice stolen by A.I., making his peculiar way of speaking accessible to all, but mostly a gutter repair service. Wilson needs something to occupy his time, returning to New York City streets to reenergize his creative batteries, only to find a chance at focus with an educational opportunity provided by the WGA. “The History of Concrete” initially appears to tell the story of how Wilson got his groove back, but, keeping in line with the helmer’s career interests, it veers all over the place instead, taking a simple assignment to understand the world of concrete into a dozen different directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If you haven’t seen 2020’s “Run Hide Fight,” don’t worry. Few have. The picture was written and directed by Kyle Rankin (“The Battle of Shaker Heights”), who decided to turn the horror of a school shooting into an action film, delighted to play with a taboo subject matter, and doing so on an extremely limited budget. Rankin returns to duty with “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” which orders up another school massacre scenario, only this time the screenplay explores the plight of a liberal college campus overwhelmed by Islamic terrorists during an autumn festival, putting political passions up against the reality of Middle Eastern villainy. “Infidels” imagines itself to be a “Die Hard” clone, but Rankin isn’t sharp enough of a filmmaker to pull off such ambition. He goes painfully crude instead, tasked with making fun of left-wing ideas and creating a mess of violence without much money, turning the endeavor into a 128-minute-long patience-tester as nothing really happens to a collection of characters you likely won’t care about. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2025, director Paul Greengrass orchestrated the horrors of a wildfire raging out of control for “The Lost Bus,” which played to his interests in everyday people experiencing some form of heroism, often reluctantly. He returns with “The Uprising,” which totally isn’t a Robin Hood origin story (wink), but a recreation of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt in England, where corrupt and cruel royal domination was challenged by the poor and frustrated, resulting in a violent revolt. Greengrass isn’t playing the picture as a college lecture, hoping to turn the tale into an R-rated epic that occasionally explodes with big scenes of armies clashing and kingdoms threatened. It should work, as we’ve been here before, but Greengrass seems dramatically constipated this time around, with his screenplay struggling to find its footing as a thunderous tale of revolution, throttling pace and intensity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Guy Moshe hasn’t enjoyed much creative success with his releases, previously overseeing the messiness of 2011’s “Bunraku,” and the nothingness of 2020’s “LX 2048.” He returns with “The Fix,” joining screenwriters Mark Bacci and Ron Hutchinson for what’s meant to be something approximating a heist story, only the goods targeted for lifting are stuck in a war zone, putting a team of trained Americans on a quest to extract a fortune, running into many complications along the way. Moshe has a premise that’s typically played for big thrills, inspecting the heat of greed and the danger of it all. With “The Fix,” the helmer doesn’t accept an invitation for a more active viewing experience, hoping to get procedural instead. The feature is missing a great deal of excitement as it attempts to sell a knotted tale of loyalties and deceptions, and it takes an incredibly long time to do it (140 minutes), managing to turn lust for treasure into an unwelcomingly protracted endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Weight” explores the heaviness of existence during trying times and the physical demands of carrying a bag filled with gold bars over 50 miles of dangerous terrain. The title has a dual meaning, and the screenplay (by Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines) embraces all the dramatic possibilities of such a mental and physical challenge, taking viewers back to the tortuous days of the Great Depression, where a man facing a dire future is handed a chance to escape it through an opportunity that could destroy him. It’s the stuff of classic fiction, and director Padraic McKinley rises to the challenge of visual interpretation, submitting an outstandingly leathery feature that’s rich with suspense and cold-blooded interactions. “The Weight” fumbles its resolution, but the road to an ending is riveting and superbly performed by the cast. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

About 45 years ago, Mr. T entered the media landscape. He didn’t intend to become a star, but it’s difficult to deny his presence, with this man of mohawk and gold chains, joined by attitude and confidence, pulled from a life in Chicago to become a very big deal in Hollywood. At least throughout most of the 1980s. There was a point when Mr. T was everywhere, showing up as a new kind of superhero for the kids of the day, using his practiced gruffness to deliver big entertainment and solid messages on respect in all its forms. “Mr. T: I Pity the Fool” isn’t going to win any awards for depth when it comes to an inspection of the subject, but director Scott Weintrob provides a decent 45-minute-long understanding of Mr. T and his personal and professional choices, offered access to the man himself to help track the development of an icon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Isabel Hagen is a stand-up comedian and Julliard graduate using her viola skills to help boost her stage presence and add something different to her routines. She makes her moviemaking debut with “On a String,” using her background as inspiration for a comedy about a twentysomething woman facing the troubles of romantic entanglements and the slow death of her dream. Hagen goes full indie with the picture, handling writing and directing duties while also starring in the picture, and she creates a very modest endeavor that feels completely lived-in at times. “On a String” is a feature of details, which Hagen tends to with care, and she also scores some laughs along the way, finding humor in the blues. It’s an incredibly small film, but well-observed and nicely performed, offering viewers an interesting look at the world of musicians and the strange discomfort that comes with perceived failures. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s hard to believe, but 2007’s “Why Did I Get Married?” was only Tyler Perry’s third outing as a director, made during a period in his career when he was hoping to get past his Madea fame and try different things. Arguably one of his best endeavors, “Why Did I Get Married?” became something of an industry for Perry, who followed it up with 2010’s awful “Why Did I Get Married Too?,” also exploring this world of relationship woes in the television series “For Better or Worse,” which ran for 162 episodes. After many years away, Perry returns to the brand with “Why Did I Get Married Again?,” which looks to expand the community of miserable people as a second generation of troubled minds joins the ongoing story. At it’s best, “Why Did I Get Married Again?” is an improvement on the last chapter in this saga. However, Perry is rarely at his best in this movie, clearly contained by budget and time as he speeds through the basics in trust issues with generic characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Samuel L. Jackson is not shy about admitting that he often picks his acting roles based on the production’s proximity to golf courses. It’s not the most professional thing to admit to, but such candor certainly clears up a good chunk of his career choices. “Just Play Dead” could be added to the list, with the endeavor taking cast and crew to Malta to make sense of Dan Gordon’s screenplay, which approaches the darker edges of film noir while keeping a firm hand on comedic entanglements. Director Martin Campbell (“GoldenEye,” “Casino Royale,” but also “Green Lantern” and 2024’s “Dirty Angels”) is in charge of finding a smooth balance between dangerous encounters and extended exposition, and the helmer often fails to supply a decent reason why viewers should remain interested in the pretzel-like storytelling. “Just Play Dead” has lovely locations and a lot of sun, but there’s little happening here that commands attention. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2025’s “Flight Risk,” star Mark Wahlberg elected to wear a bald cap to aid in his portrayal of a psychopath unleashed during a long flight in the middle of nowhere. The hairpiece was a distraction. For “By Any Means” necessary, Wahlberg slaps on an enormous nose to portray a psychopathic gangster using his general disregard for others to inflict as much pain on his targets. The nose is a distraction. However, for this feature, shoddy makeup work is the least of the production’s issues, as screenwriter Sascha Penn turns to history to inspire a tale of a dangerous law enforcement partnership investigating a murder in 1966 Mississippi. “By Any Means” has scenes where it examines the horror and threats of racism, and the terror that stains lives. And it has more cartoony moments that undermine whatever seriousness Penn and director Elegance Bratton hope to communicate with the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“American Summer” intends to stir up feelings of nostalgia for times gone by. Co-writer/director Michael W. Gray is out to inspect the adolescent experience as it used to be, focusing on the struggles of a teenager fighting to make sense of his opportunities and future while dealing with daily demands from guardians and the pressures of a potential romantic partner. It’s not especially original material from Gray, who seems to be taking moves from the remarkable pop culture endurance of 1993’s “The Sandlot,” hoping to tap into the wonders of life and the feistiness of friendship. There’s earnestness to the feature that’s appealing, as Gray sets out to make a family film that hopes to impart a few messages on the value of persistence and bravery. However, “American Summer” is also a pretty clumsy endeavor, wrestling with a confusing timeline and unadventurous screenwriting as it tries to burrow into viewer hearts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2022’s “Fall” was a low-budget film issued during the waning days of the summer movie season, with pandemic blues still influencing box office returns. Little was expected of the picture, but it carried decent marketing and a high concept premise, ultimately managing to tempt a small amount of viewers into theaters to watch two characters deal with a disaster up in the sky. “Fall” went on to become a popular streaming title, and now there’s a sequel, albeit four years later. “Fall 2: Deadpoint” (titled simply “Fall: Deadpoint” in the main titles) arrives with very little pop culture momentum, and screenwriters Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank (who scripted the original effort) basically submit a remake with the follow-up, which once again takes to great heights to watch a duo try to survive the elements. “Deadpoint” isn’t adventurous in the least, simply mirroring the previous release to test the longevity of a newfound brand name. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The Cold War is back in “Mayday,” the new offering from filmmaking team John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, returning to action after the bizarrely underwhelming box office performance of their entertaining 2023 release, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” The pair have a reputation for showy cinematography and comedic interests, and they return to their comfort zone in the new feature, which examines a special relationship between a downed American pilot and his Russian rescuer as they navigate Soviet Union troubles in the late 1980s. It’s a chase movie in some respects, but Daley and Goldstein are out to make a picture about partnership and cultural differences, coming up a little short when trying to sell thawing feelings between the characters. “Mayday” has bigness and broadness, which should be enough for most viewers, but it doesn’t reach its potential as a buddy comedy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Scott Waugh hasn’t delivered a decent movie during his career, but he keeps getting work. The helmer of “Act of Valor,” “Need for Speed,” “Hidden Strike,” and 2023’s disastrous “Expendables 4” (aka “Expend4bles”), Waugh is someone with an interest in big action, playing with Hollywood excess as he hopes to deliver an adrenaline rush for viewers. He hasn’t done much worth remembering, and his streak continues with “Runner,” a high concept thriller from screenwriters Miles Hubley and Tommy White that attempts to deliver a cinematic shock to the system with its pacing and incredible violence, only to be undone by poor writing and Waugh’s generic approach to screen intensity. It’s meant to be a buddy comedy, but it isn’t funny. It hopes to be heartbreaking, but it doesn’t carry deep feelings. And it’s out to be exciting, with liveliness smothered by the helmer’s plasticized approach to raising hell. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Adam Wingard found a way out of low-budget genre entertainment, managing to score a big, fat Hollywood gig helming the last two “Godzilla vs. Kong” pictures, doing a fine job propping up the franchise for additional exploration. Wingard is back in blood and guts with “Onslaught,” which trades the hugeness of kaiju mayhem for the viciousness of B-moviemaking, this time following a woman’s fight for her life when super soldiers arrive in a remote area to kill everything. Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett (who previously collaborated with Wingard on “You’re Next,” “The Guest,” and “Blair Witch”) intend to get weird with the film, combining the worlds of action and horror for the endeavor, while idiosyncrasy generally dominates the viewing experience. “Onslaught” maintains highlights throughout, but Wingard is making this one for himself, keeping the audience at a distance while he experiments with tone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com