Category: Film Review

I’m not sure it’s commonly known that the grand 1994 actioner “Speed” is actually something of a remake, taking its concept and sense of urgency from 1975’s “The Bullet Train,” which first presented the idea of a bomb threat on a moving vehicle that can’t slow down. And now there’s “Bullet Train Explosion,” another reworking of “The Bullet Train,” reviving the central crisis while also striving to be a sequel to the original offering. Director Shinji Higuchi moves from giant threats in “Shin Godzilla” and “Shin Ultraman” to a speedier level of danger, overseeing the disaster movie elements of “Bullet Train Explosion,” which endeavors to become an epic study of survival and shame. It’s a long journey (137 minutes), and the picture doesn’t earn that run time, but Higuchi has some clarity when it comes to near-misses and assorted beats of suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Puppetry appears the be a lost artform when it comes to film productions these days, but writer/director Isaiah Saxton is looking to reclaim a little magic in “The Legend of Ochi,” which features the work of puppeteers striving to bring a collection of creatures to life. It’s Jim Henson-esque in execution, but the picture isn’t anywhere close to the tone of such classics as “Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal.” Saxton’s endeavor mostly resembles a Wes Anderson-directed remake of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” remaining insanely artful but distant with the creature feature. “The Legend of Ochi” is eye candy, with a delightful appreciation of fantasy and adventure, but the helmer’s restraint when it comes to emotional content isn’t always welcome, as a tale of family ties and connection tries to break out, only to be shut down by Saxton’s insistence on remaining at arm’s length from anything potentially heartwarming. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“On Swift Horses” is an adaptation of a 2019 novel by author Shannon Pufahl, and it doesn’t seem like an easy book to bring to the big screen. There’s a tangle of characters to follow, with most in possession of dual lives, aching to achieve a bit of clarity in impossibly clouded living situations. There’s addiction and danger, along with plenty of forbidden attraction, putting screenwriter Bryce Kass to work managing a lot of complicated feelings and detours. Director Daniel Minahan (a television vet) attempts to make some cinematic poetry out of the tale, and while the feature is carefully crafted, it’s not particularly gripping, even with so much going on. “On Swift Horses” slowly goes about its business, picking up on feelings and desires, but it also remains frustratingly flat, as the helmer can’t tap into passions that drive these personalities, forgoing intensity to make something contemplative, but there’s just not all that much to consider. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Alto Knights” was released just last month, and attempted to offer viewers immersion into mob life. Instead of precise writing, rich characters, and fine performances, the feature provided a mess of events and dialogue exchanges, almost reaching a point of parody. And now here’s “Mob Cops,” which makes a similar attempt to generate a world of tough guys and their problems, once again throwing everything at the audience without any care for dramatic connection and scene tension. Screenwriter Kosta Kondilopoulos traces over the “Goodfellas” template for the picture, which follows the lives of crooked cops, good cops, and the mafia goons they interact with. There’s nothing in “Mob Cops” that hasn’t been done in other, better movies, and director/star Danny A. Abeckaser doesn’t offer any sense of style or much clarity to the cluster of names and faces presented here, which makes for a miserable viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A summer camp setting and horror. It’s a combination that’s created a lot of memorable genre entertainment over the last 45 years, inspiring filmmakers to keep returning to the blend of innocence and aggression to support their low-budget endeavors. Co-writers/co-directors Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk try their luck with slasher cinema in “Hell of a Summer,” bringing a new generation into the woods for a survival challenge, only this round is a bit more comedic than I’m sure many viewers will expect. In fact, cheekiness tends to dominate the offering, as Wolfhard and Bryk maintain a weird distance from frights in their scary movie, which is loosely scripted, not terribly interested in being anything more than a mild goof. “Hell of a Summer” (shot three years ago) has the ingredients for at least a passable slaughterama, but there’s no dominating nightmare to follow in the picture, which is inspired by serious horror features. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt makes her feature-length filmmaking debut with “The Ugly Stepsister,” and she proves to be a formidable talent. It’s one thing to utilize the tale of “Cinderella” to inspire a new take on a very old story, but Blichfeldt delivers an original vision for the effort, going the body horror route during this examination of mental illness and fairy tale fixation. The picture is incredibly graphic, but also beguiling as the helmer pieces together the beauty of moviemaking while inspecting a slow unraveling of the eponymous character. “The Ugly Stepsister” is an exceptional presentation of disturbing behavior, and it does something wild with the known tale of romantic rescue, offering exhilarating darkness and prime behavioral displays. It’s extremity done superbly by the production, playing with magic and horror as it endeavors to take “Cinderella” in many surprising directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After making his directorial debut with the low-budget drama “Fruitvale Station,” Ryan Coogler went into franchise mode, taking on the Hollywood machine. He refreshed the relevancy of the “Rocky” franchise in 2015’s “Creed,” and brought deep cultural textures to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2018’s “Black Panther” and its 2022 sequel, “Wakanda Forever.” Coogler isn’t ready to give his big budgets up, but he keeps away from comic books and sequels in “Sinners,” also claiming a screenplay credit on a highly unusual genre picture that’s almost uninterested in delivering the trashy goods this kind of entertainment is known for. It’s a riff on “From Dusk Till Dawn,” but sold through the helmer’s attention to musical and character detail, saving vampire action for short moments in the endeavor’s final act. “Sinners” remains assured work, emerging with a vision and a rhythm that’s thrilling at times, while the cast is sensational for the most part, creating layered people coming to the realization they’re involved in a monstrous nightmare. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2022, writer/director David Cronenberg returned from a lengthy professional break with “Crimes of the Future.” The feature played to his strengths as a creepy, crawling study of bodily mysteries and intense psychological issues. It wasn’t a rousing sit, but it did the trick, putting Cronenberg back on display with another original vision. The helmer quickly rebounds with “The Shrouds,” remaining true to his cinematic fixations with a picture that’s about obsession, this time examining the reverberations of death and the quest of some to hold on to people and ideas for as long as possible, potentially to a point of madness. Cronenberg delivers something familiar for his fans, and there are a lot of intriguing ideas in the material, which oversees the complexity of relationships for a character receiving a clearer view of his own world. “The Shrouds” doesn’t win with pace, as the offering could use a sharper edit, but the strangeness of the material is mostly inviting, embarking on a bizarre mystery that keeps up with Cronenberg-ian moods. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Wedding Banquet” was originally a film from 1993. While the picture was a minor art-house hit, it’s mostly known today as a breakout release for director Ang Lee, who used such success to help build an unusual and occasionally successful helming career. A remake arrives from co-writer/director Andrew Ahn, who achieved some notice for 2022’s streaming comedy, “Fire Island,” and continues his interest in comedic situations and deeply personal feelings. Ahn teams up with original co-writer James Schamus for the reworking, aiming for a more updating take on challenges to life and love. However, heart remains a top priority for the production, and while touches of melodrama aren’t entirely avoided, Ahn handles character concerns with grace, and he’s overseeing an excellent cast who skillfully work with the material’s blend of bigness and intimacy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Chad Archibald has been chipping away in horror entertainment for quite some time, with credits such as “I’ll Take Your Dead,” “Ejecta,” and “The Drownsman.” He’s clearly a genre fan, remaining focused on fright films for most of his career, and he returns to dark storytelling in “It Feeds,” which is arguably his best offering. The story of a clairvoyant woman and her war against the spread of a mysterious entity in her community, “It Feeds” isn’t a stunningly original take on an exhausting battle with multiple forms of evil, but Archibald has a few clear ideas for tension in the effort, which lands moments of decent suspense. And the helmer has a surprisingly effective cast to support his vision, finding acting unusually accomplished, adding to the pressurized viewing experience as emotional bonds are tested alongside supernatural ones. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“G20” is tasked with turning Viola Davis into an action star. She’s already one of the best actresses working today, but she’s often cast in tough dramas that make the most of her special thespian skills, including the summoning of steely emotions. Now she’s in a “Die Hard” riff, portraying the President of the United States, who’s forced to battle terrorists in South Africa during an intergovernmental political and economic forum. It’s a fun concept credited to four screenwriters and handed to director Patricia Riggen, who doesn’t have much experience in the ways of creating screen mayhem (previous work includes “Miracles from Heaven” and “The 33”). However, the helmer has Davis, who brings a wonderful sense of authority to the endeavor, capably selling the physical and emotional elements of the writing to help elevate a bruiser that isn’t always inspired or knows when to quit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Drop” is a film that doesn’t want its audience to think about the details when watching the central crisis of the plot unfold. It’s not a picture that stands up to scrutiny, playing fast and loose with technological manipulation and basic human response to troubling situations. It’s the latest from director Christopher Landon, who’s made a career out of goofy horror movies (“Happy Death Day,” “Freaky,” “We Have a Ghost”), and he’s back with another heightened tale of torment, this time working within the small confines of a fine-dining restaurant as the main character does battle against a phone-based aggressor. Written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, “Drop” intends to offer some thrills and chills, but it takes a lot to buy into the whole endeavor, which is filled with questionable logic (before that’s fully eliminated in the finale) and bits of bad taste. It’s also not that effective in the suspense department, as the central idea runs out of gas in the first act. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After dealing with the divide of the United States in 2024’s “Civil War,” director Alex Garland returns to the battle zone in “Warfare.” Garland joins co-helmer Ray Mendoza for a full immersion into the ways of military service, but the duo make it a point to avoid the lure of jingoism, preferring a raw take on the horrors of combat as the tale concerns a platoon of Navy SEALs stuck in a dire situation of survival in Iraq nearly 20 years ago. Mendoza brings his experiences in service to the picture, sharing screenplay duties with Garland, who provides his filmmaking concentration on technical precision and blunt violence. “Warfare” isn’t for the faint of heart, as it explores the destruction of bodies and spirits in a real-time battle for life, giving viewers a you-are-there viewing experience that’s profoundly challenging at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Amateur” began life as a 1981 novel by Robert Littell, who endeavored to give a tale of revenge a cold war spin to fit the mood of the era. His work has been brought to the screen by writers Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, who try to make the material relevant in a much more technologically advanced age. At the core of the story lies a one-man-army tale, and juicy one at that, putting a mousy C.I.A. employee on a hunt to take down the terrorists responsible for killing his wife. While “The Amateur” is pointed in the direction of cheap thrills, the script doesn’t follow through on the potential of the picture. A decent first half is replaced by a surprisingly snoozy second half, and while the cast does their part to add layers to their characters and maintain some level of presence, director James Hawes (“One Life”) seems allergic to excitement, offering audiences a mess of motivations and supporting players competing for attention in a slowly deflating movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“A Goofy Movie” opened in 1995, and while it showed brief box office life, there just wasn’t as large of a family audience turnout as the Walt Disney Corporation was used to for their animated releases. Goofy’s big debut as a leading man didn’t draw significant crowds at the multiplex, but something amazing happen when the film hit home video and cable. The feature managed to attract a loyal audience, generating an intense love for the picture as a fanbase developed, keeping the offering alive for decades. Now 30 years later, “Not Just a Goof” is a documentary exploring the creation of “A Goofy Movie,” identifying how a low-budget effort from a “B team” of Disney employees managed to capture something special and heartfelt involving a character primarily known for pure slapstick. “Not Just a Goof” is enlightening and charming, as directors Eric Kimelton and Christopher Ninness find their way into the production story, armed with wonderful footage of the creative process and access to cast and crew, making for an engrossing sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sacramento” is the second directorial effort from actor Michael Angarano, who made his debut with a little-seen indie, “Avenues,” which explored a story about life carrying on after an unexpected death. Angarano returns to the subject in his latest (scripted with Christopher Nicolas Smith), examining the unusual ways characters process their burning emotions and handle life changes, taking a co-starring role with Michael Cera. “Sacramento” is a very small movie, avoiding major dramatic movements and arcs of enlightenment, but it retains a lot of charm due to the strange personalities on display. It’s a nicely acted endeavor that investigates troubles within, especially with thirtysomething men attempting to process extreme challenges to their sense of responsibility, unable to handle changes happening to them. It’s an amusing look at coping skills, and Angarano manages to keep the film reasonably tight and somewhat surprising. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Brian Skiba is a filmmaker who works fast and cheap. He’s been burning through productions for the last five years, focusing on VOD/streaming titles that are loaded with producers and typically save enough money to purchase the services of one or two well-known actors. “Gunslingers” follows this tradition, returning Skiba to the cowboy way after 2023’s dismal “Dead Man’s Hand,” scripting a western about violence in a town full of repentant outlaws. There’s not a terrible idea in play here, but Skiba isn’t about to take his time in this endeavor, once again barreling through a B-movie with a lukewarm cast and no real interest in style and pacing. “Gunslingers” does have Nicolas Cage (the luxuriously compensated thespian of the effort), and he’s extremely Cage-y in the picture, becoming a sole source of entertainment and laughs (both intentional and unintentional) in the offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Life of Our Lord” was a book created by author Charles Dickens to help teach his children the story of Jesus Christ. It was never meant to be published. In reality, Dickens didn’t want anyone outside of his kids to even see the work, as it was a personal offering of storytelling and faith. However, as the decades passed, the work found its way to the public, and now “The King of Kings” is an animated take on the story and the concept of its accessibility to young, impressionable minds. It’s a South Korean production telling the tale of an Englishman’s version of biblical chapters, which is an oddball way to sell the wonders of Christianity, and “The King of Kings” is perhaps too strange to really land its intended impact, mixing slapstick with crucifixion. The picture is meant to get kids into religion, but the movie will likely inspire interest in the adoption of a cat, as feline antics are arguably more compelling than a CliffsNotes overview of sin and sacrifice. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The poster for “Zero” displays the lead character of the film in a standing position, maintaining a panicked face while wearing a bomb strapped to his chest. He’s not moving, but there are sparks (of course) and dirt all around him, suggesting something disastrous has occurred near him. The trailer for the feature highlights a premise that’s ripe with suspense, tracking the fighting spirit of two men attempting to survive a particularly haunted day as they deal with an explosive situation, often battling their way out of problems. The actual “Zero” contains extraordinarily little excitement or even physical activity. Co-writers Hus Miller and Jean Luc Herbulot (who also directs) use a pressurized situation to comment on the state of the world, but that isn’t a problem. Failing to invite suspense to the picture is, as the movie establishes a fight for life, but rarely engages with its extreme survival challenges, creating a disappointingly uneven viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Plans for a film adaptation of the video game “Minecraft” have been in place for quite some time. The 2011 release enjoyed an incredible surge of popularity over the years, but Hollywood was unable to cash-in on its success, leaving the material stuck in development. Now there’s “A Minecraft Movie,” which hits theaters a little behind the gaming trend, but retains enough energy to recapture fan love for the universe that’s been created over the last 14 years. Director Jared Hess is an odd choice to command the offering, but the “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre” helmer adds the right amount of quirk and goofiness to the endeavor, delivering a lively viewing experience that’s very much in the business of trying to make “Minecraft” exciting again. It’s a big feature with waves of characters and threats, providing a sugary distraction for family audiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com