Category: Film Review

Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden once specialized in interesting indie projects, often looking to explore the ways of mental health and battles of impulse control. That journey came to a halt when the pair helmed “Captain Marvel,” going into comic book hero territory with a routine Marvel offering of visual effects and half-baked writing. The career detour resulted in a massive hit, but Fleck and Boden aren’t resting in blockbuster country, returning to more idiosyncratic ways in “Freaky Tales,” which is an anthology film concerning a strange week in Oakland, California in 1987. There are four tales of violence and mystery to enjoy, with some cosmic oddity added to help the viewing experience, and Boden and Fleck remain confident and committed to strange events in the picture. “Freaky Tales” is low budget, but it delivers a few crazy conflicts and moments of surprise, remaining consistent throughout these stories of bizarre events and confrontations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Naomi Watts and a Great Dane figuring out their life together in the middle of New York City. It’s the stuff of comedy, but “The Friend” is primarily interested in the inner workings of people and animals trying to get through a difficult time together. It’s a companionship story from filmmaking partners Scott McGehee and David Siegel, who adapt a 2018 book by author Sigrid Nunez, challenged to preserve the novel’s intimate ways with animal care and mental health. “The Friend” isn’t too hard on the senses, maintaining a cozy mood of mild shenanigans involving a large pooch and the puzzle of its behavior. And there’s room for human concerns, as the main character experiences an unexpectedly therapeutic journey with a most unlikely partner. The helmers don’t push down too hard on viewers, and they respect the emotional odyssey of the source material, keeping the picture charming and sincere, also sustaining its appeal for dog lovers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

RKSS is a Canadian filmmaking duo (comprised of Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell) who made a sharp impression in their debut feature, “Turbo Kid,” which offered sizable retro cinema fun as the helmers attempted to pay tribute to escapism entertainment of the 1980s. RKSS remained in the decade for their follow-up, “Summer of 1984,” exploring a more suspenseful tone in a less sugary movie. Another effort (“We Are Zombies”) came and went without much fanfare, but the team has returned to semi-stable creative ground with “Wake Up,” detailing a war between activists and security inside an IKEA-like store. It’s a B-movie idea played with aggression by RKSS, who look to get fairly violent and somewhat ruthless in the endeavor, and this hostility tends to work for the picture, especially during its most charged moments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Luckiest Man in America” dramatizes the story of Michael Larson, who, in 1984, was a contestant on the television game show, “Press Your Luck.” Larson managed to win over $100,000 from the program after recognizing game board patterns, using this knowledge to avoid all the “whammies,” causing a commotion behind-the-scenes of the show as producers faced a tremendous financial loss. Writers Maggie Briggs and Samir Oliveros (who also directs) don’t go to extremes to turn a relatively simple tale into a cinematic event, largely remaining in the studio during the taping of the program to best examine psychological struggles happening in the room. “The Luckiest Man in America” is an interesting look at a fractured human putting himself in an extraordinary situation, and the screenplay manages to get fairly far with various complications and confrontations found during the event, helping to rework a bizarre bit of TV history. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For most people, the name William Tell conjures images of a crossbow accuracy contest involving a human target with an apple placed on their head. Perhaps there are even memories of “The Lone Ranger” and its use of Gioachino Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” as its main theme, successfully bending the tone of the original work to fit a wild west setting. Writer/director Nick Hamm is looking to restore the tale’s integrity with “William Tell,” endeavoring to give an 1804 play (by Friedrich Schiller) the “Braveheart” treatment, out to conjure a big screen epic featuring numerous characters and various motivations. It’s a big movie, but only in certain moments, and Hamm isn’t an inspired helmer (“The Hole,” “Godsend,” “Killing Bono”), out to transform European tensions into a Shakespearean viewing experience, creating a sluggish offering of heroism. “William Tell” might be of value to those most patient with historical actioners, but casual viewers probably won’t walk away with any fresh appreciation of the man and his mission. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2014, Disney produced an adaptation of the 1972 Judith Viorst book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” It wasn’t a slavish replication of the literary treasure, but the production found ways to maintain the idea of the writing while bringing it into a new age of family entertainment. The picture was a big time charmer, but a sequel was never launched. A decade later, Disney tries again with “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible. No Good, Very Bad Road Trip,” which generates a new family who must endure all kinds of mishaps and torment while trying to get through a simple week of travel. While not as endearing as the previous effort, the new take has its appeal thanks to a spirited cast and plenty of disasters, also exploring Mexican heritage to give the offering its own personality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Jaume Collet-Serra is primarily known for creating pulse-pounding thrillers. He’s built an entire career making this stuff, recently coming off the monster streaming success of last year's “Carry-On,” which helped to boost his professional profile when it took a bit of a dive after the release of 2022’s “Black Adam.” Collet-Serra is now challenged to make something exciting out the small portions of story found in “The Woman in the Yard,” which is scripted by Sam Stefanak. It’s a modest tale of threat and mental health issues coming for a mother trying to protect her children from an undefined menace, and the whole experience remains in and around a single farmhouse for the 85-minute-long run time. “The Woman in the Yard” is being promoted as a fright film, and Collet-Serra certainly tries to work a few jolts into the flow of the offering, but the material is mostly about degrees of pain and regret, and while Stefanak attempts to get to the heart of his characters, he really doesn’t have much of a movie here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nicole Kidman certainly loves to play repressed women, preferably sexually so. “Holland” is her third role in less than a year (following “Babygirl” and “A Family Affair”) where she portrays a character being unlocked by a special, forbidden partner, responding to the thrill of danger and exposure to previously unrealized pleasures. It’s a bit of a career rut for the actress, but she remains lively and exploratory in the films, including “Holland,” which provides Kidman with a broader personality to play, as screenwriter Andrew Sodroski looks to the “Fargo” universe to inspire a tale of suspicion and lust, trying to blend exaggeration with suburban horrors. Director Mimi Cave (who impressed with 2022’s “Fresh”) offers style, but not much substance, struggling to keep a leaden story afloat, unable to make something exciting out of the usual in thriller cinema. The picture has moments of passably interesting oddity, but the overall offering is slack, and the ending is completely unsatisfying. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Little was expected of 2024’s “The Beekeeper,” which paired director David Ayer (known for his messy, adrenalized action movies) and star Jason Statham (known for his steely screen presence). It was a January release that managed to find an audience, bringing in people in the mood for a revenge picture that was big on exaggeration and absurdity, hitting the right spot for certain viewers. Just over a year later, Ayer and Statham are back with “A Working Man,” which is an adaptation of a 2014 Chuck Dixon book, introducing readers to the one-man-army methodology of Levon Cade and his particular set of skills. The adaptation is handled by Ayer and co-writer Sylvester Stallone, who are fully committed to repeating “The Beekeeper” experience, once again keeping Statham growly and the helmer in overkill mode, mounting another tale of rage that’s every bit as moronic as their previous collaboration. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We just did this. Last month saw the release of “Popeye’s Revenge,” which was the first production to take advantage of the public domain debut of the comic strip character. The endeavor was awful, made quickly and on the cheap, finding the filmmakers trying to follow the profitable ways of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” by making a quickie offering of bottom shelf nonsense. Well, Popeye is back, and he’s on a mission to take lives once again in “Popeye: The Slayer Man,” which is also a low-budget slasher sticking to the formula all these movies contain, once again following curious youngsters into a remote area while a mysterious monster works to pick them off one-by-one. Director Robert Michael Ryan doesn’t have enough money or imagination to make this silliness frightening, or even entertaining, as too much of “Popeye: The Slayer Man” is dull, poorly scripted, and lacking energy when it comes to the destruction of victims. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Unicorns. Usually, they’re a force of goodness, or magic. Possibly rainbow power. “Death of a Unicorn” attempts to alter the reputation of the fantasy creatures, turning them into ornery beasts with a taste for blood. Such violence is warranted in the picture, as writer/director Alex Scharfman (making his helming debut) creates plenty of ruthless human behavior to explore, merging the mental illness of greed with a most unexpected discovery in the Canadian wilderness. The writing gets off to a wonderful start, managing distinct characterization and intensifying demands of unicorn energy, setting up something special in a clash between the rich and the horned. “Death of a Unicorn” doesn’t maintain such inspiration for the full viewing experience, but it covers enough of it with a demented sense of humor and lively performances, helping to give the material a little more dramatic weight than many might expect from an offering that initially seems somewhat ridiculous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Inspired by real events,” “The Penguin Lessons” dramatizes the story of educator Tom Michell and his unusual experience in Argentina, where, in 1976, he found a penguin in distress. He managed to clean it up and nurse it back to health, only to find the creature wasn’t interested in leaving his side. The complications of this relationship are perfectly set up for comedy and heartwarming events, and those do occur in the movie. However, “The Penguin Lessons” tries to be a little more than simple comfort food cinema, as the tale also takes place during a military coup in the country, greatly complicating relationships in the story, scripted by Jeff Pope (“The Lost King,” “Philomena,” “Stan & Ollie). The film carries an uneven tonality at times, as director Peter Cattaneo (“The Full Monty,” “The Rocker”) battles to balance material that’s periodically all over the place, but the feature stays engaging, hitting beats of sweetness and sadness. And star Steve Coogan finds a few layers of character to play to prevent the picture from becoming a Disney-style examination of an unlikely friendship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1999, director Milos Forman attempted to replicate the Andy Kaufman Experience in “Man on the Moon,” and Jim Carrey set out to fully inhabit the comedian, trying to communicate a strange life to a mass audience. The movie didn’t attract too much attention at the box office, and it came up short when attempting to understand what made Kaufman tick, which, admittedly, is no small feat. “Thank You Very Much” is a documentary from Alex Braverman (“Waffles + Mochi,” “The Mind of a Chef”), and he’s much more direct in his pursuit of whatever truth there is to pull from Kaufman’s legacy. “Thank You Very Much” is a refreshingly insightful look at the performer’s creative origins and connections, giving fans and newcomers a greater understanding of his professional and personal drive to be a bizarre as humanly possible. Kaufman-y shenanigans aren’t present here, as Braverman dares to add a human side to the subjects clouded ways, making for a fascinating viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Barry Levinson has been in a career freefall for quite some time, possibly dating back to 1998’s “Sphere” if you want to be completely ruthless about it (weirdly, he’s done his best work on cable productions). And yet, he continues to find employment, often on movies few people see, including 2015’s “Rock the Kasbah” and 2021’s “The Survivor.” Levinson returns once again with “The Alto Knights,” out to craft a very Martin Scorsese-esque tale of aging gangsters with help from “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” and “The Irishman” screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, and one that’s not shy to rehash elements from those pictures. “The Alto Knights” hopes to be another epic of crime bosses and their anxieties, putting Pileggi back to work cooking up allegiances and double-crosses, shoveling in all the wise guy conversations he possibly can, likely reaching a level of torture for some viewers. Levinson has been here before, dealing with period ornamentation (“Diner,” “Tin Men,” “Avalon”) and gangster cinema (“Bugsy”), but he has little control over this offering, which is too meandering to matter, unable to find any peaks of drama as it stumbles from one scene to the next. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Just four months ago, Tyler Perry tried for some award season glory and dramatic resonance with “The Six Triple Eight,” a World War II story meant to celebrate an important achievement in history. The picture managed to score a single Academy Award nomination, but the movie wasn’t far from the usual in Perry’s oeuvre of melodramatic, simplistic offerings. He’s right back to his old ways in “Duplicity,” an especially budget-conscious mystery that’s daring to blend the crisis issue of police shootings with relationship troubles facing overly combative characters. Perry’s back in soap opera mode in the endeavor, giving the effort a healthy dose of ridiculousness to keep viewers interested. And he’s especially sloppy assembling the details of the feature, skipping critical questions of evidence and characterization to plow ahead as a tedious detective story with an absurd payoff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2012, there were dueling movies about the world of “Snow White.” Both “Mirror Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” attempted to do something different with the source material, getting away from the Disneyfied take usual associated with the brand. Now the Mouse House tries their luck bringing the tale to modern audiences, turning “Snow White” into a live-action adaptation of the 1937 Walt Disney production that basically created the business of feature-length animated entertainment. Director Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its sequel) is put in charge of the reworking, which takes the fairy tale atmosphere of the original offering and turns it into a “Frozen”-style musical, merging the ways of storybook fantasy with Broadway-like song and dance numbers. “Snow White” has its highlights, and remains an entertaining picture, led in part by Rachel Zegler’s impressively sincere performance as the eponymous character, which gives a sometimes slack offering real heart, backed by a powerful voice. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Locked” is a remake of a 2019 Spanish film, “4×4,” with screenwriter Michael Arlen Ross (“Turistas,” “The Throwaways”) attempting to bring a little North American energy to the thriller. It’s a story of imprisonment, as a young criminal unable to pull himself out of trouble elects to steal an unattended SUV, only to face a vehicle owner completely focused on making the intruder suffer for his crime. It’s close-quarters panic handed to director David Yarovesky, who previously attempted to explore the darker side of a superhero origin story in 2019’s “Brightburn.” The helmer has better luck for this round of torment, as “Locked” manages to remain tense and a little ugly for its first two acts, exploring the central fight for survival as it becomes a battle of perspectives. The conclusion doesn’t entirely work, but suspense is there for the most part, putting viewers in the middle of a bad situation that delivers a few cinematic chills. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Assessment” is a film about the future. As with most pictures looking to the world of tomorrow, things aren’t great, and screenwriters Dave Thomas, Nell Garfath-Cox, and John Donnelly maintain a dystopian view with the material, which returns viewers to a ruined Earth filled with weary, detached citizens. The difference here is a question of continuation, as the tale examines the arduous process of becoming a parent when fertility is no longer an option. “The Assessment” spends most of its run time as a psychological test, and director Fleur Fortune (a music video veteran) does a capable job generating intense points of pressure on the characters as they push to realize a dream. What this hope actually is makes up the real mystery of “The Assessment,” which contains a strange power for the most part, getting into the struggles of responsibility and the nerve pinch of doubt, delivering a mostly successful behavioral puzzle. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Elijah Bynum follows up his little-seen 2017 picture, “Hot Summer Nights” (starring a semi-unknown Timothee Chalamet), with “Magazine Dreams,” which is bound to achieve a lot of attention for the filmmaker, one way or another. It’s certainly a more accomplished feature, as the helmer deeply inhales “Taxi Driver” fumes to inspire this understanding of obsession and mental illness. It’s a rough journey for the main character, following an aspiring bodybuilder as he gradually detaches from reality while pursuing a vision of fame and respect, maintaining a tenuous grasp on self-control. It’s a heavy viewing experience that’s not for everyone, but those more interested in intense psychological studies are sure to embrace the slow ride to explosion presented here. It’s also hard to deny the unique presence of star Jonathan Majors, who hits a few frightening beats of intimidation in his fully committed performance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Flying Lotus is a musician adding the world of filmmaking to his artistic interests. He previously directed the little-seen “Kuso,” collaborated with the late, great David Lynch on a music video, and added a segment for 2022’s “V/H/S/99.” Following his genre interests, Lotus goes full-on horror in “Ash,” which takes inspiration from 1979’s “Alien,” examining the disaster of a space exploration team trying to understand life and dangers on an unknown planet. Screenwriter Jonni Remmler provides a map of confusion to follow, keeping things somewhat mysterious and incredibly violent at times. However, “Ash” isn’t driven by plot, which struggles with formula, instead finding life through its visual presentation. Lotus serves up a satisfactory nightmare with the endeavor, and it intermittently scores through heavy atmosphere and vicious encounters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com