Category: Film Review

They’re calling it “The Twisted Childhood Universe.” For creators Rhys Frake-Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey (who’s also credited as Scott Chambers), the TCU is a chance to make a little money in the movie business, quickly building on the ever-so-slight success of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” which was followed by “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2.” Frake-Waterfield and Jeffrey/Chambers are using recent debuts to the public domain to attract attention to terrible, low-budget horror features, going full-gimmick while putting in next to no effort when it comes to conjuring scary business. The boys are back in business in “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare,” turning their attention to the perversion of J.M. Barrie’s famous character and his world, contorting childhood fantasy into a grisly, grimy horror offering that’s incredibly bleak and artless. Jeffrey/Chambers takes the helming credit this time around, and it's difficult to understand what’s being directed in the endeavor, which is entirely aimless and repetitive, unable to summon even cheap scares with its lack of genre imagination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s been plenty of horror centered around the physical changes and fury of the Wolf Man. The creature has been very good to Universal Pictures over the decades, and the studio keeps trying to reintroduce the character to audiences, perhaps most recently in 2010’s big budget “The Wolfman,” while the hairy menace is set to receive his own roller coaster ride at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park, opening this summer. Until such thrills are offered to the public, viewers are going to have to make do with “Wolf Man,” which brings co-writer/director Leigh Whannell’s take on the menace to the big screen. For some viewers, Whannell did wonders reworking “The Invisible Man” for modern audiences, and he tries to do the same with “Wolf Man.” Unfortunately, while the concept behind this rethinking of body horror is sound, the execution is surprisingly lethargic, as Whannell doesn’t exactly want to make a scary movie with the material, but he doesn’t have much else to share in this inert semi-chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Michiel Blanchart makes an impressive helming debut with “Night Call,” which is one of the sharpest thrillers to come around in recent memory. Also handling the screenplay, Blanchart delves into the heat of survival as a man in the wrong place at the wrong time spends one desperate night trying to clear his name as a bag of money goes missing. It’s not an especially fresh concept, but the execution of the endeavor is outstanding, putting the main character on the move as he dashes around Brussels during a hectic evening of social upheaval. “Night Call” doesn’t bite off more than it can chew, remaining focused on the mission at hand, keeping the players on the move while tension increases as a bad situation always manages to get worse. It’s accomplished work from Blanchart, who has something to say with the material, but he’s also committed to the pure cinematic movement of the effort, which is nail-biting stuff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Spirit carries most of the “One of Them Days” viewing experience. Screenwriter Syreeta Singleton doesn’t have a novel idea for the feature, which follows two friends as they stumble around Los Angeles in need of quick cash, getting into trouble and shenanigans while meeting an assortment of strange people. What Singelton lacks in originality she makes up for in personality and idiosyncrasy, creating a semi-wild journey for the main players as they attempt to handle their business on a particularly painful day. “One of Them Days” is a highly amusing picture with a few laugh-out-loud moments, and while it doesn’t maintain consistency when it comes to insanity, there’s an effort to get a little wild at times, which is most welcome. And weirdness is capably handled by the cast, finding stars Keke Palmer and SZA enjoying sharp chemistry and playfulness in this scrappy endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Michael Polish has been stuck in B-movie mode for quite some time, working with tiny budgets to make action entertainment (“Force of Nature,” “Terror on the Prairie”) and ridiculous dramas (“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”). He’s even tried a faith-based picture on for size (“90 Minutes in Heaven”). Nothing’s caught fire, and his streak of dour, lifeless features is sustained in “Alarum,” which is Polish’s attempt to create a spy game highlighting double-crossing characters, twitchy government figures, and violent encounters. There’s promise in the endeavor’s first act, setting up a plan of action following elusive personalities, but once details start coming into the effort, screenwriter Alexander Vesha gets lost. “Alarum” has sequences of mayhem, but they’re limited, as the offering prefers to deal with conversational and confrontational moments, which Polish can’t turn into riveting cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Something must’ve happened on the set of 2022’s “Orphan: First Kill.” In that movie, stars Julia Stiles and Isabelle Fuhrman were tasked with battling each other as evil deeds were traded between their characters. And now, Stiles is directing “Wish You Were Here,” putting Fuhrman in the lead role of a romantic drama. Clearly the two get along, and their second collaboration is quite different than their first, as Stiles (who co-scripts) oversees an adaptation of a 2017 Renee Carlino novel, which tries to get soft and tragic while following the problems of a woman attempting to find love and a future for herself. “Wish You Were Here” isn’t classified as a YA book, but Stiles tends to treat the material as such, out to explore an overly simplistic relationship between two people who fail to secure much of a connection to begin with. It’s not challenging work, and it lacks essential warmth, as Stiles (making her feature-length helming debut) can’t figure out how to accurately measure Carlino’s melodrama. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While it wasn’t a major cinematic achievement, 2023’s “Bank of Dave” managed to deliver the right amount of feel-good filmmaking when dealing with a potentially depressing subject matter. The feature shared the “true(ish)” tale of Dave Fishwick and his battle against the English banking system, laboring to create a place of financial fairness for those struggling to pull themselves out of a hole. There were mild charms, pleasant performances, and plenty of love for the band Def Leppard. Money was clearly made on the picture, as now there’s “Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger,” which revisits this “true(ish)” realm to detail Dave’s fight against the payday loan industry. Writer Piers Ashworth and director Chris Foggin return to duty for a sequel that’s slightly less appealing than the original, getting a little too grabby when inventing drama for the follow-up. While it remains likable enough, “The Loan Ranger” spends too much time away from its core message on monetary dangers, missing the overall educational value of the 2023 release. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2021, Jean-Claude Van Damme returned to the spotlight in “The Last Mercenary.” The picture offered a brighter side to the action star, allowing him to get a little silly in the French production, creating one of his best performances in years. While not a sequel, “The Gardener” is meant to sustain such goodwill, putting Van Damme back in a comedy from returning director David Charhon, who hopes to score again with a mix of violence and goofiness. Lightning doesn’t strike twice for the production team, which visibly struggles to handle the tone of the effort, periodically unsure just how serious to get with the screenplay as it dips into heavy emotion and dark aggression. “The Gardener” seems like a farce for the taking, but Charhon doesn’t lean into the comedic possibilities of the premise, and the small-scale endeavor just isn’t funny, fumbling gags while Van Damme rises up every now and then to take out bad guys. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If you’re a fan of 2018’s “Den of Thieves,” it’s been a long wait for a continuation. If you’re not an admirer of the feature, it hasn’t been long enough. Writer/director Christian Gudegast wanted his own version of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” cooking up a heist thriller made with similar steeliness and a lower grade of actors. The first film managed to find an audience, and while it wasn’t a smash hit, apparently there’s enough interest in a follow-up, as “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” sets out to recapture the spirit, length, and machismo of the original endeavor. Gudegast doesn’t push himself here, out to basically remake the first offering with a location change to Europe, aiming to class up the continuation with a flashier sense of crime and planning. “Pantera” has the benefit of some fresh cast members and a new view, but the material doesn’t escalate the franchise, happy to enter recycle mode as it looks to tempt old fans to return to theaters seven years later. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last St. Patrick’s Day season, Netflix tried to merge the ways of Irish fantasy and the labor of formulaic romantic comedies in “Irish Wish,” giving star Lindsay Lohan a chance to continue her new career path as a holiday movie queen. The picture wasn’t very creative or endearing, and now, for the new year, there’s “Love of the Irish,” finding Hallmark Channel attempting to bring a little warmth to viewers with the endeavor. Star Shenae Grimes-Beech is put behind the wheel of her own rom-com, and writer Justin D. James is taking no chances with the effort, keeping everything perfectly digestible as hearts yearn and culture clashes commence. And yet, once the routine of it all is worked through, there’s a lot to enjoy about the mild feature. Director Ali Liebert delivers enough Irish charm to pass, and there’s a decent level of emotional content once the material settles into character. Also helping the cause is a supporting turn from Moira Kelly, a vastly underutilized actress who scores big here when it comes to sincerity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Eat the Night” has crime story momentum, observing rising tensions between drug pushers looking to protect their territory, but it’s also an interesting study of isolation in the digital age. Co-writer/directors Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (who made their helming debut in 2018’s “Jessica Forever”) attempt to merge more visceral encounters with intimate ones in the endeavor, as it details a collection of characters trying to find some form of stability and love as human connection enters their lives. “Eat the Night” goes a little deeper into private thoughts and feelings, giving it a fascinating understanding of the personalities as they deal with so much in their lives. There’s texture to the writing to sustain the viewing experience, and gaming elements to help create a different appreciation of loneliness, especially when it comes to an end-of-life situation occurring in a virtual world. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Laws of Man” is a low-budget thriller that has an opportunity to reach the dramatic finish line with a relatively simple study of small town corruption exposed to the light of day. In this case, it’s a series of murders happening in a remote area of Utah, putting two U.S. Marshals on the road to figure out what’s going on and apprehend the suspects. Writer/director Phil Blattenberger (“Condor’s Nest,” “Point Man”) maintains straightforward storytelling goals during the first hour of the feature, keeping matters passably interesting as he attempts to deliver complicated character business, mixed with a few moments of violence. “Laws of Man” suddenly loses interest in being approachable in the final act, which transforms an okay pass at games of intimidation into something quite ridiculous, watching Blattenberger bite off more than he can chew when laboring to come up with a knockout climax. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jim Weir and Jack Clark make their feature-length directorial debut with “Birdeater” (credited as “Fax Machine”), and they strive to craft an immediate impression with their work on the endeavor. It’s a story about a gathering, and in movies, such social events are never without incident, open to the behaviors of characters who probably shouldn’t be around one another. In this case, the celebration is a bachelor party (or “Bucks Party”), which is often depicted as a chaotic situation of male bonding and debauchery. “Birdeater” hunts for a different kind of mayhem, turning to drugs and confrontation to whip up tension, following Weir and Clark (who also writes the picture) as they battle to depict a charged occasion populated with characters in various states of mental distress. It’s a recipe for compelling chaos, yet the helmers labor hard to generate an abstract viewing experience, looking for engagement on a visual level, not a dramatic one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Survive” has crab monsters on its poster and predominantly featured in its trailer. It should be noted that these “arthropods from the abyss” are barely found in the picture, mostly regulated to the last act, where the beasties make brief appearances. “Survive” isn’t the disaster movie it initially seems to be, as director Frederic Jardin doesn’t have the budget to go with his depiction of a global catastrophe, instead laboring to launch endurance trials with a few locations and a lot of panicked acting from the cast. “Survive” has the makings for a bleak ride around the end of the world, but it doesn’t have enough excitement and incident to really launch a series of thrills. It feels a little hollow and anticlimactic, and while Jardin is committed to following characters as they experience an unthinkable situation of self-preservation, his sense of upheaval could use some work, as the endeavor is missing a more intense appreciation of global ruin. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2023, actor Donnie Yen made an appearance in “John Wick: Chapter 4,” playing a supporting part in the sequel, which made use of his thespian presence and extensive action cinema training. He was a highlight in the film, and Yen returns to screens in “The Prosecutor,” bringing him to Hong Kong for a feature that tries to be a little of everything. Yen also directs the endeavor, and he’s looking to create a heroic role for himself, portraying a figure of justice who becomes a player in the world of law, unwilling to allow an innocent man to suffer while corruption continues to thrive. “The Prosecutor” is a starring vehicle for Yen, gifting himself opportunities to display his dramatic range with the legal thriller. And there’s furious action to keep the picture enticing to viewers, watching Yen and his stunt team organize some hard-hitting confrontations that successfully spice up the movie. However, these moments of brutality can’t save the offering, which has trouble with pace and exaggeration, creating a labored viewing experience at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2024, one of the great filmmaking mysteries was solved when footage from “The Day the Clown Cried” was made available to the public through the Library of Congress. The release came after a decade-long waiting period, with creator Jerry Lewis finally willing to share what remained of the production, but only after his death (in 2017). However, this grand unveiling (which, admittedly, didn’t cause much of a commotion) wasn’t the first time the feature was presented, and the documentary “From Darkness to Light” examines the picture’s journey from an iffy idea to a production debacle, with a few men working the late shift at a film studio largely responsible for preserving an endeavor Lewis himself wishes never existed. Directors Eric Friedler and Michael Lurie offer a rich understanding of creative and monetary woes in “From Darkness to Light,” out to clarify exactly what “The Day the Clown Cried” is and why Lewis was compelled to make it, turning himself inside out in the process. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Damned” has a lot of competition, as most horror releases these days tend to go for intense atmosphere, valuing the art of the haunt over the shock of violence. Screenwriter Jamie Hannigan and director Thordur Palsson (making his feature-length helming debut) look to mount a tale of conscience and doom, taking viewers to a remote part of the world to inspect how a single decision manages to unravel a sense of order and sanity within a small community of fisherman. “The Damned” has terrific imagery and a decent understanding of menace, going the slow-burn route for most of its chills, and it has an advantage in its setting, as isolation is always good for frights. The endeavor is more invested in a gradual display of unsettling interactions, maintaining a leisurely pace, but Palsson doesn’t overstay his welcome with the work, and manages to deliver a few accomplished freak-outs along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“From Roger Moore with Love” isn’t a hard-hitting documentary about the late actor (who passed away in 2017). It’s more of a softer take on his life, as director Jack Cocker hopes to emulate Moore while exploring the subject’s experiences in love and performance. It’s not exactly a valentine, as some of the details pertaining to Moore’s inability to remain faithful to his romantic partners and wives are present, but Cocker isn’t making something too critical, electing to keeps things relatively light as the tale follows the star from his childhood dreams to his adult realities. Moore created “Roger Moore” to take on the world, and the feature seeks to understand the invented man as he lives with the real one, especially when a working thespian received the opportunity of a lifetime, asked to become James Bond, giving him the global exposure he was curious about. “From Roger Moore with Love” is perhaps too fluffy, but as an understanding of impulses and practiced charms, it offers interesting analysis of Moore’s behaviors and legacy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com