Category: Film Review

“Eephus” is the feature-length directorial debut for Carson Lund, who previously provided marvelous, evocative work as a cinematographer for 2024’s “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.” He brought the craziness of an extended family holiday to life in the spirited film, and he immediately returns to the nuances of relationships and the atmosphere of an event in “Eephus,” which is named after a specialized pitch in baseball. Lund (who co-scripts the offering with Michael Basta and Nate Fisher) takes a long look at the game and players in a recreational league, eschewing plot to remain in The Hang with two teams spending a full day working out the details of the last game hosted inside a ballpark scheduled for demolition. Lund doesn’t put dramatic pressure on viewers, preferring a more observational understanding of aging men and their relationships to one another and the spirit of baseball. And he sells it all with humor and detail, creating an unexpectedly charming picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Atom Egoyan almost treats “Seven Veils” like a happy accident. The feature was created while Egoyan mounted a stage revival of the opera “Salome,” inspired by the restrictions he faced during his creative process, triggering a need to explore what he previously couldn’t on stage. It’s an unusual point of departure for the script, but Egoyan is an unusual guy, and while his filmography is littered with ambitious offerings of mediocrity, especially in recent years, he returns to a semi-alert state in his latest, which covers a range of topics and spaces of psychological distress. “Seven Veils” comes withing striking distance of becoming a mystery, following a director’s efforts to oversee a new production of “Salome” while inspecting all of the emotional baggage, which returns to view during the rehearsal process. Egoyan creates a mood for the endeavor, and his pursuit of behavior is fascinating to watch at times, infusing the film with a few surprises as it balances the process of making art and the development of manipulation that’s often paired with creativity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a certain level of surprise when encountering “Night of the Zoopocalypse,” especially as the picture is being sold as “inspired by a concept” from Clive Barker. The famed horror/fantasy novelist and filmmaker (responsible for “Hellraiser” and “Nightbreed”), Barker isn’t someone typically associated with family entertainment, and while he doesn’t have anything more than an executive producer credit on the feature, his love for the macabre remains in the animated movie. Not that “Night of the Zoopocalypse” is frightening, but it does try to remain a little spooky while still welcoming young viewers to this survival picture. Directors Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro find a proper balance of comedy and threat in the endeavor, which is a mostly spirited exploration of animal panic, sold with interesting budget animation and a charming voice cast who help to bring the offering to life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Queen of the Ring” explores Mildred Burke, or at least certain parts of her life. Burke is credited as helping to bring “lady wrestling” to the masses, using her “Kansas cyclone” personality and physical gifts to break through industry barriers during a time when such pro-wrestling events were actually illegal. It’s an incredible life boiled down into a frustratingly mediocre movie, as writer/director Ash Avildsen (son of John G. Avildsen) tries to replicate his father’s “Rocky” formula for the endeavor, pushing too much melodrama at times. There’s a story to share about the origin of women in professional wrestling, and “Queen of the Ring” should’ve been it, presenting Burke with more than soap opera-adjacent woes. However, there’s star Emily Bett Rickards, who’s absolutely vibrant in the lead role, giving the offering a wonderful energy that taps into Burke’s professional and personal drive. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Visual effects artist James Madigan makes his feature-length directorial debut with “Fight or Flight,” and he’s chosen quite a storytelling challenge. It’s an actioner, but one set in an airplane, tracking the growing chaos inside a Bangkok flight bound for San Francisco that’s teeming with all kinds of killers and targets. Perhaps there’s some similarity to 2022’s “Bullet Train” and a few other bruisers cut from the same cloth, but Madigan brings a brighter sense of entertainment value to the violent film, largely able to juggle all the hurt coming for the main characters and dark touches of comedy, which is employed to make the whole thing palatable. Screenwriters Brooks McLaren and D.J. Catrona create an interesting gladiatorial arena for the endeavor, and while they can’t always sustain the sugar rush elements of the picture, they mostly nail excitement and oddity in this rough and tumble movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Bloat” is a “screenlife” movie, similar to features like “Searching” and “Missing,” where viewers are offered the POV of a character struggling to conduct an investigation using only computers and phones. The creative approach has its limitations, requiring a filmmaker willing to stick to the rules of screen engagement to best generate a sense of reality in this digital world. “Bloat” isn’t a thriller, but more of a mystery with horror seasoning, following the efforts of a father stuck in a remote location trying to keep tabs on his son, who experienced a traumatic incident that gradually becomes something unexplainable. Writer/director Pablo Absento hopes to scare his audience through such parental pressure, but it’s unlikely he’ll even be able to keep them awake with this wildly unsatisfying offering of screen-based detective work. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2019, “Last Breath” was a British documentary about an undersea disaster involving saturation divers conducting business in the North Sea. The feature received positive reviews and decent viewership, but co-director Alex Parkinson wasn’t quite done with the tale of search and rescue. The helmer returns with “Last Breath,” which offers a dramatization of the crisis, trading genuine footage and communication for a more cinematic understanding of the stakes and the players in this urgent situation. It’s a little strange to revive the tale again, but it’s quite an experience to relive, and Parkinson (who co-scripts with David Brooks and Mitchell LaFortune) does an excellent job restoring suspense and emotionality to the emergency, and he has a diverse cast of actors to help bring such tension to life, offering passionate performances for a well-done movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Dito Montiel has enjoyed a very strange career. He’s never had a hit, yet he’s managed to make eight films, somehow convincing producers to keep gambling on his artistic vision, which typically covers rough characters involved in troubling business. “Riff Raff” is his ninth endeavor, and it’s mostly more of the same from Montiel, who works to keep his budget low as most of the story is explored in a single location. And there are periodic bursts of violence to help rough up the writing’s assortment of difficult people placed in situations of confrontation. Montiel doesn’t have much spin on his creative curveball, but there’s a better class of actors involved in “Riff Raff,” helping to elevate an otherwise droopy offering of crime cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The title “My Dead Friend Zoe” seems like it should belong to a Touchstone Pictures release from 1993, hinting at a goofy horror comedy to come. Co-writer/director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes makes his feature-length debut with the movie (adapting his 2022 short), and he’s only marginally interested in laughs. The rest of the endeavor concerns the brewing storm of feelings inside an Army veteran working to avoid the details of her past. “My Dead Friend Zoe” carries a slightly bizarre tone for its first half, but Hausmann-Stokes has a final destination in mind for the material, packing quite an emotional punch with the film, which seeks to examine mental health issues facing military veterans. There’s tough love to survey in the offering, and it’s a capably assembled drama with excellent acting to support its message of human connection and self-examination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I Heart Willie” is the third production to exploit the public domain status of “Steamboat Willie,” arriving after “The Mouse Trap” and “Mouse of Horrors” (a fourth competitor, “Screamboat,” is due out soon) There’s been a race to see who can reach the newly freed Mickey Mouse first, and with such production speed comes substantial filmmaking sloppiness, as little thought or money is put into endeavors looking to coast on the perversion of brand recognition. “I Heart Willie” is a Mexican production attempting to make a mess of Disney history, putting actor/screenwriter David Vaughn (who receives “characters created by” and sole writing credits) on a mission to generate a terrifying descent into the vicious ways of a monstrous “mouse-man” and his endless appetite for human flesh. Director Alejandro G. Alegre gets about as far as torture and suffering in the feature, which isn’t suspenseful, but something created quickly to cash-in on a trend that, so far, viewers don’t really care about. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the quick box office death of 2023’s “Dumb Money,” it’s amazing that another movie about Reddit-born financial horrors would be put into production. “Cold Wallet” turns its attention to the ways of cryptocurrency and some of the manipulation employed to keep certain people rich while others are ruined. However, co-writer/director Cutter Hodierne isn’t interested in the specific financial ways of the industry, instead using the frustrations of the have nots to fuel a thriller, taking things into a “Panic Room” direction, only without Fincher-led precision. “Cold Wallet” is a little lacking when it comes to thrills, but the feature has a few highlights as it focuses on confrontations and the messiness of a hostage situation. Perhaps those invested in this particular monetary realm might get a little something extra out of the viewing experience, but Hodierne delivers a few scenes of intensity to go with the tale’s long night of paranoia. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Rats” comes from the minds of co-writers/directors Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky, who make their feature-length filmmaking debut with the endeavor. And the partners are trying to stuff as much as they can into the offering, out to make a wild, absurdist comedy that follows the everyday insanity of Fresno, TX. It’s a town home to petty crime, unhinged people, and the site of a possible sale of nuclear weapons to terrorists. Those weaned on Adult Swim programming are the target demographic for the effort, which almost exclusively rides along on shock humor and pronounced oddity, putting Fry and Nalevansky on a journey to make an extreme movie on a minimal budget. “Rats” is definitely crazy, and there are laughs to be had along the way, especially when the helmers try for inspired lunacy. But even the most die-hard fans of cinematic nuttiness might find themselves checking the time during the viewing experience, as Fry and Nalevansky can’t quite sustain their vision for this explosion of egos and bodily fluids. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Uppercut” has a slightly bewildering production history. It’s a remake of a 2021 German film, which was written and directed by Torsten Ruether. The helmer returns to create an English-language remake, which may have been originally conceived as two features, presented in “Still” and “Sparkling” versions. Whatever creative ambition was originally in place for the endeavor has been removed for the second stab at the premise, likely edited together from two tales of boxing challenges and relationship difficulties. Ruether hopes to bring some sporting philosophy and intimate characterizations to the effort, but “Uppercut” loses a battle with pacing and performance. It’s more of a theatrical production than a cinematic experience, and Ruether can’t make it come alive, struggling to generate interesting conflicts and concerns as this extremely talky picture frequently crawls to a full stop. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s always room for a “Die Hard” knockoff. The influential 1988 actioner has inspired a whole bunch of imitators using the central idea of one heroic character battling many villainous ones inside a single location. “Cleaner” seems to have the working parts, mostly taking place around a high rise building, and a team of terrorists are interrupting a business celebration, putting the safety of all in the hands of someone who isn’t supposed to be in the building. And yet, the feature (scripted by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, and Matthew Orton) isn’t fully giving into the John McClane way. Perhaps there’s not enough of a budget to really go wild, keeping the physical highlights of “Cleaner” to the final act. While mayhem is limited, the picture remains entertaining, taking on a different kind of antagonistic force, and star Daisy Ridley provides welcome spiritedness, giving director Martin Campbell (who recently fumbled “Dirty Angels”) something to work with as the writing finds its way to more dynamic events. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Written and directed by Noah Pritzker, “Ex-Husbands” is a story about men facing tremendous changes in their lives, and they have very little patience for it. It’s something of a comedy, but it’s mostly dramatic, inspecting how these people handle upheaval and grand emotional challenges while trying to remain social and understanding. Pritzker has the advantage of a fine cast to inhabit these itchy roles, with special attention on Griffin Dunne, who rarely receives a chance to sink his teeth into a character these days, offering an excellent performance while surrounded by strong work from the rest of the ensemble. “Ex-Husbands” has the initial atmosphere of a Woody Allen film, as the helmer threatens to remain with human foibles and New York City moods, but the picture grows more interested in behavior as it unfolds, making for a small-scale inspection of struggling personalities and their adventures in Mexico. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a few years since actor Christoph Waltz enjoyed a major role, but he’s back in starring mode in “Old Guy.” Putting aged thespians in action hero roles has become a common sight in recent years, but Waltz isn’t going all John Wick in the part. Instead, he plays up the creakiness and crankiness of an older hitman receiving his first taste of obsolescence, as his character is confronted by a chilling reality when he’s asked to help support a younger assassin during an important mission for his criminal organization. There’s not a whole lot that’s fresh in the screenplay by Greg Johnson (“The Last Son”), but there’s Waltz, who offers a colorful performance to help liven up “Old Guy” for director Simon West, providing some much needed personality for the endeavor as it goes about the business of underworld scheming and rising anxieties. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Former stunt performer James Bamford is trying to make his mark as a filmmaker as fast as humanly possible. “Jade” is the helmer’s sixth release in just over a year, as Bamford is in the midst of churning out low budget actioners carrying nondescript titles (such as “Utopia,” “Hard Home,” and “Shadow Land.”), attempting to flood the VOD/streaming market with forgettable offerings that all tend to supply the same lack of style and basic fight choreography. “Jade” intends to be a little different, as screenwriters Glenn Ennis and Lynn Colliar make a brief attempt to celebrate the blaxploitation subgenre in this story of a woman facing waves of trouble as she tries to survive a particularly violent night. The feature is an absolute mess, and while Bamford hopes to fog the reality of this dismal endeavor with lots of physical conflicts, he’s still stuck with a movie that has no real story or characters, and, at times, the film doesn’t even seem finished. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director/actor Edward Burns hasn’t made a movie of note since 2012’s “The Fitzgerald Family Christmas,” where he dissected the ways of a dysfunctional family and their unhealthy relationships. Burns returns in “Millers in Marriage,” once again dissecting the ways of a dysfunctional family and their unhealthy relationships. The helmer has his thing, spending most of his career examining troubled characters and their partnerships, and he’s right back into it in his newest film, following a collection of aging people reunited with regret and possibility as they attempt to lead stable lives. “Millers in Marriage” is not a comedy, as Burns gets very somber in the endeavor. Its darkness is mostly an asset, and while the helmer doesn’t show the best judgment with some of his casting choices, he delivers a reasonably compelling overview of sadness in the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Unbreakable Boy” has endured quite a long journey to the screen. It was originally shot in 2020, bouncing around the release schedule since 2022, unable to find a proper launch date. And, after seeing the movie, one immediately appreciates such studio hesitation. The film is an adaptation of a 2014 memoir co-authored by Scott Michael LeRette, who wanted to share his story of parenthood and personal demons while also highlighting the world of his son, Austin, who was born with brittle bone disease and was eventually diagnosed with autism. The material is titled “The Unbreakable Boy,” but, surprisingly, Austin plays something of a smaller role in the story. LaRette elects to make the tale all about himself, putting writer/director Jon Gunn (“The Case for Christ,” “Ordinary Angels”) in a difficult position as he relies on inspirational cinema formula to keep the offering approachable. The picture is all over the place at times, making its sustained artificiality difficult to digest. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The slight success of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” has really inspired a free-for-all in the realm of low-budget horror films. New introductions to public domain availability are being snapped up and turned into VOD filler, with Pooh himself stretched out for two movies (a third is on the way), and the Mickey Mouse from “Steamboat Willie” is currently inspiring a slew of cheapie productions, joined by Peter Pan and Bambi. And now it’s time for Popeye the Sailor Man. “Popeye’s Revenge” is not a sequel to the 1980 Robert Altman musical, but the newest release from ITN Studios, the home of “Blood and Honey,” and they’re quick to recycle the formula for their latest slasher, as it plays almost exactly like the Pooh offering. And that’s not a good thing, as director William Stead has no idea what he’s doing in the endeavor, which is loaded up with too many characters, a nonsensical screenplay (by Harry Boxley and E.C. Segar), and crude technical achievements. And there’s Popeye in kill mode, and that isn’t nearly as amusing as it could be thanks to the amateurish nature of the effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com