Category: Film Review

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

It’s been named the “Munich Massacre.” In 1972, a Palestinian terrorist group known as “Black September” entered the Olympic Village during the 1972 summer games, out to take Israeli athletes hostage and broadcast their mission to the world. In a first for television, ABC News was there to document the unfolding situation, sharing such haunting imagery and tense moments with a global audience. Instead of exploring the atmosphere of the violent takeover, co-writer/director Tim Fehlbaum (2021’s “Tides”) remains close to the ABC team in “September 5,” following the panicked crew as they mount an effort to keep up with the emergency situation, using professional seasoning and technology to capture an unprecedented event. It's history, but Fehlbaum turns it into riveting cinema, keeping “September 5” lean and kinetic, skillfully recreating heated moments and charged personalities in one of the best films of the year. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2016’s “Prevenge” was a humdinger of a directorial debut for Alice Lowe. The seasoned actress found a near-perfect balance of horror and heartache with the effort, delivering a sensitive understanding of motherhood anxiety along the way. The picture managed to surprise and delight, and it’s taken some time for Lowe to return behind the camera, finally completing a follow up in “Timestalker,” which loses the slasher movie angle, but retains interest in the female experience. It’s a study of romantic fixation and reincarnation that carries over centuries, and while the helmer doesn’t have a major budget, she works in small tonal victories while maintaining a dark sense of humor. “Timestalker” is a bizarre feature, but it remains an original vision for character inspection, and Lowe adds another interestingly knotted endeavor to her helming resume. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Bloody Axe Wound” is meant to be a celebration of slasher cinema. Writer/director Matthew John Lawrence (“Uncle Peckerhead”) tries to make a film about cinema, especially releases from the 1980s, when producers launched countless tales of teens being hunted by killers, and all the adolescent feelings that went along with it. However, instead of simply paying homage to his favorite subgenre, Lawrence tries to get unreal in the specifics of this screen world, asking viewers to ride along with a premise that doesn’t make much sense, or at least requires a major buy-in when it comes to dark fantasy. It’s not easy to remain invested in “Bloody Axe Wound,” but the production is certainly prepared to hit the basics of blood and gore, and that might be enough for some. There’s a potentially interesting idea behind the endeavor, but one in dire need of clarification, or perhaps a bit more intensity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Fame can be a weird thing. In some parts of the world, Robbie Williams is an incredibly popular singer and media figure, participating in the music business since 1990, making him a true veteran of the industry. And in other parts of the world, Robbie Williams is basically unknown. He’s a polarizing figure, spending most of his career in “bad boy” mode, desperate to attract attention any way he can. It remains to be seen if there’s an audience for a Robbie Williams bio-pic, but co-writer/director Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman”) is giving it a try, overseeing “Better Man,” a routine offering of self-esteem issues, drug use, and redemption that’s only different in the manner it presents the subject: as a chimpanzee. There’s a touch of “Planet of the Apes” in the musical, but the core of the picture remains Williams’s story, and it’s not easy to stay invested in a man who’s spent most of his life being unpleasant and hostile. The movie needs a lot more than primate power to make Robbie Williams palatable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Tyler Perry gets ambitious with “The Six Triple Eight,” representing the filmmaker’s attempt at a World War II story. And it’s a terrific tale of the 6888th Central Post Directory Battalion, which was tasked to bring order to chaos as mail deliveries all but stopped during the final years of the global conflict. It’s an interesting slice of WWII history, and one worth understanding. However, Perry tries to go in Spielberg mode for the endeavor, which is far beyond his abilities as a helmer who largely enjoys broadness in all forms. “The Six Triple Eight” isn’t a disaster, as the cast does well with mediocre material (scripted by Perry), getting as far as the writing allows. Simplicity is the goal of the production, while the history behind this form of heroism and endurance seems quite complex, resulting in a viewing experience that intermittently connects on an emotional level, but can’t keep its distance from clumsiness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985’s “Brewster’s Millions” was a slight change of pace for star Richard Pryor, tasked with toplining a semi-gentle PG-rated comedy about a baseball player offered a massive inheritance if he can spend a fortune in 30 days. The feature (inspired by a 1902 book by George Barr McCutcheon) did some business, but certainly not enough for a sequel. Nearly 40 years later, BET decides to resurrect the brand name for “Brewster’s Millions: Christmas,” which is positioned as a follow-up to the Pryor film, but has almost nothing to do with it. Instead, the picture is Hallmark Channel-style fluff that’s weirdly without a sense of humor, pushing for a softer holiday vibe instead. There’s no madcap sense of fun here, just a weird IP resurrection from a production team that likely never even watched the 1985 release. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director James Mangold was unable to send a screen hero out in a blaze of glory in 2023’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but he stays in the 1960s for another tale of exploration. “A Complete Unknown” isn’t exactly the story of Bob Dylan’s introduction to the world of music, as it features very little of the subject’s personality, which is probably the way he wants it. Mangold attempts to cover for such elusiveness by concentrating on Dylan’s love of music and his tolerance for romantic partners, finding the helmer looking to recreate his success with 2005’s Johnny Cash bio-pic, “Walk the Line.” “A Complete Unknown” is a well-produced endeavor, capturing the times before they began a-changing, but as a study of Dylan’s life during his path to going electric, the picture loses its way, transforming into a shapeless examination of a cold human being and all the ladies who, for some reason, couldn’t resist him. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Asif Kapadia is a documentarian, scoring some critical and commercial successes with 2010’s “Senna” and 2015’s “Amy.” Earlier this year, he helmed “Federer: Twelve Final Days,” examining the last stand for a popular professional tennis player. And now Kapadia is taking on the end of Earth in “2073,” which merges worlds of fiction and non-fiction to best examine the downfall of humanity as matters grow increasingly grim for the planet and its inhabitants. The future’s not bright in the picture, as it follows a woman and her experiences 50 years from now, attempting to find thinking and information in a land controlled by machines and the rich. “2073” isn’t an easy sit, and perhaps it doesn’t make for a complete film, but the ideas contained within it are valuable. Kapadia provides a warning about power and influence, presenting stories of oppression and destruction to help viewers grasp the dire situation we’re in right now, making a few severe points worth understanding. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” follows 2022’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” with the first sequel proving there’s more than just pop culture curiosity surrounding the title, establishing the development of a cinematic franchise. The universe took a dip into television in last spring’s “Knuckles” series, which supplied an entertaining side adventure for supporting characters, but Sonic is back in charge for his third big screen extravaganza, and he’s bringing everyone with him. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sustains the speedy cinematic appeal of the brand name, and director Jeff Fowler isn’t about the switch things up, remaining focused on a decent balance of comedy and action, also tasked with juggling all the personalities from the first two endeavors for a third feature that’s grander in scale and issues a different threat in a new, emotionally tortured hedgehog on the scene. The movie doesn’t try to shake things up, but it stays enjoyably weird and consistent, out to please “Sonic” fans and delight younger viewers who helped to make the two earlier chapters into smash hits. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The world didn’t need a remake of “The Lion King,” but director Jon Favreau attempted something technically challenging in the picture, offering a photorealistic animated production, dazzling with the creative effort. The feature looked amazing, but it remained restrained by re-do familiarity, refusing to do something a little different with the story and world-famous songs. Alas, audiences didn’t seem to mind, turning 2019’s “The Lion King” into a box office behemoth, and, naturally, Disney is going to try again. They go the prequel route in “Mufasa: The Lion King,” which follows the tale of O.G. royalty around Pride Rock. Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson has new dramatic freedom in the film, but he doesn’t stray far from formula, as the offering isn’t a bright display of originality. However, it’s a more active, action-y, and emotive movie, and director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) tries to keep it lively, also benefitting from a fresh round of tunes, most written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which puts a little spring into the step of this endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Games of dominance and submission unfold in “Babygirl,” as writer/director Halina Reijn (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”) looks to go deeper into the mysteries of female sexuality. It’s the story of a business executive taking a chance on an affair that drills directly to her darkest desires, reaching her in ways previously thought impossible. Reijn goes for heat at times, but she’s also making a complicated study of psychological breakdowns, and such investigation gets the endeavor most of the way there. “Babygirl” is meant to be taken seriously, but it doesn’t always earn such attention, as overkill tends to invite campiness, but the core experience of a character happily pulled through the wringer is largely fascinating to watch, also serving as an acting showcase for Nicole Kidman. She naturally gravitates towards tightly wound personalities, but Kidman gets raw here, keeping the feature as interesting as possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Brutalist” is an ambitious undertaking, which is not something that’s commonly found in the marketplace. Co-writer/director Brady Corbet is trying to explore the American Experience on a lower budget, turning to older filmmaking technology and pacing to capture the movement of life as various horrors are visited on the main characters. Corbet previously helmed 2018’s “Vox Lux,” struggling with the messiness of his ideas and execution. He returns with a more structured endeavor in “The Brutalist,” tracking the festering emotional wounds of a Hungarian architect trading the nightmare of World War II for the unforgiving power plays of the U.S.A. Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold strive for something artful and sweeping in the offering, which is, at times, a powerfully realized feature. The “Vox Lux”-iness of the picture is hard to ignore, as Corbet asks a lot from viewers, spending 215 minutes on this tale of misery, periodically revealing its indulgences, throttling dramatic momentum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s been no shortage of “The Count of Monte Cristo” adaptations across all forms of media. The 1854 adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas offers a lengthy and intricate revenge story to dramatize, making it irresistible to storytellers, and many have tried to construct excitement with the material, which was notably adapted in a 1975 television movie starring Richard Chamberlain, and a 2002 feature with Jim Caviezel. A plan of vengeance returns in the new “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere take the filmmaking challenge very seriously. The helmers intend to go epic with the offering, overseeing a nicely produced, three-hour-long take on the return of Edmond Dantes and the many scores he plans to settle after being imprisoned for crimes he didn’t commit. The French production hopes to bring a little more action and psychological gamesmanship to the screen, and while the run time is a bit much, the effort is polished and strongly performed, finding a few peaks of suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It has been suggested that production for “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” began to protect a loss of film rights, with another batch of J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired big screen adventures being cooked up for release in a few years. Instead of speeding up the timetable on these endeavors, Warner Brothers and Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films have decided to turn to the world of anime to help extend contractual power. This style of animation is usually cheap to produce and carries a passionate fanbase, allowing the producers to continue to explore the stories of Middle Earth while remaining, visually, in a fantasy realm that doesn’t require the expense of live-action moviemaking to create. “The War of the Rohirrim” is scripted by Jeffrey Addiss, Will Mathews, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou, who attempt to expand on mere ideas from Tolkien, hoping to generate a tale of conflict and family capable of satisfying the die-hard “Ring”-ers. Perhaps the offering is successful in this regard, but it doesn’t carry a thunderous cinematic presence, as the inherent thinness of the animation tends to undermine its quest to provide towering visuals. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com