Category: Film Review

1992’s “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” was a low-budget, low-stakes production for Disney, with the company giving the picture an early January release date, showing little concern for its marketplace performance. It was something for the multiplexes during a time when holiday hits were losing steam, but a funny thing happened to the Curtis Hanson-directed chiller: it developed into a word-of-mouth hit. It became the number one movie at the box office for four weeks, topping the competition with its twisted ways involving a vengeful nanny and the family she seeks to destroy from within. Hollywood finally gets around to the business of reanimation with a new “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” which also deals with nasty nanny business, trying to resurrect the ickiness and menace that turned the original into a must-see. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, finding director Michelle Garza Cervera and screenwriter Micah Bloomberg lacking inspiration and imagination for evildoing this time around. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Rob Grant heads back to the 1980s to examine the state of the teenage heart in “This Too Shall Pass.” It’s a Canadian production that’s out to merge comedy with a bit more sensitivity when it comes to adolescent feelings, tracking the misadventures of a young American and his buddies as they handle numerous setbacks while on a secret trip to Ottawa. There’s fun to be had with the central premise, but Grant isn’t committed to making something on the crazy side, showing more interest in the emotions and experiences a few of the characters are dealing with, taking these people as seriously as possible. This focus isn’t always helpful to the tonal balance of the endeavor, but “This Too Shall Pass” has a heart and a mind, which is unusual for this type of entertainment, also providing a fine cast capable of managing the screenplay’s dramatic shifts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Kathryn Bigelow has been around for quite some time. It’s been eight years since her last directorial offering, and the film, “Detroit,” was a career misfire, failing to boost her professional opportunities after scoring a critical and box office hit with 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty.” “Detroit” was decidedly underwhelming and too crudely made, forcing Bigelow back into the realm of political and war-based tensions with “A House of Dynamite,” which is scripted by Noah Oppenheim (“The Maze Runner,” “Jackie”). The pair look to dramatize the twenty minutes available to Washington D.C. and military teams when a nuclear missile is launched, coming for a major American city, scrambling professionals as solutions are pursued and panic sets in. It could be the new “Fail Safe” or even “The Day After,” but “A House of Dynamite” is repeatedly forced to recover from structural choices and deal with an unsatisfying ending, which helps to dilute the shock value Bigelow and Oppenheim are hoping to deliver. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Edward Berger pulled off a cinematic miracle just one year ago. Tasked with making a suspenseful picture about a collection of cardinals gathering to select a new pope, Berger and his production team managed to make arguably the most exciting feature of 2024 with “Conclave,” achieving extraordinary tension out of a story that, from the outside, appeared to be an Ambien pill in the making. Berger jumps right back to work with “Ballad of a Small Player,” joined by screenwriter Rowan Joffe (“28 Weeks Later,” “Before I Go to Sleep”) for this adaptation of a 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne. The story concerns a gambling addict and con man dragged through an assortment of challenges to his fortune and mind, with Berger focusing intensely on the punishment of desperation. Lightning doesn’t strike twice for the helmer, who can’t seem to find the rhythm of “Ballad of a Small Player,” which wants to be many things without being much of anything. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Richard Linklater keeps moving forward in his career, which is filled with interesting choices, giving him one of the most unique filmographies in the business. After delivering “Hit Man,” one of his best movies, Linklater goes from love and violence to a night in a restaurant in “Blue Moon,” which spends an evening with lyricist Lorenz Hart as he wrestles with his creative future, spends time trying to catch the attention of a beguiling young woman, and recognizes his career shortcomings. Reteaming with screenwriter Robert Kaplow (the two collaborated on 2008’s “Me and Orson Welles”), Linklater is left to manage a theatrical-style examination of heartache in many forms, and he pulls it off quite well. “Blue Moon” remains in a single location with a handful of characters, but Kaplow maintains snappy dialogue and emotional puzzles to solve, and the helmer has fun with it all, also scoring big with star Ethan Hawke, who’s wonderful as Hart, offering his most interesting, alert performance in quite some time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jerry Stiller passed away in 2020, preceded in death by his wife, Anne Meara, who expired in 2015. They were professionally known as Stiller and Meara, becoming a respected comedy team throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, achieving some degree of fame with their stage interplay, which was tied to their real-world marital relationship. To Ben Stiller, Anne and Jerry were simply mom and dad, and soon enough, he was tasked with emptying out their New York City apartment for a future sale. Most people would quietly go about their business, but Ben elected to take advantage of the situation, bringing in a camera crew to create the documentary “Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost,” which pays tribute to the performers and tries to understand their human side when away from the stage. Ben is joined by his sister, Amy, for an exploration of the past and the present, offering an in-depth and often uncomfortably intimate study of Jerry and Anne and their unusual life together. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Horror can be a tough business, and it’s even harder when there’s limited imagination for frights in charge of the picture. Making his filmmaking debut is YouTuber Chris Stuckmann, who hopes to deliver a thoroughly terrifying feature in “Shelby Oaks,” though he doesn’t have much to work with in what’s truly a very dull endeavor. Lifting from movies such as “The Blair Witch Project” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” Stuckmann doesn’t have drive to really launch into disturbing behavior. Instead, he’s positioned himself somewhere between a found-footage endeavor and a chiller, never quite settling on a single approach to make sense of his main idea. “Shelby Oaks” (which was shot three years ago) aims to be creepy, but it’s painfully generic and poorly paced, resembling most other low-budget genre efforts in the marketplace with its strange appreciation of suspense and uneventful plotting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Frankenstein” has been done to death. Originating as an 1818 novel from author Mary Shelley, the tale of creation and revenge has been resurrected in all forms of media for over a century, finding its greatest popularity in the world of cinema, where the darkness of the story is allowed to be explored in full. There’s been no shortage of adaptations and general riffs on Shelley’s creation, but such well-worn artistic terrain doesn’t deter writer/director Guillermo del Toro. The man in love with monsters, del Toro finally gets a chance to play with The Creature in his own production of “Frankenstein,” going the big-budget route that emphasizes cinematic scale and texture. The picture is something to see, offering exquisite moviemaking craftsmanship, but like a lot of del Toro’s work, “Frankenstein” struggles to connect on a soulful level, remaining much more interesting on a technical one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making his feature-length directorial debut is comedian Aziz Ansari, who looks to “Good Fortune” (also claiming a screenwriting credit on the project) as a way to address the woes of life, especially for those struggling to survive financially in a world that’s happy to leave people behind. Ansari brings in a heavenly touch to play with some religious magic, and borrows a bit from 1983’s “Trading Places,” which offered a comedic take on the story of “The Prince and the Pauper.” “Good Fortune” looks to offer humor and sweetness as it examines the frustrations of class inequality, but it’s hard to understand exactly what Ansari wants his audience to feel when he’s stuffed the movie with weak jokes and unlikable characters. The film is a bit of a mess, at least tonally, and reveals Ansari’s weaknesses as a helmer, never quite grasping how little heart there is in this picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Mary Bronstein aims to cinematically communicate the pressure cooker experience of being a mother in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” There have been a number of slightly similar endeavors in recent years (including “Tully” and “Nightbitch”), exploring the psychological fragility of women who are doing their best to keep it together as pressures, real and imagined, build up around them, causing a temporary break from reality. Bronstein goes to a much darker place in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” reaching into the main character, who’s handling too much and all at once. The helmer offers a powerful examination of helplessness, and actress Rose Byrne shakes off the sameness of recent performances to vividly portray an emotional meltdown leaking out of a tightly wound person, getting to the core of a fantastically complex living experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Interest in the world of author Roald Dahl has certainly increased in recent years, inspiring a fresh round of literary adaptations including “Matilda the Musical,” “Wonka,” and “The Witches.” Even Wes Anderson has joined in, helming the short “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” for a streaming audience. Now there’s “The Twits,” which is based on a 1980 Dahl children’s novel, putting director Phil Johnston (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”) to work bringing the author’s unusual, somewhat gross ways to the screen, also sharing credit for the screenplay with Meg Favreau. “The Twits” has been handed a modern kids film makeover, with its original oddity softened in the hunt to bring a substantial story to the offering. Weirdness remains, and there’s entertainment value in Dahl’s world, but formula threatens to overwhelm the viewing experience, as the uniqueness of the book has been watered down to make a sellable movie out of it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2022’s “The Black Phone” was an adaptation of a Joe Hill short story. And it definitely played like one, with screenwriters C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson (who also directed) straining to turn a small idea for suspense into a feature film. And one that had a pretty definitive conclusion. However, definitive conclusions are no match for box office profit, and now we have “Black Phone 2,” with Cargill and Derrickson returning to expand Hill’s concept for a sequel that’s not necessary, and doesn’t invest in originality. The writers clearly turn to Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” for inspiration and direct lifts, looking for a way to return The Grabber to action without fully erasing his fate in the previous picture. “Black Phone 2” sticks with dream logic and cheap frights, and the offering takes its time to get where it’s going, aiming for a more emotional, family-oriented scare zone in a decidedly ho-hum movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Jess Varley is after something specific with “The Astronaut,” but she doesn’t have a clear idea how to get there. It hopes to be a chiller, at least until it isn’t one, but the material doesn’t have much appreciation for originality, delivering the usual in terms of tight psychological spaces and perceived physical threats around an isolated setting. But there’s noticeable drive to make this endeavor snap to cinematic life, watching Varley oversee music and editing achievements that hope to sell the intensity of a picture that’s mostly flat. “The Astronaut” is headed somewhere, hoping to give viewers a ride of mystery that takes everything all the way to the final shot. The effort is appreciated, but the offering just isn’t very compelling, looking to pull off a major misdirect that lacks a more meaningful payoff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Other” is a small-scale horror movie from writer/director David Moreau, who’s been faithful to the genre over the last two decades, including work on 2006’s “Them,” 2008’s “The Eye,” and, more recently, 2024’s little-seen “MadS.” Moreau’s latest keeps him in the shadows, this time examining the psychological melting of a middle-aged woman reconnecting with her past after the death of her mother, soon recognizing the true depth of trauma she suffered at the hands of her parent. “Other” has a therapeutic level to the writing, getting into hidden spaces of pain as the main character returns to the life she left behind. And there’s something of a creature feature angle to the story, putting Moreau to work organizing nasty things that only move in the dark. “Other” has the goods to become a striking short film, but the helmer is undertaking a feature-length journey here, and there’s far too much dead air in the endeavor to really rattle the senses. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Mastermind” is often identified as a heist movie, and perhaps there’s some truth to that label. It deals with a man attempting to organize the theft of four paintings from a local museum, handling the planning and execution of a crime that means more to him than simple financial gain. While thoughts of near-misses and scheming come to mind, the feature is the latest from writer/director Kelly Reichardt, and she’s not one to indulge the simple pleasures of flashy filmmaking and furious pacing. The helmer of thoughtful endeavors such as “Wendy and Lucy,” “Certain Women,” and 2022’s little-seen “Showing Up,” Reichardt mostly deals with screen stillness, looking to examine unique characterizations and quiet spaces. This creative approach doesn’t bring much intensity to “The Mastermind,” but those in tune with Reichardt’s work might find something to savor in this muted offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Woman in Cabin 10” is an adaptation of a 2016 novel by Ruth Ware, who’s enjoyed a successful career as an architect of literary mysteries, often compared to the writings of Agatha Christie. She’s new to the realm of cinematic interpretations, with the book handed over to director Simon Stone, who contributed solid work in features such as “The Dig” and “The Daughter,” also sharing a screenplay credit with Joe Schrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. The team is ready to scramble viewer minds with this study of growing confusion and paranoia onboard a yacht filled with billionaires, following the sleuthing skills of a journalist who believes she’s witnessed a murder. The set-up is solid, the stuff of a classic whodunit, but “The Woman in Cabin 10” gradually falls apart as it goes, indulging in growing ridiculousness before it reaches pure absurdity in its final act. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” began life as a 1976 novel by author Manuel Puig, who was interested in exploring the pains of reality involving political torment and the liberation of the mind as fantasy takes hold. It was turned into a 1985 film, directed by Hector Babenco, with the little feature snowballing into an art-house hit, even scoring four Academy Award nominations and an Oscar win for co-star William Hurt. In 1992, the material was reworked into a musical from John Kander and Fred Ebb, which went on to collect multiple Tony Awards, including Best Musical of the Year. That stage endeavor serves as the inspiration for a new “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” with writer/director Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls,” 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast”) attempting to bring the sharp divide between grime and glamour to the big screen, putting his faith in Jennifer Lopez to carry most of the effort’s song and dance. Technical credits are impressive, and the story finds moments of intimacy, but the production also battles a level of theatricality that doesn’t translate to riveting cinema, making the offering feel sluggish and flattened. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Disney elected to return to their past with the 2010 release of “Tron: Legacy,” giving the 1982 cult classic an event movie makeover, looking to compete in the blockbuster marketplace with a high-tech take on computer program wars and family ties. The endeavor did good business, but not “Avatar” business, shutting down corporate interest in maintaining franchise momentum on the big screen. “Tron” continued in video games, an animated series, and even a Disney Parks roller coaster, and now time comes for the company to try again. “Tron: Ares” is the second sequel, and while it offers ties to the previous picture, screenwriter Jesse Wigutow is tasked with finding a new rhythm for the series, which updates tech and characters, and even purpose as war is raged in the real world and on the grid. “Ares” comes loaded with chase sequences and incredible visual effects, and while it doesn’t quite reach the wonderful scale of “Legacy,” director Joachim Ronning (“Kon-Tiki,” “The Young Woman and the Sea,” but also “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”) makes a proper thrill ride with the offering, which remains immense fun as it figures out a new way forward for the saga while playing with its past. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

John Candy passed away 31 years ago, and in a remarkable display of professional longevity, he’s never faded away. Candy has remained in the hearts and minds of comedy fans since he departed, with new generations introduced to his special charisma and screen presence, keeping his legacy alive. “John Candy: I Like Me” is a documentary about the actor and his unique personality, with director Colin Hanks (2015’s “All Things Must Pass”) launching an effort to collect information and memories about the star, looking to create a portrait of a complicated, somewhat gentle man who managed to make his dream of performance a reality, even achieving a level of fame few have experienced. “I Like Me” is meant to be an emotional event, and interviewees are tasked with providing warm memories of Candy, with Hanks attempting to identify the subject’s emotional complexity and career frustrations with a noticeably softer approach. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There was once a time when sword and sorcery movies had their moment in the sun. It was an era long ago, known as “the eighties,” when producers, hungry for easy profits and small budgets, tried to match the success of 1982’s “Conan the Barbarian” and rising commitment to role-playing games, offering their own take on weapon-wielding brawn and adventuring. 1983’s “Deathstalker” is one of the more famous titles of the trend, eventually conquering the home video market and spawning numerous sequels. And now it’s been brought back to life courtesy of writer/director Steven Kostanski (“Psycho Goreman,” “Frankie Freako”), who loves a monster mash, bringing his vision for practical effects and tomfoolery to “Deathstalker,” which offers a fantasy saga update that focuses on the fun factor of the subgenre. It’s a new take on an old story, with Kostanski using his remarkable imagination for gore and creature effects to successfully revive the brand name with this mostly lively display of action and evildoing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com