Category: Film Review

The Norwegian film industry has maintained an interest in the ways of disaster cinema and monster movies. The country has scored many successes over the last ten years, and 2025 saw the return of towering terror in “Troll 2.” Now horror plunges into the depths in “Kraken,” which confronts the deadly presence of an aquatic beast swimming around a popular body of water home to scientific research and fish farming. Director Pal Oie (who previously helmed 2019’s “The Tunnel”) hopes to merge a creature feature with disaster movie-style build-up and characterization, taking his time to get to the one thing most viewers want to see: the kraken. There are technical credits to enjoy and sturdy performances to follow, but “Kraken” waits a little too long before it begins to make a mess of things, requiring some patience with the endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“I Am Frankelda” is a prequel to the television series, “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks.” But don’t worry, knowledge of the program isn’t necessary to enjoy the picture, though it might help with an overall appreciation of the story. There are numerous characters in play, and an entire dark fantasy world to take in, but there’s one element to the endeavor that ties it all together: artistry. It’s a stop-motion animated feature from writer/directors Arturo and Roy Ambriz, and the siblings go especially hard with their imagination for the movie, generating a deep, exquisitely textured look at an adventure that explores monster and madness with wonderfully rough-around-the-edges craftsmanship. “I Am Frankelda” isn’t as powerful a viewing experience when it has to deal with its dramatic complications, but the helmers deliver a visually stunning effort that’s fascinating to watch. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last year, Jennifer Lopez attempted to shake up her career some, starring in the prestige musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Unfortunately for the actress, almost nobody saw the feature, pushing her back to the comfort of a romantic comedy, but it’s never quite clear how sincere “Office Romance” wants to be. Screenwriters Joe Kelly and Brett Goldstein (who also co-stars) and director Ol Parker (“Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again,” “Ticket to Paradise”) aren’t pursuing something extremely sweet with the offering, which deals with the tingles of new love, but primarily plays like a Farrelly Brothers movie, complete with coarse language, accidental erections, and fierce commitment to tired formula to help keep the film on course. “Office Romance” is a bizarre viewing experience, watching Parker and the writing visit extremes to secure laughs, weirdly forgetting gentleness is usually the key to a successful rom-com. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2000’s “Scary Movie” was a response to the red-hot trend of horror movies released after the unexpected success of 1996’s “Scream.” It was a parody overseen by the Wayans Family, with director Keenan Ivory Wayans previously enjoying a tremendous creative success with his hilarious Blaxploitation send up, 1988’s “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” “Scary Movie” was extremely crude, but it hit at the right time, delighting young audiences previously subjected to four years of slashers and spooky films. The wild comedy served as a release for viewers. Wayans Inc. moved on to “Scary Movie 2” before being removed from the franchise, which carried on for three more chapters before dying out in 2013. Marlon Wayans tried to keep the fires lit, repeating “Scary Movie” formula for a series of horrendous offerings, including “A Haunted House” and “Fifty Shades of Black,” and now he’s back with his frequent collaborator, director Michael Tiddes, for, well, “Scary Movie,” which seeks to return the Wayans Way to the franchise after a 25-year-long break. And what they ultimately deliver is a dreadful reboot that stumbles through tired, miserable ideas for comedy with no invention and little enthusiasm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Movies about dangerous hippo attacks aren’t common. One could go back to 1995’s “Congo” for some elaborate river mayhem, and a few “Jumanji” pictures have dealt with the threat, but filmmakers don’t usually turn to hippos for rampaging action. With the oversaturation of shark attack cinema, writer/director James Nunn turns to hippo horrors for “Hungry,” which provides an unusual screen threat, but largely resembles every movie made about aquatic dangers. The endeavor is no “Jaws,” and it’s disappointing to watch Nunn keep his distance from a more active viewing experience, spending a lot of time on uninteresting characters while nightmare situations of survival are few and far between. “Hungry” has a few technical achievements to keep it involving, but the overall lethargy of the offering is surprising to behold, with hippo attacks not prioritized by the production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Producers tried to make sense of “Masters of the Universe” once before. The extraordinarily popular toyline/cartoon show was previously brought to the big screen in a 1987 film starring Dolph Lungren as He-Man. Unfortunately, it was a Cannon Films production, which means the budget was tight for an epic fantasy feature, and the production team didn’t have a firm grasp on the appeal of the source material. He-Man returns in 2026 with a whole bunch of money to help director Travis Knight (who did a wonderful job with another toy-central tale in 2018’s “Bumblebee”) realize Eternian conflict for several generations of fans and newcomers, with the new “Masters of the Universe” a spirited adaptation of the brand, bringing some much needed bigness to the endeavor. It’s a fun picture with several tonal and dramatic issues, but Knight understands how to translate a world of brawn, battles, and campiness, generating a decent cinematic ride with a newly self-aware He-Man. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Adam Carter Rehmeier impressed some with his 2022 film, “Dinner in America,” and he delivered more confident work in 2024’s “Snack Shack,” a funky little comedy that deserved a much bigger audience. Rehmeier returns with “Carolina Caroline,” generating an outlaw mood with the crime picture, which is scripted by Tom Dean, who seeks to power the endeavor on heat and danger. Rehmeier gets the assignment, looking to remain as close to stars Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner as possible, out to conjure chemistry and delve into the stickiness of a bad situation as the lead characters get caught up in criminal activity while speeding through the American south, on the hunt for monetary liberation and personal freedom. “Carolina Caroline” isn’t stunning work, but Rehmeier catches the right mood for the movie, playing with elements of attraction and danger as he tracks an unstable relationship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Seven Snipers” is an Australian production looking to keep budgetary demands down. The cast is limited to a handful of actors, and the story takes place around a single location, maintaining minimal complication. Screenwriter Andrew O’Keefe is challenged to do something suspenseful with the low budget endeavor, and he manages to summon at least a bit of tension throughout the picture, which concerns an ex-military mother trying to protect her daughter when an old foe returns to kill her. Director Sandra Sciberras has the advantage of a wide open world to play with, generating a decent level of danger in the feature, which has its surges of confrontation. “Seven Snipers” is passably engrossing, especially in its early scenes, where O’Keefe toys with the mysteries of character connections, and Sciberras creates tense moments of danger. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Chum” takes viewers back into the depths, where a lot of movies have been recently. Shark attack cinema reemerges, and soon after the release of “Deep Water” and “Thrash,” asking viewers to return to dangerous waters with an endeavor that doesn’t have all that strong of a cast and a severely restrained budget. Co-writer/director Jonathan Zuck is handed limited resources, attempting to make a horror film that works with oceanic predators and human ones, intending to give the material a few turns and moments of tension as the characters struggle to find their way out of a dire situation. “Chum” has its central idea, which isn’t a bad one, but Zuck’s execution leaves much to be desired. The offering is often stuck with sludgy character activity and lackluster technical credits, helping to mute whatever moments of intensity the production actually manages to create. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Most animated films follow formula, and “The Last Whale Singer” is no different. It’s a mixture of many other pictures, primarily following story and character elements from 1994’s “The Lion King,” leaving it up to writer/director Reza Memari to find a way to make a movie that’s engaging and lively, to help distance itself from its inherent derivativeness. “The Last Whale Singer” manages to slightly overcome its dramatic creakiness, providing younger viewers with a colorful study of oceanic adventuring that blends fantasy entanglements with real-world environmental horrors. Memari remains gentle with the endeavor, and he strives to do something within his budget animation parameters, generating an enjoyable feature that’s intermittently inspired and big-hearted, even getting semi-epic at times as the production manufactures a risky journey for the main characters and their hope to learn more about Earthly depths. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The mysteries of the universe are endlessly discussed in “Signal One,” a film that’s mostly tell and very little show. Writer/director Jonathan Sobol (“The Art of the Steal,” “The Padre”) doesn’t have a large budget to examine the presence of alien life, but he does have a screenplay that’s almost entirely filled with debates, questions, and the decoding of potential outcomes involving a collection of brilliant minds inching closer to the presence of extraterrestrial life. Sobol looks to 1997’s “Contact” as inspiration for the picture, getting close to manufacturing an unofficial remake with the endeavor, which also plays with emotionally scarred people figuring out communication from alien life. “Signal One” hopes to put on a show of intellectuals putting a puzzle of possibility together, but the helmer doesn’t provide a cinematic experience, going limp with an overly talky movie that doesn’t reach the level of awe Sobol hopes to achieve. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Backrooms” originated on the internet, with a young fanbase taking a simple photo of an empty commercial space and expanding it into a whole universe of “creepypasta.” Filmmaker Kane Parsons managed to popularize it, exploring the dead zone through multiple YouTube videos which amassed a large viewership. Parsons graduates to big screen moviemaking with a new pass at his original online creation, with “Backrooms” giving the helmer a budget and actors to figure out how to restart the engine of the concept, which now has studio backing. There’s a striking visual world to explore in the film, as Parsons gets imaginative when generating a claustrophobic realm of mazes and monsters. Storytelling isn’t quite as compelling in the offering, which revels in enigmatic developments without inviting viewers to help piece together what becomes a not too terribly interesting puzzle of madness and trauma. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

John Travolta has been an actor for over 50 years. He’s had some wild career highs and lows over the decades, but now he’s finally ready to step behind the camera for the very first time. “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is an adaptation of Travolta’s 1997 “children’s book,” which attempted to offer a whimsical look at a child’s experience with air travel and his mother in 1962. It was a nostalgic examination of golden aviation years, and now it’s a movie, with Travolta handling script and directorial duties, out to bring to life a business that’s experienced tremendous service decline since its heyday. “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is more of a short film than a feature (running 60 minutes long), but such brevity is actually a blessing, as Travolta’s push to make these memories and experiences charming is difficult to process, and his insistence that the tale is intended for family audiences is downright nuts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1983’s “Mr. Mom” explored the changing dynamics of household leadership during a time when more women were joining the workforce. It was pleasant, good-natured silly business from screenwriter John Hughes, who exaggerated the evolution of men in parental mode, having fun with the concept of a father tasked with taking care of domestic duties and the raising of children while his wife tended to her corporate job. Again, 1983. In 2026, comedian Nate Bargatze attempts to revive the same plot for “The Breadwinner,” taking starring and co-writing duties for a picture that doesn’t appear to understand the changing ways of domestic balance, charging ahead as a dumb guy movie. And it’s not an inspired dumb guy movie. “The Breadwinner” plays like a failed T.V. pilot, watching Bargatze stumble through an antiquated take on gender roles and fatherly authority, trying to play to his fanbase with stiff slapstick and dreary sentiment, hoping to launch a leading man career with an offering that actually makes him quite unappealing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Loves Company” is a riff on Stephen King’s 1987 novel, “Misery.” However, instead of a deranged woman imprisoning her favorite author to preserve the fantasy relationship that only exists in her mind, writer/director Jason Laurits reverses the central situation, turning a potential act of captivity into a professional opportunity for the main character. Laurits goes for laughs, not shocks, with the endeavor, exploring a Floridian community of damaged and dim people trying to make sense of an unexpected arrival from a once semi-famous man. The helmer isn’t going for major laughs with the offering, but he has a capable cast to bring the movie to life, with stars Jack Plotnick and Rachel Dratch delivering sharp, amusing performances that bring necessary color to the low-budget effort. The actors keep things lively for Laurits as he searches for unusual turns for the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While primarily known as a comedic actor (and an Academy Award-winning screenwriter), Jim Rash has been chipping away at a directorial career over the years. With partner Nat Faxton, Rash co-helmed 2013’s “The Way, Way Back,” and 2020’s “Downhill,” and he returns as a solo act for “Miss You, Love You,” also handling writing duties for the feature. Rash doesn’t offer an epic here, but an incredibly small drama about big feelings, going the two-hander route with an examination of itchiness shared between a widow and her son’s assistant, who’s been sent to help her manage funeral arrangements. “Miss You, Love You” carries a theatrical stance, with Rash investing in dramatic combat, and he finds ideal talent in star Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells, who provide excellent turns in the endeavor, sinking their teeth into juicy roles that explore a wide range of emotions and hostilities. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

John Carney loves music. The director has been pursuing the celebration, liberation, and communication of music for quite some time now, exploring the strange power of songwriting in features such as “Once,” “Begin Again,” “Sing Street,” and “Flora and Son,” and he returns to familiar ground with “Power Ballad,” also co-scripting the picture with Peter McDonald. Instead of being delicate with the magic of musical alchemy, Carney gets a little more combative with his latest endeavor, following the struggles of a wedding singer who knows his song has been stolen by a pop star, only he can’t prove it. It has the makings of a thriller, but Carney doesn’t work that way, electing to return to easygoing personalities and battles of the heart, throwing in an earworm tune for good measure. “Power Ballad” intends to be a crowd-pleaser, and it has its moments, but it’s also a bit unsteady in the editorial department, emerging a bit wobbly when Carney is shooting for a big, juicy charmer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For people of a certain age, the title “Pitfall” inspires memories of gaming days gone by. Of hours spent running through a digital jungle, swinging on vines and jumping on crocodile heads. Screenwriter Victor Rose doesn’t share that same nostalgia, instead making his version of “Pitfall” about a killer in the woods targeting campers who dare to enter his domain. It’s the usual in slasher cinema, but Rose doesn’t stop with obvious genre entanglements and sequences of survival. He’s pursuing a more sincere massacre, using the heaviness of grief and trauma to deal with characters and their personal problems between sequences of victims being hacked to pieces. Director James Kondelik does what he can to obscure his tiny budget and limited locations, and he delivers a reasonably effective nightmare in “Pitfall,” which carries a bit more substance while still pursuing frights. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Netflix is remaking Netflix. In 2018, the streamer released “I Am Not an Easy Man,” a French production that detailed the experience of a male chauvinist who’s smacked in the head, waking up to a new world ruled by women, forcing him to negotiate a different reality that doesn’t sit well with him. In 2026, screenwriters Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul, and Katie Silberman look to bring the premise back for “Ladies First,” transforming a study of enlightenment into a Sacha Baron Cohen comedy. It’s not exactly an upgrade, placing the usually wily actor into a conventional picture that mines humor from the switcheroo scenario, which delivers about two minutes of satire. The rest of the feature is fairly soft and feeble, with director Thea Sharrock (“The One and Only Ivan,” “Me Before You”) unwilling to get sharper with the endeavor. Netflix didn’t provide “Ladies First” for review, and one can clearly see why after sitting through the opening act. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Van living is the setting for “Passenger,” which is a generic title for what becomes a generic film. Screenwriters Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess are endeavoring to create a ghost story of some shape with the feature, and they want to establish the horror of a new movie maniac in the Passenger, who haunts the roads, becoming more of a curse as his malevolence is passed from driver to driver. Director Andre Ovredal has a history of genre employment (including “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and his last effort, 2023’s “The Last Voyage of the Demeter”), but his veteran status doesn’t come into play in “Passenger.” Instead of sneaky, sinister work, there’s the usual in jump scares and labored characterization, keeping the offering underwhelming when it isn’t hellbent on trying to jolt viewers into submission. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com