Category: Film Review

“A Million Miles Away” tells the story of Jose M. Hernandez, who worked his way through systems of migrant farmwork and government employment to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut for NASA. It’s the kind of story Hollywood loves, using elements of underdog cinema and “based on a true story” screenwriting to provide a heartwarming understanding of personal drive and the power of family. Against all odds, the feature works, wonderfully at times, with the Disneyfication of the material handled well by the screenplay, and director Alejandra Marquez Abella offers a graceful understanding of time, setting, and especially actors, with star Michael Pena delivering the finest performance of his career in this lovely picture. “A Million Miles Away” makes familiar moves when it comes to depicting the roadblocks to success, but Abella crafts an engrossing study of achievement and support, helping to avoid the roughness of cliché. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the lukewarm box office reception for 2022’s “Death on the Nile” (which struggled with a mid-COVID-19 moviegoing reluctance), it seemed as though Kenneth Branagh’s reign as Hercule Poirot was over. However, reports of the master detective’s death were premature, with the director/star permitted another shot at the part with “A Haunting in Venice,” which is an adaptation of “Hallowe’en Party,” an Agatha Christie novel from 1969. Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green have their way with the source material, but they conjure a compelling genre adventure for Poirot, with the endeavor trading the opulence of “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” for something scrappier and within the realm of scary. Instead of a straight detective story, there’s more spookiness to sort through with this murder mystery, giving the production a chance to play with unreality and haunted house tours, making for a livelier sit, while Branagh’s central take on Poirot’s brilliance and arrogance remains the highlight of the series. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer Jim Capobianco has been involved in animation for nearly three decades, creating an impressive resume in the process. He’s been involved in story development for Walt Disney Animation and Pixar, contributing to “The Lion King,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and “Ratatouille,” also bringing imagery to life for “Mary Poppins Returns.” He’s been a part of giant hits and colorful creations, but his first love appears to be the world of Leonardo da Vinci. There was a short film, “Leonardo,” in 2009, and now there’s “The Inventor,” with Capobianco (joined by co-director Pierre-Luc Granjon) offering a feature-length study of Da Vinci’s experience with brainstorms and visions, struggling to realize his ideas in the shadow of religious and royal oppression. Making use of traditional and stop-motion animation, “The Inventor” is a gorgeous movie, with strong displays of artistry running throughout the endeavor. It’s also an interesting introduction to da Vinci’s life for younger viewers, with Capobianco keeping things playful and stirring while exploring elements of the man’s twilight years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A directing duo, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were once Belgium-born filmmakers making small movies for local audiences. They were eventually brought to Hollywood, tasked with doing something with “Bad Boys for Life” after the troubled production had difficulty getting off the ground. The pair created a hit, and the industry asked for more, with El Arbi and Fallah soon put in charge of the superhero picture, “Batgirl,” which was eventually shelved due to reasons that will probably never be crystal clear. The helmers are back in business with another “Bad Boys” sequel for 2024, but before they return to big-budget extravaganzas, they revive their indie spirit with “Rebel.” Taking on the psychological and physical destruction of Syrian warfare, El Arbi and Fallah (who also co-script with Kevin Meul and Jan van Dyck) make a deeply personal feature that explores the horrors of Islamic State and the influence of radicalization in Europe, mixing raw emotions with unexpected blasts of artful expression that keeps viewers invested in material that would otherwise be extraordinarily difficult to watch. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Love at First Sight” is an adaptation of a 2011 book by Jennifer E. Smith, which carried a slightly more unwieldly title: “The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.” As to be expected from either title, the story is meant to be a warm one, dealing with all the strange timing and turns of the day facing two young people connecting over a 24-hour period. Screenwriter Katie Lovejoy (“To All the Boys: Always and Forever”) and director Vanessa Caswill (making her feature-length debut) have the challenge of taking a potential gimmick and turning it into something human. They succeed against all odds, working to keep “Love at First Sight” interesting with layered characterizations and muted formula, allowing for real romantic ways to develop between two characters going through quite a lot in their lives. It’s gentle work, with charm and a slight dusting of movie magic, surprising with its restraint and commitment to a deeper study of emotional ache. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Mystery is back this autumn, which welcomes the return of Hercule Poirot in “A Haunting in Venice,” giving adults an option when it comes to their filmgoing choices. For the kids, there’s “Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow,” which is also a whodunit, albeit one with more cartoon interests to help please a specific demographic. Screenwriter Rocco Pucillo takes inspiration from the “Pink Panther” movies for the work, creating Inspector Sun, a bold but slightly clumsy detective who always seems to find himself in the middle of trouble wherever he goes. The feature is “A Bug’s Life” with a body count, and director Julio Soto Gurpide keeps things relatively breezy during the short run time, cooking up pursuit sequences and sleuthing challenges, which bring some snap to the effort before it succumbs to family film formula. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One of the great moviegoing surprises of 2009 was the release of “Black Dynamite.” Directed by Scott Sanders, the picture successfully pants the blaxploitation subgenre, doing so with a great imagination for satire and silliness. There were big laughs in “Black Dynamite,” along with an impressively committed lead performance from co-writer Michael Jai White, who did his best to bring a “Shaft”-y screen hero to life, wisely staying steely while delightful nonsense was set up around him. The feature also had the advantage of being 86 minutes long. White (without Sanders) doesn’t go for a straight sequel with “Outlaw Johnny Black,” but he looks to work with a similar level of wackiness for this parody of spaghetti westerns, unafraid to play in the same sandbox as Mel Brooks’s “Blazing Saddles.” Those expecting a return to the inspired goofballery of before are likely to be greatly disappointed in “Outlaw Johnny Black,” which isn’t as well-written or energized as “Black Dynamite,” caught up in a strange desire to be earnest instead of farcical. It also has the disadvantage of being 136 minutes long, which is an insane run time for a project like this, making the whole film feel leaden, despite the cast working hard to sell mediocre foolishness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Horror anthology entertainment offers a more Latin perspective with “Satanic Hispanics,” which collects five tales of survival and terror from an assortment of filmmakers. It’s the “Creepshow” routine, only here there’s more of an interest in comedy and cultural representation, with the helmers aiming to add their own spin on grim stories of doom. “Satanic Hispanics” isn’t big on brevity, but there’s some interesting idiosyncrasy to enjoy here, especially when the moviemakers focus on the essentials of tension, creating strange conflicts that score some laughs and jolts during the viewing experience. The picture doesn’t overwhelm with creativity, but there’s enough here to satisfy, especially for Halloween viewing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One could argue there wasn’t a need for 2016’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” where writer/star Nia Vardalos attempted to resurrect the brand name with a sequel that wasn’t inspired and mostly mediocre, hoping to give the fanbase a reunion with old faces that could coast on the basics in comedy and heart. And now there’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” which carries more distance from the 2002 original sleeper hit, bringing back older faces (and their attempts to reverse the aging process) and more Greek energy for a second go-around with the Portokalos family, taking the characters overseas for this endeavor. Vardalos takes directorial control of the picture, and she makes a messy movie with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” which becomes a jumble of characters and motivations, side adventures and slapstick, and Greek culture in its most cartoon form. The film is determined to be a good time for all, but whatever plucky magic was offered in the first feature is long gone at this point. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Every director wants to work, but Michael Chaves has taken brand loyalty to a new level. He’s made three movies, and all of them have been part of “The Conjuring Universe,” with the horror saga expanding rapidly since its 2013 debut, giving the producers worlds of demons and religious issues to explore in many sequels and spin-offs. Chaves has already been involved in 2019’s “The Curse of La Llorona” and 2021’s “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” and he returns to familiar territory with “The Nun II,” a sequel to the 2018 smash hit. Mediocrity was a weight that held down the original gothic chiller, and there’s a similar level of fatigue in the second chapter, with Chaves overseeing a routine horror film that has little motivation to bring anything interesting to the saga. “The Nun II” is mostly a lifeless endeavor from screenwriters Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akela Cooper, who labor to restart the engine of a one-note idea, getting as far as the heavy recycling of scares before the whole thing limps to a dull conclusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Now here’s an odd movie. “Sitting in Bars with Cake” takes its title from Audrey Schulman’s 2015 book, where the single woman spent a year bringing treats to dates, hoping to make a love connection via the power of sweets (calling it “cakebarring”). The literary offering was a mix of memoir and cookbook, with Schulman gifting recipes to readers, helping them to play along with her extended experiment. Eight years later, there’s a film adaptation of “Sitting in Bars with Cake,” only it doesn’t really follow the events of the book, with Schulman electing to expand on a blog post about a relationship with her best friend, who was fighting cancer during the cake-y year. The production retains the title but largely heads a different way with the story (Schulman provides the screenplay), preferring to go the tearjerker route with the feature instead of following the debatable fun of the baking journey. This results in a much heavier picture than perhaps most potential viewers are expecting, but the endeavor is certainly well-acted and attentive to the collateral damage of terminal illness, showing needed focus when exploring the delicate support system of friendship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The books of author R.L. Stine have inspired many media interpretations, but there was a distinct push to turn such kid-friendly horror into a big screen event, with 2015’s “Goosebumps” trying to reach a broad audience with the writer’s distinct love of the wacky and weird. A less effective sequel in 2018 put the kibosh on franchise plans, but producer interest in exploring Stine’s work isn’t going to fade away any time soon, with “Zombie Town” the latest production looking to capture ghoulish events and teen antics for a younger audience. An adaptation of a 2012 book, the feature presents a strange tale of a zombie uprising, with co-writer/director Peter Lepeniotis (“The Nut Job”) tasked with turning 80 pages into a complete movie. It’s a mission that proves to be impossible, with “Zombie Town” certainly earnest in its intention to entertain pre-teen viewers, but the helmer can’t make sense of the bizarre plot, which becomes unnecessarily burdensome for a feature that’s only out to please. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2021, Beck Bennett left his television home at “Saturday Night Live,” where he found his footing as a sketch comedy player, specializing in portraying blowhard dummies. He provided inspired work on the show, and there was hope Bennett would use this professional momentum to find his way into something befitting his talents. Instead, there’s “Office Race,” an original movie from Comedy Central that’s extraordinarily lame, with co-writer/director Jared Lapidus putting in next to no effort when it comes to the creation and execution of humor in the film. It’s an underdog story in a way, exploring the world of marathon runners and the impact of such dedication on a slacker, but instead of using such behavioral extremity to launch a farce, “Office Race” goes sleepy, showing little interest in the potential of the premise or Bennett, content to aimlessly goof around instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2014’s “The Equalizer” was a cinematic update of a 1980s television series, with director Antoine Fuqua tasked with bringing a different kind of fury to the brand name, shaping a viciously violent revenge story that bore little resemblance to the network show that inspired it. Fuqua went for hardness to achieve his cheap thrills, and the overkill quickly transformed into absurdity. A 2018 sequel followed, offering more of the same, with Fuqua once again motivated to turn his action effort into a ridiculous trip to the gore zone, aided by meandering storytelling. He's been away for a while, but Robert McCall and his cold, dead stare returns for “The Equalizer 3,” and while Fuqua leaves no open wound behind, he’s newly committed to a somewhat intimate tale of domestic disturbance, giving the one-man-army a more direct reason to kill in a movie that does well when it dares to attempt dramatic simplicity, making for a more enjoyable ride of vengeance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2012’s “Ernest & Celestine” (released in America in 2014) was a complete surprise. The animated French picture was small, preferring delicate artistry over expensive imagery, electing to put its energy into personality. The feature was an absolute delight, one of the best films of the year, and little was expected of the movie after melting hearts and hitting the funny bone the first time around. A decade later, there’s “Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” a sequel from a different creative team, out to recreate the pleasures of the original picture while finding a new event for the eponymous pals to manage. “A Trip to Gibberitia” is more plot oriented than its predecessor, but the follow-up is nearly as fantastic, returning to character quirks and connections while opening up this lovable world with fresh challenges for animal friends and, now, family. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As Liam Neeson enters his eighth decade of life, some have questioned his ability to keep up his career path as an action hero, dealing with all sorts of physical challenges. “Retribution” hopes to participate in the ways of Neeson bruiser cinema, but it doesn’t ask much of the actor besides dramatic commitment to the part. The star is sitting for most of the run time, portraying a panicked man dealing with a car bomb under his seat and a mysterious antagonist making numerous demands. It’s not an especially robust acting challenge for Neeson, but there’s little human movement and a few surges of adrenaline to play, with the movie a remake of a 2015 Spanish thriller. The new version is directed by Nimrod Antal, who’s done capable work before (“Vacancy,” “Predators”), but he stumbles with the simplicity of the premise, struggling to sustain suspense and confusion while the lead actor does what he can to make emotional moments count. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Good Mother” is a film that tries to be a gritty tale of grief concerning the state of drug addiction in 2023, but it also desires to be something of a mystery thriller, with a few turns of plot to explore during the run time. The two sides of the endeavor aren’t paired especially well by co-writer/director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, who often has trouble deciding what type of picture he ultimately wants to make here. There’s some power in the material’s depiction of depression and social ruin, with the movie delivering a few sharp scenes that bring a real sense of pain to viewers. But these potent moments are few and far between, with Joris-Peyrafitte more invested in a crime story involving a broken family, and that’s been done much better in other features. “The Good Mother” often loses its way, stuck with a dud screenplay and undemanding direction, leaving the effort an offering of mood without much emotion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose” isn’t a title normally associated with the claim “based on a true story.” However, the material is tied to some level of history, exploring a tale of animal communication and all the curiosity it created on the Isle of Man in the 1930s. Writer/director Adam Sigal assumes command of this strange picture, looking to generate a bit of mystery while handling an enormous amount of oddity, generally following the structure of a detective story where the main suspect is a mongoose with an English accent that delivers potent poems and triggers existential reflection. Sigal has quite the tale with “Nandor Fodor,” and for the first two acts, he does a fine job bringing viewers in close to this bizarre investigation. The last act isn’t as involving, but the feature mostly finds its way with occasional peculiarity and a puzzling story, which is supported by a capable cast. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When the words “erotic thriller” are uttered, usually only one person comes to mind: Shannon Tweed. Director Anthony Penta seeks to change such conception with “We Kill for Love,” which is a documentary about the subgenre, which was developing long before Tweed was even born, and continues after her retirement from acting. There’s an entire history to explore here, with erotic thrillers developing over the decades, eventually exploding in the 1980s and ‘90s, and the helmer is determined to sniff around every corner of interpretation and thought. There’s a lot to “We Kill for Love,” which runs a whopping 163 minutes, which is a major sit for a subject that could probably be successfully examined in an hour and a half. Penta is determined to oversee a behemoth production, and he’s not having a lot of fun with it, as the endeavor is more analytical than anecdotal, going the “Room 237” route with a stern, film theory approach, which is undeniably interesting, but with this absurd run time, it occasionally feels like running a marathon with no finish line. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Adam Sandler has never been shy about bringing family members into the film business. He’s always surrounded himself with loved ones and pals, but with “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” Sandler truly makes it a domestic affair, hiring his daughters, Sunny and Sadie Sandler, to star in an adaptation of a book by Fiona Rosenbloom, while his wife, Jackie, plays a supporting role. It’s all Sandler, all the time in “Bat Mitzvah,” but director Sammi Cohen (“Crush”) doesn’t get caught up in the power play, managing to step back and form a mildly entertaining look at the horror show of adolescence, focusing on the first year of teendom and all the world-shifting nightmares it involves. The feature is obviously built for a younger audience, but the Happy Madison-ness of the endeavor offers some appeal for those far removed from middle school drama. It’s more Disney Channel than John Hughes, but the picture has its moments, especially when focused on the pressure points of adolescence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com