Category: Film Review

Actor Dave Franco made his directorial debut with 2020’s “The Rental,” going against his comedic instincts to craft an effective chiller about the dangers of home rentals and relationships, emerging with a surprisingly unsettling feature. Franco returns with “Somebody I Used to Know,” which doesn’t add to his interests in creep-out entertainment, instead keeping things slightly silly with a comedy about a woman struggling to deal with a breakup and unfulfilled career dreams as she sabotages a wedding. Franco and co-writer Alison Brie try to bring as much edge as possible with this premise, working to keep the characters real as wackiness is soon paired with emotional gravity. “Somebody I Used to Know” has a way of neglecting the needs of tonal balance, but it’s a highly amusing endeavor with a cast that’s come to play. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

12 years ago, screenwriters Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka created “The Sitter.” It was a crude, lame comedy, and their last feature work for quite some time, detouring to television with work on “Dice” and “Superstore.” Getting the funny business out of their systems, the pair return with much more serious work in “Sharper,” looking to expand their career with a solemn study of psychological gamesmanship, trying to rethink 1990’s “The Grifters” for a 2023 audience. Gatewood and Tanaka construct a tricky picture with troubled characters, and they have an ally in director Benjamin Caron, with the T.V. helmer working extremely hard to make sure the movie carries a defined cinematic sheen. “Sharper” is a puzzle, and one determined to remain a step ahead of viewers. If you’re sensitive to spoilers of any kind, it’s best to stop reading here, as this increasingly disappointing film is nothing but twists and turns. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Just over a decade ago, “Magic Mike” rolled into theaters offering a boisterous time to viewers interested in the moves of male strippers, with writer Reid Carolin hoping to support all the gyrating with personal problems facing the characters. The movie was modestly budgeted and a major hit, giving star Channing Tatum and director Steven Soderbergh a shot at creating a franchise. Audiences were a little less interested in 2015’s “Magic Mike XXL,” but Tatum has managed to make a business out of this world, creating a stage musical and a reality T.V. show, and now he’s ready to return to shirtless duty with “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” Soderbergh and Tatum attempt to turn away from pranks and aimlessness with the second sequel, hunting for a “let’s put on a show!” vibe with this take on the formation of a theatrical production, hoping to merge some physical artistry with grind-happy sequences in what’s easily the best installment of the trilogy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writers Carson and Erik Bloomquist aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel with “She Came from the Woods,” presenting a horror film set at a summer camp, which is a location repeatedly used in the genre. What they want to do with the great outdoors is make a slightly cheeky chiller about an evil presence on the property, hoping to have some bloody fun with this mildly exaggerated take on terror entertainment. And it works, mostly, with the screenplay noticeably hustling when it comes to introducing characters and a spooky history to decode, and there’s enough physical activity to give the endeavor some more animated sequences. “She Came from the Woods” is capably handled by director Erik Bloomquist, who pays tribute to the history of nightmare cinema while also hoping to contribute to it, coming up with an engaging romp involving malevolent spirits and family strife. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

15 years ago, Carter Smith directed “The Ruins.” It was a particularly nasty chiller, and in all the right ways, promising big things from the helmer and his love of genre entertainment. Smith’s career path didn’t take him to expected places, but he returns to horror events with “Swallowed,” a small-scale terror experience involving drug mules, mysterious bowel activity, and a strange imprisonment. Also handling screenplay duties, Smith keeps things manageable with the effort, which is basically contained to a few rooms and features only a handful of characters, looking to inspire suspense in more intimate ways. He gets halfway there in the picture, which starts out strong, promising ghoulish developments to come. Such extremity doesn’t arrive in “Swallowed,” but the build-up to agony is compelling enough to pass, with Smith skilled at launching a bizarre endeavor, but less confident when it comes to ending it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Seriously Red” is a film with a useful message to share about the importance of self-esteem, but it’s sold via the world of celebrity impersonators, with all the strangeness of that lifestyle competing with the writing’s more heartfelt ideas. Director Gracie Otto has quite a creative challenge on her hands, trying to make sense of screenwriter/star Krew Boylan’s ideas on the sensitivity of the human heart and the pageantry of stage performance. “Seriously Red” has a lot going on, with Boylan attempting to generate an explosive sense of living and self-examination. She achieves a level of craziness connected to the tribute performer lifestyle, but the oddity of the endeavor often obscures its valuable understanding of a troubled mind, with the whole picture a bit too animated for its own good. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Disquiet” plays like a video game. There are characters dealing with their handle on reality, set loose inside a contained setting, forced to process all sorts of violence coming their way. However, this is a film, the latest from writer/director Michael Winnick, who’s best known as the helmer of “Code of Honor,” a 2016 Steven Seagal picture. Winnick doesn’t have a large budget for “Disquiet,” attempting to generate a brain-bleeder with this tale of confused people trapped inside a hospital, tasked with sorting out their memories before they handle their escape. Throw in monstrous types and dangerous connections, and the production has the making for a mildly diverting B-movie. Winnick doesn’t get that far, doing much better with questions instead of answers, which gives the opening half of the feature some hustle, but even that starts to wane once the endeavor is forced to make sense of it all. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With 2021’s “Old,” director M. Night Shyamalan went small, trying to keep making movies during lockdown days by containing the bulk of a story to a single location, and one away from the rest of humanity. The picture was profitable but was devoid of suspense, as Shyamalan stuck with his usual bag of tricks, turning a weird and twisty film into a predictably idiosyncratic one, bringing out the worst from the helmer. “Knock at the Cabin” continues Shyamalan’s small-scale screen adventuring, this time taking on an adaptation of Paul G. Tremblay’s novel, “The Cabin at the End of the World,” which offers a biblical showdown in the middle of the woods, forcing the production to come up with something more than Tremblay’s book to satisfy viewers expecting more bang for their buck, and confident control of screenwriting isn’t Shyamalan’s forte. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2006, writer/director Luc Besson took a break from his usual interests in action and adult-minded fare to create one for the kids. “Arthur and the Invisibles” (titled “Arthur and the Minimoys” in Europe and beyond) didn’t make much of an impact during its initial theatrical release, but Besson was determined to do something with this brand name, which was originally a book and became a mild licensing sensation, with games, toys, and even a theme park ride tasked with expanding the fantasy feature, which was eventually joined by two sequels. If there was “Arthur”-mania, I’m sure most people missed it, but such devoted fandom makes up the plot of “Arthur Malediction,” which transforms the tale of tiny heroes and villains into a bloody slasher film that has very little to do with Besson’s original creation. This is a low-budget genre exercise from director Barthelemy Grossmann, while Besson assumes screenplay duties, looking to have some fun with the world of “Arthur and the Invisibles” without actually doing anything with the premise or characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriters John Glosser, Joe Russo, and Chris LaMont look to explore the ways of crime and family with “The Locksmith,” a noir-ish take on a quicksand-like dilemma facing a broken man dealing with a past filled with guilt. The writing isn’t razor sharp, but it does take care to examine various characters stuck in unwinnable situations, offering some level of attention to personality and developing distress. “The Locksmith” is a smaller film, without major dramatic firepower, but it delivers a proper sense of alarm with the lead character and his bad habits, and director Nicolas Harvard (making his helming debut) keeps things compelling, managing turns of plot and suspenseful confrontations. He also pulls a semi-interesting performance out of Ryan Phillippe, who does surprisingly well with his take on dented nobility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Frank Grillo typically plays tough guys, and he especially likes playing them for writer/director John Swab. “Little Dixie” is their latest collaboration, following the recent “Body Brokers” and “Ida Red,” with Grillo returning to duty as a man driven to collect his daughter from a Mexican cartel kidnapper, with the ransom an especially gruesome demand. “Little Dixie” is deeply violent material from Swab, who’s after a gritty revenge thriller with a more complicated sense of position for the characters, who aren’t simply black and white figures, but stuck in something more dangerous for all. Swab provides some blunt brutality in the endeavor, which takes the shape of a western at times, playing to Grillo’s strengths as a screen brutalizer, but the rest of the picture isn’t as convincing, with Swab handling iffy supporting performances and dramatic asides that tend to distract from the core conflict. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Amazing Maurice” is an adaptation of a 2001 book by author Terry Pratchett, who took inspiration from the “Pied Piper of Hamelin” tale while creating an installment of his “Discworld” literary series. The material makes connections to stories and history, but the movie version of Pratchett’s apparently vast imagination is largely content to be a cartoon, with a somewhat “Shrek”-ian gravitational pull. “The Amazing Maurice” explores a world where a cat and his rat pals are con artists, soon coming up against a greater problem than a simple lack of funds, and screenwriter Terry Rossio (who co-scripted “Shrek,” along with “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and Disney’s “Aladdin”) tends to emphasize the playfulness of it all, balancing British wit with Dreamworks-style cartoon antics. The production is out to entertain audiences young and old, and most of the endeavor is enjoyable, especially when it focuses on animal characters and their fight for survival. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The ongoing study of the COVID-19 pandemic is given a slightly comedic spin in “Who Invited Charlie,” which returns viewers to the early days of panic and confusion, only the intent here is to provide viewers with some warm tingles. Dramatically, it’s an uphill climb for screenwriter Nicholas Schutt, who’s out to have some fun with memories of 2020, when the world went seriously wrong, but the story here isn’t one of sickness, at least not the physical kind. “Who Invited Charlie” aims for traditional emotional targets, examining the pressures of marriage and friendship, keeping things intimate while society is set ablaze. There are laughs to be had in the picture, which tries to keep everything approachable and understood, and there’s also a decent handle on the ways of relationships, with director Xavier Manrique attentive to performances and timing, helping Schutt reach most of his narrative goals. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Deon Taylor’s filmography doesn’t inspire much faith in his abilities, recently helming the stillborn chiller “Fatale,” and the wretched comedy, “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2.” Taylor’s been able to keep his career going with low budgets and minimal expectations, and such career ambition returns in “Fear,” which was filmed over two years ago, looking to capture the dread and paranoia of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many genre pictures these days, Taylor and co-writer John Ferry keep things small and manageable, offering a few characters locked inside a remote location, with the idea here being anxiety, as a group of friends encounter trouble from beyond, with their deepest fears brought to life as they fight to survive encroaching madness. At least that’s what should be happening in “Fear,” but Taylor and Ferry get lost with this impotent chiller, trying to tap into something ill-defined, using all the hacky horror moves they can muster to keep 15 minutes of story going for 90 minutes of tedium. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When “Birdemic: Shock and Terror” was released in 2010, viewers laughed. It was a particularly inept filmmaking endeavor from writer/director James Nguyen, who seemed to have no idea how awful a movie he was making, marching forward with a tale of bird attack in Half Moon Bay, California, utilizing some of the worst helming instincts imaginable. Cult film fans ate it up, and Nguyen returned to the scene of the crime with 2013’s “Birdemic: The Resurrection,” where he achieved some level of self-awareness, trying to recapture the vibe of the first installment while leaning into expanding ridiculousness. Viewers didn’t laugh. Ten years later, Nguyen returns to quite possibly his only source of income with “Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle,” which basically rehashes “Shock and Terror,” only this time around, the helmer is determined to establish the climate change message of the series, asking viewers to sit through an hour(!) of exposition, speeches, and Hitchcock appreciation before the birds return to attack humans. Viewers won’t laugh. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marital blues and relationship concerns are the focus of “Maybe I Do,” which examines communication struggles between people trying to figure out what they want from life and love. Writer/director Michael Jacobs touches on universal feelings of uncertainty and fatigue, offering a dramedy that concentrates on the inner lives of characters and their stunted ways of self-expression. To help the cause, Jacobs has brought in a capable cast willing to explore the itchiness of such doubt, with leads Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy, and Diane Keaton offering committed performances to help Jacobs reach his larger points about the demands of trust. “Maybe I Do” is frequently supported by thespian strength, as Jacobs gets a little too windy with his dialogue exchanges, losing pace as he tries to make something meaningful while the natural flow of the material leads to a potentially farcical conclusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“You People” is a film about race, culture, and love, and it most certainly wants to be a comedy up until the moment it suddenly decides not to be one anymore. The screenplay is credited to Kenya Barris (who also directs) and Jonah Hill, but there’s no evidence in the movie that anything was actually written down. Instead, the picture plays like a long improvisational challenge between actors eager to engage and actors who no longer have much interest in onscreen performance, with the endeavor fighting to achieve some type of shape as it blindly jumps from one scenario to another. “You People” hopes to update the premise of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” but Barris and Hill aren’t ready to think things through with the feature, which offers only limp riffing and dismal formula, assuming some type of importance when it can barely summon up the energy to create a genuine set-up and punchline. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer Will Honley (“Bloodline,” “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions”) has a strong idea for horror in “Blood,” examining the extent of a mother’s love when she’s forced to turn to macabre solutions to solve unreal problems. Unfortunately, Honley only gets as far as a short story with the material, straining to stretch the particulars of the concept to a feature-length run time. Director Brad Anderson (“The Machinist,” “Vanishing on 7th Street”) attempts to conjure a dark mood for the endeavor, which plays with mysterious happenings and grim developments in health and home, but there’s not a lot of dramatic meat on these bones. “Blood” gets pretty far with a first half devoted to grotesque situations and marital hostility, but the production can’t sustain such mystery, eventually slowing down to a full stop as the screenplay loses interest in developing the central crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a slasher movie for every occasion, and “Alone at Night” (titled “18 & Over” on the film, so I’m sure there’s a story there) attempts to portray the dangers facing a cam girl while she’s trying to do business inside a remote cabin. The setting is familiar and the players are all the same, but co-writer/director Jimmy Giannopoulos also deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping to give his picture a little extra sense of isolation and loneliness as he manufactures misdirections and suspicions. “Alone at Night” is a small-scale endeavor and it doesn’t try to be anything more than a droopy genre exercise, with Giannopoulos going through the motions as he hopes to merge suspenseful encounters and mild media commentary, which whiffs just as hard as the rest of this tiresome, aimless chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Most trilogies take years to complete, with meticulous filmmaking used to craft a tale worth exploring throughout three movies. For the “Detective Knight” series, viewers had to wait 13 weeks, with “Detective Knight: Independence” following last October’s “Rogue,” and December’s “Redemption,” allowing the impatient to mainline bottom shelf action in the fastest manner imaginable. It’s been a quick and dirty ride for writer/director Edward Drake, who’s slapped together a collection of forgettable endeavors starring Bruce Willis, though in this particular supercop world, the star and main marketing selling point barely participates in the story. “Independence” sustains such a bizarre creative choice, with Drake once again making the saga about other characters, this time taking on the violent disillusionment of a young man facing a cold world of indifference, drawn to the comforting heat of rage to solve his problems. It’s not a terrible idea to pursue, it just requires a more refined cinematic touch to really sell, and Drake just can’t get there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com