Category: Film Review

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo found tremendous success with their work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, dealing with the enormity of the comic book world and its major battles. They moved on after managing the epic needs of “Avengers: Endgame,” but the Russos haven’t found their footing with follow-up projects. Last year, there was “Cherry,” an unpleasant, overlong attempt to butch up with real-world horrors after spending a decade with superheroes. And now there’s “The Gray Man,” which finds the siblings back to business with a massive actioner that takes viewers around the globe, following the dangerous adventures of a black ops agent in survival mode, facing a relentless opponent. “The Gray Man” is an adaptation of a novel by Mark Greaney, and it has some “Spy vs. Spy” potential, but the Russos lose sight of their creative goals early on, unable to nail a consistent tone and considered brutality for what quickly becomes a bad parody of a terrible Michael Bay movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a line delivered at the opening of “Don’t Make Me Go,” with the main character declaring to viewers that they’re “not going to like how this story ends.” It’s an important warning to heed, as there’s a frightening accuracy to the statement, with screenwriter Vera Herbert taking special care to torpedo her own movie with incredibly manipulative dramatic choices. It’s a shame “Don’t Make Me Go” ends so poorly, as it begins with some sense of adventure when it comes to exploring a relationship between a father and daughter, and how such a union is attacked by the unpredictability of life and the traditional challenges of adolescence. Director Hannah Marks has a warm vision for intimate matters of the heart and family, but she’s committed to a final act that takes something with promise and transforms it into a lame soap opera. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is a terrific example of acting, and how it’s capable of supporting a viewing experience when the material periodically dips into uninspired areas of drama. The star is Lesley Manville, who made powerful impressions in “Phantom Thread,” “Another Year,” and “Ordinary Love,” and she returns to full power in her latest turn, which distances her from the usual emotional severity she’s normally hired to communicate. As the title suggests, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is entertainment, mixing lighter feelings with a comedic approach, but Manville doesn’t ignore the possibilities of the character, delivering a full-bodied performance that carries the feature at times, backed by an impressive supporting cast and occasional moments that land their intended fuzzy feelings. It’s not the most rousing endeavor, but small creative goals help the film remain as charming as it possibly can. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After a career working with Disney Animation on some of their best films in recent memory (“Moana,” “Big Hero 6”), Chris Williams makes a move to go solo with “The Sea Beast,” bringing his veteran status to Netflix Animation for this oceanic adventure. While an original story from Williams and co-writer Nell Benjamin, the influence of “How to Train Your Dragon” is definitely felt during the viewing experience. There’s nothing wrong with that, as the DreamWorks Animation trilogy offered wonderful moviemaking and rich characters, and “The Sea Beast” gets fairly close to greatness with its inspection of a world of hunters ruled by fear and deception facing a challenge from a spirited girl beginning to see the truth behind all the lies. Williams serves up massive visuals and strange creatures, and the writing works hard to provide a metaphorical journey for the world of today, doing so with lots of excitement and sharp lessons for younger viewers on the importance of courage. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The difficulties of senior year love are explored in “Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between,” which is an adaptation of a 2015 young adult novel by Jennifer E. Smith. The author hands screenwriting duties over to Ben York Jones and Amy Reed, who are tasked with clarifying the story, which plays with time and includes various characters, while the plot basically remains with two teens and their struggle to make sense of a future that’s on the brink of starting. There are no surprises in the picture, which offers a traditional look at the pains of adolescent impatience, but director Michael Lewen understands the assignment, working to give the feature as much heart as possible while still playing to a specific demographic with the endeavor. “Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between” makes a positive impression with its acting and emphasis on the confusion of break-ups, giving viewers some tingles and tears as two characters wrestle with their deep feelings for each other. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One of the bright spots in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” with director Taika Waititi endeavoring to bring a specialized tone to the comic book spectacular, pulling away from character introductions and consequential acts of planetary heroism to make something slightly daffy with the “Space Viking.” “Ragnarok” was a gamble, with the MCU previously allowing the Guardians of the Galaxy to sniff around a lighter approach, but Waititi ran with the opportunity, crafting a hilarious adventure with Thor and his comrades, cranking up the Led Zeppelin and enormous action to present the cinematic equivalent of an extravagant custom van paint job. It was a terrific movie, and Waititi has returned (with a co-writing credit) to deliver the next chapter in the “Thor” saga, restoring the atmosphere of the previous odyssey with a slightly heavier round of freewheeling fun, looking to keep the God of Thunder loose and amusing, but also hitting the big guy with some profound emotional weight this time out. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Princess” is an empowerment tale from screenwriters Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton, but this is no ordinary story of a young woman’s awakening. Instead of playing directly to a teen audience with a sunny summation of self-preservation, the writing submits an R-rated actioner instead, hoping to wow viewers with graphic violence and extended fight scenes meant to give the feature some oomph. Such energy is appreciated, but most of the attention in “The Princess” is placed on heated battles, with the material too simplistic to really land a few of its valuable ideas on self-worth. The endeavor is more of a video game than a dramatic understanding of character, and that may be enough to support a decent distraction for some viewers, but the shallowness of it all becomes a problem for the effort the more it tries to find a reason for its existence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The Minions were a supporting act in 2010’s “Despicable Me,” invented to add some wacky energy to the picture, filling all slapstick requirements while the plot was dedicated to a more heartening story of parenthood featuring supervillain Gru. After the release of the film, Minions became all the rage, dominating “Despicable Me” sequels and fitted for their own starring roles in 2015’s “Minions,” which is the highest-grossing installment of the franchise. Perhaps the Minions don’t even need Gru anymore. Illumination apparently disagrees, reuniting most of the family for the prequel “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which moves the mayhem up to the 1970s but maintains the formula of dastardly deeds and chaotic cartoon visuals, with the fifth installment of the “Despicable Me” series playing it safe to entertain family audiences. It’s fun, periodically funny, but the production takes few risks with this endeavor, which could use a freshening of material at this point. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

John Michael McDonagh’s last feature was 2016’s “War on Everyone,” where he attempted to mount a darkly comedic understanding of American life and action movies. The experiment wasn’t creatively satisfying, getting lost in its own quirk, distancing the writer/director from his earlier successes with “The Guard” and “Calvary.” “The Forgiven” inches McDonagh back to his potential, put in charge of an adaptation of a 2012 Lawrence Osborne novel, and one with some sting to it, detailing the experiences of an elite western couple causing major problems in Morocco, dealing with the aftermath in their own uniquely acidic ways. “The Forgiven” finds McDonagh in a very deliberate mood, which is a necessary approach to a story that’s primarily about the experiences of characters gaining some clarity with the darkest of inspiration. McDonagh slows the pace of the endeavor, which doesn’t always help to build tension, but he’s after a specific tone with the picture, and mostly achieves it, maintaining surprises and defined personalities on this strange journey of guilt. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An ex-hacker is trapped inside an office that’s wired with explosives, forced to do the bidding of a secret villain while time ticks down to his own death. It’s a simple idea for a thriller, and we’ve been here before, with many filmmakers trying to create tension while working with a single location. “Hot Seat” joins efforts such as “Phone Booth” and “Speed,” but this isn’t a polished, big-budget feature. It’s the latest offering from churn-em-out producers Randall Emmett and George Furla, who don’t have the resources to deal with the particulars of moviemaking. “Hot Seat” is a B-movie with potential, but it doesn’t possess the creative drive to make an inspired mess of things. Director James Cullen Bressack (who commanded two of 2021’s worst pictures in “Fortress” and “Survive the Game”) continues his VOD adventure with this high concept endeavor, which lacks excitement and surprise, weirdly ignoring the insanity of the central premise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Rubikon” resembles a literary offering of sci-fi, striving to tackle big ideas on environmental ruin and corporate rule while staying true to character, exploring personalities in full. Co-writer/director Magdalena Lauritsch (making her debut as a feature-length filmmaker) has an idea of what she wants to accomplish with the picture, asking viewers to spend time in the tight confines of a space station while the characters deal with extreme mental and physical hardships as they manage a developing disaster. It initially seems like the stuff of riveting cinema, but “Rubikon” doesn’t have that type of dynamic appeal. It’s a small movie about interpersonal conflicts, and while the production provides accomplished visuals and capable performances, Lauritsch keeps her endeavor crawling along, with tension limited to just a handful of moments, while the rest of the effort sticks with static sequences, limiting the inherent suspense of the central plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s difficult to not be cynical while watching “Code Name Banshee.” This is a paint-by-numbers production for VOD audiences, boasting 30 producers and a director in Jon Keeyes, who’s been making movies with generic names like “The Survivalist” and “Rogue Hostage,” participating in the steady stream of action gunk that’s been clogging distribution channels for the last decade. Keeyes doesn’t bring anything to the endeavor besides camera focus, slapping together yet another exploration of revenge and danger, only here there’s a screenplay (credited to Matthew Rogers) that’s painfully dull, delivering generic drama and threats while miscast actors try to pretend they’re interested in this sleeping pill of a film. “Code Name Banshee” pretends to pursue a deeper dramatic dive into characterization and motivation, but basic elements, such as screen tension, are missing from the mix. There’s nothing here that’s different from the competition, with Keeyes merely looking to complete the picture, not challenge himself with a stronger serving of assassin antagonisms. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Doula” is written by Will Janowitz and Arron Shiver (who also co-stars in the picture), and the men attempt to capture the female experience of birth with the effort, which is directed by Cheryl Nichols. The screenplay isn’t strictly about the journey of pregnancy, more interested in the knotted ways of relationships and unspoken feelings that turn into corrosive material the longer they remain bottled up inside. “Doula” is a comedy, but it’s not entirely committed to such a mood, enjoying the process of exploring characters and putting the players in sticky situations. The feature is a complex understanding of perspective and fears, and it’s also the rare endeavor to approach the anxieties of pregnancy and birth with some degree of honesty, giving the movie an appealing texture of realism to help it through a few strained ideas for conflict and confession. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Australian director Patrick Hughes has recently made a career out of movies where action is wildly exaggerated and the cast often screams their way through their performances. He’s the helmer behind “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” and “Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard,” two exceedingly ear-splitting endeavors, and he’s trying to recreate the same atmosphere with “The Man from Toronto,” which stars Kevin Hart, and he’s no stranger to the ways of sustained on-screen panic attacks. “The Man from Toronto” hopes to use Hart for comedic purposes while Hughes gets to manage many set pieces involving chases and violent stand-offs. Bullets fly, cars explode, and near-misses are plentiful, but laughs are non-existent in the picture, which doesn’t ask Hart to do anything different than what he normally brings to the screen, while co-star Woody Harrelson is tasked with playing a dark figure of doom, allowing him few opportunities to be funny in a feature that needs a significant boost in the banter department. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After a successful run on MTV (with 222 episodes), “Beavis and Butt-Head” was ready for the big screen, and creator Mike Judge accepted the challenge, producing “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America” in 1996. While not a blockbuster, the animated film did decent business, making enough money to guarantee a sequel. And then a follow-up never happened, with Judge moving on to other projects, while Beavis and Butt-Head were placed on the list of pop culture treasures from the 1990s. 26 years later, Judge is finally ready to deal with a long-form offering of Beavis and Butt-Head shenanigans again, bringing the destructive dimwits into their own future with “Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe.” The hand-drawn animation is gone, and this endeavor isn’t meant for multiplexes, but Judge (joined by directors John Rice and Albert Calleros) still has a firm grasp on his breakthrough creation, finding ways to freshen old jokes and give the eponymous characters more confusion to deal with in their distinctly primitive ways. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s always a moment before watching a Baz Luhrmann film where one forgets one is about to watch a Baz Luhrmann film. And then it begins, and some sort of insanity is immediately established, promising a cinematic ride for viewers that’s engineered to leave them breathless. This feeling of being overwhelmed struggled to survive in the helmer’s last endeavor, 2013’s “The Great Gatsby,” but Lurhmann is back to his old mischievous ways with operatic excess in “Elvis,” which isn’t a bio-pic of the legendary singer, but more of a comic book-style extravaganza about the icon and his extended struggle with his manager, Col. Tom Parker. “Elvis” is a lot, which is just the way Lurhmann likes it, blasting the screen with extraordinary visuals, acting, and pure energy, trying to replicate Elvis’s whirlwind life and his confusion when dealing with the business elements of his extraordinary career. It’s a 159-minute-long picture, and Lurhmann uses his run time to generate a hurricane of emotion and information, attempting to treat the story of Elvis Presley as a pop tragedy with a side of sensorial assault. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s difficult to make a movie about the end of the world when there’s very little budget to power the production. “Revealer” is the latest attempt to highlight an apocalyptic event without actually showing much of anything, with director Luke Boyce basically sticking to two sets while the screenplay (by Michael Moreci and Tim Seely) suggests a major event is happening around the globe, forcing viewers to use their imagination as a much smaller dramatic event unfolds indoors. The chance to go big with the endeavor isn’t possible, but Boyce looks to do something with a very little he has to work with, investing in cinematographic ideas and terrific casting to bring this strange take on the chaos of the Rapture to life. “Revealer” doesn’t add up to much, but it retains effective moments of conflict and mystery to get the feature through some slower patches of limp exposition. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Careers can be a strange thing. Director Scott Derrickson was last seen on screen with 2016’s “Doctor Strange,” offered a chance to do something different with the MCU, tasked with introducing one of their most challenging characters. And he did an excellent job doing so, bringing the Master of the Mystic Arts to life with a wonderfully cinematic and mercifully approachable origin tale that also represented his biggest box office success to date. Derrickson didn’t capitalize on the moment and now, six years later, there’s “The Black Phone,” which doesn’t find the helmer building on his “Doctor Strange” triumph, but returning to horror itches last scratched in 2012’s “Sinister” and 2014’s “Deliver Us from Evil.” It’s a small-scale creeper, an adaptation of a Joe Hill short story, which puts pressure on the production to develop enough material to fill a feature-length run time. “The Black Phone” has a few sharper points of potential, but Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill don’t have enough here to bring this supernatural story to a full boil. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Gatlopp” is very clearly modeled after “Jumanji,” with both pictures focusing on the hellraising unleashed when a mysterious board game is discovered, and eager players are ready to spend some time in heavy competition. “Jumanji” offered animal stampedes, life or death situations of survival, and constant pressure from the unknown force driving the dark magic. “Gatlopp” has heavy drinking, an enormous amount of improvisation, and pace-killing dramatics. Screenwriter/co-star Jim Mahoney (“Klaus,” “The Main Event”) tries to make something meaningful about friendship with the material, laboring to blend gameplay horrors with a serious examination of relationships. The blend doesn’t gel, leaving the feature frustratingly uneven and wildly overacted. It’s a movie about a malevolent board game, but the fun factor is severely limited by material that refuses to snowball into a madcap, constantly surprisingly good time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As everyone knows, Buzz Lightyear is a character from the “Toy Story” franchise, with his stern, slightly clueless militaristic style acting as a perfect foil for his cowboy pal, Woody. “Lightyear” isn’t a solo picture for the Space Ranger, and it’s not a prequel to “Toy Story.” Opening information positions this endeavor as the film Andy saw in 1995 that made him go crazy for the toy, giving him a movie adventure to trigger his imagination and tax his mother’s bank account. It’s an incredibly odd way to set-up a semi-origin story for the character, but this weirdness is just the taste of the bizarre happenings in the effort, which turns to time travel as a way to complicate Buzz’s experience with exploration and rescue. “Lightyear” remains in step with Pixar Animation storytelling formula, but they make some unexpectedly knotted choices with the screenplay, potentially keeping it just out of reach for younger audiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com