Category: Film Review

Lauren Hadaway has been working with dialogue and sound for the last decade, participating in productions such as “Justice League,” “Underworld: Blood Wars,” and “The Marine 4: Moving Target.” She makes the move to the director’s seat with “The Novice,” building on her 2017 short, “The Row.” It’s a story of a punishing collegiate rowing experience told with autobiographical touches, presenting Hadaway with some authority on the subject. She commits to the ugly details of the sport and the educational experience, offering a superbly lived-in screenplay that really digs into the experience of competition. “The Novice” remains riveting when sticking tight to the rowing odyssey, giving viewers a chance to understand physical exertion and psychological ruin. However, the helmer doesn’t remain within the shock of it all, working out unnecessary directorial flourishes and superfluous dramatics to show her stuff, which periodically weakens the fierce character study Hadaway is clearly capable of delivering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nightmare Alley” is based on a 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, which was quickly adapted for the screen in 1947, with Tyrone Power taking on the central role of a pushy con man who gets in too deep with his grifting, trying to stay one step ahead of those he’s playing, sometimes unintentionally. Co-writer/director Guillermo del Toro returns to the source material to inspire a new vision for “Nightmare Alley,” which plays to his strengths with its collection of haunted characters and extreme cinematic textures. The helmer remains with his interests here, delivering a very del Toro-esque viewing experience with a tale that’s physically and psychologically violent, working to present period noir to modern audiences while still retaining all the fetishes and bodily harm del Toro loves to arrange. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Adam McKay used to make the same kind of comedies all the time (“Anchorman,” “Step Brothers,” “Talladega Nights”), and now he makes the same kind of social criticism and political movies all the time (“The Big Short,” “Vice”). With “Don’t Look Up,” McKay remains fixated on a semi-satiric take on American life and order, but he aims bigger with his latest project, which investigates the end of the world and all the madness that goes along with accepting the truth. “Don’t Look Up” tries to fashion something close to a farce with the material, but McKay enjoys a stickier sense of tone, delivering a picture that’s after big laughs with broad antics, and it’s also examining the reality of an extinction level event occurring in our screwball time, keeping behaviors accurate even when they go full cartoon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sandra Bullock doesn’t act much anymore. She’s been increasingly selective in her parts over the last decade, trying to find a new direction to her career with more serious roles, ready to inhabit darker characters in disturbing situations of survival. After dominating pop culture with 2018’s “Bird Box,” Bullock stays severe with “The Unforgivable, which is an adaptation of a 2009 British television series. The material gives the actress another opportunity to play a frayed person, this time exploring the days of a parolee trying to put a few parts of her ruined life back together, and Bullock does quite well in the film. She’s raw yet reserved, happy to give others showier amounts of screentime. It’s the story of “The Unforgivable” that’s a little out of tune, with director Nora Fingscheidt submitting to warped turns of plot, allowing the feature to become absurd when, for about 90 minutes, it does simply fine being as real as possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The very idea of a movie detailing the domestic and professional relationship between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is chilling. Expectations for a monumentally broad understanding of talent and impatience immediately fall into place, with caricature typically the only avenue available for this type of endeavor. Few want to see that, and this includes writer/director Aaron Sorkin, who was last seen on screens drilling into political and judicial history with “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” and returns to pressure points of judgment and conformity with “Being the Ricardos,” which attempts to understand the experience shared between Ball and Arnez as they experience a particularly punishing week in their lives. Sorkin doesn’t want a cartoon with the picture, finding a more human approach to the bigness of these personalities, out to analyze their insecurities and mistakes while ruling television as America’s favorite couple. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Agnes” is being marketed as an exorcism picture, and there is some degree of possible demonic possession involved in the story. However, all that hellraising is only a small part of the plot, and those paying to see such religious fury and spiritual manipulation should be aware that while the studio is hoping to sell the movie as something horrific, co-writer/director Mickey Reece isn’t making that kind of film. He’s after a character study, and a slightly strange one, examining the power of evil and the illusion of submission, but also the challenges of religious repression and basic human grief. “Agnes” is all over the place, with distinct sides to the viewing experience, watching Reece attempt to shake off expectations by serving up familiar images of violence before switching to more intimate areas of psychological pain. It’s the kind of feature that’s going to connect with select viewers, while angering everyone else. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“National Champions” has something to say about the state of college athletics, where profit runs high, but financial participation is minimal at best. It’s a fictional offering from writer Adam Mervis, who brings his own play to the big screen, addressing ideas on greed and inequality, focusing on the moneymaking machine known as college football. Mervis is filled with numbers and ideas, and he creates a suspenseful tale of a player boycott challenged from all sides, with a star quarterback looking to take a stand when it comes to the disposability of college athletes. It’s a powerful idea, and while “National Champions” has some difficulty shaking off its theatrical roots, it lands some compelling arguments concerning fairness and support, with Mervis providing a dimensional assessment of the central conflict, making for a more layered understanding of panic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With “Deadlock,” Bruce Willis makes a return to the land of “Die Hard” with a knockoff production set inside a hydroelectric facility. Actually, Willis isn’t the hero of the picture, taking the villain part instead, which offers more opportunities for him to sit down in a comfy chair. It’s Patrick Muldoon in the John McClane role, and considering the zombie state Willis has been in over the last five years, it’s probably for the best. Either way, “Deadlock” tries to scrounge up a terrorist takeover tale with little to no budget or decent screenwriting, making casting the least of the feature’s problems as it tries to transform a limited location and strange stakes into survival movie. This is no “Die Hard,” and you already knew that, but co-writer/director Jared Cohn seems to be under the impression he’s reviving the subgenre with this dull offering of blank characters and weak action. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Here’s a story about a collection of animals stuck inside of a zoo, forced to downplay their instincts and perform for crowds, longing for a day when they can return to the wild, feeling the freedom they faintly recall from years ago. No, it’s not another “Madagascar” sequel, leaving “Back to the Outback” to the pains of comparison, with the Australian production not putting up too much of a fight to distance itself from the DreamWorks Animation franchise. In the new film’s favor is charm, as the production gathers a lively voice cast and keeps the action coming in this adventure, which also offers colorful sights and periodically amusing antics. It’s “Madagascar” in many ways, but “Back to the Outback” finds its own sense of humor and creature appreciation, and the change in scenery gives the writing a different inspiration when it comes to dreaming up dangers for the heroes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Off the Rails” is a comedy that arrives with some level of sadness. It represents the final film appearance of Kelly Preston, who passed away in 2020, with the feature dedicated to her memory. While wrestling with an uneven career, at least Preston goes out with one of her better performances in recent years, adding her personality to a story about a lapsed friendship being renewed during a trip through Europe. “Off the Rails” isn’t anything new, and it doesn’t try to be wacky, with director Jules Williamson and writer Jordan Waller looking to examine the challenges of personal connection, with life often getting in the way of special relationships. It aims to be meaningful, and while it doesn’t achieve much sincerity, it offers engaged performances and a brightness of spirit that should easily connect it to its target audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2016’s “Sing” didn’t feature inspired screenwriting or a particularly heartening story, but it was a hit, giving Illumination Entertainment another brand name to exploit between movies about the Minions. It took some time, but “Sing 2” has arrived, and it’s really not all that different from its predecessor. It’s another let’s-put-on-a-show tale featuring the characters in desperate situations of fear, only this time there are more personalities to follow and a Las Vegas-y escalation of showmanship to add some visual power. Writer/director Garth Jennings returns to duty in “Sing 2,” and he’s not filled with fresh ideas, but he’s not crude either, giving the continuation a chance to charm. It’s not exactly an improvement on the original endeavor, but the follow-up offers a bit more personality and cartoon atmosphere, which helps to digest the sameness of it all. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Death Valley” is a micro-budgeted actioner with creature feature intentions. The ingredients are there for a B-movie good time with militaristic characters and a monster on the loose, creating scenarios of survival that could provide a decent ride for those who enjoy this kind of bottom shelf distraction. What writer/director Matthew Ninaber doesn’t have is much of an imagination, embarking on a project that opens itself to all kinds of madness and mayhem, only to end up mostly talkative, while scenes of conflict are lethargic, failing to trigger much excitement. “Death Valley” doesn’t become anything special, resembling many other small-scale offerings that need to do something inspired to be noticed, but just don’t have the drive to deliver an enjoyably bonkers viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Steven Spielberg has been making movies with defined rhythm for decades now, but he’s never gone all-in with a musical before. Sure, there’s the crackerjack opening of 1984’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” and some sections of 1979’s “1941” certainly feel the beat, but Spielberg has avoided making full contact with a Broadway adaptation. And now he’s finally ready to put on a show, taking on “West Side Story,” with the 1957 Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents creation previously realized in a beloved, Academy Award-winning 1961 Robert Wise film. There’s a lot of pressure on the iconic helmer to do something different with the source material, and he does, offering a grittier, more dynamically shot take on the musical, working to shave off a few layers of staginess to best expose the deep feelings in play. It’s still “West Side Story,” but the “Romeo and Juliet” riff is in good hands with Spielberg. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series has made author Jeff Kinney extremely popular with young readers, exploring the daily punishment of middle school awkwardness, finding comedy in growing pains. He’s managed to crank out 16 titles about the misadventures of Greg Heffley and his friend, Rowley Jefferson, and with such literary success, Hollywood hasn’t been far behind. A big screen adaptation was created in 2010, making Kinney’s simple illustrations painfully real, and the movie did some business, at least enough to inspire two sequels and 2017 reboot, which was essentially ignored by filmgoers. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is brought back to life in 2021, this time as an animated endeavor, using Kinney’s artistry to guide the visual look of the effort, which isn’t long enough to be a feature, but isn’t exactly a television show either. It’s a highlight reel of the original book, with Kinney (who scripts) and director Swinton O. Scott III trying to create a breezy distraction for “Wimpy Kid” fans, launching a new franchise with much smaller dramatic goals. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been 15 years since Adrienne Shelly was murdered inside her New York City apartment, and so much of her career has occurred after that horrible day. Director Andy Ostroy is Shelly’s widower, and he’s fearful that his late wife’s memory is lost, embarking on a mission to capture her talent and lifeforce in documentary form, with “Adrienne” much more than a simple valentine to a wonderful actress and filmmaker. It’s an act of catharsis from Ostroy, who confronts all that’s been left behind with the picture, trying to make sense of a horrific crime that ended the future he imagined, forcing him down a different path of parenthood and grief. “Adrienne” is a highly emotional viewing experience, dealing with raw feelings and memories of a special woman who tried to make her dreams happen, which they eventually did, only long after she was gone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Just in time for the holiday season comes a film about the end of the world. “Silent Night” offers a Christmas story about family, friends, and the wonders of childhood, but writer/director Camille Griffin (making her debut) isn’t in the mood to be precious with the details of a special reunion. Instead, she’s constructing a sometimes unspeakably dark tale of finality, using the cloak of yuletide excitement to explore how relationships react to the news that everything on Earth will be dead in a matter of days. It’s not exactly a cheerful tale of celebration, but bleakness is what makes “Silent Night” periodically riveting, with Griffin getting into the horrors of this new reality, delivering an askew take on the tenacity of the human spirit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Paul Verhoeven doesn’t make movies for casual viewers. He wants a full-throated response to his endeavors, which always deal with charged conflicts and shocking scenes of violence and sexuality. Verhoeven experienced a career resurgence with 2016’s “Elle,” and now he’s back with “Benedetta,” which provides an unnerving ride of vicious human behavior, with this tale steeped in Christian history, adding a spiked sense of exploration when dealing with matters of power and cruelty. It’s raw work from Verhoeven (who co-scripts with David Birke), but one doesn’t expect anything less from the excitable helmer, who tries his best to make the viewing experience as Verhoeven-esque as the source material allows (the picture is an adaptation of 1986 book by Judith C. Brown), hitting hard with a sometimes crazy mix of insanity and opportunism, sold with burning passion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Michael Pearce tries to approach a story about developing insanity in a slightly unusual way for “Encounter,” which initially positions itself as a sci-fi tale of a potential alien invasion before exposing its true intent with a decidedly more earthbound crisis. Pearce maintains a steady level of dread in the feature, which deals with a road trip that brings an unhinged father and his two sons to an unknown destination, gradually exploring how the parent’s fragile mind is betraying his natural instincts, making things worse for everyone during his pursuit of protection. “Encounter” carries a degree of mystery, but Pearce ultimately wants to focus on feelings as already complicated relationships are pushed to the edge during a mental health crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s no big introduction or conclusion to “Wolf.” It just exists in an area of pure behavior, understanding the movement of potential madness as it comes after young minds used to trusting their own version of reality. It’s a strange picture from writer/director Nathalie Biancheri, who explores the gray areas of psychological ruin, with the feature resembling a project for first year acting students just beginning to learn about physical movement and character exploration. Such energy works for “Wolf,” which does well with smaller dramatic goals, electing to study select horrors and struggles while detailing a specific approach to therapy for patients who are beyond the boundaries of reason. Biancheri commits to her premise and sees it most of the way there, unafraid to make a modest movie about a deep internal itch. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been nearly two decades since the release of the original “Resident Evil” film. Writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich worked to create their own take on the popular video game franchise, offering a slick adaptation that brought some cinematic excitement to the largely exploratory experience of the game. The hit movie spawned sequels, five of them, keeping Anderson and Jovovich employed for 14 years, fumbling around stories that quickly became secondary to big screen chaos. Now, after a four-year break, the series has returned to theaters, with “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” a fresh start for this world of horror, with writer/director Johannes Roberts in charge of making it all scary again with a faithful take on the source material, working to get gamers excited one more time for the “Resident Evil” universe. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com