Category: Film Review

Underdog boxing movies are plentiful, especially after the industry dominating success of 1976’s “Rocky” and its sequels, with the last 50 years of filmmaking working to recycle the formula to varying degrees of success. “Christy” is another tale of a nobody trying to be a somebody in the world of boxing, exploring the saga of Christy Martin, who enjoyed sporting glory during the 1990s. Screenwriters Mirrah Foulkes and David Michod (who also directs) have something to examine with Martin’s life and times, as she faced a lot more than some punches as a closeted lesbian female fighter married to a domestic abuser capable of tremendous evil. “Christy” deals with real-life situations of dangers and disappointment, but it doesn’t play like a bio-pic. Michod (“Animal Kingdom,” “War Machine,” “The King”) gives the endeavor an exaggerated atmosphere, with sections of the offering playing like a “Saturday Night Live” skit, while the rest is fairly conventional, making for an uneven look at a highly irregular life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The film industry has been trying to turn actor Joel Kinnaman into an action star over the last decade, and nothing’s really taken hold. His last major starring effort was 2023’s “Silent Night,” a John Woo-directed offering of gunplay and explosions that played to empty theaters, but the system isn’t done with Kinnaman yet. He returns to the ways of screen survival in “Ice Fall,” which is kinda, sorta similar to the plot of 1993’s “Cliffhanger,” but screenwriters George Mahaffey and Steve Isles don’t have the budget to create an epic understanding of criminal activity and high-flying adventure. They simply take the missing cases of money idea and try to create a more reasonably priced actioner featuring a hunt for cash in the cold extremes of Montana. “Ice Fall” has the ingredients to be junky fun, but director Stefan Ruzowitzky can’t get momentum going, creating a picture that lacks a surprising amount of excitement and danger. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A story where an assassin is hired to kill another assassin, only to be targeted by additional assassins during a long week in New Mexico? It could be fun, but entertainment is hard to come by in “Exit Protocol,” which is the latest from director Shane Dax Taylor, who hasn’t had much luck with genre releases (including 2023’s “The Best Man” and 2021’s “Masquerade”), and doesn’t break his streak here. Screenwriter Chad Law (“The Flood,” “Til Death Do Us Part”) appears interested in summoning a little B-movie escapism with the feature, putting in the minimal effort when it comes to characterization and connections, stuffing in numerous shootouts to keep viewers sufficiently distracted. There should be enough here to deliver a passable good time, but “Exit Protocol” never catches fire as an actioner, and many of Taylor’s creative decisions are bewildering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sophie Tabet makes her feature-length directorial debut with “Stone Cold Fox,” and she’s elected to make a crime movie with some action-y moments. Co-scripting with Julia Roth, Tabet goes where many filmmakers have gone before, looking to make a peppy, stylish overview of criminal activity in a small town, highlighting the efforts of a young woman trying to free herself from all kinds of danger. “Stone Cold Fox” isn’t a particularly original endeavor, but the helmer is committed to making a peppy picture filled with strange characters and periodic bursts of physical activity. The offering is entertaining for the most part, though Tabet is a little shaky when it comes to the overall tone of the feature, which mostly plays candied while actually dealing with dark events the production doesn’t really know what to do with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The Nuremberg Trials have been explored in many forms of media, with film and television productions often working to extract the dramatic intensity of the legal event. Director Stanley Kramer explored the tension in 1961’s “Judgment At Nuremberg,” and a 2000 miniseries starring Alec Baldwin, Christopher Plummer, and Brian Cox aimed to add its own take on the courtroom showdown. And now writer/director James Vanderbilt (who previously helmed the ridiculous 2015 picture, “Truth”) hopes to add his interpretation to the list, adapting Jack El-Hai’s book, “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,” for a big screen examination of unusual relationships and the confrontation of evil. “Nuremberg” doesn’t color outside the lines, remaining dedicated to traditional dramatic entanglements and stern performances, and Vanderbilt is driven to draw parallels to today’s world of simmering malevolence, creating an intermittently engrossing study of psychology involved in an ambitious legal challenge. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The success of 2023’s “Poor Things” has certainly inspired director Yorgos Lanthimos to keep working. He quickly returned to theaters in 2024’s “Kinds of Kindness” (which died at the box office), and he’s right back on screens with “Bugonia,” also reinforcing his admiration for actress Emma Stone, who’s starred in all three pictures (also featured in 2018’s “The Favourite”). “Poor Things” was large in scope and imagination, but “Bugonia” remains closer to “Kinds of Kindness,” offering a puzzle-like viewing experience as it highlights mind games played by the main characters. It’s also a remake of sorts, using the 2003 South Korean film, “Save the Green Planet,” as inspiration, though the production tries to remain as Lanthimos-ian as possible, favoring a drier sense of oddity and intensity as a strange mission of heroism is tested by the boundaries of sanity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After completing a stint in television last year with “The Sympathizer,” director Park Chan-wook returns to the big screen with “No Other Choice,” returning the helmer to his interests in sinister business previously explored in efforts such as “Oldboy,” “Stoker,” and 2022’s “Decision to Leave.” He’s back with a tale of employment disasters and panic, adapting a 1997 novel by author Donald Westlake (which was previously handed a cinematic interpretation by director Costa-Gavras in 2005), which tracks the horrors of a family man who loses his job, left to stew in the humiliation before recognizing he can go to extreme lengths to secure his next position. It’s a timely understanding of hopelessness, handed a darkly comedic spin by the helmer, who tries to make a mess out of the main character’s panic, taking “No Other Choice” into various violent and absurd directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director John-Michael Powell aims to create a neo-western with “Violent Ends,” which details the fragmentation of an extended family who’ve dedicated their lives to the production and trafficking of drugs in Alabama. It’s a cold-blooded endeavor that’s committed to tough confrontations and familial issues, with Powell working in a revenge saga to go with a story that’s loaded with characters and motivations. Perhaps clarity when it comes to connections isn’t always there, but there’s a hardness to “Violent Ends” that’s captivating, helping to create a few surprises as the main character seeks to find the source of his pain, coming up against ruthless people who don’t want him around. It’s not a one-man-army offering of brutality, but something appealingly messier, as Powell maintains an iciness to the picture that carries it to the final scene. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While production on “Anniversary” began in 2023, the feature has excellent timing, brought out for release during a tenuous time in America. The screenplay (by Lori Rosene-Gambino, making her debut) explores the unraveling of the U.S. after an authoritarian movement quickly takes command of the nation and its citizens, focusing on a family and how they deal with such a developing situation over the course of five years. There’s a lot going on in the picture, and director Jan Komasa (“Corpus Christi”) is ready to examine the meaty emotions in play as multiple characters gradually turn on one another. There are issues with the second half of the film, but “Anniversary” has provocative moments and invested performances, and Rosene-Gambino’s ideas on the downfall of America are eerily prescient, making for a periodically riveting sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Babak Anvari, the director of “Under the Shadow,” “Wounds,” and “I Came By,” goes minimalist for his latest, “Hallow Road,” which is scripted by William Gillies. The picture mostly takes place during a single panicked car ride, tracking growing concern from the parents of a young woman who’s involved in an accident on a long stretch of forest road. It’s a race to reach the scene, but Gillies has something more in mind for the endeavor, which develops into a study of marital ties, guardianship, and trauma as the miles tick by for the main characters. “Hallow Road” is not a major production, running just 74 minutes (before end credits), and it could very well work more interestingly on the stage. However, tension remains in the feature, as Anvari keeps his actors nicely agitated and Gillies provides an acceptable mystery to solve as the long drive develops new emotional challenges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Former stuntman Art Camacho returns after the general disaster of 2023’s “Ruthless,” trying his luck in the realm of action cinema once again with “The Wrecker.” There’s nothing original about the screenplay (credited to Sophia Louisa, James Dean Simington, and Niko Foster, who also stars in the picture), which once again tracks a mission of revenge from an ex-military man of action who’s called into duty to right a major wrong in Las Vegas. Camacho doesn’t have much of a budget to really go wild with the endeavor, and it’s hard to get excited about some of the technical choices made. However, while far from a compelling film, “The Wrecker” has its moments, which instantly makes it better than most of the B-movie competition, putting Foster in hero mode with some unusual weapons. But don’t expect too much from the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Erik and Carson Bloomquist love to make horror movies. The siblings have been very busy with genre work over the last three years, creating “She Came from the Woods” and “Founders Day,” and they jump right back into the fright business with “Self-Help,” which has certain moments of bloodiness and suspense. But perhaps not enough of the terrifying stuff. The new feature is an odd creation, as the Bloomquists look to examine the predatory ways of cult influence and family ties, attempting to blend the real-world struggles of trauma with some slasher cinema offerings. The endeavor has its appeal, collecting excitable performances and a handful of effective sequences. It’s just not all that intense, missing a more aggressive approach that might trigger a few genuine scares. “Self-Help” is oddly sedate for a Halloween-set chiller, but the Bloomquists have their moments. One just wishes there were more of them. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The children’s book “Stitch Head” was originally published in 2011, and became a hit for author Guy Bass. Naturally, the writer capitalized on a good thing, creating an entire series for the character and his world of monsters and mayhem, with six releases in all, generating an entire universe to explore for fans. Now there’s a movie, with writer/director Steve Hudson attempting to bring Bass’s collection of oddball characters and the needs of their hearts to the big screen. There’s a playbook to follow for this kind of animated offering, as Hudson turns to musical numbers and an extended finale to make sure family audiences are comforted by some sense of familiarity. More exciting is the picture’s sense of humor, sold through some wonderful performances and elastic animation. “Stitch Head” probably won’t carry on for five more sequels, but as an introduction to the character and his universal concerns about loneliness, the endeavor is very entertaining and periodically hilarious. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There was a lot of trouble surrounding the 2024 release of “It Ends with Us,” and the legal journey still isn’t complete for the picture. However, the movie was a major hit, finding tremendous box office success as the first adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, and now the race is on to bring more of the author’s work to the big screen. “Regretting You” is the next out of the gate, reaching theaters about five months after it was shot, aiming to sustain interest from Hoover’s fanbase with another offering of troubled love and broken hearts. Director Josh Boone (“The Fault in Our Stars”) is challenged to make the usual in melodrama somewhat appealing, but it’s an uphill battle with this material, which serves up even more easily solvable communication problems in the guise of devastating personal woes, while Hoover’s fondness for broad conflicts is immediately grating, making for a long sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bio-pics about musicians are a common sight these days, with a few of these titles managing to break through and find success, backed by fan interest. Just last year there was “A Complete Unknown,” which strived to deliver an examination of Bob Dylan, who’s gone most of his life trying to avoid such attention. “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” also hopes to crack open a performer who’s not all that comfortable with confrontation, and writer/director Scott Cooper has a specific time and place to focus on in the picture, which examines the creation of Springsteen’s 1982 folk album, “Nebraska.” There’s a little personal history in play to help develop the subject’s psychological state, but the feature is no examination of a career. It’s primarily interested in depression, leaving Cooper (who’s adapting a book by Warren Zanes) to create an exploratory tone that makes such darkness worth investigating. “Deliver Me from Nowhere” isn’t all that successful when it comes to pace, turning deep feelings and bleak thoughts into sluggish cinema that’s ultimately not that illuminating. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1992’s “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” was a low-budget, low-stakes production for Disney, with the company giving the picture an early January release date, showing little concern for its marketplace performance. It was something for the multiplexes during a time when holiday hits were losing steam, but a funny thing happened to the Curtis Hanson-directed chiller: it developed into a word-of-mouth hit. It became the number one movie at the box office for four weeks, topping the competition with its twisted ways involving a vengeful nanny and the family she seeks to destroy from within. Hollywood finally gets around to the business of reanimation with a new “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” which also deals with nasty nanny business, trying to resurrect the ickiness and menace that turned the original into a must-see. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, finding director Michelle Garza Cervera and screenwriter Micah Bloomberg lacking inspiration and imagination for evildoing this time around. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Rob Grant heads back to the 1980s to examine the state of the teenage heart in “This Too Shall Pass.” It’s a Canadian production that’s out to merge comedy with a bit more sensitivity when it comes to adolescent feelings, tracking the misadventures of a young American and his buddies as they handle numerous setbacks while on a secret trip to Ottawa. There’s fun to be had with the central premise, but Grant isn’t committed to making something on the crazy side, showing more interest in the emotions and experiences a few of the characters are dealing with, taking these people as seriously as possible. This focus isn’t always helpful to the tonal balance of the endeavor, but “This Too Shall Pass” has a heart and a mind, which is unusual for this type of entertainment, also providing a fine cast capable of managing the screenplay’s dramatic shifts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Kathryn Bigelow has been around for quite some time. It’s been eight years since her last directorial offering, and the film, “Detroit,” was a career misfire, failing to boost her professional opportunities after scoring a critical and box office hit with 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty.” “Detroit” was decidedly underwhelming and too crudely made, forcing Bigelow back into the realm of political and war-based tensions with “A House of Dynamite,” which is scripted by Noah Oppenheim (“The Maze Runner,” “Jackie”). The pair look to dramatize the twenty minutes available to Washington D.C. and military teams when a nuclear missile is launched, coming for a major American city, scrambling professionals as solutions are pursued and panic sets in. It could be the new “Fail Safe” or even “The Day After,” but “A House of Dynamite” is repeatedly forced to recover from structural choices and deal with an unsatisfying ending, which helps to dilute the shock value Bigelow and Oppenheim are hoping to deliver. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Edward Berger pulled off a cinematic miracle just one year ago. Tasked with making a suspenseful picture about a collection of cardinals gathering to select a new pope, Berger and his production team managed to make arguably the most exciting feature of 2024 with “Conclave,” achieving extraordinary tension out of a story that, from the outside, appeared to be an Ambien pill in the making. Berger jumps right back to work with “Ballad of a Small Player,” joined by screenwriter Rowan Joffe (“28 Weeks Later,” “Before I Go to Sleep”) for this adaptation of a 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne. The story concerns a gambling addict and con man dragged through an assortment of challenges to his fortune and mind, with Berger focusing intensely on the punishment of desperation. Lightning doesn’t strike twice for the helmer, who can’t seem to find the rhythm of “Ballad of a Small Player,” which wants to be many things without being much of anything. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Richard Linklater keeps moving forward in his career, which is filled with interesting choices, giving him one of the most unique filmographies in the business. After delivering “Hit Man,” one of his best movies, Linklater goes from love and violence to a night in a restaurant in “Blue Moon,” which spends an evening with lyricist Lorenz Hart as he wrestles with his creative future, spends time trying to catch the attention of a beguiling young woman, and recognizes his career shortcomings. Reteaming with screenwriter Robert Kaplow (the two collaborated on 2008’s “Me and Orson Welles”), Linklater is left to manage a theatrical-style examination of heartache in many forms, and he pulls it off quite well. “Blue Moon” remains in a single location with a handful of characters, but Kaplow maintains snappy dialogue and emotional puzzles to solve, and the helmer has fun with it all, also scoring big with star Ethan Hawke, who’s wonderful as Hart, offering his most interesting, alert performance in quite some time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com