Category: Film Review

The concerns of sibling relationships are complicated by the presence of mental illness in “Broken Diamonds.” It’s the latest from “Camp X-Ray” director Peter Sattler, who’s joined by screenwriter Steve Waverly to help illuminate a feeling of powerlessness felt by the lead characters, who experience the world around them in different ways. It’s not a pounding drama about life and death, but the daily struggle of balance, with Waverly finding a few comedic beats while primarily creating an emotional story about the ties that bind, sometimes to a point of strangulation. “Broken Diamonds” isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it does carry a credible sense of pressure and pain, with stars Lola Kirke and Ben Platt putting in terrific performances that generate a sense of behavioral authenticity, which aids digestion of a somewhat formulaic plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Viewer expectations need to be adjusted when sitting down to watch “Settlers.” It’s being sold as a sort-of sci-fi experience, with the story taking place on Mars, using such isolation to inspire a futureworld tale of human struggle. Making his helming debut is Wyatt Rockefeller (who also scripts), and he works extremely hard to create an atmosphere of threat and mystery with the picture, not interested in the genre potential of the premise. “Settlers” is almost a filmed play, concentrating on behaviors and troubling decisions, with the far away setting not especially important to the material. Those coming to the endeavor looking for an amped-up study of Martian survival are not going to be pleased with the feature, which remains a static viewing experience, with lots of pregnant pauses and hard stares. Rockefeller hopes to detail his dramatics in the dead air of this effort, coming up with something just short of interesting, though technical achievements are outstanding for an obviously low-budget offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Midnight in the Switchgrass” marks the directorial debut for Randall Emmett. If you’ve been wondering who’s behind the gradual rise of VOD productions that basically all have the same titles and feature one or two former stars collecting a big paycheck, it’s Randall Emmett, who, along with partner George Furla, are responsible for productions like “Survive the Night,” “Force of Nature,” “10 Minutes Gone,” and “Out of Death.” Emmett apparently wanted to try filmmaking on for size, and he picks a real bummer of a project with “Midnight in the Switchgrass,” which plays like a particularly clueless “Silence of the Lambs” riff, mixing law enforcement procedural scenes with a developing tale of a serial killer’s love for tormenting women. There’s a whole lot of nothing going on in the movie, which barely puts in the effort to create psychological profiles for its characters, with Emmett getting more of a charge out of terrible dialogue and flat performances. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Joe Bell” dramatizes the heartbreaking story of Jadin Bell, a teen boy who was bullied mercilessly in small-town Oregon, with his enemies targeting his homosexuality as a reason to destroy him. His father, Joe, eventually took on the challenge of a cross-country walk to attract media attention to the subject of harassment, embarking on an arduous journey of self-inspection and physical exhaustion to feel something during an incredibly dark period of his parental experience. It’s a horrifying tale for many reasons, perhaps not meant for a big screen treatment, but screenwriter Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry (“Brokeback Mountain”) strive to find some meaning in the bottomless abyss of grief, getting the endeavor a certain distance before formula and miscastings ultimately confuse the viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Out of Death” is a nonsensical title for a lazy film, and nobody stops to explain what exactly “Out of Death” means, as the movie is actually quite filled with death. The endeavor is the latest stop on the “Is Bruce Willis okay?” tour of VOD cinema, with the once mighty actor apparently offering the production a single day to complete his work on the picture. And what a day that must’ve been. Making his directorial debut is Mike Burns, who’s previously worked as a music supervisor on these immediately forgettable low-budget offerings, now finally offered a chance to make his own nonsense, with Willis popping up on occasion while an obvious body double does the rest of the work. “Out of Death” hopes to be a scrappy backwoods thriller, but Burns can’t make magic happen, basically reducing the feature to a series of shots of actors running through the woods, periodically stopping for ridiculous exposition dumps and, as the title wrongly states, death. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Space Jam” was released in 1996, where it did okay at the box office, unleashed on audiences who didn’t quite understand what it was meant to be. Inspired by a commercial and turned into an acting vehicle for basketball star Michael Jordan, “Space Jam” found its groove on home video, where it developed a cult following, reaching viewers capable of looking past the endeavor’s creative shortcomings. It certainly took some time, but “Space Jam: A New Legacy” has finally found its way into theaters, with the feature not really a sequel, but more of a remake, with another basketball star, LeBron James, taking over the Jordan role. The Looney Tunes gang returns to duty as well, adding their animation commotion to the production, which strives to strike the same balance of heartfelt human concerns and cartoon pandemonium, this time enjoying a larger scale and sharp technical achievements. But is it funny? Not really. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Two years ago, director Collin Schiffli made a positive impression with his work on “All Creatures Here Below,” creating a world of cruelty and grittiness that felt authentic, putting in the time to establish characters and the world around them. He’s after something far glossier with “Die in a Gunfight,” which has the unfortunate mission of trying to update “Romeo and Juliet,” endeavoring to reignite an oft-told tale. Screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”) handle the family drama and the power of love, but there’s not a vision in play, with the production trying to mirror a Baz Luhrmann-like approach when the helmer already made his mark on the William Shakespeare tragedy. “Die in a Gunfight” hopes to put on a grand display of showy acting and bursts of violence, but it’s mostly an uninspired drag, and perhaps the first “Romeo and Juliet” adaptation where viewers will side with the exasperated parental characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Pig” isn’t an easy film to sell to the public, and marketing materials have tried to push the feature as a revenge picture, with a “John Wick”-esque concept of a reclusive man returning to a world he left behind for the love of an animal. In this case, it’s a truffle pig, with Nicolas Cage tasked with portrayed a deadened man on the hunt for his best pal. Writer/director Michael Sarnoski doesn’t deliver a high-octane offering of action cinema with the movie. He goes deeply dramatic instead, ignoring the potential absurdity of the premise to take the whole mission as seriously as possible, digging into troubled characters carrying their own body weight in grief. “Pig” is an odd picture, but that’s the idea, with Sarnoski trying to approach human emotions from different angles, finding fresh ways to deal with primal hurt, with the endeavor more of a “Ratatouille” riff than a vicious Keanu Reeves bruiser. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2013, director Navot Papushado made a strong impression with the excellent revenge thriller, “Big Bad Wolves,” co-helming the effort with Aharon Keshales. The feature was a violent endeavor, loaded with intensity, and now Papushado is trying to make a go of it in Hollywood alone, taking control of “Gunpowder Milkshake,” co-scripting the picture with Ehud Lavski. Returning to an aggressive attitude when it comes to screen horror, Papushado presents a more stylish offering this time around, taking advantage of a bigger budget and CGI tools to create another slice of vengeance, this time exploring a graphic novel-like playground of super-assassins and the secretive and surprising world they inhabit. It’s all very “John Wick”-ian, but “Gunpowder Milkshake” has its own highlights and bursts of insanity, with the production gifting interested audiences an enormous amount of cinematic hostility, sold well by Papushado, who bathes the film in blood while the writing aims to rethink a universe (and genre) controlled by male power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The interesting thing about shark movies is how, no matter the quality of the material, they usually find an audience. There’s something about sharks that grabs viewers, tapping into a primal fear about deep waters and the dangers contain within. There have been plenty of aquatic duds rewarded with decent box office, but it’s doubtful “Great White” can compete, as the latest offering of shark-based horror is an incredibly sluggish understanding of oceanic survival. Director Martin Wilson and writer Michael Boughen have all the opportunity in the world to craft a lively chiller about a group effort to escape the wrath of hungry predators — something simple but effective. The filmmakers don’t offer much enthusiasm for anything, keeping costs down by keep the endeavor inert, saving the big shark show for the final act. Up to that point, it’s a whole lot of waiting for nothing to happen. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Home invasion stories typically venture into thriller territory, following the fight between criminals and innocents caught up in a dangerous cat and mouse situation. Making her directorial debut, Maria Bissell tries for something quirkier with “How to Deter a Robber,” which provides some level of tension featuring villains breaking into a home, but primarily prefers a more casual understanding of conflict. Bissell also provides a screenplay for the endeavor, focusing on the itchiness of relationships and maturity, laboring to merge the struggles of oncoming adulthood with the immediacy of gun-to-the-face violence. “How to Deter a Robber” is unusual, which works in its favor, but Bissell occasionally fumbles the tone of the feature, mixing silliness and sincerity, which doesn’t have the impact the helmer is hunting for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Eli Roth has managed to create a career in the horror business, using his deep love for the genre to inspire ghastly features that explore inhumanity in different forms. Creatively, Roth hasn’t been the most inspired helmer, but he’s been determined to make his mark, returning time and again to provide disturbing images and deranged characters from the safety of fictional storytelling. With “Fin,” Roth moves over to documentary filmmaking, turning his attention to the plight of sharks, with their dwindling numbers and cruel treatment becoming a cause for the moviemaker. Taking on the barbarity of humankind, Roth comes up with his most terrifying picture in “Fin,” which sends the host around the world to get a sense of illegal fishing and deadly “finning,” finding his curiosity about the butchery involved with shark fin soup opening the doors to a grim understanding of a business that shows no mercy for a rapidly depleting population of ocean creatures. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2019’s “Escape Room” wasn’t meant to be much, but the low-budget film grabbed a first weekend release date in January, which has become a prime spot for genre pictures. The post-holiday crowds responded to the multiplex palate cleanser, enjoying the ride director Adam Robitel prepared for the mass audience. A borderline sci-fi take on “Saw” with escape room elements, the feature managed to make money, and that’s a good thing for the production, which didn’t offer an ending, only a set-up for a sequel. Two years later, and there’s “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” which hopes to sustain the brand name for another round of near misses involving a cast of characters hunting for a way out of incredibly elaborate and expensive traps. With a continuation, there’s no need for introductions, and speed works well for “Tournament of Champions,” which gets surprisingly far when concentrating on panic. Unfortunately, Robitel and his writers (four credited for this screenplay) can’t leave bad franchise habits behind, ignoring any sense of closure to keep the money train going for a third installment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Giving his star power a major marketplace test, Chris Pratt returns to save the world in “The Tomorrow War,” his first monster-budgeted feature that isn’t supported by Marvel Entertainment or the rampaging dinosaurs of the “Jurassic World” saga. It’s not a huge stretch for the actor, who’s once again placed into the middle of heavy CGI and noisy creatures, with his character tasked with entering the future to save the past, offering Pratt a chance to play action hero and a sensitive guy experiencing the fight of his life. Animation director Chris McKay (“The Lego Batman Movie”) graduates to live-action mayhem for the endeavor, and he does an admirable job creating bigness for “The Tomorrow War,” which offers visual punch and genuine suspense for its first two acts. At nearly 140 minutes in length, the production wears out its welcome, but introductory confusion is enjoyable, with the film presenting a fun ride of elaborate survival sequences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although it wasn’t intended, there’s been a two-year-long break from Marvel Cinematic Universe films, giving audiences a chance to breathe after the company pumped out three movies in 2019. For the latest in superhero entertainment, the MCU returns to one of its key characters, finally getting around to Natasha Romanoff after her debut as Black Widow in 2010’s “Iron Man 2.” It’s the least hero-y member of the Avengers, but there’s a lot that can be done with the character and her brooding ways. “Black Widow” doesn’t do enough with Romanoff, with screenwriter Eric Pearson trying to generate a family dynamic for the feature, coming close to ignoring the titular warrior while trying to arrange some form of backstory for her. “Black Widow” isn’t the rock ‘em, sock ‘em adventure the Avenger deserves, but thrills are intermittently present when the story isn’t in explanation mode, giving actress Scarlett Johansson something to work with as her co-stars get a little hammy to make their presence known. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The trials of marriage are handed a unique survival challenge in “Till Death.” Screenwriter Jason Carvey endeavors to create a small-scale battle for survival with the picture, examining an unusual form of revenge facing a woman who’s been caught cheating by her husband, and he’s not in the mood for forgiveness. As thrillers go, it’s not a major effort from director S.K. Dale, who’s basically handed a single location to explore for 80 minutes, trying to find ways to keep viewers on the edge of their seats as bad things happen to bad people. Despite some shortcomings in the surprise department, “Till Death” is nasty enough to charm, with a few macabre developments that connect as intended, and Carvey’s central idea is refreshingly twisted, fueling some B-movie fun. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Purge” has been incredibly good to creator James DeMonaco. It’s been his business since the debut of the 2013 feature, which made a lot of money on a tight budget, inspiring him to keep churning out sequels and prequels until filmgoers cry uncle. “The Forever Purge” is the fifth installment of the horror franchise (which took a detour into television in 2018), with DeMonaco continuing to write these chapters, handing directorial duties to Everado Gout. There’s a formula to this stuff, with DeMonaco pretending displays of horrific violence and human cruelty somehow reflect the state of America, trying to pass off crude B-movie mayhem as a giant mirror held up to a divided country. Not all of his ideas are far off from the truth, but his screenplays have always been cringe-inducing, and “The Forever Purge” is no different. DeMonaco loves to make cartoons, and his latest summation of national rage is just as brainless as the previous endeavors. The big change here is breathing room, with Gout trying to keep things moving along for a change, making for a somewhat lighter, more approachable “Purge.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

An adaptation of a short storybook, 2017’s “The Boss Baby” tried to find ways to create a world out of a simple idea concerning the challenges of parenthood. Screenwriter Michael McCullers strained to expand the story, or simply create one, taking the original picture on an uneven ride of slapstick and sibling love. The mediocre feature connected with audiences, turning into a major hit for DreamWorks Animation, which promptly created a television show for the characters (“The Boss Baby: Back in Business”), and now a sequel. “The Boss Baby: Family Business” makes a huge time jump to advance the ongoing tale, but McCullers and returning director Tom McGrath (the “Madagascar” trilogy) have removed most of the formulaic softness that made “The Boss Baby” a chore to sit through at times. They move into a more cartoon realm with “Family Business,” and it suits the production, which has real fun dreaming up oddball encounters and frantic chases for the characters, and it presents a wonderfully sillier sense of humor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last December, Steven Soderbergh scored a creative hit with “Let Them All Talk,” a drama about relationships and personal reflection. It was small in scale and wonderfully acted, bringing out the best in Soderbergh’s filmmaking capabilities, finding interesting ways to detail human relationships. Seven months later, the helmer is back on more familiar ground with “No Sudden Move,” which is a crime story with a pretzeled screenplay by Ed Solomon (“Bill & Ted Face the Music”), examining underworld interests in 1950’s Detroit. It’s not a new caper from Soderbergh, playing to his interests in off-kilter characters, mounting trouble, and criminal visions put to the test, pouring his special indie movie glaze over the feature. It’s all familiar and on the static side, but a love of the game is on view in “No Sudden Move,” with the production clearly making Soderbergh happy, offered another chance to depict bad ideas going horribly wrong in the weirdest of ways. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” is billed as “A Questlove Jawn.” Beloved musician Ahmir Khalib Thompson makes his directorial debut with the documentary, slapping some Philadelphia slang on a story of a New York City event, bringing viewers back to 1969, when the Harlem Cultural Festival ruled Mt. Morris Park for six weekends during a special season. Thompson isn’t simply reviving interest in the concert series, he’s basically saving it from complete obscurity, with the production managing to locate footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival that’s been sitting in a corner somewhere for the last five decades. “Summer of Soul” is a lot of things, including an impressive restoration project, with the helmer creating a time machine for a moment when black culture was changing shape, giving 300,000 concertgoers a chance to see incredible musicians, leaders and preachers, and charismatic people put on a major show of love and respect for a population in need of hope and representation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com