Director James Wan began his career in horror, and while he’s gone on to become an in-demand helmer of blockbuster action films (“Furious 7,” “Aquaman”), he’s never been far from the spooky stuff. “Malignant” is a return to his roots in a way, presenting a wild tale of murder and possible possession with extreme reveals awaiting those with the patience to make it through the endeavor. Its most similar to 2007’s “Dead Silence,” which attempted to be atmospheric, violent, and shocking, coming up short in all three departments. “Malignant” isn’t quite the misfire as the earlier feature, but it shares the same sense of misbegotten lunacy, with Wan aiming for big shocks and prolonged weirdness with the tale, exploring madness in his own special way, which resembles most of his genre output. The effort certainly focuses on craziness, but Wan doesn’t deal with pace and performance with the same concentration. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a big summer for assassin movies, with “Gunpowder Milkshake” offered to most audiences and “The Protégé” trying its luck at the box office. “Kate” joins the violent fun with its own take on a troubled character experiencing a complete breakdown of order, forced to fight their way out of various challenges from villainous types using her particular set of skills to cause tremendous bodily harm. Screenwriter Umair Aleem (“Extraction”) aims to lift a few moves from a popular film noir, adding some elements of 1950’s “D.O.A.” into the DNA of the feature, giving the material a ticking clock in a death sentence to help inspire some elevated suspense. For at least two acts, Aleem keeps things relatively simple and brutal, offering star Mary Elizabeth Winstead a chance to showcase her action hero moves, which she does with authority, helping the endeavor reach its potential in the choreography department as the storytelling slowly starts going the wrong way during the climax. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2019, STX Films released “Hustlers,” which was a female-centric tale of criminal acts that was sold to the public as empowerment, offering a gangster feature for a modern audience. It was a huge hit. In 2021, STX Films returns with “Queenpins,” which also explores a criminal enterprise from a female point of view, this time swapping out the world of strippers for couponing fever, with the production also taking it easy on unlawful situations, reimagining them as acts of bravery. Writer/directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly (“Beneath the Harvest Sky”) almost find their way through this maze of hazy morals and personal responsibility, but they’re stuck making a comedy about a situation that’s inherently dramatic. “Queenpins” is also an endeavor of extremes, with the first half of the picture a lively examination of a questionable idea for a financial adventure, while the rest of the effort could qualify as one of the worst movies of the year. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Copshop” is the second directorial outing this year for Joe Carnahan, who provided solid, violent entertainment with “Boss Level,” his homage to video game mayhem and time loop frustration. It was glossy work from the helmer, who’s known for gritter endeavors, but “Boss Level” remained within Carnahan’s control, delivering huge action and snarling masculinity, which is prized most highly by the filmmaker. “Copshop” returns Carnahan to his early creative efforts, presenting a tribute to crime pictures from the 1970s, only it’s sold with more of an interest in extreme violence and chatty participants, while the action rarely steps outside of a single location, keeping things intimate as matters get ugly. The screenplay (credited to Carnahan and Kurt McLeod) is big on character interplay with periodic explosions of savagery, offering a theatrical-style presentation of threats and backstory, creating an absorbing examination of hidden motives in a feature that could use a tighter edit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Small Engine Repair” was originally created for the stage, with playwright Jon Pollono trying to do something with his acting career, creating a meaty role for himself in a story about friendship, masculinity, and guardianship. The production earned awards and accolades, and now Pollono has turned his small play into a film, making his directorial debut with the endeavor. “Small Engine Repair” remains an intimate tale about characters who love to tell stories and interact with a mixture of mischief and malice, and Pollono does a solid job giving it cinematic life, finding a way to make mounting tensions come alive on-screen while still respecting the actor’s showcase atmosphere of the material, where the three leading men are basically handed the picture for 100 minutes, generating tremendous chemistry as the helmer oversees a tale that gradually reaches some dark places. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Jonah Feingold is trying to bring back the vibe of 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally” for “Dating & New York.” However, a lot has changed over the decades when it comes to human beings connecting and confessing their feelings, challenging the production to update the formula without losing its emotional power. It’s a world of dating apps and texting pressure, with Feingold trying to make sense of special friendships and unspoken desires, doing so with focus on the magic of New York City, where love sparks to life around piles of garbage. “Dating & New York” doesn’t match the perfection of “When Harry Met Sally,” as Feingold wrestles with pacing for much of the second half of the movie, but it has the right idea with the material, which hopes to highlight the frustrations of attraction with heavy doses of neuroses, giving the cast room to feel around nervous performances and shape these itchy personalities. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It all started with 2011’s “Jamie: Drag Queen at 16,” a BBC documentary about Jamie Campbell and his struggle to chase his dreams of performance, living his life on his own terms while the world around him disapproved of his actions. Jamie’s experiences were turned into a theater event, with the musical, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” making its debut in 2017. The production was well-received by critics and audiences, inspiring multiple touring shows and a live cinema presentation, building a passionate fanbase along the way. Offering a quick turnaround to a cinematic adaptation, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” hopes to build on such popularity, with director Jonathan Butterell in charge of giving the material a big screen presence, generating an up-close examination of flamboyance and heartache, looking to sustain the charm of Dan Gillespie Sells’s music and Tom MacRae lyrics and story (he also handles screenwriting duties), giving audiences old and new a reason to remain with a 16-year-old dreamer and his quest to be himself. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It seems like every year, the Halloween season begins a little earlier, offering fans of the holiday a chance to turn the event into a lifestyle for several months. Emerging as the first spooky offering for upcoming Halloween countdown lists is “Bad Candy,” which hopes to bring a little terror to viewers hunting for a high during the post-Labor Day week. It’s an anthology film from directors Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell, who try to pack a lot of ghoulish events and demented characters into multiple stories. The picture is filled with macabre events, creepy lighting, and tales of abhorrent behavior, but “Bad Candy” often plays like a feature that wasn’t rigidly worked on in the editing room. It’s frustratingly random at times, with a limited sense of dramatic position when dealing with various tales of misery. Atmosphere is here, but so is a chaotic feel for storytelling, with the helmers frequently just throwing scenes at the audience to see what sticks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Coke Daniels doesn’t appear to be sincere with “Karen,” which takes a look at rising hostilities in an elite community when a black couple moves into the neighborhood. Daniel is chasing a meme, with the name “Karen” synonymous with entitled white women trying to either push their demands or ruin lives with confrontations that are usually racial motivated. The whole concept of the nickname is strange, making light of mental illness and weaponized bigotry, and Daniels tries to turn such misery into a clunky blend of dark comedy, social commentary, and exploitation filmmaking. Unfortunately, the movie is a crude endeavor that doesn’t even try for a sophisticated understanding of the world’s ills, preferring to pander to its target audience with broad villainy and a painful miscasting, with star Taryn Manning showing no signs of life in the eponymous role. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What is life worth? It’s the central question posed in “Worth,” with writer Max Borenstein venturing into the depths of decision making with the material, which is based on the battle of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, where lawyers were brought in to decide how much money was required to appease those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attack. It’s a brutal position of morality and legality that’s superbly handled by Borenstein, who manages to shape a compelling story out of a quest that carried on for years, while lacking the usual rounds of personal vices to keep things centered on the lead characters. “Worth” is a film about an education, with light Dickensian touches and a layered performance from Michael Keaton, who generates a compelling emotional through line for the effort, which involves various supporting characters and different battles of representation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are going to be adaptations of “Cinderella” for many lifetimes to come. The folk tale has been a constant source of family entertainment, with many productions over the last century trying to refresh the magic of the story. For 2021, writer/director Kay Cannon (“Blockers”) gets the call to something with the source material, and she returns to her roots to reimagine “Cinderella,” with the “Pitch Perfect” writer returning to the land of jukebox musicals to hip-up ancient material. It’s a pop music world for this endeavor, which also boasts a decidedly more progressive screenplay and a new vision for the Fairy Godmother, reworked here as a “Fabulous Godmother,” who represents the overall drive for representation in the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Superhost” isn’t just another horror tale about the dangers of dealing with Airbnb-style vacation rental homes. It eventually reaches a point of no return with a demented homeowner, but writer/director Brandon Christensen is more interested in the ways of social media vloggers who value clicks over sincerity, trying to maintain online fame in increasingly desperate ways. “Superhost” is no condemnation of the YouTuber lifestyle, but it uses this specialized mania to inspire a clash between show hosts and the landlord who is determined to land a positive review. The picture isn’t an aggressive example of genre entertainment, but the film builds with confidence, and it helps to have strong performances selling the creepy atmosphere of the endeavor, creating a believable divide between the real world and tireless video-making ambition. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com