• Film Review – Rare Beasts

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    Long ago, Billie Piper was best known as a pop singer, scoring a few hits before transitioning to an acting career, focusing on television work, including stints on “Doctor Who” and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl.” Piper graduates to more career control with “Rare Beasts,” which is her debut as a writer/director, examining a sustained state of panic for a woman dealing with all sorts of personal issues and brutal relationships. It’s a bold creative step forward for Piper, who gives everything to the feature, trying to make the endeavor as raw and dizzying as possible without losing her audience. “Rare Beasts” is a tough movie, and it aims to address the female experience on many levels of consciousness. It’s not a tidy effort, but Piper’s ambition is something to behold, using her screen time to hammer on the senses and reach hidden areas of shame with a furious picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Night House

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    “The Night House” is the latest directorial effort from David Bruckner, who’s no stranger to enigmatic tales of suspense and horror, previously helming “The Signal” and “The Ritual.” Bruckner doesn’t stray far from his genre interests for his latest endeavor, delivering a journey into supernatural suspicion with “The Night House,” which combines domestic disturbance cinema with a ghost story of a more reserved nature, handing Bruckner eerie mood to manage. While it initially promises to become an exciting riff on spousal paranoia cinema, the picture only covers a few ideas concerning marital strife before enigmatic events come to claim the viewing experience. Still, Bruckner achieves career-best work here, establishing spookiness and palpable pressure on the lead character, who connects to several brutal realities in this effective chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Demonic

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    “Demonic” marks the return of writer/director Neill Blomkamp, who hasn’t made a feature in six years, last seen with the abysmal “Chappie,” which put his once promising career (which began with 2009’s “District 9”) on hold. Blomkamp made his introduction with a smaller movie that surprised a lot of people, and after time spent playing with large budgets, he’s back to the basics with “Demonic,” which was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspiring a small-scale story concerning the inner workings of evil. It would be a pleasure to report that the helmer is back on his feet with the picture, but Blomkamp’s latest isn’t that confident. He’s approaching the horrors of demonic possession from a fascinating angle, but the production doesn’t trust its inherent weirdness, gradually offering generic scares and formulaic adversaries. Blomkamp loses his nerve with this one, slowly distancing himself from what actually works in the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Habit

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    Bella Thorne is having her Nicolas Cage moment, working like crazy to participate in as many movies as possible. “Habit” is her fourth film in the last year, and this acting opportunity provides Thorne with a chance to play a conflicted character in the middle of a dire situation of faith and crime. The actual picture doesn’t cut deep with such moral and spiritual complexity, with co-writer/director Janell Shirtcliff trying to manufacture an offering of underground cinema, though she remains uncertain if all this should be played for laughs. There are elements of camp in “Habit” to suggest it’s one big goof, but Thorne doesn’t push the comedy, tasked with becoming the dramatic foundation for an endeavor that’s loosely made, prone to wandering around in a drug-induced haze. Shirtcliff isn’t laboring over storytelling needs here, aiming instead for style, priming her for a big career in music videos. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Ironmaster

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    Movie producers love a hit, especially when success belongs to another feature. The urgency to replicate an impressive box office take is found in 1983's "Ironmaster," which makes an attempt to become the next "Quest for Fire." The 1981 Jean-Jacques Annaud picture surprised a lot of people when it found an audience, and "Ironmaster" is here to sustain such excitement, only without the "science fantasy" angle that made the original prehistoric adventure endeavor so memorable. Director Umberto Lenzi keeps the cavemen and the mystery of the time period, but generally drops everything else, working to make more of an actioner instead, and one that details the formation of metal-based combat. There are more conversations in "Ironmaster," and a lot more ridiculous behavior, with Lenzi overseeing a repetitive effort that launches with enthusiasm but gradually runs out of things to do. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Blastfighter

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    "Blastfighter" is an odd title for a picture about a man who's armed with a super gun, but doesn't even use the thing until the final ten minutes of the movie. Director Lamberto Bava sets up a potent revenge story in the opening moments of the feature, but soon transitions to something of a "Deliverance" homage with the 1984 release, putting star Michael Sopkiw through survival challenges near the Chattooga River in Georgia, even recruiting original "banjo man" Billy Redden for a cameo to keep up the comparisons. Unfortunately, Bava is no John Boorman, and while "Blastfighter" has select moments of compelling violence and steely performances, it's not a cohesive celebration of good vs. evil, dealing with undefined storytelling and blurred areas of heroism, and there's the long delay to the inevitable, keeping the endeavor more about breathlessness and bad dubbing than a rousing display of backwoods vengeance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Last Gasp

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    Robert Patrick has experienced an erratic career of highs and lows, and he spent most of the 1990s trying to find his place in the industry after scoring the role of a lifetime, portraying in unstoppable T-1000 in James Cameron's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." After reaching such a career triumph, Patrick became a working actor in need of employment, eventually finding his way to "Last Gasp," a strange 1995 DTV offering that blends indigenous tribal violence with a detective story, and one that also takes time to add some softcore sex scenes. Patrick puts in some effort, portraying a ruthless businessman undergoing a supernatural change, and he's the big draw of the endeavor, which often struggles to work up excitement over the lunacy it's selling. "Last Gasp" isn't a hoot, but it provides a few decent turns of plot to keep things passably interesting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Minnesota Movie Ads – August 1983

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  • Blu-ray Review – Prostitution Clandestine

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    In a slightly more playful mood, director Alain Payet strives to have a little fun with the oddities of the sex industry in 1975's "Prostitution Clandestine." Perhaps describing the endeavor as fun is overstating things slightly, but there's slightly less heaviness than "Furies Sexuelles," with Payet taking more of an episodic route with the feature, examining the experiences of photo models who also work as prostitutes, using this special cover to prevent exposure to authorities, leaving them at the mercy of the legal system. It's not exactly silly, but the Payet tries to keep things moving along, loading the effort with plenty of kinky connections and bedroom encounters, and its semi-lightness is welcoming. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Furies Sexuelles

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    1976's "Furies Sexuelles" is not a movie for a casual evening of adult entertainment. Director Alain Payet attempts to bring darkness to the picture, which concerns the psychological and physical destruction of a woman turning to prostitution to solve her financial problems, getting in too deep with distorted male sexuality and all the violence it contains. Payet endeavors to make a film that follows certain adult cinema demands, but he's also interested in creating a rough ride of kink play and disturbing behavior, offering more of a dramatic feature than one focused solely on titillation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – 400 Bullets

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    Director Tom Paton has spent the last few years attempting to find his way through the film business with small-scale action and sci-fi endeavors ("Black Site," "G-Loc"), working with technology and small spaces to create escapism that favors some degree of excitement. With "400 Bullets," Paton (who also scripts) tries to remain earthbound, turning his attention to a double-cross story set during wartime troubles. The helmer wisely whittles down narrative complications to just a handful of pressure points, leaving the rest of the feature to mano a mano battles, shootouts, and light conversation. "400 Bullets" doesn't do anything new, but Paton handles familiar business with enthusiasm, looking to jazz up the norm with raw violence, eschewing tightly choreographed mayhem for screen hostility that reflects the urgent, confusing survival situation at hand. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Free Guy

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    Shawn Levy hasn’t made a movie in a long time, last seen on screens with 2014’s “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.” A vanilla filmmaker with a penchant for saccharine sentiment and editorial permissiveness, Levy tries his best to make “Free Guy” resemble everything else in his career, but he’s not able to completely extinguish the spirit of this amusing picture, which takes audiences into the battle zone of an open world video game, with one fringe participant learning to become a very big deal in the name of love. “Free Guy” has issues with overlength and formula, but it has Ryan Reynolds in the lead role, and his ability to play the wackiness and sincerity of the screenplay (credited to Matt Liberman and Zak Penn) helps to give the feature a kind of magic as it examines video game culture and business ethics, and often searches for opportunities to stage chaotic comedy set pieces. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Don’t Breathe 2

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    2016’s “Don’t Breathe” was a nifty little chiller. Director Fede Alvarez found ways to rework the home invasion genre, playing with sensory-based suspense and blasts of horror to provide audiences with a few jolts to go with their chewed nails. It didn’t need a sequel, but “Don’t Breathe” unexpectedly became a major hit, and the producers aren’t going to leave money on the table. Weirdly, they’ve taken their sweet time to create a continuation, with “Don’t Breathe 2” in the unfortunate position to live up to expectations set by the original movie, with Alverez handing helming duties to his co-screenwriter on the first film, Rodo Sayagues. It’s certainly not a quickie effort, but “Don’t Breathe 2” is as terrible as one, with the writers exhausting all their decent ideas five years ago, now offering a grotesquely violent, poorly acted, and abysmally edited feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Ema

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    Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain went Hollywood with his last feature, 2016’s “Jackie,” and it worked for him. Creating an emotional and illuminating portrait of Jackie Kennedy’s strange days before and after the assassination of her husband. It was powerful work from Larrain, who kept himself together while dealing with studios and the awards circuit. Returning to Chile, the director delivers “Ema,” which offers him an opportunity to delve into complete creative freedom once again, this time examining powers of self-destruction developing between two people who once believed they loved each other, but now deal in bitterness and pain. The material details an emotional war zone for all the characters, and it’s sold with a free-flowing sense of bodily movement and darkness. Larrain scores another career achievement with “Ema,” which offers a hypnotic but deeply unsettling viewing experience, remaining artful throughout. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – CODA

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    Apple made headlines last winter when they decided to pay a fortune for the rights to release “CODA,” which won several awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It’s easy to understand why the company shelled out $25 million dollars for the endeavor, which offers plenty of audience-pleasing moments and warm emotion. It’s also unafraid to get broad when it has to, making sure to reach the back row with its familiar charms. There’s some degree of sameness to the feature, but writer/director Sian Heder (2016’s “Tallulah”) works hard to create deeper emotions in play, striving to generate an understanding of the characters and their individual hardships. “CODA” (which is a remake of a 2014 French film) is kindly and means well enough, boosted by select moments of real dramatic power that carry an otherwise fluffy effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Under the Volcano

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    The best music documentaries focus on the stories involved with the creation of records, or exploring band or artist dynamic. This is what audiences come for, to get a peek behind the curtain, understanding how creativity ebbs and flows, occasionally resulting in world-shifting successes. “Under the Volcano” is a simple picture about the days of Associated Independent Recording, with co-founder George Martin moving the process of creativity to the island of Montserrat in the West Indies. He took his reputation and the money made after working with The Beatles and constructed a living space for bands hunting for a different vibe when developing their careers. Instead of the coldness of urban life, AIR Montserrat provided paradise, albeit in the shadow of an active volcano, and director Gracie Otto (“The Last Impresario”) gathers interviews from those involved with the studio to best understand how this building and vibe managed to inspire some of the best albums of the 1980s. And yes, there are wonderful stories contained within. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Crime Story

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    I’m sure the producers of “Crime Story” wouldn’t mind potential viewers thinking they’re sitting down with a variation on the “John Wick” formula of a one-man-army returning to the criminal underworld he left behind to settle some scores. Even more interesting is the addition of Richard Dreyfuss in the lead role, with the seventysomething actor finding his big mean again with an aggressive part. Unfortunately, “Crime Story” isn’t that invitingly preposterous, with writer/director Adam Lipius making a family story instead, scripting a knotted tale of broken promises and long-simmering resentment, also exploring end-of-life fears that have the potential to transform this effort into a more satisfying study of frustrations. It’s messy work, but Lipius does craft a few compelling scenes of mental anguish, touching on real-world concerns while overseeing a weirdly labyrinthine endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Running Time

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    Co-writer/director Josh Becker aims to take his Hitchcock fandom to the next level in 1997's "Running Time," which attempts the same illusion of a long, single-take feature that was found in 1948's "Rope" (and various imitators). Instead of offering a dramatic examination of a crime, Becker and co-writer Peter Choi decide to put the audience into the middle of dangerous business, launching a real-time heist movie that follows star Bruce Campbell around the Los Angeles area, portraying a man with a plan facing an hour of his life where everything goes wrong. "Running Time" has an enticing gimmick, and it's superbly executed by Becker, who really sells the feeling of unbroken screen activity. It helps to have a supercharged premise filled with thinning patience and hostile characters, and when it's locked in suspense mode, the endeavor is riveting. Becker and Choi can't maintain such pace, even for a scant run time of 69 minutes, but they get the effort moving in a major way, earning viewer interest in the unfolding nightmare of mishaps. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Death Promise

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    1977's "Death Promise" is a martial arts-infused revenge story that might come across as very familiar to anyone who happens to be a fan of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill." Perhaps the feature was a direct influence on the 2003 action bonanza, offering a similar tale of vengeance featuring an episodic climb to justice and a to-do list of targets, with the bad guys connected in a secretive chain of evildoing. It's easy to see how Tarantino improved on the idea, but "Death Promise" has a unique perspective of its own, examining the frustrations of life in New York City tenement buildings, where the poor live in squalor while rich landlords toy with the properties and the inhabitants. It's a terrific foundation for a ferocious thriller, and while the production can't exactly wind up all the way due to lack of filmmaking finesse and a lean budget, it does reasonably well as a B-movie offering of karate authority and inventive kills, giving the whole shebang some interesting enthusiasm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Minnesota Movie Ads – August 1973

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