It’s a big year for director Zack Snyder. In March, the filmmaker brought his full version of the superhero extravaganza “Justice League” to the masses, finally receiving a chance to right a considerable wrong in the eyes of many. And now there’s “Army of the Dead,” which represents a break from costumed avengers, presenting something of a spiritual sequel to his 2004 “Dawn of the Dead” remake. The zombies are similar in ferocity and the end of the world is here, but Snyder is aiming big with the feature, delivering a heist movie with massive scale at times, and he co-scripts material that’s meant to represent the beginning of a new franchise. “Army of the Dead” has plans to be a major event, and the scope of the effort is impressive. Storytelling is another issue, with the production bending awkwardly to transform the picture into a heartfelt relationship tale, a few of them actually, and Snyder asks a lot of his audience when serving up droopy turns of plot and borderline obnoxious characters for nearly 150 minutes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Dry” is the rare movie to offer two distinct mysteries to solve over the course of the run time. It’s an adaptation of a novel by Jane Harper, presenting a story about a police investigation into a suspicious murder-suicide, also examining unfinished business involving the lead character’s past, constructing two timelines that carry equal suspense. It’s also an Australian production, using the land to generate a sense of danger and denial, with director Robert Connolly creating an evocative sense of remoteness with the picture, which matches the tale’s level of suspicion perfectly. “The Dry” grabs viewers with outstanding intensity, offering a detective story that’s confident with character, not entirely focused on twists. The film really connects at times, but more so when creating motivations, not payoffs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Toni Collette is not an actress known for her participation in feel-good cinema. While she achieved fame with her sunniness in 1994’s “Muriel’s Wedding,” Collette has generally gravitated toward complex characters filled with misery, dread, and general darkness (her most recent offerings include “Stowaway” and “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”). And she’s usually outstanding in these parts. For “Dream Horse,” Collette portrays Jan Vokes, a middle-aged woman with a desire to feel something again, turning her attention to the care of a special race horse funded by the residents of a small Welsh village. It’s not an especially fresh idea, but that’s what Collette is here for, delivering an unusual performance of emotional processing in a feature that’s looking to lift spirits during impossibly dark times. “Dream Horse” doesn’t go Disney, finding ways to do different things with formulaic material, highlighting relationships as it delivers the essentials in underdog cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Drunk Bus” claims to be some sort of true story, examining a burgeoning friendship between a cowardly overnight bus driver on a college campus and the Samoan muscle hired to protect him from the dangers of intoxicated riders and their low impulse control. It’s trying to be a comedy about the craziness of the job and the struggles of empowerment, and perhaps it doesn’t try hard enough. “Drunk Bus” remains periodically engaging with appealing performances, but it’s no farce, which screenwriter Chris Molinaro promises in the feature’s first act before slowly trading a freewheeling tone for a more serious understanding of broken people and their life choices. It’s not an especially deep motion picture, but initial liveliness and characterization is amusing, giving the film a decent launch before it ultimately loses interest in caricature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Simon Barrett achieved strong reviews for his work on “You’re Next” and “The Guest,” earning a reputation of sly work that subverted genre expectations, refreshing hoary plots and dull characters. Barrett makes his feature-length directorial debut with “Séance,” which returns him to scary business, this time examining the haunted happenings at an all-female boarding school, which is experiencing a newfound surge of violence after the suspicious death of a student. Once again, Barrett returns to a well-worn premise, and expectations are in place that he could do something inventive with a semi-slasher, possibly supernatural idea. The helmer is no mood to bring his A-game to the project, overseeing a bizarrely sleepy chiller that doesn’t have much oomph as a thriller or complexity as a mystery. “Séance” just lays there for most of its run time, with Barrett trusting a creepy mood might cover the writing’s lack of adventure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Woman in the Window” is a mystery adapted from a novel by A.J. Finn, who’s not all that concerned with elevating the subgenre buy reworking some of its elements to encourage greater surprises. As a movie, the material isn’t trying to wow either, with director Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “Darkest Hour”) settling in to make his own version of an Alfred Hitchcock picture, with the “Rear Window”-esque endeavor including a glimpse of the Hitchcock classic to prevent accusations of theft. Wright’s the ideal person for the job, with his previous filmmaking outings rich with cinematic detail and precise camerawork. It only makes sense that he would indulge himself here, with material that covers a haunted woman struggling to handle her reality after she witnesses a murder that may have never happened. Storytelling issues eventually arrive to diminish the viewing experience, but when Wright gets wound up, he constructs some workable suspense to support most of the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last seen a few weeks ago turning in subpar work as part of the screenwriting team on “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse,” Taylor Sheridan claims more creative control by taking on directorial duties for “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” which is an adaptation of a 2014 book by Michael Koryta. Sheridan made a strong impression a few years back with “Wind River,” an unusual mystery thriller that featured at least one incredibly shocking scene of suspense. The same screen magic doesn’t make its way to his latest picture, which struggles to manage the novel’s story and Sheridan’s helming vision. He’s turned “Those Who Wish Me Dead” into more a western experience, which doesn’t translate to cinematic excitement, overseeing lackluster performances and feeble characterizations, saving his energy for a small selection of rural Montana survival challenges. Angelina Jolie is pushed as the star of the show, but Sheridan aims for more of a group effort here, working to keep the endeavor from transforming into the mid-1990s actioner it wants to become. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen doesn’t make movies very often, but when he does he always works with actor Mads Mikkelsen. The partnership goes back just over 20 years, and was most recently on display in 2015’s “Men & Chicken,” an excellent dark comedy that offered Mikkelsen a very different part to play. Such surprises are the glue of this relationship, with the duo entering the realm of action films with “Riders of Justice,” which follows one man’s quest to achieve vengeance after his wife is murdered. It’s a steelier Mikkelsen this time around, creating a performance out of tight body language and hard stares, but Jensen isn’t creating the usual violent distraction with the project. “Riders of Justice” is filled with unexpected moments and sensational performances, and it’s the rare picture interested in the psychology of revenge, not just hard-edged acts of violence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Spiral” is presented as “From the Book of Saw,” which gives it a little breathing room in terms of franchise expectations. It’s the ninth installment of the horror series, which began in 2004 and became a Halloween tradition for some viewers before fatigue finally set in around 2010. The producers tried to restart the machine with 2017’s “Jigsaw,” but the picture was met with audience indifference, putting the brand name back on the shelf. Now “Saw” is back once again, this time slightly reworked as a detective story, with “Jigsaw” screenwriters Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger huffing “Seven” fumes as they attempt to merge a serial killer story with traditional displays of blood and guts. “Spiral” presents itself as a fresh take on macabre premise, but it’s really just the same old “Saw,” offering a tired tale of suffering and trapping, lacking any inventiveness capable of making the viewing experience exciting again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Fans of spare filmmaking and developing mood are most likely to respond to the directorial ways of Robert Machoian, who offers a lot of observational time in “The Killing of Two Lovers.” Machoian also handles screenwriting duties, aiming for a small-scale drama about a broken household involving a husband and wife who don’t fully understand how to proceed with their dying relationship, creating a standoff situation of unspoken feelings and fears. This is not a highly charge study of marital distress, with Machoian taking his time to develop the characters and their hidden issues. He also works to create a lived-in feel for the location, adding a wintry chill to a tale about separation, and the helmer’s use of violence is genuinely shocking. It’s assured moviemaking with a compelling crisis to examine, but it’s not for those who demand a steady run of tension. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Battles of conscience and culture dominate “High Ground.” It’s an Australian production that confronts the brutal history of the continent, capturing rising tensions between violent British policemen and an Aboriginal tribe struggling to process the senseless slaughter of many innocent people. Screenwriter Chris Anastassiades pulls back from a broad understanding of cruelty with the feature, working to identify the confusion that lingers after violence, also delving into hostilities on all sides of the drama, involving characters trying to make sense of an insane situation of pursuit and survival. Director Stephen Johnson provides a vivid understanding of nature and confusion with the endeavor, overseeing a talented cast that captures moral dilemmas and harsh realities when dealing with the terror of colonialism. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Djinn” isn’t trying to be a radically different horror movie. Writer/directors David Charbonier and Justin Powell (who have another picture, “The Boy Behind the Door,” due for release this summer) don’t have the filmmaking resources to mount a menacing, epic tale of a child trying to survive the night with an evil force unleashed in his apartment. The helmers keep things small and intimate with their endeavor, out to generate some scary scenes and find some psychological grooves to explore, hoping to add some significance to what would otherwise be a standard offering of close quarters frights. “The Djinn” is at its best with scenes of silent stalking and offerings of black magic, remaining an endeavor best appreciated by genre fans who enjoy the essentials in terror mixed with a little emotional agony. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Calling on the great spirits of party cinema is director Will Bakke, who made “The Get Together” as a short film in 2015 and returns for a second at-bat with a 2021 version, intending to expand on his original ideas. Instead of troubled teens managing a boisterous evening and relationship distress, the screenplay (written by Bakke and Michael B. Allen) aims to get a little bit older, exploring the confusion of a post-grad existence where future plans are difficult to make and partnerships are threatened by the imposing entity known as adulthood, or “adulting.” “The Get Together” isn’t heavy, but it hopes to reach viewers with its depictions of heartache, with Bakke sending an ensemble to Austin, TX to work through various crisscrossing subplots that analyze what it takes to reach some form of maturity during the chaos of a house party where the alcohol flows, confessions get chunky, and passive-aggressiveness is common. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com