There have been several screen adaptations of the 1903 Jack London novel, “The Call of the Wild,” dating back to a silent film released in 1923. Even Charlie Brown and Snoopy had their way with the source material in 1978. For the 2020 version of the story, director Chris Sanders remains in a cartoon realm of sorts, merging heavy amounts of CGI with human actors to explore the animal instinct of London’s celebrated book. The director of “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Croods,” Sanders knows his way around CG animation, and he’s quite good with adventure as well, giving his take on “The Call of the Wild” an enjoyable feel of naturalistic glorification and Alaskan peril, finding a fresh way to communicate London’s appreciation of instinct and survival. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2016’s “The Boy” wasn’t a major hit, but the low-budget feature enticed enough people into multiplexes to turn a profit, giving producers the idea to return to the brand name. They took their time, but “Brahms: The Boy II” is finally ready for exhibition, and the idea seems to be a gentle reworking of the central concept to feed future sequels and spin-offs, giving the material a “Conjuring”-style marketplace trajectory. Director William Brent Bell and screenwriter Stacey Menear return to duty, and why wouldn’t they? The teat-pulling vibe is in full effect during “Boy II,” which trades corporeal terror for a supernatural hoedown in the English countryside, laboring to revive the basic terror beats of the original effort while inventing dark magic to keep things interesting. Of course, nothing in the picture is interesting, but that doesn’t stop the filmmakers, who serve up jump scares and loose mythology while presenting a more mean-spirited take on violence, which is almost exclusively focused on children and animals. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actress Miranda Tapsell enjoyed a breakthrough role in “The Sapphires,” a 2012 musical comedy that didn’t stick its landing, but it managed to make Tapsell memorable. The Australian native returns to screen power with “Top End Wedding,” which also marks her screenwriting debut, gifting herself the lead role in a slightly zany but mostly heartfelt appreciation for married life and cultural reflection. There have been many Aussie wedding comedies, and while Tapsell and co-writer Joshua Tyler don’t score with huge laughs, they create a consistently engaging viewing experience that embraces formula, and also remains mindful of character, trying to dig into unusual personalities as they craft what’s more of an Australian adventure than a celebratory romp with oddball types and mishaps. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Peter Hoare isn’t trying to move the world with “Standing Up, Falling Down.” Instead, he offers a small-scale relationship drama about an unlikely friendship developing between two aimless men struggling with private issues, bonding over a shared sense of humor. The material has very little wow factor, but it’s sincere, and that’s most important with a picture like this, which tends to do its best when aiming to be meaningful instead of volcanically dramatic. “Standing Up, Falling Down” has its humor, and it’s very funny at times, but director Matt Ratner (making his debut) is more attentive to chemistry, letting his actors interpret Hoare’s vision for camaraderie and personal inventory, resulting in a mild but effective dramedy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Zoey Deutch deserves a lot of credit for trying to do something with her acting career in recent years. She’s worked in teen cinema and romantic comedies, but with last year’s “Zombieland: Double Tap,” Deutch went full-tilt silly, exposing impressive timing and a sense of adventure when it came time to bring weirdness to a somewhat stale feature. She’s back in “Buffaloed,” which supplies her with a true acting challenge, tasked with portraying an absolutely manic human being while also being attentive to the quirks of Brian Sacca’s screenplay, which plays around in the sobering world of debt collection. “Buffaloed” is amusing, and director Tanya Wexler gives it an appealing velocity, rarely slowing down with skin-crawling displays of predatory criminal behavior. And she has Deutch, who gives the part her all, submitting her finest performance to date, keeping characterization compelling and mischief spinning at top speed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Michael Cristofer hasn’t directed a film for nearly twenty years. He was briefly active with a success in the cable movie “Gia,” but stumbled when trying to move to the big screen, guiding messy efforts such as “Body Shots” and “Original Sin,” unable to deliver the hits required to keep his career going. With “The Night Clerk,” Cristofer returns to duty, and he remains in line with previous cinematic interests, once again mounting a mystery of sorts with this hidden camera version of “Rear Window.” However, instead of summoning Hitchcockian thunder, Cristofer creates a tepid ride of temptation and obsession, striving to add a little real-world unsteadiness to the screenplay’s formula. “The Night Clerk” isn’t a creative wipeout, but there’s always a feeling it could be better, often skipping chances to tighten its grip on the audience to deal with feeble character business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Fantasy Island” began life as two television movies for ABC, quickly turned into a series that ran from 1978 to 1984, taking viewers to a special place of unknown magic where vacationers could live out their deepest desires or confront unfinished business. The show was a hit, securing pop culture domination and high ratings for the producers, who eventually returned to the brand name for a 1998 revival series that was anything but successful. While the program had its dark side, dealing with the mysteries of the human heart and the dangers of psychologically unstable characters, there was a dramatic pull to the stories, creating enjoyable T.V. For 2020, co-writer/director Jeff Wadlow tries to turn “Fantasy Island” into a horror film, showing some appreciation for the knotted reality of the original material, but he largely goes his own way with the picture. The director of “Cry Wolf,” “Never Back Down,” “Kick-Ass 2,” “True Memoirs of an International Assassin,” and “Truth or Dare,” Wadlow doesn’t have an inspired resume, and it should come as no surprise that his confused take on the series is downright painful to sit through. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sonic the Hedgehog has been around for nearly 30 years, so it seems a little strange that only now is the character receiving the blockbuster film treatment. Of course, the video game staple and Sega foundation doesn’t make the easiest transition to the big screen, posing a large challenge to screenwriters Patrick Casey and Josh Miller (“Dorm Daze,” “Dorm Daze 2,” and “Transylmania”), who struggle with Sonic’s earthly woes, hunting for a real reason to marry the CGI character with a live-action world. “Sonic the Hedgehog” isn’t about hospital corners when it comes to storytelling, but the fun factor of the picture is large enough to pass, with director Jeff Fowler (making his helming debut after years in animation) keeping the title character on the go in this fast-paced adventure, while dips into comedy and action manage to satisfy, giving Sonic the cinematic introduction he deserves. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After taking a box office dive with 2018’s “Early Man,” Aardman Animation is back to more reliable entertainment with “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.” Shaun the Sheep has enjoyed a vast amount of exposure over the years, doing especially well on television, while his jump to the big screen in 2015’s “Shaun the Sheep Movie” proved the character could do very well in the cinematic realm, supplying silent comedy-style slapstick over a longer runtime while still remaining fresh and exciting. Now comes the challenge of a sequel, and the production team looks to infuse some of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” for “Farmageddon,” which returns to the mischief of Shaun, Farmer John, and Bitzer, but adds an alien visitation element to increase comedic potential and offer a more direct emotional range. The filmmaking labor produces a better picture, with the follow-up scoring big on laughs and heartwarming elements while remaining true to the brand’s love of silliness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In recent years, “The Expendables” and its sequels have offered the premise of older actions heroes setting out to save the world, joined by members of a younger generation who don’t possess the same seasoning to help get the job done on their own. “VFW” loses the Hollywood hero approach to deliver a more grounded take on old fogey fire, offering the sight of war veterans taking on the drug-bombed youth of today. A Fangoria production, “VFW” isn’t interested in establishing a sensitive understanding of combat shock. It’s a genre smash-em-up production, with director Joe Begos prepared to deliver an absolute bloodbath with violent battles, but also wise enough to rely on the skills of his aged cast, who are happy to showcase the meatiness of their thespian charms, enjoying a rare opportunity to make a mess of things in this wild cinematic battle royal. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com