2015’s “The Gallows” was one of the worst films of its release year. 2019’s “The Gallows Act II” is one of the worst films of this release year. This is not progress. However, it’s Blumhouse Productions, which receives a lot of credit for supporting features such as “Get Out,” but remain just as capable of producing no-budget garbage for teenage audiences. Four years ago, they managed to make a few bucks with summer counterprogramming in “The Gallows,” a found footage chiller that didn’t make much sense, barely felt complete, but it contained enough jump scares (and utilized an effective marketing campaign) to pull in a sizable audience. Lack of positive critical and community response be damned, Blumhouse isn’t about to leave money on the table, returning with “The Gallows Act II,” which trades “realism” for Disney Channel-style melodrama and scares. Again, this is not progress. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For the fourth film of his retirement, Steven Soderbergh attempts to pull off an understanding of the “Panama Papers,” a massive collection of documents leaked in 2015 that detailed just how the rich stay rich, creating a network of barely legal hustling and outright fraud to avoid the scourge of taxes and deny assorted outside interests. There’s little dramatic meat on these bones, as the scandal was more about the revelation that the famous and the powerful were happy to hide their cash from the world, but screenwriter Scott Z. Burns gives it the old college try, adapting a book (by Jake Bernstein) that tries to clarify an enormous financial and moral mess. Taking cues from Adam McKay’s “The Big Short” and “Vice,” Soderbergh strives to stay ahead of a shapeless movie, laboring to make something cheeky, but it mostly comes off flat and disorganized. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2001, Kevin Smith was handed 22 million dollars to say goodbye to his View Askewiverse creation, using the cash to create “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” a cameo-laden farewell to the lovable stoners who delivered silly business in movies such as “Clerks,” “Dogma,” and “Chasing Amy.” The boys from New Jersey were handed the spotlight for their final screen appearance, with Smith serving up a tight, wacky, and celebratory feature. The retirement didn’t last long (the guys were back in business with 2006’s “Clerks II”), but Smith is in a sentimental mood again, crafting another valentine to his most popular characters with “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.” Taking aim at remake/reboot fever in Hollywood, Smith gifts his fanbase an intentional recycling of “Strike Back,” pantsing creative laziness with his own impishness, delivering a slightly winded but entertaining offering of exaggerated madness, with the whole thing dipped in nostalgia and sentimentality for maximum response. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There haven’t been many movies made about the trials of survival while working in the basket of a giant gas balloon, giving “The Aeronauts” a distinct identity in an increasingly crowded marketplace. That it’s a very engaging adventure is icing on the cake, with director Tom Harper (“Wild Rose,” “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death”) tasked with creating suspense and spectacle while dealing with the tight confines of the balloon. Based loosely on real events, “The Aeronauts” brings viewers high into the sky, exploring the mysteries of the mid-19th century atmosphere as two characters attempt to crack the secret code of meteorology, but the writing is also attentive to personal stories, creating a balance of intimacy and self-preservation as science and redemption is examined in this satisfying endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Pedro Almodovar always makes personal films, showing little hesitation when it comes to exploring his fantasies, desires, regret, and hope on the big screen. He’s a sensitive director, but with “Pain and Glory,” Almodovar digs a little deeper into his fears, dealing with aging and death with his traditional compassion and gift for the movement of storytelling. There’s an enormous amount of life within “Pain and Glory,” which also represents the most lived-in feature he’s made in a long time, using the tale to work through private ideas concerning creativity and mortality. Aided by a sensational performance from frequent collaborator Antonio Banderas, Almodovar crafts another achingly beautiful effort that’s mindful of human fallibility, but also aware of cinematic possibility as it seamlessly weaves together experiences from the past and the present. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Released in 2009, “Zombieland” managed to make some money with its comedic observation of a zombie apocalypse, finding co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick trying to maintain all the splatter the subgenre is known for while encouraging a steady display of silliness to secure audience appeal. The feature felt fresh at the time, striving to do different things with the undead while other moviemakers were determined to preserve as much horror as possible. While not revolutionary, the effort did the trick, but, weirdly, the producers failed to capitalize on the endeavor’s box office performance. A decade later, a sequel has finally come together, with “Zombieland: Double Tap” hoping to revive the recipe of gore and giggles for fans. Unfortunately, too much time has passed between installments, and Reese and Wernick don’t have much to say with their follow-up, which often plays like a series of disconnected sketches occasionally interrupted by zombie attacks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sweetheart” is a cross between “Cast Away” and “Predator,” but made on a limited budget. It’s the second directorial effort for J.D. Dillard, who made his debut a few years ago with “Sleight,” which offered viewers an intriguing blend of sci-fi and criminal pressure, but failed to doing anything original with it, with Dillard soon leaning on cliché to connect the dots. “Sweetheart” also suffers a bit from familiarity, putting a frightened character against an unknown monster lurking in the dark, but Dillard simplifies his genre targets and deepens his mysteries with the picture, which supplies a gripping variation on the island survival subgenre. Dillard delivers on expectations when it comes time to craft a creature feature, but he’s also mindful of pace and discovery, constructing a more satisfying effort for his second at-bat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Disney was in a special position many years ago. The release of 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland” went wonderfully, grossing over a billion dollars, but audience reaction was mixed. They marched ahead with a sequel, finally coming up with 2016’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” and the expensive feature failed spectacularly. With “Maleficent,” the situation is similar, as the studio managed to make a giant hit out of their reworking of “Sleeping Beauty” characters, delivering a CGI-heavy fantasy experience that pulled in audiences, but didn’t leave a lasting impression for many. Gambling on ticket-buyer loyalty once again, Disney offers “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” which brings back Angelina Jolie and big visuals to wow the crowds once again, this time betting on the Halloween season to stimulate box office interest. Much like “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “Mistress of Evil” doesn’t do anything different, once again providing a numbing viewing experience that’s mostly about creating noise and limp mythos to expand on a world that wasn’t very interesting in the first place. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There's been plenty of attempts to do something with the works of Charles Addams, who originally created “The Addams Family” in 1938, offering single-panel cartoons of amusing antics featuring a macabre family. T.V. programs, movies, musicals, and animated shows have endeavored to interpret Addams’s imagination, and now the creepy clan graduate to a CGI-animated endeavor, with “The Addams Family” hoping to muscle in on “Hotel Transylvania” territory, giving all-ages entertainment a boost of the bizarre. While the production lacks the budget to pull off a truly gorgeous representation of the source material, directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan try to make the effort as amusing and spirited as possible, respecting the dark elements of the original concept while delivering modern cartoon elasticity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’ll be interesting to discover the overall reaction to “Gemini Man,” which is being marketed as a hardcore actioner, blasting “Will Smith vs. Will Smith” on its poster, offering audiences the showdown of 2019. This type of blockbuster entertainment doesn’t usually originate from director Ang Lee, who certainly knows how to put together a battle scene (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), but is always drawn to the deep-seated feelings of his characters, last seen on screen with the 2016 misfire, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.” True to form, Lee doesn’t bring the wham-bang to “Gemini Man,” which is only berserk in small doses, striving to become more of an introspective piece on the strength of family ties and the unexpected conflicts of cloning. Even with adjusted expectations, it’s difficult to feel charged up over a needlessly talky, stagnant sci-fi thriller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2007, news reports followed the saga of Lisa Novak, who was arrested in Orlando for attempted kidnapping and several other charges after she drove cross-country to confront a lover who was cheating on her. What made the story special wasn’t the potential violence or mental illness on display, but the fact that the participants all worked for NASA, which is largely viewed as an organization for brilliant people, making the lunacy of Novak’s actions all the more delicious. “Lucy in the Sky” intends to be the dramatization of the Novak case, but co-writer/director Noah Hawley doesn’t want to get to close to the cartoonish highlights, preferring to create his own exaggerations and absurdities. However, before any self-destruction commences, Hawley demands 90 minutes of screen time to work through some odd visual choices and snoozy drama, making a movie about reaching for the stars that mostly drags along the ground. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com