“Little Evil” is a comedic version of “The Omen,” not to be confused with “The Omen” remake from 2006, which, let’s face it, had more laughs. It’s the long-awaited new film from writer/director Eli Craig, who’s last movie, 2010’s “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil,” was a genuine surprise, competently blending slapstick comedy and blood-spattered horror. It was a lively picture, and while Craig’s been away attacking television productions in the intervening years, his sense of humor hasn’t been diluted. “Little Evil” is highly amusing, but more importantly, it offers enjoyable speed and dips into wackiness, never losing its rhythm as the story gets weirder and more wicked. Craig is backed by a game cast of comedians and a love of the genre, which is evident through inside jokes and an overall push into demonic events, keeping the effort fun while it teases a taste for the frightening.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When your parents are filmmakers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, I supposed getting into the family business is unavoidable. Making her directorial debut with “Home Again” is Hallie Meyers-Shyer, and instead of serving up a piping hot slice of offspring rebellion, the helmer basically makes the same movie her parents have been offering multiplexes for the last 30 years. Making a decidedly underwhelming first impression, Meyers-Shyer is barely trying with “Home Again,” which offers a slow-pitch softball game of love with weirdly emphatic and unlikable characters, and maintains the family formula of upper class opulence and first-world problems, which the production means to present as escapism. Instead, it’s deathly dull and haphazardly scripted, making for a long viewing experience as Meyers-Shyer slowly traces over previous screenplays.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I don’t think it’s controversial to suggest that “Year by the Sea” is made with a specific demographic in mind. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as it’s a demographic habitually ignored by Hollywood, forcing this indie production to reach out and find an audience that’s in step with its depiction of life as a woman of a certain age. “Year by the Sea” deserves some credit for committing entirely to the inner workings of a sixtysomething character, and there’s necessary texture in the unsettled life presented here. Writer/director Alexander Janko often goes out of his way to cater to an older audience, but his most important choice is the casting of Karen Allen, a wonderful actress who builds on her work in last year’s “Bad Hurt,” offering another layered view of domestic containment, albeit in a cheerier effort, but one that’s wise to the ways of aging, choices, and personal need.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

30 years ago, Hollywood was beginning its obsession with body-swap comedies, with movies such as “Like Father, Like Son,” “Vice Versa,” “18 Again,” and “Big” offering variations on the “Freaky Friday” formula, finding mischief in the confusion of people stuck in different bodies. “Second Nature” escalates the concept, altering human history to fit its fantasy quota. What should be a zeitgeist-snapping effort of gender examination and appreciation is left a bit underwhelming, with co-writer/director Michael Cross unable to get the juices flowing when it comes to laughs or societal inspection, left with a middling endeavor that doesn’t stimulate enough smiles, but benefits from two engaged performances from leads Collette Wolfe and Sam Huntington, who often save the picture with their spirited work.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A film like “Clowntergeist” doesn’t just happen by accident. With Stephen King’s “It” poised to do significant business at the box office this month, there’s always room for interlopers — knock-off productions looking to collect a few bucks from those hungry for more. In this case, it’s a question of killer clowns emerging from a demonic space, with writer/director Aaron Mirtes going the no-budget route when assembling his take on heavily painted horror. “Clowntergeist” doesn’t exactly live up to the promise of its title, but it hopes to jolt viewers with shock jumps on the soundtrack and clown-based imagery, giving the movie some hustle while it tries to machete through amateurish production efforts, including dismal acting. It’s hard to image a movie with this title could be disappointing, but the picture just doesn’t bring the clownpocalypse like it should.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Limehouse Golem” establishes itself as a tale of serial murder without ever truly becoming one. Perhaps some will be comfortable with the picture’s subversion of expectations, using the lure of horror to explore one character’s history of abuse, but I can’t imagine the movie is going to satisfying many. Sold as a Jack the Ripper-style procedural thriller, and “The Limehouse Golem” emerges as a mix of the grisly and the mundane, with director Juan Carlos Medina trying to pretend this type of entertainment isn’t common on public television. The effort has its grungy style and a sturdy lead performance from Bill Nighy, but it can’t shake a sense of smallness and familiarity, forcing screenwriter Jane Goldman to use extreme violence as smelling salts for the audience, trying to keep them interested in a plot that’s been done before, often weekly for fans of BBC entertainment.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Considering the last “Twilight” movie was released in 2012, it’s a little strange to see a film like “Fallen” produced, missing relevance by many years. Much like “Twilight” and its imitators, “Fallen” is an adaptation of a YA book series (four in total, from author Lauren Kate), offering audiences a dewy romance with troubled teenagers, while a strong supernatural element carries the franchise, giving it a chance to play into fantasy extremes, which always helps to lubricate forbidden love. It’s all so familiar and routine, with the primary difference being the source material’s religious interests, skipping the business of monsters to tinker with angels and demons. However, even with the potential of God’s army in motion, the feature still plays a banal game of teen angst and longing looks.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Nile Hilton Incident” takes a common detective story and positions it into the middle of world-changing history. It’s a special way to squeeze suspense out of a lukewarm mystery, with the story taking place during the countdown period to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, giving the production an end game of protest chaos (partially inspired by police brutality) that hangs in the air like a toxic cloud. Writer/director Tarik Saleh is smart to bring the picture to a boil in this special way, as the rest of the “The Nile Hotel Incident” is largely lacking in suspense and intrigue, with its cultural fingerprint doing most of the work as the journey winds through corruption, blackmail, and murder.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The biggest story this weekend isn’t the film “Tulip Fever,” but the fact that feature was even released. Shot three years ago, the picture has stumbled since its creation, missing release dates and subjected to various hands tinkering in the editing room. The initial idea was to bring Deborah Moggach’s popular book to the big screen, but development and post-production woes had a different plan. And now it’s been slipped into theaters on one of the worst weekends to release a movie, condemning what was once intended to be a major Oscar season force to the land of obscurity. The truth is, “Tulip Fever” isn’t a terrible effort, it’s merely a mess, and a tedious one at that, with too many cooks in the kitchen trying to flatten down all the oddity that was likely a primary point of pride for director Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”), rendering the endeavor without much personality or drive.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a lively last couple of years for Taylor Sheridan. Entering the entertainment industry as an actor, Sheridan made a transition to screenwriting, scoring major successes with “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” my choice as the best film of 2016. While he’s directed before (the little-seen “Vile” from 2011), Sheridan graduates to the big leagues of helming with “Wind River,” which puts him in the driver’s seat for his own material, now in charge of grim criminal and police procedural interactions he was previously limited to simply writing about. While it doesn’t have the definition and timing of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” “Wind River” is an assured addition to Sheridan’s oeuvre, once again examining an alien setting with concerned characters, fashioning a western out of contemporary grievances. It’s mournful, more pained than exciting, but it offers some real craft from Sheridan, who proves he has a long career ahead of him, should he choose to remain fascinated with the cruelty of life.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

William H. Macy has enjoyed an incredible career as an actor, with lauded turns in such classics as “Boogie Nights” and “Fargo,” while his presence in other productions has managed to salvage lesser films. He’s even made an impression on pay cable with the long-running show, “Shameless.” Macy is now transitioning to direction to help refocus his professional ambition, making his debut with 2014’s largely unseen “Rudderless.” To make more of an impression, Macy abandons most of his dignity to craft “The Layover,” a profane, mildly raunchy comedy that’s big on silliness but shockingly low on laughs. Perhaps in Macy’s mind, “The Layover” is a throwback to goofy European farces from the 1960s, but it plays far more uneventfully in 2017, struggling to do something, anything, that might trigger a smile.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2011’s “Goon” was a real surprise. Not only was it an effective comedy that prized a degree of silliness, it was a decent hockey picture as well, living up to the legacy of “Slap Shot,” arguably the greatest hockey picture of all time. “Goon” found its identity early, forging ahead as a brutally violent summary of life as an enforcer, following Doug “The Thug” Glatt as he learned the ugly business of hockey, which requires the beating of men to keep fans interested and testosterone flowing during games. It took the producers long enough, but now there’s “Goon: Last of the Enforcers,” which picks up Doug’s story at the end of his playing days, hoping to find dramatic inspiration in a retirement situation. While “Goon: Last of the Enforcers” has its share of blood-spattered fights and weirdo supporting characters, it goes a little soft, which doesn’t feel appropriate, especially after the freewheeling shenanigans of the original movie.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Four years ago, “In a World…” turned actress Lake Bell into a writer/director. It was a valentine to the world of voiceover professionals and a neuroses-laden behavior from itchy characters, establishing Bell’s interest in feelings and mild jesting, though she was much better with confrontations than hugs. Bell returns to the power of ellipsis with “I Do…Until I Don’t,” which goes deeper into intimacy, this time taking on the brutality of marriage, exposing its nuance, hostilities, and strain of commitment, but with a pronounced comedic approach that find Bell in a Woody Allen mood, picking up on behaviors instead of giving her story a major presence. While her debut had charm to save it, “I Do…Until I Don’t” tries too hard to silly and sincere, finding Bell’s effort to preserve a causal vibe crushing its lasting appeal.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s a good reason to hope for the best when it comes to the career of Noomi Rapace. She’s a wonderful actress and an atypically focused talent, often drawn to characters with severe psychological damage. Her skills were put on view recently, in Tommy Wirkola’s “What Happened to Monday,” which challenged Rapace to play septuplets, each with a distinct personality. While she’s had her professional ups and downs, she’s trapped in career carbonite in “Unlocked,” which sticks Rapace in the middle of a terribly formulaic thriller, which often plays like a television pilot. She’s handed another roughhouse role here, tasked with mastering spy-on-the-run moves, and Rapace is one of the few highlights of “Unlocked,” which is faced with tough competition on screens big and little, but doesn’t pursue anything novel or ferocious enough to make a deep impression.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

No matter what “Death Note” does, it’s going to be subjected to intense scrutiny. It’s an adaptation of a popular Japanese manga that debuted in 2003, which spawned a media empire with live-action features, a television series, a musical, video games, and an anime offering. This universe has been covered numerous times, but not from a Western perspective. Enter director Adam Wingard, fresh off his swing-and-a-miss reimagining of the “Blair Witch” franchise, who’s tasked with making sense of this strange concoction of adolescent woe and pure horror. Wingard has the right idea when it comes to screen style, but for everything that actually happens in the story, there’s not much of a movie beyond basic offerings of gore and demon visitations. As grand as the franchise has become around the world, this “Death Note” doesn’t learn from its mistakes, showing little regard for plot as the picture manufactures disorienting character leaps and a non-ending to reward those patient enough to sit through it.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As music documentaries get more specific with their subject matters, education grows, exposing viewers not just simply to artists, but the worlds they inhabit, the camaraderie they’ve built, and the mysteries they encourage. “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” should be a precise cut into the artery of American music, discovering the origin of national sounds, with most early rock and roll rooted in Native American culture. Directors Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana embark on quite the journey with “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World,” attempting to change the “narrative” in industry credit, but also basking the glow of various First Nation creative triumphs that have largely gone unnoticed. It’s ambitious, and it doesn’t always work, with the helmers biting off more than they can chew with this exploration of achievement. Culture sensitivities are always welcome, but Bainbridge and Maiorana never seem to share a vision for the feature, which largely remains respectful of its interview participants, but fails to build into something profound.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com