Atmosphere is of primary concern for “Voice from the Stone.” It’s a gothic chiller that’s bathed in fog, with its eeriness boosted by a remote setting and a cavernous castle-like dwelling, while the actors have been instructed to work in deliberate ways that emphasize the mystery at hand. Director Eric D. Howell certainly has a vision for the picture, which, at times, is quite successful in conjuring tone, achieving his dream to make a Hammer Films-style endeavor for a contemporary audience. Less successful is the story, which touches on issues of grief and loneliness, but also features a pronounced genre pull that tends to value movie moods instead of emotional realities. “Voice from the Stone” isn’t very good, far too messy and unfocused to demand full attention, but when it comes together, it offers a glimpse of what could’ve been. There are simply too few moments of clarity to keep the effort interesting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A few years ago, writer/director Evan Katz made a strong first impression with “Cheap Thrills.” A macabre chiller that toyed magnificently with dark comedy and gruesome events, “Cheap Thrills” provided a vivid introduction to Katz’s particular sense of humor and his preference for screen violence, packaged into a sneaky, alarming indie effort. For his follow-up, Katz remains in the company of awful behavior, joining co-writer Macon Blair for “Small Crimes,” which also seeks to expose awful people engaged in troubling business, but instead of mounting another game of dares, the helmer tries a traditional buffet of corrupt characters and small town murder. Considering the surprises Katz was previously capable of landing, “Small Crimes” is a disappointment, lumbering through a series of uneventful encounters with ill-defined characters, with only periodic bursts of aggression acting as the glue that fails to keep the picture together. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Circle” had a shot at greatness. An adaptation of a 2013 novel by Dave Eggers, the story inspects a modern age of online permission and surveillance, imagining a Google/Facebook-style company as an evil empire trying to take over the world under the guise of honest exposure, gifting users the chance to live an idyllic life free of secrets and solitude. It’s a sinister plot, perhaps already a reflection of the world we live in, but the film version of the Eggers book runs into serious trouble with tone and editorial finesse, almost reaching cartoon extremes with incidents and disasters that should be horrifying, cutting too close to home. Co-writer/director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) graduates to large-scale storytelling with “The Circle,” but the effort slides right out of his hands almost as soon as it begins, with the picture often too clumsy and overcooked to frighten viewers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sleight” is a movie about a magician, but it’s not a movie about magic. Much like the “Now You See Me” films, “Sleight” isn’t dedicated to the craftsmanship of the profession, instead using magic as a means to explore sci-fi ideas while keeping the whole endeavor tethered to the ground with an urban survival story. Co-writer/director J.D. Dillard presents a peculiar blend of the fantastic and the real, but he’s not particularly prepared to do something astonishing with the adventure. The picture bites off more than it can chew as it tries to make sense of its unreality, often turning to cliché and repetition just to fill 90 minutes with limp dramatics and the periodic pop of B-movie invention. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Their Finest” would make a lovely double feature companion for the recent smash hit, “Hidden Figures.” Both movies explore a journey of empowerment, albeit in wildly different eras and settings, but the pictures touch on a primal struggle to be seen and heard in both work and love, showing amazing respect for its leading characters. Where “Hidden Figures” was a decidedly American production, “Their Finest” couldn’t be more British, with director Lone Scherfig managing the sights and sounds of wartime London, with all its sacrifices, destruction, and frustrated citizens. Scherfig is also challenged to balance the needs to comedy with intimate emotional exploration, handling a story that’s wide open for pure silliness, sly wit, and stressed hearts and minds. It’s a blend of pathos and industry satire that works quite well. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Graduation” captures the turmoil of parenthood with startling accuracy. While it’s a drama with a few convenient turns of plot, writer/director Cristian Mungiu remains committed to a realistic portrayal of a father and husband slowly losing what little control he has left over his dismal life, sent on a torturous journey of desperation to a secure something resembling a future for his daughter. Mungiu pinpoints behavioral leaps and emotional strain, highlighting the process of parental sacrifice, which is never as cleanly defined as hoped. “Graduation” doesn’t tear itself apart as it depicts this particular fall from grace. Instead, it chips away at integrity, real and imagined, finding the exact moment when a child recognizes their parent as the human they are, which is devastating for both parties. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

James Gray is a very patient filmmaker, and he doesn’t work often. The helmer of “The Yards,” “The Immigrant,” and “We Own the Night,” Gray is a deliberate craftsman who takes the challenge of dramatic recreation seriously, filling his pictures with a remarkable amount of texture and depth, offering those who choose to take a cinematic journey a chance to get lost in screen particulars. Even when Gray slips up, he does it with style, always sincere and confident in the work. “The Lost City of Z” presents a true test of directorial courage, as it covers adventures into punishing locations, deals with tightly-wound characters not prone to emotional outbursts, and takes on a story that doesn’t exactly have an ending. At least a tidy one. Taking his chance to make a David Lean-style epic, Gray gives everything he has to “The Lost City of Z,” which isn’t an easy sit, but rewards with its attention to detail and fondness for the unknown.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Black Rose” was originally released in Russia in 2014. For reasons not entirely understood, the picture is finally making its way to America in 2017, creating a Netflix-series-worthy mystery of film acquisition and delayed deal-making. Without stars and a pronounced genre hook, “Black Rose” is simply a generic cop thriller in need of something interesting to define itself, coming close with director/star Alexander Nevsky, who positions himself in the Seagal/Van Damme mode of tough guy justice. Sadly, Nevsky is a big guy but doesn’t possess anything more than a scowl, making him a weirdly inert hero for the endeavor, which could use a dose of physical prowess. Someone, somewhere thought it was a good idea to bring the feature west, but there are few clues in the movie as to why this decision was made. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Steven Shainberg doesn’t direct very often, but when he does, he specializes in fetishes, using the screen to explore interests in restraint and discipline. His last picture was 2006’s “Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus,” which explored abnormal body hair growth and artistic curiosity, but Shainberg is best known for 2002’s “Secretary,” which brought the private world of BDSM to art house audiences and Blockbuster Video renters, detailing an intense relationship between a dominant and a submissive in an office environment. Now there’s “Rupture,” which adds to Shainberg’s celebration of kink, but this round is more macabre, highlighting one bound woman’s experience with the limits of fear. “Rupture” is a bizarre effort and not at all satisfying, and as the feature begins to unravel while pursuing impossible visual and storytelling goals, one begins to wonder if the basic atmosphere of suffering isn’t feeding Shainberg’s personal appetites.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Rolfe Kanefsky has specialized in adult entertainment before, helming bluntly tiled pictures like “Sex Files: Alien Erotica” and “Adventures Into the Woods: A Sexy Musical.” He’s no stranger to the world of low-budget filmmaking, especially one that relies on salacious content to attract attention. With “The Black Room,” Kanefsky manages homage to Italian horror of the 1970s, which was never shy about the merging of gore and toplessness, amplifying his celebration of the decade’s delights throughout the feature, working to bend technical limitations into replication. To be fair to Kanefsky, “The Black Room” contains a few surprises, and the female stars of the movie deserve a medal for surviving what looks to be rather unpleasant special effects. However, a few decently raunchy moments don’t support an entire effort, which tends to miss more than hits as Kanefsky piles on the demonic mischief.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The found footage subgenre has been nothing but problematic over the years, inspiring iffy filmmakers to craft their own suspense or horror experiences using amateur actors and quaking camerawork. It seldom works, and even success stories are plagued with nagging issues of logic and creative aspiration. The latest contestant to try for a multiplex miracle is “Phoenix Forgotten,” which boasts producing participation from Ridley Scott, but the rest of the effort is strictly a no-budget lump that does nothing to reinvent found footage or is able to jazz it up with real tension. It’s a “Blair Witch Project” knockoff from co-writer/director Justin Barber, who goes through the motions with limited actors and bruising cinematography, aiming for a blend of investigation and chills from the sci-fi realm. Cruelly, “Phoenix Forgotten” doesn’t inspire awe, but a need to bury deep the whole found footage career plan for inexperienced moviemakers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com