John Sayles hasn’t released a movie since 2013, but writer/director/star Miles Doleac tries to fill in for his absence with “The Hollow.” A slice of southern noir, the picture is similar in many ways to “Lone Star,” Sayles’s 1996 masterpiece of crime and personal confusion, picking apart the ugly details of small town life as buried secrets gradually meet the light of day. Doleac has the right idea with “The Hollow,” but his take on Sayles’s deliberate pace and commitment to deep characterization doesn’t find its footing, resulting in a lethargic effort in desperate need of more judicious editing. Instead of delivering inspired mimicry with an offering filled with dangerous people and dark pasts, the feature only triggers a burning desire to watch “Lone Star” again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The Tim Burton of today isn’t the Tim Burton of yesterday. The once lively helmer of “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Batman” is now a colder craftsman of quirk, turning to “Alice in Wonderland,” “Dark Shadows,” and “Big Eyes” to keep his career eventful, emerging with varied results. “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” seems tailor-made for Burton, presenting a YA playground of the fantastical and the whimsically odd, with plenty of room to explore strange worlds and characters. The Burton of yesterday would’ve swan-dived into the material. The Burton of today can only summon a modicum of interest in what’s intended to be the first step of a franchise, delivering monsters and idiosyncrasy, but only at half-speed. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With a title like “Flock of Dudes,” a promise of an unbearable film is made. It’s not a great name for a movie, but there are few options available to co-writer/director Bob Castrone, who’s attempting to make a picture about the expiration date of broheim culture and still celebrate its highlights. A low-budget comedy starring a host of “hey, it’s that guy from Comedy Central” types, the miracle of “Flock of Dudes” is how appealing it actually is, managing some sense of personal examination before it slips back into silly business. The potential is there for a greater understanding of Peter Pan Syndrome, but Castrone isn’t prepared for the bigger battle, instead creating a pleasant, periodically hilarious feature that pokes fun at twentysomethings facing the pains of arrested development. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Now here’s a film that’s about children, but values intelligence and sophisticated feelings and fears. It’s set in Africa, and while it depicts poverty and hardships, it’s not swallowed whole by scenes of brutal violence, treasuring culture. And it’s about chess, but feels as nail-chewingly suspenseful as any sports drama. “Queen of Katwe” is exceptional work from director Mira Nair, who finds a very special rhythm of life to support the feature’s formula, consistently finding surprises with character and situations that dodge predictability, even when the picture finds itself on familiar terrain. “Queen of Katwe” largely avoids exaggeration to make a grander point of hope and brilliance coming together in one unique girl, and it’s a must-see for those tired of the blockbuster and genre routine, with its human touch powerful and achingly sincere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In their continuing quest to find stories of American heroism and physical endurance to dramatize after scoring a major hit with 2013’s “Lone Survivor,” director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg reunite for “Deepwater Horizon,” which recreates the 2010 drilling rig explosion that created the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Stripped of guns and military hardness, the pairing goes blue collar to successfully oversee a replication of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, dialing down the tiresome theatrics of “Lone Survivor” to play the new picture as respectfully as possible. Explosions are common and the American flag is positioned carefully in frame, but Berg actually manages to smother his battering-ram storytelling skills for a change, keeping “Deepwater Horizon” lean and meaningful, though his predilection towards cartoon filmmaking isn’t completely abandoned. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While a remake of “The Magnificent Seven” rumbles through theaters, “The Dressmaker” proves itself to be a superior western in western in every way. It’s a clever picture (an adaptation of a Rosalie Ham novel) that imagines small town hostilities as genre entanglements, with Kate Winslet starring as most unusual gunslinger, wielding thread and fabric instead of cold steel. While “The Dressmaker” contains a restless, borderline crazed Australian energy, director Jocelyn Moorhouse manages the insanity with skill, conjuring a beguiling mystery with rich characterization, dark humor, and a cheeky love for Leone-esque theatrics while sorting through domestic problems. It’s a strange film, but memorably so. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“A Man Called Ove” threatens to be smothered by a case of the cutes, tracking the growth of a curmudgeon learning to enjoy life once again after the loss of his wife. It has all the ingredients for a flat, benign charmer, but the Swedish production retains enough dark humor to become something else, digging deeper into the titular character to find something more than just episodic mischief. “A Man Called Ove” has its crowd-pleasing moments, but it preserves enough sincerity to capture hearts, with writer/director Hannes Holm (adapting a best-selling novel by Fredrik Backman) balancing tone and incident with confidence, making the picture more of an odyssey into a personal awakening than a sitcom. It’s a strange effort, but often in the best way possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When “Masterminds” opens with a “Based on a True Story” card, it feels like a “Fargo”-esque prank. There’s simply no way any of this nonsense could be based on an actual armored car heist, but, indeed, it’s true, with the production taking inspiration from a 1997 robbery that occurred in North Carolina. Instead of assembling a true crime tale, director Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite,” “Nacho Libre”) bends reality as far as it can go with “Masterminds,” which emphasizes slapstick over suspense, trying to transform a federal offense into a wild farce populated with a cast of comedians. It’s not a great movie, but it’s not without laughs, finding Hess laboring to find an anarchic tone for the picture that delivers mainstream silliness while sticking closely to big screen idiosyncrasy that’s been a staple of his career. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Last Film Festival” is selling itself as the final starring appearance for legendary actor Dennis Hopper, which is really something to celebrate considering the man died in 2010. It’s been a long road to release for the film, and stress shows throughout the effort, which arrives with good intentions but seems unfinished and unfocused. The feature aims to be a satire of the festival experience, taking in the diverse personalities and temperaments of those who participate in such public celebrations of cinema. It’s a topic worthy of an extensive pantsing, playing up anxiety felt by creative forces and snobbery shared by attendees. “The Last Film Festival” doesn’t have the precision to successfully slap around the setting, but it does have Hopper, who’s part of an ensemble trying their best to make sure co-writer/director Linda Yellen has something to work with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

This Halloween season welcomes not one, but two movies centered on the idea of killer clowns hunting innocent people through empty buildings for sport. Rob Zombie’s “31” is scrappy and sicko, playing to the helmer’s tastes in demented characters and ugly violence, presented with a lovingly low-budget style. Tom Nagel’s “ClownTown” is definitely…in focus. A seasonal chiller that’s more of a tribute to slasher cinema than its own creation, the feature falls apart when compared to “31,” but on its own, it serves as something of a directorial exercise for Nagel, who uses the creative opportunity to mastermind stalking sequences and experiment with tone. “ClownTown” isn’t fresh or ghoulishly inviting, easily making it the second best option for those in need of a homicidal clown extravaganza this spooky season. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com