Superhero cinema receives a major test of brand recognition with “Blue Beetle,” the latest comic book property to be turned into big-budget entertainment. The character has been around for quite some time (debuting in its initial form in 1939), but Blue Beetle hasn’t been a breakthrough creation for D.C. Comics, retaining more of a cult appreciation for fans of the company and its literary offerings. With most of the top-tier heroes already brought to the screen, it’s time for the JV squad to have a shot, and director Angel Manuel Soto (“Charm City Kings”) certainly understands the challenge. “Blue Beetle” is a lively introduction to the highly specific world of the character, with the screenplay (by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer) aiming to provide a vigorous origin story that’s heavy with cultural representation and action. It’s not a particularly rousing study of empowerment, but the feature offers some personality before the sameness of the subgenre takes over for a numbing finale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s been a strange summer for the R-rated comedy. In June, there was “No Hard Feelings,” a mediocre endeavor that failed to attract much attention from moviegoers. In July, raunchiness continued with “Joy Ride,” another forgettable film that was almost completely ignored by the public. For August, there’s “Strays,” which is the bluest offering yet, presenting a profane take on canine adventures, following a team of pooches who speak with celebrity voices and experience all sorts of sex and bodily fluid events, it’s almost difficult to tell when one ends and another begins. Dan Perrault is credited as the screenwriter, with his presence felt in the vague sense of drama that’s trying to keep the feature together, while the rest of the picture is just animals cursing and exploring the wonders of genitals. “Strays” is a rough sit, trying to be filthy fun without putting in the effort to come up with clever lines, and while director Josh Greenbaum (“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) has a cute cast of highly trained animals, he doesn’t take advantage of potential insanity, remaining witless instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sibling relationships and all the awkwardness and unspoken feelings that go along with them are examined in “The Adults.” Writer/director Dustin Guy Defa doesn’t do the usual routine when it comes to the insecurities of brothers and sisters, offering a more peculiar overview of communication issues and stunted growth. He has a sharp cast in Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, and Sophia Lillis, who inhabit profoundly anxious characters trying to make sense of their connections after many years apart. Defa doesn’t bother with a story, going full steam ahead with these personalities and their journey of behavior, achieving some rather wonderfully bizarre yet entirely universal truths when it comes to the dance of disputes and confession. There’s strangeness to “The Adults,” but also a disturbing truth to much of the movie, with Defa getting into some psychological muck while handling the dark comedy aspects of the writing with skill. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Landscape with Invisible Hand” is a tough title to sell to a broad audience, and the film itself is even stranger. It’s an adaptation of a 2017 novel by M.T. Anderson, with writer/director Corey Finley (“Thoroughbreds,” “Bad Education”) taking on the challenge of bringing such an odd story to the big screen. It’s an alien invasion tale in a way, with Anderson using the premise of visitors from another world to comment on economic disparity and the casual brutality of class divide, all the while delivering a study of an alien society trying to become more human, but only with the worst influences. “Landscape with Invisible Hand” deals with art, family, and society, offering a sharp commentary of American life, and it’s a mostly effective drama, with the helmer working well with Anderson’s details, making for an interesting sit with material that makes sense of the writer’s unusual imagination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The expanse of The Troubles receives a straightforward examination of revenge in “Dead Shot,” which offers a refreshingly merciless approach by co-writers/co-directors Charles and Thomas Guard. The helmers have been away from the business for many years, last seen on screens with the dreadful “The Uninvited” in 2009. The siblings revive their career with a look at rising tensions between IRA members and British Army soldiers, taking to the streets with help from burning feelings of vengeance and furious displays of survival. “Dead Shot” is a tight thriller on a mission to stir up some suspense, and the screenplay is attentive to characters and motivation, creating psychological challenges for the personalities as they deal with so much over a welcomingly short run time (85 minutes). It’s not a grand detailing of the era and its woes, but the Guards wisely get raw with the material, making for a riveting sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Puppy Love” has all the elements of the usual Lifetime Movie routine. It deals with good-looking actors playing neurotic people, offers a plot detailing the development of romantic feelings between opposites, and the story mostly presents easily solvable problems featuring characters who refuse to get out of their own way, despite ample reminders to do so. The big addition here are dogs, with cute animals a common sight in the picture, and there’s a strange creative choice to make such a fluffy concoction into an R-rated comedy, bringing some coarseness to material that’s usually played as easy on the senses as possible. “Puppy Love” is diet cinema at best, but the screenplay (somehow credited to five writers) is rough to endure, supplying dreadful scenes of “charm” and “funny” scenarios, with the endeavor bringing hard bad sitcom energy to a feature-length exercise in pure tedium. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A remote hotel in the dead of winter. Troubled characters dealing with the possible melting of their minds. Strange visions around the property. Murder coming for all. There’s clearly a beloved horror film serving as the inspiration for “Bad Things,” with writer/director Stewart Thorndike looking to revive the chilling ways of isolation and psychological disruption with the effort, taking viewers to a strange getaway for a group of friends who have little respect for one another, facing unexpected finality during what’s meant to be a week of partying. Thorndike doesn’t have a budget, but she has a location, doing okay with the emptiness of the hotel setting and all the secrets it contains. However, a little disturbing behavior doesn’t carry “Bad Things,” which only connects in select moments, while the rest of the endeavor plays like a community theater production of “The Shining.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Stephen Chow is listed as the executive producer of “The Monkey King,” and while his role in the production isn’t clear, his movies are certainly used as an influence on the feature. The helmer of “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle,” Chow’s manic energy is special, with his peculiar sense of humor infused into lovably oddball endeavors that merge big action with broad slapstick. That’s the general idea behind “The Monkey King,” with the animated picture looking to generate a level of hyperactivity while exploring a fantasy mission for a special monkey, his sentient staff, and a young girl trying to save her village from disaster. Director Anthony Stacci (“The Boxtrolls” and “Open Season”) looks to crank up the scale of the effort, taking the tale to Heaven and Hell, and there are plenty of high-flying moments to enjoy here. The aggressive tone of it all starts to grind on the senses in the final act, going overboard with craziness, holding the film back from the rip-roaring good time it wants to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With the James Bond franchise on hiatus, Netflix is certainly trying to fill the void left behind by the superspy franchise. Recent efforts such as “6 Underground” and “The Gray Man” have attempted to provide fans with a similar hit of big action and globetrotting locations, endeavoring to find ways to provide a blockbuster rush for home viewing. “Heart of Stone” is the latest offering of superhuman heroism, with Gal Gadot hired to handle the dangers of the world as a secret agent dealing with a brewing threat involving A.I. and vengeful villains. A lot of the feature resembles last July’s “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” only here the results are more plasticized and less engaging, watching Gadot and plenty of CGI work battle to save the world. “Heart of Stone” is determined to launch a fresh franchise, hoping to appeal to a mass audience with plenty of mayhem and spy happenings, but the screenplay (by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder) isn’t inspired, never showing enough raw energy for this type of cinema, going video game instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been many takes on the 1897 novel “Dracula,” with Bram Stoker’s tale of vampirism and letter-writing launching the imaginations of filmmakers for a century. What’s different about “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is the focus of the adaptation, with the screenplay (by Zak Olkewicz and Bragi Schut Jr.) not reviving the book as a whole, but merely concentrating on a single chapter. It’s a grand embellishment of Dracula’s trip to England, with the material trying to build nearly two hours of movie with the thinnest of inspirations. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (which was shot two years ago) certainly plays like a feature without much to do, pushing director Andre Ovredal to somehow create suspense out of a simple tale of survival, and one with a known conclusion. There’s early hope that the endeavor might somehow explain its very existence during the bloated run time, but Ovredal doesn’t have that kind of touch, sticking with a draggy Hammer Films tone that provides little suspense and zero frights. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Earlier this year, Nintendo caused pandemonium at the box office with the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” And now PlayStation gets their chance to test some brand loyalty at the multiplex. “Gran Turismo” is based on a racing simulator series that debuted in 1997, and it’s still going strong to this day. The dramatic challenge is clear, with screenwriters Jason Hall and Zach Baylin in charge of bringing a story to a game about speed and strategy, finding one in the real-life saga of Jann Mardenborough, who crossed the line between gamer and driver, joining the professionals on the track, trying to achieve an impossible dream. The production goes the “Rocky” route with “Gran Turismo,” which is big on formula and predictability, but also emerges as an entertaining and periodically thrilling feature, with director Neill Blomkamp selling the speed and danger of it all, which is far more inviting than the film’s dips into cliché. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2018’s “Puzzle,” director Marc Turtletaub worked to create a special atmosphere of humanity with a story that’s usually fodder for clichéd entertainment. The film explored the quirky world of competitive puzzling, and while the premise invited a shallow sense of personality, Turtletaub handled it carefully, making for a sensitive picture. “Jules” is about an alien visitation in a rural, older Pennsylvania town, and it’s another tale that seems like a launching point for silly business, or perhaps something along the lines of 1985’s “Cocoon.” Once again, Turtletaub generally avoids the obvious, with “Jules” a deeper examination of aging and loneliness, and it just so happens to have a little blue creature in it. Screenwriter Gavin Steckler pairs real characters with an extraordinary situation, emerging with a thoughtful understanding of needs, blended with some mild comedic beats that connect as intended, sold with terrific performances. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Since the release of “Carrie” in 1976, adaptations of Stephen King novels and short stories have become almost a regular event. Such tales of horror and heartbreak have become catnip to filmmakers, especially those raised on the author’s work in print form, finally receiving a chance to do something with King’s vast imagination. “King on Screen” is a documentary about the writer and his experiences with filmed entertainment, and while he doesn’t appear in interview form, King’s presence is felt throughout the endeavor, which seeks to identify just what about his writing often results in cinematic magic. Director Daphne Baiwir doesn’t provide a comprehensive examination of the subject, but she chooses her topics wisely, delivering an interesting ride back into King Country, sitting down with many of the men responsible for translating these pages into occasionally terrific movies. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While filmmakers continue to search for ways to explore time travel for their screen efforts, “Aporia” hopes to do something a little different when it comes to the manipulation of the past. It’s a time assassin movie, with writer/director Jared Moshe creating a tale about a machine that’s capable of murdering people before they have a chance to ruin lives, following the growing panic of a woman using the device to fix her broken heart, only to encounter all sorts of problems that come with this decision. It’s a strange idea from Moshe, and it’s appropriate to see J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot company listed as co-producers, as it plays into their fascination with time and confusion. “Aporia” isn’t a thriller, as the helmer goes more for the heart with this one, but it builds an interesting world of debate and demand, offering a more grounded fantasy with human concerns. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The future of babymaking is explored in “The Pod Generation,” with writer/director Sophie Barthes (“Cold Souls,” 2014’s “Madame Bovary”) looking to understand the direction of conception. It’s a glimpse of the future, where an A.I. society turns the miracle of birth into a business, forcing two characters to understand what they want from the process as it commences at an alarming speed. Barthes has something to say about gender perspectives when it comes to the parental experience, creating an askew take on the ways of nurturing and responsibility. “The Pod Generation” is an interesting study of choices and regrets, but Barthes doesn’t make a heavy feature, looking to keep things lighter with her cast and an overall mood of playfulness as she probes workplaces, nature, and psychological spaces, providing a layered display of characters in crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Love in Taipei” is an adaptation of a 2020 novel by Abigail Hing Wen, with the book titled “Loveboat, Taipei.” To avoid confusion (and possible copyright entanglements) the production drops the “Loveboat” name, but Wen’s general idea remains, following the adventures of young people trying to make sense of family and feelings while on an eight-week-long retreat in Taiwan. There’s been a rise of “Lifetime 2.0” pictures, with producers going after a younger, streaming-conscious audience with softer, easier tales of attraction and romantic challenges. “Love in Taipei” is no different, playing to a specific demographic with this understanding of pretty people stuck in situations of poor communication. There are no surprises here, but director Arvin Chen handles pleasant locations and capable young actors with skill, blending elements of a tourism video with the ways of heartbreak, landing a vanilla tale of limited dramatic emphasis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com