To many, 1989’s “The Little Mermaid” isn’t just an animated classic from Disney, but something of a religion, with many fans devoting their time to the celebration of Ariel, the sea creature who wanted something more from her life, including love. It’s the picture largely credited with helping the company pull out of a box office tailspin, commencing a run of hits throughout the 1990s that basically followed the formula set by the aquatic musical. And with such extreme popularity comes a live-action remake, with director Rob Marshall coming back to the Disney way after 2018’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” tasked with making the heart and cartoon antics of “The Little Mermaid” into something at least semi-real. And he manages to do just that with the reworking, which uses an extraordinary amount of digital tricks and the raw talent of star Halle Bailey to deliver a satisfying journey into mermaid yearning, sea witch scheming, and oceanic creature goofballery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Nicole Holofcener hasn’t made a movie in five years, last seen on streaming with “The Land of Steady Habits.” She’s a vastly talented filmmaker dealing with the changing tides of the industry, still determined to make smart, real, and hilarious pictures for adults, and she’s one of the best at it. “You Hurt My Feelings” isn’t a grand departure for Holofcener, who returns to the land of troubled characters dealing with communication issues, but she finds fresh dramatic ground to explore in the area of codependency, examining the presence of honesty and all the trouble and weird areas of renewal it inspires. “You Hurt My Feelings” deals with neurotic people in a New York City setting, but sameness isn’t an issue in the feature, which is often elevated by wonderful performances and the deceptive nebulousness of the screenwriting, which ends up a most insightful examination of marital and parental woes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2020’s “Becky” was a low-budget revenge thriller, and probably little was expected of it in terms of financial success. It was a small film, using the strangeness of star Kevin James in a villainous role to attract attention, eventually finding release in June. But this was no ordinary June, but a full COVID-19 pandemic June, with Hollywood refusing to put their product into theaters. This allowed “Becky,” a delightfully hostile, blood-soaked riff on adolescent fury, a chance to be seen, ending up on the top of the box office chart for two weeks thanks to steady drive-in business. Suddenly, this tiny endeavor was a big deal, and now there’s a sequel, with “The Wrath of Becky” looking to return to the teenager and her problems with vile men. Violence returns, as does star Lulu Wilson, who delivers a mighty show of force for the effort, which isn’t quite as lovably feral as its predecessor, but manages to bring the pain as the main character once again faces off against the worst of American society. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Robots” doesn’t have the best timing when it comes to jokes and commentary on American life. Perhaps this is due to its European sensibility, with Danish co-writer/co-director Caspar Christensen (partnering with Anthony Hines, who’s worked extensively with Sacha Baron Cohen) attempting to make a farce about the ways of the U.S.A., trying to fashion some type of satire concerning the mess we’re all in, imagining a future of Trump-ian politics, Tesla-led technological liberations, and human insensitivity. And there’s even a gag centered around a mass shooting. To label “Robots” a comedy is being generous, as it consistently fumbles funny business, with the production stuck in a weird holding pattern of dismal slapstick and misguided performances. It could’ve been a Quentin Dupieux-esque batch of mischief covering sex and fraud, but Christensen and Hines don’t have a vision for cinematic silliness, creating a terrible episode of television instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Calmatic is having a strange year. In January, he tanked a remake of 1990’s “House Party,” forgoing the original picture’s charm to make a comatose comedy, and one few people actually saw. Now Calmatic is remaking 1992’s “White Men Can’t Jump” (mistakenly listed as a 1991 release on the end credits), once again in charge of a ‘90s comedy many people adore, tasked with bringing a modern sensibility to the tale of two men struggling in their personal lives as they turn to street basketball games to make money. Original writer/director Ron Shelton isn’t involved in the project, and stars Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes are long gone, forcing viewers to deal with a decidedly sleepy take on the original material, with writers Kenya Barris and Doug Hall largely eliminating humor to make a more heartfelt movie about the emotionally fragile ways of basketball hustlers and the women who possibly love them. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2021’s “F9,” the “Fast and the Furious” saga managed to drive cars into space. In any other series, this would be the height of absurdity, but this franchise is basically defined by its ridiculousness, hoping to entertain the seemingly indefatigable fanbase with an escalating level of cartoonishness. “Fast X” doesn’t go into orbit, but it does manage to achieve a similar kind of ludicrousness, with director Louis Leterrier (“The Transporter,” “Grimsby”) out to generate a 141-minute-long wall of noise with the feature, keeping the action coming with the latest sequel, which isn’t a complete picture, basically here to assemble the “Fast and the Furious” avengers for one last ride (sure) in 2025. This is a Part 1 of sorts, but fans have already seen most of what “Fast X” has to offer, as the endeavor is basically a recycling facility, delivering the same story beats, same car-fu, and same stakes, only here the mission is to pump up the faithful so they’ll buy another ticket in two years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Joe Lo Truglio is best known as one of the members of the comedy troupe The State, and he recently was part of the ensemble for the hit television show “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” maintaining his interests in the realm of comedy. For his feature-length directorial debut, Lo Truglio (who also scripts) isn’t pursuing funny business with “Outpost,” looking to craft a small-scale psychological horror picture that eventually abandons most of its mental gamesmanship, going for more visceral frights. Lo Truglio keeps it in the family, working with wife Beth Dover in a tale of a shattered woman looking to reclaim her sanity through the safety of extreme isolation, and she’s terrific in the film, giving the production a thoroughly unsettled performance. The rest of “Outpost” is a little uneven, but the helmer captures the mental quake of trauma reasonably well, getting the endeavor on its feet with some degree of success. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Steven Luke really likes war films. In fact, he’s spent the majority of his career in the subgenre, trying to make some low-budget magic happen with grizzled tales of battle including “Operation Seawolf,” “Battle of the Bulge: Winter War,” “The Great War,” and “Wunderland.” It should come as no surprise to learn that Luke’s latest production is yet another war film, with “Come Out Fighting” looking to highlight the challenges of racism and displays of bravery involving black soldiers during World War II. It’s a noble endeavor, but not an especially exciting one, with Luke limited in resources and dramatic power to bring his men-on-a-mission story to full power. It’s not all disappointing, as the feature shows some signs of life, but there’s a better, more stirring effort to be made about the subject, with “Come Out Fighting” in need of budgetary might and a more direct approach to battlefield activity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A game of death is meant to break out in “Assassin Club,” but the film is far more interested in conversations than aggressive actions. A production like this needs a true leader, and there isn’t one in director Camille Delamarre, who’s made some dismal actioners in his career (including “The Transporter Refueled” and “Brick Mansions”), and his streak continues here, with the helmer striving to go full Michael Bay mode with this study of survival involving a noble killer trying to take out colleagues before they end his life. There’s the possibility of an engaging ride as a battle royal begins, but screenwriter Thomas Dunn is married to his twisty plot, keeping the characters conversing and threatening, which severely limits the momentum of the endeavor. “Assassin Club” has trained hitmen on the run to murder one another, crossing the globe to do so, but the whole thing is just impossibly dull. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Crater” isn’t the usual Disney production, with screenwriter John Griffin looking to deliver a more dramatic experience, using the run time to delve deeper into character and handle delicate emotion carefully. It’s a tale of a special journey across dangerous terrain, only here the setting is the moon, watching a collection of sudden lunar explorers deal with a special road trip and all the challenges they encounter along the way. Griffin isn’t looking to comedy to support this examination of young people and their concerns, trying to take these personalities seriously as they deal with friendships, adult realities, and a permanent separation. “Crater” is for patient viewers, and director Kyle Patrick Alvarez (“The Stanford Prison Experiment”) generates a warm sense of bonding and partnership with the space odyssey. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jennifer Lopez spent the last year and change trying to play up her viability as a romantic comedy star, softening for the films “Marry Me” and “Shotgun Wedding,” going matrimonial and silly as a way to preserve her acting career. Now there’s hardness with “The Mother,” which turns Lopez into a killing machine in the tale of an ex-military parent doing whatever she can to protect her daughter from advancing villains. The star has a capable director in Niki Caro, who recently managed big-budget action in 2020’s “Mulan,” and the helmer offers serviceable work here, aiming to create a mash-up of Bourne and Bond with screenwriters Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig. “The Mother” is limited by miscasting and strange storytelling choices, but physical activity is lively in the picture, with Lopez (and her stunt doubles) trying to bring some intensity to the effort, which works best during its most aggressive moments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writers Max Borenstein and Robert Rodriguez (who also directs) hope to tap into the joys of pulp sci-fi novels with “Hypnotic,” which is their version of a Philip K. Dick story, mixed with elements of “Scanners,” “The Matrix,” and Christopher Nolan productions. It’s a noir-ish take on mind-bending happenings, and it initially appears to play directly to Rodriguez’s strengths of slightly silly but kinetic entertainment, giving audiences a ride into a specialized unreality with a detective on the hunt for his missing daughter, discovering a hidden world of mind control. What’s actually presented here is far more sedate, as the writing pays closer attention to the mystery it’s trying to piece together than the thrills and spills it should provide. “Hypnotic” is strangely inert in many ways, occasionally showing signs of life when the movie locks into thriller mode, but these moments are sadly few and far between. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com