With 2021’s “Old,” director M. Night Shyamalan went small, trying to keep making movies during lockdown days by containing the bulk of a story to a single location, and one away from the rest of humanity. The picture was profitable but was devoid of suspense, as Shyamalan stuck with his usual bag of tricks, turning a weird and twisty film into a predictably idiosyncratic one, bringing out the worst from the helmer. “Knock at the Cabin” continues Shyamalan’s small-scale screen adventuring, this time taking on an adaptation of Paul G. Tremblay’s novel, “The Cabin at the End of the World,” which offers a biblical showdown in the middle of the woods, forcing the production to come up with something more than Tremblay’s book to satisfy viewers expecting more bang for their buck, and confident control of screenwriting isn’t Shyamalan’s forte. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2006, writer/director Luc Besson took a break from his usual interests in action and adult-minded fare to create one for the kids. “Arthur and the Invisibles” (titled “Arthur and the Minimoys” in Europe and beyond) didn’t make much of an impact during its initial theatrical release, but Besson was determined to do something with this brand name, which was originally a book and became a mild licensing sensation, with games, toys, and even a theme park ride tasked with expanding the fantasy feature, which was eventually joined by two sequels. If there was “Arthur”-mania, I’m sure most people missed it, but such devoted fandom makes up the plot of “Arthur Malediction,” which transforms the tale of tiny heroes and villains into a bloody slasher film that has very little to do with Besson’s original creation. This is a low-budget genre exercise from director Barthelemy Grossmann, while Besson assumes screenplay duties, looking to have some fun with the world of “Arthur and the Invisibles” without actually doing anything with the premise or characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriters John Glosser, Joe Russo, and Chris LaMont look to explore the ways of crime and family with “The Locksmith,” a noir-ish take on a quicksand-like dilemma facing a broken man dealing with a past filled with guilt. The writing isn’t razor sharp, but it does take care to examine various characters stuck in unwinnable situations, offering some level of attention to personality and developing distress. “The Locksmith” is a smaller film, without major dramatic firepower, but it delivers a proper sense of alarm with the lead character and his bad habits, and director Nicolas Harvard (making his helming debut) keeps things compelling, managing turns of plot and suspenseful confrontations. He also pulls a semi-interesting performance out of Ryan Phillippe, who does surprisingly well with his take on dented nobility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Frank Grillo typically plays tough guys, and he especially likes playing them for writer/director John Swab. “Little Dixie” is their latest collaboration, following the recent “Body Brokers” and “Ida Red,” with Grillo returning to duty as a man driven to collect his daughter from a Mexican cartel kidnapper, with the ransom an especially gruesome demand. “Little Dixie” is deeply violent material from Swab, who’s after a gritty revenge thriller with a more complicated sense of position for the characters, who aren’t simply black and white figures, but stuck in something more dangerous for all. Swab provides some blunt brutality in the endeavor, which takes the shape of a western at times, playing to Grillo’s strengths as a screen brutalizer, but the rest of the picture isn’t as convincing, with Swab handling iffy supporting performances and dramatic asides that tend to distract from the core conflict. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Amazing Maurice” is an adaptation of a 2001 book by author Terry Pratchett, who took inspiration from the “Pied Piper of Hamelin” tale while creating an installment of his “Discworld” literary series. The material makes connections to stories and history, but the movie version of Pratchett’s apparently vast imagination is largely content to be a cartoon, with a somewhat “Shrek”-ian gravitational pull. “The Amazing Maurice” explores a world where a cat and his rat pals are con artists, soon coming up against a greater problem than a simple lack of funds, and screenwriter Terry Rossio (who co-scripted “Shrek,” along with “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and Disney’s “Aladdin”) tends to emphasize the playfulness of it all, balancing British wit with Dreamworks-style cartoon antics. The production is out to entertain audiences young and old, and most of the endeavor is enjoyable, especially when it focuses on animal characters and their fight for survival. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The ongoing study of the COVID-19 pandemic is given a slightly comedic spin in “Who Invited Charlie,” which returns viewers to the early days of panic and confusion, only the intent here is to provide viewers with some warm tingles. Dramatically, it’s an uphill climb for screenwriter Nicholas Schutt, who’s out to have some fun with memories of 2020, when the world went seriously wrong, but the story here isn’t one of sickness, at least not the physical kind. “Who Invited Charlie” aims for traditional emotional targets, examining the pressures of marriage and friendship, keeping things intimate while society is set ablaze. There are laughs to be had in the picture, which tries to keep everything approachable and understood, and there’s also a decent handle on the ways of relationships, with director Xavier Manrique attentive to performances and timing, helping Schutt reach most of his narrative goals. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Deon Taylor’s filmography doesn’t inspire much faith in his abilities, recently helming the stillborn chiller “Fatale,” and the wretched comedy, “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2.” Taylor’s been able to keep his career going with low budgets and minimal expectations, and such career ambition returns in “Fear,” which was filmed over two years ago, looking to capture the dread and paranoia of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many genre pictures these days, Taylor and co-writer John Ferry keep things small and manageable, offering a few characters locked inside a remote location, with the idea here being anxiety, as a group of friends encounter trouble from beyond, with their deepest fears brought to life as they fight to survive encroaching madness. At least that’s what should be happening in “Fear,” but Taylor and Ferry get lost with this impotent chiller, trying to tap into something ill-defined, using all the hacky horror moves they can muster to keep 15 minutes of story going for 90 minutes of tedium. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When “Birdemic: Shock and Terror” was released in 2010, viewers laughed. It was a particularly inept filmmaking endeavor from writer/director James Nguyen, who seemed to have no idea how awful a movie he was making, marching forward with a tale of bird attack in Half Moon Bay, California, utilizing some of the worst helming instincts imaginable. Cult film fans ate it up, and Nguyen returned to the scene of the crime with 2013’s “Birdemic: The Resurrection,” where he achieved some level of self-awareness, trying to recapture the vibe of the first installment while leaning into expanding ridiculousness. Viewers didn’t laugh. Ten years later, Nguyen returns to quite possibly his only source of income with “Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle,” which basically rehashes “Shock and Terror,” only this time around, the helmer is determined to establish the climate change message of the series, asking viewers to sit through an hour(!) of exposition, speeches, and Hitchcock appreciation before the birds return to attack humans. Viewers won’t laugh. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marital blues and relationship concerns are the focus of “Maybe I Do,” which examines communication struggles between people trying to figure out what they want from life and love. Writer/director Michael Jacobs touches on universal feelings of uncertainty and fatigue, offering a dramedy that concentrates on the inner lives of characters and their stunted ways of self-expression. To help the cause, Jacobs has brought in a capable cast willing to explore the itchiness of such doubt, with leads Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy, and Diane Keaton offering committed performances to help Jacobs reach his larger points about the demands of trust. “Maybe I Do” is frequently supported by thespian strength, as Jacobs gets a little too windy with his dialogue exchanges, losing pace as he tries to make something meaningful while the natural flow of the material leads to a potentially farcical conclusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“You People” is a film about race, culture, and love, and it most certainly wants to be a comedy up until the moment it suddenly decides not to be one anymore. The screenplay is credited to Kenya Barris (who also directs) and Jonah Hill, but there’s no evidence in the movie that anything was actually written down. Instead, the picture plays like a long improvisational challenge between actors eager to engage and actors who no longer have much interest in onscreen performance, with the endeavor fighting to achieve some type of shape as it blindly jumps from one scenario to another. “You People” hopes to update the premise of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” but Barris and Hill aren’t ready to think things through with the feature, which offers only limp riffing and dismal formula, assuming some type of importance when it can barely summon up the energy to create a genuine set-up and punchline. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer Will Honley (“Bloodline,” “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions”) has a strong idea for horror in “Blood,” examining the extent of a mother’s love when she’s forced to turn to macabre solutions to solve unreal problems. Unfortunately, Honley only gets as far as a short story with the material, straining to stretch the particulars of the concept to a feature-length run time. Director Brad Anderson (“The Machinist,” “Vanishing on 7th Street”) attempts to conjure a dark mood for the endeavor, which plays with mysterious happenings and grim developments in health and home, but there’s not a lot of dramatic meat on these bones. “Blood” gets pretty far with a first half devoted to grotesque situations and marital hostility, but the production can’t sustain such mystery, eventually slowing down to a full stop as the screenplay loses interest in developing the central crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com