“The Seven Faces of Jane” is an experimental film where eight directors take a crack at following the journey of a single character through various short tales of introspection and loneliness. The production labels this dramatic mission “exquisite corpse,” with the moviemakers unaware of any master plan, keeping their segments free of connective tissue, encouraging a more challenging, artful game of storytelling. “The Seven Faces of Jane” is strange and emotional, taking viewers on a bumpy ride of charged encounters and quiet reflection, with star Gillian Jacobs the through line for the endeavor, tasked with communicating different psychological spaces for the same character, delivering one of the best performances of her career as she helps to guide viewers through the weirdness of dramatic interpretation and fragmented plotting presented in a puzzle that’s not meant to be solved, just appreciated for most of the run time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Sick” takes viewers back to 2020, when the first wave of COVID-19 dominated daily life, turning everything upside down as people struggled to understand what was happening to health and society. That’s enough right there to power a horror movie, and a few productions have attempted to detail pandemic life while we remain in pandemic times, but “Sick” has something slightly different in mind when it comes to manufacturing a fear factor. “Scream” screenwriter Kevin Williamson (joined by Katelyn Crabb, his former personal assistant) looks to revive his slasher interests with the project, blending moves from previous productions with fresh community paranoia, making for a mildly compelling chiller. It’s no major offering of suspense, but director John Hyams (who made a similar endeavor in 2020’s “Alone”) creates a few tense moments of survival while Williamson and Crabb paw lightly at the agony of the last few years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Drop” isn’t really a film, it’s more of a showcase for improvisational interactions among actors tasked with feeling around for moments instead of participating in scenes. It’s a comedy, but not really, with co-writer/director Sarah Adina Smith unsure if she even wants to make a funny movie to begin with, mostly interested in thinly veiled hostilities between people in relationships. The central idea concerns a mistake made by one character that triggers a flood of shame during a destination wedding, and there’s something intriguing about such a disaster. However, “The Drop” doesn’t have shape or timing, with juicy bits of hidden hostilities and silent struggle generally ignored as the ensemble plays make-em-up games that often go on way too long. Smith doesn’t seem too concerned with editing or performance, with the feature in desperate need of something more than just sustained aimlessness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2019, producers attempted to revive a sagging franchise with a remake of “Child’s Play,” endeavoring to offer an updated Chucky for a modern era, turning the “friend to the end” into a high-tech machine, giving the feature a technophobia touch. Viewers largely ignored the effort, but that doesn’t stop “M3GAN” from attempting the same idea, with screenwriter Akeela Cooper fairly shameless about lifting ideas from the world of “Child’s Play,” aiming to bring her version of a killer doll to the screen. Familiarity is everywhere in “M3GAN,” which doesn’t offer much in the way of originality, but it does have tremendous entertainment value at times. Director Gerard Johnstone (“Housebound”) doesn’t go trashy with the film, but he does create an appealing air of unease around the eponymous robot, giving the picture a few suspenseful highlights and an overall tone of danger without slipping into straight horror happenings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Nicolas Cage has played a wide range of characters over the last 40 years, including an ant, a superhero, and, most recently, himself. But the chance to become a gunslinger has largely eluded him all this time, with “The Old Way” gifting the idiosyncratic thespian a chance to play cowboy for a change, with the screenplay by Carl W. Lucas delivering a western tale of revenge, attempting to go deep into the emotional ice of a man who’s spent his life killing others, and doesn’t feel anything about it. “The Old Way” is mostly traditional in plot, arranging a tale of tracking and introspection in the open world, but director Brett Donowho (“Acts of Violence”) is unable to bring much excitement to the endeavor. Bogged down by too much monologuing and underwhelming performances, the feature doesn’t offer genre escapism, dragging along with a tepid take on the weariness of a hardened killer returning to power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“A Man Called Otto” is a remake of a 2015 Swedish picture, “A Man Called Ove,” which was an adaptation of a best-selling 2012 novel by author Fredrik Backman. The material presents a juicy leading role for any actor, and Tom Hanks takes command of the feature, portraying a curmudgeonly man fighting the grieving process while managing the needs of his neighbors. “A Man Called Ove” wasn’t short on crowd-pleasing moments, but the original endeavor managed to find its footing with heavy material, offering an engrossing study of personal connection and pain management. “A Man Called Otto” doesn’t share the same tonal balance, with director Marc Forster (“Christopher Robin,” “Machine Gun Preacher”) fumbling the sincerity of the effort, often too quick to go saccharine with a tale that requires a crustier sense of humanity to fully embrace. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Producer Randall Emmett (with partner George Furla) has been working steadily for years to build a filmography of forgettable VOD/streaming entertainment (with titles such as “Out of Death,” “Survive the Game,” and “Force of Nature”), finding ways to entice established actors to participate in bottom shelf entertainment, including multiple Bruce Willis-starring endeavors. He’s dipped his toe in direction, previously helming 2021’s “Midnight in the Switchgrass” (co-starring Willis), and he returns with “Savage Salvation,” which turns to Robert De Niro to help class up the joint, hiring the legendary thespian to deliver some gravitas in a feature that’s often without dramatic shape or momentum. The screenplay (by Adam Taylor Barker and Chris Sivertson) tries to make a statement about the power of God and the death of America, but such ambition is muted by Emmett, who fails to manage subplots, summon suspense, and rethink a last act that turns a dull movie into a terrible one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Vicky Krieps has become a respected actress in recent years, typically associated with pictures containing intense dramatic content, including her breakthrough role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread.” She provides quality performances with a special focus on psychological disturbances, and “Corsage” seems tailor-made for her talents. The endeavor examines a year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, which is filled with isolating experiences and a slow reduction of coping skills, creating a wide-open space for the production to detail such developing unrest inside a royal setting. However, writer/director Marie Kreutzer doesn’t pay much attention to Elisabeth’s actual life, instead using the woman to inspire a study of all the loneliness, frustration, and resentment that develops when a female is treated as nothing more than an ornament. “Corsage” has potent scenes of neglect, and Krieps does a fine job making the storm raging inside Elisabeth feel as real as possible, with Kreutzer occasionally struggling to make a film as interesting as her star. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Pale Blue Eye” continues writer/director Scott Cooper’s interest in grim tales concerning mysterious monsters of the night. He went genre with 2021’s “Antlers,” and the creative experience must’ve been rewarding, with the helmer back to strange events with his latest endeavor, which is an adaptation of a 2003 Louis Bayard novel. The feature offers a murder mystery to help bring viewers to the story, examining the silent alarm triggered at a military school when one cadet is found murdered in a most gruesome fashion, but there’s more of a character study presented here, with Cooper tracking an unusual partnership at the core of the story while also managing strange discoveries along the way. “The Pale Blue Eye” isn’t a film that’s easily decoded, and Cooper’s permissiveness with some performances is sure to test patience. But there’s a final destination from Bayard worth waiting for, giving Cooper another interesting study of horror as it emerges in many forms. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com