Unicorns. Usually, they’re a force of goodness, or magic. Possibly rainbow power. “Death of a Unicorn” attempts to alter the reputation of the fantasy creatures, turning them into ornery beasts with a taste for blood. Such violence is warranted in the picture, as writer/director Alex Scharfman (making his helming debut) creates plenty of ruthless human behavior to explore, merging the mental illness of greed with a most unexpected discovery in the Canadian wilderness. The writing gets off to a wonderful start, managing distinct characterization and intensifying demands of unicorn energy, setting up something special in a clash between the rich and the horned. “Death of a Unicorn” doesn’t maintain such inspiration for the full viewing experience, but it covers enough of it with a demented sense of humor and lively performances, helping to give the material a little more dramatic weight than many might expect from an offering that initially seems somewhat ridiculous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Inspired by real events,” “The Penguin Lessons” dramatizes the story of educator Tom Michell and his unusual experience in Argentina, where, in 1976, he found a penguin in distress. He managed to clean it up and nurse it back to health, only to find the creature wasn’t interested in leaving his side. The complications of this relationship are perfectly set up for comedy and heartwarming events, and those do occur in the movie. However, “The Penguin Lessons” tries to be a little more than simple comfort food cinema, as the tale also takes place during a military coup in the country, greatly complicating relationships in the story, scripted by Jeff Pope (“The Lost King,” “Philomena,” “Stan & Ollie). The film carries an uneven tonality at times, as director Peter Cattaneo (“The Full Monty,” “The Rocker”) battles to balance material that’s periodically all over the place, but the feature stays engaging, hitting beats of sweetness and sadness. And star Steve Coogan finds a few layers of character to play to prevent the picture from becoming a Disney-style examination of an unlikely friendship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1999, director Milos Forman attempted to replicate the Andy Kaufman Experience in “Man on the Moon,” and Jim Carrey set out to fully inhabit the comedian, trying to communicate a strange life to a mass audience. The movie didn’t attract too much attention at the box office, and it came up short when attempting to understand what made Kaufman tick, which, admittedly, is no small feat. “Thank You Very Much” is a documentary from Alex Braverman (“Waffles + Mochi,” “The Mind of a Chef”), and he’s much more direct in his pursuit of whatever truth there is to pull from Kaufman’s legacy. “Thank You Very Much” is a refreshingly insightful look at the performer’s creative origins and connections, giving fans and newcomers a greater understanding of his professional and personal drive to be a bizarre as humanly possible. Kaufman-y shenanigans aren’t present here, as Braverman dares to add a human side to the subjects clouded ways, making for a fascinating viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dick Miller (who passed away in 2019) is an actor. To some, he's the guy who, for decades, showed up in seemingly everything, unafraid to take day- player parts in B-movies of all shapes and sizes. More educated film fans largely treat Miller as a hero, celebrating the longevity and tenacity of his career, which has carried on for over 60 years, amassing quite a resume of appearances in all sorts of endeavors. Director Elijah Drenner looks to celebrate such a life with "That Guy Dick Miller," a 2014 documentary examining the unassuming ways of the subject and his "Zelig"-like magic when it comes to Hollywood omnipresence. Drenner has access to Miller and his wife, Lainie, and they're joined by a wide range of admirers, with the interviewees sharing their adoration for the thespian and his industry history. "That Guy Dick Miller" isn't too big on the fine details of Miller's private life, but it delivers a quickly paced overview of an amazing career that's managed to endure and delight generations of viewers and filmmakers. Not too shabby for a scrappy boy from the Bronx. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Zombie cinema is given a South American twist in 2000's "Flesh Freaks," a shot-on-video production from writer/director/star Conall Pendergast. The helmer certainly attempts to jazz up the proceedings, turning a monster breakout into a series of scenes with swirling camerawork and heavy editing, laboring to make the smallness of the endeavor at least look exciting. The effort is noted, but there's not much in the way of thrilling stuff in the feature, as Pendergast doesn't have enough material to fill his picture, resorting to plenty of padding, which is numbing to watch. When scary stuff actually does occur, "Flesh Freaks" shows off its love of gross-out moments, but it's not enough to sustain the entire movie, as tedium wins in the end. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Oddity" is a horror movie released during a year that's filled with spooky stories from a variety of filmmakers and their specific interests in delivering slow-burn creep to the masses. Writer/director Damian McCarthy returns to the tried and true approach of ghostly experiences and unstable people in the effort, which explores the death of a woman and the different ways her loved ones react to her sudden loss, turning to the unexplainable for answers. McCarthy gets farther than most with his understanding of screen tension, building a suspenseful reunion situation for the characters, while adding touches of the supernatural to keep the whole thing periodically surprising. "Oddity" is strong work from the helmer, who conjures mood and does well with mystery, generating an engrossing sit involving uneasy relationships and the addition of dark magic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2023's "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" was a micro-budgeted production that managed to capture headlines due to its use of author A.A. Milne's beloved characters, transferring gentle personalities into the realm of slasher cinema. The idea of the feature went viral, inspiring ticket-buyers to see what writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield was going to do with his button-pushing concept. And then viewers were confronted with the punishing reality of Frake-Waterfield's amateur filmmaking skills and lack of imagination, turning "Blood and Honey" into one of the worst movies of the year. Alas, money was made, and Frake-Waterfield is right back with "Blood and Honey 2," which does next to nothing to improve on the viewing experience. In reality, things are just as awful in the sequel, which should be boosted by the power of hindsight and newfound budgetary might, but it mostly remains an excruciatingly dull, dreadfully acted, and poorly written follow-up that's really no different than what came before. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Barry Levinson has been in a career freefall for quite some time, possibly dating back to 1998’s “Sphere” if you want to be completely ruthless about it (weirdly, he’s done his best work on cable productions). And yet, he continues to find employment, often on movies few people see, including 2015’s “Rock the Kasbah” and 2021’s “The Survivor.” Levinson returns once again with “The Alto Knights,” out to craft a very Martin Scorsese-esque tale of aging gangsters with help from “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” and “The Irishman” screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, and one that’s not shy to rehash elements from those pictures. “The Alto Knights” hopes to be another epic of crime bosses and their anxieties, putting Pileggi back to work cooking up allegiances and double-crosses, shoveling in all the wise guy conversations he possibly can, likely reaching a level of torture for some viewers. Levinson has been here before, dealing with period ornamentation (“Diner,” “Tin Men,” “Avalon”) and gangster cinema (“Bugsy”), but he has little control over this offering, which is too meandering to matter, unable to find any peaks of drama as it stumbles from one scene to the next. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Just four months ago, Tyler Perry tried for some award season glory and dramatic resonance with “The Six Triple Eight,” a World War II story meant to celebrate an important achievement in history. The picture managed to score a single Academy Award nomination, but the movie wasn’t far from the usual in Perry’s oeuvre of melodramatic, simplistic offerings. He’s right back to his old ways in “Duplicity,” an especially budget-conscious mystery that’s daring to blend the crisis issue of police shootings with relationship troubles facing overly combative characters. Perry’s back in soap opera mode in the endeavor, giving the effort a healthy dose of ridiculousness to keep viewers interested. And he’s especially sloppy assembling the details of the feature, skipping critical questions of evidence and characterization to plow ahead as a tedious detective story with an absurd payoff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2012, there were dueling movies about the world of “Snow White.” Both “Mirror Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” attempted to do something different with the source material, getting away from the Disneyfied take usual associated with the brand. Now the Mouse House tries their luck bringing the tale to modern audiences, turning “Snow White” into a live-action adaptation of the 1937 Walt Disney production that basically created the business of feature-length animated entertainment. Director Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its sequel) is put in charge of the reworking, which takes the fairy tale atmosphere of the original offering and turns it into a “Frozen”-style musical, merging the ways of storybook fantasy with Broadway-like song and dance numbers. “Snow White” has its highlights, and remains an entertaining picture, led in part by Rachel Zegler’s impressively sincere performance as the eponymous character, which gives a sometimes slack offering real heart, backed by a powerful voice. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Locked” is a remake of a 2019 Spanish film, “4x4,” with screenwriter Michael Arlen Ross (“Turistas,” “The Throwaways”) attempting to bring a little North American energy to the thriller. It’s a story of imprisonment, as a young criminal unable to pull himself out of trouble elects to steal an unattended SUV, only to face a vehicle owner completely focused on making the intruder suffer for his crime. It’s close-quarters panic handed to director David Yarovesky, who previously attempted to explore the darker side of a superhero origin story in 2019’s “Brightburn.” The helmer has better luck for this round of torment, as “Locked” manages to remain tense and a little ugly for its first two acts, exploring the central fight for survival as it becomes a battle of perspectives. The conclusion doesn’t entirely work, but suspense is there for the most part, putting viewers in the middle of a bad situation that delivers a few cinematic chills. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Assessment” is a film about the future. As with most pictures looking to the world of tomorrow, things aren’t great, and screenwriters Dave Thomas, Nell Garfath-Cox, and John Donnelly maintain a dystopian view with the material, which returns viewers to a ruined Earth filled with weary, detached citizens. The difference here is a question of continuation, as the tale examines the arduous process of becoming a parent when fertility is no longer an option. “The Assessment” spends most of its run time as a psychological test, and director Fleur Fortune (a music video veteran) does a capable job generating intense points of pressure on the characters as they push to realize a dream. What this hope actually is makes up the real mystery of “The Assessment,” which contains a strange power for the most part, getting into the struggles of responsibility and the nerve pinch of doubt, delivering a mostly successful behavioral puzzle. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Elijah Bynum follows up his little-seen 2017 picture, “Hot Summer Nights” (starring a semi-unknown Timothee Chalamet), with “Magazine Dreams,” which is bound to achieve a lot of attention for the filmmaker, one way or another. It’s certainly a more accomplished feature, as the helmer deeply inhales “Taxi Driver” fumes to inspire this understanding of obsession and mental illness. It’s a rough journey for the main character, following an aspiring bodybuilder as he gradually detaches from reality while pursuing a vision of fame and respect, maintaining a tenuous grasp on self-control. It’s a heavy viewing experience that’s not for everyone, but those more interested in intense psychological studies are sure to embrace the slow ride to explosion presented here. It’s also hard to deny the unique presence of star Jonathan Majors, who hits a few frightening beats of intimidation in his fully committed performance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Flying Lotus is a musician adding the world of filmmaking to his artistic interests. He previously directed the little-seen “Kuso,” collaborated with the late, great David Lynch on a music video, and added a segment for 2022’s “V/H/S/99.” Following his genre interests, Lotus goes full-on horror in “Ash,” which takes inspiration from 1979’s “Alien,” examining the disaster of a space exploration team trying to understand life and dangers on an unknown planet. Screenwriter Jonni Remmler provides a map of confusion to follow, keeping things somewhat mysterious and incredibly violent at times. However, “Ash” isn’t driven by plot, which struggles with formula, instead finding life through its visual presentation. Lotus serves up a satisfactory nightmare with the endeavor, and it intermittently scores through heavy atmosphere and vicious encounters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filmmaking ambition is a hard thing to find these days. Storytelling formula usually wins out in the end, and viewers tend to respond to such familiarity, as it provides comfort and, hopefully, a good time at the theater. Writer/director Geremy Jasper attempt to mount a major musical event in “O’Dessa,” which is his follow-up to the 2017 hit (and box office bomb), “Patti Cakes.” The helmer remains in a musical mood with his latest effort, detailing a ruinous future world of digital distraction facing the might of a young woman and her uniquely powerful voice. The film is a fantasy, and while Jasper doesn’t have access to a significant budget to realize his setting, he does have a strange imagination for the endeavor. It’s not entirely successful as a drama, but “O’Dessa” contains some wild world-building and Tomorrowland touches, joined by an excellent soundtrack, which turns this deeply flawed offering into “The Apple” for Generation Z. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“High Ground” is the seventh picture directed by James Bamford to be released since 2024. He’s a quantity over quality type of filmmaker, tearing through B-movie productions, with his last endeavor, the dreadful “Jade,” briefly in theaters just one month ago. He’s not a helmer too concerned with creativity and surprise, and he issues another wheezy actioner in “High Ground,” which is actually more of a family tale than anything offering suspense. Screenwriter John Thaddeus creates the simplest of stories to follow, slapping on as much formula as possible to help the material cross the finish line, leaving behind some potential for craziness to occur in this examination of a small town crisis. Bamford’s here to supply stunt work, which isn’t inspired in the feature. In fact, “High Ground” doesn’t even visit violence until well past its midway point, leaving excitement behind to deal with uninteresting characters and their half-realized emotional issues. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Maria Schneider was an actress for nearly three decades (she passed away in 2011), playing a number of different roles in productions of various quality. However, she’s best known for her part in 1972’s “Last Tango in Paris,” an erotic drama that attracted a lot of attention when it was initially released and, amazingly, still does to this day. “Being Maria” isn’t a bio-pic, but an attempt to understand the subject during a few tumultuous stretches in her life, as co-writer/director Jessica Palud endeavors to illuminate violations of trust and mounting frustrations that added turns to Schneider’s life, and not always in the right direction. There’s only a surface appreciation of familial and professional challenges in “Being Maria,” but Palud finds ways to connect the dots of disappointment, making for a decent examination of struggle as Schneider battles to maintain reputation and emotional stability. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1973's "Hollywood 90028" (a.k.a. "Twisted Throats" and "Hollywood Hillside Strangler") is caught between its exploitation interests and its artful intent. It's an odd one from director Christina Hornisher, who doesn't seem particularly interested in making a serial killer story, aiming to avoid the grim details of horror while she inspects a different tale of a man who can't control his rage issues around women. "Hollywood 90028" isn't really a crime story, showing more confidence as a mood piece with great views of Los Angeles in the 1970s. Hornisher works with her locations to generate some atmosphere, while her tale hits a few beats of salaciousness before it returns to mildly engaging relationship woes and assorted professional and personal points of pressure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Mike Mendez made his filmmaking debut with 1996's "Killers," aiming to cash in on the world of tabloid crime and the success of "Natural Born Killers" with an offering of tremendous violence. He drowned the endeavor in visual overkill and lousy performances, but his love for genre entertainment remained unsullied, returning to worlds of horror and comedy with 2000's "The Convent" (there was a 1997 compilation picture, "Bimbo Movie Bash," but I doubt Mendez wants to discuss that one). A blend of slapstick and 1985's "Demons," "The Convent" tries very hard to be big fun with gory events, and screenwriter Chaton Anderson is gunning to make something approachable with the broadest of broad characters and general goofiness when the story isn't focused on the destruction of humans and monsters. Mendez plays into visual trends of the day, striving to create nightmare visuals for a feature that's not committed to being scary. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2018, writer/director Tilman Singer received the career boost of a lifetime when his thesis film, "Luz," was picked up for distribution. It was a small- scale brain-bleeder with some effective scenes, but it clearly lacked dramatic meat, becoming more appreciable for its style and mood. Singer returns with "Cuckoo," and he's a little more prepared to deliver a full story for viewers, at least ones willing to follow along with the overall strangeness and initial stillness of the endeavor. Much like "Luz," "Cuckoo" is a bit out there and in no hurry to get where it's going, but the destination is intriguing, and Tillman does well with atmosphere, providing a few artfully crafted freak-out sequences. He also has a cast invested in exploring physical and mental distress, with actress Hunter Schafer going full-body with her depiction of a young character experiencing a complete dismantling of her reality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com