“Back in Action” marks Cameron Diaz’s return to the acting game. She hasn’t been in anything since her self-imposed “retirement” ten years ago, and she didn’t exactly leave on good terms, starring in dismal comedies “Sex Tape” and “The Other Woman,” also participating in a misguided remake of “Annie.” She was stuck in sameness, and chooses formula to refresh her star stature in “Back in Action,” joining a streaming actioner that’s similar to most efforts made for home viewing (including “Trigger Warning,” “The Union,” and “Lift”). Diaz and co-star Jamie Foxx try to look excited throughout the endeavor, but the generic nature of the writing (credited to Brendan O’Brien and Seth Gordon, who also directs) flattens the viewing experience, finding violence too glossy and laughs too limited in this spy game that resembles many other secret agent adventures. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

They’re calling it “The Twisted Childhood Universe.” For creators Rhys Frake-Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey (who’s also credited as Scott Chambers), the TCU is a chance to make a little money in the movie business, quickly building on the ever-so-slight success of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” which was followed by “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2.” Frake-Waterfield and Jeffrey/Chambers are using recent debuts to the public domain to attract attention to terrible, low-budget horror features, going full-gimmick while putting in next to no effort when it comes to conjuring scary business. The boys are back in business in “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare,” turning their attention to the perversion of J.M. Barrie’s famous character and his world, contorting childhood fantasy into a grisly, grimy horror offering that’s incredibly bleak and artless. Jeffrey/Chambers takes the helming credit this time around, and it's difficult to understand what’s being directed in the endeavor, which is entirely aimless and repetitive, unable to summon even cheap scares with its lack of genre imagination. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There’s been plenty of horror centered around the physical changes and fury of the Wolf Man. The creature has been very good to Universal Pictures over the decades, and the studio keeps trying to reintroduce the character to audiences, perhaps most recently in 2010’s big budget “The Wolfman,” while the hairy menace is set to receive his own roller coaster ride at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park, opening this summer. Until such thrills are offered to the public, viewers are going to have to make do with “Wolf Man,” which brings co-writer/director Leigh Whannell’s take on the menace to the big screen. For some viewers, Whannell did wonders reworking “The Invisible Man” for modern audiences, and he tries to do the same with “Wolf Man.” Unfortunately, while the concept behind this rethinking of body horror is sound, the execution is surprisingly lethargic, as Whannell doesn’t exactly want to make a scary movie with the material, but he doesn’t have much else to share in this inert semi-chiller. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Michiel Blanchart makes an impressive helming debut with “Night Call,” which is one of the sharpest thrillers to come around in recent memory. Also handling the screenplay, Blanchart delves into the heat of survival as a man in the wrong place at the wrong time spends one desperate night trying to clear his name as a bag of money goes missing. It’s not an especially fresh concept, but the execution of the endeavor is outstanding, putting the main character on the move as he dashes around Brussels during a hectic evening of social upheaval. “Night Call” doesn’t bite off more than it can chew, remaining focused on the mission at hand, keeping the players on the move while tension increases as a bad situation always manages to get worse. It’s accomplished work from Blanchart, who has something to say with the material, but he’s also committed to the pure cinematic movement of the effort, which is nail-biting stuff. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Spirit carries most of the “One of Them Days” viewing experience. Screenwriter Syreeta Singleton doesn’t have a novel idea for the feature, which follows two friends as they stumble around Los Angeles in need of quick cash, getting into trouble and shenanigans while meeting an assortment of strange people. What Singelton lacks in originality she makes up for in personality and idiosyncrasy, creating a semi-wild journey for the main players as they attempt to handle their business on a particularly painful day. “One of Them Days” is a highly amusing picture with a few laugh-out-loud moments, and while it doesn’t maintain consistency when it comes to insanity, there’s an effort to get a little wild at times, which is most welcome. And weirdness is capably handled by the cast, finding stars Keke Palmer and SZA enjoying sharp chemistry and playfulness in this scrappy endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Michael Polish has been stuck in B-movie mode for quite some time, working with tiny budgets to make action entertainment (“Force of Nature,” “Terror on the Prairie”) and ridiculous dramas (“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”). He’s even tried a faith-based picture on for size (“90 Minutes in Heaven”). Nothing’s caught fire, and his streak of dour, lifeless features is sustained in “Alarum,” which is Polish’s attempt to create a spy game highlighting double-crossing characters, twitchy government figures, and violent encounters. There’s promise in the endeavor’s first act, setting up a plan of action following elusive personalities, but once details start coming into the effort, screenwriter Alexander Vesha gets lost. “Alarum” has sequences of mayhem, but they’re limited, as the offering prefers to deal with conversational and confrontational moments, which Polish can’t turn into riveting cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Something must’ve happened on the set of 2022’s “Orphan: First Kill.” In that movie, stars Julia Stiles and Isabelle Fuhrman were tasked with battling each other as evil deeds were traded between their characters. And now, Stiles is directing “Wish You Were Here,” putting Fuhrman in the lead role of a romantic drama. Clearly the two get along, and their second collaboration is quite different than their first, as Stiles (who co-scripts) oversees an adaptation of a 2017 Renee Carlino novel, which tries to get soft and tragic while following the problems of a woman attempting to find love and a future for herself. “Wish You Were Here” isn’t classified as a YA book, but Stiles tends to treat the material as such, out to explore an overly simplistic relationship between two people who fail to secure much of a connection to begin with. It’s not challenging work, and it lacks essential warmth, as Stiles (making her feature-length helming debut) can’t figure out how to accurately measure Carlino’s melodrama. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While it wasn’t a major cinematic achievement, 2023’s “Bank of Dave” managed to deliver the right amount of feel-good filmmaking when dealing with a potentially depressing subject matter. The feature shared the “true(ish)” tale of Dave Fishwick and his battle against the English banking system, laboring to create a place of financial fairness for those struggling to pull themselves out of a hole. There were mild charms, pleasant performances, and plenty of love for the band Def Leppard. Money was clearly made on the picture, as now there’s “Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger,” which revisits this “true(ish)” realm to detail Dave’s fight against the payday loan industry. Writer Piers Ashworth and director Chris Foggin return to duty for a sequel that’s slightly less appealing than the original, getting a little too grabby when inventing drama for the follow-up. While it remains likable enough, “The Loan Ranger” spends too much time away from its core message on monetary dangers, missing the overall educational value of the 2023 release. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2021, Jean-Claude Van Damme returned to the spotlight in “The Last Mercenary.” The picture offered a brighter side to the action star, allowing him to get a little silly in the French production, creating one of his best performances in years. While not a sequel, “The Gardener” is meant to sustain such goodwill, putting Van Damme back in a comedy from returning director David Charhon, who hopes to score again with a mix of violence and goofiness. Lightning doesn’t strike twice for the production team, which visibly struggles to handle the tone of the effort, periodically unsure just how serious to get with the screenplay as it dips into heavy emotion and dark aggression. “The Gardener” seems like a farce for the taking, but Charhon doesn’t lean into the comedic possibilities of the premise, and the small-scale endeavor just isn’t funny, fumbling gags while Van Damme rises up every now and then to take out bad guys. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1989, there was "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," a modest teen comedy that wasn't expected to do much business, only to become one of the biggest hits of the winter. It offered the ticket-buyers two lovable goons who needed time travel to help finish their history homework and save the world. A sequel arrived in 1991, and "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" was a risk, dialing back the cuddliness for an edgier take on mortality and robotics, sending the characters on a darkly comedic adventure to Heaven and Hell. It was magnificent fun. There was a cartoon, merchandise, and even a cereal, but the Bill & Ted experience was pronounced dead in 1992 (after an unwatchable live-action series rightfully tanked), leaving fans to dream about another lap around the circuits of time. 28 years later, the boys are back with "Bill & Ted Face the Music," and while they're older and not necessarily wiser, the chemistry shared between stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter remains delightful, and screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon actually find a way to shake up this universe for one last round of musical unity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Despite some rough edges, 1989's "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" is generally a sweet and positive tale of teenagers receiving the time-travel education of their lives. It's a brightly performed and superbly crafted comedy, having great fun with dumb guy humor and slapstick mayhem, with stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter perfectly cast as the eponymous adventurers through the Circuits of Time. The movie became an unexpected hit, and work on a sequel soon began. However, instead of a simple rehash where Bill and Ted meet more historical figures in their quest to graduate high school, co-writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson elect to use their follow-up to make perhaps one of the strangest sequels of all time. 1991's "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" has no interest in lining up with franchise expectations, going gonzo with its offering of afterlife survival, evil robots, and an adventure with Death, creating a thrilling study of filmmaking creativity and daredevil storytelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In "China O'Brien," the small town of Beaver Creek was saved due to the efforts of an ex-cop and her pals, who managed to rid the area of criminal influence. However, peace could never last for long, forcing the eponymous character to return to action in "China O'Brien II." Co-writer/director Robert Clouse doesn't have the benefit of hindsight with the sequel, which was shot at the same time as the first "China O'Brien," tasked with creating two defined adventures for star Cynthia Rothrock and her martial art moves. Perhaps a little break between chapters was necessary, as Clouse delivers a similar study of supercop action in "China O'Brien II," only the follow-up is less interested in the needs of pace and a tiny bit sloppier in execution. There's still the central appeal of Rothrock in motion, kicking and punching bad guys, but the helmer almost seems to be winging it at times, which slows the movie to a full stop before physical activity wakes it up again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Robert Clouse is best known for his work on 1973's "Enter the Dragon," helping to bring the martial arts mastery of Bruce Lee to western audiences. He's also the helmer of 1985's "Gymkata," exposing his clumsier side when it comes to selling the power of action cinema. For 1990's "China O'Brien," Clouse seems especially overwhelmed by the assignment (he also claims a screenwriting credit), tasked with making two scrappy fight films (including a 1990 sequel, shot at the same time) that celebrate the physical might of star Cynthia Rothrock, with the vehicle manufactured to break her into the American market. "China O'Brien" is rough around the edges, borderline slapdash at times, but there's Rothrock to hold the endeavor together, providing a greatly entertaining take on western attitudes with this cowboy tale of law and order. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If you’re a fan of 2018’s “Den of Thieves,” it’s been a long wait for a continuation. If you’re not an admirer of the feature, it hasn’t been long enough. Writer/director Christian Gudegast wanted his own version of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” cooking up a heist thriller made with similar steeliness and a lower grade of actors. The first film managed to find an audience, and while it wasn’t a smash hit, apparently there’s enough interest in a follow-up, as “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” sets out to recapture the spirit, length, and machismo of the original endeavor. Gudegast doesn’t push himself here, out to basically remake the first offering with a location change to Europe, aiming to class up the continuation with a flashier sense of crime and planning. “Pantera” has the benefit of some fresh cast members and a new view, but the material doesn’t escalate the franchise, happy to enter recycle mode as it looks to tempt old fans to return to theaters seven years later. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Last St. Patrick’s Day season, Netflix tried to merge the ways of Irish fantasy and the labor of formulaic romantic comedies in “Irish Wish,” giving star Lindsay Lohan a chance to continue her new career path as a holiday movie queen. The picture wasn’t very creative or endearing, and now, for the new year, there’s “Love of the Irish,” finding Hallmark Channel attempting to bring a little warmth to viewers with the endeavor. Star Shenae Grimes-Beech is put behind the wheel of her own rom-com, and writer Justin D. James is taking no chances with the effort, keeping everything perfectly digestible as hearts yearn and culture clashes commence. And yet, once the routine of it all is worked through, there’s a lot to enjoy about the mild feature. Director Ali Liebert delivers enough Irish charm to pass, and there’s a decent level of emotional content once the material settles into character. Also helping the cause is a supporting turn from Moira Kelly, a vastly underutilized actress who scores big here when it comes to sincerity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Eat the Night” has crime story momentum, observing rising tensions between drug pushers looking to protect their territory, but it’s also an interesting study of isolation in the digital age. Co-writer/directors Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (who made their helming debut in 2018’s “Jessica Forever”) attempt to merge more visceral encounters with intimate ones in the endeavor, as it details a collection of characters trying to find some form of stability and love as human connection enters their lives. “Eat the Night” goes a little deeper into private thoughts and feelings, giving it a fascinating understanding of the personalities as they deal with so much in their lives. There’s texture to the writing to sustain the viewing experience, and gaming elements to help create a different appreciation of loneliness, especially when it comes to an end-of-life situation occurring in a virtual world. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Laws of Man” is a low-budget thriller that has an opportunity to reach the dramatic finish line with a relatively simple study of small town corruption exposed to the light of day. In this case, it’s a series of murders happening in a remote area of Utah, putting two U.S. Marshals on the road to figure out what’s going on and apprehend the suspects. Writer/director Phil Blattenberger (“Condor’s Nest,” “Point Man”) maintains straightforward storytelling goals during the first hour of the feature, keeping matters passably interesting as he attempts to deliver complicated character business, mixed with a few moments of violence. “Laws of Man” suddenly loses interest in being approachable in the final act, which transforms an okay pass at games of intimidation into something quite ridiculous, watching Blattenberger bite off more than he can chew when laboring to come up with a knockout climax. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jim Weir and Jack Clark make their feature-length directorial debut with “Birdeater” (credited as “Fax Machine”), and they strive to craft an immediate impression with their work on the endeavor. It’s a story about a gathering, and in movies, such social events are never without incident, open to the behaviors of characters who probably shouldn’t be around one another. In this case, the celebration is a bachelor party (or “Bucks Party”), which is often depicted as a chaotic situation of male bonding and debauchery. “Birdeater” hunts for a different kind of mayhem, turning to drugs and confrontation to whip up tension, following Weir and Clark (who also writes the picture) as they battle to depict a charged occasion populated with characters in various states of mental distress. It’s a recipe for compelling chaos, yet the helmers labor hard to generate an abstract viewing experience, looking for engagement on a visual level, not a dramatic one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Survive” has crab monsters on its poster and predominantly featured in its trailer. It should be noted that these “arthropods from the abyss” are barely found in the picture, mostly regulated to the last act, where the beasties make brief appearances. “Survive” isn’t the disaster movie it initially seems to be, as director Frederic Jardin doesn’t have the budget to go with his depiction of a global catastrophe, instead laboring to launch endurance trials with a few locations and a lot of panicked acting from the cast. “Survive” has the makings for a bleak ride around the end of the world, but it doesn’t have enough excitement and incident to really launch a series of thrills. It feels a little hollow and anticlimactic, and while Jardin is committed to following characters as they experience an unthinkable situation of self-preservation, his sense of upheaval could use some work, as the endeavor is missing a more intense appreciation of global ruin. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2023, actor Donnie Yen made an appearance in “John Wick: Chapter 4,” playing a supporting part in the sequel, which made use of his thespian presence and extensive action cinema training. He was a highlight in the film, and Yen returns to screens in “The Prosecutor,” bringing him to Hong Kong for a feature that tries to be a little of everything. Yen also directs the endeavor, and he’s looking to create a heroic role for himself, portraying a figure of justice who becomes a player in the world of law, unwilling to allow an innocent man to suffer while corruption continues to thrive. “The Prosecutor” is a starring vehicle for Yen, gifting himself opportunities to display his dramatic range with the legal thriller. And there’s furious action to keep the picture enticing to viewers, watching Yen and his stunt team organize some hard-hitting confrontations that successfully spice up the movie. However, these moments of brutality can’t save the offering, which has trouble with pace and exaggeration, creating a labored viewing experience at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com