• 4K UHD Review – Tank Girl

    Hey, they tried. Inhaling the four winds of alternative scene power in the mid-1990s, the producers of 1995’s “Tank Girl” had a vision to bring a spunky comic book series to the big screen. They loaded it up with attitude, visual mischief, and an alt-rock soundtrack, putting in a considerable effort to make sure the literary world translated to film. There are impressive technical achievements in the movie, which retains some scale and makeup wizardry. However, sitting through “Tank Girl” is another story, as director Rachael Talalay (“Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare,” “Ghost in the Machine”) fails to make this visit to a post-apocalyptic world anything but annoying, unwilling to corral star Lori Petty’s insufferable performance as the eponymous wiseacre. Editing is not a friend to the endeavor, with the feature working extremely hard to sell the main character as a delight. Perhaps she was on the page, but the cinematic version is difficult to endure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Ghostkeeper

    Eager to join the horror cinema gold rush of the late-1970s, co-writer/director James Makichuk tries his luck with absolute fright in 1982’s “Ghostkeeper,” only he forgets to bring absolute fright. The endeavor (co-scripted by Doug MacLeod) intends to explore madness and monsters, doing so around a Canadian lodge located in the middle of nowhere. It’s the stuff of suspense and mystery, but “Ghostkeeper” doesn’t contain any tension, with Makichuk clearly struggling to manage the basics in genre entertainment. There’s a wintry location and some mysterious happenings going on around a seemingly deserted building, but the film just sits around for the most part, showing little enthusiasm for delivering chills, while the story simply never arrives. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – The Snow Creature

    On the hunt for new terrors to exploit, producers turn to the horrors of the Yeti to inspire a B-movie experience that’s much like other B-movie experiences. 1954’s “The Snow Creature” is a family affair, with director W. Lee Wilder (older brother to Billy Wilder) and his son, screenwriter Myles Wilder, aiming to utilize an exotic Himalayan setting to launch an examination of exploration and hunting, sold with all the excitement of watching paint dry. “The Snow Creature” is a quickie production with an iffy central figure of menace, while the Wilders aren’t all that interested in generating excitement with the offering. The film does have a few moments of conflict involving a beast in a loose-fitting costume, but the rest of the effort is mostly asleep. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Office Romance

    Last year, Jennifer Lopez attempted to shake up her career some, starring in the prestige musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Unfortunately for the actress, almost nobody saw the feature, pushing her back to the comfort of a romantic comedy, but it’s never quite clear how sincere “Office Romance” wants to be. Screenwriters Joe Kelly and Brett Goldstein (who also co-stars) and director Ol Parker (“Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again,” “Ticket to Paradise”) aren’t pursuing something extremely sweet with the offering, which deals with the tingles of new love, but primarily plays like a Farrelly Brothers movie, complete with coarse language, accidental erections, and fierce commitment to tired formula to help keep the film on course. “Office Romance” is a bizarre viewing experience, watching Parker and the writing visit extremes to secure laughs, weirdly forgetting gentleness is usually the key to a successful rom-com. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Scary Movie (2026)

    2000’s “Scary Movie” was a response to the red-hot trend of horror movies released after the unexpected success of 1996’s “Scream.” It was a parody overseen by the Wayans Family, with director Keenan Ivory Wayans previously enjoying a tremendous creative success with his hilarious Blaxploitation send up, 1988’s “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” “Scary Movie” was extremely crude, but it hit at the right time, delighting young audiences previously subjected to four years of slashers and spooky films. The wild comedy served as a release for viewers. Wayans Inc. moved on to “Scary Movie 2” before being removed from the franchise, which carried on for three more chapters before dying out in 2013. Marlon Wayans tried to keep the fires lit, repeating “Scary Movie” formula for a series of horrendous offerings, including “A Haunted House” and “Fifty Shades of Black,” and now he’s back with his frequent collaborator, director Michael Tiddes, for, well, “Scary Movie,” which seeks to return the Wayans Way to the franchise after a 25-year-long break. And what they ultimately deliver is a dreadful reboot that stumbles through tired, miserable ideas for comedy with no invention and little enthusiasm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Hungry

    Movies about dangerous hippo attacks aren’t common. One could go back to 1995’s “Congo” for some elaborate river mayhem, and a few “Jumanji” pictures have dealt with the threat, but filmmakers don’t usually turn to hippos for rampaging action. With the oversaturation of shark attack cinema, writer/director James Nunn turns to hippo horrors for “Hungry,” which provides an unusual screen threat, but largely resembles every movie made about aquatic dangers. The endeavor is no “Jaws,” and it’s disappointing to watch Nunn keep his distance from a more active viewing experience, spending a lot of time on uninteresting characters while nightmare situations of survival are few and far between. “Hungry” has a few technical achievements to keep it involving, but the overall lethargy of the offering is surprising to behold, with hippo attacks not prioritized by the production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Masters of the Universe (2026)

    Producers tried to make sense of “Masters of the Universe” once before. The extraordinarily popular toyline/cartoon show was previously brought to the big screen in a 1987 film starring Dolph Lungren as He-Man. Unfortunately, it was a Cannon Films production, which means the budget was tight for an epic fantasy feature, and the production team didn’t have a firm grasp on the appeal of the source material. He-Man returns in 2026 with a whole bunch of money to help director Travis Knight (who did a wonderful job with another toy-central tale in 2018’s “Bumblebee”) realize Eternian conflict for several generations of fans and newcomers, with the new “Masters of the Universe” a spirited adaptation of the brand, bringing some much needed bigness to the endeavor. It’s a fun picture with several tonal and dramatic issues, but Knight understands how to translate a world of brawn, battles, and campiness, generating a decent cinematic ride with a newly self-aware He-Man. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Carolina Caroline

    Director Adam Carter Rehmeier impressed some with his 2022 film, “Dinner in America,” and he delivered more confident work in 2024’s “Snack Shack,” a funky little comedy that deserved a much bigger audience. Rehmeier returns with “Carolina Caroline,” generating an outlaw mood with the crime picture, which is scripted by Tom Dean, who seeks to power the endeavor on heat and danger. Rehmeier gets the assignment, looking to remain as close to stars Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner as possible, out to conjure chemistry and delve into the stickiness of a bad situation as the lead characters get caught up in criminal activity while speeding through the American south, on the hunt for monetary liberation and personal freedom. “Carolina Caroline” isn’t stunning work, but Rehmeier catches the right mood for the movie, playing with elements of attraction and danger as he tracks an unstable relationship. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Seven Snipers

    “Seven Snipers” is an Australian production looking to keep budgetary demands down. The cast is limited to a handful of actors, and the story takes place around a single location, maintaining minimal complication. Screenwriter Andrew O’Keefe is challenged to do something suspenseful with the low budget endeavor, and he manages to summon at least a bit of tension throughout the picture, which concerns an ex-military mother trying to protect her daughter when an old foe returns to kill her. Director Sandra Sciberras has the advantage of a wide open world to play with, generating a decent level of danger in the feature, which has its surges of confrontation. “Seven Snipers” is passably engrossing, especially in its early scenes, where O’Keefe toys with the mysteries of character connections, and Sciberras creates tense moments of danger. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Chum

    “Chum” takes viewers back into the depths, where a lot of movies have been recently. Shark attack cinema reemerges, and soon after the release of “Deep Water” and “Thrash,” asking viewers to return to dangerous waters with an endeavor that doesn’t have all that strong of a cast and a severely restrained budget. Co-writer/director Jonathan Zuck is handed limited resources, attempting to make a horror film that works with oceanic predators and human ones, intending to give the material a few turns and moments of tension as the characters struggle to find their way out of a dire situation. “Chum” has its central idea, which isn’t a bad one, but Zuck’s execution leaves much to be desired. The offering is often stuck with sludgy character activity and lackluster technical credits, helping to mute whatever moments of intensity the production actually manages to create. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Last Whale Singer

    Most animated films follow formula, and “The Last Whale Singer” is no different. It’s a mixture of many other pictures, primarily following story and character elements from 1994’s “The Lion King,” leaving it up to writer/director Reza Memari to find a way to make a movie that’s engaging and lively, to help distance itself from its inherent derivativeness. “The Last Whale Singer” manages to slightly overcome its dramatic creakiness, providing younger viewers with a colorful study of oceanic adventuring that blends fantasy entanglements with real-world environmental horrors. Memari remains gentle with the endeavor, and he strives to do something within his budget animation parameters, generating an enjoyable feature that’s intermittently inspired and big-hearted, even getting semi-epic at times as the production manufactures a risky journey for the main characters and their hope to learn more about Earthly depths. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Signal One

    The mysteries of the universe are endlessly discussed in “Signal One,” a film that’s mostly tell and very little show. Writer/director Jonathan Sobol (“The Art of the Steal,” “The Padre”) doesn’t have a large budget to examine the presence of alien life, but he does have a screenplay that’s almost entirely filled with debates, questions, and the decoding of potential outcomes involving a collection of brilliant minds inching closer to the presence of extraterrestrial life. Sobol looks to 1997’s “Contact” as inspiration for the picture, getting close to manufacturing an unofficial remake with the endeavor, which also plays with emotionally scarred people figuring out communication from alien life. “Signal One” hopes to put on a show of intellectuals putting a puzzle of possibility together, but the helmer doesn’t provide a cinematic experience, going limp with an overly talky movie that doesn’t reach the level of awe Sobol hopes to achieve. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – House Party

    1990’s “House Party” is the directorial debut for Reginald Hudlin, and he also handles scripting duties, adapting his 1983 short film. And what an amazing first movie it is, with Hudlin turning a traditional teen mischief idea into a celebration of character, comedy, and dancing, becoming the rare study of adolescent antics that achieves a joyful quality. The helmer oversees a gifted cast of young talent and creates a boisterous mood of celebration and camaraderie, sold with attention to wackiness and lustfulness that makes the feature all the more fun. “House Party” maintains amazing screen energy and playfulness, which aids Hudlin as he deals with issues of the day and inspects culture in a major way, creating one of the best pictures of its release year. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – New Rose Hotel

    “New Rose Hotel” began life as a short story from author William Gibson, originally created for Omni Magazine in 1984. The tale tracked the experiences of two corporate espionage agents handling their latest case, and Gibson offered nine pages of drama and technology to follow. Nine pages. Co-writer/director Abel Ferrara attempts to find 90 minutes of movie in those nine pages, working with co-writer Chris Zois to embellish and amplify Gibson’s small idea. “New Rose Hotel” certainly plays like an adaptation nightmare, watching the production furiously taffy pull everything the author had to offer to keep going, while Ferrara often gives up on storytelling all together, adding scenes of arguing, improvisation, and sex to supply something for viewers to sit down with. The endeavor is an extraordinary test of patience, following Ferrara’s attempt to turn a study of corporate rule into cinematic jazz, and all the instruments are out of tune. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – The House From…

    As the famous line of dialogue from “The Wizard of Oz” goes, “There’s no place like home.” That is, unless your dwelling also appeared in a popular movie or television show, resulting in a mass of gawkers and tourists looking to stand by your front door, run around the backyard, and peek inside your windows. Suddenly, the place begins to feel like a prison. Director Tommy Avallone looks into the realities of such living spaces in “The House From…” (narrated by Jason Lee), endeavoring to understand the popularity of these locations and the experiences shared from the homeowners, who are left to deal with so much, often without fully understanding why they’ve been drafted into duty as a pop culture gatekeeper. Avallone plays the feature brightly but also fairly, examining both sides of the tourism situation, visiting numerous properties who’ve either submitted to the ways of fandom or thrown up gates to keep trespassers out. “The House From…” is extremely fun for the most part, as Avallone maintains a snappy pace and sense of humor about the subject, also acquiring access to locations most fanatics could only dream of visiting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Icefall

    The film industry has been trying to turn actor Joel Kinnaman into an action star over the last decade, and nothing’s really taken hold. His last major starring effort was 2023’s “Silent Night,” a John Woo-directed offering of gunplay and explosions that played to empty theaters, but the system isn’t done with Kinnaman yet. He returns to the ways of screen survival in “Icefall,” which is kinda, sorta similar to the plot of 1993’s “Cliffhanger,” but screenwriters George Mahaffey and Steve Isles don’t have the budget to create an epic understanding of criminal activity and high-flying adventure. They simply take the missing cases of money idea and try to create a more reasonably priced actioner featuring a hunt for cash in the cold extremes of Montana. “Icefall” has the ingredients to be junky fun, but director Stefan Ruzowitzky can’t get momentum going, creating a picture that lacks a surprising amount of excitement and danger. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Backrooms

    “Backrooms” originated on the internet, with a young fanbase taking a simple photo of an empty commercial space and expanding it into a whole universe of “creepypasta.” Filmmaker Kane Parsons managed to popularize it, exploring the dead zone through multiple YouTube videos which amassed a large viewership. Parsons graduates to big screen moviemaking with a new pass at his original online creation, with “Backrooms” giving the helmer a budget and actors to figure out how to restart the engine of the concept, which now has studio backing. There’s a striking visual world to explore in the film, as Parsons gets imaginative when generating a claustrophobic realm of mazes and monsters. Storytelling isn’t quite as compelling in the offering, which revels in enigmatic developments without inviting viewers to help piece together what becomes a not too terribly interesting puzzle of madness and trauma. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Propeller One-Way Night Coach

    John Travolta has been an actor for over 50 years. He’s had some wild career highs and lows over the decades, but now he’s finally ready to step behind the camera for the very first time. “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is an adaptation of Travolta’s 1997 “children’s book,” which attempted to offer a whimsical look at a child’s experience with air travel and his mother in 1962. It was a nostalgic examination of golden aviation years, and now it’s a movie, with Travolta handling script and directorial duties, out to bring to life a business that’s experienced tremendous service decline since its heyday. “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is more of a short film than a feature (running 60 minutes long), but such brevity is actually a blessing, as Travolta’s push to make these memories and experiences charming is difficult to process, and his insistence that the tale is intended for family audiences is downright nuts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Breadwinner

    1983’s “Mr. Mom” explored the changing dynamics of household leadership during a time when more women were joining the workforce. It was pleasant, good-natured silly business from screenwriter John Hughes, who exaggerated the evolution of men in parental mode, having fun with the concept of a father tasked with taking care of domestic duties and the raising of children while his wife tended to her corporate job. Again, 1983. In 2026, comedian Nate Bargatze attempts to revive the same plot for “The Breadwinner,” taking starring and co-writing duties for a picture that doesn’t appear to understand the changing ways of domestic balance, charging ahead as a dumb guy movie. And it’s not an inspired dumb guy movie. “The Breadwinner” plays like a failed T.V. pilot, watching Bargatze stumble through an antiquated take on gender roles and fatherly authority, trying to play to his fanbase with stiff slapstick and dreary sentiment, hoping to launch a leading man career with an offering that actually makes him quite unappealing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Loves Company

    “Loves Company” is a riff on Stephen King’s 1987 novel, “Misery.” However, instead of a deranged woman imprisoning her favorite author to preserve the fantasy relationship that only exists in her mind, writer/director Jason Laurits reverses the central situation, turning a potential act of captivity into a professional opportunity for the main character. Laurits goes for laughs, not shocks, with the endeavor, exploring a Floridian community of damaged and dim people trying to make sense of an unexpected arrival from a once semi-famous man. The helmer isn’t going for major laughs with the offering, but he has a capable cast to bring the movie to life, with stars Jack Plotnick and Rachel Dratch delivering sharp, amusing performances that bring necessary color to the low-budget effort. The actors keep things lively for Laurits as he searches for unusual turns for the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com