• Film Review – Michael (2026)

    When it comes to the life and times of Michael Jackson, there’s enough material to fill four movies. However, there’s only one “Michael,” and screenwriter John Logan has to pick his battles when trying to fit an enormous legacy into a 125-minute-long film, and such stress shows throughout the viewing experience. Director Antoine Fuqua is out to make a very glossy picture about Jackson, which follows parts of his childhood to his music domination of the 1980s, making sure to sell the legend of the subject without delving too much into the reality of this extraordinary life. “Michael” is for the fans, and the production isn’t trying to hide such intent, making a hagiography about a complicated man and his very public battle with image and mental health. All the rough edges have been professionally sanded down by Logan and Fuqua, and perhaps this is what the faithful wants, presented with two hours of the cuddliest, kindest Michael Jackson imaginable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Desert Warrior

    “Desert Warrior” hasn’t enjoyed a smooth ride to release. The feature was shot five years ago and has endured plenty of behind-the-scenes conflicts preventing it from reaching theaters. And now it’s finally here, and the curious will probably get the most out of the viewing experience, watching director Rupert Wyatt (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Captive State”) aim to stage big, widescreen action and deal with fiery performances. The helmer has the money to do it, with the production happy to show off its expanse, as Wyatt is openly trying to sell the epic qualities of the picture. It’s the rest of “Desert Warrior” that isn’t as convincing, with editorial clunkiness and dramatic lethargy hurting the endeavor, preventing it from achieving a more dominating cinematic presence. There are highlights to enjoy, but it takes quite a bit of patience to wait for them. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Dirty Hands

    Writer/director/producer/star Kevin Interdonato wants to make a crime film with “Dirty Hands,” looking to get tough with a study of brotherly bonds and underworld entanglements. Instead of getting inspired with the material, Interdonato turns to Tarantino for influence, generating another study of profane characters stuck in bad situations, with dialogue prioritized over physical activity. The helmer doesn’t have a budget to work with, as most of the action in the picture is contained to a single room. He doesn’t have much drama as well, losing viewer interest as potentially tense confrontations are passed on for the same old stuff in genre moviemaking. “Dirty Hands” disappoints, but it does have a few capable performances to make it passably interesting at times, with Interdonato wisely surrounding himself with more commanding thespians, helping him to find the threat level he’s looking for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Omaha

    Cole Webley makes his directorial debut with “Omaha,” electing to create a small, intimate story about a road trip. However, this is no ordinary journey across the country, putting screenwriter Robert Machoian (helmer of “The Integrity of Joseph Chambers” and “The Killing of Two Lovers”) to work generating a mystery of sorts, keeping matters enigmatic as the characters experience everyday challenges during a time of travel. The true power of the story emerges in its final moments, but there’s plenty to take in while watching “Omaha,” which examines tough feelings and parental struggles during days of tremendous difficulty. It’s not an easy sit, but for those who usually seek out films about human experiences, Webley and Machoian generate a powerful one, using a real world situation of surrender to inspire an intimate study of desperation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Special Op: Rent-a-Cop

    “Special Op: Rent-a-Cop” is the kind of movie that probably would’ve been handed a budget and a collection of stars 30 years ago. It’s meant to be a comedy about a military man (not a police officer) who’s suddenly in charge of retirement home residents, escorting the group on a road trip to Atlantic City for a weekend of fun. It could be goofy entertainment, but writer/director William Butler (helmer of three “Baby Oopsie” films, two “Gingerdead Man” installments, and “My Babysitter the Superhero”) is handed a lunch money budget and what appears to be a matter of days to assemble the offering, not exactly inspired to put in a significant effort when it comes to the creation of silliness. “Special Op: Rent-a-Cop” is pretty dismal stuff, asking star Michael Jai White to find his lighter side in an endeavor that simply doesn’t have the resources to do much of anything, looking to skate by on crummy slapstick and weak stabs at humor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Bone Lake

    Screenwriter Joshua Friedlander has something devious in mind with “Bone Lake,” and perhaps cineastes have seen this type of twisted game before. The picture isn’t really a horror experience until the final act, more closely resembling a riff on Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” for the majority of the feature, exploring tensions rising between two couples stuck in the same rental house for the weekend. Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan (“Spoonful of Sugar”) creates a good deal of screen tension, working to reinforce various violations of trust and woozy temptations while the writing hopes to pull viewers in closer as things go all kinds of wrong for the characters. “Bone Lake” doesn’t have originality on its side, but there’s some moviemaking hustle to appreciate, as Morgan generates an atmosphere of uneasy interactions and growing paranoia. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Together

    Body horror pays a visit to couples therapy in “Together,” which is the feature-length filmmaking debut for Michael Shanks. He heads into Cronenberg Country with the endeavor, using the ways of the flesh to explore a corporeal breakdown between two people who’ve stopped communicating with each other, on their way to living separate lives. The universe has other plans, and Shanks labors to create a nightmare to follow on multiple levels of interpretation, spending the first half of the picture creating a successful mystery concerning possible evil and a potential break up. “Together” makes some questionable creative decisions as it hunts for an ending, limiting the lasting impact of its dramatic mission, but the movie remains vivid enough to engage, finding pockets of ugliness to investigate, and the writing has a few things to share about the struggles of cohabitation and partner support. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Sleepless

    2001’s “Sleepless” is a sign of life in the career of director Dario Argento. Struggling throughout the 1990s to recapture his creative mojo, Argento found something interesting in a giallo that played with scenes of vicious violence and the waning memory of a detective reconnecting with the biggest case of his career after decades away from the clues. Argento seems to understand the stakes of the picture, attempting to use his 1975 shocker “Deep Red” as an influence over the production, even recruiting Goblin to score the endeavor. As with most releases from the helmer, “Sleepless” is odd and a bit unwieldy, but Argento finds inspiration in the material, handling murder sequences with skill. He also has help from star Max von Sydow, who brings a lot of presence and commitment to the effort, helping to boost some dramatic urgency as the tale works around offerings of graphic violence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Coyotes

    “Coyotes” is an animal attack picture from director Colin Minihan, who offered impressive genre work in his last two features, “What Keeps You Alive” and “It Stains the Sands Red.” He returns to horror in his latest, with screenwriters Nick Simon and Ted Daggerhart creating a nightmare situation for Los Angeles residents, pitting a collection of characters against the arrival of vicious coyotes who are no longer fearful of humans, determined to rule the neighborhood. It’s not an especially fresh idea (the script even offers a shout-out to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”), and its a surprisingly muted take on terror from the production, which tries to be funny and serious while generally neglecting to create a fear factor from the premise. Technical and performance issues also manage to weaken the viewing experience, which only has a few select moments of tension while the rest of the offering seems generally confused about tone and pacing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

    Three years ago, Lee Cronin faced a difficult directorial challenge. While he did well with 2019’s “The Hole in the Ground,” Cronin was pulled from his indie film position to take command of 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise,” ordered to carry on the brand name without support from the franchise’s usual highlights. Cronin did an outstanding job with his work on the offering, maintaining high levels of violence and twistedness while trying to please the faithful. Against all odds, it succeeded, and now Cronin is attempting to explore another popular genre staple with “The Mummy,” though this isn’t just an update of the old Universal series. It’s now “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” introducing a possessory credit to help differentiate from the usual in “Mummy” business. Cronin strives to make a suitable screen mess with his take on vicious curses, and there are elements here worth celebrating. Length is not one of them, with the moviemaker too permissive with his editorial choices, making for an unnecessarily long sit with an effort that’s reminiscent of other fright films. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Roommates (2026)

    Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions went YA with 2023’s “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” trying to reach a younger audience with a tale of adolescent struggles. The picture was PG-13 and a bit gentler than the usual Sandler fare, and it was rewarded with some of the best reviews Happy Madison has ever received. Perhaps a lesson might be learned from taking a chance on such sincerity, but that’s not how “Roommates” goes. Screenwriters Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan elect to return to coarseness with the endeavor, which examines a war of anxiety between two college students who don’t get along, creating a turbulent school year to endure. “Roommates” upgrades “Bat Mitzvah” co-star Sadie Sandler to the lead role, and the production looks to find an older audience with the endeavor, which has great difficulty balancing a genuine study of resentment and R-rated Happy Madison shenanigans and weirdness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Lorne

    Lorne Michaels is an enigmatic person. Until recently, little was known about his personal life, and cameras were rarely invited to explore the inner workings of his show, “Saturday Night Live,” which he’s been producing for over 45 years. In many ways, Michaels is the perfect subject for a documentary, with director Morgan Neville (“20 Feet from Stardom,” “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”) granted some degree of access to Michaels’s world as it stood a few years ago, attempting to grasp the enormity of the man’s contribution to television history, as he remains one of the few titans in the industry left. “Lorne” works in unusual ways to investigate Michaels, with Neville keeping up with “SNL” history and creative achievements, but he’s also chipping away at the subject’s defenses, striving to create a portrait of a talent guru who changed late night T.V., often in the quietest manner possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Busboys

    Podcaster Theo Von wants to be an actor. Comedian David Spade wants a job. The men join forces to make “Busboys,” a self-financed venture that’s meant to play directly to their target demographic with an offering of crude, “anti-woke” comedy, aiming to recall the glory days(?) of goofy productions from the early 2000s. Spade and Von also share a screenplay credit on the endeavor, although it’s hard to imagine what was exactly written down for the picture, which presents a stunningly random set of situations for the main characters, who want to achieve something undefined, embarking on an aimless, witless journey to acquire it. Jonah Feingold (“EXmas,” “Dating & New York,” and “At Midnight”) is credited as the helmer of this effort, though there’s no perceptible direction to be found in this feature, which lurches from scene to scene, trying to deliver a laugh riot without actually including any jokes. If there’s a worse film than “Busboys” in 2026, I’ll be shocked. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Ballistic

    2005’s “Lord of War” offered a study of global arms dealing, but it delivered a powerful title sequence that followed the life of a bullet from its factory creation to its final destination, exchanging hands at multiple stops on the journey. It was a flashy presentation of the film’s theme, but effective. “Ballistic” covers some of the same ground, only writer/director Chad Faust is going the gut-rot route with the endeavor, following the agony of a mother who’s lost her son to a bullet created where she works. The screenplay intends to hit hard with its examination of unbearable grief, and Faust has a committed actress in Lena Headey, who delivers burning work portraying a person with no healthy outlet for their pain. “Ballistic” is being sold as an actioner, but it’s not that. It’s more of a tough drama with interesting emotions to inspect and a sharp message to share on the maddening ways of the world. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Balls Up

    Peter Farrelly won an Academy Award for direction on 2018’s “Green Book.” Now he’s making a movie about two condom salesman running for their lives after disturbing a soccer match in Brazil. The “Green Book” glow didn’t last long for the lone Farrelly Brother, as Peter burned off industry good will quickly, returning to the raunchy comedies he’s typically known for in 2024’s “Ricky Stanicky,” and he continues his career retreat with “Balls Up,” joining writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (“Deadpool,” “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t”) in an exploration of South American panic. There’s a lot of Farrelly Brothers-style extremity in the feature, as the helmer seeks to shock with cartoon-y situations of self-preservation. Laughs aren’t welcome here, as “Balls Up” reeks of desperation, finding the production determined to make something outrageous, not necessarily funny, following tedious Farrelly formula for the entire run time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Fuze

    Fresh off of 2025’s “Relay,” director David Mackenzie returns with another thriller concerning criminal entanglements and focus on their methods. “Fuze” comes from screenwriter Ben Hopkins, who looks to provide a slow crawl of tension with the picture, exploring a troubling situation of safety as a World War II-era bomb is discovered in London, and the crew of criminals using the distraction to collect a fortune from an unattended bank. There are two sides of duty to follow in the film, and for the first half of the offering, Mackenzie delivers an involving viewing experience tracking the evolution of the central crime. “Fuze” doesn’t sustain early intrigue, eventually getting a little lost in plot turns and a fruitless quest for a satisfying ending, but it begins with enthusiasm, examining pressures facing the bomb squad and the crooks as both sides fight to complete their missions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Wasteman

    Cal McMau makes his directorial debut with “Wasteman,” electing to examine a grim tale of submission from screenwriters Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran. It’s a prison picture, and one that doesn’t visit the outside world, committed to exploring claustrophobic spaces with intense characters feeling out the limits of power and fear. While such a setting and story isn’t exactly new to the big screen, “Wasteman” locates ways to make such misery feel fresh again, delving into the complications of the central situation while McMau focuses on faces, capturing intensity of thought as trouble comes for everyone in the endeavor. The helmer also has the benefit of an excellent cast, with stars David Jonsson and Tom Blyth maintaining incredible presence in the offering, nailing nuance as McMau creates a peek into a hellish experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Normal

    Bob Odenkirk enjoyed a career detour when he elected to become an action star in 2021’s “Nobody.” The picture found an audience, inspiring the star to try tough guy business once again for 2025’s “Nobody 2,” which didn’t attract the same level of appreciation. Instead of returning to kill ‘em all territory with another one-man-army offering of ultraviolence, Odenkirk tries on a Clint Eastwood-style part in “Normal,” which is scripted by Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first three “John Wick” chapters and the two parts of “Nobody,” making him intimately familiar with the ways of middle-aged men refusing to stand down when trouble increases for them. Odenkirk is less of a killing machine in the feature, and Kolstad tries to shake things up by setting the endeavor in small town Minnesota, giving the characters cold and isolation to experience before everyone attempts to murder one another in this entertaining but slight examination of gunfights and dead bodies. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Catch-22

    Described as a “satirical war novel,” author Joseph Heller’s 1961 book, “Catch-22,” initially triggered a race to acquire the movie rights, with producers looking to make something out of the writer’s vision for World War II insanity. Director Mike Nichols eventually claimed the project, building on career momentum provided by the successes of 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and 1967’s “The Graduate.” He was the right man for the job, tasked with untangling Heller’s work, bringing in “Graduate” co-writer Buck Henry to make sense of the material and find a cinematic way to explore it. “Catch-22” definitely plays like a difficult book-to-screen adaptation, pushing its way through time and temperament to track the dwindling patience of the main character and his full-body desire to get out of military duty. It’s not an easily classifiable feature, and it’s rarely a consistent endeavor, but there’s a certain darkness here that Nichols captures exceptionally well, best served when he isn’t trying so hard to be humorous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

    Few people actually saw “This Is Spinal Tap” when it was originally released in 1984. The feature came and went, attracting some positive reviews and cult appreciation, leaving the real exposure of the film to home video and cable airings, where a fanbase developed, while the intimacy of domestic viewings certainly helped to process director Rob Reiner’s clever approach to faux documentary moviemaking. 41 years later, and the picture is a bona fide classic, one of the greatest comedies of all time, and stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer have certainly kept the brand name alive, releasing albums, making TV specials, and even touring as Spinal Tap, doing an incredibly impressive job extending the illusion with tremendous wit and good-natured fun. And now there’s “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which is an official sequel, bringing Reiner and the guys back to the screen for a fresh round of heavy metal tomfoolery, assembling a valentine to the aging band while putting them through the wringer of comedic misfortune again in this slight but very funny follow-up. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com