Jessie Ventura went from being a professional wrestling personality to being an actor, and during his transition phase, "The Body" managed to find himself acting alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. The pair made a fine mess of things in 1987's "Predator" and "The Running Man," and while Ventura was regulated to supporting roles, he managed to make an impression with his size and steely line delivery. Ventura's dramatic career didn't exactly take off, but he was offered a chance to follow in Schwarzenegger's footsteps, with 1990's "Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe" giving him a chance to play a "Terminator"-type, stepping into the role of an alien cop on the hunt for a villain looking for ultimate power in a tiny New York town during the Christmas season. Helping to reinforce the mood is the casting of Sven-Ole Thorsen as the villain, who also worked alongside Schwarzenegger (even doing time on "Predator" and "The Running Man"), giving the production a battle of size to go along with writer/director Damian Lee's vision for sci- fi/action entertainment. "Abraxas" is a little too knotted with terms and fantasy touches, especially when Lee barely has money to make the movie, but as an offering of bottom shelf entertainment, one could do worse than a weirdly detailed battle for the future highlighting bulky characters and their struggles with chases, showdowns, and enunciation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Always on the hunt for a trend to exploit, Hollywood producers found unusual inspiration in the ways of high school antics involving cheerleaders and their never-ending battle with lust, love, and rivals. 1973's "The Cheerleaders" made some money, and that's all the industry needs to chase moviegoing habits, with 1974's "The Swinging Cheerleaders" also providing hearty drive-in entertainment and sizable profit, keeping the brand name going. 1976's "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" is yet another attempt to capture viewer imagination with a fresh presentation of excitable girls, dim- witted boys, and a school staff trying to maintain some sense of order with oversexed teenagers. Director Richard Lerner doesn't have a major creative challenge on his hands with the project, mostly employed to contain the inherent chaos of the shoot. "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" is pure zaniness, eschewing the shaping of a story to deal mostly with mischief and non sequitur scenes, also paying close attention to the needs of audiences who've come to watch characters disrobe and enjoy tomfoolery. It's tough to say if this even qualifies as an actual film, but Lerner's permissiveness with it all does have a certain period charm, with the picture happy to go anywhere it pleases. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2000's "At Dawn They Sleep" intends to rethink the concept of a vampire movie. Writer/director/star Brian Paulin hopes to disrupt typical horror happenings with this shot-on-video endeavor, which doesn't showcase any heroes, just villains, engaged in a battle of Heaven and Hell, which somehow involves the process of feeding on flesh, car chases, and John Woo-style shootouts. Paulin inhales a great number of cinematic influences to help breathe life into the picture, which is a backyard production, but makes some effort to be a little bigger than the average SOV offering. "At Dawn They Sleep" is ambitious, which is nice to see, and the Fangoria generation is likely the target demographic for the feature, as it's filled with blood and guts, scored to death metal selections. Refined filmmaking and decent performances aren't invited to the party, but Paulin makes a noticeable effort to do something askew here, which makes a difference. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2002's "Funny Ha Ha" is a movie about the wandering ways of youth confronted by the troubling demands of adulthood. It's largely credited as the introduction to the "mumblecore" movement, where a small group of indie filmmakers elected to forgo scripted dialogue and refined performances to deliver observations of human behavior, supported by the lowest emotional stakes imaginable. The "mumblecore" label has never made sense, as mumbling isn't even a feature of these productions, with stammering more prominent, especially in "Funny Ha Ha," with writer/director Andrew Bujalski primarily turning on his camera and letting amateur actors feel around scenes, looking to achieve a sense of life while focusing on nothing in particular. There's ennui and there's inertia, with Bujalski's helming debut trying to study love and listlessness, making for a dry viewing experience with little dramatic reward. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director David Yates received the career boost of a lifetime when he was selected to guide the last four movies in the “Harry Potter” saga, bringing darkness and depth to the franchise as it matured with its audience. His work outside of the series has been greatly disappointing, failing to show the same storytelling confidence as before, including a return to J.K. Rowling land with the instantly forgettable “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” features. “Pain Hustlers” is Yates’s effort to move past wizard woes, with the British director turning his attention to the American pharmaceutical market, joining screenwriter Wells Tower (adapting a book by Evan Hughes) on this study of the rise of the fentanyl market and the corrupt business practices of those profiting from the misery of others. It’s an important tale to tell, but Yates doesn’t have an original take, reheating “The Wolf of Wall Street” to connect the dots in this scattered study of unbridled greed and dubious morality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Created by Scott Cawthon, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” video game franchise has been going strong since 2014, welcoming players to a strange monster mash of ‘80s nostalgia and horror-based gameplay, giving younger players a genre experience without destroying bedtimes. Like any popular video game, the time has come to bring Cawthon’s creation to the big screen, with the creator taking screenwriting duties with Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi (who also directs), tasked with turning a point-and-click event into a real movie. “Five Nights at Freddy’s” arrives with capable production achievements and some macabre additions, but the production misses the mark when it comes to scares and pace. It’s a rather dull visit to the Chuck E. Cheese-inspired pit of Hell, finding the overall picture saddled with too much plot and attempts at mood, missing a critical sense of threat that’s boosted the game’s global success. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Pierre Morel’s career started off strong, overseeing the parkour entertainment of “District 13,” and he stunned the world with his efficient command of 2008’s “Taken,” showing comfort with straightforward action storytelling. Everything post-“Taken” has been a disappointment, with Morel unable to replicate his largest hit, overseeing duds such as “The Gunman” and “Peppermint.” He’s back in the genre with “Freelance,” which is initially presented as more of a comedy, following the activity of a reluctant hero trying to keep people alive in South American jungles. Laughs aren’t present in the feature, which eventually sheds its comedic interests, giving viewers a film of confusing tonality, while Morel hopes to cover for the mess of “Freelance” with bloody violence and quippy co-stars, adding another dud to his fledgling career. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director David Fincher works slowly these days, and he attempted to bring a passion project to the screen with his last film, 2020’s “Mank,” looking to replicate Hollywood history and deliver something personal, ending up with an immersive but distant feature. Chasing that coldness, Fincher doubles down on iciness for “The Killer,” which is an adaptation of a French graphic novel series, and he reunites with his “Seven” screenwriter, Andrew Kevin Walker, for this merciless study of revenge featuring a lead character who lives exclusively inside his own head. Fincher fingerprints are everywhere with the impeccably shot and assembled effort, but the straightforwardness of the story and its razor-sharp execution is absolutely fantastic, keeping the helmer focused on a suffocating, acerbic plunge into noir-ish action and reaction, offering actor Michael Fassbender one of his best roles in one of Fincher’s best pictures. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Stuart Gordon passed away in 2020, but his moviemaking spirit lives on in “Suitable Flesh,” which is an adaptation of “The Thing on the Doorstop” by author H.P. Lovecraft. Helmer Joe Lynch (“Everly,” “Point Blank”) looks to honor one of his filmmaking influences with the project, which resurrects the Gordon experience created in “Re-Animator” and “From Beyond,” bringing in screenwriter and frequent Gordon collaborator Dennis Paoli to successfully revive the atmosphere of genre entertainment from the 1980s. “Suitable Flesh” gets most of the way there, with Lynch doing a fine job replicating the strange mix of horror and eroticism, handling a body-swapping story that’s ideal for a grisly inspection. The endeavor has a difficult time finding a stable conclusion, but it certainly opens with gusto, offering all sorts of bizarre behavior and moments of panic, creating some appealing B-movie momentum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Jesse V. Johnson is a prolific helmer, working in the world of B-movies, where he’s often realizing revenge stories featuring men with guns. He’s built a career out of low-budget endeavors (including “Accident Man,” “The Debt Collector,” and “White Elephant”), but he tries for some sort of scale with “Boudica: Queen of War,” a period actioner concerning the birth of a female leader during a time of Roman rule. The picture is “inspired by events,” with Johnson doing his best to mount a “Braveheart” clone, only the focus here is on a queen seeking revenge on the invading army that’s destroyed her life, playing into a Druid prophecy. “Boudica” isn’t successful when trying to bring bigness to the screen, but Johnson gets as far as possible with limited resources, investing in bloodshed to keep things sufficiently violent, straining to make sure viewers stay with an undercooked story and limited production achievements. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Garth Davis has sustained a career of meditative features looking at the ways of the human experience. He’s gone poetic and distant with endeavors such as “Lion” and “Mary Magdalene,” and David doesn’t stray far from his formula with “Foe,” which is an adaptation of a novel by author Iain Reid (who handles scripting duties with the helmer). It’s a story about the ways of artificial intelligence, entering a marketplace where there are many movies about the same subject (including last month’s “The Creator”), only Davis isn’t interested in action or visual effects. He’s after something more intimate with his characters, exploring the stresses of relationships and the decline of Earth, doing so while seldom leaving a remote midwestern location. “Foe” misfires in many ways, but it’s not an interesting failure, with Davis determined to transform the viewing experience into a grueling sit with desperate performances and a bleak understanding of the world around us. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The 1980s were a big time for action cinema, with the heroes of the screen getting physically larger and productions were going overboard trying to give viewers an explosive good time with broad entertainment. There was brawn, and in some cases, an appreciation of the veteran experience connected to the Vietnam War, adding some sense of respect and compassion to the usual package of R-rated violence and big screen spectacle. There was Chuck Norris in the "Missing in Action" series, and Sylvester Stallone dominated the box office with his numerous "Rambo" films. For 1991, writer/director James Glickenhaus has…Christopher Walken. "McBain" tries to find a different kind of screen savior with the lauded actor, who makes a rare appearance in an action event, taking on the part of a psychologically stained man processing his Vietnam horrors through an act of honor and revenge, bringing American freedoms to Columbia. "McBain" looks to Stallone-ify Walken, giving him a simple tale of mercenary might to manage, and he offers a range of blank, sometimes confused expressions while Glickenhaus tries to summon a thunderous war epic, investing in fireballs and firearms to create enough screen chaos to please genre fans. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1988's "Shame" has the vague appearance of an exploitation film, taking on the subject of sexual assault and the ways of fighting back, with its setting a rural Australian town filled with angry men. It's the stuff of B-movies, but the screenplay by Beverly Blankenship and Michael Brindley doesn't go in any grotesquely voyeuristic direction, electing to approach the topic of physical and psychological horror in a softer manner, getting to understand a situation of fear instead of celebrating it. It's a unique approach, and while the endeavor slightly veers into unwelcome broadness at times, "Shame" retains a decent sense of fury, with star Deborra Lee-Furnace delivering strong work as a sharp woman suddenly in the middle of a male behavior mess in the middle of nowhere. Bottom-shelf cinema training has one expecting guns and gore, but director Steve Jodrell doesn't take the bait, crafting a more sensitive understanding of corrupt power plays and intimidation, hoping to reach viewers instead of battering them. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Adam Rifkin is a cult film director who's been making movies for the last 30 years, perhaps best known as the helmer of 1991's "The Dark Backward," 1994's "The Chase," and 1999's wildly entertaining "Detroit Rock City." He's not someone who's experience tremendous success in Hollywood, but he's kept going, making odd pictures and surviving quickie shoots, doing the work to remain employable. It turns out, moviemaking was always in Rifkin's blood, with "The Adam Rifkin Film Festival" collecting short endeavors created during his formative years. The release is obviously odd, but it does offer those who enjoy Rifkin's creative voice a chance to see where his sense of humor and love of visual chaos came from, with 22 offerings detailing a profound love of mischief, parody, and animation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2003's "Graveyard Alive" is meant to be a light take on the zombie subgenre, with the consumption of flesh blended with a little sexual energy in this black and white understanding of jealousy and seduction. Co-writer/director Elsa Kephart has the right idea with the material, but execution doesn't support intended brightness, with the helmer noticeably struggling to do something fun and free with the potentially campy ways of the picture. "Graveyard Alive" is leaden and propped up by strange creative choices (including sloppy dubbing), and it lacks a sense of fun, especially when dealing with extreme behaviors and horror movie formula. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Stand-up comedian and occasional actor Bill Burr makes his directorial debut with “Old Dads,” and he’s looking to play to his strengths with the feature (sharing scripting duties with Ben Tishler). Here’s a story about a fiftysomething man trying to understand the world around him, with his Gen X sensibilities rubbing up against modern ways of communication and understanding, navigating a society where people attempt to understand feelings instead of immediately mocking them. I won’t use the W-word because Burr doesn’t use the W-word, but “Old Dads” seems like it really wants to be about the W-word, awkwardly squeezing the square peg-ness of the comic’s stage act into the round hole of moviemaking, becoming a viewing experience about bits, not storytelling. Burr isn’t stretching here, doing what he always does, resulting in a pedestrian endeavor that barely has any laughs and doesn’t thoughtfully challenge the ways of the world or actively address the plight of frightened men of a certain age struggling with irrelevancy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Alexander Payne has an incredible track record as a director, overseeing a list of amazing pictures during his time, including 2011’s “The Descendants” and 1999’s “Election.” His streak was broken with 2017’s “Downsizing,” unable to find a proper mood for the misguided comedy, though it was hardly a disaster. Payne is back on his feet with “The Holdovers,” where he reunites with his “Sideways” star, Paul Giamatti, with the pair once again examining the life of an arrogant man facing the cold reality of his personality, trading the sloshed battleground of wine fields for a private school for boys. Scripted by David Hemingson, “The Holdovers” is completely dedicated to the examination of its characters, putting these nuanced people in a variety of situations that test their resolve and break through their defenses. And it’s a wonderful film, carried by pitch-perfect performances and gorgeous cinematography by Eigil Bryld, putting Payne back on track with another human tale of connection. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Gabe Polsky achieved some critical acclaim in recent years as a documentarian, exploring the oddity and askew glory of Russian sporting achievements in 2014’s “Red Army” and 2019’s “Red Penguins.” He returns to dramatic interests with “Butcher’s Crossing,” adapting a 1960 novel by John Edward Williams, which examines the hardship of the frontier experience in 1874. It’s a tale of survival and mental illness, detailing a young man’s odyssey into a world he doesn’t understand, learning more about the ugliness of humanity in the process. Polsky hopes to work in an understanding of bison population decimation while in the process of crafting a slow-burn descent into insanity, and this strange balance of history and psychological horror keeps “Butcher’s Crossing” involving despite its grim premise. It also helps to have Nicolas Cage around, who seems to be enjoying the acting assignment, going raw and bald with his take on a hunter’s blinding obsession for prey. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Martin Scorsese is in the business of epics these days. He’s spent the last decade of his career aiming to make gigantic films about personal passions and lifelong commitments, keeping run times inflated to explore every inch of his material. After going back to his mafia roots with 2019’s “The Irishman,” Scorsese (along with co-writer Eric Roth) delves into America’s dark past with “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which adapts a 2017 book by David Grann. The feature runs 206 minutes, giving the production plenty of time to inspect every step of this journey, which takes viewers through the extreme details of the Osage Indian Murders that occurred 100 years ago. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is like every Scorsese picture, with impeccable technical achievements, thorough performances, and a story that explores the pure darkness of the human experience. Much like the helmer’s recent output, it’s an endeavor to be admired and studied, but it's not always a riveting sit, with editing (by longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker) more of a suggestion than a reality as Scorsese tries to get his arms around the scope of the effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nyad” is the first feature-length dramatic effort for directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, with the pair previously winning an Oscar for their rock climbing documentary, 2019’s “Free Solo.” They return to the world of intense physical endeavors with “Nyad,” which details the experience of distance swimmer Diana Nyad as she, at the age of 60, mounted a fresh attempt to swim solo from Cuba to Key West. Screenwriter Julia Cox has Diana’s own perspective to work with, adapting the athlete’s 2015 autobiography, “Find a Way,” and she has an advantage with the subject matter, which examines the power of endurance and the dangers of the swim. The production also has Annette Bening in the eponymous role, with the seasoned actress hitting all the areas of Diana’s personality, joined by Jodie Foster, who brings outstanding intensity to the part of the swimmer’s coach. There’s a lot to support “Nyad” through some choppy storytelling waters, giving the picture a special screen power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com