Video on Demand Diary: Quick Thoughts on 7 Recent Digital Releases
Catching up with The Rivals of Amziah King, A Prayer for the Dying, Hope, It Ends, The End of Oak Street, Leviticus, and Disclosure Day.
Capsule Review of ‘Lanterns’
The Plot: What if Green Lantern, but True Detective, with liberal use of the F-word?
‘One Battle After Another’ Review: A Propulsive Oscar Triumph With One Big Issue It Can’t Outrun
The Pitch: “The revolution will not be televised,” though it may be reduced to hold music as young people inherit the failures of those who fought it.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Spoiler Review: With Great Power Comes Much Cross-Pollination
The Plot: A mind-hopping villain invades Spider-Man’s NYC as the web-slinger mutates and laughs in the face of superhero fatigue, to the tune of a billion dollars.
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Is Seven Miles of Bad Road, With an Addled Hedwig Wannabe as Your Guide
The Plot: Fast times on tour with an undead rock star as he recalls bits and pieces of his vampire origin through a fog of blood.
True to Its Name, ‘The Devil All the Time’ Landed at the Worst Possible Time
The Pitch: Lives and deaths intersect with a religious fervor in this Southern Gothic thriller, set in ‘50s and ‘60s Knockemstiff (surprisingly, not a fake place name).
‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Is a Rough Ride That’s Still Worth Taking
The Pitch: A music mogul, targeted by a kidnapping and ransom scheme, comes down from his insular Brooklyn penthouse to reconnect with the streets of New York.
‘28 Years Later’ Craps Out With a Bad Ending (Spoiler Review)
The Plot: A boy goes zombie hunting with his father, then doctor hunting with his mother in a post-apocalyptic England where male aggression is the true contagion.
‘Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’ Self-Destructs in Three Long, Messianic Hours
The Plot: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch secret agent Ethan Hunt save the world one last time from a nuke-happy AI.
‘Heretic’ Undermines Its Compelling First Half by Cribbing Straight From ‘Religulous’
The Plot: Two Mormon missionaries get trapped in a Hugh Grant character’s house as he argues against religion in favor of his own brand of militant atheism.
The Real Pandemic in ‘Pearl’ Is an Ailing Strain of American Optimism
The Plot: A Texas farmgirl with showbiz dreams will let nothing stand in the way of her success, even if it means going on a killing spree.
Capsule Review of ‘Twisters’
The Plot: An ex-storm chaser heeds the call to adventure and returns to the Midwest, just in time to get caught up in a once-in-a-lifetime tornado outbreak.