Tim (Matthias Schweighöfer) is a video game designer; his wife Olivia (Ruby O. Fee) is an architect. The relatively young couple have made good memories together. But their relationship hasn’t been the same since losing their child in a heart-shattering miscarriage. Since then, a grieving Tim has lost himself in his new game, prompting Olivia to propose a getaway to Paris for a much needed reset. But Tim resists, telling her he can’t leave work.
The next morning Olivia wakes Tim with news that she’s leaving him. As she attempts to walk out she makes an alarming discovery. She opens the door to find it walled in by a mysterious black brick-like material. They check the windows and even drill through the walls only to learn their apartment is completely encased in the impenetrable and indestructible matter. That’s the setup for “Brick”, a new German thriller from director Philip Koch.
Image Courtesy of Netflix
In many ways the movie stands out for its simplicity, but it’s not without something to say. “Brick” uses its high-concept premise to explore themes of isolation, survival, misinformation, and grief. Many of these themes play out in Tim and Olivia’s relationship which is helped by the solid performances from real-life couple Schweighöfer and Fee.
But the others take form with the introduction of other characters. With no cell phone signal, no wi-fi, and no water, a desperate Tim and Olivia discover that they can break through walls to other apartments. First they make contact with their next door neighbors, the whacked-out Marvin (Frederick Lau) and his more composed girlfriend Ana (Salber Lee Williams). Later they encounter the elderly Oswalt (Axel Werner) and his plucky granddaughter Lea (Sira-Anna Faal). Finally there’s the mysterious Russian named Yuri (Murathan Muslu), a cryptic former cop with some wild ideas about what’s happening.
Image Courtesy of Netflix
Each new character comes with their own strength and weakness. Some are considerably more impactful than others and certain fates are pretty easy to predict. The inevitable interpersonal conflicts manage to muster up some drama but nothing we haven’t seen before. Outside of Tim and Olivia, the characters simply aren’t given enough depth to stand out. And despite the good performances, they too often feel like plot devices rather than meaningful additions.
But Koch deserves credit for constantly keeping us guessing. He introduces a plethora of possibilities, each with the potential to explain what is going on. Are they unwilling players in some kind of twisted Squid Game? Is the wall somehow connected to the strange explosion one day earlier? Is it meant to protect them from a cataclysmic disaster? Is it alien in origin? Clues are dropped throughout and finally bring everything into focus. And while it’s not the most mind-blowing payoff, it satisfies enough to make the journey worth taking. “Brick” is now streaming on Netflix.
Ron Howard’s “Eden” isn’t a movie I’ll soon forget. Ambitious and audacious, this thorny survival thriller is considerably different than anything Howard has done before. “Eden” comes on the heels of the filmmaker’s brilliant 2022 gem “Thirteen Lives”. And while this is a much different movie, “Eden” sees Howard once again exploring a side of human nature through the inspiration of true events. In this case – it’s a much uglier side.
“Eden” is inspired by an astonishing true story that’s told through a star-studded cast, each of whom bring precisely what their uniquely positioned characters need. Howard is joined by screenwriter Noah Pink to deliver a bluntly presented critique of humanity’s dark side. It’s a deceptively smart analysis wrapped in a slow-simmering drama that can be unsettling, amusing, brutal, and even campy. Yet it works and gets its point across surprisingly well.
Image Courtesy of Vertical
In 1929, as the world lies in chaos in the wake of World War I, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his partner, Dora Staunch (Vanessa Kirby) flee Germany to an uninhabited island in the Galapagos called Floreana. There the two battle harsh conditions and rugged terrain to create their own isolated utopia built upon Ritter’s radical and evolving philosophies. As the two relish their seclusion, Ritter works on his manifesto which he believes will help save humanity from itself. His only connection to civilization is a series of letters he sends through passing trade vessels.
Little does Ritter know, his letters stir up much interest back in Germany. Among those captivated by his writings is Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Bruehl), a former soldier broken from his time in the war. Heinz makes the decision to leave Germany with his noticeably younger wife, Margret (Sydney Sweeney) and their son Harry (Jonathan Tittel) and venture to Floreana. But the Wittmer family’s unannounced arrival annoys Ritter and Dora who don’t appreciate having their solitude interrupted.
But the Wittmer’s are nothing compared to the island’s next visitor – Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet (a gloriously campy Ana de Armas). She arrives with her two subservient boy-toys, Robert (Toby Wallace) and Rudy (Felix Kammerer), with a cockamamie plan to build an exclusive island resort for millionaires. But first she needs investors, and what better way to woo them than by showing them the island first-hand.
It doesn’t take long for tensions to arise between the three parties. The baroness is a hedonistic whirlwind of privilege and self-absorption. Meanwhile the Wittmers are trying to make themselves a home although some once dormant family conflict makes it difficult. As for Ritter and Dora, they find their philosophies challenged by the invaders and it threatens to drive a wedge between them.
Image Courtesy of Vertical
Howard and Pink take their time unwrapping their characters and establishing the conflicts between them. The buildup demands patience and it makes for good drama. But lying at the story’s core is an shrewd examination the ugliness of humanity. Jealousy, deception, and betrayal inevitably breeds animosity and violence. Before long we find ourselves observing a series of nasty psychological chess matches where everyone’s true self come to light.
Again, in numerous ways “Eden” is unlike anything Ron Howard has previously directed. Said to be “Inspired by the accounts of those who survived“, Howard takes us on a twisted journey that is both devilishly intriguing and strikingly audacious. And that journey is fueled by a terrific cast whose commitment can be seen every step of the way. It may be a challenge for some, especially with its deliberate pacing and unflinching final act. But both are vital ingredients that ultimately help give “Eden” its kick. “Eden” hits theaters August 22.
New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment are bringing “Final Destination: Bloodlines” to home video. “Bloodlines” is the sixth installment in the Final Destination feature film series and one of the bigger surprises of the 2025 movie year. The film made over $285 million at the box office against a $50 million budget and was well received by franchise fans and critics. It also features the final big screen appearance by the late, great Tony Todd. You can read my full review of the film HERE.
This 4K edition of “Final Destination: Bloodlines” includes a digital copy and a number of fun special features. It will be available to purchase on July 22nd. See below for a full synopsis of the film as well as release information and a list of special features.
About the Film:
Year: 2025
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Director: Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein
Screenwriter: Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor
Cast: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Rya Kihlstedt, with Brec Bassinger, and Tony Todd
Rating: R for strong violent/grisly accidents and language
Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefani heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle – her grandmother, Iris – and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all.
“Final Destination Bloodlines,” the newest chapter in New Line Cinema’s bloody successful franchise which takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice, debuts Digitally at home on June 17.
From New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, the film is directed by Adam Stein & Zach Lipovsky. The screenplay is by Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor, and the story is by Jon Watts and Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor. It is based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick.
Special Features:
“Final Destination Bloodlines” Digital, 4K UHD and Blu-ray contain the following special features:
Death Becomes Them: On the Set of “Final Destination Bloodlines” – featurette
Catch up with the fresh new cast and dynamic directing duo of “Final Destinations Bloodlines” to hear about their experiences on set and what fun surprises they managed to sneak in for the fans.
The Many Deaths of Bloodlines – featurette
From the collapse of the Skyview Restaurant to the world’s worst MRI, get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the most gruesome Final Destination deaths yet!
The Legacy of Bludworth – featurette
Tony Todd reflects on the decades-spanning legacy of his iconic character and re-examines Bludworth’s impact on the franchise now that all has been revealed.
Director’s Commentary
Commentary by the film’s directors Adam Stein & Zach Lipovsky
Ari Aster’s short but attention-getting feature film career has been a fascinating rollercoaster. It began with a bang with his exceptional 2018 supernatural/psychological horror gem “Hereditary”. He followed it up with 2019’s “Midsommar” – a movie with a first half that is every bit as brilliant as his debut film and an unfortunate second half that goes completely off the rails. Things only got worse with 2023’s disastrous “Beau Is Afraid”.
Now Aster is back with his fourth film and with it we see his career pendulum swinging back mightily the other way. Aster takes a bold and provocative swing with “Eddington”, shrewdly straddling the line between satirical black comedy and a Neo-Western thriller. His story is set in 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. He takes an unvarnished look at the heightened paranoia and anxieties that swept through communities while spotlighting the political opportunism and obstinance that only made things more complicated.
Adding to the already tumultuous landscape were the growing tensions following the killing of George Floyd. Impassioned protests swept across the country. But several were overthrown by aggressive rioters, sometimes prompted by well-funded outside agitators eager to plunge the country into violence. Aster’s willingness to take on such fresh wounds speaks to his audacity. But what’s amazing is how well he pulls this crazy thing off.
Image Courtesy of A24
While some may try hard to put “Eddington” in their political corner, the film openly fillets the political left, right, and most everyone in between. It should be stated that Aster isn’t fence-straddling. He offers frank and truthful observations through a fable that is as thematically chaotic as the times it represents (and fittingly so). Most will remember the events with alarming clarity which may make this a difficult watch. Yet Aster mines so many darkly funny moments out of the pointed, pathetic, and preposterous scenes that unfold before us.
The story plays out in Eddington, a small dried-up New Mexico town with a population of 2,435. It’s where we meet Sheriff Joe Cross (an exceptionally pitiful Joaquin Phoenix), a by-the-books rural conservative who keeps the law in his quiet town with the help of his two deputies, Guy (Luke Grimes) and Michael (Michael Ward). The only thing more frustrating to Joe than mask mandates and government imposed lockdowns is his live-in mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell) who rarely misses a chance to scrutinize how he handles his dissociative wife Louise (an underused Emma Stone).
Joe doesn’t see the coronavirus or the growing unrest as Eddington problems. This puts him at odds with Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), Eddington’s incumbent mayor who is up for reelection. Ted stands for nearly everything Joe is against. He’s a good-looking and good-talking politician who is intent on protecting his political career by staying on his liberal governor’s good side. That means imposing and enforcing mandates and policies that don’t always apply to him. Far shadier is his involvement in a massive AI data center set to be constructed on Native American land outside of Eddington.
Image Courtesy of A24
As the tensions fester between Joe and Ted, a small but growing BLM-inspired protest breaks out on Main Street. They’re spearheaded by the impressionable Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle) whose verbiage and sloganizing sounds plucked from TikTok videos rather than out of organic conviction. She’s supported by Brian (Cameron Mann) who is more smitten with her than their cause. Joe is ill-equipped to either control the crowd or empathize with their cause which only makes things worse.
Aster throws in so many other things, all ripe for critique. Conspiracy theories, misinformation, social media dependency, cult leaders (a shaggy but captivating Austin Butler is a brief delight), white middle-class radicalism, etc. With so much laid out, the budding question became how would Aster wrangle it all together? The answer – with an insanely violent Tarantino flavored exclamation point at the end. It’s a wildly entertaining finish that speaks to where our intensifying divisions could eventually lead us.
“Eddington” feels like a movie some will need to wrestle with, not just for days but perhaps years. It’s a feature that demands a level of honesty and introspection. Those unwilling will likely contort the movie to fit their political dogmas or simply dismiss it altogether. But those willing to look deeper will find a well-conceived and well-crafted satire that is both ruthlessly funny and daringly insightful. Top it off with a terrific cast (none better than Phoenix), and you have Aster’s best film since his stellar debut. “Eddington” is in theaters now.
Riding hot on the heels of Wes Craven’s enormous box office hit “Scream”, director Jim Gillespie’s 1997 slasher “I Know What You Did Last Summer” pretty much followed the same path to success. It was made on a small budget, it featured a collection of fresh young faces, and it raked in a lot of money leading to one immediate sequel, one later direct-to-video sequel, a now a legacy sequel that follows the events from the second movie.
Originally based on a 1973 novel by Lois Duncan, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” pulls inspiration from an old urban legend of the Hookman. In the 1997 film, a group of teenage friends from Southport, North Carolina are terrorized by a hook-wielding killer one year after they covered up a car accident where they accidentally killed a man. Murder and mayhem ensued as the friends found themselves the target of a mysterious killer.
Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
The 2025 film (which follows that silly trend of using the same name as a previous installment) takes place 28 years after the Southport murders. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, working from a script she co-wrote with Sam Lansky, basically follows the same blueprint as the first film, with a new group of friends and a couple of old familiar faces which fans will enjoy seeing despite them feeling shoehorned in.
Five not so interesting friends, Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Danica (Madelyn Cline), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), drive up in the hills overlooking Southport for the best view of the town’s annual late-night Fourth of July fireworks show. As the group dumbly goofs around in the middle of the winding road, a truck is forced to swerve to miss them, plunging off the gorge to the rocks below.
Rather than help, the frightened group flee the scene. They later find out the driver was killed, but Teddy’s wealthy father (Billy Campbell) uses his influence with the cops to keep the kids from being implicated. The five friends take an oath to never mention what happened to anyone. But if you know anything about the original movie you know their secret comes back to haunt them.
One year later, Danica receives a mysterious note the reads “I know what you did last summer“. It forces the five startled friends back together where they quickly find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding killer in a rain slicker. While the police aren’t much help, they find unexpected allies in Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) – two original survivors of the 1997 murder spree.
Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Robinson and Lansky try but have a tough time giving us anyone to root for. It’s no fault of the cast as everyone puts what they can into their mostly hollow characters. Even Hewitt and Prinze Jr. struggle to bring anything beyond nostalgia to their characters. The story does them no favors, predictably moving from point to point, relying on jump scares rather than real tension, and eventually falling apart with a desperate twist that is more eye-rolling than shocking.
That leaves us with the kills – something all good slashers lean on to some degree. Here they barely leave an impression and even the most die-hard slasher fan will have a tough time being impressed. It’s just another blemish on what is a mostly lifeless and painfully by-the-numbers snooze that has a difficult time justifying its own existence. We get glimpses of what the movie could have been, but sadly it’s only glimpses. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” opens in theaters today.
The drama surrounding DC’s first attempt at a cinematic superhero universe is well-documented and going over the ins and outs of its rise and fall would take forever. In a nutshell, DC was put in the hands of Zack Snyder who attempted to do something to distinguish DC from its well-established competition at Marvel. The results were pretty great, that is until Snyder had the keys taken away in an effort to mirror Marvel’s success rather than offer a contrast to it. From there things fell apart pretty quickly.
Now DC is trying again by bringing in Marvel and DC alum James Gunn to head an entire reboot of their properties. For many of us, Gunn wasn’t the most encouraging choice considering his previous swings at franchise superhero movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Suicide Squad”) were team-based stories laced with heavy amounts of humor. How that would translate to running a full-scale cinematic universe would be anyone’s guess.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Gunn kicks off his tenure by writing and directing DC’s signature character, Superman. Once again, Gunn isn’t the first person I would expect to be handed the keys to the iconic Man of Steel. But as a fan of the character and DC overall, I went in hopeful for a movie that would do him justice and get the DC Universe off on the right foot. Unfortunately, “Superman” quickly turns into a frustrating and often baffling mix of missteps and shortcuts.
“Superman” is riddled with nagging issues that include an overstuffed story, underdeveloped characters, head-scratching plot contrivances, and some needless liberties with the lore that fail to have the impact intended. Even worse, at times the movie feels as if it’s made for fans of James Gunn rather than fans of Superman. From the overly jokey tone to cameos featuring several of his buddies, you can often see Gunn more focused on putting his stamp on the property than telling a great Superman story.
Gunn starts by bypassing the origin stuff which most of us know by heart. His story is set three years after Superman (David Corenswet) first revealed himself to Earth. Apparently his most amazing feats happened in that three-year window prior to the events of the movie. I say that because we don’t get to see any of them. Instead we spend most of the time watching Superman getting beaten to a pulp. In fact, the very first scene has him crashing down after being destroyed by a metahuman working for billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Speaking of Lex, here Superman’s powerful archenemy is turned into an underwritten brat whose motives are murky at best and incoherent at worse. Lex is already in a position of enormous power and influence, although how he got there is all but avoided. What we do learn is that he’s an arms dealer, he may be involved in a budding war between two neighboring nations, and he has a petty (masked as maniacal) hatred for Superman. Lex somehow has massive pull within the United States government and he can somehow sway public opinion just by appearing on a corny talk show.
Of course a big part of Superman’s story involves his life as Clark Kent. He’s once again a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). The movie begins with the two already romantically involved and with Lois aware of Clark’s superhero identity. Sadly their relationship doesn’t go anywhere beyond what we’ve seen before. Meanwhile the Daily Planet crew features such familiar names as editor-in-chief Perry White (Wendell Pierce), the busty Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover), and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who’s shackled to one of the film’s weirdest and most underdeveloped angles.
Adding to the assembly line of characters are three super-powered metahumans, Guy Gardner AKA Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). Guy calls them the “Justice Gang” which becomes a running joke that quickly runs out of gas. Nothing about them as a team seems thought out past the comic bits Gunn squeezes out of them. Only Mr. Terrific gets any meaningful time to semi-develop.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
There are several other problems that are at least worth mentioning. There are some wonky digital effects. Nearly all the stakes come across as manufactured rather than organic. There is a surprising lack of emotion throughout the movie. Ma and Pa Kent are thrown in for sentimental effect but are glaringly inconsequential. Most of humanity are inadvertently depicted as insanely dumb and gullible. Even Krypto the dog is fumbled. He should be a cheap and easy way to get reactions from the audience. But Gunn doesn’t know when to let off the gas, and the CGI dog’s cutesy comic relief gets a bit old.
It pains me to say, but James Gunn’s “Superman” misses nearly every mark it aims for. And there are A LOT of marks as Gunn spends most of his time throwing ideas onto the screen rather than having them make sense within a cohesive story. He even takes an ax to some long-established lore only to get nothing out of it. Meanwhile the performances are simply fine, with no one being either terrific or terrible. To be fair, it’s no fault of the cast. It’s the writing and direction that lets them down.
Going back to my comic book days, I’ve long been a bigger fan of DC than Marvel. So much so that even with my concerns, I was willing to receive a new Man of Steel with open arms. But “Superman” is a disappointing reinvention of an iconic character so many love. In fact, calling this iteration “SUPERman” seems incredibly generous. Gunn’s attempts at capturing the essence of the character while shaping a new Superman in his image will probably payoff at the box office. But it’s hardly the fitting reintroduction this DC Comics pillar deserves. “Superman” is in theaters now.
Keith & the Movies 