In the new crime drama “Just Breathe”, Kyle Gallner plays Nick Bianco, a hardened yet well-meaning man who battles with serious anger management issues. He’s finally started therapy at the behest of his girlfriend Mel (Emyri Crutchfield). Nick is crazy about Mel. So much so that he’s bought an engagement ring with big plans to ask her to marry him. But those plans are put on hold after one jarringly violent encounter.

“Just Breathe” is written and directed by Paul Pompa III who conceives a fairly intriguing crime story and then presents it like an early 1990s thriller. That’s both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. It’s conflicts are certainly well-defined and the stakes couldn’t be clearer. But everyone other than Nick seems shackled to that familiar 90s thriller formula. Meanwhile the story hits a few too many predictable beats, right up to its mostly by-the-book finish.

On the very night Nick is set to propose, his temper gets him into serious trouble. While having dinner with Mel at a swanky downtown restaurant, Nick overhears their waiter insulting her while in the bathroom. Nick snaps and savagely beats the guy into a bloody pulp. The incident costs him a year in prison, and even worse, forces him to put his proposal to Mel on hold.

We then jump ahead a year as Nick is getting out of prison with hopes of picking up where he left off with Mel. But she’s (understandably) in no hurry to rekindle their relationship. And things are made even more complicated by Chester (Shawn Ashmore), Mel’s new landlord who clearly has a thing for her. But it gets even crazier as Chester is also Nick’s parole officer. We quickly learn that he is thoroughly corrupt and uses his authority to force desperate parolees into doing his bidding.

Things heat up when Chester begins using his abovementioned authority to keep Nick out of Mel’s life. Again, it’s a fairly intriguing premise with some compelling possibilities. But much of it is undermined by one noteworthy weakness – Mel. She’s a character plagued by bad decisions, horrible judgement, and an inexplicable inability to see through Chester’s glaringly obvious unhinged infatuation. And she isn’t helped by Crutchfield’s oddly subdued performance.

As for Gallner, he brings all the toughness and volatility needed, but he coats it with a level of sincerity that makes Nick more than some brutish lunkhead. And while the script pigeonholes him a bit, Ashmore makes Chester an appropriately vile villain – a tad cartoonish in spots but every bit as detestable as he needs to be. William Forsythe even shows up playing Nick’s cold and callous father although the screen veteran isn’t given a lot do.

Things escalate too quickly in the final act as the movie barrels towards its big climactic finish. It all ends up in a fairly obvious and predictable place. It works well enough as an ending though it’s not enough to smooth over the film’s rougher edges. The pieces are there and Gallner once again shows he has the acting chops to carry a lead’s workload. But the material lets him down and doesn’t quite develop the kind of intensity a story like this needs. “Just Breathe” releases on VOD September 16th.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

There have been many movies tackling the difficult subject of domestic abuse. But few have offered a more comprehensive on-screen depiction of a deteriorating relationship as “Just the Two of Us”. This well-conceived and well-acted French psychological thriller begins with a romantic first encounter that blossoms into love, marriage, and children. But as insecurity gives way to possessiveness, one person’s happiness slowly and painfully turns to horror.

“Just the Two of Us” first released in France in 2023 and received a very limited theatrical release here in the States last year. But now it’s more widely available via a digital and home video release courtesy of Music Box Films. It’s directed by actor-turned-director Valérie Donzelli who works from a script she wrote with Audrey Diwan. Together they adapt Éric Reinhardt’s 2014 novel “L’Amour et les Forêts”, shrewdly adding their own strokes which gives the film a sharp modern-day resonance.

Virginie Efira stars as both Blanche and her twin sister Rose, two siblings who couldn’t be more different. Blanche is somewhat closed off and reserved while Rose is an outgoing straightshooter. But while they may be opposites, as with most twins, they are extremely close and look after each other. After some coaxing by Rose, Blanche agrees to go to a party where she meets an old acquaintance, Grégoire (Melvil Poupaud). An unexpected romance blooms and this immediately becomes Blanche’s story.

At first Grégoire is everything Blanche could want. After she discovers she’s pregnant, the two get married and have their first of two children. But we see the first cracks after Grégoire moves them away after getting transferred by his job. Blanche struggles adjusting to being so far away from her sister. But the real difficulty comes after she learns Grégoire wasn’t completely honest about his transfer. And it only gets worse after Blanche accepts a substitute teaching position at a local high school much to her husband’s chagrin..

As the story progresses, Donzelli skillfully peels back layers of Grégoire’s abuse while revealing the damaging effects through Blanche’s eyes. Grégoire’s insecurities manifest themselves through shaming, degradation, and gaslighting. Blanche’s aggravation turns to discomfort quickly which gives way to fear. And as his crushing mental cruelty intensifies, her suffocating anxiety grows unbearable. The film gets increasingly harrowing as Donzelli ratchets things up.

Much of the film’s resonance comes through the two central performances. Poupaud impresses by providing a captivating mix of charm and menace, showing the allure of affection and the perturbation of possessiveness. But truthfully it’s all about Efira who is the film’s lifeblood. She brilliantly delivers an emotionally textured performance that allows the film’s themes to fully take form. Even when the story begins to veer into genre, Efira keeps things firmly rooted in truth.

“Just the Two of Us” is a perceptive psychological drama about navigating a crumbling, abusive relationship. The final act sees the tension at its thickest before finally letting us up to breathe. It’s capped by an engaging finish that brings Blanche’s journey to a satisfying inflection point. Not everything the characters do makes sense, more specifically in the second half. But the movie’s handling of psychological abuse, isolation, and trauma is well grounded, and Efira makes it all resonate on a profoundly human level.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

It’s Halloween night – that beloved evening in late October when kids dress up in their favorite costumes and take to their neighborhood streets in hopes of scoring bags full of candy. It’s also a preferred time of the year for deranged and diabolical movie masked murderers to go on blood-drenched killing sprees. It’s a cinematic truth that both slasher and non-slasher film fans know well.

The latest movie to let its Halloween night killer loose is “The Jester 2”. The film’s titular character debuted in a trio of well-made short films that are currently available to stream on YouTube. The shorts paved the way for a 2023 feature length film although it didn’t leave much of an impression. Yet writer, director, and editor Colin Krawchuk (who has helmed every Jester project to date) was able to get a sequel made – a true testament to his passion for his creation.

The Jester (impressively played by Michael Sheffield) is a mysterious mute trickster sporting a bright suit, top hat, and a hideous joker mask covering his face. He’s a little bit magic, a little bit demonic, and a whole lot of demented. Unfortunately he’s not much beyond that. Midway through the film we get a supernatural explanation for why he does what he does. But it feels more out of necessity rather than something organic to the character and his story.

As for our protagonist, 15-year-old Max (Kaitlyn Trentham) is a sweet and timid introvert who struggles to fit in. At home she’s constantly denigrated by one of the worst movie moms of the year (Jessica Ambuehl), and at school she’s an easy target for the preppy bullies. Her one real love is magic and her one real friend is Willie (Dingani Beza), the owner of a small local magic shop.

Decked out in her homemade magician costume, Max heads out to enjoy her Halloween night. But after a run-in with some obnoxious classmates followed by a pep talk from Willie, her evening takes a twisted turn when she encounters the Jester. At first Max is enamored by the silent trickster who not only wows her with his magic, but who does something few others do – shows an interest in her. But after she witnesses him use his magic to murder a woman right before her eyes, Max realizes she is in the presence of evil.

From there the movie pretty much plays out according to formula. But for slasher movies that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They have long been a sub-genre of horror built largely upon fan expectations. In that sense “The Jester 2” seeks to deliver, offering up a fairly unique and often bloody variety of kills. Still, as with many of these movies, the originality is often found in the killer. The Jester certainly has an unsettling sadistic side which makes him both creepy and compelling. Sadly, too much about him remains a mystery.

Interestingly, “The Jester 2” features some of the same strengths and weaknesses as its predecessor. It creates a genuinely eerie atmosphere and the Jester himself certainly grabs our attention (in large part thanks to Sheffield’s physically chilling performance). But there is so much mythology and backstory left untold. And while the story we do get is serviceable, it doesn’t do enough to keep us engaged as it moves from one kill to the next.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

It was 32 years ago that Steven Spielberg wowed audiences with his blockbuster mega-hit “Jurassic Park”. Since then it has been an interesting road for the Jurassic franchise. Spielberg returned to direct the sequel “The Lost World” but not the third film, “Jurassic Park III”. Both movies made money, but they didn’t reach the heights of the original. The series was relaunched in 2015 with “Jurassic World”, followed by two underwhelming but wildly profitable sequels.

Now the dinosaurs are back for a seventh time in “Jurassic World Rebirth”, a standalone sequel that follows “Dominion” while in many ways wisely distancing itself from it. Gareth Edwards was brought in to direct and David Koepp (the writer of the 1993 film) was hired to pen the script. The result is a story that tries a little too hard to follow Spielberg’s original recipe. Yet in the process it delivers an improvement over its most recent (and ultimately forgettable) predecessors.

“Rebirth” is slow out of the gate as it sets up its story and moves its characters into place. As humans and dinosaurs are still trying to co-exist, people have grown tired of their massive planet-mates. Many of the earth’s climates aren’t fit for the dinosaurs, leading the massive creatures to migrate towards the equator which causes all sorts of headaches around the globe.

As frustrated mankind focus on this problem, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), a noticeably slimy pharmaceutical rep, has his eyes fixated elsewhere. He and his company have developed a new miracle drug that has the potential to cure heart disease. They’ve yet to bring it to trial because they’re missing key blood samples. Those samples are from the three largest living dinosaurs which reside on an outlawed island in the Atlantic. Once he secures the samples Martin’s company can begin testing and then secure a patent which will be worth billions.

Martin approaches a former special ops soldier turned mercenary, Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) with a lucrative offer to lead a team to the forbidden island. Accompanying them is Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a good-hearted but naive paleontologist who dreams of seeing living dinosaurs in their natural habitat. Zora charters a ship belonging to her old friend Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) who plots their course and leads the team to the island.

Elsewhere a father Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda ), and Teresa’s deadbeat boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) are on an ill-advised sailing trip across the Atlantic when their boat capsizes after an encounter with a massive Mosasaurus. Zora and her team rescue the family, but not before the Mosasaurus run’s Duncan’s ship on shore of the forbidden island.

From there the movie splits the story into two tales of survival. After some rather obvious casualties, the survivors are forced into two groups – the frightened family trying to find their way to a village and Zora’s team who set out to complete their mission. Of course both groups encounter an array of prehistoric dangers, eye-popping wonders, and unexpected secrets. The story has a predictable trajectory, but it remains entertaining.

The movie works in large part due to the thrilling set pieces. It takes a while to get to them, but the big screen payoff is pretty satisfying. The dinosaurs look great and Edwards manages to create some pretty good tension. The characters don’t hold up as well. It’s not hard to root for the heroes and the villains are appropriately vile. But none feel fully fleshed out despite the strongly committed performances from the sizable cast.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” does its best to bring the series back to its roots and it mostly succeeds. And while it may rely a little too much on nostalgia, Edwards and company deliver the kind of big screen summer spectacle than fans will be drawn to. The early box office returns have been huge which equals a big win for Universal. It also all but assures another dino adventure in the not too distant future. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

True appreciators of 1970s blaxploitation will find a lot to love about the low-budget but highly entertaining “Jade”. Writer-director James Bamford makes no attempt to hide his inspiration, treating us to a buffet of blades, bullets, and bodies that decades ago would have felt right at home on New York City’s notorious 42nd Street. 

As with some of the movies that inspired it, “Jade” has its shortcomings. The story is lightweight at best, some characters are paper-thin, and at times the movie finds itself wandering in an effort to make it to the next big action scene. Yet fans of the pulpy throwback subgenre will eat up the steady diet of cool split-screens, gratuitous slow motion, fun Mexican standoffs, and glorious gun fu action.

Martial artist and stunt performer Shaina West gets a starring role as the film’s titular lead Jade, a young woman burdened by grief and guilt following the unfortunate death of her brother by her own hand. It’s a seemingly significant bit of backstory that never gets fully explained to us. The closest thing to family she has left is her late brother’s pregnant girlfriend, Layla (Katherine McNamara) who is still struggling to forgive Jade for what happened.

What story there is kicks off after Jade ends up with a mysterious hard drive that’s wanted by a crooked businessman named Tork (played by Mickey Rourke who phones in his performance in what is a very Mickey Rourke type of role). Also hungry for the drive is an Interpol agent named Reese (Mark Dacascos) who happens to be Jade’s former mentor and a close friend of the late parents.

But figuring out who to trust isn’t easy for Jade, especially when shooting and slicing her way through waves of thick-skulled baddies, all with really bad intentions. And that’s basically the story in a nutshell. The hard drive turns out to be nothing more than a MacGuffin. We only get a few mild twists. And there are only a couple of scenes that could qualify as reveals. Mostly it’s Jade moving from one ferocious and stylish action sequence to the next.

Those looking for a meatier script may be tempted to write the movie off. But “Jade” has much more to offer, mainly from the electric Shaina West. She’s a physical and charismatic force of nature, dishing out bloody retribution with a twinkle in her eye and a glorious full volume afro that’s as big as her body count. Memories of Tamara Dobson’s Cleopatra Jones and Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown immediately come to mind as Bamford gives West one action highlight after another.

“Jade” is a cool, straightforward, and unabashedly violent throwback to the exploitation era of the 1970s. It’s full of razor-sharp quips, hilarious genre nods, and enough shooting, kicking, and slicing to satisfy the cravings of any fan who truly gets what Bamford and company are going for. It’s light on story and the characters are mostly archetypes. But there’s a good chance you’ll be having too much fun with everything else to bother noticing. “Jade” releases on digital February 18th.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS