Director Kirill Sokolov pulls from a wild assortment of influences to craft his new film “They Will Kill You”. It’s a genre fever dream, custom made for the midnight movie crowd, that is equal parts action, horror, and comedy. It’s a fast-moving and hyper-stylized extravaganza of blood and guts, with the kind of cinematic gusto to keep its audience onboard, even as the grindhouse glee starts to wear off.

There is very little in “They Will Kill You” that we haven’t seen before. And that feels strange to say considering how bonkers things get. Sokolov and his co-writer Alex Litvak throw together enough lore to get by, most of which bears a strong resemblance to the “Ready or Not” films. It too has a tough-as-nails female protagonist, a confined single location setting, rich and entitled elites, and a deranged satanic cult.

The difference with “They Will Kill You” is in how gonzo it’s willing to go. Sokolov takes some absurdly wild turns and it ends up working in the movie’s favor. So much so that it becomes easy to look past the familiar premise because you’re having so much fun amid the genre-blending chaos. And it doesn’t hurt having Zazie Beetz, whose physically demanding, go-for-broke performance impresses from the very first moment she appears on screen.

Beetz plays Asia Reeves, an ex-convict who arrives in New York City in search of her younger sister, Maria (Myha’la). Ten years earlier, Asia was arrested and sent to prison for shooting their brutish father who routinely abused Maria. Now she’s out and has tracked her sister to a towering co-op building in Manhattan called The Virgil. Posing as the new maid, Asia is greeted by the building’s superintendent, Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette) who immediately shows our hero to her room.

We learn that The Virgil was built in 1923 and is occupied by a number of pampered elites and a large staff of servants. The creepy building also has a dark supernatural history – something Asia becomes acquainted with after a group of robed intruders slip into her room late at night while she’s sleeping. But to their surprise, Asia is no damsel in distress. And as they try to apprehend her, she furiously fights back with fantastically gory results.

From there movie barrels forward, bouncing us from one blood-bathed action sequence to another. The story introduces a bumbling devil-worshipping cult consisting of “an unusual family with rather unusual needs”. But they mostly exist for the occasional laugh and as fodder for the force of nature that is Asia. And honestly, that’s perfectly fine considering the action is the film’s bread and butter. And it is ferocious, frequently tipping its hat to “Kill Bill”, “John Wick”, “Evil Dead”, and more.

The supporting cast is a lot of fun, most notably the comically sinister Arquette and a hysterically gonzo Heather Graham. But this is Zazie Beetz’s show, and she pours every ounce of herself into her performance. She’s not only fiercely charismatic, but also genuinely menacing in large part due to the intense physicality she brings to the role. She adeptly sells every vicious slash, every plunging stab, and every double-barreled blast.

“They Will Kill You” does pepper in a few themes dealing with race and class disparity. But as with most of its story, it never goes deep enough to matter. And though it tries, the movie never lands the second-half emotional punch it’s going for. About the only narrative beat that stands out is the deliciously off-the-rails ending which embraces absurdity in ways you won’t see coming. It fits nicely with the breakneck, gore-fueled action that makes this entertaining romp worth seeing.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

An old-fashioned disaster movie meets sharksploitation in Netflix’s “Thrash”, an insanely silly and at times bafflingly bad survival thriller that still makes for decent throwaway entertainment despite its litany of shortcomings. But while there is a definitely a little fun to be had with it, you can’t help but feel that “Thrash” could have and should have been a lot more bonkers than it ends up being.

“Thrash” is written and directed by Tommy Wirkola. The Norwegian filmmaker has some noteworthy directing credits on his resume including 2009”s “Dead Snow”, 2021’s “The Trip”, and most recently 2022’s “Violent Night”. While all three are solid films, none of them set an especially high bar, which makes it even more disappointing when “Thrash” fails to reach it. Instead, Wirkola’s latest feels like a rushed patchwork of ideas, sewn together with only a few bare threads of story.

As a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane barrels towards the small Atlantic coastal town of Annieville, South Carolina, a select group of locals, who (for various reasons) didn’t heed the evacuation warnings, find themselves in perilous situations. The fast-moving Hurricane Henry makes landfall with surprisingly little visual fanfare. Instead the real danger hits when the ocean levees break and the storm surge sends flood waters rushing into town.

Among the residents fighting for survival is Lisa Fields (Phoebe Dynevor), a pregnant woman from New York trapped in her car after not making it out of town in time. There’s Dakota (Whitney Peak), an agoraphobic young woman stuck on the top floor of her flooded home. There’s a trio of siblings left alone thanks to their abusive and brainless redneck foster parents. And there is Dakota’s uncle, Dr. Dale Edwards (Djimon Hounsou), a marine researcher rushing to Annieville to rescue his niece.

But the thinly-sketched survivors quickly discover they have more to fear than the rising flood waters. Far more deadly is the shiver of blood-craving bull sharks that enter town with the ocean surge. They add a preposterous yet admittedly entertaining twist that Wirkola has a lot of fun with. But here’s the thing – the sharks turn out to be more interesting and at times noticeably smarter than the vast majority of the human characters.

Most of the film’s problems seep from the script which puts these people in dangerous situations as a result of their own dimwitted choices. It would be one thing if this played like a straight comedy. But while there are moments of humor, most of the story is told with a straight face which doesn’t do the characters any favors. It also doesn’t help that they are handed the kind of ludicrous dialogue that no level of talent can make sound good.

“Thrash” is a movie that finds itself stuck in-between the better films it could have been. It’s a case of not fully committing to any particular vision. So it ends up all over the place, fumbling through its attempts at being thrilling, scary, and/or funny. To its credit, there are some impressive uses of both practical and digital effects which Wirkola really leans into during specific scenes. But the movie desperately needs more – namely more gonzo chaos, the slightest bit of coherence, and characters that we can at least care about.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

Dennis Gansel combines shrewd direction with impressive technical savvy in “The Tank”, a gripping German war thriller that carves out its own World War II story while calling back to such classics as “Sahara”, “Das Boot”, and even “Apocalypse Now”. It’s a movie that repeatedly steers you towards believing it’s one thing, only to surprise you by taking itself in a number of unexpected directions.

Set in 1943, “The Tank” (originally titled “Der Tiger”) begins with a nerve-racking action sequence on a bridge over the Dnieper River in what is now Ukraine. As the German army is being pushed back by Russian forces, Lieutenant Gerkens (David Schütter) leads a five-man Tiger tank crew in defending the bridge. Shells detonate around them and fire rains down from above as the five anxious soldiers huddle in their cramped iron compartment. It’s a harrowing scene that gives us a glimpse of what Gansel has in store for us, both narratively and visually.

After the bridge battle, Gerkens is immediately given new orders. He and his crew are tasked with covertly locating and extracting the mysterious Lieutenant Colonel von Hardenburg, a German officer believed to be hiding in a bunker behind enemy lines. Little is known about the dangers they’ll face along the way. And even less is known about the man they are to retrieve.

Together with his driver, Helmut (Leonard Kunz), his machine gunner, Weller (Laurence Rupp), his radio operator, Keilig (Sebastian Urzendowsky), and his young reloader, Michel (Yoran Leicher), Gerken and his crew set out on their perilous mission. Their treacherous trek over No Man’s Land takes them across ominous fields, into quiet forests littered with dead bodies, and through the haunting remains of bombed out towns. These remnants of war emphasize its senselessness which ends up being one of the film’s central themes.

While there is no shortage of tension-soaked action, “The Tank” is as much interested in the psychological pressure as it is large-scale spectacle. Gansel crafts several nail-biting scenes that pit the crew against an array of threats, from land mines to Russian tank hunters. But the farther they travel, the more it begins to feel like a one-may mission. And the more they’re forced to reckon with feelings of guilt and complicity that they’ve attempted to bury throughout the war.

The balance between the wartime action and the psychological isn’t just captured by Gansel’s sharp direction. It’s also found in the stunning cinematography of Carlo Jelavic. He shrewdly oscillates between the cramped confines of the tank’s interior, affecting character closeups, and evocative landscapes, all vividly detailed, atmospheric, and suggestive. The sound design is equally effective in channeling the sheer sense of dread and the deeper emotional stakes. It’s a technical gem.

“The Tank” delivers all kinds of wartime thrills while avoiding the common action movie trappings. It doesn’t shy away from the atrocities of war nor does it exploit them. And while it conveys the bond of brotherhood among the crew, there isn’t an ounce of sentimentality in the storytelling. It’s as authentic as it is riveting. Overall, “The Tank” follows a unique narrative path marked by clever foreshadowing and intriguing moral reflections, finishing up with a bold final act that immediately calls for a second viewing.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

Last year’s “28 Years Later” was Danny Boyle’s return to the bleak and harrowing zombie hellscape he first introduced with 2002’s “28 Days Later”. That world was further explored in 2007’s “28 Weeks Later” and then again in 2025. In the third film, Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland picked things up 28 years after the second outbreak of the Rage Virus, adding a host of new characters and just as many old references that fans of the apocalyptic horror franchise enjoyed.

My issues with “28 Years Later” wasn’t with its presentation. Boyle nailed the grim representation of a collapsed society and the horrors that exist within its remnants. Instead, the problems were with the lack of cohesion in the rushed final act. Even worse was its preposterous and tone-shattering finish that did more to hurt the film than to set the table for another one.

But some of the best sequels have made the movie that came before it better. Unfortunately that’s not the case with “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”. Nia DaCosta takes over directing duties and she proves to have her finger firmly on the pulse of this dark and forbidding world. Unfortunately she’s repeatedly undermined by Garland’s script which keeps her handcuffed to two competing storylines that inevitably merge but not in the most satisfying of ways.

The previous film ends with 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) being ‘rescued’ by a pack of blonde wigged tracksuit satanists with Power Ranger agility. This film picks up their story as the group’s maniacal leader, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) is forcing Spike to fight one of his lackeys to the death, all to earn a spot in his cult. Spike manages to survive and reluctantly joins their ranks. He quickly learns these are violently deranged people who gruesomely torture and “sacrifice” anyone they come across.

Elsewhere, we get more of the previous film’s most fascinating character, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a reclusive former doctor who had dedicated his life to memorializing the victims of the virus through his haunting Bone Temple. But now, when not jamming out to his Duran Duran records, he’s getting high on morphine with an area Alpha he’s named Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). This is the same Alpha that was ripping heads off of people in the previous movie. Now he’s the doctor’s test subject and hangout buddy.

Garland’s script bounces back and forth between these two arcs, with neither feeling all that significant to the overall story. Spike’s parade with The Jimmy’s is especially confounding. They’re basically psychopathic killers driven by a blind allegiance to a clownish charlatan. And frankly, they aren’t all that interesting. Even worse, Spike often gets lost in cult’s chaos, leaving his coming-of-age drama stuck on the back burner.

As for DaCosta, she is given the unenviable task of turning Garland’s tuneless story into something meaningful and cohesive. One of her biggest challenges is sorting through the tonal confusion that plagues the majority of the film. Things can switch from grimly serious to comically absurd in a matter of seconds. DaCosta also has to find a way to keep us from asking some glaringly obvious questions. For example, what about the community of survivors on Lindisfarne? What about Spike’s father who was last seen painfully screaming his son’s name. Apparently he wasn’t anguished enough to go out searching.

“The Bone Temple” also seems to forget about the infected (minus Samson). They aren’t the same terrifying threats who kept us on the edges of our seats during the last film. Gone is the nerve-shredding tension of simply walking through the forest. Instead the infected mainly pop up whenever the story needs them to. And when they do, DaCosta simply can’t quite match Boyle’s intensely kinetic style of framing and shooting the action.

Thematically, “The Bone Temple” touches on inhumanity and the nature of evil while single-mindedly skewering the concept of faith. But like much in the movie, its themes are so confined that they don’t really go anywhere. Similarly, the two parallel stories feel restricted to different worlds until finally intersecting at a strangely opportune juncture. We’re left with the sense that very little in the film is moving towards a particular narrative goal. The tonal hopscotch, numbing sadism, and off-balance storytelling only make things worse.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

It’s been too long since the underrated and undervalued Aaron Eckhart has been in a major big screen movie. People may forget, but Eckhart has a pretty stellar résumé, having worked with such heavy-hitting directors as Oliver Stone, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard, John Woo, Brian De Palma, Christopher Nolan, and Clint Eastwood. But while he waits for Hollywood to remember his name, Eckhart continues to work, having starred in a run of straight-to-video action thrillers.

His latest thriller is “Thieves Highway”, a feature strengthened by its interesting setting yet frustratingly hampered by a formulaic plot. Written by Travis Mills, the story is set in rural Oklahoma where a sharp spike in livestock theft has cost ranchers and the industry millions of dollars. Eckhart plays the grizzled Frank Bennett, a “cow cop” with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture who tracks and apprehends modern day cattle rustlers.

Frank’s job has gotten tougher of late. Not only are the cattle thefts on the rise, but the rustlers have become more ruthless, as evident by Frank’s friend and fellow lawman (Johnny Messner) being left permanently paralyzed after a recent encounter. Yet Frank pushes on, mainly because he has nothing else to fall back on after the death of his wife. But we see a spark when he bumps into an old acquaintance named Sylvia (Brooke Langton). Unfortunately their undercooked meet-cute doesn’t lead to anything we can’t see coming.

Equally predictable is the fate of Frank’s partner, Bill (Lochlyn Munro). After sharing his plans to retire and spend more time with his family, Bill insists on accompanying Frank in confronting a gang of rustlers outside of town. To no surprise, Bill is gunned down while Frank manages to escape. From there, a stranded yet determined Frank looks for a way to catch the criminals who killed his partner. Meanwhile the gang hunts for Frank, led by Jones (Devon Sawa), a deranged sociopath wielding a World War II Thompson submachine gun.

Most of the film sees director Jesse V. Johnson setting up a game of cat and mouse between the outgunned but resourceful Frank and Jones, along with his colorful band of thugs. Frank is left stranded with no vehicle and no cell service. But he finds an unexpected ally in an off-the-grid hermit named Axsel (Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry). Elsewhere a plucky waitress named Peggy (Lucy Martin) finds herself playing a meaningful role in the chaos.

“Thieves Highway” moves along at a fairly crisp pace while streamlining its storytelling within a lean 87-minute runtime. At the same time, the movie could have fleshed out and filled out more if given an extra fifteen minutes or so. As it is, “Thieves Highway” travels down a fairly predictable path. Johnson and Mills do some fun maneuvering with their characters and Eckhart is a sturdy enough lead. But the storytelling takes too many shortcuts and the overall lack of suspense keeps us one step ahead.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

Throughout his thirty-year career, Joel Edgerton has shown himself to be an incredibly versatile actor. It’s a fact that is highlighted by the sheer array of roles he has taken on, whether in gritty crime films like “Animal Kingdom”, twisted psychological thrillers like “The Gift”, or hushed yet affecting human dramas such as “Loving”. His latest film falls into that latter category. In “Train Dreams”, Edgerton’s performance is quiet and understated yet with deep emotional depth. It’s a tremendous turn.

“Train Dreams” is the sophomore directing effort from Clint Bentley who also wrote the screenplay with his frequent writing partner Greg Kwedar. The two are coming off an Academy Award nomination for “Sing Sing”. Now they’re adapting Denis Johnson’s award-winning work which began as a 2002 short story in The Paris Review before being published as a novella in 2011. The duo bring the heart of Johnson’s story to the screen under Bentley’s assured direction. It results in one of the year’s very best films.

“Train Dreams” is a deeply affecting snapshot of life, with all of its joys and tragedies, as seen through the eyes of one man trying to find his place in a changing world. In one sense it plays like an echo of a bygone era, when the world seemed bigger and taming it came at the expense of men on the margins who tirelessly worked in the background of the rapidly expanding America. It’s also a moving and firmly grounded character study, spanning decades of one such man’s life.

The story opens in the early 20th century during the boom of Western expansion. It follows Robert Grainier (Edgerton), an unremarkable man by the world’s standards who works as a logger in the Pacific Northwest. It’s solitary work done mostly by solitary men – a description that fits Robert well. He’s a hard worker who blends right in with the beautiful yet rugged wilderness. But underneath his burly exterior is a gentle and soft-spoken soul who mostly keeps his thoughts to himself. He’s more of an observer than a talker, yet we learn so much about him through Edgerton’s ability to speak volumes with very few words.

Robert takes a job with a railroad company, building a lengthy trestle bridge over a river gorge. It’s decent money, but it’s a decision he soon regrets. Robert witnesses the senseless killing of a Chinese immigrant co-worker in the name of justice. Despite not having a part, the guilt of not stopping it haunts Robert, prompting him to wrestle with an existential question for the remainder of the movie, “Do the bad things we do follow us in life?” After the job, he leaves the railroad and goes back to logging.

Robert’s solitude is interrupted when he meets and instantly falls for the forthright Gladys (Felicity Jones). In no time, the two end up married. They purchase an acre of land where they build a cabin on the banks of the tranquil Moyie River. Shortly after, they have a baby girl. For Robert, it’s the happiest he has ever been. And for the first time in his life he feels as if he has found his purpose. But just as he would get used to being at home, logging season would roll back around. And the jobs were taking him further and further away from home.

From the elegant opening frames, it’s obvious that Bentley is remarkably in-sync with the story he’s telling and the period he’s recreating. There is a poetic lyricism anchoring his storytelling which patiently progresses with an observant eye and a soul-stirring rhythm. There’s also a fascinating subtlety in Bentley’s handling of things, even later as Robert’s life takes a heart-shattering turn. Bentley maintains a quiet control of his material. And he knows what he has in Edgerton – an actor who can do heavy lifting with a single expression.

There’s also Bentley’s reliance on visual language to convey feeling while also visualizing this very distinct era. The rapturous cinematography of DP Adolpho Veloso utilizes natural lighting and an assortment of striking lens choices to capture evocative compositions that offer more than simple eye-candy. His Malickian view of nature uses the camera to show how big and vast his world is. Yet the same camera gives us rich moments of heartfelt intimacy. And it’s all complimented by Bryce Dressner’s stirring score.

While Edgerton’s sturdy stoicism and gut-wrenching authenticity firmly centers the story, some fine supporting work proves equally valuable. As Gladys, Jones finds the perfect balance between delicate and determined. A terrific Kerry Condon gets a small yet touching role as a U.S. Forestry Service worker. William H. Macy is an absolute scene-stealer playing Arn Peeples, a talkative old-timer who is good with dynamite and at avoiding hard work. And the story is guided by the mellow narration of Will Patton who also did the original audio reading for Johnson’s book.

“Train Dreams” astonishes, both as an unvarnished slice of American history and a contemplation of our intrinsic bond with nature. But it connects most as the soulful birth-to-death odyssey of one solitary man navigating a life of small triumphs and immense tragedies. Clint Bentley has delivered something so deftly crafted and richly organic while Joel Edgerton does his best work in a career full of dynamic performances. They transport us to an impeccably realized period that is ruggedly textured and lived-in. But it’s the deeply human moments between the superbly etched characters that left me speechless and overwhelmed.

VERDICT – 5 STARS