Angelina Jolie returns to the director’s chair with her latest feature, “Without Blood”. It’s the first film she has directed since her brilliant and in some ways underrated “First They Killed My Father”. That 2017 Khmer-language biographical thriller told the true story of a five-year-old boy who was seized and forced to train as a child soldier during the Khmer Rouge’s violent reign. It was a powerful and sobering film that deserved more recognition than it got.

Now Jolie takes on a much different project yet one with a similar sense of timeliness and urgency. Based on Alessandro Baricco’s 2002 novel of the same name, “Without Blood” had its world premiere in 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival but is just getting a United States release. It tells a story about war, but not from the battlefield. Instead, the reckoning we witness happens in a restaurant, as two people sit at a table and bring the past to life.

Jolie begins her film with a harrowing sequence set in the aftermath of an anonymous war. Three armed men approach the home of a doctor named Roca (Alfredo Herrera). The doctor hides his young daughter under the floorboards and orders his teenage son to get out sight. The three men are led by Salinas (Juan Minujín), an embittered, vengeance-driven soldier who is still fighting the war in his mind. Salinas holds the doctor responsible for his brother’s death and he has brought along the brutish El Gurre (Mario Zaragoza) and 17-year-old Tito (Ariel Perez Lima) to ensure he has his revenge.

The ripple effect of that opening sequence can be felt throughout the entire film. And it culminates in a second confrontation of a much different kind. Many years later we’re introduced to Nina (Salma Hayek Pinault). She was the little girl hiding under the floorboards who witnessed a horror she would never forget. We meet her as she approaches a newspaper kiosk where a man (Demián Bichir) sells newspapers and lottery tickets. We learn that man is Tito, and Nina has come to meet him face-to-face.

The two make their way to a quiet table in the back of a restaurant where Nina reveals her identity to the surprisingly composed Tito. Nina calmly yet methodically shares how the actions of that fateful day forever altered her life. She talks about her difficult time at a girl’s school, her adoption by a pharmacist with a gambling problem, and her time in the custody of a wealthy yet corrupt count, who raised her till she was 14 and then married her.

The bulk of the movie takes place at that small warmly lit table with Jolie sometimes breaking away to tell Nina’s backstory via flashbacks. We see how she has existed in a world of powerful and violent men. Yet her strength and resilience has led her to this day. But Jolie also shines an interesting light on Tito, showing that the past events have left their marks on him as well. Their dynamic opens up some of the movie’s deepest themes including the very nature of trauma.

With “Without Blood”, Angelina Jolie once again tackles heavy subject matter with emotional honesty and keen sense of craft. She also smartly leans on Hayek and Bichir, two committed and capable actors working in just the right tenor. There’s a part of me that wishes Jolie had gone deeper. But at the same time it’s hard not to admire her restraint, which helps ground this visually arresting and emotionally layered meditation on war, trauma, and revenge.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

If you have ever wondered what it was like to be swallowed by a whale, boy do I have the movie for you. With “Whalefall”, director Brian Duffield tackles that very predicament. But here’s the thing – no matter how silly and outrageous it sounds, “Whalefall” manages to surprise in several interesting ways. Whether it’s the wild survival scenario or the deeper emotional resonance, the movie repeatedly finds ways to exceed every expectation.

Written for the screen by Duffield and Daniel Kraus, the story is an adaptation of Kraus’ 2023 novel of the same name. It revolves around Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams), a scuba diver who’s wrestling with the shadow of his late father, Mitt (wonderfully played in flashbacks by Josh Brolin). Mitt was a diving legend who was loved by the locals. But at home he was a stern and harsh father to Jay which drove a wedge between him and his son. Because of it, Jay ends up leaving Monastery Beach in California to attend college in Iowa.

The film kicks off one year after a terminally ill Mitt commits suicide in the very ocean he loves. His body was never found. Jay returns home to spend time with his mother Zara (Elisabeth Shue) and his two older sisters, Eva (Jane Levy) and Nan (Emily Rudd). As the family reminisces about their lost patriarch, a conflicted Jay struggles with his own returning memories.

Early the next morning, with everyone still asleep, Jay loads up his father’s old scuba gear and slips away to the bay where Mitt killed himself. His plan is to search for his dad’s remains, believing that finding just one bone would help bring him some much-needed closure. “I don’t know why. I just know I have to do this.” But while well off the coast, near the rim of a deep underwater canyon, the unthinkable happens. Jay is accidentally swallowed by an enormous sperm whale as it’s hunting a giant squid.

“Whalefall” immediately turns into a claustrophobic survival thriller, with Duffield thrusting both Jay and us into the belly of the beast. While it sounds preposterous, Duffield delivers a harrowing experience unlike anything I’ve seen. He moves Jay through the various chambers of the whale’s digestive system, using creative production design, killer visual effects, and intense cinematography to immerse us in every new danger he faces. The survival elements are mostly effective and the few dashes of body horror earned some audible gasps from my audience.

But the biggest surprise is found in the father-son story that lies at the heart of “Whalefall”. Duffield breaks up Jay’s suffocating fight for his life with flashbacks that better develop his strained relationship with his father. Brolin is especially good in these scenes, unambiguously revealing his character’s flaws. And while the movie never fully absolve’s Mitt, it gives us a clearer picture of his mindset. At the same time, Jay’s situation forces him to reckon with his feelings about his father. And as he does, he begins recalling the lessons he learned from Mitt, using them in his efforts to escape.

While its themes aren’t new and its metaphorical meaning is easy to pick up on, “Whalefall” is still a wildly unique experience that finds a near perfect balance between white-knuckle thrills and heartfelt emotion. It features some stunning underwater photography and effects work that pops on the big screen. And then there’s Austin Abrams, who anchors this affecting story of regret, remorse, and reconciliation while spending most of his time in the stomach of a whale. He’s central in making “Whalefall” one of the year’s biggest surprises.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

One of my most anticipated films of the year has been director Padraic McKinley’s “The Weight”. Everything about the movie excited me – the rich period setting, the rugged throwback story, and especially the impressive cast. I missed seeing the movie during its world premiere at Sundance, but early word of mouth only raised my excitement. Now here’s the best part – “The Weight” doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it stands out as one of the year’s best films.

“The Weight” is an astonishing feature debut for McKinley. He’s made a film that calls back to a kind of against-the-odds action-adventure movie that was once a staple of Hollywood. Sadly we rarely get them anymore which is one of many reasons that this one stands out so strongly. But there’s more than just nostalgia. It’s the riveting storytelling, the compelling characters, the immersive world-building, and the savvy craftsmanship. It also doesn’t hurt having Ethan Hawke doing some of his very best work.

The story takes place in 1933 Oregon, some four years into the Great Depression. Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, a street-smart mechanic and single father who’s struggling to make enough money to provide for his beloved young daughter Penny (Avy Berry). After being evicted from his small apartment in Eugene, Murphy sells what little they have in order to afford another place for them to stay. But while looking, a misunderstanding leads to a tussle with an unforgiving cop. Murphy is arrested and sent to prison while Penny is placed in a shelter.

Murphy finds himself caught in the gears of a broken system. He’s sent to a labor camp ran by Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe) where he has to serve at least six months. But Penny only has one month until she’s handed over to the state to be put up for adoption. After hearing of Murphy’s predicament, Clancy makes him a high-stakes proposition – complete an illegal and potentially dangerous job and he’ll have his sentence commuted in time to be reunited with his daughter.

So what’s the job? Murphy is to select three inmates he trusts and report to an area mining camp to receive their orders. Once there, they meet a man named Taggert (Alec Newman) who informs them that President Roosevelt has ordered the seizure of all hoarded gold from mining operations. But rather than letting the government take it, Taggert tasks Murphy and his fellow inmates Rankin (Austin Amelio), Singh (Avi Nash) and Olson (Lucas Lynggaad Tonnesen) with smuggling four backpacks full of stolen gold bars through the unforgiving Oregon wilderness to a secret rendezvous point.

To ensure the inmates follow their orders, they’re escorted by two of Taggert’s armed henchmen, Amis (Sam Hazeldine) and Letender (George Burgess). They’re also accompanied by Anna (Julia Jonesy), an Indigenous runaway who shrewdly maneuvers her way into their group. Together they form an intriguing cadre of characters who are firmly rooted in the world McKinley creates. And at the center is Hawke’s Murphy, grizzled and world-weary, but also a man of honor and integrity. And the only thing that drives him is reuniting with his daughter.

With the party set and on their way, “The Weight” turns into a good old-fashioned survival thriller that brings to mind such rugged classics as William Friedkin’s “Sorcerer” and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “The Wages of Fear”. Their first battle is with the land itself, with its steep rocky terrain, vast gorges, and perilous rivers. Then there are the people living off the land who may not take kindly to strangers. Lastly and most deadly, is the battle within their ranks. “People get funny around gold” are words that ominously linger throughout their journey. And soon trust is the hardest thing to come buy.

Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines co-write the film’s muscular script, infusing their story with a slow-boiling tension and a potent allegorical undercurrent. McKinley douses it all in rich atmosphere and a gritty authenticity. Visually, he and DP Matteo Cocco use a combination of sweeping landscape shots, realistic natural lighting, and deep nighttime shadows to capture nature in all its beauty and menace. Their use of extreme closeups have a similar effect, but on intensely emotional and psychological levels.

“The Weight” has all the ingredients you look for in an old-school period thriller. Hawke offers up a sturdily classic film protagonist while Crowe’s quiet, calculated menace can be felt in every second of his limited screentime. Even the throwback end credits conjure feelings of nostalgia. But surprisingly, the engine that runs it all is a gripping father-daughter story with emotional stakes that can felt throughout. McKinley’s ability to balance it all is what makes “The Weight” such a profoundly satisfying experience.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Netflix’s latest streaming thriller is director James Ashcroft’s “The Whisper Man”, a stuffed-to-the-gills adaptation of Alex North’s 2019 best-selling novel of the same name. There’s a little bit of everything in “The Whisper Man”. It can be considered a crime thriller, a police procedural, a family drama, and there may even be a hint of the supernatural depending on how you read certain things. Unfortunately it’s all threaded together by a derivative story that borrows more than it offers.

In the once quiet town of Garretton, New Jersey, police officers led by Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) are on the lookout for a missing boy named Neil Spencer. During their search they discover the body of another child, whose body is bound similar to other recent victims. With a potential serial killer on the loose, Amanda seeks the help of a retired detective named Pete Willis (Robert De Niro) who was responsible for catching a previous serial killer years earlier.

At the same time, a recently widowed novelist named Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) and his young son Jake move to Garretton, the town where his late wife Rebecca was born and raised. Both Tom and Jake are struggling with their family’s loss in their own distinct ways. For Jake, it’s his imaginary friend – a young girl in a blue sweater who he routinely confides in. Tom hopes making new friends in Garretton might give his son a fresh start.

But horror strikes after Jake is abducted in the middle of the night. Frustrated at the police’s lack of results, Tom reluctantly but desperately looks for help from his estranged father, Pete. Old family wounds immediately begin to fester, but they put them aside for the sake of finding Jake. Pete starts tapping into his old connections within the police department while an impatient Tom begins an investigation of his own. At the same time, Amanda remains on the case. Soon all of their efforts intersect in an underwhelming final act that struggles to move the dramatic needle.

Screenwriters Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer do a good job setting things up. They also create and mostly sustain a fittingly dark atmosphere. But it’s not the most involving mystery. And it’s slightly undermined by the fairly routine blueprint it follows. The family drama, especially between Tom and his father, is too thinly explored to leave much of a mark. The thrills are a bit undercooked and the twists we get aren’t the most compelling.

While the material may let them down, “The Whisper Man” features some solid performances. With the exception of De Niro who seems to be operating in cruise control, everyone works at the right temperature. There’s even a surprising cameo by Michael Keaton that is chillingly effective. But considering the mix of subject matter and genre, the movie should pack more of a punch. Instead it’s an overly familiar crime thriller that leaves us wishing for the richer and heavier movie it could have been.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

In “Wardriver”, Dane DeHaan plays a low-level criminal named Cole. His racket is simple but clever. He drives around swiping people’s credentials by hacking into Wi-Fi networks and/or rigging phony card readers onto ATM machines. Once he has his victim’s information, he drains their bank accounts without leaving a digital trail. He only targets small scores which keeps him off the law’s radar. But when he’s pulled into a dangerous cyberheist, Cole finds himself caught in a web he can’t escape.

That’s a good introduction to director Rebecca Thomas’ “Wardriver”. It’s a slow-building crime thriller that takes some time to get going. Much of the first half is Cole driving around Salt Lake City, typing on his keyboard, sucking on lollipops, and puffing on his vape. Still screenwriter Daniel Casey’s script does a good enough job dropping us into Cole’s lonely, isolated existence, even if it doesn’t amount to much dramatically.

Things finally rev up after Cole is grabbed and beaten down by a local hood named Oscar (Mamoudou Athie). We learn Oscar works as a doorman at a swanky hotel’s restaurant that is frequented by a young woman named Sarah (Sasha Calle) and a man he believes to be her father. Oscar puts together a plan using an unaware Sarah to steal a chunk of money from her wealthy father. But he needs a hacker to pull it off. So he forces Cole to join his heist.

Cole skillfully pulls off the robbery, transferring over $800k out of Sarah’s account and getting Oscar off his back. But he quickly learns the older man is a powerful attorney with political connections named Mark Bilson (Jeffrey Donovan). And he’s not Sarah’s father. It turns out he’s her sugar daddy and he blames her for stealing his money. A guilt-ridden and slightly smitten Cole jumps back in to help Sarah. But he quickly discovers he’s in over his head.

The final act of “Wardriver” picks up momentum while adding a few interesting twists that liven things up a bit. The ending leaves several obvious questions but none that really bother us. That’s mainly because the characters remain at arm’s length for the duration of the movie. We never know them well enough to fully invest in their situations or circumstances. Even with solid performances, we only maintain a surface-level connection to them throughout.

There are several things to appreciate about Thomas’ direction, from her choices with the camera to her trust in her actors. She also does a good job capturing atmosphere and mood similar to that of popular neo-noirs. But the story, and more specifically the characters, are practically begging for more depth. That one emphasis could have taken “Wardriver” from a minor key crime thriller to something considerably more memorable.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

Maybe it’s just me, but movies like “War Machine” don’t seem to come around very often these days. There has never been a notable shortage of genre films in movie theaters, direct to video store shelves, and now via streaming. But rarely are we treated to movies from the cool military sci-fi sub-genre. I’m talking about movies in the vein of “Predator”, “Starship Troopers”, or even the lesser yet underappreciated “Battle: Los Angeles”.

Enter “War Machine”, an unashamed and unapologetic slice of military sci-fi that openly wears its influences like badges of honor. The film routinely calls back to great movies that inspired it including the aforementioned “Predator”, James Cameron’s “Aliens”, and even “Top Gun”. Director Patrick Hughes keenly and confidently corrals all of these inspirations, fusing them together with visceral action sequences and jaw-dropping set pieces.

Alan Ritchson plays a soldier who has entered the Army’s Ranger Assessment Selection Program. It’s eight weeks of arduous testing, ending with a handpicked chosen few joining the ranks of the elite Army Rangers. Designated with the number 81, becoming a Ranger has a deeply personal meaning for him. While serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 81 witnessed his kid brother die during a Taliban attack. Guiltridden over his inability to save his brother, 81 sets out to keep their pledge to become Rangers.

Despite the concerns of his superior officers Sheridan (Dennis Quaid) and Torres (Esai Morales), 81 makes it to the final challenge, which is a recon and rescue simulation. He and his team are dropped high in the Rocky Mountains by two Blackhawks and given 24 hours to complete their mission. If they cross the finish line in time, they will be given their Ranger scroll. 81 reluctantly takes the role of team leader and leads the soldiers towards their objective.

Their military exercise turns into a fight for survival after the squad stumbles upon a strange metal wreckage. Believing it to be part of their mission, the team investigates. But in the process they awaken a massive mechanized monstrosity that is the size of a building and is armed to the teeth with out-of-this-world weaponry. Suddenly the soldiers find themselves under attack and hunted by the killer mech with ineffective weapons, jammed comms, and compasses going haywire.

Hughes (who co-wrote the script with James Beaufort) keeps the story simple, focusing most on the team’s fight for survival. You can’t miss the steady flow of familiar tropes. But Hughes cleverly integrates them rather than rely on them. And he smartly avoids bogging his movie down in some otherworldly backstory. Instead he leaves much of the mech, its origins, and its motivations a mystery. Also, it maintains a needed human element, mostly through 81’s emotional struggles with lingering trauma.

Ultimately it’s the spectacular action that drives “War Machine”. It’s intense, visually astounding, and at times shockingly gory. The effects are an impressive mix of digital and practical, while New Zealand and Australia (filling in for the Colorado Rockies) provide a perfectly rugged setting that’s both breathtaking and treacherous. As for Ritchson, he more than holds his own. He obviously has the imposing build and raw physicality. But he commits to every scene, whether he’s squaring off against a galactic threat or quietly wrestling with painful memories.

Those hoping for a more fleshed-out science-fiction deep dive might leave “War Machine” disappointed. It’s only at the very end that we get any significant world-building. But thats not this movie’s focus. Hughes wants to put us in the soldiers’ shoes as they navigate fear, isolation, and the unknown while facing overwhelming odds. Admittedly it does leave us with several questions along the way. And we get more cornball one-liners than answers. But I never felt shortchanged, narratively or cinematically. I was having too much fun, glued to my seat and anxious to see what Hughes was going to hit us with next.

VERDICT – 4 STARS