In Group: The Schopenhauer Effect,  Alexis (Thomas Sadoski), a filmmaker, joins group therapy where her and the other members,  Pam (Lucy Walters),  Manny (Bernardo Cubria), Rebecca (Teresa Avia-Lim), Frank (Ezra Barnes), Tilda (Cara Ronzetti), Stuart (Elisha Lawson), and Karina (Gabriela Kohen) share their feelings and secrets with Dr. Herzfeld (Elliot Zeisel). He plans to use his experiences with the group for an upcoming TV series. Writer/director Alexis Lloyd has made a fascinating, engrossing and provocative emotional journey based on the novel The Schopenhauer Cure by Irvin D. Yalom.  The psychoanalyst conducting the group is actually played by a real-life licensed psychoanalyst which makes the film a documentary/fiction hybrid. Anyone interested in psychology and human nature in general will find the interactions between the patients, their confessions and their epiphanies to be very compelling. None of their secrets will be revealed here, but the way that Dr. Herzfeld handles them which reflects his skills as a psychoanalyst. He's firm, but fair, compassionate and empathetic. Lloyd doesn't ask the audience to judge any of the characters; just to experience them.

      Yes,Group: The Schopenhauer Effect is very talky and doesn't have any visceral Spectacle like action sequences or explosions, but it never feels too stuffy, dull or exhausting because Lloyd manages to find the Spectacle within the film's many truths, especially within the many conversations between the patients who bare their heart, mind and soul to the therapy group. The only "explosions" here are the words, emotions and revelations that the patients experience. Like with Fran Kranz Mass, the audience becomes an additional character who's observing these people share their private and intimate thoughts and feelings. They're also asked, in a way, to open the curtain to their heart, mind and soul while listening to the conversations. So, there's a voyeuristic aspect to watching Group: The Schopenhauer Effect which is a testament to the organic screenplay that remains grounded in authenticity and to the natural performance by the ensemble cast. The characters are complex, fallible human beings who the audience can find different ways to relate to. At a running time of just under 2 hours, Group: The Schopenhauer Effect opens at Quad Cinema via Abramorama.

 

         Kenna (Maika Monroe) returns to her hometown from prison and starts a romance with Ledger (Tyriq Withers), the friend of her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), who died in a car crash that she was held responsible for in Reminders of Him. She and Scotty had a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), who's now living with his parents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford), but she's not allowed to visit her.  Director Vanessa Caswill and her co-writers, Colleen Hoover and Lauren Levine, have made a clunky, maudlin, cheesy and contrived romantic drama that feels like a Lifetime Movie-of-the-Week, similar to Regretting You which also happens to be based a novel by Colleen Hoover. It's hard to grasp what Ledger sees in Kenna when he first meets her at the bar that he works at as a bartender. What compels him to ask for her number? When he discovers that she's Scotty's girlfriend, why doesn't he hesitate to continue their relationship? She desperately wants to see her daughter, but it's not quite clear whether or not she'll be a good parent. Maybe she wants to see her daughter to feel better about herself. Either way, the vapid screenplay doesn't design enough of a window into Kenna's heart, mind and soul. The flashbacks to how she met Scotty, how they fell in love and how he died in a car crash that she survived don't add much depth to the film. How did Kenna deal with survivor's guilt? Has she forgiven herself for leaving the scene of the accident while wrongfully assuming that Scotty was dead?

        Moreover, Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers have very little chemistry together. None of them nor any of the supporting actors and actresses manage to breathe life into their roles. Very few scenes Reminders of Him actually ring true, while the cheesy ending does not earn its uplift and the characters' arcs fail to be believable. At a running time of 1 hour and 54 minutes, which feels more like 3 hours, Reminders of Him opens nationwide via Universal Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4




 

      Jasper (Olivier Paris), a production assistant, convinces his director, Max (Lin Shaye), to shoot their horror film and do a seance at an abandoned orphanage that's allegedly haunted in Scared to Death. Bill Moseley plays Felix, a mysterious man who gives the film crew a tour of the orphanage and serves as the medium during a seance. Writer/director Paul Boyd has made a mildly engaging, but often dull and uninspired horror comedy that's low on scares, wit, campiness and laughs. Boyd's screenplay stretches its premise too thinly and doesn't make it go bonkers enough. There are some campy moments thanks to Lin Shaye's tongue-in-cheek performance as a hot-tempered director who has no shame in belittling her cast and crew. She's the film's MVP and seems to be having a lot of fun in her role, so it's a shame that the audience doesn't have as much fun as she does. Also, it takes too long for Boyd to get to the meat of the story: the seance and hauntings. Once it finally arrives there, Scared to Death just goes through the motions without any surprises or anything exciting that would've invigorated the plot to make it a guilty pleasure. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, it opens at AMC Empire via Atlas Distribution Company.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

         The decision of a phở master Mr. Mui (Xuân Hinh) to choose his grandson (Bao Nam) as the successor of his successful phở restaurant causes conflicts within his family and a rift between him and his daughter-in-law (Thu Trang) in Scent of Pho. Writer/director Minh Beta has made a heartwarming, funny, tender and crowd-pleasing movie for the whole family. It's not afraid to be zany and absurd with more than a few twists within the plot that gets increasingly complex and unpredictable. Mr. Mai goes to the extent of marrying a younger woman (Thanh Huong) who's older than his son who has no interest in taking over his father's phở business. To describe more of the plot would be to ruin its surprises. Suspension of disbelief, though, is required to be engaged by the plot, but that's forgivable because what the film's abundance of imagination compensates for its lack of logic. Beneath the surface, it also boasts a warm, beating heart.

        Like a delicious bowl of phở, Scent of Pho has just the right blend of spices to make it flavorful with touch of sweetness to balance the savoriness. If you could imagine a cross between Tampopo, The God of Cookery and Eat Drink Man Woman, it would look something like Scent of Pho. Just be sure not to watch it while you're hungry because the mouth-watering cooking scenes will whet your appetite. At a running time of 1 hour and 51 minutes, it opens in select theaters nationwide via 3388 Films and would be an interesting double feature with The Left-Handed Girl or Nonnas.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1

      Joan (Shirley Chen), a Chinese American teenager, undergoes surgery to transform her into blonde American girl, Jo (Mckenna Grace) because she's insecure about her Asian identity and desperately wants to be prom queen in Slanted. Writer/director Amy Wang has made an initially provocative and bold, but undercooked, tonally uneven and toothless satire that combines body horror, dark comedy and drama. Joan's insecurities about being Asian remain underdeveloped with only surface-level observations. Wang doesn't design enough of a window into her heart, mind and soul for the audience to fully grasp her emotional struggles before she agrees to undergo the surgery. Ethnos, the company that performs the experimental surgery, doesn't seem even remotely plausible even if you suspend your disbelief and perceive it within the film's internal logic. How could a company like that be legal? How could they stay in operation? Joan tricks her mother into signing the form required for the surgery because she's still a minor. Unsurprisingly, it's a Faustian bargain for her because there are side effects.

      Writer/director Amy Wang knows where to take ideas from without knowing how to take those ideas to fresh, interesting or profound places. Moreover, the tone feels all over the place with an amalgam of campiness, dark humor, attempts at poignancy, sci-fi and horror, but those beats rarely land and often seem forced. Comparisons to The Substance are inevitable because both films share a plot that's similar concept. Slanted has less bite, though, and suffers from over-explaining without taking its ideas far enough or trusting the audience's intelligence. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, Slanted opens in theaters nationwide via Bleecker Street.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      Space Cowboy is an illuminating, moving and exhilarating documentary about Joe Jennings, a professional skydiver, skydiving stunt coordinator and skydiving cinematographer. Obviously, Jennings loves all things skydiving. Co-directors Marah Strauch and Bryce Leavit use archival footage and interviews with Jennings himself to not only capture how and why he ended up having a passion for skydiving, but what emotional battles, i.e. with depression, he has dealt with. He's not just any kind of skydiver, though; he finds a lot of thrills in throwing objects such as cars from a plane with others including himself still inside the car. His new project is to find the perfect car to accomplish that feat without ejecting its passengers right away. You'll have to see the footage to believe it. Jennings seems like he'd be a perfect candidate for the Jackass series because of the risks that he's willing to take.< p style="text-align:left">       Fortunately, Space Cowboy doesn't merely delve into his work in skydiving, but also provides a glimpse of his childhood, relationship with his family, friends and colleagues. The interviews with Jennings are candid and reflect his emotional maturity, especially because he's not ashamed of being vulnerable. Yes, he's brave and fearless as a skydiver, but he's also a complex and sensitive human being who has coped with emotional pain. That makes Space Cowboy a more engrossing and relatable documentary that wisely avoids hagiography while keeping the audience engaged and exhilarated. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, it opens at IFC Center via Abramorama.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

      In "Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead, Neb (Marco Ilsø) and Maia (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) subversively defy their immortal rules of their island by venturing out into a storm to find the mythical Storm Rider. Co-writers/directors Zoran Lisinac and Domagoj Mazuran have made an often captivating and action-packed sci-fi adventure that's shallow and by-the-numbers, but with strong world-building and palpable thrills. The screenplay's major strength is how it incorporates exposition in a way that enriches the narrative during the first 30 minutes without over-explaining or leading to confusion. The audience learns that the story takes place centuries after a large flood divided the world into small islands separated by a large storm. The draconian government known as "The Founders" prohibit islanders from exploring anywhere beyond the island, especially sailing into the surrounding storm.  Who is the elusive Storm Rider and what might happen if and when Neb and Maia find him? The answers to those questions won't be spoiled here.

      Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead doesn't offer any big surprises nor does it have memorable characters, but it's nonetheless a moderately entertaining B-movie with just enough Spectacle to keep the audience engaged on a visceral level. At running time of 1 hour and 44 minutes, Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead opens at AMC Empire via Blue Harbor Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      Evy (Nina Kiri), the host of a late-night paranormal podcast called "Undertone", investigates mysterious audio recordings with her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), while taking care of her comatose mother (Michèle Duquet) in undertone. Writer/director Ian Tuason has made an atmospheric slice of psychological horror with creepy sound design and stylish cinematography, but it's repetitive without enough palpable scares or imagination. He keeps exposition to a bare minimum while keeping the plot lean. However, the plot feels like it's stretched too thinly as Evy and Justin listen to one recording after another from someone who anonymously sent them the recordings. Evy hasn't slept in a while, suffers from alcoholism, and has just learned that she's pregnant. A light flickers in her mother's bedroom, a faucet suddenly turns on, and the light somehow turns on by itself in the bathroom. Those are among the signs that the house could be haunted by something supernatural that might have something to do with the audio recording and hidden evil behind children's songs like London Bridge is Falling Down.

      Unfortunately, undertone suffers from excessive style over substance while failing to deliver a compelling story. It quickly becomes tedious and borrows a lot from superior supernatural horror films. Moreover, Tuason uses symbolism in a way that feels heavy-handed and obvious from the get-go. It's not as dull as Steven Soderbergh's Presence, but it comes close. At a running time of 1 hour and 34 minutes, undertone opens nationwide via A24. In a double feature with Blow Out, it would be the inferior B-movie.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3