After their father dies, Piper (Sora Wong) and her older brother, Andy (Billy Barratt) get more than they bargained for when the move in with their new foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins), who's still grieving the death of her daughter, Cathy (Mischa Heywood) in Bring Her Back. She's also taking care of another child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).  Co-writer/director Danny Philippou, co-director Michael Philippou and co-writer Bill Hinzman have made a creepy, viscerally intense and taut horror thriller. They keep the exposition to a bare minimum, but at least there's more backstory and emotional depth  than the Philipou brothers' previous film, Talk to Me. From the get-go, it's clear that Laura's harboring a dark secret and that there's more to her than meets the eye, so it's not a matter of whether or not she'll snap, but when and how. The screenplay's systemic issue, though, is that the audience's perspective changes from Piper's to Andy's to Laura's and even to Oliver's which means that they're often a step or two ahead of the other characters in terms of what they know. Case in point: the audience sees Laura doing something to Andy in the middle of the night that she then uses to gaslight him in the morning. There are no surprises, and when Andy figures out the truth, it's new info to him, but not to the audience, so they're not on the same page as him.

      That said, the Phillipou brothers keep the moving briskly and don't hold back on showing a lot of gore, although it doesn't leave much to the imagination. They're also wise for casting Sally Hawkins as the villain because she's playing against type like Hugh Grant does in Heretic. Laura isn't a cookie-cutter villain, though; she's struggling to process her grief and longs for her deceased daughter to be alive. If Cathy hadn't died, would Laura have become evil? That's a question that's up for debate. The cinematography provides some cinematic and visually stylish shots, the production design adds some atmosphere, and the sound design is also impressive while enhancing the creepiness. Kudos to the Philippou brothers for keeping the running time under 2 hours because if it were any longer, it would've been exhausting. At  1 hour and 39 minutes, Bring Her Back opens in theaters nationwide via A24. You might need to pair it with something lighter Paddington, though, because it's a consistently heavy and grim film with barely any moments of levity.

 

      Detective Kien (Quoc Huy) investigates the mystery behind a headless corpse that shows up by a lake and have something to do with the legend of a ghost in Detective Kien: The Headless Horror. Hai Man (Dinh Ngoc Diep) believes that the headless corpse is her missing niece, Nga (Doan Minh Anh). Director Victor Vu has made a suspenseful, atmospheric and intriguing crime thriller that blends psychological horror, sci-fi and drama. The plot does get a bit convoluted, though, as it gets tangled up in a lot of exposition and flashbacks. However, it's not too hard to follow, and there are some clever twists and turns that will surprise audiences. Are the murders supernatural or not? That's the question that Detective Kien tries to figure out and that the audience also wants to know the answer to. The less you know about the plot's details beforehand, the better to maximize the impact of those surprises. A few scenes have creepy images and gore that provide visceral intensity, but, for the most part, there aren't any scenes that feel palpably scary. The visual effects are impressive while the stylish cinematography adds some atmosphere. It's also worth mentioning that Quoc Huy exudes plenty of charisma in the lead role as Detective Kien.  At a running time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror opens in select theaters nationwide via 3388 Films. It would be an interesting double feature with Sleepy Hollow. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

      Hamid (Adam Bessa), a Syrian refugee in Germany, works for a group tasked with hunting down Syrian leads who kidnapped and tortured people in the Syrian regime in Ghost Trail. He thinks that he has found the man who tortured him at a university, but all he has is a blurry photo of him, so he's not 100% percent sure and neither is the audience. The screenplay by writer/director Jonathan Miller and co-writer Florence Rochat feels like it could've been based on a novel because the narrative is so complex and compelling.  Miller and Rochat do an excellent job with exposition as the audience gradually learns about Hamid's past while avoiding flashbacks. It's suspenseful, but in a way that feels grounded and psychological rather than going for cheap thrills. The horrors of how Hamid and others were tortured remains in the imagination of the audience because they're not shown although Hamid does listen to audio recordings of some of the testimonies of those who were tortured. Ghost Trail could've easily become a convoluted and unfocused thriller because it juggles so many subplots, like Hamid's relationship with his mother (Shafiqa El Till) whom he communicates with via Skype. Fortunately, it avoids those pitfalls while also offering a few surprises up its sleeve while keeping the audience engaged on an emotional level. At a running time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, Ghost Trail is a spellbinding, intelligent and engrossing psychological thriller. It opens at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center via Music Box Films. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

      It's All Gonna Break is a mildly engaging, but often dull and shallow documentary about the Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene. Director Stephen Chung gets access to the band members, who are also his friends, and incorporates interviews from their rise to fame over 20 years ago, contemporary interviews, and concert footage. You'll get a sense of what the indie punk rock scene was like back then and how they formed their band.  There aren't enough backstories of the band members nor are their anecdotes and insights particularly illuminating. Chung also includes himself in the film which is fine, but somewhat distracting. Unless you're a big fan of the band or into Canadian indie rock music, it'll be hard to feel fully engrossed. It's All Gonna Break, unfortunately, doesn't manage to transcend as a documentary by becoming cinematic, profound or moving. Perhaps it would pair well with the recent music doc Hung Up on a Dream which suffers from the same systemic issues. At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, it opens at IFC Center via Cargo Film & Releasing. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      In Karate Kid: Legends, Li  (Ben Wang), a teenager training at the Beijing dojo of Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), moves with his mother (Ming-Na Wen), a doctor,  to New York City where he meets and befriends Mia (Sadie Stanley) whose father, Victor (Joshua Jackson), not only owns a pizzeria, but happens to be a former boxer. Connor (Aramis Knight), Mia's ex-boyfriend, bullies him and, soon enough, becomes his rival at a local karate tournament.  Oh, and Li also befriends his SAT tutor, Alan (Wyatt Oleff), who encourages him to pursue Mia.  Director Jonathan Entwistle and screenwriter Ron Lieber have made an uninspired, cheesy and unfocused sequel that pales compared to the beloved original. The martial arts scenes aren't particularly exciting, well-shot nor suspenseful, and the romance between Li and Mia feels forced and so saccharine that it might give you a cavity. Everything that made the original fun and refreshing feels dull and stale here. On top of that, the comic relief falls flat and the editing feels choppy with awkward transitions between some scenes. Is it supposed to be funny when Li asks Mia, who works at her dad's pizzeria, if they sell toilet paper there? Are audiences supposed to believe that Mia can suddenly learn to speak Mandarin within a few days? Ultimately, Karate Kid: Legends doesn't work as an action thriller, romance, drama or underdog story.  At 1 hour and 34 minutes, Karate Kid: Legends, opens in heaters nationwide via Columbia Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      In The Phoenician Scheme. Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), a wealthy tycoon, miraculously survives after his plane explodes from a bomb and crashes into a field. He decides to leave his fortune to his daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a nun, who reluctantly agrees to join him on his elaborate Pheonician scheme. She believes that Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch) is her biological father. Zsa-zsa convinces her that he didn't murder his ex-wife; Uncle Nubar did. Bjørn (Michael Cera) tags along with them while pining for Liesl. The screenplay by writer/director Wes Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola is tedious, emotionally hollow and more awkward than funny. It eventually loses steam as the plot becomes increasingly preposterous and outrageous. The attempts at generating laughter through dark humor don't quite work. A few sight gags are moderately funny, but the rest fall flat. As usual, there's a fine ensemble cast beyond the main actors, namely, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johannson, Rupert Friend, F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, Matthe Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jeffery Wright, Bryan Cranston and Hope Davis, but they're all underwritten characters. None of them get a chance to truly shine.

      Moreover, too many scenes feel like vignettes, i.e. a basketball game at a train station out of all places. Anderson just seems to like making his films strange and offbeat without any raison d'etre. It gets tiresome and repetitive after a while. Not surprisingly, the cinematography, which includes his traditional tracking shots, and the production design add some visual style, but that, too, comes with diminishing returns. At a running time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, The Phoenician Scheme is ultimately less than the sum of its parts. It opens in select theaters via Focus Features before expanding nationwide on June 6th, 2025. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Ron Delsener Presents is a captivating and well-shot albeit hagiographic and conventional documentary biopic on Ron Delsener, a concert promoter. Jake Sumner combines interviews with Delsener himself and his colleagues along with some archival footage. Sumner allows for Delsener's personality, charisma, sense of humor and wit to shine from the first interview to the last. it's no wonder that he has worked with Bruce Springstein, Cher, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon and Bill Joel all of whom hail him.  In terms of its structure, this documentary isn't exceptional nor does it offer anything very revealing about Delsener beyond his work in the music business. You don't really get to know enough behind his curtain, so-to-speak. However, Ron Delsener Presents is nonetheless a fine introduction to Delsener and an engaging overview of his 60+ year career with stylish editing, a fast pace and no moments that feel dull or dry. At a running time of 1 hour and 39 minutes, Ron Delsener Presents opens at Quad Cinema via Abramorama. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 1


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      Television Event is a fascinating, well-edited and illuminating documentary about the making of The Day After, a TV movie from 1983 that showed the horrors of a nuclear war, before, during and after a nuclear disaster in the US. Director Jeff Daniels interviews the film's director, Nicholas Meyer, its writer, Edward Hume, one of the actresses, Ellen Anthony, and others who were part of The Day After's production. Daniels is lucky to have Meyer, who also directed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as an interviewee because he's witty, intelligent, introspective, articulate and brutally honest. Meyer vividly describes very interesting anecdotes about the tensions behind the production as ABC Motion Pictures tried to censor parts of the film, i.e. the word "diaphragm." They also didn't want him to show any graphic images like blood or severe burns. He wouldn't cave into their demands, though, and refused to sugar-coat the issue of nuclear war. He also didn't want the visual effects nor the performances to stand out because they would overshadow the important topic of nuclear war. One of his most astute observations is that being labeled as "difficult" isn't really that bad at all because it just means that he's passionate. He comes across as assertive and confident, but he's not without his vulnerabilities because, as he admits, he was emotionally devastated for many nights after briefly getting fired during post-production before getting re-hired later on.

      Aspiring filmmakers would benefit from watching this documentary to learn the importance of standing up for their true vision instead of selling their soul to a studio and being complacent, although it would've been interesting if Daniels were to ask Meyer if he could've successfull stood up to the studio system today. These are different times, after all. Beyond learning about the behind-the-scenes struggles, you'll also learn about the significance and impact on the public's perception of nuclear war, so kudos to director Jeff Daniels for providing the audience with some context and scope that goes beyond the making of The Day After.  At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, Television Event opens at Film Forum via The Film Desk. 

Number of times I checked my watch: 1

      Tornado (Kōki) runs away from a gang led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) who killed her father, a puppeteer, in Tornado. The screenplay by writer/director John Maclean begins as Sugarman and his ruthless gang, including his son, Little Sugar (Jack Lowden), chase Tornado in a field and through the woods before flashing back to explain how she ended up in that intense situation with a mysterious young boy (Nathan Malone). Unfortunately, the plot barely offers much in terms of imagination and keeps exposition to a bare minimum. Of course, there's a MacGuffin: a bag of gold. While it's great to have a lean and focused plot, it's frustrating when it becomes dull and tedious with not nearly enough comic relief. Why does it have to take itself so seriously 100% of the time? If Tornado took more risks and went into bonkers territory, it could've at least been a fun guilty pleasure like Kill Bill or as exhilarating as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The villains are underwritten and forgettable, and the same can be said for Tornado and her father, so that makes it difficult to root for her. Even the action scenes and kills are lackluster. On a positive note, the cinematography and scenery provide some visual style that invigorates the film on a superficial level. Kudos to Maclean for showing restraint by keeping the running time well under 2 hours. If it were over 2 hours, it would've been a chore to sit through. At 1 hour and 31 minutes, Tornado is visually stunning, but dull, tedious and unimaginative. It opens in select theaters nationwide via IFC Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3