In reaction to the nationwide COVID-19 shutdowns, the major movie studios generated a lot of hubbub last month by launching some of their bigger spring movies early on video-on-demand. However, the home video market has recently begun to slow, slipping back into its normal mix of recent theatrical successes and smaller independent movies.
Sea Fever
"Sea Fever" made its debut last September at the Toronto International Film Festival and this moody Irish monster movie has taken on new relevance in the months since. The film stars Dougray Scott as a desperate captain who leads his crew into forbidden waters on board a fishing boat. Once the vessel is snagged by a mysterious leviathan, it is up to the student of marine biology Siobhán (Hermione Corfield) to figure out what this beast is and why its ejecta is poisoning the water supply of the vessel and infecting the men and women on board.Writer-director Neasa Hardiman primarily holds her debut feature at the level of a claustrophobic psychological thriller, saving her special effects budget for a few spectacular underwater views of the sparkling, multi-tentacled beastie. But after a very sedate start, the film becomes ever more grim and violent.
Throughout, it takes time for Hardiman to understand how these people got into this mess mainly through a combination of greed, stupidity and ill-preparedness. Then, step by step, she focuses on the drastic steps which they would have to take to get out.
Stray Dolls
Early in the quiet crime drama "Stray Dolls," an Indian immigrant named Riz (Geetanjali Thapa) arrives at a run-down motel run by Una (Cynthia Nixon), a mysterious Russian who both hires her to work as a maid and lodges her with Dallas (Olivia DeJonge), a fugitive who is doing odd jobs with Una's criminal son Jimmy (Robert Aramayo).Those characters adhere to types at first; but as Riz and Dallas get to know each other, director Sonejuhi Sinha discovers that these people are capable of the unexpected.Sinha and her co-screenwriter Charlotte Rabate avoid sensationalism to a degree perhaps too great. There is a lack of narrative momentum in "Stray Dolls," as the characters move from small crime to small crime and party to party. But the movie has a striking sense of place, Bringing seedy motels and sketchy nightclubs to life where people live and work beyond the control of the law — and confronting the risks that come with that kind of independence.
We Summon the Darkness
Links to the pop culture of the 1980s abound in "We Summon the Darkness," a well-established horror-comedy that works better as a nostalgic slice of life than as a genre movie. Alexandrio Daddario, Maddie Hasson and Amy Forsyth are all fantastic as a trio of best friends who encounter three hard-partying metalheads outside a rock show in the parking lot. The opening half hour of the film is a amusing and tense analysis of character, with about six boozy youths flirting with each other in a small rural community rocked by allegations of ritual satanic killings.Inevitably, the evening will take a dark and bloody turn; and finally, new members will join the original sextet, including Johnny Knoxville as a fiery tele-angelist.
The Lost Husband
Converting the romantic drama "The Lost Husband" into a Hallmark Channel Original does not take much of an change. Based on a novel by Katherine Center — adapted by writer-director Vicky Wright to the screen — the film hits all the normal points of "“boy meets girl in a quaint little community”" Leslie Bibb plays a recent widow on her aunt's goat farm trying to rebuild her life with her children, where she has an alternating antagonistic and romantic relationship with a rugged rancher played by Josh Duhamel. Each of these characters have mysteries and hang-ups they must work through before they can happily live and love ever after.Yet while almost everything on "The Lost Husband" is pat and predictable, it's easy to watch the movie. Thank Bibb and Duhamel's charm and polished professionalism — along with the good supporting performances of Nora Dunn and Sharon Lawrence, respectively, who play the heroine's feisty aunt and estranged mother. The speed here is more relaxed than a TV film, but the actors add a touch of more depth. Fans of romance would appreciate the effort.
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind
Perhaps there are two perfect viewers for the documentary essay "Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind" by writer-director Michael Mazzola. One is people who have fallen down internet rabbit holes, finding proof that the world's governments are both denying the presence of extraterrestrials and their ultimate purpose.The other category may be all those who just think "UFOlogists" are crackpots, and may be entertained by how dryly scholarly the film is, as its interview subjects soberly link highly different events from modern world history.Nevertheless, both sides would accept that this "Near Encounters" is overlong and rambling — more concerned with stories that are disconnected than presenting a convincing argument or telling an interesting story.
