Pastor Bishop (Michael Lombardi) lets his teenage daughter, Sarah (Katie Kelly) borrow the car to attend a Christmas party. After she gets murder on her way there, he hunts down her killer, meets a crooked cop Jed (Marc Menchaca), and uncovers dark underworld.

      The Retaliators is a lean, mean horror thriller. The screenplay by Darren and Jeff Geare wastes no time setting up the horror elements with a prologue that shows what looks like zombies dragging people out of a car in the woods. Then the film flashes back to introduce the Pastor Bishop and his daughter before she gets murdered by the villain. Just when you think that The Retaliators will become Death Wish as Pastor Bush tries to track down her killer, it suddenly turns into a torture porn film with shades of Saw and a little bit of Dawn of the Dead. The tone remains serious throughout, for the most part, with very little comic relief or dark comedy like in Shaun of the Dead. There is, though, plenty of action and grisly blood and guts that leaves nothing to the imagination. The plot makes less and less sense as it progresses, so if you're looking for something brainy and brilliant, you'll be disappointed. This is a B-movie after all. Realism gets thrown out of the window by the time the end credits roll, but there's still a morsel of it left. The villain isn't given much of an interesting backstory. How did he end up so evil? What about the lines that Jed and, inevitably, Pastor Bishop cross? Pastor Bishop seems cut from the same cloth as the father that Liam Neeson plays in Taken. Fundamentally, The Retaliators is much darker and violent than Taken, and also much more bonkers in the third act. The filmmakers don't take the level of bonkers very far enough to turn the film into a guilty pleasure crowd-pleaser, though.

      The cast is pretty solid, especially Joseph Gatt as the viscious thug, Ram Kady, who Jed kidnaps and holds hostage while torturing him. The torture scenes will make you squeamish, but they're not nearly as imaginative or shocking as the torture scenes in Saw. If it were to have an R-rating instead of being NoT Rated, it would definitely earn its R-rating, so if you have a weak stomach, this might not be the horror thriller for you because it's much more visceral than psychological horror. The pace moves briskly enough and there's rarely a scene that drags. At a running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes, The Retaliators is a very dark, twisted and mindlessly entertaining horror thriller.

      Luke Brooks (Brett Varvel), a small town high school baseball coach, lives with his wife, Jessica (Gigi Orsillo), and teenage son, Joshua (Brendan Carl Reimer). He named Joshua after his brother (Braylon Brown) who suddenly died from a heart defect while playing baseball during their teenage years. Since then, in honor of his brother, Luke has a tradition of praying and running the bases. When he gets a job offer at another high school, he and his family relocate. A city ordinance prohibits anyone from publicly displaying religion in city parks. The school's superintendent, (Todd Terry) Michael Jamison, gets Luke into trouble for mixing religion into his new coaching job after he discovers a bible in the room of his son, Ryan (Justin Sterner), a player on Luke's baseball team.

      The screenplay by writer/director Marty Roberts and Jimmy Womble begins with some exposition about Luke's childhood days, his passion for baseball, and his relationship with his brother, Joshua, before tragedy strikes and Joshua dies. Joshua's death has a huge impact on the rest of Luke's life. In a way, this film is not just about love, faith, compassion and family, but also about how to handle grief. Luke handles it and heals from it through his faith in Jesus and by keeping his tradition of running the bases. His main obstacle is Michael, the superintendent, who has no respect for Luke's faith. Fortunately, the filmmakers don't paint Michael as a villain. Yes, he's mostly unlikable and immature for the way he treats Luke, but he has a lot of emotional pain which makes him, ironically, similar to Luke. The main difference is that Michael hasn't found a way to heal from his pain and, instead, projects his anger and frustrations unfairly and unreasonably toward Luke. What did Luke do to him to deserve Michael's contempt? Nothing. Michael has contempt for himself, ultimately. There's a very moving scene in the third act where Michael opens up and shows some signs of introspection, so he's not really a terrible person.

      The performances are solid all across the board from Brett Varvel who exudes charisma to Todd Terry who handles the role of Michael without giving a hammy performance. The younger actors are pretty great too, especially Raphael Ruggero as the teenage version of Luke, and Justin Sterner who's also terrific in the recent, equally wonderful faith-based movie Lifemark. Although Running the Bases is indeed a faith-based baseball movie, it doesn't fall into the trappings of too many faith-based movies: it has a lot to say about faith and isn't afraid to be sentimental at the right moments, but, concurrently. it never becomes preachy or corny along the way. This film is, fundamentally, about human beings going through innate struggles and learning how to grow and heal from their pain. Some grow and heal it faster than others. Bravo to co-writer/directors Marty Roberts and Jimmy Womble for treating the characters like human beings from start to finish rather than as caricatures. At 2 hours and 7 minutes, Running the Bases is a grand slam! It's a warm, captivating and genuinely heartfelt journey well worth taking.

      Pearl (Mia Goth) lives alone with her ailing father (Matthew Sunderland) and overbearing and overprotective mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), who doesn't support her dreams of becoming a dancer in the movies. Meanwhile, her husband remains overseas fighting in World War I. She rebels against her mother by going to the cinema and befriending a projectionist (David Corenswet) before she develops a lust for killing.

      While X is a pure horror film, Pearl is more of a psychological character study with horror elements. Writer/director Ti West and co-writer Mia Goth don't include horror right away, but gradually build up to it as Pearl descends further into madness. On the inside, she's lonely, depressed, insecure, frustrated and emotionally needy. It's easy to see how she ended up that way when you meet her narcissistic mother. The apple didn't fall very far from the tree. The relationship between her and her husband overseas is barely even a subplot. How did they meet? What does he see in her? What's their relationship like when they're together? The answers to those questions are left to the audience's imagination. Instead of padding the film with flashbacks or going off on a tangent, Pearl remains lean and focused on Pearl's increasingly psychotic behavior while humanizing her a little. She's more of a complex and deeply troubled human being like Norman Bates than just a pure villain. There are no surprises except for a few brief jump scares, i.e. when the projectionist comes over her house, but this isn't the kind of movie that relies on surprises and shocks to entertain the audience. The suspense is, more often than not, Hitchockian. It derives from the anticipation of Pearl's inevitable killing spree. Pearl doesn't ask you to judge her, just to experience her and try to understand what she's feeling and thinking before she goes completely off the rails. There's a little comic relief in the form of dark comedy, but not a lot; this much more serious and less bonkers than Barbarian, after all. In one of the film's surprisingly moving scenes, Pearl goes on a long rant where she opens up to her sister-in-law, Misty (Emma Jenkins-Purro). It's a scene that could've easily dragged and become melodramatic, but instead it's powerful, profound, poignant and very revealing about the dark side of Pearl's humanity.

       Mia Goth gives one of the best performances of her career, especially during the monologue scene in the third act. She handles the nuances of her role very effectively, especially the way she conveys Pearl's fragility beneath the surface. Thanks to Goth, Pearl has an inner life that the audience can peer into. It's unpleasant and disturbing, but that's part of what makes Pearl an interesting character. Ti West makes great use of cinematography, lighting and color which add both style and substance. The violent scenes, when they do arrive, have blood that looks a little brighter and stylized than normal blood, so it lessens the ick-factor. There's also a great use of split screen in a scene toward the end, but this isn't the kind of movie that goes overboard with its visual style nor does it rely on it to create tension. Ti West wisely grasps that the tension can already be found in the story itself as well as from emotional struggles of Pearl. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, Pearl is creepy and surprisingly moving with Hitchcockian suspense.

      Anna (Jessica Koloian) lives in Ukraine with her husband, Razmig (Mike Markoff) and her three children, Armen (Brayden Eaton), Siran (Tenley Kellogg), and Hovan (Elias Kemuel), as well as her mother, Anastasiya (Mimi Sagadin), and father, Sergei (Paul Kandarian). When Razmig owes money to local gangsters, they kidnap Anna and force her to become a prositute in the red light district of Amsterdam. Anastasiya (Mimi Sagadin) drives Armen, Siran and Hovan to Armenia where they can hide out with their aunt, Ovsanna (Anna Terry), who lives in poverty. A few years later, Anna gets sick with cancer and ends up in a hospital where a kind nurse, Naomi (Sharonne Lanier), helps her locate her children with the assistance of Bill (Robert Amaya), an American pastor, Bedros (Stelio Savante), an Armenian missionary, and Bedros' wife, Anoush (Robia Scott).

      Based on true events, Pursuit of Freedom is an engrossing and riveting story about faith, hope, family and love during times of adversity. Writer/director George A. Johnson deftly balances the suspense and intrigue with just the right amount of heart without being cloying. Interestingly he doesn't begin with the moment of kidnapping right away; he begins with a scene at a church after the kidnapping and with a brief scene where Anoush receives a phone call before flashing back to introduce the audience to Anna and her family in Ukraine. The first few minutes of the film will make more sense later on. Fortunately, Johnson maintains a linear structure while going back and forth between Anna's perspective and the perspective of her children. Had he used a non-linear structure the entire time like in the recent I Am Like You or Hold Me Tight, it would've just been confusing, frustrating and unnecessary. There's enough conflict within the narrative itself, so kudos to Johnson for recognizing that. He also includes enough comic relief to counterbalance the heavy subject matter through some scenes with Bill who joins Bedros on his quest to find Anna's kids. Although he doesn't dwell on the 3 years of Anna's traumatic experiences as a prostitute in the red light district, he trusts the audience's imagination to fill in the gaps. He's brave for shedding light on the horrors of human trafficking as well as emotional struggles of that its victims and their families face in the afterman. The legal red tape that Anna has to go through just to see her kids again is equally infuriating and eye-opening.

      To be fair, some of the dialogue is on-the-nose and preachy, i.e. when Anna asks the nurse point-blank to explain to her the cross, and the nurse replies with a list of what the cross means and that some people who wear the cross can be bad people. Has Anna really never seen a cross before in her life except on her kidnappers? That scene feels a little clunky. The third act feels has some Capra-esque moments where nearly everyone who Anna and Bedros meet happen to be kindhearted and compassionate, i.e. Agent Jirar (Garry Nation) who admits that he has kids of his own, so he can relate to Bedros' plea for help from him. Again, that scene has some on-the-nose dialogue which means you can feel the wheels of the screenplay turning. In an over-the-top and clunky scene, Anna goes into a furious rage and throws some of the items on the desk of her case worker (Johnny Halloran) who then says that he could sue her for that before offering to help her. Despite those minor flaws, it remains suspenseful and engrossing.

      The performances are terrific from the leading roles to the supporting roles. Jessica Koloian gives a raw, genuinely heartfelt performance that captures Anna's emotional pain and sorrow while opening a window into her heart, mind and soul. There's one particularly powerful scene where you can grasp what Anna is going through psychologically when she imagines her kids being mad at her for being away from them for so long. The child actors are equally superb, and their scenes will tug at your heartstrings. The editing is also well-done without choppiness as it changes from Anna's perspective to Bedros' perspective to the kids' perspectives, and the pace moves briskly enough. At a running time of just 1 hour and 35 minutes, Pursuit of Freedom remains gripping and captivating while brimming with warmth, compassion and tenderness.

      In 1950s London, Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody), an American film director, is expected to direct the film version of the Agatha Christie play, The Mousetrap. During a performance of the play at London's West End, someone murders Leo backstage and places his corpse on stage. Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) arrive to investigate the murder. The suspects include Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo), Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and the theater's owner, Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson).

      See How They Run isThe screenplay by Mark Chappell takes a while to get going as it introduces the characters and sets up the meat of the story involving the murder of Leo. The darkly comedic tone also takes a while to find its footing. Many of the jokes don't land during the first thirty minutes. When Leo gets murdered, you're supposed to laugh at the way he's murudered, but it's not very funny. Once Stoppard and Stalker begin their investigation, See How They Run picks up a little steam as they banter with each other. Their rapport is funny in an offbeat, dry sort of way, Stalker's frequent quips lead to a few chuckles. Neither she nor Stoppard are even remotely as irresistibly entertaining as Benoit Blanc from Knives Out. Beyond the sporadically funny humor, though, there's really not much that holds your attention. The murder mystery becomes increasingly convoluted and dull, and the third act has a twist that's not very surprising. The use of flashbacks feel clunky and get tiresome; it works in Knives Out, but not here. Also, most of the characters here are forgettable and poorly developed. There are also two scenes where the film breaks the fourth wall in a way that seems lazy, tacked-on and like it's trying too hard to connect the film with the audience.

      See How They Run is lucky to have such a fine cast because, otherwise, it would sink into a lethargic bore. Saoirse Ronan has great comedic timing and generates the most laughs while shining the brightest. The always-reliable Sam Rockwell is also superb, but he's funnier in other dark comedies like Seven Psychopaths. The pacing moves quickly at first and then slows down before picking up again during the rushed third act which leads to some uneven pacing. The production design looks fine, but the editing tries too hard to make the film look cinematic with some overly-edited scenes, i.e. the scenes with split screens. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes a mildly engaging a whodunnit that pales compares to the funnier, zanier and wittier Knives Out, but at least it's not as cringe-inducing as the recent Death on the Nile remake.

      In 1800s Africa, General Nanisca (Viola Davis), trains the Agojie, a group of all-female warriors, to defend the Kingdom of Dahomey from the nefarious Oyo general, Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya), who's kidnapping and enslaving the women of Dahomey. Izogie (Lashana Lynch) and Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), who develops a romance with Malik (Jayme Lawson), are also among the warriors of Agojie. John Boyega plays Ghezo, the King of Dahomey.

      The screenplay by Dana Stevens has just the right blend of thrilling action, well-written female characters and a suspenseful, heartfelt story to go along with it. The narrative has a lot going on beneath its surface. It's not just about women who come together to fight and save enslaved women; it's also about how they conquer and heal from trauma. General Nanisca has a tragic backstory that humanizes her because it provides the audience with some insight into where her rage and emotional pain comes from. Stevens doesn't dwell on those painful memories nor does she flash back to show them, so she leaves just enough for the audience's imagination to allow them to care about General Nanisca. The same can be said about Nawi who, in the initial scenes, angered her father by not marrying a much older man who she's not attracted to. A revelation later in the second act, which won't be revealed here, adds more depth to Nawi as well as to General Nanisca. The way that that revelation is presented with the flashbacks feels slightly heavy-handed, though, and the flashback is redundant, so the filmmakers hold the audience's hand a little too tightly at that point. To be fair, the male characters are underwritten, especially King Ghezo who gives a few compelling speeches, but doesn't have as strong of a backstory as the female characters. Fortunately, the third act boasts exhilarating action sequences that will make you stand up and cheer before a tender, heartwarming and refreshingly understated scene that earns its uplift.

      Viola Davis gives a bravura, tour de force performance as General Nanisca. She finds the emotional truth of her role as much as she did in her breakthrough performance in Doubt. Even when The Woman King starts to veer toward melodrama and schmaltz, Davis turns it away from that and makes her scenes feel genuinely heartfelt. Thuso Mbedu is also superb and gives a breakthrough performance. So, the film's emotional resonance ultimately comes from the performances, not from the screenplay. Moreover, the music score is superb without being overbearing, and cinematography is filled with stunning, picturesque shots of nature that add visual poetry as well scope. At a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, The Woman King is a triumph. It's an exhilarating, empowering and rousing epic adventure grounded in humanity.