This week\u2019s minor VOD releases go under the sea with an extreme athlete and a murderous mermaid, while also showcasing French pseudo-incest, 18th-century German literature, and a bargain-basement action hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dick Dynamite: 1944<\/em><\/strong> (Select theaters December 6; VOD December 10):<\/strong> After defensively opening with a disclaimer that it was a crowd-funded labor of love, this excruciating faux grindhouse movie delivers a grating \u201cironic\u201d bad-movie experience that\u2019s indistinguishable from genuine ineptitude. Mononymic star Snars attempts what sounds like an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression as the title character, a supposed military badass who\u2019s assigned a suicide mission in the waning days of World War II, to destroy a secret Nazi superweapon. Imitating movies like The Dirty Dozen<\/em> and Inglourious Basterds<\/em>, writer-director Robbie Davidson puts together a team of equally annoying operatives to join Dick, introduced via freeze-frame title cards, with creative nicknames like \u201cMotherfucker.\u201d The visual style mixes ugly low-budget digital cinematography with arbitrary fake film grain, the action scenes are incoherent barrages of cheap CGI muzzle flashes and poorly staged stunts, and the dialogue is filled with empty edginess. The plot is a haphazard collection of B-movie clich\u00e9s, including the requisite zombies, and it abruptly ends on a cliffhanger, promising that \u201cDick Dynamite will return.\u201d Let\u2019s hope not. Grade: D-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Freediver<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and Amazon Prime Video December 7):<\/strong> This documentary about champion freediver Alexey Molchanov is less attention-grabbing than the 2023 Netflix film The Deepest Breath<\/em>, but it\u2019s also less of a tease, with a more upfront presentation of the tragedy that fuels its central subject. Freediver<\/em> is structured around Molchanov\u2019s efforts to break world records in five different freediving disciplines over the course of a year, following him around the world to various competitions in the dangerous niche sport. Freediving involves plunging to great depths without the aid of breathing equipment, and while there are plenty of safety measures in place, it\u2019s still incredibly risky. Molchanov competes in the shadow of his mother Natalia Molchanova, a fellow freediving record-holder who was his mentor and trainer before she died while on a dive. Director Michael John Warren only offers a surface-level exploration of Molchanov\u2019s grief and obsession, but much of the diving footage speaks for itself. Freediver<\/em> isn\u2019t aiming to be a riveting suspense piece, instead offering a straightforward look at a truly unhinged pursuit. Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Endless Summer Syndrome<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters December 13):<\/strong> Ah, the French: Always drinking to excess, sunbathing topless, and having sex with their teenage adopted kids. Well, maybe that last one isn\u2019t exactly common, but director and co-writer Kaveh Daneshmand\u2019s film makes it seem like another part of the indulgent lifestyle enjoyed by wealthy French intellectuals. Lawyer Delphine (Sophie Colon), her novelist husband Antoine (Matheo Capelli), and their adopted children Aslan (Gem Deger) and Adia (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rika Milano) are having an idyllic summer at their country house before Aslan leaves for university, until Delphine gets an alarming phone call from a colleague of Antoine\u2019s, claiming that he drunkenly revealed an inappropriate relationship with one of his kids. Framed by tense flash-forwards of a police interrogation, Endless Summer Syndrome<\/em> is part thriller, part critique of bourgeois sexual morality, but Daneshmand isn\u2019t just a shameless provocateur. He builds up a convincing, tender family dynamic before tearing it apart, giving each appalling revelation an emotional impact along with its intended shock value. Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n