Josh Bell
This week’s low-profile VOD releases feature teenage summertime misadventures in suburban Germany and at a tropical resort, plus aliens on a plane, post-apocalyptic battles for dominance, and the making of an Asylum movie.
Summer’s Last Resort (Tubi July 3): There’s a “6-7” reference within the first minute or so of this painful comedy, which gives you an idea of how hard it’s straining to seem cool. The attempts at trendy teen-speak subside after that, but there’s nothing cool about the manic hijinks that fellow. Taking on a more difficult challenge than a killer robot, M3GAN star Violet McGraw plays high-strung high-schooler Summer, who’s mortified when her dorky vice principal and driving instructor Glenn (Jerry O’Connell) starts dating her free-spirited mom Milly (Sophia Bush). As the family (including Summer’s hyper-capitalist, fedora-wearing little brother) embarks on a luxury Caribbean vacation, Summer engages in some mild sabotage of the burgeoning relationship. The juvenile humor is no more sophisticated than an adult blurting out “6-7,” with an extended set piece involving Summer nearly killing a dolphin with her farts. Everyone learns obvious lessons about family togetherness, while the actors frantically mug for the camera in an effort to make up for the dire comedy. Grade: C-
Black Box (VOD July 7): Something is clearly wrong on a packed cross-country passenger flight, and this horror movie from Final Destination 5 director Steven Quale is creepiest before the characters discover the true nature of their predicament. Quale and screenwriter Stephen Susco effectively build suspense as disturbing things start happening on the flight, starting with strange lights in the clouds outside and continuing with an old man seemingly going crazy before dying suddenly. The disaster-movie characterization offers a range of passengers and crew to follow, with a bare minimum of personality traits each. That’s just enough to get invested in the danger, at least until the threat reveals itself, and both the special effects and the exposition fall short of the filmmakers’ ambitions. Quale occasionally shifts from traditional visuals into the more limited perspective of cell phones and other devices, but the half-hearted detours into found footage are just distracting reminders of the movie’s stylistic and narrative limitations. Grade: B-
Warriors of the Wasteland (VOD July 7; DVD/Blu-ray September 8): Good luck discerning literally anything about the post-apocalyptic (or possibly entirely fantastical?) world of this thoroughly incomprehensible Serbian sci-fi thriller, which spends more than two hours on what feels like the preamble to an epic adventure yet to be determined. A mysterious blind lute player wanders into an isolated tavern to tell the story of John (Igor Benčina), a warrior on a quest for … something, involving a mystical sword and his childhood frenemy. Director Nemanja Ćeranić borrows most of his aesthetic from the Mad Max movies, and John’s journey takes him to an industrial stronghold run by a cruel warlord. There’s no sense of how or why this society functions as it does, and John haphazardly moves through various menacing and/or helpful factions with names like “Bloodheads.” Some of the problems might be attributed to the atrocious English dubbing, which is frequently drowned out by the blaring score. Whatever the characters may be saying, though, it couldn’t possibly explain all of the jumbled mess onscreen. Grade: C-
Hot Girl Summer (VOD and Film Movement+ July 10): A remake of a 2001 German hit, this cute and exuberant teen comedy makes some modern updates but sticks to the time-honored formula of crushes, bullies, and BFFs. Those BFFs are Inken (Kya-Celina Barucki), Vicky (Julia Novohradsky), and Lena (Nhung Hong), a trio of 17-year-olds who decide that experiencing their first orgasms will be the key to happiness and success. Their character arcs are pretty basic, from Inken’s need to dump her jerk boyfriend and realize that her sensitive neighbor is the right guy for her to shy Lena’s desire to break out of her shell and ask a hot boy on a date. Vicky gets the most progressive storyline as she explores her feelings for a female classmate, but all of the subplots are handled with similar gentle charm. There are a few raunchy moments, but this isn’t German Pie, and director Martina Plura and screenwriter Kathi Kiesl focus on the enduring friendship, which goes through a few contrived rifts before ending up stronger than ever. Grade: B
Mockbuster (VOD and select theaters July 10): The low-budget productions of notorious B-movie studio The Asylum don’t seem like top candidates for detailed behind-the-scenes documentaries, but filmmaker Anthony Frith adds a personal touch that makes this look at 2025’s The Land That Time Forgot funny, insightful, and even a bit affecting. Frith is also the director of The Land That Time Forgot, and he adopts a self-deprecating tone in chronicling his Asylum debut, made after years of toiling in the world of corporate training videos. Worried that he’ll never get to make a feature film, the Australian Frith simply emails Asylum executives asking for a directing assignment, and within weeks he’s helming a “six-day special” about military personnel stranded on an island full of dinosaurs. Mockbuster falls somewhere between American Movie and a home-video bonus feature, carried by Frith’s good-natured approach to both documentary and exploitation filmmaking. The Land That Time Forgot is almost certainly terrible, but the lively, fast-paced, and informative Mockbuster is a total delight. Grade: B+
