Different variations of apocalypse in a post AI world populate the film landscape right now even more than usual since it is now undeniably part of the zeitgeist. Agnieszka Smoczyńska who as a director has made a diversified selection of genre films continues to look through her effective and specific lens in "Hot Spot", her first film released by a major US distributor in Focus Features. It very much feels like an independent approach (which reflects her well -- but with more resources).

The aspect of a film like "The End Of Oak Street" is mixing different natures of the 80s films we know and love. The trailers gave away the concept but not the full play of its tendencies. Producer JJ Abrams obviously has a soft spot for this type of films. It plays out well but also expects you not to look too hard at the plot holes while still enjoying its rewards.

The beginning of the film “The Brink Of War” speaks of the Soviet Union contemplating first strike because of US President Ronald Reagan’s backing and support of his new Star Wars defense system. The movie speaks to a meeting in 1986 requested by new General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev with Reagan in perhaps an attempt to bring the temperature down.

Alex Cox has always done things his way and with what is marketed as his final film: “Dead Souls” is an interesting interplay on the notion of reality and the con. Made on a shoestring in the middle of Spain, it pays tribute to the spaghetti westerns but with a character called Strindler who wanders in like a bad tax accountant and stirs up trouble, the play is about what we believe. Cox himself plays the man with an earnestness but also a mysteriousness that never really comes to bear but also delivers in many ways.

The drama "The Theft Of The Caravaggio", disguised as a would-be heist film works on the context of a man searching for redemption in a situation which, even within himself, her cannot control. The film was shot in Malta which has turned into a film hot spot as of late. However this film trying to be a mediation of faith and perspective fails to connect, either visually or within a true story context

The Minions can function within any time period as long as they serve the Big Boss. What "Minions & Monsters" does is still play to that concept while still paying a heavy tribute to early film history. While the first 1/3 builds up the mythology, the 2nd 1/3 is interesting in that it tells a creative original story about the Minions in Hollywood. The story does get very meta in the end (and in retrospect...the beginning as well) but it is a love letter from the Paris based Illumination back to the beginnings of Hollywood.

The context of apocalyptic movies is that in order to work they have to be bathed in myth. "Warriors Of The Wasteland" takes into account the fact that fuel would take on a key part of any survival. "Waterworld" did similar in a way. Here the film is bookended by a drifter playing a lute covered in bandages speaking of a man who challenged a city.

“The Voices Of Our Mother” which is an acquisition by Shudder is an interesting play in that it is a character drama piece wrapped in a one-way path of exorcism by where a caretaker is the necessary bout of evil but not as a victim but as the purveyor. At the center of this parable is the mother in question who is being cared for her own mother, who then passes away. The origin of her daughter needs to be kept in check as the circumstances surrounding her and her husband and by extension her children create the crux of the story.

The idea of trauma versus the notion of being calmed is an interesting irony in the tendency of the thriller/comedy/horror film “Touch Me” from Shudder. The film itself is all over the place but wants to establish that uncomfortable edge on its approach to identity, jealousy, the aspect of co-dependency, trauma and the effects of circumstance.