Photo © Warner Bros.
Minecraft Movie
From left to right: Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, and Jason Momoa in 'A Minecraft Movie' (2025).
The Luckiest Man in America
(In Theaters April 4)
As a contestant in 1984’s “Press Your Luck” game show, Michael Larson won $110,000 dollars (three times that sum in today’s money). Paul Walter Hauser appears as Larson, ice cream truck driver, air conditioner service tech, low-level thief and grifter. During his interview to be a player, Larson confessed he’d ridden the bus from Ohio to Burbank where he bought his ill-fitting dress shirt from a thrift store because he needed to win enough money to buy his 6-year-old daughter a nice birthday present. These anecdotes, along with his stated devotion to watching the show, appealed to producer Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn). At first glance, Larson’s sharp intellect is hidden, but he’d learned things about the show that all contestants, thus far, had overlooked. The film recreates the dimly lit plastic signs used by game shows of the time. Likewise, the costuming and dialog are ’80s to the max. Walton Goggins plays Press Your Luck’s bewildered game show host while Johnny Knoxville appears as a talk show host who interviews Larson. (Lisa Miller)
The Mask of Satan
(Severin Blu-ray)
The young fun seekers must be affluent. They hired a helicopter to drop them at a remote Alpine peak for a ski outing—but the tense music and editing signals danger on the slops even before the audience sees the crevasse opening in the ice, waiting to swallow them. Down in the snowy pit they discover a strange mask, a frozen body and the entrance to a buried basilica leading to a ghost town whose only inhabitant is a Roman Catholic priest with strange, starring eyes. The emotional dynamic is established early. The ski party consists of two good people (root for them!) and six narcissistic meanies. Footnote: This 1989 movie by director Lamberto Bava was produced by Silvio Berlosconi, the Italian media titan who became the country’s right-wing prime minister. (David Luhrssen)
A Minecraft Movie
(In Theaters April 4)
The video game Minecraft has no set goals. Owned by Microsoft, it’s sold over 300 million copies worldwide. The film adaptation pulls the central characters into the game through a portal (“Jumanji” anyone?). They are played by Jason Momoa, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks. When these four materialize in Minecraft’s Overworld, they meet herds of pink sheep before encountering monsters. In order to get back to our world, the newbies must learn to fashion weapons from expert crafter, Steve (Jack Black), and defeat Overworld’s evil entities. Jennifer Coolidge also appears, although her comedy, along with Black’s, lacks zing. The game and its square animation is popular with tweens, so Microsoft insisted that director Jared Hess deliver a PG-rated film. (Lisa Miller)
Screamboat
(In Theaters April 2)
When the 1928 Disney cartoon, “Steamboat Willie” passed into public domain, writer-director Steven LaMorte, immediately began writing this film. He’s a Mickey Mouse fan and “Dark Disney” acolyte who couldn’t wait to turn the animated rodent into a live-action killer. The 1928 cartoon depicts a mischievous Mickey Mouse attempting to musically amuse himself—much to his steamboat captain’s consternation. LaMorte resets the action to New York City’s Staten Island ferry. His blood-thirsty mouse is a creature of practical effects. David Howard Thornton wears an evil mouse costume and makeup that thinly disguises the actor’s face. When the ship is marooned, passengers and crew members (Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey and others) are shocked to discover a diminutive killer stalking all onboard. LaMorte hopes the one-joke premise and tenuous Mickey Mouse connection, will sustain this comedy-horror’s 100-minute runtime. A more realistic objective would be hoping the film makes the “so bad it’s good,” category. (Lisa Miller)
