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“Bob Trevino Likes It” (2024, Lionsgate) Kentucky twenty-something Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira, “Euphoria”) who has endured a lifetime of abandonment and dismissal from those closest to her, attempts to mend fences with her self-centered father, Bob (French Stewart), by reaching out to a man with his name on social media, but instead forges an unlikely with another Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) — one with the capacity for kindness and empathy that her father lacks, and who also longs for familial connection. Outstanding performances by all three leads (who are rarely afforded top billing) buoy this comedy-drama, a feature debut from writer-director Tracie Laymon, who drew on her own experiences to find the bittersweet core of her film. Sincere and funny without being treacly and sad without approaching maudlin, “Bob Trevino” says much, in quiet but honest terms, about finding a connection in a time when it appears to not only in short supply but also actively campaigned against by certain demographics; it also manages to address the issue of familial neglect without wallowing in the misery, which has become the go-to for emotional dramatic fare (looking at you, HBO). In select theaters and on various streaming platforms.
“The Empire” * (2025, Kino Lorber) A titanic struggle between extraterrestrial forces comes to a head in a tiny French hamlet, where the birth of a baby may turn the tide of a battle between the fascistic Zeros and the more saintly 1s. Representatives from both sides are dispatched to the town, but find that interaction with humans can be even more vexing than interstellar warfare. Broad comedy from French director Bruno Dumont is fitfully amusing in its attempt to lampoon both grandiose space operas and small town foibles; his penchant for button-pushing is on display here (both alien combatants have attractive female emissaries who seem compelled to sleep with the infant’s doltish husband, which may suggest that all-powerful entities are just as dumb as we are, or, well, chicks, man), which may undo some of the good will established by the humor. However, there are enough legitimately comic moments (many involving actors Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore, who reprise their hapless cop characters from Dumont’s (Li’l Quinquin”) to restore viewers’ patience; Kino’s DVD includes trailers.
“Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers” * (1988, Film Movement) Six-episode PBS series with journalist Moyers in conversation with comparative mythology/religion professor Campbell, which stitches together, in quiet but compelling terms, the various strands of storytelling DNA that run through centuries, if not eons of myths, folklore, religious texts, and more. What may sound like dry academia is made both fascinating by Moyers’ intelligent questioning and the late Campbell’s enthusiasm and knowledge and his ability to make it palatable for a wide audience by couching it in everyday language and through connections to popular entertainment (there’s a reason several of the episodes were filmed at Skywalker Ranch). The popularity of the series led to Campbell’s work like “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” becoming go-to source material for both colleges and Hollywood; as such, “Power of Myth” is required viewing for anyone with interest in those arenas, but also for anyone who might need reassurance that there is more than connects us as a species than divides us (and, it goes without saying, another reason why public television deserves support). Film Movement’s Blu-ray contains all six episodes as well as an hour-long conversation between Moyers and George Lucas about Campbell’s influence on his “Star Wars” films, a pair of 1981 interviews between Moyers and Campbell that served as a test run for “Power of Myth,” and an unpublished essay by Campbell in the disc set’s liner notes.
“The Warrior” (1981, Mondo Macabro) Steadfast 17th century hero Jaka Sembung (Barry Prima) proves such a thorn in the side of the imperious Dutch occupiers ruling Indonesia that he’s imprisoned, tortured, and eventually crucified and blinded by a cruel governor (Dicky Zulkarnaen in a wig/beard get-up that resembles Dr. Hook vocalist Ray Sawyer). When none of these tortures breaks Sembung’s spirit, the warden calls in a Legion of Doom to finish the job, including a fire-breathing brute and a black magician (W.D. Mochtar) who briefly turns Sembung into a pig. Outrageous Indonesian action-fantasy, based on a popular homegrown comic book by artist Djair, offers a unique spin on superhero and martial arts movie tropes with its historical framework (which, as scripter Iman Tantowi notes in an interview on the Blu-ray, allows Sembung to rewrite Indonesia’s past by beating the Dutch in the same way Rambo “won” the Vietnam War in “First Blood: Part II”) religious connotations (Sembung derives much of his power from, and is, at one point, revived from the dead by Islamic faith) and an eye-popping barrage of practical effects (to quote Michael Weldon, I could tell you how Sembung regains his sight, but you wouldn’t believe me) that refuse to allow the film’s limited budget to get in the way of delivering pure spectacle. Mondo Macabro revives one of its most crowd-pleasing DVD titles with a hi-def Blu-ray presentation that includes new and vintage interviews with Tantowi, producer Gope T. Samtani, and FX designer E.L. Badrun, as well as an appreciation from director Joko Anwar; the disc also features trailers for two “Warrior” sequels, 1983’s “The Warrior and the Blind Swordsman” and “The Warrior and the Ninja” (1985), both of which are available on a single Blu-ray from Mondo. Both films show “Warrior” producers Rapi Films shrewdly acknowledging the international markets they had entered through “Warrior’s” worldwide success: “Blind Swordsman” offers a nod to Japan’s Zatoichi and Hong Kong’s One-Armed Swordsman/Boxer by pitting Sembung against a sightless fighter who later becomes his ally against not one but two sorcerors and (of course) the villainous Dutch, while “Ninja” pays tribute to the then-popular spate of ninja films by paring Sembung with lady ninja the Black Squirrel to fight (again) the Dutch and a hissable Javanese collaborator with iron skin! Cross-cultural mind expansion awaits.
