Sunday, February 27, 2022

A Week in Paradise: Movie Review





Melodramatic romantic drama.
A Week in Paradise is a romantic drama that just leans so heavily into the melodrama of it all. How do movies in this genre still not understand that you can’t take yourself this seriously? The first half of the movie is a massive slog to get through. A cheating husband, a wife who is just so distraught she can’t possibly go to work, so okay, a week in Nevis will do.   2022

Directed by: Philippe Martinez

Screenplay by: Kate Wood

Starring: Malin Akerman, Philip Winchester

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop: Movie Review



Old-fashioned and low-key, a British mystery.

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop is, as you can probably guess from the title, an old-fashioned and juvenile mystery. A family-friendly mystery meant for … kids? Except probably not, with a cast full of adults, a potential murder on their hands and an English country-side setting straight out of classic novels, it’s more like a Miss Marple mystery to be solved by the Scooby Doo gang.   2021

Directed by: Brad Watson

Screenplay by: Josh Ridgway, Kate Wood

Starring: Nathalie Cox, Kelsey Grammer

Friday, February 25, 2022

The Ledge: Movie Review





Suspend your disbelief.
I always appreciate it when filmmakers can make a compelling movie set in essentially one location, but The Ledge is hanging from some very precarious threads. It has all the ingredients of a good story: our heroine is a very strong, very tough girl who isn’t going to let a group of douche bros get away with murder. Her main obstacle is literally the side of the cliff with one ledge she can stand one. And the villains, four asshole friends, who are my main source of frustration.   2022

Directed by: Howard J. Ford

Screenplay by: Tom Boyle

Starring: Brittany Ashworth, Ben Lamb

Friday, February 11, 2022

I Want You Back: Movie Review





A screwball rom-com.
I Want You Back is a sort-of throwback romantic comedy. It meanders a bit before it ends up in screwball comedy territory, but leans into comedy with entertaining plot turns throughout. It’s a rom-com that starts with heartbreak and ponders the depression and loneliness of life before it ever tries selling us on a romance. It balances humour and grief and delivers something that’s funny and sweet.   2022

Directed by: Jason Orley

Screenplay by: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger

Starring: Jenny Slate and Charlie Day

Friday, February 4, 2022

Book of Love: Movie Review




Bad characters and bad writing.
Book of Love is the type of romantic comedy you want to like more than you do. They cast Sam Claflin, and then can’t do anything else right. Henry (Claflin) is a novelist, comparing himself to E.M. Forster, but instead being met with criticism he argues against and a bookstore selling his novel at “Buy 1, Get 3”. Unbeknownst to him, his novel has been translated into Spanish and is a massive hit in Mexico, so off he goes.   2022

Directed by: Analeine Cal y Mayor

Screenplay by: Analeine Cal y Major,
and David Quantick

Starring: Sam Claflin, Veronica Echegui