Saturday, November 25, 2023

Christmas in Notting Hill: Movie Review



An adorably cute romantic pairing.

This is what a cute Christmas rom-com looks like. Georgia (Sarah Ramos) is visiting her sister Lizzie in London and meets cute stranger, Graham (William Moseley); but there’s a few things she doesn’t know about him: that he’s a famous professional footballer and that he’s the brother of her sister’s boyfriend. He also doesn’t know her connection. So when he accidentally tells her that his brother’s proposing this Christmas, she doesn’t know the significance.   2023

Directed by: Ali Liebert

Screenplay by: Alex Yonks

Starring: Sarah Ramos, William Moseley

Saturday, November 18, 2023

A Merry Scottish Christmas: Movie Review



Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf have been reunited as brother and sister in A Merry Scottish Christmas. And when you have TV royalty with their adorableness, you might as well make them duke and duchess, almost. Estranged siblings Brad (Scott Wolf) and Lindsay (Lacey Chabert) have been invited by their mother to a castle in Scotland. They don’t know why, she’s acting weird, although given the references to their childhood, I don’t know how you identify what’s weird with her.   2023

Directed by: Dustin Rikert

Screenplay by: Andrea Canning, Dustin Rikert, Andrew Gernhard

Starring: Lacey Chabert, Scott Wolf

Friday, November 17, 2023

Navigating Christmas: Movie Review



A Hallmark Christmas on a cute island.

Navigating Christmas is set on a remote island off the coast of Washington state. It’s a small island with a lighthouse, a diner and a few people who all wear plaid. It is a fictional place, but it’s a lovely set and not overdone unlike most of Hallmarks fictional small-town settings. Recently divorced single mother Melanie (Chelsea Hobbs) takes her teenage son on a last-minute Christmas vacation after his father bailed on him.   2023

Directed by: Peter Benson

Screenplay by:

Starring: Chelsea Hobbs, Stephen Huszar

All-Time High: Movie Review




Stupid on all levels.
All-Time High, as translated from the French title Nouveaux Riches, is an action comedy about small-time scam artists. The movie is just as stupid as the main characters are. Youssef (Nassim Lyes) is a fast-talking scoundrel; he’s at a club trying to hit on a girl by talking himself up, and when she points out that he’s tried to hit on her in the past and doesn’t remember, he doesn’t care and keeps trying.   2023

Directed by: Julien Hollande

Screenplay by: Julien Hollande

Starring: Nassim Lyes, Zoé Marchal

Dashing Through the Snow: Movie Review




Off-kilter but adds something new to Santa Claus.
Dashing Through the Snow is weird and off-kilter for most of it, but it also has a sense of fun and something for the whole family. Eddie (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) is separated from his wife, has a daughter, and is a social worker who spends his time helping others who are less fortunate. He’s spending Christmas Eve with his daughter until he catches a guy breaking into his neighbor’s house.   2023

Directed by: Tim Story

Screenplay by: Scott Rosenberg

Starring: Lil Rel Howery, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Best. Christmas. Ever!: Movie Review




A messy comedy filled with cynicism, jealousy, loss and depression.
Best. Christmas. Ever! is not intentionally using that title ironically even though the first half is a cynical mess and the second half uses grief and depression to make everything worse. The premise fulfills the first half of the movie, two jealous friends who want to bring down the other person no matter the cost. It’s a common cynicism in comedies which I hate; this is not good-natured ribbing, this is jealousy and animosity wrapped up in forced laughter.   2023

Directed by: Mary Lambert

Screenplay by: Todd Calgi Gallicano, and Charles Shyer

Starring: Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Jason Biggs

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

EXmas: Movie Review




A comedy first rom-com.
A predictable rom-com, EXmas provides plenty of laughs, some well-earned emotions and the right amount of Christmas. Ali (Leighton Meester) loves the holiday but has nobody to celebrate it with, until her ex-fiancée’s family invites her to their house. A few Christmas movie reviews ago (for The Christmas Classic), I mentioned that my favourite trope is the ex who is still friends the family, and now we get a whole movie of that and it is exactly as delightful as expected.   2023

Directed by: Jonah Feingold

Screenplay by: Dan Steele

Starring: Leighton Meester, Robbie Amell

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Christmas Island: Movie Review



Well-balanced Christmas cheer.

To clear up the first bit of confusion, this Christmas Island is a real town in Nova Scotia not the Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. Don’t worry, they’re not doing something silly like flying from the US to Switzerland by way of the south Pacific. The only silly thing this film is doing is having a massive storm over the Atlantic Ocean which is so severe that all flights have had to be grounded for almost a week.   2023

Directed by: David Weaver

Screenplay by: Samantha Herman

Starring: Rachel Skarston, Andrew Walker

Friday, November 10, 2023

Anatomy of a Fall: Movie Review




Questions of truth or justice in a trial about guilt or innocence.
High in the French Alps, Sandra lives with her husband Samuel, their 11-year-old son Daniel and their dog Snoop. That is until her husband is found dead at the foot of their multi-storey chalet. The police question her, naturally, since she was the only one home with him at the time. She calls a lawyer once she suspects she’s about to become a person of interest. The question becomes whether she killed her husband or not.   2023

Directed by: Justine Triet

Screenplay by: Justine Triet, Arthur Harari

Starring: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud

The Dirty South: Movie Review




Slow but compelling tale of dirty criminals in Louisiana.
Set and filmed in Louisiana, The Dirty South is a tale of a small town populated by criminals. It’s a very brown and gray movie, everybody except one family is dirt poor, almost every scene takes place at night so it’s consistently darkly lit. It’s a premise you’ve seen before, and the beginning is slow and dark, but there’s also a humanity to these characters and an almost hidden sense of style that can keep audiences watching.   2023

Directed by: Matthew Yerby

Screenplay by: Matthew Yerby

Starring: Willa Holland, Dermot Mulroney and Shane West

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Priscilla: Movie Review




Female empowerment in the shadow of Elvis Presley.
I wasn’t expecting the romance between Priscilla and Elvis Presley to be a tale of female empowerment and women’s liberation, but here we are. Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla features Cailee Spaeny as the young Priscilla (fourteen years old to be exact) smitten in love and over the years, almost imperceptibly at first, grows to be a woman who stands up for herself and gets out of the stardom of Elvis Presley and an abusive relationship before it destroys her.   2023

Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Screenplay by: Sofia Coppola
Based on the book by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

Friday, November 3, 2023

The Christmas Classic: Movie Review




Every Christmas rom-com rolled into one ridiculous but funny story.
The Christmas Classic is every Christmas cliché wrapped into a ski competition to save the chalet. But the story is also told with tongue firmly in cheek and having as much fun with it as possible. Elizabeth (Malin Akerman) works for her fiancé’s father’s real estate company and has been tasked with buying a ski resort in her small hometown in New Mexico.   2023

Directed by: Shane Dax Taylor

Screenplay by: Shane Dax Taylor, Austin Nichols

Starring: Malin Akerman, Ryan Hansen

Flipping for Christmas: Movie Review



All of Hallmark’s worst characteristics.

Flipping for Christmas is yet another one of Hallmark’s big city girl travels back to her small hometown, falls for the local handyman, and rediscovers the meaning of family and Christmas. And I would love to say, that at least one of those things got switched up, but only barely: she actually rediscovers the meaning of family, Christmas and community. It’s a very low budget production with overdone characters that it’s impossible to get wrapped up in the romance.   2023

Directed by: Katherine Barrell

Screenplay by: Brett Heard

Starring: Ashley Newbrough, Marcus Rosner

Helen's Dead: Movie Review



Helen’s Dead has assembled a lot of half-famous actors in a comedic murder mystery that has a hard time juggling the comedy with the crimes. Married couple Leila and George are hosting a fancy dinner party for one guest, a magazine editor who they are going to convince they’re famous successful people so they can become influencers. Until beautiful and alcoholic sister Helen crashes their party and one by one all of her boyfriends invite themselves over.   2023

Directed by: K. Asher Levin

Screenplay by: Amy Brown Carter, K. Asher Levin

Starring: Dylan Gelula, Anabelle Dexter-Jones, Emile Hirsch and Matilda Lutz

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Mystic Christmas: Movie Review



Perfectly pleasant and often boring.

Mystic Christmas is an occasionally cute but often just boring Christmas romance. Usually exes at Christmas leads to a lot of fun in movie world, but here it’s just very tame. Juniper (Jessy Schram) is a marine expert returning home to temporarily help out the local aquarium. Her ex is the very nice Sawyer (Chandler Massey). They are both just nice people leading nice lives and it’s all a little boring.   2023

Directed by: Marlo Hunter

Screenplay by: Nicole Drespel

Starring: Jessy Schram, Chandler Massey

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Tripped Up: Movie Review




A fresh, funny comedy about Gen Z girls and the food industry.
Life comes at you fast in Tripped Up. A dramedy about four girls in their mid-twenties, one of whom attempted to be a reality TV chef and is now a cog in fancy New York restaurant for a head chef who hates her. One bad decision later, and Lizzie and her three friends are on a road trip to a food festival in a last-ditch effort to save her career.   2023

Directed by: Shruti Ganguly

Screenplay by: Cristina Catanzaro, Carrie Shaw

Starring: Leah Lewis, Ariel Winter, Sasha Fox and Ashley Moore

Friday, October 27, 2023

Christmas by Design: Movie Review



A lazy Christmas romance.

I was looking forward to a fashion-based Christmas rom-com, but Hallmark’s Christmas by Design forgot the crucial element of successful romantic comedies – characters that audiences want to root for. Charlotte (Rebecca Dalton), aka Charlie, is fine by the end, but at the beginning she’s a delusional, extremely self-absorbed narcissist who likes being antagonistic towards strangers and dismissive of people who care about her. And it forgot the fashion.   2023

Directed by: Max McGuire

Screenplay by: Carley Smale

Starring: Rebecca Dalton, Thomas Chovanec

Friday, October 20, 2023

Checkin' It Twice: Movie Review



Checkin’ It Twice is my new favourite genre – the hockey rom-com. Scott (Kevin McGarry) is a journeyman minor league hockey player, he’s in his mid-30s still looking for his shot at the NHL, but instead he’s sent to Idaho Falls a feeder team for the AHL. Meanwhile, Ashley (Kim Matula) is a hot shot commercial real estate agent in New York who has just lost a client to her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend.   2023

Directed by: Kevin Fair

Screenplay by: Steve Beauregard

Starring: Kevin McGarry, Kim Matula

The Other Zoey: Movie Review




Cute, funny and relatable.
Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford) is The Other Zoey, the less popular, less cool Zoey, the one who’s not dating school soccer star Zack (Drew Starkey). And that’s fine by this Zoey, she’s more interested in getting into grad school for computer sciences anyways than dating some shallow jock. Until Zack gets hit by a car, gets amnesia, and mistakes this Zoey as Zoey Wallace, the soccer-playing very cool Zoey that he is dating, or was dating, it’s going to get complicated.   2023

Directed by: Sara Zandieh

Screenplay by: Matthew Tabak

Starring: Josephine Langford, Drew Starkey

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Field Day: Movie Review




One thing about Hallmark movies that is abundantly true – they know their audience. Field Day is a sweet drama-romance about three middle-aged moms trying to find the right balance between work, love and their kids. Marissa (Carmel Amit) is a work-obsessed mom, struggling to be more present in her daughter’s life; Kelly (Shannon Chan-Kent) is an image-obsessed mom, pretending to be the picture-perfect mom.   2023

Directed by: David Winning

Screenplay by: Julie Sherman Wolfe

Starring: Rachel Boston, Carmel Amit, Shannon Chan-Kent and Benjamin Ayres

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Love Is in the Air: Movie Review




Not the lovely Australian romance it should have been.
Love Is in the Air is an Australian version of a Hallmark romance. Dana (Delta Goodrem) is a career woman, a pilot of a small family seaplane delivery business, with no time for dating. William (Joshua Sasse) is a finance guy from a UK investment firm planning to sell off Fullerton Airways forcing them to shutdown. There are a few key ingredients from successful romances that are missing here, mainly genuine characters and a connection from shared values and beliefs.   2023

Directed by: Adrian Powers

Screenplay by: Katharine E. McPhee and Adrian Powers & Caera Bradshaw

Starring: Delta Goodrem, Joshua Sasse

Monday, September 18, 2023

The Retirement Plan: Movie Review



A purposely bad movie with Cage in granddad/assassin mode.

Action comedy The Retirement Plan had very little planning go into it: Cast Nicolas Cage, make him a good guy, and have him kill a whole bunch of bad guys. There’s certainly an element of fun to that premise, but it’s a very broad, very over-the-top re-purposing of an action crime drama into a comedy. Jimmy and Ashley find themselves on the run from bad guys who will kill them if they don’t get what they want: a critical thumb drive. They need an escape plan.   2023

Directed by: Tim Brown

Screenplay by: Tim Brown

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ashley Greene, Thalia Campbell and Ron Perlman

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Choose Love: Movie Review




A minimal rom-com with no right or wrong choice.
A choose your own adventure romantic comedy. You finally have your choice of the stable boyfriend, the international long lost love or a rock star. Sorry, not your choice, you get to pick for Cami. Cami (Laura Marano) is an LA music producer who opens the movie by visiting a psychic. The psychic frames the movie perfectly, but Cami is a very flighty girl who can’t make up her mind about anything.   2023

Directed by: Stuart McDonald

Screenplay by: Josann McGibbon

Starring: Laura Marano, Scott Michael Foster, Jordi Webber and Avan Jogia

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Deltopia: Movie Review



A day in the life of high school seniors attending an end of school year epic party. Deltopia is named after the real-life California beach party called Deltopia, and indeed the film opens with a ‘based on true events’ label. The problem with such a label is you’re expecting something interesting or significant to happen, but it looks a lot like every other movie about teens partying, except even harder to get into.   2023

Directed by: Michael Easterling, Jaala Ruffman

Screenplay by: Michael Easterling, Jaala Ruffman

Starring: Luna Blaise, Madison Pettis,
Charlie Gillespie, and Hart Denton

Friday, August 25, 2023

Vacation Friends 2: Movie Review



The original friends are in over their heads.

The vacation friends are back on vacation. Ron (John Cena) & Kyla (Meredith Hagner) and Marcus (Lil Rel Howery & Emily (Yvonne Orji) are in the Caribbean on Marcus’ generosity – or more accurately, on the generosity of an Asian hotel group that Marcus’s company is trying to get into business with, and of course Marcus didn’t tell Ron and Kyla since they can be, you know, embarrassing.   2023

Directed by: Clay Tarver

Screenplay by: Clay Tarver

Starring: John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Meredith Hagner, and Yvonne Orji

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

The List: Movie Review




Fun premise and delivers expected comedy.
Abby (Halston Sage) and Matt (Jonah Platt) are celebrating their engagement when in walks (fictional) celebrity Kenzie Scott. Matt and Abby’s formerly imagined celebrity free pass list becomes a reality officially written down and Matt is “free” to pursue the hot and famous movie star. The first part of The List mostly plays out as it would in real life complete with lies and jealousy and no actual freedom.   2023

Directed by: Melissa Miller Costanzo

Screenplay by: Rob Lederer, Steve Vitolo

Starring: Halston Sage, Christian Navarro

Friday, August 18, 2023

It Only Takes a Night: Movie Review




A romantic comedy with a bit of a bad girls twist.
It Only Takes a Night is marketed as a ‘women behaving badly’ type of movie but it plays out more like a romantic comedy; however, the end twist is a good joke so its easy to let any misdirection in the genre slide. It opens with Ruby (Eliza Taylor) being interrogated in the morning after a night that clearly went badly. Rewind to three months earlier and Ruby is preparing herself for her boyfriend proposing is instead dumped.   2023

Directed by: Callan Durlik

Screenplay by: Callan Durlik

Starring: Eliza Taylor, Arielle Carver O'Neill, Sana'a Shaik, 'Ana Ika, and George Pullar

Puppy Love: Movie Review



Jokes fly as two dogs and their owners fall in love.

Nicole (Lucy Hale) lives her life sloppily. She’s messy, over-sleeps her alarm, works for a house-staging company with rich clients – a job she doesn’t care about; getting drunk and yelling at strangers is easier than meeting somebody she actually likes. Max (Grant Gustin) does not like people; he’s asocial, has panic attacks at the mere thought of going to work and interacting with anybody will often lead to him throwing up.   2023

Directed by: Nick Fabiano, Richard Alan Reid

Screenplay by: Greg Glienna, Peter Stass,
and Kirsten Guenther

Starring: Lucy Hale, Grant Gustin

Friday, August 11, 2023

Match Me If You Can: Movie Review




Cute and sweet rom-com.
Kip (Georgina Reilly) is a nerdy computer programmer who signs up for a dating website during a drunken night of self pity only to receive an email the next day saying she's unmatchable. What follows is a sweet and funny rom-com about an introverted girl thrust into a public spotlight after the company decides to sue her for libel. It's a movie about celebrating the weird and standing up for yourself.   2023

Directed by: Marian Yeager

Screenplay by: Betsy Morris

Starring: Georgina Reilly, Wilson Bethel

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Red, White & Royal Blue: Movie Review




Annoying premise but good relationship saga.
The premise of Red, White & Royal Blue can be very difficult to accept, and it’s hard to see this as anything but a cash grab to try to steal off the recent popularity of the British Royals with King Charles’ coronation and Megan and Prince Harry’s tell-alls. In this version of reality, there’s a King James III who is the grandfather of Prince Philip (a clear parallel to William), Prince Henry (a partial parallel to Harry) and Princess Beatrice.   2023

Directed by: Matthew Lopez

Screenplay by: Matthew Lopez, Ted Malawar
Based on the novel by Casey McQuiston

Starring: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Making Waves: Movie Review



A lightweight romance with bland storylines.

Amelia (Holland Roden) is an over-worked music producer at a record label in Nashville, who would love her job if her boss actually listened to her occasionally. Her boss reluctantly approves a trip to the Outer Banks Music Festival to try and sign a new indie band. This happens to be her hometown, her high school boyfriend and childhood best friend still live there, and of course the ex is secretly the lead singer of Figure 8’s.   2023

Directed by: Terry Ingram

Screenplay by: Kate Schriver, Laura Streicher

Starring: Holland Roden, Corey Cott

Thursday, August 3, 2023

North of Normal: Movie Review




A prudent tale of life finding its way back to normal.
Cea knows her life is far from normal, but she also doesn’t really know what normal is or where to find it. As a young child her single mother opted out of society and raised Cea first in a cult in the wilderness and then with her grandparents in the Yukon. North of Normal starts with young Cea continually confused and frustrated by the weird cult but then abandoned by her mother.   2022

Directed by: Carly Stone

Screenplay by: Alexandra Weir
Based on the memoir by Cea Sunrise Person

Starring: Amanda Fix, Sarah Gadon

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

River Wild: Movie Review




A thriller with the right amount of action, suspense and atmosphere.
Joey (Leighton Meester) goes with her brother, Gray (Taran Killam), on a whitewater rafting and camping trip. Joining them are new friends, Van (Eve Connelly) and Karissa (Olivia Swann), and an old childhood friend Trevor (Adam Brody). Gray is the experienced rafter the others are up for the adventure. It’s just the five of them versus the elements but turns out it’s not going to be that simple.   2023

Directed by: Ben Ketai

Screenplay by: Ben Ketai, Mike Nguyen Le

Starring: Leighton Meester, Taran Killam,  and Adam Brody

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Aloha Heart: Movie Review



Slow, minimal but lovely romance.

Sarah (Taylor Cole) is a workaholic who loves her job as a water conservationist and begrudgingly takes a week off for her best friend’s wedding in Hawaii. More on her later since she’s a much better character than expected based on that opening. Manu (Kanoa Goo) is a newly-promoted hotel manager working for his out-of-touch parents at a beautiful Hawaiian resort, where Sarah and the bride and groom are about to land.   2023

Directed by: Seth Jarrett

Screenplay by: Nicole Baxter

Starring: Taylor Cole, Kanoa Goo

Friday, July 28, 2023

Sons of Summer: Movie Review



A group of four men get caught up in a drug deal gone bad. Now it’s 30 years later and their four sons bonded by surfing and their fathers and decide it’s also time to get caught up in a drug deal gone bad. It’s now 30 years after the release of Point Break and Australia decided it needed to make its own Point Break, just cheaper and significantly worse.   2023

Directed by: Clive Fleury

Screenplay by: Phillip Avalon, Greg Clayton

Starring: Joe Davidson, Isabel Lucas

The Slumber Party: Movie Review



Disney’s The Slumber Party is The Hangover except change to teen girls, minus the drugs, and swap out the general R-rated raunchiness for PG misadventures. It manages to still be fun and perfectly tailored to its audience. This is a wholesome, progressive teen girl adventure comedy that focuses on fun. The overall themes about friendship and family are kept to a minimum. The girls just get to have fun instead of delivering virtuous messages.   2023

Directed by: Veronica Rodriguez

Screenplay by: Eydie Faye, Jen Malone

Starring: Darby Camp, Emmy Liu-Wang and Alex Coopher Cohen

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

See You on Venus: Movie Review




A light-weight tragi-comedy fizzles out into a confused romantic drama.
A girl with a secret makes a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Spain. She also manages to convince an almost stranger recovering from a tragedy to join her. Mia (Virginia Gardner) can steal hearts from the beginning; she’s a kind-hearted, street-smart girl who loves photography and grew up in the foster system. It’s clear she’s seen things in her past but has found a way to continually embrace positivity.   2023

Directed by: Joaquin Llamas

Screenplay by: Victoria Vinuesa

Starring: Virginia Gardner, Alex Aiono

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Happiness for Beginners: Movie Review




A light-weight romantic dramedy with a lovely tranquil and serene atmosphere.
Happiness for Beginners gets off on the right foot. Ellie Kemper’s Helen is funny and Luke Grimes’ Jake is sweet. Helen is a little miss perfectionist, plans things to the detail and expects everyone else to just follow her lead. That type of character can get annoying but Kemper provides her with enough humanity that audiences are most likely to be sympathetic to her rather than frustrated by her.   2023

Directed by: Vicky Wight

Screenplay by: Vicky Wight, Katherine Center

Starring: Ellie Kemper, Luke Grimes

Friday, July 21, 2023

Oppenheimer: Movie Review




Complexity of a tortured genius.
Oppenheimer tells a complicated portrait of a complicated by man by weaving in the science, the politics, and his fame. The first act is primarily Robert Oppenheimer as the physicist – an impulsive and smart young man, who studied in Europe and learned the languages and cultures around him. It also starts introducing the political trials that will surround him in later years.   2023

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Screenplay by: Christopher Nolan, Kai Bird, Martin Sherwin

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr.

Barbie: Movie Review




A funny and smart synopsis of Barbie in the real world vs Barbieland.
Barbie is book-ended with a history of Barbie and Mattel. Within the opening minute it gives a concise breakdown of why Barbie exists and why it become so popular: because Barbie represented a world of possibilities, girls could play pretend as anything they wanted, they were no longer confined to playing house. Over in Barbieland, all the Barbies are living their best life. Their best plastic life.   2023

Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Screenplay by: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling

Thursday, July 20, 2023

What's My Name Again?: Movie Review



What’s My Name Again? Is about Bo Baxter (Ryan Winn) except he soon finds out that Baxter isn’t really his last name. His birth father Robert Olaffson has been mostly out of the picture since he was born, his first step-father Scott Baxter was supposed to adopt him (and as far as everyone knows, he did adopt him) except his mother never filed the adoption papers, so his name isn’t really his name.   2023

Directed by: Spencer Zender

Screenplay by: Spencer Zender

Starring: Ryan Winn, Allison Byrnes, Nick Schultz, and Talia Mychael Blaney

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Summer at Charlotte's: Movie Review



Very predictable, laid-back romance.

Summer at Charlotte’s is literally big city girl goes to her small hometown and rediscovers what she wants in life while falling back in love with her childhood sweetheart. As every good romance cinephile knows, that is the plot description of most Hallmark movies. The main problem with Summer at Charlotte’s is the genericness of it. So few specifics are given to the character or her life that the movie has no identity.   2023

Directed by: Avi Federgreen

Screenplay by: Kaisha Bicknell, Style Dayne

Starring: Lucy Hill, Patch May

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Time's Up: Movie Review



It’s New Year’s Eve in a cold, small town. A high school student has recently committed suicide; the teachers are having a party. Some of them, namely Jacqui (Hannah Fierman), are very concerned about how it happened, how it could have been prevented, and what role they each played in that student’s life to make him end it. The rest of the teachers don’t care, they repeat the platitudes like “nobody could have seen this coming” and “he’s in a better place now”.   2022

Directed by: L.C. Holt

Screenplay by: L.C. Holt

Starring: Damian Maffei, Hannah Fierman

Friday, July 14, 2023

Fourth Grade: Movie Review




A good premise completely wasted.
Enter the pristine halls of a private elementary school for the kids of rich parents. Parents of the fourth grade theater class have been told to meet after school for an emergency meeting. They don’t know why they’ve been summoned, but assume it has to do with casting the school play and they quickly start bickering about whose kid is the most talented. Turns out a brick of weed was found in the classroom.   2021

Directed by: Marcelo Galvão

Screenplay by: Marcelo Galvão

Starring: Teri Polo, Ben Begley

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Gold Brick (AKA: Cash): Movie Review




Some dumb criminals in an entertaining movie.
Gold Brick is a French heist comedy, a tale of capitalism turning into greed. Set in a blue-collar town, Daniel (Raphaël Quenard) has had his share of wealthy families running unscrupulous companies stealing job opportunities from those who just want to work. So Daniel fights back, gets a job with the evil Breuil perfume company, and steals from within   2023

Directed by: Jérémie Rozan

Screenplay by: Jérémie Rozan

Starring: Raphaël Quenard, Antoine Gouy

Sunday, July 2, 2023

The Unseen: Movie Review



The Unseen is an indie horror. This is a difficult movie to get into with a very minimal production budget and effects that (purposely?) mimic 1950s horror stuff; it looks amateur-ish and is probably only meant for the most forgiving horror fans. Presumably the world it presents is supposed to be a normal family in a normal city, and then start the creepy hints that things aren’t right.   2023

Directed by: Vincent Shade

Screenplay by: Jennifer A. Goodman

Starring: RJ Mitte, Kimberly Michelle Vaughn