Make Me Believe: Movie Review

Sen Inandir the Turkish rom-com that translates to Make Me Believe is surprisingly sweet and funny as it successfully balances the core pillars of a romantic comedy. While it does have the enemies to friends to lovers trope, it also has meddling grannies. Grandmothers tend to know who their grandkids are meant to be with and that holds true here as the two grannies make the most of the limited screen-time reuniting old bickering frenemies and then lets love take over.		2023 Directed by: Evren Karabiyik Günaydin, and Murat Saraçoglu Screenplay by: Selen Bagci Starring: Ayça Aysin Turan, Ekin Koç

Maximum Truth: Movie Review

A funny premise that wears thin quickly.

Maximum Truth is a political satire, but even that phrase makes it sound wittier than it is. The lead character, Rick Klingman (Ike Barinholtz) is a right-wing grafter. His primary purpose in life is to become rich and/or famous by taking down those he disagrees with politically. This is a character born out of social media, and the entire movie is him chasing clout and “exposing truth” also known as “making shit up”. If it sounds like a thin premise, that’s because it is.		2023 Directed by: David Stassen Screenplay by: Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen Starring: Ike Barinholtz, Dylan O'Brien

An Unforgettable Year: Ranking and Comparison

 The stand-alone four film series about teen romance based on the Brazilian book series. As each film is its own story, you can watch one of them or all of them and in any order. 

Ranking

1. Autumn - A little more mature, and the nice music really elevates it into an enjoyable watch.
2. Summer - The most mainstream entry of the series, a very easy watch.
3. Winter - Goes for a more ethereal style, with less comedy and more tragedy.
4. Spring - Poorest written of the series. Protagonist is devoid of logic which hampers the comedy and romance.

All of the movies are well produced and well cast, but Autumn is a clear step up. Autumn is also the only one with a protagonist not in the creative arts; she's a law student, whereas Winter features a writer, Summer a fashion designer and Spring an artist. In Autumn, the film better balances a serious protagonist with music all around her.

Natural Order (Chronological with a natural progression)

1. Winter - Mabel is on winter break during her senior year and meets a week-long romantic fling.
2. Spring - Jasmine is finishing senior year and graduating and has a love interest heading in a different direction.
3. Summer - Summer after graduating high school, Inha is applying to fashion school for college but meets a love interest that makes her re-think her future.
4. Autumn - Anna is in her first semester of a law program in college and falls in love in a relationship that can actually last.

On paper, that order makes the most sense, but after finishing the entire series, Amazon's order is best from a business and marketing stand-point.

Amazon Prime Release Order

1. Summer - The easiest watch, most middle-of-the-road movie of the series. It's fun, colourful and energetic. The most likely of the four to not turn off potential viewers.
2. Autumn - The best movie of the series. The one with a romance most likely to last. The perfect second movie to build up an audience.
3. Winter - It's a lot slower and more dramatic than Summer and Autumn, and with a more artistic style it'd be a hard movie to use to keep building an audience.
4. Spring - Also a middle-of-the-road movie, but it's not as well written and not nearly as fun as Summer.

In the end, I have to recommend Amazon's order for any one looking to watch the entire series.

Reviews of all four movies:

  An Unforgettable Year: Summer

  An Unforgettable Year: Autumn

  An Unforgettable Year: Winter

  An Unforgettable Year: Spring


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