The directorial debut by Randall Park is today’s entry in the June Swoon 3. It is an unconventional rom-com called Shortcomings.
According to IMDB, “Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.”
This was an interesting film. Usually, I have problems when the protagonist is such an unlikable character, and Ben (Justin H. Min) is absolutely in that category. He is opinionated, mouthy, rude and arrogant. It seems like every scene he is in, all I want to do is yell at him to shut up. Yet, there was something about Ben that was appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I was cheering actively for him to understand what a jerk he was being, but I was also ready to support him learning from the events of the film and adjusting his behavior.
I have to say, I did like this conclusion to the movie. It felt real and played with all of the conventions of the rom-com.
The movie had some great laughs in in, although nothing that was going to be over the top hilarious. The situations are where the humor came from and they all worked very well. Probably the one moment that stood out was when actor Jacob Batalon joked about loving the Spider-Man movies, considering he played Ned in the MCU Spider-Man movies
Sherry Cola played Alice, Ben’s friend, and she was the standout performance for me in the movie. She had an Awkwafina type vibe about her and she was both funny and an excellent ‘straight-man’ character.
I found this to be very entertaining and a creative way to take the rom-com genre in a new way.
This morning’s June Swoon entry comes from Australia and I found it on Hulu. It was called The Royal Hotel.
According to IMDB, “Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture, but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that rapidly leaps out of their control.“
Now, that is what the synopsis on IMDB says, but that is not what this movie is like. It is listed as a psychological thriller, but there is nothing psychological about it and very little thriller.
It takes way too long for anything to happen. We spend way too much time with the drunken reprobates in the bar without any sort of character development.
The ending sequence was just nonsensical and does not wrap anything up outside of the basic result.
This was very boring for most of the film and anything that it tried at the end did not work at all. I was very disappointed with this one.
A new film featuring a character with Autism was at Cinemark this weekend, and I had heard some positive word of mouth about the film, so with a light weekend of new movies, I decided to give it a shot.
According to IMDB, “Tony Goldwyn’s EZRA follows Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (Robert De Niro), while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (introducing William Fitzgerald) with his ex-wife, Jenna (Rose Byrne). When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.“
Bobby Cannavale is the definitive stand out in this film as the deeply troubled father who still loves his son, Ezra. Cannavale was given a really meaty role with plenty of deep seeded troubles and he does an exceptional job. Much of it is the chemistry between Cannavale and William Fitzgerald, who is the young actor they found to play Ezra. Fitzgerald is very good in this role too. Director Tony Goldwyn held a nationwide search for a child actor with Autism, providing as realistic of a performance as possible.
Robert DeNiro gives a strong supporting performance as Cannavale’s father. There are some story in the film for DeNiro and Cannavale to play and, while it does not dominate the film, it adds a nice flavor to Ezra.
There are some parts of the story that stretch believability and I will say that the ending felt too emotionally manipulative, but I thought most of the story was well done.
This film was promoted, seemingly, as a prequel to the original The Strangers, which was a surprise classic. However, it does not feel like a prequel when you watch it. Worse yet, this feels like a terrible movie.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 takes all the worst parts of the horror/thriller movie genre and highlights them through a ninety minute film that felt considerably longer.
The worst parts of horror? Jump scares. There are plenty. Characters being stupid? Check. I do not know how many times one of the Strangers appeared directly behind the character, particularly Maya (Madelaine Petsch), and was not seen, and was gone when she turned back. That is a scene that is overused in horror films and had to have happened in this movie ten times at least.
There were several times that I had to laugh out loud at what was happening in the movie, and it was not a scene that was intended to be a laugh moment.
I honestly would say that there was not one moment in the film that was an original idea. I think every last bit was from films that were much better. Now I understand that there have been a lot of horror films and it might be getting difficult to find things that have not been done before. So I would guess that you should just write something clever or create some suspense instead of just relying on the tropes.
The following may be considered a spoiler….
By the way, the ending of the film was quite a cop out. TO BE CONTINUED? I mean, really? My guess is, after watching this thing, we won’t have to worry about a Chapter 2.
End of Spoiler
So far this year, there are four films that are in contention for the worst film of the year and I am not sure which one will take that ‘crown.’ The Strangers: Chapter 1 is not at that level, but it is not too far off either.
I love the Ghostbusters movie from 1984, and no Ghostbusters movie since has come anywhere close. That does not mean that every film since has been garbage. I had heard that the new film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was not very good. It lowered my expectations for the movie. I think that helped.
According to IMBD, “The Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.”
I did think the story was decent. I liked the idea of the villain and the powers made it very cinematic. There are some great moments with the cast, in particular McKenna Grace, who once again had the biggest arc among the new characters. Paul Rudd was playing Gary in the best Paul Rudd manner. Carrie Coon did not have much to do. Finn Wolfhard was a nice addition for comedic purposes.
However, there was way too many in the cast. There are too many characters who were just here because they were in the last movie, and they added several new characters who are performed by great actors. I do not think that any of the new characters were needed additions. I love both Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt, but they felt forced into the story.
And I hate to say it, but of the original Ghostbusters, Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz was the most important. Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson were there for no major reason and Annie Potts was just collecting a paycheck. It is nothing against any of these actors, because they are all great, but there was just not enough in the script for this many people to do.
Making William Atherton’s Peck the new Mayor of New York though is a stroke of genius. He is a perfect antagonist for the Ghostbusters and it makes sense why he hates them.
The special effects are great. They use them in the proper times and it does not seem to be overused.
However, the finale of the film was a touch underwhelming for me because of which characters were central in the battle, and I saw it coming a mile away.
I enjoyed the film for the most part, but it did feel as if there were just too much stuffed into the two hour run time, making the movie feel cramped. Very few of the new characters are developed. There were a couple that I did not even mention. Still, as a fan of Ghostbusters, this was a good time at the movies. It could have been considerably better.
This was the second film I saw today that I disagreed with the Rotten Tomatoes score. Arthur the King, the new dog movie starring Mark Wahlberg, had a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I did not find it as enjoyable as that.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Over the course of ten days and 435 miles, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur. Based on an incredible true story, ARTHUR THE KING follows Light, desperate for one last chance to win, as he convinces a sponsor to back him and a team of athletes (Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ali Suliman) for the Adventure Racing World Championship in the Dominican Republic. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of endurance in the race, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty and friendship truly mean.“
I really felt as if this film was pushing the boundaries of emotion manipulation with the times it put the dog in jeopardy, and the fact that this dog somehow followed this group of people across some brutal environments because Michael gave him some meatballs was just too much to believe. Yes, it is a true story, but I find it difficult to swallow.
There were some dramatic moments in the film, including one stunt with bicycles and a wire that was harrowing. The landscape was beautiful and was shot very well.
I never doubted what was going to happen in the movie. It was very predictable, which is not always a bad thing. Here, it just felt so manipulative that I rolled my eyes more than I should have.
I do love Simu Liu, but his character was really inconsistent throughout the film and it does not do an adequate job of explaining why he is as he is. Some of his scenes are in direct opposition to moments earlier in the film and even Simu’s great charisma could not help these moments.
A major problem I had was not necessarily the direct problem of the movie, but they showed WAY too much in the trailers, including several scenes from the very end of the movie. Any real tension there may have been in the scene was robbed because I knew there were scenes we saw in the trailer that had not yet happened in the movie. Scenes including the end of the race and subsequent after effects. Some films are hurt by their trailers, and, in my opinion, this is one of them.
I think a lot of people will love this movie, but I am not one of them. It was a basic story that we have seen dozens of times with a dog and a manipulative story. Still, it was not an offensive film and families should like it.
Today’s Genre-ary DailyView film is 2007’s Once, an Irish musical/drama that is about as charming and sincere of a movie that you are going to find.
According to IMDB, “An unnamed guy (Glen Hansard) is a Dublin guitarist/singer/songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad’s Hoover repair shop by day, and singing and playing for money on the Dublin streets by night. An unnamed girl (Markéta Irglová) is a Czech who plays piano when she gets a chance, and does odd jobs by day and takes care of her Mom and her daughter by night. Guy meets girl and they get to know each other as the girl helps the guy put together a demo disc that he can take to London in hope of landing a music contract. During the same several day period, the guy and the girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs.”
This was a beautiful film. Simple and well-told, Once had an amazing group of songs performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are wonderful together. Hansard is a more experienced actor than Irglová, but she was every bit as excellent as he was.
The music was a major star of this film. A more modern musical, part of the movie was the creation and recording of these songs but our characters. I found those moments the most intriguing. The relationship in the film between guy and girl was different and surprising.
Written and directed by John Carney, Once is real, gritty and warm. Thoroughly entertaining, Once is a low-budget success that is exceptional to watch.
It’s late in the day and I needed a film for the Genre-ary DailyView. The scheduled film for the day was Earth Girls are Easy.
According to IMDB, “Three furry (and funny) aliens travel around the universe in a spaceship and receive a broadcast showing human females. They are fascinated by these shapely creatures and discover that the broadcast came from Southern California on Earth. Meanwhile, Valley girl Valerie Gail feels her cold fiancé Dr. Ted Gallagher is slipping away and decides to seduce him. Instead, she catches him cheating on her with a nurse, throws him out, smashes his things and refuses to see him again. The aliens’ spaceship crash lands in Valerie’s swimming pool – putting a decided damper on her future wedding plans in Las Vegas. She brings them into her home; and the aliens prove to be quick learners and absorb American popular culture and language through television“
The movie had a surprisingly great cast including Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, Michael McKeon, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Charles Rocket, Larry Linville, Rick Overton, and Julie Brown.
Julie Brown was introduced to me from the Dr. Demento Show with her classically inappropriate song, “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun.” Brown co-wrote this movie and performed several of the songs, the title track “Earth Girls are Easy,” “I Like ’em Big and Stupid,” and “Cause I’m A Blonde.”
This film is really simple and pretty stupid. It has some funny moments, but it is so crazy that it has a hard time keeping a consistent tone.
This is harmless, but just really dumb. Jeff Goldblum is always great. Jim Carrey was great here. Otherwise, it is a basic B movie with some funny songs.
I watched Ray, the biopic of Ray Charles, starring Jamie Foxx, which lead to Foxx winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. However, it absolutely falls into the category that I spoke about at the beginning of the Genre-ary DailyView. It is not a musical.
It did have musical listed on the summary for the movie, but it is one of those movies that has music in it, is even about music, but is not a musical. I did say at the beginning of this month that I might not follow that rule as I was going through it and so I have broken it.
According to IMDB, “The story of Ray Charles (played by Jamie Foxx), music legend. Told in his adult life with flashbacks to his youth we see his humble origins in Florida, his turbulent childhood, which included losing his brother and then his sight, his rise as pianist in a touring band, him writing his own songs and running his own band, and then stardom. Also includes his addiction to drugs and its affect on his working life and family life.“
Jamie Foxx is sensational as the legendary performer. He seemingly brought back to life the larger than life character of Ray Charles Robinson, better known to the world as just Ray Charles.
The biopic sections of this movie are the best parts. Watching Foxx develop Ray through his relationships, his struggle to find the right sound, his drug habit and other problems was the standout of this film.
The music was used well, but I could have used more of it. It seemed to only give a flavor of the songs in the film. Again, another reason why I would not consider this a musical, necessarily.
I thought the weakest part of the movie were the daydreams/delusions that Ray would have flashing back to the traumatic event of his brother’s death. The appearance of water in his suitcase or on the floor were too cartoony for what the movie was trying to go for. This felt way too artsy for the story. The straight up flashbacks were considerably more powerful and more effective than that.
I do appreciate that the film did not shy away from some of the negative aspects of his life. Many of these types of musical biopics leave out major issues in favor of a more positive spin. We see Ray Charles and his drug addiction, which led to his arrest, and his extra-marital affairs, one which even gave him a son.
Along with Jamie Foxx, the strong cast included Regina King, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Sharon Warren, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard, Wendell Pierce, Bokeem Woodbine, and even Moonlighting’s Herbert Viola, Curtis Armstrong, himself. I was able to get past my dislike of that actor because of his Moonlighting role. Being fair, he did a solid job here.
This was a movie with a lot of good and some areas where I would have liked something different. Jamie Foxx is tremendous as are the rest of the cast (shout out to Kerry Washington for her role as Charles’s wife, Bee). Ray is a touch long and, not really a musical, but it is a solid film overall.
I.S.S. stands for the International Space Station, and this is a science fiction movie set aboard the Space Station. It was a cooperative venture between the United States and Russia.
Everything seemed to be going well until something happened on the earth. They could see the explosions from the space station. Then the Americans received a message from earth to take control of the I.S.S. using whatever means necessary.
I found most of the first hour fairly dull. I did not think most of these characters were developed and I did not have any connection to any of these people.
Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr, Maria Mashkova, Costa Ronin and Pilou Asbæk are the actors in the film and they are all fine, though not great in any stretch of imagination.
The effects of the film were pretty decent. The scenes of the explosions on earth were the coolest part. The use of the floating/lack of gravity was a cool effect too.
Other than that, I did not like much about this film.
Well, it is January. That usually means that we are up for some terrible movies that the studios want to dump. Those January horror movies are typically some of the worst of the year. However, last year, January brought us some actually really great movies including M3GAN, Plane and Missing. Perhaps the month will be turning over a new leaf.
Nice thought, but nope, not with this movie.
Night Swim is a bad horror movie that had too many laughs, unintentional of course, and suffered from some of the worst writing that you’ll see.
A family moves into a new house. Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) was a baseball player who was diagnosed with MS so he and his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) and their two kids Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren) look to start over. One of the house’s biggest selling points was the swimming pool. Unfortunately, they did not know the tragedies surrounding the pool and the fact that it was haunted.
Yes, the pool was haunted. We don’t really know why or how. It was just there. And the actors had to do so many stupid things to keep the drama going. I don’t know how many times I just said, “Get out of the pool” during the film. It would have been over.
I will give credit to the four main actors. I think they did the best they could with this stinker. Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon are both talented actors, and both kids were good. Amélie Hoeferle especially had a quality about her. It was just that the script was so dumb it did not give these actors much chance to make the material better.
The problem is that this movie was based on a live short from 2014 and it did not seem as if there was enough of a concept here to stretch it out to a 90-minute movie.
Sadly, 2024 does not start off with a splash. More of a drip.
It is that time. The Year in Review has come down to the final two lists. The big two. The Best and the Worst list movies this year.
I know that there are people out there who do not believe in “Worst” lists because of negativity or because of punching down, and I don’t disagree. I just believe that I have the right to state an opinion, and I can do it respectfully, without just making it a hate fest.
Honestly, this year I only have a Top 20 list of Worst Movies (which perhaps it should be listed as my Least Favorite Movies instead) and there was not as much vitriol for a lot of these as some past years. In fact, numbers 7-20 are all not actively horrible. They are just not very good movies.
Final point once again is that the star ratings that I give throughout the year do not factor into the final decisions on movies. Movies can change over time so just because a film gets 1 star doesn’t necessarily mean that it will get a higher spot on the list than a film that got 1.5 stars. Remember, it is all subjective.
And, as I have said before, this is my list. If there is a film on here that you love, I would say good for you. These are my thoughts and opinions. It is not an attack at anyone who may have loved the film. You are welcome to love any film you want.
Okay… here we go…
#20. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. I put this at #20 as a final placement, but I did have it higher at first. I kept thinking, would I rather watch this again or some of the others, and I would choose Aquaman over other movies on this list, so there is that.
#19. It Lives Inside. A horror movie that was pretty boring. This is one of those horror movies that shows us too much of the monster. Imagination can more more scary if you let it.
#18. About My Father. A comedic love story with characters that I just did not like or want to cheer for and one that lacked laughs.
#17. Next Goal Wins. One of the biggest disappointments of the year. I usually love Taika Waititi’s movies, but this one just missed the mark in so many ways.
#16. Ghosted. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas together should be a winner, yes? You would think so, but this movie does not live up to their charisma.
#15. Insidious: The Red Room. A fifth installment in a franchise that felt as if it should have closed the door on several films ago. A waste of Lin Shaye.
#14. The Baker. Despite charismatic lead characters, this film was nothing more than a cliché-ridden revenge film. Nothing new and very repetitive.
#13. Fast X. Stupid action film with lackluster dialogue and a story that truly does not go anywhere. Jason Momoa is the only saving grace and that is just because he was so over-the-top that he brought an energy the film was missing.
#12. Strays. Another unfunny comedy featuring several dogs trying to find their way back to one of their homes so he could bite the dick off his owner who had deserted him. A movie with a lot of mean-spirited scenes.
#11. Marlowe. A dull and plodding film that may have had a strong cast, but they did not seem to want to be involved in the movie at all.
#10. Family Switch. Merry Christmas to you, though not too merry if you had to watch this Freaky Friday rip off. Another comedy without much comedy.
#9. The Nun II. Nonsensical. Maybe better than the original film, but that is not saying much. First half of this film was boring and even a better ending could not save it.
#8. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Once & Again. It’s Morphin’ Time! What a lackluster return of the original, surviving Power Rangers. What could have been filled with nostalgia and emotion was lacking all of that. Definitely a disappointment.
#7. Paint. I was sure this was a biopic of Bob Ross. Oh, how I was wrong. There was not even a slight connection to the painter outside of Owen Wilson’s ridiculous hairdo.
#6. Retribution. We are starting to get into the really bad films now. Liam Neeson in a car with a bomb. Of course, the real bomb was in the theater with all of us. Stupid film with the most predictable ending imaginable.
#5. Rebel Moon. Zack Snyder’s most recent visit to this list with his sci-fi epic that was not very epic. Even some of the CGI was lacking, which was uncommon for a Snyder film. He claims that a 4-hour director’s cut which will come out someday makes this a whole different story. Why am I watching this then?
#4. R.L. Stein’s Zombietown. This film had Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase in it. Let that sink in a minute. This was a stupid movie that was intended to target younger viewers and introduce them to horror. There are much better ways to do it than this mess.
#3. Meg 2. Not a good sign when I found myself laughing at the movie in scenes that were not intended to be funny. And honestly, in a movie titled Meg 2, there sure wasn’t much with the shark in it. I guess we got to spend enough time with these plastic characters.
#2. Expen4bles. Why? What was the purpose of this film? It was a terrible film with little enjoyment as possible. Gee, you mean Stallone is not dead? Duh.
If you do not know my number one, you have not been paying attention…
#1. Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey. Where to start with this? It is the worst movie I have seen in quite awhile and it solidified this position as soon as I watched it. Sadly, I fell asleep during the film so I had to go back and watch the pieces I slept through again. Punishment? This was dumb. It was laughable. I hated it.
Special mention: Beau is Afraid is the only movie I have ever given a N/A star rating because I just could not wrap my mind around it.
In honor of the upcoming Genre-ary DailyView starting on New Year’s Day 2024, I added a New Year in Review category: Movie Musicals.
I have always enjoyed a good musical, and there feels as if the genre has taken a turn back up over the last few years so this seems to be a good time to introduce this new award.
What is a musical? Well, I find this to be a little iffy of a definition that maybe everyone would not agree with, and that is okay. This is my site. To me, there is a difference between a movie that is a musical and a movie that features music. To me, a musical should have songs that just happen during scenes. This is Spinal Tap has a lot of music, but I do not consider that a musical. It is a movie with music.
Having said that, a film like This is Spinal Tap could conceivably get this award, but I would consider any of the ‘pure’ musicals first. It is possible that there may be some years where there are no great musicals and I have to acquiesce to a movie with music instead. There are some examples below…
As a celebration of the musical genre, I have retrofitted the last ten years with honorary award winners (much like I did for the Christopher Reeve Comic Book Movie Award). These retro musical award winners are here:
Movie Musicals
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Whiplash (2014), Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), La La Land (2016), The Greatest Showman (2017), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Rocketman (2019), Hamilton (2020), Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021), Matilda the Musical (2022)
To be fair, a few of these retro-winners would not necessarily fall into the “Movie Musical” category such as Whiplash, Inside Llewyn Davis and Pitch Perfect 2, but there were no standout musicals in those years that I could fine. Then, Mary Poppins Returns probably was selected because it was a more traditional musical over some much better Movies with music from that year.
Anyway, for 2023:
Runners-Up: I had intended on giving this award to Wonka, but it got dethroned. It was a lot of surprising fun. Disney has a couple of entries here with Wish and The Little Mermaid, both solid musicals. Trolls back Together falls into the category and Leo was one I just watched and was surprised how much I enjoyed the music in that.
And that brings us to the winner, a film I saw TODAY…
Winner: The Color Purple
I loved this movie. It was so well done, with amazing acting across the board and some vey engaging music that had me bobbing my head and tapping my foot throughout. It came up to the final moment of my movie viewing for 2023 and ran away with this new award.
Previous Winners: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Scientology Movie, Tickled, Finding Neverland, Tiger King, The Beatles: Get Back, Lights & Magic
I have not actually seen a lot of documentaries this year. I usually enjoy seeing documentaries, and there is no real reason why I have not seen very many.
So here are my top four…
#4. Stan Lee. This Disney + film was a nice doc about Stan the Man. Almost too much of a puff piece, but enjoyable for fans of the icon. Best part was a radio confrontation between Stan and Jack Kirby. Wanted more like that.
#3. Taylor Swift: The ERAs Tour. Not really a documentary, but a lot of fun. I have never considered myself a Swiftie, but I enjoyed the concert film.
#2. American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes. This Peacock special was really well done. The WWE always puts together the best docs about their wrestlers. This story of Cody Rhodes’ journey was compelling and gave us some true insight on the American Nightmare.
#1. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. An Apple TV + film that brought us into the story of Michael J. Fox and his struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, and how his life was affected from it. Michael J. Fox was interviewed extensively for the doc.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 