Rated R for language throughout.
Officer Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is working the night shift at a 9-1-1 operator station. He’s forced to work there after an incident on the field forces him out of his position on the Los Angeles Police Department. As he awaits his day to appear in court, he’s forced to deal with calls coming from many different people, especially as on this day, an out of control forest fire rages across the outskirts of the city. Then, he receives a call from a woman named Emily Lighton (Riley Keough). At first, it seems like she’s just mistakenly dialed the number when she tried to call her daughter. However, Joe soon realizes that she’s just trying to cover up the fact that she has been abducted. Now, he’s determined to find where she is and rescue her. But the more he starts to dig into the mystery, the more twisted the story really becomes. The Guilty is an American remake of a Danish film of the same name. The premise behind the film is that the entirety of the story is set in the 9-1-1 operator station, while everything else is only told through the dialogue between Joe and the various people he calls. It’s designed so that the audience is forced to imagine what’s happening on the other side of the line. This is a story choice that I am a huge fan of. And it’s used to great effect in The Guilty. I always love it when a movie wants me to put the puzzles together, and man does this film really pull that off. It does force you to pay close attention to the dialogue, as pretty much all of the key details to the story are said rather than shown. But thanks to the script by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, the film is able to achieve this tough challenge. He is able to present these necessary details in ways that aren’t too obvious, but also makes them easily accessible to anyone watching the film. He also does a great job writing the suspense. The dialogue between Gyllenhaal and his unseen co-stars feel just as thrilling as any well-done, on-screen action sequence. This is also aided by the direction from Antoine Fuqua. Though the whole film is set in one small location, he uses this to great advantage. He finds ways to make the station feel claustrophobic, adding to the stress of the story. But it’s the performances of his cast that really sell the fear. Gyllenhaal is in fine form in basically a one man show, and the callers all do great jobs expressing themselves through only their voices. Relying on the idea that what your imagination comes up with is scarier than anything put to screen, The Guilty wrings a great amount of tension out of its very stripped down story. Jake Gyllenhaal commands a cast that really sells the fear of the situation. I always love films that take simple approaches to stories like this, especially when they do it well. And boy, this film does it well.
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Rated PG for mild action and rude humor.
For young adult Din (Jimmy Wong), he doesn’t have many goals in his life. He’s been skipping classes in order to make some extra money, much to the dismay of his strict mother (Constance Wu). His one goal at this moment is to reunite with his childhood friend Li Na (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). As kids, the two were inseparable, until her father (Will Yun Lee) moved them away from a better life. Now, Li Na is one of the most recognizable models in China. As she returns to her hometown for her 19th birthday, Din sees an opportunity to start their friendship again. However, he is worried that his poor life won’t be enough to match up to her rich new standards. That is, until he meets an ancient, magical Wish Dragon named Long (John Cho). Though Long appears cynical and pessimistic towards Din, the two will form a true bond that will teach both of them the true meaning of life. In Hollywood’s seemingly insatiable quest for Chinese box office numbers, the industry has been attempting to create films that are set in, and better represent, the country. This has often gone between actually making movies set in China and just straight pandering to them. Within the last two or three years, animation studios have been formed to accomplish just that, and American filmmakers have been taking classic family movie concepts and giving them a new Chinese flare. The latest in this line, Wish Dragon, clearly takes a lot of its story from the 1992 Disney classic Aladdin. This films follows the same basic beats right down to even the smallest details. It’s probably close enough to be considered a rip-off. It’s clear that the filmmakers who want to make more Chinese-oriented films want to stick close to familiar stories before truly trying something new. However, just because the story isn’t all that original, doesn’t mean the film is bad. In fact, quite the opposite. Wish Dragon manages to rise above its clichéd story with a wonderful kids film with a whole lot of heart. Even if much of the film takes from other stories, it mixes the ingredients up enough to feel like so much more than the stories that inspired it. A lot of its strengths come from how director Chris Appelhans tells the story. Yeah, his script does take heavily from the aforementioned Aladdin, and much of the humor he writes isn’t really for adults. But he never takes too long with all of his elements. The movie moves at a great pace that gives us enough time with each element before appropriately moving on to the next one. There’s also the way he writes the characters of the film. Din is a very unique character in a way rarely scene in movies today. There’s something about how relatable he is that makes him a really endearing character. Same can be said for Li Na, and the two have a really well crafted chemistry that gets you totally invested in their relationship as it develops over the course of the film. These characters are brought to life by a great voice cast. John Cho, in particular, does an amazing job in the role of the Wish Dragon Long. He clearly takes a lot of his beats from the Genie of Aladdin, but manages to quickly make Long a different kind of character. A character who’s emotional journey will have you rooting for him even as his earlier acts are definitely out of selfishness. The animation is also one of the film’s biggest strengths. The character designs are more cartoonish than most CG animated films, and that helps to add to the film’s quirky humor. But its really in the production design that the film truly shines. The world around the characters is gorgeous, bursting and glowing with bright colors and rich details that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. It feels like a world you’ll want to enter and explore yourself. Wish Dragon transcends its familiar plot line and becomes its own beautifully animated adventure for the whole family to enjoy. While it does fully embrace these clichés during its opening act, it quickly washes all that away and manages to carve out its own identity. If you’re looking for something to stream on Netflix with the kids, this is one I definitely recommend. Rated TV-MA (Contains Bloody Horror Violence and Language Throughout)
In a small rural town, teenager Mikani (Sydney Park) is trying to escape from her past. Having been sent to live with her grandmother, she is attempting to build a new life for herself following a tragedy she refuses to look back on. She has a loyal group of friends and never really attracts any negative attention towards herself. That is, until something rattles the once quiet peace of the town. One by one, the town’s young teens are getting violently killed by a masked killer who’s disguises all resemble the person he currently targets. Though they seem like random killings, it turns out that all the victims had some kind of dark secret they were keeping from their friends and families. Mikani and her friends must figure out the slasher’s identity before he comes for them next. There appears to be a resurgence in 90s, Scream-style slashers going on right now. First, Netflix produced the Fear Street trilogy, which is loaded to the brim with references to that era of horror, and itself acts like an exaggerated version of those films. Now, we have There’s Someone Inside Your House, which is also produced by Netflix is a very obvious homage to Scream, as well as I Know What You Did Last Summer. Unfortunately, this throwback slasher suffers from the same issues the plague many films inspired by this era. There’s Someone Inside Your House drags down many of its interesting ideas by a plethora of obnoxious, misanthropic teenage characters that immediately make great cases for them to hopefully get hacked to pieces. Literally right from the moment we meet them, their grating characterizations can easily get on your nerves. Honestly, the concept of the movie had a lot of potential. It’s trying to make a statement about how young people hide behind masks among their piers, and how dangerous it can be to keep secrets from those you love. In the age of social media, where everyone feels the need to create a mask based on whatever is trendy at the moment, it seems like the right kind of backdrop for a slasher film. But for a concept like this to work, the characters need to have a shot at redemption. Here, director Patrick Brice and screenwriter Henry Gayden create secrets in the characters that are so objectively bad that there’s no hope in giving the audience the chance to forgive them. With things like beating up kids for being gay or anonymously spreading hate speech, these kids seem better off getting killed no matter what. It ends up seriously undercutting the message by filling a story that should be about redemption and learning to do away with masks with characters that don’t have any redeeming qualities. By the end of the film, it feels like our surviving characters don’t really learn anything. Our protagonist, Mikani, does learn to accept the mistakes that she has made. But the same can’t be said for her friends, who really don’t learn anything at all. There’s also just not a lot of effort put into the final reveal of the killer’s identity. With the idea that the killer always wears a different mask, one that resembles which teen he’s going after, had the potential to lead into something supernatural. But, sadly the film never goes in this direction, and the final reveal just feels like a shrug from the filmmakers. It didn’t feel all that shocking based on all the clues that were given to us. It just felt like whatever. There’s Someone Inside Your House has a potentially profound message, but like most horror films made for teenagers, it does away any attempt at profundity in favor of stylized gore and obnoxious characters. It’s hard to get invested in any of the characters’ plights when they always seem like they deserve a knife to their throats. This era of embracing the cynical, self-aware, and misanthropic side of the slasher genre is starting to become a real nuisance in the horror world. Rated TV-MA (Contains Language and Some Violence)
Six years before his adventure inside the zombie-populated Las Vegas, Ludwig Dieter, also known as Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert (Matthias Schweighöfer), was a nobody who worked as a bank teller in Germany. The early stages of the zombie outbreak dominate all news networks, giving him and everyone around him the fear that the world is starting to come to an end. Aside from his mundane life, Sebastian is also a skilled, self-taught safecracker who is obsessed with locksmith Hans Wagner. Wagner was rumored to have designed three safes that are almost impossible to break into, but the exact locations of these safes only exist in whispers. That is, until he runs into an international jewel thief named Gwen (Nathalie Emmanuel). Gwen has tracked down the exact locations of the three safes, and has been watching Sebastian’s safecracking skills. She believes he is the one to crack them, and wants him to join her band of misfits on an international journey to each one of them before they are taken and decommissioned. Though reluctant to take on a life of crime, Sebastian decides that this is the excitement he’s been searching for. This prequel to Army of the Dead has a very different flavor from the first film. That’s probably because Zack Snyder was only a producer. This time around, along with starring in the film, Schweighöfer also directs the film. Right from the beginning, we can see that this is an entirely different beast from Snyder’s more zombie-oriented heist film. And the result is a much more entertaining piece of heist media. Army of Thieves feels like a much more developed film than the movie that it eventually leads into. It has little to do with the story of the first film, focusing on its own story rather than spending time further developing the zombie mythology introduced in Army of the Dead. For fans of the first film, this probably is going to be a disappointment. But for someone like me, who wasn’t the biggest fan of what that movie had to say, it’s nice that this one gets to stand on its own. Personally, I find this story about expert safecrackers way more interesting than one about evolved alpha zombies taking over the world. In fact, there’s enough story introduced in this film alone to build out its own franchise. And it feels like it would be far more entertaining than the direction the zombie franchise is set to go as of now. It helps that Sebastian is a unique and fun character to watch. Honestly, this series would be a lot better if it would focus on his journey from ordinary bank teller to world famous safecracker, traveling the world and breaking into the toughest safes there are. He’s a far more interesting character than any of the zombie slayers from the first film, and it’s kind of depressing that this isn’t the direction the series is going. In fact, there are many moments in this film that kind of render moments of Army of the Dead pointless. There are obvious tie-ins to elements of the first film, but they feel like they have more impact in this film than how they played out in Army of the Dead. When going back and remembering when these moments showed up in the first film, they end up feeling a lot more underwhelming than they are designed to be. It’s honestly kind of difficult to figure out what Zack Snyder wants this franchise to be. Clearly, he wants to branch out the zombie mythos introduced in the first film. But there’s so much passion put into the heisting part of these films, and loads of story in this one that feels like it won’t matter in future installments. Are all these films just going to be heist films set during the zombie apocalypse, or will the heist element be retired entirely? It just seems weird that he would put this much detail into one element and not follow up on it. Regardless, Schweighöfer does a better job making a heist film than Snyder. Even if this film is about as clichéd as it can get, the characters and action sequences are better constructed. The central cast is quirky and unique, and I would rather spend time with them. He does a good job balancing the action and comedy moments, and makes his own adventure more worth getting invested in. Army of Thieves is an energetic and entertaining prequel that far surpasses the film that led to its existence in the first place. Schweighöfer is a much more skilled filmmaker than Snyder, more focused on creating characters we can care about as well as filling the frame with exciting action and visuals, rather than one or the other. It’s disappointing that this doesn’t appear to be the direction the Army of the Dead franchise is going, but I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, some sexual content and brief nudity/graphic nudity.
Following an accident with a military convoy, a zombie is released into the city of Las Vegas and causes an undead outbreak. The military attempts to intervene and take control of the city back from the vicious flesh eaters. But they are unable to, and as a last resort, the city is walled off from the rest of the world. The zombified population is left to themselves in the city, and the world is relieved to have the threat neutralized. Six years later, Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), who saved hundreds of lives during the initial outbreak, is approached by casino owner Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) with a proposition. He wants Ward to use his skills to enter Las Vegas and steal two hundred million dollars from a safe underneath his casino. Since his life has gone downhill since his service, Ward reluctantly agrees to the job. So, he assembles a team to pull off the heist. He reunites many of the people who fought by his side during the outbreak, as well as a host of new faces with the skills they need. But as they enter into the ruins of Vegas, they discover that the zombies have evolved over the years. They’re a more formidable enemy than they anticipated, and it will take all they’re skills to make it out of the city alive. Army of the Dead has been toted as being director Zack Snyder’s return to the horror genre after directing so many large-scaled superhero movies. This is also his first go around as a cinematographer, which is certainly a new challenge for him. It’s clear that Netflix gave him full creative control with this film, confident that his passionate fanbase will be enough to launch a franchise out of this film. So, your tolerance for this film will depend on your tolerance for Zack Snyder’s personal style. Based on the movies of his that I’ve seen, he has a particular style that works towards creating great action sequences and visual spectacles. His movies are certainly epic in scope, no matter what the concept is. However, when it comes to story and characters, he always leaves much to be desired. He’s one of those filmmakers who cares way more about how the film looks over anything under the surface. And that is no difference here. To really sum it all up, Army of the Dead shows that, with no one trying to reel him in, Snyder’s style is so incredibly absurd that its hard to even keep up with, let alone care about anything happening on screen. It’s definitely clear that he has no place being a cinematographer. His camera work is very bad. He makes use of lots of blurry images, to the point where its hard to tell if this was a deliberate choice. If it isn’t, then it’s just a sign that he has no place filling this role. But if it is, then we’re left confused as to why he would do something like this. Much like all his other films, the characters are nothing more than underdeveloped stereotypes. The members of the heist team act more like soulless figures that Snyder moves around a board. There are no layers to them, only embodying one basic trait. And any attempts to add development to them are only the most basic of backstory elements. He really just doesn’t know how to write actual human beings. And its these clichéd elements that also end up dragging the film down in terms of its runtime. At a massive 148 minutes, much of that time is spent trying to make us care about the characters and getting caught up in his slo-mo style of action. There isn’t much for us to latch onto, and when many of these moments come right before their violent deaths, we’re again left confused as to what the heck Snyder was thinking. Really, there are just so many things about the story in general that don’t make any sense at all. There are numerous subplots and little elements thrown in without any explanation and with no resolution. Obviously, the intent is to expand on these elements in further sequels. The problem is that there’s so little left once the dust clears that there’s no real reason for us to stay invested in any further installments. Army of the Dead takes everything that makes up Zack Snyder’s directorial style and blows them up to an almost absurd degree. Without anyone telling him what he can and can’t put into his movie, this movie feels like the perfect example of what kind of movie he’s capable of making. Though he has mastered how to craft great action and visuals, his story doesn’t have enough under the surface for us to really care about what’s going on in the first place. Rated R for bloody horror violence, sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language throughout.
In an attempt to solve the mystery of Sarah Fier, Deena and her brother Josh go to see the only survivor of the witch’s last rampage, C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs). She prepares to tell them the story of when she and her sister confronted the witch and may have uncovered the key to putting an end to her reign of terror. Back in 1978, sisters Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and Cindy (Emily Rudd) are attending Camp Nightwing, host to kids from both Shadyside and Sunnyvale. Cindy is a goodie two-shoes hoping to use the camp as experience for college, while Ziggy is completely consumed by her “me against the world” personality. When a member of the camp counselors becomes a violent killer from the witch’s influence, they’ll have to do everything they can to save the kids from getting slaughtered. The second installment in the Fear Street trilogy, this film takes inspiration from the slasher films of the 70s and 80s. Specifically, much of its identity comes from the Friday the 13th franchise. After the bland beginning set by its predecessor, my expectations for this one weren’t that high, especially with the same creative team behind it. Fortunately, Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 manages to improve on its predecessor in many different ways. It’s probably the most consistent entry in the series, as it has a more focused story and less characters this time around. And while many of the main characters still have that 90s rebellious attitude, they aren’t as obnoxious this time and around. It’s really the performances of the new cast that make the characters more charming. Unlike the cast of the previous film, this new batch actually take the effort to make their characters feel like real people rather than one-dimensional stereotypes. In particular, Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd do the best job. They have a good chemistry between them that make them feel like real siblings. The film also benefits from it’s simpler story from the first. This film feels less hung up on the trilogy’s overarching story, mostly standing on its own with only a few slight connections to the other films. Here, we focus only on the characters unique to this film only. Not everything about it holds up logically, especially down towards the end. But for the most part, the movie mostly stays its own thing. The film’s setting is also something unique when compared to most slashers. With the Friday the 13th franchise stuck in copyright limbo, we haven’t gotten a lot of slasher films that embrace the summer camp setting that the series popularized. Here, the various references to this particular sub genre feel more well earned and less forced like the references in the previous film. Another reason this film is more fun than the first. Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 isn’t perfect, but compared to what was given to us in the first chapter, it’s a major improvement. The characters of this film are presented in a way that makes them far more tolerable than the previous batch. It has a more straightforward story and better handled horror references that don’t get in the way. While it doesn’t get me completely excited for the final chapter, it shows that the series is willing to improve on itself. Rated TV-Y7 (Contains Rude Humor and Mild Action)
For most of his life, 12-year-old Lincoln Loud (Asher Bishop) has felt overshadowed by the accomplishments of his 10 sisters, despite acting as the glue that holds his entire family together. He feels he doesn’t get the recognition that he thinks he deserves, and is struggling to figure out where he really fits. So, out of curiosity, he decides to dig up his family history and discovers that they hail from Scotland. They decide to dropped everything and journey to the place of their ancestors. They arrive at Loch Loud, a town that was once ruled by their family. With the help of the family castle’s groundskeeper Angus (David Tennant), they start to embrace their family history while Lincoln tries to ascend to the thrown of the town. But there’s something dark brewing underneath the surface, and the castle’s other caretaker Morag (Michelle Gomez) is determined to make sure Lincoln doesn’t take on royalty. This film is based on the Nickelodeon animated series The Loud House, which has been airing new episodes since 2016. It’s proven to be one of the studio’s most successful shows since SpongeBob SquarePants. It has brought in very high ratings and has really cemented its place among the network’s other big properties. So it makes complete sense that Nickelodeon would want to cash in on that success with a feature film. Originally intended to be released in theaters in early 2020, the film ended up going through some production troubles. It was removed from the schedule, and not much was given as to whether the film had been cancelled or not. It wasn’t until earlier this year that the film was announced to be released on Netflix. It feels like it’s been a while since Nickelodeon has made a film based on one of their shows. Sure, there have been recent films based on SpongeBob, but at this point, these films feel like they’ve transcended beyond their television roots. I don’t know what it is about these films, but there’s a certain charm to seeing characters from childhood television shows getting to stretch their legs in a movie. And The Loud House Movie does a really good job recapturing this kind of nostalgic feel. It feels very much in line with the Nickelodeon films from the early 2000s; the ones with that charm I just mentioned. It stays in tune with the elements of the cartoon while applying them to a much larger story. It may feel like an over-extended episode of the show, but that’s another element that really defines this type of film. That and the film’s musical element. Many films based on children’s cartoons often attempt to act like Disney films and add a musical element to them. While some feel like a cheap way to add infectious pop songs into the narrative, here the songs actually work. The actual musical numbers aren’t over-bloated, and other songs are saved for montages, and they end up working really well. The film also boasts much cleaner and clearer animation than the television series. This was surprising to see, as the film going to Netflix meant that it would have a budget equal to a TV movie. But the look of the film is clearly more detailed than an episode of the show, and it’s clear that the change in distributor didn’t come at the cost of the film’s look. The Loud House Movie is a nostalgic throwback to the age of adapting popular animated kid shows into feature films. It doesn’t have any profound message or deep layers beneath the surface, but something like this doesn’t need that. It just needs to be a chance for fans to spend 90 minutes with the characters they love to watch on the small screen. And this film certainly feels like that. Rated PG-13 for some action/violence, language and mild suggestive material.
In an alternate 1983, cosmic radiation from space gave certain people on Earth superpowers. Unfortunately, all those who received them were sociopaths, and they all used their new gifts to terrorize the planet. They are dubbed Miscreants, and no one has the ability to put a stop to them. Over the decades, people have grown used to their presence, and only live in fear of eventually being killed by them. In present day, Lydia Berman (Melissa McCarthy) feels directionless in her life. Her ex-best friend Emily Stanton is a world-renowned geneticist trying to find a way to give good people superpowers so they can fight against the Miscreants. When Lydia attempts to reunite with Emily, she accidentally takes a serum that gives her super strength. With her new powers, and Emily’s new power to turn invisible, they team up to become the world’s first team of superheroes. This is the fifth film starring Melissa McCarthy to be directed by her husband Ben Falcone. In an age where superhero movies dominate the box office to an alarming degree, the genre is ripe for mockery. There are so many aspects of this type of film that are basically begging to be put in their place, especially with Marvel defining almost every part of American pop culture. Unfortunately, neither he nor McCarthy seem interested in actually doing something like this. What Thunder Force ends up feeling like is another skin put over the same shtick that they’ve done in all of their other movies. There was a time where McCarthy’s “grand ambition meets everyday reality” style of comedy was pretty funny. But with this film, it’s clear that she doesn’t have the same impact that she did in her earlier efforts. That’s really the biggest issue with Thunder Force. It does absolutely nothing new with either the superhero genre nor with McCarthy’s personal comedic style. It’s literally just the same kind of jokes that she does in every other one of her movies, just with a semi-different story barely tying it all together. Again, her type of comedy was funny once, but just changing the skin of the film doesn’t make the gags any more hilarious. Not even Octavia Spencer can make this anymore entertaining. This is a much looser role compared to a lot of the more Oscar-caliber roles she’s been taking in the past couple years. She hardly gets to do many fun roles, so having her in something like this is refreshing. But she doesn’t do anything to make the tired gags any funnier or her character all that developed. She mostly comes off as too good to be getting tied up in this kind of comedy. It’s just disappointing the amount of potential that’s wasted in Falcone’s lazy script. The story ideas hinted at here have the potential to really hold a mirror up to our current society. It reflects how people act today, how we portray superheroes and super villains, and how we unendingly consume superhero media. But any kind of profound exploration is washed aside in favor of clichéd slapstick that is never intelligent enough to get anything more than a slight chuckle out of the audience. While it had the potential to put superhero movies in their place, Thunder Force instead opts to rely on the same tired gags from Melissa McCarthy’s other films that just aren’t that funny anymore. I do like her, and believe that she is a talented comedian. She’s certainly better than a lot of other comedians working today. But it’s clear that she needs to shake up her style a little bit, because what made her funny to begin with just doesn’t have the same punch it once did. Rated TV-MA (Contains Pervasive Language Including Sexual References, Graphic Violence/Blood and Gore, Sexual Content. Brief Graphic Nudity and Alcohol Use)
In the early days of America, the thirteen colonies are fighting for independence from the British. Just as the founding fathers are about to finish the Declaration of Independence, they are betrayed by Benedict Arnold (Andy Samberg), who seeks to help King James (Simon Pegg) take the country back from the defectors. After Arnold brutally murders Abraham Lincoln (Will Forte), his best friend George Washington (Channing Tatum) make it his mission to avenge the only person he’s ever cared about. He assembles a team consisting of Samuel Adams (Jason Mantzoukas), inventor Thomas Edison (Olivia Munn), Paul Revere (Bobby Moynihan), and Indian leader Geronimo (Raoul Max Trujillo) to gain freedom for all Americans. If that description of historical events sounds slightly inaccurate, try watching the actual movie. By design, this movie takes a modern, comedic approach to the story of how America was founded. It’s loaded with pop culture references, and no characters act like their real life counterparts. There’s nothing inherently wrong with making a movie like this, especially in an age where ultra-patriotism is easy to point a finger at. However, to pull something like this off, you better have the desire to actually make it good. Unfortunately, this is not the case with America: The Motion Picture. I suppose I should give the filmmakers credit for taking so many huge swings at once. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that the end result doesn’t rise above a third grader’s ultra-patriotic fan fiction, despite being a multi-million dollar animated movie starring an A-list ensemble. The film is really brought down by its script, which never even tries to get going. Writer Dave Callaham loads the historical setting with so many modern references, which could’ve led to some truly subversive jokes. Sadly, Callaham always takes the easy way out, thinking that the fact that historical figures are making such references is funny enough. But in the end, it really isn’t. He also has a major tendency to really on shock humor over anything intelligent. He and director Matt Thompson load the frame with sexual humor, loads of bloody deaths, and obligatory meta jokes, again thinking that the presence of these alone will be enough to make the audience laugh. But there’s nothing smart or subversive about the way they tell them, and they end up getting old about only five minutes into the film. It really feels like the filmmakers never even tried to do something good in the first place. The film permeates with the feeling that they knew, right from the get-go, they had a bad idea. But they didn’t really know how to make it better, or just didn’t want to take the effort to try that. So, they went ahead with it anyone, despite the story being rote and the humor being about as low-hanging as it could possibly get. Even the cast never seems interested in trying to salvage what little potential the script had to begin with. Channing Tatum is a talented comedian and a really good actor, but his performance of George Washington sounds like a half-baked table read. This goes for much of the rest of the cast. They all sound bored in their roles, just waiting to get the end of the script so they can be done with this mess. The only actors that seem to try even a little bit are Pegg and Samberg. Pegg, in particular, seems to be having some fun in his villain role as a fictional version of King James. He tries to make an effort to bring his character to life, as does Samberg. The dialogue and humor the two are given isn’t good, but at least they try to make their characters fun to watch while we’re suffering through the rest of the film. Even if the script has a few tiny bright spots, it isn’t any more fun to actually watch the film. The animation is very ugly. Like most animated movies made for adults, little effort is put into actually making the picture look good. It looks very cheap, and the desire to depict adult thing like exploding heads and sexy ladies makes the visuals about as unpleasant as the script’s desire to tell this kind of humor. America: The Motion Picture isn’t the worst idea in the world, but the filmmakers’ desire to lazily settle for lowbrow jokes makes it a struggle to get through. It’s hard to say whether I was truly disappointed by this, because part of me kind of knew it would be this bad. Adult animated movies have a sad history of always going as extreme as possible because the characters aren’t real. This movie is no different. Rated TV-14 (Contains Sexual Content, Partial Nudity and Brief Language - All Involving Teens)
Now that they have graduated from high school, Elle (Joey King), her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney), and her boyfriend/Lee’s brother Noah (Jacob Elordi) are getting ready to move on with the next chapter of their lives. Elle manages to dig up her and Lee’s Beach Bucket List, filled with things they promised to do before they went off to college. All of them are determined to make this the best summer ever. But there’s only one problem: Elle still hasn’t made up her mind about which college to go to. She’s always promised to go to the same university as Lee, but she also wants to attend the same one as Noah, which is on the other side of the country. Her massive list of commitments for the summer soon becomes too much to handle, and Elle will have to decide what truly matters more in her life. The Kissing Booth 3 is the third and final installment in the Kissing Booth series, which is based on the young adult novel series of the same name by Beth Reekles. The first installment, released in 2018, played like an over-the-top satire of teen romance films and was surprisingly hilarious. The sequel, released last year, was still pretty funny and charming, but felt overburdened with subplots that never added anything to the overall story. That’s why it’s refreshing that this third installment sheds all that extra weight from its predecessor. It’s has a much more focused story this time around, giving all its time to Elle’s story rather than loads of side characters. That’s what makes this finale to the series so much fun in the end. It recaptures a lot of the charm that made the first film so good and brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. That renewed charm is, once again, thanks to the chemistry between King and Courtney. Throughout the series, their interactions have been one of the biggest highlights of each film. They have a kind of irresistible chemistry that doesn’t come around all that often, and they truly feel like they’ve been lifelong friends like their characters. I hope that these two will do something together again outside of this series, since they clearly work very well together. I’m also surprised by the way the story is brought to an end. There are many ways this trilogy could’ve ended in ways that would have fit with what the target audience would’ve expected. But the way it does end goes against that expectation and is so much better for it. I won’t spoil what happens, but I appreciate the filmmakers attempting to actually bring the series to an appropriate conclusion rather than taking the obvious way out. The Kissing Booth 3 sheds much of the extra weight that dragged down its predecessor and ends the story on a heartwarming and surprisingly mature note. It recaptures a lot of the charm that made the first film so entertaining, focusing much more on the central characters that made this series so enjoyable in the first place. It’s a great conclusion to one of Netflix’s more underrated franchises. |
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