Anne and her estranged train-wreck of a sister, Jenny, must work together to help cover their mother’s gambling debts. When Anne’s beloved dog is kidnapped, they set out on a wild cross-country trek to get the cash.
Quiz Lady was a bit of a surprise, while it’s not anything to write home about. The movie mostly works due to it’s cast and the second half of the movie.
Awkwafina (who gives her best performance in quite awhile) and Sandra Oh are what helps this movie get to the finish line, the chemistry between the two is hilarious plus they work so well together on screen that you actually get somewhat invested into their characters. Will Ferrell is also quite decent here, sure he’s mostly just playing a Alex Trebek type of host. But there’s still a bit of charm to his character and Ferrell actually makes his performance work decently well.
Quiz Lady starts out a bit rough, the first portion of the movie is definitely a “seen that and done better” sort of situation, with a lot of very familiar road trip comedy beats. Luckily the movie does quickly become quite charming and ends up being genuinely funny, there’s some genuinely touching moments Anne (played by Awkwafina) and Jenny (played by Sandra Oh) and the ending does wrap the story up nicely.
There really isn’t much else to say about Quiz Lady it’s a charming comedy that is pretty straightforward and ends on a decent note, it’s definitely not going to break any new ground but it’s a fun little movie.
Susie is an awkward college student with a failing true-crime podcast. She seizes the opportunity to boost her popularity by solving the mysterious disappearance of Jesse. a campus heartthrob. With her star on the rise, events soon take a dark turn as she digs out the truth and finds herself in over her head.
Susie Searches is if you took Nancy Drew and parts of the whole obsession with true crime some people have and put them together. Not a whole lot to say here but there’s a few things worth mentioning.
The acting is actually quite decent here, Kiersey Clemons gives a solid performance and is very charming in the leading role. She’s genuinely funny and really fits the role well, Alex Wolff is also quite great and works very well with Clemons. Although Rachel Sennott is only in a handful of scenes she completely steals every scene she’a in, Sennott also works incredibly well with Clemons and the two are truly exciting to watch on screen.
The movie itself is decent enough, admittedly the third act does fall flat a bit due to shifting tones a bit too often, however the mystery itself combined with the movie’s entertaining dialogue makes the movie move at a decent pace that never drags out the plot. Honestly what saves this movie is mostly the charm, the characters have charm to them and the dialogue works incredibly well.
A hit man teams up with an art dealer for a money-laundering scheme that unwittingly turns him into an avant-garde sensation.
Not exactly sure what to say here, The Kill Room sort of just disappeared when the release date was announced and then quietly released at the end of September. I was curious mainly due to the cast which consists of Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Manganiello, Maya Hawke and a few others.
The Kill Room has a surprisingly great setup the movie uses an art gallery as a money laundering scheme, a little cliche in some areas during the beginning but the movie actually had a decent start. The acting is overall not bad here, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson being on screen together is neat and they both give solid performances. Maya Hawke and Joe Manganiello are pretty solid here as well, the cast really does a great job despite a very bare bones script.
Unfortunately the middle portion of the movie is very rough and really doesn’t offer anything new to the heist movie genre, the ending luckily does have a couple really neat scenes that are actually quite enjoyable and luckily as I said earlier there’s the performances that save the movie from falling off a cliff. But ultimately there’s just not a whole lot here to comment on and not a whole lot to really explore.
Senior Emily Young wants to be elected sorority president. She adopts a cute sloth, thinking it will help her win, but a string of fatalities implicates the sloth.
Everyone loves a good “it’s so bad it’s funny movie” I’m sure you might have seen at least one and probably have a favorite. Movies like Thankskilling, Zombie Cats From Mars, Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes, Llamagedeon, Birdemic and a lot of others are prime examples. There’s some successes that go on to be quite memorable and then there’s ones that fade into obscurity mostly due to trying way too hard to be the next talked about movie on social media. Unfortunately Slotherhouse falls in the latter category.
Slotherhouse is a satire of the whole sorority house slasher movies, except the killer is a killer Sloth. It’s funny for about 20 minutes with the Sloth puppet being quite hilarious and some of the uses of social media in the movie are actually quite funny.
The problem here is the movie tries way too hard to be the next cult film, it wants to be that movie that gets websites such as Buzzfeed to write an article that says “Someone made a movie about a killer sloth 😂😂” that sort of stuff happens on it’s own and shouldn’t be forced or else you completely miss the point on the whole “killer object or bad killer animal” genre.
As for the rest of the movie? There really isn’t a whole lot else to be said here, it goes exactly how you think it’s going to and the whole joke about a killer Sloth gets old as the movie goes on which considering the movie is 93 minutes long is not a good sign. The acting and writing as expected are terrible but that should really go without saying and is to be expected when it comes to movies like this.
Who knows I could maybe be completely wrong, maybe a couple years from now Slotherhouse Will become the next cult hit, but for now it’s a very forgettable movie that tries way too hard to get a cult movie status.
Thirty-five years after the shocking murders of three teens, an infamous killer returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim. When 17-year-old Jamie comes face-to-face with the masked maniac, she accidentally time-travels back to 1987. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar culture, Jamie teams up with her teenage mother to take down the psycho once and for all.
Totally Killer was definitely a nice surprise, when the trailer came out a lot of people were quick to compare it to The Final Girls (2015) which while yes they do share some similarities what they are going for is far different.
Totally Killer is definitely the more gory film of the two and I definitely think goes for a much more comedic angle (although The Final Girls was a horror comedy as well.) With that said the cast here is quite fantastic particularly Kiernan Shipka and Olivia Holt who completely steal each scene they are in and really bring this fun and comedic atmosphere to the film. The rest of the cast also do a fantastic job at capturing the comedic energy the script requires.
The comedic tone matched with some of the more dramatic moments is well done from director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe 2019) she’s able to make the film have a mostly Scream like comedic tone while also giving the more dramatic moments their own focus. She also puts her own spin as well, the film may borrow some elements from Happy Death Day, Back To The Future, Scream and The Final Girls. But Khan makes it her own and brings so much enjoyment to the film.
The characters are solidly written and are quite fun to watch, there’s the occasional hiccup with some of the characters not being particularly interesting. But for the most part the characters are incredibly fun especially Jamie Hughes/Colette (played by Kiernan Shipka) who gets a lot of character development and actually gets some genuinely touching moments as well. The mother and daughter bond is truly fantastic and really moves the character of Pam Hughes (played by Julie Bowen)/Pam Miller (played by Olivia Holt) forward as well as bringing a lot of heart to the film.
Overall Totally Killer is one of the bigger surprises of the year, it’s one that I can definitely see growing a much bigger audience in the near future.
Totally Killer is available on Amazon Prime Video.
A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.
Haunted Mansion is another take that’s based on Disney’s theme park attraction ride The Haunted Mansion. The first movie was of course was the 2003 movie The Haunted Mansion, a silly movie that some people still quite like to this day. Haunted Mansion (2023) however? It’s a complete and total mess as well as being one of Disney’s most forgettable releases this year.
Haunted Mansion has a decent cast and they do the best they can with a script that is incredibly limited, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito in particular are decent enough, what holds them back is the script. Between a lot of painfully bad jokes and product placements such as Baskin Robbins, Burger King, CVS and a few others it starts to become a mess that strangely enough makes very little sense.
At least with the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion it had some sort of personality and actually knew what it wanted to be, this one wants to go for a darker tone, have product placements and tell unfunny jokes. It’s not like this movie did not have potential either, the New Orleans setting if it were taken advantage there could have been some really strong moments. The characters are given very little in ways of character traits and development, combine that with such a dull plot that moves at a snails pace and you have a chore of a movie to sit through.
I wish there was more to be said but this is the most nothing movie I’ve seen so far this year, it’s a bunch of product placements and a poorly written script crammed together with some talented actors involved.
Haunted Mansion is available on Disney+ and on all VOD platforms.
A man’s quiet life gets upended when a UFO crashes in his backyard in rural Pennsylvania. As he befriends the mysterious extraterrestrial, things start to get complicated when two neighbours discover it and the government quickly closes in.
Jules is yet another pretty big surprise from 2023, I’m sure there’s people out there that will write Jules off as being an ET clone but with old people instead of children, but that’s really not the case. Sure it does have a few similarities with ET but how the films approach the premise are completely different.
Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris are all fantastic here, they all give hilarious performances with some genuinely touching moments that will make you instantly love these characters. If there’s a theme here it’s being kind or nice, throughout the film we see Milton (played by Ben Kingsley), Joyce (played by Jane Curtin) and Sandy (played by Harriet Sansom Harris) treat Jules (played by Jane Quon) like family and while they do question where Jules came from that doesn’t bother them all that much.
Jane Quon is absolutely incredible here, her performance as Jules is genuinely funny and manages to express emotions without really showing them, there’s something genuinely sweet about Milton, Sandy or Joyce talking about their issues or what’s on their mind to Jules. While Jules might not fully understand what they are saying, but you can tell Jules genuinely cares about the three and actually does help the three learn a bit more about themselves and actually does help them with their issues.
As I said before the approach is much different from ET, Jules is a much smaller film that isn’t quite as big in scale, but that ultimately benefits the film in the long run, it’s a smaller story that really focuses on building it’s characters into something truly special. Characters that the viewer can easily connect with, combine that with excellent acting and writing that is so charming and you have yourself a simple yet very effective story.
After hitting a breaking point, Hannah’s inner thoughts physicalize into a monstrous creature that threatens to upend her life.
Appendage is based off the 2021 short of the same name (which had Rachel Sennott and Eric Roberts in it) while at times Appendage can have a lot of tone shifts that can be distracting, there is still enough here to satisfy the viewer.
The movie is a body horror with a decent amount of gore that is genuinely fun at times, there’s this interesting theme of imposter syndrome that the film somewhat discusses which does give the movie some character too it. The movie itself is pretty well made and the performance from Hadley Robinson is quite solid as well.
I’m not entirely sure if the comedic aspect of Appendage fully worked as it does at times feel like a drastic tone shift that could take some viewers completely out of the movie. Having that said the effects are genuinely impressive and the movie itself is pretty enjoyable.
Henry Sugar, a wealthy man, decides to take on an extraordinary challenge – he wants to master an extraordinary skill in order to cheat at gambling games.
The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar is the first of four shorts based off stories from Roald Dahl which are directed by Wes Anderson, this isn’t Wes Anderson’s first time tackling Dahl’s work as he directed Fantastic Mr. Fox (excellent film!) I guess I will go in order of release with these shorts to make things easier.
The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar has the most going on out of the four shorts mainly due to being the longest with a run time of 41 minutes while the others are much shorter. With that said this short is quite fantastic, everyone here hits out of the park Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and a few others capture the spirit of Roald Dahl’s story. When you combine the acting with Anderson’s style it’s truly fantastic and quite investing.
So many different techniques are used here from breaking the fourth wall, the narrators describe themselves in third-person, backstories are told briefly but done in such a clear way that the viewer can easily connect to the characters in just one minute and several others. The story itself is a redemption story as well as a human growth one, as the short moves along we see Henry Sugar grow into this moving and quite powerful character that’s genuinely charming.
Some people might have an issue with these shorts being more of just a reading of Dahl’s stories rather than traditional acting, in some cases that would be an issue but when you have Wes Anderson involved that’s not an issue at all. As Wes Anderson’s style completely fits this approach of storytelling especially here in Henry Sugar.
Overall The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar is the best of the four shorts! It’s well acted, fast paced and incredibly appealing to the eye!
The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar is available on Netflix.
9/10 A
A small brilliant boy is tormented by two large idiotic bullies.
The Swan is the second of the four Roald Dahl shorts directed by Wes Anderson. While I don’t think it’s as good as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar it’s still quite a great one and actually surprised me with a few brutal moments that I did not see coming.
There’s a bit less going on here than there was in Henry Sugar, however the story having to do with bullying and how the short approaches the topic is quite interesting and actually leads to some dark moments that do feel authentic. The acting once again is phenomenal and everything I said about Henry Sugar can be applied here, it’s a fast paced short that’s only 17 minutes long.
The information the short is able to get out in just 17 minutes is quite incredible, Wes Anderson’s style of course helps with this fast paced speech that isn’t so fast that the viewer can’t understand. It’s at a speed where the short can move along and the viewer can understand, the short is also beautifully filmed and the atmosphere really matches the story being told.
The Swan is a powerful and at times brutal exploration of bullying that the viewer can easily get into.
The Swan is available on Netflix.
8/10 B+
A rat eradicator, who looks like a big rat, comes up with a cunning plan: gain the rats’ trust to better exterminate the rodents.
The Rat Catcher is the third of the four Roald Dahl shorts directed by Wes Anderson. The Rat Catcher follows a mechanic and a reporter who listen to a rat catcher explain his plan to outsmart the rats.
The Rat Catcher is definitely the most comedic out of the shorts, where as Henry Sugar was a redemption and human growth story and The Swan being a powerful story about bullying and how brutal it can really be. The Rat Catcher goes for a much more humorous idea and to it’s credit it is genuinely funny.
The stop-motion used on the rat that eventually appears makes the short pop and heavily reminds me of the alien from Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City (which came out earlier this year.) like with the previous shorts the acting is phenomenal Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade and Ralph Fiennes all give phenomenal performances and easily compliment each other incredibly well, it’s such an experience see three actors display their talent and leave so many impressions in only 17 minutes.
Overall there might not be a whole lot going on thematically with The Rat Catcher but it’s a pretty hilarious ride that I can definitely see myself going back on.
The Rat Catcher is available on Netflix.
7/10 B
When a poisonous snake slithers onto an Englishman’s stomach in India, his associate and a doctor race to save him.
Poison is the fourth and final Roald Dahl short directed by Wes Anderson, the short follows a doctor and his associate who race to save a man who was bitten from a snake bite.
I’m actually quite surprised about the amount of tension this short had, it really brings you to the edge of your seat while also having this comedic tone that’s quite charming. The acting like in the other shorts is fantastic, Dev Patel, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley compliment each other quite well and once again this short displays some strong performances in just 17 minutes.
Once again there isn’t a whole lot thematically going on here, as it is essentially two men trying to save another from dying. However the rapid fire pace combined with the tension of the story really makes Poison standout from the shorts, it’s such a beautifully done short that has so much detail all over it. Especially when combined with Wes Anderson’s usual comedic style and tone.
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is a two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old vampire. Now tired of his life, he wants to die at last after the disgrace and family crises he has caused.
El Conde is directed by Pablo Larraín director of Spencer (2021), Ema (2019), Jackie (2016) and a few others. One thing that I always loved about Larraín is he always tries to go for something completely different with his films. El Conde is no exception even if it’s nowhere near as good as his previous films.
El Conde is certainly not a bad movie, there’s a lot to appreciate here as well as a lot of impressive parts. The whole alternate history aspect of Augusto Pinochet being a vampire is quite interesting and you could read him sucking the blood from the working class as a conversation the film is trying to have. When you combine that with the black and white cinematography that’s just absolutely stunning with ever sense of the word, you get some really excellent moments that tell a story that seems like it’s going to be quite interesting.
The story unfortunately ends up being sort of a mess when the second and third act roll around, the convoluted story going on here brings up a lot of odd plot points that ultimately don’t support the main narrative being told here. I will say what does keep the movie going is the performance from Jamie Vadell who plays Augusto Pinochet, he absolutely knocks it out of the park and brings this gothic horror atmosphere to the film that is quite great.
El Conde definitely is not a bad movie, it’s just one that had a lot more potential and has the right ingredients to tell an interesting story. There’s just a lot missing, despite that however I do recommend giving it a watch if it sounds like your thing.
Jerome Reviews... 