The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a decent movie about a wild true story.

In 1967, John “Chickie” Donohue leaves New York to track down his army buddies in Vietnam and share a few beers with them, but instead is confronted with the horrors of the war.

I went to the “Regal Mystery Screening” which basically the premise is that it’s a movie that hasn’t been released yet, when I saw the Apple TV+ logo pop up on the screen I knew immediately what it was going to be. The Greatest Beer Run Ever tells the crazy true story of John “Chickie” Donohue during the Vietnam war the guy decided to go deliver his friends who are fighting in the war beer in Vietnam to show that his town supports them. It’s a truly interesting story that that I found quite fascinating, the movie does a decent job of telling the story. Zac Efron is truly great here, while it did take about 20 minutes to get use to his performance (it comes off as annoying during the first 10 minutes) after that he delivers so much charm to his performance, Russell Crowe plays Arthur Coates a photographer/journalist during the war, while he doesn’t get a huge part up until the third act he still quite incredible. He really puts in a lot of power and emotion that really sells his part, speaking of the third act that’s by far the strongest part about it. During the third act Donohue learns a lot about the great horrors of war, such as politicians/the government lying and witnessing civilians being killed. There’s some very powerful moments here that are truly fantastic and actually made me shed a tear, what is a bit baffling however is how the majority of the movie plays out as a comedy. Sure there’s some war stuff in between the comedy, but those particular scenes are played for laughs unlike the ones in the third act. I completely understand what the movie was trying to go for here, but I don’t think it balances out all that well. For what the comedy is there are some pretty decent jokes here that did get a few laughs out of me, to be completely fair though I would imagine it would be sort of a challenge to make a movie about a guy going to Vietnam to deliver beer to his friends without using comedy. So it’s not necessarily the comedy that’s the problem it’s mostly some of the jokes not being very funny and the third act being far more interesting in comparison. Overall The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a decent movie about a pretty insane true story, I definitely think the movie could have elaborated more on Donohue’s change from being pro war to questioning what is going on during wars, as it does feel like the movie ends right when we are about to get some more information on that.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever releases tomorrow on Apple TV+

6/10 C+

The Munsters has it’s moments but tries too hard to capture the spirit of the original show.

Lily is a typical 150-year-old lovelorn vampire who’s looking for the man of her nightmares — until she lays her eyes on Herman, a 7-foot-tall green experiment with a heart of gold. It’s love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet for each other in a Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily’s father has other plans for his beloved daughter’s future, and they don’t involve her new bumbling beau.

Rob Zombie’s The Munsters is a prime example of a movie where I can see what the director was going for but didn’t end up fully working. It’s clear that Rob Zombie wanted to capture what made the original show so great and at at times he actually did. Some of the sets were quite great and some of the humor actually worked pretty well. There’s some puns in there that made me laugh (I might be biased because I love puns and dad jokes) plus the cast was actually not terrible here, Daniel Roebuck as The Count was hands down the standout. He really did a great job of capturing the character while making the role his own, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Sheri Moon Zombie aren’t bad but every time they share a scene with Roebuck he completely steals the scene, but as I said they aren’t bad in fact they are decent in their own ways. What kills this movie is mainly the pacing and the color that gets to be way too much to the point where it becomes distracting. The color often feels very cheap and feels like it’s about to sell you the newest Halloween costumes at your local Party City, the pacing is dreadfully slow that completely kills a lot of scenes. There’s some scenes that drag out for way too long and end up not really adding anything to the plot, there was definitely charm and some passion put into the movie, but it’s not enough to save The Munsters from being way too slow paced and not very well written.

The Munsters is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+

Meet Cute is a stale Groundhog Day clone.

Sheila, a young woman grappling with suicidal thoughts, discovers that a tanning bed in a nail salon is a time machine. Traveling back 24 hours, she relives the best date night of her life over and over, only to decide that her boyfriend, Gary, needs some fixing. Unaware that meddling with the past could ruin the future, Sheila goes even further back in time to turn him into the perfect man even though he was already pretty perfect.

Meet Cute is yet another Groundhog Day type movie at this point there’s been several films, to be absolutely fair their have some quite fantastic films that take the premise and manage to make it their own (Happy Death Day, Edge Of Tomorrow and Palm Springs in particular). That’s unfortunately not the case here with Meet Cute, the weird thing about the movie is the whole Groundhog Day elements aren’t fully realized despite that being the main idea of the movie. A lot of it is very surface level and doesn’t attempt to even try to go into detail about it’s ideas, the chemistry between Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson just isn’t there at all. They both definitely try their hardest with the script they are given but the dialogue does not do them any favors, Kaley Cuoco gives the better performance as there are a few moments where she makes some scenes work.

3/10 D-

Do Revenge is a wildly entertaining teen comedy with great social satire.

Drea (Camila Mendes) is at the peak of her high school powers as the Alpha it-girl on campus when her entire life goes up in flames after her sex tape gets leaked to the whole school, seemingly by her boyfriend and king of the school, Max (Austin Abrams). Eleanor (Maya Hawke) is an awkward new transfer student who is angered to find out that she now has to go to school with her old bully, Carissa (Ava Capri) who started a nasty rumor about her in summer camp when they were 13. After a clandestine run-in at tennis camp, Drea and Eleanor form an unlikely and secret friendship to get revenge on each other’s tormentors.

Never did I expect Do Revenge to be one of my favorite films so far this year, I’ve expressed how much the teen comedy genre has become very over saturated with movies that range from being horrible to very forgettable, luckily that’s not the case here. Do Revenge takes the teen comedy genre and brings it back to the days of Mean Girls where there was a balance of over the top and having realistic moments, it throws in a lot of clever and sharp social satire that’s very relevant to the film. Like Bodies Bodies Bodies, Do Revenge does a fantastic job of actually matching how Gen Z talks, acts and thinks. Camilla Mendes and Maya Hawke are both fantastic in the leading roles, both have strong chemistry and a lot of strong character moments that help build their characters. The direction from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson was down to earth while being wild at the same time, it’s the sort of energy that is often missing in teen comedies so it’s very refreshing to see here. Lastly the film itself is just an overall very entertaining film that also manages to say something interesting with its social satire elements, so if you have been looking for a really great teen comedy definitely check this one out.

Do Revenge is available on Netflix.

9/10 A

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is a beautiful and meaningful film filled with themes.

Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. But when a documentary filmmaker discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope at finding his long-lost family.

For a film about a talking shell wearing a pair of shoes Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is one of the most beautiful and meaningful films I’ve seen so far this year. There’s so many themes that this film talks about in 89 minutes that truly feel impactful to the viewer. For starters Jenny Slate as Marcel is truly brilliant the amount of heart and soul she put into the performance is truly inspiring and captures a very human as well, the filming combined with the stop motion is masterful with every sense of the word. It’s absolutely stunning and really connects the real world setting with Marcel brilliantly, then there’s the themes such as a ton of family themes which lead to some very touching moments that are very relatable to viewer. There’s the theme of loneliness living in a huge world looking for the people that you love in this case Marcel is looking for his family. The theme of feeling small is also present one that can feel overwhelming, we all live in a huge world beyond our comprehension which is why some people rightfully want to feel big and explore the world, that’s what Marcel sets out to do in the film. There’s also the theme of finding oneself through a journey you often find out new things about yourself and that’s explored perfectly here, at the end of Marcel’s journey there’s a completely touching ending that Marcel reflects on and learns so much about himself. This is all backed up from the flawless script that will make you both cry and put a smile on your face, it’s such a strong and diverse of emotions type of script that really captures what the viewer could be going through. Overall Marcel The Shell With Shoes on is a powerful film that truly needs to be seen, it’s a very moving film that you will absolutely love.

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is available on all VOD platforms.

10/10 A+

I Used To Be Famous (2022) Film Review.

Follows Vince, a desperate former popstar who dreams of making a comeback. An impromptu jam session with autistic young drummer Stevie sparks an unexpected friendship between the two misunderstood musicians.

I’ll give credit where credit is due, they actually casted an autistic actor (Leo Long) Long does quite a great job here and is definitely what holds the movie together, Ed Skrein isn’t too bad either. The rest of the movie is a very simplistic feel good story that you could guess how it will play out within the first 15 minutes, there really isn’t anything bad here a lot of it is just very okay writing that is surface level at best. There’s a handful of heartfelt moments that you can’t help but smile at, the rest of the performances are quite great and actually give some raw moments. Although the writing is surface level at least the movie knows what it’s trying to accomplish and for what the movie is it did that pretty okay, sure it’s predictable but it’s decently inspiring story that is a quick and easy watch!

I Used To Be Famous is available on Netflix!

6/10 C+

Pinocchio (2022)..completely misses the point of the original

A puppet is brought to life by a fairy, who assigns him to lead a virtuous life in order to become a real boy.

Pinocchio is the newest of the Disney Live Action Remakes and is by far one of the absolute worst ones, it’s truly baffling to me how badly they messed this up. The original Pinocchio is one of Disney’s absolute best films they have ever done, it’s a story that was both dark but also very charming as well. This remake however takes everything the original did perfectly and completely misses on what made it so well done, the only positive I can give here is Cynthia Ervio as The Blue Fairy and her performance of “When You Wish Upon A Star” she did a beautiful job and has a tremendous singing voice that captures the magic of the song. The rest of the movie is missing a key element that the original had a lot of…heart and magic, the original movie despite the dark nature of some of the story was also filled with so much heart in it that made the characters so lovable. In this movie Geppetto (Tom Hanks) and Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) have absolutely no connection between one another, which was a key part of the original movie. So that really defeats the purpose of the story the movie is trying to tell, the CGI is bafflingly cheap some of the movements from the characters are either delayed or just don’t match. Monstro was done horribly with this movie, which again brings this back to Geppetto and Pinocchio. Monstro was an important part of the original Pinocchio serving as bridge to Geppetto’s and Pinocchio’s chemistry, in this movie it is so poorly done and has no passion put into it at all. Which is the main issue here this movie has the biggest “we don’t care” attitude to it, nothing here other than Cynthia Ervio has no energy, heart or passion put into it. Which is exactly the problem with a lot of these remakes (outside of a few) they heavily rely on cheap nostalgia and don’t even do justice to the original movies, what’s unfortunate is this could have been decent, Robert Zemeckis who despite his last couple movies not exactly being that great. Is still a very talented filmmaker who’s given us tons of classics (Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump) I only have to assume that he wasn’t given the creative freedom because this a lifeless movie that is so horribly written is not the thing you think of when you think Robert Zemeckis.

Pinocchio is available on Disney+

1/10 F

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul is a clever mockumentary!

The proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch, who together with her husband, Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), once served a congregation in the tens of thousands. But after a scandal forces their church to temporarily close, Trinitie and Lee-Curtis must reopen their church and rebuild their congregation to make the biggest comeback that commodified religion has ever seen.

I was originally going to see Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, but due to scheduling issues I couldn’t see it. The wait was definitely worth it however as it is a pretty fun little film. Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall completely steal the show here, they both such energetic and quite hilarious performances that are truly charming in every single way possible. The mockumentary elements truly are effective here, the film switches back in forth between being a narrative and a mockumentary which doesn’t completely work all the time. But there are moments that the movie benefits from this, the mockumentary part of it is definitely stronger as it fits the whole satire of the megachurch a lot better than the narrative portion. It’s not that the narrative portion is bad, it’s that it’s not as investing as the satire portion is. As I said before Hall and Brown completely make this film, the two really show they are some of the best actors working currently. It’s very impressive to see how many fantastic jokes each of them can deliver in each scene their in. One scene could have 20 jokes while being 2 minutes long, overall Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul might feel a bit uneven at times but it’s a hilarious and solidly done mockumentary that I recommend!

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul is available on Peacock.

7/10 B

Quick Reviews: About Fate and The Class (2022)

Two strangers believe in love but never seem to be able to find its true meaning. In a wild twist of events, fate puts each in the other’s path on one stormy New Year’s Eve.

About Fate is exactly what you think it’s going to be from the plot, but the movie manages to still work quite well. Is it absolutely cheesy and feels a bit like a Hallmark holiday movie (despite being released in September)? Oh absolutely but what makes the movie is Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann plus their chemistry is very charming, the movie has some genuinely cute moments that are full of heart and are actually quite touching. Not every scene is successful but there’s enough here to satisfy romantic comedy fans.

About Fate is available on all VOD Platforms.

6/10 C+

Six high school seniors are offered a last chance to graduate by taking a one-day makeup class on a Saturday. The students find themselves sitting beside classmates they never took the time to get to know during the regular semester.

The Class is what happens when you take The Breakfast Club and you make it unfunny, uninteresting and terrible. I genuinely don’t know what to say here to be quite honest, the cast are fine particularly Lyric Ross who definitely tries with the script she’s given. A lot of this movie just reminds the viewer they could be watching a better movie combine that with a painful 1 hour and 54 minute running time that feels like an eternity. The script is very bare bones and doesn’t give a lot of the characters proper development, the ending is sweet but by then it’s too little too late. Just watch The Breakfast Club instead.

The Class is available on all VOD Platforms.

2/10 F

Love In The Villa is more Netflix romantic comedy fanfiction.

A young woman takes a trip to romantic Verona, Italy, after a breakup, only to find that the villa she reserved was double-booked, and she’ll have to share her vacation with a cynical British man.

What is there to say about Love In The Villa? It’s yet another Netflix romantic comedy movie that is written like a bad fanfiction, the chemistry is just not there between the two leads it’s about as interesting as a rock on the side of the road. There’s some unintentional hilarious moments that aren’t enough to save the movie and the whole movie is a huge chore to sit through, there’s the typical bad writing and one dimensional characters that are always in these Netflix romantic comedy movies. This movie just boils down to “if you have seen one of them before you have seen this one”.

Love In The Villa is available on Netflix.

2/10 F