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!
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.
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.
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.
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”.
Ivy and Bean never expected to be friends. Ivy is quiet, thoughtful and observant. Bean is playful, exuberant and fearless. However, sometimes an adventure reveals that opposites can become the best of friends.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about Ivy + Bean since it is basically a 56 minute kids movie that really doesn’t do anything new. However that doesn’t make it bad at, Madison Skye Validum and Keslee Blalock are both fantastic here and have a wonderful chemistry, they really do capture two kids starting a friendship. The movie itself has a nostalgic feel to it, the type where you made friends with other kids around the neighborhood and the movie does such a good job of showing that. Some of the jokes actually land quite well to the point where I found myself actually chuckling at times, the movie doesn’t overstay it’s welcome either. It establishes what it wants to do early on and does that quite well, as I said before Ivy + Bean is not going to break any new ground and it is very formulaic. But if you have 56 minutes to spare and are looking for a very easy watch this is most certainly not a bad option.
Ivy + Bean is available on Netflix.
6/10 C+
When Ivy discovers the school bathroom is haunted, Bean helps Ivy to harness her powers. With the help of their classmates, Ivy and Bean orchestrate a ritual that will free the ghosts, save the school, and also mess up Nancy’s day.
Ivy + Bean: The Ghost That Had To Go is the second of the Ivy + Bean movie and is probably the best one, I say probably because all three movies are about the same (although I do think the third movie is the weakest). It might be because this one is a kid horror movie a subgenre (if you want to call it that) that I’m glad exists. Once again Madison Skye Validum and Keslee Blalock are fantastic here, the chemistry is still very strong and they are both genuinely hilarious. The kid horror elements are actually quite great here, I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t completely work and would stick out like a sore thumb. But luckily the elements are worked into the story and actually blend in quite well with the cutesy atmosphere the movie started with, Jane Lynch is one of my favorite parts about this movie by far. I’m not sure if I’ve said this before but Jane Lynch is such a fun actress even when the script she is given isn’t always great, she finds a way to make it entertaining and here is no exception. The script while once again isn’t going to break any new ground but is still genuinely fun and Jane Lynch’s parts are truly great, this movie definitely has the spirit of a Halloween special I would have saw back when I was a kid. It’s a genuinely fun little movie that like the previous movie is a quick and easy watch.
Ivy + Bean: The Ghost That Had To Go is available on Netflix.
6/10 C+
Ivy and Bean are ecstatic to sign up for ballet class until they realize there will be no sword-fighting, kicking or “dancing to the death” allowed in class. When Bean’s parents won’t let her quit, Ivy agrees to stick it out with Bean through the big dance festival performance.
Ivy + Bean: Doomed To Dance is the third Ivy + Bean movie and as I said in the previous review I do think this one is the weakest. Madison Skye Validum and Keslee Blalock are fantastic yet again and like in the other movies have great chemistry, by this point you are already sold that they have a very grounded friendship. There’s some decent jokes here and the movie does get quite creative as well with certain scenes, this one falls a little short mainly due to the pacing being very uneven and it’s more less the same thing as the other two movies except with a dance theme to it. The pacing is very weird here the beginning and ending are smooth sailing but the middle moves way too slowly, while I get what they were going for with the dance theme as it is a very common plot that a lot of kids media uses. It’s very flat here and doesn’t do anything very interesting that invests the viewer at all, with the other two movies yes you can argue that those plots are also used quite a lot in kids media. But at least the other two movies made themselves interesting and genuinely fun, Doomed To Dance just sort of exists because they needed a third movie and only releasing two movies would look and feel incomplete. Having that said Doomed To Dance is very harmless to kids, it’s just not something I would call good.
Ivy + Bean: Doomed To Dance is available on Netflix.
Gurus in the late Goryeo dynasty try to obtain a fabled, holy sword, and humans in 2022 hunt down an alien prisoner that is locked in a human’s body. The two parties cross paths when a time-traveling portal opens up.
Alienoid is what happens when you combine so many different ideas and elements from other movies and TV Shows then proceed to go wild with it. The movie is a mess but it’s the type of mess that is a whole lot of fun and strangely has charm to it as well. There’s bits that reminded me of Power Rangers, Terminator, Transformers, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and so on. That’s a very crazy movie that isn’t afraid to go all out, the performances are pretty solid, the writing is engaging and genuinely hilarious plus has a lot of charm as well. The main flaw comes from the almost two and a half hour running time that really stretches itself for far too long, it really starts to overstay it’s welcome but luckily it’s enjoyable for most of it. Alienoid is flawed but it has a lot of charm and is wildly entertaining that you just can’t help but like it.
a heartbroken man who encounters a primordial deity in a nearby bathroom stall, that requires him to satisfy it through the stall’s gloryhole.
Glorious is if you took Saw and made it into a cosmic horror movie with comedy and it for the most part works quite well. Ryan Kwanten is very entertaining here he gives a solid performance that is quite hilarious as well, J.K. Simmons does something completely different and it works wonderfully. He’s given so much to work with and he really does a good job of making into something you really would not expect, there’s definitely some issues with the ending as it doesn’t completely work but everything that came before it is genuinely fun and quite entertaining.
Two strangers wake up in the middle of the desert, with no memory of anything – including their names. Are they dead, or did they just party too hard at burning man?
The premise of Mister Limbo is quite interesting on paper and actually does a decent job with the execution for the first act of the movie, plus the acting is honestly not the worst. But as the movie goes on it runs out of steam pretty quickly which is mostly due to being repetitive and way too slow paced, definitely not horrible but needed more time to be worked on.
Mister Limbo releases on all VOD Platforms Friday.
A bitingly funny coming-of-age story of a teenage cartoonist who rejects the comforts of his suburban life in a misguided quest for soul.
I definitely think there is something here with Funny Pages it just didn’t quite land for me. Daniel Zolghadri does a pretty solid job in the leading role. He gives quite a raw performance and captures a lot of the energy of what the movie is going for, the comedy is a huge hit or miss there’s a few moments that are quite clever and that tie into the movie’s main theme. The Safdie Brothers influence (they are some of the producers of this movie) is definitely there and actually do help the movie stay afloat and build it’s atmosphere. The writing unfortunately falls apart during the final act, where the end result isn’t as strong as the movie itself was building up to be. I definitely don’t think Funny Pages is a bad movie, it’s a decent watch and there’s a lot to like about it. It just could have went a lot further.
Jerome Reviews... 