Y2K (2024) Film Review

On the last night of 1999, two high school juniors crash a New Year’s Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives when Y2K becomes a reality.

Y2K is directed by Kyle Mooney which is his directorial debut.

Y2K is a film about the whole Y2K scare that was going on and what if it actually happened. A simple enough idea that for the most part executes its premise decently well, since Kyle Mooney really goes all out to make something incredibly fun.

The cast are quite solid who each deliver some funny moments, Jaeden Martell and Rachel Zegler are charming and the bond that slowly builds over the course of the movie is cute. It’s not anything really special and does have the typical love interest cliches you come to expect but they fit the 90s callback atmosphere going on here. Although I do wish the movie did a lot more with Zegler’s character there’s moments where you could tell they were attempting to do something but kind of forget about it. Kyle Mooney gives a humorous performance that got a lot of laughs out of me, he’s a very basic stoner character but once again it matches the atmosphere.

Fred Durst is the standout and the moment he enters the film he completely steals the show. He matches the atmosphere and really goes all out with his performance, easily connects with the rest of the cast and doesn’t feel forced. Durst’s inclusion could have easily felt forced and would have basically killed the movie right at the moment he enters. However due to how charming the film is, the atmosphere working in his favor and the energy he brings it completely works.

The robot designs are incredibly neat, seeing all the different parts together and the detail of them is fascinating. The music is a nice throwback to the 90s and the kills are a lot of fun, all of these little things really help to mold this movie into something incredibly fun.

The weakest part of Y2K is by far the character writing, outside of Fred Durst a lot of the other characters really don’t have a whole lot going on. Which is to be expected it’s a very silly film about Y2K, but I don’t think some of the characters were exactly strong enough to really make the viewer remember them. Eli (played by Jaeden Martell) is a fine enough main character but if you have seen any coming of age films, sex comedies like American Pie (1999) or teen comedies you basically have seen Eli. The same can be said with the other characters Laura (played by Rachel Zegler) is your usual love interest, Garrett (played by Kyle Mooney) is the typical stoner, Danny (played by Julian Dennison) is the typical best friend and so on.

Despite my problems however I do think Y2K is a surprisingly charming film, there might not be a whole lot going on here writing wise (hence why it’s a bit hard to really go into detail) but the movie undeniably oozes with charm and keeps that up all the way through the film. It’s a very fun watch that I do recommend taking a look at.

Y2K is currently in theaters.

7/10 B

Nutcrackers (2024) Film Review!

A strait-laced man finds his life suddenly upended when he becomes the caregiver for his rambunctious, orphaned nephews.

Nutcrackers is directed by David Gordon Green director of George Washington (2000), Pineapple Express (2008), Joe (2013), Stronger (2017), Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021), Halloween Ends (2022), The Exorcist: Believer (2023) and many others.

I’m not going to spend this short review trashing David Gordon Green and highlighting his downfall, because I do think despite Nutcrackers not being something I would call good at the very least it’s a huge step up from his last movie The Exorcist: Believer (2023).

I’ve always rooted for Ben Stiller and even if he really doesn’t give a very noteworthy performance of his career he is still pretty solid here, you can definitely tell during a handful of moments he put heart into them and did what he could to make them work. To his credit there are a bunch of scenes here that actually are kind of sweet and do make you smile a bit, even when the movie falls into cliche territory.

Unfortunately that’s really where the highlights end, the rest of the movie is this weird mishmash of wanting to be a comedy and be taken seriously. The movie makes it clear it’s a comedy, but it also has this indie movie type of style that makes it look serious especially with the atmosphere that acts like it’s going for this depression feel. It’s very odd considering some of the comedic scenes that take place, I get what it’s trying to do but I really don’t think this was planned out well at all.

The finale of the movie needed so much more development, we aren’t really given a lot of information or shown that the kids can do ballet. So the Nutcracker show that’s performed at the end sort of just feels like nothing, it does feel like a giant waste of time considering the movie barely explored the kids’s talent. It’s a shame because I do think what the movie was trying to do with connecting the plots together was interesting, but it was just done in such a sloppy and rushed way that it loses the viewer almost immediately.

Nutcrackers isn’t anything terrible, it has decent performances from Ben Stiller and the kids. But being filled to the brim with cliches, a very unfocused plot and mishmash of atmospheres costs this movie big time.

Nutcrackers is available on Hulu.

5/10 C

Sweethearts (2024) Film Review!

Two college freshmen make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts over Thanksgiving break, leading them on a chaotic night out in their home town that puts their co-dependent friendship to the test.

Sweethearts is directed by Jordan Weiss which is her directorial debut.

Sweethearts is one of those movies you instantly think of when someone says “straight to streaming movie” while I definitely think this is better than a lot of Netflix’s romantic comedy output recently. That’s really not saying all that much since Sweethearts ends up suffering from some of the exact same issues.

If there’s one major positive here it’s the performances from Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga who really do the best they can with such a shotty script that quickly loses its charm during the second half of the movie. There are at least some moments you believe their characters Jamie (played by Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (played by Nico Hiraga) have this bond, it’s just a shame all of these moments are in the first half of the movie and not the second half. Where the movie kind of needs to pick up the pace with the development of these characters.

The second half of the movie boils down to a terrible version of Booksmart (2019), we have seen plenty of movies trying to replicate what Booksmart (2019) did and most have failed. That’s most certainly the case here, the movie goes about it in the most predictable and lazy way possible that you can see coming from a mile away. Unfortunately Shipka and Hiraga can’t really sell you the bond between their characters mainly due to a huge lack of development, sure we are told they are good friends but we never actually get anything more concrete than that.

Despite my issues I don’t think Sweethearts is one of the worst romantic comedies out there, it’s just a very underwhelming one that is bound to be forgotten about very quickly.

Sweethearts is available on MAX or HBO Max.

4/10 D+

Dear Santa (2024) Film Review!

A young boy accidentally mixes up his spelling and sends his Christmas list to Satan instead of Santa.

Dear Santa is directed by Bobby Farrelly who by himself directed Champions (2023) and with his brother Peter Farrelly directed Dumb and Dumber (1994), There’s Something About Mary (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001) and many others.

The only reason I’m even aware of the existence of Dear Santa is because someone on Twitter was complaining about Satan being in this movie and how it’s propaganda. Well Satan is definitely in it but let me tell you most people who decide to watch this will probably turn it off immediately before Satan even appears on screen. Because good lord this is one of the worst movies of the year.

Look the whole idea of a kid accidentally sending a letter to Satan instead of Santa could have been funny, however the writing is some of the worst you will hear in a movie this year, it goes back and forth between jokes that are aimed for adults and jokes that are way too juvenile for adults. It’s an incredibly odd and out of place mishmash of nonsense that leads to none of the jokes landing.

Jack Black should be excellent here but due to the writing he gives a terrible performance, Satan spends the whole movie making terrible jokes, being a Wish.com version of Beetlejuice and Black’s performance is just a dull take on Satan. The movie wants you to laugh at the antics going on here but doesn’t give any justification of why you should, this is all lazily done in the worst possible way. There’s scenes in this movie that had they actually been written decently could have been funny, but they go about as well as you would expect.

The main character Liam Turner (played by Robert Timothy Smith) is a very nothing character, sure later on we learn about why he’s troubled but that is until halfway through the movie. Mind you Turner had not mentioned it up until that point, it’s such a whiplash of tone and kind of sums up the exact problem with this movie…who is this for?

This most certainly isn’t for children given a lot of the raunchy humor (even some pedophillia jokes) and it’s not for adults given that juvenile humor is placed all over this movie. This honestly felt like it was trying to be Good Boys (2019) in some areas, I’m not even that huge on that movie but at the very least it was funny and actually pretty alright. There was at least a level understanding how to make your audience laugh and knew who their audience was. Dear Santa does absolutely none of that which leads it to be one of the worst movies of the year.

Avoid this.

Dear Santa is available on Paramount+

Disgrace To Cinema F

A Different Man (2024) Film Review!

An aspiring actor undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. However, his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare as he becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.

A Different Man is directed by Aaron Schimberg director of Go Down Death (2013) and Chained For Life (2018).

A Different Man is brilliant, both in execution and how it uses the themes of exploitation and identity. Combine that with some of the most masterfully done performances of the year and you have something truly special.

Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson are both absolutely incredible here, for Stan this is a career best worthy performance. He starts out as this actor who is suffering from neurofibromatosis, the makeup done here is absolutely phenomenal and really does a fantastic job of capturing the frustration and pain that of the condition. Stan shows all of this through the makeup which just makes his performance all the more impressive, the next part of his performance comes in when he gains a cure and when Adam Pearson enters the film. Pearson is comfortable in his skin and is more well liked than Stan is which sends him into pure jealousy as well as bitterness, Stan plays this part so well and gives his characters Edward and Guy so much depth and we do get to see in the mind of someone incredibly jealous which is just fascinating. This is a performance I would love to see in the best actor conversation at the Oscars.

Adam Pearson is the best part of the film, the rest of the film is brilliant as I said before. But Pearson brings something truly incredible to the table, his character Oswald constantly one ups Guy mostly from self-confidence and just being charming, a good person and funny. It’s the traits any person loves, the two different personalities of Oswald and Guy setup some darkly humorous scenes and just completely capture how investing the film really is. What sold this film for me is when Adam Pearson sings “I Wanna Get Next To You” it’s not only the best moment of the film but one of the best of the year, this is the prime example of self-confidence that Oswald has going up there not caring what anyone says and starts singing. It’s such a brilliant scene that displays Pearson’s charm as an actor and truly makes me excited to see what he’s going to do next. Pearson deserves a best supporting actor nomination as this is truly a beautiful performance.

The film’s writing is magnificent, as I said earlier there are moments where it’s darkly humorous and I’m happy to say those moments don’t take away from the more dramatic ones. If anything the humorous moments add to the dramatic ones, they create the many conversations the characters have with each other, the set up plenty of memorable moments between Guy and Oswald. The writing creates this contrast of the two giving us both perspectives and really giving the viewer so much information in such brilliant ways.

The cinematography combined with the way New York is portrayed is absolutely beautiful, it’s very authentic from the people to the personalities it’s all there. The moments inside the bars are especially a nice touch, you have an ice cream truck blocking the ambulance it’s all there in this fun and quite investing picture. The film itself and its shots almost feel like you are digging through old photographs, maybe it’s because the way it’s shot, but I feel like at any moment I as the viewer want to be dragged into said old photograph and witness the event unfold.

Finally Aaron Schimberg is such an excellent director, the way he creates this authentic world and creates these characters who tell a story on their own is so mesmerizing that you never want to look away. The script from Schimberg as I said before is masterfully done, almost immediately when the film begins you know you’re in for something truly special. The interactions these characters have is so down to earth and completely drags you in.

Overall A Different Man is one of the best films of the year, it’s one of those films you are going to remember for a long time after viewing. I really can’t wait to see what Schimberg does next in his career.

A Different Man is available on all VOD platforms.

10/10 A+

My Old Ass (2024) Film Review

An 18th-birthday mushroom trip brings Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. When the older Elliott starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn’t do, she realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what’s becoming a transformative summer.

My Old Ass is directed by Megan Park who previously directed The Fallout (2021).

The Fallout (2021) is one of my favorite films of the 2020s so far, it’s a powerful film that I never stopped thinking about. So I was excited to see what Megan Park had in store for her second movie and unfortunately it’s a huge step down.

Maisy Stella gives a strong performance and really ends up being quite likable as well if there’s one thing to take away from this movie it’s that I’m excited to see Stella’s acting career evolve. While the movie is nowhere near as well written as The Fallout (2021), Stella is able to turn some parts of the writing into something grounded (I say parts because there’s a lot of dialogue here that’s just flat out not good), her conversations with Aubrey Plaza who plays an older Elliot (Elliot is played by Maisy Stella) is some genuinely touching stuff and really brings in the theme of “what would you ask your older self?” Had the movie stayed where it was with the first act I think this could have been something special.

Unfortunately when Percy Hynes White enters the movie that’s when things go downhill quickly, White as an actor is terrible and very easily the worst part about this movie. Stella and White have no chemistry between one another, White seems more focused on playing generic love interest number 402 we have seen in multiple other movies rather than giving a grounded performance. It’s a shame because Stella is really trying to make the scenes involving her and White work, but White’s bad acting really sticks out like a sore thumb that never goes away.

The third act is way too surface level for its own good, sure it’s emotional and executes the message fine enough. But there really isn’t enough meat on its bone to bring a powerful punch to the mix, something this movie needed after a very bumpy second act. The dialogue during the third act is not necessarily terrible it’s just very lacking in the power department, you can absolutely see what it’s trying to go for here but unfortunately misses the mark.

My Old Ass is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Saturday Night (2024) Film Review

Tensions run high as producer Lorne Michaels and a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers prepare for the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” on Oct. 11, 1975.

Saturday Night is directed by Jason Reitman director of Juno (2007), Thank You For Smoking (2005), Men, Women & Children (2014), Tully (2018), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2018) and a few others. Saturday Night is about the night of the 1975 premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night which later turned into Saturday Night Live.

Despite not watching Saturday Night Live in a very long time I was very open to the idea of making a film based on the night it premiered, unfortunately Saturday Night fails to say anything interesting about the show or sketch comedy in general.

There are positives however mainly from Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman and Rachel Sennott. LaBelle and Hoffman have solid back and forth conversations throughout the movie that display their acting talent quite well, which end up being by far some of the movie’s best moments. There are some decent laughs to be had, while there isn’t anything that you are going to remember there is at the very least some level of charm that pops up every now and then.

The main issue that really hurts this movie is a lot of the performances focus far more on doing caricatures or impressions of Saturday Night Live cast members and celebrities rather than putting in good performances. Nicholas Braun is the worst offense, for some reason he plays both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson both of which he does a terrible job at playing…I honestly couldn’t tell you which one he does a worse job at doing. A lot of these performances ultimately feel like easter eggs so the viewer watching can point at the screen and say “hey I know who that person is playing” that’s really the entire movie.

I get that the whole idea of the movie is it’s supposed to be scatterbrained and filled with chaos, which I’ll give credit where credit is due there are moments where this works well which is mainly the first act. Having that said the movie ultimately ends up hurting itself, it tries to fit in as many subplots as it can while not being able to balance them at all. None of which are particularly interesting or say anything that helps the movie in the long run, which is thanks to the severe lack of depth the movie gives these performances and the subplots.

Overall Saturday Night isn’t necessarily a terrible movie, it’s decently made and has some strong moments. But it’s severely lacking in depth and really misses out on expanding its own ideas.

Saturday Night is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Rumours (2024) Film Review

Leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies gather for the annual G7 summit to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. They soon become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles as night falls in the misty woods and they realize they are suddenly alone

Rumours is directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin all three of which have worked together over the years they have directed The Green Fog (2017). Guy Maddin has directed many films by himself such as Careful (1992), My Winnipeg (2007) and a few others.

Rumours is a very strange one, a giant brain ends up in the middle of the woods but the movie only gets stranger from there. While the movie does have a decent start the rest of the movie falls flat from very weak political satire mainly due to how the story ends up being structured towards the end.

The biggest highlight here is the acting, the performances are all pretty solid across the board especially Cate Blanchett who I do like seeing in absurd roles like this. The cast has solid chemistry with one another and there are moments where the dry humor shines particularly in the beginning of the movie, as I said before the first act is actually quite decent. We get a nice introduction to the characters and the setup is genuinely interesting, a bunch of world leaders discussing how to address a global crisis. It’s clearly a political satire on how incompetent world leaders can be which I think the movie does well at least at first.

As the movie goes on it begins to really get stale and the political satire begins to get squished into this mix of B-movie horror that ultimately doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the movie. The way the story is structured at this point becomes very repetitive and really does not do anything interesting with the political satire that it established at the beginning. It almost feels like the movie completely forgot about its own satire and decided to throw absurdist elements into the mix none of which really stick.

Overall I do like what Rumours is going for but the movie really suffers badly after the first act and never recovers after that. I do recommend taking a look at the movie even if I don’t think it’s great, I can see how someone can walk away liking this one.

Rumours is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Brothers (2024) Film Review

Two criminal twin brothers, one trying to reform, embark on a dangerous heist road trip. Facing legal troubles, gunfights and family drama, they must reconcile their differences before their mission leads to self-destruction.

Brothers is directed by Max Barbakow director of Palm Springs (2020).

Brothers is the very definition of wasting a talented cast, what’s even more shocking is this is from the director of Palm Springs (2020) a film that was very likable and great as well. Brothers is the direct opposite and when you really boil down to it does not have a whole lot going on.

The performances are fine enough, Peter Dinklage, Josh Brolin, Brendan Fraser and Glenn Close all give the type of performances they are assigned. None of them are particularly good but they are still the best part about this movie. There’s actually a few particularly moments between Brolin, Dinklage and Close that are sweet even if the moments lack development.

The rest of the movie is filled with unfunny gags and a very uninteresting plot about collecting stolen emeralds from 30 years ago. It’s the type of action crime comedy movie we have seen a thousand times before it and we will most definitely see after it, if you have seen one of these movies before you could probably already guess what’s going to end up happening.

Really don’t have anything else to say here, Brothers is the very definition of a streaming movie that has a very talented cast but doesn’t bother to use them in an interesting way.

Brothers is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Your Monster (2024) Film Review!

Soft-spoken actress Laura Franco’s life crumbles. She regains her voice after encountering a terrifying but oddly charming Monster living in her closet.

Your Monster is directed by Caroline Lindy which is her directorial debut.

What happens when you blend Old Hollywood and Broadway elements together? You get Your Monster a film before going in I heard was really great but honestly i definitely think that’s a huge understatement, I think this is quite honestly one of the best films of the year for quite a number of reasons from the performances, to Caroline Lindy blending so many genres perfectly together it’s all there.

Starting with the performances Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey are some of the best of the year. Melissa Barrera as Laura Franco is her best performance of her career so far, I think this role gave Melissa exactly what she needed to really put it out there and say “hey I’m here to stay” her character is hilarious, actually quite relatable and actually quite raw. The scenes of her letting all her anger out are filled to the brim with passion, you can absolutely tell Barrera went all in and absolutely nailed it. Melissa Barrera’s singing voice continues to impress here, it was already impressive with In The Heights (2021) but I would argue it’s displayed so much better here. Her singing “My Stranger” alone is just beautiful and is such a beautiful way to close the film as well. Melissa Barrera is able to adapt to the change of tone when needed, whether it’s a humorous, dramatic or even a musical one she’s able to turn every single scene into a blast. Something that a talented performance is able to do!

What I said about Melissa Barrera can easily be applied to Tommy Dewey, his character simply known as Monster is a ton of fun. The chemistry between Barrera and Dewey is honestly heartfelt and actually quite beautiful, the little moments of the two looking at each other in the eyes is truly mesmerizing and makes the viewer all the more invested in both of them. On his on Dewey plays a lot like The Beast from Beauty and The Beast (1991) but at the same time is a very different character and his character development goes on a different path as well. We learn about Monster over the course of the film and what his goals are, he bonds with Laura Franco over music, general talk and so on. Dewey just gives a phenomenal performance all around while doing this.

As I said at the beginning Your Monster combines Old Hollywood elements with Broadway elements. The Broadway elements are given, the music moments really capture the Broadway feel especially when Melissa Barrera sings “My Stranger” she has this powerful and clear voice that switches different moods that screams Broadway. The character’s mannerisms especially Laura Franco and Monster really do have Old Hollywood touches to them, the romantic scenes especially you get a lot of the mannerisms, speech and even character moments. Cinematography Will Stone is able to capture all of this perfectly especially when combined with the investing atmosphere throughout the film.

Finally director Caroline Lindy does such a masterful job in the director’s chair. She has an eye for engaging shots that really tell the viewer a little more about each of the scenes, there’s one scene in particular that really stands out that has both Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey just go all out. They both have a range of emotions during this moment that Lindy captures so well and brings so much passion as well. Combining all of this makes for a fascinating picture that you never want to stop looking at.

Overall Your Monster is one of the best films of the year. It’s hilarious, heartfelt and a ton of fun, Caroline Lindy is definitely a director to keep an eye on because this was incredible. If you haven’t checked this one out please do so.

Your Monster is in theaters and will be on VOD platforms tomorrow!

10/10 A+