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+

A Jazzman’s Blues has strong moments but is held back from an average script.

A tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies in the deep south during an unsolved murder investigation.

A Jazzman’s Blues is Tyler Perry’s best film in a very long time, while the movie is very flawed I do have to respect him for getting a film that he considers a passion project that he wrote back in 1995 out there. Having that said the movie definitely shows that it was written back in the 90s, mainly through the script that while does have some pretty powerful moments ends up being empty in some areas. The movie tackles racism in the Deep South in the 20th century, plus you have a forbidden love story thrown into the mix as well. A lot of the movie kind of repeats things a lot of other movies have already done and far better when it comes to this topic, the jazz scenes are definitely electrifying and a lot of fun to watch as well. The performances are all around pretty solid especially during the last half of the movie where it gets brutal in one particular scene, the first half of the movie is a bit rough writing wise. While there some moments that build the Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) and Bayou (Joshua Boone) as characters and their chemistry. A lot of other moments feel like they exist just to draw scenes out, the last half is definitely the strongest especially the conversations between Bayou and Ira (Ryan Eggold). Overall A Jazzman’s Blues is definitely not a bad movie by any means, it’s just one that had the writing been a lot stronger could have been much more.

A Jazzman’s Blues is available on Netflix.

5/10 C

6 Festivals is filled with heart and great music.

Maxie, Summer and James share a deep bond and love for music. James is the entrepreneur of the trio, his sights set on a career as a promoter. Summer has an incredible singing voice. Maxie is the maestro of mischief. When James receives a devastating diagnosis, the friends — each with burdens to bear — throw themselves into a whirlwind of festivals in an attempt to escape reality.

6 Festivals is a pretty generic coming of age movie but what makes up for it is mostly the performances and the heart of the movie. I can definitely see a lot of the cast going on to do bigger films somewhere down the line, particularly Rasmus King and Yasmin Honeychurch who has a beautiful singing voice. The second half of the movie was far better than the first mostly due to the emotional and character scenes kicking in, where as the first half is just sort of generic in it’s writing with common coming of age elements. Underneath all the music festivals there’s troubles that each of the main characters go through, while not every single one is a home run writing wise. There is still some very interesting bits that will invest the viewer and has a lot to say about different types of issues the characters are going through.

6 Festivals is available on Paramount+

6/10 C+

Lou is another forgettable Netflix action thriller.

A young girl is kidnapped during a powerful storm. Her mother joins forces with her mysterious neighbour to set off in pursuit of the kidnapper. Their journey will test their limits and expose the dark secrets of their past.

What a surprise another Netflix action thriller that’s very forgettable, it’s a shame because there is at least some decent parts about this one. Allison Janney is actually pretty great as one of the main leads, her character is quite interesting it’s just a shame there isn’t a whole lot of development until the last half. Jurnee Smollett and Logan Marshall-Green are also pretty solid here as well plus there’s some actually decent action scenes that are quite entertaining. Outside of all of that there really isn’t much else here, a lot of it is beat by beat action thriller plot lines and is way too predictable for it’s own good. The writing offers interesting ideas during the first half of the movie but never expands on them as the movie goes on, I guess Lou is a fine enough time waster but at that point why even bother when there’s better films in the genre?

Lou is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+

Don’t Worry Darling is a decent film that could have been more.

In the 1950s, Alice and Jack live in the idealized community of Victory, an experimental company town that houses the men who work on a top-secret project. While the husbands toil away, the wives get to enjoy the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their seemingly perfect paradise. However, when cracks in her idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something sinister lurking below the surface, Alice can’t help but question exactly what she’s doing in Victory.

Don’t Worry Darling was a film I’ve been looking out for since it was announced, the film sounded very promising from Olivia Wilde being in the director’s chair, the cast and the plot itself. The movie sounded very intriguing, while I don’t think Don’t Worry Darling is nowhere near as bad as people are saying it is. In fact I wouldn’t call it a bad movie there’s so much to like about it, for starters let’s get the obvious out of the way Florence Pugh gives a fantastic performance as usual, she continues to show that she’s a powerhouse actress that will make any type of script she is given work, even with the writing flaws with the movie Pugh manages to make those work quite well. Chris Pine and Gemma Chan are fine enough (Pine’s character is a bit cartoony however) the film is truly gorgeous and it compliments the setting and atmosphere during the first two acts quite well, some of the ideas the movie presents are actually pretty well done and evolve over the first two acts. Outside of Harry Styles’s acting and some writing moments the first two acts are actually great and definitely get the viewer invested into the story. The main problem comes in when the third act rolls around, it’s a complete and total mess that has absolutely no idea what it’s trying to say. The writing in particular suffers with trying to shoehorn a lot of horror elements that completely backfire, the whole twist at the end is unintentionally hilarious and completely falls flat in every single way possible. There’s little to no build up and a lack of exploring the ideas presented in third act. I overall had a decent time with Don’t Worry Darling it’s definitely not a terrible movie but it is a very disappointing one as there was so much more potential.

Don’t Worry Darling is currently in theaters.

7/10 B

After Ever Happy…a slight improvement for the series.

As a shocking truth about a couple’s families emerges, the two lovers discover they are not so different from each other. Tessa is no longer the sweet, simple girl she was when she met Hardin.

After Ever Happy is the fourth movie in the “After” series, at this point everyone knows the drill when one of these movies comes out. What did surprise me about this one is that there was actually some level of attempt to try and make it work, the keyword is try because the movie does not succeed. Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Josephine Langford are actually not the worst here, unlike the other movies there’s actually some moments that they both manage to make work well enough. Unfortunately most of the movie is yet again almost the exact same thing as the last three movies, the writing is still a huge issue with a lot of terrible character choices and moments that lead to some admittedly laughable moments. Then there’s the ending which is by far the most hilarious moment to come out of these movies thus far, it definitely felt like there was a whole third act missing that the movie just didn’t bother to use. In fact that’s exactly what’s wrong with the movie there really isn’t a plot, it’s more arguments and sex scenes (although there isn’t as much as the other movies…shocker I know). Overall while After Ever Happy is better than the previous three movies that is still not saying much given that it’s still a terribly written mess.

After Ever Happy is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

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-

Pearl is a beautiful and haunting Technicolor inspired nightmare.

Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies.

Ti West completely nails it yet again with Pearl, Pearl serves as a prequel to X which released back in March of this year. Much like what he did with X when he made the film look like something straight out of the 70s and 80s horror film era, Pearl is made to look like a technicolor (even though they didn’t actually use technicolor they still did a fantastic job or replicating it) film from the 1930s (think Wizard Of Oz), the film is absolutely gorgeous and like X captures the time period it takes place in. Mia Goth completely hits it out of the park once again as Pearl, she gives one of the best performances so far this year and completely dives deep into her character. There’s some truly horrifyingly effective moments that she pushes with her role, there’s a 6 minute monologue that is tragic, horrifying and absolutely beautiful all at the same time that really captivates the viewer. The writing is truly masterful the amount of attention to detail the film goes in with the characters especially Pearl is truly inspiring and fascinating, the atmosphere is thrilling there’s something very eerie about the town the film takes place in. Where anything can happen at any given moment, it matches the type of town you would have in a nightmare it’s truly haunting and the style of the film only makes it that more effective. Ti West’s direction is once again absolutely fantastic, once again West truly understands the horror genre so he expresses that here. Which is a different type of horror that X was so it’s quite fascinating to see him completely master not one but types of horror in the exact same year, finally Pearl as a film stands on it’s own it’s far different than X that while yes is a prequel could be considered it’s own film (although there’s a few callbacks to X but not very huge ones). Overall Pearl is one of the best films of the year (my favorite so far this year) it’s a beautifully crafted film that truly hit it out of the park, it’s a nightmare of a film that I truly recommend!

Pearl is available In theaters.

10/10 A+

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