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.
Follows a Dad who finds time for himself for the first time in years while his wife and kids are away. He reconnects with a friend for a wild weekend.
Me Time is yet another Kevin Hart and Netflix movie collaboration, two months ago we got The Man From Toronto but I guess that wasn’t enough. Finding anything to say here is a struggle because this is the exact same thing as a lot of other Kevin Hart movies, instead of The Rock it’s Mark Wahlberg who gives such a dull performance that it’s actually quite hilarious at times. The positives mostly come from a few comedic bits and at times the chemistry of Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg somehow breaking through the script to deliver some great moments. There’s also the chemistry between Kevin Hart and Regina Hall plus this family dynamic that is genuinely sweet. But everything else is a complete and total mess particularly the writing that has no clear goal of what it wants to do, the family dynamic I mentioned earlier while sweet does not get explored as much as it should have. It’s sort of tacked on with the rest of the movie that’s filled to the brim of unfunny scenes, the climax just sort of happens it’s like they realized they had to finish the movie up and quickly tried to think of a way to end it not caring if it ends up being a mess. Finally there’s the tone of the movie that clearly wants to be comedic but tacks on the serious family dynamic that is barely explored and is only decent enough thanks to Regina Hall being such a great actress. Overall Me Time is definitely better than The Man From Toronto but that is most certainly not a compliment. This is exactly what you would expect a movie starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg to be like.
Set around a family gathering to celebrate Easter Sunday, the comedy is based on Jo Koy’s life experiences and stand-up comedy.
Easter Sunday is yet another comedy that just sort of exists, I definitely think there were good intentions with this movie and it means well with it’s message. But the problem is the movie isn’t funny and the script goes all over the place with it’s humor. It tries to appeal to so many demographics which is fine itself but becomes a problem when you constantly switch back and forth, the acting is honestly not terrible here Jo Koy, Brandon Wardell and Eva Noblezada are all decent in their roles and there are very cute moments that do give the movie personality. But unfortunately that only goes so far when the movie quickly becomes a chore to sit through, which is shame because there are good ideas here in this movie, it’s just not working due to a lot of comedy movie cliches that completely bury the movie.
After an accident during their vacations on a paradisiac island, a group of friends is stalked by a large shark.
Maneater is you guessed it another garbage shark movie, meaning there is absolutely nothing new to say here because this movie plays out exactly how you think it’s going to. The only key difference here is the editing is pretty atrocious, there’s these dialogue scenes that go on for quite awhile. It would be one thing if these scenes gave some sort of exposition or character development but that’s not the case here, Instead it’s random chit-chat that does absolutely nothing for the movie at all. As far as the shark is concerned it takes a backseat until it’s far too late to save the movie, the shark attacks are also poorly filmed as well and like the rest of the movie is a complete and total mess. Everything else is exactly the same as every other garbage shark movie, terrible acting, takes way too long to get to the shark attacks, terrible writing and so on.
A journalist returns home after the death of her father and discovers a mysterious cassette tape describing strange disappearances and mysterious lights appearing in the skies of West Texas.
I definitely think somewhere in this movie there are some great ideas here, however it takes a bit too long to get going and unfortunately never really goes anywhere. Outside of a few shots, the atmosphere genuinely being creepy during the first half of the movie and some of the family history. Everything else doesn’t fully develop or isn’t anywhere near as strong as it could have been, some plot lines are completely forgotten about and are left unexplained (not In a good way), the characters are dull and the second half of the movie really sinks the boat in terms of atmosphere and overall quality.
The Ghost Lights is available on all VOD Platforms.
The Red Ribbon Army was once destroyed by Son Goku. Individuals, who carry on its spirit, have created the ultimate Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. These two Androids call themselves “Super Heroes”. They start attacking Piccolo and Gohan… What is the New Red Ribbon Army’s objective? In the face of approaching danger, it is time to awaken, Super Hero!
If there’s a best time to be a Dragon Ball fan it’s right now because they truly knocked it out of the park once again. I’ve said before how Dragon Ball is one of the main franchises I grew up and still love it to this day and the franchise has continued to grow over the years. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero focuses on Gohan and Piccolo two characters that definitely needed a lot more spotlight after Dragon Ball Super and this movie just reminds me of why they are such great characters, they get a ton more development as well and with Piccolo’s development there’s some very interesting callbacks to the series that the franchise itself hasn’t really touched. Those said callbacks work truly well here and are put into the story in very creative ways, in fact there’s a whole lot here that is reintroduced to new audiences that works well, Goku and Vegeta take the backseat for this movie which is perfectly fine and for the scenes they are given they are quite great. Of course Beerus and Whis offer some great comedy as usual even if they aren’t in the film for very long, they are still some of the best characters in the franchise. The villains and new characters are pretty actually pretty solid, yes the whole Red Ribbon Army plot is used again the movie manages to make it fresh and quite interesting. Magenta is pretty fun although he might just be Commander Red with a different name he’s definitely not a bad villain at all, Dr. Hedo, Gamma #1 and Gamma #2 are some of the best parts of the film, they are truly entertaining characters with a solid backstory and have a couple genuinely powerful scenes. The animation does take a bit of time to get used to as it is a completely different style from the last movie, the animation is at it’s best during the fight scenes where there are some truly excellent moments (won’t spoil any), the main criticism mostly comes from Cell Max while I understand what they were trying to go for Cell Max just doesn’t have any character to him at all, it’s mostly a giant beast who roars and that’s about it. However that does not take away from the beautiful fight scenes and fantastic moments during the battle (again won’t spoil those here) lastly there’s the overall entertainment factor combined with the nostalgia feel to the film. The Dragon Ball Franchise has come a very long way and it truly shows here, it really reminds you of what makes this franchise so incredible in the first place. It captures everything the action, the humor, the flashbacks, the range of characters. Absolutely everything and it’s all worth it!!
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is playing in theaters.
After orchestrating a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family.
For awhile there’s always been talk of Orphan (2009) which quickly became a cult classic getting another film, Orphan is a fantastic film that takes a really strong premise and executes it perfectly. Orphan First Kill is a prequel which going into the movie there was definitely a lot to be worried about, first off there’s the director William Brent Bell who’s directed The Boy (2016), it’s sequel Brahms: The Boy II (2020), The Devil Inside (2012), Stay Alive (2006), Separation (2021) and Wer (2013) all pretty terrible movies that range in different strokes of how bad they are. The other concern was prequels are often very hard to get right and this isn’t just for the horror genre this is just in general. Luckily Orphan First Kill is a really strong film that is a complete blast. First off Isabelle Fuhrman once again does a fantastic job as Esther, it’s actually quite amazing how well she pulls off the role despite being 25 now and it’s not noticeable either! The film captures the same sort of atmosphere that Orphan did and actually goes a bit further with it as well, the film keeps things at a steady pace while focusing on Esther’s character and the atmosphere. Which really does the film wonders in the long run, the kills are quite brutal and completely match the tone the film is going for, the rest of the cast do a pretty solid job here as well. While their characters aren’t the most interesting it’s the their performances that truly make it work in the end, the story itself goes completely off the rails in the best way possible. There’s a twist at the end that the movie takes full advantage of by just having a complete blast with it, the build up to it is truly great and the delivery is truly campy fun. Overall Orphan: First Kill is a really strong film that takes what everyone loved about Orphan and does it justice!
Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a rag-tag shelter pack–Ace the hound, PB the potbellied pig, Merton the turtle and Chip the squirrel–to master their own newfound powers and help him rescue the superheroes.
DC League Of Super Pets definitely surprised me in a few ways, this could have easily been a very unfunny and forgettable kids movie but there’s actually a decent amount to enjoy here. The voice cast is overall great Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Keanu Reeves and a few others do a fantastic job here. There’s a few jokes here that land pretty well and there are some that fall flat but they aren’t terrible or anything to complain over, the animation is fun and colorful plus it gives some of the characters a decent amount of detail. What’s the most surprising about the movie is there’s some genuine heart in it, there’s a few heartfelt moments that actually give the movie some strength when it comes to storytelling during those scenes. The movie mainly suffers from a lot of beat by beat plot points that really don’t add anything new and the animal characters outside of Krypto, Lulu and Ace just sort of exist, the three I mentioned get character development at least and are fun characters but the same can’t be said for the others. The others mainly serve to be this movie’s “silly sidekicks” but for a movie called League Of Super-Pets you would think they would get a tad more development right? Overall DC League Of Super-Pets is a serviceable kids movie that definitely had a surprising amount of effort put into it, what could have been a forgettable cashgrab ends up being a decent enough kids movie.
DC League Of Super-Pets is available on all VOD platforms.
Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth) is a sensitive and naïve 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her disillusioned mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and influencer sister (Taylour Paige). Working as a caregiver and just longing to be seen, she begins an exploratory affair with her older, married employer (Jon Bernthal), and is thrust into a startling education on sexuality, loss and power.
The fact Sharp Stick is one of two films directed by Lena Dunham that have released/going to be released this year is truly baffling (the other being Catherine Called Birdy). It should be a surprise to nobody that Sharp Stick is dreadful with every sense of the word, the only positives are Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal and Taylour Paige (who is very underused here) their performances aren’t anything amazing but considering the script they were given they didn’t do terrible. That’s where Sharp Stick ends for me because the rest of the movie is ridiculously juvenile, it’s supposedly a “comedy” I say comedy very loosely because there was not a single moment here that was even chuckle worthy. The premise itself is interesting and what the movie tries to communicate might look and sound like something worth listening to, however that falls apart due to Lena Dunham’s direction and writing. Lena Dunham understanding of the movie’s ideas is the equivalent of a 6th-8th grader sitting in the middle of health class and giggling every time the teacher describes genitalia. I get the movie is trying to be some coming of age awkward sex story, but it’s done in such a horrible way and treats the topic of sex like it’s some practice from another universe. Which I’m yes not everyone is going to know everything there is to know about sex but this is truly unrealistic and really doesn’t make much sense when you think about it for at least seconds. Outside of that there really isn’t much else to this movie it’s a terrible plot with sex scenes and that’s it, I’m not exactly sure what the whole point here was but if it was to make an awkward coming of age story about sex it completely failed.
Two lifelong buddies must unravel the circumstances that led to a corpse in their bathtub in the wake of a Halloween party.
The Day After Halloween is like if you took The Hangover and parts of Kevin Smith’s films and made them dreadfully unfunny, the pacing is dreadful to the point where it would be far more entertaining to watch pain dry. The acting is terrible as well as the writing there seems to be no sense of direction of where the story wants to go or wants to accomplish, the characters are one dimensional and have absolutely no interesting qualities to them. It doesn’t help that the movie has that “lol random events keep happening for the sake of trying to get a few laughs” type of style that a lot of movies don’t really use anymore (at least from what I’ve seen), this was a whole lot of nothing and just an overall painful time.
The Day After Halloween is available on all VOD Platforms.
Jerome Reviews... 