Recently widowed Dr. Nate Daniels and his two teenage daughters travel to a South African game reserve managed by Martin Battles, an old family friend and wildlife biologist. However, what begins as a journey of healing soon turns into a fearsome fight for survival when a lion, a survivor of bloodthirsty poachers, begins stalking them.
Reading the plot of Beast is exactly what you are going to get, it’s basically Idris Elba Vs a Lion but manages to actually be a bit more than that. Idris Elba gives a very solid performance in the leading role and completely sells this movie, Leah Jeffries and Iyana Hailey are both quite fantastic here and surprisingly deliver some heartfelt moments which the same can be said for Idris Elba. That’s the major part of Beast that’s pretty surprising there’s some genuinely touching heartfelt moments between Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) and his daughters Norah (Leah Jeffries) and Meredith (Iyana Hailey) that actually work really well here. The film has a thrilling atmosphere that combines it with it’s setting and filming creating a quite thrilling ride, there’s a bunch of long takes here that are pretty impressive and add quite a lot to the movie. It creates a huge amount of tension and makes a scene that could have been a bit forgettable far more memorable, Beast does have some writing moments that do hold it back from being better such as some of the character decisions being a bit too ridiculous. But that isn’t enough to stop Beast from being a very entertaining ride, while it might not be as good as The Shallows or Crawl as far as very recent good killer animal movies go. It’s still worthy of being considered a very solid movie to add to the genre!
Massimo is a member of the Sicilian mafia family and Laura is a sales manager. On a trip to Sicily to try to salvage her relationship, Massimo kidnaps her and gives her 365 days to fall in love with him.
It’s truly baffling how not one but TWO of these movies got released this year, earlier in April 2022 365 Days: This Day released which was a sequel to 365 Days (2020) now we have The Next 365 Days which is somehow even worse than the last movie, everything I said about the last movie can be said here. It’s the same garbage acting with the same horrible fanfiction style writing, each and every scene in this one is nothing more than glorified badly done music videos that have no plot at all. Somehow the songs are even worse here, where as I found some of the music in the last movie to be fine at best, I can’t think of a single song from this movie where I found it to be passable. But like the songs in the other movie they don’t add anything to the story or compliment it very well at all, especially when you combine that with horribly done sex scenes you get nothing more than a terrible music video with sex in it. I wish I had a lot more to say about this movie but I just don’t, I’m not joking when I say this is almost identical to the last movie. The Next 365 Days is the worst of the three movies because of laziness, if you are going to add another movie to your horrible series. At least have the decent to not copy and paste everything that made the previous movie so terrible.
After two decades, a damaged family reunite at their remote farmhouse, where they confront long-buried secrets and sins of the past.
I’m sure there’s a lot more going on with What Josiah Saw and I’m sure this movie will have it’s audience but unfortunately I’m not one of them. The performances from Nick Stahl and Robert Patrick are both very solid and give some pretty raw moments, the movie struggles from its beginning as it takes a bit too long to introduce it’s characters as well as trying to find the right amount of atmosphere to use. Luckily the middle of the movie is a lot better and starts to move the story at a steady pace (not every scene is perfect but for the most part the pacing is better here), the ending is by far the strongest part of the film. Finishing it off with a haunting and pretty surprising ending that gets under the viewer’s skin, the film is divided into chapters and each one feels like you are watching a completely different movie. Which isn’t always a terrible thing in this case as the movie does try to combine them together to make a further point, but the beginning of the movie as I said earlier is dreadfully slow. The writing isn’t as strong as it could have been, while there are some interesting moments that explore the theme of childhood trauma and how it affects people in different ways. There really isn’t anything here that stands out, it’s a very well made movie and has the right ideas. The movie just suffers from a very unnecessary running time and writing that’s on the weaker side.
Siblings Daphne and Wilson Shaw brave the long shadow of childhood trauma together in a fight with a demon stalker that is hell-bent on their destruction.
When you have a story like this as simple as a brother and sister wanting to get revenge on a evil force that’s stalking them, you don’t need to make it way too complicated to follow as well as throwing a lot of slow burn horror elements for no reason. The acting is decent and the filming is beautifully done, but the editing could have used a lot of work. There’s a lot here that seems to be only included to draw out the movie with it’s very slow pacing that doesn’t quite reach the mark, there’s definitely some decent ideas in here but are unfortunately not really well scattered out through the movie, the end result of what the movie builds up to isn’t very rewarding either.
When I Consume you is available on all VOD Platforms.
A journalist and podcaster travels from New York City to Texas to investigate the death of a woman whom he hooked up with.
Vengeance was a bit of a surprise as the trailer did not really do this movie justice, it’s a genuinely well written dark comedic thriller that explores quite a lot of themes. The characters are decently well written and the cast do a pretty good in their roles. Many characters talk about morality, relationships, regret, isolation and so on, sure it might not be in a very deep discussion but it’s enough to be noteworthy. The tonal shifts are a bit distracting at times and sometimes take away from a moment that could have been far stronger, but it’s not enough to completely take the viewer out of the movie. There’s plenty of great moments here especially with a solid cast and decent writing that may not break any new ground, but it is entertaining enough to warrant a watch.
An account of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon living in the south of France between 1941 and 1943.
Charlotte definitely has the right ingredients to b a really strong movie, there’s just many parts about it that hold it back from doing so. The voice acting is quite great particularly Keira Knightly who really tries the best she can with the script she’s given, the story itself is interesting and tells the true story of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon during World War II. The film itself is quite dark particularly the ending which is very sad and is very effective, there’s footage at the end of a small interview of Salomon’s parents it’s incredibly touching and quite powerful as well. The problems with the movie are the script being way too weak and the animation, the animation isn’t something I would call terrible. But it really doesn’t capture the life of Charlotte Salomon and what she was going through very well, the script lacked powerful moments which is something a film like this needs. There’s the ending yes but a lot of the movie’s script was very undercooked and was very rushed as well. Charlotte isn’t a bad movie just one that could have went a lot deeper than it did.
On the eve of her college graduation, Natalie’s life diverges into two parallel realities: one in which she becomes pregnant and must navigate motherhood in her Texas hometown, the other in which she moves to Los Angeles to pursue her career.
Look Both Ways is a movie that is clearly trying to talk about a heavy subject (abortion) but for whatever reason doesn’t discuss it further and can’t even say the word abortion. Lil Reinhart gives a solid performance despite a script that really does not go in much depth outside of a few moments that work decently, the major problem as said before is how the movie doesn’t want to fully commit to discussing it’s heavy subject. It feels like a cop out not talking about the option of an abortion, if you are going to talk about abortion or any other heavy subject commit to it and don’t cop out, at that point why even bother?
Look Both Ways is available on Netflix.
3/10 D-
Two best bros must get off work in time to make it to their 10 year high school reunion and reconnect with the girls that got away.
Attempts to capture that early 2000s comedy classic feel but misses it’s mark. There’s a few moments that are pretty okay but a lot of it is either not funny or doesn’t use it’s premise to it’s full potential. The acting isn’t the worst and it does seem like the cast had a blast making the movie so that’s something at least, but a lot of it is largely forgettable unfortunately.
Movers Ultimate releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
Will has a loving boyfriend and a good life, but when his mentally ill mother reemerges after a 10-year absence, he descends into a dark spiral of madness, haunted by the manifestation of his childhood trauma.
Hypochondriac had everything it needed to be a solid movie it’s the way it was executed that really held it back. There was some genuinely decent moments that actually tackled mental illness in a surprisingly realistic way during the first half of the movie. It did a genuinely good job of building Zach Villa’s character and brought many ideas to the table that I was very interested to see how the movie would develop them during the rest of the movie. Unfortunately the rest of the movie completely abandons the realistic approach to mental illness and instead trades in for a very over the top cliched way that a lot of movies commonly do, a lot of the story is replaced with trying to be a slow burn that uses trippy visuals which I don’t have an issue with the idea itself. The problem is it has to at least make some sort of sense and can’t just come right out of nowhere and sadly that’s the case here, heck the trippy visuals didn’t even look that great so the payoff was really not worth it in this case. It’s a shame because the acting was pretty decent and there were a handful of moments from the writing that really delivered, if you really fixed up the second half of the movie and put it more in line with the first half. You would have a very strong movie that could be seen as a hidden gem, but as it stands Hypochondriac is unfortunately a huge missed opportunity.
Hypochondriac is available on all VOD Platforms.
5/10 C
After moving from New York City to Indiana, a 12-year-old navigates his parents’ divorce, his impending bar mitzvah and his new school’s social circles.
From what I’ve read about 13: The Musical it absolutely butchers the Broadway musical it’s based on, cutting several songs and replacing them with new ones is one of the main criticisms I’ve seen. Which at that point why make the movie in the first place? But that’s honestly the least of this movie’s issues because some of the songs here aren’t bad, a lot of them sound the exact same unfortunately but I don’t think any of them are terrible. Mainly due to the cast having great singing voices and definitely try to give it their all, the main issues here are mostly the story being the most below average coming of age story you could think of. And the style of the movie that just comes off as an old navy commercial (particularly a back to school commercial) the choreography is great and as I said the cast truly tries to make the film work but they just aren’t given a lot to really work with. Outside of a few moments that are genuinely touching the movie’s themes go about as deep as a bad Disney Channel Original movie.
13: The Musical is available on Netflix!
3/10 D-
Two strangers wind up double-booked in the same upstate New York rental during the start of COVID-19. Exasperating the situation, the lockdown forces them both to stay and confront the unexpected feelings that develop between them.
Oh joy another COVID-19 related movie, I was honestly considering skipping on this one but Katie Holmes in the director’s chair caught my eye. Talk about tone-deaf and self centered, the movie attempts to show two strangers bonding and slowly having romantic feelings for each other during the pandemic. While having this state of ignorant bliss when the rest of the world was suffering, with Language Lessons and 7 Days were aware what they were talking about, they were actual great films and the movie wasn’t just about the main character’s issues. With Alone Together you get nothing but the main characters constantly being ignorant about the rest of the world while acting like they have it the absolute worst, Katie Holmes, Jim Sturgess and Derek Luke do a fine enough job here but there really isn’t anything to get excited over. It’s emotionally hollow and very dull in it’s execution, there’s a couple moments with Melissa Leo which are genuinely sweet. But it’s not enough to save this movie from being a huge mess.
Alone Together is available on all VOD Platforms.
2/10 F
Twelve boys and their football coach become trapped in a northern Thailand cave by flood waters, and an international team of rescue workers scramble to save them.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe there has never been a two movies that have been released on the same day that are about the exact same thing in recent years at least (it probably has happened before I just can’t recall it ever happening). Thirteen Lives (which I already reviewed) and Cave Rescue are about the exact same thing which is about the Tham Lung cave rescue, Cave Rescue is the definitely the weaker of the two it does have great filming and there are some claustrophobic moments that are done pretty well. But a lot of this movie feels like a much weaker version of Ron Howard’s version, the acting is not as good and the writing is just not there when it comes to powerful moments. It’s just more of the same thing as Thirteen Lives only worse.
In the summer of 2020, two couples go on a remote camping trip after months of a mandatory COVID -19 lockdown. At a nearby drop-off point, two goons decide to go rogue, inadvertently implicating the unwitting campers. What started as a fun-filled vacation turns into a test of loyalty and survival. Suddenly, the pandemic is the least of their worries.
With a poster like this you would think Camping Trip might be a slasher film. That’s not the case here, instead it’s a group of friends who bump into some goons and you can pretty much guess what happens from there. Camping Trip is really nothing special as far as thrillers or horror movies go, it’s a movie that takes place during Summer 2020 where COVID-19 is mentioned outside of that the pandemic really doesn’t do or cause anything significant to happen. There’s a few moments that have pretty okay atmosphere but those are so far and few in between that it doesn’t even matter at one point.
Camping Trip releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
When a group of 20-somethings gets stuck at a remote mansion during a hurricane, a party game gone very, very wrong ends with a dead body on the ground and fake friends at every turn as they try to find the killer among them.
The horror genre like all genres has evolved over the years, however no matter how much time goes by I always find horror to be the most interesting mainly due to so much talent and ideas being thrown into the ring. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a prime example of just that, it takes the whodunnit genre and completely makes it’s own in so many different ways. For starters the cast is quite incredible, Rachel Sennott once again does a fantastic job her performance in last year’s Shiva Baby was huge breakout performance and here it’s just as fantastic. Maria Bakalova, Amandla Stenberg and Myha’la Herrold were other standouts who truly did a fantastic job. What’s even better is how well the cast connected with one another, there’s this chemistry that absolutely worked between all of them and absolutely felt as natural as possible. Which leads into the Gen-Z satire elements of the film which is the first time I can say that a movie captured effortlessly, for the longest time in several films I’ve reviewed and talked about I always end up asking “did the writers even know how Gen-Z talks or acts?” But here I don’t need to ask that question because it’s very spot on and it’s hilarious as well, Sarah DeLappe did a fantastic job with the screenplay not only does she capture the whole Gen-Z humor but she further expands elements on the whodunnit genre. The same can be said for director Halina Reijn who creates a thrilling atmosphere that also has a large humorous feel to it, The gore and kills are so much fun here combined with a lot of the dramatic moments between the cast truly pushes this movie to another level. The filming is very well done with a close and tight shots it truly gives the film a much more grounded look, lastly Bodies Bodies Bodies is an example of a fun summer film that is also wonderfully crafted, hilarious and thrilling. Overall Bodies Bodies Bodies is one of the best films of the year, the cast and crew truly take the horror genre and the whodunnit genre and completely make it their own! Be sure to see this one!!
Jerome Reviews... 