When a young boy contracts a mysterious illness, his mother must decide how far she will go to protect him from terrifying forces in her past.
Son is another horror movie that definitely had a lot of potential, but sadly falls into below average territory. Son is another creepy kid movie, which is fine when done right those movies could be good. Unfortunately Son is not one of those. There is some very decent filming and some actual okay acting that is somewhat investing. The problem here is the script it feels almost identical to several other creepy kid movies that have come before it and really doesn’t change up anything. Granted if someone has surprisingly never seen a creepy kid movie before this isn’t a terrible movie to start out with. It’s not necessarily a bad movie as it is a disappointing one that could have done a lot more.
Three stories about the world of opioids collide: a drug trafficker arranges a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation between Canada and the U.S.
Oh look the mandatory crime thriller of the week and surprise it’s not good! Crisis has absolutely nothing memorable, it’s another “drugs bad” movie that has a surface level explanation of why drugs are bad. There’s some decently filmed shots here and there, the acting isn’t terrible as it does have Gary Oldman, Evangeline Lilly and Armie Hammer who all do the best they could with a script that really make you lose interest in the movie. That’s the other problem it’s almost 2 hours and it’s emotionally hallow, I liked the idea of doing multi perspective stories however each of them feel almost identical and once again are emotionally hallow. There is definitely a good idea somewhere in this movie but it’s unfortunately lost in the huge mess.
4/10 D+
A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.
My Salinger Year is a sweet little movie and that’s really about it, is it actually good? I’m not 100% sure, I definitely feel like there will be an audience for this movie I’m just not one of them. Performances from Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver really great and I did like some of the writing, but for a movie that’s about writing in general the writing isn’t exactly the movie’s strongest point, really not much else to say here.
5/10 C
The film centers on two estranged sisters who, along with their friends, become entrenched in a 48 hour whirlwind of violence after a traumatic experience at an underground music festival.
Dreamcatcher had huge potential to be a very interesting slasher horror movie….instead we got a movie that has no idea what it truly wants to be. The trailer advertised this movie as a slasher movie that takes place at this music festival which includes electronic dance music, drugs and partying, so having a slasher film revolve around that sounds like a good idea. The problem is the movie tries to be way too many things at once, at first it sets up to be a slasher movie but then suddenly changes it’s mind and adds some very surface level trauma and psychological aspects into the movie. What makes it even worse is the characters are very shallow and aren’t interesting in the slightest, it would be one thing if the movie had good characters and decided to try and make the trauma element work. However the characters have little to no personality making the whole aspect completely pointless. Some of the kills are at least decent enough and there’s one or two okay moments towards the end. But that really doesn’t help the movie out that much, Dreamcatcher ultimately becomes a very forgettable horror movie that you will quickly forget about as soon as you finish watching it.
Friends hiking the Appalachian Trail are confronted by ‘The Foundation’, a community of people who have lived in the mountains for hundreds of years.
The Wrong Turn franchise is one of those horror film series that I’m actually impressed that it’s still going. The franchise has had a rough history the first two films I thought were overall great movies and a ton of fun. The third movie is a guilty pleasure for me it’s a lot of fun, however after that the franchise really dipped when it came to quality and it started being kind of the same thing over and over again. Each film after the third one got worse and worse, so the series took a long break and it’s back in 2021. Wrong Turn 2021 changes things up quite a bit, it isn’t a sequel or necessarily a remake like everyone thought it was going to be. I want to say this is a reboot but it feels more like a reimagining who knows, anyway let’s talk about the movie itself. As I said before this movie is far different from the other movies in the series, for one thing the production is much better and has a very clean look to it. The acting is overall much better, although the performances are really nothing noteworthy except Charlotte Vega who plays the main lead she’s quite great! And the movie is focused more on the story rather then gore, although there is still some gore don’t expect a ton of it like in the other movies. The story itself changes things up a bit instead of cannibal hillbillies it’s a group of people called “The Foundation”. The writing has is overall not too bad but I really wish they went into more detail about The Foundation, we get a basic idea of who they are but the movie never does anything more or goes into more detail about them. The ending I actually thought was the highlight of the movie, it was definitely different and I do like the way they did it. It makes the film standout a bit more which is nice, it’s just such a shame the rest of the movie really does not have that much to it. It’s definitely fun and I found it to be decent overall, but this is not something I will ever watch again unless I binge watch the Wrong Turn Franchise again. I’m glad they attempted something different for this series but I wish it was better.
Mohamedou Ould Salahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
The Mauritanian isn’t a bad movie, it’s just a movie that while tries to say a lot ends up not saying a whole lot that we didn’t already know. Jodie Foster was a hands down the best part of the movie and I can easily see why she won best supporting actress at the Golden Globes. Tahar Rahim is also pretty solid in his role, everyone else is just sort of there Shailene Woodley’s performance while not bad it wasn’t anything particularly rememberable. The narrative of The Mauritanian has been done to death numerous times already, it doesn’t help that the structure is really overused. It’s a shame to because there are the decent moments where movie is trying to keep things fresh, the true story itself is far more interesting than the movie itself. It’s really too bad this movie presented the story in such a uncreative way, the writing is fine enough and the direction really does not have a whole lot going on. If your a history buff you may enjoy this but otherwise I only recommend this if you are looking for time to kill.
A man providing overnight watch to a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community finds himself opposite a malevolent entity, in writer-director Keith Thomas’ electrifying feature debut.
The Vigil had so much potential to be great, the movie starts out pretty decent. It establishes a great atmosphere and a very interesting premise that I was pretty excited to see where it was going with it. Unfortunately The Vigil completely falls flat towards the middle of the movie when it resorts to typical horror cliches such as a ton of jumpscares. Which is a huge shame because before then the acting and writing were solid and was telling an interesting story, the jumpscares take away that from the movie. It completely wrecks what was a creepy atmosphere and takes you out of the movie. It has nothing new to offer as well which is unfortunate, I don’t recommend this one.
4/10 D+
Two years into the pandemic, a group of friends throw a wild online party. After taking ecstasy, things go terribly wrong and the safety of their homes becomes more terrifying than the raging chaos outside.
Will Wernick strikes again this time with Safer At Home, he’s previously done Escape Room (not the one that was released in theaters the VOD release one) and Follow Me (which was garbage) Safer At Home is another movie about COVID-19, it tries to be Host but it doesn’t even come close to that at all. The film takes place on a zoom call which worked for Host due to having really strong writing and acting, Safer At Home is not one of those movies with good acting or writing. There was absolutely no attempt to try and make anything good with this movie, the writing was garbage and made each one of the characters just not interesting at all. Heck all of the characters felt like the exact same thing, none of them had any personality traits to standout no nothing. Safer At Home goes exactly how you would expect it to, if you watch at least 10 minutes of the film you will know immediately what’s going to happen. There’s really not much else to say here but just watch Host instead it’s a far far better film and an actual really good one as well.
As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
Finally the last Sundance review which was the first film I saw at the Sundance film festival…..Coda! What really makes this film is the fact that actual deaf actors were casted to play deaf people, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant and Marlee Matlin are all actually deaf and they all do a fantastic job in their roles as well. It makes the film that much more heartwarming and powerful, Emilia Jones also hits it out of the park in her role. Seeing Emilia Jone’s character (Ruby) interact with her deaf family and how she helps them is some of the most beautiful moments I’ve seen in a film in awhile. Coda is also a beautiful coming of age story that feels a lot different, Emilia Jones also has an incredible singing voice. She really nails it with her voice and there’s at least a ton of moments where the movie combined with her singing voice made me cry. Eugenio Derbez also gives quite a fantastic role as well! The writing feels as natural as possible, it has that raw feeling to it where everything about the movie is believable and you as the audience are watching someone’s story. It’s truly a beautiful film that gives incredible deaf representation. Coda is most definitely going to be one of the most loved films of the year when it releases! Please check this one out when it releases!
As the world searches for a cure to a disastrous virus, a scientist and park scout venture deep in the forest for a routine equipment run.
Ben Wheatley has always been one of my favorite directors, although his last film Rebecca was nowhere near as good as some of his other films. I still had a lot of hope for In The Earth mostly because it sounded like Wheatley was going back to his roots and luckily that’s what the film is. In The Earth is a hybrid of Midsommar and Annihilation and quite a remarkable one, Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia are huge standouts from the cast. Both give fantastic performances are very effective, the same can be said for the rest of the cast as well like Reece Shearsmith and Hayley Squires! The writing is really strong here, it feels very natural and leads you into the world the film is taking place in. The cinematography and visuals are absolutely stunning, combine that with the location of the film and you got yourself a beautiful film. In The Earth also has a very haunting and suspenseful atmosphere where at any given moment something could happen. The haunting atmosphere fits the film extremely well and adds so much to it, the direction from Ben Wheatley is absolutely incredible. Ben Wheatley is at his best when he directs films like In The Earth where he can add as much suspense as possible and make it as haunting as possible. In The Earth is such a beautifully haunting film that actually does get a bit disturbing towards the middle of the film, which both shocked and impressed me. I will definitely have a more in depth review when In The Earth officially releases because I seriously don’t want to accidentally spoil this movie. In The Earth is one of my favorite films so far this year, definitely check it out when it releases later this year!
Two guns. Two best friends. And a pact to end their lives when the day is done.
On The Count Of Three is one of my absolute favorites from Sundance, the film starts out as a very dark comedic buddy movie but then quickly turns into a film about suicide and depression. Christopher Abbott and Jerrod Carmichael both give incredible performances that really make this movie. On The Count Of Three shows two completely different views on suicide and depression which it really gets into the topics. Tackling subjects like these are normally very hard to translate into film but On The Count Of Three does it extremely well, there’s even some humor in the film that works quite well! The chemistry between Abbott and Carmichael is what really brings this film together, they both really give it their all and tell the story in a form of several discussions. The film heavily reminds me of Good Time, overall On The Count Of Three is fantastic and should be on your radar. I will definitely make a more in depth review when it releases!
19-year-old Linnéa leaves her small town life in Sweden for Los Angeles to become Jessica, the world’s next big porn star. But the road to her goal turns out to be bumpier than she imagined.
Pleasure is one of those movies I’ve been thinking about more and more since it’s premiere at Sundance and I love it even more. Pleasure takes a look at the porn industry and the unfortunate realities that do happen. Pleasure is incredibly realistic as well as being brutally honest, the acting from Sofia Kappel was quite great! She did a fantastic job and definitely is one of my favorite performances so far this year, Ninja Thyberg’s direction is also really strong as well. As I said in my reaction Pleasure feels quite relevant, it touches on toxic masculinity and rape culture as well. Ninja Thyberg masters every single scene, she really knows how to make a scene as real as possible. Pleasure is quite graphic and actually hard to watch at times because as I said before it is the harsh reality of what goes on in the porn industry it shows a lot of toxic behavior that goes on and bringing people to have to do anything to become somewhat noticeable. Pleasure is an incredible film that I highly recommend checking out!
Aftermath of a violent tragedy that affects the lives of two couples in different ways.
Mass was one of the most talked about films at Sundance 2021 and for very good reasons. Mass is the aftermath of a school shooting and it hits as hard as you would expect. First off the performances from Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton and Reed Birney are all incredible each of them gives a very raw performance that really makes you feel like you are right there with them. Mass also takes place in a single location that gives the more strength and rawness to it as well, Fran Kranz also does a fantastic job directing. Kranz does a really good job of making this as realistic as possible and makes it as close to a aftermath of a school shooting as possible. Each of the characters go through tons of development which is quite honestly some of the best I’ve seen in a film for awhile now, each of the characters discuss with one another about their views, what should be done, what could have had happened to prevent the shooting from happening and tons of grief as well. The writing is just simply powerful there’s no other word to describe it, you feel every single word from the film and it often gave me goosebumps. Mass is also very depressing and it’s the very unfortunate reality of the aftermath of these tragic events, I won’t say anything else because going into this film not knowing anything but the plot really will give you a one of a kind experience. Mass is definitely going to spark conversations when it releases and rightfully so it’s a very powerful that I absolutely recommend checking it out once it releases.
Jerome Reviews... 