Love And Monsters and The Secrets We Keep (2020)


In a monster-infested world, Joel (Dylan O’Brien) learns his girlfriend is just 80 miles away. To make the dangerous journey, Joel discovers his inner hero to be with the girl of his dreams.

I had little to no expectations with Love and Monsters, it looked like a Zombieland clone, however the movie is actually not that. Sure Love and Monsters does share some similarities as Zombieland but director Michael Matthews is able to bring a lot of different elements to the table. First off the film itself has to be the sweetest apocalypse movie I’ve seen, underneath all the monsters and the villains you have Dylan O’Brian and Jessica Henwick’s chemistry which is just beautiful to watch. You actually root for both these characters and care about their relationship, so to combine a very cute chemistry in a monster apocalypse movie was really clever. The acting is pretty strong, Dylan O’Brian and Jessica Henwick are both fantastic and give tons of memorable moments, the writing is cleverly written with character moments and humor both combined it turns out to be a interesting little movie. The filming is pretty well done and really does the location of the film justice, the special effects and the monsters I have to say are pretty solid. That was one of my main concerns going into this movie but I thought they were done pretty well. I feel like what I like most about the film is it feels quick and goes straight to the point. It knows what it wants to be and what it’s set out to do. Be a quick monster apocalypse film that has some similarities to some other movies but keep things fresh as well. I definitely recommend giving Love and Monsters a watch! One of the biggest surprises of the year.

8/10 B+


In post-WWII America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.


The Secrets We Keep is basically Roman Polanski’s Death and The Maiden, only that this movie is nowhere near as good. I thought The Secretes We Keep started off interesting and had some good ideas, however it quickly showed that this movie is just a lifeless copy of Death and The Maiden, while the acting was very decent especially from Noomi Rapace. It isn’t enough to make any of the performances believable, it all just feels way too middle of the road and very below average. The writing isn’t really great at all, it has it’s moments but those are far and few in between.. I really don’t have anything else to say, if it sounds interesting to you check it out I guess. Otherwise don’t bother.

5/10 C

The Forty-Year-Old-Version (2020)


Radha is a down-on-her-luck NY playwright, who is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. Reinventing herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime, she vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theater in order to find her true voice.


Radha Blank is a name I strongly hope I hear more in years to come because what she delivered is by far one of the best films of the year and one of the best Netflix original films. It’s worth noting that Radha Blank directed, wrote, is one of the producers AND she is the leading role in this film. The Forty-Year-Old-Version shows a woman going through so much to achieve her dream of becoming a rapper at the age of 40, she also tries to find her voice and who she is. It’s fascinating film that really touches the viewer and gives one of the most realistic performances of the year, Radha Blank’s performance is fantastic it leaves so many emotions on the viewer and feels very inspiring as well. The writing also helps by building up to several incredible moments in the film and delivers on every single level, the choice of having the film entirely in black and white was a very smart choice. It not only gives this movie a more personal feeling but it feels like you are looking into Radha Blank’s life and experience, you feel invested and root for her, it’s incredible how much a simple choice of making your film black and white can really do. Radha Blank’s chemistry between everyone else is incredible especially with Archie played by Peter Y. Kim, the two truly have a fantastic chemistry that feels like a very real friendship that you truly admire. The writing is also very raw as I said before it brings many beautiful moments that feel impactful and inspiring, overall The Forty-Year-Old-Version is a beautiful film that I truly hope gets nominated when it comes to for award nominations, I also really can’t wait to see what Radha Blank does next! I highly recommend watching this film as soon as possible because this is one you will definitely want to watch!

10/10 A+

The War With Grandpa (2020)


Upset that he has to share the room he loves with his grandfather, Peter decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back.

After being delayed several times since early 2018 Tim Hill’s The War With Grandpa finally get’s released…and it’s just another ordinary family movie. The War With Grandpa does not have a whole lot in it, it’s based off a of book of the same name (I haven’t read it since I was a kid) I feel the major problem with this movie is it does nothing to differentiate itself from a lot of other family movies. Most of the jokes consits of early 2000s family movie humor you know like falling over, being sarcastic to a family member in a very unfunny way, someone’s junk is accidentally shown and much more. That’s pretty much the entire movie I just saved you 94 minutes, Robert De Niro is the only real positive here. He tries his best with a very unfunny script and not a whole lot to work with, I will say there are some charming moments between the two characters Ed and Peter. But with every few charming moments comes some very unfunny slapstick that makes you roll you eyes, the movie is at it’s best when it just has a few of the characters interacting with each other like normal people. One thing this movie really could have benefited from was a different director Tim Hill directed Garfield Tale Of Two Kitties, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Hop, the Grumpy Cat Christmas movie and a few others. I’ll give Hill this..as far as direction this by far the best he’s done in awhile. But overall The War With Grandpa is harmless enough it’s just not a good movie and something I don’t recommend at all.

4/10 D+

Hubie Halloween and The Mortuary Collection (2020)


Despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem (and its Halloween celebration), Hubie Dubois is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike. But this year, something is going bump in the night, and it’s up to Hubie to save Halloween.


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Believe it or not I had a very hard time deciding what rating to give Hubie Halloween, I usually rip almost any Happy Madison movie to shreds due to how horrendous they are. With this movie however…I didn’t think it was quite as bad as a lot of the others? The only two things I found absolutely horrendous were the jokes and Adam Sandler himself with that terrible voice where you genuinely can’t understand what he’s saying unless you put on subtitles. A lot of it seemed like everyone involved had fun being in the movie, there was some genuine joy between everyone involved this time around. The Cameron Boyce tribute at the end also shows how an awesome person Adam Sandler really is. I will admit there were a few jokes that worked but for the most part they didn’t land. The weird thing is the acting was honestly not that terrible, I mean yes it most certainly wasn’t good but I couldn’t help but notice that it was actually better than a lot of other Happy Madison movies especially a certain one that came out earlier this year cough Wrong Missy cough I honestly don’t have anything else to comment on, as I said as far as Happy Madison movies go this one is definitely one of the better ones, would I recommend it? Absolutely not but there has definitely been worse to come out of this year.

4/10 D+


On the cusp of retirement, an eccentric mortician recounts several of the strangest stories he’s encountered in his long career, but things take a turn for the phantasmagorical when he learns that the final story – is his own.


Really got to give credit where credit is due Shudder has really picked up it’s lineup of horror movies that lead up to Halloween. It started off on the wrong foot with Spiral and Verotika but picked up with Scare Me, The Cleansing Hour and now this movie. The Mortuary Collection is also a breath of fresh air when it comes to anthology films, I recently reviewed Books Of Blood and Tales From The Hood 3 saying they both really did not offer much at all, with this movie however the segments are all pretty creative. I really appreciated the use of practical effects it added a lot to the film and actually made the segments more interesting and fun. The acting does have it’s bad moments but for the most part it’s pretty good, the writing is definitely humorous at times and is quite interesting with all the ideas shown in the film. It’s very refreshing to see an actually really strong horror anthology film, so if your a fan of the genre I definitely recommend giving this a go!

7/10 B

A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting (2020)


A babysitter embarks on a mission to save a child who’s been abducted by monsters.

How was I not informed that this movie was directed by the same director who did Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare? All joking aside I’m actually surprised this didn’t turn out as bad as it could have been, A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting is a movie that’s directly aimed for a younger audience and the movie really doesn’t hide that either. For what it is the movie is not terrible, Tamara Smart is actually pretty okay in the leading role it’s just she really does not have much to work with. It’s very simplistic main character role, the same can be said for Oona Laurence she’s fine enough in her role but she really does not have a whole lot to work with. There are moments where I actually thought the direction wasn’t too bad, Rachel Talalay actually builds an actual good chemistry between Kelly and Liz the two main characters. It also plays out exactly how you think it’s going to play out, it’s a very Disney channel feel type of movie that somehow became a Netflix Original. Outside of that there really is not much else to this movie, if you have kids and are looking for something new to watch this is definitely harmless enough. As for everyone else I don’t really recommend it. But I’ll give credit where credit is due Rachel Talalay has certainly gotten a lot better since Freddy is Dead The Final Nightmare.

5/10 C

Spontaneous (2020)

Get ready for the outrageous coming-of-age love story about growing up…and blowing up. When students in their school begin exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last.

Spontaneous is quite honestly one of the biggest surprises in 2020 (when it comes to film), on the surface it may seem like another high school movie with a bizarre premise of students literally exploding. However there is much more to the film the whole exploding idea can be seen as representing school shootings, those who accidentally overdosed or climate change, in the film Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer and many others are worried, depressed, scared, develop anxiety because of seeing their friends die, which in a lot of ways is how the younger generation is reacting to the three topics I named earlier. That could be me reading a lot into the film but it definitely shares a lot of connections. As for the acting it’s pretty incredible Charlie Plummer and Katherine Langford are both fantastic, especially Langford who has really shown she has some serious talent it really makes me excited to see what she will do next! The writing is also really well done, with tons of emotional, heartwarming, cute and some surprisingly depressing moments it really adds power to the film and by the end it leaves a pretty big impression on the viewer. Spontaneous also feels very grounded when it comes to the writing, it feels like they actually got writers who know how teenagers talk and act (which only adds to what I said earlier) overall Spontaneous is a unique film that I definitely recommend giving a watch!!

9/10 A

Charm City Kings (2020)

Fourteen-year-old Mouse desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets.

Charm City Kings is hard hitting coming of age story, it’s about facing hard truths and choices that we definitely would never want to face. Charm City Kings showcases some extremely fantastic acting from Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Meek Mill and everyone else involved! The writing is some top notch material that all blends together really well to create a wonderful story, it delivers on all levels especially when it focuses on finding out hard truths that as I said before we would never want to face in person, the direction feels very raw it’s one of those’s films that feels naturally written and the performances feel the same as well! Meek Mill is a huge surprise, the range of emotions and power he puts into his performance is incredible! Charm City Kings is definitely a must watch, it’s sort of hard to talk about without spoiling which I don’t want to do that! But believe me when I say this is a fantastic film!

9/10 A

American Pie Girl’s Rules

It’s Senior year at East Great Falls. Annie, Kayla, Michelle, and Stephanie decide to harness their girl power and band together to get what they want their last year of high school.

I’m seriously impressed of how many of American Pie films there are, this movie makes the 9th film of the franchise. I went into this movie not expecting much at all, however I actually found this movie to be pretty okay? I thought the cast did a fine enough job with what that they had, there were a few okay jokes that I actually liked. However the movie does fall into the trap this franchise has been suffering from for a long time now…being the exact same thing over and over again! While it is better than most of the other spinoff films, it feels almost identical to some of the main series movies. I mostly liked this film mainly due to Madison Pettis, Lizze Broadway, Natasha Behnam and Piper Curda their chemistry between each other worked really well and was the best thing about this film by far! Overall if you are a die hard fan of the franchise you will love this movie, it does it’s job fine enough and could have been easily worse so at least there’s that.

6/10 C+

Nocturne and Evil Eye (2020)


An incredibly gifted pianist makes a Faustian bargain to overtake her older sister at a prestigious institution for classical musicians.

Nocturne is the third film of the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” film series, Nocturne is what happens if you took Suspiria, Whiplash and The Perfection and mixed them into one. Sydney Sweeney is very solid in her role and gave everything she could with a script that didn’t have much at all. The filming I thought was pretty well done as well, there are some extremely beautiful shots in the film that are very memorable. Unfortunately that’s where the praise for Nocturne ends because a lot of it is just a weaker version Suspiria, Whiplash and The Perfection. All three of those films did what this movie did so much better in every single way possible, but that doesn’t make this movie bad by any means. It’s actually decently directed and has some strong moments when it comes to the script. But as I said before there is not a whole lot to work with the writing. I definitely think Nocturne is a serviceable movie that gets the job done but it’s not something that you will look back on in a few years.

6/10 C+


A superstitious mother is convinced that her daughter’s new boyfriend is the reincarnation of a man who tried to kill her 30 years ago.


Evil Eye is the fourth movie of the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” series, it’s also the last one that was released this year, the other four films being released next year. Evil Eye was a solid way of ending the first half, it brings in some much needed South Asian representation to the horror genre and I really do like how the film actually used that and talked a bit about the culture as well. The acting all around was solid and the direction was pretty decent as well. I do feel the movie does lose some steam towards the end, mostly due to being a bit repetitive at times. But a lot of the film is a ton of fun, it has a very solid atmosphere with a few decent scares that I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy! I recommend giving Evil Eye a go!

6/10 C+

Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)

As her father nears the end of his life, filmmaker Kirsten Johnson stages his death in inventive and comical ways to help them both face the inevitable.

Dick Johnson Is Dead is a one of a kind type of film, Kristen Johnson who is also the director focuses on her father Richard who sadly suffers from dementia. Kristen Johnson portrays different ways Richard could ultimately die from dementia some of them being accidents and serious tragedies, in a lot of the scenarios Richard along with Kristen uses some dark humor to make light out of the moments. Dick Johnson Is Dead is one of those types of films that takes a serious subject in this case dementia and uses humor…which actually works, it’s mostly due to how beautiful the relationship is between Kristen and her father Richard. It comes off as very wholesome and quite inspiring, it’s also worth noting that Richard Johnson’s wife died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2007. As a film it’s really well shot and a very beautiful film, it’s very raw which should go without saying but you really do feel a special connection to Kristen and Richard they are both hilarious but at the same time when they are faced with the harsh reality that Richard will die someday that’s when a lot of the emotional moments come in. Which are honestly some of the most powerful moments in a film I’ve seen so far this year, I don’t want to say too much else because this is a film that you must experience. The less you know about the film the better the experience will be, it’s a truly beautiful film about knowing you will die one day especially when you have something as serious as dementia but you make the most of life!!! It’s on Netflix now give it a watch!!

10/10 A+