Los Angeles pool cleaner Darren Barrenman is approached by a femme fatale to help uncover corruption in a shady business deal.
Poolman is directed by Chris Pine which is his directorial debut.
I heard about Poolman from the many walkouts and terrible reviews that came from the Toronto Film Festival in 2023. I was very interested to see just how bad this could really be and well…it sure is bad that’s for sure. Maybe not as horrendous as expected but still quite baffling.
I actually found the supporting cast to be decently fun, Danny DeVito, John Ortiz and Annette Benning are pretty entertaining in their own ways, plus I do think the movie’s bizarre atmosphere that for the most part often misses actually works well for their characters. There’s a few line deliveries from the three that are genuinely pretty funny and did get some laughs from me.
Outside of that however Poolman is a very baffling mess, it’s clear Chris Pine wanted to make this some sort of Chinatown (1974) and The Big Lebowski (1998) style noir comedy which sounds like an idea that could be fun. However the main issue here is that it’s quite dull, the movie very early on is very hard to follow on what exactly is going on and definitely not in away that makes the viewer want to explore the movie. The humor outside of a few moments is just not funny at all, a lot of the jokes are very overwritten or are just cobbled together and have very little build up.
Chris Pine clearly does have love for the noir genre as there are several references to it throughout the movie, but references really don’t cut it when your movie is very poorly written and your viewer has long checked out by the time the movie is over. Chris Pine’s performance is very unremarkable, there has definitely been far worse, but what a way to make the viewer instantly not care what is going on from the start.
Overall Poolman is a mess, while it’s not as bad as expected. That really isn’t saying all that much, this might be a “so bad it’s hilarious” type of movie for some but definitely not for me.
A classmate introduces teenage Owen to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
I Saw The TV Glow is directed by Jane Schoenbrun who previously directed We’re All Going To The World’s Fair (2021).
Ever since I saw We’re All Going To The World’s Fair back at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival I was incredibly excited to see what Jane Schoenbrun would do next as that film become one of my favorites of 2021 and over time I’ve loved it even more. I’m really happy to say that I Saw The TV Glow is truly fascinating and absolutely breathtaking in every single way possible.
I’ll start with the performances which are all fantastic but Justice Smith and Bridgette Lundy-Paine are the two that really shine here. Justice Smith gives a career best performance, this is a drastically performance by him than the viewer is used to and it’s incredibly effective. There’s a few particular moments where Smith’s character Owen is just broken and you the viewer feel that shattering moment especially during the final of the moments of the film where it hits you like a truck. Speaking of which Owen is such an interesting character, he seems like any other teenager yes but strangely enough he has that familiarity feel, like you might have known a person like Owen when you were growing up. Perhaps in your school, neighborhood ect it helps that Owen is written quite realistically as well, I completely buy what’s happening to him, his issues or when he talks to the viewer it’s a storytelling device that really works well here.
The other half of this film is Bridgette Lundy-Paine they truly give a fantastic performance that really compliments the film’s tone. The many exchanges they have with Justice Smith are investing and incredibly raw, exchanges you would hear from friends just hanging out, talking about TV shows and much more. There’s also the monologue Paine gives which is truly beautifully done, it’s a meaningful monologue that hits you like a truck the more you think about it and is quite important to the film’s many themes. Together Justice Smith and Bridgette Lundy-Paine are a striking duo who really go all out with their performances, they both do as much as possible to connect to their characters Owen and Maddy and never go down from there. No doubt two of the best performances so far this year.
There’s many themes going on here, I Saw The TV Glow is one of those films where there can be several different interpretations of what exactly is going on here. There’s a sense of nostalgia like reflecting on the past and how things might not be as good as you remember them being, there’s figuring out your identity whether you are trans, gay, bisexual ect there’s a lot of beautiful and meaningful moments that share this and then there’s this sense of loneliness a favorite of mine which might be a bit biased since I’ve said in the past that I really do love this theme and use it a lot in my photography.
The whole sense of loneliness theme really comes into play during the middle portion of the film, there’s definitely a few moments where Owen talks to us the viewer with fourth wall breaks which shows this ominous and sad nature of the film, this theme of loneliness really kicks in during the film’s last moments that really do show this lonely world that Owen lives in. The final moments of the film actually made me shed some tears due to just how powerful they really were, it’s definitely one of my favorite endings from a film so far this year so I won’t say much more about it as I do think it’s that more effective when you see it for yourself. One last thing about loneliness in this film is the world the film takes place in really does seem like a small place, from the atmosphere, the cinematography and the VHS feel to it you really start to get that feel throughout the film.
Finally there’s the technical parts of the film such as the score, cinematography and creature designs all of which are top notch, the creature designs have this classic power rangersesc feel to them which is incredibly charming and the score completely matches the tone of the film. The atmosphere is beautiful yet sad at the same time which all adds up to such a beautiful experience.
Overall I Saw The TV Glow is a masterpiece, this is truly one of the best films of 2024 so far and one of the best films of the 2020s. It’s such a beautiful film that I am So happy exists. Make sure to watch this one!
I Saw The TV Glow is available on all VOD platforms.
Pregnant from a one-night-stand, Eden leans on her best friend and mother of two, Dawn, to guide her through gestation and beyond.
Babes is directed by Pamela Adlon which is her directorial debut.
Look I’m most definitely not the target audience of this film, but even if you aren’t I still think there is so much to like about this one.
For starters I do love Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau, the performances the two give are truly exciting and actually quite raw. Especially the two’s friendship in the film. You really do buy their friendship throughout the film especially from their characters Eden (played by Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (played by Michelle Buteau), they bounce off of each other incredibly well and really do come off like best friends.
The humor while not every single joke lands is decently funny, there’s this whole inside joke type of feel which I do think captures the spirit of what this film is going for. The whole best friend type of feel that you can make so many different type of jokes, that included plenty of raunchy jokes which will be a hit or miss depending on who the viewer is.
The film absolutely does have that Bridesmaids (2011) feel as well, but at the very least the film only borrows from Bridesmaids and puts it’s own twist on it. The only major flaws here are the movie running for a bit too long and it does sort of start to become a bit repetitive towards the end which in turn doesn’t really allow the film to stick a great landing.
Having that said I enjoyed Babes for what it was, it’s decently fun with a charming friendship that does leave the viewer satisfied.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a group of military officials hatch a daring plan to neutralize Hitler’s fleet of German U-boats during World War II. Made up of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, the top-secret combat unit uses unconventional techniques to battle the Nazis and change the course of the war.
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare is directed by Guy Richie who previously directed The Gentlemen (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Covenant (2023), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and a few others.
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare sure is Guy Richie movie, this time around Guy Richie attempts to go for an Inglorious Bastards (2009) type of style which I will admit makes for a decently fun movie. In a lot of ways someone can easily see this as diet Inglorious Bastards and you would be absolutely correct, the movie does have a lot of what made Inglorious Bastards so great such as the action. But doesn’t quite pull the same punch.
The performances are pretty decent all around Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Eiza González, heck even Hero Fiennes Tiffin manages to pull a solid performance. Nobody here gives a bad performance they do what they’re supposed to and it gets the job done well enough to keep the viewer engaged with what’s going on screen. What is great is that the cast does seem like they are having a blast on screen, which is always extra nice to see!
I definitely think the movie goes on for a bit too long being just 2 hours long and you can really feel that with the pacing during the first act of the movie. Which is painfully slow at times, but the movie does pick up the pace as it goes on. Plus the action scenes really do help the pacing in the long run, they have this special flare to them that makes them energetic which in turn gives it a bit of a way to standout.
Honestly the best way to describe this movie is it’s one of those first person shooter games that has shoot a ton of bad guys and that’s really about it, it is not trying to be anything more than that or say anything impactful it’s just there to be fun. Sometimes that’s just what you need and The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare does that incredibly well. It’s not one of my favorite movies by Guy Richie but it’s still quite a fun one and I appreciate him going for a different action style.
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare is available on all VOD platforms.
In Tudor England, Katherine Parr reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII. Her consent to marry him carries great personal risk, given her predecessors are either vanquished, beheaded or dead. Perceived as a threat by Henry’s courtiers, they start to cast doubts about her fidelity and turn the increasingly paranoid king against her.
Firebrand is directed by Karim Aïnouz director of Invisible Life (2019), Mariner Of The Mountains (2020), Futuro Beach (2014) and a few others.
Really not much to say about Firebrand unfortunately, I appreciate it for trying a few different things but a lot of it is really holding it back from being anything particularly memorable.
Honestly the best thing about this movie are the performances Alicia Vikander is really solid here (although there is a bit more to be desired with her performance) and Jude Law’s performance is sort of chaotic which doesn’t make sense yet it does at the same time. In certain scenes he goes off the rails which I do think is some of the movie’s better moments, there’s one scene in particular that definitely feels straight out of a horror movie that I think Jude Law perfectly nailed.
The rest of the movie is fine enough historical drama that has great costume design and solid acting. The writing unfortunately is a bit of a mess that while it explores some neat ideas the movie itself really doesn’t do anything with them. The last half does become a bit of a slog to sit through and ultimately really does not do much in the end.
At the very least this was better than Jeanne Du Barry
Rex, a Florida party girl, turns out to be the only hope for the NASA space program after a fluke puts her in training with other candidates who may have better resumés, but don’t have her smarts, heart, and moxie.
Space Cadet is directed by Liz W. Garcia who previously directed The Lifeguard (2013) and One Precent More Humid (2017).
Every now and then during the year you get those handful of movies that come out and are universally mocked online or in general such as Madame Web, Unfrosted, Nightswim or Atlas. Well Space Cadet is one of those movies and it’s not hard to see why.
For starters this entire movie really seems like it was originally supposed to be a Disney Channel original movie but somehow adults got casted instead of kids and Amazon decided to release it. Second this movie is a Legally Blonde (2001) wannabe it tries to capture what made the movie so likable but fails miserably. It’s as if you took out all the personality, likability or fun that Legally Blonde (2001) had and you get this movie.
The performances are not good here including Emma Roberts which is just another addition to her long line of terrible performances from the last several years. The movie doesn’t even bother to tell an interesting story as you can already guess what happens within the first 10 minutes, the movie tries to have emotional depth towards the end with Rex’s deceased mother but completely forgets to make the viewer actually care about Rex (played by Emma Roberts). She’s about as interesting as a terrible Disney channel movie main character and often times really feels like she was supposed to be one when you look at the writing.
There’s maybe one or two enjoyable moments in this movie them being Emma Roberts wrestling an Alligator and making a girl fall off a treadmill by singing Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. Is that exactly funny? Not really, is it far more entertaining than anything else in this disaster? Absolutely which is probably the reason why it gave me a laugh, which kind of shows the exact problem with this movie. It has to rely completely random events to get some semblance of a good moment.
I really got nothing else to say here, Space Cadet is exactly what you think it’s going to be. A movie that uses the whole “follow your dreams” type of plot but doesn’t do anything meaningful or interesting with it. You are better off watching a bad Disney Channel movie.
After his daughter’s life is threatened, wisecracking Detective Axel Foley teams up with a new partner and some old pals to turn up the heat on a conspiracy
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is directed by Mark Molloy which is his directorial debut. The film is the fourth installment in the Beverly Hills Cop series and serves as a sequel to Beverly Hills Cop III (1994).
After the disaster that was Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) the series stayed dormant for 30 years and luckily Axel F is a far better film than it’s predecessor, it’s more in line with the first two films and does a pretty decent job of complimenting and celebrating said films.
Admittedly this is a nostalgia fueled legacy sequel but that really does not take away from it at all. First off the performances are quite great, seeing Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot again is just truly exciting and they all do excellent in their respective roles. Even if some are given more to do than others it’s still great to see them interact and only adds to this installment’s celebration of the series in general. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige and Kevin Bacon are great additions to the series and are able to easily blend in with the rest of the cast, together this cast is really strong and is just overall a lot of fun.
The humor, camerawork and soundtrack were all pretty strong as well, granted they weren’t anything groundbreaking but they all fit the nostalgia theme and celebration of the series the movie was going for. They even got Crazy Frog into the mix which usually would be a negative but in this case it’s used well and the movie puts its own twist on it.
The action scenes are quite great here as well, for a first time director Mark Molloy manages to really give some quite solid action scenes and keeps up with Axel’s rapid fire repartee it’s fantastic stuff and moments like those that really do make this installment special.
Overall there really isn’t much else to say about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a very solid installment to the series, it might not be doing anything for the series or anything groundbreaking. But at the very least it’s fun, well acted and greatly crafted.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is available on Netflix.
A 28-year-old artist gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. Finding shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are stalked by mysterious creatures every night.
The Watchers is directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan which is her directorial debut.
When I heard Ishana Night Shyamalan was going to direct a horror film I was definitely interested, even though I’m not huge on a lot of her father M.Night Shyamalan’s work I was still interested to see what she can do…and well The Watchers definitely exists.
The best way I can describe The Watchers is like an essay that starts out quite well written has all the right punctuation, has the right capitalization and then suddenly during the second half of the essay feels like it was written by a completely different person with bad grammar, terrible punctuation and is very nonsensical.
The Watchers has a solid setup with some interesting folklore attached to it that does get the viewer engaged with the movie, the performances are mostly pretty okay! Olwen Fouéré is definitely the best here she gives a genuinely creepy performance at times and while her character is on the cliched side of things, Fouéré really makes it work especially during the first half of the movie combined with the atmosphere. Her performance blends in with the atmosphere quite well which really helps. Georgina Campbell isn’t too bad here either, again not a whole lot to her character but she plays the part well and she is quite likable so I guess that’s something.
Dakota Fanning is fine enough, it’s nice to see her back in horror but unfortunately as the main lead she’s really held back with such a confused script (especially towards the end) we get very little about her character outside of a few flashbacks. The movie tries to connect the plot to her past but it really does not fully explore any of that at all, it’s much more slapped on than anything else and doesn’t take the time to actually connect the two together in a way that wouldn’t feel so clunky.
The first bit of the movie as I said before is pretty decent, the setup is solid and the atmosphere is genuinely creepy at times. Ishana Night Shyamalan definitely has an eye for a great setting, the because the forest is quite effective in bringing out thrills and some creepy moments. It almost feels like one of those indie horror games and I mean that in a positive way, where it feels like there is so much more to explore than meets the eye. Plus the rules of The Watchers themselves are pretty creepy as well, the sound of banging on the glass is effective and really does get you on the edge of your seat.
Unfortunately the second half of the movie is a complete and total mess, the movie suddenly feels the need to over explain itself plus the movie gets incredibly stupid and not in the good way. A lot of the creepy imagery that was present during the first half is traded in for incredibly goofy lines, nonsensical new rules about the lore of the watchers and just a completely forgettable second half that really does not compliment anything that came before it.
Overall The Watchers is definitely one of the more disappointing films of 2024 so far, there was a lot of potential here for a thrilling ride but a lot of pieces were missing to make this work.
Divorced stand-up comedian Max Bernal struggles to raise his autistic son, Ezra. Forced to confront difficult decisions about the boy’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both of their lives.
Ezra is directed by Tony Goldwyn who previously directed Conviction (2010).
Credit where credit is due they casted William Fitzgerald who actually is autistic to play an autistic character which does end up making the film a bit more grounded and can connect more with the viewer as well.
The performances are quite solid, William Fitzgerald is a lot of fun and delivers some quite humorous lines plus is overall incredibly charming as well. Although his character Ezra is admittedly used as a plot device to move things a long in the later half of the movie, which is quite unfortunate and does end up hurting the movie in the long run. Bobby Cannavale and Robert De Niro are both solid here as well, Cannavale has lot of moments where his character Max bonds with his son and those moments do end up being charming. De Niro as usual delivers a great performance that is quite raw, it’s not heavy performance that has a lot to it but it works in the context of the movie.
The writing is decent, there’s definitely some inspiration porn cliches thrown in there but it isn’t nearly enough to really take away from the movie. Although the subplot of Max landing a spot on Jimmy Kimmel is very out of place for a movie like this, it ended up feeling like a setup for a mid-credits joke which doesn’t work (the joke itself is not even worth it). Having that said I do think the performances truly make this film and really make the script come together. There’s this earnest feel to the performances that’s present throughout the movie you can’t help but love and that ends up being the case with the script as well.
Overall Ezra is a perfectly passable drama that I’m glad exists, although it’s heavily flawed I do appreciate the careful attempt by everyone involved!
After discovering she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, a girl embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary friends with their kids.
IF is directed by John Krasinski director of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009), The Hollars (2016), A Quiet Place (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2020).
I really do not have a whole lot to say about IF it’s a kids movie that is very well intentioned and even has some genuinely heartfelt moments, but is surrounded by some clunky execution especially during the last half of the movie.
Steve Carell is by far the standout here, while not every single joke lands and the character of Blue is sort of standard. Carell still manages to be entertaining as well as charming, it’s sort of hard to really mess up when it comes to Steve Carell (heck I don’t a lot of the Despicable Me movies but really like Gru) plus I do think he fits the charming imaginary friend feel the movie is going for. Cailey Fleming is also not bad here, while she isn’t perfect, much like Carell she gives a sweet and charming performance that is effective and matches the tone of what the movie is going for. Ryan Reynolds strangely feels miscast here, he sort of just exists and his character Cal is incredibly forgettable who while does have a few strong scenes really fails to connect with the viewer.
The idea of the movie surrounding the imaginary friends is solid and isn’t as much as a repeat of the Cartoon Network show Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends as the trailer made it out to be. Having that said the main problem with IF is a lot of the Imaginary friends being voiced by Hollywood celebrities, it takes away a lot of the whimsical and magical feeling of imaginary friends and becomes a cameo fest. A bunch of moments where you point at the screen and say “oh I know that person’s voice!” Had this been one or two times it would not be so much of a big deal, however this is a common occurrence throughout the movie and that sort of becomes the imaginary friends’s whole character that they are voiced by Hollywood stars.
It’s a shame too because there are some genuinely heartfelt moments here that do actually work, but are unfortunately not exactly the main focus. The movie works best when it focuses on the bond of Bea and Blue and the more human moments, which is incredibly surprising to say given that this movie is about the imaginary friends.
I think IF will do well for younger audiences since it does immediately have bright visuals and creature designs are admittedly quite fun, IF is not necessarily a terrible movie but this is a very forgettable one that could have been a lot more.
Jerome Reviews... 