Música (2024) Film Review

A young man with synesthesia faces an uncertain future while navigating the pressures of love, family and his Brazilian culture in Newark, N.J.

Música is directed by Rudy Mancuso which is his directorial debut.

Música is yet another pretty huge surprise so far this year, much like The Greatest Hits I was quite honestly not expecting all that much. To say that I’m kind of impressed with what the end result is would be an understatement.

Rudy Mancuso creates a coming of age story as well as a romantic comedy that blends in music in quite creative ways, while there are some familiar story beats and the third act doesn’t work quite as well as what came before it. There is so much to appreciate here, including Mancuso’s direction that captures a lot of genuine moments between the cast.

Camila Mendes is an actress I’ve quickly become a fan of, I haven’t seen Riverdale so I was largely unfamiliar with her before Palm Springs (2020). But ever since then she’s done a pretty solid job between Do Revenge (2022), Upgraded (2024) which came out in February and now her performance in this film, which could be argued that it’s her strongest. Her performance as Isabella feels incredibly genuine and the chemistry between her and Rudy Mancuso’s character Rudy is filled to the brim with charm. The script by Mancuso and Dan Lagana truly captures the film’s heart and the character’s bond between one another. It really makes these character’s seem like actual people that the viewer can grow attached to.

Maria Mancuso who is the mother of Rudy Mancauso and is his mother in this film as well just adds to the film’s heart, her performance isn’t anything groundbreaking but it’s still incredibly sweet and she brings her own charm that only adds to the film’s strength.

The music portions I think are quite fun, there’s definitely arguments to be made that they could have been a bit stronger and I definitely agree in some areas. But I do think for the most part the film does a great job of combining music with the story and doing something a bit different than other films.

Overall Música definitely surprised me, there’s so much to really like here that I actually do recommend giving this one a look.

Música is available on Amazon Prime Video!

8/10 B+

The Listener (2024) Film Review

Beth is a crisis helpline volunteer who gets on the phone every night, fielding calls from people who feel lonely, broken and helpless. During her latest shift, the stakes rise as she tries to save a hurting soul.

The Listener is directed by Steve Buscemi who has directed Trees Lounge (1996), Animal Factory (2000), Lonesome Jim (2005) and Interview (2007).

The Listener has been on my radar for awhile now, it just finally released last month and it’s quite a solid one. The main idea here is we follow Beth who is a helpline volunteer played by Tess Thompson, Thompson is the only on screen performance we see in the entire film and she gives such a strong performance. The interactions she has with the callers is truly great and the film does a good job of blending its theme of just listening to someone speak can go a long way. That’s perfectly captured with Thompson’s performance especially when combined with Buscemi’s direction that has this sort of organic feel to it. Her facial expressions and overall reactions such as taking a few seconds before responding are incredibly natural and only help build her performance.

It’s no secret that The Listener is a COVID-19 film, heck it’s even mentioned a few times in the dialogue with that being said I don’t mind that so much here. The one location setting combined with the story actually makes it work decently well here, is it sort of eye rolling when COVID-19 is name dropped? Yes absolutely but at the very least unlike some other COVID related films (looking at you Locked Down) there’s a point and it compliments the story being told.

The interactions themselves are quite great that introduce a number of topics the main ones being social life and mental health, the interactions feel incredibly raw and actually quite upsetting at times. Because there are some very real cases of COVID-19 hurting people’s mental health or social life and it’s portrayed quite well here. The downside of it is that the film doesn’t really go that in depth in the topics, there’s definitely discussion and the film for the most part gets it’s point across on why these topics are important but it’s never really anything much deeper.

I definitely think The Listener is a great post pandemic film, it’s a reflection that shows that a lot of people seemed to skim how the pandemic affected people’s mental health. It’s a shame there wasn’t a bigger conversation here but for what the film is it’s quite solid.

The Listener is available on all VOD Platforms.

7/10 B

The Greatest Hits (2024) Film Review

Harriet discovers certain songs can transport her back in time. While she relives the past through romantic memories with her former boyfriend, her time travelling interferes with a burgeoning new love interest in the present.

The Greatest Hits is directed by Ned Benson who previously directed Four Lean Hounds (2003), The Westerner (2010), Yes (2010) and The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby (2014).

The Greatest Hits was definitely a surprise, while the movie does follow some very familiar beats and does end up being very unnecessarily convoluted during its final moments. The film itself has a lot of charm and some surprisingly strong performances that really keep it afloat.

Lucy Boynton and Justin H. Min have great chemistry between one another and actually build a quite grounded bond over the course of the film. The film’s main theme is overcoming grief and how love can actually overcome it, this has been done in so many other films but the execution here for the most part is what helps this movie.

The little moments of Harriet’s (played by Lucy Boynton) and David’s (played by Justin H. Min) conversations truly come off as genuine and almost seems very therapeutic, there’s truly some strong acting here and really makes the viewer that much more connected to Harriet and David. The soundtrack also helps quite well, it matches the film’s quiet and slow tone that the film is going for.

The time travel stuff is definitely the weakest parts of the film, I absolutely get what’s being said here. There’s this other theme of considering changing the past to save someone you loved, on paper it seems like a good idea but in execution it’s a bit sloppily put together. It sort of just feels there and when you compare it to everything else in the movie it really sticks out like a sore thumb.

Overall The Greatest Hits is not going to break any new ground especially in terms of story, however it’s a charming enough film with some great performances with a lot of touching moments that I do recommend giving this one a look.

The Greatest Hits is available on Hulu.

7/10 B

Knox Goes Away (2024) Film Review

Diagnosed with a rapidly evolving form of dementia, a contract killer gets the chance to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged son.

Knox Goes Away is directed by Michael Keaton who previously directed The Merry Gentlemen (2008).

Don’t have a whole lot to comment on here, what drew me in was Keaton being in the director’s chair and while I completely get what he was trying to go for. I don’t think it came together all that well.

Michael Keaton gives a decent performance here, it’s nowhere near one of his best. But it’s decently effective and matches the story being told, Al Pacino is unfortunately phoning it in for a paycheck. The rest of the performances are fine enough but ultimately don’t lead into anything memorable.

The main problem with the movie is it leaves a lot more to be desired, there’s a very interesting story about a man who is diagnosed with dementia and we the viewers sort of get to see inside his mind. The problem is the movie doesn’t do much with the characters, they are very blandly written which in turn fails to make the viewer feel anything towards them.

There are some decent moments which it’s mostly due to Keaton’s acting that really makes these moments special, there’s some genuinely interesting dialogue towards the end that leads to something interesting but ultimately fails to do anything with it.

If the film focused far more on the characters and less about the very generic investigation that goes on during the movie, I think there would have been absolutely something here.

Knox Goes Away is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp (2024) Film Review

After getting kicked out of the forest, Woody thinks he’s found a forever home at Camp Woo Hoo, until an inspector threatens to shut down the camp.

Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp is directed by Jonathan A. Rosenbaum who has directed a bunch of TV series and TV movies and Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls (2019).

Hey do you remember that 2017 Woody Woodpecker movie? You know the one that went straight to VOD, people were kind of baffled how bad it was for about a day and then quickly forgot about it? Well for some reason it got a sequel and it’s not much better.

The one thing Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp has over its predecessor is that it uses some other Woody Woodpecker characters in this Who Framed Roger Rabbit style. The characters being Buzz Buzzard who’s voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson and Wally Walrus who’s voiced by Tom Kenny (yes you read that right). Granted they aren’t good performances as there is only so much you can do with one of the most unfunny scripts imaginable, but at the very least there’s a bit more Woody Woodpecker elements something that was very noticeably absent in the last movie.

With that being said this is a complete and total disaster and a huge endurance test to get through, I get Woody Woodpecker is supposed to be annoying. It’s part of his character, but there’s only so much a person can handle. Between constantly trying to break the fourth wall, name dropping Minecraft out of complete nowhere (as well as using it as a verb). The acting doesn’t help either, everyone set sounds bored out of their minds while delivering their lines, Mary-Louise Parker is for some reason in this movie and gives a bad performance, the child actor performances are the very definition of flat and the characters are walking cliches.

The plot goes exactly how you think it’s going to go, the messaging in the movie is very on the nose and doesn’t even attempt to try and be somewhat interesting. By the end of the movie it really makes you question what was the point in all of this?

Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp is available on Netflix.

1/10 F

Fitting In (2024) Film Review

A coming-of-age “traumedy” that follows 16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) who is unexpectedly diagnosed with a reproductive condition, MRKH syndrome. The diagnosis upends her plans to have sex, her presumptions about womanhood and sexuality, her relationship with her mother (Emily Hampshire), and most importantly, herself

Fitting In is directed by Molly McGlynn director of Mary Goes Around (2017).

Fitting In is a quite interesting one, the film centers around Lindy (played by Maddie Ziegler) a 16 year old who is diagnosed with a rare reproductive condition called MRKH syndrome. The diagnosis disrupts her understanding of womanhood and sexual identity. Plus it hurts her relationship with her boyfriend, friends and mother.

What makes Fitting In quite great is how the film approaches its subject matter, it does it in such a pretty authentic way. Which mostly comes from Maddie Ziegler’s excellent performance, she really makes the film work due to her capturing the mannerisms and speech of a 16 year old. The panic and not knowing what to do when you find out you’re diagnosed with a rare disease at such a young age is felt throughout the film. Sure the film does have its comedic moments but for the most part the movie focuses on Lindy’s thoughts of what the hell is going on.

The rest of the cast do a phenomenal job as well, Ziegler’s interactions with each of them feels very natural and quite powerful at times as well. There’s some genuinely touching moments that are made truly special thanks to the screenplay by Molly McGlynn, what’s especially great is McGlynn explores each of Lindy’s relationships in great detail. Each of which feel like different chapters that go on at the same time, each of which having their conclusion.

I can easily see some people relating to this film incredibly well which is always a positive and really does make me happy the film exists. While I may not be able to relate to it, I can say that it’s a very well acted and written film that uses its
subject matter in very interesting ways.

Fitting in is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Sting (2024) Film Review

Charlotte is a rebellious 12-year-old girl who finds a tiny spider in her rundown apartment building. She keeps it in a jar, but it soon starts to grow at a monstrous rate and develop an insatiable appetite for blood. As her neighbors begin to disappear, Charlotte and her family find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives against a ravenous arachnid with a taste for human flesh.

Sting is directed by Kiah Roache-Turner Director of Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead (2014), Nekrotronic (2018) and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021).

I actually had some sort of excitement for Sting, Kiah Roache-Turner did a great job with the Wyrmwood movies plus there’s been a lack of spider movies lately. Unfortunately the many odd decisions with Sting completely stops it from being anything memorable.

Sting does have its positives, particularly the opening scene, the final act and the gore. The opening scene starts out with a bang especially combined with the location, it’s short, simple and to the point. However once that scene is over prepare for some incredibly slow pacing and a lot of very misplaced family drama, it’s a baffling decision that rather than stick with the spiders the movie instead mainly focuses on family drama which consists of a few people screaming at each other while some spider scenes occur in the background.

It’s unfortunate because when the movie decides to be a spider movie it has the vibes of a 50s and 80s B horror movie especially when the movie finally picks up during the final act. That’s when you get some actually quite nasty kills with a ton of gore, seeing it unfold really makes you wish the rest of the movie was this much fun. But by that point the movie is practically over, the performances are about what you expect. They aren’t the absolute worst and get the job done, but they aren’t particularly great either.

Overall Sting is quite honestly a whole nothing burger, there’s some really neat moments especially if you are into 50s and 80s B horror. But that’s all you are really going to get out of this one unfortunately.

Sting releases tomorrow in theaters.

4/10 D+

Scoop (2024) Film Review

An insider account of how the women of “Newsnight” secured Prince Andrew’s infamous 2019 interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Scoop is directed by Philip Martin a director who’s done a lot of made for TV movies and TV work such as Mo (2010), Bloodlines (2005), Hawking (2004) and a few others.

Scoop is a dramatic retelling of how the BBC was able to get a TV interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 which focused on discussing his relationship with Jeffery Epstein. As well as the allegations of Andrew’s sexual assault of a minor (which in early 2022 was settled out of court for a 12 million settlement). The interview instantly went huge online and 5 years later is still talked about.

Scoop is one of those movies where it’s hard to comment on, not because the movie is anything crazy or you have no idea what’s going on. But because this is a very basic rundown of how the BBC got the interview just with actors, a script and more dramatized. It’s basically “journalists doing their job” the movie which while it’s nice to see some insight into the journalism aspect something we don’t often see in many films. The movie itself is a huge slog to get through granted Billie Piper as Sam McAlister is quite great and Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis is especially great during the interview which is the film’s final moments.

The interview itself is quite great, it’s easily the best part of Scoop and is more than likely the reason why someone would watch this movie. But unfortunately by that point Scoop is practically over and what came before the interview is incredibly lacking. The movie being incredibly surface level doesn’t do it any favors either, it’s the equivalent of someone doing one hour of research (I’m being very generous with an hour) and then not wanting to go further on a project.

To be fair the movie itself is actually an adaption of a 2022 book called Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews which was written by former Newsnight editor Sam McAlister. I have not read the book, but I’m sure the book goes into far more depth than the movie does.

Overall if you really want to see the Prince Andrew interview just watch the actual interview, it’s far more interesting and informative than anything Scoop has to offer. Outside of some decent performances and a strong enough portrayal of the interview, this one is entirely forgettable and will leave the mind as soon as it’s over.

Scoop is available on Netflix.

3/10 D-

Baghead (2024) Film Review

A young woman inherits a run-down pub and discovers a dark secret within its basement, Baghead, a shape-shifting creature that lets one speak to lost loved ones, but not without consequence.

Baghead is directed by Alberto Corredor which is his directorial debut.

This is just Talk To Me (2023) if it were executed extremely poorly. Instead of a hand the device used to talk to the dead is this entity named Baghead, a simple enough premise even if it repeats what Talk To Me did. The major problem here with this movie is how it’s written, you could probably get away with being a clone if the writing was half decent but that’s not the case here.

I don’t usually talk about character decision making because I find it to rarely ever hurt a movie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt this one. A lot of it is very illogical and it doesn’t help that the rules of Bagman constantly change throughout the movie whenever it’s more convenient, for example one of the rules is that bagman transforms into a dead person for two minutes before taking control. Sounds simple enough…well the movie’s characters constantly ignore that like it’s not a big deal.

The movie itself over explains plot points that ultimately don’t really matter due to the script being such a complete and total mess, finally the character development is just not there at all. There’s some attempts to try and do some character work by looking into the character’s past but nothing interesting is ever brought to the table.

Overall Baghead could have been interesting had the script been far better.

Baghead is available on Shudder.

2/10 F

The American Society Of Magical Negroes (2024) Film Review.

A young man gets recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to making white people’s lives easier. Although initially enamored with his new powers, he begins to question the value of using supernatural means to do the very thing he’s felt obligated to do his whole life.

The American Society Of Magical Negroes is directed by Kobi Libii which is his directorial debut.

The American Society Of Magical Negroes is what happens when you have very little understanding on how satire works, it’s unfortunate because there are some decent performances here particularly from David Alan Grier (easily the best part in the entire movie) and An-Li Bogan (who gives a very sweet performance).

Satire is a tool that can make someone laugh but also provoke someone, make them look at an issue more carefully under a different lens that they may have not of done before. Unfortunately with this movie it fails to do both, the writing comes off as way too awkward to be funny that’s especially evident with Justice Smith’s character Aren who is clearly going for this awkward type of character. While Justice Smith tries his best, the performance almost immediately falls flat due to the writing and Aren just being flat out annoying, unfunny and uncomfortably (not in a good way) awkward.

Then there is the out of place romance subplot, which quite honestly has no reason to be here. It doesn’t help that the chemistry between Justice Smith and An-Li Bogan is about as bland as you can get, which is mainly due to the writing. It doesn’t offer any investing character growth or development that could potentially make these characters interesting. Instead we are presented with some incredibly dull satire that the viewer forgets after viewing.

The American Society Of Magical Negroes is available on all VOD Platforms.

3/10 D-