Everything is at stake for a 40-year-old woman: her career, her ticking biological clock, and her bank account. She risks it all for an intense, secret romance with the one person who could destroy her comeback.
The Perfect Find is yet another Netflix romantic comedy movie that just sort of exists, what I’ve said about a lot of Netflix’s other romantic comedies that have come out so far this year can be said here.
Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers are solid enough especially during the first half hour of the movie, which did feel quite genuine in it’s execution. After that however the movie starts to fall in line with a lot of Netflix’s other romantic comedies, the typical inoffensively made romantic comedy that has decent acting and incredibly forgettable. It’s the type of movie where after you finish watching it you will soon forget about it 2 hours later.
The only couple things that makes the movie standout are the cast and the whole age gap thing an older woman and younger man, which I guess congratulations on doing something different however that doesn’t make it good. Putting in an idea that isn’t often done while putting in so many cliches doesn’t blend well together at all.
I’m not entirely sure what else to say here, The Perfect Find isn’t terrible and at the very least there was some level of attempt during the first half hour to make it work. But the rest is compilation of elements that have been done far better.
The past comes back to haunt Bert Kreischer when a murderous mobster tries to kidnap him to atone for his crimes. With help from his estranged father, Bert must retrace the steps of his younger self as a sociopathic crime family goes to war.
The Machine is based on Bert Kreischer’s true story stand up routine which was turned into a feature film, the whole idea is that the whole true Russian mobsters story is back to haunt Kreischer 23 years later. Which sounds like a good idea on paper but in execution really misses the mark quite a lot.
Bert Kreischer plays a fictionalized version of himself and at times he can be entertaining as well as Mark Hamill who gets to play a different type of role which is nice. Hamill and Kreischer are by far the best parts about the movie and actually work well together, the action is at least serviceable with a few surprisingly fun scenes that I’m actually quite shocked the movie used.
The problems come in with the writing and a majority of the humor, there’s only so many times I can say that a movie isn’t funny. But that really applies here which is unfortunate because the set up is decent, the execution however is completely lacking. Heck when the movie is focused more on the action it has so much more style and is far more interesting than when it tries to be funny.
Worlds collide when the Flash uses his superpowers to travel back in time to change the events of the past. However, when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, he becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation. With no other superheroes to turn to, the Flash looks to coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian — albeit not the one he’s looking for.
The Flash is the fifth superhero film that has come out this year, the genre has definitely had it’s ups and downs. With Guardians Of The Galaxy VOL. 3 and Across The Spider-Verse being fantastic films. While Shazam: Fury Of The Gods and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania being terrible. The Flash is yet another example of being a complete and total mess.
I’ll start with the positives because surprisingly enough there’s a decent amount that was actually pretty solid, the first half of The Flash I have to say was quite great, while there was terrible dialogue which I’ll get to in a bit. There was at least some level of attempt to try and tell an interesting story about Barry Allen (played by Ezra Miller) and his mother Nora Allen (played by Maribel Verdú), it truly felt like the movie was going to have meaningful character development. There were even touching moments that actually were genuinely filled with heart.
There were a few performances that were pretty solid which are Michael Keaton as Batman and Sasha Calle, it’s great Keaton returning as Batman (even if it’s clearly nostalgia bait) he does the best he can with a very lacking script, it’s mostly his talent as an actor that pushes the performance to the finish line. I will say that the ideas they did with Batman in the film were genuinely interesting they were just not given a whole lot of time despite the movie being 2 hours and 24 minutes. Sasha Calle did not get a whole lot of time but she absolutely made what she could with it. She shows a very different angle to Supergirl we haven’t really seen in a film before, she’s genuinely interesting and she gives quite a strong performance. It’s intimidating and really makes the viewer quickly engaged into her character. Sasha Calle absolutely deserved a far better film and I truly do hope going forward that they consider bringing her back in the future.
Now we get into everything else that really just felt like a complete mess of ideas rolled into a ball and thrown at the nearest wall, the whole multiverse stuff is just not interesting here at all, there’s been talk online about the cameos. Without going on a full rant about them since many people have already said pretty much everything that needs to be said about the topic, I’ll just say this…it’s garbage and the CGI is atrocious (that goes for the big battle scene featuring Zod) how anyone looked at this and gave it the okay is beyond me. Anyway the multiverse stuff includes Zod which leads into one of the main problems with the movie, the Zod stuff is uninteresting and really serves as nothing more then for the movie to say “hey remember this guy well he’s back!!”
This pretty much goes for the last half of the movie as well, which is a shame because there are some genuinely touching moments towards the end that you really wish the movie actually had centered around rather than nostalgia bait and a messy multiverse story. Ezra Miller’s performance is just not anything noteworthy at all outside of the fact Miller plays different variations of Barry Allen. While Miller does make some of the emotional moments work, everything else falls flat unfortunately.
Overall while The Flash isn’t as bad as I expected, it’s most certainly not good either. It’s a complete and total mess that has way too many flaws that take away from the positives.
The intimate portrait of a woman who returns home to care for her dying mother.
With some films all you really need to tell a story is a character’s actions and expressions, Monica is quite a excellent example of that. While yes the film does have a script there’s incredible amount of times during the film where the expressions and actions really speak to the viewer.
Monica is about a trans woman who isn’t very close to her family comes home to care for her dying mother. Trace Lysette plays Monica and I know I say this often about performances but when I say that this is one of the best performances so far this year I absolutely mean it. There is something so down to earth, heartfelt and truly raw about Lysette’s performance here, from the little moments of her simply dancing to Dragostea Din Tei (Numa Numa as most people recognize it by well at least the internet) to her beautiful conversions she has with the rest of the cast such as Patricia Clarkson and Emily Browning (who are also both incredible). Trace Lysette truly hits it out of the park in every single way possible.
The filming is shot in this 1.20:1 aspect ratio which makes the shots in this film feel like polaroid photos, photos that you would have around your home and memories that you would look back on. It really fits the theme of the film with revisiting people you haven’t seen in years and it’s quite heartfelt, there’s so much attention to detail with the filming as it truly captures the expressions of the characters in this beautiful and realistic style that really makes them standout.
Finally there’s the script and atmosphere, I mentioned earlier that the film doesn’t have a huge script. Which really proves effective here it trades that in with an incredible amount of atmosphere and tells the story with actions and expressions, the actions and expressions especially from Trace Lysette tell the story beautifully and capture what the film is telling the viewer, it adds so much emotional weight without saying too much or over explaining. It simply shows the viewer what is going on and tells a little bit with the writing. The writing that the film does have is very natural and beautiful, it displays the beauty of the film and by the end moves the viewer to tears with such a impactful and inspiring ending.
Monica is one of the very best films of 2023, this is a film where if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend to do so.
Seven friends go away for the weekend, only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. They must pit their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies against the murderer to stay alive.
The Blackening is definitely a surprise, I’ll say this right now the trailer did not do this film justice. The trailer really made this seem like it was going to be yet another horror comedy that really comes and goes, plus it’s directed by Tim Story so I didn’t expect much. But I absolutely love to be proven wrong and this is truly something great.
While not every single joke lands and it does have a bit of a rough start, there is just so much to absolutely love here. For starters the cast is fantastic, they all have this natural connection towards one another which leads to incredibly fun performances and strong chemistry. Grace Byers as Alison I definitely think is the standout performance here, where she seems like she’s going to be only a supportive friend type of character ends up genuinely getting a ton of character development. In fact that could be really said for the rest of the cast, everyone is given their time to shine nobody feels left behind here.
The writing is quite hilarious, as I said before while not every single joke lands for most of the film there is so many jokes that land beautifully, it pokes fun at the horror genre while it does it’s own thing, it doesn’t completely rely on making fun of the genre to be funny. Even when it does make fun of the genre it goes about it in different ways, such as the delivery being different which is a breath of fresh air.
The Blackening very much leads into the comedy genre more than it does the horror genre, while yes there is a killer and it has a lot of common horror movie setups and elements. The humor is a lot of the main focus here, while this would be normally a problem due to a balancing issue it actually works quite well here. Which is due to the movie knowing what it wants to be, The Blackening knows it wants to be this silly horror comedy and that’s honestly what it sticks to being throughout the film. Plus the cast really looked like they had a blast of fun and you can really tell there was so much love put into the film.
Overall The Blackening is the biggest surprise so far this year, it’s the very definition of a midnight feature and quite an entertaining one. I can easily see this one becoming a classic in the future.
A sculptor preparing to open a new show tries to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends.
Showing Up really highlights why I love Kelly Reichardt so much as a director, a lot of her films have this special person to person interaction where the film shows people having very grounded conversations that truly feel like you are watching real people talk to one another. That’s especially present here in Showing Up.
Showing Up focuses on the labor of making art or how it fits into life, rather than what makes an artist or who they are while that is a very interesting subject there is no denying that’s been done plenty of times before. It also focuses on the outcome such as how long did it take to create the art in question? How stressful was it to create and how fulfilling it was and so much more.
The cast is truly phenomenal here in every way possible, Michelle Williams, Hong Chau and John Magaro are the standouts and all give very raw and touching performances that really make the film unique. Michelle Williams does a fantastic job at the deadpan delivery that also quickly becomes quite emotional, she has this beautiful bond with Hong Chau who is quite amusing. There’s just an overall beautiful realness to the performances that Reichardt tends to use.
The writing is truly beautiful and really celebrates the concept of art itself, it builds the concept of art as it’s own character where it’s talked about, explored and discussed in many different angles and perspectives that it’s truly mesmerizing and really wraps the film up in such a beautiful little sequence.
Showing Up is one of the best films so far this year, if you haven’t seen this one please make sure to do so.
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, 16-year-old Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman — a kindred spirit named Elena. However, when a violent group known as the Noble Men break into their home, attack them and take their beloved dog, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
The Wrath Of Becky is the sequel to Becky (2020) a film that came out during the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably the film that had Kevin James play a Neo-Nazi. What could have been a complete and total disaster ended up being a genuinely fun film filled with energy. Lulu Wilson sold the movie quite well, the kills were brutal and the movie itself was just entertaining. A sequel was always mentioned it was just a matter of when it was going to be released.
The Wrath Of Becky more or less follows exactly what made the first film so great, once again Lulu Wilson completely nails it with her performance as well as the kills being quite brutal. Wilson’s performance really shows a lot of classic B horror movie tropes that are used quite effectively, while we don’t get much in the character development department Becky is such an entertaining character that if the first film didn’t make it clear enough that you don’t want to mess with her.
Some of the style from the first movie is missed due to the director change however, the first film had Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion who previously directed Cooties (2014) and Bushwick (2017). Wrath Of Becky brings in Matt Angel Suzanne Coote who previously directed Open House (2018) and Hypnotic (2021), but at the very least it’s not enough to take you out of the full experience, Angel and Coote did quite a great job here of recapturing the spirit of the previous movie while also making it stand on it’s own.
The writing is pretty solid with some classic B horror movie beats that any fan will love, even if The Wrath Of Becky does follow the first film a bit too much there’s just enough here to have a very solid time with.
The Wrath Of Becky is available on all VOD platforms.
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, 16-year-old Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman — a kindred spirit named Elena. However, when a violent group known as the Noble Men break into their home, attack them and take their beloved dog, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
The Wrath Of Becky is the sequel to Becky (2020) a film that came out during the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably the film that had Kevin James play a Neo-Nazi. What could have been a complete and total disaster ended up being a genuinely fun film filled with energy. Lulu Wilson sold the movie quite well, the kills were brutal and the movie itself was just entertaining. A sequel was always mentioned it was just a matter of when it was going to be released.
The Wrath Of Becky more or less follows exactly what made the first film so great, once again Lulu Wilson completely nails it with her performance as well as the kills being quite brutal. Wilson’s performance really shows a lot of classic B horror movie tropes that are used quite effectively, while we don’t get much in the character development department Becky is such an entertaining character that if the first film didn’t make it clear enough that you don’t want to mess with her.
Some of the style from the first movie is missed due to the director change however, the first film had Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion who previously directed Cooties (2014) and Bushwick (2017). Wrath Of Becky brings in Matt Angel Suzanne Coote who previously directed Open House (2018) and Hypnotic (2021), but at the very least it’s not enough to take you out of the full experience, Angel and Coote did quite a great job here of recapturing the spirit of the previous movie while also making it stand on it’s own.
The writing is pretty solid with some classic B horror movie beats that any fan will love, even if The Wrath Of Becky does follow the first film a bit too much there’s just enough here to have a very solid time with.
The Wrath Of Becky is available on all VOD platforms.
The story of Stan Lee’s life, career, and legacy in his own words through personal archive material.
Stan Lee is a documentary about the life and career of Stan Lee the Marvel comics legend, while I do think this documentary doesn’t quite reach the heights it could have it’s still a very solid documentary.
If you are going into the documentary hoping for new information you are really not going to get here, a majority of what’s said here is very common knowledge especially if you are a fan of Marvel, heck even if you are a casual fan you may know a bunch of what’s said here.
Having that said there is absolutely no denying the way the documentary is done is very respectful and a nice little tribute to Stan Lee, it has a ton of archival footage that’s quite engaging and even talks a little about the whole credit situation between Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Diko, I’m not going to go over the whole situation itself but I will say the documentary does pose an interesting question on wether creation means to think of the idea or does it mean when you make the art and realize the idea?
It also questions a bit about credit when you have a huge company such as Marvel who gets the credit? It’s definitely some interesting stuff that I am actually a bit surprised the documentary included, so I will give credit where credit is due. Outside of that we get the origin stories of some classic Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men (the idea of The X-Men not really each of the characters), Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and a few others. All of which are pretty interesting stories especially if you haven’t heard about their origins.
As far as filmmaking goes Stan Lee is very straightforward and that’s what it should be, it doesn’t need to do anything special at all. It’s very accessible and at a level where the casual fan of Marvel or even people who aren’t fans of Marvel can jump right in, plus as I said before the documentary is done in a very respectful way to Stan Lee and really highlights what made him so special.
Billie is plagued by blackouts and strange visions that lead her to discover she’s stuck in a series of time loops, possibly related to her mysterious new girlfriend.
Jagged Mind is yet another time loop movie, this one being a horror and thriller and not a very good one either.
There is not a whole lot to be said here mainly due to the movie basically being a carbon copy of other time loop movies, at least the first half of the movie tries to do a few things differently and introduces a few neat ideas that are sadly abandoned when the second half of the movie rolls around. The second half is when it starts to become more less the same thing as other time loop movies.
The performances from Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Shannon Woodward are not great but at the very least they are trying to work with what they are given. It’s a very lacking script that is begging to be elaborated on a lot more, the last half of the movie goes down the “throw several ideas at the wall and hope something sticks” route. Most of it being incredibly forgettable.
Jerome Reviews... 