Special agents discover a revolutionary computer program that uses a digital child to catch online predators. However, they soon learn that the AI’s inevitable advancement is far more rapid and incalculable than they ever could have imagined, posing unforeseen challenges and unsettling consequences for the future of technology and mankind.
The Artifice Girl takes the concept of AI and how it’s rapidly growing then does something quite interesting with it.
The performances from Tatum Matthews and Lance Hennriksen are quite great, they are the sole reason why the third act stands out so well and put so much power into their performances. The first bit of the movie where there’s nothing but a long but very investing interrogation room scene is quite great, while this sort of thing has been done before it still makes for great attention grabbing and really sets up the movie well.
The second act is where the movie fumbles a bit, it starts to show the movie’s low budget with some not very good acting (outside of Tatum Matthews) and writing that doesn’t quite land all that well. However the movie does start to ask questions about how ethical is AI and asks a lot of questions about Tatum Matthews’s character.
The third act performance wise with some very long scenes with Matthews and Hennriksen are quite great, story wise it becomes a bit more of a mess there’s potential here that goes a bit underutilized. Plus the movie does fall into the whole “the AI is taking over and there’s nothing we can do” area that a lot of these very low budget Sci-Fi movies tend to go down.
With that said I do actually think this was an interesting enough movie, it’s heavily flawed but there’s just the right amount of decent performances, questions of how ethical and a solid first and third (mostly) act that warrants a watch.
The Artifice Girl is available on all VOD platforms.
Follows 17-year-old Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
The Magic Flute is a German musical fantasy film that is based on the 1791 opera of the same name, I have to give credit where credit is due this movie is completely not what I expected.
The movie is an opera which I have to say some of the singing voices are quite great, there really isn’t anything here that I’m going to remember for years to come or actively listen to. But it does get the job done and at the very least is a bit different from other fantasy movies, Jack Wolfe is definitely standout when it comes to acting, I can absolutely see his career evolve as it goes on.
What mainly hurts this movie is that it does go on for way too long it’s 124 minutes long and unfortunately the pacing doesn’t really help at all, some scenes overstay their welcome. The opera scenes are by far the most interesting but the rest of the movie falls into the “seen it and done far better” category.
With that said I don’t think The Magic Flute is necessarily bad, it’s competently made, has some decent filming and the writing does have some great moments that do have some emotion to it. A lot of it just falls in very familiar territory that is outclassed by several other movies.
The Magic Flute is available on all VOD platforms.
Travis Maddox spends his nights fighting in underground boxing matches, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by a freshman’s resistance to his appeal, Travis offers her a simple bet: if he loses his next fight, he must remain sex-free for a month. If he wins, she must live in his apartment for the same amount of time.
It’s worth pointing out that I was originally not going to review Beautiful Disaster due to not knowing it even existed, that is until I saw some of my peers have watched it and said that it’s a gigantic mess…which quite honestly doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Beautiful Disaster is yet another movie based on a story that was posted on Wattpad, which funnily enough Voltage pictures which releases the After movies released this one. Roger Kumble the director of After We Collided is in the director’s chair for this movie. What’s funny about Beautiful Disaster is it almost feels like a parody of the After movies and yet it’s released by the same studio as those movies.
Beautiful Disaster is horrendous yet there’s a lot of unintentionally hilarious moments that truly make you wonder what anyone behind this movie was thinking, heck there’s a After cameo in it that’s truly just there for no other reason than to just say “hey remember that previous movie I directed?” Dylan Sprouse can give the occasional decent moment here and there but due to the script a lot of what he tries to do falls apart quickly.
The chemistry between Dylan Sprouse and Virginia Gardner is truly awful, Gardner really tries her hardest to bring some sort of genuine emotion but it ends up either being unintentionally funny or completely one note. For some reason midway through the movie they try to shift genres for some reason, they throw in this sort of serious crime type of plot that really just has no business being here. You can easily tell that this was written on Wattpad.
Which I’ve said this before in my reviews for the After movies, but that’s one of the main reason’s why adapting Wattpad stories into film just doesn’t work. A lot of the stories are just fanfiction, collection of thoughts for writers just starting out or written for fun.
Overall Beautiful Disaster is a mess and quite the disaster, it’s fun to poke fun at with friends due to how awful it is but that’s really it.
Beautiful Disaster is available on all VOD platforms.
While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin comes out of hiding to protect her daughter she left earlier in life.
The Mother is yet another Netflix original movie that sadly suffers from being way too forgettable.
There’s moments where Nikki Caro does a decent job in the director’s chair particularly when The Mother (played by Jennifer Lopez) and Zoe (played by Lucy Paez) have this mother and daughter chemistry that is quite strong and really highlights the performances from Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez. There’s a few action scenes (towards the end) that are decently done but they are admittedly nothing to write home about.
That’s where the movie really ends with it’s positives, the editing in most of the actions scenes before the third act are awful, they really don’t really tell us much about Jennifer Lopez’s characters. We are told that she’s a ruthless assassin but we barely get to see any of that due to how messy the editing really is.
When the third act rolls around the movie does actually pick up quite a bit surprisingly enough, but at that point it’s a bit too late the time to tell a proper backstory is long gone. Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez really do carry the third act and really do the most they can with it plus try to give the movie a proper ending.
Overall The Mother has a decent third act, great performances from Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez but not much else. It’s yet another forgettable Netflix original action thriller movie that has nothing new to offer.
Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton, star attraction of the Harlem Globetrotters, changes the game of basketball when he becomes the first African American player to sign a contract with the NBA in the fall of 1950.
The last person I expected to direct a movie about Nat Coffin the first African American to sign a contract with the NBA was Martin Guigui the director who did the 9/11 movie with Charlie Sheen and Whoopi Goldberg. Sweetwater might actually be the best movie in his career but given the quality of this movie that’s not saying a whole lot.
Sweetwater has good intentions and really tries to the tell the story of Nat Coffin the best it can, the main problem here is Martin Guigui’s script and direction, there’s so many moments where you can tell the cast are trying to bring genuine emotion to their performances. But unfortunately that’s just not happening due to a lot of over acting or just flat out awful moments that completely take the viewer out of the movie.
Sweetwater suffers from a lot of typical biopic story beats and if you are familiar with the sports film genre you aren’t going to get anything new here either, the third act lacks a lot of strength as well as being very underwhelming. It doesn’t really strike as a final game, if you took the clip of the game and showed it to someone without context I can assure you that nobody would guess it’s the final game.
After a small-town pilot mysteriously dies during flight, passenger Doug White is forced to land the plane to safety and save his entire family on board.
Sean McNamara is back with yet another terrible movie, admittedly this is far better than The King’s Daughter but that’s not saying much at all.
On a Wing and a Prayer is based on a true story of Doug White tacking control of a plane when the pilot died, this is yet another case of the true story being more interesting than the movie itself. The only positive I can give here is Dennis Quaid who doesn’t really fair any better than the rest of the cast but at the very least he’s somewhat entertaining at parts.
The movie is a faith based movie which is fine but the movie doesn’t really do a whole lot with that until the end, where they try to say that Jesus took the wheel. But also at the same time there’s this whole subplot of trying to grow the knowledge of the plane and that’s implied to have help land the plane, it’s a very weird mess of a movie that really doesn’t know what it’s trying to say.
The scene where the plane lands has Lucy Thomas’s version of Hallelujah playing and while I have said in the past how incredible of a song Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah truly is, the version used here is very cheesy and really sums up this made for TV like feel this movie has, I’m sure Lucy Thomas’s version is fine enough on it’s own. But within the context of the movie it really falls flat unfortunately.
The writing is truly awful, this is not how people talk at the slightest especially with the child actors. When you are trying to tell a true story it’s important to not make your writing sound like it was written by someone who has no idea how people interact with each other, it’s unfortunate because the true story itself is very interesting and it’s a situation that is definitely not easy to get out of.
Which is honestly what makes On a Wing and a Prayer so frustrating, it had the right material the movie just lacked everything else to make a good movie and a way to tell this story well.
On a Wing and a Prayer is available on Amazon Prime Video.
A group of strangers wake in a mysterious room inscribed with an unfamiliar code. Looking for ways to escape, they discover the room is riddled with lethal traps, and as fear and distrust swirl around them, the group must work together to survive.
Cube (2021) is a Japanese remake of the original 1997 film of the same name and there really isn’t a whole lot to comment on here.
Cube (2021) is basically if you took everything that was fun about the original and some how made it dull and not very investing, the performances are fine enough and at times the atmosphere tries to match what the original had. But otherwise this movie does what the original movie did but only worse.
The kills are very lacking in power, they aren’t anywhere as effective as they were in the original due to just how drawn out and quickly tiring the movie gets. The main difference from the original and this movie is this one strangely tries to build these backstories for some of the characters. Which would be fine in most cases, however the stories being told are very forgettable and honestly serve nothing more than to draw the movie out as long as possible.
Cube (2021) really doesn’t end up justifying it’s existence as a remake, It’s another case of an incredibly pointless remake that despite doing quite a lot of the same sort of stuff the original did it still ends up not coming together.
Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team to defend the universe and protect one of their own. If the mission is not completely successful, it could possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the final film of the Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy. The discussion about superhero fatigue or the superhero genre itself putting mediocrity or flat out terrible movies is still a very relevant. Especially given with what we got so far this year, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania outside of a few performances was a horrible start to phase five and Shazam: Fury Of The Gods suffered very identical problems that Quantumania did and just sort of came and went.
However Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is what happens when you focus on far more than just building a cinematic universe, random cameos and actually have very interesting themes with strong writing. The Guardians Of The Galaxy films I consider to be the best of the MCU and a lot of it has to do with how beautifully well written the characters are and James Gunn’s direction which are both very present here.
For starters the character’s are once again incredibly well written here, the film completes a lot of the arcs the characters have went through from the last several years, Chris Pratt once again kills it as Peter Quill, while he doesn’t get as much development here as he did in the previous movies he really doesn’t need to. The last film really wrapped up a lot of his story and in this one it tied up some loose ends which does lead to a very emotional touching end for his journey, it’s one that’s been hinted at for awhile and to see him accomplish it is truly satisfying.
Bradley Cooper is at his absolute best here as Rocket as the trailers and information about the film has said, the film takes a look at Rocket’s backstory which is quite dark, that’s one thing I should mention Vol. 3 is the darkest of the trilogy (heck this might be the darkest film of the MCU if we are going to be honest.) the backstory really does a fantastic job of building Rocket’s character, there’s so many emotions and really makes Rocket one of the most interesting characters of the MCU. There’s so much pain and sadness in the many flashbacks that truly do make you cry, Rocket’s backstory is among some of the best the MCU has ever done and it’s truly beautiful to see his arc be completed.
Dave Bautista as Drax actually goes through quite a lot of development here, he’s shown in the previous films that he really cares about the team, but here you can absolutely see the result of that. It helps that Bautista gives a phenomenal performance and really puts so much heart into the role, it always did seem like he was having a blast playing Drax whenever he was on screen and that shows here.
Karen Gillan as Nebula is yet another highlight performance of the film, while yes Gillan has always killed as Nebula but I would argue she takes the performance to a different level in this one. Not only does her arc complete in this film but it’s such a beautiful end to it as well, especially during one particularly moment at the end that has everyone together, Nebula is by far one of the most developed characters of the MCU and truly one of the most interesting as well.
Chukwudi Iwuji plays the villain High Evolutionary and it’s quite refreshing to see a villain who isn’t sympathetic at all, one of the problems a lot of people have had with some recent MCU villains is they are always either given a sympathetic backstory or make arguments where someone can say “they are right” while yes that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when you constantly do it film after film (or show) it starts to become very old. High Evolutionary is straight up evil, he wants to commit genocide and torture creatures he sees as “not perfect” Iwuji’s performance is so unhinged that it’s to the point where it’s quite brilliant. Iwuji says that some inspirations for his performance was William Shakespeare and that really shows, he balances a lot of absolutely unhinged moments with some calm and collected moments.
James Gunn’s direction much like the previous two films is absolutely brilliant, there’s a beautiful blend of comedy and dramatic moments that help the film move along at very steady pace. It tells a beautiful story while making some very hilarious jokes, the music is once against fantastic as well. One scene in particular towards the end uses “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + The Machine and it’s truly a brilliant use of it, the scene really puts a nice closing on an incredible journey we have had with these characters.
Lastly there’s the film itself and it’s everything that the end of a trilogy should be, it completes the many character arcs while introducing a few new elements that add to the overall themes and characters.
I know it may look like I went on a lot about the characters, but that’s honestly the main source of power in the Guardians Of The Galaxy Trilogy…the characters, since 2014 we have been on a journey with these characters that are quite unique when it comes to the writing style, the team is arguably the characters who went through the most development out of all the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I believe the reason why these characters and films are so fantastic is mainly development, the characters loving each other like a family and the overall charm.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is the perfect closer to the trilogy and is among one of the very best films so far this year!
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is playing in theaters.
An excursion to the Mojave Desert turns creepy when a group of campers starts to experience unexplained sounds, vibrations, and unnatural animal behaviour. Then one night everything changes, sending the foursome on a mind-bending trip through terror.
The Outwaters is another pretty experimental horror film sort of in the same ballpark as Skinamarink, while I don’t think The Outwaters is as successful as Skinamarink it still is quite scary and really does bring the found footage genre back to it’s roots meaning a whole lot of Blair Witch Project type of atmosphere.
The performances here are quite great, they are organic and really match the tone the film is going for, while there isn’t a whole lot of character development here there really doesn’t need to be, all you really need to know is the basics of the group of campers, the film quickly turns into a nightmare afterwards.
Although we can’t really see what’s exactly going on we are given a lot of voices and very authentic screams, cries and sounds that come from a nightmare. They are very unsettling and really put chills down the viewer’s spine, to say exactly what is going on is a hard task because I’m going to be honest. I have next to clue what is going on. The Outwaters definitely leaves a lot to the viewer’s imagination of what exactly is happening or why it’s happening.
It also should be noted that The Outwaters is not going to be for everyone, some people are going to think it’s brilliant and others will think it’s a waste of time, the desert location combined with the found footage style really does add a lot of terror to the film and really brings the viewer in.
The Outwaters is definitely one to check out knowing as little as possible.
A woman enrolls in a clinical trial to try and fix her seemingly broken biological clock after friends, family, and society pressures her to have children.
Unfortunately Clock is yet another movie that I’ve watched within the last week (at the time this was written) where there’s tons of good ideas, just not good execution.
The theme of anxiety with pregnancy and it’s many troubles is very interesting such as insisting you want kids, not satisfying your loved ones, medications and doctors ect. It’s all the right material to craft something genuinely interesting and actually touching. I will say that Dianna Agron is quite great in the leading role, she gives a very strong performance that does have some quite touching moments that does bring the viewer in. Which is mostly the first half of the movie where it does have a promising start.
The atmosphere of the movie is definitely there, it has the right atmosphere with some decent character bits that do give the movie a very decent start, when the second half rolls around things start to become way too familiar, it becomes more on the goofy side and not in a good way. It almost feels like the two halves of the movie were from two completely separate movies and were stitched together for some reason.
With that said I don’t think Clock is necessarily a bad movie, Alexis Jacknow definitely has potential as a director and she definitely knows how to bring an atmosphere (even if it falls flat at the end), the performances are at least solid and the movie is at the very least interesting. Just not something to ever revisit.
Jerome Reviews... 