Brothers (2024) Film Review

Two criminal twin brothers, one trying to reform, embark on a dangerous heist road trip. Facing legal troubles, gunfights and family drama, they must reconcile their differences before their mission leads to self-destruction.

Brothers is directed by Max Barbakow director of Palm Springs (2020).

Brothers is the very definition of wasting a talented cast, what’s even more shocking is this is from the director of Palm Springs (2020) a film that was very likable and great as well. Brothers is the direct opposite and when you really boil down to it does not have a whole lot going on.

The performances are fine enough, Peter Dinklage, Josh Brolin, Brendan Fraser and Glenn Close all give the type of performances they are assigned. None of them are particularly good but they are still the best part about this movie. There’s actually a few particularly moments between Brolin, Dinklage and Close that are sweet even if the moments lack development.

The rest of the movie is filled with unfunny gags and a very uninteresting plot about collecting stolen emeralds from 30 years ago. It’s the type of action crime comedy movie we have seen a thousand times before it and we will most definitely see after it, if you have seen one of these movies before you could probably already guess what’s going to end up happening.

Really don’t have anything else to say here, Brothers is the very definition of a streaming movie that has a very talented cast but doesn’t bother to use them in an interesting way.

Brothers is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

House Of Spoils (2024) Film Review!

It tells the story of a chef who opens her first restaurant where she battles kitchen chaos, a dubious investor and self doubt, but the pressure heats up thanks to the spirit of the estate’s previous owner who threatens to sabotage her.

House Of Spoils is directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy who both previously directed Blow The Man Down (2019).

House Of Spoils is yet another misfire from Blumhouse, that really should not shock you given how bad of a year it’s been for them. While the movie isn’t as bad as Afraid, Imaginary or Nightswim that really does not say much at all.

Ariana DeBose is the only reason there’s positives here, without her the whole ship would sink. She gives the best performance she can really give with a script that is incredibly lacking in its own premise and even disinterested in doing something interesting as well.

The movie is close to doing something interesting with its premise but backs out at the last minute and goes for a much more safe and predictable route. A choice that heavily hurts this movie and makes a lot of scenes that previously happened feel incredibly pointless, which is a shame because the setup is decent but once the movie reaches its second half that’s when the movie just gives up and glosses over a lot of plot elements and characters that were established early on.

There’s no conflict with the characters, the horror is completely drained and the setup that had some creepy moments along with the atmosphere is replaced with jumpscares that anyone can see coming. At this point in the movie it truly makes you wonder why you even bothered in the first place as the movie renders itself as pointless.

Overall House Of Spoils is terrible, outside of the decent performance from Ariana DeBose and the occasional solid moments. This is a very wasted premise on a movie that doesn’t seem to care to grab the viewers attention.

House Of Spoils is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Quick Review: Killer Heat (2024)

On a remote Greek island, twin brothers find themselves entangled in a tumultuous love triangle. A troubled detective known as ‘The Jealousy Man’ is brought in to investigate the case.

Killer Heat is directed by Philippe Lacôte director of Run (2014) and Night Of The Kings (2020).

Not a whole lot to say here as Killer Heat is the type of movie where once you watch about 10 minutes of it you know exactly where it’s going.

The cast is quite great here, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a lot of fun even if his character is a stereotypic private investigator with a rough past. He does what he can with the material and manages to get the job done mostly from his likability as an actor. Shailene Woodley isn’t too bad here either just not given anything really interesting to do, Richard Madden does play identical twins which is probably the movie’s most memorable part. Which to be fair to the movie Madden does a pretty great job with both performances as well, for the most part the performances all around are quite great just a shame the rest of the movie couldn’t seem to follow that up.

What hurts this movie is the writing, it’s very shallow in its execution and as I said before it is very predictable. The movie attempts to do this whole “but wait there’s more” sort of thing that’s really only here to drag the movie out further, there’s very little suspense or tension due to just how predictable everything is. I definitely think there’s ideas here that if better written the movie could have had something here.

Killer Heat is available on Amazon Prime Video

3/10 D-

Jackpot (2024) Film Review

In the near future, a ‘Grand Lottery’ has been newly established in California – the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot.

Jackpot is directed by Paul Feig director of Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), Ghostbusters (2016), A Simple Favor (2018), Last Christmas (2019) and a few others.

Jackpot is basically a comedic version of The Purge franchise an interesting idea for sure and it’s executed fine enough but there’s really nothing incredibly strong going on here.

John Cena is the one who’s carrying this movie and manages to push it to the finish line, while not every joke lands a lot of the humor from him is quite decent. None of the jokes are anything you are going to be quoting with your friends but at the very least he manages to make it fun for the most part. Awkwafina is actually not bad here, this is the first time in awhile where I haven’t felt incredibly annoyed by her character or her playing herself. Granted at times she does slip and feels like she’s playing the same type of role again, but for the most part she does a decent job. She actually has solid chemistry with John Cena which is what I think really benefited her this time around.

The concept itself is pretty fun, there’s definitely some shining moments that show a lot of potential, but unfortunately the movie doesn’t really have the spark it needs to make this a really fun ride. The writing is what hurts this movie the most, the last half of the movie turns into your very typical action comedy that really does not do anything for the genre. It’s like they had a really good idea going with the first half of the movie and then did not know how to finish the movie so they threw anything at the wall to see what sticks.

Overall there really isn’t much more to be said, Jackpot isn’t a bad movie as it definitely has its moments and the acting is actually not bad here. The movie itself is just a very below average action comedy, that will entertain you for a little bit before being quickly forgotten about.

Jackpot is available on Amazon Prime Video.

5/10 C

My Spy: The Eternal City (2024) Film Review.

JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear scheme aimed at the Vatican, which disrupts a high school choir trip to Italy.

My Spy: The Eternal City is directed by Peter Seagal director of Anger Management (2003), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), 50 First Dates (2004), My Spy (2020), Grudge Match (2013) and a few others.

Out of any movie to get a sequel I’m willing to put good money down that My Spy wasn’t one that people were demanding. The first My Spy was a fun little action comedy that went to VOD platforms during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a fine enough movie that while forgettable got the job done. So it’s very interesting to me that Peter Seagal who directed the previous movie returns and does a worse job than before.

Dave Bautista is once again pretty okay here, he’s by far the best part of the movie much like he was in the previous movie. The rest of the cast are fine enough they just don’t bring anything exciting to the table, the jokes this time around are slightly worse than the last movie. Very forgettable and at most result in a chuckle, granted none of the jokes are painful just very cobbled together.

Speaking of cobbled together what really kills this movie is the plot and the many plot lines that follow, for some reason they decided to take a simple bonding story from the first movie and turn it into a whole plot heavy movie with an espionage action plot that oddly gets very convoluted. It’s the type of movie where you really scratch your head and say “who was this for?” It wants to go for the same family type feel the first movie did. But every now and then you get jokes here that aren’t exactly family friendly. It’s a very confused mess that never really figures itself out.

Finally the characters especially the new ones don’t really add much, Craig Robinson and Anna Faris are trying their best but with such a limited script that gives very little to work with they sort of have no choice but to be sitting ducks.

Overall My Spy: The Eternal City is very typical streaming movie shovelware, it exists solely on the chance that some people who liked My Spy (2020) may watch it, definitely not one of the worst movies of the year but it’s one you are going to forget almost immediately after watching.

My Spy: The Eternal City is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Space Cadet (2024) Film Review

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.

Space Cadet is available on Amazon Prime Video.

1/10 F

The Idea Of You (2024) Film Review

A 40-year-old single mum begins an unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer.

The Idea Of You is directed by Michael Showalter who previously directed The Big Sick (2019), The Lovebirds (2020), The Eyes Of Tammy Faye (2021), Spoiler Alert (2022) and a few others.

Really not a whole lot to comment on with The Idea Of You. It’s a decent surprise that ends up actually exploring a bit more with it’s themes than expected and has some really great moments that compliment the cast quite well.

What’s really keeping this movie afloat are the performances from Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine both put in so much work here and genuinely have excellent chemistry between one another. There’s absolutely no denying that the two truly light up the screen in any given opportunity during the film, especially Anne Hathaway she really gives such a charming performance that explores a bit of her character Solène. Granted it’s not anything spectacular but the fact it’s even there at all is something that can’t be said for a lot of other films that are loosely based on fan-fiction.

The movie is surprising because for a film that was loosely based on Wattpad fan-fiction you would expect these characters to act far more goofy and over the top, but here you get a bit more grounded. Sure you can definitely tell that a lot of the movie was based on a fan-fiction. But due to Michael Showalter’s more grounded approach and a desire to explore the characters you get something a bit different than you usually get with these movies.

I definitely think the movie falters a bit towards the end due to being a bit more on the predictable side of things and does go for some very familiar tropes. But I do think The Idea Of You is a solid film that’s genuinely quite fun!

The Idea Of You is available on Amazon Prime Video.

7/10 B

Ricky Stanicky (2024) Film Review

When three childhood best friends pull a prank that goes wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble. Twenty years later, they still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior.

Ricky Stanicky is directed by Peter Farrelly director of Green Book (2018), Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022), There’s Something About Mary (1998) and among many others.

After directing Green Book (2018) and The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022) Farrelly returns to raunchy studio comedies, which could have great if it was the same level of quality as Dumb and Dumber (1994) or There’s Something About Mary (1998) but unfortunately that’s not what you get here. Ricky Stanicky believe it or not has six writers and has been in development since 2010 and both of these show in the final result.

The one positive here is John Cena who takes a script that is painfully unfunny and manages to actually get a few chuckles out of the viewer, which is mainly due to Cena’s facial expressions and entertaining performance. Zac Efron while not necessarily terrible plays a very okay performance that you quickly forget about after watching the movie. He’s given a few emotional moments and to his credit he does a decent job but the script lacking in character really holds him back.

Ricky Stanicky feels like a throwback to the raunchy comedy era but not in a good way, it uses the most tired cliches (bunch of dick jokes) a lot of it is very tired bits that you would have seen a bunch of in 2010. What does confuse me however is how a pretty straightforward movie like this was written by six people which includes Peter Farrelly himself, the movie itself is very blandly written and really has nothing noteworthy going on. Between being juvenile, bafflingly joyless and drawn out jokes that go on for an uncomfortably long time it really begs the question of what was going on in the writer’s room?

Honestly Ricky Stanicky is the type of movie where the background of the movie is far more interesting than the movie itself, you can easily sum this movie up as a raunchy comedy that missed the time when the genre was at it’s peak. Even if it came out back in the mid 2010s this movie would still be outclassed by far better movies in the genre.

Ricky Stanicky is available on Amazon Prime Video.

2/10 F

Run Sweetheart Run is entertaining yet could have been more.

After what begins as dinner with a client, a single mom finds herself hunted by a monstrous and seemingly unstoppable assailant.

Run Sweetheart Run is a film that is not subtle at all, it establishes very early on that it’s a #MeToo type of film. Which I’m definitely all for and at times the movie uses that quite well, Ella Balinska gives such a fantastic and fun performance here, she really gives it her all here and completely steals the show in every single way possible. The “RUN” title card sequences when Cherie (Balinska) is in danger are very fun and creative, mixed with some thrilling atmosphere as well a very solid score to go with it. The vampire elements I have to say are solid and actually do a few things differently, it’s just a tad frustrating that they aren’t used to the full potential. Ultimately what stops this movie from being even better is the script, as I said before it’s not subtle at all which leads to many problems as the movie goes on, the dialogue from the other characters is on the weak side and none of them really have any memorable or distinct personalities outside of their respective ones they are given. The third act does have a twist that is quite engaging but unfortunately is a bit too late to really sink in or to do anything memorable with. Run Sweetheart Run clearly had a lot of potential to be great and I truly hope Ella Balinska is given a better horror film to work with in the near future.

Run Sweetheart Run is available on Amazon Prime Video.

6/10 C+

Samaritan is a generic superhero story.

A young boy learns that a superhero who was thought to have gone missing after an epic battle twenty years ago may in fact still be around.

I was actually pretty excited for Samaritan despite the plot reading exactly like a generic superhero story, I wanted to see how Julius Avery (director of Overlord and Son Of A Gun) would tackle the superhero genre. Unfortunately the movie itself is a very generic one, the story of a kid unexpectedly meeting a superhero has been done numerous times before and it’s not any different here. Javon Walton at least gives a fun performance that gives the movie spirit and Sylvester Stallone is really solid here as he usually is, the few action scenes that there are not bad but not anything to write home about. Had this movie come out several years ago like in the 90s there would be a lot more leeway, the main issues here are mostly the villains who are very one note and for half the movie barely do anything. Then you have the writing which I’ve said before is written in the most generic way possible, the movie hits a lot of the typical superhero movie beats that have been done far better elsewhere. There’s some decent moments with Stallone and Walton who bond over the course of the movie which leads to some great moments, but a lot Samaritan is very forgettable and sort of sits among such a crowded genre. Overall Samaritan isn’t bad, there’s definitely some heart and the acting is at least solid. But it’s not enough to really standout.

Samaritan is available on Amazon Prime Video.

5/10 C