After the death of her best friend Izzy, Anna focuses all her attention on Booger, the stray cat which she and Izzy took in. When Booger bites her, she begins to undergo a strange transformation.
Booger is directed by Mary Dauterman which is her directorial debut.
A body horror film in which a cat bites a woman and she slowly goes through a transformation. A very straightforward premise that while doesn’t really do all that much, is still fun to watch unfold.
Grace Glowicki gives a decent performance, it’s not anything mind blowing or anything but you do feel the emotion of her grieving the loss of her best friend. Which is the center focus of the movie, the movie itself doesn’t really go into too much depth. But from the quick snippets on Glowicki’s character Anna’s phone of her best friend we can gather the information we need.
The body horror elements are fun, they don’t go incredibly far with them and instead opt to use it more as symbolism for trauma or grief. Which at times works but could have went a lot further, the twist at the end is pretty fun and does leave the viewer with questions in a good way.
Overall Booger may not have a whole lot going on, but it is a decently fun body horror movie that I do recommend and of course Booger the cat is cute!
A brilliant young misfit from Texas finds her morals challenged while serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as an NSA contractor.
Winner is directed by Susanna Fogel director of Life Partners (2014), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) and Cat Person (2023).
Despite already getting an incredibly strong film about Reality Winner last year called Reality which was directed by Tina Satter and Sydney Sweeney playing Reality Winner which was a fantastic film and performance. I had some sort of hope Winner would still be solid, the cast intrigued me and I was interested to see what the movie had to say about the topic. Unfortunately this is one of those movies where you are better off reading a Wikipedia page or other articles you find online.
The performances are decent enough, Kathryn Newton although not given a whole lot to do is great in her performance. Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis definitely bring some emotional moments to the movie that were actually quite touching, especially during the last half of the movie where it does admittedly get a lot better and more focused. There’s a few interesting aspects of Winner’s life before her arrest and for what it’s worth the movie does do well with those moments.
Unfortunately the rest of the movie is incredibly forgettable, Emilia Jones is miscasted as Reality Winner, combine that with the movie’s strange comedic drama tone that it goes for and you have a performance that just does not land with nowhere near enough power as it should. Sydney Sweeney’s performance had atmosphere, tension, focus and attention to detail. While I do understand Jones and Sweeney’s performances were going for two completely different things it really comes down to if they fully worked or not. Obviously that’s going to be up to the viewer but Jones’s performance just doesn’t come off as sincere especially when it’s telling the story of a woman who was called a traitor and arrested, the comedic tone just doesn’t match with the story being told here at all.
We do get some very genuine moments towards the end when Winner is arrested, Britton and Galifianakis throughout the film give very touching performances but this is not enough to really save this movie from being very forgettable unfortunately.
Three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life soon gets turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife. When someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times, the mischievous demon gleefully returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is directed by Tim Burton director of Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mars Attacks! (1996), Beetlejuice (1988), Corpse Bride (2005), Frankenweenie (2012) and many others! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel to Beetlejuice (1988).
A Beetlejuice (1988) sequel was inevitable, the first film became so popular incredibly fast over the years that there just had to be one. Especially when it hit the video market, the original film is still talked about to this day and is among many people’s favorites (myself included.) on the other hand Tim Burton a once excellent director who was quite consistent wasn’t doing so well, his last couple films such as Dumbo (2019), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) and a few others were not so great and just felt like Burton did not have the magic he once had. But then Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was born and showed he still has it!
There’s so much to talk about here and how this film is just incredibly exciting but as always I’ll start with the performances, which is important since I do think the performances and characters really bring this film together.
I’ll start off by saying everyone here does a fantastic job, they each bring something to the film even if their screentime is limited. Starting with Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice his performance is just incredible to see again after all these years, he completely matches the same tone, humor and actions as he did in the first film. There’s so many great line deliveries here that are genuinely hilarious, he also does seem like he’s having the time of his life and you just can’t help but smile at that. Much like in the first movie he doesn’t appear until a bit later but also like the first film that works incredibly well and sets up for some incredibly entertaining moments, jokes and other plots. As the film goes on he amps it up with Beetlejuice and the more he amps it up the more entertaining the character really gets.
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz is fantastic and it’s great to see Ryder on the big screen again, her bond with the cast is absolutely beautiful and quite humorous as well. But some of Ryder’s best moments is her bond with Jenna Ortega who plays Astrid Deetz the daughter of Lydia, the heart of the film comes from these two’s mother and daughter bond that really builds their characters incredibly well. Seeing their bond build over the course of the film is incredibly heartwarming and truly touching, even the little moments with the two not really saying anything to each other is meaningful.
Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe are both excellent here and make for so many fantastic comedic moments. Although Dafoe gets limited screentime he makes the most of it and really goes all out with his character Wolf Jackson, there isn’t exactly a whole to his character but I’m still glad he’s here. Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz delivers the film’s funniest moments, she’s also incredibly fantastic with tons of excellent moments with Ryder and Ortega, as well her having moments where she stands on her own.
Lastly Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz is a fantastic performance, I’ve said this about Jenna in the past but she is one of the best actresses of her generation, an actress who even competes with veteran actresses. Her performance here is so well done and her passion for the role can easily be seen here. Her facial acting and body language truly shine here, it’s something Jenna Ortega has always been absolutely great at as an actress but it’s especially shown here front and center. She’s a natural fit to the world of Beetlejuice and easily connects with the rest of the cast, as I said before her bond with Winona Ryder is the heart of the film and is so beautiful to watch. Astrid Deetz on the surface might seem like a familiar sort of character at first, however that quickly changes over the course of the film as we learn more and more about her.
The writing is so much fun, there’s so many clever jokes, touching moments and it’s done in a fun way to wrap the story together. While there are some subplots that aren’t as interesting as others I do think that leads to the incredibly bizarre final moments of the film, the dance scene is truly a lot of fun and really sums up this film’s energy in a nutshell. A chaotic ride that you really do not want to ever get off of!
The practical effects are absolutely stunning especially combined with the absolutely stunning look at the afterlife and you have yourself such a beautiful looking film which is quite refreshing to see after so many blockbusters seemed to have had this issue. The film’s use of guts and blood is both exciting and hilarious, it’s obviously not anything brutal but it’s such a fun way to work these things into the film, Tim Burton really did not hold back at all with the designs and his direction. This is absolutely a return to form for him and it’s incredibly fitting.
Lastly the film itself is just a ton of film, you can absolutely tell there was so much passion and heart poured into this film, watching interviews of Tim Burton and the cast (particularly Jenna, Winona, Catherine and Michael) you can easily tell they are proud of this film and how much heart they really put into the film. Sometimes that can really make a film and that’s most certainly a case here, without their passion for the film I don’t think Beetlejuice Beetlejuice would have been nearly as good as it is.
Overall Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a very worthy sequel to the original film, it’s some of the most fun I’ve had in a theater this year and is one of the very best of the year as well! Give this one a watch, especially if you’re a fan of the first film!
In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love his mum.
Didi is directed by Sean Wang which is directorial debut.
It’s really nice to see a coming of age film set in 2008, it can be a bit tricky to make it work or stand out. But luckily Sean Wang has so many tricks up his sleeve that the film works perfectly.
The performances here all around are incredibly top notch, Izaac Wang is the center focus and he gives one of the best performances of the year, between the interactions he has with the rest of the cast, to the emotional moments that pull at your heart strings. He gives such a grounded performance that really brings the viewer into the film, Chris Wang is such a simple yet incredibly interesting character that you quickly fall in love with. Joan Chen is the heart of the film, her performance as Chungsing Wong really does a fantastic job of being a reminder of the sacrifices moms do for their kids. Each and every scene she is in you can see and feel her emotions, it’s truly powerful facial acting and body language that even the little moments are just as investing.
The way the film recaptures the year of 2008 is brilliant we get a bit of screen life elements and we see the classic chatroom or message programs such as AIM. It’s truly impressive how far the film goes with these details, even if these scenes don’t stick around for very long they still have a long lasting impact throughout the film and are incredibly well done.
The writing is what ultimately builds this film together, it’s incredibly grounded, focused and combined with Sean Wang’s direction and script there’s this relatability factor that the viewer can quickly grow towards the film. It’s as if you are transported back into 2008, seeing the daily lives of your friends and family and filled to the brim with memories you hold close from when you were growing up. Even if you didn’t grow up during 2008 you can still connect with the film quite easily.
Overall Didi is a brilliant film, it’s so well crafted, acted and just something truly special!
When fate brings a Belfast teacher into the orbit of self-confessed “lowlife scum” Naoise and Liam Óg, the needle drops on a hip-hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish language, they soon lead a movement to save their mother tongue.
Kneecap is directed by Rich Peppiatt which is his directorial debut.
Kneecap is one of I’ve heard a lot about and decided to check out because of that and I’m really glad I did, this is quite different from a lot of music biopics for one thing the members of Kneecap an Irish hip hop trio from West Belfast, Northern Ireland play themselves in the film.
Although the biopic is fictional, the film still manages to be quite grounded especially when you have the performances of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí playing themselves as I said before. This gives the film the opportunity to really go all out here and that it does.
The music was incredibly well incorporated with some beautifully done music scenes that are so appealing to look at. Speaking of appealing the film itself is very stylized and really goes out of its way to be as energetic as possible.
The performances from the trio are some of the best so far this year, each of them contribute to the film and their bond is just fascinating to watch especially over the course of the film. The dialogue incorporating the music and even some history of Ireland was incredibly clever and beautifully done, there’s so much love and passion here that it almost feels like a celebration to this trio, language as a concept and Ireland.
Overall Kneecap is a fascinating film and definitely one of the best music biopics I’ve seen in quite awhile, it goes for a very different approach that completely works in the film’s favor. Check this one out!
Lifelong best friends Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean share an unbreakable bond from decades of weathering life’s storms. Through new shades of heartbreak, the trio are put to test as they face challenging times.
The Supremes At Earl’s All You Can Eat is directed by Tina Mabry director of Mississippi Damned (2009).
The Supremes At Earl’s All You Can Eat starts out promising enough, we are introduced to a group of three friends with a 1960s backdrop, how the three’s nickname “the supremes” was thought of, a bit about their backstory and the introduction itself is pretty charming. Then fast forwarding to present day and we get what feels like a soap opera, even when the movie throws in important topics such as loss, addiction and infidelity. While there are some powerful moments involving these topics, the melodramatic tone the movie opts to go for really lessens the impact which ultimately hurts the movie in the end.
Having that said the performances are quite great and are easily what makes the movie, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Abigail Achiri and Tati Gabrielle all do a fantastic job here and deliver plenty of moments that are genuinely touching. It helps that their characters are likable and do have some interesting conversations between one another like many friend groups do, the voiceover from Ellis-Taylor is also very relaxing and grabs the viewer’s interest rather quickly.
Although a lot of the topics are tackled in a surface level way, I do think the movie does a pretty decent job of working them into the story and bringing emotions to the viewer. Which is mainly done through the characters and the dialogue, as I said before it can feel incredibly soap opera at times but it works just enough to give some sort of reaction out of the viewer.
The Supremes At Earl’s All You Can Eat is available on Hulu!
Inside his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, he soon learns his trusty crayon can set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. However, when the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of his creativity to save both the real world and his own.
Harold and the Purple Crayon is directed by Carlos Saldanha director of Ice Age (2002) (Co director), Robots (2005) (Co director), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (2009), Rio (2011), Rio 2 (2014) and Ferdinand (2017).
This won’t be a surprise to many but Harold and the Purple Crayon is terrible, just the idea of a live action adaption of the 1955 children’s book by Crockett Johnson leaves a bad taste in your mouth. What’s interesting is that at one point this was going to be animated film which would have been far more appropriate and make more sense as well. Steven Spielberg was even involved at a certain point to help with the project, but instead we got this mess which is quite easily one of the worst movies of the year.
The performances here are just awful, Zachary Levi in particular turns an already terrible movie into something incredibly obnoxious, throughout the movie he plays the usual annoying man child type of character that if you thought couldn’t get any more annoying this movie will show you how much worse it gets. The idea of having Harold as an adult was a bad one to start with, but to make him an obnoxious character who has no character outside of being loud and annoying. The rest of the cast while not as bad as Levi aren’t much better, Jemaine Clement plays an incredibly one note villain (yeah there’s a villain in this movie I’m not sure why either), Lil Rei Howery could have gotten a few good jokes in there if the script wasn’t so horrible and everyone else just sort of exists.
For a movie that’s about using your imagination, Harold and the Purple Crayon certainly lacks the imagination and creativity of it’s source material. This is just a mishmash of terrible family movie cliches from the last several years, slapped into a beloved children’s book adaptation. The writing is horrendous, there isn’t one line here that is at least chuckle worthy, creative or has anything to really say.
The storytelling is especially horrible due to giving us a story that quite frankly did not need to be told, I don’t think anyone was really begging for a continuation of the book where Harold grows up to be a man in his 40s and act obnoxious for 90 minutes. If anything this is a complete one eighty from the book that quite frankly misses the entire point of its source material.
Overall had they stuck with an animated adaption I think there could have been something here, but instead we are given one of the laziest and worst movies of the year.
Harold and the Purple Crayon is available on all VOD platforms.
Four freshmen in high school get ready for their first school party, they’re preparing themselves for something unfamiliar and terrifying.
Incoming is directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin which is their directorial debut.
Incoming is Netflix’s version of Superbad (2007), Booksmart (2019) and Good Boys (2019)…not in a good way either.
This movie is another one of those coming of age story comedies that has a tons of parties and is raunchy, but lacks so much comedic power that you start to wonder what was the point of this? I’ll give credit where credit is due, the acting isn’t the worst as there are a few scenes that are decent enough. But nobody here gives a memorable performance that manages to stick out to the viewer, the writing doesn’t give these actors and actresses breathing room to actually deliver something of note.
If you have seen any coming of age film comedy you have already seen this one, there’s a lot of scenes here that are very similar to the films I mentioned at the beginning. The only slight difference here is the plot is tweaked around a bit (even that’s being generous), Project X (2012) just has overall better party scenes and Superbad (2007) and Booksmart (2019) are just overall better written and actually hilarious.
Deadpool’s peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon unites with his would-be pal, Wolverine, to complete the mission and save his world from an existential threat.
Deadpool & Wolverine is directed by Shawn Levy director of Free Guy (2021), The Adam Project (2022), Real Steal (2011), Date Night (2010), Night At The Museum (2006) and many others. Deadpool & Wolverine is the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as a sequel to Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018).
A Deadpool 3 was inevitable it was just a matter of when it was going to release especially due to Disney buying 20th Century Studios, some people thought it would never come out and some people thought Disney would tone it down. I actually liked the last two Deadpool films, am I as crazy about them as I was back when they first came out? Not at all, but for what they were they were fun enough films that had a lot of positives. Deadpool & Wolverine I would say is around the same although I do think it’s not as good as the first film.
Before I start I do want to put a spoiler warning as there are going to be spoilers so be aware!
So for starters the biggest positive of the film and the one who steals the show is Hugh Jackman who returns to play Wolverine from the X-Men films and the Wolverine films, he’s just as a great as he was in those films and shows that he still has it. There’s a few scenes in particular that standout quite well, Jackman adds some much needed emotional depth to the film. Granted it’s not anything mind blowing but it’s something and Jackman’s great acting is able to get the viewer invested which was part of Jackman’s portrayal of Logan/Wolverine in the first place. Ryan Reynolds is perfectly fine here, he isn’t anything special. But he works well with Hugh Jackman and there’s some comedic bits that do work between two, but then there are moments that are eye roll worthy that do end up hurting the movie in the long run.
The cameos I have to say this time around were actually fun, usually with a lot of the recent Marvel films it really does feel like they are shoving cameos in just for the audience to point and say “oh my god I know that guy.” While yes that argument can be used here, at the very least the cameos themselves are given more to do rather than blink at the camera, say a one liner and then leave. They actually tie into the story decently well and while some are definitely better handled than others I do think for the most part the movie does a decent job with them.
I’m not going to name every single cameo as there are quite a few of them and some of them such as Sabertooth who’s played by Tyler Mane (from X-Men (200)), really only serve as henchmen for the main villain Cassandra Nova (played by Emma Corrin) and then quickly get disposed of, sure it’s really cool to see that he’s here but that’s really all you can really say about him.
The main ones worth mentioning here are Chris Evans as Johnny Storm from Fantastic Four (2005) and it’s sequel Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007), Jennifer Garner as Elektra from Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005), Wesley Snipes from the Blade trilogy (1998-2004), Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23 from Logan (2017) and finally the biggest surprise which I will say was quite clever of the film Channing Tatum as Gambit from the Gambit film that was planned but never ended up coming out. All of these performances at least contribute something to the film, Dafne Keen in particular shows some really great acting here especially the bonding moments between her character Laura and Wolverine. It’s some of the best moments of the movie with some nice character development that was very needed. Channing Tatum is a delight to see even if Gambit is given the least to do out of the bunch, Tatum is clearly having a blast doing this performance which in turn makes it a lot of fun to watch.
As far as everything else goes it’s pretty alright, the action scenes combined with some of the song choices are quite fun, one of the biggest standouts being Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC which happens to be the opening of the movie. So it does start out with a huge bang. The humor is definitely one of the weaker parts about this movie, while there are some hilarious moments a lot of it is the exact same thing from the previous two movies. Which I get it the movie is pulling from the source material and that’s just how Deadpool’s personality is but it really is a bit repetitive at this point and does start to really to become incredibly noticeable very quickly.
I will say the end credits combined with clips of the old 20th Century Studios Marvel films and behind the scenes footage of those films while using Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day (I’m surprised it took a film from the MCU this long to use a Green Day song) is actually quite nice. Does it scream graduation slideshow? Absolutely but growing up with these movies despite the wide range of quality and seeing them go like this is decently touching.
Overall Deadpool & Wolverine is fine for what it is, a lot of it is the same thing the MCU has been doing for the last couple years. But at the very least this one is entertaining, I’m probably not going to ever revisit it this movie but it made for a satisfying watch.
Sparks fly between a marketing executive and a NASA official as he makes preparations for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Fly Me To The Moon is directed by Greg Berlanti director of The Broken Hearts Club (2000), Life as We Know It (2010) and Love Simon (2018).
Definitely not as bad as I anticipated but still very forgettable and ends up not really amounting to all that much, it’s sort of a shame because I do think at least half of this movie is pretty alright. When it focuses on the space stuff it’s pretty decent, when it focuses on the romance it’s about as bland as you can really get with a romantic comedy.
Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson are both great here, both incredibly charming and have the charisma to back it up. The chemistry can be a little mixed at times due to movie switching back and forth between drama and romance. However the two for the most part are able to adapt to the switch in tone which is mainly thanks to the two’s star power.
The biggest problems with Fly Me To The Moon is the previously mentioned switching back and forth in tone and the pacing, the rest of the movie is unfortunately not able to adapt well to the tone switching which leads to a lot very messy scenes that just don’t grab the viewer’s attention. The running time being 132 minutes long is incredibly ridiculous and could have easily been trimmed down into a 90 or so minute movie that would not have over stayed it’s welcome.
Overall there isn’t much to be said about Fly Me To The Moon, there’s a decent amount to like and maybe you will walk away getting something out of it. But unfortunately this one is a bit too much on the forgettable side to recommend.
Fly Me To The Moon is available on all VOD platforms.
Jerome Reviews... 