Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) Film Review

After his daughter’s life is threatened, wisecracking Detective Axel Foley teams up with a new partner and some old pals to turn up the heat on a conspiracy

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is directed by Mark Molloy which is his directorial debut. The film is the fourth installment in the Beverly Hills Cop series and serves as a sequel to Beverly Hills Cop III (1994).

After the disaster that was Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) the series stayed dormant for 30 years and luckily Axel F is a far better film than it’s predecessor, it’s more in line with the first two films and does a pretty decent job of complimenting and celebrating said films.

Admittedly this is a nostalgia fueled legacy sequel but that really does not take away from it at all. First off the performances are quite great, seeing Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot again is just truly exciting and they all do excellent in their respective roles. Even if some are given more to do than others it’s still great to see them interact and only adds to this installment’s celebration of the series in general. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige and Kevin Bacon are great additions to the series and are able to easily blend in with the rest of the cast, together this cast is really strong and is just overall a lot of fun.

The humor, camerawork and soundtrack were all pretty strong as well, granted they weren’t anything groundbreaking but they all fit the nostalgia theme and celebration of the series the movie was going for. They even got Crazy Frog into the mix which usually would be a negative but in this case it’s used well and the movie puts its own twist on it.

The action scenes are quite great here as well, for a first time director Mark Molloy manages to really give some quite solid action scenes and keeps up with Axel’s rapid fire repartee it’s fantastic stuff and moments like those that really do make this installment special.

Overall there really isn’t much else to say about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a very solid installment to the series, it might not be doing anything for the series or anything groundbreaking. But at the very least it’s fun, well acted and greatly crafted.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is available on Netflix.

7/10 B

Ezra (2024) Film Review

Divorced stand-up comedian Max Bernal struggles to raise his autistic son, Ezra. Forced to confront difficult decisions about the boy’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both of their lives.

Ezra is directed by Tony Goldwyn who previously directed Conviction (2010).

Credit where credit is due they casted William Fitzgerald who actually is autistic to play an autistic character which does end up making the film a bit more grounded and can connect more with the viewer as well.

The performances are quite solid, William Fitzgerald is a lot of fun and delivers some quite humorous lines plus is overall incredibly charming as well. Although his character Ezra is admittedly used as a plot device to move things a long in the later half of the movie, which is quite unfortunate and does end up hurting the movie in the long run. Bobby Cannavale and Robert De Niro are both solid here as well, Cannavale has lot of moments where his character Max bonds with his son and those moments do end up being charming. De Niro as usual delivers a great performance that is quite raw, it’s not heavy performance that has a lot to it but it works in the context of the movie.

The writing is decent, there’s definitely some inspiration porn cliches thrown in there but it isn’t nearly enough to really take away from the movie. Although the subplot of Max landing a spot on Jimmy Kimmel is very out of place for a movie like this, it ended up feeling like a setup for a mid-credits joke which doesn’t work (the joke itself is not even worth it). Having that said I do think the performances truly make this film and really make the script come together. There’s this earnest feel to the performances that’s present throughout the movie you can’t help but love and that ends up being the case with the script as well.

Overall Ezra is a perfectly passable drama that I’m glad exists, although it’s heavily flawed I do appreciate the careful attempt by everyone involved!

Ezra is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

IF (2024) Film Review

After discovering she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, a girl embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary friends with their kids.

IF is directed by John Krasinski director of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009), The Hollars (2016), A Quiet Place (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2020).

I really do not have a whole lot to say about IF it’s a kids movie that is very well intentioned and even has some genuinely heartfelt moments, but is surrounded by some clunky execution especially during the last half of the movie.

Steve Carell is by far the standout here, while not every single joke lands and the character of Blue is sort of standard. Carell still manages to be entertaining as well as charming, it’s sort of hard to really mess up when it comes to Steve Carell (heck I don’t a lot of the Despicable Me movies but really like Gru) plus I do think he fits the charming imaginary friend feel the movie is going for. Cailey Fleming is also not bad here, while she isn’t perfect, much like Carell she gives a sweet and charming performance that is effective and matches the tone of what the movie is going for. Ryan Reynolds strangely feels miscast here, he sort of just exists and his character Cal is incredibly forgettable who while does have a few strong scenes really fails to connect with the viewer.

The idea of the movie surrounding the imaginary friends is solid and isn’t as much as a repeat of the Cartoon Network show Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends as the trailer made it out to be. Having that said the main problem with IF is a lot of the Imaginary friends being voiced by Hollywood celebrities, it takes away a lot of the whimsical and magical feeling of imaginary friends and becomes a cameo fest. A bunch of moments where you point at the screen and say “oh I know that person’s voice!” Had this been one or two times it would not be so much of a big deal, however this is a common occurrence throughout the movie and that sort of becomes the imaginary friends’s whole character that they are voiced by Hollywood stars.

It’s a shame too because there are some genuinely heartfelt moments here that do actually work, but are unfortunately not exactly the main focus. The movie works best when it focuses on the bond of Bea and Blue and the more human moments, which is incredibly surprising to say given that this movie is about the imaginary friends.

I think IF will do well for younger audiences since it does immediately have bright visuals and creature designs are admittedly quite fun, IF is not necessarily a terrible movie but this is a very forgettable one that could have been a lot more.

IF is available on all VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

A Family Affair (2024) Film Review

A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they face the complications of love, sex and identity.

A Family Affair is directed by Richard LaGravenese who has directed P.S. I Love You (2007), Beautiful Creatures (2013), The Last Five Years (2014) and a few others.

Yet another Netflix original film from this year that completely falls flat, you would think with a pretty solid cast there would be some attempt to try and make this work. Unfortunately that’s not really the case here, while I don’t think the movie is as bad as say Madame Web, Night Swim or Unfrosted that really is not saying all that much.

The cast is fine enough and really tries the best they can with such an unfunny script, Nicole Kidman and Kathy Bates are definitely the best of the bunch. Zac Efron is really trying but unfortunately the comedic timing really throws him under the bus and Joey King while actually not terrible here (this is one of her better performances) really does not have a whole lot going on with her character.

The first 20 minutes or so aren’t bad, the movie has a decent setup and actually some okay jokes in the mix. However after that things fall apart very quickly, the movie turns into a very typical bad Netflix romantic comedy movie that throws just about every cliche in the book it possibly can until the movie ends.

There’s bound to be comparisons to The Idea With You which came out a few months ago and while the two movies are different genres (Idea Of You being a drama while Family Affair being a comedy) A Family Affair really does feel like The Idea Of You but worse, The Idea Of You was not perfect (far from it) but at the very least the performances were incredibly solid, the writing was interesting and the characters were enjoyable. You really don’t get that from A Family Affair outside of the first 20 or so minutes. Instead you get a very repetitive 114 Netflix romantic comedy that feels like it should have ended ages ago.

A Family Affair is available on Netflix.

3/10 D-

Summer Camp (2024) Film Review

Childhood best friends Nora, Ginny and Mary used to spend every summer at a sleepaway camp together. Years later, they seize the opportunity to return to the camp for a reunion filled with food fights, river rafting, and emotional revelations.

Summer Camp is directed by Castille Landon director of Fear Of Rain (2021), After We Fell (2021), After Ever Happy (2022), Perfect Addiction (2023) and After Everything (2023).

Summer Camp (2024) is one of those movies that for some reason managed to get quite a stacked cast Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Dennis Haysbert, Eugene Levy, Josh Peck and a few others. Unfortunately despite having tons of talent the movie fails to utilize these actors and actresses talent in any meaningful way.

What really hurts this movie is the story and the pacing, it takes far too long for anything noteworthy to happen. What’s supposed to be a movie about three friend’s friendship as adults and wanting a reunion at a summer camp turns into such a chore to sit through. A lot of the jokes fall flat, granted there are hints at some good jokes but never reach the full punchline.

The direction from Castille Landon is a bit better here than a lot of her previous work but once again it’s filled to the brim with characters that are incredibly lacking in development, if anything is a positive here it’s Bates, Keaton and Woodard who really try their best to work with such a lacking script. They give fine enough performances that I’m sure fans of these three might get something out of their interactions, because to be absolutely fair the interactions between the three had some sort of promise. The final act shows this and there’s some decent enough dialogue towards the end, unfortunately it’s too little too late by then as the movie is basically over.

Overall there really is not a whole lot to discuss here, what you read in the plot synopsis is what you get a very bare bones comedy that has incredibly lacking execution.

Summer Camp is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead (2024) Film Review

Tanya finds her summer plans cancelled when her mum jets off for a last-minute retreat and the elderly babysitter unexpectedly passes away.

Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead is directed by Wade Allain-Marcus director of French Dirty (2015). The film is also a remake of the 1991 film of the same name.

As someone who didn’t really care for the original film, I went into this one not really expecting much and that’s kinda of what ended up being the result. Granted it’s definitely not as bad as expecting (considering how awful the trailer was), but that really is not saying a whole lot.

Simone Joy Jones gives a fine enough performance here and the rest of the cast have occasional moments of charm throughout the movie, but it’s nowhere near enough to really land any memorable performances. I will admit that I do like some of the attempts that Allain-Marcus makes to try and make this version a bit different from the original. There’s this modernized lens that has this coming of age story element that could have worked had the writing been a lot better.

Speaking of which the writing is where the movie crumbles, a lot of the humor is a huge miss and despite wanting to be different than the original the movie does follow the original quite identically which leads to the question of why even bother in the first place?

Unfortunately Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead is one of those remakes that tries to do too much with very little time, there’s some decent acting here but that’s really all your getting.

Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead is available on all VOD Platforms.

3/10 D-

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

Stress Positions (2024) Film Review

Terry cares for his injured nephew, a 19-year-old Moroccan model, in strict quarantine at his ex-husband’s Brooklyn home, drawing attention from everyone in his life.

Stress Positions is directed by Theda Hammel which is her directorial debut.

I got to say I was not expecting to really like another COVID-19 era film so soon, usually there’s one great one that comes out of a small batch. The Listener I quite liked even if it did not reach it’s full potential and the same can be said for Stress Positions.

John Early gives a very fun performance here and is doing some incredible face acting as well, which I would argue actually makes the movie much more memorable. Theda Hammel is also in the film while also being one of the writers, is the director, one of the editors and does the music for the film. She gives a quite strong performance as well and is quite charming as well, the film mostly focuses on building and exploring these characters plus what their backgrounds are.

It’s the everyone has a story type of deal which works in this case due to Hammels direction that while does drastically switch in tone at times, still comes off as genuine and earnest in the film’s messaging. The humor is bizarre and I say that in a good way, as it does land some genuinely great laughs. It’s the type of chaotic humor that has so much fun energy to it that you just want to keep seeing more and more.

Stress Positions is at its weakest when it tries to play serious, immediately what comes to mind is the voiceover that is used (mostly during the first act). The voiceover itself is not necessarily bad it’s with the context of the rest of the movie, a lot of the movie as I said before is this bizarre humor that is genuinely a lot of fun. The narration does do a few things that are quite interesting and meaningful during the third act, but unfortunately doesn’t go all the way with said ideas.

Having that said I did have a fun time with Stress Positions it’s a fun and bizarre movie that is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (especially with the humor) but if you are looking for something a bit different this is a decent choice!

Stress Positions is available on all VOD Platforms.

7/10 B

Unfrosted (2024) Film Review

In 1963, Kellogg’s and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever.

Unfrosted is directed by Jerry Seinfeld which is his directorial debut.

Films about brands have become sort of a trend over the last year or so. Last year alone we got Air, Tetris, BlackBerry, The Beanie Bubble and Flamin’ Hot. Of the bunch BlackBerry, Air and Tetris were quite excellent, they told the stories of these brands or products while also focused on being genuinely great films. Flamin’ Hot and The Beanie Bubble fell into the dull category the two weren’t anything atrocious but they were quite forgettable movies that get completely overshadowed when it comes to this conversation.

Unfrosted somehow ends up being worse than Flamin’ Hot and The Beanie Bubble, look I get what Jerry Seinfeld was trying to go for here (at least during the first half of the movie) he wanted to make some sort of parody about products of the 1960s and used Poptarts as the device to try and execute it. While that’s great and all there’s a ton of problems with this movie that it never recovers from.

First and foremost the performances are atrocious, Jerry Seinfeld is about what you expect his performance is the least of this movie’s worries. Amy Schumer gives an atrocious and unfunny performance that really comes off as try hard, Melissa McCarthy is sadly not much better who is stuck with some of the worst written lines in movie so far this year. There is absolutely no chemistry between Seinfeld, McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan or anyone else in the movie. It really just seems like they randomly selected some actors to put in certain scenes and didn’t bother to figure out chemistry, dialogue or interest.

Honestly the best of the cast has to be Bill Burr as JFK (I’m not joking) and Hugh Grant who plays Tony The Tiger (again I’m not joking), minor spoilers ahead but there’s one scene in this movie that I truly hate myself for laughing at. I say this because it’s incredibly dumb and practically comes right out of nowhere (sure there’s some development but nowhere near enough to say that the movie was building up to it) the scene in question is a January 6th 2021 parody of Kelloggs characters such as Snap, Crackle, Pop, the Cornflakes bird, Tucan Sam and a few others who are led by Tony The Tiger to raid Kelloggs due to being afraid of being replaced by Pop-Tarts. The scene is a recreation of January 6th from the person who fell to the horned hat costume it’s all there and it’s truly baffling to watch. Also fun fact this is the first movie to show a satire of January 6th not that it matters just worth pointing out.

The rest of the movie is a complete and total mess of unfunny jokes, piss poor comedic timing and is pretty much like an unfunny SNL skit. As I briefly said earlier while I could understand what Seinfeld was going for during the first bit of the movie, it quickly becomes a gigantic random humor fest of ideas that are just scattered around. It’s at the point of “what the hell is going on here? What am I watching?” territory and not the good kind…think of Movie 43 (2013) that’s how nonsensical it gets and it stays that way for the rest of the movie.

I’m not entirely sure what the viewer was supposed to take away from this movie, it certainly wasn’t the history of Pop-Tarts because even that is told incredibly poorly, the attempt of trying to tell it in a absurdist way is fine enough but the movie forgets to be funny, clever or at least make some sense.

Overall Unfrosted is an endurance test of some of the worst acting, unfunny gags and terrible writing from a movie so far this year. I would only recommend this movie if you truly want to see how idiotic and horrible this movie really gets.

Unfrosted is available on Netflix.

Disgrace To Cinema F

Mother Of The Bride (2024) Film Review

Stunned by her daughter’s bombshell wedding announcement, Lana soon faces another shock: the groom’s father is the man who broke her heart years ago.

Mother Of The Bride is directed by Mark Waters the director of Mean Girls (2004), Freaky Friday (2003), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2007), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011), Vampire Academy (2014), Bad Santa 2 (2016), Magic Camp (2020), He’s All That (2021) and a few others.

Well here we go again for the fiftieth time so far this year…another horrendous Netflix original that doesn’t even try. Think of the most cliched romantic comedy movie you can and now add a huge lack of charm, humor, interest and fun. You get Mother Of The Bride a complete and total mess of a movie that I’m not even quite sure if the movie itself knows what it’s trying to do.

The only kind of decent part here is seeing Miranda Cosgrove in another role, it’s too bad she’s stuck with such a terrible script that does very little for the viewer to actually care about the characters or the story being told here. The script attempts to try and bring in this examination on social media culture, which might have worked if this was any other movie. There’s also a few characters here who are nothing more but to serve as narrative devices mainly Scott (played by Wilson Cruz) and Clay (played by Michael McDonald) a gay couple. Almost every single line that comes from the two is exposition, it starts to become slightly comical at one point (not in a good way).

Acting wise the performances are fine enough, but there’s nothing here that really grabs you at all. Which again is due to the script and how much load of bunk there is in it. None of the characters are given any meaningful arcs or interesting personalities, the story itself is about as predictable as a lot of these other Netflix romantic comedies and the direction from Waters much like his last several movies lack so much passion that he once had.

Mother Of The Bride is available on Netflix.

1/10 F