Movies.
"You Get Me"
starring: Bella Thorne, Halston Sage, Taylor John Smith, Nash Grier, Anna Akana, Rhys Wakefield, Brigid Brannagh, Kathryn Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Boyd Kestner, Yasmine Al-Bustami
written by: Ben Epstein
directed by: Brent Bonacorso
Here is another Netflix-produced original film and it was not what I was expecting, in a good way, though. Bella Thorne is the type of actress that surprises me at every turn. Here, she plays a Meryl Streep in "Fatal Attraction" inspired mystery girl who goes or is crazy.
The movie follows Tyler, a high school student, who faces the serious problem and repercussions after spending a night with Holly (Thorne), a beautiful stranger that comes out of nowhere, a mystery girl, he thinks he just gets to spend one erotic night with and forever have that memory in his head, as the girl that took his mind off his ex-girlfriend. Turns out though that Holly is the new girl at school, when the new year starts up. And that's when shit gets crazy for Tyler, because he got back with his girlfriend, Alison, and he is under the constant threat that she will find out about his one-night fling with Holly. The threat is real.
Bella Thorne plays the femme fatale almost perfectly and naturally. It makes me a bit scared for anyone who dares get involved with her in real life.
With thrillers, though, predictability is a killer, pun intended, and with its similarities to films like "Fatal Attraction" anyone who's seen films like this can see what's going to happen, knows how the story unfolds before it does. That being said, I still thought it was a decent film, worth the time it took to watch.
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"The Axe Murders of Villisca"
starring: Robert Adamson, Jarrett Sleeper, Alex Frnka, Sean Whalen, Conchata Ferrell, Kellan Rhude, Madison Lawlor, Ava Kolker, Jon Gries
written by: Kevin Abrams and Owen Egerton
directed by: Tony E. Valenzuela
The movie, and I use the term lightly here, opens with the axe murders occurring in the house in 1912. This is a no-budget kind of horror film, so there's no attempt to make things look realistic or time-sensitive.
As to be expected, things unravel rather predictably throughout the whole film. The characters are almost cartoon-ish versions of horror film characters and the trouble is the filmmaker takes everything too seriously in a film way too ridiculous for anyone to take it seriously. He could've at least taken the "Scream" approach and been more like, "Okay, I know what I'm doing, I'm going to have fun making fun of this genre." But no. An axe murder movie that makes you feel like you're one of the victims.
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"The Disappointments Room"
starring: Kate Beckinsale, Mel Raido, Duncan Joiner, Lucas Till, Michaela Conlin, Michael Landes, Marcia DeRousse, Celia Weston, Charles Carroll, Ella Jones, Joely Fisher
written and directed by: D.J. Caruso
Kate Beckinsale, oh how you've disappointed me with this horror/supernatural film. With blonde hair she is easily mistaken for Julie Benz's doppelganger. And her acting in this film leaves you wondering if you're watching a C-list actress. Kate Beckinsale, please stick to the "Underworld" franchise or romantic comedies that you're used to.
Beckinsale plays Dana, a mentally shattered mother who has recently lost her infant daughter and is struggling to move past the trauma. Grieving, but in a bizarre way.
As part of her therapy, she and husband David (Raido), along with pre-teen son Lucas (Joiner), flee the teeming chaos of Manhattan and move to a dilapidated English Tudor manse right in the heart of Shirley Jacksonville, U.S.A. Dana, an architect, has plans to fix the place up, but first there’s the question of a mysterious locked room that goes unnoted on the house’s original floor plan: the titular room of woe. Soon enough, Dana begins seeing phantom children scurrying about, doors that close by themselves, and a parade of horrible, hoary “old dark house”.
The question presented to the audience is: Is Dana experiencing a psychotic break instigated by her grief or are the ghosts denizens of the "disappointments room" real? The real question here though is Who Cares?!?
The film lives up to its name. Skip it.
....................................................................................
"Don't Think Twice"
starring: Gillian Jacobs, Mike Birbiglia, Kate Miccuci, Keegan-Michael Key, Tami Sagher, Chris Gethard, Sondra James, Richard Kline
written and directed by: Mike Birbiglia
Stand-up comedy. Improv. Dreams of making it to the "big show." That's what's at play here, masterfully presented and written by Mike Birbiglia.
The six members of the Commune improvisational troupe all have one another’s backs. It’s one of the tenets of the improv form they love so dearly (along with “say yes” and “don’t think”). The Manhattan group is one of the training grounds from which Weekend Live (a fictional version of Saturday Night Live) is known to pluck new cast members. On a night when talent scouts are known to be in the audience, Jack (Key) can’t resist showboating with his impeccable Obama imitation, and later he and his girlfriend Sam (Jacobs), the group’s resident couple, receive an invitation to audition for the national show. The group tellingly hesitates a moment too long before congratulating the pair on the invite, and when Sam makes the cut, the stage is set for the slings and arrows of the unjustly overlooked, as well as the conflicts experienced by the more measurably successful Jack in trying to stay true to his roots and remain friends with his old group. Add to the group’s woes that they’re being evicted from their longtime performance space to make way for a new Trump edifice (how timely is that?).
Much like his stand-up comedy, Birbiglia's filmmaking relies heavily on observational skills and it works really well, especially with this film which gets us a front row seat to the behind-the-scenes of the comedy world and the young professionals' lives as they struggle day-to-day in order to try to make something of this career.
starring: Bella Thorne, Halston Sage, Taylor John Smith, Nash Grier, Anna Akana, Rhys Wakefield, Brigid Brannagh, Kathryn Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Boyd Kestner, Yasmine Al-Bustami
written by: Ben Epstein
directed by: Brent Bonacorso
Here is another Netflix-produced original film and it was not what I was expecting, in a good way, though. Bella Thorne is the type of actress that surprises me at every turn. Here, she plays a Meryl Streep in "Fatal Attraction" inspired mystery girl who goes or is crazy.
The movie follows Tyler, a high school student, who faces the serious problem and repercussions after spending a night with Holly (Thorne), a beautiful stranger that comes out of nowhere, a mystery girl, he thinks he just gets to spend one erotic night with and forever have that memory in his head, as the girl that took his mind off his ex-girlfriend. Turns out though that Holly is the new girl at school, when the new year starts up. And that's when shit gets crazy for Tyler, because he got back with his girlfriend, Alison, and he is under the constant threat that she will find out about his one-night fling with Holly. The threat is real.
Bella Thorne plays the femme fatale almost perfectly and naturally. It makes me a bit scared for anyone who dares get involved with her in real life.
With thrillers, though, predictability is a killer, pun intended, and with its similarities to films like "Fatal Attraction" anyone who's seen films like this can see what's going to happen, knows how the story unfolds before it does. That being said, I still thought it was a decent film, worth the time it took to watch.
................................................................................
"The Axe Murders of Villisca"
starring: Robert Adamson, Jarrett Sleeper, Alex Frnka, Sean Whalen, Conchata Ferrell, Kellan Rhude, Madison Lawlor, Ava Kolker, Jon Gries
written by: Kevin Abrams and Owen Egerton
directed by: Tony E. Valenzuela
The movie, and I use the term lightly here, opens with the axe murders occurring in the house in 1912. This is a no-budget kind of horror film, so there's no attempt to make things look realistic or time-sensitive.
As to be expected, things unravel rather predictably throughout the whole film. The characters are almost cartoon-ish versions of horror film characters and the trouble is the filmmaker takes everything too seriously in a film way too ridiculous for anyone to take it seriously. He could've at least taken the "Scream" approach and been more like, "Okay, I know what I'm doing, I'm going to have fun making fun of this genre." But no. An axe murder movie that makes you feel like you're one of the victims.
..................................................................................
"The Disappointments Room"
starring: Kate Beckinsale, Mel Raido, Duncan Joiner, Lucas Till, Michaela Conlin, Michael Landes, Marcia DeRousse, Celia Weston, Charles Carroll, Ella Jones, Joely Fisher
written and directed by: D.J. Caruso
Kate Beckinsale, oh how you've disappointed me with this horror/supernatural film. With blonde hair she is easily mistaken for Julie Benz's doppelganger. And her acting in this film leaves you wondering if you're watching a C-list actress. Kate Beckinsale, please stick to the "Underworld" franchise or romantic comedies that you're used to.
Beckinsale plays Dana, a mentally shattered mother who has recently lost her infant daughter and is struggling to move past the trauma. Grieving, but in a bizarre way.
As part of her therapy, she and husband David (Raido), along with pre-teen son Lucas (Joiner), flee the teeming chaos of Manhattan and move to a dilapidated English Tudor manse right in the heart of Shirley Jacksonville, U.S.A. Dana, an architect, has plans to fix the place up, but first there’s the question of a mysterious locked room that goes unnoted on the house’s original floor plan: the titular room of woe. Soon enough, Dana begins seeing phantom children scurrying about, doors that close by themselves, and a parade of horrible, hoary “old dark house”.
The question presented to the audience is: Is Dana experiencing a psychotic break instigated by her grief or are the ghosts denizens of the "disappointments room" real? The real question here though is Who Cares?!?
The film lives up to its name. Skip it.
....................................................................................
"Don't Think Twice"
starring: Gillian Jacobs, Mike Birbiglia, Kate Miccuci, Keegan-Michael Key, Tami Sagher, Chris Gethard, Sondra James, Richard Kline
written and directed by: Mike Birbiglia
Stand-up comedy. Improv. Dreams of making it to the "big show." That's what's at play here, masterfully presented and written by Mike Birbiglia.
The characters and setting of the film are based on the unknown, workaday comics who hone their craft in the dark, half-empty comedy clubs that dot every major American city. For a precious few hours every week, the thrill of the stage is theirs, while the rest of their days are spent laboring at the kind of dull, soul-sucking, service-industry jobs that support the continuance of their comedy habit. Although a Three Musketeers-like “all for one, and one for all” attitude is evident in the members of the comedy troupes, Birbiglia also has a keen sense of the roiling resentments and sublimated jealousies that infect the individuals. Young, creative sorts may more susceptible to these insidious and self-deprecating emotions, but Birbiglia’s acute perspective will pertain to almost any industry in which a few are chosen to advance and the vast majority are left to wonder, “Why not me?”
Much like his stand-up comedy, Birbiglia's filmmaking relies heavily on observational skills and it works really well, especially with this film which gets us a front row seat to the behind-the-scenes of the comedy world and the young professionals' lives as they struggle day-to-day in order to try to make something of this career.
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