Quite a Few Films on a March Snow Day, Because...
"Don't Worry Baby"
starring: John Magaro, Christopher McDonald, Dreama Walker, Tom Lipinski, Talia Balsam, Britt Lower, Phil Burke, Rainn Williams
written and directed by: Julian Branciforte
This is a fun, entertaining movie. Think "Big Daddy" if the kid actually was the result of a hook-up between one girl and the potential father being a father or son. Talk about a weird love triangle, but it's not even about them trying to outdo each other to get the girl. It's more about proving who's more of a man, at this point in their respective lives. Unfair advantage goes to the father- married, with children and running a successful daycare with his wife.
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"Cruel Intentions 2"
starring: Amy Adams, Robin Dunne, Sarah Thompson, Keri Lynn Pratt, Barry Flatman, Mimi Rogers, Teresa Hill, Barclay Hope, Deanna Wright
written and directed by: Roger Kumble
Two things about this movie: 1) it's one of the most unnecessary sequels. Ever! Cruel Intentions was a great, late-90s remake film for the MTV generation, like myself, in which the cast was perfect together (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair). The sequel makes you shake your head. 2) every actor seems to have that 1 movie they'd love erased film their catalogue (and for Amy Adams, this HAS to be it). But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
Writer-director Roger Kumble snagged a television spin-off deal for his film before it even hit theaters, but the film's healthy box-office take and Kumble's participation couldn't keep the show, titled Manchester Prep, from getting canceled before it ever aired. Now, in an act of shameless opportunism worthy of its scheming protagonists, the pilot has been renamed, filled out with gratuitous nudity and profanity, and repackaged as an R-rated, feature-length Cruel Intentions prequel. Cruel Intentions 2 is less an extension of the original than a loose remake, with its tortured playboy protagonist (Robin Dunne, replacing Ryan Phillippe) again forced to choose between true love (in the form of virginal Sarah Thompson) and the cold-hearted manipulation of stepsister Amy Adams.
Just awful.
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"People You May Know"
starring: Nick Thune, Halston Sage, Kaily Smith Westbrook, Nicholas Rutherford, Carly Chaikin, Gillian Alexy, Ian Harding, Usher Raymond, Anna Margaret Hollyman
written and directed by: Sherwin Shilati
Here's the thing, we all sort of know/understand that we have become "slaves" to technology and a variety of social media outlets; and I mean, there have been studies done finding correlations between self-esteem and self-worth as related to social media status. Here's an indie film that tries to expose and/or explore that in a kind of "funny" way. Is it a comedy? or is it actually a drama? I guess, at the core of the story is the idea that there's an inherent shallowness within digital societies, and thus, why do we hold so much weight in that "imaginary" world.
Jed (Nick Thune) is a freelance digital artist specializing in the manipulation of photos for advertising, spending the day in front of a computer, creating moments instead of living them. Trying to combat his loneliness, Jed decides to take the plunge and join social media, filling his profiles with doctored images he’s made, including one shot of him partying in Vegas with Usher. His newly promoted life catches the eye of Tasha (Halston Sage), a young, hungry advertising employee looking to make her big break, using Jed as an experiment, working to build an online following for the outsider to prove how well she can manipulate the social media system. Once Jed explodes in popularity, he loves the rush of fawning strangers, eventually meeting Franky (Kaily Smith Westbrook), an aspiring actress and former high school crush he connects deeply with, but she has her own issues with her husband, Phil (Ian Harding), watching her marriage dissolve as she continues to pursue her dream.
There's something to be said about the dopamine rush we get and the obsession with checking on how many people "like" our posts/pictures. I've suffered from it, recognized it, and steered myself in a different direction. I've also witnessed it at a Red Sox game a few years ago. A girl took a picture of herself and her boyfriend in the row of seats directly in front of me, then posted it to Instagram, and I don't think she paid attention to the first 4 or 5 innings of the game, because she was obsessive looking at Instagram every time she received a notification of someone "liking" her photo. And don't even get me started on SnapChat!
Jed eventually starts to feel the dopamine rush of likes, and encounters help from Tasha, who specializes in the “celebritization” of average people, using her command of social media to create a star out of Jed, who acquires a million followers, becoming an “influencer.” The evolution initially stuns Jed, but he begins to get used to the fame, working with Tasha to sustain his popularity.
The filmmaker decided to throw not just one woman into Jed's potential love life with Franky, but added the sexual tension between him and Tasha (which is very unbelievable). That was completely unnecessary, in my opinion.
It's an interesting film, but not really one I would seek out.
........................................................................
"Almost Adults"
starring: Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, Justin Gerhard, Winny Clarke, Mark Matechuk, David John Phillips, Meredith Heinrich, Delphine Roussel
written by: Adrianna DiLonardo
directed by: Sarah Rotella
This was actually a great indie film-find on Netflix that had been sitting in my queue for awhile. It's a sort of like an extended episode of HBO's "Girls" as the filmmaker blends genres to tell a good story. It's a drama, on one hand, about voicing and being comfortable with your sexuality; and on the other hand, it's a comedy about college-aged girls moving on with their lives.
The two friends are Cassie (Natasha Negovanlis) and Mackenzie (Elise Bauman). The girls are very close, Cassie crawls into bed with Mack after she broke up with long-term boyfriend Matthew, Mack lets her, and then the two will argue about who has to get up and make pancakes. The girls are very sweet and funny together. Now we move on to how the girls are different. Cassie has dinner with her parents to admit she broke up with Matthew, and her parents are devastated. Things get a lot more interesting with Mackenzie. Mackenzie has dinner with her parents to admit to them that she is gay. They make a joke about disowning her because in reality they already knew and were so happy for her. Mack hated this response, she wanted her parents to be concerned, but proud – the more typical coming-out experience.
The biggest conflict happens between the two best friends, as Mackenzie tries to figure out how to tell the one person that knows everything about her- her best friend. Elise Bauman is a beautiful woman, quirky and bubbly, cute and clueless about being gay, but perhaps also about being in a relationship. She plays the character as a balance between a Zoey Deschanel-Natalie Portman-and-Noel Wells prototype. Certainly hard to pull off, but she does it well, and allows Mackenzie to seem real and authentic.
This is a great indie film about sexuality and friendship. Check it out!
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"Big Bear"
starring: Pablo Schreiber, Adam Brody, Tyler Labine, Ahna O'Reilly, Toby Huss, Zachary Knighton, Joey Kern, Patricia Rae
written and directed by: Joey Kern
This is another bachelor-party-gone-wrong type of film, in the likes of "The Hangover" (like we needed more), but take away the Vegas setting and atmosphere and instead, plant this group of "bros" in the woods/middle of nowhere. Friends get together to celebrate and party an upcoming marriage and shenanigans are bound to happen. Add into the mix the idea that these same friends probably get together to try and cheer up a friend after a breakup or heartbreak. That's what we get here with a lot of waste.
I don't know how I feel about the fact that Joey Kern wrote and directed the film, while making himself the lead character of the story, too. That's always a risky move, in my opinion. Sometimes it works (re: Garden State and Zach Braff, for example) and sometimes it just doesn't work at all. I would venture to say, this one doesn't work.
Joe (Joey Kern) was only two weeks away from marrying Jess (Ahna O’Reilly) – the girl of his dreams. Everything was going as planned until the morning of his bachelor party when Jess sits him down and tells him she is in love with someone else. Not knowing what to do or where to go, Joe hops in his car and heads to Big Bear Lake where his three friends were waiting to celebrate his upcoming nuptials.
Joe’s three closest friends are Nick (Tyler Labine), Eric (Adam Brody), and Colin (Zachary Knighton). Each of them has their own quirks, but they all mesh well together. Nick is a recovering alcoholic who is five years sober, but will find any excuse for a drink and a break from AA. Eric doesn’t believe in marriage and may have some sinister tricks up his sleeve. And then there is Colin, the divorced friend who hates his ex-wife and is still wallowing in despair. Joe is clearly a mess when he meets his friends at the cabin, and shortly after learning about the bachelor party rules (mostly drink so much that you hate yourself and are ready for marriage), he tells them the bad news about the engagement being off. Nick, Eric, and Colin guilt Joe into staying the night and partying with them, a choice he might grow to regret.
On the night all the buddies drink and get drunk, Joe attempts what he'd love to do to his girlfriend's new suitor, the guy who in essence, ruined his life. The next morning, shit gets real as his wish comes true. And it is within the second half where the film gets weird and awkward. What was supposed to be a buddy/bachelor party, fun film becomes a movie trying to say something. That just doesn't work when you shift gears so awkwardly, with a kidnapping and such.
I just didn't like this one and it quickly lost my attention.
starring: John Magaro, Christopher McDonald, Dreama Walker, Tom Lipinski, Talia Balsam, Britt Lower, Phil Burke, Rainn Williams
written and directed by: Julian Branciforte
This is a fun, entertaining movie. Think "Big Daddy" if the kid actually was the result of a hook-up between one girl and the potential father being a father or son. Talk about a weird love triangle, but it's not even about them trying to outdo each other to get the girl. It's more about proving who's more of a man, at this point in their respective lives. Unfair advantage goes to the father- married, with children and running a successful daycare with his wife.
Revolving around the care-free, young life of protagonist Robert (John Magaro) and his adventures with family, friends, love and career, the movie offers a close look into his interesting story. A struggling photographer, working hard to support himself away from his parents, Robert’s efforts and dedicated spirit dominate the initial moments of the movie. Though determined to stay away from his parents’ pre-school business, his failure at photographer pushes him to work for the school. While he reluctantly enters into the school as an assistant and employee, several interesting experiences greet him along the way.
Over a series of surprising events, Robert and his philandering father Harry Lang (Chris McDonald) realize about their old affair with a same woman. While this young lady Sara Beth (Dreama Walker) returns back into their lives with her four-year old daughter Mason (Rainn Williams), the father-son duo are caught in an unusual situation. As each of them had an affair within a span of few days, their confusion regarding the biological father of the girl opens a hilarious chapter for the audience. Surprised, scared, shocked and anxious as each of the characters hope to understand the reality, the plot certainly takes an interesting turn. Mason’s innocence to meet her real father, Sara’s anxiety over the truth, doubts of Harry’s wife Miriam Lang regarding the reality of her son and husband combine into some of the exciting highlights of the movie.
The film has so good, true emotions sprinkled throughout the story, which makes it easier to feel for each of the characters. The waiting game for the paternity test results really acts as the vehicle to move the emotional story along, as both men eagerly await the results and prepare themselves to take on the role of father.................................................................
"Cruel Intentions 2"
starring: Amy Adams, Robin Dunne, Sarah Thompson, Keri Lynn Pratt, Barry Flatman, Mimi Rogers, Teresa Hill, Barclay Hope, Deanna Wright
written and directed by: Roger Kumble
Two things about this movie: 1) it's one of the most unnecessary sequels. Ever! Cruel Intentions was a great, late-90s remake film for the MTV generation, like myself, in which the cast was perfect together (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair). The sequel makes you shake your head. 2) every actor seems to have that 1 movie they'd love erased film their catalogue (and for Amy Adams, this HAS to be it). But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
Writer-director Roger Kumble snagged a television spin-off deal for his film before it even hit theaters, but the film's healthy box-office take and Kumble's participation couldn't keep the show, titled Manchester Prep, from getting canceled before it ever aired. Now, in an act of shameless opportunism worthy of its scheming protagonists, the pilot has been renamed, filled out with gratuitous nudity and profanity, and repackaged as an R-rated, feature-length Cruel Intentions prequel. Cruel Intentions 2 is less an extension of the original than a loose remake, with its tortured playboy protagonist (Robin Dunne, replacing Ryan Phillippe) again forced to choose between true love (in the form of virginal Sarah Thompson) and the cold-hearted manipulation of stepsister Amy Adams.
Just awful.
......................................................................
"People You May Know"
starring: Nick Thune, Halston Sage, Kaily Smith Westbrook, Nicholas Rutherford, Carly Chaikin, Gillian Alexy, Ian Harding, Usher Raymond, Anna Margaret Hollyman
written and directed by: Sherwin Shilati
Here's the thing, we all sort of know/understand that we have become "slaves" to technology and a variety of social media outlets; and I mean, there have been studies done finding correlations between self-esteem and self-worth as related to social media status. Here's an indie film that tries to expose and/or explore that in a kind of "funny" way. Is it a comedy? or is it actually a drama? I guess, at the core of the story is the idea that there's an inherent shallowness within digital societies, and thus, why do we hold so much weight in that "imaginary" world.
Jed (Nick Thune) is a freelance digital artist specializing in the manipulation of photos for advertising, spending the day in front of a computer, creating moments instead of living them. Trying to combat his loneliness, Jed decides to take the plunge and join social media, filling his profiles with doctored images he’s made, including one shot of him partying in Vegas with Usher. His newly promoted life catches the eye of Tasha (Halston Sage), a young, hungry advertising employee looking to make her big break, using Jed as an experiment, working to build an online following for the outsider to prove how well she can manipulate the social media system. Once Jed explodes in popularity, he loves the rush of fawning strangers, eventually meeting Franky (Kaily Smith Westbrook), an aspiring actress and former high school crush he connects deeply with, but she has her own issues with her husband, Phil (Ian Harding), watching her marriage dissolve as she continues to pursue her dream.
There's something to be said about the dopamine rush we get and the obsession with checking on how many people "like" our posts/pictures. I've suffered from it, recognized it, and steered myself in a different direction. I've also witnessed it at a Red Sox game a few years ago. A girl took a picture of herself and her boyfriend in the row of seats directly in front of me, then posted it to Instagram, and I don't think she paid attention to the first 4 or 5 innings of the game, because she was obsessive looking at Instagram every time she received a notification of someone "liking" her photo. And don't even get me started on SnapChat!
Jed eventually starts to feel the dopamine rush of likes, and encounters help from Tasha, who specializes in the “celebritization” of average people, using her command of social media to create a star out of Jed, who acquires a million followers, becoming an “influencer.” The evolution initially stuns Jed, but he begins to get used to the fame, working with Tasha to sustain his popularity.
The filmmaker decided to throw not just one woman into Jed's potential love life with Franky, but added the sexual tension between him and Tasha (which is very unbelievable). That was completely unnecessary, in my opinion.
It's an interesting film, but not really one I would seek out.
........................................................................
"Almost Adults"
starring: Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, Justin Gerhard, Winny Clarke, Mark Matechuk, David John Phillips, Meredith Heinrich, Delphine Roussel
written by: Adrianna DiLonardo
directed by: Sarah Rotella
This was actually a great indie film-find on Netflix that had been sitting in my queue for awhile. It's a sort of like an extended episode of HBO's "Girls" as the filmmaker blends genres to tell a good story. It's a drama, on one hand, about voicing and being comfortable with your sexuality; and on the other hand, it's a comedy about college-aged girls moving on with their lives.
The two friends are Cassie (Natasha Negovanlis) and Mackenzie (Elise Bauman). The girls are very close, Cassie crawls into bed with Mack after she broke up with long-term boyfriend Matthew, Mack lets her, and then the two will argue about who has to get up and make pancakes. The girls are very sweet and funny together. Now we move on to how the girls are different. Cassie has dinner with her parents to admit she broke up with Matthew, and her parents are devastated. Things get a lot more interesting with Mackenzie. Mackenzie has dinner with her parents to admit to them that she is gay. They make a joke about disowning her because in reality they already knew and were so happy for her. Mack hated this response, she wanted her parents to be concerned, but proud – the more typical coming-out experience.
The biggest conflict happens between the two best friends, as Mackenzie tries to figure out how to tell the one person that knows everything about her- her best friend. Elise Bauman is a beautiful woman, quirky and bubbly, cute and clueless about being gay, but perhaps also about being in a relationship. She plays the character as a balance between a Zoey Deschanel-Natalie Portman-and-Noel Wells prototype. Certainly hard to pull off, but she does it well, and allows Mackenzie to seem real and authentic.
This is a great indie film about sexuality and friendship. Check it out!
........................................................................
"Big Bear"
starring: Pablo Schreiber, Adam Brody, Tyler Labine, Ahna O'Reilly, Toby Huss, Zachary Knighton, Joey Kern, Patricia Rae
written and directed by: Joey Kern
This is another bachelor-party-gone-wrong type of film, in the likes of "The Hangover" (like we needed more), but take away the Vegas setting and atmosphere and instead, plant this group of "bros" in the woods/middle of nowhere. Friends get together to celebrate and party an upcoming marriage and shenanigans are bound to happen. Add into the mix the idea that these same friends probably get together to try and cheer up a friend after a breakup or heartbreak. That's what we get here with a lot of waste.
I don't know how I feel about the fact that Joey Kern wrote and directed the film, while making himself the lead character of the story, too. That's always a risky move, in my opinion. Sometimes it works (re: Garden State and Zach Braff, for example) and sometimes it just doesn't work at all. I would venture to say, this one doesn't work.
Joe (Joey Kern) was only two weeks away from marrying Jess (Ahna O’Reilly) – the girl of his dreams. Everything was going as planned until the morning of his bachelor party when Jess sits him down and tells him she is in love with someone else. Not knowing what to do or where to go, Joe hops in his car and heads to Big Bear Lake where his three friends were waiting to celebrate his upcoming nuptials.
Joe’s three closest friends are Nick (Tyler Labine), Eric (Adam Brody), and Colin (Zachary Knighton). Each of them has their own quirks, but they all mesh well together. Nick is a recovering alcoholic who is five years sober, but will find any excuse for a drink and a break from AA. Eric doesn’t believe in marriage and may have some sinister tricks up his sleeve. And then there is Colin, the divorced friend who hates his ex-wife and is still wallowing in despair. Joe is clearly a mess when he meets his friends at the cabin, and shortly after learning about the bachelor party rules (mostly drink so much that you hate yourself and are ready for marriage), he tells them the bad news about the engagement being off. Nick, Eric, and Colin guilt Joe into staying the night and partying with them, a choice he might grow to regret.
On the night all the buddies drink and get drunk, Joe attempts what he'd love to do to his girlfriend's new suitor, the guy who in essence, ruined his life. The next morning, shit gets real as his wish comes true. And it is within the second half where the film gets weird and awkward. What was supposed to be a buddy/bachelor party, fun film becomes a movie trying to say something. That just doesn't work when you shift gears so awkwardly, with a kidnapping and such.
I just didn't like this one and it quickly lost my attention.
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