Tag Archives: Netflix and chill

Movie Reviews

Next Gen (2018) Review

Leave a comment

Next Gen is a poor man’s Big Hero 6, and given the choice, you should probably go watch that instead. This more poorly written knock off is a Netflix original that you probably won’t miss if you don’t watch it. This movie attempts to be an edgier version of Big Hero 6 through its plot, design and music, it fails to entertain. It doesn’t push the envelope hard enough and has more holes in its plot to make it work. Granted I might not be the target audience, but you can still make a movie geared for kids that is still entertaining to other groups.

This is a movie about a trouble teen, Mai, who lives in a world where robots are a part of everyday life. The problem is that she hates robots. The movie suggest that her dislike of robots is due to her distant mother’s obsession with robots. The movie will suggest a lot to give the illusion of plot and character development. As these movies go, she is also troubled by a past you get in small bits of dialogue and flash backs. Because her father left at a young age for whatever reason, she is now unable to trust anyone and therefore forces herself to be alone. Her sad past is what makes her destined to be this movie’s hero. And as this movie’s hero, nothing bad will happen to her.

This is one of those movies where things happen because shitty writing. That is to say that they will make shit up to write themselves out of all the plot holes and it isn’t subtle. For example, her encounter with the robot of the movie, Project 77, as so credulous. She is able to sneak past all of these security robots which makes me believe that robots in this universe are useless if they can’t stop a single little girl from sneaking into a secret lab. Even more troubling is the lack of consequences in the movie. Just reaching Project 77 she causes enough property damage where she should have at least been fined, but of course nothing ever comes of it. Maybe they forgave her because they knew she was destined to save the world.

Then you get the weirdest abusive relationship in cartoon history. Project 77 imprints on Mai and the rest of the movie is Project 77 trying to break through Mai’s hardened character. The issue is that Mai only keeps him around to hurt the ones who hurt her. This is one of those movies where the character has to have the saddest life so everything is wrong with her. Now project 77’s quirk is that he only has a limited amount of memory and he must erase certain memories to keep making new ones. And you never really care because Mai isn’t a nice person. You can argue that her past, the one that was poorly written for her, made her act this way, but I didn’t feel bad for her. I didn’t want to follow her around. She was extremely generic, as characters of this genre often are, and the relationship between Mai and 77 wasn’t captivating like that of the Iron Giant or Big Hero 6.

The other big issue with this movie is the plot. The villain of the movie is ridiculous. His plan to take over the world is to mass produce these robots that he gives to everyone. He plants bombs in these and his plan is to activate them to blow up and destroy humanity. The problem is that these explosions do so little damage that by the end of it you wonder if it was even necessary for Mai and 77 to get involved. Like I have mentioned before, this movie has no consequences and therefore, you will never really care for this movie.

This movie is bland. Netflix seems to be pumping out movies for the sake of pumping them out. These knock offs are not content and instead we get our feed bombarded with crap they keep labeling as original. I wish that instead they would spend more time between releases, so they can make watchable content. They have the ability, I have seen some Netflix content that I didn’t mind but lately it just seems like they are churning cheap rip offs of shows and movies that were successful. The problem with this is you get content with very little substance that panders and it is getting harder and harder to justify paying for the subscription when good content is diluted with this crap. Skip this so they don’t keep making crap like this.

 

Movie Reviews

The Package (2018) Review

Leave a comment

The Package is a raunchy buddy comedy that comes to us from our good friends at Netflix. As far as plots go, this movie doesn’t have one. The premise is simple enough, a group of friends go into woods for a camping trip and one of them cuts off his dick. The rest of the movie involves shenanigans as they the group of friends try to reunite the penis with its owner.

If you are looking for a movie that is engaging and with a narrative, look elsewhere. This movie feels like a series of improvised skits edited together. They do not feel natural and almost seem improvised. The dialogue is iffy in this film. Sometimes you will get decent banter, but most of the time it was unnatural, forced, and awkward, almost as if there was no script. At least not a good one.

As a comedy, it doesn’t always work. The jokes are easy and a lot of the time I knew the punch line to the joke before it was even set up. The movie spends more time trying to gross you out and make you uncomfortable that I at least lost interest a lot of the time. You will see a lot of penis. That being said, I had a couple laughs out of this, so it isn’t a terrible comedy, I just wouldn’t recommend watching this sober.

Because of the genre, every scene must involve the group and shenanigans. This becomes forced as they just move from one mishap to the next. There is no plot, there is no story, just a bunch of slap stick. There also is no character development. There is no growth and all the characters end up where they started in the movie, but this time with girlfriends. I can’t tell you a single name from memory because they were so generic and bland.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this movie. Although not terrible, it is one of those movies you will forget you watched. Even if you do watch it and enjoy it the first time through, the film loses the little charm it has the second time around. As far as Netflix releases go, this is not the worst one by any means. But it does feel like a Netflix film. Cheap, easy, and forgettable. At least this one wasn’t offensive.

Final score, I give this a 4 out of 10. It wasn’t bad to sit through, but I wouldn’t watch it again.

Movie Reviews

The Star (2017) Review

Leave a comment

THE PLOT

The Star is director Timothy Rackart’s animated Christmas story. But it is not the traditional Christmas story you’d expept. The plot revolves around the birth of Jesus, yet the plot is centered around the animals that were present for the birth.

The movie opens up with the main character, a mill donkey named Bo who is tired of his life and wants to run away to see what is outside the Mill. We are introduced to his best friend, a bird named Dave who tells him stories of the outside world and tries to help Bo escape. When Bo finally manages to escape, he finds his way to Mary and Joseph’s house. Due to an injury received during his escape, Bo stays with Mary until he can walk. During this stay, a bond forms between Mary and Bo and his desire to leave and see the world isn’t as strong as it used to be.

As this is happening, the three wise men are making their way to the manger and they alert the king of a new king that will be born. We now have a villain who is set to eliminate this new threat. Bo learns of this plot and the rest of the movie is Bo racing to Mary and Joseph to save the day.

The Review

As far as kids movies go, this isn’t bad. It has an incredible cast and the voice acting is great. Now mind you, it is a religious movie geared for kids, so the plot is simple. If you do not like overly cheerful movies without real consequences or danger, you won’t like this movie. With that said, it is a cute movie. The characters are likeable, the jokes aren’t super cheesy, and the animation is really pretty. If you’re an adult, it won’t be terrible. As far as kid’s movies go, you can do a lot worse.

I also would like to point out that this has a really solid sound track. Some kids movies tend to have really cheesy music and I can’t watch some kids films because of the music it has, but I find this one a delight.

If you aren’t a religious person, you won’t take too much issue with this film since it never tries to shove religion down your throat. While it does have some religious elements in it, the main focus is on Bo’s adventure.

Although the movie is geared for kids and the some of the jokes are easy, the film had a few good laughs. They do take the time to explain some jokes after they are made, and explain parts of the plot that are obvious, remember we aren’t the target audience so it works well for a kids film. I didn’t really have any real issue with this movie, I was never bored and not being very religious myself I didn’t think it was too harmful.

I would recommend this to anyone who has kids and needs something to watch. I know my mom would like this film because its not offensive and its cute. Check it out. Final grade 7 out 10. I do so because although I did enjoy it the first time around, I probably wont remember the plot of this movie down the line nor would I watch it again. Definitely give it a watch tho!

Uncategorized

Alex Strangelove

Leave a comment

Alex Strangelove is a high school coming of age story of a young teen trying to find his identity. Alex Truelove struggles to come to terms with his sexuality as pressure from his parents, friends, and classmates make life confusing.

The movie itself is awkward, but in a good way. It does a good job depicting the awkward time that is high school. It’s confusing, it’s stressful, it’s scary and you get to experience all these emotions along with Alex. As a coming of age story, it works. I am not sure how it well it works as a coming out story, but I enjoyed it non the less.

It isn’t your traditional high school movie, at least not the one I expected. It has moments where it is quirky, but it doesn’t overdo it. For example, the relationship between Alex and Claire is fun and sweet. The characters are bubbly and they have great chemistry but they do not get annoying. Although I didn’t care for the animal documentary bits. Most importantly, this feels like high school and not what some old guy think’s high school is.

And this movie is stressful, because high school is stressful. There is the stress of trying to get into a good school. The waiting, wondering if he will get into Columbia. There is the pressure from his peers to fit a certain category and Alex, like most teens, doesn’t know what that category is. There is also the pressure of being in school. Getting good grades all while trying to have a social life. Alex has to find the balance between his friends, his love, his family and a school, and that is a lot.

I recommend this movie. It’s funny, it’s cute, and does a really good job at telling a story. It’s probably the first Netflix original movie that I’ve liked a lot and definitely worth checking out, even if you are curious. I rate this movie a 9 out 10.

Uncategorized

Where’s the Money (2017) Review

Leave a comment

Where’s The Money (2017) comes to us from director Scott Zabielski. The film is a heist comedy staring Andrew Bachalor as Del. The movie starts off giving you context of the economic inequality that exists in South Central LA. You get introduced to the main character, Del, who lives in a struggling boxing Gym. You also get introduced to his friend Juice, played by Allan Maldonado, and the love interest Alicia, played by Kat Graham. After receiving a call from his father who was imprisoned for bank robbery, he learns the location of his father’s 1-million-dollar stash. Del and the other main characters become determined to find the money but discover the house where the money is stashed was turned into a frat house. Now, Del with the help of his friends must infiltrate the house and pretend to be a student trying to rush the frat. The rest of the movie turns into a frat comedy where we get to see Del participate in the hazing process while trying to get the money out of the house.

This movie works for the most part. Although not all of the jokes land, I got some good laughs out of it. It does try to address issues about racial inequality and racism. They briefly insert jokes about gingerfication for example. There is a scene where the frat boys are dressed like the clan. But they mostly joke about triggers, specifically what white people can say around black people. Although some of it did get a laugh, it doesn’t always work, and it gets a bit repetitive. It is stuff that has been done before.

The love interest plot line was a bit forced. There was no chemistry between the two characters and the only reason that they end up together (spoilers) is because it was written so. I didn’t really care for that plotline as the scenes where they are flirting and together aren’t funny and just drag.

The plot is generic. It isn’t bad, you can get one good viewing of it but I wouldn’t watch it again. It is forgettable if anything, I probably wont even remember what it’s about a month or even a week from now. Some of the jokes don’t land and they will stay on that joke for way too long and although it’s only an hour and thirty minutes, it will feel a bit longer. The second half in particular feels longer because it stops being as funny. The jokes are tired, they will make sure you know that Jake Paul is from Youtube and resolution is lacking.

Overall, I’ve seen worse. It isn’t a bad sit at all so if you are bored, definitely go for it. It won’t hold up the second time around though as the plot is really basic and the jokes are easy. Ill give this a 6 out 10 because it does work, and I found parts that were funny, but I won’t be adding this to my favorites.

Uncategorized

When We First Met (2018) Review

Leave a comment

When We First met is a Netflix original directed by Ari Sandel about a guy named Noah finds a magic photo booth that allows him to travel back in time to the night he might his crush Avery. Everyone tells Noah to move on, but his obsession has him repeating the same night trying to fix destiny where he and Avery can be together. As movies of this genre go, you get a glimpse of how his decisions of his life impact his future until he finds the reality he likes. You don’t really need to much background, you already know the plot to this movie.

This was a hard sit. It wasn’t so much the plot, but rather the awkward execution that makes watching this movie a chore. As I’ve stated before, Netflix has become the new direct to VHS genre producing generic material just for the sake of filling up it’s virtual library with content. The plot is generic. The acting is bad. Although the movies definitely look nice compared to the direct to VHS junk we got stuck with. Netflix has yet to impress me with an original movie and this movie was terrible.

The movie starts off promising. The first night Noah and Avery is cute. This sequence makes Noah seem charming and the relationship seems plausible. We instantly learn that there are two sides and where Noah saw love, Avery only saw friendship. It becomes incredibly hard to sit through as Noah’s obsession becomes creepy. They call him a stalker a couple of times and I don’t think stalker is a strong enough word. Adam Devine’s interactions with all the characters are just so awkward. Noah is so desperate for Avery to fall in love that he goes to great lengths to get it which is in itself manualize and creepy. The movie even starts off by telling Noah that he should move on because there is nothing there. I wish the movie would have ended it at that, but no you have to wait an hour and a half for him to realize this and it sucks.

I have a huge problem with Noah’s character because his obsession makes him scary. You don’t want Noah to succeed because of how creepy he is. I couldn’t figure out why anyone liked Noah in the first place since he doesn’t seem to have any redeeming factor or reason for being in the group. The movie is constantly trying to tell you that Noah is a good guy but he doesn’t ever show it. If you want Noah to be a good guy, have him show it. Have people feel bad at least and want him to find love, but his actions don’t merit any kind of reward. In the end, Noah doesn’t learn anything from this experience. These movies work because after all the time travel and seeing all the possibilities, the characters learn something about their life. Noah by the end of the movie is still creepy Noah. There is no growth, there is no lesson, just Noah.

Like other Netflix movies, this one tries it’s hardest to be deep, but the message is so obvious and generic it doesn’t work. It’ll spend a long time explaining obvious symbols. They actually name drop the movie in the first sequence. I am honestly surprised this movie isn’t called Photobooth. I think they missed the mark on that one.

In closing, this one was bad. Skip this. Rate it a thumbs down. It doesn’t work as a comedy. It doesn’t work as time travel movie. It doesn’t work as a movie. I give this a 0 out of 10 because there is nothing in this movie worth seeing.

Movie Reviews

American Hero 2015 Review

Leave a comment

American Hero (2015) was written and directed by Nick Love. It stars Stephen Dorff as Melvin Hesper and Eddie Griffin as Lucille. The film is a mocumentary about an American addict with telekinetic psychic abilities. The film starts out with the search of the missing Melvin. We get introduced to Lucille, a paraplegic who we later learn is Melvin’s closest friend. We learn instantly that Melvin is kind of a loser as we find him passed out on the street after a night of partying on the day of his court date for visitation rights with his son. Melvin loses his rights and we watch him fall into despair as he loves his son. The only way Melvin knows how to cope with any emotional pain is through his substance abuse, and as the film progresses it gets worse.

Along the way, many of his loved ones will warm him and plead for him to change. We also see him use his powers for cheap parlor tricks and to help feed his addiction. There are also several sub plots that the film introduces. Lucille living his life as a paraplegic, and a plot about drugs and gang violence in the city of New Orleans. They do a decent job implementing them to Melvin’s narrative and although they weren’t necessary, they weren’t distracting enough to take out.

The format that they used was incredibly effective to tell this story. You get to see how addiction affects Melvin directly, but you also get to see the effects on the people around them. In interviews with the other characters, you get to learn aspects of Melvin’s life that would be lost if it were shot any other way. You get to learn that he is smart, that he has these gifts, that he is kind. But you also get to see the hurt his loved ones feel as he continues to spiral. As mild as it might seem for a movie about addiction, I think that it handles the topic rather well. You can see Melvin doesn’t want to be lost in his addiction, but it is the only way he knows how to handle his pain. Anytime Melvin endures hardship, you can still see the pain as tries desperately to numb it out. I particularly like how they contrast the scenes of his benders with people telling him to slow down and change. To me, it makes the scenes where he is partying sad.

My favorite part of the movie was the relationship Melvin had with Lucille. There was a bond that they shared that was stronger than anything and as lost as Melvin gets, he still has Lucille and I though that was cool. And Lucille isn’t just the comic relieve. I think Eddie Griffin does a great job as Lucille. You can see him fighting to come to terms with his disability and you also see him worry and care for his friend.

All in all, I recommend watching this movie. Yeah it a low score on the rating websites but I think its at least worth checking out. It is a different kind of super hero narrative because throughout it, Melvin isn’t a hero. Nor is Melvin a hero, he’s just some normal guy trying to be normal but doesn’t know how to. Yeah, the CGI isn’t great, but it’s not distracting. Overall, I give this film an 8 out of 10. The ending wasn’t great and some of the scenes dragged on for a bit. Don’t skip this one.

Uncategorized

Singularity (2017) Review

Leave a comment

Singularity

Singularity (2017) was written and directed by Robert Kouba. The movie starts out in 2020 with the launch of Kronos, an AI super computer that is supposed to solve everything. We get introduced to the main character Andrew Davis who is taking care of his mother. As Andrew goes to work, Kronos goes online and determines that man’s biggest problem is man and starts destroying mankind. We cut to 97 years later where Andrew wakes up unscathed and unaged as he climbs out of some hole and conveniently finds a brand new outfit. He also picks up a necklace that the film desperately wants you to know is important. This movie tries ineradicably hard to be symbolic.

We then get introduced to Katniss Croft, I mean Calia who is on her way to the last standing human city. She saves Andrew from a droid attack and they decide to go on this magical quest together. Of course, they fall in love because they both admire that they are each the leads of this movie. In the meantime, Elias, the creator of Kronos, watches the leads in hopes that they will lead him to the last city, so he can wipe out the last of humanity. Through this Elias we discover that Andrew is a robot disguised as a human. The rest of the film is the love story of the two leads as they try to survive a machine run planet, and the obvious plot of Andrew being more human than machine.

This movie has too many holes leaving the story incapable of holding up on its own. It is incredibly dull. There is no tension. In the scenes when the leads are being chased, I found myself dozing off because the terrible CGI took too long to render. This was a hard sit as there isn’t anything that holds your attention.

The acting is terrible. The scenes between the two leads are just awkward. They have absolutely no chemistry, so their romance is forced an unbelievable. Julian Schaffner’s performance is just so robotic. It would work if the plot didn’t rely on the fact that Andrew must be believable as a human, therefore, this performance only makes all his scenes awkward. Jeannine Wacker doesn’t do any better and her live performance just seems lazy and unconvincing. She is also the narrator, and although her voice acting parts do have a little more emotion, it is not a lot or enough. John Cusack sleep walked through this. If you are a Cusack fan, skip this one. He basically reads lines and makes silly faces.

The story is flawed and full of holes. There are scenes where they will go into houses that look like they have been abandoned for weeks, not the 97 years that they were supposed to be. Why does it take 97 years to destroy humanity? Why does she carry a crossbow? The film leaves you with too many questions.

There is a lot plot points that they add and they forget about so by the end of it, if you in fact make it to the end, will leave you confused. They have human tunnel dwellings, robot cities, human strong holds, some weird neckless, and none of it really matters because they never really explain it. Instead you get to follow the two leads who you don’t even believe that they like each other. The best part of the movie is that they had the balls to sequel bate. I think it is funny that someone believed that this, what ever this is, would merit a second part.

This movie is boring. The concept might be cool if executed better but at this point, go watch Terminator. This movie isn’t worth your time and I’ll honestly forget it by tomorrow. I’ll give this movie a 1 out 10. Skip it.

Uncategorized

Bright Review

3 Comments

Bright is Netflix’s cop movie. Written by Max Landis and directed by David Ayer, is a buddy cop music with random magic bullshit.

The film starts off with pans of several different murals on police brutality, establishing itself instantly as having a political agenda. It then cuts to the main characters, Ward (played by Will Smith) and Nick (played by Joel Edgerton) who are polar opposites. This is a buddy cop movie after all. We get some scenes where Ward, and the rest of the police force, express their disapproval towards Nick because he is an Orc. If you haven’t noticed by this point that no one likes the Orcs, you haven’t been paying attention. The murals, the random scenes of police violence against Orcs, and the racial slurs specific for Orcs are a huge tip. This film will take every chance it gets to remind you that no one likes the Orcs.

As most buddy cop films go, Nick and Ward are stuck with each other. They are assigned to the one mission that changes their relationship forever. On this particular mission they stumble upon a Bright named Tikka. A bright is someone who can use magic, and most importantly, wield a magic wand. A wand can only be handled by a Bright and has infinite power. The rest of the movie is about the two cops trying to get the Tikka and wand to a safe place while they try desperately to survive. So think The Warriors but with magic bullshit.

My gripe with this movie is that there are so many useless scenes that could be cut out. The scenes with Ward’s family have no purpose but to take up time. The scene with his daughter is awkward and the sound was horrible and had no reason at being in the movie. The family disappears by the end of the movie and you forget Ward has a family. And of course, all the pointless scenes of police brutality, while some are necessary, there were a lot of random ones. They really want you to know that this is a movie about police brutality.

What makes this movie particularly hard to get into is that it expects the audience to know how the universe works. If you don’t have the slightest bit of knowledge about fantasy, you will be lost. Even if you have some exposure to fantasy you will find yourself lost as the film does a terrible job creating its own Universe. The fantasy element felt extremely forced because they kept making up fantastical elements as the film progressed and by the end of it, it created more questions than it answered.

I feel that the fantasy element was a cop out. A way they could address police brutality and racism without getting in trouble. As a film that starts off with a clear political agenda, this wasn’t a good move. It is a safe way to gloss over real controversial issues that should be addressed, but this isn’t the film that will start the appropriate conversations. In the end, it is about race but not really. And the police brutality and corruption scenes are done way better elsewhere.

Another issue this movie has is that it doesn’t have any tension. It keeps derailing the action and tension with magic bullshit and very vague world creation. You do not feel anxious for the main characters as they try to make it through the night that you feel in other movies of this genre. Instead what you get is very slow scenes that drag on way too long and the whole time I wish I was watching Dred.

The only saving grace was the banter the two cops shared. Will Smith has some great lines in this. Joel Edgerton does a good job as nick. But this is only temporary as this movie doesn’t merit a second watch. The third time around I was extremely bored, and the scenes stopped being funny.

You can probably skip this one. If you want to check it out, it’s not terrible. I did enjoy it the first time I watched it but it really doesn’t stay good. It tries too hard to be political that it distracts from the main plot and in the end it is too slow for the genre it tries to be. I’ll give it a 5 out of 10, which for my experience with Netflix originals is high.