Tag Archives: teen

Series Reviews

Series Review: Red Rose (2022)

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I wanted to like Red Rose. It had a strong start with its terrific soundtrack, decent actors, and interesting concept. Unfortunately, the novelty wears off, and the series overstays its welcome. If you were interested in watching this series, I would hold off. It’s not as good and deep as it pretends to be.

After finishing High School, Roche, and her friends are excited for what should be the best summer of their lives. It was supposed to be a summer of partying, sex, and fun before they all split up for university. But fate has other plans for these teens. Roch’s life gets turned upside down when she downloads the mysterious app, Red Rose. At first, it seems like a benevolent force that promises Roch a better life. But the app has ulterior motives, and Roch finds that her life is out of her hands. Red Rose isolates her from her friends, stalks her, and terrorizes her relentlessly. There is no escape from Red Rose, and the virus is spreading. Will the teens be able to put an end to this sinister app?

The acting is fine for the most part, but I felt like some of the leads didn’t have the charisma to make the series work. The story was fine, but it gets more and more convoluted the deeper you get into the series. This series wastes too much time on filler, pointless plot hooks, and painfully obvious red herrings instead of getting to the point. This series wastes so much time on filler that I honestly forgot what it was supposed to be about. This could have been a better series if they didn’t drag it out so long. 

The first few episodes had so much promise. The soundtrack was fantastic, the lead was great, and the story was solid. They still had issues with the pacing, but I was willing to forgive it because the rest was good enough. It was a decent thriller until the tonal shifts. Unfortunately, this series turns into a generic action thriller with no real direction. 

I can’t recommend this series because it just becomes a generic jumbled mess of a series. It becomes so bland that I struggle to find more to say about this series. I would say hold off, but if you can’t, you can stream it on Netflix. 

Image By Eleven Film & British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) – Screenshot of a frame in an episode, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72846422

Series Reviews

Series Review: Wolf Pack (2023)

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I haven’t been too impressed with Paramount’s original content, and Wolf Pack did little to change that. This series is a poorly-written supernatural drama about werewolves that won’t leave much of an impression. While it may have moments that keep it from being terrible, it isn’t good enough to recommend.

Wildfires threaten the lives of a generic small town. As the smoke and flames creep ever closer, something sinister lurks in its shadows. Werewolves exist in our world, and while some may be harmless, some use the fires to come for blood. The series focuses on a pair of unremarkable teens who get turned into werewolves. As they struggle to control their powers, they seek answers. But where will they start?

This series isn’t great. The writing is terrible. The actors may be doing their best, but their best is mediocre. The only good thing about this series is its suspense. I loved the scenes where the teens are facing the unknown. There is a real sense of uncertainty about the fate of these teens as they attempt to hide from an unknown hunter. I know they will survive, but it was easy to get lost in the moment as the poorly rendered whatever stalked them from a distance. As bad as the acting got, I am impressed with how well the kids acted in these scenes. It wasn’t enough to earn a recommendation, but I would be curious to see how they do in better horror. 

I don’t have much to say about this series because it didn’t leave an impression on me. It wasn’t bad enough to hate, but it isn’t good enough to recommend. Wolf Pack exists as a lazy attempt to rebuild the werewolf mythos. The characters are generic and flat, the story isn’t good, and everything looks ugly. I would be fine if this were some campy fun series about werewolves, but it isn’t. I got so bored that I had to fight the urge to fast forward. New episodes of this series come out weekly, but the first three episodes did little to make me want to finish. I might do so if curiosity strikes, but I doubt it will get any better. 

You can stream Wolf Pack on Paramont+, but I wouldn’t bother. There are better shows about werewolves you could be watching instead. Oh and if you are thinking of watching this series for Sarah Michelle Gellar, she’s barely in it.

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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Honor Society (2022)

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Honor Society was a delightful surprise hidden away in the otherwise baron catalog or Paramount plus. It isn’t perfect, it plays out a bit like a fairy tale, but it is an entertaining two hours of your life.

Honor Society is about Honor’s last year in high school. She has great ambitions and plans to achieve every one of them. To do so, she surrounds herself with reliable people, gets good grades, starts clubs, does volunteer work, and sucks up to the school’s guidance counselor. She wants to go to Harvard, and the only thing standing in her way is a letter of recommendation from the counselor. The problem is that three other students are competing for this recommendation. Honor hatches a plan to make sure she is the only candidate left by the end of the year, but her plotting isn’t as nefarious as intended.

This movie is a very high-energy and fun movie structured almost like a heist movie. Honor will constantly break the fourth wall to lay out her plans and reasonings, the camera will pan to the person or people involved, and you get to watch as she manipulates her way toward Harvard. It is really fun to see. 

This style is unique and very effective for telling Honor’s story. The movie jumps from plot to plot seamlessly at Honor’s request without ever being confusing or disorienting. Honor is a fantastic protagonist with the charisma to make this movie work. The rest of the cast is equally fantastic and the performances come together as a fun teen movie about surviving high school. 

My biggest complaint about this movie is how easily and quickly everything falls into place. People will do what she asks without question. The movie does a decent job at setting up Honor as the popular girl everyone likes, but the narrative still fits together like a fairy tale. One could argue that she isn’t being manipulative, but rather encouraging people into doing something they have always wanted to do. You can also argue that she is an unreliable narrator. You are being told a story from her perspective where she is cool and smart enough to get what she wants. Whatever the reason, this is a fun movie and you should check it out. Find it on Paramount+.

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Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: Anything’s Possible (2022)

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I thought this movie was fine, but it isn’t something I would watch again. There is an audience for this movie, and I am not it. If you are the target demo, you will have a  deeper appreciation for this movie. If you aren’t in the demo, the story and acting is fine enough where you won’t hate it.  

Anything’s Possible is about a trans girl Kalsea and her relationship with a sis boy Khal. While the movie does touch on some trans issues, the movie focuses on their blossoming relationship as they try to survive high school. This is another teen movie at its core, but one that fairs a little better than the rest.  

This is a teen movie that suffers from a lot of the same problems that exist within this genre. The narrative exists in a bubble. As a result, there are no real stakes.  The issues Kalesa deals with are resolvable, although the movie will create drama to move the plot forward. You know everything will work out at the end, but I didn’t mind it much this time because the story and the characters are interesting enough. I loved the chemistry between each character and loved the fact that this movie doesn’t try too hard to make characters hip and cool. 

As far as tween movies go, this one fairs a bit better. I enjoyed that the relationship builds at a more natural rate, although there is still some ex-machina involved. It makes sense why they are together and I wanted them to be together. I liked that they don’t make her a symbol for trans kids. She wants to just be treated normal and doesn’t want the fact that she is trans be the only important part of her identity. It is hard being part of a disenfranchised group because there is the unfair expectation and pressure to be the spokesperson for the group. I liked that this is addressed, although she does ultimately become the spokesperson at the end. Tween movies aren’t known for having the soundest logic.  

I also liked how it wove the different narratives together. You get both the lead’s perspectives as they try to figure out who they want to be while facing the pressures of society that try to mold them. It was very well edited and it all felt like one cohesive story. The way they blend streaming, texting, and social media is very well done. It doesn’t feel fragmented or like a cheap attempt to pad the time, but rather adds to the narrative in a meaningful way. I love how story telling is evolving with technology and they are starting to get it right.  

If you are the target audience, it’s a cute teen movie with a trans lead that doesn’t get too preechy. We need more positive trans leads and this is a step in the right direction. For eveyrone else, I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it, you won’t hate it if you have to sit through this.  

While I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this movie, it’s not a bad one. You can stream it on Amazon if you have a Prime membership.  

Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: I Still See You (2018)

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As far as free teen mystery thrillers go, this one is okay. You will probably forget you watched it after, but there are worse ways to spend two hours. The acting is decent, but both the plot and the twist are predictable. As a teen movie, it hits many of the obligated traps. The edgy brooding teen girl is special because the plot needs her to be. She falls for the mysterious brooding boy because it’s in the script. There are some cheesy moments mixed in throughout because it needs to hit certain story beats. It is better than an average teen movie, but it isn’t winning awards. 

If you do decide to watch this movie, you must suspend all your disbelief. The science is not sound, and the movie will go out of its way to make the plot work. There is a lot of nonsense and inconsistencies in this movie that are hard to ignore because the plot moves so slowly.

I Still See You takes place in Chicago after a catastrophic explosion opens a portal into the spirit world. The dead now roam the world and are visible but intangible to the living. People are doing their best to return to normal life, but it becomes increasingly hard for Bella Thorne. Something is after Bella Thorne, and it is more obvious than you might think.

As far as mysteries go, this one is solvable within the first ten minutes. This might be a symptom of an over-ambitious filmmaker trying too hard to be deep. This movie is littered with clues as it attempts and fails to foreshadow an ending with very little payoff. Either Bella Thorne’s character is truly oblivious or I have been watching too many movies, but the clues aren’t subtle. Either way, whatever suspense and buildup this movie attempts to have wasn’t there for me.

If you are the target audience, you might have a better time with this movie. It isn’t a terrible movie, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it. I would throw this on if I wanted something playing in the background but didn’t want to commit or pay all my attention. There are better movies in the genre, but you can do a lot worse for free. You can find it over on YouTube.

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