JabezGill Reviews

We Were the Lucky Ones (2024)

Just genuinely uninteresting...

[4/10 · 28 March 2024]

We've seen this movie 100 times before - Jewish Europeans try to survive the Holocaust. They start off naive of the threat of Nazi Germany, then get a rude awakening, then do everything they can to survive.

Unfortunately, the way the characters and story is portrayed in this particular series is just uninspiring. It has struggled to keep my attention, struggled to make me connect with/care for the specific characters (beyond the obvious care/connection you feel for the real, historical people that suffered through these events).

The script is weak at times, the actor chemistry is off, the show just seems very flat through the first few episodes. Inconsistent acting quality... hope this improves, I will gladly change my review if it does

That is such a shame since the show says this is a "true story."

Road House (2024)

A REALLY FUN WATCH!

[8/10 · 26 March 2024]

FIRST OFF - Stay Until After The Credits. WE BETTER GET A SEQUEL.

Next. Don't listen to the negative reviews, this is just a fun action flick. Conor McGregor is actually incredible as Knox. An amazing movie villain with genuinely good acting chops. Jake Gyllenhaal does great as always. Sure, the fights are a little too CGI'd at times, but they're just fun.

That's all I can say, it's just a fun movie to watch.

If you go into this expecting Oppenheimer level drama and story depth, you'll be disappointed. If you want to watch a modern day western with the usual "drifter" trope - a hero comes to town with a dark, troubled past and finds a town living in fear and terror of local villains and proceeds to go all high noon on everybody - then this is the movie for you. I love it and hope we see more of Dalton, Knox, and Moe... and Ellie for that matter.

It is a shame that Hollywood has gotten away from these types of fun action flicks that were staples of the 80s and 90s.

Please, just watch this movie - have some fun for a few hours - and then leave a good review so we can have another fun sequel.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)

If I wanted to read a boring Italian novel, I would have.

[4/10 · 5 February 2024]

Equalizer 3 is an American movie franchise. Changing up the setting to Italy was great, but this new trend of immersion where everybody speaks the local language and the English audience has to read subtitles the whole time is played out.

There is a time and place for it... but not 85% of a movie made for and by Americans.

The movie was dull and constantly having to read through the scenes made it worse.

Have the Italians speak some Italian to one another, but it works if you have them speak English more often, too. This is an action flick not a documentary... not a historical drama... you're not scoring points for filling with with Boopa-dee Bappa-dee.

The first equalizer was incredible, the second one was really good but got a little corny... between reading and watching Denzel do the "mild mannered gets along with everybody and makes friends everywhere is loved by all" equalizer got boring.

Pretty sure this was just another "hey rich Hollywood friends... wanna spend 3 months hanging out in Italy?"

Reunited Dakota Fanning with Denzel though... so that was worth a couple of stars. Denzel is Denzel... one of the goats... so that was also worth a couple of stars.

The Artful Dodger (2023– )

This show is GREAT the best on TV in years!

[9/10 · 23 January 2024]

This show needs a fully funded season 2, 3, 4... as many as they can give us.

Great quality of writing, immense acting talent, fun stories and visually great, great pacing - can't speak highly enough of it.

It is an Australian production but I hope it can get international funding without sacrificing the quality of the story. It doesn't fall victim to the current cultures "let's make a period piece but race swap everybody and make every story a thinly veiled critique of conservative culture and society while pushing woke ideologies."

Don't get me wrong - it doesn't avoid the woke altogether, there are some subtle hints at things and - as always - they have to portray the Christian characters as non-believers that only go through the motions because society says they have to, or the overly zealous yet hypocritical religious characters, or the "I'm a priest but I don't believe this stuff I just did it to avoid being punished for debts"... Christianity is always disregarded or belittled when looking back at the Victorian era where it held a significant place in private and public society... so that is a shame that it can't be handled with more weight and relevance that modern writers give it.

Honestly, if they would just be genuine about that aspect it would give a lot of shows/characters more depth - wrestling with their beliefs, what they should/shouldn't do according to those beliefs and what they feel they're required to do in order to survive/thrive in a society with very little opportunity for social, political, and monetary ascension.

BUT that is just a nitpick as it is honestly the norm with period pieces for the last 20 years.

20/10 recommend this show and hope everyone watches it and demands more!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: I Plunge to My Death (2024) Season 1, Episode 4

A disappointingly brief episode (wait to watch Ep 4 when Ep 5 is released!)

[5/10 · 3 January 2024]

This episode was short and not munched happened

Summary: 1. Humanity is killing the centaurs... (the magical beasts they can't even see.

2. The Mother of Monsters is after them... 3. Something something, St. Louis Arch, something something hunting buffalo something something isn't humanity the worst?

4. The gods are mad about the Medusa head thing 5. Percy is poisoned but his Dad Moana's the water and saves him.

6. Roll credits.

Biggest set design complaint - they get off the train car and run across the tracks... and it is VERY obvious that the train hasn't moved in a decade... that exact train and track area is used in several Disney shows and films and movies...

Overall, this episode was "33 minutes" which really means it's more like 25-26 with pre and post credits. Nothing really happens, a few conversations but nothing groundbreaking or insightful, nothing we haven't figured out on our own or heard in the first 3 episodes - and like many other reviewers have said... this show insists on telling us about everything instead of showing us.

It's a kids show though, so to some extent I guess they have to handhold the viewer through the story.

Either way, if you're reading this before you watch episode 4 - wait until next week and watch 4 & 5 at the same time because it will probably be more enjoyable & feel like you've actually progressed in the story.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Parallels and Interiors (2023) Season 1, Episode 4

Oof... why do episodes like this need to happen?

[5/10 · 1 December 2023]

Oof... why do episodes like this need to happen?

This episode totally derails the flow of the overall story by giving us the cringey back story of two characters (with absolutely no chemistry) falling in love with each other.

It is always so generic

They have a misunderstanding/corny "meet cute" then they spend the night out with each other with her giving him a hard time while he bumbles around falling in love with her. Then they go off somewhere where it's just the two of them alone and talk in low husky voices as they get closer... suddenly she is sweet and affectionate to him. They kiss/hook up... then we flash back to present day where she is angry at him for something he did in the middle of their relationship. They aren't together. There is tension between them...

Too much focus on that... you've gotta build the characters and the storyline a bit more fore you jump into this type of thing.

Then, more cliches... they split up. They want you to think he is lost... collapsing in the snow... I guess he is dead... now let's cut back to the other three... oh wow, at some point off screen the girl love interest has somehow injured herself. "If we don't warm her up she is gonna die!"

Now he is unconscious and she is unconscious and even though they're miles apart they're suddenly laying next to each other in the snow becaaausseee ANOTHER FLASHBACK of them being all lovey and in bed and tender and blah blah blah.

Yawn.

I get that relationships building is important in these shows but this episode should happen later in this show. (Although I hate that these shows tend to throw this episode just before the penultimate episodes because it also kills the moment) anyways... Monarch started SO SLOW that the action and story really didn't pick up until Episode 3. So, it took us 3 episodes to get moving and immediately we are given the massive speed bump episode of flashbacks and "love"... the long whispery scenes... the scenes of tension... and the slow crawl of overall narrative.

It's a monster and titan show... give us some monsters and titans.

Welcome to Wrexham: Family Business (2023) Season 2, Episode 13

Kind've a boring episode after the previous one

[5/10 · 8 November 2023]

I know the story being told in this docu-series is much bigger than football. It's about the people, the town, the culture, etc.

However, I found this episode quite boring. It seemed oddly/poorly placed within the season. The last episode was incredibly interesting. Wrexham and Notts county going head to head battling for the chance at promotion and now with promotion in reach... let's stop all the momentum, excitement, & anticipation about soccer for a detour about family and what that means to Rob, Ryan, and Ollie Palmer.

This episode would've fit better in season 1 when the viewers were getting to know Rob and Ryan "the owners." Or, if it had been paired with an episode that was more geared toward "the people" of the town/club that landed earlier in the season. 3rd from last isn't a good place for it.

Just an awkward placement that was like a speed bump in the series. Then the next episode (14) picks up where episode 12 left off. Confusing choice.

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

Disney can't write realistic comedy or dialogue for children.

[2/10 · 31 October 2023]

Bear with me here.

But Disney is awful at writing dialogue for anyone under the age of 30. Everything is written and acted like it is being performed in a high school gymnasium by the drama club.

1. The three young version of the Sanderson sisters - came off as if they were on stage in a middle school/high school play. They weren't "The Sanderson Sisters"... they were three student-actors PLAYING the Sanderson sisters. There is a difference. I don't want to SEE someone acting. You could see they were trying to mimic/imitate/emulate... and line delivery was very HS drama.

2. The guy that's in EVERY Disney show today that was playing the reverend. He's version of comedy isn't funny. The whole "I'm going to act really mad and serious while saying silly things and being overly dramatic" stopped being funny a long, long time ago.

You know what was great about the Original? The adult townspeople acted serious - it was a drama while the witches were being dramatically comedic. It was the perfect balance of "funny enough that I'm not scared as a child" but serious enough that it was "believable" - it didn't break the viewers immersion in the world like modern Disney does with their hokey acting.

3. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DO NOT SOUND/TALK/ACT LIKE THAT, DISNEY!!! They always have them being overly cool, over the top, cringey non-relatable dialogue. High school is unrecognizable in Disney content. Why is everything always so bright and fancy, too?

You know what was great about the Original? The kid actors were believable (apart from the bullies that were played up for comedy) but the kids in the classrooms, how max and Allison acted, how the teacher acted... even Dani... they didn't seem like kids ACTING... they seemed like real people experiencing this stuff in real life.

It just isn't good. It is offensively bad. Another Disney money-grab.

Gen V: Jumanji (2023) Season 1, Episode 6

Don't Delete The Kisses - Wolf Alice

[5/10 · 22 October 2023]

That's the name of the song that you're wondering about from this episode. It's a great song by an awesome band named Wolf Alice.

As for the episode, it was better than the last few but is just so full of silliness/cringey parts and an over reliance on Sex and gore that this little series is guilty of.

The memory jumping portion of this episode was a bit much, too.

And how they're all doing crappy stuff but then judging one another harshly for the crappy stuff everyone did. It's just pathetic and annoying. So is the need to be like "sure the one girl wiped your memories but look how hard her childhood was!!"

The dialogue is the cringiest and worst part of this episode "I think I saw god... just good? You regret it don't you?... I don't think I can do that 24/7..."

Who wrote this? A 12 year old or a 40 year old virgin woman that has never been kissed or on a date before?

Anyways, check out the band Wolf Alice & their awesome music.

Loki: 1893 (2023) Season 2, Episode 3

Jonathan Majors is the worst

[4/10 · 21 October 2023]

I have liked him in a lot of the stuff he is in but he is such a boring hokey actor in the MCU.

Loki Season 2 was great... and then it introduced and shifted focus to him for the episode (only this episode, I hope) and the momentum of the show hit a brick wall.

What is Disney's obsession with showing the bad guys perspective and trying to make them relatable. Just let them be minor characters that are bad guys - we are far more interested in Loki, Sylvie, & Morbius (#ItsMorbinTime) anyways.

Majors should've dropped the voice and the weird little stutter thing that he was trying to use to give his character... well, "character."

Just bleh. Hope they bounce back on the next episode.

Goosebumps (2023– )

This is so cringey...

[2/10 · 17 October 2023]

This isn't how Gen Z or Gen Alpha acts... this isn't what we like. This is Gen X and Millennials idea of what "kids these days" are into/act like/talk like. It plays like a straight comedy.

The characters are all forced and contrived. The dialogue seems like it was stolen from an SNL skit about high school students in 2023... also... why are a bunch of 25, 26, 27 year olds playing the high school students?

This just isn't interesting or compelling or worth the time. Which is depressing because this freaking GOOSEBUMPS!!! I love those old books and the tv show stuff... it could have been epic. Instead it is just another example of Disney being out of touch with reality and out of touch with today's youth.

They just make caricatures of people groups and think they're doing a great job with representation. It's trash.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: Part 6: Wheel of Fire (2023) Season 1, Episode 6

Taking a nose dive.

[4/10 · 26 August 2023]

This show started with a lot of promise -- it was a slow burn... painfully slow at times if we are being honest... but it was intriguing and something about the pace, the soundtrack, and the artsy camerawork ... just worked.

The mystery of what REALLY happened to Alice's parents along with the mysterious/possibly supernatural/mythic/mystic hints of the Selkie really kept me hooked.

However, the series took a sharp nosedive after replacing the young Alice actress with adult Alice.

She experienced a trauma in her youth but seemed to come through it pretty well. She had panic attacks but seemed well adjusted. She then grew up on a women's ranch with people who had been through trauma and could help her cope/heal (according to them) yet she becomes some emotionally damaged beyond repair, borderline crazy person in her adulthood?

THIS episode just killed any interest I had in the series. One episode left and I will probably just read a summary of it when it is done. This changed from a mystery to a show about an adult woman making bad decisions despite all she witnessed growing up and learned from abused women for 30 years of her life. And the cycle just continues?

The story just seems to have no direction or point or purpose.

White House Plumbers (2023)

A disappointment for HBO and viewers

[5/10 · 18 May 2023]

I was hopping that this would be another HBO "Chernobyl" level drama and production.

Instead, this is some kind of Bill Murray "this is a comedy but I'm playing it straight... but not too straight because I want YOU to know that what I'm doing is comedic" type of movie.

This could have been great if it was a serious dramatic take on this very interesting story.

Instead we get a Hollywoodized version of events where the conservatives are the punchline "sure what these people were doing was highly illegal and could have had serious ramifications on the stability of the American government... but since we hate the Right let's make them all laughably dumb and really play up the comedy aspect of it."

When HBO does comedy it is just... eh

When it does drama it tends to be incredible. (Even though that has been going down the drain, too since season 8 of GoT)

All in all - this isn't worth the watch. It isn't what it should be and is a bad version of what it is.

Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)

Really confused by the quality

[2/10 · 3 May 2023]

Maybe I just haven't been watching enough movies over the last few years - but I have come to expect Disney movies to be really well polished and just the absolute cutting edge when it comes to quality...

However, this movie kind've looked like it was filmed and edited as a YouTube fan made video. The acting was also very... inconsistent? It felt like watching a medium-sized city's stage production of Peter Pan where some of the actors are trying too hard and others are kind've phoning it in with some cheesy performances.

For such a magical fairytale it was very... lethargic, dull, and void of any real moments of wonder.

It seems like Disney must be focused on putting out content as fast as possible these days, when they used to only put out stuff of great quality.

It's a shame that they "reimagined" this so poorly.

If you have NOTHING else to watch then put it on as background noise... otherwise, spend your time doing something better.

The Winchesters: You've Got a Friend (2023) Season 1, Episode 11

"Ay dios mio..." this show sucks

[3/10 · 25 February 2023]

To quote the cornily written, and cornily delivered, live from the police officer girl, " Ay dios mio."

"That's for Kyle, and that's for my son!"

It is like the writers copy and pasted the most stereotypical, cliche lines that they learned in their first semester of screenwriting class.

This show is in its first season and it is already awful... Supernatural was cheesy at times but the acting and writing was consistent... and the good episodes were great.

One of the biggest issues is that This show is so hellbent on making Latika and Carlos happen as main characters. They aren't. They are side characters that shouldn't get 50% of the episode for their own storylines. This show should be focused on... wait for it... THE WINCHESTERS... I think a weak spot of Supernatural was the lack of secondary characters... but The Winchester got it wrong but making 4 main characters. Too many people, not enough story.

It's just all poorly written as this episode shows. Nobody cares about Carlos, nobody cares about Latika... and to be honest the only reason anybody "cares" about John and Mary is because of who they are to the Supernatural series. Across the board the characters are written watery thin and generic.

Maybe that's why they're building towards bringing Jensen Ackles into the show. Is he the world's best actor? No, but he at least has the Charisma of a lead (something these 4 do not have) and crushes the role of Dean.

That '90s Show (2023– )

bro, bro... bro

[3/10 · 29 January 2023]

Bro! BRO! Brooo. Brooooo. BRO!? BROOOOOOO! Bro. Bro. Bro. Bro bro, bro? Brrooooo. Bro bro? Bro! BRO!

This show is so bad except for when the the original casts have cameos.

Red and Kitty carry each episode.

Topher Grace should still be the lead - he still has the "it" factor that made his character/the original series great.

The next cast is annoying for the most part.

Leia isn't bad - and would probably be a lot better if literally any of the other kid actors were good. Lots of overacting and mostly AWFUL characters by the writers. So cliche and boring.

New Fez is the stereotypical "gay friend" character that I thought we all realized was played out in the 2000s.

New Jackie has no redeeming qualities and doesn't have the acting chops that Mila Kunis had at that age.

New Kelso is two different guys... and they're both the most obnoxious versions of the stereotypical "the dumb hot jock that gets the girls" character.

New Hyde tends to over act the scenes she is in. But when she tones it down she is actually pretty solid.

Also, new Bob is so pointless and annoying. She seems like a character from Roseanne or something and not a character from the 70s/90s show Universe.

I can't imagine this show lasting as long or being as highly praised as that 70s show.

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

Great - but the story & mystery could have been better.

[7/10 · 7 January 2023]

The acting was outstanding - Christian Bale was as solid as always and Harry Melling was outstanding as a - likely very accurate (behavior & personality-wise) Edgar Allan Poe.

The film looked great, although you could tell budget-wise they probably didn't have a lot to work with so the scope was narrow.

The pacing was slow for most... (and issue with all of Cooper's films). For a mystery there wasn't really any of the heart racing sprint to the details and although there was a climax in the story - I was built up and didn't pay off like the great movies of this genre.

And I think that was the biggest hang up - the story and the mystery just doesn't feel very deep... it feels very generic and straight forward... like a weekly police procedural tv show - which is disappointing because of the depth of Edgar Allan Poe's writings.

Although Poe is just a character in Louis Bayard's story - I was hoping for some of the intellectual depth of a Poe story.

This film reminds me a lot of Hostiles - there is so much space/breath given to dialogue and scenes and such a lack of score to build scenes or add depth... that it kind've feels empty.

That being said, watch the movie - hopefully it does well and filmmakers are more encouraged to adapt more Poe-related material!

Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery (2022 TV Special)

Kind've Like Modern SNL

[4/10 · 16 December 2022]

This show is kind've like SNL - it is fun to see the actors goofing around and genuinely laughing/cracking up at one another... but it doesn't exactly draw laughs or really entertain.

Much like the main series - the bits go on too long (another problem shared with SNL) where they take a humorous concept and just draw it out for 2-3 minutes too long.

Jason Bateman's improv was great - he had tons of witty lines... his "guess" at the end gave me the only genuine laughs while watching this (everyone's reaction to his guess... including the crew that you hear laugh off screen was hilarious), Maya Rudolph also had some good improv and clearly wanted to go bigger with it at times but held back... then Pete Davidson showed up and was... Pete Davidson-esque ... you know that thing he does where is breaks the 4th wall and laughs and doesn't really treat anything with any seriousness.

It's worth the watch if you just want something on in the background but it could have been better. This is a fun concept... but the execution isn't quite there in terms of the story.

Also, the killer is painfully obvious immediately in this one.

The Midnight Club (2022)

Remove the pointless 30 minutes of storytelling each and it would be decent.

[2/10 · 9 October 2022]

I get that this show is built around terminally ill young adults telling each other (spooky?) stories at midnight.

However, the whole *see them act out the story they're telling while they tell it* for thirty minutes got old really fast.

I completely fast forwarded through every story from episode 4 onwards.

The first two made sense with the plot. Well, the first story was scary and had the jump scares and fit the mood... the second story gave us background on what's going on with this mysterious house.

Everything after that has weird tonal changes that really throw off the suspense and spookiness of the show.

Literally 20-30 minutes of each episode is a show within a show that does nothing to advance the plot. We are just learning back stories. It feels like Mike Flanagan decided he still wanted long monologues but didn't want them to be as obvious and annoying as the ones in Midnight Mass.

To be honest, I'm highly disappointed in this show.

Hill House was a Masterpiece and set the bar high.

Bly Manor was a let down and full but had an interesting plot and was suspenseful/scary in a few parts.

Midnight Mass was a fun new take on Vampires and it was so well acted that it made up for the lack of scares and tiresome 10 minute single shot monologues.

This show, is somewhere between a supernatural drama and a CW teen drama. It just is tonally everywhere and simultaneously nowhere at once.

In the end you just feel like "eh I watched it..." but mostly you're waiting for the next episode to start. Is there going to be a season 2 or something? Either way... this turned out to be awful. I initially said 4.5-5 out of 10... but after the final episode it is a 2/10.

If he Flanagan screws up the fall of the house of Usher I will Never Watch anything else he is connected to.

For reference I would give Hill House 10/10 Bly Manor 4/10 Midnight Mass 6.5-7/10 The Midnight Club 2/10.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)

Not bad, not Great, not really worth the time - spoilers marked at the end of review so it's safe to read

[4/10 · 5 October 2022]

This movie had an extremely interesting concept - unfortunately... after establishing the concept they fail to explore it at all. It is well made, acting is good, however the story feels empty and like it goes nowhere. When it finally felt like "okay this is where the real fun starts and where things will go off the rails..." the credits roll and it is over.

The expectation for Stephen King film is that this would turn into a horror film... or at the very least have some suspenseful moments and a climax that resolved the storyline.

However, we get a long build up and very little resolution it reward.

We don't see Mr. Harrigan "take care" of either of his victims. The viewer never feels the danger of anything. It is just a very lethargic film. Not bad, not good either. It just is... is it entertaining? In the sense that it keeps feeling like it is about to get entertaining... but never does

[Spoilers Ahead

A boy reads books to an old man, they become friends in a sense, the old man dies, the kid gets bullied and talks to the old man via his cellphone to vent (although the old man is dead), the bully dies. The kid graduates high school and goes away to college. The teacher that was kind to him in high school gets killed by a drunk driver. The drunk driver gets away with it. The boy talks to the old man on his cellphone. The drunk driver dies. The boy cries. Visits the old man's grave and had a heartfelt one way conversation. Throws the phone into a quarry lake. Credits.

You are just left going "why was this movie made? What was the point of making a full length movie out of a 5 minute concept?"

Me Time (2022)

Watchable, predictable, forgettable.

[5/10 · 27 August 2022]

We've all seen this comedy 100 times before. No laugh out loud moments, nothing you haven't seen in a Kevin Hart or Mark Wahlberg movie... kind've a "The Hangover"-lite movie.

Mark Wahlberg plays comedy Wahlberg - where is is rich, good looking, and super positive and overly optimistic 100% of the time...

Kevin Hart plays the same character in all of his comedy "I'm little and yell a lot while crazy things happen to me because I have a short temper and an embarrassing job/career/status"

It's watchable, not horrible, nothing surprising happens, it ended 5 minutes ago and I have already forgotten half of it.

Uninspired, but when you've watched absolutely everything of quality on streaming... it take up an hour and a half.

Purple Hearts (2022)

So much potential in this storyline/plot. Ultimately wasted.

[4/10 · 9 August 2022]

This move and these writers could have REALLY done something amazing here - hard left liberal woman, hard right conservative man - two peoppe from vastly different walks of life hate one another and can't understand one another. Then, through necessity, they're forced into one another's lives. During that process they are forced to face some jars truths and gain empathy and understanding of the struggles the other goes through and the things they have experienced to shape that have shaped their beliefs...

This couldn't be a more relevant story in a nation where we have become bitterly divided by our sociopolitical beliefs.

Yet, the writers seemed unwilling or afraid to really push into that story.

The talking points for the conservative & the liberal character genuinely seemed like they just got a list of "buzzwords" and then crammed them all into the dialogue. People don't talk like this. People don't have these debates and arguments like this. Maybe, have more real conversations before writing the dialogue instead of watching an hour of CNN and an hour of Fox News and using that as the entire base from which you construct a characters personality and backstory.

The generic "two people meet and hate each other then fall in love" story with a genuine unbiased look at how people with generally opposite beliefs can find common ground and learn to love and respect each other could have truly made a massive mark on cinema. Unfortunately, this movie got the concept right but the execution missed completely.

The Beguiled (2017)

Dull, not compelling, and pointless

[4/10 · 3 August 2022]

This movie was dark (too dark) and not in a "they only had candles back then" way but dark in a "lets make it super artsy way"

The pacing was just slow.

The story wasn't compelling.

The story was, in fact, pointless.

So, the guy gets injured and rescued by women and then plays then all for what purpose? Its not like he is thinking "I have to make them all love me so that they wont turn me over to the confederates or send me back to the union"...

The motivation just seems to be "hey, house full of women... gigitty"... which is just boring.

Honor Society (2022)

A new spin on an old story, with a fun twist.

[7/10 · 3 August 2022]

Ignore the negative reviews and give this movie a chance.

Yes, you've seen the "popular kid befriends nerd to manipulate them for the benefit of the popular kid only to experience a change of heart" movie before.

But you've never seen it done like this.

Angourie Rice - a criminally underutilized and under-appreciated actress - gets to shine in this role. The breaking of the 4th wall to talk directly to the audience throughout the film and keep the viewer on the "inside" of Honor's less than honorable plan is a fun twist and great storytelling mechanism.

The big twist at the end was also unexpected - I mean, you know SOMETHING was coming but I don't think many saw that coming.

Is this an award winning, groundbreaking film?

No - but it takes a tried and true formula of coming of age/romcom movies we have seen for decades - and comes at it from a different angle, with a slightly different outcome than we've seen before. Most people will laugh/smile/tear up throughout.

The result is an enjoyable 97 minutes.

Britannia (2017–2021)

Just not very compelling

[5/10 · 28 July 2022]

The plot, the directing, the characters... it just isn't very compelling. It's watchable if there is nothing else, and it's definitely a unique take on the subject matter. However, there isn't a character or storyline that leaves you craving more story/the next episode.

Nobody really likable, nobody to really root for... too artsy with some of the scenes... and the whole mind control/hypnotizing aspect of that main obnoxious character that is supposed to be... funny? Charming? Idk.. but that aspect just turns a period drama into a silly show.