Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I haven’t updated in a bit because I’ve been sick and busy with taxes and other responsibilities. (Also one of these films I really struggled with my thoughts on it so have been procrastinating but I will do my best.)

First up I had a 4 movie day at the Megaplex on April 2nd so I was able to catch up on some of the movies I’d missed while at SXSW and when I was sick. I did a video review on these 4

In summary Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is an overstuffed mess, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a boring entry in the disappointing franchise with very little Godzilla! Challengers is a good sports/competition movie but not as sexy as the trailers are making it seem. Felt a little repetitive after a while but I’m not a sports/tennis person. Lastly, Luca is an underrated delight and I loved getting to see it again on the big screen (I was fortunate to see it once before at Animation is Film Festival.)

Someone Like You

Someone Like You is one of those movies that I didn’t love but  I do think there is an audience for this type of film. It’s what a lot of people think Hallmark movies are like but they actually rarely are (not many dramas on Hallmark.) It’s more along the lines of a Nicholas Sparks type movie which I know can be very popular. My friend Terry and I just did a ranking episode of all the Sparks movies and that was a lot of fun. This looks nice, with beautiful people and it tries to tug at the heartstrings with lots of death and walks by the water.

The thing I didn’t like about Someone Like You is I think it is too long. It really should clock in at the 80-90 minute mark and it goes to nearly 2 hours. Also, the way they treat egg donation as on the same level as a fully birthed adoption was really strange to me. I guess that’s the way some Christians view it but they were acting like she had found her actual parents by finding out who donated the genetic material that her Mom carried and birthed into her. The way they kept talking about egg adoption was just very unfamiliar to me and not how I view the process and kept catching me off guard.

All that said, if you are Christian and like Sparksian type narratives (this is by fellow cheese-provider Karen Kingsbury) give it a try. You’ll probably like it.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy

Civil War

The new film by Alex Garland, Civil War, is the one I have really struggled on what my feelings with it are. Even as I am writing I’m not entirely sure whether I will go smile or frown worthy on it. I will try to figure it out as I write.

What’s interesting is Garland has made 2 previous films I did not like. Annihilation was ponderous with too many ideas and Men was one of the most unpleasant and heavy-handed movies of recent memory. Going into Civil War I was expecting an annoying and preachy movie that would be more of what I haven’t enjoyed in his previous films.

To my surprise instead I got a rather safe film that has engaging scenes but left me kind of hollow and empty in the end. The weirdest part is in an election year having almost no metaphors to our current politics within the civil war at the head of this movie. It might as well be in the Hunger Games for how dissimilar it is to our current situation.

That said there are some tense scenes with the journalists that are covering this dystopian fake war. All the acting is good especially a bone-chilling scene with Jesse Plemons. I said in my out of theater response that Civil War felt like one of the Olympus Has Fallen movies but with an A24 skin over it and I stand by that.

While I think that is an interesting choice, I don’t know if it is one I can really recommend. If Garland does make another movie maybe next time he can come somewhere in between this and Men and have the perfect film? Good luck to him

5 out of 10

Frown Worthy

One Life

One Life is what I like to call a Sunday movie. It’s the kind of wholesome feel-good movie I could watch with my parents on a Sunday and they’d love. I really enjoyed it and was able to watch it on VOD if you can’t get out to the theater (I was sick.)

The film tells the story of Nicholas Winton who between 1938-1939 saved thousands of children out of  the now Czech Republic from the Nazis. Anthony Hopkins plays an older Winton who was reunited with the now adult children he saved in an episode of That’s Life! in 1988.

Johnny Flynn puts in another dynamic performance (underrated actor!) as the young Winton and Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful as his Mother.

Surprisingly I actually knew about this story because it was part of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas presentation they did with Sir David Suchet which I was grateful to be  able to attend.

It’s nice when Hollywood occasionally makes a movie about an ordinary but good person and that’s the case with One Life. It’s a little dry in spots but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it.

8 out of 10

Smile Worthy

Housekeeping for Beginners

Housekeeping for Beginners is one of those movies that the title can be a bit confusing. I knew nothing about the plot going into it and assumed from the title it was going to be a sweet family story. There’s an air of whimsy to the title but it actually is a very sad gut-wrenching family story. It’s well done but lays on the trauma narrative pretty thickly.

The film is directed and written by Goran Stolevski and was Macedonia’s submission for the 2023 Oscars. It tells the story of a woman who’s girlfriend dies and leaves her with 2 children to raise. There’s a young man that also lives with them and another man who becomes her fake (and also gay) husband to help take care of the children.

There’s lots of drama going on with all these people and personalities but I was mostly engaged. If you are in the mood for a totally different tear jerker than Someone Like You than you might appreciate it. I thought it was just ok.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy

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