Ghosted (2023) - Movie Review

Films like this feel like practical jokes. Like, hey, there’s people out there who pay real close attention to the names attached to movies, so let’s bring a bunch of them together. We’ll get the guy who directed Rocketman, the writers of the Deadpool and MCU Spider-Man movies, and we’ll get Mindy Marin to work her usual magic and cast all kinds of hot acting talent for it, led by Chris Evans and Ana De Armas. Apparently, the strategy worked, as this set a new record for debut audience numbers on Apple TV+. Of course, first appearances aren’t everything, and it takes little more than a light breeze to scratch the paint off of this bafflingly awful product.

Spirited (2022) - Movie Review

Up until just a few years ago, writer/director Sean Anders seemingly did all he could to push mainstream edgelord comedy to its breaking point. Hot Tub Time Machine, That’s My Boy, We’re The Millers, Horrible Bosses 2, Dumb And Dumber To, both Daddy’s Home movies; I don’t even outright hate all of these, but they are all grown out of the same cynical view of us as a species. We’re all shit, the world is shit, so just turn it all into an even sicker joke than it already is; not exactly the kind of perspective I can get behind.

But then Instant Family happened. I reviewed it for FilmInk and was genuinely surprised by it because… well, it saw Anders turn over a new leaf. While it still carried some of his tendencies as far as comedic timing, it was also way more wholesome at its core and was made not because he wanted to point out the worst of us, but highlight the good we can do through the foster care system. I’ve mentioned before that I love redemption stories like these, and Anders’ might be one of my favourites in recent memory. It’s why I ultimately decided to give his latest a chance, and it’s also why I really, really enjoyed myself with it.

The Tragedy Of Macbeth (2021) - Movie Review

The Coens have another movie out. Or, rather, a Coen has a movie out. While Ethan is taking a break from movies to try his hand at theatre, Joel is… well, he’s kinda doing the same thing here, with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Yep, after spending their entire career up to this point working together (albeit without always being credited as a duo, because guild rules are weird like that), one of the leading filmmaking teams is now working apart. Between the separating of the paths, and Shakespeare being all about the staging rather than the writing (which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly how either of the Coens operate), I was certainly curious about how it would turn out, but was willing to accept that things could get a bit shaky. However, nothing of the sort takes place here: Joel can fly solo just as well as he has with his brother up to this point.