Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022) - Movie Review

 

Last year, I looked at a film called Shithouse (or Freshman Year, as it rather lamely got retitled for its Australian release) as part of my work for FilmInk. I was quite floored by it, as it felt like a genuine expression of what the world looks like through the eyes of an introvert, and it was one of the biggest surprises I got from a film that year. Naturally, when discovering that director/writer/star Cooper Raiff already had a follow-up in the works, I knew I had to take a look at it before the end of the year. With the attachment of names like Dakota Johnson as co-star and producer, I went into this expecting more of the same that Shithouse delivered, but with something of a higher budget. But that’s not what I got. What I got was a film that exceeded how much I fell for Shithouse, but by going in the complete opposite direction.

The Bubble (2022) - Movie Review

The words ‘satire’ and ‘irony’ can put some strange ideas in people’s heads. Under the right circumstances, they are the bedrock for attitudes behind some of the greatest works of art across many mediums. But under the wrong ones, they’re just an excuse for utter laziness. The Internet is basically a carwash that scrubs all manner of context from whatever is placed on it, and in that scrubbing, there is all manner of satirical humour that operates under the impression that, if you just admit that you’re lazy or just being a dick, that magically makes it okay and “the point” of doing so. But it’s one thing when the average layman tries their hand at something like this, which is usually embarrassing but nothing more than that; it's quite another when Hollywood money is being thrown at it.

Welcome To Marwen (2019) - Movie Review

This film was supposed to have gotten a theatrical release this year. I’ll be damned if I saw any evidence of that, though. We went from fairly frequent trailers for this to just… nothing. Until it popped up for home video release, this might as well have not even come out over here. While the current Hollywood structure is turning this scenario into what looks to be a regularity (what with Disney shelving so many of Fox’s releases after buying them out), this still doesn’t make sense.

This is Robert Zemeckis, one of the vanguards of American cinema and a filmmaker who has always been on the cutting edge of what film technology is capable of; how did his latest feature end up being left at the wayside? Well, while I’m certainly not going to make the argument that this film never should’ve have seen release, I will admit that I at least understand why this film would have been… deprioritised, as it were.

Blockers (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: On the eve of their senior prom, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon) make a pact that they will each lose their virginity on the night of the prom. However, Julie's mother Lisa (Leslie Mann), Kayla's father Mitchell (John Cena) and Sam's father Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) discover the pact and set out to stop their daughters from making a terrible mistake. But as the night carries on, they start to question who is truly making the terrible mistake in this situation: Their children or themselves.

How To Be Single (2016) - Movie Review

Maybe it’s an age thing, but being single doesn’t really bother me all that much… about 99 times out of 100. That’s probably because I’m at that point of transitioning into full-on adulthood where I have a lot of other shit to worry about day-by-day. Of course, on that one day out of 100, it does end up getting me ever so slightly. And by "slightly", I mean I start looking like I should be listening to Simple Plan all friggin’ day. Being the social hermit that I am, talking with people isn’t necessarily something I am equipped to deal with these days. With this in mind, and everything I’ve said previously about what I’ve learnt from films, there’s that added layer of irritating that comes with most rom-coms. It’s kind of like hanging out with people who go on about how great their relationship is going and how much work it is to maintain; on both sides, it only serves to annoy. Probably explains why these are usually considered date movies in the first place; watching them while single isn’t exactly the best idea in the world. Regardless, here I am fulfilling my self-imposed obligation to see a film that I’m not exactly frothing at the mouth to go see. Let’s discover why.

The Day I Watched Vacation (2015)