The Kissing Booth 3 (2021) - Movie Review

Time to get back on the Wattpad train and round off the Netflix trilogy of teenaged rom-coms that rank up there with the roughest movie-watching experiences I can recall since this blog began. I’ve gotten well past the point of thinking that it just doesn’t work for me because I’m not in the intended demographic. These are bad movies, and while I can accept that there’s an ample market for switch-brain-off trash on streaming sites (considering the numbers this series has been doing on Netflix alongside 365 Days), nothing about this series thus far has appealed to my cult film perspective. But hey, After We Collided managed to be a reasonably enjoyable irony sit (and yes, I will be getting to that film’s sequel soon), so maybe this series will go out with an easier ride than what led up to it. Well, it kinda does, but it’s mostly the same shit with a different number on the end of it.

The Kissing Booth 2 (2020) - Movie Review

Time to make a bit of a correction by addressing a film that I probably should’ve covered earlier. And no, I’m not just talking about this film specifically; I’m talking about the original as well. The first Kissing Booth blew past my radar back in 2018, and I didn’t see much reason to cover it at the time… but with how much Wattpad is shaping up to be the driving force for the next wave of YA adaptations, and that predates After in that trend, I figured it’d help to get that into my working history of the trend. And man, is it lucky I didn’t cover it the year it came out, as it can fit snugly between Venom and Gotti on my worst films of the year list. And honestly, it’s a bit of a toss-up whether this sequel is worse.

Jem And The Holograms (2016) - Movie Review

I’ve previously brought up the weird standards we have over here in Australia when it comes to cinematic releases, but it bears repeating in the face of something like this. Three Wise Cousins, a local production that barely qualifies as something ready for the big screen: Made it to cinemas. Mother’s Day, a film that has managed to become even more tragic in hindsight because it turned out to be the last thing the director would ever make (rest in peace, Gerry Marshall, I mean no disrespect), and no person should have something that awful be their final creative product that they give the world: Made it to cinemas. The Huntsman: Winter’s War, a made-for-VHS cash-in sequel that had no right being shown anywhere, let alone in cinemas: Nevertheless, made it to cinemas. Today’s film, based on a cheesy 80’s cartoon that my mother inexplicably had on DVD while I was growing up (and that I wound up watching on more than one occasion), never got a proper release over here despite plenty of posters, trailers and even session times posted on cinema websites. After what I’ve paid money to see over the last 12 months, is this really deserving of such treatment? Let’s plug in and find out.