Under Wraps (2021) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2021 film Under Wraps.

Story

This is a cute Halloween story. There are a lot of errors in Egyptian history and I’m not sure what the point of the 3-day pass for the movie was. It seemed odd and without any reason. That being said, I liked the jab at grave robbing.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Although the characters were awesome and I really appreciated the diversity, I found there was a lack of depth. They just felt very YA written by someone who’s only seen kids in movies.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

There were a lot of great wisecracks and gags. I really liked the play on words with the word Mummy.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

Excellent makeup and good acting combined with some genre savvy camera angles make this a fun movie to watch. It uses the practical effects well and limits the cheesy digital effects.

The music was okay, but I would have liked to hear more of Thriii’s “Calling all Monsters”.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This was a nice throwback to the kids monster movies of my youth. I liked the nod to Zombies (the Disney channel movie series) with the costumes in the background, and the awesome dancing. The whole family liked it and now the kids are pretending to be mummies and zombies, so yay?

If I have one gripe… Honey doesn’t work that way. Also it felt a little disjointed at times and I had a hard time not checking my phone,, which isn’t a good thing.

Score: 0.5

Overall

A fun if shallow Halloween movie. It has some great scenes and fun moments.

Final Score: 3 stars out of 5

Dave Foley

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Technically, we weren’t supposed to take candid pictures of the guests. However, Dave Foley was a sweetheart and overrode his handler’s objections.

I got to talk to him a little bit, too. I told him how hilarious he was in Sky High as the teacher of the sidekicks, and I wished that there had been a sequel. He said that I wasn’t the first person that day to mention Sky High and how surprised he was. I honestly can’t imagine why he’d be surprised!

Guitar Lessons Part 64

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July 15: Music video

I didn’t play, exactly, today.

I pretended to play while we recorded another part of our music video. This time, it was all 4 of us holding instruments and swaying to the music in our backyard.

I put my fingers on the correct chords, but only pretended to strum. So I consider that to be practising.

July 16: Not much

I played the melody and the walking song, without sheet music.

Today was a busy day. We filmed the last part of the music video!

We’re hoping to get it out by mid-August.

July 17: Didn’t

I took a break today.

An accidental break, but a break nonetheless.

I read over the wedding song to try to memorize it more, but I didn’t pick up an instrument.

July 18: Feeling that urge

I’m feeling like I need to write another song.

In our books, well, initially in Éric’s book The Sign of Faust, there is a band that lives forever. (Since the sixties, anyways.) They reinvent themselves every decade or so, change names after being out of the limelight and have a whole new sound so that they’re not recognizable.

Anyways, in our books, we mention several different iterations of their band and a couple of their songs, so I’ve got options.

I’ll have to think about it.

I practised the walking song, “Get to Know You,” and the wedding song today.

July 19: Melody

I forgot to play today, so right before the kids went to bed, I grabbed my hybrid and played the melody without even tuning first.

I’m actually quite impressed… It didn’t sound out of tune at all.

July 20: Dinner music

The kids ate first today, and I realized I had forgotten to practise. So I played the melody and walking song while they were eating.

I didn’t play more than that because my back hurts more than usual today.

Dear Authors, you don’t get a choice

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Hello Authors, Writers, and all those that stare at a screen willing words to appear,

I met a nice person in the elevators at Can-Con. They were so proud of their first book and said, “I’m an author!” then quickly followed up with, “Not a good one, but…”

I told him, “That’s not for you to decide.” He seemed taken aback and I feel bad if it came out more aggressive than I meant it.

Here’s the deal with writing; you either love your writing or hate it. With time, you might develop ambivalence, but as you’re writing and publishing, you will only have those two emotions.

Some authors always love their stuff, some always hate their stuff. I oscillate wildly like a fan being controlled by a toddler.

In the end though, it’s up to readers, critics, and historians to decide if you’re any good.

My goal when I’m writing is to make my reader feel something. If I did that, I’m a success.

I guess what I’m saying is that the quality of your work isn’t for you to judge. Just make the best damn story you can and share it with the world.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

P.S. Buy my new book wherever you like to buy books!

Hard Week

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

It’s been a high pain week. I’ve had to fight back tears a bunch, both from pain and feeling useless. Pain this week has hovered at a 6 and spiked to 8 a few times.

I’m once again trying to reach my doctor. I have more forms for him to fill out. I constantly feel like I’m trying to bridge information between my doctor, my work, and WSIB. It’s a frustrating and painful process.

Anyway, I’m going to be making a bunch of phone calls today and hopefully have a proper health update for Monday.

Take care of yourselves!

Éric

Back to the Future – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1985 film Back to the Future.

Story

I’ve heard that some film schools use this movie as an example of the perfect film script. I’m not sure it’s perfect, but it’s very well done. The setup and the parallels are excellent, the technobabble is limited and laced with important information, and everything is resolved fairly well.

There are some anachronisms and a few things that felt like Marty influenced from the original timeline that felt off. Some of the parallels are a little forced and hard to believe.

Score: 1

Characters

I love Marty, but his parents are very odd people. Despite having seen this movie a dozen times, I’m still weirded out by the dad’s peeping-tom antics and the mom’s forwardness and flightiness, neither of which were really addressed.

Doc Brown is fantastic and I like the secondary charactrers.

The relationship with Biff and Marty’s dad annoys me because it looks like they’re playing the same script over and over again. I get that it’s for the parallel structure, but it’s a little too specific.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The movie has some of the most gloriously cringy dialogue. “You are my density” is sheer genius. The banter and accents are great. I love Doc Brown’s frantic way of talking.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The special effects are at a minimum but used well, the sets are amazing, and the costumes great. The cinematography is beautiful.

The music is one of the most iconic from the time period and both Alan Silvestri and Huey Lewis did amazing in their respective parts.

Score: 1

Fun

The whole family was glued to the screen the whole time. The 5yo almost died from second hand embarrassment several times and was very concerned with the changes in the timeline.

I’ve seen this movie a lot, especially as a kid, and it still holds the same excitement and wonder.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic 80’s movie with a fantastic cast and great story. You’ll be humming the music and loving every moment.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Comic Con 2022 Interlude

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Yes, we are taking a break from your regularly scheduled Florida TARDIS pictures (from 2020) to post the pictures I took at Ottawa Comic Con 2022.

To start, here’s what our booth looked like this year! Can you spot the TARDIS? (Trick question…there are TWO!)

Guitar Lessons Part 63

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July 9: Hybrid

I’m really happy with my hybrid.

I pulled it out quickly today when I had about ten minutes to play. It’s easy to tune using the electric part and it keeps its tune pretty well.

I played the melody, the walking song, “Get to Know You,” and the first half of the wedding song.

I really need to memorize the rest of that song.

July 10: More than I thought

I practised the wedding song today without music, and I remembered all of the third verse! So that was exciting. Definitely more than I thought.

I don’t remember the fourth though.

It’s a WiP.

I also played the melody, the walking song, and “Get to Know You.”

July 11: Promo material

I focussed mainly on the melody for Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. I also played the walking song.

We’re going to be filming an amateur music video for our book this weekend, so I needed to practise the finger picking.

It’s going to be fun.

July 12: Filming, part 1

Part 1 was filmed this afternoon. It involved me playing the melody multiple times with both guitars for three different sites… So six times.

That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I assure you, it felt like it.

I’m exhausted.

July 13: Still a little sore

My arm still hurts a bit from all the recordings we did yesterday, so I didn’t play very long today.

I practised the melody (which, incidentally, I’ve been practising at a faster speed than I needed to), the walking song, “Get to Know You,” and the wedding song.

I did use the sheet music today. There weren’t any big surprises, which was nice lol!

July 14: Walking song

I played the concert ukulele today. It needed tuning because it hasn’t gotten played very much, poor thing.

It’s not its fault. It was bought for my husband and he’s currently on sick leave for carpal tunnel and tendonitis, so he’s not playing anything at all.

We think I might have a muscle strain in my upper arm.

Ugh.

I don’t want to lose all my progress, but if this keeps getting worse, I’m going to have to take a break.

Anyway, I played the walking song on the ukulele today, twice. It’s hard to remember the different chords between the two instruments.

Quick Can-Con Report 2022

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Hello Readers,

Jen and I were at Can-Con 2022 this weekend in downtown Ottawa. It was wonderful to see all those that could make it, and simultaneously felt like nothing had changed in two and a half years and like everything was a little off. That was probably because of the amount of wonderful people that were missing, either due to COVID or other circumstances.

However, we had a lot of fun and chatted with a lot of people. Jen had her first reading and her first pitch, both of which she handled admirably. No seriously, I think her part of the reading was way better than mine. Definitely better than my first readings.

We signed lots of books, and bought probably more.

It was a good time thanks to everyone who interacted with us.

Another big milestone; it was Dragon’s first event since lockdown. We felt comfortable bringing her since it was vaccine madnatory and masked at all times. She, somehow, remembered her Con manners and everybody loved her. She dialed up the cute to a near-painful level. It was great to see her being social and excited and just having fun with other people. She would walk around the vendor’s room by herself and come bouncing back to tell us about the random words she’d read on various book covers.

Dragon following and hiding from Derek Künsken, co-chair of Can-Con. This is a game the two of them have been playing for years and I’m not sure how she remembered it, but it was highly entertaining to watch. Hopefully Derek also thought so!

A lot of other things happened that I’m sure I’m forgetting right now. The big takeaway was that it was a wonderful convention with great people and one of the few times out of the house that I felt safe.

Thank you to everyone who was there, who bought, who volunteered and organized, and entertained Dragon. To those who couldn’t make it, I hope to see you next year.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

JenEric Can-Con Schedule

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Hello Readers!

This weekend is the wonderful Can-Con: Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature.

Jen and I will be in the vendors room most of the time.

Here are the vendor’s room hours

  • Friday 5-8
  • Saturday 10-6
  • Sunday 10-4

I have a signing (in the vendors room) from 12-12:30 with awesome John Hass. (Although I’ll sign at any time you catch me.)

Jen has a reading at 1 on Sunday (In Salon D) with the wonderful Madona Skaff. (I’ll be there too and might read if Jen insists.)

Beyond that, I participated in the Digital version of the Con. I prerecorded a panel that will be at 2:30 on Saturday. The panel is called The Horror of Time Loops. I was on it with Gigi Ganguly and Ren Hutchings, both of whom were excellent panelists. Our moderator was Sean Dowie, who did an excellent job.

I’ll try to be in the discord during and after the panel.

Hope to see you there!

Éric