could be better

My Spy: The Eternal City – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2024 film My Spy: The Eternal City.

Story

Mixing the teen travel drama with a spy thriller isn’t new, but they do it fairly well.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Transitioning from the previous reluctant partnership to the much more banal and overdone father-daughter fighting dynamic is just frustrating. They did such a good job turning the tropes on their heads for the first one that this just feels recycled. Separating the two for most of the movie ruins the charm of them working together.

The additional cast were fun and the new villain was interesting.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

Bautista has wonderful comedic timing as does Coleman, but they really shine when they are together, which doesn’t happen much in this one.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

Beautiful scenery and great camera work.

The music was fun and did its job.

Score: 1

Fun

Had this been the first movie in the series, I would have liked it more. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough of what made the first one great, which was spoofing spy movies and the relationship between the leads.

The rest of the family did enjoy it.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An acceptable sequel but despite the bigger set pieces, bigger cast, and massive budget, it doesn’t have the same charm as the original.

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Ready or Not – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2019 film Ready or Not.

Story

This was meant as a dark comedy but came off more as a survival horror with incompetent, if better equipped, enemies. There were a lot of jump scares that doubled as attempts at humour, but overall it missed the mark almost completely.

Score: 0

Characters

The characters were interesting. A wonderful assortment of terrible rich people. Unfortunately, they were built up and almost all of them had unsatisfying deaths.

The bride played it like a horror action movie while the direction played it like a survival movie and the difference was a little jarring. She was an excellent actress and I would have liked to see the movie she was acting for rather then what they cut together.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The snippy rich family is an old trope but fun to watch. The dialogue between them was entertaining and the crazed aunt had some great lines.

The bride also had some excellent one liners.

However, the switching between whiny rich people and murderous devil worshipers was a little bland.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The music was okay if expected. Creepy old-timey music is really overdone and has been done better.

The visuals were appropriately gory and the special effects were excellent.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The movie starts quickly and the intro is done well, but after that it gets a little repetitive. The twists are predictable and honestly I just kept looking forward to the bride snapping and taking initiative to fight back.

I spent most of this movie planning a better version.

Score: 0

Overall

A wonderful premise and excellent actress wasted on a mediocre and repetitive story. The action and special effects are great but everything else has been done better.

Final Score: 1.5 Stars out of 5