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Red, White & Royal Blue  – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2023 film Red, White & Royal Blue.

Story

I haven’t read the book that this is based off of, but unlike a lot of literary adaptations, I didn’t feel like I was missing too much. There were a few aspects that felt rushed, the trip to Texas and the initial series of incidents that transition from enemies to lovers.

That being said, the important parts, the romance, longing looks, and establishing camerawork were all done at a pace that made you feel for the characters.

Although I appreciated the low homophobia content, it was a little jarring with the level of angst from the characters.

The main love story is done well, but nothing in it is particularly original.

Score: 0.5

Characters

There is so much charisma in this movie that it practically floods out of the screen. The mains are not only attractive, but clever and have an endearing charm. Most of the secondary characters are equally as charming and those that aren’t, are still interesting.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The line, “He grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football,” will live rent free in my head for a long time. It’s the perfect summation of the style of dialogue which favours heart and quip above sap or forced misunderstandings. Something a lot of romantic comedies could learn from.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The cinematography and camera work was artistically above almost every movie I’ve seen in recent memory. The visuals managed to convey location, emotion, and movement all while painting the main characters as likable.

The music was good and did its job setting the mood and the feel of each location.

Score: 1

Fun

This movie was extremely enjoyable. I watched it with my wife, after the kids were in bed. That was a good plan since there’s way too much swearing, smoking, and alcohol for my liking. It’s the only thing that dampened my enjoyment of the film.

We both had a lot of fun and she spent a good amount of time afterward looking at gif sets on tumblr.

Score: 0.5

Overall

One of the most beautiful and stylistic movies I’ve seen, and one of the most entertaining romantic comedies in a long time. This will make you smile and make you happy. It is not for kids however, due to the large quantity of alcohol consumption, smoking, and swearing.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Bullet Train – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Bullet Train

Story

A fun mix of mystery, action, and absurd comedy; this movie is extremely well plotted. Nothing is wasted even the throwaway gags.

I normally find excessive flashbacks tedious, but it was done perfectly here and even manages to mock itself.

Score: 1

Characters

The absolute strength of the movie is in the characters. They are almost all killers and all of them likable, even those you’re not supposed to like.

The relationship arc between ladybug and his handler is excellent and the emotional journey he goes on is extremely relatable.

Score: 1

Dialogue

This is a very verbose movie and I’m totally here for it. I look forward to re-watching it and paying closer attention to the details.

Lots of excellent quips, monologues, and pseudo-psychology; all very entertaining.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visual style is colourful, exciting, and vibrant. The action quick and punchy. The camerawork is excellent, considering it is all supposed to be on a train.

The Japanese versions of American pop songs, along with the score, set a perfect tone for the movie.

Score: 1

Fun

This is a rated R movie and I watched it on my own when the kids went to sleep. It was exactly what I needed to relax. It’s violent, funny, and a lot of fun.

Score: 1

Overall

A fantastic, violent, and funny movie with all the mystery of an Agatha Christie and all the irreverent humour of Deadpool. The actors pull out all the stops and despite the over the top action, the film never feels inauthentic. Seriously, go watch this.

Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

The Final Girls – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2015 film The Final Girls.

Story

Inventive and heartwrenching while still staying true to what a slasher film is all about. The start is a little slow but necessary and the rest just zooms by delightfully.

Score: 1

Characters

The main character is a little dispondant for most of the movie and that means the rest of the cast have to bring the personality until they die. That dynamic could have made us not care for her but the writers made sure to add enough developement and emotional moments to make her taking control of the narrative to feel deserved and exciting.

The rest of the cast is a wonderful mix of tropes and works really well.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The movie was at it’s best when it leaned into the emotional moments or the slasher tropes. The rest of movie’s dialogue feels like it was trying too hard to be normal.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The slasher moments are extremely well done considering it’s PG and the camera work is amazing. The final confrontation scene is spectacular and wonderfully stylistic.

The diegetic music was used with great effect and emotion while the soundtrack was a little bland but worked really well.

Score: 1

Fun

I object to this being considered a timeloop movie since it’s not really a big part of it but more of a short gag.

That being said, this is an extremely fun movie that did a great job pulling at my heartstrings.

Score: 1

Overall

A true love letter to the spirit of slasher films with a fun twist. The slasher aspects are extremely well done and managed to still have effect despite being PG. The true joy of the movie is the emotional heart and journey of mourning a parent.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

The Emperor’s New Groove – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2000 film The Emperor’s New Groove.

Story

Irreverent to the point of absurd, this movie does a great job at setting up all its major plot points with clever jokes and gags. Simple plot that seems like unconnected gags at first, but ties everything together by the end.

Score: 1

Characters

I love these characters. Kuzco is a perfect jerk, Pacha is the sweetest, Yzma is great evil, and Kronk is utterly adorable. Each plays their part perfectly and I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the roles.

That being said, it’s a bunch of white people playing South Americans (with the exception of the kids and the fantastic Eartha Kitt.) The movie is quite clearly supposed to be set in a fictional version of the Incan Empire, but that’s only set dressing and doesn’t mean anything.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue in this is burned into my subconscious and speech patterns. The jokes are so expertly crafted that even after having seen this hundreds of times, I still laugh.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The detail in the animation and the background jokes are excellent. It’s pretty and very well animated.

They got Tom Jones and Sting to do songs for this. If I had a complaint, it’s that a few times the music was a little generic turn of the millennium Disney. But that still means it was excellent.

Score: 1

Fun

We waited a little to let my oldest start to understand the wordplay and it was worth it; she giggled throughout. I laughed a lot, as did the rest of the family. This is just a fun movie.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic comedy that relies as much on word play as it does physical gags. It has aged impressively well and is tightly scripted.

I loved this movie when it came out and still do.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

The Parent Trap (1961) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1961 film The Parent Trap.

Story

The transitions between parts of the movie were a little choppy and uneven, but the story was solid. It had the right amount of twists and turns. I’m not sure if some of it is cliché or if it’s just had a huge influence on YA films afterwards. It’s definitely a product of it’s time with some casual racism and sexism.

Score: 0.5

Characters

I really enjoyed the side characters, the grandfather was awesome and so was the cook. I thought the mother and father were a little annoying, but hilarious. I was impressed with how Hayley Mills had different body language, mannerisms, and movements for each of her characters. It was always obvious which was which.

Score: 1

Dialogue

A lot of the slang in this is antiquated to the point that it took me some time to understand what it meant. It’s not unintelligible, but it was an adjustment.

The movie is quite witty and has a lot of fun lines.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The movie’s green screen is uncomfortable, but other than that, the movie is extremely well done. The split screen and body double work is impressive.

The music is good, especially the opening theme.

Score: 1

Fun

The 5yo didn’t want to watch it at first, but loved it pretty quickly. I had never seen it and it was a fun movie that made me smile. For my wife and mother-in-law it was a nostalgic return. We all had fun.

Score: 1

Overall

Mildly dated with some pacing issues, but overall a very fun and funny movie. The acting from Mills is excellent and the attention to detail is great. Definitely earns its place as a Disney classic.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Magic Key?

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Dear Readers,

Here’s a conversation my kids had yesterday. Reminder that Pegasus is two and Dragon is five.

Pegasus: I want a cupcake.

Me: *Clears throat agressively*

Dragon: What’s the magic key?

Pegasus: Magic key?

Me: She means say please.

Pegasus: Please can I have the magic key?

Me: No, say please for the cupcake.

Pegasus: Please for cupcake. *I give him a cupcake* Where’s magic key?

Me: She meant magic word, which is please.

Dragon: The magic key is please.

Pegasus: Can I have magic key please?

Me: There is no key, it’s a word.

Pegasus: What’s magic word?

Me: Please.

Pegasus: *Confused* Can I have magic key please?

Dragon: *Mimes handing him a key* Here you go.

Pegasus: Yay! Magic key!

Me: *Throws hands in the air* Eat your cupcake please.

Some days I feel like an extra in Who’s on First.

Hope that made you smile.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.

Story

The story follows traditional comedy pratfalls. It’s all about ego and misunderstanding. As usual, Dracula means well, but screws everything up. The second half is better, but still dependant on the characters reverting to their pre-development stages.

Score: 0

Characters

Dracula is a controlling, narcissistic, and childish character. I did feel bad for him in the jungle though. He learns his lesson, but its a similar one to the last three movies.

As usual, Mavis needs to save the day. The characters were consistent with the previous movies and did grow, but weren’t that interesting this go-around.

I will say that I didn’t really miss Adam Sandler and thought the new guy was fantastic.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

Where this movie shines is in the one liners and quips. They’re often silly, but there are a few laugh out loud ones.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are good. They didn’t try to change or improve the style, but they did some interesting thing with the crystal cave.

I barely remember the music which means it did what was needed and that’s okay.

Score: 0.5

Fun

Once you get over the stupidity of the main character and that he literally causes all the problems, it’s a fun fluffy movie. Not much here other than the moral of speaking to your spouse before doing something stupid.

The kids loved it and the rest of us had a relaxing movie.

Score: 1

Overall

A possibly superfluous sequel with a lot of the same feel and jokes of the others. It’s fun, but doesn’t break new ground.

Final Score: 3 stars out of 5

Ron’s Gone Wrong – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2021 film Ron’s Gone Wrong.

Story

Ignoring the fact that technology just doesn’t work like the movie portrays, there’s a lot about the movie that really bothers me. The basic premise is cool, but the world building went from ridiculously accurate to completely unbelievable really quickly.

The idea of spontaneously developing artificial intelligence has been done before. The movie doesn’t even acknowledge that it happens, going for a weird commentary on social media instead.

Score: 0.5

Characters

The tech CEO and his partner felt underplayed while the family, kids, cops, were all overdone. The main character doesn’t learn to embrace and love his culture and family so much as tolerate and use them. The kids are all shown as having social media addictions and the cure wasn’t logical.

Old east-block grandma that is completely unhinged was a character type that was overplayed in the 80’s; now it just comes off as anti-immigrant.

Ron was funny but obviously dangerous, and that was never addressed.

Score: 0

Dialogue

The dialogue was clever and had a lot of references to older movies in the same genre. I liked the literalness of Ron and how they showed him grow in understanding language.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

This was a well animated movie with some great concepts. Bubble was well designed and unique and the colourfulness of the B-bots was awesome.

The score was so much more epic than expected and really helped punch up the emotion.

Score: 1

Fun

I just couldn’t help wondering where all the adult’s B-bots were. I don’t care if they were made for kids, we all know people would buy some for themselves. People who truly have trouble making friends are the 30+ crowd, not kids.

My daughter and son both got bored part way through.

Beyond that, the movie was entertaining, but left me uncomfortable at the lack of comeuppance for the tech company’s misdeeds, the release of a rogue AI, and the deflection of serious social media issues.

I don’t think this will be a rewatching kind of movie.

Score: 0

Overall

The movie tries really hard to go beyond slapstick comedy and doesn’t succeed. It’s a fun movie if you don’t think about it, but it misses the mark on serious issues and ethics. The conclusion felt trite and horrifying instead of heartwarming. However, there are quite a few good gags and jokes along the way.

Final Score: 2.5 stars out of 5

Muppets Haunted Mansion – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2021 special Muppets Haunted Mansion.

Story

This was a love story to the beloved ride. The story is a bare bones outline of the ride with some touching moments in between.

Score: 0.5

Characters

The main characters are Gonzo and Pepe. I find Pepe extremely annoying, I’ve never been a fan of the womanizing characters. I understand why they used him for this story, though.

Gonzo goes through a good story arc and speaks to older fans and younger ones as well.

The rest of the muppets have nice cameos.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

It was everything a good muppets movie should be. It had music, puns, and lots of jokes. I especially liked the shameless use of quotes from the ride.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

It was a very well shot and designed film. The background details are designed for that cross-section of Haunted Mansion fans and Muppet fans. Down to muppet-a-fying the wallpaper.

The music is a lot of fun and I wish there had been more. I liked the spooky muppet show opening song version at the end.

Score: 1

Fun

Be warned that although this isn’t scary, it does have a lot of jump scares. The kids liked it, although the five year old found it too scary due to the jump scares.

It was nice and nostalgic for those of us that grew up with the muppets show and movies.

Score: 1

Overall

This is a wonderful mix of classic Muppet humour and nostalgia for the Haunted Mansion ride. The littles might dislike the jump scares, but overall it’s a lot of fun.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5.

Free Guy – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2021 film Free Guy.

Story

The story was deceptively simple but had lots of layers. It had a surprisingly upbeat message considering how the majority of humans are truly awful in the movie. I like the melding of a classic hero’s narrative with shades of fairy tales, otherworld stories, and a shade of 80’s techno thriller.

Score: 1

Characters

It would have been much too simple to make the characters stereotypes. The movie avoids that with everyone except the main villain who is geniusly played.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue is witty and wonderfully steeped in video game and online culture without being so dense as to be unintelligible to people who don’t play.

It has some ridiculously silly lines that wouldn’t work without the expert delivery of the actors.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie has so much going on in the background that it is impossible to catch everything in one viewing. I was impressed how this never distracted from the plot or the character development. It was also stunningly done with a beautiful mix of traditional and modern special effects. Special shoutout to them filming the real world and the game world with different camera lenses. Combined with the extra saturation in the game, it added a nice touch of separation.

If you’re a music nerd and a Disney fan, you’ll maybe have noticed that Guy’s theme is the same as the protagonist’s from the short film Paperman. The short’s music was written by the same composer and the short premiered before Wreck-It Ralph, another videogame movie.

Score: 1

Fun

My two year old sat through most of it, but got bored near the end. He spent the next day saying, “Free Guy Awesome.” My five year old spent the entire movie glued to the screen. My father-in-law was a little confused by some things since he’s never been into video games.

I had a lot of fun with this and found myself completely engrossed. It’s a rare movie that has me so sucked in that I feel disoriented when I get out of it.

Score: 1

Overall

This movie is exciting, heartwarming, and lots of fun. The blending of meta narrative with action adventure, Truman Show, and a little Sleeping Beauty makes for a fascinating story. All of which would be terrible without the amazing performances of the actors.

I highly recommend this one.

Final Score: 5 stars out of 5*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.