If you haven’t watched the Netflix show, you’re missing out! We found Carmen Sandiego at Ottawa Comiccon 2022.
Netflix
Falling for Christmas – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Falling for Christmas.
Story
The second Netflix Christmas movie with a sexy single dad and a cute kid. The story was cute, but very cookie cutter with almost nothing new or unique.
Score: 0
Characters
The characters should have been bland and extremely cliché, but the acting saved the roles. The two leads did a great job as selling their characters and bringing heart to them.
The rest of the cast did well too.
Score: 1
Dialogue
At times it felt forced and a little cheesy but overall it wasn’t bad.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
I have to say I was impressed to see a movie take place in winter and be able to see their breath. This was obviously filmed in a cold location (Utah) and it gave it some authenticity that a lot of other movies miss. That being said the transition and establishing shots were overused.
The music was nice, but I was really disappointed to not see a proper duet between the two leads. They’re both accomplished singers afterall.
Score: 0.5
Fun
It was predicable, cheesy, and borderline satirical, but it had charm. The entire family watched and didn’t get bored. It’s a low angst lovely movie.
Bonus points for the positive portrayal of consent.
Score: 1
Overall
It might not be the most original or the biggest budget, but it’s charming and succeeds on the charisma of the leads. If you need a nice Christmas romance with low stakes, this is for you.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Scrooge: A Christmas Carol.
Story
It’s A Christmas Carol… mostly. If you’re a stickler for the original, it’ll annoy you at times. There’s some anachronisms and a few extra touches to soften Scrooge and make him more likeable. I don’t think they were necessary, but they did give more emotion to the songs, so I’m okay with it.
Score: 1
Characters
The characters are pretty much the same. I like that they kept Cratchet’s wife being angry with Scrooge. I liked the emotion and way they handled the love interest.
I like that they include the sister. In so many movie adaptations they forget about her or only make a passing reference. I approve of switching her from older to younger and making her frail.
The ghosts, which are often the best parts, are fun.
Score: 1
Dialogue
I’m a big fan of Dickens’ choices and language. The dialogue is quick and witty in the story. Unfortunately I find this movie’s updates to the dialogue to be pretty bland. A watered down version of the original where any older language just seems out of place.
Score: 0
Visuals and Music
The animation was pretty and captivating. I think they overdid the special effects and jarring camera work.
The music… Holy Marley’s Ghost it was good. They didn’t need to go that hard with the music. Any and all beauty lost in the modern language is more than made up for in the music.
Score: 1
Fun
Once I got over the anachronisms and the language, I greatly enjoyed this one. The 6 year old was captivated and the 3 year old was only a little bored during the last ghost.
The adults all kept being amazed by the music.
Score: 1
Overall
An interesting take on A Christmas Carol. Not for the purists or those who hate historical inaccuracies, but the animation was fun and the music was outstanding.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
The Knight Before Christmas – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2019 film The Knight Before Christmas.
Story
The story is Christmas-y and happy. They avoid awkward tropes and lean into the cutesy cheese. The least believable part was that a teacher could afford the property taxes on such a massive house.
Score: 1
Characters
The characters are sweet and heartwarming. They are also completely unrealistic. Brooke is a teacher, but throws money around like an heiress. She’s overly trusting and kind of naive.
Sir Cole is anachronistic in every way. His knight’s code is pure Romantic reconstruction, he speaks modern English, his armour is off a little and his sword is styled more like WIlliam the Lionheart than William the Third.
The rest of the cast are adorable and interesting.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Pure Christmas movie cheese and I loved every part of it. Once you get over the fact that the historical characters are not talking in middle English, it’s freaking adorable.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The cinematography is okay and the setting is picturesque. The leads are pretty to look at and the clothes are fantastic.
The music isn’t amazing, but it’s fun.
Score: 0.5
Fun
It kept the interest of the entire family and was a lot of easy fun.
Score: 1
Overall
This is a cheesy, angst-free, lovely holiday movie with a great cast and a lot of cuteness.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
Secret Magic Control Agency – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2021 film Secret Magic Control Agency.
Story
Plenty of action and plenty of intrigue, but very little plot. The story is mostly just a vehicle for the next location and mini-story.
There are a few tiny twists, but overall it’s overly simple.
Score: 0
Character
The two main characters had a little depth but the rest of them were pretty cookie cutter (pun intended.)
I liked the brother-sister relationship, but the interactions felt shoehorned and not given enough time to truly develop.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
There were a few clever bits and the banter was acceptable but there wasn’t anything particularly interesting or exciting.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The visuals were all over the place. You’d have sworn that some of it was from a different movie. The locations were gorgeous but the characters bland and derivative.
The music was acceptable but not particularly interesting.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed the nods to the fairy tales and to other movies in the same genre, it was pretty, and there was some fun action. The kids loved it.
Score: 1
Overall
Despite being derivative and predictable, the movie was beautiful and a lot of fun. Not great, but inoffensive with a few laughs along the way.
Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting.
Story
A by the numbers spy/secret society/urban fantasy first episode. This is an example of not just playing into the tropes but embracing them fully.
The story isn’t new, but it is well executed with extremely good set up. Predictable but fun.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The main genre team tropes are all there: the science nerd, the tech nerd, the bad-ass with a tragic backstory, and of course the special kid who was destined to be the hero with a special power. (I like that the power is math.)
Overall, these characters should be flat and boring, copies of copies, but somehow through writing and acting the characters are likeable and unique.
Tom Felton chewed up the scenery, relishing the role, as a weird cross between Jude Law as Pitch in Rise of the Guardians and Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice.
Score: 1
Dialogue
The dialogue was standard YA and with the exception of Tom Felton and the kidnapped kid there wasn’t much good dialogue. Nothing cringe, just bland.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Surprisingly pretty and wonderfully shot. The movie uses every horror trick except the expanding corridor and uses them well. When the movie wasn’t in full horror mode it was bright colours and beautiful sets.
The music was subtle but effective. A lot of half used pop songs but they were effective and pushed the urban fantasy feel.
Score: 1
Fun
I think this was just the perfect scary level for my daughter but she’s a horror fan. It was a little scary for my Mother In-Law though. I found it a lot of fun but it did suffer from the need to set everything up for this movie and the next 2. (Assuming they’re doing all 3 books.)
It was definitely handled better than Society for Second born Royals but not as well as Enola Holmes. That being said, I look forward to re-watching this one.
Score: 1
Overall
A fun movie with a few flaws. Easily a new favourite Halloween movie and I’m excited for the next ones in the series. Not perfect, but a lot of fun.
Final Score: 4 stars out of 5
Cutting Cable
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
Since I first moved out on my own I have had a form of cable tv. That’s roughtly 15 years now. I did the Canadian Big 3 Dance every couple of years. (That’s where you call and complain to get a better deal, threaten to leave, cancel, and finally get another okay deal.)
In February this year, our TV, Internet, and home phone went from $98 a month to $195. I started the dance, but after 5 phone calls, I got frustrated. There had to be a better way. Right?
So I did a bunch of research, found alternatives and told Rogers/Bell/Telus that I didn’t need them.
Home Phone
We cancelled this and now just use our cellphones like normal Millennials.
Unfortunately, I was stuck staying with Bell for the next 2 years with our cells. We’ll see what happens in 2021.
Total monthly cost: $0
Internet
It feels like everyone and their elderly relatives is selling internet plans. From Koodo, to Cogeco, and Teksavvy.
I’d heard good things about Teksavvy, but they are built like the big three and frankly I’m sick of it all.
So I found and subscribed to Start.ca. They have no deals, not packages, no bullshit. For $60 a month we have 100mbs downloads and that’s great for us. Their customer service is quite possibly the fastest and the nicest I’ve ever dealt with.
Total monthly cost: $60
Television
This was the part that worried me the most. I love television. I watch a lot of it. We decided to go with a 2 pronged alternative. Streaming and Over the Air.
For hardware we settled on an Nvidia Shield TV. It is fantastic. Runs extremely well and is officially updated with Google TV. My second option would have been a Roku.
The Shield also has apps for everything we wanted. You can get newer ones for $199-300. We bought ours used for $200 on Amazon.
Streaming
This is a tricky one because there are a lot of streaming services and you can easily find yourself paying too much.
We went with a lot more than we should but after a year we’ll decide what we use and what to get rid of. We’re saving some money by sharing the accounts with family.
- Crave: 8.32 a month (99.90 a year)
- Netflix: 5.66 a month (16.99 shared)
- Disney+: 2.75 a month (89 a year shared)
- CBC Gem: Free
- Hoopla: Free attached to your library card
- Amazon Prime: 6.66 a month (80 a year)
We used Prime for our diaper subscription where it saves us almost 10 a month in diaper costs so we’d have it no matter what.
Total monthly cost: $24.39
Over the Air
Depending on where you live, you can get dozens of channels in HD over the air. You just need an antenna. Most TVs have tuners in them.
PVR/DVR
I wanted to go one step further. We have 2 kids and watching live tv is awesome but not easy. We needed a video recorder.
I discovered Tablo makes some impressive video recorders for over the air. We bought a refurbished one and it cost us $90. Now the thing about this and all other OTA recorders is that they make their money by selling you a subscription to their TV guide. You can have 1 day free but it’s 69.90 a year for a full guide with 14 days of data.
The great thing about this is that you don’t hook it up to your TV; instead you connect through an app and watch from there. You can have multiple people watching TV or recordings and even enable watching away from home.
The company is based in Ottawa which is great.
Quick story… My daughter accidentally put a blanket on the first one and it died a horrible heat death. The company replaced it and I had a great experience with the customer support.
Antenna and installation
I bought a cheap, well reviewed antenna for $50 on sale. It’s an outdoor antenna. At first we got 8 channels with it mounted in our garage. I was greedy and wanted more.
I contacted Pinnacle Engineering Services and Doug patiently walked me through all my questions. In the end, the antenna was mounted on the roof and cost us $285 for installation.
Doug installed everything and was a really nice guy. Highly recommend their services.
I now get 14 crystal clear HD channels. I’m told if you’re closer to the US you can get some of their networks too.
Conclusion
We now have a plethora of streaming and can watch almost any network TV show and it costs us roughly $90 a month ($24 for streaming, $6 for Tablo guide, and $60 for internet.)
I do miss HGTV, the Food network, and watching the Weather Network live but that’s pretty small. I’ve also considered getting Stack TV ($12.99) through prime that gives access to Showcase, HGTV, Food, History, and a few other networks.
Now the monthly cost is darn great, but there were a lot of start up costs for a total of $624 ($200 for Shield, $50 for Antenna, $89 for Tablo, and $285 for installation.)
The way I look at it, we’re saving $50-$100 dollars a month, so the $624 will be worth it in within a year.
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments.
Enjoy your TV,
Éric
Voltron Season 8
Season 8 is available on Netflix TODAY! Final season :'(
Keith (@incaseyouart), Pidge, and Lance (@Gilove2dance) marveling at the TARDIS. Outfits from Wittyy_name‘s fic Shut Up and Dance, art by wolfpainters.