review

Home Alone – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1990 film Home Alone.

Story

Completely improbable in so many ways but extremely entertaining. There is a lot of care taken to not waste time or story threads.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Little eight-year-old Kevin is innocent, resourceful, and mostly kind. I was worried at how brutal I remembered him being but other than the traps, he was a sweet kid. The same can’t be said about his family. They were pretty terrible.

As a kid I had a hard time relating to the mother and father and even watching this with my eight-year-old I had trouble.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

Other than the family that talks like an 80’s after school special on bullying, the rest of the dialogue is well thought out, funny, and clever.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

Most of the movie relies on practical effects, pratfalls, and a beautiful neighbourhood. It works and for a 34-year-old movie, it holds up extremely well.

The score is great and the Christmas music is fun.

Score: 1

Fun

I was worried watching this with my kids because of how violent I remembered it being. But other than the traps and pratfalls, it’s a pretty heartwarming movie and we all enjoyed it.

Score: 1

Overall

A nostalgic, silly, and cartoony film with lots of heart and some great dialogue. Definitely worth rewatching.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Simply Irresistible – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film Simply Irresistible.

Story

This story is a mess. The character’s motivations are weird, the plot is all over the place, and the magic is inconsistent. There’s a strange surreal atmosphere that makes me wonder if it was meant to be a romantic take on absurdist plays.

Score: 0

Characters

The characters are blandly written and despite a few moments of real romance, the only reason it’s not downright bad is the skill of the actors and how willing they are to lean into the ridiculous.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue when things get really weird is extremely relatable and often hilarious. There are some great banter exchanges but a lot of it is cringe worthy.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography is surprisingly well done with some absolutely fascinating camera angles and stagings.

The score is heavy handed but the songs are nice and nostalgic.

Score: 1

Fun

This was one of my favourite rom-coms when I was in my teens. I’m sure that says a lot about me but I still find it charming and entertaining.

My wife (the romance novelist) was annoyed with the a lot of the film and the rest of the family seemed confused or nervous throughout.

Score: 1

Overall

This movie is a mess but views well if treated as a surrealist commentary on romance and corporate waste. If you like cheese this is a good choice but if you prefer more rom in your com this isn’t for you.

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Big Hero 6 – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2014 film Big Hero 6.

Story

A beautiful blend of superhero, buddy cop, coming of age, and science fiction. The story is firmly fixed on Hiro and does a great job of realistically portraying loss.

Score: 1

Characters

Despite the team, each character goes through a mini arc that revolves around their grief, which is a major theme of the film.

Every character moment feeds the story and vice-versa.

Score: 1

Dialogue

There are little quotes that just break your heart but also help the audience feel the grief of the characters. There’s also a lot of great jokes and quips.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

A decade later, the film still looks stunning. The shot of the café or the wind turbines leaves me in awe.

The music is a perfect representation of the mid 2010’s and works great with the film.

Score: 1

Fun

I love this movie. There are a few things that bug me though. Hiro should have mass produced Baymax as a nurse. He could have helped so many people. Also, Baymax needs a medical ethics subroutine and lessons on diagnostic consent.

That being said, it’s a flawless superhero film with a lot of emotion behind it.

Score: 1

Overall

Super heroes, grief, and found family. The movie has everything you could want with gorgeous art and fun music.

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.

Deadpool 2 – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2018 film Deadpool 2.

Story

With a bigger budget comes a bigger story… Although fairly simple, it takes a few random turns and even seems to forget what’s going on. In the end, everything is explained and then paradoxically erased.

Score:  0.5

Characters

The core of the movie is the same as the previous; Wade needing to accept who he is and deal with his trauma.

The rest of the cast are interesting and fun.

Score: 1

Dialogue

Like the first movie, this one doesn’t let up on the references, fourth wall breaks, and silliness. It’s also oddly poignant at the end.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are upgraded and the fights are fantastic. The convoy fight was just spectacular.

The music is great. Wonderful songs and score. I particularly liked the Juggernaut song.

Score: 1

Fun

This was pure R-rated fun and was fairly cathartic.

Score: 1

Overall

The second in the series doesn’t disappoint and ups the quips, the odds, the drama, and the fights.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

The Muppets (2011) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2011 film The Muppets.

Story

It’s a complete rehash of other Muppet stories, and the attempt to insert family and romantic drama comes off as both distraction and annoyance.

Score: 0

Characters

The human characters are only there to give the audience a proxy and their main character traits are meh. I loved Amy Adams and she managed to pull of the ridiculous character and make it believable.

The Muppets themselves felt like caricatures of the original movie. It felt like they were ignoring everything except the first show and movie.

The cameos were fantastic however and the villain was fun.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

There were some great moments and gags but the dialogue was burdened by over explaining. It’s like the film makers thought people would get confused.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The camera work was good and the dance routines were fun.

The music was great and definitely one of my favourite parts.

Score: 1

Fun

I love the Muppets and although this wasn’t them at their best, it was fun. The kids didn’t laugh much but they were glued to the screen.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An interesting attempt at writing the Muppets that relies too much on nostalgia and doesn’t offer much new for the audience.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom  – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Story

This felt like less of a story and more like a bunch of set pieces strung together. I’m sensing a theme that Indy has very little agency in his own movies. The hidden cultist plot crosses over into blatent racism.

Score: 0

Characters

This was Indiana Jones in his element. He spoke the language and knew the history. It was nice to see him seem intelligent. Short round was adorable and Willie was loud. I liked the relationship and emotion between Indy and Short Round.

The rest of the cast was a weird combination of Bond rejects and random cultural clichés thrown at the screen.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue runs from absolutely ridiculous to quippy and fun. Not much is actually deep or meaningful.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

Other than a few abuses of blue screen, it really paid off for them to film on location. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. The action set peices are a little over the top, but that makes them fun.

A lot of the music from the first is reused but remixed wonderfully. The darker tones of the temple scenes are well done.

Score: 1

Fun

I enjoyed the movie for nostalgia and because it’s a fun romp. The cultural nonsense is weird and led an entire generation to think that Indian food included chilled monkey brains and live eels.

What the hell was up with the Voodoo doll? That’s not Indian but West African. I think they’d have been better off saying it was a British demon cult.

The kids liked it but said it was scary. (Probably didn’t appreciate the constant pausing for me to rant.)

Score: 0.5

Overall

With elements that made the first one a great movie, this one fails to do anything but string together some impressive action scenes and wildly insulting cultural fabrications.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Fantasia 2000 – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2000 film Fantasia 2000.

Story

Like the first, this isn’t a regular movie and feels more like an anthology with various forms of storytelling. It’s creative and absolutely engrossing. Unlike the original, it’s extremely short; over an hour shorter then the first. The rhythm between the stories wasn’t as smooth.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Again, there aren’t many speaking roles in the stories themselves, but the characters were strong and interesting.

Score: 1

Dialogue

I liked that they re-used some of the original narration and added some celebrities. The part with Mickey looking for Donald was particularly funny. Most of the jokes hold up well for being almost 25.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The animation is pretty but there are places they used 3D animation and it didn’t age well. The whales at times looked plastic and poorly rendered. When the shorts were traditionally animated they looked fabulous.

The music is great. I recognized all the pieces and loved how they were put together.

Score: 0.5

Fun

It had enough of the feel of the original to be nostalgic and it was a lot of fun.

The kids liked this one better because they say it has less scary parts.

Score: 1

Overall

An attempt to recreate a classic that almost gets there but like it’s runtime, falls short. On its own it’s still a lot of fun to watch.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Fantasia (1940) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1940 film Fantasia.

Story

This isn’t a regular movie and feels more like an anthology with various forms of storytelling. It’s creative and absolutely engrossing.

Score: 1

Characters

There are a lot of characters and none of them speak, but they are animated to the music spectacularly.

Score: 1

Dialogue

This one is not applicable for most of it but there is the narrator who introduces the parts. He has some cute dialogue.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The animation is creative, innovative, and very pretty.

The music is iconic and sparked my love of classical music.

Score: 1

Fun

When I was young, my mom bought this on VHS and it had me mesmerized. It was my favourite movie for a long time. (Something my classmates did not understand.)

Other than the science in the dinosaur part, which was dated when I watched it, the movie holds up really well.

The kids say they didn’t like it but were glued to the screen the whole time and completely invested.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic that holds up well because of the timelessness of imagination and music. If you’ve ever loved it in the past you’ll still love it now, and if you didn’t like it before, it might surprise you.

Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5

The Faculty – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1998 film The Faculty.

Story

The story of a bunch of outcasts and how they save their school, and the world. It’s not original, not even for its time. The characters make leaps that don’t make sense, there’s a lot of silly science mistakes (No one felt it worth correcting “diuretic” for “desiccant”? Not to mention that the whole “Kill the queen” thing is weird and doesn’t work that way with most insects.

Score: 0

Characters

I liked the range of characters and I’m impressed with the depth of them considering the short amount of screentime they each get.

The movie is a parade of actors that would hit it big or who would go on to do a whole lot of other shows. It’s interesting to see them all together.

Robert Patrick was so good.

Score: 1

Dialogue

All the science was bunk and a lot of it contradictory. The dialogue was hokey most of the time but every once in a while it was really good. The speeches about belonging almost made the bad guys seem reasonable.

I am annoyed at the “sci-fi nerd” getting the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers wrong. If they were going to use the ending from one of the movies, they shouldn’t have had her talking about the book.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography was good, a few odd choices and hints at the start of shaky cam but overall okay. The rest of the film is very much recognizable as the late 90’s.

The music was awesome. The score was okay but the songs were great.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The movie had a certain nostalgia, but the piss poor story and the inconsistent science was more frustrating than fun.

I did love seeing all the actors and there were some moments of real quality.

Score: 0.5

Overall

This is a movie that puts all its quality in its actors and characters. The plot is flimsy and mediocre, and the science/resolution is just bad. That being said, the characters, music, and acting are far better than the script deserved. Worth it for the nostalgia but nothing special.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Power Rangers (2017) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2017 film Power Rangers.

Story

This is a very derivative story. It’s a chosen-one, superhero, Breakfast Club with lots of old Power Ranger cheese. It’s exactly what I wanted from this movie even if it wasn’t original.

Score: 0.5

Characters

I liked the diversity. They each had their individual arcs, and despite the multiple set pieces eating the time, they all felt well set up and complete.

The acting was extremely well done considering the cheesiness of the script.

Score: 1

Dialogue

Some of the dialogue is terrible but delivered really well, almost making it seem natural.

The heart to heart moments between characters are pretty staged but again well-acted.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The visuals used the style of the old comics with the unmistakable 2010’s main colour palette. At least they kept the rangers brightly coloured.

The music is epic and the score utterly fantastic.

Score: 1

Fun

I wanted something that had the essence of the Power Rangers I grew up with. I didn’t want the exact same story or the same characters (I don’t remember them that well, it’s been 30 years since I watched it). This delivered and was just plain fun. Lost of cheese, lots of great acting, and some awesome battles.

Score: 1

Overall

A fun take on the concept of Power Rangers that will enrage the diehard fans but on its own it’s a fun and exciting movie.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5