JenEric Movie Reviews

We were nominated for Auroras!

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Hello friends, family, and fans!

The nominations are up!!!

Thanks to all who nominated. You really made a difference.

Now, it’s onto the voting! You should have received an email on how to download the voters package by now. If not, check the website when you’re logged in, and follow the instructions.

There is EXCELLENT news: Our Aunt Ann, writing as Ann Birdgenaw, will receive her Aurora nomination pin!! We’re so proud of her!

The four categories in which Jen, Éric, and family are nominated:

  • Category 2 – Best YA Novel
    • Black Hole Radio – Ka’Azula by Ann Birdgenaw
  • Category 7 – Best Related Work
    • Nothing Without Us Too by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson (Jen has a short story Semper Ubi Sub Ubi in this one!)
  • Category 9 – Best Fan Writing/Publication (these will not be included in the voters package, as they are available online)

Something to remember this time around, is that the order matters. In order to concentrate our voting power, Éric and I have agreed to focus on The Travelling TARDIS, as it is more well-known in the community. Therefore, please vote for it first, and the Movie Reviews second.

Voting is June 17 – July 29, 2023. We’ll write a reminder post before it ends. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Thank you all so much for your time, attention, and support. It means the world to us!

JenEric

Slumberland  – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Slumberland.

Story

A fantastic concept played surprisingly straight. I’m really glad they avoided the “you must be crazy” talk about her dreams. The pacing and story structure was great, albeit a little slow in the beginning.

The movie’s twist was important, but supported the emotions and didn’t feel cheap.

Score: 1

Characters

The characters felt well-developed and surprisingly deep considering the sparse details on backstory.

I didn’t like the pickpocket scene at the end. It felt out of character for both versions of that character. It was played for laughs and meant to seem flirty, but came off disrespectful and creepy.

There’s a lot that the characters don’t share and that either didn’t make sense or was played fast and loose. If it wasn’t for how well the actors emoted, the dialogue and story would have seemed flippant and undercooked.

The pig was awesome.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

Lots of great dialogue and lots of awkward moments and phrasing. The strange pattern and beats of the dialogue enhanced the surreal quality of the film. It’s one of those movies who’s dialogue is just a little off and almost feels poetic but is just simplistic.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

Utterly beautiful and wonderful. The film is a spectacle that does a great job at showing the variety and breadth of dreams while still having a unique style.

The music was good and worked perfectly. I liked the repeated motif of the piano song she played with her father.

Score: 1

Fun

Other than the slow parts at the start, the movie is exciting and fascinating. The entire family was enthralled. The raw emotions hit the adults more though. I can see this becoming a comfort crying movie.

Score: 1

Overall

A fantastic trip into dreams. What it lacks in coherence and dialogue, it makes up in emotion, visuals, and spectacular acting.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Enola Holmes 2 – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Enola Holmes 2.

Story

With less set up needed then the first one (Enola Homes Movie Review), there’s more room for the story, characters, and world to breathe and grow.

I liked the mystery and all its twists and turns.

Score: 1

Characters

The characters are consistant with the first movie and mostly keep the same cast. There’s no Mycroft, but that’s a good thing, letting Sherlock and Enola grow as siblings. I have to say that I adore this version of Sherlock. He’s warm, kind, but still jaded, manic, and brilliant.

Enola is clever, charismatic, and soooooo young. It’s great to see that the writers didn’t just copy-paste a younger Sherlock.

At first I was a little annoyed at the inclusion of Moriarty, but it was done so well and acted amazingly.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue is witty, quick, and loaded with multiple meanings and references.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

Everything is bigger in this one, the fights are more dramatic, the dancing more impressive, and the camera work is excellent.

The music was extremely well-placed and beautiful.

Score: 1

Fun

I love both action and mystery when they are well done and this was extremely well done. Lots of twists and turns, lots of great characters, and some great historical elements.

Score: 1

Overall

Surpassing the first by virtue of wasting less time on setup and more on the actual mysteries. Henry Cavill is a splendid broody Holmes and Millie Bobby Brown is both believable and delightful in the role. If you enjoy a good mystery and can enjoy a new Sherlock, this is a great choice.

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.

Last Day to Please Nominate Us

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Hello,

Tomorrow is the last day to nominate us! PLEASE!

Two weeks ago, I posted that How I Taught My Dragon should be on your Aurora Nominations.

Please note all the other products that JenEric Designs has worked on that are eligible for Aurora nominations:

Thank you in advance and good nominating.

aurora

The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

It’s a fan voted award in the vein of the Hugo’s, but with way more awesome people.

You’ll have to join the CSFFA for a pittance of $10 before you can nominate anyone. Once you’ve paid, you can nominate 5 works in each category. You can nominate works from now until May 18th.

The extra bonus of joining the CSFFA is you’ll get a voters package that includes most of the works that make the ballot. That’s 8-10 novels plus a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Thank you!

Éric

Please Nominate Us

by

Hello,

Monday, I posted that How I Taught My Dragon should be on your Aurora Nominations.

Please note all the other products that JenEric Designs has worked on that are eligible for Aurora nominations:

Thank you in advance and good nominating.

aurora

The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

It’s a fan voted award in the vein of the Hugo’s, but with way more awesome people.

You’ll have to join the CSFFA for a pittance of $10 before you can nominate anyone. Once you’ve paid, you can nominate 5 works in each category. You can nominate works from now until May 18th.

The extra bonus of joining the CSFFA is you’ll get a voters package that includes most of the works that make the ballot. That’s 8-10 novels plus a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Thank you!

Éric

2021 JenEric Movie Reviews

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Hello Movie Lovers,

This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 53 films. Not bad. Below is a list of them in decending star order. Within each catergory they are in alphabetical order.

5 Stars out of 5

4.5 Stars out of 5

4 Stars out of 5

3.5 Stars out of 5

3 Stars out of 5

2.5 Stars out of 5

2 Stars out of 5

1.5 Stars out of 5

1 Star out of 5

Change to 2021 JenEric Schedule

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Hello JenEric Fans,

With Dragon doing full digital school, we’ve decided to move things around a little. Here’s the schedule for the foreseeable future.

Monday

Éric Desmarais will randomly write things like an unspecified number of monkeys with typewriters… which is totally not how he writes his posts… *Shifty Eyes* EDIT: Please send bananas.

Tuesday

Guitar Lessons Jen is learning guitar and her journey is quite a lot of fun to follow. Certainly a Major Scaled accomplishment.

Wednesday

The Travelling TARDIS will continue it’s adventures in space, time, and backlogs.

Thursday

JenEric Movie Reviews continues to watch movies, over-analyse them, and tell you all about it.

Friday

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The monkeys Éric returns with serial stories, regular stories, rants, coffee info, and really whatever comes out of the typewriters… uhm mind, his mind.

Saturday & Sunday

Unless 2021 ends up being as movie watching heavy as 2020, these will be left blank and let the monkeys, time machine, and musicians rest.

Hope you enjoy it!

JenEric Designs Management

Captain America: The First Avenger – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.

Story

The story is extremely simple and a perfect transition from the simpler superhero movies of the 2000’s to the more complex ones after.

It’s amazing that they managed to have a movie set in WWII that had only 3 Nazis.

The villain is scary smart if over-the-top and the story is wonderfully soothing.

As much as I love the romance between Cap and Carter, the convoluted obstacles are tiresome and unnecessary.

I would also would have liked more nuances on the concept of patriotism, but that would come with the future movies.

Score: 0.5

Characters

This movie was extremely well cast and all the actors play their roles wonderfully. Again I think Red Skull was a little much, but all the others are fantastic.

Score: 1

Dialogue

This movie, more than Iron-Man or Avengers, sets the bar for Marvel dialogue. It’s clever, quotable, and has fantastic depth.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie’s special effects still look amazing a decade later and visually this movie is a treat.

The music is fantastic and works perfectly for the movie.

Score: 1

Fun

Our Blu-ray has a bug where the dynamic range (loudest vs softest sounds) is huge, making me spend most of the movie changing the volume or not being able to understand the words. This is actually pretty common for Marvel movies and really pisses me off.

That being said, the movie kept the attention of the entire family and made me want to re-watch all the Marvel movies.

Score: 1

Overall

The unambiguity of the movie is its strength, bolstered by its fantastic dialogue and acting. It was the last before Avengers changed the landscape and set the bar for storytelling. It is by far the best Marvel Phase 1 film (Arguably Phase 2 also).

Final Score: 4.5

Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century.

Story

At it’s core, this story is one that Disney and countless others have done a million times before and since, painted with a shiny sci-fi veneer.

It includes my most hated trope, parents who don’t believe their children.

Score: 0

Characters

The parents are frustrating and made me yell at the TV, but I enjoyed Zenon herself. She was confident, smart, amazingly lucky, and competent. Despite the overuse, I do like the competent child trope.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue is both fascinating and cringe-worthy. The made up slang mixed with turn of the millenium slang just really interests me. I like that they made sure to have seperate styles of slang for earth vs the space station. A lot more thought went into this than I would have thought.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The special effects were okay for the time period despite some major misunderstandings of physics. The costuming was clever and the music was ok.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The parents and adults being about as smart as rocks took some of the fun out of it for me. I enjoyed the main character and the other kids.

Score: 0.5

Overall

The movie is a fascinating time capsule of retro sci-fi that has a wonderful main character. Unfortunately, the entire story is overly dependent on the aggressive stupidity of the adults and them not believing her.

Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Aurora Award Nominations

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Hello,

Last week I posted about How I Taught My Dragon for your Aurora Nominations.

Here are all the other products that JenEric Designs has worked on that are eligible for Aurora nominations.

Thank you in advance and good nominating.

aurora

The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

It’s a fan voted award in the vein of the Hugo’s, but with way more awesome people.

You’ll have to join the CSFFA for a pittance of $10 before you can nominate anyone. Once you’ve paid, you can nominate 5 works in each category. You can nominate works from now until May 18th.

The extra bonus of joining the CSFFA is you’ll get a voters package that includes most of the works that make the ballot. That’s 8-10 novels plus a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Thank you!

Éric