Movie Review - Cocaine Bear

Director: Elizabeth Banks
Genre: Comedy/ Thriller
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ray Liotta, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margot Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristoffer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Matthew Rhys
 
Description: An oddball groups of cops, criminals, tourist and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.

Review: Cheap slasher films of the 1980s had a plot as high quality as the budget. Nothing more was needed, it just had to be entertainment. This is also a slasher, set in the 80s, but this time is not a knifed killer on the loose, but a bear.

1985. A drug smuggles makes a mistake that causes hi to crash somewhere in a residential neighborhood. The bags full of cocaine he threw from the plane are now yup for grabs in the Appalachian Mountains. Only a drug lord knows about it and sends some people to get them. Meanwhile, a bear has stumbled upon the cocaine and becomes uninhibitedly addicted to it. All visitors to the preserve are a target.

Elizabeth Banks is a fine actress, in both serious and funny roles. For “Cocaine Bear” she took on the role of director. She has yet to proof herself as a director. “Pitch Perfect 2” was just okay and her version of the outdated TV-series “Charlie’s Angels” wasn’t well-received. “Cocaine Bear” is loads of fun, but it’s not the best movie you will see this year.

Banks does have a great cast to work with. Keri Russell is pretty good, as well as Ray Liotta, in one his last appearances. Margo Martindale is the funniest of the cast, as a park ranger.

This movie feels exactly like a drug trip: chaotic, wild and out of control. I believe it was a fun time, lots of laughs. Do not take it too seriously please, and you will enjoy it.

Rating: 3/ 5

20s Movie Review - Faithfully Yours

Director: André van Duren
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Bracha van Doesburg, Elise Schaap, Nasrdin Dchar, Gijs Naber, Matteo Simoni, Hannah Hoekstra

Description: Best friends Bodil (Bracha van Doesburg) and Isabel (Elise SChapp), apparently happily married, sneak off for secret affairs using each other as an alibi. But when Isabel us killed when they were supposed to have been together, Bodil gets caught up in her own web of lies.

Review: “Faithfully Yours” opens with a statement about lying. In the opening image, we see a dog with bloodied paws walk away from a house. We already know something back has happened. It seems “Faithfully Yours” wants to combine suspense with an intelligent script. They didn’t succeed.

Bodil and Isabel are best friends and they both live a double live. And they have been for quite some time. Every once in a while the two take a cultural trip, where they stay in Belgium where Bodil has inherited a country house. Both women indulge ins spicy affairs and they are each other’s alibi. On this trip, something goes horribly wrong when Isabel disappears. The only trace is a substantial bloodbath, but Isabel is nowhere to be found.

When Isabel’s disappearance turns into a lurid murder case, including a shady plot, Bodil faces a dilemma. By telling the truth, Bodil and Isabel’s carefully constructed lies will collapse. Their real lives will thus be destroyed. Surely Bodil cannot risk that, so she becomes entangled in her own web of lies.
While one far-fetched plot twist after another presents itself, the characters themselves remain totally underexposed. Everyone is distant, cold, interested in only themselves, unlikeable. The film has an unsympathetic tone and remains flat. “Faithfully Yours” is never really exciting, rather boring. And not credible at all.

On top of that, the sketchy murder plot is very vague and has underdeveloped ideas, with a revelation that really makes no sense at all. It feels like a last-minute solution.

It’s a dumb story with stupid characters that nobody cares about. And you have to sit through all that only to finish with a lame finale. “Faithfully Yours” is a shameful waste fo talent, time and money.

Rating: 1,5/ 5