20s Movie Review - Love Wedding Repeat

Director: Dean Craig
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Sam Claflin, Olivia Munn, Freida Pinto, Joel Fry, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jack Farthing, Tim Key, Allan Mustafa, Aisling Bea

Description: While trying to make his sister’s (Eleanor Tomlinson) wedding day go smoothly, Jack (Sam Claflin) finds himself juggling an angry ex-girlfriend (Freida Pinto), an uninvited guest (Jack Farthing) with a secret, a misplaced sleep sedative, and the girl who got away (Olivia Munn) in alternate versions of the same day.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 10: A BRITISH COMEDY
 
Review: Chance can be an asshole. That’s what the voice-over states. In “Love Wedding Repeat”, everything revolves around chance and the capricious twist of fate. Table arrangements at a wedding turn out to be vital. Only one arrangement has a positive outcome for all the guest, but which one? Fortunately, after a big mistake, the characters just get to try again.

The concept sounds like a lot of fun, but “Love Wedding Repeat” makes almost no use of the concept of cyclical time. Director Dean Craig stupidly chops his romcom about parallel universes into two parts: in the first part of the film, the wedding goes disastrously, in the second part, everything goes completely according to plan.  

Unfortunately, there is a very big drawback to this setup. Jack, the main character, is completely unaware that alternate realities exist. And because he lacks this knowledge, he will therefore not try to influence the course of his own future (or that of others). A missed opportunity, because the self-repeating caus-and-effect gam is precisely what makes a “time loop” movie, like for example “Groundhog Day” or “Edge of Tomorrow”, so entertaining.

A whole battalion of idiotic characters are assembled for the wedding ceremony. Jealous exes, a cocaine head, a sleepy maid of honor, and a chatty man in a kilt who is very itchy. They are meant to make you laugh, but they don’t manage. “Love Wedding Repeat” is rarely truly funny, yet many of the situations are very uncomfortable to watch.

They could have done so many great things with this premise, yet they totally missed the mark. Shame, because with talented performers like Sam Claflin and Freida Pinto, it could have been a lot better.

Rating: 2/ 5

TV Show Review - You (Season 4)

Season: 4
Genre: Thriller/ Drama
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2023
Starring: Pen Badgley, Tati Gabrielle, Charlotte Ritchie, Ed Speleers, Tilly Keeper, Amy-Leigh Hickman, Lukas Gage, Greg Kinnear

Description: A dangerously charming, intenstly obsessive young man (Penn Badgley) goes to extreme measures to insert himself into lives of those he is transfixed by.

Review: It’s always commendable when creators of a film series and television series throw in some good variety and don’t follow the same pattern over and over again. “You” did it, but eventually managed to ruin it.
 
WARNING! THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!
 
It is refreshing that season 4 is done differently. Not only because the battleground had moved from the United States to London’s upper class, but also because for once it is Joe himself who must fear his safety. This is because someone is trying to frame him for murder. The plot creates a new dynamic, although Joe must cope amid a group of very annoying snobs.
 
After the previous season, in which Joe toppled his “partner in crime” and great love Love Quinn, he has assumed a different identity in London. He now is Jonathan Moore, a literature professor, who managed to spin things so that Love was the evil mastermind behind the events and Joe did not survive. He just wants to lead a quiet life now. Mingling amongst the high society of spoiled influencers, uppity artists, annoying rich kids an snobby gallery owners is not really my idea of living a quiet life, but Joe somehow ends up there. And every single character Joe meets is unlikeable, annoying and slap-worthy. Cleverly done by the creators, but also a bit transparent, as this leaves the empathy entirely with Joe. Especially when it turns out that after a night out he is blamed for a murder.
 
Text messages are used to extort the former bookseller and newfound teacher: the culprit knows his true identity and apparently h is not the only one who knows more about Joe.
 
For the first time, a season of “You” has been divided into two chapters dropped on Netflix. The writers did take this new strategy quite literally. There is a clear cut in plot and approach between the first five and the second five episodes. Complete with a sort of interim wrap-up. The writers could have filled the entire season just with the question of who is pressuring Joe so much, more importantly, what the motives are for doing so. But in the second half, the perspective is completely thrown overboard and the course is changed decisively. Except for a few, the many irritating side characters hardly have any function. Moreover, the writers throw it entirely on Joe’s mental state, which is in stark contrast to the man who for seasons has been portrayed as admittedly quite disturbed, but also calculating, cunning and opportunistic. The main character is left reeling and things don’t really work out. With that, I kind of predicted the whole Rhys storyline and that it was eventually Joe himself.  
 
Moreover, more than before, characters from other seasons are revisited. Then the realization dawns that despite the change of environment and tone, “You” is starting to become formulaic.
 
Season 4 of this successful Netflix series is what I would call a “mixed bag”. It starts strong, but loses itself in contrived plot twists and futile attempts to change its ways.  

Book Review - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Title: Frankenstein
Series: -
Author: Mary Shelley
 
Description: A twisted, upside-down creation myth, Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale lays bare the dark side of science, and the horror within us all. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, who plunders graveyards to create a new being from the bodies of the dead - but whose botched creature causes nothing but murder and destruction. Written after a nightmare when its author was only eighteen, Frankenstein gave birth to the modern science fiction novel.
 
Review: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is the classic tale about Victor Frankenstein who created a “monster” out of body parts of dead people.
 
When most people think of Frankenstein, the think of the big, green monster with bolts screwed into his head, that came to life due to a strike of lightning. But all of that was not what Mary Shelley wrote about. The story follows ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein, who manages to create a living creature. His creation, this his so-called “monster”, feel abandoned by its creator and begins to wreak death and destruction, out of desperation.
 
Frankenstein just wants to create life and beauty and experiments with body parts of corpses. To his own surprise, he succeeds in giving life to his creation, but when he discovers that the creature is hideous and behaves in a very primitive way, he becomes frightened of it and chases it away.
 
Like I stated before, many things that we belief to know about the classic story, weren’t actually in Mary Shelley’s book. He was no green monster, he had no bolts in is head, there was no laboratory where he was created, no strike of lightning to bring him to life, no assistant named Igor. So in that perspective, the story was very surprising to me, because I always assumed that those elements came directly from Shelley’s book. And although these things all sound exciting, I wasn’t missing it while reading “Frankenstein”. The story goes in depth of the character of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Seeing both their perspectives.
 
The big question raised in this book is, who is the real monster: Victor Frankenstein or the creature being called monster? Frankenstein is a very unlikeable character, hard to sympathize with, egotistical, judgmental. The creature created has no idea of the world, doesn’t know how to speak, knows nothing of people and their behavior. He has to learn their ways in order to survive. But because of his appearance, the name “monster” is easily given, so for him it’s only natural to also act like one. So both parties are doing bad thing. But Frankenstein is well aware of what’s good and evil, when his creation is not yet familiar with it.  
 
Even though the book is fairly short, it took me some time to finish it. It’s very slow paced and it need some more brainpower to fully comprehend it. But “Frankenstein” is a beautifully written horror classic.

Rating: 4/ 5
 

Movie Review - We Have a Ghost

Director: Christopher Landon
Genre: Comedy/ Adventure/ Family
Runtime: 126 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: David Harbour, Anthony Mackie, Jahi Di’allo Winston, Erica Ash, Niles Fitch, Jennifer Coolidge, Isabella Russo, Tig Notaro
 
Description: Finding a ghost named Ernest (David Harbour) haunting their new home turns Kevin’s (Jahi Di’allo Winston) family into overnight social media sensations. But when Kevin and Ernest investigate the mystery  of Ernest’s past, they become a target of the CIA.

Review: Teenager Kevin and his family move into a suspiciously cheap house. Kevin discovers a ghost in the attic, but is unimpressed with this ghost’s, Ernest, scare tactics ans strikes up a friendship. Soon the rest of the family knows about Ernest as well, including the always chasing easy money dad Frank, who creates a hype on the internet. Meanwhile, Kevin, together with his neighbor Joy, tries to solve the mystery surrounding Ernest, who has no memory of anything.

Director Christopher Landon abandons standard haunted house moments to create a feel-good movie. David Harbour plays ghost Ernest engagingly as he shyly opens up to contact with the living. It’s easy to feel sympathy for him, which makes the ending very touching.

The whole CIA plotline was a bit too much and felt unnecessary to me. And the film is not that surprising, even though it’s not following the standard haunted house storyline. The friendship between Kevin and Ernest is the heart of the film, I really loved that.

An entertaining and enjoyable family film, definitely worth a go.

Rating: 3/ 5

20s Movie Review - Zwanger & Co

Director: Johan Nijenhuis
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Lieke van Lexmond, Waldemar Torenstra, Thom Hoffman, Manuel Broekman, Carolina Dijkhuizen, Maaike Martens, Bo Maerten, Matteo van der Greijn

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 9: A MOVIE IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE
 
Description: Merel (Lieke van Lexmond), a singel midwife, is done with men, but her biological clock is ticking inexorably. And yes, she gets pregnant. However, the whole family seems pregnant. Her 60-plus father Piet (Thom Hoffman) has just become a father again with his younger partner and her 23-year-old nieve Eva (Bo Maerten) is also expecting. Merel’s sister Annet (Maaike Martens), who suffers from empty nest syndrome, has a husband (Matteo van der Greijn) who only wants to travel because he thinks he is too young to become a grandfather.

Review: “Zwanger & Co” is a new romantic comedy directed by Johan Nijenhuis. We follow Merel, a single midwife, who wants nothing more then to become a mother. She eventually becomes pregnant through a sperm donor. In the meantime, babies are everywhere in her family and a new man enters her life.

Because the many characters share similar desires and experience almost similar events, but with slight variations, this film comes across as repetitive and dull. The various storyline off the different family members also overshadow each other more than they really work together, which makes it a very messy film.

With that, the movie gives of the wrong messages. They try to be very open-minded, but in short it tells us that a woman without a child is not a woman. That being a mother, is the only reason for a woman to be on this earth. And whenever you do choose a career, but also have a child, the character is portrayed as a selfish, not-caring mother. Merel, who makes the brave decision to become pregnant through a donor, feels like an good, powerful storyline. But eventually she, and the people around her, that every kid needs a father.

Especially as a woman who has no intention of becoming a mother, and with a best friends who is the best mother to her two daughters from a donor, this movie really doesn’t give off the right messages.
This movie sucks. It’s not credible, over-sentimental, sends of the wrong messages and offers nothing good. One of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Rating: 0,5/ 5

Movie Review - The Banshees of Inisherin

Director: Martin McDonagh
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan
 
Description: Two lifelong friends (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson) find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.

Review: If there is one movie you need to put on you viewing list this year, let it be “The Banshees of Inisherin”. For me, the pairing of director Martin McDonagh and his two leads Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson, was enough reason for me to check it out. This trio teams up a second time after “In Bruges”, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Although they once again provide a top shelf film, “The Banshees of Inisherin” has become a very different movie.

The story is set in 1923 during the Irish Civil War. most Irish people wonder with great anxiety what the future will rbing them, except for Pádriac who lives on the fictional island Inisherin. Like his sister Siobhan who is known in the village as an old spinster, he is content with what he has. Pádriac spends almost all his time with his animals and his best friend Colm, with whom he spends numerous hours in the local pub. It is a friendship that the Irishman suspects will never end, until one day Colm announces that from now on he want to devote his life to more meaningful conversations and composing music. In that new life, there is no place for Pádriac.

A parable about friendship that shows above all its fragility. It’s a very special kind of film you rarely see. McDonagh returns to his British-Irish roots after the downright fantastic “Thee Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri” (also a favorite of mine), and tells an intriguing, deeply human story about mortals for whom the world is no bigger than their village.

“The Banshees of Inisherin” is a cinematic gem not to be missed. The wonderfully beautiful film is touchingly funny, the cast is outstanding. Colin Farrell gets better with age and the role of Colm is right up Brendan Gleeson’s alley. Although the year has only just begun, it seems that with this title, I already have a candidate for my favorite film of 2023.

Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady hendrix

Title: My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Series: -
Author: Grady Hendrix
 
Description: Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act….different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?
 
Review: Place yourself back in the 80s, big hair, playlists on cassette tapes, movies on VHS, roller skating. You will start to yearn for this time when reading “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”.
 
We follow Abby and Gretchen, who have been friends since the fifth grade. And now, both high school students, their friendship is the best thing in their lives. One nights, when Gretchen and Abby are spending time with some new friends, Gretchen disappears. When she reappears the next day, she starts acting strange and it becomes stranger. Abby suspects Gretchen is possessed by a demon. Of course, she is the only one suspecting this and no one believes this. Everyone starts turning against Abby, so she has to save her friend all by herself.
 
“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” reads and feels exactly like when you’re watching a horror movie from the 1980s and it has major “Stranger Things” vibes. It’s nice and over the top at times, has blood and gore and the warmth of childhood friendship. And each chapter has the title of an 80s song, which I really liked.  
 
The heart of the story is the friendship between Gretchen and Abby, which is wholesome. It’s so much more then a book about possession. That, and the 80s nostalgia, where why I loved this book as much as I did. I understand why this book is so loved. I started showing up on booktube and bookstagram everywhere in 2022, even knowing this book was released in 2016. And I’m officially a fan of author Grady Hendrix, whose weird horror books I have been loving so far.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5