The Confirmation is a by the book father son bonding movie.
Director: Bob Nelson
Writer: Bob Nelson (Screenplay)
Starring: Clive Owen, Maria Bello, Jaeden Martell, Stephen Tobolosky, Tim Blake Nelson, Patrick Gilmore, Robert Forster, Patton Oswalt, Matthew Modine
Plot: A divorced father and his eight-year-old son are about to spend a somewhat predictable weekend together, nevertheless, when a valuable toolbox gets stolen, the search for the thieves will soon turn into a true family bonding.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Confirmation starts when divorced father Walt (Owen) takes his son Anthony (Martell) for a weekend. While his ex-wife Bonnie (Bello) goes on a weekend trip. When Walt’s toolkit is stolen, he will end up taking his son on a journey to find the person who stole the tools.
The weekend will show how Walt’s life has started to spiral out of control. While building a bond between the two for the first time in years.
Thoughts on The Confirmation
The Confirmation is a comedy adventure that will see an unlikely bonding session between father and son. One like they haven’t had since the parents split up. The Confirmation will give us a friendship the boy hasn’t had in his current home. With the stricter rules, letting out a wilder side.
The story will show the more selfish side of the father who is trying to fix himself, but isn’t as there as he could be. The connection between the two does have important life lessons, but isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. The performances are strong in the movie, with Clive Owen and Jaeden Martell working very well as father and son.
Plot: In spite of their many differences, Cassie, a struggling singer-songwriter, and Luke, a troubled Marine, agree to marry solely for military benefits. But when tragedy strikes, the line between real and pretend begins to blur.
Runtime: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Purple Hearts starts as struggling songwriter Cassie (Carson) sees her life becoming more difficult. This is only made more difficult by her diabetes which has a habit of flaring up whenever she has the best moments in life. She can’t keep up with the payments until she comes up with a plan.
Cassie wants to have a fake marriage with her friend Frankie (Jacobs) to get health insurance. This is rejected by Frankie, but fellow marine Luke (Galitzine) has his own money problems and agrees to risk his career for this chance to make more money. Cassie sees her career take off with the pair separated, while Luke faces the horrendous conditions in Afghanistan.
Verdict on Purple Hearts
Characters
Cassie is a bat-tender and singer-songwriter trying to make an impact. She has her own thoughts on the military, which often sees her clash with the marines that attend the bar. Her diabetes causes her daily problems in life, including being able to pay for the medicine. She comes up with an idea to marry a marine for health insurance, this leads her to Luke. It doesn’t take long before she puts her differences aside with Luke and falls in love, despite things getting complicated for the pair.
Luke is a marine that has money problems because of his past. He overhears the plan Cassie wants to help, knowing it could fix his problems too. Luke has been running from his past but after he gets injured in action, his life changes but his past keeps chasing him. He is forced to rebuild his relationship with his father after what he did, not realizing how his family will support him.
In the supporting roles, we have family members who have a range of opinions on the pair. Some are there to support them, others to bring them down.
Performances
Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine are excellent together. They show the clash the pair can have and the moments they will remember forever. Sofia gets to show off her singing skills, as her character’s career takes off.
Story
The story follows two people that start off having a faking marriage to help themselves out, only to fall in love along the way. It gets to show how people can fall in love and how far people will push things to have a secure life.
The story shows the military love stories and what they mean to the couples involved. When things can happen leaving people helpless to help being across the world. How the story unfolds if everything we have seen before, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It keeps this side of the story simple and shows how in love, you need to make the big decisions.
Themes
Purple Hearts is a romance movie that shows the pair fake a marriage only to start falling in love. It gets to show how whirlwind romances can take off and shows how couples can come from anywhere in life. The ups and downs of a relationship can be seen here but most importantly, it is about the honesty they need to show. When it comes to musical performances, Sofia Carson shines as we see her character’s career grow with larger audiences.
Where to Watch: Purple Hearts is available on Netflix
Final Thoughts –Purple Hearts is an enjoyable romance movie, that uses music to pull on the heartstrings.
Plot: A bachelorette party in the woods goes terribly wrong.
Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: All Must Die starts as six friends Gina (Winge), Marte (Willimason), Camilla (Schacht), Stine (Sæteren), Elise (Meister) and Ida (Mørkrid) head off to the woods for a bachelorette party. What starts out as the girls having some fun enjoying themselves takes a turn.
Gina believes she is being followed by an axe-wielding figure and finds a couple of her friends dead. Only when she turns to the others, there is nothing there.
Verdict on All Must Die
All Must Die is a horror slasher from Norway. It follows a bachelorette party that goes wrong when an axe-wielding killer turns up. It starts out like most slashers, the good time between friends all feels completely natural.
When it comes to the slasher side of things, it does start how you would imagine. Only it takes a massive twist going in a direction you wouldn’t see coming. This does keep things feeling unique to the sub-genre and will make you want to return to check out any clues.
As for the performances they are all strong, the six women make for a natural friendship and handle the horror in the film well.
The only negative to this movie is that some of it feels rushed in the middle and certain moments feel missed for the slasher film specialist side of things.
Where to Watch: All Must Die will arrive on Digital, VOD platforms on August 2 including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Xbox, and Vudu.
Final Thoughts – All Must Die is a solid addition to the slasher sub-genre, taking things in an unexpected direction.
Plot: After learning her estranged father is a hotel mogul, Belinda bumbles her way through a new, sophisticated lifestyle with the help of a charming lawyer.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Entitled starts when Belinda (Gonzaga) learns about her father (Revilla) owning a string of hotels. Belinda must learn about how the sophisticated life, meeting her Auntie (Mina), sister Kaitlyn (Abaya) and the attorney Jacob (Vera).
When her father goes away for a business trip, Belinda must learn how to run a hotel, with the help of Jacob. Belinda will be sent on a massive learning curve, where Jacob must help teach him to shake the street habits she has if she is going to fit in this world.
Verdict on The Entitled
Characters
Belinda has spent her life on the streets until her father takes her in. she must learn about the sophisticated lifestyle, something she struggles with. Despite always keeping herself in good spirits, she finds herself getting into trouble for her lack of self-control. While a lot of this character is slapstick, there is a big heart to her character that is struggling with loss.
Attorney Jacob is the man that must show Belinda around and teach her the lifestyle. He must spend time with her and starts finding her as someone different in his life. He is a hard character to break down, as he is strictly professional.
In the supporting characters. We have the father Belinda is trying to impress, as she is desperate to get to know. A nanny who starts off hating Belinda before learning they are similar becomes her best friend in this world. there is an Auntie that looks to welcome Belinda into her life and a younger sister who grows to love her.
Performances
Alex Gonzaga in the leading role brings the full energy to the role even if some of the comedy doesn’t work. There is enough in the heart side of the performance to show what everything means to her character in this new world.
JC De Vera and Melai Cantiveros bring great supporting performances. They get laughs with the character’s actions in the film. They both offer different types of comedy along the way.
Story
The story follows a street woman that gets offered a new life with her rich father and finds it hard to adapt to the new lifestyle. She must learn quickly to get through this new life and learns new skills, while keeping her street traits.
This is a story that focuses on the fish out of water, with a suddenly rich position. It gets to play on the different lifestyles that will come together clashing through the moments. There will be plenty of moments that rely on comedy and the formula for how the story unfolds is something we have seen before.
Themes
The Entitled is a romantic comedy that leans heavily on comedy. Sadly, a lot of this comedy will come from the same type of comedy. Which often doesn’t work as well as it could. Some moments will get laughs but a lot is more about how inappropriate Belinda will be in the high-class lifestyle. The romance side of the film comes from Belinda falling for Jacob and it is typically slow moving to see they have something between them.
Where to Watch: The Entitled is available on Netflix
Final Thoughts – The Entitled is an easy-to-watch romantic comedy, that gets a few laughs along the way.
