Tag: 2022

The Year the Film Was Released

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Movie Review

Scab Vendor (2022) Movie Review

Scab Vendor – Movie Review

Discover the compelling story of Jonathan Shaw, a renowned tattoo artist, in the documentary Scab Vendor. Follow his journey, battles with addiction, and rise to fame.

Director: Lucas de Barros, Maria Thome

Plot: Born with a silver spoon, Jonathan Shaw chose, at the height of his career as a tattoo artist, to give up on his celebrity lifestyle in order to escape from his own vicious cycle.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict on Scab Vendor

Scab Vendor is a documentary exploring the life of tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw. It follows his journey as an artist before moving into the tattoo world. this led to him rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest celebrities in the world and becoming one of the most famous artists.

However, his journey wasn’t always easy, he enjoyed a lot of drug and drink abuse that started playing tricks on his mind. It follows his battle with addiction and personal problems. Even if it touches on a controversial friendship with Charles Manson.

This documentary explores the troubled life of someone who became a big name in his field. However, his life caught up with him due to troubles and always seemed to get away with things. He doesn’t seem like an inspiration in the right way, while his artistic ability could be respected. His life choices leave too many questions about how he got away with things and his unusual connections with controversial people. There is a lot that doesn’t get explored and sadly that is more because it is less interesting than the wild times he was living.

Final Thoughts – Scab Vendor is an interesting look at a troubled man.

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Movie Review

Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia (2022) Movie Review

Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia – Movie Review

The Hero of Centopia

Director: Adam Gunn

Writer: Tess Meyer, Gerhard Hahn (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Mia discovers her magic stone is part of an ancient prophecy and embarks on a thrilling journey to the farthest islands of Centopia to face a great evil, and shape her own destiny.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia starts as a magical kingdom of Centopia comes under attack from Toxor. The fairies must figure out how to stop them, with Nino needing to fight to save them. meanwhile, in the human world, Mia (Nuccetelli) is still recovering from the loss of her parents.

She has dived into a fantasy world to escape reality and finds herself transported to Centopia. Here, she joins the fairies in battle being the one who was always meant to defend the kingdom.

Verdict on Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia

Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia is a fantasy adventure movie following a human girl transported to a fantasy kingdom. She gets involved in a war between good and evil as she must lead the fairies in a battle against the evil coming for them.

When it comes to family-friendly adventures, this is everything you would expect. We get a strong leading character filled with characters that need the motivation to achieve greatness. It might not do anything original, but it works for the continuing adventures of Mia.

Final Thoughts – Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia is a fun family-friendly adventure.

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Movie Review

Am I Ok? (2022) Movie Review

Am I Ok? – Movie Review

Discover the heartfelt story of Lucy and Jane in the movie 'Am I Ok?' as they navigate friendship, self-discovery, and life-changing moments.

Director: Stephanie Allynne, Tig Notaro

Writer: Lauren Pomerantz (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Lucy and Jane have been best friends their entire lives. Only when Lucy embarks on a personal journey, will she face a test of her friendship, and her sense of self, on a path she may not be entirely ready to take.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Am I Ok? Starts when best friends Lucy (Johnson) and Jane (Mizuno) face a life changing moment. Jane has been offered a job in London, while Lucy can’t figure out what she wants in life. Lucy needs the support of her best friend, if she is going to understand what she wants in life after meeting Brittnay (Clemons).

It leads to the pair falling out and needing to learn how to adapt to life without each other. They must learn to deal with their biggest fight and learn life is going to give them opportunities for more in life.

Verdict on Am I Ok?

Am I Ok? Is a romantic comedy following two friends who are going in different directions in life. One which would see them separated from their daily routine and need to face the difficult moments of life.

This is a life drama showing how difficult life can be and the friendships you make will drive you forward. It uses the importance of friendship and shows how you can have arguments. While it also explores challenges you must take alone and that could help you discover more about yourself. However, a lot of the jokes miss and certain decisions are extreme for storytelling purposes.

Where to Watch

JustWatch

Final Thoughts – Am I Ok? Is a nice finding yourself story.

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Movie Review

Watcher (2022) Movie Review

Watcher – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – O (Chloe Okuno) – Watcher – Movie Review

Watcher

Director: Chloe Okuno

Writer: Zack Ford, Chloe Okuno (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A young American woman moves with her husband to Bucharest, and begins to suspect that a stranger who watches her from the apartment building across the street may be a local serial killer decapitating women.

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Watcher starts when Julia (Monroe) movies to Bucharest with her husband Francis (Glusman). He has a career opportunity they can’t pass over and Julia must get used to a new life in a country she doesn’t know. Julia does find herself feeling alone and struggles to cope with the new life.

One night she starts to believe a neighbour across the streets has been watching her. This leads her to become paranoid she is being followed and questions her own safety. Meanwhile, this only intensifies when a serial killer is discovered to be roaming the streets.

Verdict on Watcher

Watcher is a horror thriller following a newlywed woman trying to adapt to life in a new country. She finds herself alone a lot and starts believing the neighbour is spying on them. As her suspicions start increasing, she starts to find the people in her life unsure of her claims.

This is a movie built on tension. It uses the uncomfortable nature of moving to a new country to create paranoia feeling. One that is finely balanced between paranoia and real fear. Maika Monroe carries the movie with her performance which keeps us on edge. This movie is an excellent vision is suspension, tension and uncertainty.

Final Thoughts – Watcher is filled with suspense, tension and paranoia.

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Movie Review

The Silent Twins (2022) Movie Review

The Silent Twins – ABC Film Challenge – Female Director – J (Jennifer & June Characters) – The Silent Twins – Movie Review 

The Silent Twins – ABC Film Challenge – Female Director – J (Jennifer & June Characters) – The Silent Twins - Movie Review 

Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska

Writer: Andrea Seigel, Marjorie Wallace (Screenplay)

Cast

 Plot: Based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons, real-life identical twins who grew up in Wales and became known as “the silent twins” because of their refusal to communicate with anyone but each other.  

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 Story: The Silent Twins starts when we meet the two twins June (Wright) and Jennifer (Lawrance). In their childhood, they would only communicate with each other. Once they hit adulthood, they still refuse to talk to anyone else in their lives.

However, their adult lives bring a much more dramatic and dark series of side effects. The two find themselves locked up under the mental health act and continue to struggle to be separated.  

Verdict on The Silent Twins

The Silent Twins is a drama following the difficult lives of the Gibbons twins. They refused to talk to anyone other than each other, causing them to be treated like outsiders to the world. However, their troubles end up causing bigger problems for both of them in the long term too.

This is a movie that shows their difficult lives and how they saw the world. It is told at a slow pace that never really dives into the real reason why they are like are. However, things don’t seem to make complete sense, as they do talk to people, despite the whole point being why they don’t talk. The performances are strong though, which is the strongest part of the movie. 

Final Thoughts – The Silent Twins is an interesting look into a troubled life.

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Movie Review

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022) Movie Review

I Wanna Dance With Somebody – ABC Film Challenge – Female Director – I – I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Movie Review 

I Wanna Dance With Somebody – ABC Film Challenge – Female Director – I – I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Movie Review 

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Writer: Anthony McCarten (Screenplay)

Cast

 Plot: A joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical super stardom.  

Runtime: 2 Hours 24 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review 

Story: I Wanna Dance With Somebody starts as we see the early career of Whitney Houston (Ackie) learning from her mother Cissy (Tunie). After she impresses Clive Davis (Tucci) she gets snapped up and biggest the hottest artist in the world. however, her own personal life with her best friend Robyn (Williams) causes a stir.

Whitney continues to impress the world-defining critics of her work and marrying Bobby Brown (Sanders). However, her rise to super-stardom comes at a price. One she might never be able to recover from.  

Verdict on I Wanna Dance With Somebody  

I Wanna Dance With Somebody is a biopic drama following the troubled life of Whitney Houston. It goes through the whole career, from being discovered and becoming a megastar. Right, down to the fall from grace due to her addictions.

This does get to show us the basic of Whitney’s life. She has an amazing life filled with ups and downs that took her from the rest of the world too early. This is filled with brilliant musical performances, that show off her amazing voice. However, despite these big moments, we tend to gloss over the bigger moments too much. We don’t seem to focus too much on the tragic moments, the highest moments. There isn’t very much new that we haven’t seen or heard from documentaries.  

Final Thoughts –I Wanna Dance With Somebody is the basics of a biopic.

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Movie Review

Paradise Highway (2022) Movie Review

Paradise Highway – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – (G – Anna Gutto) – Paradise Highway – Movie Review

Paradise Highway – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – (G - Anna Gutto) – Paradise Highway - Movie Review

Director: Anna Gutto

Writer: Anna Gutto (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally’s conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a teenage girl.

Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Paradise Highway starts when trucker Sally (Binoche) takes jobs smuggling things across the border to save her brother Dennis (Grillo) who is in prison. However, the latest package is a young girl Leila (Finley), who makes things complicated when they meet to exchange.

Sally finds herself needing to protect the young girl from human traffickers, putting herself in a race against time to stop her brother from getting harmed. Elsewhere, veteran cop Gerick (Freeman) teams up with a rookie Sterling (Monaghan) to figure out what is going on.

Verdict on Paradise Highway

Paradise Highway is a thriller following a trucker doing everything she can to keep her brother safe in prison. However, the latest task sees her needing to transport a young girl until she learns what it is for. Now she must figure out what to do to save the young girl from a horrific future.

This is a thriller that keeps us following the trucker looking to do the right thing. It shows her jaded past that could have created doubt and shows the horrifying criminal underworld operation going on. While the story is filled with twists and turns along with a veteran/rookie cop dynamic. We don’t get offered too much into the truly disturbing vision of the underworld. Everything feels safe on the surface level and by the end of the movie, it unfolds how you would expect.

Final Thoughts – Paradise Highway is a safe-by-the-books thriller.

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Movie Review

Emily (2022) Movie Review

Emily – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – E – Emily – Movie Review 

Emily – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – E – Emily - Movie Review 

Director: Frances O’Connor

Writer: Frances O’Connor (Screenplay)

Cast

 

Plot: “Emily” imagines the transformative, exhilarating, and uplifting journey to womanhood of a rebel and a misfit, one of the world’s most famous, enigmatic, and provocative writers, who died, too soon, at age 30.  

Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes  

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review 

Story: Emily starts as we meet the rebellious young woman Emily Bronte (Mackey) who hasn’t been following her sisters. This has caused a strain on the family who decide to send her away to a specialist school. Here, she gets to spend time with her brother Branwell (Whitehead) who opens her eyes to the bigger things in the world.

Emily finds herself getting involved with her French teacher William Weightman (Jackson-Cohen). Here, she starts to understand love and grow as a woman. However, her new mindset comes at a price, when people question her and the writings she is producing.  

Verdict on Emily

Emily is a drama following the short life of author Emily Bronte. It follows her learning about life, love and expressing herself. Her life was challenging and she challenged the normal, despite being optimistic about her life.

This is an interesting look at the life of one of the famous Bronte sisters. They are known for their writings against the odds of the era that are still considered classics in the modern day. It is interesting to see her struggles in life and the challenges she overcame. Emma Mackey is brilliant in the leading role with a strong supporting cast around her. 

Final Thoughts –Emily is an interesting journey into a great author’s life.

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Movie Review

Palm Trees and Power Lines (2022) Movie Review

Palm Trees and Power Lines – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – D (Dack) – Palm Trees and Power Lines – Movie Review

Palm Trees and Power Lines – ABC Film Challenge – Female Directors – D (Dack) – Palm Trees and Power Lines - Movie Review

Director: Jamie Dack

Writer: Jamie Dack, Audrey Findlay (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Palm Trees and Power Lines starts when a bored teenager Lea (McInerny) is looking to keep herself occupied during summer break. Her friends like to cause trouble and her connection with her mother Sandra (Mol) is poor. After the latest incident, Lea almost gets caught until Tom (Tucker) steps in to help her.

As the two get to know each other, Lea starts to enjoy spending time with a more mature man. However, the bigger question about their age difference starts to take over the situation.

Verdict on Palm Trees and Power Lines

Palm Trees and Power Lines is a drama following a teenage girl who gets drawn into spending time with an older guy. However, as she finds herself enjoying her time with him, questions start getting asked about the pair being together.

This is a difficult subject matter to bring to life. It shows the predatory behaviour that can come from being around the wrong people and how easily they can manipulate their victims. While it starts out harmless, it becomes extremely dark by the end and is easily going to be difficult for anyone to watch. Lily McInerny gives an outstanding performance in the leading role in the movie. She shows the emotional damage caused by what happens throughout the movie.

Final Thoughts – Palm Trees and Power Lines is disturbing, shocking and uncomfortable to watch.