I've been busy as well lately, although mostly light stuff.
Christmas As Usual is a Norwegian Christmas film about a woman who's living in the US and brings her Indian (i.e.,.from India) fiancee home for Christmas. Cultural misunderstandings, embarrassing situations, and a lot of bigotry ensue. I'm tired of those clichés and the irritating characters they require. The few good jokes from the Indian dude didn't save this. 1/5
Single All The Way is a Canadian film that goes the opposite way. The main characters are all gay and it's for once not an issue at all; the story is just about their search for love when Christmas displaces a guy and his best friend from Los Angeles to the former's family home in New Hampshire. All characters (well, maybe not so much that one aunt) were also nice people, which is a plaesant change. 3/5
Then two Colin Firth movies. The Accidental Husband is about a random dude who's pissed off at a radio host (Umma Thurman) that unwittingly convinced his fiancee to break up with him, so as one does, he takes revenge on her by using a hacker to fake their marriage certificate and thus get in the way of her marriage (with Colin Firth) as well. They then have to fix the mess together and of course romantic complications follow. Far-fetched, not very funny, and severely lacking chemistry. 2/5
In What A Girl Wants, Colin Firth is an English nobleman and politician who finds out that he has a daughter with an American woman when she comes to visit him (aged 17) out of the blue. She messes up his life, he tries to make her fit into his world, and so on. Fun nonsense if you switch your teenage mind on. 3/5
In Just Like Heaven, Reese Witherspoon is a doctor that doesn't realize she died as she appears as a ghost in her old apartment, which is now inhabited by Mark Ruffalo who's fighting off his own trauma. It's very sweet stuff, but it's got some nice drama and bite here and there, and I enjoyed it. 3/5
Finally, Family is a 2018 supposed comedy that's more of a drama really. An ambitious but socially blind businesswoman has to take care of her socially isolated niece for a week. Everything goes wrong and yet right, they bond yet fall out, and somehow the Insane Clown Posse and their Juggalo fans save everything. Yes, it's weird, and very rarely funny. Unfortunately, the drama isn't good either. 1/5
Much better and much more worth anyone's time: Psychokinesis. A 2018 South Korean superhero action comedy by Yeon Sang-ho, in which an estranged dad whose life is a sad mess somehow obtains telekinetic powers, and then gets involved in a company's violent attempt to evict his daughter and her neighbours from their shops and restaurants. It's a nice take on superhero films in which nothing is shiny, cool, or smoothly done and the action is fun. 4/5 (A superhero movie you might actually enjoy, @Sweet Square. They're even fighting capitalistic bullies to protect the common (wo)man!)
And then, Barbie. I was a little disappointed actually, after all the raving reviews I had read - but that's probably just because I had built it up too much in my mind. (And maybe also because I don't know Barbie much, so I probably missed about 95% of the kind of references that I mostly did get in The Lego Movie.) Either way, it's a strong parody which is stylistically close to perfect (and so much to see!), features some good acting and camerawork, and really has something to say. Even Will Ferrell didn't irritate me this time (some feat!). Unfortunately, the message was mostly old hat for me, so that wasn't as interesting as I had hoped, although I promise that I will try and mansplain movies (and everything else) less to my wife from now on. (It held up quite a powerful mirror in that regard...) I wonder if we could have more blockbusters like this - but please don't milk the Barbieverse now. (That second Lego movie was also quite crap without its heart and message.) Anyway, 4/5.
Christmas As Usual is a Norwegian Christmas film about a woman who's living in the US and brings her Indian (i.e.,.from India) fiancee home for Christmas. Cultural misunderstandings, embarrassing situations, and a lot of bigotry ensue. I'm tired of those clichés and the irritating characters they require. The few good jokes from the Indian dude didn't save this. 1/5
Single All The Way is a Canadian film that goes the opposite way. The main characters are all gay and it's for once not an issue at all; the story is just about their search for love when Christmas displaces a guy and his best friend from Los Angeles to the former's family home in New Hampshire. All characters (well, maybe not so much that one aunt) were also nice people, which is a plaesant change. 3/5
Then two Colin Firth movies. The Accidental Husband is about a random dude who's pissed off at a radio host (Umma Thurman) that unwittingly convinced his fiancee to break up with him, so as one does, he takes revenge on her by using a hacker to fake their marriage certificate and thus get in the way of her marriage (with Colin Firth) as well. They then have to fix the mess together and of course romantic complications follow. Far-fetched, not very funny, and severely lacking chemistry. 2/5
In What A Girl Wants, Colin Firth is an English nobleman and politician who finds out that he has a daughter with an American woman when she comes to visit him (aged 17) out of the blue. She messes up his life, he tries to make her fit into his world, and so on. Fun nonsense if you switch your teenage mind on. 3/5
In Just Like Heaven, Reese Witherspoon is a doctor that doesn't realize she died as she appears as a ghost in her old apartment, which is now inhabited by Mark Ruffalo who's fighting off his own trauma. It's very sweet stuff, but it's got some nice drama and bite here and there, and I enjoyed it. 3/5
Finally, Family is a 2018 supposed comedy that's more of a drama really. An ambitious but socially blind businesswoman has to take care of her socially isolated niece for a week. Everything goes wrong and yet right, they bond yet fall out, and somehow the Insane Clown Posse and their Juggalo fans save everything. Yes, it's weird, and very rarely funny. Unfortunately, the drama isn't good either. 1/5
Much better and much more worth anyone's time: Psychokinesis. A 2018 South Korean superhero action comedy by Yeon Sang-ho, in which an estranged dad whose life is a sad mess somehow obtains telekinetic powers, and then gets involved in a company's violent attempt to evict his daughter and her neighbours from their shops and restaurants. It's a nice take on superhero films in which nothing is shiny, cool, or smoothly done and the action is fun. 4/5 (A superhero movie you might actually enjoy, @Sweet Square. They're even fighting capitalistic bullies to protect the common (wo)man!)
And then, Barbie. I was a little disappointed actually, after all the raving reviews I had read - but that's probably just because I had built it up too much in my mind. (And maybe also because I don't know Barbie much, so I probably missed about 95% of the kind of references that I mostly did get in The Lego Movie.) Either way, it's a strong parody which is stylistically close to perfect (and so much to see!), features some good acting and camerawork, and really has something to say. Even Will Ferrell didn't irritate me this time (some feat!). Unfortunately, the message was mostly old hat for me, so that wasn't as interesting as I had hoped, although I promise that I will try and mansplain movies (and everything else) less to my wife from now on. (It held up quite a powerful mirror in that regard...) I wonder if we could have more blockbusters like this - but please don't milk the Barbieverse now. (That second Lego movie was also quite crap without its heart and message.) Anyway, 4/5.
