Month: July 2023

“No Hard Feelings” Movie Review

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General Information:

Directed by — Gene Stupnitsky

Starring — Jennifer Lawrence (Maddie), Andrew Barth Feldman (Percy Becker), Matthew Broderick (Laird Becker), Laura Benanti (Allison Becker), Natalie Morales (Sarah), Scott MacArthur (Jim), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Gary)

Synopsis — Desperate for a car after hers gets towed, Maddie answers a Craigslist ad from helicopter parents asking for someone to “date” their shy son before he heads off to college, in hopes that it will get him out of his shell.

Where to Watch — In Theaters

Review:

I like to think that I am finally at the age where I can appreciate the raunchy comedy genre to the fullest extent.  It seems like Hollywood has not really put one out recently, so I was ecstatic to hear that Jennifer Lawrence was going to be producing and starring in one.  I fell in love with Lawrence as an actor during her reign of “The Hunger Games” franchise, but have stuck with her filmography ever since.  Based on a real Craigslist ad the director found and the greater amount of control parents seem to have on their kids nowadays, this was the perfect film for the modern young adult.  And it did the job pretty well if I do say so myself.

The best part about this film was the chemistry between Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman, who plays the shy high school senior that Lawrence’s character Maddie is paid to seduce.  Not only are they absolutely hilarious in their scenes together, but their characters also have so much heart between them.  You can see them grow to care for one another that when the inevitable third act blow up happens, your heart breaks for what the characters are going through.  Even though there is an age gap between Maddie and Percy, that does not mean that they cannot go through the same types of struggles.  The entire cast just seems like they are having the best time filming this movie and that comes through with each of their performances.

The story follows a very typical three act structure with the conflict coming towards the end of the film and things working out for everyone at the end.  So many moments had me laughing to the point of tears in my eyes, but other than that, I could easily predict what was going to happen.  That does not make it a bad movie, however, just a predictable one.  However, there was one heart-warming moment that took me for a bit of a surprise that happened between Maddie and her friends Sarah (Natalie Morales) and Jim (Scott MacArthur) who are expecting their first child but struggling financially.  Other than that scene, you probably know how this film will play out.

Lawrence and Feldman having charming chemistry in this pretty standard comedy film.  Come for the actors, stay for the hear.

3/5

“Spare” by Prince Harry Book Review

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General Information:

Format Read — Audiobook

Synopsis — In his memoir, Prince Harry details his life in three main sections of importance — when he was a young boy who lost his mother, when he was a young man in the army and when he fell in love with the woman the press hated from the very beginning.

Review:

I have never really been a big fan of the Royal Family — I do not care either way for or against them — but I am always down to read a memoir with potential family drama in it.  I also wanted to listen to it on audiobook as I am a sucker for a memoir read by the author.  The only things I have really know about Prince Harry is what the media and press puts out about him.  Because of his family’s past, I wanted to hear from his perspective of everything that has happened to him.  But his memoir, while I like how it was divided into three parts, adds nothing new or interesting to this traditional genre and needed to be edited down as it began to drag in multiple places.

What I liked most about Harry’s book was that he decided to break up his pretty eventful life into three major eras.  When you have a life like his and try to talk about as much of it as you can, breaking it up can help your reader.  That was what kept me invested into his story; I always knew a new chapter of his life was coming up next.  That is an interesting way to divide and conquer your story and that helped Harry with the story he wanted to tell.  But I wish that along with breaking it up into different parts of his life that he did something like Jeanette McCurdy and speak from the perspective of him at those ages.  Instead of having his current voice reflect back on his time as a child, if he approached this section by writing from a more child-like voice or style of writing, that would have made this a more interesting memoir.  Without that, you just have someone doing the bare minimum for what is required for this type of novel.

It is interesting to hear about goes on on the opposite side of the tabloids.  People take everything they see online as the true and only fact, but most of the time, there is so much more to the story.  What I liked about Harry’s book was that he was not afraid to get personal about how some of the stories told by the media affect his life.  I think that was the general premise for Harry writing this memoir — to get his voice out there.  He is still pretty young and can accomplish a lot more in his life but now he felt was the time to release it.  There have been enough false or dangerous statements made about him and his family, I would want to put out my truth as soon as I could too.  But even if that is the case, that does not mean you need to add every small detail of your life.  This was not a “Buckingham Palace Tell All” like some people may have wanted, but it was still too long.  As intrigued as I was I got easily bored with all of the small details he felt like needed to be in there and that is when I checked out.  Interesting stuff did pop up here and there, but it took a lot to get to those parts.

If you are a fan of the Royal Family or want to know some more details about Prince Harry’s life, this is the book for you.  But as an average-knowledgeable person like myself, you will learn some interesting stories but they will be covered by pages of not needed details. 

3/5

“Jagged Little Pill” Review

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General Information:

Production — North American Tour

Cast — Heidi Blickenstaff (MJ Healy), Chris Hoch (Steve Healy), Lauren Chanel (Frankie Healy), Dillon Klena (Nick Healy), Jade McLeod (Jo Taylor), Allison Sheppard (Bella Fox), and Rishi Golani (Phoenix)

Venue — Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, MA

Synopsis — With songs from Alanis Morissette’s album of the same name, “Jagged Little Pill” tells the story of the Healy family, who seems perfect on the outside but their lives are shaken up and their hidden truths are revealed to the world.

Review:

As a little post-school year treat to myself, I got tickets to the latest show in the Broadway in Boston series “Jagged Little Pill”.  Ever since seeing “Beetlejuice” at the same venue a month earlier, I have been inspired to see live theater shows again.  A fan of musical theater, it was a good feeling heading back to the place that I spent my young years in.  There are so many great shows all around the country, so do not think that you have to be in New York City to see great musical theater.

“Jagged Little Pill” is a jukebox musical, where all of the songs are from the Alanis Morissette album of the same name.  Jukebox musicals can either be fan favorites or a theater goer’s worst nightmare.  Because the music and lyrics are already written, the playwriter (Diablo Cody) has to form a story around the songs themselves instead of creating songs alongside the story that is being written.  Depending on the story you are trying to tell, this can either work easily for you or against you.  “Jagged Little Pill” I think is the perfect example of a mix of good and bad choices.  The story itself I think is wonderful; it tells of a family who wants to present well to those around them but are suffering on the inside, going against their “perfect” image.  There are a lot of present day messages that are told so a general audience can listen and understand them.  However, at certain points it seemed like the creatives wanted to plug a song in just to hit a certain number in their production.  The story felt interrupted when these songs would come up and I think the show would have flowed a little bit better with the omission of a few songs.  This musical also made me realize how many of Morissette’s songs I was familiar with and how empowering they can be when put with modern situations like the musical does.

  Everyone in the cast was so enjoyable to watch.  You could tell this was not Heidi Blickenstaff’s first go at the tole of MJ, as she is the heart and soul of the production.  Lauren Chanel as her adopted daughter, Frankie, is another performance that stuck with me until way after the show.  But the absolute standout that deserved all of the cheering and applause they got at my show was Jade McLeod as Jo.  Best friend and girlfriend of Frankie, McLeod brings the humor the show asks for but their vocals are phenomenal.  Their rendition of “You Outta Know” is a showstopper and can only be performed and executed by someone with vocal chops like McLeod.  They are the reason why you should see this musical, along with the great performances by their fellow castmates.

The sets are what I expect modern Broadway to be transitioning to.  There were neon lights and moving screens to represent where each of the scenes were taking place.  It was something I had not seen done on stage before, but it was interesting to use as it matched the present day tone of the show.  There were also a lot of furniture and bigger pieces — like school desks and swing sets — that were on wheels, making for fun watching musical numbers.  Simple sets compared to “Beetlejuice”, but perfect for this type of show.

If this tour makes it to a city near you, I highly recommend checking it out.  With its standout cast to familiar musical numbers, it is made to be enjoyed by any type of theater goer, no matter if this is your first show or your tenth.

4/5

“The Flash” Movie Review

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General Information:

Directed by — Andy Muschietti

Starring — Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/The Flash), Sasha Calle (Kara Zor-El/Supergirl), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Ron Livingston (Henry Allen), Maribel Verdu (Nora Allen), and Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne/Batman)

Synopsis — Based on the comic book storyline “Flashpoint”, Barry Allen realizes he can use his superspeed to travel back in time to save his parents, but he learns the consequences of what happens with you mess with time.

Where to Watch — In Theaters and VOD

Review:

Going into this movie, I was not necessarily a fan of the DCEU but I did not have anything against it.  I like superhero movies even though I got into them pretty late for “traditional” fans.  But my boyfriend is a DC comics and movies enjoyer, so I checked this out with him.  “Flashpoint” is one of his favorite storylines and he was excited to see it on the big screen.  This is a good movie to watch if you are a casual superhero fan or know next to nothing about the DECU like myself.

I am familiar with the present day iterations of the famous DC characters, but Barry Allen was the character I knew least about.  If you want to know more about how the Flash came to be, this is the perfect movie for that.  When you hear something is a part of a cinematic universe, it can be intimidating trying to catch up.  But as someone who was in this position, I think the high point of this movie is the fact that it is not only an origin story with heart, but that no matter how many movies you have or have not seen, you will not be lost with the story.  Nowadays, that can be hard to come by.

The story had its high moments, especially when  it came to Barry and the moments between his parents.  But other than that, it was your typical superhero flick.  It was a lot of fun to have the two Barrys of different universes banter with each other but they do not really branch too much past that.  The same goes for the acting.  Some were fun to watch, but you could also tell that some people did not really want to be there.  I am hoping that with James Gunn at the head, we keep Sasha Calle as Supergirl, as she was my favorite performance outside of the lead.  We were able to get a little bit of her backstory with this movie, but I want her character to be explored more.  Hopefully,  Gunn is on the same page as me.

With the typical story with some funny and heartfelt moments with uneven performances from the cast, this was an occasional enjoyable movie but littered with stereotypical superhero clichés that make it just a pretty average movie. 

2.5/5

“White House Plumbers” TV Series Review

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General Information:

Created by — Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck

Starring — Woody Harrelson (E. Howard Hunt), Justin Theroux (G. Gordon Liddy), Lena Heady (Dorothy Hunt), and Domhnall Gleeson (John Dean)

Synopsis — Based on the novel “Integrity” by Egil and Matthew Krogh and the real life events that took place, we follow the masterminds of the Watergate break-in during the Nixon presidency, doing whatever they could to secure the president’s upcoming reelection.

Where to Watch — Miniseries on Max

Review:

One day, I saw my boyfriend watching the first episode of “White House Plumbers” and I asked him about it.  He said it was about the people behind the famous Watergate scandal.  Now, I was not a huge history buff in high school but I knew that this scandal was the reason Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.  That was as in depth that we really seemed to go into (or at least that is what I gathered from school), so I was down to see what happened.  Turns out, this was a lot more complex than I had originally thought nearly 10 years ago in the classroom.

This miniseries adds nothing too original to the biopic-style of show, but the reason why I found this so entertaining was because of the acting.  Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux star as the main idealists behind the break-in and their chemistry on screen is amazing.  Theroux is a riot as Liddy to the point where I could not stand his character.  Harrelson and Theroux are great when they have their individual scenes throughout the show, but it is when they are together that makes the show thrive.  Lena Heady as Harrelson’s wife is also another scene stealer; I did not even recognize that I was watching Cersei Lannister at first because she was so deep into this role.  Her and Harrelson also work well together — you believe them as a struggling couple but they need to keep it together for the sake of their family.  Their children — Saint John (Liam James), Lisa (Zoe Levine), David (Tre Ryder) and Kevan (Kiernan Shipka) — also each have the opportunity to stand out and give us more of a background of how the Hunt family operates.  And everyone’s favorite best girlfriend, Judy Greer, is here as Theroux’s wife Fran and she is bringing all of the Judy Greer-ness that you can expect from her.  Everyone works so well together it makes the show worth watching.  If anything, I wish we were able to go into more depth with the characters that helped with the break-in alongside Hunt and Liddy.  Each of them were fun to watch, but if they were given more screen time, I feel as though they could have only elevated the show as they all had great chemistry with their counterparts as well.

The main format of the show is that you are not really sure if what they are doing is what actually happened.  There is a lot of secrecy between the characters that it adds to the mysterious element of the show.  Even though we are taught a lot of our history and how the government works, we will never have the full story of what really goes on behind the scenes.  This aspect also made me realize how much I either 1. did not pay attention to this lesson in class or 2. we were not taught much about the details of Watergate.  I genuinely was confused about the history behind this scandal because the show kept me questioning.  At certain points, I think it was because the dialogue can get lost with some of the scenes, but I also think it was done intentionally to give it a mysterious undertone.  While I can see some viewers may not feel this way about the format and writing, I think it worked in order to elevate the show from basic biopic to an intriguing story.

If you are a history buff or want to learn more about a mysterious part of America’s history, then you should check out “White House Plumbers.”  Even if the writing is not up to par, stick around for the chemistry between all of the characters. 

 

3.5/5