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Review by Adam Donato  Abigail Cowen as Angel and Tom Lewis as Michael Hosea in REDEEMING LOVE. From the director of xXx: Return of Xander Cage comes a period piece romance about a woman trying to escape her life of abuse and tragedy. Redeeming Love is based on a novel of the same name by Francine Rivers, a woman. The film is written and directed by D.J. Caruso, a man. The review could honestly end right there. Everything that happens in this movie is incredibly depressing and tragic. Even the parts that are supposed to feel good don’t feel quite right. Angel was bought and sexually abused as a child. As she grew older, she worked in a brothel to slowly pay off her debt so she could be free. The majority of the movie, Angel is understandably numb as her life is a tragedy in every sense. One day, a nice farmer sees her and decides that she is the one. Despite her reluctance, he buys several nights with her and even pays off her debt so he can marry her. Angel feels like she will always be who she once was and is unable to move on. Rape is an extremely uncomfortable subject and even experiencing it in suggested ways is gut wrenching. Good thing this ship is helmed by a man so audiences can truly understand what it must feel like to be a woman in this situation. The other half of the movie is watching the nice farmer relentlessly try to win the heart of this emotionally unavailable woman. While he is unwavering, she is the exact opposite. She likes him, but thinks he’s weird because he won’t have sex with her. She wants to escape with him, but is uncomfortable about her debt situation. He nurses her back to health, she tries to walk 20 miles to leave him. They share a cute moment watching the sunrise, she leaves with his brother. The romance in the movie feels repeatedly nonconsensual, despite his insistence that they not have sex. Let’s talk about sex. This is a faith based movie, right? The novel was inspired by a story from the Old Testament. The nice farmer is constantly talking about his faith. She is the opposite as she talks about how she questions a God that would allow such awful things to happen. Regardless, there’s a lot of sex in this movie. Softcore porn-esque sex. Even the poster, in that scene and in that moment they are having sex. There’s abusive sex, prostitutional sex, consensual sex and we see a lot of it for a PG-13 movie. It’s just weird that your Christian movie has an abundance of sex in it. At what age would parents think it’s acceptable to show their teens this movie? It's not educational, the themes are problematic, the subject matter is explicit, oh and it’s also not good. Probably, in part, because it’s directed by a man who makes big, dumb action movies and is named D.J.  Abigail Cowen as Angel and Eric Dane as Duke in REDEEMING LOVE. The message of the movie is, to put it politely, muddled. Having this be a tale of romance and unconditional love is weird. The tragic things that happened to Angel are real things that women experience. Why not make a movie about how a woman overcomes this autonomously? Why force in this romance that is clearly not desired by Angel for the overwhelming majority of the movie? Can she not succeed without a man saving her? He paid her debt, but being forced into a situation where you feel obligated to marry him is uncomfortable. The nice farmer makes it clear that he doesn’t want to use her for sex. All he does is shower her with love and kindness. It is repeated that it’s important to him that she chooses him. The film does an exceedingly poor job of making the resolution to this plot feel satisfying. Parents would understandably feel anxious about what ideas their young adult left this movie with.
This movie isn’t made for teenage girls, one might argue. Then who is it for? It’s too raunchy for the faith based crowd to enjoy. The romance encapsulates the poster, but is arguably not the most important plot thread in the film. Angel breaks out of this oppressive and abusive life that she was forced into and finds a way to allow herself to come to peace with her past and move forward. She does this in part through her “romance” with the nice farmer, but the quotation marks around the word romance clearly indicate that the romance in the movie is not effective. It’s not a good movie so it’s not for cinephiles. That leaves older audiences. The type of person who has nothing but time on their hands and a movie theater subscription. “It’s January, what’s in theaters? Nothing except Redeeming Love? Well, I could enjoy a nap!” Enjoy that two hour and fifteen minute nap, good sir. That’s right, this movie that accomplishes so little, does so in over two hours. To the couple that sees Redeeming Love in theaters instead of Scream because she doesn’t like scary movies, RIP. Redeeming quality, Logan Marshall Green. He seems like he doesn’t fit in the movie until you realize he’s the only actor that is really trying. His character has the only interesting arc and his scenes with Angel hold the most weight. The “special appearance” by Famke Janssen, which is an odd way to label her role in the movie, is fine. She plays Duchess and is a villain for the first act or so of the movie. Tom Lewis as Michael the nice farmer is creepy and weird, but that might be more of the writing. Abigail Cowen as Angel is solid. There’s a couple scenes where she gets in a man’s face and tells them why they ain’t shit. It’s just satisfying to see this woman go unhinged on her abusers. Just to hammer home the thesis of this review: a story that was written by a woman and is about the struggle of a woman, a struggle that is exclusive to women, is written and directed by a man. Not a high-end and prestigiously artistic man, but a man that is currently rumored to be directing the next G.I. Joe movie. Redeeming Love fails to understand what the driving force of the story actually is. The romance is cringey and almost unnecessary. It’s a faith based movie that will have parents covering their young adult’s eyes more often than not. Nothing in this movie works particularly well. The subject matter and the bloated run time make for an enduring experience. Steer clear of this misguided disaster. Redeeming Love hits theaters on January 21. Rating: 1/5
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Review by Adam Donato  Graciela (Penélope Cruz), Mason “Mace” (Jessica Chastain), Marie (Diane Kruger) and Khadijah (Lupita Nyong'o) in The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg. The 355 is a movie about a top agent who has to go rogue to complete her mission. After finding herself unable to do it alone, she teams up with other international agents to crack the case. This action thriller takes us around the globe as these badass ladies fight their way to stop a dangerous weapon from falling into the wrong hands. The movie is directed by Simon Kinberg, who is mostly associated with the X-men franchise. The only other movie he directed is Dark Phoenix, which was a forgotten disaster during the summer of 2019. While he is mostly a producer, he does have a lot more writing credits than directing. While he produced Logan and Deadpool, the only X-Men movies he wrote were X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. In fairness, he did have a story and screenplay credit on X-Men: Days of Future Past, but the deck is currently stacked against him. The crushing blow, he was credited on the screenplay for Fantastic Four. Not good. The first weekend of January is traditionally a dumping ground for low level horror fliers. Scream comes out next week. It’s usually hard for any movie to rise out of the Christmas slate shadow. Spider-Man is sure to make more money in its fourth weekend than The 355 in its first. Not to mention, it's competing with people who were late to the party on Sing 2, The Matrix Resurrections, and The King’s Man. This movie does not stand out well amongst that slate. If this was a different genre, it would stand a chance, but another action movie up against franchise recognition. That is an uphill battle for any movie, even if it’s good.  Marie (Diane Kruger), Mason “Mace” (Jessica Chastain) and Khadijah (Lupita Nyong'o) in The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg. It’s not. This is such a generic spy flick. The story is basic. None of the stars are necessarily box office draws themselves. The character developments are all cliche. It’s like a bad version of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. At least that movie had personality and the characters stand out not only because of their powers but there is ample time exploring these characters on their own before having them team up at the end. This movie doesn’t even seem like an origin for the team to go on doing other adventures. Besides Lupita Nyong’o, Chastain doesn’t have a good enough relationship that you could see them reuniting unless they were conveniently already engaged on the same mission. Their bond is not sold for this to feel like a successful team up movie.
None of the character dynamics in the movie work particularly well. There’s a romantic subplot with Jessica Chastain’s character that is so predictable. The sad part is that’s probably the most interesting dynamic relationship in the movie. Chastain butts heads with Diane Kruger’s character, but that’s standard team up movie stuff. Penelope Cruz is mostly just worried about her family, which is generally relatable. There’s a scene where the bad guy is holding a loved one of each of the members of the 355 hostage so he can find out where the macguffin is. Multiple people are killed before the line is drawn and it’s absolutely ridiculous that it goes on for as long as it does. The 355 does not have a bountiful target audience in an already daunting box office landscape AND it’s not good. Not to mention the lack of star power, behind the camera talent, or franchise recognition to put this movie on anyone’s radar. That being said, it is entirely plausible that a casual person goes to the theater looking for something new and enjoys this movie without any of the context. It’s not offensively bad, but there is nothing here for the active movie fan. Holdout one more week for Scream or catchup on something you missed over the holidays unless cheesy and formulaic action flicks are your bag! The 355 hits theaters on January 7. Rating: 1/5 Review by Adam Donato  Football, soccer, and basketball are the most popular sports in the country and it’s not even close. Wrestling isn’t unpopular like baseball or golf, both sports that require immense skill, but are widely considered boring. Wrestling is down in that NASCAR range of low brow and niche sports to watch. The WWE is desperate to stay relevant. To do that, it’s important to appeal to younger demographics to spark a new generation of fans. Hence Rumble, an animated movie about an upstart girl who drives a goofy monster to the top of wrestling in order to save her town’s stadium. This movie almost came out in theaters. The first trailer showed all the way back in February of 2020 before the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. A lot has happened since then. The least important of all things is the launch of Paramount’s new streaming service. Sign up now to watch hit films like The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Infinite, and PAW Patrol: The Movie. At least nothing big comes out this week to compete with Rumble… Target audience is an important thing to consider when talking about a movie like this. Yes, it’s nice to have animated family films that go out of their way to make a quality film that appeals to adults and children alike. Sadly, this is not one of those movies. The only type of adult that would enjoy a movie like this would be like the superfan character in this movie who tattoos Tentacular’s entire life story on his body. In his defense, he looks like he’s having a great time. That being said, remember being a child and the criteria for a movie being good was having some kind of cool monster and be filled with jokes. They don’t have to be good jokes, attempts will do. The story is like Rocky for babies. Underdogs rising up together. The two main characters don’t like each other at the start, but overtime form a bond that leads them to success. The bad guy inevitably loses due to his obnoxious hubris. The main monster finds his own way to succeed despite not fitting the mold of a traditional wrestler. All of this happens, but nothing is more cliche than when the movie closes out with a dance party.  The one genuinely great thing about this movie is the inspired choice of casting Stephen A. Smith as one of the wrestling media heads. Smith is a beloved member of sports media and is known for his passionate delivery and his absolute disdain for his favorite basketball team, the New York Knicks. Having his personality in this movie is the most entertaining aspect. His character is constantly upset about everything going on in the movie, much like the rest of the audience. Despite this praise, sports fans are sure to urge Smith to “stay off the weeeeeeeed” and not be in terrible movies like this. Enjoy that pay check, king.
It would be interesting to hear how wrestling fans feel about this movie. A large aspect of the movie is how passionate the main monster is about dance. He incorporates this into his wrestling to the dismay of public opinion. His success makes sense because dancing has applicable techniques when it comes to wrestling like footwork and balance. Also, this movie does not shy away from the concept of these fights being fixed. Dancing requires choreography especially when dancing with a partner. It gives off the vibe that all wrestling is fake. If this is true and people are just into it for the cheesy storylines and the cool action. When it comes to this movie, the action is lackluster and the story is moldy cheese. The voice cast outside of Smith is uninspired. Will Arnett is so on the nose typecast. It’s just a less funny PG version of Bojack Horseman. The writing isn’t doing him any favors either. Geraldine Viswanathan does a fine job, but her character is so unlikable. She’s always running around with no regard for other people. Ben Schwartz plays Ben Schwartz in everything he is in besides Sonic. He’s always fast talking and not caring about anything besides his social media presence. Terry Crews plays Tentacular, who is the star monster of Stoker before moving to a more opportune location. There’s even a direct jab at LeBron James thrown in there. This is so frustrating as it casts the players who leave their organizations as villains. It’s frustrating because in real life it’s the organizations who are usually the villain. Funny how a movie that feels like a product and made by an organization portrays the player as the antagonist and the organization is what needs to be saved. The kids won’t notice, but it’s sports propaganda. Rumble is bad. It’s a children's movie for children and children alone. It has slightly more integrity than The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, but is nowhere near as good as PAW Patrol: The Movie, which is made for babies. Wrestling fans might enjoy this movie, but that’s really not saying much at all. It’s uninspired and cliche. Go watch Fighting with My Family instead. Rumble is now streaming on Paramount+. Rating: 1/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  [L-R] Lucy Punch, Hardy Griffin Davis, Roman Griffin Davis, Gilby Griffin Davis, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Annabelle Wallis, Davida McKenzie, Rufus Jones, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in the drama/horror SILENT NIGHT, an AMC+ and RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of AMC+ and RLJE Films. Silent Night is the first full length picture written and directed by Camille Griffin. It’s a story about a group of family and friends who come together to celebrate one last Christmas together. The cast features some recognizable faces in Annabelle Wallis, Kiera Knightley, Matthew Goode, Lily-Rose Depp, and Roman Griffin Davis. The film is labeled as a comedy-horror, but plays mostly like a drama. Does this Christmas flick have enough to make it stand out among the rest this holiday season? This movie is actually really good. It’s reasonable to see audiences thrown off by the tone of the movie since it’s labeled as a horror-comedy. There’s plenty of dark humor in this movie, somewhat akin to that of Krampus. Also, if the movie is a horror movie, it is not your traditional jump scare horror with killers, monsters, or ghosts. It’s more scary because of the ideas that the characters discuss throughout the movie. They all know they are going to die because of a widespread environmental disaster and there’s an exit pill they each have that will assist them in ending their lives without suffering. The moral debates that are had between the characters about this situation are very intriguing. The main emotion induced from this movie would have to be sadness. So where there are elements of comedy and horror. The family drama is really where this movie shines.  [L-R] Kiera Knightley, Lucy Punch, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Annabelle Wallis, Rufus Jones, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Lily-Rose Depp, Hardy Griffin Davis and Roman Griffin Davis in the drama/horror SILENT NIGHT, an AMC+ and RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of AMC+ and RLJE Films. The performances are all very good. This is a big part of the movie’s success as it is just ninety minutes of a dozen characters locked up in a big house the entire movie. Roman Griffin Davis is certainly the biggest standout. He really burst onto the scene in Jojo Rabbit and it's exciting to see him sustain this level of quality. It’s definitely an ensemble, but the kid is given the most to work with and takes advantage of it. Goode and Knightley are both also holding their own in this movie. Their actions seem off until it’s revealed the context of the situation and from then on everything they do is so heavy. They just wanted to have one last great night. While it was funny to enjoy the disaster that is a family and friends holiday gathering, it’s depressing to see them act like this during their final hours.
The pacing of the movie is great. It’s a crisp ninety minutes and the movie is all the better for it. The writing is definitely one of the highlights of the movie. There’s a couple different subgroups at this gathering and they all have their own type of moral dilemma within their situation. Each of their conclusions feel satisfying as the ending in general is wrapped up pretty well. Silent Night is certainly a pleasant surprise of a movie. It will be interesting to follow Griffin as a writer/director to see what she does next. It’s too bad this movie is not getting a big theatrical run because it would definitely stand up among the rest and satisfy audiences. Hopefully this movie finds an audience on streaming because it is good enough to warrant viewership. It's much deeper than most other horror-comedies and a good time to watch. Silent Night hits theaters and AMC+ on December 3. Rating: 4/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  (L to R) Tina Gray as Helen, Cary Elwes as Myles, Brooke Shields as Sophie in A Castle For Christmas. Credit: Mark Mainz / NETFLIX. A Castle for Christmas is the latest in the onslaught on Christmas content coming out on Netflix this holiday season. This one sports two stars who have seen better days: Cary Elwes and Brooke Shields. The film is directed by Mary Lambert whose most notable feature is 1989’s Pet Sematary. Does this Netflix movie have the star power to make it feel like any more than a dime a dozen Hallmark Christmas movie? Shields plays Sophie Brown, a famous romance novelist who is being shredded by her fans for killing off the male romantic interest. She decides to get away from it all by taking a work trip out to Scotland so she can start writing her next project. After visiting a castle, she decides to buy it, but is confronted by the reluctant and stubborn Duke who is forced to sell his land. Now they’re stuck in the castle trying to outlast each other, but things get messy when they start to develop feelings for each other. Wow, this is one of the most cliche Christmas romances there is. Start off with a forced meet cute where they awkwardly fall into each other’s arms. He’s a Christmas Grinch and she’s going to steal his heart with the magic of Christmas. It’s sappy and cheesy content that the target demographic has seen a million times. That being said, this is some single mom’s favorite movie of the year for sure. She grew up watching Blue Lagoon and crushing on Westley from The Princess Bride. It’s the perfect movie for the type of movie casual whose standard for this movie is that it has romance and is about Christmas.  (L-R) Cary Elwes as Myles, Brooke Shields as Sophie in Castle for Christmas. Credit: Mark Mainz/Netflix © 2021 Speaking of moms, the movie starts off with an odd cameo from Drew Barrymore. Sophie Brown makes an appearance on Barrymore’s real life talk show promoting her latest book. Barrymore chastises Sophie for killing the male love interest. Sophie responds by asserting her power over these characters insisting that she could kill him in a variety of different ways. Credit where credit is due, this is so over the top that it’s decently funny. The rest of the movie does not have this kind of energy. The special effects are hopefully a symptom of the low budget, but nobody is watching this for the effects. The cliche third act conflict is completely ridiculous and is resolved in the most insignificant way possible.
There’s an audience for this movie, but it’s certainly not anybody who takes film seriously in any capacity. It’s perfectly serviceable for what it is and it does help that the leads are a couple has-beens instead of two no name actors. This story has been told a million times and it’s not even a good one. Steer clear of this Christmas dud. A Castle for Christmas is now streaming on Netflix. Rating: 1/5 Review by Adam Donato  HENRY LAWFULL as NIKOLAS. © 2021 Netflix US, LLC - Studiocanal SAS. These days, Netflix churns out Christmas movies like it’s the Hallmark channel. The latest comes from Gil Kenan who switches holidays after directing Monster House and Poltergeist. The supporting cast is where it’s at with this movie. Maggie Smith, Toby Jones, Sally Hawkins, Kristen Wiig, Joel Fry, Jim Broadbent, and Stephen Merchant all get a chance to shine in this movie. Newcomer Henry Lawfull comes off a minute role in the Les Miserables TV miniseries to star in this movie. Lawfull plays a boy named Nikolas who goes on an adventure with his pet mouse to find Elfhelm and bring back hope. All of this is a story told by Smith’s character to Fry’s children on Christmas Eve. This cliche is very tired and feels entirely unnecessary in connection to the story. It’s nice to have Smith as the narrator throughout, but everytime the movie cuts back to real life, the pacing comes to a grinding halt. The story within the story is also not very fresh. It’s saved by good performances and solid special effects.  (L-R) Henry Lawfull as Nikolas and Kristen Wiig as Aunt Carlotta. Cr: © 2021 Netflix US, LLC - Studiocanal SAS. The tone is the weirdest part of the movie. It’s a Christmas movie so it is supposed to be a generally feel good type of movie. It’s obnoxiously sad throughout the majority of the movie. It deals with the loss of parents with Christmas as the solution. They heavily rely on Merchant as a talking mouse for the majority of their comic relief. Seldom is he at all funny and is the most cringe character in the movie. Besides that, the movie is too dark for its own good.
Obviously, the story is an origin for Santa Claus. There’s a million of these and while this one is certainly well made, it doesn’t stand out well at all. It takes way too long for the adventure to get off the ground. When it’s time for the third act, it feels like there is a severe drop in the stakes. Yes, the goal of the story is to bring back hope to the people, but the main character shows zero affinity for his town or his people. Why anything happens at the end feels less of a natural progression of the characters in the story and more of a shoehorned fulfillment of the tired origin story. It’s really not that bad at all. The supporting cast is enough to keep this Christmas flick afloat. There’s a lower bar for Netflix movies as it’s much less of a commitment to click on an app than it is to go spend money at a theater. The target audience will surely enjoy this movie and not care about its flaws. Its prime form is to be thrown on in the background this holiday season. A Boy Called Christmas hits Netflix on November 24. Rating: 2/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  Sophia Ali “Alia” (middle) has the attention of both Rish Shah “Varun” (left) and Ved Sapru “Rahul” (right) at a party in her suburban New Jersey home in a scene from INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES. Photo courtesy of SK Global Entertainment. India Sweets and Spices is about an ambitious young woman, Ali Kapur (played by Sophia Ali), who comes home for the summer from college. When she comes back, she has to deal with tons of family drama at their seemingly endless amount of dinner parties. The film is written and directed by Geeta Malik, whose only other feature is Troublemaker, which came out a decade ago. With an official selection at the 2021 Tribeca Festival, is this movie going to lead to more opportunities for Malik and Ali? This movie is delightful. Big credit goes to Ali for showing that she can lead a movie. Her most notable credits are from television shows and a side character in Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare. She’s got personality and can handle even the heaviest of scenes in this movie and it will be exciting to see her going forward, even if her next movie is Uncharted. All of the family friends at the dinner party are completely pretentious and full of gossip. Her character is so admirable in this movie as she is constantly surrounded by such toxic energy and she persists throughout.  (L-R) Rish Shah “Varun” and Sophia Ali “Alia” meet in India Sweets and Spices store in suburban New Jersey in a scene from INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES. Photo credit: Eliza Morse. Courtesy of SK Global Entertainment. The core of the story is a very standard one, but how it explores Indian culture makes it feel fresh. The role of women, classism and arranged marriages are all some pretty interesting topics that are explored in this movie. All of these things are tackled head-on in the finale in the most satisfying way possible. Speaking of the culture, most of the characters in the movie are rich so it makes sense, but the wardrobe was beautiful in this movie. There are about a dozen family dinners, which provides ample opportunities to show off.
The movie is listed as a comedy on IMDb, but plays more like a drama. There are funny moments in the movie sure, especially when all of the tea comes to a head around the climax. Besides that, what really keeps this movie afloat is the drama. The script is where most of the responsibility lies as everything feels wrapped up all good at the end. The movie has plenty to say and plays as a wholesome good time. India Sweets and Spices is definitely a movie worth recommending. This would play really well as a streaming movie as it doesn’t sport any of the name or brand recognition that theatrical releases seemingly require these days. It’s also not heavy enough to expect any major awards appeal in a couple months. That being said, it’s a pleasant surprise and it will be exciting to see what Malik does next. India Sweets and Spices hits theaters on November 19. Rating: 4/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  Lair is written and directed by Adam Ethan Crow, who previously made The Conversation. Crow reteams with leading man Corey Johnson once again in this horror/thriller. Johnson plays a man whose goal is to prove the existence of demons. His plan is to rent out an apartment full of possessed items to an unsuspecting family and spy on them to see if anything happens. The film also stars Oded Fehr from The Mummy (1999), along with Alexandra Gilbreath, Alana Wallace, and Aislinn De’Ath. Does this indie horror have enough personality to stand out? The movie starts out like a typical horror movie and for the most part, the movie generally is. Tonally, the movie is giving off vibes of a James Wan supernatural horror film. The big difference between this and anything Wan has done, is this has a much darker sense of humor. Wan’s jokes are lighter a fun, while Lair’s humor comes off more mean-spirited. This is mostly accredited to Johnson’s character, Steven Caramore. Mercilessly torturing an innocent family is bad enough, but he doesn’t even put in the effort to be fake nice about it. Almost rapid fire with his jokes at times, especially when paired with Gilbreath’s character. She plays a lawyer named Wendy Coulson who has an extremely contentious relationship with Caramore, her client’s friend. Some of these jokes fall flat but hitting one of every three jokes works when you tell fifty of them.  The family put in harm’s way is standard, besides the parents being a lesbian couple. There’s a scene where Caramore is watching them be intimate, which makes the movie feel like it’s going in a different direction. Besides the opening of the movie showing a pretty horrific kill, the rest of the movie gives an indication that this is all a hoax. Caramore has made faking ghost stories a regular trait. Felt like the movie was going to become about him getting caught for spying on the family. Then when the ghost is revealed, he’s proven to be true. Not innocent, but true.
For the low budget that this movie has, the look of the monster is fairly scary. It looks like the shadow of a Demogorgon from Stranger Things. The rest of the movie looks visually sub-par, but it’s a low-budget, straight-to-VOD horror movie so it doesn’t have to look great. That being said, expect this movie to stand out among the rest as the poster is this beautiful drawing. The kills also look amazing. There’s such an excessive amount of blood and gore in this movie. It’s truly stomach-twisting to see some of the character’s guts spill out of their body. Definitely enjoyable the bravest of horror fans. Lair looks too low-budget to compete with even the cheapest of theatrical horror garbage features that come out during the slowest times of the year. But as far as straight-to-VOD horror features go, this one is sure to stand above the rest. Standard horror set-up, but with a twist. Non-traditional characters with some personality. Cheesy as the movie is, it’s a good time. Lair hits VOD on November 9. Rating: 3/5 Review by Adam Donato  Photo Courtesy of Netflix. It’s another new season for Big Mouth and that comes with a new school year at Bridgeton Middle School. It’s more of the same for the poor children as they confront a new monster this season, Hate. Nick likes Jessi, Jessi likes Ali, Missy hates all of them, and Andrew is just jerking off. Jay and Lola are on again, off again, while Matthew is starting to relapse with Jay. Love triangles galore and some songs along the way. Is the latest season of Big Mouth a standout? The season starts out with a bang and slowly declines into mediocrity. It’s not an overwhelming detour in quality, but the mistreatment of developing characters and a perceived lack of fresh ideas holds this season back. Especially in comparison to the last two seasons, which now feel like the peak of the show. Even the songs in this season feel uninspired and won’t be remembered. It’s still generally enjoyable as the jokes maintain their humor and nothing story wise is irreparable. Without spoiling anything, several characters feel like a retread of previous arcs. Nick and Jessi dated briefly in season one and that doesn’t seem to be brought up this season as Nick pathetically thirsts after Jessi again. It didn’t work before and there’s nothing that happened between then and now for it to be a natural progression of their situation. Sure, Nick found himself longing for Jessi in his future imagination during last season’s finale, but it’s just disappointing seeing this plotline be resuscitated. Similarly, Matthew drops both of the storylines that make him interesting so that he can be infatuated with Jay. This is unfortunate because the last couple seasons made a concerted effort to bolster his character into more than just a side stereotype joke character.  Photo Courtesy of Netflix. A new school year feels like an opportunity to update the characters a bit. There’s a chance for some growth. The only character that looks any differently is Missy. It feels like the show is trying to do damage control with the character of Andrew this season. He’s done some pretty irredeemable things in previous seasons and this season goes out of its way to make him more likable. His whole internal storyline is just to be more chill and in touch with his feelings. There’s a nice moment between him and his father that helps develop their relationship, but there’s also a scene where Andrew straight up pleases himself at Nick’s house right next to Nick and Jessi. Obviously this cartoon show is an exaggeration of what it’s like to be a horny teen, but it's reasonable for people to lose any hope for genuinely caring about Andrew.
The show does experiment with different forms of representation as there’s an episode with puppets and other forms of animation. It is nice to see that kind of effort be put into the show. There’s a very large swing that is taken towards the finale of the season. On the one hand, it’s funny and an interesting concept to explore in this world. On the other hand, it feels lazy and lacking in emotional effectiveness. Seasons three and four both leave off feeling satisfying and thematically compelling, but this finale makes the show feel like it’s running out of steam. Maybe the show desperately needs a paradigm shift and hopefully the future transition to high school will make the show feel fresh. It’s unfortunate, but there’s not much here. The show isn’t suddenly terrible, but it is a noticeable step down in quality from previous seasons. Regular fans of the show shouldn’t not watch this season, though. It delivers enough laughs and good moments to suffice, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a drop in viewership if the show doesn’t reinvent itself soon. In the nicest way possible, this season is serviceable. Big Mouth streams on Netflix beginning November 5. Rating: 3/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  Hypnotic is the story of a woman in a rut in her life. A miscarriage led to a divorce between her and her husband. On top of that, she is out of a job. At a friend's party, she gets acquainted with a therapist who worked wonders on one of her friends. After seeing said therapist, her life completely changes, for better or worse. Directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote return to Netflix after their last collaboration on The Open House, a movie with a whopping 3.2 rating on IMDb. Pair that duo with the writer of Halle Berry’s The Call and you got the perfect movie to throw on a streaming service. More Netflix talent is in this movie as Kate Siegel from The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass stars in Hypnotic. Watch both of those shows back to back this week and Hypnotic will be sure to be on your "For You" section. Rounding out the rest of the cast is Jason O’Mara, the voice of Batman in some recent animated movies, and popular television actor Dule Hill, most known from Psych.  Hypnotic (L-R). Kate Siegel as Jenn, Jason O'Mara as Dr. Collin Meade, in Hypnotic. Credit: Eric Milner/Netflix © 2021. The nicest thing to be said about this movie is that it is serviceable. There’s nothing noticeably good here in any way, shape, or form. It’s like a watered down version of the most recent iteration of The Invisible Man. A down on her luck woman is terrorized by a rich man who wants to manipulate her into being with him with his magic powers. It’s an unworthy addition into the “Good For Her” genre, where a woman in a horror/thriller has to overcome those who seek to terrorize her. There’s certainly much better movies that could quench that thirst. Despite its flaws, there's definitely an audience for this movie, but not for those who care about quality.
The script is at times crazy. The villain’s plan is almost so bad that it’s good (almost). The protagonist is so unlikable that were the villain not so obviously evil, it would be complicated to know who to root for. It’s funny because there’s a conversation between the main character and the detective where they talk about how ridiculous the concept of the movie even is. In a way, that’s what makes this movie somewhat entertaining to watch, but unless this movie just starts automatically playing after you watched something else, then don’t watch. Movies like this are a dime a dozen. Without seeing this movie, you’ve seen it. Just switch out hypnosis with some other form of manipulation and it’s the same story. It’s fun in its ridiculousness, but there’s nothing of actual substance here. When it comes to Netflix, stick to the shows until awards season kicks in. Hypnotic is now streaming on Netflix. Rating: 1/5 |