I am still trying to go through Halloween, and then not looking forward to Thanksgiving, and now I already have to deal with Christmas movies? I was really trying to ignore ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ because of a couple of things. First of all – Christmas. Second, I know I saw the original movie but was it even memorable for me? I guess it was a hit, hence the sequel. But I have my Moviepass card burning in my pocket and none of the other choices really excited me so I said I might as well, even though there is a part of me that was dreading this.
But, honestly, it wasn’t *that* bad, and some parts made me laugh. I didn’t realize that a big part of the focus here is on the bad moms’ mothers, and Mila Kunis’ character’s mom is played by Christine Baranski, and anything with Baranski is worth looking at. And even though Baranski’s role is one dimensional, this is a stupid comedy so who cares. I also likes Cheryl Hines as Kristin Bell’s mother, so that was an added plus. Susan Sarandon plays the third grandmom and frankly, it is just another variation of your typical Sarandon performance – does she play the same role over and over again? As for the original moms, only Kathryn Hahn is really worth mentioning, she is totally delightful here.
I mean, if I had to pay for this movie, I would probably me less generous. But be that as it may, I have to say that even the modest audience at my screening was howling with laughter. The mostly-woman crowd ate everything was serving, so should I really judge? It looks like this film is serving its main demographic, and if this is what Christmas means to them, then by all means Happy Holidays!
How old am I that a watched a CBS sitcom? Old, for sure. I just saw the first two episodes of ‘9JKL,’ CBS’ crown jewel sitcom for this season, and you know why I think that? Well, because they had so much faith in this show that they are pairing it with ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ And this show is being ravaged by critics left and right.
It really seems that this is the new Golden Age of Television, because you really great television anywhere, and I just found a show I will be following and perhaps I will be writing about weekly. Minutes after watching this, I knew it looked and sounded familiar – it has tht familiar feel of an Amy Sherman Palladino show with a strong female character.
Thanksgiving is the official beginning of the Holiday season, so what better way to start by seeing a Christmas movie? I was not expecting much going into ‘Almost Christmas’ because I can’t remember seeing a good Holiday in some time now, but every year they keep on making them, and it seems that this one is the “urban” version of that tradition. At best, I thought this would be entertaining, but empty. But minutes into the movie, I found myself weeping. I guess that’s what Christmas means to me now – a day that starts with sadness. You would think that as each year passes by it gets better, but the sadness just deepens. But then you appreciate more and more that the little things matter most at this time of year.
Trying to keep my mind off the politics of today, I wanted to see something stupid and fun, something that will not make me think, so I settled on ‘Do Over,’ which has been described as a millennial sex comedy. I mean, sure why not, could it be worse than a Trump presidency?
‘Wild Oats’ is a wonderful idea. Just imagine – putting Shirley McLaine and Jessica Lange in a comedy (okay, even adding Demi Moore to the mix) And the premise is precious: Eva (McLaine) mistakenly gets a $5,000,000 check instead of $50,000 and she and her friend Lange decide to cash it and hide in the Canary Islands. It had such potential – kind of an American version of Absolutely Fabulous. Somewhere along the way, this film literally got lost. It premiered in Lifetime and then got a theatrical release that, obviously, bombed. But that’s not even the worst of it – the screenplay is a hodge podge of tired ideas and I couldn’t help but feel bored ten minutes into the movie. McLaine and Lange looked like they felt the same way – their performances should be higher energy but it seemed like they couldn’t be bothered as well. About halfway through, I couldn’t wait for this film to finish and felt it was a waste of my time and energy, and felt sorry both all involved here
So yes, I know everyone and their mother has raved about ‘Bad Moms,’ but somehow I never saw it, and am very late in the party on this. But better late than never, I guess. This film is from the makers of ‘The Hangover’ so it could potentially be really funny, and definitely raunchy. And it has a great cast, led by Mila Kunis, who even though I don’t think i ever saw a ‘That 70s Show’ episode, has great comedic flair. (I thought Kathryn Hahn steals the film, though) She plays a mom who one day just snaps and says eff this – the struggle to be ‘perfect’ just got into her, and fights back. She goes against an easy target – those supermoms are rife for ridicule.
Oh, I must be really old. This is the second movie in a row about young people that annoyed me immensely. I have very little patience now about their immaturity and watching it on film is making me more irritated. Hence, “Shovel Buddies,’ which stars Bella Thorne. The only reason I know who she is is because she used to date Greg Sulkin, who I think is cute and follow on Snapchat. And speaking of Snapchat, that app fuels the story in this film. Directed by Simon Atkinson and Adam Townley, this is about a young man who films his last will and testament on Snapchat – the height of stupidity. His message is that he wanted to be buried in his football jersey and under the new stadium being built. I am already annoyed – if it was so important, why didn’t he tell his parents? So his friends go on a quest to get his body, dress him in his jersey. and bring him to the construction site of the stadium. Ha ha, it’s so funny. Think of it as a today version of ‘Weekend At Bernie’s,’ with double the stupidity. Seriously, i can find so many holes in the script but I ask myself why bother? I have already wasted a lot of time with this film, and I am not spending any more.
I have always been a fan of Zac Efron, not because he is cute, and let’s face it, he is that, but I am also maybe one of the last few who still thinks he is a natural when it comes to acting. He used to alternate his commercial with some artistic choices, but lately we haven’t seen that, as he has forayed into a lot of frat-boy comedies. But we cannot deny he is the sweetest of guys. During the Olympics, we saw this when he surprised Shannon Biles, the breakthrough superstar of the games. She had confessed that she was an Efron superfan, so when he started winning those medals, the Today Show arranged for Efron to surprise her inio. It was the cutest thing.
your seats for laughing kind of comedy. He plays Dave, who with his brother Mike (Adam Devine) concocts a plan to get wedding dates for their sister’s wedding in Hawaii…and you know, hilarity ensues. This is normally not really my kind of movie. If not for Efron, i probably would have turned my nose up on this. But I do have to admit, I chuckled quite a few times while watching the film, even though I found a lot of the jokes offensive. But I give this film points for doing equal-opportunity offensiveness, so there’s that. And anything with Anna Kendrick can’t really be that bad. This film is good relaxing on a quiet night movie, and I doubt if anyone expected it to be anything otherwise.
‘Five,’ directed by Igor Gotesman, is interesting to me because it is a French film that is current, and I always liek those because they give me a sense of how people live in different places, and this one is set in the City of Lights, Paris! so C’est Magnifique! Too bad it is about French millennials, and it turns out the French kind is as annoying as American ones, in sense of their feeling entitled. Pierre Niney (he played Yves in that YSL movie) is Samuel, whose lifestyle is being funded by his rich father as he pretends to be studying to be a doctor but, really, he wants to be an actor. So he rents a fabulous Left Bank apartment with his friends until he gets caught and gets disowned by his father. So what does Samuel do? He starts dealing drugs, of course. All this is directed in a fun, light setting (Niney gets to keep his expensive wardrobe and perfectly coiffed hair) and everyone gets to have fun while this is all happening (even as they go to the ‘seedy’ part of town and one of his friends braids his hair to appear gangsta) Of course, until the party ends and since this is a French film, the tone abruptly changes in the ending. Gotesman seems to be very American-inspired, though, because there are touches of rowdy behaviour and language, as if he is imitating a Judd Apatow movie. But then again, what do I know, right? Maybe that is really what is going with French youth nowadays. These characters outstayed their welcome for me, and I wanted to smack every single one of them. But I have to say, though, it was never boring.
Luha Thoughts 