May 17, 2024 • 5 mins
ABC's Jason Nathanson reviews the new kids' movie "IF" (Imaginary Friend) Is it worth seeing?
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
All right, Legacy Retirement Group dotcom phone line. We check in with
(00:03):
Jason Nathanson, ABC News Entertainment correspondent. Jason, it's going to be a
big weekend at the box office witha lot of families going to the movies
and the Imaginary Friends movie if isout this weekend. Good morning. Yeah,
a lot of families are going tobe checking that out. Looking like
maybe forty million dollars at the boxoffice, which is a strong opening for
a family friendly film like this,which combines live action and animation. So
(00:27):
think Roger Rabbit, right, kindof thing where you have humans interacting with
cartoon characters. But then also don'tthink Roger Rabbit because it's nothing like Roger
Rabbit. I was hoping it wasgoing to be more like Roger Rabbit,
but it definitely was not. Thisis from writer director John Krasinski. It's
about a girl who discovers she cansee everyone's imaginary friends. And that's why
if the movie I ask imaginary friends, that's what they're that's where they're going
(00:50):
there. Yeah, the girl goeson a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary
friends with their kids. Because whenyou are a kid and you have an
imaginary friend. Then you grow upand you forget about that imaginary friend.
But the imaginary friend still exists.And what does the imaginary friend do?
It just kind of lives in limbo. So she is trying to help these
imaginary friends get to the other side. Basically, Ryan Reynolds stars Kaylie Fleming
(01:15):
is the girl. You know,the voices of Steve Corell, Phoebe waller
Bridge, Matt Damon, Emily Bluntand more voicing these imaginary friends. And
you know, it just didn't workfor me. I thought it was a
bit too serious. It tried toohard to be emotional. I didn't cry
once it wanted me to cry,but it did not get there. I
can't see little kids liking it becauseit's just too slow and not wacky enough.
(01:38):
And maybe there's a sweet spot inthere for like an eleven or twelve
year old, but like, that'sit. So I don't see everybody liking
it. The hearts weren't in theright place. Not really sure though,
who this is for. And man, I gotta say, I went to
a screening with a bunch of kids. The kids in the theater were really
distracting, So, you know,parents, don't let your kids watch iPads
(02:01):
while they're at a movie. Ohwhat are you doing? Did that really
happen that I could hear the noisesfrom I'm like, why are you watching
something else? You have a bigscreen with a movie on it. Watch
that. Oh that's frustrating. Maybethat maybe that's a testament to the movie
and how it didn't capture the attentionof the kids. I don't know,
but that's really disappointing because the conceptis I think, really solid, and
(02:24):
I think you got the star parpower with all those actors and actress and
the voices. I mean, it'son paper, it looks like it's a
home run. I agree. Iagree, And I was kind of expecting
that, and I was hoping forit to be that. It just it
wasn't for me. Uh. Thisis a six point four out of ten.
Okay, it's a fifty five percenton Rotten Tomatoes, So you know,
(02:44):
some people are liking it a littlemore, a lot of people liking
it a lot less. If youdidn't have the annoying kids in the theater,
would it would you have given ita higher grade? Probably not.
I don't think that that was enoughto really affect my enjoyment of the film,
But I will say it did reallyannoy me. It really. I
don't blame you get to me.What do you going to the movies for?
Why are bringing an iPad to amovie? Jason Nathan's and ABC News
(03:08):
Entertainment also in theaters this weekend.It's the Amy Weinhause biopic. It's called
Black to Black. What's going onwith that one? Yeah? Back to
Black, which is off her heralbum, which I think was their second
album, which was the one thatgot all the attention and really made her
a superstar. And she was asuperstar was She had a fantastic voice,
(03:30):
She had a wild life that wascovered so much in the tabloids, and
eventually drank herself to death at theage of twenty seven. And this film
doesn't really get into the demons thatdrove that kind of behavior. She was
so oppositional and she you know,of course with the drinking and everything,
but we really don't learn about wherethose demons came from. And maybe they
(03:51):
didn't come from anywhere. Maybe shewas just somebody who had those demons psychologically.
Maybe there wasn't some trauma that drovethose she had a good relationship with
her parents. They were but shehad a good relationship with her dad and
her mom. There wasn't really toomuch that we saw in her past that
would, you know, lead tothese kinds of demons. There was a
lot online where the first film,the first clips of this came out and
(04:13):
people were really trashing it because ofMarisa Abaila, who plays Amy Winehouse,
that her singing. They felt thatshe just didn't live up to the legacy
of Amy Winehouse. I would sayignore if you were one of the people
who saw those and you know we'reworried about that, ignore those. Yeah,
she's not Amy Winehouse, but shedoes a fine job in this film,
and she brings a nice humanity towho Amy Winehouse was. But you
(04:36):
know, done right, this wouldbe an OSCAR nominated film. It's it's
just not quite there, and thetimeline is very confusing. We never know
where we are in her life,how old she is, what the milestones
necessarily are. This was a sixpoint six out of ten for me.
All Right, and there's a horrormovie. I don't know how you feel
about horror movies in the middle ofMay, but to me, I feel
(04:59):
like you should wait fall for those. But The Strangers Chapter one is out
this weekend. Yeah, I mean, I get that, but horror movies
have become a year round thing,and because they just they're cheap to make
and they make money. So actuallysome of the biggest horror movie openings have
been in January and February when thingsare just kind of dead, so it's
a year round thing. The StrangersChapter one is a prequel to The Strangers
(05:23):
from two thousand and eight, whichwas a very successful film, and this
is kind of trying to restart thatfranchise. I didn't get a chance to
see it. I'm not a hugehorror movie fan. This is getting terrible
reviews. I think it's a twentytwo percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But if
you're a horror movie fan, you'relooking for a horror then that might be
for you this weekend.
All right, Legacy Retirement Group dotcom phone line. We check in with
(00:03):
Jason Nathanson, ABC News Entertainment correspondent. Jason, it's going to be a
big weekend at the box office witha lot of families going to the movies
and the Imaginary Friends movie if isout this weekend. Good morning. Yeah,
a lot of families are going tobe checking that out. Looking like
maybe forty million dollars at the boxoffice, which is a strong opening for
a family friendly film like this,which combines live action and animation. So
(00:27):
think Roger Rabbit, right, kindof thing where you have humans interacting with
cartoon characters. But then also don'tthink Roger Rabbit because it's nothing like Roger
Rabbit. I was hoping it wasgoing to be more like Roger Rabbit,
but it definitely was not. Thisis from writer director John Krasinski. It's
about a girl who discovers she cansee everyone's imaginary friends. And that's why
if the movie I ask imaginary friends, that's what they're that's where they're going
(00:50):
there. Yeah, the girl goeson a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary
friends with their kids. Because whenyou are a kid and you have an
imaginary friend. Then you grow upand you forget about that imaginary friend.
But the imaginary friend still exists.And what does the imaginary friend do?
It just kind of lives in limbo. So she is trying to help these
imaginary friends get to the other side. Basically, Ryan Reynolds stars Kaylie Fleming
(01:15):
is the girl. You know,the voices of Steve Corell, Phoebe waller
Bridge, Matt Damon, Emily Bluntand more voicing these imaginary friends. And
you know, it just didn't workfor me. I thought it was a
bit too serious. It tried toohard to be emotional. I didn't cry
once it wanted me to cry,but it did not get there. I
can't see little kids liking it becauseit's just too slow and not wacky enough.
(01:38):
And maybe there's a sweet spot inthere for like an eleven or twelve
year old, but like, that'sit. So I don't see everybody liking
it. The hearts weren't in theright place. Not really sure though,
who this is for. And man, I gotta say, I went to
a screening with a bunch of kids. The kids in the theater were really
distracting, So, you know,parents, don't let your kids watch iPads
(02:01):
while they're at a movie. Ohwhat are you doing? Did that really
happen that I could hear the noisesfrom I'm like, why are you watching
something else? You have a bigscreen with a movie on it. Watch
that. Oh that's frustrating. Maybethat maybe that's a testament to the movie
and how it didn't capture the attentionof the kids. I don't know,
but that's really disappointing because the conceptis I think, really solid, and
(02:24):
I think you got the star parpower with all those actors and actress and
the voices. I mean, it'son paper, it looks like it's a
home run. I agree. Iagree, And I was kind of expecting
that, and I was hoping forit to be that. It just it
wasn't for me. Uh. Thisis a six point four out of ten.
Okay, it's a fifty five percenton Rotten Tomatoes, So you know,
(02:44):
some people are liking it a littlemore, a lot of people liking
it a lot less. If youdidn't have the annoying kids in the theater,
would it would you have given ita higher grade? Probably not.
I don't think that that was enoughto really affect my enjoyment of the film,
But I will say it did reallyannoy me. It really. I
don't blame you get to me.What do you going to the movies for?
Why are bringing an iPad to amovie? Jason Nathan's and ABC News
(03:08):
Entertainment also in theaters this weekend.It's the Amy Weinhause biopic. It's called
Black to Black. What's going onwith that one? Yeah? Back to
Black, which is off her heralbum, which I think was their second
album, which was the one thatgot all the attention and really made her
a superstar. And she was asuperstar was She had a fantastic voice,
(03:30):
She had a wild life that wascovered so much in the tabloids, and
eventually drank herself to death at theage of twenty seven. And this film
doesn't really get into the demons thatdrove that kind of behavior. She was
so oppositional and she you know,of course with the drinking and everything,
but we really don't learn about wherethose demons came from. And maybe they
(03:51):
didn't come from anywhere. Maybe shewas just somebody who had those demons psychologically.
Maybe there wasn't some trauma that drovethose she had a good relationship with
her parents. They were but shehad a good relationship with her dad and
her mom. There wasn't really toomuch that we saw in her past that
would, you know, lead tothese kinds of demons. There was a
lot online where the first film,the first clips of this came out and
(04:13):
people were really trashing it because ofMarisa Abaila, who plays Amy Winehouse,
that her singing. They felt thatshe just didn't live up to the legacy
of Amy Winehouse. I would sayignore if you were one of the people
who saw those and you know we'reworried about that, ignore those. Yeah,
she's not Amy Winehouse, but shedoes a fine job in this film,
and she brings a nice humanity towho Amy Winehouse was. But you
(04:36):
know, done right, this wouldbe an OSCAR nominated film. It's it's
just not quite there, and thetimeline is very confusing. We never know
where we are in her life,how old she is, what the milestones
necessarily are. This was a sixpoint six out of ten for me.
All Right, and there's a horrormovie. I don't know how you feel
about horror movies in the middle ofMay, but to me, I feel
(04:59):
like you should wait fall for those. But The Strangers Chapter one is out
this weekend. Yeah, I mean, I get that, but horror movies
have become a year round thing,and because they just they're cheap to make
and they make money. So actuallysome of the biggest horror movie openings have
been in January and February when thingsare just kind of dead, so it's
a year round thing. The StrangersChapter one is a prequel to The Strangers
(05:23):
from two thousand and eight, whichwas a very successful film, and this
is kind of trying to restart thatfranchise. I didn't get a chance to
see it. I'm not a hugehorror movie fan. This is getting terrible
reviews. I think it's a twentytwo percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But if
you're a horror movie fan, you'relooking for a horror then that might be
for you this weekend.
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