February 29, 2024 • 31 mins
Christopher Spicer is back with a mini-episode catching up on 2024 movies. Is Argylle better than its critical consensus? Is Mean Girls a worthy musical remake? What is the best of the new Netflix movies? Check out this episode for the answers.
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Episode Transcript
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They're coming to get you, Barbara. They're coming for you, Barbra.
That comes one of them. Now, welcome to the latest episode of the
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Movie Breakdown. And it has beenquite a while, quite a while since
we promised you that there would beweekly episodes. Yes, we lost our
way, and unfortunately only one ofus has found you here today. Yes
it's the rhyming Christopher Spicer. I'mhere this week, and we will hopefully
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find Scott next week, as we'llbe back with a full doozy of an
episode next week as we will actuallyhave a back and forth discussion of movies.
But I really wanted to throw ashout out and let you know we
didn't forget you, and the MovieBreakdown is still around and we are focused
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on trying to make this still thebest year twenty twenty four, the best
year of the Movie Breakdown. We'rejust starting a little late with our endeavors.
So today I'm going to be doinga quick rundown of some of the
movies that have come out in twentytwenty four that we have not reviewed yet.
And all these movies were watched quitea few weeks ago because they were
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originally being watched for an episode thatthere's going to be both me and Scott,
and life has gotten the way,my own sort of struggles with mental
health have got in the way.I have finally got some client work again,
but try to manage sort of nailingthat work and doing the best I
can for my new clients while alsosort of work life balance and all that
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stuff. I haven't quite mastered ityet, which is why the movie breakdown
has disappeared. But we did seea few movies, and these are gonna
be really quick reviews, not veryadept because, like I said, some
of these I saw way back inJanuary, and so my memory isn't the
best. But I wanted to giveyou guys an episode, let you know
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here we are, we love you, and going forward, the plan is
to do some weekly shows. Let'sstart with what I think is the best
of the batch of two twenty twentyfour movies that we've seen so far,
and that is The Society of theSnow, which is a picture that is
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actually in for the Best International Pictureat the Oscars. So it did come
out in twenty twenty three, butit wasn't available for us until this year.
So I'm kind of as a twentytwenty four movie because it got released
in twenty twenty four. Last yearwe reviewed the movie Alive, and this
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picture is a new version of that. It's not necessary remake of that movie,
but it's still based on the sameevents, which is about the Hugarian
airflight that crashed out into the AndesMountains and the rugby players that basically were
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stuck up in the mountains back innineteen seventy two. There was forty five
passengers and they had to survive upin the mountains and at one point they
had to resort to cannibalism. AndI remember Alive, the big selling point
of that movie really was the cannibalismthat was directed by Frank Marshall. That
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was a big sort of epic picture, a lot of marque campaign, a
big studio movie, and this isdefinitely a picture that it's got a big
name director, Ja Berna, whohas a reputation in the movie world,
and so he has not got forhim and he is a really talented director.
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This is based off a book thatwas written in two thousand and nine
by Pablo Verichi. I'm probably completelybutchering that, but there's a big difference
between this movie and alive, andthat is alive. Like I said,
so I've had that polish and you'vegot the airplane crash. That was the
big giant special effects at this picture, I feel is really more about the
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characters. And I bought this moviedid a much better job of showing the
challenges and what happens to you emotionallybut also physically as you get in those
mountains, you're trying to survive thecold weather, you're trying to survive the
starvation, but also just the emotionaltool that does. And I think this
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picture does a better job of capturingwhat it does for these Catholic players to
have to actually resort to cannibalism,What it does to their faith, what
it does to the beliefs, whatthis whole endeavor, this whole challenge that
they are going through, what thatdoes for their faith. This picture actually
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takes a little bit of time beforethe crash to establish them a little bit,
showing them as rugby players, showingthem as sort of teammates and sort
of a bit of that bond,showing their religion, and so we connect
with these characters a little bit better. I also about there is a much
better job here of the players theoriginal movie, it's a Hollywood movie.
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They want able to look, youknow, handsome for the big screen.
I thought this picture had a betteridea of showing the toll and making them
look like they're beginning to start,making them look a bit dirty. This
picture did not shy away from lookinglike these were people that actually were survivors
and people that have been going throughover a month of hell. Also,
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it helps at this time you actuallygot South American actors here. This is
a picture with subtitles and so itfeels much more authentic. I recommend it
alive. I enjoyed a live.I think this is a better movie.
Like I said, I think itis the best movie that I've seen so
far this year, though I haven'tseen many. I mean the last movie
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I reviewed on our mini podcast afew weeks ago as Night Swim, which
I thought was awful. Only gavethat one a star and a half.
This one, I'm giving three anda half. I think it's really worth
chucking out and I think it reallyis about sort of what happens when you
need to lean on faith, whenyou have to lean on hope. The
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shifty ideas of when certain people stepup to be leaders. There's times where
there's people that were strong and thenother times where they needed someone else to
be strong and help them through.And so I think this is a great
picture about how a community bonds throughwhen you're going through those hardships, how
a community is created, and soI think it's a pretty profound picture.
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I think it. Like I said, it's much more character driven, but
there is still some great directing here, great use of sound and music.
They did a great job of showingthem mountains and studying that atmosphere, studying
the chill. There is still someaction sequences that you have here. It's
all really well done and I reallyenjoyed it. I definitely think this is
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one worth tracking down on Netflix.That's three and a half stars for me.
I also went to the theater.It's not the only movie I saw
in the theater. I saw twoother movies, and both these movies I
don't think necessarily got the best reviews, but I like them both. And
the first one is Mean Girls,and Mean Girls is a picture where they
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take a little bit of different takethan the original Mean Girls. This time
it's more from the perspective of thefriend this time around, and so yeah,
because read the beginning, they dosome narration with Janice and Damien.
This time. Damien is played byJAKEL. Spivey and Alel Cravilla plays Janice.
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That of course is the voice ofMulwana, and they sort of introduce
us to this world and right awaythey get sort of a dance number a
little Cravelo. You know, he'refrom Mojana. She's got a great singing
voice and she does a fantastic jobwith her musical numbers this time around,
and go writes someone who me andScott have champion before. She's Caddie,
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which we know is that was originallyplayed by Lizzie Lohan. She's the one
that initially came from Africa and nowthe new person at school and she becomes
friends with Dannie and Janie, butthey eventually want her to get into the
Plastics and to infiltrate that group andto see what she can find out about
them. And Regina is played thistime by Renee rap that is the person
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who was initially played by Rachel McAdams. She's a famous mean girl, the
ultimate mean girl. Avandika plays Karenand as well, you have Gretchen and
play by Babby Wood, and Ithink all the performances here are super strong,
and there is a bit of sortof fan service. There is a
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bit of them sort of trying todo those moments that you're expecting, and
I don't think it hits as wellwhen they do that type of su stuff,
because the jokes are great the firsttime, and so when they try
to sort of do as a nudgehere, it doesn't quite have the same
energy. But I do enjoy themusical numbers here, and I think it
does have a great when you wantmusic, oh you want to be of
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that fantasy, you want that color, you want that energy, and that
picture brings that. All the performancessome great chemistry. Everyone hears a lot
of fun and they play off eachother really well. Jennif Fisher is always
great to see her here. Sheis the mother of Caddy, though she
doesn't have much to do. Ithink it Gray Rice does a great job
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as sort of the lead role andthat character that eventually gets manipulated and starts
craving becoming the popular one herself.But I don't actually think she does a
great job, which she's given solomusical numbers. I don't think she quite
has that pop that energy as alittle Cravillo or Renee Rap Renee. I
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believe actually came from the Broadway versionof this, and she is really great,
and the musical number of the Reginahas really pops and so I think
I Gory sees a little flat comparedto some of the others. But I
did like some of the songs.They aren't as catchy as some of the
classics out there, and there feelsa little bit of sort of like downplaying
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things a little bit for the movie. But for the most part, there
still is enough energy here and I'ma big fan of musicals, and I
think this delivers with some of thesongs great sense of humor. It also
sort of modernizes the picture a bit, and so it definitely plays a bit
more on using what social media andthe effects of social media. This is
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a picture that is definitely sort ofpreaching on, you know, why can't
we be kinder, Why can't webe more empathetic to people? And why
do we have to be judgmental?Why can't we be more accepting of all
these people? And I think oneof the strengths of this musical is a
Janus character is more fleshed out.She has more of a backstory, You
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get to know her a bit more. Damien also, I think, has
a bit more here. Regina hasa bit more of an arc and I
think at times she becomes more sympathetic. I actually think that Karen and Gretchen
will really get underplayed in this picture, and they're not used as well this
time around. Aveka is funny asKaren, but they're just there's not a
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lot for her to do. There'snot the same gigs or it seems like
they're not as well developed as theywear their original movie. I've heard that
this one definitely gets cut a littlebit, doesn't quite out all the stuff
that's from the Broadway musical, soI would be interested in seeing that.
But I enjoyed it for the mostpart. I mean, it's not something
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that's sticking with me huge after Isaw it back in January. But if
you like musicals, you like theoriginal Mean Girls, I think you'll like
this. I give it three stars. I most definitely recommend it, and
then that moves me to my othermovie. Argyle that a lot of people,
a lot of critics, at leastseem to not like and I oll
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one hundred percent and that it's gotits flaws. And I definitely have to
say that if you're going to thismovie to see Henry Cavell or Dua Lippa
or John Cena or Aria de Bros, don't the trailers make it sell that
look like they're the stars of thispicture. They're not, but it is
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at least super talented people that arethe stars. This is a Bryce Dallas
Howard, It's Sam Rockwell picture,and for those who don't know, it's
got a bit of a romance inthe Stone vibe, which is why I
felt like I had to see it. Bryce Dallas Howard is a spy novelist
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and the beginning of the movie isa lot of fun because you see the
big action sequence with Henry Cavell atJohn Cen. It's this big, over
the top, ridiculous action sequence.But then you find out it's something that's
being written by Ellie Conway, theauthor played by Bryce Dallas Howard, and
she's got a bit of a writer'sblock, and so she's going off to
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see her parents to help her sortof finish out the novel, and then
she runs into Sam Rockwell's character,who we find out is an actual spy
who reveals to her that her novelshave been revealing real spy secrets. They've
been revealing real world events, andso there is an agency that wants to
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find out this next book. Theywant to get hold of this next book
because they think it's going to revealsome powerful secrets they need in this evil
agency is run by Brian Cranston andin Sandy ensues And yeah, there's a
lot of CGI here, but Ithink it is mixed with some stunts and
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I thought all the action secrets herewere really fun and there was some sense
of humor. There was a wackyaction sequence at the end with some ice
skates and oil, and I thoughtthat was a lot of fun. They
did some ridiculous things with cars thatmade me laugh. There was a lot
of fun shootouts. I thought allthe action sequences were a lot of fun.
There is some absolutely ridiculous twists,but that's what I want from a
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spy movie, and some of themare pretty predictable. And the movie definitely
is much longer than it needs tobe, but I enjoyed the energy.
I think Matthew vaugh for the mostpart, really brings a lot of sort
of energy and bounces the humor andthe action in his movies. And if
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you like the Matthew Vaughn stuff,you like the Kingsman, I think it
delivers a lot of that stuff,and it's just has sort of that fun
energy that gets you through and justthere's incredible performances. I really like Brian,
Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sam rockWell together. Sambrock Well is a
gem. He's a gem in almosteverything he's in and he continues to be
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a gem here and he's a lotof fun with Bryce dls Howard, and
I think he does a good balanceof sort of being that hero you're rooting
for but also bringing in some ofthe jokes. And for the most part,
it's a picture that, yeah,it's got its flaws and there's a
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lot of sort of exposition in hereand stuff, but I enjoyed the sort
of humor that's infused into the action. I thought the performances were great.
And being a writer, being acreator, I'd like that mix of sort
of using Elie Conway's imagination where sometimeswe go through what she's kind of a
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visioning and her going through her creativeprocess and then again thrown into the real
world and the idea of what wouldhappen when a creator is sort of thrown
into their own story. I enjoyedthose aspects. I like how they put
that together. This picture has astinger Mean Girls as a stinger too.
This one is trying to set upa grander universe, which I could live
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without. It's setting up a sequel, which, based on this did in
the box office, is probably notgoing to happen. But just like Mean
Girls, I'm giving this three stars. I'm recommending it. And there's something
really silly because there is a criticthat I enjoy, Chris Stuckman, who
also recommended this movie, and abunch of people basically attacked him and said,
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oh, he's become a shill becausehe's recommending this movie, and gosh
he's not. Just the biggest signof non understanding what a critic does right,
Like the best critics are the onesthat they're willing to go against the
consensus. I get it. Mostcritics didn't like this movie, But a
critics job is to explain why didthey like it or why didn't they like
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it, and why they have adifferent view. It's great to have different
perspectives, because I guarantee you there'ssome listeners right now that will not like
this movie Our Gyle, and therewill be some listeners that love Argyle,
And so I'm here to let youknow that if you want something that is
energetic and goofy but it's got somefun action and you like Sam Raquell and
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you like Bryce Dallas Howard, ithink Our Gyle is worth tracking down.
And so there you go. That'swhat I'm sticking with with that one.
And I said that I'd liked theenergy and the action in Our Gyle,
and that leads me to another toa Netflix movie now which I did not
like, which was a comedy actionthat really action comedy that really fell flat
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for me. And that is LeftAnd this is one that is another that
is using star power to sell itself. It stars Kevin Hart and it's sort
of an Ocean's eleven type deal.He's got to do a big heist.
He's gotta steal this play and thathas all this gold on it, this
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big glass heist, but this timehe is doing this heist for the government.
He's doing this for the CIA.They want him to or actually it
was inter Pool and they wanted himto. Interpol needs him to get this
heist, to steal this gold fromfrom an evil mastermind. Because of reasons
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I had no real idea of likehow them stealing this was going to save
the day, how this was goingto turn them into superheroes. But the
movie sort of just wants you togo with it. Jean Reno is the
big terrorist mastermind here, the onewho's doing all this, who is the
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bad guy that they need to takedown. He Jean Reno can be a
fun guy and could be a funvillain. He played the villain or actually
it was an additional good guy inMission Impossible, and then he turns on
Tom Cruise in the original movie.And then of course he's great in the
professional and so, I mean,he's been in movies I've enjoyed, but
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he's just completely flat here. Andspeaking of flat, Kevin Hart's a star
here. And it's great that KevinHart actually doesn't play the normal Kevin Hart
here. It's not the normally whiny, screechy, screaming over anxious Kevin Hart.
But unfortunately he then just plays areally flat, dry, dull Kevin
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Hart. There's no energy here.It's crazy that you have SODA's charismatic as
Kevin Hart and he just plays Ithink he's trying to play swab and confident,
but it's just such flat and he'sso he's such an uninteresting character,
but he's got no chemistry with Gigiand Batha Raw, who I absolutely love
in most of the movies she's beenin, I've championed her on this show.
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I think she's fantastic. She's theagent that then has to team up
with Kevin Hart Interpol agent, butthere's just no chemistry. There's supposed to
be a romance here and you don'tbelieve it, and there's not much for
her to do here. Sam BrayAlthington, Sam Worthington. Sorry I don't
know who Rothington is, but Worthington, he's sort of the boss and kind
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of the jerk but for Interpool,and he doesn't really do much in this
movie. Visit Donofrio is doing somethingkind of weird. He's kind of in
his own movie, but that atleast makes him kind of a little bit
more interesting than some other people.And then we've got the safecracker who is
called magnus who's played by Billy Magnuson, and he's kind of fun and he
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seems to be sort of trying togo all in and make this a zany
movie. But the most part,it's just flat. It's not that funny.
There's no action sequence in here thatseems fresher unique. It just seems
such by the numbers. And that'swhy I think I recommended Argyle, because
there's a personality to the action sequences. I guess other critics didn't see,
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but I thought it had it.There's nothing here that feels fresh or different.
The action sequence just all blend together. There seems to be no stakes.
I felt this was a really disappointingflat movie. I gave Lift two
stars, and I saw this movieso long ago that I don't even know
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why I gave it two stars anymore. I guess it's the fact that,
I mean, the movie, Iguess, is paced well enough, and
it's I mean, it's well puttogether. It's got some great settings.
It's a globe trotting picture. Youdo have a great director here in f
Gary Gray, who's done action before. He's done one of the Fast and
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Furious movies. But this just feelsby the number. So yeah, I
guess it's not a horrible movie.It's just by the number and super disappointing
when you realize there's a great directorhere and some stars that normal I really
like and this one just doesn't cometogether for me. And then another picture
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is Good Grief, Good Grief,and this is sort of a drama comedy.
I gave this one a two anda half stars. And this one
is starring and directed by Dan Levy. I've never seen Shit Creek, and
so I have to admit I don'treally know Dan Levy very well. So
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there's probably a lot of listeners here. They are big Dan Levee fans,
and I've mean, I haven't reallyseen him before. This was sort of
my first experience with him. ButI do know some of the other cast.
A Miss Patel who was in Yesterday. He plays one of the best
friends of Dan Levy. Ruth Nega, who has been in a few pictures
of the last few years, anothergreat actor, and there's sort of his
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two buddies. What happens here isDan Levy at a Christmas party. His
boyfriend Oliver played by Luke Evans,is going to take a flight he has
to go to a book signing he'sa novelist, and he gets a car
accident on the way there and hedies. And so we have a year
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later where Dan Levy is sort ofworking through this grief and he finally reads
the card that Oliver left him andhe finds out that he was cheating on
him, And so this picture isabout Mark played by Dan Levy, sort
of trying to come to terms withthat and work through things of sort of
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the choices he's made in his lifefor Oliver and working through even like the
loss of his mother from the pathand sort of dealing with grief. And
he eventually goes on this rope withhis two friends, but then not knowing
that basically he's going to the apartmentthat his ex boyfriend is using to meet
with his lover and he wants togo there confront that and figure through that.
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And I enjoy the sort of blendof humor with drama here, and
I think the two friends are interestingcharacters. What I think though, the
friends really get pushed aside, andthey have their own arcs and they have
their own sort of issues, butthe picture barely explores that it's really just
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focusing on the Mark character, andI think that sometimes hurts the picture from
really feeling kind of fleshed out andtruly nuanced. And I think sometimes the
humor does it quite always balance withthe drama moments. Mark gets another sort
of romantic He has a romance thathappens, and I just don't think totally
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works. And I don't think thatthe supporting character storylines totally feel explored.
I never quite understood everything I wasgoing with Sophie, and there's some interesting
arcs here that I don't quite thinkit filled. There's also I think a
few interesting directing choices, the sortof sometimes how they use some of the
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shots and some of the close upsthat that I think kind of hurts the
immersion of the picture or hurts thetension of the moments. This is Dan
Levy's first sort of feature film directing, and so I think he's got potential
to make some greater movies. Thiswas his first STAB and it did totally
work for me. But I meanit is well paced, it's got some
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powerful moments, it's got some gooddrama. I think it does really talk
about loss and how you can carrythose burdens, and it talks a bit
about sort of using your friends andyour creative process as ways of healing,
and so I like those messages.I like those stories, and so I'm
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giving it two and a half,which under our podcast rules is not a
full on recommendation, but I thinkit is. It's an interesting movie,
and I forgot to do our nomore shout out to kick off the show,
which is meaning that this show isbrought to you by a Speaker Prime.
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And one way that you can reallyhelp us with this podcast is to
listen to us through the Speaker app. It sends a little extra money and
money our way then if you listenthrough other means, So please consider the
Speaker app and thank you to thefine people at Speaker. Of course,
(27:56):
like I said, we are playingon being back next week, but if
you want to get in touch withus, if you have any thoughts on
the movies are reviewed this week,tell me how I'm wrong, or let
me know you missed me, orwhatever you want to do, you can
contact us through Gmail at Themovie Breakdownat gmail dot com. We've been on
(28:17):
Twitter for years. It's called xnow, but I'm gonna call it Twitter
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(28:41):
You can subscribe and rate us onSpreaker, Spotify, cast Box, Helple
Podcasts, Amazon Music, or whereverelse you listen to your podcast. Please
rate inscribe to us. It helpsus in the rankings, it will help
us grow as a podcast. Andanother way you can help me out is
checking out my website Beyond the Belk, and I've posted something every day this
(29:07):
year, but a lot of ithasn't necessarily been super substantial. The plan
is definitely to start getting mover reviewson here and more pop culture discussion and
that stuff. I'm gonna have somethingposted very soon about my musical theater experience
being the Beast that we did backin December, and so there will be
(29:30):
a piece on that up soon.I do talk a bit about Everett.
He did Pirts up his Aunts backin January, so there's a piece on
that as well, and there willbe reviews I plan on reviewing Dune,
so that should be up there bythe end of this week when it comes
out, and speak of Dune,that's gonna be one of the movies re
(29:51):
review next week on the podcast.When I come back next week and Scott
will finally return his first time hereis Dulcet Tombs in twenty twenty four and
we will be reviewing Dune Part two, the big anticipated sequel. We're also
going to be reviewing the latest AdamSandler movie. I'm really interested in this
(30:15):
one called Spaceman, and of coursethis has been waiting for one of our
listeners has been waiting a long timefor this. We also will be reviewing
Rebel Moon Part one, a Childof Fire, so you've got that going
for you as well. We aregoing to pay tribute to Carl Weather Weather's
Paulo Crete himself and as well asNormous Norman Jumas Jewison who gave us a
(30:40):
few great musicals like Filler on theRoof and Jesus Christ Superstar, so we'll
be paying tribute to those greats aswell as movie reviews, so you can
check all that out next week,So please come back next week when they'll
be two hosts and we'll be doingthis the way it should be. But
thank you so much for listen tome right now. I wish you a
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wonderful rest of the week, andof course, as always, have a
great week. Act though movies
They're coming to get you, Barbara. They're coming for you, Barbra.
That comes one of them. Now, welcome to the latest episode of the
(00:35):
Movie Breakdown. And it has beenquite a while, quite a while since
we promised you that there would beweekly episodes. Yes, we lost our
way, and unfortunately only one ofus has found you here today. Yes
it's the rhyming Christopher Spicer. I'mhere this week, and we will hopefully
(00:59):
find Scott next week, as we'llbe back with a full doozy of an
episode next week as we will actuallyhave a back and forth discussion of movies.
But I really wanted to throw ashout out and let you know we
didn't forget you, and the MovieBreakdown is still around and we are focused
(01:21):
on trying to make this still thebest year twenty twenty four, the best
year of the Movie Breakdown. We'rejust starting a little late with our endeavors.
So today I'm going to be doinga quick rundown of some of the
movies that have come out in twentytwenty four that we have not reviewed yet.
And all these movies were watched quitea few weeks ago because they were
(01:45):
originally being watched for an episode thatthere's going to be both me and Scott,
and life has gotten the way,my own sort of struggles with mental
health have got in the way.I have finally got some client work again,
but try to manage sort of nailingthat work and doing the best I
can for my new clients while alsosort of work life balance and all that
(02:07):
stuff. I haven't quite mastered ityet, which is why the movie breakdown
has disappeared. But we did seea few movies, and these are gonna
be really quick reviews, not veryadept because, like I said, some
of these I saw way back inJanuary, and so my memory isn't the
best. But I wanted to giveyou guys an episode, let you know
(02:28):
here we are, we love you, and going forward, the plan is
to do some weekly shows. Let'sstart with what I think is the best
of the batch of two twenty twentyfour movies that we've seen so far,
and that is The Society of theSnow, which is a picture that is
(02:51):
actually in for the Best International Pictureat the Oscars. So it did come
out in twenty twenty three, butit wasn't available for us until this year.
So I'm kind of as a twentytwenty four movie because it got released
in twenty twenty four. Last yearwe reviewed the movie Alive, and this
(03:13):
picture is a new version of that. It's not necessary remake of that movie,
but it's still based on the sameevents, which is about the Hugarian
airflight that crashed out into the AndesMountains and the rugby players that basically were
(03:36):
stuck up in the mountains back innineteen seventy two. There was forty five
passengers and they had to survive upin the mountains and at one point they
had to resort to cannibalism. AndI remember Alive, the big selling point
of that movie really was the cannibalismthat was directed by Frank Marshall. That
(03:57):
was a big sort of epic picture, a lot of marque campaign, a
big studio movie, and this isdefinitely a picture that it's got a big
name director, Ja Berna, whohas a reputation in the movie world,
and so he has not got forhim and he is a really talented director.
(04:18):
This is based off a book thatwas written in two thousand and nine
by Pablo Verichi. I'm probably completelybutchering that, but there's a big difference
between this movie and alive, andthat is alive. Like I said,
so I've had that polish and you'vegot the airplane crash. That was the
big giant special effects at this picture, I feel is really more about the
(04:46):
characters. And I bought this moviedid a much better job of showing the
challenges and what happens to you emotionallybut also physically as you get in those
mountains, you're trying to survive thecold weather, you're trying to survive the
starvation, but also just the emotionaltool that does. And I think this
(05:09):
picture does a better job of capturingwhat it does for these Catholic players to
have to actually resort to cannibalism,What it does to their faith, what
it does to the beliefs, whatthis whole endeavor, this whole challenge that
they are going through, what thatdoes for their faith. This picture actually
(05:30):
takes a little bit of time beforethe crash to establish them a little bit,
showing them as rugby players, showingthem as sort of teammates and sort
of a bit of that bond,showing their religion, and so we connect
with these characters a little bit better. I also about there is a much
better job here of the players theoriginal movie, it's a Hollywood movie.
(05:57):
They want able to look, youknow, handsome for the big screen.
I thought this picture had a betteridea of showing the toll and making them
look like they're beginning to start,making them look a bit dirty. This
picture did not shy away from lookinglike these were people that actually were survivors
and people that have been going throughover a month of hell. Also,
(06:20):
it helps at this time you actuallygot South American actors here. This is
a picture with subtitles and so itfeels much more authentic. I recommend it
alive. I enjoyed a live.I think this is a better movie.
Like I said, I think itis the best movie that I've seen so
far this year, though I haven'tseen many. I mean the last movie
(06:43):
I reviewed on our mini podcast afew weeks ago as Night Swim, which
I thought was awful. Only gavethat one a star and a half.
This one, I'm giving three anda half. I think it's really worth
chucking out and I think it reallyis about sort of what happens when you
need to lean on faith, whenyou have to lean on hope. The
(07:05):
shifty ideas of when certain people stepup to be leaders. There's times where
there's people that were strong and thenother times where they needed someone else to
be strong and help them through.And so I think this is a great
picture about how a community bonds throughwhen you're going through those hardships, how
a community is created, and soI think it's a pretty profound picture.
(07:28):
I think it. Like I said, it's much more character driven, but
there is still some great directing here, great use of sound and music.
They did a great job of showingthem mountains and studying that atmosphere, studying
the chill. There is still someaction sequences that you have here. It's
all really well done and I reallyenjoyed it. I definitely think this is
(07:50):
one worth tracking down on Netflix.That's three and a half stars for me.
I also went to the theater.It's not the only movie I saw
in the theater. I saw twoother movies, and both these movies I
don't think necessarily got the best reviews, but I like them both. And
the first one is Mean Girls,and Mean Girls is a picture where they
(08:16):
take a little bit of different takethan the original Mean Girls. This time
it's more from the perspective of thefriend this time around, and so yeah,
because read the beginning, they dosome narration with Janice and Damien.
This time. Damien is played byJAKEL. Spivey and Alel Cravilla plays Janice.
(08:43):
That of course is the voice ofMulwana, and they sort of introduce
us to this world and right awaythey get sort of a dance number a
little Cravelo. You know, he'refrom Mojana. She's got a great singing
voice and she does a fantastic jobwith her musical numbers this time around,
and go writes someone who me andScott have champion before. She's Caddie,
(09:05):
which we know is that was originallyplayed by Lizzie Lohan. She's the one
that initially came from Africa and nowthe new person at school and she becomes
friends with Dannie and Janie, butthey eventually want her to get into the
Plastics and to infiltrate that group andto see what she can find out about
them. And Regina is played thistime by Renee rap that is the person
(09:28):
who was initially played by Rachel McAdams. She's a famous mean girl, the
ultimate mean girl. Avandika plays Karenand as well, you have Gretchen and
play by Babby Wood, and Ithink all the performances here are super strong,
and there is a bit of sortof fan service. There is a
(09:52):
bit of them sort of trying todo those moments that you're expecting, and
I don't think it hits as wellwhen they do that type of su stuff,
because the jokes are great the firsttime, and so when they try
to sort of do as a nudgehere, it doesn't quite have the same
energy. But I do enjoy themusical numbers here, and I think it
does have a great when you wantmusic, oh you want to be of
(10:15):
that fantasy, you want that color, you want that energy, and that
picture brings that. All the performancessome great chemistry. Everyone hears a lot
of fun and they play off eachother really well. Jennif Fisher is always
great to see her here. Sheis the mother of Caddy, though she
doesn't have much to do. Ithink it Gray Rice does a great job
(10:37):
as sort of the lead role andthat character that eventually gets manipulated and starts
craving becoming the popular one herself.But I don't actually think she does a
great job, which she's given solomusical numbers. I don't think she quite
has that pop that energy as alittle Cravillo or Renee Rap Renee. I
(11:00):
believe actually came from the Broadway versionof this, and she is really great,
and the musical number of the Reginahas really pops and so I think
I Gory sees a little flat comparedto some of the others. But I
did like some of the songs.They aren't as catchy as some of the
classics out there, and there feelsa little bit of sort of like downplaying
(11:22):
things a little bit for the movie. But for the most part, there
still is enough energy here and I'ma big fan of musicals, and I
think this delivers with some of thesongs great sense of humor. It also
sort of modernizes the picture a bit, and so it definitely plays a bit
more on using what social media andthe effects of social media. This is
(11:43):
a picture that is definitely sort ofpreaching on, you know, why can't
we be kinder, Why can't webe more empathetic to people? And why
do we have to be judgmental?Why can't we be more accepting of all
these people? And I think oneof the strengths of this musical is a
Janus character is more fleshed out.She has more of a backstory, You
(12:05):
get to know her a bit more. Damien also, I think, has
a bit more here. Regina hasa bit more of an arc and I
think at times she becomes more sympathetic. I actually think that Karen and Gretchen
will really get underplayed in this picture, and they're not used as well this
time around. Aveka is funny asKaren, but they're just there's not a
(12:28):
lot for her to do. There'snot the same gigs or it seems like
they're not as well developed as theywear their original movie. I've heard that
this one definitely gets cut a littlebit, doesn't quite out all the stuff
that's from the Broadway musical, soI would be interested in seeing that.
But I enjoyed it for the mostpart. I mean, it's not something
(12:50):
that's sticking with me huge after Isaw it back in January. But if
you like musicals, you like theoriginal Mean Girls, I think you'll like
this. I give it three stars. I most definitely recommend it, and
then that moves me to my othermovie. Argyle that a lot of people,
a lot of critics, at leastseem to not like and I oll
(13:13):
one hundred percent and that it's gotits flaws. And I definitely have to
say that if you're going to thismovie to see Henry Cavell or Dua Lippa
or John Cena or Aria de Bros, don't the trailers make it sell that
look like they're the stars of thispicture. They're not, but it is
(13:35):
at least super talented people that arethe stars. This is a Bryce Dallas
Howard, It's Sam Rockwell picture,and for those who don't know, it's
got a bit of a romance inthe Stone vibe, which is why I
felt like I had to see it. Bryce Dallas Howard is a spy novelist
(13:56):
and the beginning of the movie isa lot of fun because you see the
big action sequence with Henry Cavell atJohn Cen. It's this big, over
the top, ridiculous action sequence.But then you find out it's something that's
being written by Ellie Conway, theauthor played by Bryce Dallas Howard, and
she's got a bit of a writer'sblock, and so she's going off to
(14:16):
see her parents to help her sortof finish out the novel, and then
she runs into Sam Rockwell's character,who we find out is an actual spy
who reveals to her that her novelshave been revealing real spy secrets. They've
been revealing real world events, andso there is an agency that wants to
(14:37):
find out this next book. Theywant to get hold of this next book
because they think it's going to revealsome powerful secrets they need in this evil
agency is run by Brian Cranston andin Sandy ensues And yeah, there's a
lot of CGI here, but Ithink it is mixed with some stunts and
(14:58):
I thought all the action secrets herewere really fun and there was some sense
of humor. There was a wackyaction sequence at the end with some ice
skates and oil, and I thoughtthat was a lot of fun. They
did some ridiculous things with cars thatmade me laugh. There was a lot
of fun shootouts. I thought allthe action sequences were a lot of fun.
There is some absolutely ridiculous twists,but that's what I want from a
(15:20):
spy movie, and some of themare pretty predictable. And the movie definitely
is much longer than it needs tobe, but I enjoyed the energy.
I think Matthew vaugh for the mostpart, really brings a lot of sort
of energy and bounces the humor andthe action in his movies. And if
(15:43):
you like the Matthew Vaughn stuff,you like the Kingsman, I think it
delivers a lot of that stuff,and it's just has sort of that fun
energy that gets you through and justthere's incredible performances. I really like Brian,
Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sam rockWell together. Sambrock Well is a
gem. He's a gem in almosteverything he's in and he continues to be
(16:06):
a gem here and he's a lotof fun with Bryce dls Howard, and
I think he does a good balanceof sort of being that hero you're rooting
for but also bringing in some ofthe jokes. And for the most part,
it's a picture that, yeah,it's got its flaws and there's a
(16:26):
lot of sort of exposition in hereand stuff, but I enjoyed the sort
of humor that's infused into the action. I thought the performances were great.
And being a writer, being acreator, I'd like that mix of sort
of using Elie Conway's imagination where sometimeswe go through what she's kind of a
(16:47):
visioning and her going through her creativeprocess and then again thrown into the real
world and the idea of what wouldhappen when a creator is sort of thrown
into their own story. I enjoyedthose aspects. I like how they put
that together. This picture has astinger Mean Girls as a stinger too.
This one is trying to set upa grander universe, which I could live
(17:07):
without. It's setting up a sequel, which, based on this did in
the box office, is probably notgoing to happen. But just like Mean
Girls, I'm giving this three stars. I'm recommending it. And there's something
really silly because there is a criticthat I enjoy, Chris Stuckman, who
also recommended this movie, and abunch of people basically attacked him and said,
(17:30):
oh, he's become a shill becausehe's recommending this movie, and gosh
he's not. Just the biggest signof non understanding what a critic does right,
Like the best critics are the onesthat they're willing to go against the
consensus. I get it. Mostcritics didn't like this movie, But a
critics job is to explain why didthey like it or why didn't they like
(17:51):
it, and why they have adifferent view. It's great to have different
perspectives, because I guarantee you there'ssome listeners right now that will not like
this movie Our Gyle, and therewill be some listeners that love Argyle,
And so I'm here to let youknow that if you want something that is
energetic and goofy but it's got somefun action and you like Sam Raquell and
(18:14):
you like Bryce Dallas Howard, ithink Our Gyle is worth tracking down.
And so there you go. That'swhat I'm sticking with with that one.
And I said that I'd liked theenergy and the action in Our Gyle,
and that leads me to another toa Netflix movie now which I did not
like, which was a comedy actionthat really action comedy that really fell flat
(18:40):
for me. And that is LeftAnd this is one that is another that
is using star power to sell itself. It stars Kevin Hart and it's sort
of an Ocean's eleven type deal.He's got to do a big heist.
He's gotta steal this play and thathas all this gold on it, this
(19:02):
big glass heist, but this timehe is doing this heist for the government.
He's doing this for the CIA.They want him to or actually it
was inter Pool and they wanted himto. Interpol needs him to get this
heist, to steal this gold fromfrom an evil mastermind. Because of reasons
(19:26):
I had no real idea of likehow them stealing this was going to save
the day, how this was goingto turn them into superheroes. But the
movie sort of just wants you togo with it. Jean Reno is the
big terrorist mastermind here, the onewho's doing all this, who is the
(19:49):
bad guy that they need to takedown. He Jean Reno can be a
fun guy and could be a funvillain. He played the villain or actually
it was an additional good guy inMission Impossible, and then he turns on
Tom Cruise in the original movie.And then of course he's great in the
professional and so, I mean,he's been in movies I've enjoyed, but
(20:10):
he's just completely flat here. Andspeaking of flat, Kevin Hart's a star
here. And it's great that KevinHart actually doesn't play the normal Kevin Hart
here. It's not the normally whiny, screechy, screaming over anxious Kevin Hart.
But unfortunately he then just plays areally flat, dry, dull Kevin
(20:32):
Hart. There's no energy here.It's crazy that you have SODA's charismatic as
Kevin Hart and he just plays Ithink he's trying to play swab and confident,
but it's just such flat and he'sso he's such an uninteresting character,
but he's got no chemistry with Gigiand Batha Raw, who I absolutely love
in most of the movies she's beenin, I've championed her on this show.
(20:55):
I think she's fantastic. She's theagent that then has to team up
with Kevin Hart Interpol agent, butthere's just no chemistry. There's supposed to
be a romance here and you don'tbelieve it, and there's not much for
her to do here. Sam BrayAlthington, Sam Worthington. Sorry I don't
know who Rothington is, but Worthington, he's sort of the boss and kind
(21:17):
of the jerk but for Interpool,and he doesn't really do much in this
movie. Visit Donofrio is doing somethingkind of weird. He's kind of in
his own movie, but that atleast makes him kind of a little bit
more interesting than some other people.And then we've got the safecracker who is
called magnus who's played by Billy Magnuson, and he's kind of fun and he
(21:41):
seems to be sort of trying togo all in and make this a zany
movie. But the most part,it's just flat. It's not that funny.
There's no action sequence in here thatseems fresher unique. It just seems
such by the numbers. And that'swhy I think I recommended Argyle, because
there's a personality to the action sequences. I guess other critics didn't see,
(22:04):
but I thought it had it.There's nothing here that feels fresh or different.
The action sequence just all blend together. There seems to be no stakes.
I felt this was a really disappointingflat movie. I gave Lift two
stars, and I saw this movieso long ago that I don't even know
(22:29):
why I gave it two stars anymore. I guess it's the fact that,
I mean, the movie, Iguess, is paced well enough, and
it's I mean, it's well puttogether. It's got some great settings.
It's a globe trotting picture. Youdo have a great director here in f
Gary Gray, who's done action before. He's done one of the Fast and
(22:52):
Furious movies. But this just feelsby the number. So yeah, I
guess it's not a horrible movie.It's just by the number and super disappointing
when you realize there's a great directorhere and some stars that normal I really
like and this one just doesn't cometogether for me. And then another picture
(23:14):
is Good Grief, Good Grief,and this is sort of a drama comedy.
I gave this one a two anda half stars. And this one
is starring and directed by Dan Levy. I've never seen Shit Creek, and
so I have to admit I don'treally know Dan Levy very well. So
(23:38):
there's probably a lot of listeners here. They are big Dan Levee fans,
and I've mean, I haven't reallyseen him before. This was sort of
my first experience with him. ButI do know some of the other cast.
A Miss Patel who was in Yesterday. He plays one of the best
friends of Dan Levy. Ruth Nega, who has been in a few pictures
of the last few years, anothergreat actor, and there's sort of his
(24:02):
two buddies. What happens here isDan Levy at a Christmas party. His
boyfriend Oliver played by Luke Evans,is going to take a flight he has
to go to a book signing he'sa novelist, and he gets a car
accident on the way there and hedies. And so we have a year
(24:25):
later where Dan Levy is sort ofworking through this grief and he finally reads
the card that Oliver left him andhe finds out that he was cheating on
him, And so this picture isabout Mark played by Dan Levy, sort
of trying to come to terms withthat and work through things of sort of
(24:48):
the choices he's made in his lifefor Oliver and working through even like the
loss of his mother from the pathand sort of dealing with grief. And
he eventually goes on this rope withhis two friends, but then not knowing
that basically he's going to the apartmentthat his ex boyfriend is using to meet
with his lover and he wants togo there confront that and figure through that.
(25:14):
And I enjoy the sort of blendof humor with drama here, and
I think the two friends are interestingcharacters. What I think though, the
friends really get pushed aside, andthey have their own arcs and they have
their own sort of issues, butthe picture barely explores that it's really just
(25:40):
focusing on the Mark character, andI think that sometimes hurts the picture from
really feeling kind of fleshed out andtruly nuanced. And I think sometimes the
humor does it quite always balance withthe drama moments. Mark gets another sort
of romantic He has a romance thathappens, and I just don't think totally
(26:06):
works. And I don't think thatthe supporting character storylines totally feel explored.
I never quite understood everything I wasgoing with Sophie, and there's some interesting
arcs here that I don't quite thinkit filled. There's also I think a
few interesting directing choices, the sortof sometimes how they use some of the
(26:30):
shots and some of the close upsthat that I think kind of hurts the
immersion of the picture or hurts thetension of the moments. This is Dan
Levy's first sort of feature film directing, and so I think he's got potential
to make some greater movies. Thiswas his first STAB and it did totally
work for me. But I meanit is well paced, it's got some
(26:52):
powerful moments, it's got some gooddrama. I think it does really talk
about loss and how you can carrythose burdens, and it talks a bit
about sort of using your friends andyour creative process as ways of healing,
and so I like those messages.I like those stories, and so I'm
(27:12):
giving it two and a half,which under our podcast rules is not a
full on recommendation, but I thinkit is. It's an interesting movie,
and I forgot to do our nomore shout out to kick off the show,
which is meaning that this show isbrought to you by a Speaker Prime.
(27:33):
And one way that you can reallyhelp us with this podcast is to
listen to us through the Speaker app. It sends a little extra money and
money our way then if you listenthrough other means, So please consider the
Speaker app and thank you to thefine people at Speaker. Of course,
(27:56):
like I said, we are playingon being back next week, but if
you want to get in touch withus, if you have any thoughts on
the movies are reviewed this week,tell me how I'm wrong, or let
me know you missed me, orwhatever you want to do, you can
contact us through Gmail at Themovie Breakdownat gmail dot com. We've been on
(28:17):
Twitter for years. It's called xnow, but I'm gonna call it Twitter
and you can follow us at MovieBreakdown one and of course we have a
Facebook page at the Movie Breakdown.You can follow both those and stay on
top of the latest news of thepodcast, or reach out to us sim
and answer questions that we pose onthere, and so that'd be great.
(28:41):
You can subscribe and rate us onSpreaker, Spotify, cast Box, Helple
Podcasts, Amazon Music, or whereverelse you listen to your podcast. Please
rate inscribe to us. It helpsus in the rankings, it will help
us grow as a podcast. Andanother way you can help me out is
checking out my website Beyond the Belk, and I've posted something every day this
(29:07):
year, but a lot of ithasn't necessarily been super substantial. The plan
is definitely to start getting mover reviewson here and more pop culture discussion and
that stuff. I'm gonna have somethingposted very soon about my musical theater experience
being the Beast that we did backin December, and so there will be
(29:30):
a piece on that up soon.I do talk a bit about Everett.
He did Pirts up his Aunts backin January, so there's a piece on
that as well, and there willbe reviews I plan on reviewing Dune,
so that should be up there bythe end of this week when it comes
out, and speak of Dune,that's gonna be one of the movies re
(29:51):
review next week on the podcast.When I come back next week and Scott
will finally return his first time hereis Dulcet Tombs in twenty twenty four and
we will be reviewing Dune Part two, the big anticipated sequel. We're also
going to be reviewing the latest AdamSandler movie. I'm really interested in this
(30:15):
one called Spaceman, and of coursethis has been waiting for one of our
listeners has been waiting a long timefor this. We also will be reviewing
Rebel Moon Part one, a Childof Fire, so you've got that going
for you as well. We aregoing to pay tribute to Carl Weather Weather's
Paulo Crete himself and as well asNormous Norman Jumas Jewison who gave us a
(30:40):
few great musicals like Filler on theRoof and Jesus Christ Superstar, so we'll
be paying tribute to those greats aswell as movie reviews, so you can
check all that out next week,So please come back next week when they'll
be two hosts and we'll be doingthis the way it should be. But
thank you so much for listen tome right now. I wish you a
(31:02):
wonderful rest of the week, andof course, as always, have a
great week. Act though movies
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