Quick Review: Since the first two coupled Stacy and Margaret, "TPS 3" had no choice, but to 'romance' Fiona too, which it does through a MI-style 'rescue the Christmas star' plot - and it's just as corny as you'd expect, but at least the holiday spirit is still there, the royal interiors are still sparkly, and Hudgens still does a fair job in a fun triple performance that is amusing to watch, plus, the movie ends up on a sweet note with a 're-connection' finale.
Quick Review: A hackneyed gay Christmas romance in which every single character is smiley, positive, amusing, and wildly likable, which is cheesy enough in itself, "Single All the Way" is without a doubt a very pleasurable and feel-good holiday rom-com about a small town queer in search of a proper relationship, but the whole scenario is so corny, mawkish and painfully predictable, it will rather make you roll your eyes, rather than melt your heart, despite its utterly charming cast.
Quick Review: Yes, director Simon Barrett certainly has visual flair, as he sets a spooky atmosphere from the start with an 'urban legend' set up, eerie setting, and murky tone, but despite its technical merits, and some adequate acting, particularly from both Waterhouse and Smith, "Seance" turns out to be deceitful, and not in a good way, as it kicks of as a campy, potentially fun ghost story, and further on switches into a dime teen slasher, which makes you feel cheated in the end.
Quick Review: This sequel takes the Addams family on vacation, and questions Wednesday's origin, while she tries to embrace her weirdness, taking center stage, but sadly "The Addams Family 2" fails to capture the essence of its charmingly eerie characters and delivers a somewhat contrived story in a safe, stale, and uninteresting fashion, let down by wannabe witty gags that fall flat, and an animation that's neither quirky in style, nor very appealing.
Quick Review: Myers is at his most ruthless in this campy, hokey, silly, savagely over the top, and at times unintentionally funny sequel with the highest body count and gore galore in the franchise, and although "HK" will makes slasher fans happy with all those gruesome kill scenes, the paper-thin 'Everybody vs. Michael' plot, daft dialogues, tons of useless characters, and totally unforgivable waste of Jamie Lee Curtis bring this nostalgic wannabe cheese-fest to a level of sheer mediocrity.
Quick Review: A 1990s-influenced teen slasher about a 'victim's face'-masked killer who reveals the prey's darkest secrets before the murder, which also tries hard to work as a social commentary on race, gender, and sexual orientation, this one has a sympathetic protagonist and some blood-soaked deaths, but the whole thing never makes much sense, and it's too cheesy in execution to make a statement on the relevant topics it takes so darn seriously.
Quick Review: Contrived, generic, vulgar, and neither genuinely funny, nor particularly fun, as it fully relies on cynical humor instead of wit, and pompous, yet messy and unexciting action sequences, "THWB" benefits visually from the scenic European location, but fails to take advantage of its stellar lead trio due to some crude writing -- Hayek is a loud and irritating Latina, Jackson swears all the f**kin' time, and Reynolds is just too much of a goofball.
Quick Review: It's very nice to see Eddie Murphy back to his comedic roots -- he does his best with the given material and looks fresh as a daisy here, but sadly, this 30-years-later sequel, though respecting the classic original, feels too gimmicky, contrived, and uninspired to create sense of nostalgia or to deserve its existence in general, as apart from its visual grandeur, striking costume design and imposing African sets, it provides little to now fun, flat humor, and no big laughs at all.
Quick Review: All the hand-drawn animated animals are implemented real skillfully in the 'real world', and Moretz is as charismatic as always, but putting the two iconic characters in the background at the expense of a 'human' story that's neither funny, nor very fun, is both distracting and a total waste of Tom & Jerry, as the script uses them as a minor addition to the whole 'celebrity wedding in a fancy hotel' scenario, which creates a mess, but never evokes laughs or true sense of nostalgia.
Quick Review: Firth and Tucci play a longtime gay couple in this mature romantic queer drama, which follows a brief period of their relationship, during a vacation trip, with the sad part of the story being that one of them struggles with early dementia, and although the chemistry between the two leads is as believable as the affection shared by their characters, "Supernova" hardly packs a punch, in spite of some sweet and moving bits, as it feels underdeveloped and too emotionally reserved.
Quick Review: Deceitfully titled, as it's neither a sequel or prequel, nor a reboot of the franchise, with the only thing having in common with it being 'lost in the woods' scenario, "WT" aims to mix 'community' horror and social commentary, but the spin it puts is not particularly effective or disturbing, the characters too one-dimensional and unlikable to really care for and the scares nonexistent, since it relies only on violence, gore and gruesome terror, not to say how far-fetched the finale is.
Quick Review: A semi-amusing UK black comedy with a touch of stalker horror that does little in the 'laughs' department other than mocking the police, "Get Duked!" is about four teen losers who get hunted in the Scottish highlands for no reason by two masked aristocrats, and though it sounds like a lot of fun, the film is rather uneventful till the revengeful third act, while relying on its zany characters and slapstick humor to provide mindless entertainment, but it mostly shoots blanks.
Quick Review: Set in one house, featuring two characters, and shot in monochromatic black & white -- not just for visual elegance, but also to let the dynamics be on focus -- "M&M" is a minimalistic and talkative relationship drama about a couple, who fight and make up numerous times during a long, sultry and frank conversation in which the two leads display a wide range of emotions -- Zendaya is captivating and alluring, but Washington's self-centered and yelly Malcolm is irritating.
Quick Review: The fiery chemistry shared by the two leads defines the restrained passion their characters have for each other, and the acting by Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet is hard to fault, with the latter truly shining in her deeply reserved, yet captivating turn, but in spite of all that, "Ammonite" remains a sluggish and slowly unfolding 'doomed love' type of lesbian romance with bleak and depressing period visuals that displays explicit sex but never packs a true emotional punch.
Quick Review: The gorgeous royal interiors and exteriors meshed with the lavish and exuberant Christmas decorations and highly enchanting holiday atmosphere make this one a big feast for the eyes, and give it a proper fairy tale feel, but that aside, along with Vanessa Hudgens' sweet, fun and versatile triple performance, "Switched Again" is a mildly amusing and fabricated sequel offering more of the same, comically, romantically, story-wise, or otherwise.
Quick Review: Though imaginative in its visualization of schizophrenia as a condition, "Words on Bathroom Walls" struggles to find the balance between 'mental illness' drama and teenage romance, being too bright in feel, yet never inspiring, uplifting or feel-good, apart from the corny finale, and the end result is tonally uneven coming-of-age story about tough adolescence that can't cope with its sensitive subject matter well enough to touch deeply.
Quick Review: Akerman is alluring and likable as the recently divorced movie star devoted to motherhood, Dennings brings a few solid laughs as her eccentric lesbian friend, and Seymour stands out as the naughty mom, but despite its intentions to be a well-balanced dramedy that is as much about fun and games, as it's about complex relations with friends and family, "Friendsgiving" ends up being a busy and crowded holiday movie with little soul, even less wit, and lots of crude humor.
