The Stand-In: Praising And Rewarding Sociopaths

The Stand In is a comedy drama film directed by Jamie Babbit. The plot follows a disgraced Hollywood comedy star and her double switching places, both are played by Drew Barrymore.

A lot of the responses I have seen to this film have been negative, and my own was likewise inclined. I think the main issue with this film is the fact that it is mean spirited. There will be a few light spoilers here to help me make my point so be forewarned.

From how I understood the film we are supposed to root for both characters the past her prime actor and the stand in, this is hard however, when the stand in treats the real actors like trash. The stand in abuses the real actor emotionally multiple times and goes out of her way to sabotage her life so she can get what she wants, and I guess that catches up to her in the end, but it makes her deeply unlikeable.

The jokes here don’t work, but as I always say comedy is subjective. I found the film to be more of a drama than a comedy especially towards the midpoint of the film, it felt to me more like a commentary on stardom and what comes after. The jokes again feel mean spirited and at the expense of someone who clearly has problems which makes them hard to laugh at.

Finally, I don’t like seeing T.J Miller in the film, mainly because he isn’t funny at when he tries to be it goes horribly the other way, but also because he is a terrible person and should not be cast.

Overall, this is the definition of a misfire.

Pros.

Barrymore is trying

Cons.

It is misguided

It is not funny

It is meanspirited

Casting T.J Miller

0.5/5 (Close to a zero, but Barrymore saved it)

Reviewed by Luke

Blood Vessel: If There Is One Thing We Know It Is That Nazi’s Love The Occult

Blood Vessel is a horror film directed by Justin Dix. The plot sees a group of survivors adrift at sea during the closing days of WW2, they have abandoned hope of being rescued that is until they find a deserted Nazi war ship pass them by.

This film is a perfect example of subverting expectations in a smart way. When I first put this film on, I thought that it was going to be a ghost ship and that one of the survivors would probably go crazy and start hunting down the rest, turning the film into a sea-based slasher film. However, there is a reveal midway through the film, that I won’t spoil as I think it is worth seeing fresh, that totally takes things in another direction.

The lore of said reveal is quickly set up and is surprisingly in-depth, the film manages to tell us a lot about what is going on and who is doing it without giving us a lot of boring slow exposition. The gore and the kills are strong, gore fans will be pleased to hear, with an excellent and bloody final showdown to boot; the ending itself perfectly sets up a continuation of the horror.

My one complaint would be that none of the characters were particularly interesting and for the most part felt like standard war time cliches.

Pros.

The horror

The reveal

The lore

The ending

Cons.

The characters are all quite forgettable

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Saw 5: A Breaking Point

Saw 5 is a horror film directed by David Hackl. The plot sees Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) latest apprentice Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), go on the offensive when his secret looks like it is about to be exposed to the authorities.

This will be the last Saw film I will review, at least for a while, as everything I once liked about the series is dead and gone by this point. What remains is a hollow shell filled with exploitative shocks and gore that act as a desperate last attempt to reignite and in some cases retain audience interest in the series.

The gore and the traps have long since become repetitive and samey, though they might be slightly different from the last film, we have seen these traps before we know how they play out- the surprise is gone. The same can be said for the twists. Naturally, as with the other films there is a twist towards the end of the film and what was once a smart narrative tool that made you think the whole film is now just dumb and confusing.

I truly do believe that killing off Jigsaw was the worst thing that this series did to itself, as the apprentices that came afterwards just couldn’t live up to or hope to compete with Jigsaw and Bell’s terrific performance. Equally, the ever-brief flashbacks only serve to show us what we are missing out on by teasing us with more Jigsaw before taking it away once again.

Overall, this film represents everything wrong with the Saw franchise and the sequel in general.

Pros.

It is watchable if you have low standards

Cons.

It is dumb, any of the intelligence that was there during the first few films is truly dead

The gore and the traps feel played out and done for desperate attention

A lack of Jigsaw and Bell

The apprentices are incredibly dull and underdeveloped as characters

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Climax: Dance Until You Fall Down

Climax is a French psychological horror film directed by Gaspar Noe. The plot revolves around a dance troupe that unknowingly ingests LSD during an after-performance party, from their things quickly spiral out of control.

This will not be for everyone; I can’t stress that enough. Personally, I found it quite hard to get through and did almost turn it off a few times.

My main reason for this was the lack of any kind of narrative. Other than the dancers ingesting the drugs there is no real sense of plot from there on out, events happen, but they all feel disconnected and isolated perhaps by design. As well there are long drawn out dance sequences which border on the tedious frequently throughout the film and it makes the film a slog to get through.

There are a few tense scenes, such as when the kid dies or when the angry mob almost makes one of the girls kill herself. However, the issue with these scenes is that though well executed because they are so removed from everything else and almost abstract they lose all kind of meaning.

Moreover, don’t even get me started on the ending which is as smug and pretentious as you can get.

Overall, from my perspective this film has a lot of issues, however these issues seems deliberate, so, maybe someone lese with different cinematic sensibilities would like this film, but personally I found it a confusing, pretentious, mess.

Pros

Sofia Boutella

A few tense scenes

Cons.

It makes no real sense

The lack of a coherent narrative really hurts it

The ending is incredibly pretentious

It feels deliberately confusing

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Santa Claus: Assuming An Identity

The Santa Claus is a Christmas family comedy film directed by John Pasquin. The film sees a business man (Tim Allen), accidentally kill Santa Claus and then assume this identity and responsibilities, meanwhile he is fighting a custody battle with his ex-wife.

I truly do think that Tim Allen makes this film, he pulls of the charming everyman well and when he becomes Santa Claus he plays him with enough warmth and light that it is a near perfect incarnation of everything that entity stands for.

I enjoyed the darker undertones of the story, that you can see just from my slight plot description. I don’t know whether these were intentionally or just an unintended by product, but regardless it gave me something to laugh at during the film; I would guess it was more likely deliberate as these darker moments carry over into the sequel as well (review coming soon).

My one complaint would be that the custody plotline is not needed. There is already a lot going on with Allen’s character transforming into and becoming Santa Claus, we don’t need another fairly generic drama sub plot as well; it just makes the film feel cluttered and bloated.

Overall, this film is a lot of fun thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from Allen as well as a focus on the lore of Santa Claus.

Pros.

The transformation

Tim Allen

The darker and more sinister moments which I found funny

Cons.

The child custody subplot

Pacing issues

The wider supporting cast add nothing

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Show Dogs: The Low Point Of Will Arnett’s Career

Show Dogs is a buddy cop comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell. The plot follows an FBI agent (Will Arnett), who goes undercover in a dog show to try and recover a missing panda. By his side the whole time is tough LAPD street dog Max (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges), can the two get on for long enough to solve the crime?

So, I won’t even get into the weird bestiality, abuse scene from this film that was cut. However, I will say that it is very odd to have a scene where the dogs are touched (for inspection purposes), but without their consent in the gentiles which is shown to be traumatic towards the dogs, and then have one of the dogs remark that it is normal and just something to accept, in a kid’s film. The message of this is frankly disgusting and an investigation should be launched into who wrote it and why.

That said, though this film is undeniably bad, there is some goofy fun to be had. If you can accept that this film is not trying to be good and instead laugh at it for what it is then you will enjoy it a lot more.

Arnett seems desperate to be somewhere else for most of the film and it makes you think how did they even get him to sign on in the first place, the same can be said for most of the performers in this film.

Moreover, the CGI effects, especially the ones on the dogs when they are talking, are just awfully bad and show just how cheap the production value of this film clearly is; it looks like something out of the early 00, though that would probably be more convincing.

Overall, if you want to watch a bad movie then this will do, but if you want an actually enjoyable, well made film then stay far, far away from this film.

Pros.

It is hilariously bad

Cons.

Arnett is awful and Ludacris is not much better

The story is joyless

The jokes don’t work

It looks cheap

The film feels icky even with the abuse scene taken out

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Couples Retreat: A Sticky And Uncomfortable Situation

Couples Retreat is a comedy film about a group of couples that go on holiday to an island resort thinking it will be fun, sand and sun. However, when they get there they realise that instead they will have to work on their relationships and reconnect, the horror.

Standard, that is the word I would use to describe this film. There is nothing particularly special about it one way or the other, it is neither good nor bad it is just very average.

The cast is okay with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Kristen Davis getting most of the funny moments, which are few and far between. Most of the film’s jokes don’t work and fall flat there are more hits than misses comedy wise as a whole in the film.

The characters are the usual collection of cliches, the busy guy, the overly anxious guy, the couple that say they don’t want to be together any more but secretly do, etc. In terms of plot and narrative the film is nothing new either, this is the same thing you have seen before just with a different cast. Said cast are never given very much to work with and become stereotypes, which stops you from forming any kind of attachment to them.

Overall, this is a very meh film there is worse out there and if you have nothing else to watch maybe give it a go, it will go exactly as you would expect it and end in the same fashion, it poses no challenge.

Pros.

It is watchable

There are a few funny moments

Cons.

The cast is wasted

The characters are cliches

The film is mostly not funny

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Binge: The New Fashion Trend Of The 2020-2021 Season Is To Remove And Then Draw On Your Eyebrows, Poorly

The Binge is a comedy film directed by Jeremy Garelick. The plot serves as a novel adaption of the Purge concept, however, rather than have all crime be legal for 12 hours this film imagines a world were drinking and doing drugs is totally illegal with the exception of one night a year where citizens around the world are allowed to binge drugs and alcohol to their hearts content.

This is the second film in my unintentional Vince Vaughn marathon, and I have to say Vaughn really shines here. Of course this film focuses on a group of high school boys who are planning to take full advantage of the binge whilst also being scared of it, continuing the traditions of its forbearers such as American Pie. However, Vaughn plays the principal of the school they all attend, his character is shown as very much anti-binge and he is also the father of Lena (Grace Van Dien), one of the main boy’s love interest. As a result of this Vaughn is set up for many of the best lines and is genuine hilarious multiple times over the course of the film, I especially enjoyed him as a father figure to Griffin (Skyler Gisondo), later in the film.

I also enjoyed the fact that this film was not afraid to get weird with its already terrific premise, there is a whole drug inspired dance number midway through the film that I thought was simply absurdist perfection.

The main and obvious criticism of this film is the same that can be levelled at numerous films in the sub-genre and that is the male focus, this film does not focus on both the male and female characters being rowdy, rather it uses the female characters almost as goals for the male characters or more aptly as plot devices. This is something that ‘sex comedy’ or the ‘teen’ film really needs to change as focusing on one gender over the over is reductive and it would be nice to see these sort of films start to explore both sides of the teen perspective.

Overall, if you like ‘teen’ comedies then you will like this, it has many funny moments mostly from Vaughn and has an inspired and humorous premise.

Pros.

The premise

Vaughn

It is funny

The absurdity

Cons.

Very male centric

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Freaky: Vince Vaughn Plays A Teenage Girl Surprisingly Well, Take Note Casting Agents

Freaky is a comedy horror film directed by Christopher Landon. The plot sees nerdy teen Millie (Kathryn Newton), swap bodies with deranged serial killer The Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), after a failed attempt on her life.

I will preface this review by saying that I am a huge, and I do mean huge, Happy Death Day fan and I went into this film with very high expectations as a result. Though this film does not live up to HDD it still has a lot of interesting moments and heartfelt scenes that make it worth the watch.

Landon’s blend of comedy and horror is once again on full display here and once again he knocks it out of the park, in a stylistic sense Landon is adapt at brining together horror and comedy to make the most out of each. The script as a whole is also reflective of Landon’s talents as I often found myself feeling something, there were emotional scenes such as the one between Vince Vaughn’s character (when possessed by Millie), and her love interest character that I thought were quite touching and sweet, on this regard the film is a triumph.

However, where the film loses marks from me is how the teen characters talk. The opening scene with the group of teens that all get butchered is one of the most cringe scenes I have seen all year, especially with the blond girl who seems to just be a written collection of feminist talking points; luckily for us all this scene is quickly ended, and we don’t meet those characters again. However, Millie’s friend Nyla (Celeste O’ Conner), is equally as poorly written as nearly everything she says feels alien to something a teen would say, though it does get better over the course of the film. This often times forced, awkward dialogue does ruin the film for me to some extent and proves that once again adults should not pretend to know how teens of today speak, as when they try and interpret it, it comes across as stilted.

Overall, an interesting film boosted by Landon’s sensibilities for the most part and from strong performances from Newton and Vaughn, however the dialogue is sometimes skin crawlingly cringe and that really lets the film down.

Pros.

Vaughn

Newton

The horror comedy combination

Interesting ideas and concepts

Cons.

The dialogue has some really bad moments

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Godmothered: Too Safe Even For Kids, Sickly

Godmothered is a family comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire. The plot sees trainee fairy godmother Eleanor (Jillian Bell), venture out in the mortal world to try and find a child that needs her and through whom she might restore a little faith in happily ever after thereby saving ‘The Motherland’. However, when she finds her new ward Mackenzie Walsh (Isla Fisher), she finds out that she is a bit older than she was expecting her to be.

This is off the same quality as Disney +’s other Christmas offering Noelle, which is to say it is poor quality, cheaply made, and overly safe. The latter of these three issue is proving to be a real issue with Disney +, I understand that as a streaming service they are targeting families but come on these are so market tested and safe that even a U (the lowest rating here in the UK), seems harsh. Furthermore, Bell’s comedic sensibilities feel restrained here, maybe it is because I am use to seeing her in more adult fare, but I did not find Bell’s character funny at all if anything I found her increasingly annoying over the course of the film.

Moreover, this film looks cheap, and considering the films budget that is very much the insult. A lot of the locations and things that happen in the film reflect this, the amount of magic, time in ‘The Motherland’ and CGI effects are all lowered and the amount of time we see with them just sat around in Mackenzie’s house or walking the street is upped. This is would expect from something that was a made for TV film, or maybe even direct to DVD, but not from Disney and thier premium steaming service.

Overall, it is more mass-produced slop being offered up by Disney to families to make a quick buck, there is no care or soul there and it shows.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

Bell becomes annoying

The film looks cheap

It is confusing and poorly throughout

It is overly safe

1/5

Reviewed by Luke