I Love Boosters: Glamorising Theft

Summary: one Hollywood luvies take on capitalism.

Let’s get one thing clear stealing from shops doesn’t make you a modern day Robin Hood, it makes you a criminal. When you take things from shop it costs jobs and possibly even branches. You may not care as corporations are evil, but those workers still have to go home and tell their kids why they won’t eat tonight.

Boots Riley screams capitalism is evil whilst making a film, a hugely capitalist endeavour, the irony appears lost. Riley thinks encouraging audiences to steal from shops and some form of socialist fightback is a great message when it’s really not well thought through.

Of course race has to play into it as God forbid a black director make a film that is not about being black, the black experience, racism, systemic oppression, slavery or something along those lines.

The villain is a white woman who the film labels a fake feminist, she is rich and so not a comrade, also this film is a male director presenting women tearing down other women, as a purity test. There is something deeply messed up about a male director saying who is a proper feminist and who isn’t and then making it about money.

Once again we are shown at the box office that preaching doesn’t pay off, if Riley wants to go and steal from his local store that’s on him, but to waste millions of dollars trying to promote criminality is just a waste of everyone’s time and money.

Overall, morally bankrupt.

1/5

Pros.

Keke Palmer is great

Cons.

The characters are unlikable

The message is awful

It promotes criminality

It is a male director tearing down women

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Practical Magic: Lesbian Sisters

Summary: two young women navigate the world of men and love by way of magic.

So let’s get this out of the way earlier, there are a number of scenes where it looks like the two lead sisters are going to kiss and it is weird. Throughout the history of witches in horror particularly when it is not the old crone there is implied lesbianism, and sometimes that’s okay, but other times it feels like male titillation. There is nothing wrong with titillation but when the two leads are sisters it’s weird. Kidman and Bullock’s sister characters are far too close.

The film itself feels as though someone couldn’t decide on a structural level what this was supposed to be. It is based on a novel so perhaps the issues are from that. You have essentially two competing stories you have the curse placed on the Owens women where if they find love they die and you have the fact that Kidman’s character is going out with an abusive guy who they then kill and he comes back. This doesn’t just feel like a film of two halves it feels like two different films of different genres sown together. It doesn’t work as tonally it is too mismatched.

The ending of the film wherein the town that had attacked and belittled the sisters for being witches turns around and helps them out doesn’t cut the mustard. Neither does the fact that in the final sequence of the film they jump off a roof using magic to not die and not one person goes wait what witches are real.

Overall, whilst there are some moments of cozy comfort it feels like a more icky and poorly thought through relic of yesteryear.

2.5/5

Pros.

It’s watchable

Kidman and Bullock

There is charm

Cons.

It totally doesn’t work

The creepy stuff with the sisters

The ending

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One Night Only: Remember When Men Weren’t A Joke?

Summary: for one night a year sex is legal, two people try to make it work.

Owen is told at the offset of the film that his girlfriend wants to sleep with someone else, then he goes to stay at his mother’s who wants him out so she can get down. After that he is robbed by a woman who takes his clothes, when he finally meets Allie and they are about to have sex this is then denied them. Allie’s journey is far more about her coming out of her shell, daring to sing in public, ultimately to grow as a person. Notice the difference one is about empowerment the other is about humiliation.

You might have heard that a lot of the nudity and sex scenes where cut out of this film, we did a Cinema Issues about it, because audiences don’t want to see nudity unless it’s Sydney Sweeney in Gluck’s last film. For the most part this is not a steamy affair, it is oddly clinical and depressing and maybe that is a comment on modern dating but this film is supposed to be a rom-com, yet there is nothing romantic or funny about it.

Monica Barbaro does her best to keep the film together but this is really DOA on arrival.

Overall, more modern slop to avoid.

1/5

Pros

Barbaro

Cons

It is dull

It doesn’t have anything fresh to say

The male humiliation

The ending is cheap

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Ride Or Die Season 1 Overview: Amazon Keeps On Burning Money

Summary: two older ladies have their unlikely friendship rocked when one of them reveals they are an assassin.

Where to begin with why this doesn’t work, do we even need to say why the physicality of Waddingham makes the idea she is beating the snot out of dudes incredibly unlikely.

The usual places are saying this is wonderful for featuring older women representation, we’d say who is asking to see more action properties starring 50+ year old women? The counter argument of course is this is a comedy-action series. However, you wouldn’t know that from watching it the comedy doesn’t just not land it is outright painful.

The chemistry between Spencer and Waddingham also feels like two people forced to spend time together rather than two old friends, that doesn’t get better as the show progresses it remains immovable.

Overall, you seriously question why the studio head at Amazon Prime has a job left.

0.5/5

Pros.

It is once or twice unintentionally hilarious

Cons.

The comedy is DOA

Waddingham and Spencer have no chemistry

No one asked for this

It is dull and predictable

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Cinema Issues: The Demonisation Of The Nuclear Family

When leaving Olivia Wilde’s latest film the Invite a thought occurred, why is it we have so many films showing the death of love or of families but so few these days showing love and happiness.

Could it be the idea that a lot of people in Hollywood are unhappy in their relationships and so reflect that on the big screen perhaps. However, there is also an underlying cynicism that suggests that there is something problematic about straight couples getting together in 2026 and that the nuclear family is a tool for oppression. Hence you see far less of it, to show a woman happy within a nuclear family unit is to suggest that it isn’t the toxic, freedom stealing experience characters such as Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes 3 say it is.

You also have the open promotion of alternative lifestyles where people are shown as happier because they aren’t married. This can be seen in the Invite with the promotion of swinging culture, many modern films have suggested having multiple partners or having meaningless hook ups with no commitments is the only way to be happy, looking at you Splitizville. This reflects the cynicism we have been talking about rather than believing in love and commitment and loyalty, these are all seen as tools of oppression, the only way Hollywood thinks they can be free is to pursue their own meaningless self pleasure from meaningless sex where they can throw the person away at the end.

Look at Charlize Theron who in a Call Her Daddy episode said that she is glad she isn’t married as she could have sex with a man half her age. This is just as problematic as Leonardo DiCaprio throwing away girls when they get too old for him in their early twenties.

The cynicism we have talked about is a reflection of the deeply jaded, perverse nature of Hollywood’s ideas on sex but also the rejection of the love story, in its most traditional form as they view it as oppressive

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The Invite: A Lonely Woman’s Take On Marriage

Summary: an unhappily married couple are swayed into the swinging lifestyle

So of course Olivia Wilde a woman who ran out of a relationship to get with a much younger man, is going to tell you being in a long term monogamous relationship makes you unhappy.

Of course she is going to fetishize swinging and act like the swinging couple has a great relationship, when in fact it is an unethical therapist, Cruz, taking advantage of a man who lost his wife, Norton.

The film ends with the monogamous couple looking at slipping up, because of course they would be happier single.

The central characters are incredibly irritating and unlikeable and a collection of some of the worst modern cliches and neurosis.

The cringe comedy does manage to get a laugh from you before the loveless husk of a marriage manages becomes too much to bare and sucks all the joy from the room.

Overall, a depressing experience.

1.5/5

Pros

A few funny jokes

Okay pacing

Cons.

Deeply unlikeable characters

Yet more monogamy bad nonsense

Hollywood’s sheer lack of morals

It’s depressing

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Minions and Monsters: The True Story Behind Hollywood’s Golden Age

Summary: a minion with a dream sets out to make it big.

In many ways this film is good, it is funny, has heart and does a lot to show the good that can come from chasing your dreams. The monsters have their moments though it may have been more fun to have had the Minions go through a parade of different big bosses only to mess up and have to move on.

Part of where the film struggles is that it tries to juggle too many plots, you have the filmmaking storyline, you have the goal of the monsters, you have Dort and his love interest, and you have the meta narrative in both the sense of the tour guide telling the story as well as meta references to Minions and Monsters as a real film. There is a lot going on and it can sometimes feel like the film is jumping from one thing to the other a bit too much.

Zoey Deutch voices Dorts love interest, who is a suffragette type figure fighting for women to have the vote. When we first saw this we thought here we go, but no that is all quickly left behind as she becomes interested in Dort and instead cheers him on through his journey as he is trying to save all the world. It was a nice subversion of the modern preachy message.

Overall, another good film in the franchise but one that is narratively weak at times.

4/5

Pros.

The subversion

It’s funny

The characters are likeable

It’s well paced in terms of keeping your interest

Cons.

The tries to do too much and is overly complicated at times

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Jackass Best And Last: Getting Tired

Summary: The Jackass crew get together one last time for a few more stunts.

Whilst being a fan of Jackass for the entirety of the time it’s being around and watching the series as a child as it aired, on the opposite side of the US to me,there is a certain sense of morbidity to watching this. Whilst most of the cast are still there, you can feel the time creeping up to everyone involved. There is a question being raised about whether this needed to exist, the answer would be no.

The stunts feel less extreme and more juvenile, the juvenile nature of it you could get away with as they were younger but as they have aged it has become less and less so.

There is a sense of finality to the film though the use of archived footage, which works well if you’re a fan of the franchise.

Overall, some funny moments and good Stunts but that’s met with a sense of needlessness, and morbidity.

2.5/5

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The Last Viking: John Lennon Lives Again

Summary: a man fresh out of prison needs the help of his mentally unwell brother in order to help him find money he buried long ago.

It was during our time at the Mediterrane Film Festival that we saw this and, it was a deeply mixed film. One the one hand it was heart warming in places and had a number of funny jokes, the comedy mostly landed. However, on the other the central character is deeply unlikeable and the film tends to stray too far into the abyss sometimes. One understands it’s a dark comedy film however it must be stated that when this film gets dark it gets really dark.

Mads Mikkelsen shines as Manfred or John Lennon a man with DID, and is the emotional soul of the film you do empathise with him and believe the characters struggle.

Overall, a funny if depressing film.

3.5/5

Pros.

It’s funny

There are heartwarming moments

It is well paced

Mikkelsen

Cons

It is depressing

There are tonal inconsistencies

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Clarkson’s Farm Season 5: Bittersweet

Summary: Jeremy and co are back to show you the highs and lows of farming.

This was a surprisingly emotional season of what is normally easy comfort viewing, from the TB stuff to the news of Jeremy Clarkson’s continued ill health the last few episodes of the season pack a hell of a gut punch.

However, the season as a whole isn’t depressing even in moments of deep distress there is still a joke a few minutes away that can restore people’s spirits. This is not done in a way that stops there from being tensions or emotion but in a way that tries to cheer you up after giving bad news.

The wider focus of the season is on the changing world for farmers and the need to become more tech savvy in order to stay alive in an economic world that increasingly seems hostile to them. You do feel for the farmers and see the interesting things the new tech can do.

Of course the jokes are still there as ever and are always good to brighten up your day. They mostly land which is a rare thing to say for a comedy show these days.

Overall, a bittersweet season of TV

4/5

Pros.

It’s funny

It shows you the real world issues effecting farmers

The farming tech

The people and their bonds

Cons.

It is quite sad towards the end so get ready for that

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