Holidate: Netflix’s Sexist Holiday Film, ‘A Woman Can Only Be Happy If She Is In A Relationship’

Holidate is a Christmas themed romantic comedy directed by John Whitesell. The plot sees a couple of single people (Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey), start spending the holidays together, to throw off the bad societal conotation of spending the holidays alone. Obviously, as the film goes on they start expressing romantic feelings towards one another.

This film is awful it may be one of the worst films of 2020 in my opinion, it is offensive. So, not only does this film push almost every stereotype under the sun, it also has a lot of very troubling notions about women and their place in society. Firstly, a big deal is made because Robert’s character is not looking for a man and because she has been without one for 6 months, the horror. Secondly, the male lead pretty much cheats on her during the film and during the emotional resolution of the film she apologies to him for overreacting, pardon me what?

I understand this is a rom-com, but that narrative that you can’t be happy alone and that women, especially, need a man to be happy is toxic as hell and it is the central theme of this film. Whoever wrote this film should be fired and not allowed to work again.

Roberts if fun and likeable, she is the only positive note about this film. The male lead is incredibly bland and forgettable, I can’t remember his name right now.

Overall, this may be the most sexist out of touch Christmas movie I have ever seen.

Pros.

Emma Roberts

Cons.

It is sexist

It promotes bad messages

It furthers stereotypes

The ending is wrong

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Conjuring 2: A Random Elvis Sing Along Interlude

The Conjuring 2 is a horror film directed by James Wan. The plot this time around focuses on the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), involvement in the Enfield Haunting. As the Warrens head to London, they are stalked by a mysterious demonic nun, who seems intent on Ed’s death.

Personally, I find this film scarier than the first. Hilariously bad English accents aside, this film is genuinely frightening, the crooked man is by far my favourite part of the film and the segment with him in it is really well done; still waiting on that spin off film.

I found Valek the demon nun scary at first, but then I think it gets over exposed. Also a lot of the horror this time around is jump scary related which gets very stale very quick, see a dark corner, hear a drop in the music, here comes a jump scare.

I still find the Warrens to be likeable protagonists, Wilson and Farmiga are charming leadings. They have their personalities expanded a bit more here which proves to be sweet, but it also serves to derail the tone of the film. Of course I am talking about the Elvis scene, where midday way through the film, as the demonic activity is still going strong, we get scene where Ed just starts playing a guitar for the whole family and singing. Why? Any tension that was there in the film is immediately taken away.

Overall, the world and new horror elements (The Crooked Man), makes this worth checking out, there are some odd choices that ruin the film somewhat, but it is still worthwhile.

Pros.

The Crooked Man

The Warrens are still very likeable

Quite a few good scares

Cons.

The Elvis scene

The use of jump scares

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Spell: Never Forget Your Roots

Spell is a horror film directed by Mark Tonderai. The plot sees successful lawyer Marquis (Omari Hardwick), find out that his abusive father has died. As a result he takes his family back to where he grew up to pay their final respects. During the trip the family’s plane goes down over Appalachia and Marquis wakes up in the attic of an old school hoodoo practitioner who has sinister designs for him and his family.

I went into this film with high expectations and it met them. I enjoyed the examination of traditional folk magic, it is not a topic often covered in the horror genre especially this type, but here it is done well and to great effect, creating some genuinely tense and unnerving scenes.

Like most good horror films, this one priorities atmosphere over jump scares. Over its runtime the film creates a constant sense of unease, we never know if Marquis is going to escape or what the fate of his family is and there are a lot of teases and red herrings scattered in throughout to throw us off.

There are also some grizzly bits of gore that will make you skin crawl and make you wince, yes I am talking about the nail scene.

My one complaint of the film would be its ending. Yes, the final showdown is exciting to watch, but it feels too neat. Things go from a tense cat and mouse game that seems skewed against Marquis, to a brawl that will either see him and his family safe or dead: naturally this does away with any tension.

Overall, a very effective horror film that I enjoyed very much if the ending could have been better it would have been getting top marks.

Pros.

The atmosphere

The gore and the scares

The focus on folk Magic

Omari Hardwick

The supporting cast

Cons.

The ending is too neat

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Operation Christmas Drop: Army Porn

Operation Christmas Drop is a romantic comedy Christmas film directed by Martin Wood. The plot sees congressional aid Erica (Kat Graham), travel to a US Army base in Guam to decide whether keeping it open is cost effective. Whilst there she falls in love with handsome, saintly, soldier Andrew (Alexander Ludwig). The two then help to give all the native islanders a great Christmas.

The biggest issue with this film is how into the army it is. I am by no means knocking the armed forces in America or anywhere in the world, but at the same time you don’t want to watch a film that sucks up to them for too long either, to a point this is basically an enlisting advert.

The romance is sweet, not to a sickening point, but it is also nothing special. You have seen this love story before, a lot of times before and believe me it hasn’t gotten any fresher. The odd thing about this film is how conservative it is with the romance, opting to not even have the characters really kiss. I get it is trying to be family friendly but come on.

Overall, this is passably watchable, no Knight Before Christmas or a Christmas Prince, but still worth your time if you have nothing better on.

Pros.

It is watchable

It is fairly upbeat

Cons.

The romance is predictable and familiar

It feels like an army recruitment ad

It is too safe and family friendly

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Come Play: The Misunderstood Monster

Come Play is a horror thriller film directed by Jacob Chase. The plot sees a lonely little boy become the target of a malevolent entity that resides on the otherside of the screen (electronic device screen that is). His parents have to battle the evil and save their son from its cold, clammy embrace.

This was an unexpected treat. I found the premise to be very good, it is similar to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook as the monster isn’t really a monster so much as it is an emotion, in this case the monster is loneliness manifest. I found this idea to be quite intriguing as it gives the antagonist a layer of sympathy, which makes them far more complex then just your standard demon or ghoul.

I also thought this film had a lot of interesting comments to make about autism and raising a child with it. We can see the plight that Oliver (Azhy Robertson), goes through and honestly It is heart-breaking. Furthermore, I thought Gillian Jacobs did a good job as the mum who loves her son, but struggles to cope with him, the relationship feels real and believable.

Finally, and no spoilers here, I enjoyed the ending. It felt very earnt and satisfying, what’s more it leaves the door open for more to come.

Overall, this is a very strong horror debut for Chase full of promise, it has a lot of interesting sub-text and is also quite scary.

Pros.

The parent child dynamic

Emotion made manifest

Jacobs

The scares

The ending

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

King Of New York: Live By The Sword Die By The Sword

King Of New York is a neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara. The plot sees infamous mob figure Frank White (Christopher Walken), released from prison and then set about taking his city back only to become targeted by a band of corrupt police officers.

For those of you who like gangster films, this is a work of art. It is very much in line with something like Cronenberg’s Eastern Promise as this is more of a thinky gangster film rather than just a senseless shoot em up, though there are plenty of those sort of scenes.

The inner dialogue that begs the question are men like White inevitable? Are they representative of the city, a by product in some sort of way? These questions prove fascinating as we break down Frank as a person and see how it is that he is the King of New York’s underworld.

The violence in the film feels bold and punchy, it strikes you as real and visceral and leaves a mark. In this regard Lawrence Fishburne’s Jimmy steals the show. Jimmy is unhinged throughout the film, but his night time fight with corrupt police might be his best and most unhinged moment. I think this is a career best performance for Fishburne and it makes me want to explore more of his back catalogue.

Overall, a very grisly and effecting crime tail and leaves you shocked and horrified but also with a few pertinent questions in mind.

Pros.

Walken

Fishburne

The violence

The psychology

The noir like feel of the film

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Call: Jigsaw Has Finally Found Something More Important Than Revenge

The Call is a horror film directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. The plot sees a group of teens drive Edith Cranston (Lin Shaye), to suicide after they believe she is responsible for the death of one of their numbers sister’s death. However, they messed with the wrong person and soon her husband Edward (Tobin Bell), summons the teens to their house with the promise of cash money if they do one last thing for Edith, ring the phone that she is buried with and stay on the line for a minute.

This might be one of the best horror films I have seen in a while, yes there are a few jump scares, but by and large the film creates and off kilter atmosphere that really pays off with the scares. Shaye and Bell are terrific and prove to everyone why they have been genre mainstays for all this time. I feel like if you are a hardcore horror fan you will get a lot out of this film.

The plot I thought was quite inventive, I have not seen anything like this before. The twist around the sister’s death I thought worked against the film a little bit as it made the lead characters far less likeable. Said characters were obviously were bland, but that is always the case with teenagers in these sort of films; you aren’t watching for them you are watching for horror legends Shaye and Bell.

Overall, a very entertaining horror film that is boosted by the performances of seasoned pros.

Pros.

Good scares

Shaye

Bell

Unique, at least for me

Cons.

A few jump scares

The teens are awful, and the twist doesn’t make them any better

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Headshot: Who Are You Again?

Headshot is an Indonesian action thriller film directed by Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto. The plot sees an unknown man (Iko Uwais), awaken in a hospital bed, he does not remember who he is or how he came to be in sad bed. However, once he leaves the hospital he is hunted down by one of the most ruthless bosses in the underworld Lee (Sunny Pang) and has to fight for his survival.

So, after seeing Uwais in several other action films I was expecting big things here, and I have to say I was disappointed. My main issue with the film was the action and the fights, they felt toned back and lacked the same excitement as I can come to know from the Indonesian action subgenre. The fights here not only felt underwhelming, they felt like they were done on the cheap.

Moreover, the story was uninspired we have seen the amnesiac waking up to trouble storyline play out over and over again and this film can’t be bothered to do anything new with it. The midway through twist, which I won’t spoil, is insanely predictable and worst of all you just don’t care after it is revealed.

There are a few cool moments, such as the prison escape scene at the start of the film, that is really all the good I can say about this film. These scenes are incredibly few and far between and the film as a whole feels stretched out for far too long, to a point where you are looking at your phone because you can’t take the tedium anymore.

Overall, a subpar Indonesian action flick, I expected more.

Pros.

A few cool moments

Cons.

A played-out storyline

Uninspired fights

Characters you don’t care about

Pacing issues in the extreme

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Wolfwalkers: Never Cage Something That Is Wild

Wolfwalkers is an animated fantasy film directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. The plot sees a girl and her father move to an Irish hamlet in the 1600’s to kill wolves and to start a new life. However said girl Robyn (Honour Kneafsey), finds that there is more to the wolves than any of the towns people know and that the pack is being controlled by a mother daughter Wolfwalker duo, who she soon makes friends with.

This film is a heartbreaker, the plot won’t leave a dry line in the house. It has so many layers to it many of them deeply sad it makes for a very melancholic watch. The later scenes between Robyn and her Dad (Sean Bean), are particularly hard to watch, when he keeps making the situation worse and worse before he realises the error of his ways.

I enjoyed the friendship between Robyn and Mebh ‘Og Mac Tire (Eva Whittaker), I thought it was nice to see their friendship develop over the course of the film and to watch them grow up during such a difficult time period, I’m sure there was a metaphor in there somewhere. I thought this part of the story and its innocence nicely contrasted with the more adult moments.

Finally, I thought it was nice to see a return to 2D animation. It has been too long, and it looked really beautiful throughout, you could tell a lot of work had gone into it and it really helped the film to standout amongst the 2020 animation landscape.

Overall, a beautifully thoughtful and heart breakingly sad animated film that you owe it to yourself to see.

Pros.

A return to 2D animation

The friendship between the two girls

The emotional beats

The father daughter relationship

The look at Irish/Celtic mythology

Cons.

It is desperately sad

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Pixie: Risque Photo-Shoots

Pixie is a crime comedy film directed by Barnaby Thompson. The plot sees a robbery go wrong and a lot of people end up dead leaving two boys with a big bag of drugs and a lot of trouble coming after them; in steps Pixie (Oliva Cooke), to save the day and to have some fun along the way.

This film is a star making turn for Cooke, it is nothing short of a damn shame that her other killer breakout roles in Thoroughbreds and Ready Player One have not rewarded her with more of the mainstream spotlight, but hopefully this film will right that wrong. She makes this film, her Pixie is charming and funny, but also a character you never know if you can fully trust. Without Cooke in this film it would be infinitely worse

As far as crime comedies go, usually one of those two elements is placed above the other thereby ruining it as a crime comedy, however here both the crime and the comedy elements are given equal attention and are handled well. There are several scenes such as the photography scene early on that are genuinely funny, in addition there are also scenes that are suitably tense and uncomfortable.

I also applaud the film for not being afraid to go dark when needed. Despite being a crime comedy film the tone of this film is quite light for the most part, but it does stray from that a few times especially when it comes to Pixie’s backstory which is quite upsetting. I think the choice to give her such an emotional and turbulent past is an inspired one as it makes her feel far more human and relatable.

Overall, a very charming crime comedy film, that hopefully leads to big things for Cooke.

Pros.

Oliva Cooke

The shootout scene is well done

Both the crime and comedy elements are there, and both feel distinct

I enjoyed the characters and the world

Cons.

It does have bloat and could do with being shorter

4/5

Reviewed by Luke