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

Love And Monster: Love In The Time Of Monsters

Love And Monsters is a post-apocalyptic adventure film directed by Michael Matthews. The plot follows Joel (Dylan O’ Brien), a survivor who doesn’t seem to be very good at surviving as he leaves his bunker hideaway in pursuit of his lost love Aimee (Jessica Henwick), after they reconnect over the radio.

So, if you had any doubt about Dylan O’ Brien’s career as a Hollywood leading man this film come as a comfort. Not only is O’ Brien a terrific leading man here, he is also perfectly cast and suited to the part. He has the physicality to pull off the action scenes, but also the awkwardness to not see like the standard action hero ‘type’.

I think the world and the tongue in cheek tone is a strength to the film. The mythology is present, but is not overly explored which allows there to be a degree of your own imagination set to the proceedings. The humour of the film resonated with me and often made me laugh.

I think the supporting cast all do great jobs with their limited screen time; they help the world to feel lived in and set up perfectly crafted emotional moments that will hit you. Henwick struggles somewhat in a leading role, but does have a few strong moments. I enjoyed that she was the inverse of Joel in almost every way and that their romance often subverted my expectations.

Overall, a gem of 2020 that you can’t afford to sleep on

Pros.

Dylan O’ Brien

The romance

The world

The supporting characters

The tone and the humour

Cons.

Jessica Henwick is a weak link, but has redeeming moments

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Wedding Ringer: Hire Your Best Man Today!

The Wedding Ringer is a buddy romantic comedy film directed by Jeremey Garelick. The plot sees friendless Doug (Josh Gad), lie to his fiancé Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco) and say he has a best man arranged for the wedding, this leads him to seek the services of Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), a best man for hire.

Once again I find myself finding Kevin Hart hilarious, he threw me off with those terrible Ride Along movies, but I am now fully back on the Hart train. He made me laugh several times during this film and he brought a hell of a lot of heart, pardon the pun, to the role. I think the film would be a lot worse without him in it.

The buddy relationship between Hart and Gad works well, both nail the emotional beats and make for a very convincing on-screen friendship. Despite being a romantic comedy film for the most part of the film I was rooting for their friendship over the central romance of the narrative.

In regard to said romance, I think this film sorely underused Cuoco’s proven comedic talents and instead relegates her to playing the gold-digging finance that the film goes out of its way to encourage you to hate, which feels like a huge waste. She is given no good moments of her own to shine.

Overall, a solid buddy film, not really a romantic comedy at all. Strong chemistry between Gad and Hart, but Cuoco gets snubbed at every turn. Mixed to positive.

Pros.

Hart

The buddy dynamic

It is quite funny

Cons.

It is not a romantic comedy

Cuoco is wasted

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

IRL: Modern Dating, Pandemic Adjacent

IRL is a romantic drama film directed by Ricardo Perez-Selsky. The plot serves as an observation on our modern online dating culture. Telling the story of one long distance couple who meet online and their struggle to stay together despite not having met.

Frankly, it is refreshing to see a romantic drama/ comedy film tell it like it is, with no fluff, no ignoring the hard parts, and crucially no over idealisation. This film feels real, and though that is an overused turn of phrase it is nevertheless true here. Most people will be able to find at least one moment that they will be able to relate to.

I applaud this film for not being afraid to get dark when it needs to. It shows how you never really know what is going to happen in life, the best laid plans often come awry. It adds to the realism which is crucial to this film.

The acting is strong and the romance between the two leads is likewise despite mainly happening over the phone. You want the two to be together desperately. However, my one critique of the film would be when Ian (Chase Hinton), very nearly (or does depending on your definition) cheats on his so far online girlfriend when he goes back home to visit his parents. Yes, I understand why structurally from a character point of view why he does this, but it then causes him as a character to become far less likeable and rootable; which maybe is the point?

Overall, this film will punch you in the face with real earned genuine emotional impact and you will thank it for it.

Pros.

The acting, especially Hinton

The romance

The real take on love and relationships

Relatability

Cons.

The cheating scene derails Ian as a character somewhat
4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Leaving Las Vegas: The Life Of A Hollywood Screen Writer

Leaving Las Vegas is a romantic drama film directed by Mike Figgis. The plot sees disgraced, alcoholic screen writer Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage), retire to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. While there he meets prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue), and the two form a doomed romance.

For those looking for a wild Nicolas Cage film you won’t be disappointed here. There is plenty of Cage’s trademark strange sensibilities, but in a more subdue way. Cage delivers quite a dramatic powerhouse performance here; he is utterly captivating to watch.

The same can be said for Shue. This might be by favourite performance from her so far, (that I’ve seen), I truly bought that her character loved Ben and was just desperate to find someone who cared about here and didn’t just want to use her. I thought the romance between Ben and Sera was the definition of bittersweet, it was touching and felt like a slap to the face but one that you were happy to receive.

My one note would be that though it is brilliantly done it is incredibly, unrelentingly bleak. This film is a tragedy through and through and is quite upsetting. A warning to you there. I would say it is the sort of film that you need to watch something happy afterwards for sure.

Overall a heart-breaking masterpiece that deserves to be experienced as it has so much to say about the human condition, even if it is depressing in the highest degree.

Pros.

Cage

Shue

The comments on the human condition

The romance

Cons.

It is hard to watch at times and it does not apologies for that

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Lobster: To Love Or To Transform?

The Lobster is an absurdist dystopian dark comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The plot follows David (Colin Farrell), a man who moves to a special singles hotel once he finds out that his wife is cheating on him. Said hotel gives singles a set amount of time to find ‘the one’ or face being killed and turned into an animal.

This is truly a bizarre sort of film and I mean that as a compliment. The dystopian ideas herein, I have never seen imagined before and as a result of that this film feels wholly fresh and original, praise that I can’t give to many films these days.

This film has a wonderfully off-kilter sense of tension and threat that seems to reveal itself at the most unexpected of times. It can be quite a mild breakfast scene, that yes is a little strange but is not that out of the ordinary, but then someone gets their hand burnt in a toaster for touching themselves, just out of nowhere.

Farrell is strong here his performance easily makes the film. His David is a character who is hard to form a mind on, sometimes he is the stereotypical protagonist, a rootable figure that you want to see do well, but then sometimes he seems to far darker and more loathsome than that.

My one complaint of this film would be that the second act, when David runs away, stretches out for a bit too much and feels poorly paced. This isn’t helped by the fact the second act of the film also stuffs in a lot of information that somewhat ruins the genius simple premise.

Overall, a must watch for the sheer originality alone.

Pros.

Colin Farrell

The premise

The originality

Olivia Coleman

Cons.

The second act has far too much going on and also far too much bloat.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Juliet, Naked: Always Check Your Email Because A Famous Singer Might Have Emailed You

Juliet, Naked is a romantic comedy film directed by Jesse Peretez. The plot follows Annie (Rose Byrne), a woman who is in an unhappy marriage and who is bored with her life. Her husband Duncan (Chris O’ Dowd), spends every waking minute obsessing over a has been singer from decades prior.

One day after commenting on her husband’s blog, Annie receives an email from said has been singer Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), and he and Annie strike up and unlikely romance.

I have seen a lot of romantic comedy films in my time and I have to say that this was on the better end of that scale. It has no icky or troublesome moments; it had good wholesome themes and ideas and was underpinned by a sweet starting over again romance that you couldn’t help but cheer on at every turn.

Byrne had the right amount of Bridget Jones in her performance to make her be instantly rootable and loveable to the audience. I thought the narration of the emails was a nice touch as it allowed us more access into both Annie and Tucker’s headspaces, it was very You’ve Got Mail.

O’Dowd has the right amount of pompous annoyance as to pull off the obsessed fanboy well. Right from the off we know that he and Annie are poorly suited, to put it mildly, and it is plain to see he neglects her making him a very easy to hate antagonist. O’Dowd is really coming into his own playing petty jerk villains in British films.

Overall, a sweet wholesome romance film that is destined to become a classic of the genre.

Pros.

The romance

The wholesomeness

Rose Byrne

Ethan Hawke

Cons.

O’ Dowd is a bit too annoying

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Clueless: Austen Revisited

Clueless is a coming of age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling, loosely based on the Jane Austin novel Emma. The plot sees teen socialite Cher (Alicia Silverstone), Queen of her high school, take the new girl Thai (Brittney Murphy), under her wing.

I have heard a lot of people talk about this film for a while, it has a real strong cult following, so I decided to check it out for myself. I was naturally comparing it to the other adaption of Emma, the more recent adaption from this very year.

I found this to be the better of the more recent American Emma adaptions, it had that lively spirit and wit that I feel the 2020 version was lacking. I always enjoy when they modernise classic tales and give them a newer twist, like the Leo Romeo and Juliet film from a while back.

I thought that all of the characters felt warm and had a good amount of rootability, though Cher did nasty thing it never reached a point where I didn’t like her as a character, she never felt cold or mean spirited.

The one thing I would flag up is the icky main romance. They changed a lot of things from the classic story for this film so why they kept this in is beyond me. In the film Josh (Paul Rudd), is Cher’s stepbrother, to add to that he is in college (University for non-Americans) and Cher is in high school she is 16 years old, both of these factors make for a deeply troubling romance, that honestly shouldn’t happen.

Overall, a quirky fresh take on an old classic. The characters felt warm and the humour landed even if the odd nearly incestuous age inappropriate relationship didn’t.

Pros.

A fresh take

The humour

Fun rootable characters

Cons.

A few things were lost in translation

The main central romance was deeply troubling

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

A United Kingdom: One Of Africa’s Greatest Romance’s

A United Kingdom is a British biographical romance drama film directed by Amma Asante. The plot follows the real-life story of Sir Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), and Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) Khama, a king to be who defied the world and married a common English women. Their love was met with hate and strife at damn near every turn, but they kept fighting.

I think this film is a triumph, it was sweet, compelling, and also infuriating and a bit sickening at times. Film’s like this highlight how far as a society we have come, but also how much further we have to go.

I found the romance between Oyelowo and Pike to be entirely believable, they had a strong chemistry that carried throughout the film. Both actors gave incredibly good performance with Oyelowo’s maybe taking the cake. The part when he is speaking to his people and trying to convince them why he has brought an English woman to be there Queen and he has tears rolling down his face is nothing short of powerful.

My one complaint of the film would be that it has pacing issues, as is often the case with biographical film, I understand that it has a lot of history to tell as it doesn’t want to leave anything out, but it feels a lot longer than 111 minutes.

Overall, a strong film that you need to watch. The love on display is compelling and proves that if we are ever to overcome hate we must all embrace the love we have for each other.

Pros.

Believable chemistry

David Oyelowo

Rosamund Pike

Powerful and effecting

Cons.

It feels much longer than it actually is

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Broken Hearts Gallery: A Love Story For The Hoarders

The Broken Hearts Gallery is a romantic comedy film directed by Natalie Krinsky. The plot sees recently dumped Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan), open up an art exhibit dedicated to all the items that people still have of their exes; post breakup. She hopes by doing this she can get some form of closure from her own breakup as well as help others find the same.

Forget Tenet, forget The New Mutants, this is the film cinemas need to get people to come back. There is something so communal about this film, it is something that we can all relate to, it is so personable that it is hard to not form some sort of attachment to it.

Yes, some of the lines are cringe (they name the film title in the dialogue multiples times), and they feel the need to throw in some hot topics here and there to prove that they’re trendy. However, in spite of these two things I found myself really getting into this film.

The comedy is strong, and it genuinely had me laughing quite a few times, I found Viswanathan to be a really likeable lead and easily the best thing about the film. The romantic chemistry between the leads is strong and believable and will drive you to finish the film to see how things end up.

Overall, this is just a warm feel good film, that is something I needed right now, and I am sure a lot of you reading this do too. It is not going to be the best film you’ll see all year, but it is a fun hour and a half and that is enough.

Pros.

The heart

The humour

Warm and wholesome

Very personable and relatable

Cons.

A few cringe lines throughout

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke