Avid Movie Critic

Movie Blog with recommendations and reviews

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The problems with the dark comedy TV series Insatiable(2018-2019)

Insatiable(2018-2019), a netflix original has been found to push the boundaries in television and we are not laughing

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Reasons Why the Forgotten Kristen Stewart Movie Cold Creek Manner(2003) Is the Thriller We All Should Watch

Reasons Why the Forgotten Kristen Stewart Movie Cold Creek Manner(2003) Is the Thriller We All Should Watch

After a close call in the city, a family decides to move out into the country. When they find the perfect house they find out it has a dark

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Why Teen Witch(1989) the 80s cult classic is underated and amazing

Read article here:

https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Why-Teen-Witch1989-is-underated-and-amazing

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The uninspiring movie High Note(2020) ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

This movie could have been so much better. I don't know if it was the actors, plot, or overall vibe of this movie but I did not enjoy it. The music was pretty mediocre and lacked depth. I think I had higher expectations regarding this movie because the trailer made it seem fun. The movie is about Maggie who is a personal assistant to the famous superstar Grace Davis. There is just one problem, Maggie wants to follow her dream of becoming a music producer. Maggie is even good at producing music and tries to produce Grace's new album. Maggie ends up doing just that but she gets zero money and recognition from it. On top of that Grace treats Maggie like crap. I wish Maggie quit her job with Grace. Maggie does not quit because she sees Grace as a role model and hopes Grace would change her mind about Maggie producing her music. Overall, the movie lacked depth. Grace's character was not very likable and the way she treated Maggie left a horrible taste in my mouth. I wish the ending was different and that Maggie found a different way to follow her dream than through Grace. She is talented and does not need a big superstar to help her. She also has David, who is both a love interest and a singer she was producing throughout the movie. It was not my favorite movie about music and it was okay to have as background noise while at work.

Rating: PG-13

Reccomendation: Yes, for background noise

Family friendly: Yes, it has some implied sexual references but overall most family members can watch the movie

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Why does no one believe her story in Gone(2012) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amanda Seyfried plays a girl named Jill who has been kidnapped by a man in the middle of the night and is put in a hole in the middle of the forest. She survives the kidnapping but nobody believes her when they can not find evidence of the kidnapper. Jill is put in a mental institution which makes everybody around her think she is crazy and unreliable. Jill's sister Molly is now living with her in a house. Jill still believes her kidnapper is out their and that he has killed other girls. She still is on the hunt to find where she was kidnapped in the forest. This is amped up when Jill comes home one night from work and Molly is gone. Jill gathers as much evidence as possible to give to the police. The police do not do anything about Molly. They believe Jill is so unreliable that they treat her sister's disappearance as nothing. This leads to Jill trying to find the kidnapper herself. Jill has a gun when she has no gun permit. If Jill took the precautions of getting a gun permit the cops would not have tried to take her into custody. The police trying to trick Jill into coming into custody is really stupid and unprofessional.The other thing that makes no sense is that the police did nothing when Jill told them about Molly being missing. If it was real life the police would have done at least a search. We see that Jill is made out to be crazy when she may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. It is normal to have this type of reaction to trauma. It makes no sense that her credibility is thrown out the window and that nobody believes her. This trope of nobody believing a woman who has been assaulted or kidnapped needs to stop. It is important to take these things seriously even if others have lied about them in the past.

Rating: PG13

Reccomendation: Yes

Family Friendly: May be unsuitable for young viewers because of intense scenes

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Earth Girls are Easy(1988) is so bad it is good ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

Some movies are just ridiculous but one movie that seems to thrive on it's ridiculousness is Earth Girls are Easy. It is not considered a cult classic because it did not hit the marks completely but it is an enjoyable watch.Geena Davis plays a woman named Valerie who has been recently cheated on by her fiance, Ted. Jeff Goldmun plays one of the three sexy male aliens, Mac that seem to land in Valerie's pool. Jim Carrey plays an alien as well and is hyped on sexual energy. When these aliens fell in Valerie's lap hilariousness and fun ensue. The movie seems to be somewhat of a musical with some fun musical numbers throughout the film. The dancing and singing are fun to watch and provide a nice transition from one part of the plot to the next. One particular unusual scene is when Valerie has a dream with aliens. She wakes up in this black and white world were aliens seem to be the new normal. This movie did not take itself seriously and the cast had fun with it. Overall this movie is enjoyable. I would have to say the biggest con of this film is the oversexulization of women. It just seemed like they were objects on display instead real people.

Rating: PG but more of a PG13 rating now because of sexual language, sexual scene, brief nudity, and brief language

Reccomendation: Yes, children over 13 and adults

Family friendly: I would say no. It may be unsuitable to young viewers because of the sexual content

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Creepy or romantic:Elivis and Annabelle(2007) ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

Elivis, a self proclaimed "nice guy" takes care of his disabled father who is both mentally and physically disabled. Elvis pretends his dad still works as a mortician but does the job for his father. He does not have an embalming license. This may mean he does not want to fully commit to the family business of working as a mortician. The media has a weird way of normalizing creepy behavior especially if the creepy behavior is coming from an attractive "nice guy." Elvis fits this criteria and the audience is left thinking Elvis's actions are normal when you are "in love." Elvis kisses Annabelle's dead body with no consent from her. Even if Annabelle stayed dead, it still felt like Elvis did what every other man did to her which was take advantage of her. When Annabelle suddenly wakes up from being dead, she questions Elivis multiple times of what actually happened when she woke up. She knew he was not telling her something as she continually had a flashback of when she woke up. Elvis's excuse for not telling Annabelle that he kissed her was that he did not have a balming license. He continually lies to her about his previous actions and let's her fall for him.

Annabelle is a beauty queen and has been pushed to be this "perfect" woman by her mother. It may be that Annabelle's mother did not win regarding beauty pagents and this has resulted in her pushing Annabelle to follow the dreams that she once lost. Annabelle trying to be the perfect beauty contestant results in her having a bulimic eating disorder. She throws up whenever she feels "fat" or when she cannot fit into a dress. Her mother and step father encourage her eating disorder. It seems like Annabelle is not good enough for herself or her mother. She feels like she lacks "really living" and is going through the motions of life. Annabelle's step father seems to be sexually abusing her. We see this as hinted at throughout the film when Annabelle says that her stepfather does not act like a father to her when he is drunk. During a pagenent, Annabelle is left alone with her step father and he gives her a "look." Annabelle is continually sexualized and objectfied throughout the film. From having to be "pretty" and "skinny" to being objectified by every man she comes into contact with in the film-including Elivis and her stepfather. After Annabelle wakes up, she seems to be a completely different person. It just seemed like the character had a total 360. She did not concentrate so much on her looks and was obsessed with the caretaker and his son. It would not make sense that she would stop caring about beauty pagents when she won a title before she died.

Besides Elvis's creepy actions of kissing Annabelle when she was supposedly dead there is something else that does not set right with me about this film. It is how easy the main characters tried to commit suicide when they knew they could not be together. I really think that Annabelle would not want to be with Elvis because of the creepy actions he did while she was dead. I think the love she felt would not be as passionate to the point of trying to commit suicide. In reality, she would move on with her life. It seemed more of a fling instead of romance between her and Elivis. Honestly, I can see Elivis trying to commit suicide because depression runs in his family and that his mom committed suicide herself. I can see him choosing this because his feelings towards Annabelle is stronger.

Overall, I think that Annabelle and Elivis should not have ended up together. I think that Elivis sexualized Annabelle just as much as her step father. I honestly believe that it would make sense to the overall plot of the film to have Annabelle move on and Elvis try to commit suicide but decide to live and continue his family legacy. But this did not happen and both characters tried to commit suicide and decided to live and be together. Even though Elvis seemed like a good guy on paper, in reality he was able to lie, cheat, and take advantage of those around him. Annabelle was taken advantage of by everyone else in the film and did not seem to be her own person even in the end she was more part of Elivis than herself. Who is Annabelle really? In the end, the audience is left wanting to know her instead of how people want her to be.

Rated PG-13

Reccomendation: somewhat, may be an interesting watch but may not be taken as a romance

Family friendly: No, has suicidal and death themes that may be unsuitable for young viewers

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A Quiet Place Pt 2(2020) really delivered ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

Genere: horror/thriller

Rated: PG-13

Even with still so many unanswered questions from the first film, A Quiet Place pt 2 provides an amazing thematic experience. The movie score provides tension that leaves a lot of audience members on the edge of their seat. Emily Blunt does a fantastic job at portraying Evelyn who is the mother and main protagonist. Evelyn has to find a place for her remaining three children including her newborn baby. Within this world, deadly monsters run about and kill whatever lies in their path. The only way to survive is to be quiet because the monsters are blind. One thing we learn in this film is that the monsters are aliens but this does not answer the questions of why these aliens came here and what do they get out if killing the human population. This continuation of the first film has an okay plot but what makes this film great is the cinematography, acting, and music. Even though we are provided with a somewhat ambiguous ending, this movie can be enjoyed.

Recommend: YES

Family friendly: somewhat, older children would be okay watching it

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Nigthmare on Elm Street(1984) and it's unwanted sequels⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

First of all the original Nightmare on Elm Street is not a bad movie at all. It has an interesting plot with a great main actress. It has the premise of a great slasher horror film including a facisnating backstory of the serial killer. Heather Lagenkamp plays Nancy who is a typical high school girl with a group of tight nit group of friends. When her girl best friend has a nightmare she sets out to help her by having a sleepover. It turns out that her friend could not run away from her nightmares and is brutally murdered by Freddy Krueger. Nancy sets out to save the rest of her friends and trys to stay awake so that she stays alive. It is an enjoyable watch if you are into horror slasher flicks. It can be somewhat disturbing to some viewers because of the gore and eerie music. It is interesting to think that a serial killer can kill it's victim inside the victim's dreams. Freddy Krueger's backstory was an interesting concept. I really felt like they could have dove deeper into Freddy's psychological state. It would have made for an even more interesting villian. We know that Freddy kidnapped and killed a bunch of children. It was the parents who killed and burned Freddy alive. He is now out for revenge on the children of the parents. How does Freddy get this power to kill these teenagers in dreams? It is not really stated how he can when we know he is already dead. Overall, the first movie did a good job at providing a good dose of horror. The last scene leads the audience to question what is going to happen next.

Recommend YES

Family friendly NO

RATING R

Freddy's Revenge ⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

The second movie is set in the same house after years from the previous movie. A new family moves in and the main character Jesse is played by Mark Patton who starts having nightmares. He finds out the information we already knew from the first movie about Krueger and it was pretty boring to say the least. So the main plot is Freddy wants to take out revenge, again and he wants to use Jesse's body to do it. Jesse becomes possessed by Freddy and starts killing for him. Jesse has a girlfriend, Lisa who tries to get Freddy out of Jesse's body. This movie was pretty bad especially with the plot. If Freddy can kill kids in dreams, he does not need a human body to do his bidding. It literally did not make any sense to me.

Recommend NO

Family friendly NO

RATING R

Dream Warriors ⭐⭐⭐ out 5 stars

The third movie was the best out of the 5 sequels. It provided new and facisnating characters. It also brought Nancy back who was the main character in the first film. This film is about a group of teenagers who are in a mental health facility because they have nightmares and are not sleeping. Kristen is found to have cut her wrist and is sent to this facility. Each of the kids are killed by Freddy in their dreams like the first film. There are some cringey moments in the film which may have been the writing or actors. Overall this is the only sequel I would rewatch.

Recommend YES

Family friendly NO

RATING R

The Dream Master ⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

This has the same plot of the killer killing in the victim's dreams. The only thing different is that the main character is awkward. Alice is a shy girl who has a difficult time speaking her mind. We see a lot of scenes that are actions Alice wants to take including standing up to her dad and talking to her crush.After people who are close to her pass away because of Freddy she is left to try to defeat him. This movie lacked a lot and was overall cringeworthy.

Recommend NO

Family friendly NO

RATED R

The Dream Child ⭐ out of 5 stars

I was wondering if I would include the last movie because I did not finish watching it. I honestly got bored and turned off the TV. Alice is the main character again and finds out she is pregnant. Freddy trys to use her baby for evil. I think that's about it.

Recommend NO

Family friendly NO

RATED R

[avidmoviecritic]

The CW's modern take on Nancy Drew(2019) and the oversexulization of the character(Season 1) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

The Main Mystery

It starts with Nancy talking about a mystery 19 years ago of a girl named Lucy Sabel who wins the town's Sea Queen. Lucy was found to be murdered off of a cliff and the mystery of her death has not been solved. Nancy is haunted by Lucy's ghost as she works at solving the mystery of Lucy's death.

In the first episode, Tiffany Hudson is found dead outside the Claw restaurant were Nancy and her friends work. This leads to Nancy and her friends being suspects of Tiffany's murder. Nancy has to clear her and her friend's name by solving Tiffany's murder. Nancy realizes that Lucy's and Tiffany's murders are somewhat connected.

Nancy's Character

I have read the books and seen many adaptations of Nancy Drew's character. Kennedy McMann does a fantastic portrayal of the long loved character. She is stubborn, smart, and fast on her toes. We find that Nancy has as much weakness as strengths like a real person. We find Nancy dealing with grief and change throughout the first season. She is a relatable character and honestly, I do not expect much from CW so this strong character development was a happy surprise.

Adult characters

The characters were adults instead of high schoolers which was a nice change because we do not see many shows that protray adulthood. A lot of shows have teenagers act like adults which can be confusing for audiences. I really think CW could have gone further and made Nancy's friends younger and older instead around her age. This would have been more realistic and would have a lot more diversity on the show.

Oversexulization

Within the first 10 minutes of the season, we see Nancy having sex. The sex scenes did nothing for the plot and solving the mystery. CW concentrated too much on romantic relationships within the first season. If we needed to know about x and z dating they could have briefly brought it up instead of BAM here is a sex scene that makes no sense for the overall plot. When one of the characters said that they haven't thought about dating any gender it would have been a good opportunity for CW to make them an asexual character. But they had to put each character in a romantic relationship. If Nancy Drew was a man, they would not have concentrated so much on the romantic relationships of the character. We see male characters like Sherlock Holmes who does not need a romantic interest to be interesting.

In conclusion

For a CW show, Nancy Drew's first season was overall pretty good. The mystery was solved and the plot made sense to the audience. Not like Pretty Little Liars, there were not many open plot holes in the season.. Nancy Drew had some great character development. She is like a real person as she has both strengths and weaknesses. Even though the show was based on adulthood, they could have had Nancy have friends older and younger than her which could have brought more realism to the series. The oversexulization of the characters did not do much for the plot or the mystery. It was mostly filler to fill the time the writers had in the show. Overall, I enjoyed the first season and am excited to see what happens next in the second season.

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How Space Jam: A New Legacy(2021) relies so much on pop culture references to trick the audience to think it is actually a "good" movie ⭐⭐⭐

I honestly was not going to watch this movie because it seemed like another cash grab that relied too much on nostalgia to get audiences to watch it. I was right about the cash grab sadly and this us portrayed by the overuse of pop culture cameos in the movie. There has been a trend with media especially platforms like Disney that rely solely on any form of nostalgia to get people to buy remakes of previous movies. The new Disney live remakes have been subpar regarding there animated counterparts. Disney does these remakes to get more money and it sadly is working for the adult population. Because if we get nostalgia for something we are more likely to say it brings those warm happy feelings we had with with original version.(if we had any at all) Warner Brother's tried to cram everything they ever created into this movie so that the audience experiences the same likable feelings of nostalgia so that we would be tricked into thinking that the movie is actually good. These pop culture references distract us from the reuse of the plot from the original movie. Even though this movie is supposed to cater to kids, it is evident that the only people who would even know who the pop culture references are adults. A lot of these references were horror figures that seemed out of place for the environment. What possessed Warner Brother's to put in every pop culture reference imaginable is beyond me.

Rating PG

Family friendly? Yes

Do I recommend? Only for background noise

[avidmoviecriticscifi]

I forgot how silly and fun Looney Tunes: Back in Action(2003) was

This movie is a fun and wild ride. Brandan Fraiser,Jenna Elfman, and the looney tunes cast star in this fun comedy.This movie does not take itself seriously and that is what makes the movie fun to watch. The looney tune characters make an appearance throughout the film. The special effects in this movie were pretty good for the early 2000s. Besides a couple parts of the movie, the special effects did not distract from the movie's overall plot. This movie is an enjoyable watch for the whole family. Some parts may be considered "stupid" but who wants to take themselves seriously, anyways. Steve Martin does a good job at playing the eccentric villian. Overall, this is a fun movie and I recommend it. Rated 3/5 stars

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Men in Black: International(2019)

First of all, why make a sequel to a movie and not have the original cast in it? So when I didn't see any original characters from previous films besides small alien side characters it did not make much sense to me.

Yes, they have made a sequel with the original characters and this movies seems more of a spinoff than an actual sequel. There was no humor or fun that were associated with the previous films in this movie.I do not think I honestly laughed at all while watching this film.

I would be okay with new characters if they brought more than stale and rigid acting to the table. It is ridiculous how boring this movie really was even though it was about aliens. Aliens are interesting but not this movie.

Besides the boring acting and lack of chemistry between characters there is a hint of feminist agenda. While watching movies, I do not care about agendas, I just want to be amused and have fun. I didn't watch a documentary on feminism.

I gave this movie 3/5 on letterboxd.

Want to follow me on letterboxd? Look up AvidMovieCritic

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How Picture This(2008) is a 2000s classic

Ashley Tisdale plays this dorky teenage girl Mandy who is "not like other girls" because she wears glasses and works at a pet store. Mandy is head over hills in love with the star athlete and most popular guy in high school,Drew. The popular girls and Drew's ex girlfriend Lisa are trying to sabbatoge Mandy's chance at getting together with Drew. Craziness ensues as Mandy and her two best friends go on an adventure to go to Drew's party. While having to make video calls to Mandy's dad every 30 minutes, they end up having to be creative so that they can ultimately "punk" Mandy's dad, Tom. Mandy is grounded and has to pretend she is studying with her friends. Ever since Mandy's mother past away Tom has been an overprotective parent and this is amped up because Mandy is getting ready to leave and go to college. Tom had the most character development in this fun rom com. He realizes how overbearing he is and how he has to learn to let go. Movies like Picture This have a predictable plot as we know what is likely to happen in the end. This movie is enjoyable to watch.

Imdb: 5.3/10

My rating: 8/10

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Gif Thursday

Friends

The Reunion

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Star Sunday

Emily Blunt

British actress

Known for:

Most recent works:

[avidmoviecritic]

Which Witches movie is best?

1990s version starring Anjelica Huston as the Grand High witch

2020 version starring Anne Hathaway as the Grand High witch

Similarities

Witches bald heads

The plot in general was the same

Differences

Luke is African American(2020) instead of British and white(1990)

Location is Alabama(2020) instead of England(1990)

The endings of the movies

The witches eyes(1990)

Grand High Witch

A new mice character(2020)

Luke have two mice(1990) instead of one(2020)

Luke took a lot more to be captured and turned into a mouse(1990)

We saw more of the other witches in the movie(1990)

More character development(1990)

Concentrated more on the high Witch(2020)

Overall Impression

I have to be honest, I wanted to like the newer version of The Witches but did not compare to the 1990 version. After watching the 1990 version it seemed like an okay movie but I honestly didn't think it could get worse. I was very wrong as the 2020 version was worse in every possible way. As an actress, Anne Hathaway is not bad but her acting in this movie was sometimes difficult to watch from her weird accent to trying to crack jokes. Plus her Grand High Witch "look" did not scare me with her doe eyes but left me unimpressed. The 1990s version of the high witches "look" is so creepy and gave me unwanted nightmares as a child. The "looks" of the witches in the 1990s version also is impressive from their weird eyes, to teeth, and weird feet. The 1990s versions plot had more depth and character development. The Witches were more than background decor like in the 2020s version. We find that there was a lot more happening behind the scenes in the 1990 version including backstories and plot points of subcharacters. When they made the mouse be able to talk in the 2020 version, it seemed out of place to me. The worse part of the 2020 version is the ending. The conflict does not really get resolved while the 1990 version has a happy ending.