MOVIE REVIEW: Love, Simon

Hello Worlders~

I am in the middle of a mini vacation (or least I was when I started writing this, now I’ve returned to the real world) and on the first day of the mini vacation I decided to take in a $5 Tuesday movie showing of the movie Love, Simon. A movie based on the novel Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda (Novel review). And its taking everything in me to not start talking about it right away so I’m going to throw the trailer in for your viewing pleasure.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of the movie (and the novel it’s based on) is about a young boy, Simon (Nick Robinson – Jurrasic World, Everything, Everything (Review here) & Boardwalk Empire) who knows that he is gay but no one else in his life does. One day his best friend, Leah (Kathryn Langford – 13 Reasons Why, The Misguided & Imperfect Quadrant), calls him up and tells him there is a post on Creek Secret (which in the book is described to be tumblr blog where students from Simon’s school share secrets, I don’t think it’s really explained, at least verbally in the movie) that there is an anonymous guy coming out while keeping his identity a secret by calling himself Blue. On impulse Simon decides to email Blue using a secret name (Jaques). Over the next couple of weeks Simon and Blue have an email relationship but one day Simon forgets to log out of his email and Martin (Logan Miller – Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past & Before I Fall) discovers the emails and decides that this might be the think he’s been looking for. And soon Martin approaches Simon telling him either Simon helps him get Simon’s good friend Abby (Alexandra Shipp – X-Men Apocalypse, Straight Out of Compton & Tragedy Girls) to date him or he will post the emails on Creeksecrets. But when things don’t work out for Martin, he decides to release Simon’s email, forcing Simon out of the closest at a faster speed then Simon every wanted to.

LtoR: Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), Leah (Kathryn Langford), Abby (Alexandra Shipp), Simon (Nick Robinson) – Source

This movie surpassed everything I thought it was going to be and lived up to the hype of everything that I had seen online. I left the theatre and even tweeted about how you feel every emotion possible while watching the movie.

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During college I took a course in Gender in Media and we talked all about all the groups of people who are not represented in media (LGBTQ+, different races, strong powerful women, disabilities etc…). And then after taking the class I’m noticing how Hollywood is fighting to see these types of people in cinema and break the main stream lull we’re in, although we still have a far way to go. And when I saw the trailer for Love, Simon I knew this movie would feel historical, as it was the first time that a young gay male was the main protagonist of a story coming from a movie production company as big as Paramount. But I don’t think I ever imagined just how historical, especially as a cis-straight, white woman, I see myself in media all the time. But soon I saw some of my favorite social media personalities who are part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum re-tell the stories of the gay youth that had been reaching out to them about how seeing the movie helped them come out or how they were afraid to see the movie because they were worried what their parents would think or that they just weren’t ready to come out. And seeing those tweets really helped drive home to me how important this movie truly was.

LtoR: Leah (Langford) & Simon (Robinson) – Source

Many people described this movie as a John Hughes (Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off & Sixteen Candles) esque movie and I can’t decide if I agree. I think instead a movie like this and these new teen movies deserve to stand on their own. Although I will admit that there was a scene (that changed through the course of the movie) that reminded me a little bit of John Hughes which was Simon’s rounds to pick up all his friends and they’d stop to pick up coffee before going to school.

LtoR: Simon (Robinson), Nora (Talitha Bateman), Emily (Jennifer Garner) & Jack (Josh Duhamel) – Source

The acting and directing was super well done and I truly loved it. I felt like Simon had really good chemistry with all the potential Blues in the movie, I especially loved the chemistry between Simon and the real Blue. It felt so real and true to the novel. There was also Simon’s parents played by Jennifer Garner (Alias, 13 Going on 30 & Daredevil) and Josh Duhamel (Transformer, Safe Haven & Life As We Know It) who had really good chemistry together as well. Like I would love to see them in a movie together again, maybe with them as the central couple.

LtoR: Abby (Shipp), Simon (Robinson) & Leah (Langford)

Overall I think this movie in a great movie! And the message was even better. I would recommend this movie to just about everyone because it was just that good. Also if anyone wants to create and write a show about Simon and Blue the college years I would binge watch that series over and over again. Like please somebody get on that because its something I didn’t know I needed in my life until I saw this movie.

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Have you seen Love, Simon? What did you think? Let me know in the comments down below. Also I know that this movie may have some controversial opinions. Please remember to be kind to everyone in the comments even if their opinions differ from your’s.

NETFLIX REVIEW: F the Prom

Hello Worlders~

A while back I was doing some Netflix Reviews (the last one) which is basically just a review of either a Netflix original or movies that I hadn’t seen before they hit Netflix. Well, the other night (when I’m writing this) I was snowed in and decided to watch a movie and then I saw a movie called F The Prom and I don’t know about you guys but I love movies about high schoolers, like the coming of age genre so of course I clicked on it and began to watch.

LtoR: Maddy (Danielle Campbell) and Cole (Joel Courtney) – Source

The movie was about Cole (Joel Courtney – Super 8, Mercy & Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn) who is the artsy kid in high school who gets bullied. Oh, and he’s in love with his former best friend, Maddy (Danielle Campbell – Prison break, The Poker House & Madea’s Witness Protection) who happens to be one of the most popular girls in school (shocker I know). But when Maddy’s best friend, Marissa (Madelaine Petsch – Riverdale), backstabs her along with Maddy’s boyfriend, Kane (Cameron Palatas – Zach Stone is Going to Famous, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D & A.N.T. Farm) Maddy feels her social status falling. Which throws Maddy back into Cole’s life and causing them team up with the rest of the bullied kids, including Sweats (Michael Clay – The Time Capsule, The Legend of Beaver Damn & Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show! Good Job), Strings (Brendan Calton – Maple’s Tree, Major Crimes & Veep), Mutey (Adan Allende – Maria, Slayer & Troy Goes to Camp), TJ (Luke Bilyk – Degrassi, Lost Girls & Kiss and Cry)  and City (Meg DeLacy – The Fosters, Chicago P.D. & Recovery Road), in a mission to ruin the prom for the popular kids.

LtoR: Cole (Courtney), Maddy (Campbell), City (Meg DeLacy) – Source

The first thing I noticed was the the acting was horrendous. Like it was just really, really bad. For example the movie featured, Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210, Sharknados franchise, Christmas in Palm Springs), who I used to watch on the OG Beverly Hills 90210. And although he wasn’t the best actor on the show, I did enjoy watching him. And I had heard that that his acting skills had become a joke after he joined the Sharknados franchise and I now understand what they mean by that. Some of the stuff that he said was just cringy. Actually writing this whole paragraph part of me is starting to wonder if maybe its not the acting but maybe instead the writing. Maybe all these actors felt cringy because the writing was cringy.

LtoR: City (DeLacy), Sweats (Michael Chey), Cole (Courtney), TJ (Luke Bilyk), Mutey (Adam Andelle), Strings (Brendan Calton), Maddy (Campbell) & Abbey (Jill Cimorelli) – Source

Although the writing kind of sucked something I did enjoy was that the bullied characters weren’t all stereotypes. They had one kind who went through puberty and his voice just kept cracking and people bullied him for that. There was another who was just super sweaty. Then there was Luke Bilyk’s character who was a gay kid who was “too straight” for the gay kids but “too gay” for the straight kids. I also really enjoyed his storyline because Bilyk is pretty much a pretty boy and would normally be casted as stereotypically popular character but instead he was bullied.

Marissa (Madelaine Petsch) – Source

And then there was this powerful scene at the end of the movie. I don’t want to give anything away so I can’t talk too much about it but it was pretty powerful and dealt with current events. And although in reality I don’t think the issues they were discussing are simple as the writers seemed to want them to be, the lesson they’re trying to teach still reaches where it needs to get.

LtoR: Maddy (Campbell) & Cole (Courtney)

Overall even though the writing and acting was cringy I found myself getting emotional attached to these characters. Like I want all the bullied to win and I wanted the characters with connections to fall in  love and for everyone to get their happily ever after.

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So, would I recommend this movie you may be asking? Well, yes, I would recommend it. But I have a very specific recommendation, I would recommend for a one of those nights where you have a glass of wine (or grape juice if you’re under 21) and you’re staying in because of sucky weather or because your stressed or because going out sounds sucky. We all have those days right? Basically you just need to have the mindset for a mindless, don’t have to think that hard type movie.

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Have you seen F The Prom? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

MOVIE REVIEW: Game Night

Hello Worlders ~

Its been awhile since I’ve written a movie review. In fact I don’t think I’ve written a movie review on this particular blog (SIDE NOTE: For new readers I used to blog over on Blogger and moved over here about a year ago). But recently I went to see a movie and I just wanted to tell you guys about it because I went to see on a wimp and end up really enjoying it. And that movie was Game Night (2018) directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the directing team of What Babies Do (Short), Audio Tour (Short) and Vacation.

The story follows a group of friends who regularly get together for a game night. After being away from town for a year, Brooks (Kyle Chandler – Argo, Super 8 and Friday Night Lights), he rejoins the group and invites them to the gorgeous house he’s renting and tells them he’s hired a company that puts on murder mystery games for parties. But on that night Brooks is kidnapped for real and the other three couples now have to try to find him for real while dealing with things going on in their personal lives at the same time, talk about college flashbacks lol. Like Max (Jason Bateman – Arrested Development, Bad Words and Juno) and Annie (Rachel McAdams – The Notebook, Mean Girls and The Vow) who are a married couple trying to have their first baby, but Max seems to be holding back for some unknown reason to Annie. And then there is Kevin (Lamorne Morris – New Girl, Barbershop: The Next Cut and Sandy Wexler) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury – The Sitter, Under the Dome and Twisted) who are also a married couple who just so happen to have been dating since middle school. But during a game of Never Have I Ever, Michelle reveals she slept with a celebrity during a relationship break they had gone through. And finally there was Ryan (Billy Magnussen – Into the Woods, The Big Short and Bridge of Spies) and his work friend Sarah (Sharon Horgan – Pulling, Imagine Me & You, and Man Up) who are trying to figure out if they could possibly be more then friends.

LtoR: Michelle (Kylie Bunbury), Kevin (Lamrone Morries), Ryan (Billy Magnussen), Sarah (Sharon Horgan). Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) – Source

The movie has a super interesting premise to me. Maybe it is because I’ve always wanted to go to a murder mystery party (As long as it’s all pretend 😉). But the movie just seemed interesting. I know earlier I said, I went to see it on whim, but it was more that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay the movie theater price to see it and was probably going to wait and see it when it hit Redbox or Netflix, but things changed and I saw it in theaters.

LtoR: Ryan (Magnussen) and Sarah (Hogan)

One of the things I really enjoyed about the movie was the way that both Max and Annie’s relationship and  Michelle and Kevin’s relationships were portrayed. They were both couples that were supposed to have been together for a while. And they had that feeling of best friends. Max and Annie felt like that great team couple that could almost read each other’s minds, although I didn’t feel that Bateman and McAdams had much sexual chemistry. On the other hand Michelle and Kevin still gave off the best friend-ish relationship vibe but Morris and Bunbury had a stronger sexual chemistry.

LtoR: Annie (McAdams) and Max (Bateman) – Source

My biggest complaint was there felt to be too many side storylines going on. Even from the first scene which is a flashback of Annie and Max meeting you get the impression that they are the main characters of the movie. But the writer, Mark Perez (The Country Bears, Herbie Fully Loaded, and Accepted), seemed to want to focus on all the couples. Which I think would have worked if they hadn’t started the movie by focusing on Annie and Max.

LtoR: Sarah (Horgan), Annie (McAdams), Kevin (Morris), Ryan (Magnussen), Max (Bateman) & Michelle (Bunbury) – Source

Overall I  really enjoyed the movie. I would recommend to people who like mindless comedies with a little action mixed in for good measure. I also felt that this movie didn’t have an overly raunchy comedy vibe. I went to see it with my mom who normally would complain if the comedy was raunchy and she didn’t say anything about it.

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Have you seen Game Night? What did you think? Let me know in the comments down below.