Cinema

Peppermint (2018): A Cluster of Ice Cream, Badassery, and Lifetime

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Peppermint” is directed by Pierre Morel (Taken, From Paris with Love) and stars Jennifer Garner (Juno, Daredevil), John Gallagher Jr. (Jonah Hex, 10 Cloverfield Lane), and John Ortiz (Silver Linings Playbook, American Gangster) and is about a woman who lost her family five years ago. After all this time, she plans to seek revenge on those who killed said family.

This movie is from the director of “Taken,” which contains my favorite line in movie history. To be more specific, Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, is giving a monologue, telling a kidnapper to let his daughter go before they face consequences. Here, it’s a pretty similar formula, you have a kid, although in this case you actually have a *kid* and not a teenager like in “Taken.” Also in this movie, the kid does not get captured, she actually gets brutally murdered alongside her father. Not to mention, “Taken” was PG-13 whereas this was rated R, allowing the movie to get away with more on screen. But I can tell you there is something this movie did not in fact get away with, and that is being forgettable, boring, and just plain bad.

I will say, the beginning of the movie was rather intriguing. The buildup until when the daughter gets killed is rather interesting, and even the stuff that happens afterwards was still worth sitting through. I didn’t really feel bored or insulted. Although factors such as predictability, Jennifer Garner in terms of how her character was written, and simply how I didn’t remember this movie all as well as I would have hoped sometime after walking out all contributed to what could simply be referred to as “a piece of crap.” But in all seriousness, Jennifer Garner, while she could have been written worse, she wasn’t written all that well to begin with. Although has nothing to do with her performance.

When it comes to Jennifer Garner as a performer, it’s just spot on, and it’s basically what you want out of an action movie like this. She’s a badass, she’s takes no nonsense whatsoever, and she is always. F*cking. PISSED. Although I will admit, that is also a slight deterioration in this situation because of how some of the writing is in this movie. Imagine if this were a movie about Facebook, no relation to the social network. Whenever someone on Facebook is doing something that may be somewhat questionable, but it is really hard for them to control, Jennifer Garner steps in really angry and just tries to stop them from doing whatever it is they are doing. OK, sure, you can try to stop them, but have you ever thought someone might be going through a hard time? If it’s not hurting anyone, let them continue on, although I wouldn’t jump onto that decision right away, maybe private message that person and just talk to them casually, ask them how they feel. I know this is an action movie that might not really be trying to go for any awards, but actions have consequences.

Did I seriously just quote “Fist Fight?” How is that movie still in my head?

This is what I think contributes to the film’s biggest weakness, the script. Not only is it predictable, but only certain moments are worth remembering and the rest might as well be tossed in the garbage. Not to mention, this movie was marketed as what seems to be a very typical action thriller similar to that of “Taken,” “John Wick,” or even “Deadpool,” all because they are about getting revenge. And while this movie is also kind of serious in the same way that “Taken” may have come off as somewhat serious, it doesn’t seem to have much fun being what it is. I get the summer movie season is coming to a close and the awards season is getting to that point where it is gonna be in full swing, but this feels like a cluster of an Oscar film and a summer movie. It’s not a summer blockbuster, but it’s still something you’d pay matinee price to see, or maybe now that we are in a new age, you’d pay with your AMC A-List perks, just to waste time. Think of a “Bourne” movie that doesn’t necessarily try as hard to be compelling. I say it feels like an Oscar film in ways because you have Jennifer Garner, who must have delivered with full force as far as her performance goes, and the tone just feels very dramatic and serious. In a way, I’d almost take back my “Oscar” statement and call this an action movie that may be meant to go straight to Lifetime! It’s just under two hours, Jennifer Garner seems to be the right age and person to play her character, and it has some occasional cringe!

And speaking of “Taken,” this is from the director of that movie as mentioned earlier. Although when comparing this to “Taken,” if these two movies were my children, and I had to decide which of the two would end up kidnapped, I’d say this one in a heartbeat. This movie feels more on the cliche side, the way the action is shot feels like it has less passion put into it compared to some other action films we’ve gotten throughout this decade. I mean, when you truly think about it, in fact, I don’t think much thinking would be required for this, but whatever. “Taken” would probably be just another action movie had I not admired it for just the way it executed its material. Then it would just be this movie.

Now let me just warn you, we are going to dive into this movie and how it manages to earn its title. They say never to judge a book by its cover. But this is a movie, so those rules, be damned! Plus, this was never based on any existing property so let’s just do whatever the f*ck I please! This movie is called “Peppermint.” And you may be wondering why that title exists. Maybe you think that’s the name or nickname given to the daughter who was killed. It could be a nickname for the killer. Or it just keeps getting mentioned or thrown around during the film. Guess what? None of that’s true! The reason why this film, at least from my assessment of what I’ve seen, is called “Peppermint,” is that there is an instance where just before the daughter dies that she gets ice cream. And what kind does she get?

…

…

…

…

Well, what the f*ck do YOU think, idiots?

This movie literally shares the name of the ice cream she gets before she dies. Granted there are worse names that could be stated. This movie could be called “John Wick” even though John Wick appears nowhere in the film. But this title almost either sounds like a working title, or a title that was slapped together at the least minute. Some flak could be given towards Dwayne Johnson’s recent film, “Skyscraper” for maybe sounding like a pitch movie, in fact, that’s almost what the title screams at some points. But at least it just sounded like it had things revolving around that title more than “Peppermint” did. I don’t know what title I would end up giving to “Peppermint” at this point if I had the power, but probably not “Peppermint.” Heck, even “Die Family Die!” would be a better title than this! It sounds stupid, but really f*cking intriguing.

Speaking of which, one thing that I found intriguing is the way this movie takes a look at Los Angeles and makes it look like this depressing wasteland. Bums are all over the place, it just seems trashy, and nothing of glory seems to be displayed. When I think of LA, I think of tall buildings, I think of movie stars, I think of culture. This movie gives a giant f*ck you to that and I kind of admire the movie for doing such a thing. I can’t wait for the sequel where they start the movie in New York and they show people asking for money on the street, horns honking everywhere, and creepy Disney character impersonators kidnapping children and their parents!

Guys, in the end, while I don’t think I have much else to say about “Peppermint,” most of what I have to say is not really all that positive. “Peppermint” could have been a fun movie, a compelling movie, or even a good movie. But the thing is that it probably doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it trying to be an action-packed, made for audiences to go in and chew on popcorn time-waster? Is it trying to be a serious drama that would make you root for the mother? I don’t know. Guys, if you want a good movie about revenge, go watch “John Wick!” Go watch “V For Vendetta!” Not this crap. I’m gonna give “Peppermint” a 3/10. Thanks for reading this review! Tomorrow I’m gonna be going out to the theater to see “The Meg” so expect a review of that very soon, also if content consistency seems to be slower than usual, I should have you know, I’m in college now, so I apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing. However, let me just have you know that my resolution for 2018 is to deliver at least one Scene Before post each week. So I’m not saying this is dying. It’s still a serious commitment, it’s still going on, and I will make sure I deliver whatever content I can whenever I can. I may be doing something for someone else, but I’m also doing something for YOU, my 32 followers. With that being said, be sure to follow this blog if you haven’t already by clicking the follow button and following either with a WordPress account or an email so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Peppermint?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite movie with Jennifer Garner in it? If you ask me, I gotta go with “Juno.” Let me know about your favorites in the comments! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

The Academy Postpones BEST POPULAR FILM: Thank Heavens!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Last month I talked about perhaps the all-time dumbest idea that has ever come about in the history of the Academy Awards, that idea being the introduction of an all new award that celebrates POPULAR FILM. Like, why? As if the idea was bad enough, part of me wondered why it was even introduced in the first place. Yes, the Academy Awards had its least watched show ever this year, and they are trying to find ways to get its ratings higher next year and years down the road. But part of me wondered if ABC, the channel that airs the Oscars, stepped in and said, PRAISE US! And I don’t mean that literally, because ABC doesn’t make movies set to release in theaters. What I mean is that ABC is owned by Disney, the creator of the animated film “Dumbo,” which is just an understatement for how ridiculous this popular film award idea truly is. Disney has had a pretty successful year so far, releasing three films this that have surpassed $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, and one of those films actually reached the $2 billion mark (“Avengers: Infinity War”). And it’s not just money that talks here, it’s also the critics and moviegoers. “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” happened to be two of the best reviewed comic book movies in recent memory. It’s possible that Disney wants an Oscar, just to say they’ve won an Oscar. “Black Panther,” which is getting tons of phrase left and right, seems to be a big contender, and certainly would also have that title attached to it if this category were to exist, but if you nominate “Black Panther,” or if that movie WINS the Oscar for “Best Popular Film,” I just see it as an insult. It makes the Oscars look like a popularity contest, and it somewhat diminishes the value of the movie itself. Maybe “Black Panther” ended up not taking Best Picture, but hey! It’s popular!

Gimmie a f*cking break.

Luckily, after about a month of a storm that is almost on the disaster level of a sharknado, The Academy answered the prayers of many in the movie community by saying that the award WILL NOT be presented in the 2019 Oscars telecast.

*APPLAUSE FROM SELF*

Now let me just say, from what I’ve read, I wouldn’t say this concept of an award is gone for good, because I’m hearing from various sources like The Wrap and Indie Wire that it’s been delayed, but still, IT’S NOT GONNA BE A THING! For those of you who have read my post that I completed last month about this, I must say, I had a wish to pick the host of the 2020 Oscars if this award idea was still going to be executed, and as much as I wanted either Mark Hamill, Conan O’Brien, or Howie Mandel to host the Oscars, the eradication (sort of) that this popular award idea has received is certainly something I’ll take.

And it’s not just me who has been raging about this whole Oscar popular award fiasco, people in the industry such as Steven Spielberg (Ready Player One, Schindler’s List), Laura Dern (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Big Little Lies), were highly against this idea. Not just them, but movie bloggers, vloggers, websites everywhere just so happened to be calling this a s*itshow! Another notable celebrity included Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation, St. Elmo’s Fire), who tweeted saying that this idea was the worst thing the Oscars has done since he was supposed to come on the show and sing onstage with Snow White, which did happen by the way, as I was writing this, I watched a video of what exactly went down (below). It says it’s just over eleven minutes, which is a total lie, allow me to declare, IT NEVER ENDS! And if you were to ask me which Oscars idea was the worst, having seen this Snow White bulls*it, it’s close, but this popular award frenzy would CERTAINLY be my answer.

Let me once again state, this award is DOWN, not OUT. I gotta ask though, WHY THE F*CK IS THAT THE CASE?! Before I get too selfish here, I ought to calm down and realize that sometimes a little experimentation can’t do all that much harm. Because if you have been following this site and read that other post I did about this, you may remember I went over a couple of other new ideas the Academy has come up with. These include a commitment to making the show a three hour telecast, and setting an earlier airdate for the 92nd Oscars. And while I do have minor concerns related to both the first and second idea, my concern level isn’t as enormous as it is for the main topic. While I’m relieved that we’re not getting this award, it almost makes me think in a couple different ways. Does the Oscars have an idea related to this award that maybe the general public and reporters are absolutely missing? Because the way I see this idea is that it’s just an excuse to make the Oscars a popularity contest for a moment. F*ck craftsmanship! F*ck hard work! F*ck not putting how much money something makes into a situation like this!

To me, Best Popular Film, is basically the same thing as Best Animated Feature, only dumber. It’s an exclusive category for films that MIGHT not be good enough for Best Picture, or other prestigious categories, but hey, at least they’re nominated. If a film like “Thor: Ragnarok” won this award at the most recent Academy Awards, it’s just gonna be that one kid at the small table, stuck with his juice box and grilled cheese sandwich, whereas the grown-ups like “The Shape of Water,” “Dunkirk,” and “Call Me by Your Name” all get to enjoy the liquor at the bar while simultaneously chowing down on some fresh steak.

One highlight from all of this is some of the words spoken by Dawn Hudson, the CEO of The Academy.

“There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members.”

Wide range? OK, I’ve talked to a number of people I know about this, but I’m pretty sure only ONE of them thought it was a good idea. In fact, if I remember correctly, this person could have changed their mind! But for the most part, the reactions all over have been “F*ck this idea!” So this, “wide range” that apparently is on your mind right now, forget about it, f*ck it!

And let me just say one thing, should the Academy decide to bring this award back to life, they should pay attention to my statement. Just because something is popular, it doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Twilight” is popular, doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is popular, doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Mission: Impossible II” was the highest worldwide grossing movie of 2000, but was it good or Oscar-worthy? No. And you could make a case saying by stating fantastic popular films to come out in the years the other, inferior popular films came out. “Twilight” came out in 2008, but so did “The Dark Knight.” It was nominated for eight Oscars and ended up taking home two. “Fifty Shades of Grey” came out in 2015, but so did “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, and ended up taking home six. And yes, “Fifty Shades of Grey” was nominated for an Oscar, but it’s for Best Original Song,” so who cares? “Mission: Impossible II” came out in 2000, but so did “Gladiator.”  It was nominated for twelve Oscars, and ended up taking home five, including Best Picture. I’ll just remind everyone that there is a place for popular films, but it’s not the Oscars, you know, unless it was masterfully created and executed. If someone were to create a show that celebrated everything that people know or follow, then OK, at least it’s honest. “Black Panther” will probably end up taking home a ton of awards, it’ll be a close race between that and “Infinity War” for Best Picture. But if you are creating a show that’s meant to celebrate the best of the best, don’t bring popularity into it.

And going back to Best Animated Feature, let’s consider that for a second. What if we find ourselves in a year which there are no good animated films? Some of the animations we’re getting next year include “Toy Story 4,” “Wonder Park,” “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” “UglyDolls,” “The Addams Family,” “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” “Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie,” and “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.” Based on the trailer for that last movie I mentioned, I’d say we’re gonna have at least one good animated feature next year, but what if in future years, all of the animated features suck? So, what if the future popular movies are simply phenomenons? They just make money, and therefore they are popular. It would take a kiddy table award and just shrink it into a baby table. So, Academy, listen to me, if you don’t want me getting closer to choosing a future Oscars host again, ERASE THE IDEA COMPLETELY. YOU GET IT?!

If you want to find out more of my thoughts on this whole fiasco, I have a link to my other post that I did on this, be sure to check it out, back when life was harder and I wasn’t jumping for joy. This award may not be dead, but the progress of a full disappearance may be near completion. Let’s just hope it goes away as soon as possible.

Academy Awards Adds Popularity Contest?! *AN UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH*

Thanks for reading this post! I also want to invite you to check out some of my recent movie reviews. Be sure to click the links down below if you’re interested! Be sure to follow Scene Before with your email or WordPress account so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what are your thoughts on the Best Popular Film Oscar being postponed? Or, do you think they should have kept it? Is there any reason why? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“KIN” (2018) REVIEW

“EIGHTH GRADE” (2018) REVIEW

“GRINGO” (2018) REVIEW

Kin (2018): Two Brothers, A Ray Gun, and a Stripper

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Kin” is directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker, two brothers who have worked together on multiple short films. This movie stars Myles Truitt (Queen Sugar, Black Lightning), Jack Reynor (Sing Street, Glassland), Zoë Kravitz (Divergent, After Earth), Carrie Coon (The Leftovers, Gone Girl), Dennis Quaid (Far From Heaven, Frequency), and James Franco (Spider-Man, The Disaster Artist) and is about an ex-con who has been recently released from prison and his teen brother who are on the run from soldiers. Alongside them we have a unique weapon, which just so happens to be some of their only protection.

The main reason why I’m reviewing “Kin” is not because I’m particularly interested in the movie, but because this review works around my schedule. I have reviewed movies in August, but there’s no point where I’ve actually gone out to see a movie actually released in the month of August. I wanted to see “The Meg” so bad, but I never got around to it. I had some sort of interest in movies including “Mile 22,” “The Happytime Murders,” “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” and “Searching.” I could have gone out to see these movies, but there was no time and on occasion, no way, to get to any of these. Apparently adventures like “2001” in IMAX and “Eighth Grade” are a lot more important. Now it’s September, and my chance to review an August movie is finally here. And I’d say for the most part, this August movie was worth my time. I have my problems with it, but we’ll get to those later.

This movie stars Myles Truitt and Jack Reynor as two “brothers” if you will. Jimmy (Reynor) was raised by his birth family while Eli (Truitt) happened to be adopted. Jimmy is not essentially the brightest bulb in the world. As the movie begins, we find out that Jimmy just happened to be released from prison. When the main plot kicks in, this is essentially where the two brothers have to team up. So the two go on a road trip, leaving post-apocalyptic Detroit to wherever their travels take them. And I gotta say that this is probably where “Kin” hits its highest marks. Not only did both actors play their characters well, but they’ve also delivered terrific and believable chemistry. None of it was awkward, at least from what I remember, and it made me see these actors purely as these characters. Who else is gonna play them now?

Now this movie is produced by the same folks who produced “Stranger Things.” While I have not seen much of “Stranger Things,” I am certainly well aware of what it is all about. And there are some moments of this that can feel like “Stranger Things.” Probably the biggest reason that can associate with such a statement is that the two main characters who have to stick together are on the younger side of the spectrum. And as mentioned, both of them did very well in this movie.

Along the way, the duo meet a girl by the name of Milly, played by Zoë Kravitz. Where do they meet her? A strip club.

Now whoa whoa whoa hold the phone!

Out of all the places that the two brothers could stop, the older brother, who happens to be in control of the wheel (for good reason), decides it would be reasonable to go to a strip club alongside his FOURTEEN YEAR OLD ADOPTED BROTHER. As crazy enough as that alone is, they don’t check IDs (upon research though I don’t think ALL clubs do that).

Anyway, they meet her at a strip club and what I love about this is not what any stereotypical teenager would go ahead and talk about. It’s not about how f*ckable she is or how hot she looks onstage. In fact, this movie is rated PG-13, so it’s not like you have to come in expecting anything hardcore. The thing I love about her is how the movie utilizes her character to make her actually have a personality. It’s not like she’s a sex object, she has a purpose in the film. There’s a point where I wouldn’t say she’s actually “doing s*it,” but she does happen to have heavy involvement in the plot. But then again, and this may be nitpicky, but this probably wouldn’t have happened if the dynamic duo didn’t get kicked out for having a CLEARLY underage kid in their party.

One of the movie’s biggest things it has going for it is the futuristic ray gun that seems to be getting a lot of attention when it comes to marketing. When it comes to that particular aspect, I’m both impressed and maybe a tad disappointed at the same time. On one hand, the ray gun was a nifty little tool and I thought it really served a purpose, not to mention a bit of fun, in the story. On the other hand, it might have gotten maybe somewhere near minimal use, which kind of underwhelmed me. If this movie gets a sequel, which I doubt will happen unless this movie makes a s*itton more money than it did during its first few days, I want to see more use out of the ray gun if there is time for it. I’ve been exposed to others’ reviews on “Kin” before publishing this one, and they’ve said that this film, tonally speaking, is way off. While I do happen to disagree on that point, I do agree that this film needs to hit the big guns. There is although a pretty cool side story involving a couple of people who actually had the gun before it was even found and taken by the two brothers. Also that reminds me, I wanted there to be perhaps a more memorable and fascinating discovery. I don’t even remember how it was found except for bits and pieces. In the “Jumanji” movie, specifically the one starring Robin Williams, I still remember the discovery of the Jumanji board game. I remember bits of the music, where it was, and it just felt like you were maybe in an adventure film. Maybe like “Indiana Jones” or something.

This film is actually based on a short film directed by the twin brothers Jonathan and Josh Baker. These two brothers eventually went on to direct this exact movie. I have not seen the short, but it is called “Bag Man,” so I have nothing to compare it to, but I do want to give a bit of credit to this film for at least raising my interest towards checking that out.

In the end, “Kin” is actually a bit of a surprise for me. I went in not expecting much at all. In fact, I walked out thinking, that wasn’t really that bad. This is like walking into a Kmart or Sears at this point seeing that they’re actually doing a somewhat decent business and keeping the stock flowing smoothly. Maybe it’s not perfect, but hey, it could definitely be a lot worse. I do have my problems with it, and trust me, some stand out. I don’t think I’ll remember “Kin” as much as I do with some other movies, but this was certainly something I couldn’t complain about. I’m gonna give “Kin” a 6/10. Thanks for reading this review! Right now it is September, and it is more than a month away until “First Man” releases in several countries, including the US. For those of you who don’t know, “First Man” stars Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, Crazy Stupid Love) and Claire Foy (The Crown, Breathe), it is directed by Academy Award-winning director Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash), and happens to be, depending on how you look at things, based on the true story, or a fantasy with a hidden truth and meant to be shot in a studio, on the Apollo moon landing. In honor of that, starting sometime later this month, I’m planning to be reviewing a bunch of space-related movies. Be sure to stay tuned for that. I’ve got a number of options in my head. I’ll just say, that my first review is probably guaranteed to be “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Not only does it have some sort of relation to space, but this year is the movie’s 50th anniversary, and based on results from a Twitter poll, “2001” received the popular vote. Stay tuned for this, along with other great content! Also, be sure to follow Scene Before either with an email or your WordPress account! I want to know, did you see “Kin?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite fictional weapon in a movie? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Game Night (2018): Live Or Die, the Comedic Choice Is Yours

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Game Night” is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who together have collaborated on directing “Vacation” and stars Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses, Juno) alongside Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, The Notebook) as a couple who often do a game night at their house with people they’re close with. However, Jason Bateman’s character of Max happens to have a brother who is in town by the name of Brooks, who is essentially maximized in every way compared to Max. Brooks is planning a game night of his own and everybody ends up attending, this eventually leads to everyone’s realization that this is not just your standard gaming session where people play Scrabble or Life or Pictionary, and it is instead, a murder mystery, thus leading to the movie’s crazy, action-packed events.

I wanted to see “Game Night” when it first came out in theaters, however I never got around to it during its theatrical run. I felt that other movies were more important, I was busy focusing on and recapping the Academy Awards at the time and it just happened to be something I never came across. But the trailer made this movie look great. Did it feel like something a studio would assemble together? Maybe, a little bit, but it felt like it was done with character and passion. Plus, I heard sometime while I was missing this movie that the duo directing this film are actually signed on to direct a “Flash” film for DC. That doesn’t really say much, but given that statistic, it did get me intrigued. I wanted to see how they’d do with this film, thus giving me a sense of what they could do with a film like “The Flash.” And I’d say they did a very good job.

When it comes to “Game Night,” this movie just surprised the hell out of me. I didn’t think “Game Night” was going to be bad, but I didn’t expect to laugh my ass off as much as I did while watching it. One of the first exchanges of dialogue of the movie takes place during this trivia night, and it literally set the tone for me, just a few minutes in, I’m already loving what I’m seeing. And this made me ask myself, could this top “Blockers?”

Some of you may be wondering why I’m asking that. “Game Night” was released on February 23rd, 2018 in the United States, and I’ve witnessed several comedies this year, or movies containing comedy in them, not just “Blockers,” and they’ve caught me by surprise, because in 2017, comedy was literally, no pun intended, a joke to me. With movies like “How to Be a Latin Lover,” “Fist Fight,” “Snatched,” and the gosh-awful “Father Figures,” 2017 overall just fell flat. Heck, I was even underwhelmed by “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!” Granted they had an enormous fluke with “The Disaster Artist” towards the end of the year, but still. I’m not saying all of 2018’s comedies have been great, go watch “Uncle Drew,” “Gringo,” or “Life of the Party” and tell me how you feel afterwards. But when you consider how much “Blockers” surprised me and made me see layers that I didn’t think I’d witness, how heartwarming yet hilarious “Tag” happened to be, and how many stitches I needed after “Avengers: Infinity War,” which isn’t even a comedy, but it managed to make me laugh more than I would at many comedies coming out nowadays, all of this just seems amazing. Comedy has turned around significantly for me this year, and everybody seems to be stepping up their game. In fact, kind of like “Blockers,” I kind of had an urge to watch “Game Night” again after viewing it for the first time.

Before we dive into some main points people usually need to go over for comedies, I’d just like to point out that there are points where I noticed the cinematography for “Game Night” is probably better than it had to be. There’s this sequence involving a fancy-looking egg and as everyone seems to be tossing it around, it’s all done with the camera moving around in one shot for an extended period of time as the characters are just doing what they’re supposed to do. It was just magic.

As far as the type of comedy that you get in “Game Night,” it’s basically mile-a-minute humor. Most of the humor seems to out of the characters’ mouths as opposed to actions, however some of the actions in this movie, while sometimes disturbing, but not in a way that turned me off, were certainly funny as well. Is anything new really brought to the table here? Nothing I can list off the top off my head, but whatever is there, works. This movie was done by some of the people who have worked on “Horrible Bosses,” and I’ll say having watched both “Game Night” and “Horrible Bosses,” if you like the tone and humor delivered in “Horrible Bosses,” I’d say you’d end up liking “Game Night.” In fact if you ask me personally, I like “Game Night” better than “Horrible Bosses.” Maybe it’s because I was rather late to the party when it came to “Horrible Bosses” and my mother was hyping it up like a bride does with her own wedding. My expectations, while not small, were perhaps lower for “Game Night” than they were for “Horrible Bosses.” And as of right now, I think a lot of you don’t have to see either one of these movies and automatically consider “Game Night” better than the other. Why?

This guy. If you hate this guy, “Horrible Bosses” might not be for you.

Some of the more recent movies I reviewed like “Uncle Drew” and “The Hurricane Heist” have something in common. Let me give you a small hint.

“UNCLE DREW” REVIEW
“Let’s talk about some of the characters in “Uncle Drew.” They all suck. They don’t drink enough Pepsi in the movie!”

“THE HURRICANE HEIST” REVIEW
“When it comes to Toby Kebbell, he plays a guy named Will, and what I have to say about his character is what can pretty much be said for everyone else’s characters. All of them suck, they have no personalities, not even their quirky southern accents could have saved this movie.”

Fortunately, I don’t have to say such a thing about this movie, because every single character was awesome! The strong point of “Game Night” is in the chemistry between everyone on screen, almost everyone is in a pair, whether they’re a couple or just partners, their separate interactions come together to make something super. A story between Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) is that a reason why they can’t have kids is because of a sibling rivalry between Max and his brother, Brooks. When it comes to another couple, Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury), they get into an argument about the past, specifically how Michelle slept with a celebrity. And there’s Sarah (Sharon Horgan) and Ryan (Billy Magnussen), which is basically a combination of the brains and… someone who literally needs the brains.

One thing I seem to notice about a couple good comedies is how much a dog would stand out in the movie, and in some scenarios, maybe not in the most pleasant of ways. This has been proven with “Anchorman” with Ron Burgundy’s dog, Baxter. It has also been supported in “There’s Something About Mary” with Puffy. Here, there’s a dog that’s often held by a character who I liked more and more as the movie went on, specifically Gary played by Jesse Plemons. There’s this scene where the dog is all covered in blood, I won’t go into much detail, but it’s in the trailer. Also, speaking of Jesse Plemons’s character, this is definitely one of the better performances the movie has to offer. It may not seem like much at first, but the difficulty seemingly increases as Plemons delivers a particular line in a certain way, it’s just priceless seeing his character do what he does.

I really don’t have much else to say about “Game Night,” but part of me wonders why they would name Max’s brother, Brooks (Kylie Chandler), the way they did. Is it to make him have a superior sounding name and not just be a superior fellow by himself? And you might be thinking, “Hey, Jackass! How the heck is Brooks a superior sounding name?” Ever heard of Brooks Brothers? If you have a luxurious fellow in your movie, you might as well give him a name that associates with luxury. I don’t know if this is true, but I’m curious to know the meaning behind his name if there does happen to be one.

In the end, “Game Night” just shows that 2018 is probably one of my favorite years in regards to comedy ever. If I remember correctly, I think probably laughed here as much as I did during “Tag,” which is kind of funny considering New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers worked on both movies. The chemistry between all of the characters was fantastic, I basically died laughing, and there’s even a couple lines that I want to quote forever.

“I hate game night!” -Annie

Not me sister, I motherf*cking loved “Game Night.” I’m gonna give “Game Night” an 8/10. Thanks for reading this review! I’m not sure what movie I’m gonna review next, however Steven Soderbergh’s most recently released film which he directed, “Unsane,” is now free on Amazon Prime, so maybe I’ll review that if there’s nothing else to do. Be sure to follow Scene Before so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Game Night?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite comedy of 2018 so far? To me, it’s a tough choice, probably either this or “Blockers,” nevertheless, let me know your opinions on what this year’s best comedy is for you! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Love, Simon (2018): A Movie About Emails, Love, and the Weirdest Principal Ever

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Love, Simon” is directed by Greg Berlanti, who you may know as a producer for a lot of content that’s coming out in relation to DC Comics and this movie stars Nick Robinson (The Fifth Wave, Jurassic World), Jennifer Garner (Juno, Daredevil), and Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Safe Haven). This movie is about a teenage boy who is nearly done with high school and all of his life he’s been hiding the fact that he’s gay. His parents don’t know, his friends don’t know, his family doesn’t know, nobody knows. One day, Simon comes across something online about someone who has never come out, seeing this, he begins communicating with the individual who happens to be just like him. This leads STRAIGHT into this coming of GAYGE story.

I bought this movie on Blu-ray for 25% less than the sticker price (originally $34.99), and I will bring up the fact that despite its recent release date, I missed “Love, Simon” in the theater. My sister saw it, but on the same day, she was with her own demographic and I was off with someone else seeing another movie at a different theater, specifically “Tomb Raider.” However, when I saw a couple of Blu-ray copies available at a store I went to multiple times while on vacation, I asked my sister if she thought I should pick up this movie, mainly considering how she’s one of the few people I know who saw it. Once I got her seal of approval, I thought I should take a gander at what this was. Having seen this movie now, it’s fine. Just fine. Did I expect it to be great? Not really. I thought it was gonna be really good, and while it didn’t quite MEET my expectations, I can’t say my disappointment levels are enormous, because “Love, Simon” is an entertaining, somewhat fast-moving, enjoyable experience I guess.

Let me just get something straight. I’m straight. I can’t say I completely relate to Simon entirely because I’m not gay, but with ways not having to do with sexual orientation, the writers did a really fine job at making the character of Simon feel like a normal everyday person just like he himself says he is at the start of the flick in narration form. And that is one of the biggest compliments I can give to “Love, Simon,” as a coming of age story, the script does its job (FOR THE MOST PART, THE FLAT-OUT ODD AND OVERUSED SEX JOKES, NOT TO MENTION OTHER CRINGE GOT IN THE WAY). Not only that, but all of the characters around Simon’s age seem to come off as authentic high-schoolers. And I will say, that if I were talking about the first half of this movie, I probably would have a gun to my head while threatened to say what somebody else wanted. I’m not saying the first half was terrible, but certain parts of the first half were not really as lovable the other half. There is some cringe to be had throughout the movie that was rather unexpected.

One such moment comes into play during a scene in a Waffle House. While everyone is reading a play script, A character by the name of Martin, who might as well be young Lex Luthor in “Batman v. Superman,” has a crush on Abby, and it just leads to one of the weirdest exchanges of dialogue I’ve seen in a movie this entire year.

Speaking of cringe, let’s talk about the principal. Ooooh the principal. You know how sometimes maybe you’d think of a school principal as a big, tough, menacing figure? I wouldn’t say that’s who this guy is, I’d say he’s a combination of a clown without makeup, and a f*cking whackjob! Listen, I would sometimes consider myself a horrible person who doesn’t mind talking about sex, I’ll admit it. But in what universe does a principal go up to students and talk about their Tinder date in detail? And this movie also goes to show how ridiculous it’s gotten in terms of people not being able to have control of their own phones in school in perhaps the creepiest way possible! It’s like watching a really bad episode of a cheesy sitcom on ABC. If you remember the movie “Fist Fight,” which I’d honestly be surprised if you do at this point, at least they made the phone controversy that’s going on in schools all over today rather funny!

I already talked about Simon, but when it comes to the way Nick Robinson portrayed this character, I’d say he did a fine job at being authentic, not putting himself over the top, and just acting like a typical teenager. I’ve seen a few other flicks where Nick Robinson happened to be present, but “Love, Simon” is the first one where I happen to see him stand out. I remember bits and pieces of him in “Jurassic World,” I’ll admit it’s been awhile since I’ve watched that movie. I also watched him in “The Fifth Wave,” which was just AWFUL, but his few seconds in that movie worked for me. “Love, Simon” took me from being intrigued into looking for more of Robinson’s work to keeping a good eye on him now.

One thing I’m kind of surprised by when it comes to this movie, and I wouldn’t consider this a huge negative is how tolerant this movie’s list of characters appear to be about alternate orientations. I say this because in real life there’s probably gonna be that one person who either thinks differently than everyone else, or just two sides clashing with each other. While I’m not complaining, this does come off as a shock to me. Although at the same time, considering how much more open-minded we get as a society each and every day, that sort of idea becomes a tad less surprising. When I was in high school, I never really ran into anyone who was flat-out AGAINST homosexuality or the LGBT community, and if there were anyone that falls into that class, no names related to that come to mind. My parents seem to have nothing against said community, some people related to me I can probably tell have nothing against them. I can’t speak for everyone in my family, I don’t discuss this sort of thing with them. Even so, I didn’t expect the world of “Love, Simon” to be so one-sided. Granted, it could be to establish that there are more people that are accepting of the LGBT community than one would think, but still. And also, I will say, despite how many people appear to be on one specific side altogether during this movie, one character, specifically the character Simon is emailing all the time happens to have people who would disapprove of his ways in his family, but other than them, nobody else stands out in that side of the spectrum.

In the end, I gotta say “Love, Simon,” while it did make a neat turnaround in quality as the movie progressed still didn’t have enough in order to make me go “wow.” In fact, while I’ll mention again, the screenplay is one of the better parts of what make up “Love, Simon,” it had too many moments of cringe mixed into all of the decent parts. I didn’t even get into the football field scene which I’m avoiding for the sake of possible spoilers. As a coming of age story, it does its job, but I wouldn’t go all out in saying it does its job well. Plus considering what might be a small potential replay value, an ending that could have worked but had some dissatisfying elements mixed in, and some moments of the movie that might feel forgettable, I wouldn’t say I loved, “Love, Simon.” I’m gonna give “Love, Simon” a 7/10. I have a feeling however based on some thoughts spinning around in my head that I am gonna eventually change “Love, Simon” to a 6. I dunno, only time will tell. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m going to post my review for “Game Night,” which I do intend on watching sometime this week. Be sure to look out for that, make sure you follow me here on Scene Before that way you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Love, Simon?” What did you think about it? Or, what is one of the most cringeworthy movies you’ve watched in recent memory? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Eighth Grade (2018): YouTube Channel of a Wimpy Kid

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Eighth Grade” is directed by Bo Burnham and stars Elsie Fisher (McFarland, USA, Despicable Me), Josh Hamilton (Kicking & Screaming, Alive), and Emily Robinson in a movie where a girl by the name of Kayla Day is going through her wreck of a year in eighth grade. With her struggles of her introverted personality, struggles with other students in school, and struggles of simply trying to survive her last week, things aren’t looking too good for Kayla.

“Eighth Grade” happened to be one of my most anticipated movies of the year going into it. Not only did I LOVE the trailer and think this was going to be a fun yet maybe somewhat disturbing time, but the critical reception, while it didn’t really shock me, revealed excellence. There was a point where this movie had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes! As of right now it has a 98% with just a few of the many reviews on the site being rotten. Also, I’ll be honest, school sucks. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in. If you were me, you’d realize that just about not one single school year was all that perfect. Elementary school was mostly just me being stupid, middle school was just confusing and perhaps full of me being judgmental and in all honestly, a tad more mature than other people in certain ways. In high school, something had to go wrong every single year, most unfortunately my senior year. Sure, it was a fun year, but with all of the ridiculous changes and unexpected happenings I had, it just didn’t flow the way I would have preferred. Let me just say though, if there is one year I hated in middle school–

*thinks*

…You know what? That’s tough to say, sixth grade was awesome, all the others were unlikable for the most part, but eighth grade certainly didn’t go the way I would have hoped. When it comes to this movie, I think it does a great job at capturing not only how awkward eighth grade can be, but also how different people with different personalities handle said year both in and out of school.

When it comes to Kayla Day and how magnificent of a job the writing happened to be for her character, that’s probably where this movie shines most. Just about every single moment she was on screen was either me thinking to myself, this movie accurately depicts someone of her generation, or I’m so scared for her that I want to s*it myself. Her character is very quiet in school to the point where she wins the superlative “Most quiet” in school, while at home she is a YouTuber who barely gets any views on a channel that really has content that matters. It’s not exactly complicated, but it probably has more of a purpose than whatever clickbait video PewDiePie has coming out of his ass. I doubt many people in my generation sign off using the word “gucci,” I’m sorry for not being “lit af” enough to truly know whether or not that’s the truth, although they do talk about it a lot.

When it comes to the chemistry between Kayla and her dad, Mark, that’s another place where this movie tends to excel. Mark seems to be very calm, but might not have the best connection with her daughter, partially because she tends to be on her phone all the time, including at the dinner table. Every scene with them together is either a feast of great writing or just plain near-emotional.

You may have read my previous review, which I did for “Gringo,” where I basically said the main character is one of the most down-on-their-luck I’ve seen in recent history, the same can be said for “Eighth Grade.” Not only does everyone, not essentially hate Kayla, but happen to be kind of against her, but a key difference between this movie and “Gringo” is that I don’t hate everyone enough to not care about Kayla. You aren’t really invested in the main character of “Gringo,” at least I wasn’t. Kayla just felt relatable and like she would be someone you’d encounter on the street. Some of the mannerisms that I should probably give total props to Bo Burnham for is her overusing the word “like” in one of the earliest videos she makes during the film. She’s kind of shy, quiet, and for what I can assume, wants the best for people but just doesn’t let her thoughts out except when she’s online.

If there are movies that this reminds me of in a way in terms of the vibe, it’s probably a combination of “Whiplash” and a stereotypical piece of work done by John Hughes. The writing for this coming of age story is nothing short of perfection. And while Kayla doesn’t really have a rivalry with a teacher, she certainly has a rivalry with her school. In fact, connecting this even more to “Whiplash,” there are so many scenes where I could I imagine watching them in the future with the need to bite my nails. You know how you get to certain scenes in “Whiplash” where the main character is with the teacher and it’s just intense because you don’t want the main character to f*ck up. That’s what certain situations in this movie are like, while this may be considered a comedy or a drama, it’s as haunting as a horror movie. It not only shows how scary school is, but how scary life outside of school can be.

I will say though, one thing I find interesting about this movie’s puberty instruction video is how “current” it is. Watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean, but there’s this female instructor talking to the camera saying that exploring everyone’s changing bodies is “gonna be lit.” I already found my classes’s health videos when I had to take those classes cringeworthy enough just because they felt basic or poorly made, and it honestly makes me kind of jealous that the class in this movie would get a video like that.

And you know what? This does bring up one question though, as much as I ADORE this movie and think it is a masterfully made film, what exactly was the writer and director going for? This movie was written and directed by Bo Burnham, and I am willing to bet he was going for a realistic depiction of how stressful eighth grade can be, and this is a bit nitpicky, some of these fictional elements brought into this realistic movie, while extremely effective, take a bit of the realism away. It doesn’t take too much away from this fantastic movie, but my complaint stands.

In the end, “Eighth Grade” delivered pretty much what I wanted out of it. The movie had moments that just haunted me. It reminded me, as an individual, of how much I can relate to Kayla, and most of all, the screenplay just made me bend over repeatedly. I know it’s only August, but I think “Eighth Grade” has a tremendous shot at winning “Best Original Screenplay” at the Academy Awards. A24 once again proves that they are one of the best studios working today, Elsie Fisher is going to move on to do great things in life, and despite the minor, and I do mean minor flaws, that this movie has, I think Bo Burnham not only did a spectacular job with “Eighth Grade,” but I’d love to see what he’d do in the future in terms of writing and directing. I’m going to give “Eighth Grade” a 9/10. And I gotta say, competition is heating up for best movie of the year so far! This movie IS a 9/10, but I feel like it could either change to a 10 in the meantime, kind of like “Blade Runner 2049” did for me, but I feel like with the fantastic screenplay, the possible replay value, and the relatability factor, this has a significant chance of being, maybe not my favorite movie of the year, but somewhere very close to that when we get to the year’s end. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m gonna have some reviews up for “Love, Simon” and “Game Night,” be sure follow me here on Scene Before and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Eighth Grade?” What did you think about it? Or, what are some of your memories of eighth grade? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks! Gucci!

Gringo (2018): I’ve Been Kidnapped!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Gringo” is directed by Nash Edgerton and stars David Oyelowo (Selma, Interstellar), Charlize Theron (The Fate of the Furious, Atomic Blonde), Joel Edgerton (The Gift, The Great Gatsby), Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!, Ted 2), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible II, Crash), and Sharlto Copley (District 9, Chappie) and is about a guy by the name of Harold who finds himself in Mexico. As his life becomes a miserable wreck and while it seemingly couldn’t get any worse, his status eventually changes from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal.

I’ve seen the trailer for “Gringo” some time before it came out in theaters on the 9th of March this year. From what I saw, I was rather intrigued. However, I never saw it in theaters. Funny enough, that same weekend, “A Wrinkle In Time” released, which actually features the actor playing this movie’s main character. I didn’t see that either. Instead I waited to watch that for free on a plane. Also, hilariously enough, I watched “Gringo” for free too. No, not on a plane, but at home. As an Amazon Prime member, I can watch all of the content made by Amazon with no cost. “Gringo” was just recently added to Prime for free. So while my expectations weren’t roof-raising, they were certainly existent. Going into “Gringo,” I just hoped my expectations would be fulfilled.

They weren’t.

In fact, having seen the trailer one more time, I was instantly reminded of what exactly ruined the experience for me. For one thing, all of the funny parts (if this movie really had any) were shown in the trailer, and judging by the trailer, I was thinking this movie was going to go in a very predictable direction. And I don’t mind having my expectations be met with a different result, but something happens in this movie that is so different from what the trailers reveal that it’s just plain jarring! I’m not gonna get into spoilers, but the trailers made me think that this was going to be about a guy who gets kidnapped in Mexico. What the movie really does in terms of the main plot is completely different to the point of utter insanity! I don’t remember the last time I went into a movie that is just different from what the trailer shows as much as this!

Also, keeping spoilers away from everyone, one of the big things the trailer showed to me, an audience member, when it was shown in the movie, not only wasn’t funny, it was kind of painful to watch. And no, it wasn’t bloody or scary or anything, it was just cringeworthy in a dark way. Like, why did I have to see this? I was watching this movie in my bedroom while I was lying down on my bed, paying attention to whatever s*it is going on, as I’m witnessing one of the biggest diversions from a trailer in movie history, I was basically just uttering random noises, with my body against the wall next to my bed.

Also, I gotta say, this is marketed as a comedy, but there are barely any laughs in this. Granted, it’s a dark comedy, and the jokes aren’t mile a minute, which could mean you get less corny and forced jokes, but I was expecting some comedy that was faster than what we got here. And basically whatever attempt at humor I witnessed on screen was seen in the trailer. I usually never complain about that sort of thing because I see all of this stuff coming but even when I do, there’s usually SOMETHING I have yet to see in terms of comedy. Here, I felt like there was nothing. I did laugh on one or two occasions. But that’s like saying Pac-Man would only eat one or two dots on occasion at a party. Either he’s having a rough time, or the party planning has gone to s*it.

Let’s talk about the closest thing to a likable character this piece of crap has, and that is David Oyelowo’s character of Harold Soyinka. I say that because just about everyone else is either a douche or you just don’t care about them. Speaking of that, Harold is probably one of the finest examples of a “down-on-luck” character I’ve seen in recent history. Having seen this, I don’t even know what to think. On one hand, I gotta give props to the movie for at least trying to make Harold the one character to root for while everyone else is against him. But on the other hand I gotta say that having too many s*itty characters can only mean one thing. You have a s*itty movie.

And in a movie full of s*itty characters, you might as well make an excuse for one of them saying, “Hey, at least this bitch is played by Charlize Theron!” Don’t get me wrong, Charlize Theron is a great actress, she can play the very definition of a badass if you give her the right script. Just go watch “Hancock,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Atomic Blonde,” and heck, I’ll even say “A Million Ways to Die in the West!” And out of all of the performances in the movie, I think Theron might just take the cake as top performer. But I hate her character, just like everyone else in this movie, so why should I even care at this point?

Another thing I should point out is that there are two people in this movie with the last name Edgerton, and yes, they are related. You’ve got Joel Edgerton (left) playing Richard Rusk, who is often in scenes with Charlize Theron’s character, Elaine Markinson, and you’ve got the director of the film, Nash Edgerton (right). A lot of you might know Joel Edgerton as an actor, but when it comes to his brother, he is mainly involved in stuntwork. When it comes to directing, he mainly has done shorts up to this point. I don’t know exactly how the two ended up in this movie together. Maybe there was a favor to be fulfilled with one sibling, the other, or maybe someone else involved. Perhaps Joel wanted to kickstart Joel’s directing career. I dunno, but in all seriousness, this reminds me of Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone. Basically, almost every single thing that Ben Falcone has directed or written has Melissa McCarthy in it. “Gringo” almost might be an excuse for a couple of brothers to make a movie together. And just like McCarthy and Falcone, the Edgertons and I need to have a little discussion on how to make a good movie!

In the end, “Gringo” most likely kidnapped me. If you watch the trailer for this movie before going into it and see something different out of the trailer or the movie then good for you. For me, this was a ripoff. I had SOME expectations for “Gringo,” not a lot, but some. Whatever little expectations I had, somehow were not even met. “Gringo” is not funny, it’s full of unlikable characters, the director might as well be there partially because of his brother, and it can show you how important it is to market your movies properly. When I saw the trailer, I was sold. Turns out what I was sold happened to be fraudulent and expectation-altering to the point of wanting to die. I’m going to give “Gringo” a 2/10. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m going to have my review for “Eighth Grade” so look forward to that very soon! Be sure to follow Scene Before either with your WordPress account or an email so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Gringo?” What did you think about it? Or, what is a movie that was completely different to you than what you got out of the trailer? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

The Hurricane Heist (2018): Fast Storm, Slow Movie

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“The Hurricane Heist” is directed Rob Cohen (xXx, The Fast and the Furious) and stars Toby Kebbell (Fantastic Four, Warcraft), Maggie Grace (Taken, Lost), and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, The Right Kind of Wrong) in a movie that’s pretty much as exactly as it sounds. A group of people want to pull off a heist, but why not do it during a hurricane?! It’ll be great! F*ck me.

I bought this movie on Blu-ray when I was in Connecticut, and while I can say that for the most part, I didn’t go in expecting all that much, I was just hoping to have fun. The marketing for this movie made it look bad, but the kind of bad that I imagine you’d want to see. Appropriately, the advertising had “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” I was just like, alright, let’s embrace the stupid. Unfortunately, I couldn’t, because this movie was just too boring. Sure, you’ve got an epic storm. But there is NOTHING ELSE of interest! I felt like I was watching the most boring episode of Bob Ross’s “The Joy of Painting.” In that episode, you don’t watch Bob paint, you watch paint dry. I was watching this late at night, and I still remember shouting “BOOOORING!” four or five times throughout this piece of crap!

What’s so boring about it? You don’t like any of the characters! The casting is wrong on so many levels! The writing is unrealistic! And I even think some of the dubbing is a fail too! When I saw who was directing this film, I knew this was not going to be a masterpiece, but this was so much worse than I originally thought it would be. I say that because having viewed some of his work, his movies can kind of fall into a guilty pleasure category. If you’ve never seen “xXx,” I will say that it’s not really a good movie, but Vin Diesel is believable as Xander Cage, he has charisma, Samuel L. Jackson’s pretty good, and you’ve even got some neat one liners. I love the line, “Don’t be a dick, Dick.” This movie has no humor, it’s too serious and almost feels like there is no passion put into it. Also, let’s be honest, with a title like “The Hurricane Heist” and considering what goes down in terms of story, doesn’t this sound like a pitch movie?

It’s a heist film, with a hurricane! It’s a disaster film, with a heist! We’ll put in tons of CGI just to have something the audiences can look at! IT’S GONNA BE GREAT!

Let’s talk about Toby Kebbell in this movie. When it comes to Toby Kebbell, he plays a guy named Will, and what I have to say about his character is what can pretty much be said for everyone else’s characters. All of them suck, they have no personalities, not even their quirky southern accents could have saved this movie. Toby Kebbell just lacks wanted depth and charisma, sure we get a look at his backstory at the beginning of the film, but you just don’t end up caring about him, just like any other person in frame. His sibling rivalry with Breeze which we were introduced to during the film’s beginning is brought up one other time. Let me just back that statement up for a sec though, Will has a brother named BREEZE. What the hell?! Who names their kid Breeze?! I mean, I imagine there are some Breezes out there, but I’m sorry for everyone who has to live with such an unfortunate reality of a name you literally have to breeze through! It would probably be more believable if someone ends up naming their kid Jolly Green Giant. What kind of f*cked up situation would lead to that, I don’t know, but at least the name would sound AWESOME compared to Breeze. Also, I feel bad for Toby Kebbell, he played Dr. Doom in “Fant4stic,” he was in “Warcraft,” and now this! Not a good track record if you ask me!

As you can see in the image above, Maggie Grace’s character is there, but I’m not gonna talk about her! This movie doesn’t deserve such a thing! Now let’s kill the rest of it with thunder and lightning.

Although there’s one character I want to breeze over, and no, it’s not who you think it is. I want to talk about the character of Dixon, played by Ben Cross. I’d say that just about everyone in this movie is miscast, but Ben Cross sticks out like a sore thumb. If you watch this movie and observe Dixon, he almost comes across like a douchebag character The Rock would play when he still had hair and Director Krennic from “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!” I don’t know how to describe it without cringing! It was like I was watching a cartoon!

I know I said this movie was boring, and sometimes saying that is an understatement. But I also gotta talk about how much of a disaster this is too. I know it’s a disaster film, but you probably get my point. And while we’re on that topic, another film I saw earlier this week was “The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time.” This movie not only had the absolute boredom I encountered while watching “Transcendence,” you guys remember that film where Johnny Depp played a computer? But I’ll also add this has the s*itty effects and stupidity of “The Last Sharknado.” And I will give this movie something, when it comes to stupidity, this movie is better at being stupid and fun than compared to “The Last Sharknado.” There’s this one sequence where it’s all very threatening, someone could get hurt, they could get shot, they could die, then suddenly we see breaking glass quickly rising into the atmosphere! I lost it at that scene, I was DYING laughing!

And this does bring something up, I’m not old enough to drink yet, and I probably never will drink. But let’s just say I’m at a party with my friends and there’s alcohol, I decide to put on “The Hurricane Heist” just for s*its and giggles. All of the moments where I’d endlessly be bored, I’d probably just end up appreciating everything and laughing my ass off. It’s almost like I’d be watching “The Room” at that point!

And this boredom factor that’s applied to the movie, it’s just sad that it’s there. Because I imagine that I could probably get through this movie with s*itty characters, maybe there’s some cool hurricane action. No, all of it was boring. Part of me felt dumber after watching this, I just don’t know if I could end up recommending this movie to anyone unless they have the right amount of alcohol.

In the end, “The Hurricane Heist” was as tough to get through as a natural disaster. I don’t even know how I survived this movie. There are a lot of movies I see that I want know how they did something in that movie. For example, I just saw “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” I wanted to know how they did the helicopter sequence. Similarly, I wanted to know something about “The Hurricane Heist” as well. I wanted to know how it got made. I mean, how did this come to fruition? Which cigar-smoking studio executive thought this would work? This wasn’t even fun, it was just a drag. It had the pacing of C-SPAN and it lacked the guilty pleasure-like fun of “xXx,” a movie that this film’s director actually worked on! Also, the ending is one of the most abrupt I’ve seen in recent history. I don’t think I’ve seen an ending that abrupt since either “The Circle” or “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Luckily this post doesn’t end here, because I still need to give a verdict. I’m going to give “The Hurricane Heist” a 1/10. I will say though, despite my 1, this movie could be worse. It might be fun if you’re drunk with friends, but I was sober, so my brain just felt like it was taking a nap while I was trying to get the rest of my body to stay awake for over an hour and a half. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m going to be doing a review for “Love, Simon” which I just bought on Blu-ray so look forward to that very soon. Be sure to follow me here on Scene Before either with your email or your WordPress account and be sure to stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “The Hurricane Heist?” What did you think about it? Or, what is a movie that looked like a guilty pleasure at first glance but turned out to be a piece of crap? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Family Guy Live-Action Hybrid Movie Reportedly in the Works… TWO REASONS WHY I’M MAD!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! As some of you may or may not know, one reason why I continue to work on this blog to this very day is for my own joy of writing. And I’ll have some of you know that one day, I would love to work for the film industry. As of today, my hopes to do such a thing has dwindled to a point where I’ve entered an abyss of darkness. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to work in the film industry, but it doesn’t change the fact that something has gone on in the film industry that is getting me so fed up that it’s making me almost steer away from even considering said industry to relate to my future career.

And yes, there are tons of things about the film industry that can totally be a reason for me wanting to steer away. There’s tons of sexual harassment scandals that almost makes it hard to be a straight white male in Hollywood. I’m not saying I sexually harassed others or approve of sexual harassment, but what if we get to the point where you just get called out for being a straight white male? All of the fan communities for movies like “Star Wars” are becoming more and more toxic by the day. Depending on your housing situation, you’ve also got to deal with California itself. I mean, my gosh! How are people surviving there? But we’re not gonna talk about any of those topics today. Today, it’s time for me to get personal, because a story just came out last week that kind of got on my nerves.

One of my all time favorite TV shows is “Family Guy.” Sure, the series is nowhere near as good as it used to be, but the early seasons of the show are a thing of beauty. And admittedly, I’ll say I enjoy some of the later episodes as well. Seth MacFarlane is a genius that breaks barriers and can easily make me laugh. Some of his other work such as “American Dad!” and “The Orville” are also worth a look if you ask me. “Family Guy,” for those who don’t know, is currently owned by Fox, and they also own a couple shows that have a similar feel to “Family Guy.” These shows include “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers.” Recent reports came out related to all three shows, and there are two of these reports which I can approve of.

  1. Development of a second “Simpsons” movie
  2. Development of a “Bob’s Burgers” movie
  3. Development of a live-action/animated “Family Guy” movie

Those first two topics? They’re irrelevant, forget em’, they’re safe from my rant. That last one however, I’m taking it down with force! Just… Why? In all of the years, that I’ve been asking for a “Family Guy” movie, THIS is the idea we get? When the word live-action comes into play for something that’s rather well-known for being animated, that’s usually not a good sign. It has enormous potential for “Transformers,” but everyone making some of those movies tend to puke on their audience in the process. But let’s look at it this way, there are many live-action adaptations of animated pieces of work out there. Some admittedly have worked like 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” while others continuously remain in a pit of terror like “Ghost in the Shell.” If experience has taught anything to a number of active moviegoers, it’s that animation doesn’t always translate to live-action.

When it comes to Fox and the development of the movie, that’s an interesting situation as well. If you have been living under a rock, Disney could potentially own an enormous portion of Fox’s assets. The Mouse House bid on all of said assets for a grand total of $71.3 billion, with studio approval happening on July 27th of this year. As of now, the ownership isn’t a done deal, because there are still some ropes to jump through with the government, but if this deal goes through, it’s potential that Disney could step in and change this movie. What will they do with it? I don’t know, but I just hope they don’t make it too kid friendly! But nevertheless, this could lead to studio interference and maybe take a movie that I’m already not anticipating, and somehow make it worse.

Although the more I think about it, something like this is potential to work, maybe. Live-action is something that I don’t know if it will work, but if it’s done right like if somehow the Griffins become realistic and can’t find a way to return to their normal selves, that could be interesting. Maybe it’ll be something similar to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” And I think some people liked another piece of work from Fox, “Son of Zorn,” which had an animated character in our world. But that was canceled so what do I know? But other than that, the whole concept just sounds crazy. It almost reminds me of another cartoon that tried to make a movie like this. You guys remember “The Spongebob Movie?”

No, not the one from the 2000s!

In 2015, they released another movie featuring “Spongebob Squarepants” known by the name “Sponge Out of Water.” Down below is an image taken from that movie.

Now, don’t get me wrong, would I personally say this looks TERRIBLE? I wouldn’t say it does. But in reality, it’s just a gimmick. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t say too much, but blending the live-action and animation together just feels like a cheap trick. Not to mention, based on how this movie was marketed supposedly, it feels like it was made to show off 3D.

Knowing Seth MacFarlane and what he would probably do, I doubt he would use 3D gimmicks up the wazoo. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie were in 3D, but I don’t think MacFarlane would intentionally go out of his way just to make 3D a big part of the movie. I don’t know, maybe unless he wanted to make fun of “Avatar” he wouldn’t do such a thing.

If you are excited for a “Family Guy” movie, good for you, and I sure as hell wish I was. But aside from this live-action bullcrap, there is one more thing that literally f*cks me in the ass–err I mean shoots me in the face–err I mean kicks me in the nuts–err I mean stabs me in the back–err I mean casts me into a fire–err I mean grinds my gears.

I’m not gonna show this for certain reasons having to do with value, idea stealing, and the fact that I would like to present it to particular people and hide it from others. I HAVE A SCRIPT FOR MY OWN “FAMILY GUY” MOVIE. When it comes to making this script, I actually started it two years ago, and it is a fully animated movie. I find it to be a combination of a big blockbuster and drama with a ton of comedy sprinkled in the mix. I finished the climax recently and I am rather proud of what I created. There are definitely revisions to be made to the script overtime and I’m still looking over it as days go by. In fact, I wrote it on a Word document, and it’s not even formatted like a traditional script! But it did come out to over a hundred and twenty pages!

I gotta ask, is my movie better than whatever Fox or Seth MacFarlane has in mind? I may be biased, but yes! Then again, this is judging both movies on paper. We have yet to see either of our ideas to come to fruition. And when either of our ideas come to life, we can only properly judge our creations at that point. You may be asking though, what’s the plot? I said I don’t want to talk too much about my ideas, but I’ll spit some words out here. The plot of “The Family Guy Movie” is that Quahog is invaded by an alien race. It turns out that the race not only captures humans, but it is their only food source as well. This turns into a dark drama, eventually met with a lighter tone of the Griffins, Swansons, and Quagmire’s dad coming together to gain superpowers, and rescue those they need to rescue. Oh, did I mention there’s a point where the world is at stake?

“I don’t want to do ‘The Griffins must save the world.” -Seth MacFarlane

You don’t want to? Well guess what? It’s my script, so I’LL do that. Besides, that’s not even the main portion of the movie. The main portion of the movie is saving certain characters whose names shall not be mentioned for the sake of avoiding spoilers. And if you guys are asking if this is REAL, I can assure you it is. Now I’m not sending out any links to it, taking no screenshots of it, I’m not doing such a thing. I’m one of the few people at the time of writing this who knows about it. If you want, I can actually share some of the lines I’ve written in the script. I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible. I’m not going to right now because I want to still hide my script details. But if enough people comment, I’ll happily share what I’ve written. I don’t know if I’ll update this post and do it here, or do something separate or what, something will likely happen. But let me just say, if this “Family Guy” movie doesn’t go according to plan, I’m gonna feel bad for those who are making it, but I’m also going to continuously remind Fox and Seth MacFarlane that they could have possibly gone with the script written by a teenager! And for once, maybe someone like me won’t be mocked for making such a thing happen.

Thanks for putting up with my rant about my dreams getting crushed. I don’t know what the absolute future of the talked about “Family Guy” movie will be. There’s a part of me saying I hope it’s successful and there’s another part of me saying, just go with my script, trust me. I’ve worked on it for two years. I’m sorry to say but I have no review coming this weekend (as far as I know, maybe I’ll see something from home) but I do have a post coming soon that is going to be a review of my time at this year’s Terrificon. For those of you who are unaware of this event, it’s a three day convention taking place at one of Connecticut’s casinos, Mohegan Sun. I will be attending all three days and it will feature guests including Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Oldboy), Khary Payton (The Walking Dead, Teen Titans Go!), the guys from AMC’s “Comic Book Men,” and much more! I will be going over any potential autographs, photo ops, what the atmosphere was like, and it might be a tad different than last year considering they’ve got a new space in a recently constructed expo center so that will be a lot of fun. If you are considering coming to Terrificon, I’d say it’s worth your time, it’s not the best convention I’ve been to personally but crowd-wise, it’s paradise! I doubt there will be long lines for autographs! Be sure to stay tuned for that and more great content! Also be sure to follow me either via email or a WordPress account! I want to know, what are your thoughts on a “Family Guy” movie that blends live-action and animation? Or, are you excited for a “Bob’s Burgers” movie or another “Simpsons” movie? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Academy Awards Adds Popularity Contest?! *AN UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! If you are new here to Scene Before, you might not be aware that I’ve done a few posts related to the Academy Awards. Honestly, the Academy Awards might just be the biggest night of the year for movies. You know, that one night where lots of people turn the channel to ABC and see what movie they never heard of gets Best Picture? As far as my history of documenting somewhat related content, I’ve done my personal predictions and hopes for the 89th and 90th ceremonies, I’ve done recaps, and there’s even a movie review for “Moonlight” which I did after the Academy Awards that was making fun of the “La La Land” and “Moonlight” incident during the Best Picture reveal.

Today however marks something AMAZING. It’s a true feat in movie history. It’s where the Academy Awards and summer come together! The Academy Awards, which has telecasts that air during the winter, just as spring is suddenly approaching, honoring mostly movies that come out during the fall, usually has little to no association with summer movies. And no, we are not going to be talking about summer movies or movies that come out close to the summer season that have potential of being nominated or winning an Academy Award this year, but if you want my thoughts on those, I do think “Hereditary” could have a chance so far at taking “Best Actress.” “Incredibles 2” so far has probably the best shot at winning “Best Animated Feature.” “Eighth Grade” could have some potential at maybe “Best Original Screenplay,” but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet. And “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” could possibly win “Best Documentary Feature.” The Oscars is more than half-a-year away, so is all of what I said bound to happen? Probably not, but who knows?

With those thoughts out of the way, let’s get into the main topic of discussion. The Academy Awards to me is the night where the best movies of the year, not to mention their producers and their crew, duke it out to see who is that year’s king of movies. These results however are not objective, because there are more award shows for movies than just the Oscars and chances are you’ll have different nominations, different winners, etc. Although seeing the best movie, and even if it is not my favorite movie take its award for an outstanding achievement is very pleasing. This year, seeing Roger Deakins win “Best Cinematography” for my #2 movie of 2017, “Blade Runner 2049,” was one of the greatest award handouts I’ve seen on the show. In that very moment, I turned into a little girl with a new Barbie doll collection she got for her birthday. It just makes me all giddy to see someone getting recognized for their talent. The idea of the Academy Awards honoring the BEST movies? Well, what else can I say except… it might have just been destroyed.

According to an article I’ve read from The Hollywood Reporter, a recent message was sent from the Academy to its members. It stated three changes that are supposed to take effect.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ARTICLE: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/academy-plans-three-hour-oscars-telecast-adds-popular-film-category-1133138

#1: Three hour telecast

When I go see a movie and it is three hours long, I personally don’t care. I’m one of those people who can say that if a movie is three hours, fine. If it is two hours, fine. Heck, I’ll sit down for four if I need to. I don’t care as long as it is a quality product. However, one of the bigger complaints that some people have about the Oscars that is similar to some movies is that it is a bit too long. In 2002, the Academy Awards which aired that year just so happened to go on for over four hours. With an attempt to make a three hour runtime, that could make a people feel a bit more sane. It was also mentioned that certain categories would be presented during commercial breaks and presented later after being edited for broadcast. I can’t say entirely how I feel about certain categories not getting equal recognition as others, but my final verdict on this might as well come once I see this idea come to fruition.

#2: Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

Now keep in mind, this has nothing to do with the next Academy Awards, it instead has to do with the one after it. The next one is going to be the 91st edition. The Oscars usually tends to air its shows around the end of February. Although this year was a special exception because of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Not only would the two events have aired too close to each other, but it would mean heavy competition between networks ABC and NBC. Funny enough, the most recent Academy Awards have been the least-watched yet of all the shows which have currently been presented. But then again, this year’s Olympic games was also the least-watched on record so whaddya know? As for the date which we will be seeing the 92nd Oscars, that’s going to be February 9th, 2020, the second Sunday of that month, one week after the Super Bowl. Honestly, I don’t think that’s going to make much of a positive difference in terms of viewership, in fact, I honestly think viewership will be worsened because of this. I’m not gonna pretend that the Academy Awards is directed towards the same exact audience as the Super Bowl, but having these two big events within a week from each other could potentially affect the ratings of maybe both programs. I don’t know, I’m just speculating.

#3: New award for popular film

Last but not least, we have our main topic for this post and this is something that pisses me off to no end. The Oscars, as mentioned, to me, honors the best in film. They’ve apparently just decided, “f*ck that.” Because their new category that they’re coming out with is honoring “popular film.” This doesn’t honor showmanship. This doesn’t honor talent. It just takes a show that is completely about showing the best of the best and turns it into a popularity contest!

I mean, my f*cking gosh! This is unbelievable! Can you imagine this existing the previous decade? Imagine what would happen if there happened to be a category like this for the Oscars honoring 2008’s year in film? You’d have a couple recognizable titles like “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E,” both of which have impressed critics and audiences alike. Then… You have “Twilight.” That movie received no Academy Award nominations that year, so looking back, if it had the popularity nomination, that would have meant it had a nomination, but not a nomination related to skill or talent! Phenomenons, fads, and trends may be cool and well received by followers, but that doesn’t make them technically a standout in a certain craftsman-esque perspective, it only makes something popular.

Why is the Academy doing this? If I had to guess, it’s probably just to bring in more viewers. After the least-watched telecast of their show, some snobs smoking cigars in a room covered in white paint probably had a chat. They needed to figure out how to make the Oscars popular again. Then one guy says that they need to interject popularception if you will! If you honor things because of their popularity and how many people have checked something out, that’s only going to make the Oscars, well, popular! It ruins everything that the Oscars was built off of! In fact, this is probably one of the biggest participation trophies I’ve seen from this show. The Golden Globes, even though I’ve watched them for a few years, I’m not gonna deny how they handle their categories like participation awards, because they do separate awards for separate genres. At least those kinds of awards still honor talent! What’s next? “Best Actor with names ending in “obert Downey Jr.?”

Now there is no word on whether or not this is to be implemented for the 91st Oscars or if this category is going to be introduced during the 92nd Oscars. No matter what these people plan to do, I just hope it’s introduced during NO OSCARS. Speaking of things we have no word on, the letter goes on suggesting that more details about this are to come as time goes on. But based on what I can assume about this, I can only imagine what this suggests is that this award will be judged on a couple of merits. For one thing, the box office return has to be enormous. The other thing is that a lot of people have to be currently talking about a certain film, watching it, or have discussed lots related to a film in the past depending on when said film released.

If this is to take effect during the 91st Academy Awards, here are my predictions for the nominees, and these predictions are bound to change by the time the Academy Awards comes around. Right now it’s August and the show is months away. Not to mention, not all of the movies on this list are even released to the public yet, so who knows how those movies will turn out? Nevertheless, here are the nominees.

  • Black Panther
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Incredibles 2
  • Mission: Impossible: Fallout
  • Mary Poppins Returns

I’ve seen four of the five movies on this list. I actually happened to give all of them positive reviews. “Incredibles 2” to me happened to be a worthy sequel to one of my one of my favorite films of all time. “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” turned out to not only be one of the year’s best films, but one of the best films I’ve seen in the action genre. “Avengers: Infinity War” delivered everything a comic book movie needed to deliver and even just a little bit more. I like all of these films. The other one on this list I saw was “Black Panther” which I liked, but I think it might be the most overrated movie of the year. And despite that, I do see it having potential of having a worthy Oscar nomination. The visual effects for the most part are very well done, Chadwick Boseman gave a decent performance, and some of the cinematography done by Rachel Morrison (Mudbound, Dope) is definitely worth praising. If “Black Panther” were to win an award like “Best Cinematography,” I’d definitely give my own applause and respect to the movie and those who worked on it. “Black Panther” winning an award such as “Best Popular Picture,” just makes it look like it belongs in a kiddie table.

Let’s imagine us going back to 2017, and seeing what movies would have ended up in a category called “Best Popular Film.” These would probably be the nominees.

  • Wonder Woman
  • Logan
  • Baby Driver
  • Coco
  • Dunkirk

And you know what? If “Wonder Woman” won, then great, it gets an award. If “Dunkirk” won, awesome, it gets an award. But it’s almost like a pity award! This wouldn’t be true for most of these movies, so I’m gonna use “Wonder Woman” for this example. “Wonder Woman” was a fantastic movie. But it wasn’t nominated for any Oscars. So the Academy voters go ahead, as they view this popular category, and think of not the movies they saw that year, but the KNOWN movies they saw that year. And guess what? “Wonder Woman” gets all the winning votes? That means it will forever been known as that “one popular film.” It’s almost shameful if you ask me. In fact, one of those movies I mentioned, “Coco,” received a nomination in another kiddie table category, “Best Animated Feature,” but we’re not gonna sidetrack ourselves into that.

Also, part of me wonders if the Academy was actually the group of people behind this move, or it happened to be the channel which the Oscars airs, ABC. Why? ABC is owned by Disney. And while I must some of my favorite films were actually made by Disney, they’re not the studio I think of when it comes to “Academy-worthy” content. Is Disney/ABC doing this in order to give their films more attention? Think about it. For years I’ve been noticing, Disney has many films that come out and make bunches of money. Why do you think I make fun of them all the time? That’s LITERALLY what Disney is about right now! If you think “Solo” didn’t prove that already, wait until you see what happens when they come out with “Porgs: A Star Wars Story.” It’ll be animated, it’ll be rated G, and John Williams will be executing his softest score yet! Tell me that they aren’t about making money when my mother paid over $20, might have been $22, for a room service cheeseburger at Disney World! Disney, is THE company I think of when it comes to making movies with bigger budgets, almost like they don’t even know what an independent style film is. And big budget films are very popular with most audiences. Films like “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” Both of those movies have already come out this year, made over a billion dollars worldwide, and are owned by Disney. Mickey Mouse could be coming in out of nowhere, strangling the golden head of the Oscar trophy, and won’t let go of it until he gets exactly what he wants. What does Mickey want? Mickey wants “Black Panther” to be recognized! Well, OK, recognized for what? Cinematography? Acting? Directing? Editing? No! POPULARITY! Disney, I know I make fun of you all the time, but in reality, YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS. I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but if ABC or Disney is doing this, it almost makes the Fox and Disney merger look like fun! Granted, it hasn’t officially happened, but no more bidding is allowed, so good to luck to sanity!

RIP: Good “Deadpool” movies
RIP: Good “Kingsman” movies
RIP: Any content that is good and crosses the line

This literally wrecks the Oscars. You think that the political talk is the worst thing about the Oscars? No! Sometimes it’s actually quite funny! I don’t care who is being made fun of as long as the joke is executed well. Heck, you can make fun of my favorite politician of all time, and maybe you’ll get a laugh out of me because this is an attempt at humor. This popular awards thing? It just sucks. And months from now, it’ll suck for about three hours long and hard! There’s no reason for this award to exist, it’s almost a sin to have the award even be a thing. It ruins movies, it ruins the Oscars, it ruins the idea of being “gifted.” It’s like Oprah all of a sudden showed up and ended giving everybody a trophy! And you know what? I may sound like a crybaby over this fiasco, but I’m certainly not the only one who is upset over this. Participation trophies may work for younger athletes, as much as I may question them being handed out. But this is the big leagues. These aren’t students. If this rule is still in place for a bit of time after my post is released, I need a wish granted.

If this rule is still in place after the voting process begins for the next Academy Awards, I should be able, …I should be able… to pick the host for maybe not the 91st Academy Awards, because that host will probably have already been picked, but I should pick the host for the 92nd Academy Awards! As of now, I’m going to go with either Conan O’Brien, Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Stewart, Alex Trebek, Howie Mandel, Dwayne Johnson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or Mark Hamill!

You get what I’m sayin’ Academy? I OFFICIALLY DECLARE THIS, MY UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH! You either listen to my demands, or we’re gonna be talking about an upcoming Academy Awards show whose host will be chosen by someone who can’t legally consume alcohol in their own country yet! Caphice?! Thanks for reading this post! This upcoming weekend we’ve got a few new releases in theaters. Some include “The Meg,” “Slender Man,” and “BlacKkKlansman.” Out of all these, I’m probably most likely to check out “The Meg,” however there is another movie that has been out for almost a month that I’m still dying to check out, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, and that movie is “Eighth Grade.” Stay tuned for whatever review I happen to post soon, and also stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what do you think about the popular Oscar category? Or, what are your thoughts on the other changes that have been announced? Let me know, and you will get a trophy for participating in the comment section! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!