Nick Robinson

Snack Shack (2024): Hot Dog!

Posted on by Jack Drees

“Snack Shack” is written and directed by Adam Rehmeier (Jonas, Dinner in America) and stars Conor Sherry (Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Terminal List), Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans, American Gigolo), Mika Abdalla (Sex Appeal, The Flash), David Costabile (Breaking Bad, Suits), and Nick Robinson (Love, Simon, The Fifth Wave). This film is about two boys who find themselves in a situation where they end up running a snack shack by an outdoor swimming pool. The film dives into their attempts to make money, find romance, and cook up the best summer they can.

It almost feels like yesterday when I was a teenager. Frankly, I do not miss that time of my life, but I will admit it had its moments. That said, to some people, it is an undeniably special time. If I were to miss one thing about being a teenager, it is having a summer to just chill. It was a relaxing time with few worries. This brings me to what made me gravitate towards seeing “Snack Shack” in the first place, it looked like a wonderfully nostalgic story. In more ways than one, “Snack Shack,” at least from the marketing, reminded me of “The Sandlot.” Both films involve multiple teens trying to have the time of their lives during the summer, it is very much a slice of life tale, and as a bonus, both movies involve swimming pools! In terms of plot and characters, the movies have their fair share of differences, but that is perhaps the easiest comparison I can make off the bat.

Now, is “Snack Shack” as good as “The Sandlot?” Not really. In fact, I would recommend not going into this movie expecting to watch this generation’s version of that film. These are two different projects with completely different ideas and structures. But is “Snack Shack” a fine movie? For sure. It is one of the better watches I had so far this year.

What ties this film together is the leading duo of A.J. and Moose, played excellently by Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle. As for Sherry, this is my first time watching him in anything. He has experience with other projects, but I cannot say I bothered to check them out. That said, I like him in his respective role. When it comes to LaBelle, I was pleasantly shocked to know that he was in this movie given how much I enjoyed “The Fabelmans,” which he starred in. Compared to that project, LaBelle ends up giving a much more energetic and upbeat performance to match the mood of a film like this. He does a good job. These two friends feel legitimate and have solid chemistry. Every moment these two are on screen together shows they are perfectly cast and play off each other well. The movie goes to show that these two will do anything, even at such a young age, to make a buck. But when I look at these two best friends, it does not come off as if money is the only thing they care about. They seem to enjoy hanging out, they enjoy life, even if it means getting into a little trouble. They seem like fun dudes.

This film is marketed mainly as a comedy. You could say it falls into that “coming of age” bracket as well, but if I had to name one genre to associate with “Snack Shack,” it would be comedy. Thankfully, the movie is quite funny. It has plenty of laughs. The movie has a fair amount of visual gags. There was one moment that got a chuckle out of me where we see the two friends trying to buy the “Snack Shack.” From a visual perspective, the duo’s choice of outfits in that scene was already funny enough. But on top of that, you also have the community’s reaction to their investment, and the overall pacing of the dialogue. Simply put, the scene could not have been any better. One of my other favorite visual gags of the movie is when the guys start selling a foul hot dog. This is not to say the hot dog looks, smells, or tastes bad. But the guys find a way to get creative with condiments and write a swear word on the sausage itself. The way this is executed is one of my favorite parts of the movie from the way it starts to seeing customers react to the whole idea.

Another highlight of the film is Mika Abdalla as Brooke, who serves as this story’s love interest of sorts. It becomes clear that both of the boys fall for her. But the way this connection goes about only intensifies and gets in the way of the boys’ relationship. When it comes to Mika’s character, there is one part of the story I enjoyed where we see her using a camera. There are several moments of the movie where a camera comes into play that had me immersed. The object basically becomes a part of the character’s personality.

If I have to give any negatives for the film, I would say the supporting characters are not that memorable. Did I like most of the supporting characters as I watched them? Sure. I will not deny that. But if you had to ask me about them right now, I would almost not even be able to tell you a single thing about them. At the same time though, my lack of knowledge towards the supporting cast does not take away from the fun I had watching A.J., Moose, and Brooke, the three most integral characters to the story.

I mentioned this movie is kind of a slice of life story. And in that sense, it really does feel like it is a part of someone’s life. The film is a semi-autobiographical tale from the viewpoint of writer-director Adam Rehmeier. It is inspired by his time working at a snack shack. The way the movie goes feels less like a linear story, though it is told in chronological order, and more like a topsy turvy journey. It is kind of like life itself. A series of ups and downs until it is all over. You just never know what is going to come next.

This film has been out since last March. And this is not to say that the film is unwatchable. I’m clearly giving this a positive review. I do not know why the people behind this film decided to release it at such an early point of the year. Maybe the strikes put a damper on things, I do not know. Although I bring this up because “Snack Shack” feels like a fine summer watch. This is a movie could easily get you in the mood to jump in the pool or go outside and bask in the sun. Maybe the studio thought the season would be overcrowded with blockbusters or people might be, I don’t know, actually going outside. But if you need a movie to get you in the summer mood, I think “Snack Shack” will satisfy your cravings.

In the end, “Snack Shack” is delicious. Between the stellar main characters, intriguing story, well executed dialogue, and overall energetic flow of the script, the movie has a lot of strengths. The film is not perfect. But again, summer is around the corner. If it is a rainy day and you want to be inspired to go outside by the next time the sun comes out, “Snack Shack” is an effective watch. One last positive, the film made me thirsty. Now, as someone who has seen a lot of movies, I kind of groan when a movie has obvious product placement. That said, when I looked at the drink cups the snack shack had in stock, all I can say is that I immediately wanted a Diet Coke from the drink fountain. So, props to the movie for selling me on Coca-Cola products. I am going to give “Snack Shack” a 7/10.

“Snack Shack” is now available to rent or buy on VOD.

Thanks for reading this review! If you enjoyed this review, good news! I have more coming! Be sure to stay tuned for my thoughts on “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Monkey Man,” “Abigail, “Civil War,” “Boy Kills World,” and “Challengers.” If you want to see these reviews and more from Scene Before, follow the blog either with an email or WordPress account! Also, check out the official Facebook page! I want to know, did you see “Snack Shack?” What did you think about it? Or, what is the one food that comes to mind that screams “summer” to you? Just writing this is making me want a basket of french fries. Let me know down below! 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!