Short Story

The Life of Chuck (2024): The Best Fictional Narrative of 2025 Thus Far

Posted on by Jack Drees

“The Life of Chuck” is directed by Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, Ouija: Origin of Evil) and stars Tom Hiddleston (Loki, Kong: Skull Island), Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Lion King, Doctor Strange), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Timecop), Carl Lumbly (M.A.N.T.I.S., Supergirl), Benjamin Pajak (Where It’s Beautiful When it Rhymes, Camp Haedus), Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars, The Wild Robot). This film mostly follows its titular character as he navigates multiple chapters of his life.

“The Life of Chuck” is the third film directed by Mike Flanagan based on a Stephen King work. I have not seen his other films, “Doctor Sleep” and “Gerald’s Game,” so I cannot compare this film to those. In fact, as marveled as I was by this film’s awe-inspiring trailer, I ultimately bought a ticket after hearing the many positive reviews this film received from critics and moviegoers alike. Plus I needed a better use of my time than whatever the heck “The Phoenician Scheme” was.

For those keeping track, “Secret Mall Apartment” is my favorite movie of the year so far. For those who have not heard of the film, it is a documentary. However, if I were to name a favorite fictional movie of the year so far, “The Life of Chuck” might be it. This movie has everything in it. Joy. Sadness. Spooks. Nostalgia. Slices of life. You name it. “The Life of Chuck” broke my heart and put it back together. I have not read the short story this film is based on, but I was riveted by what Mike Flanagan and crew have done with their work.

This is a film that in one moment, will shatter you to pieces, and in another, make you want to chase your dreams. Part of this has to do with the film’s structure. Like many stories, the film starts at a bit of a low point. But if you watch a lot of, say, stories structured through the hero’s journey model, you may see people who have nowhere to go but up. The protagonist grows with time. They become someone bigger. This film is the opposite. “The Life of Chuck” essentially starts with the “end times” and goes backwards. The execution of this idea is a stroke of genius. It is almost the film’s way of suggesting that life sucks as you get older. The film starts on a downer note and with each act, each scene, each concept, it delves into something more dream-like. The film still has downer moments in later scenes, but the film starts with what some may call the lowest low and while not everything that happens prior is perfect, it definitely brings more joy than what the film presents at the beginning.

“The Life of Chuck” made me wonder what it could be like to live life backwards. Maybe not in a sense where I, for example, read or write this review in reverse, but I mean this in the sense that we take chunks of our life from day to day and live those out starting later in life. Maybe you start off retired, then have kids, get married, graduate from college, and so on going back to getting that one gift you always wanted as a child. I will be frank, I feel my life has only gotten better as I aged, but I do not know how many people can say the same. People, understandably, as they age, want to be young again. This movie presents a series of moments that make life worth living, but arguably the ones that hit me the hardest are those we see towards the film’s conclusion, when we see our character at their youngest. It reminded me of a certain time in my life and what it felt like to be in that position.

This film made me think and ask tons of questions. I was not expecting to go full “Barbie” and think about dying. I will not go into detail as to why that is. But if you have seen the movie, you will understand what I am getting at here. Judging by what I said, some would argue that “The Life of Chuck” is not the easiest watch. That sentiment has some validity to it, but at the same time, I would still recommend the movie to a lot of people because the heavier material is perfectly balanced with doses of optimism.

That said, the film is not perfect. As much as I praise this film for starting things the way it did, the first act could arguably be trimmed a bit and have little to no effect on the plot. Do not get me wrong, I like the first act. In fact, watching the first act evoked a similar vibe to one of my favorite movies, “Interstellar.” Much like that film, the first act is set on a nearly dead planet earth. The internet is down, TV is down, cars are blocking the streets… The score from John Grush and Taylor Stewart also effectively sets the mood for each scene. The first act does a good job at world building, but it builds something that we barely see and hardly matters to a certain degree. There are a few things that matter in the first act that stand out, but there is plenty of fluff that I thought could be cut. The first act is never bad. I enjoyed what was in front of me. It was just a little long.

One thing that surprisingly worked for me in this film was the narration. When I first heard the narrator’s voice, I was a little hesitant as to how it would benefit the story, but I quickly warmed up to him by act two. He had some good material to work with. By the way, the film is narrated by Nick Offerman, which despite my lack of experience of watching “Parks and Recreation,” even I know he has an objectively soothing voice.

Kind of like “Friendship,” I would be curious to know how “The Life of Chuck” ages for me. I saw this film as a 25 year old and it has gotten me to think about the choices I made while growing up. It also made me reflect on tales and life lessons I learned during that time and it has me wondering how I will evolve. The film seems to tap into the idea of maintaining one’s child-like spirit as they age. As we grow up, the whole world is ahead of us. And while there are many beauties to life that lie ahead, there is a possibility that if we are not careful or go down a certain path, we lose our sense of wonder, our passion for life. There are certain things in life that if we found out about it years in advance, would shake us to the core. Some things are sometimes best kept as a secret. But it is no secret that “The Life of Chuck” left me gobsmacked.

In the end, “The Life of Chuck” is cinema. This is a movie I would honestly recommend to almost anyone. It is not always the happiest film. But it utilizes every emotion in the book to perfection. You will laugh. You will cry. And despite what I just said earlier, I guarantee you will smile too. This is a story that starts off great and maintains my interest throughout. It is one of the best films of 2025. I am going to give “The Life of Chuck” a 9/10.

“The Life of Chuck” is now playing in theaters. Tickets are available now.

Thanks for reading this review! My next review is going to be for the Celine Song’s newest film, “Materialists.” Stay tuned! Also coming soon, I will share my thoughts on “Elio,” “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” and “M3GAN 2.0.” 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 “The Life of Chuck?” What did you think about it? Or, did you read the short story that inspired this film? Let me know your thoughts on it down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Night Swim (2024): The Best Movie of 2024! Because It Is Unfortunately the Only One I Have Seen So Far.

Posted on by Jack Drees

“Night Swim” is written and directed by Bryce McGuire and this is his feature directorial debut. This film stars Wyatt Russell (22 Jump Street, Overlord) and Kerry Condon as a couple who move into a new house, they settle in with their family, and they quickly become accustomed to their surroundings. Only thing, there is a haunted swimming pool in the backyard.

To start things off, this is my first review of a 2024 film. I just saw “Night Swim” over the weekend. I did not get around to it the weekend before as I was a bit busy. But as we cannonball into this review, I thought the idea for this film had potential of working. There have been numerous titles over the years that have used water environments and turned out to be really scary. Look at “Jaws” for instance. Despite the shark looking fake, that movie continues to make people not want to go in the ocean. Shark movies like that one have been a cinematic staple for years. Not many films have lived up to that 1975 original classic, but I cannot deny that even lesser shark movies understand how to make the ocean or sharks scary.

When it comes to “Night Swim,” it is a much different scenario. There are no sharks, and there is also no ocean. Instead, we have a swimming pool. But again, there is potential. If you learn how to swim when you are young, that can be scary. Sometimes there are cases where people never learn to swim. Depending on the direction those people’s lives lead them, it could induce anxiety. I like a good pool. But I am just saying, the potential to make pools terrifying is there.

And I can confirm something about “Night Swim” was absolutely terrifying indeed. No, it was not the pool. It was the fact that the movie somehow released!

Then again, I should not be surprised that we are getting a throwaway horror film at the beginning of January. This is an unfortunate tradition in cinema as infamously consistent as showing all the funniest parts of a comedy movie in the trailer.

I want to be fair though, because this film is directed by Bryce McGuire, and this is his first feature as a director. He has done a number of short films in the past, and for all I know, he has a knack for filmmaking. That said, “Night Swim” is based on a previous short film he did of the exact same name. As someone who has made short films himself, I have often thought about maybe one day turning them into a feature. I made a short film in college that I am still proud of to this day. I consider it some of my finest work as a creator. But part of me wonders if taking that movie and making it longer would sacrifice some quality. I feel like that is what happened here. It’s not like this is a completely new thing. This is not a short film, but take “The Lion King” for example. The 1994 animation was short and sweet. There was no filler whatsoever. So when I watched the so-called live-action remake that came out in 2019, I was not afraid to point out that one of the biggest critiques I had was that the new material, which extended the movie’s runtime, dragged the product as a whole. Longer does not always mean better.

You might be thinking I am pulling these statements out of my butt. You might be thinking I did not watch the original short film. This link I pulled from YouTube may suggest otherwise. Having watched the film, it is very simple in premise and effective in what it is trying to convey. I think as a horror short, it’s not bad. But this new feature inserts all sorts of concepts that honestly don’t work only to make the runtime somewhat reasonable.

It is not that the entire movie fails to make sense. In fact if you want me to be real, much of the movie’s story and structure derails for me mostly in the second half. The first half is serviceable to some degree. The reason why I enjoyed “Night Swim” is because I feel the film did a decent job at establishing Wyatt Russell’s character, Ray Waller, a former professional baseball player. I like the little hints they drop about his backstory. There is also a part of the film where we see him playing baseball with a bunch of kids and that made for one of the film’s highlights for me. I liked the scene overall. It felt rather wholesome, nostalgic, and fun. But as I am watching this film, I got the sense that Ray Waller probably ended up being the only character I was remotely interested in watching. It is not that the other characters were incomprehensible, poorly structured, or the banes of my existence. It is just that when it comes to putting these characters together, explaining their backstories, and what makes them tick, the movie almost refuses to go above the bare minimum. Even in moments where it feels like it tries to, they just cannot stick the landing.

For example, there was a decent subplot about the character of Izzy, played by Amélie Hoeferle. She, naturally, decides to join the swim team, develops an instant crush on this one boy, and that becomes a driving force of the plot. I think their chemistry is in a word, acceptable. It is a fine depiction of puppy love to some degree. But when I am looking back at these characters, some of them feel cliché. Or, I did not care about them that much to recall everything about them upon leaving the theater.

But characters and story aside, I must ask the million dollar question. Is “Night Swim” scary? Kind of. It’s got a few neat tricks up its sleeve. I think the film gets rather creative with what random ideas they could utilize regarding the pool every once in a while. Sometimes that feels inventive. But again, by the second half of the movie, I just stopped caring. One thing led to another where I lost any and all interest in the plot, the characters, and whatever events could follow. When I reviewed “Godzilla Minus One” a month ago, one reason why I gave that movie such high marks is because it knew what to do with its characters. I said a large part behind why that movie was horrifying was because I cared about the characters and did not want them to get hurt. While the story in “Night Swim” makes sense, its characters kind of go off the rails to some degree by the movie’s end. There is a certain flair that they are missing as the movie progresses.

The film features a character named Kay, played by Jodi Long. Knowing what I am watching, I should be shivering during the moments in which she happens to be on screen. But knowing what is happening in the scene in addition the visuals and sound that could potentially make the scene eerier, I am watching it feeling more annoyed than terrified. It reminded me of when I watched “Midsommar.” I didn’t find that movie scary. If anything I found it annoying in terms of how they went about executing certain scenes. I was not amused. “Night Swim” is the first major movie to release in 2024, and as far as I am concerned, the cinematic calendar this year can only go up from here.

In the end, “Night Swim” dives head first and hits the ground hard. The first two thirds are mildly interesting and somewhat compelling. It is not perfect, but it had my attention the whole time. I like the main dad character, but everyone else took a back seat for me. That said, the film is not that scary. There are occasional scares, do not get me wrong. But at the end of the day, there is nothing to write home about. And by the third act, I tuned out. This film is cliché, tonally inconsistent, and I had my arms crossed for a good portion of the runtime. If you are looking for a good movie at the cinema to start off the new year, maybe pick something from last year. I am going to give “Night Swim” a 3/10.

“Night Swim” is now playing in theaters everywhere. Tickets are available now.

Thanks for reading this review! I want to end this post by saying that you may have noticed something missing from me this year. Specifically, my most anticipated movies of the year list. I do not do one every year, but I did them for 2021 and 2023. Sadly, I am not doing one this year. It is a bit late and when I was making one, my head almost burst open because one movie switched its release date as I was making it and I had no idea. So I am just going to say that my most anticipated movie of 2024 is “Dune Part Two.” I will leave it at that. But if you are interested in knowing my thoughts on the movies of the previous year, check out my countdowns for the top 10 BEST and WORST movies of 2023! If you want to see 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 “Night Swim?” What did you think about it? Or, what movies are you looking forward to seeing in 2024? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017): What the Punk?

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we get into this movie review, I need to ask something to all of my viewers, specifically those at least eighteen years of age. How is adulting? I will tell you right now, I have been an adult for only nine months, and I honestly don’t feel much of a difference than I did before that turning point. Then again, I spent most of my adulthood in high school, which is where I spent most of my teen years. Although I must say, while I do find certain things about being an adult rather fun and nifty, there are those days where I realize adulting is not all that enjoyable. To be honest, I don’t even think I am gonna end up wanting kids in the years to come. However, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with having them. If you want to judge me, go ahead, I judge movies all the time, so I can take whatever you’ve got. This even includes a couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve. These two can judge me as they realize how difficult their journey to conception has truly been. And while I do certainly recognize that raising a child is not the easiest thing in the world. Paul and Genevieve’s actions for years almost contend to be up there in the same levels of difficulty. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a YouTube series where Paul and Genevieve “keep effin’ trying” to have a baby they have always been trying to make. New adventures pop up on the show’s specifically dedicated YouTube channel each and every Monday. These adventures dive into the latest in Paul and Genevieve’s quest to parenthood, focusing on topics like appointments, curse breaking, cycles, sex, “trying everything,” and objectively painful needles. IT’S A FACT! NEEDLES SUCK! Apparently it is a societal norm that you pay professionals to inject points that make you hate your life! IT’S THE TRUTH! Anyway, the latest episode, much like the one before it, is a bit on the rather calm side of things. Join Paul and Genevieve as they give a tour of the baby’s nursery! If you want to see other videos or be caught up on the latest content, be sure to visit the “WTIVF?” YouTube channel, subscribe, and hit the notification bell. If you want to find out where else you can find “WTIVF?” on the internet, click the links below which will take you to the show’s personal website and social media pages. Also, be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

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“How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” otherwise known as something I kinda need to learn, is directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole, Shortbus) and stars Elle Fanning (Maleficent, The Neon Demon), Alex Sharp (Better Start Running, To the Bone), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!, The Hours), Ruth Locke (Saving Mr. Banks, Jane Eyre), and Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland, Bridesmaids). This film is about an alien who separates from a group she’s with as she is touring the galaxy. She just so happens to be in the London-suburb of Croydon where she meets young inhabitants.

When it comes to “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” the marketing for it overall just comes off as somewhat quirky. The vibe of this movie when watching the trailers is a little hard to exactly recall because I have a feeling I watched a trailer a long time ago but I could be dead wrong. But if I were to watch a trailer to this, there’s a good chance I would have had some sort of fascination towards what this movie was trying to be. But as I got into the movie, it was starting out and the vibe happened to be what I expected, with a little more punk rock in the mix. What I didn’t expect from this movie though, is that this is one of those movies that turned out to be an overall surprise. From the very beginning, I was intrigued, but then start to notice a change in the footage. For some reason, the shutter speed slows down. I’ve seen this on a student film, that probably occurred by accident, but this film is not being directed by a student! Heck, the cinematographer has credits in the “cinematographer” category on IMDb going back to 1992! That’s two and a half decades before this movie released to the public! That’s not even the only time that happens during this film.

In fact, when it happens later during the film, I actually think it’s forgivable. And you know what? I take that back, I don’t think it’s forgivable. Because something like this probably would be a creative choice. Granted, that creative choice personally came off as ridiculous in the beginning, but as I saw more of it, I grew to admire it. And I saw that because from my point of view, the slower shutter speed seems to fit the later footage more than it does for the earlier footage. This is one of those movies that seems to start out lame then blows out this giant explosion of holy crap on a Ritz crackerjack! I probably should have seen my instant admiration for this movie coming especially considering it’s an A24 movie, but given some statistics that I’ve been made aware of prior to watching this damn thing, it almost felt like I was supposed to sit down and just take this movie and just try to survive. I mean, this has a 5.9/10 on IMDb! Not the best of signs if you ask me.

I will say though, when it comes to technical aspects, that’s probably one of the bigger problems of this movie. For the most part, I can’t complain about the lighting, the cinematography, or the editing. But there was one major occurrance in the movie’s footage aside from the shutter speed that kind of threw me off. There’s one scene that’s rather significant for the movie’s events, so I won’t get into spoilers. But the thing is about this scene, as much as I can approve of it moving the story along, and providing the correct feeling I’m supposed to have out of a scene like this, it just felt rather clunky in terms of cinematography. This is a sequence where you can tell that this was done handheld, and it almost feels like this was shot on a GoPro or something. According to IMDb, this movie was shot on an Arri Amira. As far as I’m aware, there’s no word of it being shot on a GoPro, even though that’s how the footage comes off to me. You can say to me a thousand times that the scene was shot with an Arri Amira, but at the end of the day, it feels like a GoPro. It felt like “Hardcore Henry” if it weren’t entirely in first-person.

Let’s talk about the characters of Enn (Alex Sharp) and Zan (Elle Fanning). First off, both names are pretty dope if you ask me! Enn is essentially the movie’s main character and he happens to build a bond with Zan. He also happens to be really into punk rock, and since this takes place around London during the 1970s, you certainly get to see lots of that in the movie! When it comes to the other character in the picture, Zan, she just so happens to be an alien. As I watched this movie, realizing what was happening and what was to come, I thought to myself, “Ohhhh no.” Why? Because I saw a movie last year by the name of “The Space Between Us” and simply put, it was one of the worst sci-fi films ever put on the big screen. One big reason for that was the unfathomably terrible relationship between the main character (Martian) and his love interest (Earthling). The chemistry was so horrible that not even the fact that the guy playing the Martian happened to be my personal choice to play the MCU’s Spider-Man (Asa Butterfield) saved the movie! Luckily, this film is smart. It has great writing, quirkiness, and lots of charm. When it came to the relationship, I totally bought into it. As the movie progressed, I grew to perhaps admire the couple even more. By the end of the movie I was deeply rooting for both characters given their situation! TAKE NOTES, “THE SPACE BETWEEN US!” THIS IS HOW A MOVIE IS DONE!

Speaking of the aliens, I think this is another thing that the movie surprisingly nailed. Because my first impression of them, once I saw one of the aliens, was that they looked very cheap or cliche. At times I wondered if I happened to be watching “Flash Gordon.” But then I saw more of them, what they did with each other, and even what they did with some of the humans they encountered, I grew attached to them as time went on. Not to mention, they also have some behavior that I think us humans would find peculiar, which does add to that alien feel. There’s a scene that Zan is talking to someone, I won’t say who, but they’re having a conversation and Zan is saying to this person that she had pancakes, she’s currently sitting on a toilet, and “excreting” them.

In fact, going back to the couple, I think the thing that really makes them likable, and this is kind of something that “The Space Between Us” should have been aware of, is that they weren’t robots or uncharismatic. If the aliens were robotic, I guess this could have worked in its own little way, but if we want to like characters from our own world, there’s a good chance that we’d want a character that either has personality, isn’t an asshole (unless you’re someone like Deadpool), and isn’t mopey. The couple, not only together, but as individuals, just so happen to come off as somewhat quirky. And I like quirky. You might as well have a quirky couple in a quirky movie.

In the end, I don’t really have much else to say about “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” because I went into the movie not having much information related to it on my mind. I feel like if you were to see this movie, you shouldn’t have too many details revealed about it in order to provide yourself with the best possible viewing experience. Also, I’ve gotta bring up the tagline for the movie, “Talk to the girl. Save the world.” NOW THAT’S A TAGLINE. I’m gonna give “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” an 8/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to look forward to more reviews very soon, and also be sure to check out some of my older reviews such as my thoughts on “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” which by the way, if you have not seen that movie, I seriously have to ask what you’re doing with your life. Make sure to follow me here on Scene Before, like this post, and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “How to Talk to Girls at Parties?” What did you think about it? Or, if you have a fantasy of falling in love with an alien, what would the alien look like? Let me know, even if it is extreme, I’d love to hear what you have to say! Also, one more thing, if you watch this movie, stay tuned for the credits because they have a line of text saying “NO ALIENS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM.” Just… Genius. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/mission-impossible-fallout-2018-tom-cruise-is-a-madman/