Influencer (2023) | REVIEW

Emily Tennant (Left) and Cassandra Naud (Right) in INFLUENCER — PHOTO: Jackrabbit Media.

Directed by Kurtis David Harder — Screenplay by Tesh Guttikonda and Kurtis David Harder.

Kurtis David Harder’s Influencer takes place in Thailand where we meet Madison (played by Emily Tennant), the titular influencer, who is documenting her journey through the country as a way to promote her profile as an influencer. In Thailand, she meets CW (played by Cassandra Naud), a young American woman, who Madison befriends. CW excitedly shows Madison the local hotspots and they hit it off, with Madison trusting CW enough to open up about her own frustrations with her boyfriend, Ryan (played by Rory J. Saber), who was supposed to be there with her. One day, Madison returns to her hotel in Thailand to find that it has been broken into and her passport has been stolen. Madison has to stay for a few additional days, so she decides to hang out with CW more. CW decides to sail them to a remote, deserted island with no cellphone coverage. Here Madison gets back in touch with nature, but she is also about to find out how dangerous it can be to be disconnected from the online life she has built for herself.

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Vacation Friends 2 (2023) | REVIEW

Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, Meredith Hagner, and John Cena in VACATION FRIENDS 2 — PHOTO: Katrina Marcinowski / 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Clay Tarver — Screenplay by Clay Tarver.

Two years ago, Vacation Friends was released on Hulu, Disney+, or one of the other international Disney-owned streaming services. It boasted a relatively strong main cast, and it was a solid and charming enough comedy flick that I enjoyed much more than I expected to. Back then, I found that John Cena’s excitable comedic energy elevated what was essentially a passable but definitely enjoyable streaming comedy. Parts of that first film felt disposable, but there was enough good there for me to remember the so-so original comedy fondly. Now, two years later, Clay Tarver and 20th Century Studios have gotten the original cast back together for a direct sequel hoping to recapture that same magic. Tarver doesn’t fully succeed, even though there are moments here that do work (and some that work better on paper than as it has been carried out on screen).

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Strays (2023) | REVIEW

Bug, Reggie, Maggie, and Hunter are considering whether they should eat the mushrooms in front of them. — PHOTO: UNIVERSAL PICTURES.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum — Screenplay by Dan Perrault.

Recently, Adam Devine blamed superhero films for comedies failing in theaters (or not even being given a theatrical release). I’ve opined elsewhere that I don’t think that tells the full story. I think the Adam Sandler-Netflix comedy deal, which sent several Sandler-led or produced comedies straight to the streaming service, has changed the landscape for the genre by changing where audiences expect to see comedies. With that deal, I suspect audiences have been trained to think that the comedy genre’s biggest stars call streaming services their home. With the state of modern theatrically released comedies being what it is, I absolutely would love to champion the latest of the bunch to go with a familiar concept and take it in a direction that you haven’t seen before. Strays (or Doggy Style as it is called in certain territories, including mine) is essentially a modern retelling of Homeward Bound but with the kind of R-rated comedy that worked wonderfully for films like Ted but not so much for Sausage Party. Unfortunately, I can’t fully support Strays. Because even though it does have its moments here and there, it’s ultimately just the kind of repetitive and immature raunchy comedy that made me ponder who exactly it was made for in the first place. Frankly, its repetitive comedy would probably be a better fit — and be easier to excuse — on, well, a streaming service.

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Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) | REVIEW

(L-R) Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Chase Sui Wonders, and Rachel Sennott in BODIES BODIES BODIES — PHOTO: A24.

Directed by Halina Reijn — Screenplay by Sarah DeLappe — Story by Kristen Roupenian.

This summer I’ve been trying to catch up on specific releases that I may have missed from last year. One of these catch-up releases is Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, which piqued my interest last year but which I never got the chance to see. Until now, that is. Bodies Bodies Bodies follows Bee (played by Maria Bakalova), a young Eastern European woman, and her girlfriend Sophie (played by Amandla Stenberg), as they travel to a mansion owned by one of Sophie’s friends — David (played by Pete Davidson). Upon arrival, it becomes clear that Bee’s inclusion in the so-called ‘hurricane party’ that Sophie’s friend group — which, other than David, also includes Jordan (played by Chase Sui Wonders), Alice (played by Rachel Sennott), Jordan (played by Myha’la Herrold), and Greg (played by Lee Pace) — has set up has not been OK’d beforehand. After a round of introductions, they partake in alcohol and drugs before they decide to play a party game called — you guessed it — ‘bodies bodies bodies,’ which is a ‘murder in the dark’ whodunnit type game in which they have to figure out who the murderer in their midst is. Later, as the storm worsens, the power goes out, and they soon find one of them actually dead. Now it appears to be all real. They now have to figure out — as the saying goes — who’s done it.

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‘Hijack,’ ‘The Crowded Room,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Silo,’ ‘Jury Duty,’ and ‘Black Mirror’ (2023) | Bite-Sized Reviews

(L-R) Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), Idris Elba in Hijack (Apple TV+), Rebecca Ferguson in Silo (Apple TV+), Tom Holland in The Crowded Room (Apple TV+), Ronald Gladden in Jury Duty (Amazon Studios), and Aaron Paul in Black Mirror (Netflix).

In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at six series or seasons that I recently finished, four of which are Apple TV+ releases. The outliers are Netflix’s latest season of Black Mirror and the Amazon surprise hit of the year titled Jury Duty, but the remaining four series do a good job of showcasing how Apple’s series library is growing rapidly. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.

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Extraction 2 (2023) | REVIEW

Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake in EXTRACTION 2 — PHOTO: Jasin Boland / Netflix.

Directed by Sam Hargrave (Extraction) — Screenplay by Joe Russo (The Gray Man; Avengers: Endgame).

Sam Hargrave’s Extraction 2 takes place nine months after the events of the first film. The so-called ‘myth of Mumbai,’ Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth) has opted to retire from his time as a mercenary to live a quiet life in Austria and recover. That’s until a stranger (played by Idris Elba) approaches him with another extraction mission. Ketevan (played by Tinatin Dalakishvili), the sister of Rake’s ex-wife, has alongside her two children been locked up by her incarcerated Georgian crime boss husband, who abuses and manipulates his family. It is Rake’s job to get Ketevan and her children out alive, and, in the process, take on a crime syndicate and an entire prison in the process.

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Vanskabte Land (2022) | REVIEW

Elliott Crosset Hove as ‘Lucas’ in GODLAND / VANSKABTE LAND — PHOTO: Maria von Hausswolff / Scanbox Entertainment.

International Title: Godland — Icelandic Title: Volaða land — Directed by Hlynur Pálmason — Screenplay by Hlynur Pálmason.

Hlynur Pálmason’s Vanskabte Land takes place in the late 19th Century when Iceland was under Danish rule. The film follows a young Danish priest named Lucas (played by Elliott Crosset Hove) who is instructed to travel to Iceland and oversee the establishment of a new parish church in a Danish settlement. In spite of the fact that he has been warned about the harsh weather, the landscape, and the overwhelming temperatures, Lucas decides against merely sailing directly to the Danish settlement, and he, instead, decides to take on an arduous journey across Iceland and witness the country’s wonders and dangers firsthand for the purpose of documenting it with his extremely heavy camera equipment. Lucas, however, has bit off way more than he can chew, as the new overwhelming environment makes him ill-tempered and unprepared to even try to learn the language. When he loses his translator, Lucas is overcome with despair and growing animosity towards his guide, Ragnar (played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson), who has a complicated relationship with the Danish language.

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Den Store Stilhed (2023) | REVIEW

Kristine Kujath Thorp plays the Norwegian nun Alma in Katrine Brocks’ DEN STORE STILHED — PHOTO: Mia Mai Dengsø Graabæk, DFF.

International Title: The Great Silence — Directed by Katrine Brocks — Screenplay by Katrine Brocks and Marianne Lentz.

Katrine Brocks’ The Great Silence follows Alma (played by Kristine Kujath Thorp), a Norwegian nun in a Catholic convent in Denmark. Alma is preparing for her perpetual vows — her marriage to God, as some characters put it — when her Danish half-brother Erik (played by Elliott Crosset Hove), a recovering alcoholic, stops by to ask for his half of the inheritance that their father left her. However, Alma, formerly named Silje, has already donated the entire inheritance to the convent so that they can repair their leaky ceiling. Hoping that Alma can also repair her relationship with her brother, the Mother Superior bends the rules and invites Erik to stay for a few days. Having him back in her life brings back traumatic memories that she may now finally have to confront.

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They Cloned Tyrone (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx, and John Boyega in THEY CLONED TYRONE — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by Juel Taylor — Screenplay by Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor.

Last week, moviegoers flocked to theaters — most of them dressed in pink — and walked down the pink carpet to take part in the movie event of the year known as Barbenheimer — i.e. the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. We were lucky to have two films that were so excellent released on the same day so that people of all ages could celebrate movie theaters all over the world. However, that same weekend, there was also a third film released that cineastes ought to check out. Released on Netflix just last week, Juel Taylor’s feature directorial debut They Cloned Tyrone is a genuinely funny and stylized sci-fi comedy that I highly recommend to audiences looking for something special from the comfort of their own home. 

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Oppenheimer (2023) | REVIEW

Cillian Murphy is outstanding as the titular theoretical physicist in Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

Directed by Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk; Tenet) — Screenplay by Christopher Nolan.

In 1965, famed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer appeared on a television broadcast, and, on said broadcast, he gave an account of how people reacted and what went through his head during the so-called ‘Trinity Test’ in 1945, when Oppenheimer and a group of physicists had successfully created and detonated the first nuclear weapon. Oppenheimer claimed that a specific line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita popped into his head: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” It is a chilling quote that has echoed through generations and had a life of its own. For the twelfth feature film in his oeuvre, the immensely popular auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan opted to tell J. Robert Oppenheimer’s story. It’s a film about a man full of paradoxes, such as how he became a political figure with strong left-wing disarmament views but was also the man who is known for having willfully created a weapon that once dwarfed all others and forever changed warfare and foreign policy. But it is also a film that gets to the heart of the rot of the American soul in the 20th Century. It is an intimate account of the complicated headspace of a historically significant genius, but it is also a haunting and damning cautionary tale about learning the wrong lessons, naivete, guilt, covetousness, and ripple effects. It is an astoundingly brilliant achievement and much more than your average biopic.

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