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You People (2023)

You People (2023)


 

5/10



Starring

Jonah Hill

Lauren London

David Duchovny

Nia Long

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Eddie Murphy

 

Directed by Kenya Barris

 

This is no disrespect, I love Eddie Murphy I am a child of the 80s I grew up on Eddie Murphy, that said. I blame Seinfeld, Veep and The New Adventures of Old Christine because the one person I could not wait to see was, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. That woman is comedy gold and she did amazing in this movie for me. So now that it is all out there, let me dive into the movie You People. It had it’s moments where I laughed, but it is average because it never got it right.

The whole cast work done on this movie must have set Netflix back a bunch, because this movie is not here to play. The plot, story and cast were cool to a point, then the movie takes a path which boils on silliness and just became creepy.

This movie is about Ezra (Jonah Hill) a grown man from Jewish parents meets and fall in love with Amira a grown woman from Black Muslim parents. The couple are fine with one another and even Ezra’s parents welcome her with joy, but the stereotypical movie presentation of black people showed the parents of Amira not so down with the idea. At first, the way it was going seemed cool and funny, then the movie took a turn. When the parents meet each other, I did not like the fact that the black family (or any of family for that matter) had to be hostile jerks.

In reality they probably will not show up if they did not approve instead of showing up and talking about a character’s anti-semitism comments and claiming to be a proud follower of such. Nobody does that, it is just wrong.

I liked this movie until it got halfway in and the whole shit hit the fan. When the family start the holocaust and slavery (Jews and Blacks) comparison, again who does that. Even if they do, why will anyone think I will like to see that in a romantic comedy movie, this movie just crossed every line in social experiment and romantic comedy. I can critic that aspect as the movie would have faired better if it delved into one of the issues fully. Be comedy or drama focused on social issues.

The movie drips of something we have all seen before and borrowing ideas up and down, but after I got through the first 10 minutes, I was sold. Then the families meet and I went back to the store to buy myself back. Now one thing that almost made me walk off from seeing this is Kenya Barris, I have not seen much of his that I liked (Soul (2020) was good) so I felt this too will be one I did not like, I was not wrong. Although Julia Louis-Dreyfus was just heads and shoulders the best thing that happened to this movie.

M3GAN (2022)

M3GAN (2022)

 


7/10


Starring

Allison Williams

Jenna Davis

Violet McGraw

 

Directed by Gerard Johnstone

 

The movie has a nice blend of horror and humor, it delivered the needed thrill for the day – a nice surprise pack of fun, entertainment and worthy of its box-office hit status, as I believe all those people needed to see it. The movie is Chucky (Child’s Play) but instead of the doll being possessed by the spirit of a serial killer, our doll is a possessive A.I.

I am not surprised that a part 2 is already in the works, I just hope they will not ruin it by making multiple versions of it, because the movie has a scene where someone is stealing files to the production of M3GAN. I just hope anything they had planned does not include such.

I liked the way the movie did not try to skip pass the B-movie flex that it is, and the suspense was well crafted that we did not need a spiritual possession of the doll to know that this thing had evil intentions. The doll in question is an A.I. gone rogue which imprinted on a little girl and was ready to make sure she never had a reason to shed a tear again. It starts with the idea of making something so different and above the level of the toy competitors so that they can blow their competitors out of the water. It was this need to make the next best thing that birthed the creation of M3GAN.

Our little girl in this movie is Cady who lost her parents in a car accident and custody was give of her to her aunt, Gemma. Gemma was too busy trying to live her life as a programmer who works in a company that makes toys. Her latest project is M3GAN an A.I. doll which can help a child in growing and learning. Gemma wanted to test M3GAN and made Cady imprint on the A.I. making the A.I. see Cady as her primary operator. Gemma’s laziness made her add some extra codes to M3GAN making her more motherly and more independent as M3GAN became very possessive of Cady and Cady who just lost her family also became possessive of M3GAN.

Well you can fill in the dots from here, possessiveness became an obsession which led to some unplanned deaths.

The movie is from Blumhouse the company who always make low-budget horror movies, many of whom are a copy of the mainstream movies which we know. Fun movie to see any time.

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

 


5/10

 


Starring

Christian Bale

Harry Melling

Gillian Anderson

Lucy Boynton

 

Directed by Scott Cooper

 

One thing this movie has that is really cool is that the ending is very surprising, and it will take you unawares how the case in question was already a done deal from the start. The movie is like a charade of what the lead Landor (Christian Bale) wants it to be. This then makes the presence and the case of Poe (Harry Melling) being an assistant detective in the matter silly, irrelevant and at the end somewhat misleading. Because his discovery seems late for a person of his character.

Acting wise you will not expect less from the actors involved, but the pacing of the movie has so many dragged instances that just bore to a point of sleepiness. The movie’s other arc had too many icky presumptions that just made the whole experience a forgettable time watching Netflix.

The story is about Landor a former veteran detective who was called back to duty to investigate the death of a cadet. The said cadet was found hung, but his body was in a sitting position on the ground.

Landor did not agree with the autopsy that the death was a suicide. Landor was able to discover that the person was struck in the back of the head before the attempt to hang him failed when another cadet was approaching. Another thing crazy about this case was that the body was mutilated with the heart missing.

Landor picks up the case and halfway into this movie after being dragged about in one bad cinematography to another (some scenes were just too dark), another cadet was killed. In the same way as the first but there is a difference the carving out of the heart seems to have been done in a clumsier way than the first.

Landor’s other discovery shows that the town’s doctor who did the autopsy was into occult behaviors which points fingers to him and his family. Also, his aid Poe seems to have had some sort of altercation with the two dead cadets so there are some who believe that he has a hand in the deaths.

The movie was an ok view, but not good enough to make anyone want to recommend it. I think the movie would have been a better work if it had less dull moments of Poe trying to solve the case while Landor listens. If more focus were on the investigation, not the talking. The movie is still streaming on Netflix, if you want to see it as a Christian Bale fan.