Category: Reviews of Movies
Rat Race: Directed by Jerry Zucker. With Breckin Meyer, Jenica Bergere, Cuba Gooding Jr., Carrie Diamond. A Las Vegas casino magnate, determined to find a new avenue for wagering, sets up a race for money. This was free on one of the 70 streaming services I have on my roku and I just can’t remember which one it was. I only put it on because I had fond memories of how wacky it was, and truly, it’s a wacky movie about people in a race to get some dollars, all while the obscenely rich bet on various aspects of their...
Dear Dead Delilah: Directed by John Farris. With Agnes Moorehead, Will Geer, Michael Ansara, Dennis Patrick. A sickly matriarch of a dysfunctional family living in an old Southern mansion teases her siblings about finding a long lost treasure hidden in the premises, little did she know that there is someone ready to kill to get their hands on it. It’s a low budget slasher with a nice story element to it, I appreciated the minor twist towards the end, which really subverted my expectations from the genre. Buy On Amazon!
Night Train: Directed by Shane Stanley. With Danielle C. Ryan, Reggie Austin, Brent Bailey, Diora Baird. A single mom struggling to make ends meet as a Hollywood teamster evades capture by a ruthless FBI Agent while running black market medical supplies in her legendary souped-up pickup truck. You’d think this was a pure action film from the poster alone, but it’s actually about a mother’s struggle to find enough money and medicines to help her sick kid not die. Sure there’s action here with some decently framed racing, but there’s an emotional core to the film that you don’t see...
Trees Lounge: Directed by Steve Buscemi. With Carol Kane, Mark Boone Junior, Steve Buscemi, Bronson Dudley. Tommy is an unemployed mechanic who spends most of his time in a bar (Trees Lounge) in a small blue collar town. He seems to always be thinking, “If only X then I could stop drinking”. Written and directed by Buscemi, this movie has no plot or moral at the end of the story, but it does join other films that let the lens linger slightly longer than usual after the final scene, ala ‘The Graduate’. There’s a ton of big names in this...
John Wick: Chapter 4: Directed by Chad Stahelski. With Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, George Georgiou, Lance Reddick. John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes. The fourth film in a series about a hit-man returned from the dead to seek his vengenance against all that wronged him (and his puppy). It’s a great movie, it’s too long, all the stunts are fantastic, it’s about 4 hours long, they left...
What?: Directed by Roman Polanski. With Marcello Mastroianni, Sydne Rome, Hugh Griffith, Romolo Valli. During her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by a bunch of odd people. I got suckered into watching this because the poster that Kino shows on their app is of a naked lady, and boy do I like ladies that are naked. There are two naked ladies in this film, but neither are naked in a sexual sense and the story is an absurdist surreal comedy that I just couldn’t find any connection...
Knock at the Cabin: Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. With Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird. While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse. M. Night Shyamalan has rightfully gotten a reputation for doing movies with twists, but sometimes the twist is that there’s no twist, just a super weird premise that turns out to be true in an alarming way. In “Knock at the Cabin” the premise is that a sacrifice needs to be made to save the planet from...
Shotgun Wedding: Directed by Jason Moore. With Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Coolidge. Darcy and Tom gather their families for the ultimate destination wedding but when the entire wedding party is taken hostage the bride and groom must save their loved ones–if they don’t kill each other first. It’s everything you thought it would be, with nearly no surprise moments or shocking plot points. In it’s defense, I’m happy with a nice safe film like this and it was exactly what I was looking for after a long day. Buy On Amazon!
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: Directed by Tom Gormican. With Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Horgan. In this action-packed comedy, Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, channeling his iconic characters as he’s caught between a superfan (Pedro Pascal) and a CIA agent (Tiffany Haddish). Watched again with the wife and this time I was sober enough to remember how lame the ending was. There had to be a better way to end this, but I guess what they did worked well enough. That make out scene still blows my mind. Buy On Amazon!
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Directed by Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado. With Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh. When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish. A delightfully fun movie with some great references to classic fairy tales, all voiced by some celebrity actors that do well enough, but are recognizable as the actors instead of the characters. It’s a great adventure though, so I still recommend...
Death to Smoochy: Directed by Danny DeVito. With Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Danny DeVito. A kids’ show host, Rainbow Randolph, is fired in disgrace while his replacement, Sheldon Mopes, A.K.A. Smoochy the Rhino, finds himself a rising star. Unfortunately for Sheldon, the business of kids’ television isn’t all child’s play. Still a hilarious take on the children’s show industry, with Robin Williams playing the bad guy and Edward Norton as the subversive straight edge idiot that gets way over his head in a world that isn’t ready for his brand of innocence. There’s a lot that I love...
Seriously Red: Directed by Gracie Otto. With Krew Boylan, Daniel Webber, Rose Byrne, Celeste Barber. A realtor pursues a new career as a Dolly Parton impersonator. Heartfelt exploration of a woman’s journey finding her true self by pretending to be someone else, all by a near fully Australia cast, so it’s entertaining to see people flipping accents within a single scene. Buy On Amazon!
Devotion: Directed by J.D. Dillard. With Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, Christina Jackson, Thomas Sadoski. A pair of U.S. Navy fighter pilots risk their lives during the Korean War and become some of the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen. I had dismissed this as a run of the mill military movie without much redeeming value, but after watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I realized that Jonathan Majors was having one hell of a summer and if I enjoyed him so much that I should check him out here. I’m glad I did because the combination of Majors and Powell made for...
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films: Directed by Mark Hartley. With Sam Firstenberg, David Paulsen, Luigi Cozzi, Menahem Golan. The history of the independent film company, The Cannon Film Group, Inc.. The better of the two documentaries about Cannon Films, this one holds absolutely nothing back, with an absolutely gratuitous level of nudity, but what else would you expect from a company that’s done so much exploitation style movies? It’s actually really interesting to watch the two documentaries back to back (this one first!) to see the two sides of a few situations. Buy On Amazon!
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films: Directed by Hilla Medalia. With Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Yehuda Barkan, Ram Globus. THE GO-GO BOYS: The Inside Story of Cannon Films is a documentary about two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the American Dream turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world. Up close and personal, the film examines the complex relationship between two contradictory personalities whose combined force fueled their success and eventual collapse. A much more positive look...
Plane: Directed by Jean-François Richet. With Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Tony Goldwyn, Yoson An. A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he’s forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm. Some say that Gerald Butler has fallen into a cadence of making the same movies over and over again, but since they all seem to be ok in my book, I say good for him and I’m happy to see it. Plane was a predictable and unsurprising movie, but when you expect to have a good time and have an unsurprising good time, it’s still...
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Directed by Peyton Reed. With Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins. As Scott Lang balances being both a superhero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past. We re-watched this before going to the latest one (Quantuumania). It’s still a fun movie with some fun stuff in it. Buy On Amazon!
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: Directed by Peyton Reed. With Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer. Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. I know you’ve seen reviews that knock this film, but honestly this was a fantastic movie that blew my socks off about 15 times. You really don’t need to know much about the character other than he’s named Ant-Man, they spell everything...
Legion of Super-Heroes: Directed by Jeff Wamester. With Jensen Ackles, Matt Bomer, Darin De Paul, Ben Diskin. Kara, devastated by the loss of Krypton, struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth. Superman mentors her. Meanwhile, she must contend with a mysterious group called the Dark Circle who searches for a powerful weapon held in the Academy’s vault. I loved the title sequence of the movie, it has some great references to the original Superman film and even the Supergirl movie that I’m sure we’re all happy to forget about. The story opens with Solomon Grundy shooting up the...
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Directed by Ryan Coogler. With Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke. The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T’Challa. Finally on D+ and while I still have most of the same complaints that I had the first two times I watched the film, I’ve found that I enjoy it enough that I think it’ll go into regular rotation as background noise. I still hate that rediculous no stakes boat fight at the end, what a waste of great potential. Buy On...
M3GAN: Directed by Gerard Johnstone. With Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald. A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own. A well done walk on the razor thin margin between goofy horror and humorous horror, a strong first outing for a new franchise that I’m 100% certain we’ll plenty of in the next 20 years. There’s a bit of hand waving when it comes to the technology here, so if you’re a singularity / ‘machines rise up” story fan, you’re going to want to just...
The Princess Diaries: Directed by Garry Marshall. With Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Hector Elizondo, Heather Matarazzo. Mia Thermopolis has just found out that she is the heir apparent to the throne of Genovia. With her friends Lilly and Michael Moscovitz in tow, she tries to navigate through the rest of her sixteenth year. I bought, then watched this because Stan Lee makes a 5 to 10 second appearance in the second film. I was happy to discover that this isn’t just a fluffy Disney princess story, but is actually a breakout role for the fantastic Anne Hathaway, helped along on...
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement: Directed by Garry Marshall. With Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, John Rhys-Davies. Now settled in Genovia, Princess Mia faces a new revelation: she is being primed for an arranged marriage to an English suitor. Finally, after sitting through nearly the entire movie, I get what I spent money to see: a very typical Stan Lee cameo that had absolutely no reason to be in this fairly well made “fish out of water learning to be a new princess” movie. From my brief internet sleuthing, looks like the late Garry Marshall and Stan Lee...
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot: Directed by Kevin Smith. With Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Fred Armisen, Diedrich Bader. Jay and Silent Bob inadvertently sign away their names and rights to the new Bluntman and Chronic movie. Now they head to Hollywood to stop the film from being made. Along the way Jay discovers that he is a father. Back when I first watched this I said that I enjoyed the bloopers and other funny stuff during the credits more than the film itself and while that’s still true, I think I enjoyed the film somewhat more now that I’ve...
White Noise: Directed by Noah Baumbach. With Don Cheadle, Madison Gaughan, Douglas Brodax, Carly Brodax. Dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world. An over the top zany adventure in mediocrity that didn’t land for me, but if you enjoy surreal post-apocalyptic stories with dark humor, this might be up your alley. Buy On Amazon!
Contact: Directed by Robert Zemeckis. With Jena Malone, David Morse, Jodie Foster, Geoffrey Blake. Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine. After reading the book for the first time, of course I had to watch the movie again. I’m still thinking that I like the story edits for the movie much better than the story in the book, but at the same time, the book is so much more fleshed out. That’s not necessarily a surprise, but it is what it is. Buy On Amazon!
The Boxcar Children: Directed by Daniel Chuba, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Kyungho Jo. With Illeana Douglas, Mackenzie Foy, Zachary Gordon, Joey King. Four children set out on a journey to find a new home. If you were judge this from the poster alone, or even the screenshots on the back of the dvd, you might think this is a low budget, low effect cash grab involving a 99 year old beloved franchise of books with over 160 titles. Turns out though, that this is a faithful adaptation for the most part, with a competently done soundtrack and well known and recognizable...
Brave: Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell. With Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters. Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. I spent a weekend with kids, so we watched a couple of kids movies, the first of which was Brave, a movie that I’ve seen at least a dozen times and the film largely holds up to my original opinions of the film. Seeing it...
Teen Titans GO! To the Movies: Directed by Aaron Horvath, Peter Rida Michail. With Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong. A villain’s maniacal plan for world domination sidetracks five teenage superheroes who dream of Hollywood stardom. This remains one of the best DC movies that I’ve seen in the last 10 years, from the perfect soundtrack to Stan Lee appearing not once, but twice, to deadpool not being in it (maybe?) and this being just a trailer or another movie that I think I’ve seen but can’t remember anything about. Buy On Amazon!
This Place Rules: Directed by Andrew Callaghan. With Mike Busey, Andrew Callaghan, Alex Jones, Edward X. Young. Follows events and characters surrounding the January 6th, 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capital Building in the days preceding the attack. Andrew Callaghan’s gonzo style of documentary creation has long been a fascinating look into whatever event or subject he’s focused on, and “This Place Rules” is no different, with a much too close look and participation in some of the formative events that lead up to the riots in January 2021. It’s well made but exceptionally creepy to watch. Buy On Amazon!
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure: Directed by Irwin Allen. With Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Peter Boyle. An extension of the previous film, wherein a cache of adventurers return to the overturned ship to seek several fortunes. It’s a rare sequel that matches or exceeds the preceeding movie, but Beyond The Poseidon Adventure does this by completely changing the genre and featuring the top level talents of Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, and Slim Pickens. The movie picks up just seconds after the first film finishes with Caine as the captain of an unbelievably small boat finding the upside...
Glass Onion: Directed by Rian Johnson. With Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn. Famed Southern detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece for his latest case. I can see why they made another movie in this franchise, though the director’s assertion that he didn’t want to include the franchise name of “Knives Out” in title is just plain silly to me. I would never have known it was another Benoit Blanc mystery if not for the subtitle, so I’m happy that someone either convinced him to have it there or straight up overruled him. If you enjoyed the first...
The Invisible Maniac: Directed by Adam Rifkin. With Noel Peters, Savannah, Stephanie Blake, Melissa Moore. An invisible scientist escapes from an asylum and teaches high-school physics to nubile teens. The 4k is everything I had hoped and feared it would be, and I honestly think it was missing a scene that remember with the mute janitor and the audio was somewhat blown out at the beginning and end, but the slipcover was amazing and I guess it’ll look great up on a shelf in my office? Regardless, I love the campy nature of the film and Noel Peters is the...
The Poseidon Adventure: Directed by Ronald Neame. With Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley. Nine people explore a cruise ship at sea in a manner that turns their whole lives upside down. I thought I would have time to watch this over New Years Eve, but between making food for the party of 2 and watching Dolly and Miley’s NYE show, I ran out of time and sobriety to watch it that night. But have no fear! I made room for it just a short couple days later. Surprisingly, this movie isn’t available for streaming on any of...
What Dreams May Come: Directed by Vincent Ward. With Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow. Chris Nielsen dies in an accident, and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her. Another stop along my way to officially watching all of Robin’s films, “What Dreams May Come” has always been a rough film for me to watch, as the topics strike a little to close to home for my comfort. Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra...
Violent Night: Directed by Tommy Wirkola. With David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell. When a group of mercenaries attack the estate of a wealthy family, Santa Claus must step in to save the day (and Christmas). “I know you’re an idiot, but don’t be an idiot out loud.” John Leguizamo as bad guy is one of the best parts of this great holiday film filled with christmas related violence and a back story for Kringle that’s unique to me. All the pieces of the movie work well together and even the goofy / sappy stuff plays well. Buy...
300: Rise of an Empire: Directed by Noam Murro. With Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson. Greek general Themistocles of Athens leads the naval charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. This is a prequel / sidequel / sequel to “300”, but it misses most of the great things of the first movie and doesn’t really add much to the awesome stuff that came from the source material. In this movie, everyone are apparently made of water balloons filled with blood, just waiting for the slightest scratch to...
Heading for Heaven: Directed by Lewis D. Collins. With Stuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell, Russ Vincent, Irene Ryan. Stuart Erwin plays a small-town real estate agent who owns much property which, for several generations, has failed to sell even while the town has grown. It becomes known, except to Erwin, that the property is being considered for the new airport and the owner will make a small fortune. He is swarmed upon by an unscrupulous swami (Russ Vincent)and his equally-crooked business partner, and Erwin is soon convinced that he hasn’t long to live. With his life a mess, he leaves home...
Annihilation: Directed by Alex Garland. With Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi. A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t apply. I remember seeing this film in the theater alone and it absolutely blew my mind, particularly the final 20 minutes in the light house. The 4k/HDR disk doesn’t disappoint and is worth every penny that someone spent to give it to me as a gift. Buy On Amazon!
Strange World: Directed by Don Hall, Qui Nguyen. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union. The legendary Clades are a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest and most crucial mission. I remember seeing a few trailers for this in front of movies at the theater, but other than that, there was a significant lack of marketing, which is a damn shame, as this is a fun and unique take on a hilarious concept that opens all sorts of questions about eh universe that these characters all live in. It’s on D+ now, so if...
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Directed by Jeff Fowler. With James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter. When the manic Dr Robotnik returns to Earth with a new ally, Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic and his new friend Tails is all that stands in their way. Still a fun movie with some minor issues, none of which are show stoppers. I have some major complaints about what’s going on with the HDR in the movie, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s some weird interaction between my streaming device (xbox one this time) or my television. I still smile like a...
Betty White: First Lady of Television: Directed by Steve Boettcher. With Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Sandra Bullock, Tim Conway. A look at Betty White’s life and career features behind-the-scenes clips of her work on television and comments from her friends and co-stars. One of the last films that I watched in 2022, but here I am saying I watched it during 2023. It’s a great look bad at a wonderful career, one that I didn’t know spanned as many tv series and decades as it did. I also didn’t know that the entire seven seasons of the Mary Tyler Moore...
300: Directed by Zack Snyder. With Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham. King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. I’m pretty sure this is the movie that gave Zack Snyder the political clout to be given the reigns to the DCU. Sadly the success of “300” was accomplished with slow motion, hyper masculine men doing hyper masculine things, all with some extremely heavy filters and high contrast cinematography, none of which translated well enough to be effective in comic books movies. They did certainly work for this...
Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair: Directed by Ben Houser. With Ric Flair, Tom Rinaldi. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, the most prolific and controversial Superstar in professional wrestling history, discusses his 50-year Hall of Fame career. I never did watch a ton of wrestling during Ric Flair’s time at the top, but it would be hard to say that I never heard of the dude, he was at the center of a LOT of interesting stuff going on in the industry. This is a great, if self serving, documentary about his blessed but troubled life. It barely touches on his less than...
It’s Christmas, Eve: Directed by Tibor Takács. With LeAnn Rimes, Tyler Hynes, Gwynyth Walsh, Laurie Murdoch. An interim school superintendent finds herself in a tough spot when she is assigned to shut down a school’s failing music program, and must come to terms with her musical past. I was only able to hear about 1/10 of the film and only visually saw about 1/3 of it, but it was on a tv that I was sitting near for several hours, so I figured that counts as being technically “watched”. the bits and bobs that I was able to see were...
Secret of the Incas: Directed by Jerry Hopper. With Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell. An adventurer searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles. I finally got around to watching the amazing bluray that I bought from Grindhouse Video. Mind you I didn’t watch the movie proper, I watched it while a film historian went over every single amazing detail they could possible talk about, including the whole reason I ended up buying the film, Glenda Farrell! She’s not playing a main character, but I’m slowly building a collection of movies with her in it and one...
Good Will Hunting: Directed by Gus Van Sant. With Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, John Mighton. Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life. As one of Robin’s finer moments on screen, it’s usually remembered as the movie that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won screenwriting awards for, which of course are well deserved. I had forgotten that Minnie Driver was in the film and was pleasantly surprised to see her name pop up at the beginning, Buy On Amazon!
Don’t Open Till Christmas: Directed by Edmund Purdom. With Edmund Purdom, Alan Lake, Belinda Mayne, Mark Jones. Somebody with very little Christmas spirit is killing anyone in a Santa suit one London holiday season, and Scotland Yard has to stop him before he makes his exploits an annual tradition. Low budget and creepy, but there’s a bit of charm in the movie that I love. Buy On Amazon!
Mallrats: Directed by Kevin Smith. With Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani. Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall. I finally own this (again) on disk, but this time it’s a Blu-ray and it came with all sorts of cool stuff, like the extended version of the film. The extended version isn’t better than the theatrical version, in fact I’d say it’s only barely the same movie as the version we all know and love. There’s an extra 30 minutes of set up before they even get to the dang mall!...
Avatar: The Way of Water: Directed by James Cameron. With Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang. Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na’vi race to protect their home. I have seen this movie and my initial reactions are that it’s definitely a movie, it’s definitely set in the same universe that the first movie was in, I’m pretty sure these are mostly the same actors, but it doesn’t quite capture...
