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Not fresh or original or funny. |
| Plan A Plan B is an opposites attract Bollywood romantic comedy. Nirali (Tamannaah Bhatia) is a single matchmaker; she has a degree in psychology and has followed into her mother’s footsteps who ran a matchmaking business and got new office space for Nirali. The office space is shared with a family lawyer, Kosty (Riteish Deshmukh), who specializes in divorce. | 2022 Directed by: Shashanka Ghosh Screenplay by: Rajat Arora Starring: Tamannaah Bhatia, Riteish Deshmukh | |
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Combines an 80s aesthetic with religious themes and comedy-horror vibes. |
| A surprising number of teen movies with a take-off of Heathers have been released in recent weeks. Netflix’s Do Revenge is a lighter comedic more Mean Girls than Heathers spin, CreatorPlus’s Jane is a darker straight drama-thriller version, and now Amazon’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism goes for a pure comedy-horror take. Set in 1988, the same year Heathers was released, its influence on the characters is clear with a number of borrowed lines. | 2022 Directed by: Damon Thomas Screenplay by: Jenna Lamia Based on the novel by Grady Hendrix Starring: Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller | |
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Lovely and tender with some nice music. |
| Vinnie D (Ed Skrein) was a member of a boy band 20 years ago, but now spends his time busking along sidewalks and in city parks around Peckham, London. Life has not been easy for him since the time in rock stardom. I Used to Be Famous is a surprisingly tender tale of music in unexpected places; however, with sadness and despair constantly percolating through the air it can be a difficult watch. | 2022 Directed by: Eddie Sternberg Screenplay by: Eddie Sternberg Starring: Ed Skrein, Eoien Macken | |
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A glossy and shiny version of a dark comedy. |
| One of the first interesting things about Netflix’s Do Revenge is that there are no heroines or antagonists; they are all a bunch of rich, spoiled pretty people who will screw each other over if it will improve their status or give them a leg up to get into an Ivy League school. Usually that’s a recipe for disaster with so many unlikable characters but Drea (Camilla Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke) both walk that line between hero and villain very well. | 2022 Directed by: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Screenplay by: Celeste Ballard, and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Starring: Camilla Mendes, Maya Hawke | |
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Dark and chilling thriller. |
| Jane opens with Jane (Chloe Yu) committing suicide (don't worry, not a spoiler). Back at school, Principal Rhodes (Melissa Leo) is offering nice-sounding but meaningless platitudes about making other choices. None of the girls are listening. This is a private, all-girls school which rich families use as a jumping board for getting into Ivy League universities. | 2022 Directed by: Sabrina Jaglom Screenplay by: Sabrina Jaglom Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Chloe Bailey | |
| Susie (Kiersey Clemons) is an unpopular, socially awkward college student who grew up on detective novels, now takes care of her mother suffering from MS and runs a true crime podcast taking on the recent case of the missing student she goes to school with. Viewers beware of anybody who gives away more than that as there are sure to be spoilers abound. | 2022 Directed by: Sophie Kargman Screenplay by: William Day Frank, Sophie Kargman Starring: Kiersey Clemons, Alex Wolff | |
| With a title sure to catch people’s eyes, filmmaker Aitch Alberto says that truly knowing the secrets of the universe is “understanding that love comes in many different forms and in unexpected places.” And indeed, this is a movie for people who have felt out of place in their surroundings, trying to understand who they are and how they’re different. It’s a queer coming-of-age drama celebrating those differences. | 2022 Directed by: Aitch Alberto Screenplay by: Aitch Alberto Starring: Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales | |
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A little heavy-handed, but with genuine emotion and a few shining stars. |
| The Class is a remake of The Breakfast Club, a 1980s classic which I watched as a teenager and I was looking forward to a modern re-telling of a group of six high-schoolers who are all different but learn how their differences can help one another and open up to new friendships. It sounds a bit hokey written out like that, and yes, it definitely is at times, this one arguably more so than the original. | 2022 Directed by: Nicholas Celozzi Screenplay by: Nicholas Celozzi Starring: Debbie Gibson, Anthony Michael Hall, Chalie Gillespie and Lyric Ross | |
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A beautifully produced tale of love and tragedy in the world of freediving. |
| A based on a true story romantic drama that goes much darker than expected. No Limit is about Roxana (Camille Rowe) a new-comer to the sport of freediving as she falls in love with champion Pascal (Sofiane Zermani). It starts exactly as expected; a movie that combines the beauty of ocean diving with sex. A simple description which fits the movie Рboth the beginning and the end Рsurprisingly well. | 2022 Directed by: David M. Rosenthal Screenplay by: David M. Rosenthal Starring: Camille Rowe, Sofiane Zermani, and C̩sar Domboy | |
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Stunning visuals and compelling story. |
| Where the Crawdads Sing is an off-the-beaten track movie and not just because the lead character Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) lives away from society but also because of the way it lingers on the gorgeous cinematography highlighting the beauty in the natural world, and because to understand Kya in the current moment requires knowing everything that has led her here. It’s a gorgeous combination of past and present, the collaboration of art and science all wrapped up in a murder mystery when society clashes with the unknown. | 2022 Directed by: Olivia Newman Screenplay by: Lucy Alibar Based on the novel by Delia Owens Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith | |
| When it starts with a crazy hook, and gives an insane premise, I should not be surprised when it leads to an insane movie, and yet here we are. All Eyes is a comedic thriller turned monster movie; fun at times and crazy all of the time, but sure to be memorable which is a feat on its own. It’s a story of a podcaster who goes in search of a crazy story and finds one. | 2022 Directed by: Todd Greenlee Screenplay by: Alex Greenlee Starring: Jasper Hammer, Ben Hall | |
| Root Letter has a really interesting premise, but not fleshed out as well as it could be. A story of two teenagers with a lot more in common than first assumed brought together by a class assignment. English teachers around the country have assigned pen pals to encourage writing. Most students wouldn’t take this seriously and the teachers don’t expect them to, but this movie only needs two students to care. | 2022 Directed by: Sonja O'Hara Screenplay by: David Ebeltoft Starring: Danny Ramirez, Keana Marie | |