Author: Joel Fisher

Justin Johnson had a rather conservative and Christian upbringing. His parents are very different people with his mum, Randi being more outgoing and sociable whereas his father, Brian is more introverted and speculative. Brian is somebody that sees the world in a different way though and as his social skills weren’t the best, he spent his time trying to find a solution to problems. This often meant that he subjected his five children to his inventions which included such things as a device which would limit their screen time and that’s just how life was.

Then one day Randi was diagnosed with breast cancer, the children by this point were all but grown up and reacted in different ways. Some came together with their parents while some stayed away out of fear of seeing their mother in a weakened state.

Thankfully Randi survived though and tried to return to a normal life after her breast surgery, but something wasn’t quite right. So, Brian got to work and changed not only the life of his wife, but many women across America.

Mom and Dad’s Nipple Factory is a documentary by Justin Johnson (going by Justinsuperstar) about a subject very close to his heart. Being the inventor that his father was, he saw that his wife had a problem when she lost a nipple after her surgery and created a prosthetic which could be used as a replacement. This not only helped Randi feel whole again, but became a booming business as the Johnsons provided nipples for women all over the country.

Despite its subject being at such odds with a conservative Christian lifestyle, Mom and Dad’s Nipple Factory is incredibly light-hearted. Knowing what his dad has done for many women to boost their confidence, it feels like the perfect subject for a documentary.

Handled with such care and good humour, the documentary fully explores how something as taboo as a nipple can bring normalcy to women who have gone through such difficult times.

Justin’s family is big as well with four siblings all with their own reactions to their parent’s business and through interviews with the family, the clients and experts, it feels like a fitting tribute to such an unlikely hero.

Julie (Eliza Taylor) and Marcus (Bob Morley) have a struggling marriage which was torn apart by the loss of a daughter. Suffering anxiety, Julie takes medication and has seen many doctors on how to best manage her condition.

Finding a new place to live, Marcus suggests they move away so that they can get a fresh start and although Julie is reluctant at first, she’s willing to give it a try. Marcus has also installed a virtual assistant called Hera which can help them around the house and keep them safe. However, when Marcus is called away for work, Hera starts acting up and the increasingly strange behaviour starts to play on Julie’s mind.

I’ll Be Watching is a psychological thriller which has themes that seem more relevant now than ever. The rise in artificial intelligence is nothing new to cinema, but the reality of that seems to be right around the corner and science fiction is becoming science fact.

However, those who have seen movies in this sub-genre before will have an idea of what to expect and the formula doesn’t seem to deviate too far from that. Also, unfortunately the movie spends a lot of time setting up Julie’s impending danger with little things like voices that only Julie can hear and things happening to put her on edge.

A technique which some may consider to be slow burn feels like it’s dragging out a rather thin story.

Then there’s the issue of using a woman suffering from anxiety as shorthand for somebody weak and helpless. Thankfully though it seems that I’ll Be Watching doesn’t fall on the old cliches of it being ‘all in her head’ or suggesting to the audience that what she’s experiencing isn’t real. Instead, it slowly unfurls Julie’s suspicions and doesn’t overplay her paranoia too much.

Saying that though, it feels like an older type of thriller that audiences may be too familiar with to care about. The final act does ramp up the tension, but unfortunately it does so by adding nonsensical twists which make it feel more artificial and less intelligent.

Named after her mother’s favourite cartoon character, Bea ‘Bambi’ Johnson (Kiernan Shipka) is the child of two parents, Derek (Dash Mihok) and Sharon (Samantha Hyde) who both have learning difficulties. Sharon was born that way and Derek was hit by a car when he was a child and has a life long brain injury. However, they both fell in love, got married and soon along came Bea.

As Bea grew up, she came to learn that her parents were not exactly the same as her friends’ parents, but she stood by them even when the authorities decided to intervene. However as with most stories of teenage life comes love and thinking about the future and that’s where things get complicated.

Wildflower is a feel-good coming of age comedy drama based on a true story of a woman whose parents have learning difficulties. A story such as this may conjure up ideas of a child acting as a parent and weighed down by the weight of responsibility, however thankfully Wildflower doesn’t do that.

Instead, Bea is shown to be a typical teenage girl with a ‘normal’ upbringing who experiences the kinds of things a girl her age should. However, despite the hook of the story being that her parents are neurodivergent, nothing all that special happens to her.

This may be the point to show that parents such as Derek and Sharon can raise a child just as well as any other. The problem is that the movie makes them side characters and often the comic relief in their own story. This makes the movie feel like a missed opportunity as it brushes the issues of their disabilities aside.

All the cast do well and Shipka continues to prove her screen presence in a lead role. However, it feels that a lot of the time the story is people talking about a couple with learning difficulties rather than letting them speak for themselves.

Hopefully the audience will realise the subtleties showing that parents such as these are the same as any other. Although without exploring their relationship in much detail, it doesn’t do much to dispel the myths.

Marcus (Quinn Nehr) and Jessie (Brynn Beveridge) run a YouTube channel where they explore abandoned buildings and search for evidence of the paranormal. Hearing about an abandoned prison which has had some seriously grisly deaths, they head there and set up their equipment.

However, they’re not the only ones that have heard about the prison and another social media team are looking to capitalise on the location. There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, but when things get creepier, the teams have to decide who to stick with and how they are going to get out.

Hell’s Half Acre is a supernatural horror written and directed by John Patrick Tomasek which has a familiar setting. Something that has become a bit of a cliché by this point, a group of people all gathered in an abandoned building is just asking for trouble in a horror movie.

The movie even seems to recognise this cliché and there are subtle references to how unlikely the situation is in which they find themselves. However, the problem is that Hell’s Half Acre doesn’t do anything with it.

For a production which seems so self-aware of what’s going on, there may have been an opportunity to play with that. Being so familiar with the formula of a movie like this could have given Tomasek an opportunity to throw in some tongue in cheek humour or even some commentary about horror tropes. Unfortunately, despite the awareness, Hell’s Half Acre rests on its laurels and doesn’t do anything interesting.

It may be incredibly easy for a casual audience to guess where the movie is going as well if they’re well versed in horror. Not a single beat is missed and not a cheesy line of dialogue is spared because they know that the audience are just waiting for the killing to begin. Which would have been fine if there was anything worth waiting for and unfortunately it turns out that there is not.

The final act does try and throw in a twist and with some explanation and elaboration it may have made for something with a bit more depth. However, Hell’s Half Acre is a lazy re-tread of horror movies many have seen before.

Space Wars: Quest For The Deepstar – Review

Kip Corman (Michael Paré) is a space adventurer on a mission with his daughter, Tayler (Sarah French) and their biggest mission is to find the Deepstar, a fabled space vessel which is said to hold riches beyond their wildest dreams.

However, another mission much closer to home for them is to find a device which can transfer the soul of a human into the body of an android after they lost their beloved wife and mother. The trouble is that Dykstra (Olivier Gruner) is also looking for the Deepstar and after Taylor gets captured and held hostage, it’s up to Kip to save the day.

Space Wars: Quest for The Deepstar is a sci-fi action adventure directed by Garo Setian and co-written by Joe Knetter. Something of a throwback as the budget for the movie is clearly not on par with the average sci-fi blockbuster, Deepstar may remind some audience members of a different time where sci-fi was more prominent.

Audiences may also be under the impression that the movie has its tongue firmly in its cheek as it’s introduced to its hero. Narrowly being snatched from the jaws of death by his daughter, Kip is a supposedly charming space hero, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Buck Rogers.

However, despite the loving homage, it seems that Deepstar not only wants to bring back the kind of movie that they just don’t make anymore, but it wants to bring back some of the old tropes and cliches as well.

What could have been a sly parody turns into something that takes itself far more seriously than it should. Taking a production with the budget of an average episode of Red Dwarf, it just lacks any originality or wit.

It feels like the script could have been written with the writer’s eyes closed and audiences looking for some silly fun will only be met with badly choreographed fight scenes and sexist stereotypes. This makes Deepstar feel like Fast and Furious in Space and it could have been so much better if there was any effort spent on the making of it.