Category: REVIEWS

When 11-year-old Leo Thompson (Seth Carr) discovers a magical wrestling mask that grants him super strength, he uses it to enter a WWE competition. With the support of his grandmother (Tichina Arnold), Leo will do whatever it takes to achieve his dream of becoming a WWE Superstar. Can one kid win it all, in the face of epic challengers in the ring?

Wrestling and the world of the WWE has been a big event that people have enjoyed for decades. There is just something super exciting, fun, and somewhat ridiculous about watching two grown adults get into a big (albeit staged) fight with each other. Many people from all around the world gather around the television to watch wrestling on a regular basis.

I’ll admit – I am not the biggest wrestling fan out there. At the same time though, I know several people that love wrestling and I do respect the field and think that it can be a fun thing to watch on the television every once in a while. I can only list a handful of wrestlers, though – mainly the big name ones such as Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker, Andre the Giant, John Cena, etc.

Also, last year, Stephen Merchant released the excellent heartfelt comedy-drama Fighting with My Family, starring the always phenomenal Florence Pugh as WWE superstar Paige. That movie was filled with heart, humor, and wasn’t afraid to get dramatic whenever it needed to.

Unfortunately, The Main Event, the latest feature film from director is absolutely none of the things that Fighting with My Family was. It’s a movie with incredibly poor writing, mostly bad acting, and an ending that is so predictable, you will see it coming a mile away.

But let’s talk about that story. The concept behind a young boy with big dreams of becoming a wrestler in the WWE one day that manages to obtain a magical mask that gives him extraordinary strength is honestly an exceptionally fun concept that could have some really fun potential behind it. Is it incredibly goofy and a little bit corny? Absolutely. But there is still some fun to be had within that concept.

Sadly though, the movie is way too campy and often comes across as a Hallmark movie that you’d find on the TV one day while you’re bored. There are way too many sappy scenes that feel so out of place and unnecessary. The movie follows a formula that is ridiculously easy to pick up on while watching it.

Throughout the movie, we will watch a scene where Leo, in the disguise of Kid Chaos, does something that is meant to be funny or cool. A scene or two after this, we get an “emotional” scene with his grandmother or his father, and after a while, it just felt so tired and boring.

Speaking of the grandmother though, she was the funniest character in the whole film. As for the acting for the character by Tichina Arnold, it’s decent. There are a ton of scenes where she acts super goofy and it is meant to be hilarious, and sometimes it’s funny, and sometimes its really terrible. By far the best actor here is, luckily, main actor Seth Carr who portrays lead protagonist Leo. With that being said however, even he isn’t great here. Virtually every single actor involved with this project feels a little bit off of their game.

For those that are seeking out an entertaining popcorn flick, it is just okay. There were a couple of moments with some genuine fun, cheery action sequences. But, there are also some scenes that are immensely horrible. All of which take place in a wrestling ring. In fact, there is one scene in particular in this movie involving a character named Stinkface (Otis Dozovic) that was so hilariously awful that it almost came across as a parody. While watching this scene, my jaw truthfully dropped and I was staring in utter amazement at what I was looking at, but in all the wrong ways.

The Main Event is a corny, poorly written mess with bad acting and doesn’t explore its fun premise as well as it could have.

Juvenile Delinquents: Review. By Wormatron.

Cruddy JD’s, Indeed…

“Gee, Officer Krupke, we’re very upset;

We never had the love that every

Child oughta get

We ain’t no delinquents

We’re misunderstood

Deep down inside us there is good!”

Delinquent (n.) Present participle of delinquere “to fail; be wanting, fall short; do wrong, transgress, offend,” from de- “completely” + linquere “to leave”.

The rub, here, is that this group, this collection of waifs, strays, unwanted & unloved find themselves entirely unable to linquere.  Engulfed in heightened tensions, post murder, the protagonists find themselves frantically searching for the least-worst solution.  Somewhat fortunately, for the audience at least, Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis add another twist, as is their won’t, to this sorry tale.

From Angels with Dirty Faces, to Kids, via Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, cinematic history is littered with a panoply of takes on juvenile delinquency, all searching to explore the complexities of the human condition and the role of fortune, or misfortune, as the case may be.

And so, Juvenile Delinquents throws its hat into the ring.  Unfortunately, beyond the always interesting premise of ‘good people forced into difficult circumstances through no fault of their own’, this offering falls short, not in its design, per se, rather it’s execution.  The cinematography stands head and shoulders above both the dialogue, and the acting itself, here, both of which are laboured. Lighting, in particular, offers a glimpse of the potential success of this tale, without doubt, the best cast member.  The camerawork too, especially at the outset where we meet our cast, is worthy of a far greater final product.

On reflecting as to why the film didn’t take me, I was drawn to the fact that I just didn’t really care, certainly, nothing as strong as pathos was drawn from me, for any of the individual characters, nor for their plight.  And this, for me, was the greatest shame. Comparison may well be the thief of joy, but I cared about Rocky’s plight (granted, none of the cast could, or should be compared to James Cagney) & I was desperately willing Jennie on as she sought to stop Telly.

I wondered whether these trying times had stripped me of my ability to empathise with fictitious circumstances, if, in the world of 24hr rolling news where tragedy is layered on tragedy, the first being conveniently forgotten only to allow the introduction of a third, new catastrophe in order to keep the audience engaged, or to gather those ever precious clicks.  This concern was very real, that was until I noticed the tears falling from my eyes as Chino was ushered away, handcuffed, with Doc, Shrank & maybe most crushingly Krupke himself watching on.

“Gee, Officer Krupke —

Krup you!”

Indeed…

Wormatron is a near middle-aged misanthrope who, like everyone else in the world, streams games as a hobby.  You can find them at twitch.tv/wormatron. They are no better at streaming than they are at writing reviews.  Be forewarned…

‘Query’ is a 9-minute short film directed by Sophie Kargman and starring Justice Smith and Graham Patrick Martin as Jay and Alex, two roommates. After discussing ideas of sexuality and relationships throughout the day, tensions run high as they eventually decide to break the awkwardness and kiss.

After watching ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ and ‘Detective Pikachu’, I have quickly become a fan of Justice Smith’s acting, so it was a surprise to see him appear in this short. And a delight to see him branch out into a different genre of film, compared to the previous ones mentioned.

Smith and co-star Graham Patrick Martin (Catch-22 series) work fantastically with each other. The two characters are meant to have known each other their whole lives, and their long-term friendship is believable from the moment the short starts. 

‘Query’ can be split into two parts: the characters’ friendship and discussion of sexuality, then the kiss including the aftermath of that action. Before the kiss, the two roommates are happily discussing the same topic throughout the day. Alex (Patrick Martin) is even seen interacting with his girlfriend over video call. However, as the day goes on, there’s an air of awkwardness growing until Jay (Smith) breaks the tension.  

The kiss is the second part of the short, because it’s an action that has changed their relationship with each other, and Alex’s relationship with his girlfriend. This is immediately noticeable when he gets another call from her and he suddenly sounds distracted, compared with the video call at the beginning of the short.

The mindsets of the two characters are also an aspect to note; because Alex is in a relationship, he’s more reserved on the idea. Jay, however, seems to be more open-minded to the idea and suggests it in the first place. The situation is acted out in a realistic way; even if Alex wasn’t in a relationship, the short deals with the idea of the first kiss and the awkwardness that brings.

Overall, this is a subject matter that required two actors that worked well with each other; if they didn’t, then the kiss at the end wouldn’t have worked at all.

Overall ‘Query’ is an interesting look into experimenting with one’s sexuality. It’s a scenario that’s been dealt with before on film, but not in such a realistic looking way. The lead actors are fantastic, making the friendship believable, and it says all it needs to say in a short amount of time.  

Look at Me is a short film that tells a story of three people and how their lives interconnect with each other. Although perhaps a better description is that it’s about two people who should have been less concerned about their own lives and helped the third.

A young woman (Hadley Robinson) is at a subway train platform when she sees a man sitting on the steps, his body hunched over and it looks like he’s drooling. She calls the authorities to ask for advice as to what to do and as soon as she knows that the EMTs are on the way… she gets on the train and leaves.

The audience is then shown life from the perspective of the young man on the stairs. His name is Alex, (John Gargan) he lives with his family and like most young men his age he is desperate to fit in and to be popular.

As Look at Me’s story progresses it becomes clear that Alex is the one that the audience should be looking at, not only because of the state in which he is left in a public place to fend for himself, but because of the underlying issues that led him to that subway platform and for him to sit down on those stairs.

The story that writer/director Nika Fehmiu is telling the audience is that the way the we are today is that we are all far too obsessed with ourselves to really care about those who may need serious help, medical or psychological and it’s very effective. In such a short time, Fehmiu’s directorial debut lays out the important characters and instantly makes the audience feel sorry for Alex.

This is either because they recognise his behaviour in themselves, they’ve seen it in others or they remember the way they used to behave themselves, so Alex’s story becomes a tragedy because it seems that not enough people care – if any at all.

Look at Me shows the audience the way a lot of us are today and even at the time of writing, the audience may have to be honest with themselves as to whether they would be the one to reach out and help someone or whether they’d think of themselves first.

When crisis hits, we all know that the best thing to do is to take your entire family to rural Texas to stay with the aunt you haven’t seen in years. Of COURSE it is, we’ve all done it. Well, that happens to be the very plotline of Vicky Wright’s The Lost Husband and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Libby Moran is played by Leslie Bibb who after the death of her husband has lost all sense of purpose but is forced to break her now steadfast routine by an Aunt who believes in what she can do, and believes with all her heart the rough farm life is for everyone.

As you’d expect she meets a beautiful farmland, her life is changed, and we reveal family secrets…and I loved it.

Poorly rated on IMDB, and probably by reviewers everywhere, The Lost Husband is silver screen gold. Weirdly though, it is in cinemas, though it will be also appearing on Apple TV from the 10^th of April, which we all know is basically the same thing.

I’m a personal lover of cheesy cinema. Don’t get me wrong; beautiful cinematography, unique and insightful scripts are incredible, but there remains a place for the simple picture, and I will always champion it. Leslie Bibb and Josh Duhamel give standard silver screen performances, and they do very well despite the simplistic and unrealistic script.

Rarely does a forced conversation about their deep rooted problems come naturally, and rarely do the secrets revealed make any sense. They were also oddly kept to the very last 30 minutes of the film and were given very little time to be developed or understood.

Nonetheless, The Lost Husband is a nice easy flowing, sometimes funny, sometimes heart warming film that doesn’t give a lot, but doesn’t ask a lot either. In difficult times, if you’re stressed…or locked indoors, sometimes we don’t want a hard watch and sometimes we don’t want to think. There are probably better versions, but The Lost Husband is a decent coming of middle age film where someone finds their path.

It’s beautifully simple, beautifully easy and elegant for it. The Lost Husband is a Sunday afternoon watch if there ever was one, and a good one at that, just don’t expect to be blown away.