Tag: Zach Woods

Spin Me Round (2022)

Rating Unrated in US (UK tbd)
Length 1h44
Release 19.08.2022 in US (UK tbd)
Director Fred Baena
About A woman wins an all-expenses-paid trip to a company’s gorgeous “institute” outside of Florence, and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner. She finds a different adventure than the one she imagined.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: TBD
Trailer:

The Good

  • When the humour is good, it’s genius. That is mainly thanks to the ever loveable Zach Woods. He’s more like The Office Zach Woods than his Silicon Valley alter ego, but much more likeable than either.
  • Honestly, the only way I tolerated this movie was telling myself it was a GLOW special in which Allison Brie was playing Ruth Wilder playing Amber. The starting music and retro title sequence sold that to me at the start. It allowed a lot of the shoddy to get past me before it was too late.
  • Allison Brie cannot really be faulted. She handles the role really well and makes the wooing as believable as it can be. Her chemistry with Aubrey Plaza?! They really should have just ran with that.

The Bad

  • It’s a very busy film that, with a few tweaks, could have been a grand ensemble. By tweaks, I mean use the characters as more than plot devices. Molly Shannon, for example, goes from Sadness (yes, capitalised for the blue emotion) to wackadoodle for absolutely no apparent reason.
    Yes, sometimes we don’t need to know, but me? Couldn’t keep my mind from screaming “How the fuck was she a manager?” and wondering what like in *that* branch was like.
  • I wish the film started with Amber arriving in Italy. I don’t feel like I learned anything from the opening 15-ish minutes centred around her life. It doesn’t endear me to her any more than casting Allison Brie in the role does.

The Ugly

  • The plot was so haphazard and non existent, I’m pretty certain about 90% of the “script” was improvised. Badly. Painfully.
    No amount of Allison Brie being her amazing self was ever going to save this film that was having a massive identity crisis. The comedy was too cringe inducing and the romance was none existent.
  • The biggest problem for me was the sinister undertones of the first half of the movie. They’re there. They’re under and toney. They’re also underwhelming. I think as an audience, we’re also meant to get swept away by the “romance”.
    It’s really hard to when your watching the protagonist get served to the leading male on a plater. The lack of chemistry doesn’t help. Hell, maybe I’m a cynic, but I was never sold.
  • Finally, what the actual fuck happened to Aubrey Plaza?!
    She just fucks off for the last third of the movie and there’s zero resolution with the character. I hope to the celluloid gods there’s an alternate ending because that is the only way this film can redeem it’s romance genre cred.

Final Thoughts

I think it was trying to be satirical and this decades answer to Office Space, but lost itself in production. Or maybe up the creative’s ass! Either way, it’s nowhere near as clever, or original as it thinks it is.

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)

Rating 12a
Length 2h 14
Release 11.7.2016
Director Paul Feig
About Paranormal enthusiasts Abby, Erin, Jillian and Patty set out to capture ghosts when they realise that someone is attempting to cause an apocalypse by summoning ghosts in the city of New York.

The Good

  • Kate McKinnon is the best thing to come out of this movie. Jillian Holtzman is branded chaos and a hot geeky mess that anyone who watches is here to watch.
    From the outfits, to the zingers McKinnon was having a blast and living any girl’s (*cough* me *cough*) dream of being enlisted as a Ghostbuster. Holtzman was the love child of the OG’s. She has Stanz’ passion, Venkman’s dicey dry wit and Spengler’s geeky flair (and hair).
    Can we also please commend this film for its presentation of Holtzmann’s sexuality. She just… was. There was no conversation, no label. Perhaps (I doubt it) I’m reading too much into it, but to me it is clear she’s gay. I *know* this and it wasn’t made into a thing. I don’t know if I’m wrong to see this as a good thing, but I feel like that’s the way it should be. Had the film had *that* conversation, to me it would have felt like a check box being ticked and they might as well have put a neon sign shouting “we’re being diverse”. Its a fine line to be walking. To me I see her as clear representation, however I also know how Cursed Child was criticised for ‘playing it safe’.
  • I love the big bad plot. Its original, its well incorporated into the film and fully resolved. There’s a mystery there and while the audience is in on it, we don’t know the full plan.
  • The music is amazing. I think it was not long after my second cinema viewing I purchased the album and I’ve listened to it off and on ever since.
  • Must admit, I did like the cameos throughout the film. It was a nice geek touch. The best, by far, is the one that comes during the mid credit scenes.
  • As a group, McCarthy, Wiig, McKinnon and Jones work well together. If it was any other movie, there would never have been the backlash. As an origin story goes, these four women give us brains, family and humour. What else do you want?

The Bad

  • It is a SNL film. Saturday Night Live is an aquired taste. I’m not talking political affiliation here and it is really hard to call it a criticism given that most of the original cast were alumns. However, there’s a certain type of over acting that is glossed over a number of the company of Studio 8H. Cecily Strong is the best example, mainly because she grated from the start. It’s an almost pantomime kind of acting that sets my teeth on edge.
    There’s also the element of ad lib that just doesn’t suit a film like this. The jokes don’t always stick their landing and as an audience, we really want a polished product, not wooden zingers.
  • Kristen Wiig does an amazing job for about 80% of the time. Unfortunately that remaining time is so utterly over done and cringe that I hate it just that little bit more each time I see it. The biggest issue I have is her hysterics at the restaurant. It’s not funny at best and at worst, it allows for the digs about why there was no place for a ‘gender swap’ reboot.
  • Speaking of which, the digs at the expense of the ‘busters being women got old really fast. Especially five years later, its eyerolling and really serves no purpose as I’m pretty certain those who they were aimed at have never watched the movie.

The Ugly

  • Perhaps one of the biggest missteps was making this a reboot. If you had the OG cast on board, you pass the torch. The origins of these four women doesn’t surpass the original and while it was cool to watch Holtzmann and the evolution of the Proton Pack, she had so many other toys to show us.
    Also, there are way too many Easter Eggs. You cannot have that many and have it be its own thing. It feels so meta that my head hurts.
  • I don’t like the treatment of Patty. I don’t like that Leslie Jones is the only member of the Ghostbusters that isn’t a Scientist and its the role that goes to the person of colour, again. At least in the first one it is addressed (sort of).
    There’s a number of times the other three ‘tell Patty off’ and it really gets tiresome. Its always a put down that could be construed to be about her race too, which just stalls any progressiveness the film might have.
    I’m not sure if Feig stating that the character was originally meant to be for McCarthy, but to me, the fact that you wrote the character for a white woman who may, or may not, have refused the role for a ‘better’ part doesn’t sit right with me either.

Final Thoughts

This is not part of the franchise and it doesn’t do it justice either. This is a very expensive piece of movie fan fiction. An AU if it were. It does work well in isolation, and on the big screen, but 5 years on it’s not aging well.