Netflix And Chill: The Wrong Paris (2025)

Once I'd finished watching The Wrong Paris, I checked out a few of the credits. I was unsurprised to see that director Janeen Damian has a filmography that lists a lot of producing credits on Christmas TV movies, and her previous two features were two of the Lindsay Lohan movies made as part of her Netflix deal. The Wrong Paris is a film that should have been given the Christmas wrapping. It's absolutely on par with many other films in that vein, albeit with a few compromises made to some more modern sensibilities, and it's another Netflix film that feels like what it is, content.

Miranda Cosgrove plays Dawn, a young Texan woman who hopes to travel to Paris and study at an art school there. She has been saving up for that dream for years, but recently had to spend the majority of her money on some medical expenses incurred by ger grandmother, Birdie (Frances Fisher). Her sister, Emily (Emilija Baranac), convinces her that she should audition for a TV show called "The Honeypot" (think of The Bachelor and you're close enough). It's even going to be set in Paris . . . Texas. After the disappointment of realising that she's still a long way from France, Dawn figures that passing a couple of the main challenges could get her enough money to help boost her savings. So Dawn joins the show and starts to act as if she really doesn't want to be there, as per her aim. But things change when she starts to have very obvious chemistry with the handsome "prize" of the show, Trey McAllen (Pierson Fodé).

Cosgrove is a decent lead, although she's served better by the comedy moments when her character isn't interested in being in the show than when she has to resort to the typical loved-up act. Fodé has clearly based his character entirely around his abs, and he supports those abs with enough charm and warmth to make himself seem worthy of being a TV show prize. Yvonne Orji does well as Rachel, a producer on the show who is often the only one aware of the reason for Dawn's behaviour, and Madison Pettis convinces as the main competitor, Lexi, an online influencer who knows the best way to play to the cameras and potentially win the show. Elsewhere, Christin Park, Madeleine Arthur, and Veronica Long are fun contestants, and both Fisher and Baranac are perfectly fine in their few main scenes.

Damian directs with a degree of competence, but no desire to lift the film above anything other than a mild distraction. Nothing feels believable once we get to the show being produced, and there are too few moments making use of the language of "reality TV". It's all just about pairing up the leads, keeping them together for a while, presenting a seemingly-insurmountable obstacle, and then having things ready for a finale that will satisfy those who picked this to revel in the cheesiness and romance. 

Writer Nicole Henrich has one other writing credit before this (something tagged as both comedy and documentary online, and I cannot find out anything else about it), but this is their first solo effort. They have an idea of the template, as we all do, but they don't have any idea about how to really season their everyday recipe.

I won't hate on this, despite not really enjoying it. Cosgrove and Fodé feel like a decent match, and that helps a lot. It's not good though, unless you're just after something to play in the background as you switch your brain off and relax. Hey, maybe that is the point. In fact, we KNOW that is how some of these Netflix features are planned. It's just not always so painfully obvious and tiresome. 

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share 

Netflix And Chill: Reptile (2023)

Not only is Reptile co-written by director Grant Singer, but star Benicio Del Toro apparently had a helping hand in the screenplay, alongside Benjamin Brewer. That makes it even more curious, considering how Del Toro is the best thing in it DESPITE the weak screenplay. A messy mix of neo-noir tropes and moments that seem to be struggling to give the movie more substance, Reptile is enormously unsatisfying. And it's made all the worse by how badly it wastes a great cast.

Del Toro plays a cop named Tom Nichols. He's been entangled in some bad stuff in the past, but he seems to be trying his best to be good at his job. That is essential when he is called to the scene of Summer Elswick's murder. Summer's body was discovered by Will Grady (Justin Timberlake), making him a prime suspect, but others soon start to arouse suspicion. It doesn't help that Grady and his mother (Frances Fisher) have upset people with their business practices. One of those upset people is a young man named Eli (Michael Pitt), who blames the Gradys for the suicide of his father. Maybe there's more to the case than what seems obvious though. Maybe Tom needs to start looking at everyone around him with equal suspicion.

Although he has a wealth of experience helming music videos, this appears to be the feature debut from Singer. That makes complete sense when you consider how much (misplaced) faith he has in the strength of such clumsy and half-baked material. There are some good moments here, some strong individual images, but there are just as many moments that don't work, whether it's the plotting of the central mystery that doesn't feel worth really caring about or the moments that have a discordant piece of music increasing in volume in a way that's supposed to unnerve viewers and lead to some nerve-tingling climax, but then fails to present anything to justify that audio choice. With both Brewer and Del Toro similarly inexperienced in the role of feature writer, Reptile is left as a collection of decent images that can barely cling on to the decomposing skeleton of the script that should have given it a strong centre.

Del Toro is much better in front of the camera though, and he's the best thing about this. His performance is easily on a par with some of his best work, and equally thoughtful and morally discombobulated, at times. Alicia Silverstone is excellent in the role of his wife, although she also suffers from one or two moments that seem to just peter out just as they could get more interesting. Timberlake is fine, working comfortably with a persona that he tends to portray well in movies, Fisher is riveting, despite having disappointingly little screentime, and Pitt adds another quirky turn to his repertoire. The fact that the film also has room for great work from Eric Bogosian, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Ato Essandoh (playing the partner to Del Toro's character) is both a plus and a minus, because everyone here deserves to be delivering that great work in a stronger film.

I'm guessing that this is a story that Del Toro was passionate about, considering he also attached himself as an executive producer, and I can see how the whole thing could have been handled much better, but the end result feels like a wasted opportunity. The cast cannot be faulted though, nor can the cinematography from Mike Gioulakis (with shot choices and framing complemented by some fine editing from Kevin Hickman). Technically, all is well. It's just the writing and direction that work against it, but those are the two areas that need to be locked down for this kind of material.

4/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Netflix And Chill: Awake (2021)

If you have been using the internet for some time then you have undoubtedly read some spooky story that purports to be all about infamous experiments in sleep deprivation. It is an idea rife with great potential for someone wanting to make a decent horror movie. And here we have Awake.

Gina Rodriguez plays Jill, an ex-soldier who is now struggling to get her life back on track after issues with addiction that has resulted in her children (Matilda, played by Ariana Greenblatt, and Noah, played by Lucius Hoyos) no longer being in her care. Out and about with them for the day, things go crazy when something affects all of the electrics around the world, like some massive EMP, and that then leads to very few people being able to sleep. But young Matilda can sleep, which might make her very important to the kids mitre future of humanity. All of the negative effects you expect from a lack of sleep start to take hold very quickly, for no good reason, and the world starts to slide further and further into madness.

Directed by Mark Raso, who also co-wrote the script with Joseph Raso, Awake is a film undone by carelessness and impatience, arguably more so than any other film I can think of in recent years. What you want/need here is a nice, creepy build-up as things start to break down, in terms of both physical health and society. What you get is a rush from normality to madness, making the whole thing far less believable as people lose one night of sleep and immediately turn into zombiefied loonies. There’s one line of dialogue that explains this without explaining it (someone says that things are moving along quicker than they normally would, that is supposed to satisfactorily explain the timeline), which means you get a lot of standard “humans are the real threat” moments when you could have had a nice selection of unsettling set-pieces as the main characters started to piece together the big picture.

Despite the problems with the script, and the fairly lacklustre direction, I cannot really fault the performances here. Rodriguez, Hoyos, and everyone else unable to sleep at least look suitably shattered, reacting slower to things around them and slurring their speech slightly. Greenblatt is suitably bright and nervy, lucky enough to be able to sleep, but also knowing that everyone else wants her to help them find a cure. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a desperate scientist, and there are decent little supporting turns from Frances Fisher, Barry Pepper, Shamier Anderson (a highlight as an escaped convict going by the name Dodge), and Gil Bellows.

Based on a story by Gregory Poirier, Awake is treated in a way that makes it a massive disappointment. There is some good horror in the third act, and a couple of decent moments scattered here and there, but it doesn’t do enough to make it worth your time. Even if it won’t necessarily send you to sleep.

4/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Netflix And Chill: Holidate (2020)

Emma Roberts is Sloane, a young woman who dreads any holiday dates in the calendar year, because it is the time for her to be questioned and judged by her family. Luke Bracey is Jackson, a young man we first see caught up in an absolute nightmare of a Christmas scenario with a girlfriend who obviously takes things a lot more seriously than he does. When the two meet up in a queue, while returning unwanted gifts, they realise that they share a very similar problem, and come up with a plan to be a supportive partner for one another during holidays. A holidate. Nothing serious, no need to keep in touch for the rest of the year, just an arrangement that works for both of them. So you know it's going to get a bit messy.

Although I didn't think I was familiar with any work from director John Whitesell (who has done a lot of TV and *shudder* the sequels to Big Momma's House), it turns out that he pleasantly surprised me years ago with Malibu's Most Wanted. I'm not going to highly recommend that to anyone, but I will say that it was better than I expected it to be. And the same goes for Holidate, which is a predictable rom-com with the added appeal of holiday celebrations and foul-mouthed outbursts. It's an enjoyably bawdy film with two lead characters who are enjoyably just a step removed from the perfect humans we usually see in these situations. They're still pretty great, but at least the screw up occasionally.

Writer Tiffany Paulsen started her career with the 2007 Nancy Drew movie, which also starred Emma Roberts, and has a small filmography made up of movies that seem to be mainly aimed at teenaged girls (including a TV movie remake of Adventures In Babysitting that I was unaware of). She knows what to do with these characters, focusing on the main plot and fun dialogue over any main set-pieces (although someone losing a finger provides quite the amusing highlight).

Roberts and Bracey are wonderful together, with the former doing her usual eye-rolling schtick and the latter being a nice guy who enjoys being refreshingly honest with the new woman in his life. Frances Fisher is the pushy mother, Kristin Chenoweth is an aunt who always has a different man for different holidays, and Manish Dayal is Faarooq, a handsome doctor that Sloane's mother wants her to date. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, and Chenoweth and Dayal get to share some scenes that should guarantee one or two extra chuckles. Jessica Capshaw and Andrew Bachelor help to fill out the main cast, although their characters have a third act sub-plot that feels a bit out of place and unnecessary.

If you like Roberts onscreen, and I do, then this is a fun film for her to lead. It sits well within her comfort zone, and it's also a great showcase for the charm and appeal of Bracey. If you like your rom-com sweetness with just a little bit of bitter mixer then this is definitely recommended.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

L.A. Story (1991)

The funny thing about L.A. Story is that I always quite liked it when I saw it back in the early '90s, but a lot of it was unfamiliar to me. Whether L.A.-centric or just soaked in the nuances of modern Americana, this comedy depicted an alien world. That's what it was always supposed to do. There are wonderful modern fairytale elements blended in there, but it's mainly a look at a strange culture/subculture/way of life. Funnily, and some might say depressingly, enough . . . . . . . . . . . . none of it seems so strange any more. None of it seems so absolutely American and/or Los Angelean. Hell, I now know more about the different flavours and types of coffees sold at Starbucks and Costa then I ever thought I would. I hate myself for that fact, but I usually hate myself while enjoying a medium caramel latte. To go.

Steve Martin plays Harris K. Telemacher, a resident of L.A. and a minor celebrity thanks to his whacky weather reports. He takes a lot of the stranger aspects of L.A. in his stride, but is also able to look around him and remember how bizarre his city is. The differences between his world and the world outwith L.A. are highlighted when he meets Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant), an English newspaper reporter and also spends some time the the young and carefree SanDeE* (Sarah Jessica Parker).

Mick Jackson directs this sun-bathed slice of surreal-tinged comedy from a script written by Martin, and both men do their best by the material. The majority of the film is little more than observational comedy shoehorned into movie form, but it works brilliantly. The other main element, involving Martin receiving advice from a wise freeway sign, may be too ridiculous for some to enjoy but fair play to Martin for using it as something that turns the tone of the whole movie from one that could have been mean and sour to something playful and affectionate.

The cast is overflowing with great choices. While I've never been the biggest fan of Tennant, she's good enough in her role here. Martin is great, as always, and Sarah Jessica Parker gives a spirited and lovely performance. It's so good that I actually had to look back over that sentence after putting the words spirited and lovely so close to her name. Richard E. Grant is enjoyable enough, and Marilu Henner, Frances Fisher, Kevin Pollak and Susan Forristal all do well. Cameos from Patrick Stewart, Rick Moranis, Woody Harrelson and Chevy Chase also add to the fun.

L.A. Story allows people to laugh at L.A. and its many quirks, but it also makes an effort to remind viewers that magic CAN happen there. It might just be movie magic, but magic is magic.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/L-A-Story-Blu-Ray-DVD-Combo/dp/B0082X0XF4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376570881&sr=8-2&keywords=l.a.+story

Unforgiven (1992)

Unforgiven is an astonishing film, truly astonishing. Taking a great script and adding the baggage of Clint Eastwood's entire Western filmography, it makes for a fitting finale to that particular aspect of his career. From start to finish, the movie fills every scene with a love for the genre and an intention to show the flip side of that lifestyle. Many movies end with a gunslinger riding off into the sunset, but this one picks things up years later and shows how men who have killed other men can hold something inside them for the rest of their days, a mixture of regret and also the knowledge that they can easily kill again if the situation calls for it.

Eastwood plays Will Munny, a man with a violent past who has tried to make a new life for himself. He has children and stays true to his deceased wife. Unfortunately, his violent past doesn't always lead to him having a quiet life and that's the case when he's approached with an offer by 'The Schofield Kid' (Jaimz Woolvett). A couple of men were responsible for cutting up a whore (played by Anna Levine) and the other working girls in town weren't too happy with the punishment they received from Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman). Strangely enough, Bill normally metes out far worse punishments to anyone he sees as a threat to his idyllic vision of the town. He doesn't even allow anyone to enter with guns on their person, which doesn't bode well for the likes of English Bob (Richard Harris). It also doesn't bode well for The Kid, Munny and Ned Logan (Munny's friend, played by Morgan Freeman).

Unforgiven sees Eastwood hitting it out of the park in his role as director and, when you think of how well he's done in his directorial career, that's high praise indeed. It helps that he also does great in the acting department and surrounds himself with fine talent (Freeman, Hackman and Harris do some of their best work, there's a great little role for Saul Rubinek and Woolvett, Levine and Frances Fisher, playing mother hen to her girls, all do sterling work). Then, there's the great script by David Webb Peoples. It's full of quality lines and character moments that are often mesmerising (I should rave more about Hackman and Harris, both outstanding with the former, in particular, getting his teeth into an interesting villain who is given an interesting complexity and sense of morals). And everything is turned into pure gold when the distilled essence of Eastwood's years in the Western genre is added to the mix.

The film is both a love letter to every movie that has ever feature a gunslinger on-screen and also a serious and moving study of how a man who spends his life doing bad things can ruin any future chance of happiness and contentment that he may one day hope for. It is ultimately, of course, about the deeds and the people and even the reflections in the mirror that are unforgiven.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unforgiven-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B000RWDXDC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355953348&sr=8-2