Prime Time: Riff Raff (2024)

I cannot recall the last time I watched a film that was SO reliant on the cast to keep viewers engaged and entertained. Of course, most movies rely on the cast. Riff Raff has nothing else going for it though. Nothing. And the cast are largely used to play popular screen incarnations of their typical personas.

Ed Harris is Vincent, married to the lovely Sandy (Gabrielle Union). He enjoys a quiet life, which seems set to get a bit quieter with his step-son, DJ (Miles J. Harvey), getting ready for college life. That quiet is interrupted, however, by the arrival of Vincent's son, Rocco (Lewis Pullman), Rocco's pregnant girlfriend, Marina (Emanuela Postacchini), and Vincent's ex-wife, Ruth (Jennifer Coolidge). Is it just a surprise visit to spend some quality time together? Or has Rocco done something to incur the wrath of two violent criminals, Leftie (Bill Murray) and Lonnie (Pete Davidson)?

This was written by John Pollono. I won't be rushing to watch anything else that he's written. It was directed by Dito Montiel. I also won't be rushing to watch anything else from him. All they have managed to do here is mash together a selection of tired and predictable tropes, made no effort to freshen things up, and then bagged a cast they assume will paper over the many cracks in their work. I like a few of these cast members, but few people would be good enough to paper over this many cracks.

The best person here is actually the one I don't know very well, Harvey. Harvey is wonderful, believably hanging around in that slight limbo between early teenage years and young adulthood. He's so good here that the film notably suffers during the scenes that he's not involved in. Murray and Davidson are often good fun in movies, but they're used here to do very little more than be Murray and Davidson. The same goes for Coolidge. Harris brings his hefty amount of baggage to his role, which helps do more for his character than anything in the screenplay, and Union tries to remain a bright spark amidst all of the murkiness. Pullman and Postacchini are both decent, even if the former is slightly mis-cast, but both deserve much better than what they're given here. 

There's nothing here to recommend this to all but the biggest fans of the cast, with the exception of Harvey's performance. The dialogue isn't as witty or weighty as it thinks it is, the plotting is tiresomely predictable and unsatisfying, Montiel doesn't bother to add any style to any scenes, and the ending puts some characters in peril without doing enough to get viewers to care. It avoids being unwatchable, mainly thanks to the competence of the performers, but it also avoids being any good.

4/10

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Prime Time: Space Cadet (2024)

The only reason that this film wasn't titled NASAlly Blonde is because we'd all assume that it was about some poor young woman making the huge mistake while dyeing her nostril hairs, but you can trust me when I say that this could have easily been given that name.

Emma Roberts stars as Rex Simpson, a young Florida woman who has always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. She had the potential to make that dream a reality, but life threw up numerous obstacles that put her in a kind of limbo for about a decade. Determined to make up for lost time after her experience at a school reunion, however, Rex applies to join the NASA astronaut training program. Having asked her friend, Nadine (Poppy Liu), to polish and finesse her application, she is initially unaware that her resume is full of huge lies. Maybe things will work out though. Simpson has the brains, despite what others may think, she knows how to support those around her, and she has the ability to approach problems from some unusual angles. 

Space Cadet is ridiculous, it feels quite cheap, and it's, well, I have to repeat that it's ridiculous. It's also a bit of fun for anyone who selects it while knowing what they're getting into. Roberts is appealing enough in the lead role, Liu steals a number of scenes as her BFF, and the standard moral about achieving the potential that others may not see within you is a good one.

Written and directed by Liz W. Garcia (her third feature, unless I have miscounted), this should have enough light chuckles and silliness to appeal to those who enjoyed the film it wants to emulate, Legally Blonde (which is beloved by many). There are fish out of water moments, of course, some other wannabe astronauts who react to our lead character in very different ways, and a stuffy authority figure who cannot quite believe he is becoming a bit smitten while he obviously becomes a bit smitten. There's also a soundtrack that was so painful to me, for the most part, that I can only assume that teen viewers will probably love it.

Roberts is consistently bright and perky throughout, as required, and Liu is a great counter to her, but there is fun to be had with some of the supporting cast members. Tom Hopper is Logan O'Leary, the aforementioned stuffy authority figure, and he does what is required for the role, Gabrielle Union is welcome for her few scenes, and Dave Foley is the man presiding over what he hopes will be a successful training schedule to help find those who deserve a shot at space travel. Desi Lydic is the uptight professional who remains suspicious of our lead, Kuhoo Verma is a roommate/friend, and Yasha Jackson, Andrew Call, and Josephine Huang round out the core group of trainees who get enough screentime to feel more fully fleshed-out than those who just pop in and out of the narrative. 

The important thing here is that I didn't hate this. I was never the intended target demographic, and I knew that from the very start, but I hoped that there would be just enough for me to still enjoy it for most of the runtime. And there was. Just. Other viewers may not even find themselves moved to an occasional smirk, but a few will love it for how cute and silly it is. Sometimes cute and silly is just what the doctor ordered.

5/10

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Breaking In (2018)

Do you remember Panic Room? It's an oft-overlooked entry in the filmography of David Fincher, although not as forgotten as The Game. Those two films have one thing in common. They are both superb thrillers, unjustly dismissed alongside a few other films that just happen to be modern classics. When I heard about Breaking In I immediately thought of Panic Room. The core idea is similar. That's the only comparison point between the two.

Gabrielle Union plays Shaun Russell, a woman who heads to the home of her late father in order to put things in order. She is there with her two children (played by Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr). It's not too long until they're joined by some unwanted guests, a quartet of crooks who want inside the house to find $4M they believe is hidden in a safe on the premises. Things quickly go from bad to worse as Shaun finds herself locked out of the house while her children are held hostage inside. She's determined to get back in and save her family (hence the title).

It's not that this is a terrible movie, let me make that clear right now. When I watched Breaking In I felt that it passed the time easily enough. I was generally entertained, some of the cast stood out ahead of others, and it clocked in at a near-perfect runtime for this kind of thing (just under 90 minutes). It's not bad.

Unfortunately, it's not that good either. Considering the simple appeal of the premise, this should have been much better than it is. There's a feeling that everything has been clumsily slapped together, as opposed to being put together with real care. There's not enough moments allowing viewers to become accustomed to the geography of the house, for example, so one location just somehow links to another, and so on and so forth. The script, by Ryan Engle (from an idea by Jaime Primak Sullivan), is fairly weak, with Union absolutely defined by her maternal instinct, fair enough, while the criminals run through what seems to be a lengthy checklist of "standard criminal chatter 101". It's very telling indeed that this script from Engle is even weaker than another he worked on from the same year, Rampage.

Director James McTeigue fails to put any stamp on the proceedings, which is how he usually works (so many people still seem to think that V For Vendetta was directed by the Wachowskis), which is another thing that works against the end result. This is a film in need of something to lift it above the mass of clichés, and neither writer nor director offer up a thing.

Union is okay in the lead role. There are many other contenders who could have done the job better, but I find her to be a likeable presence in movies, and she's someone I can root for while she tries to outsmart villains and keep her cool. As for those villains, there may be four of them, but only two make a strong impression; Richard Cabral and Billy Burke. Cabral is the kind of guy who will do whatever it takes, making him a more threatening presence, while Burke seems to want everything to go as smoothly as possible, in a way that doesn't have to mean more bloodshed. Alexus and Carr are just fine as the imperilled children, even if they act a lot calmer than I would have in that situation (whether I was their age or the age I am now).

I like to think of myself as fairly easy to please, and those who know me can testify to that, and this will work for you if you're anything like me. I just don't think many people will love it, although it could certainly play better to women who can enjoy watching a badass mother who is actually . . . a badass MOTHER.

5/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy the movie here.