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Flash Movie Review: Hot Frosty
SHE SAID SHE COULD NEVER LOVE again, but I knew better. My friend had recently come out of a bad breakup, where her boyfriend had been cheating on her. They had been dating for five years, the last two living together. He moved out and she made sure he took not only all his stuff, but other things that she did not want around that would remind her of him. I was her emotional support through her anger and grief periods. Presently, she was working her way out from the bottom of her emotions, coming to terms with moving forward in life alone. She expressed how she could not go through such pain again and wanted to start focusing on things that would not only occupy her mind but if possible, bring her happiness. I understood how she was feeling because I had been in the same situation a couple of times, where I thought everything was going well until it was not. I was in two love relationships where I was cheated on, and let me tell you, it does a real number on one’s ability to trust anyone again. Just like my friend was beginning her period of rebuilding, I have done the same thing. My way was alternating periods of solitude with busy social activities. The hardest thing for me, which I believed would be the same for my friend, was breaking up the old routines I shared with my past partners. It took introducing new activities, new ways of thinking to get to a point where I would feel twinges of peaceful comfort. THE NEXT TIME I MET UP with my friend, she was in a better place. It had been a few months after her horrific breakup. It looked like she had lost some weight which she confirmed when she said she had been working out regularly. We were standing in line to place our order, she was in front of me. Besides those standing in line, there were customers walking in to look at the menu chart before getting in line. A guy who had been standing off to her side, turned and asked if she had ever tried their salads. She politely said yes and offered up her top two favorites. A couple of more words were exchanged before he thanked her and got into line. We soon placed our orders and sat down at a table. Not long after, the man who asked her about the salads chose a table near us. By the time we started on our dessert, after eating our main course, the guy came over to thank her for the suggestions for the salads; he enjoyed it. They chatted about the food as I detected a bit of flirting was taking place. Hopefully, he saw my wedding ring and she eventually introduced me to him as her best friend. Before I knew it, he asked her if she would like to have dinner later in the week. I waited to hear her answer and was happy she said yes. Such a random moment led to a dinner date. I think it is one of the best ways to meet someone, but this romantic comedy fantasy has a different spin on it that I was curious to see. STILL MOURNING THE DEATH OF HER husband, a restaurant owner unknowingly magically brings a snowman to life. Would there be time to get to know each other before he melts, though? With Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls, Lost in Space) as Kathy Barrett, Dustin Milligan (Running on Empty, Schitt’s Creek-TV) as Jack Snowman, Chrishell Stause (Staged Killer, Selling Sunset-TV) as Jan, Joe Lo Truglio (Role Models, Superbad) as Deputy Sheriff Ed Schatz, and Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine franchise, My Spy the Eternal City) as Sheriff Nathaniel Hunter; this film knew what it was and did not make any apologies for it. The story followed a simple template, but the sweetness and magical holiday spirit made for an easy viewing experience. The acting was okay, though I thought Craig’s character was out of place because of the cartoonish take on it. Outside of that, the writers wanted and for the most part created a fantasy that had a warm message wrapped inside of it. There was nothing fancy about this production; all it wanted to do was to touch people’s hearts.
2 ¼ stars
Flash Movie Review: Carry-On
ON MY RECENT FLIGHT, I WAS flagged by TSA. I could not believe it because I purposely do not wear a belt, wristbands, watch or shoes with any kind of metal on them. Everything is stuffed in my jacket which I take off to put through the X-ray machine. I normally do not take my wedding ring off, but in this case, we were wearing our traveling silicon ones; so even that could not set off any alarms. And I must add, as a passenger I am fine taking off jackets and shoes, only checking through liquids in 3-ounce containers, no bottled water; whatever they want us to do to keep safe I will do it. Having arrived at the airport early enough so I would not have to fret about being late for my flight, I was more annoyed that I was randomly picked for further scanning. The TSA agent asked me to step out of line and stand in front of that machine that looked like the machine Jeff Goldblum was in that turned him into a fly. Of course, my first thought was what the other people in line were thinking about me. For some reason, my first thought is what did I do wrong; did I look like an evil person, was I blinking too much or fidgeting too much. I could have gone through a multitude of reasons but chose to remain calm and let the agents do their job. THERE WERE TWO PASSENGERS AHEAD OF me, waiting for the glass X-ray booth. The first one, I could see, was agitated; they complained they were going to be late for their flight. When it was the second person’s turn, it must have been their first time because they wanted to know exactly what the agent could see from the scan. After being reassured, they stepped in and let the scanner do its thing. When I was told to step in, I smiled and lifted my arms up above my head. I figured it would earn me points though I was not sure for what. While I retrieved my items, I watched the TSA agents working. I wanted to see the screen they sat in front of that shows the inside of everyone’s carry-on bag. It intrigues me, how can they quickly decide whether something is illegal or not. From the many times I have flown, I have seen all kinds of behavior on display and do not understand why people take their frustrations out on the TSA agents. Why get an agent so angry that they might want to do something like what the agent was asked to do in this action, crime mystery. A MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER DEMANDS A TSA agent allows their carry-on bag to go through without any conflict. If the agent refuses, then his girlfriend will die. With Taron Egerton (Rocketman, Eddie the Eagle) as Ethan Kopek, Jason Bateman (Air, Game Night) as Traveler, Sofia Carson (Purple Hearts, Feel the Beat) as Nora Parisi, Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall, Till) as Elena Cole, and Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal, Sons of Anarchy-TV) as Watcher; this film had a strong vibe reminiscent of those older action films like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. I was quickly hooked on the story, despite the script not always being believable. It did not matter, because the action and mystery started right up and kept up a strong tension throughout the story. The cast worked so well together, where Taron and Jason pushed everyone to dig deeper into their characters. This was such an entertaining movie watching experience; I enjoyed every minute of it, though a small part of me was wondering if this could ever happen. Hopefully not.
3 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Red One
IT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME BEFORE, but I believe everything you want to learn about humanity can be found in a store and its parking lot. Before you decide I must have gone off the deep end, please hear me out. I will start with the parking lot or any large busy parking lot. Humans can be competitive when looking for a parking spot. There have been so many times I have seen people waiting for a spot when suddenly another driver swings around them and grabs the space that was being vacated. Sadly, humans are selfish, and you can see it when an able-bodied person parks in a handicapped parking spot. I have seen people getting out of their cars to physically fight over a parking place. Now one of the two worst things I have experienced in a parking lot happened on New Year’s Eve Day. I pulled into a parking spot, shut my car off and sat there looking at my grocery list. Suddenly, my car took a lurch forward. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the back end of a car up against me. Getting out of the car, I quickly glanced at the car’s license plate as I walked up to the driver. She offered her insurance information; I took it and got back into my car to call my insurance company. Long story short, I filed a claim and her insurance company, I assumed with her prompting, accused me of backing up into her. After explaining my car was turned off and providing the photo I snapped as I was walking away from her at the time of the accident, they finally agreed to pay for the damage done to my car. THE OTHER WORST EVENT I WITNESSED in a parking lot was at a grocery store’s parking lot. I was walking down the row of parked cars towards the store’s entrance when a driver ahead backed out of their space and hit the back of a parked car across the lane, breaking its rear lights. The driver did not even get out to look at the damage they caused when I saw their car’s reverse lights go off. I got up to their driver’s door as they started to pull away. Rapping on the window, they stopped and looked up at me as their window rolled down. I told them about the damage they caused, and they needed to go inside the store to find the owner of the car. Their response stunned me; they said they should not have to because there have been times it has happened to them. I told them that it does not make them right and they need to park and inform the owner. Reluctantly they pulled back into their spot, got out of the car and walked into the store. As I said before, one can see all aspects of humanity in a crowded parking lot. And none of the events I wrote about except for New Year’s Eve took place during a holiday. So, imagine what people might do when they are under stress during their holiday shopping. It would not surprise me if someone tried to act like the villain in this action fantasy, adventure holiday comedy. WHEN SANTA CLAUS IS KIDNAPPED JUST before the start of Christmas, it is up to the North Pole’s Chief of Security to track him down and save the holiday. The first thing he will have to do is work with an infamous computer hacker. With Dwayne Johnson (Black Adam, Red Notice) as Callum Drift, Chris Evans (Pain Hustlers, The Gray Man) as Jack O’Malley, Lucy Liu (Carlie’s Angels franchise, Kill Bill: Vol. 1) as Zoe, J.K. Simmons (Saturday Night, Whiplash) as Nick, and Bonnie Hunt (Jumanji, The Green Mile) as Mrs. Claus; this film had a story that did not know what it wanted to be. It was part superhero, part drama, part satire, part fantasy, and part comedy. Truthfully because I like superhero movies, I did not mind this as much as others in this genre. For me, it has to do with Dwayne Johson. He is such a bankable screen presence, though this role was one of his typical ones. It was obvious the cast was having fun with the silly script, playing off each other well. As for the special effects, they were a hit and miss; some were good, and others were not. Overall, this film was like watching a beautiful Christmas tree that had several strands of its lights out. If one focuses on the good parts and ignores the others, then this can be an agreeable viewing experience for the holidays.
2 ¼ stars
Flash Movie Review: Home for the Holidays
FROM THE VARIOUS HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS, I have participated in, this year will provide me with something new. Considering I have been a witness to holiday events that spanned the spectrum from elegant to outrageous, that is saying something. I was invited to a family’s holiday dinner where a fight broke out between 2 sisters at the dining room table. The one sister broke down in tears and ran out of the room; talk about a conversation killer. At another celebration, one of the family’s elders had all the little children sit around the Christmas tree; so, he could tell them the history behind several of the ornaments. That was a wonderful experience because there was a plain, lopsided star shaped, wooden ornament on the tree that had been handed down in the family for generations. I think it was someone like a great, great, great grandparent who had carved the ornament. Listening to the stories behind the tree ornaments was such a cool experience for me and they were not even my own family. As you can see just from these 2 examples, I have been to a variety of family holiday functions and dysfunctions to the point I had thought there was nothing left to surprise me. HEARING HOW THE PRESENTS WERE TO be distributed made me think a logistics company needed to be involved. One person was waiting for a group of packages to be delivered to their house. Once received, they then had to take them and drive to two family members’ houses to drop them off. At the 2ndstop, after their car trunk was empty, they were to receive a group of presents that they then had to bring back to their house. From there another family member was going to arrive to take half the packages and deliver them to relatives who lived down in the city. Several remaining packages were to be driven to relatives who lived close by. I did not have to be the driver for any of these excursions; I just had to carry the presents to load and unload from the cars that pulled into the garage. Once all the packages get delivered to the intended family members, we are going to do a video call where all of us can see each other opening our presents. I have visions of us looking like the opening credits of the TV show, The Brady Bunch; each of us in our own little tick tock box. This will be a new experience for me, and I am guessing for some of you. At least getting together this way has the potential to cut down on the type of antics that went on amongst the family members in this film festival nominee. WITHOUT HER DAUGHTER JOINING HER FOR the holiday Claudia Larson, played by Holly Hunter (The Big Sick, Broadcast News) would have to face her family alone. With low expectations, Claudia was hoping there would be little drama she would get pulled into. With Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man franchise, Due Date) as Tommy Larson, Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker, The Graduate) as Adele Larson, Charles Durning (Tootsie, Dog Day Afternoon) as Henry Larson and Dylan McDermott (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Olympus Has Fallen) as Leo Fish; this comedic romance drama had the makings of an old fashioned crazy comedy in the same vein as Bringing Up Baby or Arsenic and Old Lace. The acting was excellent from the entire cast as they played a cast of characters. Where this film falters is the unevenness between the scenes. There were some heartfelt dramatic ones that grabbed me, but then there were others that felt flat and predictable. I will say the writers did a decent job with trying to capture all sides of a family gathering. On a positive note, after seeing this film I am looking forward to having a video family gathering, that comes with a mute button. A safe and happy holiday season I wish to all of you.
2 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Almost Christmas
THE main dinner entrée was being passed around the table, leaving wisps of steam in its path. Each guest was putting a portion of it on their plates. However halfway around the large oval table one guest reversed course and sent the platter back from the direction it had traveled. The guest on the other side who did not get a chance to take some of the entrée did not say a word. It only took the platter traveling backwards a couple of places before a guest asked everyone seated around the table if they had gotten the main course. Half the people around the table said no and the platter made its way around to the rest of the guests. By the way all the guests were related to each other. THAT guest who reversed course was a sister to the woman she snubbed sitting next to her; they do not speak to each other. As the meal progressed there was an uncle who was telling his brother-in-law what he should have done differently in raising his children. A few seats down from him was a relative who had no filters and after they took their first bite into the main entrée they announced to anyone who would listen that the food was overcooked. If that was not enough, sitting next to this individual was a cousin who was complaining to another cousin about a relative who was not in attendance who they felt had awful taste in clothing and was too heavy to wear that type of clothing anyway. To an outsider who was privy to this circle of relatives they would view all of the guests as vipers. However, not all families show their true colors to outsiders. The family in this dramatic comedy was no different. CELEBRATING his first Christmas without his wife all Walter, played by Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Shooter), wanted for the holiday was to have all of his children with him without any arguments. Considering his kids he may have wished for too much. With a cast that included Kimberly Elise (Diary of a Mad Black Woman, For Colored Girls) as Cheryl and Gabrielle Union (Think like a Man franchise, Top Five) as Rachael, the two actors that stood out the most were Mo’Nique (Precious, The Parkers-TV) as Aunt May and J.B. Smoove (We Bought a Zoo, The Sitter) as Uncle Lonnie. These 2 characters could easily be spun off into their own film. As for this picture there were some fun scenes along with a few touching ones. I do have to say if Mo’Nique and J.B. Smoove were not in the movie I would have been bored more than I experienced. The reason being was the story followed a formula for family dysfunctions. Or maybe I am just used to these types of events. Lol But seriously it was easy to figure out the punch line to the gags and jokes. For lighter fare this movie would be fine to watch if you want to chuckle or laugh, but this film does not reveal anything special. I cannot say you would get coal in your stocking for going to this comedy but maybe you might want to wait for a holiday sale.
2 ¼ stars
moviejoltz 