"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of streaming films and entertainment news.
Showing posts with label Favorite Discoveries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Favorite Discoveries. Show all posts
[Note: These are the best films that we reviewed on Trust
the Dice in 2023 that were released in previous years.] 2023 was a bit of an odd year for movies. Although we got
some extremely memorable flicks, like Barbie and Oppenheimer, we
missed out on a lot of other titles. Some got delayed while others were
released during a time when we refused to talk about them. As a result, the
majority of what we watched and loved was from previous years. We had an issue
whittling it down to only 10, but this is what we came up with.
10 – Honor Society (2022) Reviewed on: June 19 Genre: Comedy, Romance Rated: TV-MA Length: 1h 38min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 3.5
IMDb Blurb: Honor's sole focus is getting into Harvard.
Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor concocts a plan to take down her top
three competitors, until things take a turn when she unexpectedly falls for her
biggest competition. Honor Society looked so much like a basic teen
rom-com at first, that my hopes were just about non-existent. I knew I liked a
couple of the actors, but I had my doubts that there’d be anything else going
for it. And then that big twist hit and, goodness, did that change
things. No one could have predicted that late-in-the-film flip. It
came out of seemingly left field and made me audibly gasp. It also made Honor
Society extremely rewatchable. I’ve since gone back to it a few times to
check for all the little bits of foreshadowing I missed.
9 – Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) Reviewed on: June 23 Genre: Action, Comedy, Horror Rated: R Length: 1h 39min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock
move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow
survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family. Trust the Dice is a zombie-loving blog. Cat and I are both
big fans of the undead horror creatures. We’re also fans of horror with comedy.
I don’t remember what took us so long to get to Zombieland: Double Tap,
but it was always destined to get a decent score from us. Zombieland: Double Tap was fun to watch. It wasn’t as
good as the first one, but that’s hardly unusual for a sequel. 8 – Smile (2022) Reviewed on: January 11 Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller Rated: R Length: 1h 55min Selina’s Rating: 3.5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident
involving a patient, a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being
threatened by an uncanny entity. January is a film desert. Everyone’s broke from Christmas,
no one’s spending money on the theater, and all the production companies just
mass-release the worst – or riskiest – of their new projects. That’s why we
tend to rely on releases from previous years in that first month. Smile was
one of the first flicks we watched in 2023. I’ll admit, I didn’t absolutely love it at first. I gave it
a 3.5, which is not bad, but I couldn’t understand Cat’s perfect 5. Until I sat
with it for a little while. Smile grew on me. There are some scenes that were so
creepy that they stayed with me, clear in my memory, for an entire year. The
ending also had time to sink in a bit and, as a result, I’d say that I’d amend
my score to a 4.5. 7 – Glass Onion (2022) Reviewed on: January 18 Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama Rated: PG-13 Length: 2h 19min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends
for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead,
Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case. Knives Out (2019) was an insane film. I watched it,
and forced others to watch it, about a hundred times since it’s release.
Needless to say, I was ready for the sequel. Glass Onion turned out to be exactly what I wanted it
to be. A whole new Benoit Blanc mystery with hijinks and intrigue enough for
all. The cast was outstanding, and the setting was just as unique as the Blanc
character. Glass Onion has its critics, but we’re not among them.
6 – Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Reviewed on: June 2 Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy Rated: PG-13 Length: 2h 4min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
Growing up in the 80s there was no escape from the Ghostbusters
(1984). No one saw it as a bad thing, either. It was a hell of a movie, with a
fun follow up. It was enough fun for people to continue falling in love with
the original right up until now. Even the original attempt at a remake didn’t
kill the Ghostbusters for people. Now, Ghostbusters: Afterlife wasn’t a reboot/remake
of any kind, it was a sequel. It followed someone related to one of the
original Ghostbusters and it kept the feel of the original 80s flick. We even
got to see the original actors. Although we understand that some of our love for Ghostbusters:
Afterlife might be member-berry related, it’s still a flick that stuck with
us.
5 – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) Reviewed on: February 10 Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama Rated: PG-13 Length: 2h 41min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: The people of Wakanda fight to protect their
home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T'Challa. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was a great film. The
only reason it’s so low on our list is because of how heartbreaking it is. It
was a cinematic funeral for the beloved Chadwick Boseman and it felt like it. I rewatch the original Black Panther (2018)
occasionally, I don’t see myself doing the same with Wakanda Forever.
Simply because of that heart-wrenching feeling I get when I do. It’s a movie
we’d recommend any Marvel fan watch once.
4 – The Menu (2022) Reviewed on: January 9 Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller Rated: R Length: 1h 47min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: A young couple travels to a remote island to eat
at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some
shocking surprises. Did anyone really see The Menu coming? The trailers
were intriguing, but there was no way anyone predicted the depth of what it
could be in the full run-time. It was thrilling, brilliantly written, and acted
to absolute perfection. The moral behind it all just elevated it. I love it even more the longer I sit with it.
3 – Bullet Train (2022) Reviewed on: January 25 Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller Rated: R Length: 2h 7min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Five assassins aboard a swiftly-moving bullet
train find out that their missions have something in common. Although the lack of good new movies is what drives us to
watch releases from previous years, it’s also when we like to catch up on the
movies from the year before, or that were released in the December that just
passed. It’s why so many of our favorite new discoveries are from 2022. We were extremely interested in Bullet Train when it
came out, but we had no idea it was going to be such a gold mine for banter.
It’s one of my favorite banter films of all time now. Is it a no-brain popcorn
flick? Yeah, with great fight choreography and a script that’ll hold your
attention for the entire 2 hour run time.
2 – Clerks III (2022) Reviewed on: May 12 Genre: Comedy, Drama Rated: R Length: 1h 40min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Dante, Elias, and Jay and Silent Bob are
enlisted by Randal after a heart attack to make a movie about the convenience
store that started it all. I cannot say enough about Clerks III. I’m a Kevin Smith fan-girl and I’ve been following him for a
long time. Clerks (1994) was the first movie I watched by him and seeing
where it’s gone since then has been incredible. Even ignoring the spin-offs. The complete Clerks trilogy is like a timeline of who
Smith is as a creator. You can see his growth as a writer/director throughout
all three of them. The first Clerks was him just showing a bit of his
life and trying to add anything to make it interesting. The second film was
right around when he was starting to admit he was done with Hollywood. He was
disillusioned and just pushing to every limit that comedy would allow. It
leaned hard into the ridiculous. Clerks III was done by an older, settled, post-heart
attack, Kevin Smith. He told his story in a more honest way. There was a more
down-to-earth, if very meta, plot. And the ending was just that. It was the
completion of a trilogy told through decades of rising through ambition,
disillusionment, and – finally – comfort. The difference between 1994 Smith and
2022 Smith is insane, and beautiful. From start to finish, behind the scenes, Clerks is a
story of growth we can all identify with.
1 – The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) Reviewed on: April 10 Genre: Action, Crime, Comedy Rated: R Length: 1h 47min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: Moviestar Nick Cage is channeling his iconic
characters as he's caught between a superfan and a CIA agent. With how long it took to get The Unbearable Weight of
Massive Talent made, it’s insane that it was as good as it was. The script appeared on the 2019 Black List, which is a list
of adored scripts that have no source of production. It was delayed a few
times, rumored long before it was finally picked up and, when it was, it was
rumored that Nicolas Cage would NEVER play himself in a film. When it finally came out, we were all salivating to see it. It was the best movie we saw in 2023, I think. There’s room
for argument, movies are ultimately subjective, but in my opinion I had no more
filmy fun than I did while watching The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
[Note: These are the best films that we reviewed on Trust
the Dice in >year< that were released in previous years.]
10 – Above the Shadows (2019) Reviewed on: September 21 Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance Rated: Unrated Length: 1h 51min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 3.5
IMDb Blurb: A young woman who has faded to the point of
becoming invisible must find her way back with the help of the one man who can see
her. Above the Shadows made it to our schedule because I saw
a clip of it on TikTok. It looked a little campy, but like it had a unique
premise. I was not prepared for what it actually was, though. Without the twist affecting the main character, it could
have been just about any sport romance film out there. Boxer loses his way,
falls in love and it inspires him to win. Basic, right? But Above the
Shadows shows the story from the view point of the love interest, who just
so happens to be invisible to everyone else in the world. That’s not something I’ve seen before. On top of that, there’s a depth to Above the Shadows.
It touches on grief and what happens when we lose ourselves in it. It’s a better film than I could have hoped, and worth a lot
more word of mouth than it’s had.
9 – Shadow in the Cloud (2020) Reviewed on: June 6 Genre: Action, Horror, War Rated: R Length: 1h 23min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: A female WWII pilot traveling with top secret
documents on a B-17 Flying Fortress encounters an evil presence on board the
flight. I always wanted to see Shadow in the Cloud, but I was
distinctly aware of all the hate it was getting from audiences. Anyone that’s followed the blog for any amount of time knows
that I tend to go with the audience, rather than the critics, when there’s a
huge discrepancy in how a film is received. Shadow in the Cloud is
sitting at a 77% with critics, but only a 32% with audiences. I’m ashamed to
admit that I let that influence me enough that I delayed watching it. This is the kind of movie that really shows that you can use
reviews and scores as a guide, but to always judge for yourself. Shadow in the Cloud was engaging, it had a couple of
great twists, and was incredibly suspenseful. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from
the screen, even if the creatures did look a little goofy.
IMDb Blurb: A young man arrives at a remote island to take a
post of weather observer only to find himself defending the watchtower from
deadly creatures which live in the island shores. Cold Skin was recommended to us, and I was eager to
add it to the schedule. I love when we get recommendations. Especially when I’ve
never heard of the film to begin with. It touched on all the ‘humans are the worst’ lessons that I tend
to love in a good fantasy movie, while also being an exceptionally tense watch.
It’s a dark, somewhat bleak, movie… so it’s not for everyone, but we took an instant
liking to it.
7 – Sing 2 (2021) Reviewed on: March 30 Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy Rated: PG Length: 1h 50min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Buster Moon and his friends must persuade
reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show. I enjoyed the first Sing (2016). It was cute and the soundtrack
was hard to ignore. It also had a lot more heart than I expected. When the sequel was announced, I couldn’t imagine where it
could go that wouldn’t feel like a complete rehash of the first. I teetered
back and forth on whether or not I even wanted to waste time watching it. We had
an opening in March and both of us were looking for something a little more
light-hearted. I figured it couldn’t hurt. Sing 2 wound up being an even better film than the
first. There was a more in-depth plot, and the show that the troupe put on was
even catchier. There was a bit of a ‘rehash’ feel in it, but not enough to
detract from the quality.
IMDb Blurb: Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a
small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with
dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element. I know. You see Dwayne Johnson’s (Black Adam, Red Notice,
Jumanji: The Next Level) name involved in a film and you figure it’ll be funny,
but kind of crap. Although I like him, I can acknowledge that he’s not the most
amazing actor in the world. That said, if he’s involved in a film that requires
all the puns and banter that he’s known for, he can still elevate it. That’s what Jungle Cruise was. It had a decent plot, and a couple of interesting twists,
but it was really all about the giggles and banter between Johnson and Emily
Blunt (Wild Mountain Thyme, A Quiet Place, Mary Popping Returns). It
just worked. It was a turn-your-brain off popcorn flick that was meant to
lighten the mood. And it did its job spectacularly.
5 – The Matrix Resurrections (2021) Reviewed on: January 14 Genre: Action, Sci-Fi Rated: R Length: 2h 28min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Return to a world of two realities: one,
everyday life; the other, what lies behind it. To find out if his reality is a
construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson will have to choose to follow
the white rabbit once more. There are a lot of people who would disagree with this
entry. I will disagree with them to my last breath, though. The Matrix Resurrections was a deep dive into
nostalgia, but it also had a meta ‘fuck you’ to authorities in Hollywood. I
loved that. There’s something about the private joking at the expense of people
who deserve to be joked about that just speaks to me. Especially when the
writers let me in on it. Lana Wachowski (Sense8, Cloud Atlas, V for Vendetta)
was forced to do a nostalgia sequel to The Matrix (1999) and she maliciously
complied. I love it.
4 – Prospect (2018) Reviewed on: January 19 Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi Rated: R Length: 1h 40min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote
alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a
large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic
forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves
into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other
ruthless inhabitants, but with her own father's greed-addled judgment, the girl
finds she must carve her own path to escape. We came across Prospect by complete accident. January is a rough month for new films, so we rely on stuff
from previous years to fill out the schedule. Most of the time we get those
from rolling dice on a list we’ve compiled from all the streaming services we
have access to. That’s how we came to Prospect. Neither of us had heard of it before, but the inclusion of Pedro
Pascal (The Bubble, The Book of Boba Fett, The Unbearable Weight of Massive
Talent) felt promising. In the end, as good as he was in this film, he wasn’t even
remotely the best part. The settings were grungy and gorgeous, everything seemed to
be created with practical effects, Sophie Thatcher (Blink, Yellowjackets, The
Tomorrow Man) owned her character completely. It was amazing to watch,
especially as the twists rolled in.
3 – The King’s Man (2021) Reviewed on: March 28 Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller Rated: R Length: 2h 11min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: In the early years of the 20th century, the
Kingsman agency is formed to stand against a cabal plotting a war to wipe out
millions. I’m on the side of audiences where The King’s Man is
concerned. Critics may be spitting all over it, but the audience knew they got
exactly what they should have expected from a film in the Kingsmen series. I read one review from a critic that called it, “a feature
length film of Drunk History where everyone was high on cocaine,” as if that
were a bad thing. He wasn’t wrong, it was outstandingly ridiculous. My question
is, why would you expect anything else from a Kingsmen film? They’re all ridiculous.
They harken back to a time when the Bond series was more camp and corn than actual
action. That’s literally what they set out to be. Even with that, there were times in The King’s Man
where I sat up and said – out loud – “oh shit!” It’s not often that a movie
surprises me on that level. It’s a great addition to the rest of the series, and has all
the glamorous fight choreography you could want. Critics be damned.
2 – Free Guy (2021) Reviewed on: May 4 Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy Rated: PG-13 Length: 1h 55min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: A bank teller discovers that he's actually an
NPC inside a brutal, open world video game. We followed Ryan Reynolds (Spirited, Red Notice, Deadpool)
to Free Guy and it was one of the best choices we made the whole year. It
gave us all the glorious banter we could want alongside a great plot and some
extremely unexpected philosophical questions. That’s what threw me off the most. The philosophical
questions. When I watch a Ryan Reynolds comedy, the last thing I’m expecting is
to wind up questioning my entire existence. It was wild.
1 – Encanto (2021) Reviewed on: January 12 Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family Rated: PG Length: 1h 42min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: A Colombian teenage girl has to face the
frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. How could anything else possibly have been number 1? We saw Encanto
this year and the soundtrack has been a constant addition to my household
since then. My 4-year-old is in love with it, and I love watching it with her. Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, Mary
Poppins Returns) is unbeatable and giving him Encanto was the best
choice Disney has ever made.
