Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

 

 

Movie Name/Year: Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Superhero, Sci-Fi

Length: 2h 8min

Rating: R

Director: Shawn Levy

Writers: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy, Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Dafne Keen, Jon Favreau, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, Henry Cavill, Wunmi Mosaku, Aaron Stanford, Tyler Mane, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapicic, Randal Reeder, Lewis Tan, Nicholas Pauley, Aaron W Reed, Ray Park, Blake Lively, Inez Reynolds, Nathan Fillion, Matthew McConaughey, Olin Reynolds, Paul Mullin, Peggy the Dog, Alex Kyshkovych

 

IMDb Blurb: Deadpool is offered a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance Authority, but instead recruits a variant of Wolverine to save his universe from extinction.

 

 

Cat’s Point of View:

I have been craving another cinematic Deadpool fix ever since the credits rolled on Deadpool 2 (2018). The next movie just couldn't get here fast enough. Then out of the blue, Ryan Reynolds (Free Guy, Red Notice, The Adam Project) released the teaser ad where he nonchalantly asked Hugh Jackman (Real Steel, Rise of the Guardians, The Greatest Showman) if he would come back to play Wolverine one more time and I've been fairly bouncing in my seat with anticipation ever since. Marvel could churn out an endless number of Deadpool movies and I wouldn't care if they were just cash-grabs; as long as Reynolds was involved with the creative direction and continuing taking on the role of the titular snarky, quick-witted, irreverent character.

 

Then there's Wolverine. He's one of my top 3 favorite X-Men of all time. He shares the top spots for my fangirling with Rogue and Gambit. I've been a fan of Wolvie longer, though. I have core memories of getting into my dad's comic stash when I was little (we're talking 1^st or 2^nd grade here) and they were primarily X-Men issues. I think I actually cried when I saw an issue where Wolverine was in a hospital bed for some reason. (Don't ask me what issue or the rest of the plot as to WHY, but I think that Storm and Lady Deathstrike were also in that issue? I haven't tried to look that one up in forever and that was over 30 years ago so...) I digress.

 

 

In any case, when you get the team-up of the century, it warrants a cinematic experience. We went to the theater for Deadpool & Wolverine as a family, as part of my daughter's 21^st birthday celebrations. We all loved it. Give us more. Of course, it was also mid-August at this point and I had already been spoiled on the majority of the “secret” cameos, too but I didn't care.

 

Speaking of which, we here at Trust the Dice do our best to offer you spoiler-free reviews. There are some occasions where spoilers are very hard to avoid, however. Deadpool & Wolverine hit screens on July 26^th and we were in theater seats on August 14^th, and I had been thoroughly spoiled on quite a bit without even trying. In fact, I had done almost my best to avoid any and all spoilers because I wanted to be surprised regarding the cameos, etc. Unfortunately, even with dodging social media posts and avoiding TikTok and the like, I still ran into them. I said “almost” because I was eagerly partaking of the media whirlwind that Jackman and Reynolds went on to promote the movie. I watched so many interviews and their promo-spots appearing on things like Hot Ones (2015-) because that duo is just heartwarmingly hilarious with their playful rivalry and friendship. At one point, the spoiling became inevitable because “it had been out [in theaters] long enough.”

 

 

That being said, I'm going to offer a summary of my experience here, spoiler free before I delve into the spoilers, so you can skip the spoily section if you have managed thus far to avoid them (and if you have, bless you, your patience, and I'm jealous of your luck).

 

The action was vicious, bloody, and glorious – as expected for this R-rated superhero mashup. The characters of Deadpool and Wolverine both are very violent and by nature pull no punches, verbally or otherwise. This was the time that everything came together to set both of them off of the leash that the earlier X-Men movies had required for rating purposes.

 

I loved the story, as well. It was fun to see this dynamic duo explore the multiverse courtesy the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. If you aren't a fan of spoilers, though, and haven't watched the Loki (2021-2023) series yet, you'll want to do that before you delve into Deadpool & Wolverine. Some of the elements of this story will definitely spoil some of that series if you haven't already watched it. Further, it's not a must to have seen it to understand Deadpool & Wolverine, but it helps explain some of the fine nuances in the film that there wasn't explanatory exposition about. It generally helps to be up-to-date with MCU stuff because they do love to weave in little nuggets that underscore how everything is connected between all the various individual superheroes and stories. It's not mandatory in order to enjoy this movie, however. Further, you'll also want to be caught up-to-date on the Deadpool movies in general, as there are events touched on in Deadpool & Wolverine that call back to events from Deadpool 2.

 

 

Deadpool & Wolverine was also very respectful to the narrative that had come before for the cinematic version of Wolverine – particularly in regards to the events in Logan (2017). Hell, this movie was just flat-out respectful to the character of Wolverine in general. Can we talk about the classic yellow & blue suit? Verbal jabs from the banter in the early X-Men movies aside, I've been hoping they would eventually bring that out of the proverbial mothballs. It was worth the wait.

 

I was also intrigued by Deadpool & Wolverine's villain, Casasndra Nova, played by Emma Corrin (The Crown, A Murder at the End of the World, Good Grief). The way she used her powers occasionally just made me want to squirm in my seat from 'the ick.' It was a powerful performance... not to pun.

 

 

Also, as usual, this latest Deadpool movie remains true to the character's prolific use of 4th-wall breaking. It wouldn't be Deadpool if it didn't happen, to be honest. Between all of the squee-inducing moments of cameo-induced bliss (and they're some heavy duty cameos, let me tell you) and the multiverse laden plot, Deadpool & Wolverine is a wild, raunchy, and action-packed ride. I'd say most audiences would agree, considering the high ratings across multiple sites that track such things and the over 1.2 billion dollar box office (as of September 1^st, 2024).

 

The magical duo of Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Free Guy, Stranger Things) and Ryan Reynolds has resulted in some of my favorite movies out of the last few years. I want...no, need more.

 

With all that out of the way – here comes the spoiler section.

 

If you don't want to see them, scroll real fast down to the bottom.

 

 

Here we go.

 

The cameos were a huge part of what made Deadpool & Wolverine amazing for me. Some of them were just fun, like seeing Ray Park (Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Accident Man) reprise his role as Toad just for a few seconds or the original Sabretooth, Tyler Mane (Halloween II, Jupiter's Legacy, Doom Patrol) – both from the OG X-Men (2000) movie.

 

Others were more integral to the story, such as B-17, the time agent from Loki played by Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country, Loki, Scavengers Reign). It was also a real treat to get to see Jennifer Garner (Peppermint, Yes Day, The Adam Project) reprise Elektra without any of the baggage from the mixed reviews from Daredevil (2003) or Elektra (2005). Here, she was just able to be a badass. I'm also a fan of the new guy that has stepped into the modern version of the character Blade, but Wesley Snipes (The Player, Dolemite Is My Name, True Story) is my Blade dating back to the Blade (1998) trilogy. His movies were what started it all for the MCU. Before that, DC had really been the one that had reigned at the box office. I was giddy – yes, giddy – I tell you when I learned he would be joining this cast to reprise his iconic role.. and I was not disappointed at all.

 

 

But the whole reason why I couldn't hold my spoilers in was Channing Tatum (The Lost City, Fly Me to the Moon, Blink Twice) as Gambit. Tatum, and really the whole world, was cheated when Fox was acquired by Disney and shelved his Gambit movie. I'd been waiting for that for years. His outstanding performance in Deadpool & Wolverine as the card-tossing and staff-wielding ragin' Cajun is proof positive that he absolutely 100% can pull off that character and make a stand-alone movie bankable. I certainly hope that the mouse house has woken up and decides to dust cobwebs off of that movie and resurrect it from production hell so we can see it in all its glory. Further, they should tap Levy to help Tatum bring it to the screen. Seriously. He even got the accent right. Yes, right. I'm from Louisiana and I've got family in the southern part of the state that talks just like Gambit does. I can spot a fake “Cajun” accent a mile away, and he nailed it.

 

 

I like Taylor Kitsch (Only the Brave, 21 Bridges, The Terminal List) as an actor just fine. They did him – and the character of Gambit – dirty in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). That was not the Gambit we needed. Channing Tatum's Gambit was. (The only other one I've seen come close was a 20 minute short called Gambit: Playing for Keeps (2020), featuring world champion martial artist Nick Bateman (Hobo With a Shotgun, The Perception, Airplane Mode) and Eric Roberts (Heroes, The Dark Knight, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). (As an aside, Bateman had also worked on a previous Gambit short of only 4 minutes in length and the 20 minute one seems to be its sequel, given the reprised roles of both Gambit and Rogue.)

 

Without going too far down that rabbit hole, my point is that I love that character. I want to see justice done for that character, and Channing Tatum's version of that character was the closest I've seen outside of the original animated X-Men (1992-1997) voiced by Chris Potter (Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues, The Pacifier, Heartland) and the admirable job in X-Men '97 (2024-) by A.J. LoCascio (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, Gremlins: Secrets oft he Mogwai, The Croods: Family Tree). Channing Tatum is the live-action Gambit we need. Period. Let's make it happen already. With the set-up already in place with the mutliverse, there's zero reason why it shouldn't.

 

 

So there we have it.

 

Spoilers are over as of here. Don't read above this line if you want to keep yourself in the dark on all the glorious cameos I mentioned. (I also left out some big ones, but I don't want to touch them because they are more glorious in the moment and you're just going to have to see them for yourself!)

 

I would watch Deadpool & Wolverine again in a heartbeat, and am somewhat impatiently biding my time for it to reach streaming platforms so I can do that very thing.. a few times... at least. If you're even slightly a fan of the MCU or these characters, Deadpool & Wolverine is a must-see.

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 79%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score –95%

Metascore – 56%

Metacritic User Score – 7.7/10

IMDB Score – 8.0/10

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5

 

P.S. - There is a post-credits scene, as well as a closing montage.

 

Movie Trailer:

Strays (2023)

 

Streaming Service: Peacock

Movie Name/Year: Strays (2023) 

Genre: Adventure, Comedy 

Length:  1h 33min 

Rating: R 

Director: Josh Greenbaum 

Writer: Dan Perrault 

Actors: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte, Brett Gelman, Rob Riggle, Josh Gad, Sofía Vergara, Jamie Demetriou, Greta Lee, Jimmy Tatro, Harvey Guillén, Jack De Sanz, Phil Morris, Charity Cervantes, Jade Fernandez, Mikayla Rousseau, Aven Lotz, Dan Perrault, Dennis Quaid, Keith Brooks, Hedy Nasser, Dexter Masland, AJ Bernard 

 

IMDb Blurb: An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner. 

 

 

Cat’s Point of View: 

I have struggled to put my thoughts together in order to review Strays.

 

My daughter and I saw this in the theater with friends, and we had a collective consensus as we left post-credits. Never again. (Much to my husband’s dismay, we’ve told him he’s on his own if he wants to watch it, and we mean it.)

 

To be fair to Strays, the movie was funny – hilarious adjacent - and even touching occasionally. Unfortunately, there was an over-abundance of toilet humor… and that is in the most literal sense. I’ve seen other reviews give it the fancy term of ‘scatalogical humor’ but I’ll cut to the chase – poop jokes. The movie was full of dog poop.

 

 

Sure, it’s about dogs…and they poop. Every living being poops in some form or fashion. It doesn’t stop there, though; and explaining what had our stomachs churning would be giving spoilers so just take my word on it. If the thought of feces has you wanting to run to worship porcelain fast and in a hurry, then Strays may not be the film experience you’re looking for. The upside to that, I guess, is that now Strays is available on streaming, you can always pause it to run and ralph in the privacy of your own home. I did not enjoy holding down my popcorn in the very public theater. (I’m not squeamish, either. There are just some lines my internal fortitude has drawn.)

 

I’m never about tearing a movie down. There were some positives to Strays. This canine adventure was well executed and I was impressed that they clearly used real dogs for the majority of the scenes. The CGI to enable them to “talk” was also very well executed. The story was endearing, if a little sad, as the clueless, disillusioned, and yet still hopeless romantic pup takes his new friends on an adventure to wreak revenge on his former human. The concept, itself, was hilarious. There was even a dog-movie Easter egg worked in.

 

 

When we saw the trailer for the first time, my daughter and I were immediately on board wanting to watch. This is one of those instances that the trailer wasn’t exactly misleading, but it didn’t give us an accurate representation of what we were in store for.

 

I was also excited to see a film with Jamie Foxx (Day Shift, They Cloned Tyrone, The Burial). I’m always eager to see what Foxx has been working on whether it’s big or small screen productions – and especially while he’s been on medical hiatus from the latter.

 

 

Excellent cast and all its best efforts to provide a fun Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) – like adventure focused on revenge simply couldn’t overcome its own potty jokes to become a film I’d be willing to recommend to others or even ever watch again. This doesn’t make it a bad movie, so to speak, but it definitely goes into my personal One-and-Done category in which very few films reside.

 

There’s just one more thing to remember: even though Strays is about cute dogs on an adventure, this is not a movie for kids – at all. The R – Rating is absolutely appropriate for the content of this film… and not just because of the poop.

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 53%

 Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 69% 

Metascore – 54% 

Metacritic User Score – 5.2/10 

IMDB Score – 6.3/10 

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating –  2.5/5 

 

Movie Trailer:

'Tis the Season - Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

Streaming Service: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
Genre: Horror
Length: 1h 21min
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Channel 83 Films, RLJE Films, Shudder
Director: Joe Begos
Writer: Joe Begos
Actors: Riley Dandy, Sam Delich, Jonah Ray, Dora Madison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Abraham Benrubi, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Kansas Bowling, Joe Begos, Josh Ethier
 
Blurb from IMDb: It's Christmas Eve and Tori just wants to get drunk and party, but when a robotic Santa Clause at a nearby toy store goes haywire and begins a rampant killing spree through her small town, she's forced into a battle for survival.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
The trailer for Christmas Bloody Christmas had me dying when we watched it on stream. A bloody Christmas horror with robots is exactly what I needed to break up the monotony of the Hallmark rom-com holidays specials we had to slog through. I wish it had come out later in the month so it could break up the films we are going to be watching as well.
 
I tend to get sick of saccharin-sweet rom-coms half-way through December.
 
That said, Christmas Bloody Christmas was so much fun. It was violent, raunchy, and funny. I’ll admit, some of the humor came from ‘so bad it’s good’ moments, but that doesn’t bother me. This is exactly the kind of horror that I really enjoy watching. It’s got a no-fucks-given late 70s, early 80s slasher feel, more than anything else. It’s what you would have gotten if Halloween (1978) was written by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Red State).
 
The banter was outstanding. I cannot explain how surprised I was by just how organic the dialogue was. It didn’t feel like the actors were reading from a script. It felt like they were hanging out and teasing each other. I’ve had similar conversations with my friends, with the same rate of debates and ribbing. It was glorious to listen to.
 

The first killings don’t happen until about twenty minutes in, and I wasn’t missing it. I did, however, have fun once it started.
 
Riley Dandy (A Hollywood Christmas, That’s Amor, Interceptor) and Sam Delich (Spiderhead, Home and Away, The Marshes) had some serious chemistry. I’ve seen adored big-budget popcorn flicks, and award-winning indie films with actors that had less chemistry than them. I have seen both in past projects, but they never stood out to me.
 
I don’t know if it was working together, or Joe Begos’ (Bliss, VFW, The Mind’s Eye) script/direction, but they stand out now. I’m going to notice them in the future.
 
Christmas Bloody Christmas was grungy, bad ass, a little corny, and was phenomenally written. If you want to see it for yourself, check it out on Shudder December 9th.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score –7.2/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4.5/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjLFSDCMuBM&ab_channel=Shudder

The Bubble (2022)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: The Bubble (2022)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 126 minutes
Rating: R
Production/Distribution: Apatow Productions, Netflix
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer: Judd Apatow, Pam Brady
Actors: Harry Trevaldwyn, Samson Kayo, Peter Serafinowicz, Danielle Vitalis, Karen Gillan, Rob Delaney, Chris Witaske, Audrina Woolrich, Grant Woolrich, Guz Khan, Maria Bakalova, Vir Das, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Nick Kocher, Pedro Pascal, Galen Hopper, Keegan-Michael Key, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Kate McKinnon, Maria Bamford, Ross Lee, Raphael Acloque, John Lithgow, Austin Ku, John Cena, Beck, James McAvoy
 
Blurb from IMDb: A group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempts to complete a film.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Wow. Ok. That caught me off guard.
 
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Bubble. I hadn’t heard anything about it, even when I was collecting information about the movies coming out. It just kind of popped up on Netflix one day. So, we chose it for the schedule out of curiosity.
 
What it turned out to be was a kind of caricature-style parody. A 2-hour long parody. That is a long-ass time for that kind of thing.
 
It seems like they were trying to do something in the vein of Tropic Thunder (2008). They didn’t succeed, though.
 

Most of my laughter during the film was the uncomfortable kind. I asked myself ‘why?’ a lot.
 
The Bubble touched on a lot of stuff about COVID-19 that was somewhat relatable – especially where quarantining is concerned – but I just didn’t find most of it funny. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it disrespectful, but it was more cringe than anything else.
 
There was also a lot of gross-out humor that I just don’t lean toward. A few good lines here and there didn’t really save anything.
 
It’s possible that someone with a different sense of humor might enjoy it, but it’s not for me.
 

Cat’s Point of View:
I’ve been waging a bit of an inner debate with myself over The Bubble. Part of me cringes at the very thought that it’s a movie about filming during the coronavirus pandemic. Then this little voice inside pipes up with “bless their hearts, they tried.” At the same time, however, I found myself sporadically entertained while watching this film and didn’t entirely loathe the experience.
 
Let me mince no words here – it was bad.
 
The Bubble was a self-aware sort of bad that dances with the notion of ‘so-bad-it’s-good.’
 
Those of us scrambling through the ‘real world’ having a hard time simply buying toilet paper and basic staples might have a hard time connecting to the plight of an actor at a resort hotel in the UK where quarantine involved endless room service. On the flip side with that, though, I think that The Bubble touched on underlying issues that have affected everyone – regardless of occupation.
 
Most of us have gone a little stir-crazy during lockdown. It’s fairly safe to say that a grand majority have felt a little starved for contact with friends and relatives kept at a distance due to social distancing and travel restrictions.
 

Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying or screaming, right? I know I’ve hit a few of those points in the last couple of years. So, let’s put the pandemic aside, for now, and look at The Bubble a little differently.
 
In the last few months, I know I’ve knocked on unnecessary sequels popping up. The Bubble takes a jab at that very notion of a studio pushing for a cash grab to capitalize on an existing well-worn franchise under the guise of giving the world something to entertain them and take their minds off world events.
 
Everything was so over-the-top very purposefully. I admit, I found myself laughing in spite of my occasional cringe and eye-rolling.
 
Love or hate the movie, you’ve got to admit the cast was pretty amazing. Of course, I have some stand-out favorites such as Karen Gillan (In A Valley of Violence, Stuber, The Call of the Wild), Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu, Green Eggs and Ham, Schmigadoon!), and Pedro Pascal (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Triple Frontier, We Can Be Heroes).  There were also some surprising cameos laced throughout that were well placed and added great little moments.
 
The whole thing was bonkers but oddly worked. The Bubble was the April Fools gift from Netflix and Judd Apatow (This Is 40, Trainwreck, The King of Staten Island) that I think we all needed. Just remember not to take it too seriously. It was supposed to be a trainwreck. Mission accomplished.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 23%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 35%
Metascore – 34%
Metacritic User Score – 3.4
IMDB Score – 4.8/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5
 
Movie Trailer:

Fantasia 2021: Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story (2020)

Movie Name/Year: Fantasia 2021: Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story (2020)
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Romance
Length: 73 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Language: Filipino and English
Production/Distribution: Rocketsheep Studio, Spring Films, Netflix
Director: Avid Liongoren
Writer: Manny Angeles, Avid Liongoren, Paulle Olivenza
Actors: Reba Buhr, Todd Haberkorn, Tara Sands, Mick Wingert, Angelica Panganiban, Robin Padilla, Sam Milby, Empoy Marquez, Arci Muñoz, Eugene Domingo, Yeng Constantino, Moira Dela Torre, Joyce Bernal, Claudia Enriquez, Julienne Mendoza
 
Blurb from IMDb: In this adult animation, perfume sales cat Nimfa is torn between her macho askal boyfriend and a charming, philandering business dog.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Trust the Dice is doing something a little different this month. Along with our regularly scheduled reviews (which will be posted by Cat), I will be covering the Fantasia 2021 festival. The review of Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story will be the first of many articles tied to the festival.
 
It was a hell of a strong start.
 
It’s hard to believe that this animated flick was funded almost completely by the creative team working on it. Every visual is absolutely gorgeous and the animation style is unique. I definitely think we need a whole lot more of this. I want to see a series, or more movies, in this style. It feels pure. Like you can almost see the artists hunched over their workspaces sketching and shading as the days go by.
 
Not just the obvious aspects are worth noting, though. In some scenes there are these nuanced movements by the characters that you can only really get in insanely-funded animation. The quick flick of a tail, the shudder of ears… any time something like that happened, it elevated the whole story.
 
The way the animals represented the characters also made a great deal of sense. The catty protagonist, the short-tempered bulldog, the snooty husky, the lecherous pig men, etc. Every animal fit. It reminded me of one of my favorite graphic novels, Maus (1980-1991) – by Art Spiegelman. Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story was much more light-hearted, of course, but the way they utilized creatures felt similar. It didn’t feel like a simple anthropomorphizing, but a full-on metaphor.
 

The story was cute. It had a basic love triangle at the heart. One that pitted the familiar choice of a simple life in love vs. a luxurious one. In most films that go this route, things tend to get predictable. The trope basically sees the main character realize that love is the only thing that matters and that money shouldn’t be what drives their decision making.
 
I’m not going to spoil it, but I will say that the ending does not take the road most traveled. It’s surprising, but doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s easy to see the subtle fore-shadowing on a second watch-through.
 
There was some cringe-based humor that is not quite up my alley, but I will admit that it still came off as charming. Most of the time, anyway. I don’t want to focus too much on that, though, because it’s a personal preference.
 
The creators of Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story made something special. It has better writing and directing than most of the big-budget films I’ve seen this year.
  

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4.5/5
 
P.S. There are silent epilogue scenes that play out during the credits.
 
Movie Trailer:

The Swing of Things (2020)

Streaming Services: Hulu
Movie Name/Year: The Swing of Things (2020)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 93 minutes
Rating: R
Production/Distribution: Redwire Pictures, Reflecting Pool Productions, Sprockefeller Pictures, The Film House, Wildfire Pictures, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Director: Matt Shapira
Writer: Christopher Hewitson, Clayton Hewitson, Justin Jones, Patrick McErlean, Scotty Mullen
Actors: Chord Overstreet, Olivia Culpo, Luke Wilson, Aleksander Vayshelboym, Adelaide Kane, Matt McCoy, E.E. Bell, Carolyn Hennesy, Maria Breese, Jon Lovitz, Carl Davis, Leslie Stratton, Winston Bartley, Joshua Uduma, Boni Mata, Hayley Amber Smith, Jordan Morgan
 
Blurb from IMDb: A groom-to-be accidentally books his destination wedding and honeymoon at a swingers resort in Jamaica.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I’m going to get straight to the point and say that I don’t think this was a very funny film.
 
The Swing of Things was raunchy, which is fine for me. I enjoy a lot of raunchy comedies. The thing is, you still need some kind of comedic timing. The people involved in this movie seem to have forgotten that. They decided that if they just wrote the thing, it didn’t matter HOW it was said, as long as it was.
 
That’s just not how it works.
 
Even if we ignore that and just picture it with better comedic timing, there was still a pace issue.
 

This is definitely a flick that would have benefited from a shorter run time.
 
The first half hour of the film is concentrated on the lives of the two main characters before they meet, and their lazy meet-cute scene. The first part is a completely different project than the last hour. They don’t even feel like the same movie.
 
There was nothing of substance until there was and, by then, I just didn’t care. Add to that the randomly talking animals that didn’t fit, the lack of any kind of chemistry between characters, and the addition of a strange new comedy trope involving dolphins raping humans.
 
It wasn’t for me.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score –None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 13%
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 2.9/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1/5
 
P.S.: There are bloopers during the credits.
 
Movie Trailer: