The Year Of Spectacular Men (2018)

I had to take some time off from checking out a Zoey Deutch (Vincent N Roxxy) film, but after taking some time off I was ready to jump back in. The film I decided to check out is one big family affair as the film The Year Of Spectacular Men was written and stars Madelyn Deutch (Outcast) and it features and was directed by Lea Thompson (Back To The Future) who is their mother (in real life and in the film). Madelyn plays Izzy Klein, a young woman who has just finished college, but can't seem to keep a relationship going. After her boyfriend in New York breaks up with her, she decides to move to LA to be closer to her older sister Sabrina (Zoey) while trying to navigate through life and all of it's challenges including men, finding a job, and more. The film also stars Cameron Monaghan (Vampire Academy) as Ross, Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder) as Logan, Zach Roerig (As The World Turns) as Mikey,  Nicholas Braun (The Stanford Prison Experiment) as Charlie, Jesse Bradford (Bring It On) as Aaron,  Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Sebastian, Melissa Bolona (Acts Of Violence) as Amythyst Stone, D.W. Moffett (How to Get Away with Murder) as Teacher, and Troy Evans (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) as Sketch.

It's a rare occasion when I choose a film and I don't end up enjoying it because I try picking based on what the story is about and what people have said about it. When it came to this film I had no idea that Zoey was the supporting actress, but in the end it didn't matter because this was a really good film. I thought it was actually an enjoyable film to watch and while I must admit that it is a chick flick, I think this may be one that men can enjoy as well. Madelyn who I had no idea was Zoey's sister actually did a fantastic job both in writing the film and in acting because she played a super quirky kind of girl very well in the film. I love how Zoey played the sister who becomes an actress and is entangled in the Hollywood life. There is one point in which they keep referencing a film that she worked on with Zac Efron in which the tabloids want a scoop on her relationship with him. I wonder if that was a poke at what she went through after filming Dirty Grandpa in which she co-starred alongside him in? Throughout the whole film, Madelyn looked like she was the royal screw up when it came to relationships, but by the end of the film she seemed to be the one with her sanity intact. I thought it was a really good film that is available to watch on HULU right now as we speak and I think you should check it out. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

Last week, we talked about waiting a while to do a sequel to a film(s) that are considered sacred to fans of the film and how it can be risky. In 2009, zombie films were pretty standard and we saw countless people try to reinvent the genre because it was getting sort of stagnate. Ruben Fleischer (Venom) decided that he would reinvent the zombie genre by steering it more into the comedy realm with his mega blockbuster Zombieland and the film introduced us to the fab four Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Ten years later and the gang is back for Zombieland: Double Tap which sees Fleischer back behind the helm. This time around, the gang has been surviving in the White House, but Little Rock is a little bit older now and she wants to find someone for herself so she takes off. The gang has no choice, but to chase her down, but a new threat of zombies has arisen and are deadlier than ever. The film also stars Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!) as Madison, Avan Jogia (Shaft) as Berkeley, Rosario Dawson (Kids) as Nevada, Luke Wilson (Old School) as Albuquerque, and Thomas Middleditch (Godzilla: King Of The Monsters) as Flagstaff. 

As I said before, it is such a huge risk to take a beloved first film and give it a sequel ten years later especially when fans had been asking for it before. One thing I will say is that I don' think the wait hurt at all because this was actually a really good film. I definitely do not think that it is better than the original, but it had me laughing at a bunch of different moments especially with the scene stealing Zoey Deutch who plays the brainless Madison. The interactions that she has with Woody and Emma are just absolute gold and I could not stop laughing which is the best sign that someone enjoys the film. I definitely liked the fact that they evolved the zombies as well because it only makes sense that they would learn to different things and adapt since it has been ten years since this whole mess started. The introduction of the T-800 zombies, the Hawkings, and the ninja zombie were great and I loved the fact that they would include the zombie kill of the year in the film cause some of those were great. The other great thing was the inevitable which was introducing an alternate universe Tallahassee and Columbus which was Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch. That just made for great screen time and I definitely enjoyed it. The whole adventure is awesome and the pay off at the end is amazing and to be honest I wouldn't mind a third film or even a TV series. They could do so much with a television series, but we'll save that for another discussion. Like I said before the first film is the best one, but this one does it's job and does it well. That is why I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.