How Stella Got Her Groove Back

 

             Usually in a typical slumps, being forced into captivity by extreme cold weather, for which really don't get me wrong I love a good walking around in the coldness but when it gets to ridicules negativity that's just insane especially three days tops. Anyway, I tried to pick one movie to prep my February themed movie about love and I stumbled onto a movie that I surprisingly remembered a long time ago back when Dish Network was always releasing previews, and I wasn't old enough to watch the movies. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, stars Angela Bassett, who I can't stop thinking about how gorgeous she was in the movie, especially forty years of age along with Whoopi Goldberg back when she was still funny and didn't lose all her brain cells admits being on the View.

             Unluckily-in-love stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett) jets to Jamacia with her gal pal Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) for some fun in the sun. There the 40-year-old working woman has in island fling with Winston (Taye Diggs) -- a handsome 20-something. When it's time to return to California, Stella realizes that she's developed real feelings for her new man. But, with their distance from each other, not to mention their disparity of age, does a real relationship stand a chance.

              No question this was one of the many movies that I remember seeing in terms of watching dish on demand previews at a young age and this movie would always come up constantly and all I remember was Whoopi Goldberg being in the movie moreover I remembered watching parts of Sister Act. And of course, this movie was of many films that I remembered watching because when you’re a kid you usually either watch Disney or anything that your sister watches or your dad, moreover I never had any intention watching the movie for many reasons I was a kid and had no intention of wanting to watch romantic films. So, finding this movie available on Hulu I figured what the hell, I mean it's one of those things where you just must pick the random movie to watch and have the hopes of it being good or turning it off and this was the same technique, when it comes to finding some good hidden gems. Furthermore this turns out to be one of those great and entertaining romantic comedies I've ever seen, and a lot of that goes to Angela Bassett who I only watched her in Black Panther and didn't realize how drop dead gorgeous she was in this movie, as well as realizing why Taye Diggs was falling for this woman I mean no question Bassett was and still is a great actress but her presence on screen as well as her beauty was a big factor of me being convinced of this movies potential. In fact I felt bad for the son in the movie because if I was his best friend I would constantly tell him that his mom is smoking hot, constantly and even in scenes where all of the ladies have moments of looking at Taye Diggs and realizing that he's with Bassett's character is no question at times cringe but then becomes funny because as a guy I would be understandable and say I would hit that, in fact if I was Taye Diggs I would most certainly go after Angela Bassett even if it means bringing out the lame catch phrases ever, and that's what makes this movie great is that yes this movie does have that chick flick feel but also has a convincing feeling that all the ladies and all of the men would most certainly go after this couple. Taye Diggs whose infamous for his Broadway roles in hits like Rent and Wicked, I got to say how crazy it is that this was his first breakout role in film, and even if it means being romantically involved with a gorgeous woman like Bassett which I'll say a million times if I was in his shoes I would most certainly go after her. Though it isn't just these two that makes the film great it’s also actresses like Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King that makes the film great I mean Regina King does a great job playing the sister whose delivers on the comic relief, just Regina King doing what Regina King does best and granted this was long before she won an Oscar so talk about paying your do's when it comes to being an actor or actress. Even watching Whoopi Goldberg in the movie I look back on her life and think wow this woman was a great comedic actress and then she loses her marbles with being on the View and you know, it's a good life lesson for everyone no matter what you do in your career as an actor or actress don't let society change you nor let any big time city like LA or New York change you, for many reason situations like that are the reasons why even if you live in those big cities, they slowly change your views and I don't know what Goldberg's were at the beginning of her career, but I most certainly know she lost her marbles when she became a View regular and it's sad to notice a woman with great comedic potential slowly begins to lose her ways. The movie is based on the book by Terry McMillan, for which really I begin to realize wow, a lot of the romantic comedies that I love are based on best sellers like High Fidelity, to Crazy Rich Asian's and let's not forget The Princess Bride, for which really there must be a pattern for some of these romantic comedy/drama's that I begin to like are based on books and yet there not based on books by Nicholas Sparks. For a first time watching, I got to admit that this is another one of those films I would most certainly recommend watching as well as putting this film in my list of top ten best rom-coms, for reasons it has all the elements trying to find you passion as well as dealing with age gaps, but most importantly just following your heart no matter what people tell you. More importantly this film has all the elements you need in a rom/com/drama from its perfect couple to great comedic talent as well as great pacing of whether or not this couple would be together till the very end and really this film without a doubt impressed me in a lot of ways as well as noticing Bassett's character is the most realistic Stockbroker I've ever seen on film. In closing, this is on Hulu and for certain I would highly recommend watching this great film from start to finish.

                  

Spin Me Round

 

                    

                      This was one of those nights were I was just scrolling through Hulu, trying to find some kind of romantic themed movie, that I could talk about through the month of February, and really this was one of those movies that I would think "oh this might be intriguing", since the film has the ever beautiful and comedic talent in Alison Brie as well as Aubrey Plaza whose progressing as a talented actress so, again there's some go list of actresses that would be interesting in watching especially when watching the trailer for the first time. Unfortunately, this was one of those movies gave me mixed emotions as well as in ending that I'm not sure if the writer and director gave up or didn't think through his ending, though sadly the director of the film, Jeff Baena died a month ago which for me being new to this news I feel like "The Dude", say "that's a bummer, man"

                      Flown to an Italian immersion program on her company's dime, what starts as a romantic getaway devolves into chaos.

                       I wouldn't say that this movie was all bad, consisting of that the film has a pretty good first and second act the problem is the third act where I felt like they just threw us a loop of confusion that never quite resolved nor gave us in a sense a satisfying ending. Granted the first-two acts are really good mainly because they give us a woman played by Brie, whose a bit lost in life, is gifted with this opportunity by the company to go on a vacation to Italy, though it doesn't go exactly as planned because the funniest part is they go to Italy but they are caged in which is lot like the family vacation I've experienced in the past ten years. But through the course of it she begins to find love in unexpected places with the owner of the company, and then finds a unexpected love from the secretary played by Aubrey Plaza, but is conflicted as well as learning that the owner is not what he seems. For which, goes in an different feel for me because after the first and second act, Aubrey Plaza is nowhere to be found, told through the movie that she's fired, and things just go out of control in terms of the story as well as where is the movie supposed to go, like I would imagine that there would be a conflicted love triangle for Brie to choose between the good looking guy or Plaza's character but then that just doesn't happen. And sure, you can have a unresolved ending true, but when you’re doing a bizarre love story that turns out of control you got to have a satisfying ending especially when the character is first introduced as someone who went through a bad relationship so, in all fairness that whole twist of the third act is what threw me out of the movie as well as not feeling the need to ever watch this movie again. Once I looked up director Jeff Baena and heard that he died of suicide I begin to question ever wanting to write a review of this movie, and the other thing that was sad about this whole ordeal is, that he was married to Aubrey Plaza, which again it was like damn, that sucks. I wouldn't say that this movie was the worst thing I've ever seen. It does have its moments but then, it gets lost in the shuffle of the third act as well as my interest in the movie almost kind of the same vibes as the first Dune movie. I can't say I would recommend the movie for everyone to watch but if you understand the movie better than I could then go nuts whoever you are. Though I'm just going to leave it at that since the unexpected death from Jeff Baena but to everyone whose going through something in life I would highly recommend at least talking to that person and keeping that person at heart not matter what their experiencing or how their feeling.  

         

Companion

 

                    Ladies and Gentlemen, I truly believe that I found what most certainly was the best movie of 2025. Though sure, we're not close to the halfway mark of 2025 but, when it comes to the woke generation majority of them are usually crap or better ways garbage though sure there are some sleepers that sometimes become good, but I have a good guarantee that this film is without a doubt the best of 2025. Companion, is one of those films that has that it factor that once you watch the movie trailer and you see it through you immediately sold on what the film is and know it looks good it's almost like when the Invisible Man came out five years and it shows an abusive boyfriend, well this movie has that intrigue after Ron Swanson heard about the Meat Tornado. Furthermore, it was at my local movie theater and as luck would become fate, I picked the excellent time to hit the movie theaters.

                    A weekend getaway turns bloody and violent when subservient android that's build for human companionship goes haywire.

                    Usually when it comes to recent movies coming out a year, you watch the previews or movie trailers and, well I'm going to use me for example I get one look at each movie and I think "dumb", after the first watch or even see anything especially in Super Bowl time and their obviously dumb, not my cup of tea, furthermore it's always 100 of these movies that come out once a year and sure, there like a few or maybe five of these film that come out once a year but then again, now it's usually just nothing but crap. But once in a while there's only that one movie that comes out once a year, and every time I watch that one trailer I usually say that "you have me sold" it's like The Invisible Man when that film came out five years ago, and heard about that the Invisible Man was an abusive boyfriend I was like Ron Swanson when he heard about the Meat Tornado, and really Companion this year is my Meat Tornado. I didn't find a whole lot of info on writer/director Drew Hancock, other than finding out that this was his first ever movie but more importantly this guy is from Omaha, Nebraska, for which I was like this guy is my personal hero. Mainly because, Hancock wanted to make movies though it took him a long process especially movie to LA as well as working up the ladder process, moreover when the pandemic happened he made a goal in getting his voice heard in Hollywood as well as, writing out some story ideas and that's were Companion came into Hancock's sites. No question, Companion reminded me of the TV show, Westworld when I watched the trailer for the first time, but in all honesty it didn't bother me at all, because I always want to see these kinds of stories where we see a disgusting side of humanity especially when the fear of this concept may come into reality and I swear if that happens or Disney does this thing, where you can date a princess for a day, I will scream out in disgust and troll the internet about how humanity is a mistake. Both Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid do an exceptional job in the movie, I have never seen a whole lot of Thatcher's work, but she does an exceptional job playing the protagonist in the movie. While Thatcher does a great job in the movie, Jack Quaid does a fantastic job playing the boyfriend who slowly sheds his skin and becomes this vicious antagonist and even the rest of the cast does a great job as well and this is just a few actors in the movie but that's all you really need. It's kind of sad that you only get one of these movies a year while majority of the films that come out a year don't exceed my expectations, and really it's these kinds of movies that just get me interested in wanting to go out to the movies, hell just the simplest stories and the right writer and director making these films work is what I really want to see when it comes to at least going out and going to the movie theaters sure, I'd love to see a big budget movie or a superhero movie but all of them now are just movies I already seen and that movie tickets as well as concession food costing lot of money is why I usually don't go to the movies a lot. Companion is one of the best and most certainly the greatest movies that came out in 2025 and that's saying a lot, for many reasons I doubt there is going to be another film like Companion to come out this year. So, here it is ladies and gentlemen, young couples or married couples. If you’re looking for a movie to watch this Valentine's Day week, I would highly recommend seeing Companion at your local movie theater this week.

      

10th Anniversary of Crimson Peak

 

           

               

                 To start of well, technically late start off to the month of love aka February as well as Valentines Day. I'd start with a movie that's been ten years since I watched in the movie theater and had mixed emotions about it and yet ten years today I still have mixed emotions about the movie and yet watched it any way just because it's streaming on Peacock and I'm not purchasing the movie for which is the least of what I want to do personally so, I figured why not give this movie a watch and see if it changed my thoughts, ten years ago. Crimson Peak is a mix of horror and romance created out of the strange mind of legendary director Guillermo del Toro, a director that has the same bizarre inspirations as Robert Eggers but in my personal loving experience I would choose Guillermo del Toro over Eggers because del Toro's work I can understand and appreciate more than Eggers work in a heartbeat well, besides this movie.

                 After marrying the charming and seductive Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), young Edith (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself swept away to his remote gothic mansion in the English hills. Also living there is Lady Lucille (Jessica Chastain), Thomas' alluring sister and protector of her family's dark secrets. Able to communicate with the dead, Edith tries to decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home. As she comes closer to the truth, Edith may learn that true monsters are made of flesh and blood.

                  The first time I watched the movie or to better go into great lengths I saw the movie trailer and though "well, it's typical Guillermo del Toro's weird gothic vision of a haunted house and great has great list of actors so, why not check it out", and really at the time I was working morning shows and I didn't have a whole lot of fun time I just go to the earliest shows possible and get free popcorn and soda basically using cheap tactics as possible. And, my first thoughts while watching the movie especially going into the beginning of the second act of the film, and realized how awful Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain's house is in terms of wanting to live there and even in the scene where the character of Edith is carried by Tom Hiddleston into the house, I was just horrified of how sh*ty the house looks especially when there's no roof and at times begin to decay and even times when you see moths appearing in the final act, like there more character growth's in the mansion then the entire cast I feel when watching the movie. Self-assured, that this film is supposed to be Gothic/horror and romance, almost as if Edgar Allen Poe would of written for his life's work, but I who has seen many movies consisting of haunted houses I personally feel that Crimson Peek is one of those movies that lacks the originality of its purpose. Moreover the fact that it's supposed to have the horror or scary elements as well as consisting of ghosts, there's hardly any scary moments in the film, I mean films like The Haunting or Alien hell, any classic horror movie that you can point to and say that movie creeps you out, this film has none of that like even in times when the ghost appear and Edith is wanting to talk to the ghost, it seriously feels almost like a reality ghost show you find on cable TV especially those shows where you most certainly feel their full of sh*t. Jessica Chastain, who I've liked as an actress moreover respected though that part at times I question but as an actress when I first watched her was I believe Zero Dark Thirty and respected a lot because she always does a great job portraying a tough woman or playing an attractive woman on screen and for real she always played that actress that you can most certainly respect almost like Charlize Theron or Sigourney Weaver, and this was 2015 she most recently came out with the movie the Martian for which she does a great job playing the commander of the film, and this movie I believe came out weeks or months before the Martian sometime in October. And this was probably the first time ever where I slowly began to realize that Chastain was defiantly that kind of actress where she literally chews the scenery and this film was a great example of that furthermore she does a great job playing the antagonist of the movie, because re-watching the third act where she's chasing the character of Edith I thought she was terrifying as if I was being chased by a crazy woman I would find the nearest shotgun and blow her away, then tell the cops that it was self-defense. But then till the end of the film she goes back to chewing the scenery with her famous quote "I won't stop, till you kill me, or I'll kill you" which really explains the movie in all fairness. Ten years ago seeing this movie in the theaters I had mixed emotions about the movie, now I still have mixed emotions about the film though this is most certainly a film that I really don't need to watch again in the next ten years, I mean it's one of those films that I'm sure, every person addicted to wearing black or wears makeup, dyes their hair black or goes to Hot Topic every week, will most certainly love this film and if your that person that loves all of that I'd say go nuts buddy, it's on Peacock. But, for me if I wanted to watch any of Guillermo del Toro's work I would most certainly watch Nightmare Alley, Pacific Rim, Hellboy and the best Blade movie Blade II, but when it comes to Crimson Peak I believe I'm done watching this movie in my lifetime or if somebody pays me to watch this and make fun of the film, I will most certainly say sure, everyone needs the money once in a while ask Michael Strahan. But for certainly this may be odd to say but if I had to choose between the most boring not so scary movie, like Crimson Peak or The Lighthouse, I would choose Crimson Peak despite that sounding a little dirty if you ask me.

       

The Slammin' Salmon

 

                    

                   One of those typical nights where I either couldn't sleep or was just finding some kind of movie to pass the time, although, this movie and another fellow movie have a similar common theme (the other being Crimson Peak) and that's "maybe take some time off and refresh". The Slammin' Salmon is a great example of that trend of maybe you should wait and take a good year, maybe three-year vacation for the jokes to come back and be fresh again. Written and directed by the same comedic duo that brought you Beerfest and Super Troopers, Broken Lizard (Jay Chandraskhar, Kevin Hefferman, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) who each man brings out the best of each other especially when you watch the first two Super Trooper's films and Beerfest, but I think that this was one of those times where these guys could probably take some good time off and get refreshed from remaking movies.

                   A restaurant owner (Michael Clarke Duncan) pits members of his wait staff against one another in a competition to make the largest amount of cash in one night.

                   Not a whole lot of info I wanted to search for, in terms of the development of the movie except that the movie itself was filmed during the writer's strike of 2007, unfortunately the comedy duo wasn’t part of the writer’s guild so, they were granted time to get their film made. According to an interview by Kevin Hefferman aka Farva, as well as director of the film said in an interview that the intent for the Slammin' Salmon was to make a Glengarry Glenn Ross movie with the mix of Marx Brothers comedy. For which, sure it sounded like a good idea, I guess? But, this was one of those movies were the jokes land so flat, and to be truthfully honest I wasn't sure if this was because of budgetary concerns because when it comes to comedy you just have to improvise at times maybe come up with a new joke and have different takes. Though with this film it feels like they couldn't afford to have multiple tasks to make the comedy flow or either way I just believe they were looking at the reels and thought to make this the best they could or another assumption "just bail?" Now, I don't know if this is just me and my age is kicking in but, I'm sick and tired of the spineless guy not standing up for himself, like, sure I would imagine the Gen Z generation would think it's funny or any Adam Sandler fan would think it’s funny but me that's just so, flat and not even close of being funny and that's what this film provides and sure it's funny when you have a character like Farva in Super Troopers where the rest of the squad can't stand but have to put up with him mainly because it's a work environment we, as an audience member always have that kind of Schmuck. But, with this movie when you have a manager who doesn't stand up to his boss who makes terrible choices and is not bright, then it just gets annoying especially when it's been used repeatedly.  I don't want to slam Michael Clarke Duncan all that much considering that the man has been dead for quite some time, though this is one of those films were even his comedic talents fail at times considering that he plays a boxer that's somewhat dumb as well as doesn't make the best choices and feels like he was trying to explore more comedic values after Talladega Nights but, this was just no good, in fact wasn't even impressed with his performance in this movie as well. The Slammin' Salmon was released about three years after Beerfest so, there's is a good reason as to why this film didn't live up to its standards moreover the expectations when I first watched the film, we in fact a letdown. This movie should be a lesson on what not to do when making your next success to Beerfest or a brain builder on what you can do better but, for a movie to watch in your own free time I wouldn't recommend watching this film even if you have a sense of finding something different.