Thomas is a man in his forties who is suffering from the pain of a breakup, living a monotonous and emotionless life. Suddenly, he is invited to participate in a Dark Web game to win 1 million.

The rules are simple: he will be the prey of hunters for 30 days, he cannot be attacked if he is accompanied by someone else and, if he survives for a month, he wins the grand prize. He will be filmed the entire time and all the places he frequents have been bugged.

Thomas immediately accepts the contract, believing that his family will support him in this challenge.

Is Self Reliance good?

When I saw the teaser being released by HULU, I immediately got excited. After all, a film produced by The Lonely Island (producers of the films Palms Springs and Popstar: never stop never stopping), featuring Nick Miller (Jake Johnson’s character in New Girl) and Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg’s character in Brooklyn 99), could only offer a good comedy. Unfortunately, we don’t see this potential being used here.

Although the premise is very interesting and at the beginning it makes us a little curious, throughout the film, we can feel how much the script gets lost in its own pretentiousness.

From the beginning, we know that Thomas is not a reliable narrator/character. After all, it’s not the first time he’s made up unrealistic stories that make his own family doubt his sanity. This is a fact that drags on and serves as the basis for the entire development of the film.

The problem, however, is that there comes a point when this narrative becomes tiresome. The lack of laughter, combined with fatigue, slowly leads us to a disinterest that not even the possibility of a romance can save.

The addition of Anna Kendrick’s character does not come with a romantic touch here, it is just a plot device being planted to try to make us laugh eventually and to force the growth of the main character. Although it works well for the second thing, unfortunately, the humorous aspect of her participation, once again, is not relevant to the story.

The impression we have is that in the last 20 or 30 minutes of the film, when we should start to get our answers, we are surprised with more questions. And the ending… well, it is not enough to answer everything.

The script for Self Reliance had everything to be a gem in the world of unfunny comedies that have been released in recent years, but in the end, we have the feeling that something is still missing. As if we were presented with an unfinished project, without the final touches on the script.

On the other hand, if we have a weak script here, Jake Johnson did a great job directing some scenes, especially the scenes with “the ninjas” which, despite being humorous in nature, brought a slight element of humor and a little chill down our necks before making us laugh.

Overall, Self Reliance is a 3-point film, worth watching when we don’t have many expectations and there’s nothing better to play.

Watch the Trailer:

For now, the film Self Reliance is not yet available on any Brazilian platform, but it should be distributed by Star+ soon.

O post Self Reliance apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

When Graham Stroop (Robbie Amell) decides to travel at the last minute to surprise his family for Christmas, he just doesn’t imagine that the biggest surprise will be for him.

Ali (Leighton Meester), his ex-fiancée who broke his heart into little pieces, was invited by his family to celebrate in his place and replace him at the festivities.

Amidst an awkward atmosphere, they decide to compete and bet that by the morning of the 25th, one of them will have been kicked out of the Stroops’ Christmas.

EXmas is it good?

Evaluating a Christmas movie ends up being simple, we already know the ending: the good guy ends up with the good girl, Christmas is briefly ruined and fixed even faster, the script follows the same pattern as countless other movies. There is not much new to offer.

Here, we have a couple who ended a 5-year relationship without any dialogue or explanation. He did not get over it and, apparently, neither did his family.

After the breakup, Ali kept in touch with Graham’s parents by text, helped his sister move, and did study sessions with his younger brother via FaceTime. Unlike her ex, she remained present in their lives.

Graham, on the other hand, immersed himself even more in work, forgetting to live any other part of his life.

When the two meet for the first time after the breakup, there is a lot to be said, but little courage to say it.

They decide to resolve things in the most childish way possible: competing and sabotaging each other to see who is the family’s favorite.

EXmas brings up a discussion about the lack of dialogue between two people. While Graham worked to provide what he imagined Ali needed (a house, financial stability), the character felt increasingly unhappy about not receiving what she really wanted: a fiancé who paid attention to her, her dreams, and who helped her grow.

Despite the clichés, it is interesting to see how they resolve their issues, how they finally learn to listen to each other.

The film has good ideas to make viewers laugh quickly and manages to maintain the tone until its last scene, seconds before the credits roll.

The main characters have good chemistry, the family dynamics work very well. The only thing that made me a little bored during the film were the secondary characters added just so the couple could make each other jealous.

Otherwise, EXmas is a great film. If the metric is Christmas films, it gets a 4.5, in the general concept of films 3.0.

Watch the trailer:

In Brazil, the film EXmas is available on Prime Video only in english with subtitles.

O post EXmas apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

Years have passed and his father never returned. Renato is now a successful businessman, has a fiancée and a stepson with whom he cannot create deep connections.

For him, parents and children do not need to be best friends. A belief built after suffering from abandonment during his childhood.

Everything changes when Katherine, his father’s current wife, calls him and tells him that he is sick, on the verge of death and wants to see him.

Suddenly, Renato discovers that he has a younger brother named Asher (Connor Del Rio) and the two embark on a journey of self-discovery in search of someone named Eloise.

Is Half-Siblings Good?

This was a movie I chose unpretentiously at 10pm on a Saturday. The phrase I used specifically was “I wanted something to do”.

I am happy to share that, definitely, Stepbrothers was that something. However, there is also a dramatic haze that surrounds the story of these two brothers who had never met.

Focusing on the character dynamics, Renato carries within himself a great resentment towards Uncle Sam. The idea of ​​having to travel to the United States because of a father he doesn’t even love makes him completely angry.

Meanwhile, Asher is a different guy (some say he’s weird), he can’t be serious and says whatever comes to mind.

When they meet for the first time, without knowing who the other is, their interaction leaves a terrible impression. To top it off, Asher tells Renato, a Mexican, that he’s “against the wall.” This makes things even more strange.

The “tense” atmosphere that fills the room when the two are officially introduced at the hospital doesn’t surprise viewers.

Throughout the plot, we can see Asher’s effort to connect with his brother and Renato’s effort to stay as far away as possible. They are opposites and couldn’t be more distant. And if it’s up to Renato alone, they’ll stay that way.

For me, the highlight of this film goes beyond the dynamic between the two main characters. In a not-so-subtle way, the plot manages to expose a deep-rooted prejudice among Americans towards people who are from other countries.

The hatred that Renato carries for the United States comes largely from the fact that his father left when he was a child. But in his brief time trying to understand what happened, he experiences many situations similar to those that kept his father away.

I really like the approach to healing from trauma and how our actions do indeed reflect aspects of these same traumatic events.

Step Brothers is a fun film that makes you laugh and cry, but it is, above all, a film that addresses the personal growth and emotional healing of two adults who were hurt during their childhood, due to a third adult who could not accept his own choices.

It is a film that goes by quickly and is definitely worth watching.

O post Half-brothers apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

I don’t really trust the recommendations of people who, during the past year, treated “Megan is Missing” as a horror masterpiece, while the film didn’t have much to offer us.

However, feeding my own blatant hypocrisy, last week I decided to give a chance to two recommendations that appeared in my for you.

Both works address the same subject, a subject that is already heavy in itself and requires delicacy and the right perspective to be portrayed.

While watching the first film, I made the decision not to mention the name, nor to do any kind of “advertising”, because, in addition to it being a very uncomfortable experience, I believe that there is a correct way to portray themes such as sexual abuse and pedophilia. And, of course, a scene of almost 5 minutes of an underage girl being abused multiple times explicitly.

Therefore, I decided to focus only on the second film, “The Tale”, released in 2018.

Directed by Jennifer Fox, the film is based on her own story. The director, played here by actress Laura Dern, goes through a journey of discovery and deals with the resurfacing of memories after her mother finds a story in which she tells about her first relationship.

What was just an innocent story for Jennifer soon begins to gain a deeper layer, as the character realizes that in reality she was being manipulated by two adults when she was only 13 years old.

As the main character begins to investigate her past, we embark with her on a mix of confusing memories and see the world through her eyes. Here we see the world from the perspective of a child neglected by her parents, being welcomed by a woman she considered beautiful and stunning.

Little by little, we see how the couple built this world where she was trustworthy, mature, and too adult for her age.

Two adults twice, perhaps three times, her age become her confidants. Through letters, she vents about how much she hates her family, and they exchange poems and more details about each other’s personal lives.

In her parents’ lack of love, we see little Jenny growing increasingly attached to Mrs. G and her boyfriend Bill. Through small acts such as Mrs. G pushing on her the responsibility of deciding whether or not to tell her parents that she visited Bill at his house, we can see how they manipulate her and insert her into a narrative where she can make her own decisions.

Unfortunately, halfway through the film, “The Tale” makes the same mistake as many films on this subject.

For me, as a viewer, I can’t see the need for scenes with such a sensitive topic to have more explicit scenes. Even though things here are not shown with such fidelity and violence, it is still an inconvenience that can be avoided.

I understand that the directors want to shock viewers, but I believe that the story itself is already shocking enough.

Some dialogues between Jennifer and her mother, played by actress Ellen Burstyn, also cause a certain discomfort. The mother, who at the same time blames herself, also questions her daughter if she liked what was happening to her.

Jennifer’s understanding is slow, she doesn’t like it when someone calls her a victim or openly says that Bill abused her, she becomes defensive and says that they actually had a “relationship”.

As memories come together, details that go unnoticed are added later. In this way, our journey happens together with Jenny’s.

Painfully, we walk towards an unimaginable end. Jenny wants to face her greatest enemy, she wants to look him in the eye, to close this chapter as much as we do, to feel that justice has been served in some way.

However, justice does not always come to everyone.

In Conclusion

Jennifer Fox tells us her story through letters, a short story, and memories. She exposes an event that changed her life and completely affected her path.

We, as spectators, spend the film rooting for justice, wanting something to be done against someone who abused not just one, but multiple underage girls.

The bitter taste comes to our mouths when we remember that not every story has a happy ending. As bittersweet as reality, Bill did not suffer the consequences of his actions; on the contrary, he lived his life being acclaimed and awarded.

The coach accused by Fox died in 2021, at the age of 88. Two years after his death, an investigation was opened to verify cases of abuse involving his name. As of the date of publication, there is no information about other victims.

For now, I may avoid Tiktok recommendations, but as I said above, sometimes hypocrisy wins.

In Brazil, the film “The Tale” can be accessed on the HBO Max streaming platform.

Watch the trailer:

O post The Tale apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

In this 2023 Australian film, we follow Kol (Elias Anton), an introverted boy with a passion for dance who, upon receiving an emergency call from his best friend Ebony (Hattie Hook), abandons his plans to participate in the finals of a competition to travel to another city and look for her.

He contacts Adam (Thom Green), Ebony’s older brother, and asks for his help to hit the road in search of the girl.

During this trip, we can watch two strangers get to know each other better through dialogue, music and jokes.

Of an Age is good?

This film is not for everyone. However, I do not say this to imply that you need to have a higher intellectual level or a high IQ to understand the story, but rather because the film has an extremely slow pace, which can bore many viewers.

If for Adam and Kol everything happens in 24 hours in the first act, for us things happen very calmly. After all, when Adam tells Kol that he has an ex-boyfriend, Kol is still digesting things about himself.

In addition to the dialogues, many of the things here are portrayed in the absence of words.

Details such as the duration of a look, the flexing of a muscle, the direction of the camera that guides us along the same path as the eyes of one of the characters.

Everything is designed in a way that makes it clear to us what is happening, without having to verbalize it.

And if these subtleties are already enough to make the film special, when the actors are able to verbalize their “feelings,” the acting is done in such a natural way that it makes us share this feeling and almost live that moment with them.

A hug here symbolizes a great act of courage. And with so much symbolism, everything gains an even deeper layer, especially because of the way this film is directed by Goran Stolevski.

With the end of the first act, we are transported from 1999 to 2010. Here, Kol is already mature, confident in his identity and sexuality. Adam is also even more determined and certain of who he is.

Two people who fell in love and loved each other in a short period of 24 hours are now strangers, they know little about each other, but they still share the same affectionate look for each other, the same concern.

If the first part of the film already causes intense emotions, these final 30 minutes are crucial in the sensations they want to extract from us.

The script is also accurate in leaving the ending open to the viewer’s imagination. We want more, we want them to be happy and, if the film does not provide us with these scenes, we are in charge of imagining them.

In Conclusion

Of an Age is a sweet, romantic, painful film to watch and that can hit “close to home” for anyone who has ever lost a love due to life’s unavoidable circumstances. It is the dialogue between our brain and our heart in a scenario full of “what ifs”.

A film that draws on the plot of “the right people at the wrong time”, who were meant to be together, but life wanted to go the other way. All of this bathed in self-discovery, in the struggle to understand who you are and who you love.

It makes me happy to see that when poetry and cinema intersect, it is possible to obtain works with such meaning, impact and beauty.

Although it is not available on any streaming platform in Brazil, it is worth playing and enjoying this beautiful film.

Watch the trailer:

O post Of an Age apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

Still, I don’t give up and always give it a chance when a new movie of the genre is released.

When I saw the trailer for Puppy Love, I wasn’t very excited about the story. But the cast did interest me.

Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) and Grant Gustin (The Flash) play Nicole and Max. He is a boy who developed social phobia after COVID and isolated himself from the world during the two years of the pandemic, she is a party girl with a very messy lifestyle.

When Max decides to adopt Chloe on medical advice and Nicole rescues Channing Tatum from the streets, their paths end up crossing.

Is Puppy Love good?

Puppy Love dives into the plots of enemies to lovers and opposites attract. If these aren’t clichés enough, sprinkle the film with absurd scenes and dialogues and you’ll have a film that would be shown in an afternoon session after a few cuts.

There’s nothing that shines or stands out enough to make Puppy Love the romantic comedy of the year.

The interactions between the main characters are quick and, often, it’s hard to understand some of their attitudes.

In the first meeting, for example, it seems that the character Nicole chose to be annoying for no reason. Meanwhile, Max continued to be the only one with justification for his actions (coming from a psychological problem).

Max and Nicole don’t like each other, but after a meeting in the park, Chloe ends up getting pregnant by Channing Tatum (and yes, the film shows the scene of the puppies being made). Because of this, the main characters need to learn to live together, since they will be grandparents to a pet.

Little by little, we see the change happen, Nicole helps Max feel better and get out of the house more. While Max helps Nicole face her fears and enroll in college.

Like every cliché movie, the reason for the conflict is kind of stupid, but it works here in the middle of this “guy with OCD, sloppy girl” narrative.

As for the acting, Lucy delivers the same as always, her performance is consistent and she manages to play the perfect girl from a rom-com movie.

Grant, on the other hand, is once again haunted by his past. If in The Flash it was absurd to have the character sing, here, there is no reason at all. The actor has to sing for nothing, with no addition to the narrative.

The reason is only one and obvious: he acted in Glee and knows how to sing.

In conclusion

Puppy Love won’t change the history of cinema; it’s just another generic and forgettable film that’s good for a laugh here and there.

Because it’s quick, it’s worth watching while you’re doing something else in your day-to-day life and just want to have some fun.

The film premiered on August 18 in the United States and is not yet available on any Brazilian streaming service.

O post Puppy Love apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

Now, imagine inheriting a huge rural property, full of history and many spaces to be enjoyed?

A paradise!

When journalist Samantha (Rose Mclver) and her husband Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) become owners of the Woodstone family mansion, they both see an opportunity to transform the place into an inn to make “easy” money.

What neither of them imagine is that a group of eight ghosts are very committed to making this plan not come to fruition.

Everything changes when, by accident, Sam gains the ability to see his invisible tenants, the first person to see them in years. A surprise for her and the others, but especially for Jay, who needs to support her on this new journey.

But is it good?

The series produced by CBS is the American version of the series of the same name produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom.

I’m not in a position to compare the two, as I’ve only watched the Americanized version, so I’ll reserve my right to only talk about the 2021 series.

Starting with the main couple, although it is a little difficult to buy into their relationship due to the chemistry that is not so evident at the beginning, the more we watch, the more we become convinced of the love that exists between them.

Jay is a down-to-earth chef who always takes things on the practical side. Samantha is a writer who has dreams and big plans.

This opposing picture makes the couple achieve the perfect balance, as well as making their dynamics even more interesting, when Jay decides to believe in Sam and in the existence of ghosts around the house.

Ghosts are perfect, each in their own way. From nativists to Vikings to hipsters and stock market entrepreneurs, there is a wide range of stories and personalities to be explored throughout the episodes.

The highlights, in my opinion, are Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), a singer who believes she was murdered, Captain Isaac Higgintoot (Brandon Scott Jones), killed during the war and Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), the former lady of the house who doesn’t agree with the customs of modern women.

These are by far the funniest and have the best ghostly situations. Whether it’s the cause of death or the jokes from beyond the grave, they carry much of the humor with them.

The others, however, leave nothing to be desired. The difference in age, personality and eras lived bring a very special touch to the script.

For example, a Viking who becomes addicted to reality shows and starts marathoning without his friend. Current fights that certainly wouldn’t affect a Viking in 800AD.

Some -not so frequent- characters are also added to bring more depth to the plot or introduce us to more about the non-living core.

The series has two complete seasons and, according to the Deadline portal, it has already been renewed for a third season, with no premiere date yet.

In Brazil, all 40 episodes can be watched on the Paramount+ streaming platform.

See trailer for the first season (subtitles unavailable):

O post Ghosts | A Mansion, an Inheritance, and Eight Crazy Ghosts apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

This is the dilemma faced by Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandel in ‘Game of Thrones’) in the film The Invitation. Evie is a freelance artist whose dream is to make a living selling her art.

At one of the events she is working at, she gains access to a DNA test and, while taking the test, meets a British cousin named Oliver (Hugh Skinner) who, by pure coincidence, is in town and, on their first date, invites her to go to a wedding at the family mansion.

But is it worth watching?

You know that saying that “when the alms are too much, the saint gets suspicious”? That’s exactly the thought we have while watching this movie.

The main character’s best friend agrees with us, and she advises the girl to take a picture of the license plate of the car that took her to the mansion. However, an accident occurs, hindering her mission.

And it’s at this moment that we meet our second central character.

Played by Thomas Doherty, the character De Ville exudes a Christian Grey vibe mixed with a Lord from a series set in the 19th century. He captivates with his smile and luxurious gifts, as well as a loving chat about the future with our protagonist.

Our host is full of clichés: charming, a rich man who cares about his employees and is attentive to his guests, coveted by the most beautiful women in town, interested only in the stranger.

The script by Blair Butler (2019’s Instant Death) ends up falling into the same old mold as horror films released recently: they promise a lot, but deliver only banal, predictable “scares” that don’t give anything away to the plot.

To prevent spoilers, I’ll hold back when talking about the third act.

If the beginning of the film is slow, here we have a plot twist that fails to turn the plot into something surprising.

We also have a fight sequence that makes us laugh a little and an ending that makes the film a trashy one, the kind that makes you think “Wow, I can’t believe I wasted my time watching this movie”.

In Conclusion

The Invitation is not available on any streaming platform in Brazil. Taking this into account, and the effort required to download the film and the low quality of the story itself, I believe it is not worth it.

If anything, you can put it on while you use your cell phone and don’t pay attention to it.

O post The Invitation | Is There Still Time to Refuse? apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

Despite writing and creating enchanting love stories, Austen, in turn, never experienced the longed-for and fantasy love that she put into practice in her works. And this is the starting point of the book “Jane in Love” authored by Rachel Givney, published in May 2022.

In 1803, Jane Austen feels all the pressure of society on her shoulders. For all the residents of Bath, England, it is absurd that she is almost 30 years old and has not found a husband yet. Her mother forbade her from writing her stories, and she also constantly insists that she cannot be smarter than her suitor. No man wants a know-it-all.

After 7 long months without a suitor, a young man finally visits her, filling her with hope, but it doesn’t take long for the news of his engagement to another woman to arrive, taking all her faith with it. Because of this disappointment, through a recommendation from third parties, Jane meets a matchmaker who confides in her that the love she is looking for is not there and she will need to travel to find it.

And it is through this trip that Austen ends up in 2020, on a film set where an adaptation of one of her books is being filmed, and meets Sofia and Fred.

Is this worth reading?

The book’s language is complicated at the beginning and becomes simpler as the chapters go on. This may be to keep up with the pace of writing at the time the scenes are set, with a sophisticated language in 1803 and simpler in 2020.

This really helps to keep the reading pace steady, without too many complications or the need to run to the dictionary every time a new word appears.

As for the story itself, it is exactly what we expect from it. When reading the book’s synopsis, we don’t need much to guess the ending. Torn between love and her career, it is easy to deduce what Jane Austen will choose.

However, the way the development between Jane and Fred is delivered, as well as Jane’s friendship with Sofia is described, is rushed in a way that could have been contained. The impression you get is that, despite having 392 pages, everything happened too quickly.

Jane falls in love with Fred, everything is mutual and beautiful, but at the same time, so quickly that it is difficult to identify what caused such love. Furthermore, the author tries to portray the relationship between the two as enemies to lovers at various times, but what could be beautiful and exciting gives us the feeling that it was just thrown in there just to be something (and it wasn’t).

And that’s why I say that predictability is sometimes necessary. If the book had ended differently, it would be hard to defend Jane Austen’s choices or even see any sense in them.

I won’t lie that, despite not being a very impactful book, it caught me off guard and at a sensitive moment. Even with all the complaints above, I shed a few tears in the final pages.

“Jane in Love” is one of those books that would be perfect if adapted for an afternoon session. And, in my opinion, that’s not a problem, because once they find their target audience, these works can consolidate themselves and go far.

O post Jane in Love: Sometimes a Predictable Ending is All We Need apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

What would you do if your cell phone was hacked today?

We have so many ways to store our information, our messages are encrypted, secure folders are there to protect us from prying eyes, but… what if someone managed to leak all your secrets?

Sounds scary, doesn’t it?

That’s the premise of the new Mexican series that premiered on Netflix a few days ago.

Although it seems like a series made to idolize the main character, becoming a bit repetitive at times, this idolization is justifiable as new revelations happen.

I don’t know what really caught my attention during the episodes, maybe the “cat and mouse” vibe, or maybe the eagerness to find out who was responsible for leaking so much information.

The fact is, on a lazy day I managed to binge-watch the entire season and was left with a feeling of “please, let there be a second season”. (It’s worth remembering that the fact that it’s less than 40 minutes long and only has 8 episodes, which helps a lot in this marathon).

Control Z is a typical teenage story that somehow stands out when you start to venture into the lives of the characters and discover that each one has a dirty secret that they would do anything to keep – including leaking their friend’s information to protect theirs.

The entire plot is centered on the National School, a school like any other, from the bullies that everyone has certainly met at some point in their lives, to the bullied students who suffer in silence and are defended by a stronger figure (when one appears).

The main focus of this story is Sofia, a somewhat “antisocial” girl who has the incredible ability to figure things out just by putting details together.

Some scenes of the episodes are made to convince us that Sofia has a superpower, the effects used can be quite annoying. However, it is clear that all the girl does is observe and pay attention to details that many people – including me – would let go unnoticed.

If I had to sum up the series in just one sentence, that would be: be careful with the Wi-Fi networks you use.

Carlos Quintanilla’s work makes a point showing us that no one is safe and that, in the 21st century, gossiping has become a little easier than we imagined. After all, why listen to other people’s conversations when a small 64 GB device can tell you everything people want to know?

Although many characters are moving and make you feel pity, it is not hard to find ourselves rooting for others to suffer the consequences of their actions.

In my opinion, this is not a bad thing, it shows us a greater involvement than expected. After all, hating and loving characters to such an extent is a sign that you are so immersed in the plot that you do not separate your emotions from those on the screen, right?

Despite being a series with a very teenage theme, the age rating is 18 years, due to scenes of nudity and violence.

I must say that if you are looking for something to pass the time, but do not expect a groundbreaking work of art in the world of Netflix series, this series is four out of five stars, and it is worth a try.

Still not sure? Is there anything better than a trailer to help you decide whether or not to watch it? Take a look:

• This post was originally posted on the website Balaio Cósmico do Gato Caolho, which is no longer available, in 2020. You may check the original post clicking here.

O post Control Z – Proof That Not Everything Can Be Undone On The Internet apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.