Tag: Glenn Powell

ANYONE BUT YOU (2023)

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Directed By: Will Gluck 

Written By: Will Gluck and Ilana Wolpert 

Story By: Ilana Wolpert 

Cinematography: Danny Ruhlmann

Editor: Kim Boritz-Brehm and Tia Nolan

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Glenn Powell, Gata, Alexandra Shipp, Charlee Fraser, Bryan Brown, Dermont Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Joe Davidson, Darren Barnet 

After an amazing first date, Bea and Ben’s fiery attraction turns ice-cold–until they find themselves unexpectedly reunited at a wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.

A sexier romantic comedy that plays like a sex comedy. Only lacking any truly carnal action, but flirts around with it, In a more innocent manner.

The whole movie is of course a will they or won’t they. Where they feel like they are fooling their friends and their friends feel like they have the upper hand over them.

The film tries to breathe life into a tired staple or genre. The results aren’t terrible. As the film stays entertaining fluff. That you will forget about soon after watching. 

It is a bunch of beautiful people in impossibly lush locations and privilege-loving fantasy lives. So it plays like a fantasy for the audience. 

the film keeps trying to make Sydney Sweeney into a more physical comedian and less an object of desire but never goes fully into quite embarrassing humor or anything truly juvenile. 

Luckily the movie focuses more on the comedy and less on the romance until it is needed. 

Hollywood keeps moving Glen Powell into being a star for good reason. As he is a movie star handsome and charming. Though you might find yourself obsessing about his hair throughout as it is usually perfect and never movies but doesn’t look stiff. 

It’s an across-the-board film as it is diverse and includes every kind of demographic a mainstream film could aim for. 

It’s nice to see Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths on the screen again and clearly having fun Even if the movie casting seems all over the place. Though definitely filming in Australia as most of the supporting cast seem to be natives and we see all the popular sights. 

Not to mention while you can understand Powell’s character being tempted by his ex. Played by Charlee Fraser, As she is gorgeous and it’s flattering she needed such a good-looking guy to replace him and get over him. Sydney Sweeney’s ex in the film played by Darren Barnet is there in appearance but gets nothing to do or any real character Arc. Really he’s the only character who really has nothing to do but is just there. 

This seems like the movie the Justin Timberlake movie FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS was supposed to be, only here the leads are likable and insistent like it is chasing any trends or trying to be cool. Instead, this movie just remembers to be sexy. 

This seems a starter movie for both the stars here, trying to see how much box office power they have with them as the main stars.

Grade: C

APOLLO 10 1/2: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD (2022)

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Written & Directed By: Richard Linklater Cinematography: Shane F. Kelly

Editor: Sandra Adair

Cast: Jack Black, Zachary Levi, Glenn Powell, Bill Sage, Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Josh Wiggins, Natalie L’Amoreaux 

The story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives. It both captures the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and the lesser-seen bottom up perspective of what it was like from an excited kid’s perspective, living near NASA but mostly watching it on TV like hundreds of millions of others. It’s ultimately both an exacting re-creation of this special moment in history and a kid’s fantasy about being plucked from his average life in suburbia to secretly train for a covert mission to the moon.

This film feels more like a loving living memory. That is more an autobiographical look back at childhood in 1969. Nothing about the culture, times, and family life of those times.

As obviously this is a project close to writer/director Richard Linklater’s heart. Where the side plot of a kid experiencing space exploration is to give the film more of a center and a kind of big plot to attract audiences.

That eventually makes good on the promise of that story but is treated more as an afterthought. As not only is it more wish fantasy but also is kind of a metaphor for the last days of innocence before getting older and into not only adulthood but young adulthood where responsibilities pile up and things become more concrete. Though it is handled here as just another episode as part of the character’s youth. 

The film uses rotoscoping animation, a technique the director has used before in previous films WAKING LIFE, and his adaptation of A SCANNER DARKLY. Here it is used more personally which gives the film and its characters a more vibrant life and flexibility that might have been harder to create in live-action. Plus it allows for that time to seem more like an otherworldly fantasy. 

Though its use here is not as outlandish and surreal as his previous projects with it. 

The film is impressive but never quite exciting even though it isn’t designed to be. It more feels like the Billy Joel song WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE. With it being a pop song to groove to but also made up of so many historical references you want to look up the ones you don’t know. So in effect a kind of lesson of sorts also of all that has happened since then. A nice memorial to those times.

Grade: B