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Movie reviews: 'Good Boys,' 'Above the Shadows,' 'Ready or Not'

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Fred Hawson

<div><strong>GOOD BOYS</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zPXqwAGmX04?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Max (Jacob Trembley), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) are the Beanbag Boys, sixth graders and best friends. Max was invited by the cool kids to attend a party where he thinks he could get to kiss his crush.</p><p>However, that same day, Max lost his father&#x27;s camera drone to a couple of older girls. So the three friends cut school and try to get the drone back before his father got home, leading them into a series of crazy misadventures that included running across a freeway to buying party drugs from a frat house.</p><p>This was a typical crude raunchy teen comedy, but only this one involved pre-teens which upped the scandal level by a hundred percent more.The basic story of &quot;Good Boys&quot; is actually somewhat like &quot;Superbad&quot; where three friends faced misadventures while they were trying to buy liquor for a party with hot girls. Seth Rogen, who played a cop in &quot;Superbad,&quot; was involved as a producer here.</p><p>I cannot deny that there were silly dumb scenes which made me chuckle, but it was quite unsettling to see 6th graders discuss sex, buy mollies or utter profanity. Even if 12-year-old Jacob Tremblay is the veteran among the three (having appeared in acclaimed films like &quot;Room&quot; and &quot;Wonder&quot;), I thought the other two child actors made the stronger impressions. My favorite kid was Keith L. Williams, whose Lucas balanced the morality scale a bit with his sensibility and uprightness.</p><p>*****</p><div><strong>ABOVE THE SHADOWS</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fhi6Sq81TMw?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>When her mother passed away, middle child Holly Jederman (Olivia Thirlby) seemed to have turned invisible from her family and from everyone else. As she owned her invisibility, she became a tabloid photographer because she could stalk celebrities and take pictures of their indiscretions.</p><p>One day, a bouncer of a club actually saw her trying to follow clients, and threw her out. She discovered that the bouncer was Shayne Blackwell (Alan Ritchton), an MMA athlete whose life and career she ruined by one of her scandal photos.</p><p>You need to suspend disbelief while watching this film because for someone who was supposed to be invisible, you can see her right there with her clothes and all. But once you got the drift of what this film was trying to say, this was actually a very thoughtful piece about social withdrawal and loneliness, albeit with a glacial pace. Everyone who had felt being ignored can relate.</p><p>Thirby&#x27;s scenes with Jim Gaffigan, who played Holly&#x27;s father Paul, were very moving in execution. One of the notable casting surprises here was Megan Fox, back after a three-year hiatus since she played April O&#x27;Neil in the Ninja Turtles films. She played Juliana, an ex-girlfriend who was getting back into Shayne&#x27;s life the same time Holly came in.</p><p>*****</p><div><strong>READY OR NOT</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U_Axz6wk2Ak?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>It was the wedding day of Grace, who was marrying into the family of Daniel of the very wealthy Le Domas board-game and sporting goods empire. The newlyweds were just about to enjoy their honeymoon, when they were summoned to the game room for a wedding day tradition their family had been observing for generations.</p><p>In this game, the one who was just married into the family (in this case, Grace) should draw a card out of a mysterious box, then play the game indicated on the card with the family. Grace picked the card which said &quot;Hide and Seek,&quot; but the game was definitely not the simple childhood game she was expecting to play.</p><p>I am not a fan of gore, but this movie was a lot of fun. Once the wedding ceremony was over, and the game was afoot, the nail-biting suspense was relentless and blood was splattering all over the place. This one is definitely not for the faint of heart. Dark and violent as it may be, the concept was hilarious and the filmmakers were doing it all tongue-in-cheek which was the right decision. I sensed a lot of Tarantino-esque influence in the execution of those deadly confrontation scenes, right down to that glorious bloodbath of a Grand Guignol ending.</p><p>Samara Weaving as the never-say-die bride Grace was an awesome badass. Always good to see &#x27;80s sweetheart Andie MacDowell as she played Becky, Grace&#x27;s new mother-in-law. Nicky Guadagni was a fearsome vision as the grim-faced ax-wielding Aunt Helene.</p><p>This review was originally published in the author&#x27;s blog, &quot;<a href="https://said-fred.blogspot.com/2019/09/3-mini-reviews-good-boys-above-shadows.htm">Fred Said</a>.&quot;</p>

<p>Here are our movie reviews of 'Good Boys,' 'Above the Shadows,' and 'Ready or Not.'</p>

Here are our movie reviews of 'Good Boys,' 'Above the Shadows,' and 'Ready or Not.'