Author Archives: Swéta Rana

Best F(r)iends: Volume 1 (2017)

dir. Justin MacGregor Best F(r)iends: Volume 1 is quite, quite mad. It was always going to be. It’s the first time Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero starred in a movie together, 15 years after The Room. Sestero plays a homeless drifter who meets a peculiar mortician – played by Tommy Wiseau, he sort of looksContinue reading “Best F(r)iends: Volume 1 (2017)”

Best F(r)iends: Volume 2 (2018)

dir. Justin MacGregor Best F(r)iends: Volume 1 manages to strike the right tone between compelling and offputtingly insane. Unfortunately, Volume 2 begins veering more decisively towards the latter. Greg Sestero spends much of it frowning or staring vacantly, as deception after deception by the people around him is unveiled. Turns out he perhaps should haveContinue reading “Best F(r)iends: Volume 2 (2018)”

Beauty and the Briefcase (2010)

dir. Gil Junger Pretty standard tale of a woman growing close to a man under false pretences, only to realise that real feelings are blooming. This time, Hilary Duff plays an aspiring fashion journalist, who sort of falls into a job at a faceless corporate enterprise. Her intention is to date businessmen, presumably to padContinue reading “Beauty and the Briefcase (2010)”

Beautiful Creatures (2013)

dir. Richard LaGravenese Beautiful Creatures feels a bit like an extended music video for some vacuous gothic pop band. Quite obviously trying to continue the Twilight tradition of a love story affected by a family’s supernatural leanings, Beautiful Creatures is more preoccupied with its characters’ swooshy dresses and histrionic posing than with trying to presentContinue reading “Beautiful Creatures (2013)”

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

dir. Zack Snyder It’s boring. It’s just excruciatingly boring. Dawn of Justice takes DC’s biggest superheroes and makes them scowl and snarl at each other under dark cloudy skies. For two and a half hours. Neither Ben Affleck as Batman nor Henry Cavill as Superman seem as though they remotely want to be there –Continue reading “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)”

BASEketball (1998)

dir. David Zucker BASEketball is a bizarre entity. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone star as two best friends who create a weird fusion sport, BASEketball, which involves no sporting prowess to win whatsoever. It grows into a major league sport, but naturally the duo’s friendship suffers in the face of success. BASEketballContinue reading “BASEketball (1998)”

Bad Teacher (2011)

dir. Jake Kasdan Bad Teacher stars Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth, a terrible middle school teacher who routinely ignores her class and is more focused on raising money to get herself breast implants. It’s supposed to be funny, because she’s ever such an incorrigible rascal, but it’s just infuriating. She behaves like a selfish brat, whichContinue reading “Bad Teacher (2011)”

A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)

dir. Jon Lucas, Scott Moore Sequel to Bad Moms, A Bad Moms Christmas takes everything that was terrible about the first one, increases it tenfold, and makes it Christmas time. This time, our trio of “rebellious” mothers have their own mothers to contend with. Christine Baranski plays an uptight perfectionist who cares more about herContinue reading “A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)”

Ax ‘Em / The Weekend It Lives (1992)

dir. Michael Mfume Ax ‘Em is basically a home movie. Anyone can see that. Surprising no one, the director Michael Mfume is also the writer, producer and main star. It has neither the budget nor the acting prowess of a real film. It’s quite clearly done for love rather than for money, though. It’s aContinue reading “Ax ‘Em / The Weekend It Lives (1992)”

Sherlock Holmes (2010)

dir. Rachel Lee Goldenberg Sherlock Holmes is an adaptation of the classic sleuth mysteries, this time made by The Asylum. The very same production house behind classics like Sharknado and Age of the Hobbits as well as such mockbusters as Sunday School Musical. Naturally, this version of Sherlock Holmes contains all the effort and careContinue reading “Sherlock Holmes (2010)”

Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket (2016)

dir. Paul Serafini Terrible title, terrible movie. Annabelle Hooper follows the eponymous heroine, who embodies a weird synthesis of Harriet the Spy with the Scooby Doo gang. She and her friends – all of whom quite honestly look exactly the same: white and generically good-looking – must unravel schemes of theft and ghostly conspiracies toContinue reading “Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket (2016)”

American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)

dir. Morgan J. Freeman The sequel that nobody on the planet ever asked for, American Psycho II asks the all-important questions: “What if Patrick Bateman of American Psycho got foiled by a 12-year-old girl? What if that 12-year-old grew up to be Mila Kunis? What if Mila Kunis was a sociopath herself and is obsessedContinue reading “American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)”

All About Steve (2009)

dir. Phil Traill All About Steve stars Sandra Bullock as the frankly unhinged protagonist, Mary. The movie tries to paint her as an immature but misunderstood loner, who just longs for someone to love. Therefore, her rapid descent into full-on harassment and stalking is meant to be a charming personality quirk, rather than a reasonContinue reading “All About Steve (2009)”

Age of the Hobbits / Clash of the Empires / Lord of the Elves (2013)

dir. Joseph Lawson It doesn’t even really know what its own title is, beyond being sure it wants to be some form of Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit rip-off that might bamboozle innocent viewers into thinking it’s the real thing. It even got a restraining order, prohibiting it from being released alongside TheContinue reading “Age of the Hobbits / Clash of the Empires / Lord of the Elves (2013)”

Albion: The Enchanted Stallion (2016)

dir. Castille Landon The first thing to realise about Albion: The Enchanted Stallion is that the enchanted stallion’s name isn’t Albion. Albion is actually the name of the magical fantasy realm our young heroine is transported to, via said enchanted stallion. Beyond this the enchanted stallion actually doesn’t do very much at all, despite whatContinue reading “Albion: The Enchanted Stallion (2016)”

After Earth (2011)

dir. M. Night Shyamalan Although most of the promotion for After Earth desperately tried to conceal that it’s helmed by M. Night Shyamalan, the ruse fails immediately upon simply watching the movie. It so obviously embodies the worst of Shymalan: awkward close-ups, contrived plotting, characters so pretentious they refuse to ever speak in contractions. WillContinue reading “After Earth (2011)”

The Accidental Husband (2008)

dir. Griffin Dunne An uptight, meticulous woman (Uma Thurman) finds her life thrown off orbit by a good-looking but oh-so-unorthodox man (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He’s just so wrong for her. Or is he…?! The Accidental Husband has the essential foundation of pretty much every rom-com ever. This one leans heavy into the clichés, including aContinue reading “The Accidental Husband (2008)”

A Snow Globe Christmas (2013)

dir. Jodi Binstock One of the two, entirely separate “Christina Milian stars in a movie where a woman gets stuck in a snow globe” movies, the other being Snowglobe. Clearly, six years after Snowglobe, Christina Milian just hadn’t had her fill of snow globe themed shenanigans. This time she plays an angel, who bewitches workaholicContinue reading “A Snow Globe Christmas (2013)”

A Dangerous Method (2011)

dir. David Cronenberg Such an intriguing premise, yet such an idiotic film. A Dangerous Method explores the relationship between Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Sabina Spielrein. Whilst Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen turn in solid performances as the former two, any of Keira Knightley’s efforts as Spielrein are kind of lost in her dreadful RussianContinue reading “A Dangerous Method (2011)”

1313: Giant Killer Bees (2011)

dir. David DeCoteau This is but one of David DeCoteau’s inexplicable 1313 series. The key theme of all the 1313 movies? Young, sculpted, half-naked men. The men shower. The men swim. The men just walk around undressed for no reason at all. Basically, the 1313 films are soft, soft, softcore gay porn masquerading as legitimateContinue reading “1313: Giant Killer Bees (2011)”

Fifty Shades of Grey

dir. Sam Taylor-Johnson Everyone already knows how awful Fifty Shades of Grey is. The book; the movie franchise; even the franchise it was based off, Twilight. It’s terrible. This inaugural cinematic instalment is just as stupid, just as manipulative, just as pathetic as everything else with the Fifty Shades label on it. Dakota Johnson playsContinue reading “Fifty Shades of Grey”

3rd World Cops / Fuerzas Especiales (2014)

dir. José Miguel Zúñiga The two main stars of 3rd World Cops are successful Chilean comedians, who made their name through sketch shows. It shows, as 3rd World Cops is less a movie and more an incoherent collection of random scenes. The lines are drawn fairly quickly: on one side there’s the dim-witted but good-heartedContinue reading “3rd World Cops / Fuerzas Especiales (2014)”

3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)

dir. Sean McNamara The fourth, and mercifully final, of the 3 Ninjas series, preceded by 3 Ninjas, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, and 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up. God only knows what terrible sins we committed as a society to be punished with living in a world where four of these exist. Credit where credit’s due, though,Continue reading “3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)”

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)

dir. Shin Sang-ok The third of the 3 Ninjas films, preceded by 3 Ninjas and 3 Ninjas Kick Back, and followed by 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. Rather disarmingly, this film was filmed alongside the first one in 1992, but released three years later – meaning the cast consists of the three originalContinue reading “3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)”

3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994)

dir. Charles T. Kanganis The second 3 Ninjas film, preceded by 3 Ninjas, and followed by 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. This one sees our annoying three little boys return, although two of the actors are replaced. Their ninja grandpa also returns, although his name has been changedContinue reading “3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994)”

Troll 2 (1990)

dir. Claudio Fragasso Troll 2 is utterly delightful. It’s purportedly a sequel to Troll, obviously, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with it. There aren’t even trolls in this movie. That’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Troll 2’s total insanity. The main character is a little boy called Joshua,Continue reading “Troll 2 (1990)”

Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)

dir. James Nguyen Birdemic genuinely has to be seen to be believed. It just can’t be described in mere words. Its shoddy filming, which includes a long opening credits scene where someone has seemingly set their camera on their car dashboard and just driven around for a bit. Its stilted acting, such as the mainContinue reading “Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)”