On the Rocks

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  • Title: On the Rocks
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On the Rocks movie reviewI’m a huge fan of Sofia Coppola, but On the Rocks is easily her weakest film to date. It doesn’t help that the repairing of Coppola with Bill Murray reminds us of the far superior Lost in Translation. For a writer/director that has most often looked to tackle stories from a dramatic point-of-view, On the Rocks‘s broader comedy is unexpected.

While Coppola was able to pull some terrific comic moments out of social commentary for The Bling Ring, the wacky adventures of a middle-aged woman (Rashida Jones) and her father (Murray) hoping to catch her husband (Marlon Wayans) having an affair sputters along not unlike the ridiculous sports car Murray’s character drives around New York City. Murray certainly provides some charm, and all of it is needed to save the film from completely floundering.

Jones is fine in the role of Laura, but the character is little more than her questionable insecurity. I wouldn’t go so far to call On the Rocks a bad film, but it’s average to the point of being completely unremarkable (something I wouldn’t have expected given the talent assembled here).

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Happiest Season

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  • Title: Happiest Season
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Happiest Season movie reviewHappiest Season puts a twist on your typical meet the parents film as Harper (Mackenzie Davis) invites her girlfriend Abby (Kristen Stewart) home with her for the holidays. However, on the road, Harper reveals her conservative parents (Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen) don’t know that she is gay or that Abby is her girlfriend. This leads Abby to play the role of roommate in need of a place to stay over the holidays. It doesn’t take long for the role to weigh heavy on Abby as the film’s romcom shenanigans also give Harper’s parents the wrong impression of her.

The set-up of a strong conservative patriarch with a family too scared to tell him the truth reminded me of Merry Happy Whatever with Stewart playing a combination of the Brent Morin and Ashley Tisdale characters. Although the film is primarily centered on Harper, her sisters (Alison Brie and Mary Holland) also have their own secrets and resentments. The cast is further filled out by Dan Levy as Harper’s support line, Aubrey Plaza as Harper’s secret high school girlfriend, and Jake McDorman as Harper’s high school boyfriend who Harper’s parents are cluelessly trying to set-up with Harper over the holidays.

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Perry Mason – The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece

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  • Title: Perry Mason – The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece
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Perry Mason - The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece television review

Throwback Tuesday takes us back to the courtroom of Perry Mason. “The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece” has a little of everything. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is initially hired to help with a messy divorce when a busman’s unscrupulous partner (John Archer) conspires with the man’s soon-to-be ex-wife (Hillary Brooke) to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, when a member of the household is killed in a way that resembles an earlier sleepwalking incident (one that opens the episode), Mason is soon defending his client (John McNamara) against murder charges.

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The Great North – Sexi Moose Adventure

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  • Title: The Great North – Sexi Moose Adventure
  • IMDb: link

The Great North - Sexi Moose Adventure TV review

The series premiere of The Great North has a Bob’s Burgers feel which makes sense as the series is the brainchild of longtime Bob’s Burgers‘s writers and producers Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin and Wendy Molyneux. “Sexi Moose Adventure” introduces us to the Alaskan family the Tobins on the 16th birthday of of Judy Tobin (Jenny Slate). The family also includes her father Beef (Nick Offerman), her brothers Wolf (Will Forte), Moon (Aparna Nancherla), and Ham (Paul Rust), and Wolf’s fiancé Honeybee (Dulcé Sloan). The conflict of the first episode focuses on Beef’s inability to deal with change, whether it be his wife running away or his daughter getting a job at the mall. There’s also a wacky hunting of a moose through the woods which gives the episode its title.

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