NEVER BACK DOWN (Released to Theaters USA 2008)

 

Ben Meyers’ Rating: 4.0|5.0 Starsìììì  Never Back Down—suitable—has suitable to good acting, portrayal, and presentation. Watch for Djimon Hounsou, Sean Faris, and Amber Heard.  Film Poster Courtesy of Google Images Storyline  A single mother with two boys moves to Orlando, Florida to start a new life. The older boy, Jake, receives an offer to go to a party by a pretty girl at the senior high school in Orlando. When he goes, he finds that she has a boyfriend and that friend is a hot shot kickboxer who beats Jake up in a kickboxing match at the party. Jake thinks about the match while healing from his minor injuries. A new friend at school tells him for the second time that he needs to go to his friend's professional kickboxer trainer.  Additional Thanks  Thank you to Director Jeff Wadlow for directing effort. Thank you to Producers Craig Baumgarten and David Zelon for making the film possible. Cast includes Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Cam Gigandet, Evan Peters, Leslie Hope, and Djimon Hounsou.  Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?  Yes. There is some inappropriate material in the movie. But the movie turns into a good film watch. Video Critique Available Here: Ben Meyers

WISH (Released to Theaters USA 2023)

 

Ben Meyers’ Rating: 3.4|5.0 Starsììì 

Wish—cliched formula film—lacks creativity and originality. The music is out of place even though it obviously wants to make exposition for the story. The dialogue lines are ho-hum and fall flat in every scene. The protagonist has a weak script to follow even though he is the bad guy and it is pretty evident.                                                                                                            

Film Poster Courtesy of Google Images 

Storyline 

 A young girl relies on wishing to move to a place of happiness. 

Additional Thanks 

Thank you to Director Chris Buck for directing effort. Thank you to Producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones for making the film possible. Cast includes Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky, Della Saba, and Keone Young.

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe? 

No. This film has the usual great Disney animation but that alone cannot drive the investment of a family’s entertainment time and money. This movie is like every other Disney ‘feel good’ movie with its cliched method formula and the lead female role character trying to figure it all out. Because it relies on formulaic writing, it lacks the power of Disney’s earlier movies (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella). If they had done what the 2010 sassy Tangled movie did, then it had the potential to be another Disney Classic. But, as is, the film is the epitome of bland. 

 Video Critique Available Here: 

Ben Meyers