maya-quinn Reviews

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016)

Original and Entertaining

[10/10 · 21 December 2016]

I was expecting a rip-off of "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" films with similar toilet and slapstick humour - I was hoping for it as well, wanting a cringe-worthy film like HSM.

Instead what I found was not a patronizing, garden-variety kids movie. It is surprisingly creative - every time I thought the plot was leaning towards a clichéd "moral of the story" kind of trend (standing up to the bully/becoming popular and ignoring old friend/prank master) the movie was original and refreshing.

GOTTA say i really loved how current this film was (soundtrack is all popular pop songs and well suited to this movie type - Drake was mentioned and the kid "Shon" or "Sean" or whatever CRACKED me up)

Plus, the animated parts were interesting and just childlike enough that the films more serious sub- themes didn't become tedious.The acting was decent and the characters (apart from 'bear') weren't so archetypal that it was hard to digest.

(this movie made me cry ((a LOT)) and thus, 10/10)

A Novel Romance (2015 TV Movie)

83 Minutes That I'll Never Get Back

[2/10 · 16 July 2015]

"A Novel Romance" was not only cliché, but actually painful.

I watched this movie on my laptop and I honestly had to pause it so I could breathe and move on. Not in the "oh this is so sweet I'm blushing and forgetting how to breathe" way but the "let me close my eyes for a moment as I consider how a two year old could have better written, directed and starred in this movie" way, a "let me focus on breathing so I don't throw up from all this cheese" way.

The entire thing was cheesy and predictable. Every moment was hard to watch and while I'd like to think myself an appreciator of cliché romcoms, this was something else. By now I've watched enough films to know that you shouldn't be constantly reminded that people are acting, there should be a level of suspension of disbelief. For goodness sake, some Disney Channel Original TV movies are better than this.

I think that the concept of the film was okay, but that it was the execution in every sense, that ultimately let "A Novel Romance" down.

A good script, performance and cinematography should make you feel something, move you, and the only thing that this film made me feel, was queasy.

1/10

Expelled (2014)

Hit-or-miss? MISS.

[3/10 · 15 July 2015]

Alright so, I don't know exactly what I was expecting from "Expelled" but it definitely wasn't what I just endured. I have watched a LOT of crappy teen movies, they're like my catnip, but "Expelled" was on another level of 'blah'. It had it's bright moments but it was ultimately a miss in my opinion.

Firstly, if what you're looking for is an entertaining and insightful film you should walk away now. Not only was the plot unbelievable, but the characters were stereotypical and overused. There was the bad boy who was revealed to really be smart and have a heart of gold. There was the side-kick friend who was tech-y and hilarious. Then there was that whole 'school- president' trope and the 'bitter ex-girlfriend' (in those exact words) and the harsh criminal dean of students. I could go on. Honestly the concept of the movie was just bits from decades of bad teen movies all shoved into one big internet-famous extravaganza.

Secondly, the acting was poor. While Cameron Dallas's performance did get somewhat better throughout the movie, the part was perhaps a bit too big for him to begin with. Sadly, the romance between Felix and Katie didn't seem to evolve or come organically and was expressed more as an afterthought. Matt Shively however was a breath of fresh air in "Expelled" and delivered his poorly written lines with gusto. The acting paired with the concept rendered this film 85 minutes of anticipation on behalf of viewers, who were waiting for there to be a tangible moment of reality.

This film is only really for fans of Cameron Dallas, the famous viner, or 13 year old teenage girls who haven't seen enough movies to understand that this is not one to win an academy award. But as I said, it had it's moments and it isn't the WORST film I've ever seen.