Tuesday, July 25, 2023

#RealityHigh, 2017

#RealityHigh (stylized as #REALITYHIGH) is a 2017 American teen comedy film directed by Fernando Lebrija. It was released on Netflix on September 8, 2017.






Plot

Dani Barnes, an excellent high-school student, receives straight As and is focused on getting a scholarship to U.C. Davis. Highly passionate about dogs, she volunteers at the local dog clinic.

Considered an unfashionable nerd, Dani is not very popular at her school. Her only friend is her best friend Freddie Myers, who develops a secret crush on her, but Dani does not seem to register Freddie’s feelings for her.

Dani only has eyes for Cameron Drake, on whom she has had a crush since childhood. Unlike Dani, Cameron is one of the most popular guys at her school, and unfortunately for her, also Alexa Medina's boyfriend. Alexa, Dani's “bully“ and former childhood best friend, portrays exactly the opposite of her: She is idolized by the entire school and also has numerous followers on various social-media platforms.

Alexa breaks up with her boyfriend Cameron to go out with another social media champion named Fousey. This results in Dani and Cameron getting closer. After getting dumped, Alexa suddenly shows great interest in befriending Dani again. She offers Dani a fresh start and apologizes for treating her badly.

Alexa integrates her into her friend group, thus draws her into a completely new Southern California scene, consisting of excessively high-cost shopping and partying. Dani begins to enjoy the popularity she gains, as well as the attention Alexa brings her, which eventually leads to Dani losing herself within this new, superficial lifestyle to which she has adjusted by looking hot and dress like Alexa.

Dani's improved social status causes her to lose sight of much more significant things, such as sincere, honest friendship. While she'd been hanging with Alexa, she let down Freddie by blowing off his first paid gig, the animal rescue by losing their venue and by not supporting Cameron at his meet, his big TV appearance and with keeping quiet over his UCLA acceptance in front of his dad.

Cameron breaks up with Dani then Alexa, as she cannot be trusted, posted a video calling her a stalker and a drunk using video 'evidence'. It goes viral on Instagram and memes are created to bully her. Her little sister shows her support by quieting her following on Alexa.

Dani makes up with Freddie, then gets the fast-food restaurant Bob's Big Boy to host the animal rescue event. It's a success so Fiona gives her the promised college recommendation. That evening is the senior class beach bonfire. Here everyone comes together, except Alexa who's mourning the loss of her YouTube channel, and Cameron and Dani kiss and make up.

Rating: 10 Stars

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Pitch Perfect 1, 2, 3

 During the 2011 ICCA Finals at the Lincoln Center, Barden University's all-female a cappella group, the Barden Bellas, lose to their all-male rival group, the Barden Treblemakers, due to junior member Aubrey Posen's vomiting onstage in the middle of her solo. Four months later, aspiring DJ Beca Mitchell is a freshman at Barden University at the insistence of her father, a professor at the university, despite having no desire to attend college, instead spending her time making mash-up mixes of songs. She gets an internship at the school radio station, where she gets to know fellow freshman Jesse Swanson.








TRAILER - MOVIE 1 



                TRAILER - MOVIE 2 



TRAILER - MOVIE 3



PLOT

At the university's activities fair, Beca is invited to join the Bellas by seniors and current co-leaders Aubrey and Chloe Beale, but she declines. Later, Chloe hears Beca singing in the shower, convincing her to audition. Although late for the audition, Chloe allows her to perform for them anyway. She auditions with a rendition of "Cups (When I'm Gone)", getting her into the Bellas along with the tough Cynthia Rose Adams, the flirtatious Stacie Conrad, the unusually quiet Lilly Onakuramara, the bubbly Jessica Smith, the alto Ashley Jones, the comedic Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart, and the meek Denise. Meanwhile, Jesse joins the Treblemakers.

The Bellas participate in the 2012 ICCA Regionals, where, at Aubrey's insistence, they perform the same medley that helped the Bellas advance to the Finals the previous year. In spite of their stale setlist, the group manages to place second, sending them to the Semi-Finals. After the competition, the Bellas try to break up a fight between the Treblemakers and the Tonehangers, a male alumni a cappella group. Beca and Fat Amy accidentally smash a window with the Treblemakers' trophy, alerting police who then arrest Beca. Jesse contacts her dad to bail her out, causing a rift in her relationship with both. Aubrey insists on performing the same medley a third time, despite Beca urging them to be more daring. In the midst of their performance, Beca, hoping to reinvigorate the uninterested crowd, inserts an impromptu layering of "Bulletproof" into the set.


PITCH PERFECT PICTURES CAST






Aubrey angrily berates Beca for this and accuses her of hooking up with Jesse, a rule breach punishable by ejection from the Bellas. Jesse overhears and attempts to deny it, leading Beca to snap at them both and quit the Bellas. Despite the judges and crowd enjoying Beca's improvization, the Bellas do not advance to the Finals due to their third-place ranking behind the Treblemakers and the Footnotes. However, Jesse's roommate Benji Applebaum finds out that Footnotes leader Timothy is a high school student and reports it, disqualifying the Footnotes and allowing the Bellas to advance to the Finals. After spring break, Beca tries to reconcile with Jesse, but he rejects her, accusing her of pushing away everyone who cares about her.

During the Bellas' rehearsal, Chloe stands up against Aubrey, sparking a giant fight over the pitch pipe. Beca then returns, apologizes to the Bellas for changing the set without Aubrey's permission during the Semi-Finals, and asks to be given a second chance. After all of the Bellas have a heart-to-heart conversation, Beca rejoins the group, and Aubrey relinquishes her half of the leadership to Beca. Chloe discovers that after her spring break node removal surgery, she is able to sing bass notes. Meanwhile, Treblemakers leader Bumper Allen leaves the group after being offered a job as a back-up singer for John Mayer. With Bumper gone, Jesse persuades the Trebles to let Benji join the group in Bumper's place, a position Benji was denied earlier in spite of his impressive audition.

At the Finals, the Bellas perform a modern piece arranged by Beca, which includes "Don't You (Forget About Me)", featured in The Breakfast Club, one of Jesse's favorite movies. This acts as a more effective apology, and after the performance, she and Jesse kiss. Chloe's new ability to hit bass notes contributes to a fuller, more dynamic sound in the Bellas performance. The Bellas defeat the Treblemakers and win the national championship. Six months later, auditions for new members take place.

Rating: 10 Stars

Game over, man!

Game Over, Man! is a 2018 American action comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck, written by Anders Holm, and starring Holm, Adam DeVine, and Blake Anderson, all of whom previously collaborated on the sitcom Workaholics.  It follows three down-on-their-luck housekeepers who must save the day when the Los Angeles hotel where they work is taken hostage.  The film was released on March 23, 2018 on Netflix, but was panned by critics.






Three friends, Alexxx, Darren, and Joel, work as housekeepers at a luxury hotel in Los Angeles and are about to pitch their video game to get it financed by their potential benefactor Awadi, the Bey of Tunisia.  They pitch their proposal at the bey's party, but the hotel manager confiscates the check the bey gives them and fires them.  Moments later Awadi is taken hostage by terrorists.



The inexperienced trio narrowly escapes the terrorists;  meanwhile the Bey is forced to access information for an offshore account which the terrorists' hacker is trying to drain.  The trio crash through the window where the hacking is in progress, thwarting it.

Mr.  Ahmad, Bey Awadi's personal attaché, is shown to be the mastermind behind the terrorist threat, discovered when Alex calls him with the hacker's phone.  On television he demands 500 million dollars or he will kill one hostage every 15 minutes.



 One of the terrorists, whose boyfriend the trio killed, takes them to the hotel's spa to torture them.  They attack and kill him, then rig his body with a version of their invention, a remote-controlled power suit.  Sending him into the conference room as an initial attack, they themselves then enter with automatic weapons.



Mr. Ahmad soon escapes, heading to the helicopter on the roof. The trio follows with what seems to be the ransom money. They convince him to take the money but leave Bey; as the helicopter heads off it explodes, as they rigged one of the bags with exploding collars Ahmad had used to execute hostages. The trio saves the lives of the remaining hostages in the building, one of whom gets them rich developing a video game based on them and partying in a Jet that is soon attacked by an armed group. 




Rating: 10 Stars

Friday, July 21, 2023

Do Revenge, 2022

Popular Drea wants revenge on her boyfriend for publishing her sex tape, and exchange student Eleanor is haunted by a rumour. The two teenagers team up to take action against their tormentors.

Initial release: September 16, 2022
Distributed by: Netflix
Budget: $10 million
Cinematography: Brian Burgoyne
Music by: Este Haim; Amanda Yamate.



Do Revenge is a 2022 American teen black comedy film directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Celeste Ballard.  It stars Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, Austin Abrams, Rish Shah, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and it is loosely inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951).  It was released on Netflix on September 16, 2022, and received generally positive reviews from critics.


TRAILER




PLOT

Drea is a popular student attending Rosehill Country Day High School, an elite private school in Miami on a scholarship.  However, she becomes a social outcast after an intimate video she sent to her equally popular boyfriend, Max, is leaked online.  Despite his denial of her, Drea blames Max for the video's release and punches him in the face, resulting in their breakup of her.


 Over the summer, Drea works at a tennis camp where she meets Eleanor, a tomboyish, shy girl from a wealthy background who is transferring to Rosehill as a senior in September.  When Drea's car fails to start, Eleanor offers her a ride and tells her about also becoming an outcast when a false rumor spreads that she forcibly kissed Carissa, another Rosehill student, at a summer camp years earlier.


Realizing they will not get justice on their own, Drea and Eleanor devise a plan to exact revenge on the other's enemy: Drea on Carissa and Eleanor on Max.  Following a makeover, Eleanor slowly infiltrates Drea's old clique of popular students, while Drea tries to get close to Carissa by working at the school farm, also befriending Russ, an unpopular student and Carissa's friend of hers.

 Eleanor is invited to a pool party thrown by Max, where she discovers he is cheating on his new girlfriend, Tara (Drea's former best friend of his).  Drea runs into Carissa at the beach with Russ, and steals her keys to the farm's locked greenhouse full of marijuana and magic mushrooms that Carissa is storing.

 At the school's Senior Ring Ceremony, Drea places the drugs found at the secret greenhouse in their classmates' diner with the intention of stealing Max's phone to obtain evidence of his wrongdoings from him.  She also anonymously tips off the headmaster about the greenhouse, getting Carissa expelled and sent to rehab. 


At the Valentine's Day assembly, Eleanor shares Max's texts to the entire student body, but the plan fails when Max and Tara pretend to be a polyamorous couple, which in turn becomes the school's latest trend.  Drea spirals after getting rejected from her dream school, Yale University, and concocts a new plan to destroy Max and her popular former friends at the upcoming Admissions Party, which can only be attended by those accepted by Ivy League schools.


 Eleanor begins to accept her new popularity and Drea's old friends, beginning a relationship with Max's twin sister Gabbi.  When Max and his friends surprise Eleanor for her birthday, Drea crashes the party and nearly jeopardizes their revenge scheme for her.  They fight, going their separate ways after Eleanor asserts that there is no evidence that Max leaked Drea's video of her.  Gabbi overhears this and breaks up with Eleanor for taking Max's side.


Drea, seeking dirt on Eleanor, visits Carissa at a rehab facility. Carissa reveals Eleanor is actually "Nosey" Nora Cutler, a girl they both went to summer camp with. It was Drea who outed Nora and spread the rumor, an event she had forgotten, which prompted Eleanor to change her name and undergo a rhinoplasty. Drea confronts Eleanor, who reveals she had been playing her all along, aiming to cause the same pain she endured from the rumor. Eleanor threatens to frame Drea's mother, a nurse, for drug possession if she refuses to expose her old friends at the Admissions Party. Later, Eleanor purposefully T-bones Drea's car, sending her to the hospital to create an elaborate sob story that permits access to the party.

During the Admissions Party, Drea reveals Eleanor to be "Nosey Nora" to Max and friends, but immediately regrets it and apologizes to Eleanor for her past actions.  Their emotional reconciliation is interrupted when Max reveals he discovered their plot against him.  He plans to expose them and confesses to releasing Drea's video of her, unaware Eleanor is videoing him.  The girls project Max's confession to the entire party, turning everyone against him.  Max is expelled from Rosehill and his spot at Yale is offered to Drea, who rejects it.  She and Eleanor skip graduation and drive off into the sunset.

 Drea apologizes to Russ, Eleanor reconciles with Gabbi, and Max joins a toxic masculinity support group.

Rating: 8 Stars

Ziam, 2025

Ziam is a 2025 Thai action-horror film directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, which premiered on Netflix on July 9, 2025. The film is set in a near-fu...