From Do Revenge to Pinocchio, Should You Watch These New Movies?
From unlikely friendships to whimsical adventures to unidentified phenomenon, here’s some new movies you might want to check out… or not.
Do Revenge
Do Revenge is a Hitchcockian dark comedy written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. It follows high school queen bee Drea, played by Riverdale’s Camila Mendes, who wants revenge on her boyfriend after leaking her sex tape, while new student Eleanor, played by Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke, is outed by a girl who starts a terrible rumor about her. Together the unlikely duo work to take down each other’s tormentors.
Mendes and Hawke are great together and the film entices with its bubble gum aesthetic and fashion, giving off a bit of Mean Girls meets Heathers vibes — but without the bite. The supporting cast feels unused and shallow at times, while the overall story can be uneven.
Do Revenge is streaming on Netflix.
Goodnight Mommy
Goodnight Mommy is an American remake of the Austrian film of the same name. The remake starts Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti as twin brothers who suspect their mother, played by Naomi Watts, was replaced by an imposter after a recent surgery that leaves her face covered in bandages.
The film is uninspired compared to its source material and entirely too predictable, with the twists being obvious within the first five minutes.
Goodnight Mommy is streaming on Prime Video.
Ivy and Bean
Author Annie Barrows has been writing Ivy + Bean since 2006, with 12 books in the franchise so far. Netflix has now adapted the series about the quiet and intellectual Ivy and the loud and fearless Bean into not one, not two, but THREE movies. Kids and kids at heart will love following Ivy and Bean’s adventures as the duo get into whimsical adventures with the power of imagination, friendship, and maybe a little bit of magic.
Keslee Blalock and Madison Skye Validum star as the unlikely friends in Ivy + Bean, Ivy + Bean: The Ghost That Had To Go, and Ivy + Bean: Doomed To Dance. Big names like Sasha Pieterse, Jane Lynch, Nia Vardalos, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson round out various members of their community.
All three Ivy + Bean movies are streaming on Netflix.
Love In The Villa
Romeo and Juliette found a tragic love in Verona… but will Julie?
Love In The Villa finds The Vampire Diaries’ Kat Graham and Umbrella Academy’s Tom Hopper warring over a double-booked villa in Verona, Italy. While the premise was inspired by a real life situation director and writer Mark Steven Johnson experienced, the enemies-to-lovers trope doesn’t quite work in this romantic comedy. Graham and Hopper’s characters Julie and Charlie go a bit too far in their prank war to the point that their romance becomes unbelievable.
Laura Hopper and Raymond Ablack round out the film, now streaming on Netflix.
Nope
Jordan Peele’s latest film Nope follows Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings attempting to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object. Palmer continues to be an absolute stand out in this film that tackles strong themes of spectacle and exploitation.
The first act of Nope is strange, scary, and even a little weird as they kick off with the film with a monkey attack on a sitcom set, items falling from the sky, and the self-proclaimed multi-great grandkids of the first ever “movie star.” The intrigue doesn’t last though, as the final act drags along and doesn’t really go anywhere.
Nope is playing in movie theaters.
Pinocchio
Robert Zemeckis directs the live-action retelling of Pinocchio, which tells the story of a wooden puppet that is brought to life by a fairy and must work to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” in order to become a real boy.
The first 20 minutes of Pinocchio are pretty terrible, with Tom Hanks delivering a dull and uninspired performance as Geppetto. He mumbled his way through his performance of “When He Was Here With Me,” making it barely recognizable as a song. While the film picks up as it goes along, it’s missing the spark needed to bring new life to this Disney classic.
Cynthia Erivo, Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Keegan-Michael Key also star in the film.
Pinocchio is streaming on Disney+.
The Invitation
Jessica M. Thompson directs The Invitation, about a young Black woman who meets long lost family members for the first time, only to discover the dark secrets they carry with them.
Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty are magnetic in this well-crafted and thrilling vampire romance that gives off Ready or Not vibes.
The Invitation is playing in theaters.
Get more recommendations, here.
