SENIOR YEAR (2022)

 

Directed By: Alex Hardcastle

Written By: Brandon Scott Jones, Alex Knauer and Arthur Pielli

Story By: Alex Knauer and Arthur Pielli

Cinematography: Marco Fargnoli

Editor: Sarah Lucky 

Cast: Rebel Wilson, Augourie Rice, Mary Holland, Sam Richardson, Justin Hartley, Zoe Chao, Alicia Silverstone, Avantika, Chris Parnell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Ana Yi Puig 

In 2002, Stephanie is the most popular girl in her high school. She’s the captain of the cheerleading squad and dating the quarterback, and she’s well on her way to becoming the prom queen. Girls want to be her, guys want to be with her. She has it all until she falls off the top of the cheerleading pyramid and goes into a coma. Fast-forward 20 years and she finally awakens from her coma as a 37-year-old woman. She returns to her high school and tries to resume her role as the star of her school–and her quest to win the prom-queen crown.

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SENIOR YEAR is the kind of movie that knows exactly what it is: big, glossy, goofy comfort food. It’s not aiming for cinematic greatness, it’s aiming to be the movie you throw on at home on a lazy night and end up enjoying more than expected. And honestly? Mission accomplished.

There’s an ongoing difference these days between films that feel made for the big screen and films designed primarily for the couch. Senior Year is very much the latter. It has that polished, sitcom-style sheen bright, easy, familiar, and built around laughs more than visual ambition. You can usually predict where it’s heading, but the fun lies in watching how it gets there.

And to its credit, it gets there with plenty of charm.

The premise is ridiculous in the best possible way: a high school queen bee from 2002 wakes up from a twenty-year coma and decides the most important thing to do is… go back and win prom queen. That’s wonderfully absurd camp. The movie leans into it too Y2K nostalgia, exaggerated teen-movie tropes, cheerleader melodrama, and enough millennial references to make you laugh and wince at the same time.

What’s surprising is that underneath all the glitter and satire, the movie occasionally sneaks in some heart. The emotional lesson arrives a little differently than expected, which gives it a bit more freshness than your average streaming comedy. Even some of the more stereotypical side characters get little moments of depth, which is a nice touch.

And Rebel Wilson remains the movie’s secret weapon, even when she’s the entire movie’s not-so-secret weapon. She has that rare comedic gift of committing fully to a joke without seeming self-conscious. There’s no vanity there, no hesitation just a willingness to look silly for the laugh, which makes her instantly likable. Even when her character is being gloriously ridiculous, she’s hard not to root for.

The supporting cast helps keep things lively too, with Mary Holland and Sam Richardson doing particularly strong work in the “steal scenes whenever possible” category, as they just try to play their characters straight to hilarious effect while Alicia Silverstone’s presence adds a fun wink to the whole enterprise.

Is the film forgettable? Probably. Is it deep? Not remotely. But it’s cute, breezy, colorful, and genuinely funny in stretches. It understands the assignment: be a crowd-pleaser, hit the nostalgia button, and let everyone’s inner teenager have a good time.

Sometimes that’s enough 

Grade: C+

Y2K (2024)

 

Directed By: Kyle Mooney 

Written By: Kyle Mooney and Kevin Minter

Cinematography: Bill Pope

Editor: David Marks 

Cast: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghardi, Lachlan Watson, Eduardo Franco, Kyle Mooney, Mason Gooding, The Kid Leroi, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Miles Robbins 

Two high school nobodies make the decision to crash the last major celebration before the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999. The night becomes even crazier than they could have ever dreamed when the clock strikes midnight.

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 this film feels like Something that was written by a teenager in the 1990’s as their opus and then 20 years later dusted off discovered and written through a modern lens to be both nostalgic and have a kind of recent commentary

As it feels poem a guilty pelasure of that decade and can see this film being a guilty pleasure for certain aidnece members. As it seems to be for writer-director and performer Kyle Mooney making his second film here after BRIGSBY BEAR from 2017

The film Plays like a worst case scenario nightmare of the y2k bug from 1999 where it was feared that once it turned to the year 2000 most electronics would either fail or malfunction

At first, the film tries to smother us in the pop culture of 1999 and drown those of us who remember it with the nostalgia and laughs of how ridiculous it was. as well as touching that universal truth of you of high school crushes parties, bands, being the outsiders having an identity that is defined by what your into not really knowing necessarily who you are or only coming into your own, and beginning to form will be of age such as that

No, as it tries to get into that territory, more concerns itself with its plot of a group of teenagers trying to survive as technology rebuild itself to take over the human race and become simulators and the antics that happened while trying to survive

The film has an eclectic cast which it seems meant to as the characters they play are those who have known each other for years, but never really bonded or gotten to know one another and seem to be separated by social class. 

Julian Dennison being the brave comedic relief in the film is truly the heart and fun of this film and when he leaves the film. It truly makes its complete change to another genre. Though it tries to keep the laughs coming. 

I will offer this one spoiler if you are not a fan of the rapper musician known as the kid Laroi you might enjoy his fate in this film.

The film Also features a comeback of a certain entertainer from that period whose 2024 was greet with a role here and in a cricucally

Acclaimed cult film that premiered in 2024 

The film might have a built-in audience, though for some of its originality it does feel like a letdown of sorts as it’s not really too deep and it’s fine for what it is, but there’s nothing that impressive about it again it stays entertaining though you wish either did more or had more to it. As the film falls short from what it seems it has the possibility of doing or where it seems headed. As even with a 15million dollar budget it look so much lower budgeted. So it seems most of the money went on thebsoecialmeffects which are mostly practical butbfirnall the innovations made also loom like 1990’s visual effects one is sure it was planned that way, but still could have been a bit more smooth

Approach this film with caution. As it’

Cute but feels more made for teens though seems marketed to the now middle-aged teen crowd of the 1990’s.

Though it also plays like some long lost unseen self declared classic movie that the stoner video store clerk played by Kyle Mooney would recommend. Like a mash up no one Requested and feels forced.  

Grade: C

KRAZY HOUSE (2024)

 

Written & Directed By: Steffan Haars & Flip Ban Der Kuil 

Cinematography: Joris Kerbosch 

Editor: Rene Van Henegouwen and Flip Ban Der Kuil 

Cast: Nick Frost, Alicia Silverstone, Jan Bijvoet, Gaite Jansen, Walt Klink, Kevin Connolly,

Chris Peters, Matti Stooker 

Set in the 1990s, Krazy House follows religious homemaker Bernie and his sitcom family. When Russian workers in Bernie's house turn out to be wanted criminals, Bernie has to man up and save his imprisoned family, while slowly going crazy.

PERPETRATOR (2023)

 

Written & Directed By: Jennifer Reeder Cinematography: Sevdije Kastrati  

 Editor: Justin Krohn

Cast: Kiah McKirnan, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Lowell, Tim Hopper, Audrey Francis, Ireon Roach, Josh Bywater, Melanie Liburd, Taylor Kinkead 

Jonny, a wild and impulsive teenage girl living precariously in a town where young women continue to go missing, and the power she's forced to unlock to survive.

THE LODGE (2020)

 

Directed By: Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala Written by: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala & Sergio Casci  Cinematography: Thimios Bakatakis  Editor: Michael Palm

Cast: Riley Keough, Alicia Silverstone, Jaeden Martell, Lia Mchugh, Richard Armitage 

A soon-to-be stepmom is snowed in with her fiancé's two children at a remote holiday village. Just as relations begin to thaw between the trio, some strange and frightening events take place.

CATFIGHT (2016)

Written, Edited & Directed By: Onur Turkel 
Cinematography: Zoe White 


Cast: Anne Heche, Sandra Oh, Alicia Silverstone, Amy Hill, Ariel Kavoussi, Damian Young, Tituss Burgess, Jay O. Sanders, Peter Jacobson, Jordan Carlos, Ivana Milicevic, Dylan Baker, Craig Bierko, Myra Lucretia Marcel 


The rivalry between two former college friends comes to a head when they both attend the same glamorous event.

THE CRUSH (1994)

Written & Directed By: Alan Shapiro 
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees 
Editor: Ian Crafford 


Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Cary Elwes, Jennifer Rubin, Kurtwood Smith, Amber Benson, Matthew Walker 

Nick Eliot, a 28-year-old newspaper reporter, moves into the guest house of the Forresters. Everything goes fine until he meets 14-year-old Adrienne, the Forresters' only child. When she develops a crush and is rebuffed, she retaliates with vengeance.

VAMPS (2012)

Written & Directed By: Amy Heckerling
Cinematography By: Tim Surhstedt 
Editor: Debra Chiate 


Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, Richard Lewis, Marilu Henner, Wallace Shawn, Larry Wilmore, Todd Barry, Zak Orth, Ivan Sergei, Justin Kirk, Taylor Negron, Dan Stevens, Malcolm McDowell, Joel Michaely