“Hurry Up Tomorrow”

(Mystery/Thriller: 1 hour, 45 minutes) 

Starring: Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Rated: R (Strong language throughout, drug use, bloody violence and brief nudity.)

Movie Review: 

“Hurry Up Tomorrow” plays as a moral transition of an artist from prosperity to regret to atonement for trespasses not fully explored. The problematic portion is that this movie is a therapy session for Canadian singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, known by his stage name The Weeknd. Movie makers led by Trey Edward Shults subject audiences to this, plus blinding flashing lights and overly loud scenes throughout this movie, to explore the psyche of a musical artist. The Weeknd should just see a therapist. 

Abel Tesfaye plays The Weeknd in this movie, which plays like a music video mixed with a second-rate knock-off take on director Rob Reiner’s “Misery” that starred Kathy Bates and James Caan. 

Shults ably directed and wrote the movies “Krisha” (2015), “It Comes at Night” (2017) and “Waves” (2019). They are all good, well-done movies. Shults loves screenplays that offer psychological thrills and chances to explore characters’ relationships in profound ways that add to the plots of his films. He co-wrote “Hurry Up Tomorrow” with Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, the co-creator, writer and producer of television’s “The Idol,” which starred Tesfaye. This is one of Shults’ lesser works.

Shults is not as effective here. “Hurry Up Tomorrow” appears to suffer from an identity crisis similar to its main character. Tesfaye’s creation of his alter ego The Weeknd, and his “Hurry Up Tomorrow” suggests he is letting go of the stage version of himself.

This screenplay is a concert, docudrama and brief romance movie while mastering none. “Hurry Up Tomorrow” features an approximate five-minute song by The Weeknd at the beginning. Next, flashes of vivid colors grace the screen with the dialogue of an unseen young woman talking about how someone wronged her. Then, The Weeknd sings with lights glaring around him.

During some scenes, one must wonder if the cinematographer Chayse Irvin (“Blonde,” 2022) wants audiences to see this film with or without sunglasses. The bright flashes of light are an annoyance. Other scenes are too dark to care about what is happening. For a brief moment, the cinematography works as a romantic scene between Abel Tesfaye and charming Jenna Ortega. The visuals aid their connection, an engaging moment of intimacy with an artistic sweet spot for character development.

The last 40 minutes are better, having about 25 minutes where this movie is phenomenal. The plot becomes a psychological thriller with horror tones. It also involves regret, forgiveness and rebirth. The issues need a long therapy session not a mediocre screenplay that showcases The Weeknd’s songs.

Grade: D+ (Maybe, Abel Tesfaye hurries the day to make it to the weekend.)

 

“Final Destination: Bloodlines” 

(Horror: 1 hour, 50 minutes) 

Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones and Rya Kihlstedt  

Directors: Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein      

Rated: R (Strong violent/grisly accidents and strong language.)

Movie Review:

“Final Destination Bloodlines” is the sixth installment of this horror franchise featuring the distinguished actor Tony Todd’s last role. It is very similar to the previous movies in this series. Even when things do not make sense, this one entertains at least and is comical sometimes. However, this horror focuses on plot and getting to the exciting parts of people being killed in the most horrible ways than developing characters with good acting.

Stefani Reyes (Santa Juana) has been having dreams about her grandmother Iris (Brec Bassinger) and her grandfather Paul Campbell (Max Lloyd-Jones) in 1969 in a disastrous high-rise structure called SkyView Restaurant Tower. After a major structural failure, the inhabitants of that building die tragic deaths. Stefani finally tracks down elderly grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose), who tells her that she saved a lot of people that day when she foresaw the building collapse. Iris saved everyone but inadvertently angered the being known as Death, who is not amused that she changed his plans. Death has been killing all the people who should have died that day in 1969 and their offspring for generations to rectify some universal plan. Now, Stefani must come to rescue her family because they are descendants of Iris, who were supposed to die nearly 60 years earlier.

As with all other movies in this franchise, Death derives the most inventive and complex means to kill people when a heart attack or an aneurysm would suffice.

“Final Destination Bloodlines” appears complicated, it is not. The writers produce a story but quickly move to action sequences, missing a chance for audiences to know the cast. Additionally, the acting is not convincing.

That noted, the death scenes are interesting. If you like gory death scenes, this horror is for you. Scenes play like an action movie except the antagonist is no one anyone can fight. The Campbell Family can only delay the obvious.

Grade: C+ (Fun but diluted bloodlines.)

 

“The Ruse”

(Mystery/Thriller: 1 hour, 40 minutes) 

Starring: Veronica Cartwright, Madelyn Dundon, Michael Steger and Drew Moerlein

Director: Stevan Mena

Rated: R (Violent content and intense moments)

Movie Review:

“The Ruse” is a mystery thriller that holds your attention. It has all the potential to be a good horror movie, but producers and writers did not go in that direction. It works because of the performance of seasoned actress Cartwright (“Alien,” 1979; “The Birds,” 1963) and some frightful thrills are offered. Those aspects are not enough when an unconvincing Sherlock Holmes-type finale happens counters the momentum of everything before. This could have been a rewarding horror flick.

Olivia Stone (Cartwright) is a well-known symphony orchestra conductor worth millions. The elderly woman is in constant need of an assistant for medical care. Her new nurse is Dale Green (Dundon), who was called in to replace Tracy Ann Mills (Kayleigh Ruller), who went missing hours earlier. Like Mills, Green finds the famous Olivia Stone also suffers from OCD as well as being a dementia patient. After a neighbor’s child tells Green that Stone’s house is haunted, the young nurse becomes anxious, constantly stirred by sounds in the house and Stone’s constant notions that her deceased husband Albert is in the house. 

This movie is a mystery, but it never seems right, although it is watchable until its conclusion. The last fourth of “The Ruse” does not appear convincing and ruins much of what was thought substantial in previous scenes.  It is one thing for a movie to fool audiences, but it is foolish when screenplay writers fool themselves.

The ending appears like something from a “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” episode. Only detail missing is for the villain to say, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

Grade: C (The ruse: It fools viewers for a moment.)

 

“Things Like This”

(Romantic Comedy: 1 hour, 39 minutes) 

Starring: Joey Pollari, Max Talisman and Jackie Cruz

Director: Max Talisman

Rated: NR (Some mature content involving complex relationships and innuendo)

Movie Review:

Leading gay characters in movies are rarely stereotyped, unlike supporting gay roles. The plot is a different story. It remains a romantic stereotype, just like heterosexual cinematic romances. This is the case with “Things Like This.” The characters are likable, but the story is cliché.

Zach Anthony (Talisman, also the director and writer) is not your typical gay male visually. At least, this is what he is told by a very hunky muscular lover, Ben (James León) in the first scene. Just blocks away, Zach Mandel (Pollari) has found someone who loves him, but he turns down the man who proposes to him. Neither Zack finds the correct person to love until they meet.

Pollari and Talisman make an interesting couple. They are likable, although they look like the comic duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. I kept waiting for them to break out in a comedic routine. But they do not. They offer earnest turns as people searching for love, but their roles and the story require more development.

Too bad, they exist in an overused narrative. The romance genre tropes are abundant. Therefore, this movie is formulaic. The main characters get together, break up, get together and break up, only to find love in the end at some big event. Been there, seen it too many times.  

Grade: C- (Things like this are too methodical for creativity.)