Netflix movie binge: Unicorn, Murder & a whole lotta Keanu

I've been really all over Netflix lately. Perhaps I was away from it for a considerable amount of time late last year. My son finally finished his Season 3 of Series of Unfortunate Events much earlier so I guess it's time for his old man to catch up too. My better half and I still haven't made the time to catch the Umbrella Academy series just as yet but we did watch random movies in between, be it through Netflix or through the classic channel on cable TV. They go from classic cult movies, to cheesy romcoms, to documentaries,some animations here and there & lots of early 80s Asian horror movies. Seriously.

Three movies caught my attention on Netflix lately. I'm not saying that they were crazy good or deserve a re-watch but they caught my attention nonetheless more than any other movies on Netflix. So I went ahead and watched them to see what's the fuss all about.

Let's go through them....


Unicorn Store

This one came out in 2017 and had received mixed reviews, mostly bad unfortunately. This was supposedly to be the breakthrough directorial debut for actress Brie Larson who played the titular character in the movie herself. So the expectations was kinda high all around. Me? I was just there for the prospect of seeing Nick Fury and Captain Marvel on-screen together again in another movie other than the ones given to us by Marvel Studios. 

As the name may suggest, one may be quick to assume that the story was gonna be full of glitter, colorful visual, sugar, spice and everything nice.....and I can tell you that you are not really far off if you have those pre-conceived assumptions.

The story follows the tale of a frustrated typical office worker (Brie herself) who quit her job to go back to her roots into becoming a painter. There's a somewhat familiar theme of the need for escapism from the boring daily monotonous life that we lead and I think it relates to everyone here. The same frustrated soul eventually answered an advertisement and meet a mysterious stranger (Sam L. Jackson) who offered to sell her a unicorn. Yup, a real live breathing mono-horn mythical horse. At this point I was already left to ponder if the 'unicorn' was indeed real or was it just a metaphor for something.

As the character tried her very best to convince the mysterious stranger that she is worthy to own the mythical creature, she eventually faced some real life issues along the way and began questioning herself if a unicorn is what she really wanted. To cut things short, she finally got to own one but decided ultimately to let it go to the next 'dreamer' like herself. There's even a scene where she passes her 'dream' to another person and I take it that the whole unicorn-worthy saga will be on repeat with that poor frustrated soul.

At the end of the story, I was still left with the burning questions:

i. Was the unicorn real or was it just a figment of her imagination? A metaphor for her much-needed escape but eventually let go to another more needful individual?

ii. Was Sam Jackson's character suppose to be a higher being? Or was he just a typical conman who inadvertently gave meaning to life to the protagonist?

I enjoyed the acting but was lost halfway into the movie when I tried to decipher the actual meaning of the plot. Best to just leave the curiosity there and move on to the next movie.


Murder Mystery

This one really got me intrigued as I was pretty disappointed thus far with most of Adam Sandler's Netflix movies. Except for maybe the Ridiculous 6 (hey it WAS ridiculous and follows that typical Sandler-esque toilet humor stereotype but at least I got my giggles!). So naturally I went head first into this thinking that probably it was gonna get better. It can't get any worse......right?

For a start, I knew that this was gonna be a Cluedo movie clone judging from the obvious title alone. But I was willing to take that risk because I needed to watch a better mystery movie that that Agatha Christie movie adaptation in 2017. I had so much hope for that movie but in the end I was left wanting for more.

So how about  mixing in some comedy this time around? I mean, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston hit it off in Just Go With It several years ago, so this might work. Might.


I appreciate the star studded cast for the movie and the expected plot was forgivable too. But the comedy was terribly weak and feels repetitive after while. You've heard most of the jokes before, one form or another, from Sandler's past repertoire of work. And so I was willing to bypass the almost nonexistent comedy and concentrated on the almost obvious plot. It was ok to say the least. Well, to me at least. I'm such a fan for mystery films, even if they're too predictable at times.

Then there is that homage to the Murder on the Orient Express at the very end of the movie too which I had somewhat correctly predicted albeit jokingly to my wife at the beginning of the movie. Nice touch there. It almost gave us the feeling that the director of Murder Mystery was actually making a parody of 'Orient.

Lastly, Murder Mystery is a nice addition to Sandler's long list of work but he has done better comedy than this. Any casual fan of the man will enjoy the movie for what it is, for that goofy one-liner jokes that only Adam Sandler can deliver.

Oh, did I tell you that 30 million people watched this movie on Netflix in its first week of release? After watching Birdbox upon the fact that 45 million people watched it in its first week of release, it's up to you if this movie is really worth your time. Whatever it is, it worked. I instantly want to watch this one too. Well played Netflix.

That's that.


 Always Be My Maybe

I am almost certain to avoid romcoms whenever possible but I do watch selected films from such a genre from time to time if the pull is great. When I say 'pull' I really mean something really special enough to get my interest going to watch a particular romcom flick.

Let me just get this clear upfront. I decided to watch Always Be My Maybe because of one individual. Keanu Reeves. Yup, that's right. Mr John Wick himself is in this movie. Not just some blink or you miss him cameo, but a full guest starring role which I think hearkens back to his earlier Bill and Ted comedic role. It is said that Keanu Reeves jumped into this role as himself in between takes in John Wick 3: Parabellum. 

So how does one switch mindsets between playing a hardcore hitman and a self-absorbed famous actor (technically Keanu was just being himself in the movie but I don't think he is THAT of a jerk in real life!)? Apparently, no one does it better like Keanu. I had tonnes of laugh during his scenes and I wished they were longer. He was dead funny and now I have such high hopes for Bill and Ted 3 next year!

Okay, so much has been said about the profound impact by the great Keanu Reeves on the movie but what about the movie itself? It's not saying that Randall Park and Ali Wong are not great actors in their own rights. They were both amazing in the movie and delivered their parts perfectly. Romcoms are full with quirky funny romantic dialogues and this movie does not disappoint. What makes it special is that the actors are pretty sharp and witty you'd swear that this isn't your typical regular Asian acting performance you've seen in recent times.

The plot is pretty alright but ultimately I think both Randall Park and Ali Wong (and the rest of the gang) made all the difference so this movie feels special. That 'you-were-my-crush-in-high-school' plot worked fine too despite being an overused subject for many romcoms before. And yeah, did I tell you already that Keanu Reeves added that extra punch to the movie?

Funny enough there is also another romcom flick with the same name released much earlier but let's not get into the legality/technicality of that issue because everyone knows Netflix is gonna turn out winnesr in the end anyway.

Worth a re-watch.

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