Tag: Archie Renaux

Upgraded was watched early as a screener. It is being released on Amazon Prime Video on February 9th, 2024.

Ana (Camila Mendes) is a woman just trying to make her way into the art industry! Does she have an Art History degree? You know it. But she also lives with her sister and her SO, and she is taking up space. She can’t afford rent, her job hasn’t gotten her anywhere yet. But now things are going to change.

You see, there is going to be a big art auction for the company she works for, under Claire (Marisa Tomei), and if she can impress her, she can get on the fast track to success and eventually have her own art gallery and be rich. The good news is, she unconventionally has a success, and gets to go on a trip to London to help out with a big event! But because of bullying and plot, she has to take a later plane by herself. But don’t worry, her seat is randomly upgraded (that’s the movie name!).

That is where she meets William (Archie Renaux). You know, a rich British guy. And because of silly reasons, like Ana actively lying, William thinks she is the CEO of the company, and is impressed, she is so young and knowledgeable. And then she gets introduced to the parents, and so many things get awkward, lying about what she does, and of course it will effect her job and her love life at the same time.

Also starring Aimee Carrero, Anthony Head, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Lena Olin, and Rachel Matthews.

That face is how they first intended the creepy people to look like in the Smile movie PR campaign.

If I described the movie in a sentence, instead of paragraphs, it would be enough for you. You got the whole picture. You know the movie. You know how it ends. Honestly. Knowing where a movie is going isn’t inherently a bad thing. Not at all. Like, I can assume in a super hero movie, that the good guys eventually win. Sure. But then the journey really, really, matters.

So the journey needs to matter for Upgraded. And the journey here does nothing. Honestly, it follows a playbook to the letter. Our main character doesn’t really learn anything, because she comes out on top, better off than she was before. And so I guess the whole thing was worth it in the end!

Honestly, feels a bit icky. The main character uses the love interest, lies constantly, and then like, gets to rich and successful at the end? Okay.

Upgraded is honestly one step above a Hallmark movie. It has a bigger budget, and that is about it. This film is entirely forgettable, and I wish it was a good RomCom, I honestly do. But Upgraded will be off my radar within a week. Complete out of sight, and out of mind.

I don’t know how I can take seriously someone with the last name of Burger. Talkin’ bout Neil Burger that is, director and writer of voyagers. He has been around the block once or twice in movie land. I have reviewed a few of his films before. He did The Upside, Divergent, Limitless, and even The Illusionist way back ago, which he also wrote unlike the previous few.

None of his films I have loved, some of them I have disliked, but at least one I did like overall. It just didn’t go as far as I had hoped (but it did launch a TV show eventually, so good on him).

Now going into Voyagers, I knew nothing about it. Some movie set in space. So what? That isn’t special. Earth is in space, so everything set on Earth is also set in space. But seriously, I heard about this movie two days before watching it, only seeing a single poster, so going in almost as blind as possible to this one, and I hope this one will not muddle about and get me into that “love” territory for one of his films.

Picture of me teaching how to love movies during the pandemic.

In the future, our Earth is gonna be fucked. We know this, and all the movies know it, because it is a popular topic. So we have to get off this rock and find a new rock that could support our life, but this time, try not to screw the planet up. But we haven’t gotten that sweet cryosleep technology figured out yet, so any travel to the planet would have to be real time, with those at the start not going to likely see the planet in their lifetime, with over 80 years of journey time.

So what is the human race going to do? Well, the plan is to send a big group of kids, slightly genetically picked to be smart and efficient. They will be test tube babies. They will under go schooling and training together. And then they will be sent in the rocket. And one adult (Colin Farrell) as a guide, so they can go earlier than planned, and he can help out, knowing he definitely won’t see the new planet.

And sure, things go well for a bit. But once a student discovers one of their supplements was a lie, and actually used to suppress their hormones to keep their emotions and sex drives very low, things start to get bad. Distrust begins to happen. And a death. And now with no trust, and factions, and SO MANY EMOTIONS, they are going to have to see if they even want to continue this mission at all.

Starring so many young actors and actresses! Like Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, Archie Madekwe, Archie Renaux, Chante Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Madison Hu, Quintessa Swindell, Viveik Kalra, and Wern Lee.

This is not a good touch, get your puberty off of her! 

Sure enough, this ended up being one of those movies where I really got into the story and dug it, and found myself along for the ride at several points. The beginning had a good chance of dragging on too long with the set up, but it zoomed through everything pretty quickly. Before and after sexy puberty time, the aura of the ship was noticeable and getting darker.

Is this movie saying sex emotions are bad?! Nah, it is just telling a story with some thrills (and just a little little bit of sex, it is just a PG-13 flick), on a very unique ride through space. I will say the movie got really close to making a really good point about growing up, or “society” or whatever, but never seemed to land that point just right, which is probably why a lot of people left this movie annoyed.

Basically, it feels like Lord of the Flies, in space. And honestly, I had to pause it multiple times just because I was getting  stressed out for some of the characters who couldn’t get out of their situation. They were literally trapped on the same ship, and I didn’t know if the movie would end on a good or a bad note.

And hey, maybe this movie is just an allegory for pandemics. A few selfish people who don’t want to listen to the rules can ruin things for everyone. Literally the future of our species too.

Oh yeah, come on director. Gonna have a lot of test tube babies and can’t get more diversity in this film? It has like the bare minimum, but we are talking about a future colony going to settle all the humans. I’d expect a bit more of an effort.