Fantasy Love and Monsters (2020)

[Tom]

Title: Love and Monsters

Tagline: An apocalyptic love story.

Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director: Michael Matthews

Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick, Michael Rooker, Dan Ewing, Ariana Greenblatt, Ellen Hollman, Tre Hale, Pacharo Mzembe, Senie Priti, Amali Golden, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Tasneem Roc, Thomas Campbell, Joel Pierce, Melanie Zanetti, Bruce Spence, Hazel Phillips, Miriama Smith, Andrew Buchanan, Tandi Wright, Damien Garvey, Julia Johnson, Ariu Lang Sio, Donnie Baxter, Helen Howard, Larry Cedar, Tonia Renee Hammerich, Keiichi Enomoto

Release: 2020-10-16

Runtime: 109

Plot: Seven years since the Monsterpocalypse began, Joel Dawson has been living underground in order to survive. But after reconnecting over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee, Joel decides to venture out to reunite with her, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.

 

[Tom]

Love and Monsters (2020)​

Monster Problems (original title)
PG-13 | 1h 49min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 16 October 2020 (USA)

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In a monster-infested world, Joel learns his girlfriend is just 85 miles away. To make the dangerous journey, Joel discovers his inner hero to be with the girl of his dreams.

I liked this film (7 out of 10 Stars). While the number and type of monsters were limited the adventure story made up for it. Not to say the monsters were boring, the few that were shown were fun to see. This film has great production values inclluding the acting of both the humans and the dog. It has all the Hollywood staples, misguided youth, coming of age, bad guy/good guy battle, a guru guide...
Michael Rooker does an amazing job and makes you love him. Dylan O'Brien does a wonderful job playing Joel, a character which you could swear was based on something Jesse Eisenberg would do.

This is the kind of movie you can watch a couple times in a row, put it away for a year and watch it again and its still good. Certainly worth buying and a theater experience would be worth it. Rental may not be enough.
If you like fantasy adventure monster movies, you'll like this one!

 

[Jethro]

This is dropping on Netflix Downunder this month, looking forward, but am becoming increasingly cynical as more of the same is still trending in Boredwood.

 

[Tom]

You can look at todays films as a loss of quality and artistic expression or you can watch them as a suspension of disbelief and enjoy what there is available in today's strange world.
Rather than being overly cynical of everything, why not just try to embrace the films which at least try to be 'good'?

This film is NOT a work of art. It does have a lot of CGI. It is a simple story without much thought needed. But, its a fun movie and enjoyable if you let it be.

I see so many "BAD" movies when one comes along which is tolerable, it is a relief.
Sometimes, everything is done right, Zack Snyder's Justice League is ten times better than the theatrical version and has ten times more CGI in it but it WORKS!
Godzilla VS Kong is ten times better than any other Godzilla or King Kong movie (even the originals) and it works!
But, you gotta try to enjoy it and stop tearing it apart for what it was never meant to be.
Kevin once commented on my cynicism with a comment of "Its A popcorn movie!" not meant to be a work of art or set any new standards. I read that comment and realized I was being way too hard on movies to actually enjoy them.

This film is a fun movie with strong acting and a decent story. Try to enjoy it.