Hello and welcome back to another week here at 1 Guys Mindless Movie Reviews. It’s been about three months since I did one of these, so I felt it was time to pull one out again. If I have the time, I’ve also enjoyed doing these… especially for “small release” films like this. This time around, I headed over to Prime Video to watch a couple of their newer titles available to stream. “My Old Ass” and “Brothers” are wildly different movies with wildly different casts and storylines. If you don’t want to be spoiled, feel free to skip around this article, or head back to my homepage to check out what other movie marathons I have live and ready to read.
My Old Ass
Director: Megan Park
Writer: Megan Park
Starring: Maisy Stella, Aubry Plaza, Percy Hynes White
Ok, up first on Prime double feature is “My Old Ass”. Even after reading the synopsis, I still didn’t know what this was going to be about… not really. After seeing it I can say that it’s still hard to put my finger on one thing that defines this movie… but that’s not all bad. I was more surprised than anything else.
This modern coming-of-age tale is about a young lady (Elliott played by Stella) who is still trying to figure things out. Including her love life. The one thing she is sure of is that she doesn’t want to take over the family business (farming) and wants to leave the small-town life for good. So, when she and her friends decide to take shrooms for the first time, she is shocked when her older self (Plaza) visits her while she is high.
After a whole night of talking and some vaguely given advice (“Stay away from Chad”) she is confused but intrigued and then somehow they can call each other as they spend the next few days discussing life. When the older Elliott goes dark on her, the younger Elliott ends up finding out who Chad (Hynes White) is and falling in love with him. Eventually, when she pushes, she finds out that he is going to die and that is why he wants to stay away from him.
This was a short movie for as much as they tried to squeeze into it. Lots of good lessons were learned by the main character (like spending more time with her family) and I think we could also learn from some of what was said as well. In the end, the cast was solid and the story had a meaningful end. But I didn’t like all the steps it took to get there. Like how are they able to talk on the phone and how in the world can Chad see her at the end? I have my thoughts, but it would have been nice if they explained the rationale behind it.
Between these two movies, this was the better one for sure even though the cast wasn’t. I also wouldn’t have minded a few extra scenes of her and Chad at the end to drive their relationship home. With all that being said this is still a good movie to watch and I give it a 6 out of 10.
Brothers
Director: Max Barbakow
Writer: Etan Cohen and Macon Blair
Starring: Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Brendan Fraser
Now, onto the next Prime movie of the marathon. When I said these were two wildly different movies, I wasn’t joking. “Brothers” has a jam-packed cast. Along with Brolin, Dinklage, and Fraser, this also had Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, and M. Emmet Walsh. Just because you have a great cast, doesn’t mean it’s a great movie.
The plot was all over the place with major story plotlines not lining up with what was laid out for us viewers. Moke (Brolin) and Jady (Dinklage) Munger are twin brothers who were sort of raised by their always-on-the-run mom (Close). Moke is trying to turn his life around with a wife and child on the way when his brother happens to get out of prison and pulls him back in. About that same time, their mom shows up for the first time in years and is ready to run a job with the both of them.
When Moke finds out that Jady knew about the plan all along, he once again tries to leave. But, every time he does, Jady makes him feel bad and he always comes back. While all this is going on, a police officer named Farful (Fraser) is tracking Jady down since he isn’t holding up his end of the bargain they made before he got released from prison. Eventually, it all comes to a head as the brothers face off against Farful in a closed mall. It ends with Farful face down, their mom taking the fall for them, and the two brothers walking out with the money.
Honestly, this was mostly predictable all the way through. With that cast, it could have been good, but instead, it fell flat (just like Farful) in almost every aspect. Even the jokes didn’t hit with me most times. Other than a few laughs, this was mostly a waste of time and I hate saying that about a Josh Brolin-led film. But there just wasn’t any substance to go with what they were showing us.
The only other saving grace was Fraser who once again delighted me with his abilities. But I still only give this a 3 out of 10!
I hope you enjoy these little movie marathons. Please let me know if you would like to see more of them. In the meantime, have a great week and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review (it may be time for an early holiday film)!
