The Wrong Car crashes into Lifetime!

January 12, 2016ByTars Tarkas

Hey, you don’t know how many people have shared that bottle of water!

Lifetime brings up the topical scandals with The Wrong Car, which has to do with all those reported rapes in Uber cars because the company was too busy disrupting things to do background checks on their drivers to see if any of them were crazed rapists. The Wrong Car features a woman who is raped, but then gets revenge by becoming a driver herself to track down the driver who attacked her. I’m not sure how that works, but, okay, sure!

The morning after Trudy, a law school student, unsuspectingly steps into what she believes to be a “NetCar” black sedan, she wakes up confused and alone in a seedy motel—the victim of a roofie and sexual assault. Frustrated by the slow pace of the justice system, she takes matters into her own hands. Becoming NetCar driver herself, Trudy goes on a crusade to find and stop the serial rapist to whom she fell victim.

We got a Bring It On: All or Nothing mini-reunion with both Danielle Savre and Francia Raisa! The Wrong Car also stars Jackson Davis (Perfection) and Christina Elmore (Fruitvale Station)

The Wrong Car is written and directed by John Stimpson (A Deadly Obsession, Sins of the Preacher), I haven’t seen any of his Lifetime films yet (I’m still catching up with lots of taped Lifetime movies from the past year!) so I can’t comment on if his involvement is good or not. But he seems to be doing something right to get invited back again and again.

The Wrong Car premieres Saturday, January 16th on Lifetime!

via Lifetime!

InMovie Reviews, Ugly

Double Daddy (Review)

January 11, 2016ByTars Tarkas

Double Daddy

2015
Story by Alan Donahue
Screenplay by Barbara Kymlicka
Directed by Lee Friedlander

A teenage boy knocks up not one, but two separate teenage girls. No, this isn’t an episode of Jerry Springer, it’s the Lifetime Channel! Double Daddy is the name, and if you guessed that one of the teenage girls was a crazy stalker, you get double gold stars! This film has all the makings of a kooky classic, but stops just short of greatness. Instead, we’ll have to settle for some ridiculous cheese, social media goofiness, and a gold digger who is ever in search of the ultimate selfie.

Popular kid Connor (Cameron Palatas) is throwing the ultimate high school bash right before the start of senior year, and he’s chug-a-lugged full of beers. His girlfriend Amanda (Mollee Gray) has been away all summer earning money for college, which is bad for him and bad for her, as Heather (Brittany Curran) also as her eyes on Connor, and manages to get him into his dad’s Mercedes and out of his clothes. Despite being drunk as a skunk, Connor does tell her “no” a few times, meaning he is basically raped in this scene. The movie doesn’t address that at all, Connor can barely remember anything, and Heather’s plan was to get knocked up and land herself a rich sugar daddy, so she’s not going to reveal the truth.

As the school year starts, Amanda is back in town and excited to finally see Connor, who is distracted for some odd reason… Amanda is less than thrilled that strange girl Heather is saying “Hi” to Connor in the halls, and even less thrilled when Heather posts a selfie of Connor and her in the Mercedes online. This being high school, the photo spreads like wildfire, and quickly followed by the next one, a photo of Heather and a positive pregnancy test. As an aside, during one of the many selfies she takes, she puts the pregnancy test in her mouth. Ewwww! Connor has to admit his infidelity and now he is single.

InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E06 – “The Ex-Factor”

January 6, 2016ByTars Tarkas

The Muppets – “The Ex-Factor”
Story by Bob Kushell & Steve Rudnick
Teleplay by Nell Scovell & Emily Wilson
Directed by Randall Einhorn

Kermit’s new girlfriend Denise finally reappears on the show, and she is a big Kristin Chenoweth fan, which is convenient because Chenoweth is a guest on the show today (Uncle Deadly is a bigger fan, though!) Denise charges over and introduces herself despite Miss Piggy being right next to Chenoweth (Denise introducing herself several times because she’s so nervous) Miss Piggy is annoyed as you might expect, and Kristin realizes who Denise is after she leaves.

Denise’s birthday is tomorrow and Kermit has no idea what to get her (he wasn’t going to get her anything, because she said not to get her anything, and is advised by everybody present about that being wrong!) Panic ensues because he’s bad at gift-giving. Everyone’s suggestions for gifts are expectedly terrible, not only are most of the Muppet characters hopelessly single, but now many of them have their own personal romantic failings on the show, so they are extra hopeless.

Scooter takes Kermit to one of those paint your own ceramics stores so he can make a gift himself. Scooter is very very very familiar with the store, going there a lot, especially when his mom is seeing her boyfriend. Scooter even has his own custom smock with his name on it. Kermit paints his first date with Denise, but after some criticism of his art talent from Scooter, it’s tossed in the whoopsie bin.

InMovie Reviews, Ugly

Caught (Review)

January 4, 2016ByTars Tarkas

Caught

2015
Written by Marcy Holland
Directed by Maggie Kiley

Two characters from True Blood kidnap a girl from the Jem movie as a prank, but soon one dumb thing snowballs into a bunch of bad choices and horrible consequences spiraling all over the place. It all adds up to a great little Lifetime flick that deserves a bigger audience. Really, films like this are one of the reasons why I subject myself to the constant stream of Lifetime movies, there is always nuggets of gold hidden in the mountains of madness.

Allie (Stefanie Scott) is a track star, but things aren’t going her way. She’ failing history, so she’s off the team. She’s a busy waitress who gets tips that just say “HOPELESS”. Her mom is also broke and taking up extra waitressing shifts as well. Allie has a boyfriend, who is much older than her and she rarely gets to seem him. Her mother disapproves because the guy is so old. But the end of a bad day becomes worse when she is kidnapped!

Sisters Sabrina (Anna Camp) and Paige (Amelia Rose Blaire) are the kidnappers, who tie her up, blindfold her, threaten her, and lock her in an attic. The pair are ecstatic and full of giggles once away from her. Sabrina is the more danger seeking, Paige a bit more reserved and level-headed, talking Sabrina down when she tries to get creative on how to torture Allie a bit more before letting her go. Sabrina is miffed that Allie is sleeping with her husband, and this is to warn her off. Suddenly said husband Justin (Sam Page) comes home. He was supposed to be away on a business trip, so uh-oh!

InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E05 – “Walk the Swine”

January 3, 2016ByTars Tarkas

The Muppets – “Walk the Swine”
Story by Dave Caplan and Steve Rudnick
Teleplay by Gregg Mettler and Nell Scovell
Directed by Randall Einhorn

After spending an episode becoming more relatable, Miss Piggy returns to having a feud with a celebrity, though the twist this time is Reese Witherspoon ends up looking just as bad as Miss Piggy as they argue on a charity construction site, which is damaged as they get into a physical altercation. The story is Piggy is upset with Reese as Witherspoon beat her out for a part in Walk the Line, for which Reese won an Oscar. Piggy brings it up on the show, blames Reese for bringing it up, and then continues to be competitive by claiming that she also does work for Habitat for Humanity like Reese, and will also be at a construction site that weekend just like Reese.

Piggy dresses up super cute for the construction job: a pink helmet, pink bedazzled hammer, and stiletto work boots. She’s surprised there are no paparazzi (after mistaking the surveyor as one) and calls them in, and then picks a fight with Reese about who is the harder worker. Piggy reveals she was raised on a farm, and to her credit she does end up working harder and faster than Reese (aided by karate chopping 2x4s!) Reese and her continue to bicker, which turns physical and ends up knocking down the entire side of a the house frame, all caught on camera by the paparazzi that Piggy called in.

This becomes a PR disaster, and Miss Piggy actually cries in her dressing room over this. More humanization of Miss Piggy is a good thing! She and Kermit decide the best way to fix things is to get Reese back on the show and apologize. So they do, and Reese apologized to Piggy, after which Piggy apologizes. With an elaborate music and dance number where she apologizes by song and by rapping, ending with an awesome dropping of the mike as she proves she is the best at apologizing.

InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E04 – “Pig Out”

January 2, 2016ByTars Tarkas

The Muppets – “Pig Out”
Story by Bob Kushell and Dave Caplan
Teleplay by Gregg Mettler and Nell Scovell
Directed by Randall Einhorn

One of my criticisms of The Muppets in the previous episodes was they made Miss Piggy incredibly unlikable. To the point where it became a mystery why anyone has anything to do with her. “Pig Out” solves this problem by providing us with a Piggy who people want to be around and enjoys the company of her fellow Muppets – largely because they enjoy her access to famous people and famous people parties. While that might not seem like something good, it actually turns out great with Piggy genuinely enjoying her success with her crew, and the crew enjoying being around her. A welcome change from Piggy getting into random feuds with celebrities over tiny things or fighting with Kermit while obviously being wrong.

The episode is filled with a lot of little touches that add to the fun, with a special focus on the Swedish Chef, who acts as the caterer for Miss Piggy’s Show. During one of the interview scenes, we see him in the background licking the various pastries and then putting them back on the pile to eat. He later presents Swedish sushi to Piggy, and it looks as gross as it sounds (she passes). During the karaoke montage while the gang is partying, Swedish Chef breaks out “Rapper’s Delight”, which was awesome.

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