“Come Play”: Creepy Concept, Lackluster Story
"Come Play" was entertaining and had some great ideas about how to scare children away from playing with facial recognition settings.

"Come Play" was entertaining and had some great ideas about how to scare children away from playing with facial recognition settings.
Rather than focusing on the bleak, cynical aspects of life post-pandemic, the focus is optimistic and hopeful.
To say Hollywood has had a troubled past is the understatement of the century. In Ryan Murphy’s (American Horror Story) new Netflix series, Hollywood, that past is confronted and even rewritten.
This reboot of The Wonder Years is told from the lens of a Black man.
Him is visually stunning—all concrete cathedrals and bone-rattling impact shots that look like a nightmare highlight reel. Marlon Wayans is magnetic as this legendary quarterback who's basically selling salvation with a smile that never quite reaches his eyes. But the story keeps running in circles: more tests, more cryptic pep talks, more ritualistic drills. The sports-as-religion metaphor beats you over the head when subtlety would've been more effective. The middle drags, and that finale chooses spectacle over substance. It's undeniably stylish, but left me cold. Also worth noting: despite the Monkeypaw connection, this isn't actually a Jordan Peele film—he didn't write or direct.
With such a raw look at the 15th century, it seems that Disney was really trying to step outside of its element with this motion picture.