The Contract 

The July episode of Incluvie Movie Highlights provides 4 exciting films that have polarizing reviews! Special guest and Incluvie movie critic Daleyna joins in to discuss Mr Malcolm's List, a regency-era film set in England, starring leads of Indian and African heritage (Freida Pinto and Sope Dirisu), which is a first! Don't Make Me Go, starring an Asian and Blasian lead (John Cho and Mia Isaac), is a sincere film with a controversial ending! Don't worry, no spoilers. 1Up, about a team of female gamers led by Paris Berelc, who's half Asian, receives acclaim on Incluvie, but much hate everywhere else on the internet. And the feature film... is Nope ! One cohost thinks the film was imaginative, while the other cohost insists it was boring (but with good social commentary)! Who thought what? Tune in with your hosts: Cathy Yee and Hazel Bolivar!

Remember when there was this amazing comedy titled "National Lampoon's Vacation"? To this day, it is a true classic of the genre and certainly put a new spin on precisely what KINDS of insanity could occur when taking the fam on the road. Then, like with so many successful films, there was the sequel (which for me was even MORE of a classic than the original!). However, the third film emerged....and then a fourth. Suddenly, the luster was gone and disappointment set in.

Two Distant Strangers (2020) centers around Carter James (Joey Bada$$) as he tries to get back home to his pitbull, Jeter, after spending a night at the apartment of his date Perri (Zaria Simone). What gets in the way of Carter reuniting with his dog is that every time he tries to leave Perri’s apartment,  he is killed by police and wakes up back in her bed in a never-ending cycle. It addresses the issue of police brutality which rightly has been in the public eye more and more with the unjust deaths caused at the hands of law enforcement.

Not only can viewing Not My Dog inspire people to adopt a dog that may be facing tremendous odds, but even that simple action of watching has a social effect. 

Its predictability shouldn’t distract from the enjoyment that the pure cinematic imagination behind the camera elicits. It is a movie of crises both moral and mortal, oozing with CGI, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Slip on your favorite dungarees and spend the day on the east coast of New Zealand before the 90s.