Ooft. To say that the reviews of Y2K on Max haven’t been great might be an understatement: Decider.com said it’s “the movie equivalent of the sentence, ‘hey, remember the Sneaker Pimps?'” and that the screenplay is “flimsy and sloppy”.
According to Empire, the problem is that the film “leans too heavily on nostalgia; it’s concerned far more with familiar products and pop-culture details than with how its characters might behave”. Part comedy, part drama, it doesn’t quite commit to either and falls flat as a result, meaning it’s not one of the best Max movies.
That’s a shame, because the premise sounded fun. But there are plenty of more entertaining options on Max right now, so here are three very different movies that should excite and delight instead.
Logan
![Logan | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Div0iP65aZo/maxresdefault.jpg)
You know the drill: Hugh Jackman, adamantium claws, Patrick Stewart as Professor X. It’s “the best Wolverine movie yet,” Empire says, “grown-up, ballsy, character-driven and grounded.”
The final Wolverine movie is “a poignant study of ageing and infirmity,” The Guardian says. “What happens when superheroes get old? Actually, what happens when, like many non-superheroes, they arrive at late middle-age without a partner, in ill health, and with an ageing parent to look after?”
That’s not to say this isn’t also a great action movie. It is, but it has brains as well as brawn: think Unforgiven with claws.
Land of the Lost
Bear with me on this one, because while many people piled on the movie – RogerEbert.com notes that it “inspires fervent hatred” – and the 27% Rotten Tomatoes rating is the sort of thing you tend to see next to a Jennifer Lopez film, Ebert reckons this “deranged” movie is worth a watch.
Will Ferrell is Dr Rick Marshall, who invents a machine that can import fossil fuels from a parallel dimension. Naturally he uses that machine to transport him and his friends into that parallel dimension, the dinosaur-packed Land of the Lost. As Ebert says, the film is packed with “deliriously fake locations, props and special effects”, and he found it an absolute blast to watch.
Is it a five-star movie? Absolutely not. But as The Guardian says, “It is very surreal, absurd, and often quite gross, with loads of very arch and knowing gags.” Lower your expectations and I think you’ll laugh a lot.
Severance (2006)
No, not the TV show: this is a horror comedy about office culture in which a team-building retreat is stalked by a brutal killer. Danny Dyer’s in it, which gives you an idea of the target market: this is a Saturday night beers on the couch movie, a slashy stabby film that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The broadsheets didn’t like it, but then it isn’t really aimed at their critics; it’s a movie for readers of sites like PopHorror, who found it “wicked and funny”. Common Sense Media warns that it’s definitely not for kids thanks to being “full of explicit, grotesque violence and outrageous injuries”, and that’s exactly the kind of thing the folks on r/horror like about it: it’s “funny as f— with lots of gore as well,” says one happy viewer.
I’m now imagining a mashup of Severance the show and Severance the movie. Paging Ben Stiller…
