Jake Peffer Watches

Anorexia is a serious disease that effects many people everyday, especially teenagers.To The Bone follows Ellen (Lily Collins), a young girl who has struggled with anorexia for quite some time. She's tried multiple things to try and get past it but can't seem to find a way to fix her disease. Her step mother Susan (Carrie Preston) sets up a session with Dr. William Beckham (Keanu Reeves) because the word of mouth is that he's the best person to put her on the right track. Dr. Beckham has her stay at a home with several others who are struggling with the same disease. As Ellen continues to struggle with her disease Dr. Beckham challenges her and tries to get her to embrace life rather than continue to struggle. To The Bone is the latest Netflix original film and it is safe to say that they have hit a nice stride when it comes to their originals. While the subject matter does make things a bit depressing at times there is a lot to like here. Seeing these people struggle ...

Making a comedy that takes place in the Middle Ages can be a tricky thing. Everyone involved needs to be at the top of their game for it to work correctly. The Little Hours had all the right needs for it to succeed. Unfortunately for me it failed to live up to the expectations set by it's talented cast and great premise. After getting caught being with his master's wife, a young servant named Massetto (Dave Franco) flees the castle to avoid any sort of punishment. He takes refuge at a convent filled with some interesting nuns. Father Tommasso (John C. Reily) is the first to find Massetto and comes up with the plan for him to pretend to be deaf and mute as to not draw any suspicion to himself. The young nuns of the convent are instantly attracted to Massetto and they must resist their temptations while Massetto must do everything he can to not blow his cover. To me the worst thing you can do in a comedy is have the initial setup be great and then have the execution almo...

Okja is the latest original film to come from Netflix. It experienced a little controversy when it premiered at the Cannes film festival for being a film from a streaming service. However, I think once that audience watched the film their minds quickly changed. Our story follows a multi-national corporation, the Mirando Corporation, which has successfully created a new species of animal that they call "super pigs." They send 26 of these super pigs to different farms across the world to be raised and taken care of and within ten years time they plan to use the meat from these pigs to sell to the mainstream. One of the super pigs, Okja, is sent to a farm where she is taken care of by a young girl named Mija (An Seo Hyun) and her father. Mija and Okja are the best of friends and spend all of their time together. The farm is visited by members from the Mirando Corporation including Dr. Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) to take Okja to New York now that she is a fully grown pig...

What would you do if your child was taken from you? Halle Berry shows us that a parent will stop at nothing to get back her son in Kidnap. Berry plays Karla Dyson, a single mother who is overworked at her job as a waitress. She finally gets some time to spend with her son Frankie (Sage Correa) and decides that they are going to have a day out at the park together. Everything is fine until Karla has to take a phone call and steps away from Frankie for just a couple of minutes. In that time Frankie goes missing and Karla sees him being dragged into a car by an unknown person. She attempts to stop them in the parking lot and sets off on a long car chase to try and get back her son. We've seen this type of film before so the story is nothing new. You would think with this being a pretty regular setup for a film that the filmmakers would take the opportunity to try and do something do with a familiar story. That's not the case here at all. From the moment that Frankie is tak...

There is nothing like a modern-day Western. Westerns are a genre that continually get forgotten and I'm not sure why because when they are well crafted, westerns can be some of the best movies. When done the right way with great direction, amazing writing, and great performances you get a film like Hell or High Water. Hell or High Water stars Chris Pine and Ben Foster as a couple of brothers in West Texas who resort to robbing banks in order to save their family's ranch. Hot on their trail is Ranger Marcus Hamilton, played by Jeff Bridges, who is determined to track down these boys and put them behind bars. As the boys get closer to saving their family's ranch, the closer the ranger gets to putting a stop to the boy's crimes. This film kind of came out of nowhere for me. It opened during the later part of the summer with not a lot of promotion but was surprisingly met with overwhelming reception by critics. After seeing the film it is easy to see why their is...

Cheerleader follows the character of Mickey (Catherine Blades), a high school cheerleader who's got it made. She's one of the more popular girls in school, has a group of girls she considers her best friends and a boyfriend to round it all out. Unfortunately, she and her boyfriend break up which leaves Mickey feeling hurt and used. Being the quite the promiscuous girl, Mickey decides to get back at her boyfriend by going out with another guy to make him jealous. She chooses Buttons (Chris Bert), one of the nerdier boys in her school, as the guy she's going to go out with. Going out with someone like Buttons with either make her ex-boyfriend extremely jealous or cause him to lose his mind. This little film was quite the surprise for me. On the surface it doesn't look like there is much to offer other than a typical revenge type of story but director Irving Franco is able to put together a solid drama about the awkwardness and hardships of being in high school. On...

Cardboard Boxer stars Thomas Haden Church as Willie, a down on his luck homeless man who is a genuine soul. He spends most of his days roaming the streets, doing what he can to earn a little money for food and reading the diary of a young girl that he found in a dumpster. His nights are a little more exciting thanks to a couple of young guys paying the homeless folks on Willie's block to fight one another. Willie knows it's not the right thing to do but he will do whatever he can to earn some extra money to take care of himself. While this is a small film it certainly has a lot of heart. Director Knate Lee does a nice job and showing this man's hardships having to live on the streets and the conditions that some of these people have to deal with on a daily basis. None of this would be possible without a good performance from the leading man. Thomas Haden Church gives a lot of depth to his character, which is great considering he doesn't say much, and is able to ...