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GOOD FORTUNE MOVIE REVIEW
Aziz Ansari has been wanting to move into feature filmmaking for awhile now but, as most are aware, there were a series of stumbling blocks. But now he writes, directs, and stars in this comedy that crosses Wings of Desire with Trading Places, the aptly named Good Fortune. Ansari plays Arj, a man struggling to get by with multiple gig economy jobs. When it seems like he finally got a break, working as a personal assistant for a rich guy named Jeff (Seth Rogen) who seems like a cool dude, it falls apart when he makes a simple mistake and Jeff lets him go. But wait: Anj has a guardian angel. Gabriel’s (Keanu Reeves) job is to try to keep people who text while driving from getting hurt or hurting others but he is moved by Arj’s plight. Although he is strictly forbidden from doing so, he reveals himself to Arj and uses some angel magic to make Arj and Jeff switch lives. Gabriel believes Arj will see that the life of a rich guy is not all it’s cracked up to be. Unfortunately for Gabriel, it kinda is and Arj has no interest in switching back. This is really unfortunate for Jeff who is decidedly kinda pissed. Even Gabriel is demoted and has to see for himself what the actual struggle of humans is like. Chris, Wright, Ben, and Rhett differ a bit on the success of this angelic comedy but all agree it has a lot of charm.
DIRECTED BY: Aziz Ansari
STARRING: Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh
YOUR REVIEWERS
Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)
Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).
Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)
Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.
Ben Glasthal (Highly Suspect Review, Screener Squad, Breakfast Pub, Unstabletop Gamers, Video and Audio Editor)
Born in Boston, then ending up in Dallas, Texas in the early 2000s, Ben has always had a passion for film. He started in film school not long after where he launched MovieReelizations.com where he still writes reviews to this day. He’s since moved to Austin where he has been also hopping on podcasts and both editing and shooting videos for One of Us. A fan of films from almost all genres, and many that predate him more than makes sense, he is anything if not eclectic in what he’s watching at any point. For the rest of his free time, he can be found biking, drinking craft beer, being an amateur photographer, and playing video games by himself or on Twitch. He’s best found on Instagram or Twitter as @MovieReelBen.
Rhett O’Hara
Rhett O’Hara has really been looking forward to writing this “about me”. He blames movies for a lot of things in his life. He blames seeing Batman Returns as a child for his interest in all things goth and camp. He blames seeing Akira at far too young of an age for his interest in films that dare to venture into the weirder side of things. He blames Midsommar for never visiting Sweden. Rhett has lived in Austin for a couple of decades, so he can speak fondly of the old days of renting DVDs from I Luv Video (Tetsuo the Iron Man left a mark) and buying peculiar documentaries (The Nomi Song, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist) from Waterloo Video. Rhett also remembers reading an “about me” that stuck with him a few years back. Time continued and he felt a constant need to share “about me” as well. It wasn’t a voice telling him to do this but something akin to the feeling of knowing that someone is watching you without ever actually seeing that person. Rhett has been anxious and is only just now feeling a sense of relief writing this. He feels selfish though, knowing that this will continue on to the next host; the desire…. the urge…. no….the need to pass along a message that has existed ever since humanity started sharing thoughts in a written form. You must understand that he had no choice in this matter. Rhett is truly sorry for this, but he’s every bit of a pawn as you are now. Rhett is also contractually obligated to let you know that he has been a guest on the hit podcast Trash in the Can.
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