Family (2018) and Metal Lords (2022) or how I learned to stop worrying and love Metal Facepaint

So I just watched Family after seeing a some major Rizz at work in a short. I will say that short of Baby Joker flirting with Maddie, might be the most wholesome and heartwarming scene of someone hitting on another in a movie ever. 

Kate is a self-centered career focused woman who has put everything in her life to the side to fulfill herself with work success. It has made her, pardon my french, a raging bitch. She doesn't help anyone, is an outsider in the office, has no filter and insults everyone in the office, whether she means to or not. Her brother's mother-in-law is dying and he needs to accompany his wife to help with things, this means he needs to ask his sister Kate to watch his daughter Maddie. In many ways a very Uncle Buck situation.

Maddie is a bit of an "odd" child (personally I love her) who struggles at middle school and skips out of ballet classes to learn karate. She practice fights trees and howls at the moon and is generally a wonderful kid.

Kate doesn't know what to do. She ignores Maddie's food allergies, to be fair Maddie does too, and lets her eat chicken parm every meal, do what she wants, and encourages her to stand up for herself. This results in Maddie kicking a bully in the chest with an awesome side kick, getting suspended and Kate and the unofficial karate teacher getting called into the school to deal with the issue and getting suspended. Maddie, feels seen by Kate and the freedom and encouragement she receives, while Kate is trying to complete a big deal at work but ends up too focused on her niece to do it justice.

Maddie make a friend with a Gas Station Clerk, Baby Joker, who is a Juggalo, and makes a true friend for maybe the first time in her life. 

What follow is hijinks on both sides and Maddie running away to a ICP festival, while her parents return and everyone freaking out. so Kate steps up and of course, everyone learns a valuable lesson. Kate starts to be nicer to everyone, Maddie becomes more confident, her parents allow her to find interests and friends. 

A fun movie with some awesome parts, and anyone who doesn't hate ICP too much.

7/10

Family reminded me of Metal Lords. A fantastic movie on Netflix where you learn the power of friendship through METAL!!!

This movie is about two outsiders who connect through their "love" of Metal and making a band. Hunter is obsessed with metal to the exclusion of everything else in his life. Kevin struggles to connect with anyone but Hunter. So he bows down to what Hunter wants and learns to play drums in a metal way, there's a great War Pigs learning montage in here. 

Kevin then meets Emily, who struggles with anger issues, and is enamored and starts to somewhat distance from Hunter. It causes chaos on all fronts as all three of them learn how to deal with each other and themselves. 

There are some of my favorite little scenes of all time in this movie, and some great cameos from some great metal musicians as well. 

Probably one of the best movies about being a teen I've seen.

9/10