Max Winslow and the House of Secrets

USA • 2019 • 98m •

• Directed by: Sean Olson. • Starring: Chad Michael Murray, Marina Sirtis, Tanner Buchanan, Jade Chynoweth, Tyler Christopher, Jason Genao, Emery Kelly, Anton Starkman, Christopher Michael, John Littlefield, Sydne Mikelle, Han Soto, Candice Michele Barley. • Music by: Jason Brandt.

Five teenagers compete to win a mansion owned by entrepreneur and scientist Atticus Virtue. To win the teens must face-off against a super computer named HAVEN who controls the mansion.

Trailers:

Length:

Languages:

Subtitles:

Trailer

2:19

Review:

Image from: Max Winslow and the House of Secrets (2019)

So at some point in the movie someone says 'The mansion has 64 yobibytes of memory'. That sounds smart...but there's a problem if you can count!. The entire internet today is 'only' 2.8 exabytes including the phone in your pocket. A whopping 32,000,000 times smaller than said mansion. This techno-babble sets the tone for the next hour and 21 minutes. (Which they pronounce 'yo-ti-bi-tes', but that's besides the point.)

Let's gloss over the 'hack the credit card company easily' opening. First off the name Atticus Virtue is far too on the nose. There's no surprise that the 5 people that get screen-time in the beginning coincidentally get nominated, completely dissipating any potential tension. The name of the butler is 'Sir Mordred', I'm gonna guess he'll betray someone later in the movie. (I guess I was right) The first puzzle was odd that they happened to know what order the numbers went in. No one calls them 'computer codes'. Then around the 50 minute mark there's more techno-babble about private servers that make literally no sense in the current context. So apparently they never got the memo of an electrical charge residing on the outside of the conductor, a chainmail suit would be more than enough protection from a 110v outlet.

The characters are one sided with no arc. The score was straight out of a teenage girls party playlist. The acting isn't great. The greater message overall is okay but bounces between blaming your parents for your problem and doing too much of either social media or gaming. 1 star being the minimum, 1 more for the good voice acting and acting of Marina Sirtis and Chad Murray.

Review by amateur_wizard from the Internet Movie Database.

Release Anniversaries

Movie Database

Movies By Year: