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Into the Dark: Pure (2019)
Not Very Good
There were some moments that made this okay but overall it was a dragging plot and didn't really stick the landing on any of the points it seemed to want to make. There was potential with the concept but it turned into what too often ends up on made for streaming service originals, blandness.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Not Very Good
It wasn't good. Chris Rock seems totally out of place. Could have been good but it just tried to be off brand Saw and act like we shouldn't care. For a 90 minute movie it drags quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend even for a Saw fan. 3/10.
A Simple Plan (1998)
How Much More Can Go Wrong?
I just recently rewatched Sling Blade and it made me want to dive in the older Billy Bob movies. This was the first on my list. I love Bill Paxton and was excited to see the two of them share the screen. The story seems so simple at first but things get very complicated and intense before long. Billy Bob and his drinking buddy almost immediately complicate Paxton's plans for the millions of dollars they find in the woods. As they continue to try and hold the plan together, desperation, jealousy, anger and resentment all boil over making it harder and harder for the three men to hold to their word.
The climactic scene when Paxton and Thornton attempt to blackmail their friend was one of the best modern "western shootout" moments in a movie I've seen. The corrupting influence of money leaves Bill Paxton with numerous murders on his hands and no money. It's up there with No Country for Old Men and Hell or High Water as one of the better "westerns" of recent memory. 7/10.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Leaving Las Vegas will be Entering my Collection!
I've heard that Leaving Las Vegas was a good movie for some time but never got around to watching it. I finally sat down and gave it a watch and was not disappointed. Nic Cage and Elisabeth Shue are great. Watching their relationship blossom in the middle of Cage's plan to drink himself to death is both beautiful and heart breaking at the same time. Seeing the struggle for both of the characters to respect Cage's own wish while also seeing the beauty in Shue is a complex and sad character study. With the added layer of the backstory and tragic loss of the writer, there is an added layer of sorrow in the film. Watching the film through the lens of it being John O'Brien's suicide note of sorts grounds the work in real human struggle and despair.
It's a must watch for Cage fans as well as anybody looking for a beautiful and dark love story. 8/10.
The Faculty (1998)
It's fun but don't be fooled into thinking it's a comedy
This movie was fun and had some pretty good special effects for a 90's teen sci-fi horror flick. But it seems to get the Escape from LA treatment where folks start trying to justify some of the cheesier elements as satire or somehow self aware. I would argue that it just hasn't aged very well. BUT, it is fun and some of the cheesy lines had me cracking up. One moment in particular when Jon Stewart is analyzing what Elijah Wood found is particularly bad dialogue and very funny.
It's a slow burn but the second half is definitely worth waiting for. The special effects and make up work can be pretty terrifying. Definitely worth a watch for fans of the B movie horror.
Love Liza (2002)
Makes me really miss Mr. Hoffman
I heard about this movie and was told how absolutely depressing it is. And that was correct. But I was not aware of the amount of dark humor that there was going to be. Hoffman's performance is outstanding and effortlessly takes you to the absolute grief his character is experiencing. There are so many moments in this movie that I found myself thinking about hours, if not days, later. Hoffman's grief and inability to read the letter from his wife lead him down a truly dark path of bad decision making.The scene at the truck stop when he is half passed out in his trunk and the letter is falling out of his pocket stuck with me. A stranger calls to him and says that he's about lose something and Hoffman grabs the letter protectively. He tries to reach out to this kind stranger with the fact that it's a letter from his wife who committed suicide but the person is already entering his truck. Hoffman gets into his car mumbling something about how it's probably about him. Besides the obvious messages about grief and loss, there's a relatable theme of being unable to face the inevitable. Hoffman keeps putting off opening the letter not only because of the pain associated with it, but also because it's the last piece of his wife that he has a future with. As long as he never opens the letter, there is infinite possibility of what it could be or say.
The Fog (1980)
Carpenter's hot streak! Fun Halloween flick!
This one isn't a classic but it was worth the watch. John Carpenter is really good at making sure the feel of his movies just works. Even though this one is certainly cheesier than Halloween it still works really well as a horror flick. It's a fun one and reminded me of The Warriors at times with how a radio DJ is helping to drive the story along. 6/10 Ya gotta love Jamie Lee acting with her mom!
Hannibal (2001)
Gary CREEPY-Man! A lull for the series
I have yet to watch Hannibal Rising but so far Hannibal is the weakest Lecter yet. Silence of the Lambs is verified classic for sure and Red Dragon/Manhunter are both pretty darn good. This one just couldn't capture the charm of those other ones. Seems like there was a turbulent process of getting this made and it shows. Julianne Moore does a good job taking over for Jodie Foster but deep down we all know, she ain't Jodie. I did enjoy the cinematography in this one and the idea that a former patient is hunting for Lecter but the ending is just so-so. 5/10 Gary Oldman is unrecognizable and truly terrifying!
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Hoochie Bagoochie! This one ain't good!
I've been watching through The Conjuring films and their connected universe and this one is the first of the bunch that was straight up not good. The Annabelle ones are alright - pretty formulaic but good fun for the Halloween spooky season - and The Nun was boring but not offensive. This one was the first that I had a hard time finishing. Not very scary and the whole story just feels kind of stale, especially when you consider it's a part of the Conjuring universe. Didn't they make this one a few times already? I don't know. 3/10 If you're a Conjuring head and just want to watch all of the movies go for it but I can't recommend it to anyone on its own merits
The Abyss (1989)
Cool Flick - A little long
I'm not a big sci fi head so I knew I was taking a risk when I started this one. But this is during peak James Cameron so I decided to give it a shot. The cast does a great job humanizing this movie and make the dialogue feel fairly natural. There's an odd amount of hatred towards Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, is it cause her ad Ed Harris are having marital troubles? Is it because she's a woman? Is it because she's a scientist? It's never really explored but everyone just really doesn't like her. Michael Biehn plays the overly aggressive military guy very well. The movie is a little slow but it didn't feel overly dragged out. The underwater shooting is impressive and still holds up quite well. 7/10 I'll add this to the list of Cameron movies I can return to
Teen Witch (1989)
Cheese city - Good for a laugh
I heard of this movie on a podcast or Twitter (it doesn't matter) and looked it up. I found it is loosely related to Teen Wolf in that studios were looking to capitalize on having teens being different sorts of creatures of beings. Maybe if Teen Wolf Too and this film had been more successful we could have seen Teen Dracula or Teen Mummy! But getting back to Teen Witch, the movie can't really decide what's at its core. Is it a teen drama about relationship struggles, is it a comedy with some silly slapstick and gags, or is it something else? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Plenty of odd moments to laugh at that just seem out of whack. This seems like the outline of a movie, like someone came up with some funny ideas for what a teen witch would do, but they didn't come up with a main conflict or actual protagonist. If you're looking for some 80's cheese then you have found the right film, just don't expect much a story. 4/10 I won't be returning to this one next Halloween.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
Dare I say...It may be favorite in the series!
Nightmare on Elm Street has always been a tough series for me to commit to. For a long time, during my Halloween binge, I would only get through the first three films in the series before moving onto some other movies. I love the first film and Dream Warriors is plenty of fun. 4 and 5 have been somewhat impenetrable for me though for some reason. Mostly it gets down to me getting a bit tired of Freddy. On a whim though, I skipped over to New Nightmare after hearing plenty of people talk about how fun it is. It did not disappoint! It was a ton of fun the whole way through and made me want to finally sit down and go through the entire series. There were flashes of the meta style that would eventually go into the Scream series and I enjoyed the creative blurring of lines between the fictional reality of the film and the relationship to the movies. A deeper analysis of the movie would be interesting and could explore the commodification of a person through their fictionalized self in Hollywood and how it can tear their life apart. That would be something written by someone much smarter than me! 8/10 plenty of fun will be a recurring Halloween staple for me!
The Children's Hour (1961)
Slow burn - and boy does it burn!
This movie took me by surprise! I love Audrey Hepburn and decided to dig into some of her work I hadn't seen yet and this one is a true tragedy. I finished "Wait Until Dark" and thought this might be in the same vein but it most certainly is not. It's a weighty film emotionally and seems ahead of its time in some ways. After watching "Portrait of a Woman on Fire" earlier this year I can see parallels in the exploration of love and desire between the two. The pace does drag at points but considering this was made in 1961, and considering the subject matter, the execution is quite good. Overall it is a movie I would enjoy rewatching but I'll need some time to emotionally recover. 7/10.
Cop Out (2010)
Awful.
Smith has yet again gone out of his way to make this movie truly awful. Even for the 80's cop movie "homage" this is trying to be, it really is disappointing. The dialogue is slow, unfunny, and just flat out dumb most of the time. Smith seems to have put little to no effort into doing anything original with the buddy cop movie and it really shows.
If i could un-watch this movie I certainly would. This was a huge disappointment and waste of time! Tracy Morgan plays the "dumb" guy terribly. Well, he actually plays it too well and it becomes very annoying very quickly.
Bruce Willis is of course playing the same role he has played in almost all of his movies. The straight stern tough guy. It is nothing new, nothing original, and certainly nothing fun to watch.