The Sisters Brothers is the new Western featuring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as brothers with the last name of Sisters.  With that set up, you might think this was a comedic take on the Western genre, but you would be wrong.

Based on a novel by Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers are a pair of assassins who are being sent out by a local figure named The Commodore (Rutger Hauer) after a prospector named Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed).  Warm has a secret that The Commodore wants.

The narrative of the movie is a little iffy at times.  It is a basic Western with most of the traits of one.  The story is not the biggest point.  The most effective part of the film is the characterization between Eli Sisters (John C. Reilly) and Charlie Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix).  Their relationship is imminently intriguing and is easily the most interesting part of the film.

John C. Reilly is tremendous here.  He brings so much humanity to this role of the older brother.  You can see how life has challenged him and how much he is willing to do in order to protect his trouble-making, heavy drinking brother.  Eli hopes that he can find his way out of the life of an assassin, but the realization of the truth of his life is difficult to avoid.

The plot with Riz Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal is fine, but really feels as if it is nowhere near as interesting as the Sisters Brothers.  There are a lot of things that happen that feel as if it is just tossed into the story so something is happening.  There is a scene with a spider that has no purpose for the story or reason to be included.  It also had almost zero effect om the narrative.

The other problem is the tone of the film really bounces around too much.  The film does not seem to know what type of film it wants to be and many of these tones fight against themselves.

Much of The Sisters Brothers felt unnecessary and the plot was weak.  The best of this film was the relationship between the film’s actual brother characters, which included a great performance by John C. Reilly.  He is clearly the reason to watch this movie.  Phoenix is strong here, but everyone in the cast brings their best when on screen with Reilly.

2.8 stars

Biopic of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a woman who married a famous writer who went by “Willy” and she became the secret author of his most successful series of books, based on her life, the Claudine series.

Keira Knightley played Colette in a remarkable performance.  She and “Willy” (Dominic West) had great chemistry and were a fascinating pair.  Watching the development of Colette from mousy young lady to a confident woman was great and showed off Knightley’s ability.

Early on, there were some slow spots and I do think that the movie could had benefited from being cut down a little bit as it does feel too long.  However, the performance is compelling and the film looks beautiful.

3.1 stars

So disappointed.

I have been excited about the new Halloween movie for awhile now. Especially since it was taking all of the sequels to the iconic John Carpenter Halloween and scrapping them.  This new film was proclaimed to be the only sequel to that movie.  I recently watched Halloween, in prep for this film, and I enjoyed that one a lot.

Unfortunately, this new Halloween just did not do it for me.

I did not expect to go see Halloween: the Comedy.

I was waiting for Michael Myers to do a pratfall.

The tone of the film was all over the place.  It tried to be both frightening and funny at the same time and, unfortunately again, it just felt like the two styles fought against each other at every turn.

I mean, some of the stuff was funny.  There was a little boy (Jibrail Nantambu) who was being babysat who was a riot.  I just wasn’t sure why he was in this movie.

Don’t get me wrong.  There were some things I liked about the new Halloween. I enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis’s return as Laurie Strode.  I thought she was very good.  I liked the story they told of her years of crazed behavior because of that night 40 years prior.

I thought the final showdown worked pretty well also.  It felt quite contrived how these characters all got to this place together, but, once there, they delivered in the scene.

However, I hated the opening scene.  It is the scene in the trailer where a man goes to see Michael at the asylum and taunts him with the Michael Myers mask.  That entire scene just played so poorly that, for me, the film started off hamstrung immediately.

Two of the characters in that opening scene were Aaron (Jefferson Hall) and Dana (Rhian Rees) were so wasted in this movie that I could not believe that they were shown to be important players.

The writing was lazy except for one part.  There are a ton of winks and nods to the original Halloween (and other films as well.  I am sure I saw almost an exact copy of a scene from one of the Scream movies in here).  Some of the ways that this movie acknowledged the original was clever and was a nice homage.  However, the rest of the story was just lazy and things happen just to have things happen.  There is little to no character development for anybody and it turns into just another slasher flick.

There is a plot point involving Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) that is downright stupid.

Once again, Jamie Lee Curtis brought the stuff here.  I just wish that she would have been given a better film in which to return to her iconic role.  2018’s version of Halloween wanted to be more than just a slasher film.  It failed.  There is entertainment to be had here, but it is nowhere near as strong as it should have been.

2.75 stars

Drew Goddard co-wrote and directed the movie Cabin in the Woods, which was one of my favorite movies of that year.  When I heard that he was writing and directing the new film, Bad Times at the El Royale, I was excited and was looking forward to it.

I was not disappointed.

I was completely engaged with the story being told in Bad Times at the El Royale as well as the manner in which it was told.

Now the story was fairly complex as it involved a group of unlikely characters arriving at the hotel named El Royale, which was found directly on the border between California and Nevada, with motives of their own and a ton of secrets.

The acting is unbelievable in this movie.  Jeff Bridges is given the deepest, most interesting character on the page and he brings it big time.  Jon Hamm is great as Laramie Seymour Sullivan who is not quite what you expect.  Chris Hemsworth is fantastic in a menacing role that is different than anything else he has ever done.  Lewis Pullman shows all kinds of soul to the seemingly only staff member at the hotel.  Dakota Johnson whose character is deeper than it appears.

However, there is no doubt who steals this movie.  Cynthia Erivo has a star making performance as Darlene Sweet, a singer who has come to the El Royale the night before she is scheduled to perform at a club in Reno.  Erivo is a well respected stage actor and she has a Daytime Emmy Award, but this is one of the biggest performances on the big screen you are going to get.  Her vocal performance alone is mesmerizing.  The connections she makes with Jeff Bridges are some of the best moments in the script.

The film has a feel of a Tarantino movie, in both structure and development.  I felt as if I were watching Pulp Fiction.  That is a high complement.

Another thing that made me think about Pulp Fiction was how every question brought up by the film is not answered.  I understand that will probably upset some people (like those people who felt as if LOST needed to answer more than it did) but I like that.  There is one plot specifically involving a film recording that might make some people crazy.

The only issue I had with the film was it did drag a little early as things were being set up and it could have been a little long.  However, the third act was as good of a third act as you are going to get and it was completely original.

I was thoroughly entertained watching Bad Times at the El Royale and I think it is one of the best films of the year.  It was full of great acting, great storytelling and some of the best looking shots you are going to find.  The mystery of the story is compelling and engaging.  Jeff Bridges and Cynthia Erivo do some of their best work, which is saying something.  Chris Hemsworth makes one of the best villains of the year.

Bad Times is full of Great Times.

4.85 stars

The brand new Comedy Central made-for-TV Halloween movie, Goose… What?  What do you mean this is not a made-for-TV movie?  Wide release in theaters?  You’re kidding me!

The quickly released sequel (sort of) to the fairly entertaining Jack Black film Goosebumps is nowhere near as good as that 2015 film.

A new group of characters come across one of R.L. Stein’s (Jack Black) unwritten books and accidentally release the evil ventriloquist dummy, Slappy (voiced by Jack Black as well) who is looking for a family.  When that doesn’t work for him, he decides to make his own family by causing havoc with his own monsters.

Jeremy Ray Taylor from last year’s huge hit It plays Sonny and Caleel Harris plays Sam.  These two kids are running their own junk salvage business and wind up going through one of R.L. Stein’s old houses.

I really did not like this movie much.  I have heard a lot of online critics say that they did not hate the movie, but did not like it much.  They all had what felt like excuses.  I’m not making any.  I disliked this a lot.

To say this felt like a TV movie would be an understatement.  The production, the script, the acting all felt like it fit better on the small screen than the big one.  The CGI looked cheap.  The story beats were boring and unoriginal.  None of the kids were bad actors, but none of them stood out at all either.  The humor did not work.  I found it a really poor theater experience.

I did actually like what was done with the character of R.L. Stein.  No spoilers, but I liked how that played out.

I think that a young child, around 10 or so, might find this to be somewhat entertaining, but, as an adult, it was work.

1.9 stars

Damien Chazelle is now three for three.

Director Chazelle’s first film was Whiplash, which was tremendous.  His second film was La La Land, which was critically acclaimed (while I found it okay) and brought him an Oscar.  Now, Chazelle has his trifecta with the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.

First Man tells the intensely personal story of Neil Armstrong and his losses and sacrifices during his life that led him to being the first man to step foot on the powdery surface of the moon.  The film goes from 1961 to 1969 and focuses on the man more than it does the moment.

And the film really started with a gut punch that I did not know was coming.  Of course, I knew who Neil Armstrong was, but I will admit to not knowing that much about him.  This biopic dove into details that place the American hero into a brand new perspective.  Armstrong’s family suffered a tragedy at the beginning of the film that, apparently, taints everything that happens after it.

Ryan Gosling played Neil Armstrong and, to be honest, I found the character to be quite a jerk.  He was withdrawn and isolated, even from those who loved him the most.  However, we also see how brilliant of an astronaut he was as the film showed us several instances where his skills were the only reason he and the other crew members he was with got out of those situations alive.

Claire Foy is brilliant as Armstrong’s wife, Janet.  She brought the humanity to the film and demanded that her husband be more than just the walking zombie that he appeared to be.  Foy’s performance was powerful and fit perfectly into the narrative.

One of the things I noticed was that Chazelle gave us some great shots throughout the film.  I would stop and marvel at several of these visual imagery on the screen and I was really impressed with the eye of the director.  There was one moment where Gosling’s eyes kind of melded into the darkness of space, but still stood out in the shot and it was amazing.

My only criticism is a personal one as well.  Some of the scenes in the shuttles were difficult to watch because of the drastic spinning.  I am sure this was a choice made that was intended to make the audience uncomfortable to increase the tension but I did not like them.  There were several moments where I had to turn away to maintain my own balance.  I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone who really had trouble with motion.  At times, it reminded me about how I felt while watching Dunkirk, which attacked me physically and made the viewing unlikable for me.  This was not at that level, but there were definitely moments that caused distress.

There were times where First man felt a little slow, but that is not a bad thing.  It is a character study on Neil Armstrong and the events of his life that led him to become a myth.  We see in First Man that the myth has some reality hidden in it.

4.6 stars

This is the fourth feature adaptation of the story of A Star is Born and there is a reason why they continue to remake this film.  The movie is a classic.

Actor Bradley Cooper makes his feature film directorial debut with the remake, and he does an admirable job as director.  It cannot be easy to choose something so well known as your first directorial job, and then to be the lead actor as well can only make that even more difficult.  Cooper does a remarkable job considering all of the challenges he could have faced.

However, it was not just as a director that Cooper shined.  Playing the lead role of Jackson Maine, Cooper knocked it out of the park, practically making himself one of the leading candidates for an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

The story is familiar and this version does not detour from it in any real substantial manner.  Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a rock singer and kick ass guitarist who is on the edge of a downward path of his career.  He meets Ally (Lady Gaga), a young and shy singer.songwriter with a powerful voice, and he help introduce her to the world of super stardom.  The two of them fall in love, but the celebrity of Maine brings with it pitfalls galore that he has to try to overcome and that make their love story harrowing.

Cooper is tremendous, but so is Lady Gaga.  She is exceptional in the role of Ally.  She brings so much soul and heart to the role that a lot of seasoned actresses would be unable to accomplish what she did.  I have heard some criticisms that Cooper “tailor-made” the role for Lady Gaga and focused on her strengths and that seems to be a reason some people are downgrading her performance.  That is an obnoxious comment, as if actors and actresses aren’t having their strengths targeted by directors in every movie.  The attempt to belittle the achievement of Lady Gaga is unnecessary and borders on misogynistic.

The music in A Star is Born is unbelievable, and not just the Lady Gaga songs.  Sure, Lady Gaga is one of the best vocal performers in the entertainment biz today, but who knew that Bradley Cooper was as awesome as he turned out to be.  The first song performed by Cooper, “Black Eyes,” was a rocking smash.  There are so many emotional hits and rocking good times on the soundtrack that it is one that I am going to be looking into on iTunes.

Some of the side characters had amazing performances as well.  In particular, Sam Elliott, who plays Jack’s older brother, is just out of the world.  Sure, Sam Elliott is always great, but this is next level work.  Every second he is on the screen, Elliott is breathtaking.  Andrew Dice Clay plays Ally’s father and he is amazing here as well.  I did not expect to see Clay be such a transcendent figure in the film, despite his smart part.  David Chappelle makes a small, but memorable role as one of Jack’s old friends.  I do have to say that Chappelle’s part just kind of came out of nowhere, but that is a minor gripe as he was great when he was on screen.

The story itself is an emotional one, and will definitely require tissues before it is over.  There are amazing moments of joy and other moments of heartbreak as well, as Jack deals with his addictions and Ally deals with her new found fame.

The one problem is that the story is a bit predictable.  It follows a formulaic pattern and it does not deviate from those beats much at all.  Since it is the fourth version of basically the same story, I can see where some people might not be surprised with the events that happen in the film.

There are also some pacing issues and, because of this, the film does feel a little long.  However, the amazing chemistry between Cooper and Lady Gaga helps to push those issues to the side.

A Star is Born has been remade four times, once in 1937, 1954, 1976 and now in 2018.  This new version works on a ton of levels and should be one of the big Oscar nominated films for this year.  The film is carried by two powerhouse performances by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, whose seamless chemistry makes even the doubters change their tune.  It is a great movie and a remarkably entertaining time at the movies.

4.5 stars

Well, it is not as bad as I have heard, but it is nowhere as good as it could have been.

Sony Picture’s Venom arrived in the theaters with some big time baggage from negative reviews on Twitter and the internet, and I can certainly see why some people would not like Venom.  I am not going to claim that I loved this movie either.  In fact, it might be one of those that gets worse the more I think about it, but my initial thoughts were that it was okay, but no great.

Tom Hardy plays down on his luck reporter Eddie Brock, who loses his job and his fiance after an ill-advised interview with the crooked head of Life Corporation Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed).  Brock’s life takes a strange turn when he bonds with one of the alien symbiotes that the Life corporation were studying and they become Venom.

The tone of this movie was unexpected.  It was really more of a buddy comedy than it was a horror film, which was what I had expected.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I am afraid most of the jokes did not hit for me.

Hampering the jokes even more was the horrid dialogue that was tearing down this script.  There were laughable lines, but not laughable in the funny way.  More like the “turd in the wind” way.

I will say that, despite its early flaws, I was having a decent time watching Venom for the first part of the film.  However, the third act, in particular, went down hill fast and hard and really wasted the good will that I had built up.  The third act felt totally rushed.  It was nothing more than a sloppy CGI fest between Venom and Riot that was not fun to watch and had little to no stakes. The film tried to pretend it had stakes, but it was absolutely just pretending.

Tom Hardy was fine as Eddie Brock, though he did seem kind of whiny at times.  His physicality of the role was solid and I did like the interactions between Brock and Venom, despite the lackluster dialogue.  There were some really good action sequences in the film, one in an office building and the one where Eddie fights in his apartment.  There is a poor car/motorcycle chase scene though that was overlong and was peppered with too many unneeded explosions.

Riz Ahmed was a terrible villain, stereotypical and rather boring.  Ahmed is way too good of an actor to be placed in a role with so little development.  Michelle Williams is also in this movie.  She played the worst female character in a comic book movie in a long time.  She too is too good of an actor to have this material given to her.  I did not believe for one moment in the relationship with her and Eddie.  I was actually more interested in her relationship with good guy Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott).

I did not mind the origin of this version of Venom sans Spider-man as it seemed at first that Carlton Drake would take that role.  However, the film did seem like it was missing something for Venom, a counter balance to him that is perfectly provided by Spider-man.  And while it might not be fair to say this, I do think this would have been a stronger movie had Spider-man made an appearance and was tied into Venom’s world.

There is really only one post credit scene, as we see the world’s worst wig.  At the end of the credits, though, they show an extended clip from Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse animated film that is coming out in December, starring Miles Morales, and it looked absolutely amazing.  Watching that clip, I had a serious sense of wonder that was lacking from Venom.  I did leave the theater with a happier feel than I did after Venom was over, so there is that.

Venom has its moments where the film was enjoyable, but, unfortunately, there were more scenes where it was pretty dumb.  The dialogue was terrible.  There were too many talented actors that was not provided a sufficiently weighty role.  The third act took the film, that was hanging on by a thread, well off the rails and rushed through to an unearned conclusion.  Tom Hardy was good though and there were some good moments (though too many of the best scenes were in the trailer).

This Venom was better than the Topher Grace version, but not by much.

2.75 stars

Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish star in the brand new, we’ll say, comedy Night School.  Unfortunately, I did not find very many comedic elements to be had here.

Kevin Hart is Teddy, a high school dropout who has a great skill at sales.  His ability to charm people into purchasing things that they really did not need made him very successful.  However, when adversity falls upon him and he needs to find a new job, Teddy discovers that he needs a high school diploma to be hired.  He decides to go to night school to get his GED, but his struggles in learning, particularly in test taking, rear its ugly head once again in the classroom of night school teacher Carrie (Tiffany Haddish).

Teddy’s old high school rival Stewart (Taran Killiam) happens to be the principal of the school, who carries a bat and somehow can get away with intimidating and bullying the student body.  I found that character to be so unlikely that it really took me out of the movie.

Not that I was truly ever into the movie as I found this one to be stupid and dull.  The best parts of the film included the side stories of the other members of the night school class, in particular the ridiculousness of Rob Riggle, and desperate housewife looking for an escape from her home life Theresa (played by 24’s own Chloe, Mary Lynn Rajskub).  Other than that, there was not much to be had here.

The film was unbelievably predictable.  I had to use the restroom, and before I went, I thought to myself about what was going to happen.  I listed off several of these in my head.  When I cam back, I actually saw each and every one of the things I thought was going to happen, happen.  It was shocking how easily it was to know what was going to happen.

Predictability would still be fine if the film was funny, but there were so few moments of humor that I was shocked.  Between two of the funniest people in Hollywood today in Hart and Haddish to have a film so devoid of laughs in so sad.  Even in my theater, there were, at best, a few giggles here and there.  The potentially best scene with humor was then ruined with a gross out moment that I just do not find funny.

Hart and Haddish are charismatic individuals and they are usually funnier than this, but I just do not think the script was worth the time of these top line comedians.

Another major problem was that the film was released as a PG-13 film and there were many times that you could see that the words being said by the actors did not match what their mouths were saying.  They clearly edited out some F-bombs to make it down to PG-13, but they did it so poorly that it was obvious when it happened.  It was like the old days on television when they would have the film Die Hard on and you would hear John McClane say “Yippee Ki Yay, Mister Falcon.”  It is a silly way to keep the ratings in the family level.

There are a couple of positive messages hidden in the story, but it is so convoluted inside the rest of the stupid dialogue and plot points that it loses any sort of power.

Then the ending was so contrived it was just unbelievable.  I won’t spoil it, but it was a laughably easy finish.

In what could have been a really funny film, Night School was a huge flop despite a crew of funny people on screen.  I was counting the minutes for this one to be finished.

2 stars

Here is another really solid documentary for the year.  There have been several great docs that I have seen, but this one is a little less inspiring than some of the others.

In fact, this one leaves you with a sinking feeling. A deep depressing sense that our country is facing a serious threat from within.

I have always tried to avoid being political on EYG because it is the easiest way to create divisiveness and I do not want that.  However, Michael Moore’s newest documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9 cannot be analyzed without taking the steps into the world of politics.

The film itself is well crafted and tells a strong story of how we came to be where we are right now, with the presidency of Donald J. Trump and how easily it could become more than what we expect.

To be fair, Michael Moore spends a chunk of the doc focusing on other issues that would be considered tangential to Trump’s America.  This included the poison water crisis from Flint, Michigan, the school shooting at Parkland, Florida and the teacher strike in West Virginia.  Moore brings these back around to Trump eventually, but he is not the only person who he goes after in this doc.  Michigan governor Rick Snyder is portrayed as a serious villain in this piece and, if anything close to what is shown here is true, then that man needs to be removed via vote immediately.  Democrats are not free of Moore’s wrath either as he calls out Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other long-time established Democrats in Congress for their roles in bringing us Trump as president.

The Obama part was particularly difficult considering how Moore showed the hope from the people of Flint when Obama came to the city with the expectation of helping the people only to have a glass of water in a stunt at a press conference.  That was seen as a betrayal from the Flint people and helped suppress the vote int he 2016 election in a state where Hillary lost by just a handful of votes.

It was also very painful to see some of the cell phone footage from inside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at Parkland as bullets are flying around these kids.  The students who then stepped forward ready to make change in the world are all the more inspiring after seeing this documentary.

It is amazing to listen to some of the insanity that comes out of the mouths of some of these people, in particular, our Commander in Chief.  The film paints a horrific vision of a possible future and one that is not all that difficult to imagine.  See the film for yourself and make your own mind up.

3.75 stars

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a film that feels like an eighties style Spielberg film combined with Goosebumps and Harry Potter.  It is a horror movie for kids that adults should also enjoy.  I found the movie to be very charming and engaging.

Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are great together as our lead characters Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman.  Then, young actor Own Vaccario as Louis holds his own with these top of the line actors.  Again, as it is in most of these kinds of films, if the young actor does not carry himself well, the entire movie falters.

Louis’s parents died and he has come to stay with his Uncle Jonathan, who lives in a mysterious house that some people believe is haunted.  It is not too long after his arrival at the house that Louis realizes that there is something magical going on inside the doors.  Meanwhile, Uncle Jonathan is looking for a hidden clock somewhere in the house, that he hears ticking in the middle of the night and he seems to be desperate to discover where the clock is found.

There are some great scenes in this movie and I really found it charming.  There were even moments in the film where I was tearing up because of what was happening.  I loved the platonic pairing of Jack Black and Cate Blanchett.  They are wonderfully witty together with the back and forth banter between them.

Another favorite of mine is Kyle MacLachlan, who is the villain of the piece, Isaac Izard.  MacLachlan is always good in whatever role he is in and this is no exception.

Some of the humor was too juvenile for me, but there were not too many of them to bring the film down.  Most of the film’s humor was funny and witty.  There were a couple too many poop jokes, though they are more creative than usual.

There are some scary moments that might be considered too much for a really younger child.  This would be a great family film for mid aged children.  It can be a great way to introduce children to the genre of humor.  I was shocked when I saw that this movie was directed by Eli Roth, who was more known for his blood and gore films than anything else.  I would never have made the connection to Eli Roth had I not seen his name in the credits.

Another strong part of the film was the school section for Louis as he had to find his way through the political-like environment of the students.  I liked how one storyline piece did not go in the direction you thought it would go when it started off.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a very solid and enjoyable movie with some very great performances from some wonderfully talented actors.  The CGI is fine and the story develops well.  Some of the humor misses, but more hits than not.  This feels like a future member of the 31 Days of Halloween on Freeform.

4 stars

On first look, A Simple Favor did not seem to be a film that I was very interested in seeing, but the new film directed by Paul Feig and starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively was highly entertaining.

The film starts off as an odd couple comedy with two mothers who could not be more different.  Then, it turns into a mystery noir focused on what happened to Emily (Blake Lively) who disappeared after requesting that Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) picks up Emily’s son from school.

The relationship between Emily and Stephanie was a great way to start the film as both actresses have a warm charm that really served them well in this movie.  They were very funny as they were getting to know one another, but you could tell that the film was setting something up as it was slowly dropping hints about the two women and their questionable pasts.

After Emily disappears, A Simple Favor becomes a different movie.  There is a feel of darkness that comes into the script and the tone shifts as I was completely invested in the development of the story and discovering exactly what was going on.

I really enjoyed this movie, until a certain event happens in the finale of the film that just completely sends the film off the rails for me.  Without spoiling it, the ending of this felt so out of place in either of the parts of this movie that it really detracted from the film itself.  The fact that the ending did not completely ruin the movie for me is a testament to the strength of what had come before it.  In that third act, I was just not sure what was going to happen ( a good thing) and I was running scenarios through my head while the scene played out, but the actual pay off was so poor that anything else would have made this movie one of the best of the year.  Instead, it has to settle for being a very fun and enjoyable movie.

Blake Lively was transcendent here.  She seemed to glow on the screen and I could not take my eyes off of her.  She was so amazingly beautiful through the movie that I could ignore some of the more controversial things she was saying just because of her beauty.

I also enjoyed the development of the Anna Kendrick character from the beginning of the movie through the end.  The use of the video blog was a clever way to provide some details to the audience.  There may have been some other moments where the exposition was over used, but these vblog parts were very effective.

In the end, I really enjoyed most of A Simple Favor.  It kept me off balance and uncertain about what was going to happen next and it is able to survive the shifts in tone that happen in the story.  Unfortunately, the ending salvo was such a step down from the high quality of the rest of the movie that I could see how it could feel disappointing to many viewers.  I was able to get past it and it did not ruin the film for me.

4 stars

I was at the iTunes movie store the other day and I came across a horror/fantasy Sci-fi film in the $0.99 rentals.  It was listed as a 2018 release (although I believe it may have debuted at a festival prior to 2018) called The Endless.  The synopsis was fairly intriguing and the price was certainly right.

The film turned out to be extremely solid and downright mind-trippy fun.

Two brothers, Aaron (Aaron Moorhead) and Justin (Justin Benson) received a mysterious video from the cult that they had escaped from as children and they felt a pull to go back to see exactly what they had left.  Once there, the pair realized that there was more happening than just cultist behavior.

Moorhead and Benson were not only the stars of this movie, but they were also the directors and Benson was the the screenwriter.  This film was very well done and had a real feel of an independent movie.  You could feel the surroundings.  The setting became an important aspect of the story.

The mystery of what is going on is very challenging, even when you know what is happening, it is difficult to comprehend and that thinking is welcomed in the horror genre.  In fact, not only was the script very intelligent, it was also creepy as hell, especially in the first half of the movie.

The film has an original story that weaves its way through the narrative successfully.  The performances were solid.  I especially enjoyed the performance of “cult leader” Hal (Tate Ellington).  Hal always seems to have something that he is keeping to himself, but you are never really sure what that might be.  I appreciate how the film deftly avoids the cliched answers that one might expect from the reveal of the film.

The Endless is a great horror movie and fans of the genre will enjoy watching this develop.

3.85 stars

What. the. Hell.  was. this???

I’m trying to wrap my head around what I just watched.  I’m not sure I want to wrap my head around it.

It is certainly a horror/revenge flick.  But it was so out there that what I saw for most of the movie was so weird… it is difficult to really judge it.

One thing is for sure.  The only actor that could be in this movie and not be completely campy is Nicolas Cage (or maybe Bruce Campbell).  This role is just perfect for Nicolas Cage and his unbelievably over-acting, filled with moments of bulging eyes and bizarre facial features.

And… holy crap… there be violence here.

Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) and Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) are in love and are existing in what some may say as a heavenly existence.  When a vicious cult, led by sadistic Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) comes into the picture, the perfect couple is forever destroyed, sending Red on a bloody trip of vengeance.

I think you have to be in the right mind set to watch Mandy.  It comes off as a violent dream, one that you cannot awaken from.  There may be a perverse enjoyment in watching Red cut through these cultists that infused themselves into their lives, but there is also a feeling of grossness here.  Does the film go too far?  Hard to say.

I have never been much of a fan of the torture horror porn style of film and this feels as if it fits into that more than any other.  I do believe there are metaphors and symbols sprinkled throughout the film that give it more of a message or weight that might be seen easier upon a second viewing once I am used to what is happening on the screen.  However, I am pretty sure that a second viewing is not happening.

The soundtrack is pounding and cannot be ignored.  Each shot has a weird color scheme to it, leaning heavily on the blood red.

Perhaps the fact that I am disturbed by the film is the real point to it.

3.1 stars

Although I was not a huge fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s, I did love Jesse “The Body” Ventura, from the WWE, so I loved the classic 80s action movie, Predator.  Because of that, I was excited when I heard that they were doing a new Predator movie directed by Shane Black, called The Predator.  I liked most of Black’s work and I thought this would be a nice blend of action and character work.

Nope.

This was awful.

A regular predator arrives on earth with an unknown mission and he comes into conflict with the group led by American sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook).  It took out that team, but it was captured. leaving McKenna alone and looking to be crazy.  As evidence, McKenna took some equipment from the predator and mailed it to his own post office box, which mistakenly ends up in the hands of his estranged son, Rory (Jacob Tremblay), who is on the Autism spectrum (and apparently genius level).  Rory is able to trigger the gauntlet that had been sent and accidentally tips off the super Predator that had been in pursuit of the smaller predator.

Meanwhile, McKenna wound up on a bus heading to an asylum but he was conveniently  on the same bus as a group of crazy soldiers called The Loonies.  When the storylines converged, they teamed up to try and prevent the predators from doing whatever they were going to do.

The film is needlessly convoluted and confusing in many points.  There are bunches of storylines going on at any one point in the movie and the film touches upon them and drops them willy-nilly throughout.  There are many times that the narrative structure felt more like a mishmash of scenes instead of a well thought out plot.

Not that Schwarzenegger’s Predator was a deeply involved story.  It was the story of a hunter creature stalking and killing a group of well armed men.  It was a slasher horror flick masked as an action movie.  Either this new film did not know what it wanted to be, or, worse yet, knew what it wanted to be and did not understand the basic component of what makes a successful Predator movie.

There were too many jokes.  Scenes were dismissive and played for comedy.  Very few of the jokes worked, even with the remarkably funny Keegan-Michael Key as one of the Loonies.  Key’s character just did not work for me, and any enjoyable scenes with that character was strictly from the talent of Mr. Key.  And above all else, despite there being many quips and one-lines, there were none like “I ain’t got time to bleed.”

The action was fine, but unremarkable.  There were actually several scenes where it looked like an old eighties film, and not in the good way.  The CGI and effects were hit and miss, which is inexcusable at this time in movie history for a big budget movie.

The cast was adequate, but nobody truly stood out.  Olivia Munn was fine in her role, but casting her as a scientist was a bit of a stretch for sure.  Sterling K. Brown’s Traeger was a dull villain whose motivation was confused at best.  I hated Thomas Jane’s character of Baxley, whose character trait apparently was that he had Tourettes syndrome.

The film had a lot of noise and a lot of gunfire with little purpose behind either.  And there felt as if there were no stakes at all because nobody had any fear or concern or emotional ties to anything that happened.  When Jacob Tremblay takes the Predator helmet that hi dad mistakenly mailed him and used it for a Halloween costume, the mask activates on its own and kills somebody.  That does not seem to bother Tremblay’s character in the least.  No one has any normal human reactions to what is happening around them and so why should I care if any of them are in danger?

The Predator is a mess of a movie and I really disliked my time watching it in an IMAX theater.  It did not look good, had average, at best, performances and tried to juggle too many plots where one or two would have sufficed.  The Predator was not a good film.

1.5 stars