Tag Archives: film

Hell House LLC (2015)

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The October 3 of 13

I watched the most recent Hell House movie, called Hell House LLC: Origins- The Carmichael Manor for this year’s June Swoon. I had no idea that this was the fourth film in a franchise. So I figured the first film of the franchise would be a good film to use for The October 13.

This was filmed in a documentary style of a supposed incident at a haunted house called Hell House opening during the Halloween season where fifteen people died in, what authorities were calling an “unknown malfunction.” The documentarian, Diane Graves (Alice Bahlke), found the sole survivor of the crew from the haunted house, Sara (Ryan Jennifer Jones), and Sara gave her several recording made by the others at the Hell House.

At this point, the movie became a combination of documentary and found footage film, and it was absolutely insane.

The footage was remarkably creepy as it showed so many frightening moments inside the Abaddon Hotel, which was deserted and had signs that there may have been a Satanic cult here at one point in its history.

As the crew worked to get their haunted house constructed inside the Abaddon Hotel, strange things began to happen, especially with some of the clown mannequins.

Some of the stuff they got on film was frustrating at times because it never seemed to matter to Hell House CEO Alex (Danny Bellini) even when his crew was clearly suffering the effects of the hotel. There was a mystery reason that Alex was so determined to stay and, though referenced, it was never revealed. I have seen speculation that it was a financial reason and I have also seen that the answer might come in the actual sequel to this. Maybe that one has to go on a watch list too.

I found this really intense and I enjoyed this whole film. The found footage was fun and filled with anxiety. Those clowns were absolutely creepy and the little things made this all the better. This was a wonderful film for The October 13.

Speak No Evil (2022)

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The October 2 of 13

Recently, I went to see the new movie starring James McAvoy called Speak No Evil without the knowledge that there had been a Dutch version of the film just a couple of years before it. When I discovered that, I placed the original version on the list to watch for The October 13.

Man, I feel like I have been kicked in the gut.

The first two acts of the new movie was very similar, if not a shot for shot replay of the Dutch film. However, the third act took a drastic turn and ended up in one of the darkest endings I have ever seen for any movie. Legitimately, I feel a little sick to my stomach after this one got over.

According to Wikipedia, ” The film centers on Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), a Danish couple who are invited by Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), a Dutch couple, to their country house for a weekend holiday.”

It is difficult to not compare the two movies since I saw them so close to each other, and since I saw the 2024 American version first, it feels as if that is the original to me. I know this Dutch version is the first one, but it is bouncing around in my head in the other order. Fedja van Huêt plays the role that James McAvoy would play in the American version. I think I enjoyed both performances. McAvoy’s was a touch more unbalanced while Fedja van Huêt was a touch more sinister.

That third act though. Holy cow. I can’t describe it sufficiently to make it clear how disturbing it is without spoiling, so let’s just say that this is completely different from the American version.

This is one of those movies that will stick with me for a long time. I do expect that I will never want to watch this again because of the way it kicked me in the gut. If I had watched this before the American version, I cannot imagine wanting to go see the remake.

First time I have given something two ratings…

The Day of the Dead (1985)

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October 1 of 13

The first film of the October 13 this year was one of the all-time classics among the zombie genre, written and directed by the father of the zombie movie, George R. Romero. It was the third film in his zombie trilogy, The Day of the Dead.

To be honest, I thought that I had seen parts of this movie before, but after watching it this morning, I realized that I had never seen it at all. None of the film was recognizable for me.

The film follows a group of survivors, a combination of military and scientists, who have taken up refuge in a deserted missile silo to avoid the Living Dead. Meanwhile, one scientist tried to discover a way to domesticate the Dead.

The military men, in particular, were such horrendous people that it was clear that they were being set up to become zombie chow, and have the audience happy at their fate. There were very few of the survivors that were easy to root for.

Sarah (Lori Cardille) was one of the scientists who seemed to have the best head on her shoulders. John (Terry Alexander) was the helicopter pilot.

The worst of the military men was Captain Henry Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) and Private Walter Steel (Gary Howard Klar), both men were abusive and power mad. They were the characters in a slasher film that you want to see killed. And this film did not let us down. Rhodes’s death specifically was horrific.

We also came as close as we were going to get to a thinking zombie with Bub (Sherman Howard) who was being trained by scientist Dr. Matthew Logan (Richard Liberty).

There was a lot of screaming in the film, but I think that was meant to show the negatives of the humans, how the humans may actually be the monsters in this monster story.

One of the funniest part of the movie was seeing the oncoming zombie horde with the collection of zombie types in the mass. There was a zombie cowboy, a zombie football player, a zombie clown… makes one wonder why this group of one time people were together at all.

The Day of the Dead is a solid film with some amazing zombie gore, particularly for the time frame. I was very pleased with the kills of the film as the deaths of these unlikable humans were satisfactory.

Wolfs

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When actor David Hyde Pierce got the first script for the TV comedy Frasier, he thought it was terrible because they had written the same character twice. Frasier and Niles were basically the same character and he thought it would be a failure. Of course, Frasier turned out to be a hugely successful show.

The new Apple TV + movie, Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, debuted this weekend on the streaming service and Clooney and Pitt play extremely similar characters, much like Frasier and Niles.

An accidental death in the hotel room of the DA leads to her calling for help. George Clooney showed up as a fixer (think Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction) to take care of everything. However, Pitt showed up too, with the plan of also taking care of everything. When they are forced to work together against their better judgment, they discover that this case has much more to it than they initially thought.

After seeing trailers for this movie, it was one of my more anticipated films of the remainder of the year. Now since seeing it, Wolfs is okay. It has its strengths, but it also has some glaring weaknesses as well.

The biggest strength of the film is easily the chemistry between Clooney and Pitt, whose characters are never named during the film. They have such wonderful comic timing during their interactions and their moments on screen stand out so well. They are basically playing the same character but the auras of both men create something different, unexpected. There is a third actor, Austin Abrams, who plays the kid who adds to the ambiance of the movie.

The biggest weakness of the movie, unfortunately, is the story. It is very messy and convoluted, and not in the good way. Everything that is happening around these two fixers lacks any real context to it and the story is chocked full of fixer cliches that we have seen in other films. The story has too many branches and the final explanation, which is done through exposition, of what was going on just does not work, and makes the film feel somewhat anticlimactic.

The film moves quickly and does have plenty of entertaining moments, especially between Clooney and Pitt. I wish there was a movie where these characters were together but it had a better script. Overall, I did like what was good about the movie more than what was bad bothered me.

3.2 stars

My Old Ass

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My Old Ass is a coming of age movie that tosses some unexplained magic in the story centered around taking mushrooms that provides us with a lovely little movie with some wonderful new actors.

The movie features Maisy Stella as Elliott, a young teen who is preparing to leave home to college, and is anxious to get away from everything. When she and her friends partake in some mushrooms, Elliott is approached by Aubrey Plaza who is playing a 39-year old version of Elliott, and she begins to warn her younger self about things she should avoid.

Somehow, older Elliott is able to put her number into younger Elliott’s phone (listed as ‘My Old Ass’) and they could communicate across time, showing amazing cell service.

Maisy Stella does an amazing job leading this movie, providing us with the emotion and confusion that would go along with this, as well as bonding, in a way, with her older self. Aubrey Plaza is perfect as the older Elliott, but she just is not in the film enough. Aubrey Plaza disappears for a big chunk of time in the middle of the film and you can feel her lack of presence. Still, when she is on screen, she is electric and she has amazing chemistry with Maisy Stella.

There is a real likable character introduced to us named Chad (Percy Hynes White, from Netflix’s Wednesday) who Elliott tries to avoid, but they have amazing chemistry as well and Chad is just such a wonderful character that the crowd is rooting for him despite what the story was telling us.

I do think that this could have been more emotional and I was left wanting more when the screen went to black, but I was entertained throughout the run time of My Old Ass. I would have liked more scenes with the two Elliotts, but what we got were really great.

3.85 stars

The Deliverance

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I was surprised to see the name Lee Daniels attached to this Netflix horror movie. Daniels has directed such films as The Butler, United States vs. Billie Holiday and The Paperboy, none of which moved into the genre of horror. With a great deal of curiosity I went ahead and pulled this up on Netflix.

It started out listed as based on true events.

According to IMDB, “An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell..“

The Deliverance hooked me right away, with its depiction of this black family from Indiana. Ebony (Andra Day) was rough and troubled, dealing with her issues through alcohol and anger. The fact that there was little redeeming qualities about Ebony made the character and the film more intriguing. Her three children struggled to try and find their own way through the difficulties presented to them by their mother. Ebony’s mother Alberta (Glen Close) moved in with them to try and help them with their troubles while dealing with her own health issues. Each character was angry and expressed it in a variety of manners.

Andra Day and Glen Close were both great with their performances. They brought the deep-seeded frustration and regret to the forefront. Caleb McLaughlin (from Stranger Things) also does a very strong job with his role of one of Ebony’s suffering children, Nate.

After about an hour, I was fully invested. The problem was that, when the film started to transition from the familial problems into the haunted house ones, the film lost a lot of steam and became just another haunted house movie. The final act of this movie was tremendously bad and spent every ounce of good tidings that it spent the first part of the film building up.

I really wish this film had taken a different path because it started with a very compelling group of characters with problematic family issues and slipped into a cliche-ridden, disappointing haunted house film.

2.5 stars

The Killer’s Game

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As a fan of the WWE, I was always going to see The Killer’s Game. It was not just because of Dave Bautista in the starring role, but also because of the debut of Drew McIntyre, a current WWE superstar.

According to IMDB, “…Veteran assassin Joe Flood, who is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness… authorizes a kill on himself to avoid the pain that is destined to follow. After ordering the kill, he finds out that he was misdiagnosed and must then fend off the army of former colleagues trying to kill him.“

This was not a great movie, but I enjoyed it despite that. The best part of the film was easily Dave Bautista, who was engaging and entertaining. I thought he was great in everything that he had to do, from the physical and brutal killings to the more softer and emotional bits. He was funny too.

I am going to say that there were some glimpses of Bautista’s acting skill in this film. Yes, it was mostly an action fest, but Bautista has a future in more challenging roles and we can see how successful he could be.

Some of the other assassins were fun, but were nothing but cannon fodder. Drew McIntyre was one of these, and it was fun to see him. He seemed like he was having a lot of fun playing this character.

It was fun and I did enjoy Bautista. Is it a great movie? No. If you are a WWE fan, you’ll think this is a hoot. If you find big violent action films unenjoyable, then you should stay away from this.

3 stars

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer

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This docuseries appeared on my Disney + feed a short time ago, listed as a Hulu original. I have always been fascinated by the study of serial killers and this three episode docuseries caught that interest directly.

When I was younger, I was engaged in reading a group of books written by an FBI profiler named John Douglas, including his well known novel Mindhunter. In those works, I actually recognized the name of the woman featured in this docuseries, Ann Burgess.

Ann Burgess was not an FBI agent, but instead a nurse who was interested in the behavioral science aspect of criminal cases. She, along with other FBI agents, got together in a way that would revolutionize the process of investigation of serial cases.

They actually did bring up John Douglas in this series, along with another agent Robert Ressler. Douglas was not portrayed as the best person in this series, implying an environment of sexist behavior. It was Ressler that Burgess was more interested in working with and this group of people changed the way law enforcement looked at murder or rape cases.

The docuseries was interesting, looking at a couple of specific cases, such as the Ski Mask Rapist, and the idea of talking to the victimizers as a way to discover any sort of pattern among the people committing these crimes.

The third episode dealt mostly with her time outside of the FBI profilers, including her work in favor of the Menéndez brothers case and her work in the revealing of Bill Cosby’s sexual assaults.

This was a fascinating watch and provided even more details into the world of profilers that have always been intriguing for me.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is streaming on Hulu and on Disney + right now.

Despicable Me 4

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The fourth film in the Despicable Me franchise (seventh if you count the Minion films in the franchise) dropped today. It has been hit and miss for me over the lifetime of the franchise, so I had no idea what this one would be.

After watching Despicable Me 4 this morning, I did not find that this new film did much for me.

The film was not aggressively bad. I just did not find the film very entertaining. The humor fell flat with just a few exceptions. The story was simple and dull. The Minions were a huge distractions as always.

The positives were the voice cast was solid, if not really great. Steve Carell as Gru is clearly comfortable in this role. Kristin Wiig, Will Ferrell, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Joey King all did a strong job.

The animation was fine too. It may not have been unbelievable, but it is certainly watchable.

While the young viewers may like this, the film is much lower level entertainment for the young kids. Especially since there is a considerably better animated movie for kids out there, Inside Out 2. Despicable Me 4 has a lot of stupidity to it and you do not have to lower the level of story just to focus on kids.

I did like some of the finale, but it went too long and ended poorly.

There was nothing that was special with this film and was basically the same things we have seen in previous Despicable Me movies. There was nothing new and it felt dull. As I stated, there was not much that I found funny, and the story was everything that we had seen before.

2.6 stars

Reality (2023)

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June 29, 2024

It is the penultimate film in the 2024 June Swoon today on June 29th and it was one on Max called Reality.

I was not sure why the title of the movie was Reality, but soon I learned that it was named after the main character, Reality Winner, a real life American intelligence leaker from 2017. The film itself is based on the recordings from the real life interview of Reality Winner by the FBI as they searched her home for any evidence that she had sent classified materials to an online publication.

Sydney Sweeney played Reality and she did a fantastic job. This was one of my favorite performances for Sweeney and from this you can see why she is considered one of the up-and-comers in the world of entertainment.

The dialogue of the movie reportedly came directly from the recordings of the day, including a bunch of the small talk that ensued between Reality and the FBI agents, specifically with agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis). Some of the dialogue was uncomfortable and could be considered cringe, but you could feel the tension of the moment with every word.

The film does a cool thing when it comes to parts of the questioning that needed to stay confidential. The film does a glitch type thing and reappears after the part is done. This is a clever way to conceal info that needed to remain hidden.

Tina Satter directed the film, which she also co-wrote. She had originally adapted the transcript into a stage play entitled Is This a Room. Reality was Satter’s first directorial debut.

The film was well done and highlights the talents of Sydney Sweeney. It is available for streaming on HBO Max.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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The original A Quiet Place was one of the best movie experiences I have had in a theater. The tension in the theater, with everyone being just as quiet as the actors were on screen was an amazing atmosphere. It has not been rivaled in that manner since.

That does not mean that this new film, a prequel to that first film was not good. On the contrary, I found this new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn was a very engaging and intense film.

A woman named Sam and her service cat Frodo found herself trapped in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion. The aliens responded and attacked with their amazing hearing forcing everyone to be as quiet as they could be.

I am reminded just what an exceptional actor Lupita Nyong’o is. Her portrayal of Sam was exceptional, displaying every bit of anxiety and stress with the most limited dialogue possible.

And early on during the film, I thought to myself, “If that cat dies, we riot.” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but the cat had some great moments in the film as well.

I did not realize that the other actor playing against Nyong’o was Joseph Quinn, who has been cast as the next Johnny Storm, the Human Torch in the upcoming MCU film Fantastic Four. I found this performance from Quinn as Eric to be very solid and working extremely well with the nearly silent Sam. Johnny Storm seems to be in capable hands with Quinn.

The film also had Djimon Hounsou as Henri, but he was not used to the level that one would expect. I wonder if this is intended to be the same character that he played in A Quiet Place Part II as IMDB only lists him as “Man on Island” in that film. Overall, Hounsou felt more wasted than anything else.

One of the few nitpicks that I had with this film was it sure seemed as if the whole ‘sound attracts these monsters and that you can avoid them if you are really quiet’ concept was figured out too quickly. I kept wondering how they figured that little tidbit out in such a rapid manner. It did not pull me out of the film, but I did think about it several times throughout.

The relationship between Sam and Eric was very original and strong, again because so much of their interactions came sans dialogue, I was connected to them, and it was not just because of the cat.

The sound design of this series of films has been sensational, and Day One joins in with them beautifully. The little sounds that were suddenly amazingly loud because of the way the aliens hear it was anxiety-creating and built amazing tension.

Of course, in the first couple of films, the focus was on a major character who was deaf. Here, Nyong’o had something else that I won’t spoil, but you learn about in the first ten minutes that really set the stakes for her character in an unexpected way.

Admittedly, the gimmick of the aliens who are attracted to sound has been played out a bit, but this film makes it work with the way it created a new group of characters and made us care for them. Then, by casting some excellent actors in the roles, you elevate what could have been just another monster movie into more than that, while still maintaining the aura of the original and sequel. I am not sure that I wanted another A Quiet Place movie, but I am glad that I got one.

4.2 stars

Infinity Pool (2023)

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June 27, 2023

I avoided this movie not only when it was in the theaters, but this month during the June Swoon 3. I had a feeling that this would not be a film that I would enjoy. Infinity Pool was a Brandon Cronenberg directed film. Brandon’s father is David Cronenberg, who was renown for his body horror films. I am not big on the body horror.

Despite my hesitancy, I gave Infinity Pool a chance on Hulu.

Boy, was I right.

I did not enjoy this movie at all.

According to IMDB, “While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror“

I will start with the positive. Mia Goth is a star. She has been amazing in other films such as Pearl and X and she is just as frightening here. I look forward to seeing her career move on.

That was about it. I had no character in this movie that I could support or root for. They were all just horrific people. I think I was meant to cheer for Alexander Skarsgård’s character, but I found him unlikable in just about every way.

The bizarre sequences of the film were not enjoyable to watch for me and just did not engage me with the story.

It was unsatisfying and I was right to skip it last year. I wish I had skipped it this year too.

The Exorcism

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I wonder what the producers have on Russell Crowe? They must have something for him to appear in this train wreck.

Russell Crowe played Tony Miller, an actor with his share of personal problems, takes a job playing a priest in an exorcism/possession movie, and the role is bringing up all kinds of past troubles. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) is trying to get past her own problematic history with her dad.

David Hyde Pierce is here too, playing Father Conor, and being a huge distraction as he just looks too much like Niles Crane. Sam Worthington is in the movie, but he is totally underused, and Chloe Bailey is here too for some reason.

I found this to be trash. The first two-thirds of the film was dull and then the final act of the film was so off-the-track that had there been any goodwill generated previously, it would be spent completely. The story was ridiculous. The characters were wasted. The backstory of Tony was jumbled and not delivered in a manner in which it could be understood. Poor Niles was there looking for Frasier.

The acting was not very good. I mean, I believe that Russell Crowe was giving it his all, but I felt as if the director of the film in the film, played by Adam Goldberg, was constantly berating Tony’s performance and it made me question what Crowe was doing too.

There was a potential story that was here that could have been different and potentially fascinating, but this was not it. This was another terrible movie this year, which seems to be packing them up all over the place.

1.3 stars

All of Us Strangers (2023)

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June 20, 2024

All of Us Strangers is the next film on the schedule for the June Swoon 3, and it is a lovely movie that deals with deep seeded loss and grief, while not falling into the trap of making the film maudlin or depressing.

Adam Scott gives a tremendous performance as Adam, a screenwriter who has a chance encounter with Harry (Paul Mescal) at his apartment building. Harry was drunk and looking for someone to spend time with, but Adam rejects him. Then, Adam goes to see and spend time with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) at his childhood home. The only drawback… Adam’s parents died in a tragic car crash when he was a little boy.

As the audience member, you are never quite sure through the run of the film what was going on. Was this a ghost story? Was this all invented inside Adam’s mind? What exactly was happening? The uncertainty of the film played well as you connect with Adam and feel the pain that his unresolved grief was causing in him.

The film was beautifully shot. Andrew Haigh was the director and he did a fantastic job constructing the scenes, such as the trip to the night club, which had a dream-like aesthetic to it. It helped to create the mood of the piece, keeping the magical feel of the film while still rooting everything in the loneliness and grief felt by Adam.

I also thought the ending of the film was wonderfully constructed. While I had an idea by this point of what was going on, the actual truth of the story was unexpected and fit amazingly in the structure of the story. The very end was a lovely design to express such a hope of the world.

The four main actors: Adam Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are astonishing in these performances and their interactions with the others. The performances are the best part of the film, but far from the only parts that make this a beautiful film.

Shortcomings (2023)

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June 19, 2023

The directorial debut by Randall Park is today’s entry in the June Swoon 3. It is an unconventional rom-com called Shortcomings.

According to IMDB, “Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.”

This was an interesting film. Usually, I have problems when the protagonist is such an unlikable character, and Ben (Justin H. Min) is absolutely in that category. He is opinionated, mouthy, rude and arrogant. It seems like every scene he is in, all I want to do is yell at him to shut up. Yet, there was something about Ben that was appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I was cheering actively for him to understand what a jerk he was being, but I was also ready to support him learning from the events of the film and adjusting his behavior.

I have to say, I did like this conclusion to the movie. It felt real and played with all of the conventions of the rom-com.

The movie had some great laughs in in, although nothing that was going to be over the top hilarious. The situations are where the humor came from and they all worked very well. Probably the one moment that stood out was when actor Jacob Batalon joked about loving the Spider-Man movies, considering he played Ned in the MCU Spider-Man movies

Sherry Cola played Alice, Ben’s friend, and she was the standout performance for me in the movie. She had an Awkwafina type vibe about her and she was both funny and an excellent ‘straight-man’ character.

I found this to be very entertaining and a creative way to take the rom-com genre in a new way.