Tag Archives: film

The Housemaid

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When I first saw a trailer for this movie, I thought to myself, “This is like the Hand that Rocked the Cradle.” I said this to a friend of mine and she said that it was not anything like that. She mentioned that it was originally in a novel by Freida McFadden, which I did not know. I decided that I would give this a chance. My friend was right, this was not in that subgenre of horror film where the babysitter tries to do crazy things for reasons.

According to IMDB, “A struggling young woman is relieved by the chance for a fresh start as a maid for a wealthy couple. Soon, she discovers that the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own.”

This one has its ups and downs for me. I am not sure how I feel about it. I think the three main cast members, Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, do a fantastic job with what the story asks of them. They have great chemistry with each other and are very believable in everything that they do.

One of my problems though is I hate it when people do stupid things in a thriller. There are several things that Sweeney’s character Millie does that makes me want to yell at the screen. Couldn’t she see this coming? Maybe at first, but as the film moved on, why are you not recognizing what is going on? I hate it when the characters do really stupid things.

The end of the movie was fun, but I did see it coming. There was something that, when mentioned in the beginning of the film, I knew was going to come back around as a major piece later in the film, and sure enough, I was right.

There was also a section near the beginning of the third act of the film where suddenly we were doing a ton of exposition, explaining what had gone down. I thought this was a weak point of the movie.

The Housemaid feels like Hollywood camp, but in a glorious way. It feels as if everyone involved understands the assignment in this story and are ready to give it their all. There are weaknesses in the film, but I think I came out of it more positive than negative.

3 stars

Anaconda

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Back in 1997, a horror film about a giant snake appeared. Anaconda, starring Ice Cube, J-Lo, and Jon Voight, was a terrible movie, but it survived the years and became an iconic cult classic film. In 2025, we now got a meta-sequel to the film starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd which debuted this weekend.

According to IMDB, “Four childhood friends are going through a midlife crisis so they decide to remake their favorite horror movie from the 1990s in the Amazon Forest When a real giant anaconda shows up, they get more than what they bargain for and their comically chaotic movie making turns into a life-or-death situation. The movie that they’re dying to remake? It might just kill them, literally.“

I heard some negative things about the new film before I went into it, which made me nervous because I had thought the trailers looked good and I was excited to see it. The negative comments made me feel much more tentative about the movie.

I can understand why some people might not have been a fan of this, but I enjoyed it a lot. I found this funny, the characters likable and entertaining, and the meta qualities of the film worked so well.

I thought there was a lot of clever writing involved in this movie. The humor is solid. There were a couple of jokes that I usually do not like, but, for me, even those worked well.

No spoiler here, but there was a great cameo in the film too.

There are some negatives to the film too though. I do think it started fairly slowly and the film really took off when the characters get on their boat. I do think that I wish the trailer hadn’t spoiled some of the best laughs in the film because I think it would have been so much better.

I am happy that I liked this movie more than what some were saying. I found it funny and engaging. I do enjoy a film with as many meta jokes and Anaconda falls right into that.

3.8 stars

2025 EYG Year in Review: Best and Worst Horror Movies

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This was another great year in horror. Not perfect, of course. There is a nice balance between good films and bad ones.

Again, we have not been keeping track of the “Worst” film, but the “Best” is in the records:

Best Horror Movie

Previous Winners:  A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box, Fear Street trilogy, The Menu, A Haunting in Venice, Nosferatu

Runners-Up: Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise for me. At this point, I had never seen any of the Final Destination movies (I saw the first one in the October 13), and I loved this new one. The new Conjuring movie, Conjuring: Last Rites, put that franchise to bed (or so we are told). Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a stylish, engaging new version on Netflix. A film I did not expect to like was Dangerous Animals, but it was extremely awesome. It was a shark movie that did not make the shark the villain. So it came down to two choices… and the one that did not make it was Weapons. I loved that movie, but I think it was a little less of a horror movie than the one that turned out to be the winner.

Best Horror Movie

Sinners

Michael B. Jordan starred in this Ryan Coogler directed film. Coogler wanted to do his vampire film and what he did was Sinners. This was a fantastic film and it was something we hadn’t seen before. Jordan played dual roles and he did it so well.

Worst Horror

Runners-Up: Until Dawn was such a bad movie. It was a disappointment as it had a decent premise. Lots of people loved Together, but I hated it. I hated it so much. Fear Street: Prom Queen was such a downgrade from the awesome trilogy from a few years ago.

“Winner”:

That film is not from Jordan Peele, no matter how much the movie wanted it to be true. This football film is truly one of the worst MOVIES of the year… not just horror.

Marty Supreme

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Happy Christmas Eve to everyone. With the year coming to a close soon, there are a few more in theater movies to watch. The first of the few remaining theater films today was Timothée Chalamet’s new film, Marty Supreme.

I was really surprised with this movie. It was not what I was expecting. Apparently, this is slightly based on a real person, but in a fictional story with fictional things happening. The main character of this movie, Marty Mauser, is based on Marty Reisman, an American table tennis player, and it is directed by Josh Safdie.

What surprised me about this movie was how unlikable the character of Marty Mauser was. He was such a jerk to everyone. Selfish. Rotten. Mean-spirited. Obnoxious. Marty is a con man who will do some rotten things to try an accomplish what he wanted to do. During the first half of the film, I was thinking about how Marty was so rotten, yet how I found myself rooting for him. That, surprisingly, did not stay as I was rooting for the other guy in the final act.

Timothée Chalamet was excellent in the role of Marty. He disappeared into the role and I never was thinking about him as the actor that he was. It was a great performance and will probably earn him an Academy Award nomination.

It is a risk having a protagonist as unlikable as Marty Mauser because you take the chance of alienating the audience. However, there is such great writing involved and Marty is such a complex character that you can understand why he is doing the terrible things that he is doing.

The film is a little long, and there was a spot where I thought the movie might be ending (and I feel as if maybe it should have). I can’t go into details without spoiling it.

I expected Marty Supreme to be a good time, feel good story. It is not that. It is challenging and dark. It is a great film.

4.4 stars

2025 Year in Review: The Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness

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The Batman and Robins are the awards we give out every year for the worst of the worst. The awards for rottenness are given out to stuff that just did not work.

Worst Movie: To be revealed at the Least Favorite Movies list.

Worst Actor: Ice Cube (War of the Worlds). Ice Cube is a talented performer who gave a horrible performance in a horrible movie.

Worst Actress: Gal Gadot (Disney’s Snow White). She was miscast as the Evil Queen and nothing that happened in Snow White showed that she could not elevate the material.

Worst Director: Justin Tipping (HIM). One of the worst films of the year. It’s so bad that they needed to pretend that Jordan Peele had something to do with it.

Worst Sequel: Fear Street: Prom Queen. The first Fear Street trilogy was so good and a lot of fun. This was the antithesis of that.

Worst CGI: Star Trek: Section 31. Not much was good about this one.

Favorite Rotten Movie: Captain America: Brave New World. There is a lot of hate for this movie, but I enjoyed it a lot. It could have been better, but it does not deserve as much hatred as it got.

Worst Movie That I Did Not See: The Smurfs

Cashing a Paycheck: Richard Dreyfuss (Into the Deep). Dreyfuss was one of the reasons why I watched this shark movie. That was a mistake.

Worst Reboot/Remake: I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Most Successful Bad Movie: A Minecraft Movie

Worst Movie Based on TV/Video Game: Smurfs

Worst Superhero Movie: Old Guard 2

Worst Trailer: A Minecraft Movie. This trailer showed me how terrible this was going to be

WTF: 2073. It was from HBO Max, but it was a bizarre mixture of doc and horrific film.

Worst Performance by Oscar Winner: Michelle Yeoh (Stra Trek: Section 31)

Worst TV Show I Watched: Alien: Earth. Started great, but fell off quickly. Too boring for an alien show.

Worst Product Placement: Amazon Prime in War of the Worlds. It played more like an advertisement for Amazon Prime.

2025 EYG Year in Review: The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year

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The flip side of the Gomer, The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is the film that I had expected big things from, but it came up short. I might have liked a film that gets this award (this year is an example), but I found more problems than I expected.

The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year 

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends, Next Goal Wins, Gladiator II

This year’s runners-up: There was a film from Netflix this year that starred Chris Pratt called Electric State. It was a sci-fi movie that should have been fantastic, but it was far from it. A film that had Jordan Peele’s name on the advertising was called HIM. This had no right to be as bad as it was. M3GAN, the original, was a Gomer runner up, but the sequel to it, M3GAN 2.0 was just dumb and took the worst parts of the original and expended on it. Many people think this will win the Oscar this year for Best Picture, but I was disappointed with One Battle After Another. It was fine. I just expected more than what I saw. I love Ke Huy Quan, but Love Hurts hurt when I had to watch it. Another two movies that I heard positives about, but hated was Friendship and Together. Both big on Rotten Tomatoes, but not at EYG.

And this year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year was…

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

I did like this movie. I gave it a fresh rating. It got like 3.5 stars from me.

And yet, it is getting the Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year.

The final film in the Mission Impossible franchise should have been one of the best films of the year. The first hour or so of this movie was just too dull and repetitive. The ending was great, but I just did not like getting there. The film was too long and could not be totally saved by the great last hour. Then the final shot of the film was disappointing too.

This is a good movie that should have been mind-blowing.

Disappointing.

It Was Just An Accident

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It Was Just An Accident was an international film which was a co-production between Iran, France, and Luxembourg. I had heard positives about the film on FYC and I had a chance to rent it off Fandango at Home.

According to IMDB, “An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man’s identity.”

Powerful storytelling as we follow this group of people who had had their lives touched by this tormenter from an Iranian prison. Each person had to reassess their own choices and moral line as they attempt to confirm that this man is who they believe him to be.

There are enough doubts tossed around by the script that you as viewer are never quite sure which way the story will go. Is this the cruel torturer or is it a man who had a similar injury? The tormentor had a prosthetic leg and was dubbed the nickname “Peg Leg.” The man had the same prosthetic, but since the victims were always blindfolded, they could not specifically identify him, and the man had a seemingly cohesive story to cover the possible truth. I will admit that I was never 100% sure during the movie is he was Peg Leg or not.

Without spoilers, I loved the ending of the film. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really found it to be refreshing.

The performances from the actors were top line. Vahid Mobasseri played Vahid, the mechanic who first discovered the possible Peg Leg, played by Ebrahim Azizi. Mariam Afshari was Shiva, a photographer who Vahid tried to get confirmation from. Other cast members included Majid Panahi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi and Georges Hashemzadeh.

I really enjoyed this international film. It was extremely well written with some exceptional performances.

4.4 stars

Avatar: Fire and Ash

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The third film in the remarkably successful franchise of Avatar was released this weekend with the film Avatar: Fire and Ash. I have had an up and down reaction to the franchise over the years. When I first saw the original Avatar, I was not a fan. Before the second one came out, I rewatched the original film and liked it better. When I saw the next film, I enjoyed it more. I was not sure what all that meant when it came to Avatar: Fire and Ash.

According to IMDB, “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.“

Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again, is amazing to look at. I saw the film in 3D and it was spectacular looking, especially with the setting and background. I will say that there were some moments where some of the characters looked weird to me. It was not consistent, but there were enough times where it jump out at me. Otherwise, the technical aspects of the movie are marvels.

I have to say, I was bored with most of the first two acts of this movie. It is painfully long and I do not think that it needed to be as long as it was. It felt as if it could have been trimmed down, at least, a half hour. Having said that, the third act was much more compelling and full of action. I will say that, during some of the scenes in the third act, this movie fell victim to something that always bugged me about Transformers movies, which was it was difficult at times to tell who was who in the big battle.

I also feel that lot of this story is a basic retread of the other films, especially the second film. There were a bunch of things that seemed to be the same beats we already have seen.

I am sure that Avatar: Fire and Ash will make a ton of money at the box office this weekend and during the holiday season, I am not sure that it will reach the same levels as the first two did. I could be wrong, but this feels like an inferior version of those films. While it is spectacular to look at, there is not something new and amazing in the special effects. It is amazing, yes, but I do not think we can say this is considerably better than other films in the area of effects.

2.8 stars

Rob Reiner/Anthony Geary RIP

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I was working on the third 2025 Year in Review: In Memoriam Part 3 last night, and I thought to myself that I would only have one In Memoriam left. I thought that it would be fine because what are the chances that there would be any other big stars pass away before the year ended.

Oh my god.

I woke up in the middle of the night and saw on TikTok a horrible story that I never would have believed. Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle had been allegedly killed by their son Nick. I felt crushed by this news. I was a fan of Rob Reiner, especially as a director.

Then, I got home from school and I was on X and I saw tweets that kicked me in the gut. Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on General Hospital for decades, had died.

I could not believe it.

Luke Spencer was one of my favorite characters on TV, period. Not just soap characters… but all characters. He was one of the best actors in Daytime, winning multiple Emmy Awards.

Rob Reiner directed some of my favorite movies of all time. The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Misery, The American President, and When Harry Met Sally.

Luke Spencer, along with his on-screen love Laura, became an icon in television. Their GH wedding was watched by 30 million viewers. They were on the cover of Time Magazine.

The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time (well, it is 1B to Endgame’s 1A).

Anthony Geary was a prime reason why General Hospital had been such an influential show for me as a youth. Luke was my idol. As a child, I watched all summer long and had my mom tell me everything on days I was at school.

Two men who were absolute icons for me, both gone within a few hours of each other. Both men some of the most influential actors of my life.

Rest in Peace.

Bone Lake

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Okay. I am not sure what I can say about this one.

According to IMDB, “A couple’s vacation at a secluded estate is upended when they’re forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple. A dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, triggering a battle for survival.”

This movie started out with a scene of two naked people running through the woods. It was just a terrible season and ended in a ridiculous way and I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into.” Then, it switched from the scene and it was a story being told by a boyfriend Diego (Marco Pigossi) to his girlfriend Sage (Maddie Hasson). It was meant to show that Diego was not a very good writer, even though he had recently quit his teaching job to write a novel. So I forgave that terrible scene because it was meant to show characterization of Diego.

The premise itself was common and things were really slow and dull in the first act and a half or so. Some dumb things were happening as it seemed that it was typical type of movie like this.

A little over a half way through the film, the story suddenly went totally batshit crazy. Then, I didn’t know what was happening and, honestly, the film had my attention more than it had before.

Is it a plausible movie? No, it is not. The stuff that goes down is ridiculous. It is also very different than the beginning of the film. It does do some interesting theorizing on couples, but when the chainsaws come out… well, there is only so much time for theorizing.

I am not sure how to feel about this. I was entertained at times while at other times I found myself feeling stupider having watched it. It felt like it was meant to be a satire at times, but I do not think that was the intent. I am torn on Bone Lake.

2.9 stars

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

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I have been anxiously awaiting the latest Knives Out film from Rian Johnson to drop on Netflix/ I knew the film had been released in EXTREMELY limited release, no where near me, and the streamer was my only opportunity to see it. I wish I could have seen this in the theater on the big screen. I was a fan of Knives Out and Glass Onion, the first two films of the series, but Wake Up Dead Man was different.

It was a masterpiece.

There will be no spoilers, of course, in this review, so I am not sure how much I can reveal. I will simply say that the story was brilliant, and kept me guessing the whole way. Even when it appeared to be obvious about what happened, the full reveal was not yet detailed.

Daniel Craig returned as the glorious Benoit Blanc, in a story of murder and mystery in a small church in New York state. In what seemed to be an unsolvable case, Benoit Blanc walked through the crime scenes and the motives with Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), whose dark past made him every bit the suspect as anyone else.

The cast is exceptional. Led by stunning performances by Josh O’Connor and Daniel Craig, the remainder of the cast were spectacular. Josh Brolin and Glenn Close were both amazing in this film, showing off how powerful they are as actors. The film included Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Daryl McCormack, Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Hayden Church, Annie Hamilton and Jeffrey Wright.

Rian Johnson’s script was special. I loved the way the story played out and developed the characters and plot. There is so much depth here that it absolutely fills up the screen. The dialogue, as with most Rian Johnson projects, is sharp and witty, and, despite the dark undertones of the tale, had plenty of moments of levity that worked perfectly.

Josh Brolin has had quite a year. This role, along with his roles in Weapons and The Running Man, gives quite the spectrum of his talents as an actor.

The movie is long, but it does not feel such. It is such an engaging mystery with amazing performances and writing that it flies by. I did not think this would surpass the first Knives Out film for me, but it has done so. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is worth every second you spend on Netflix.

5 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #2

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#2

Twin Peaks

“… Wrapped in plastic…”

The number two TV show on out top 100 countdown is one of the biggest phenomenons from the early 1990s. David Lynch brought his flavor of insanity to the small screen disguised as a murder mystery in Twin Peaks.

The first episode kicked off with mild-mannered Pete finding the beautiful prom queen, Laura Palmer, dead on the side of the river, wrapped in plastic. The murder rocked the seemingly normal small town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The call went into the FBI for help in the investigation and the eccentric Agent Dale Cooper was sent.

Cooper had seen this before, and was already on the trail of the serial killer responsible. Using his bizarre techniques of investigation, Cooper made his way through a town that was anything but normal in search of the killer.

Twin Peaks gripped the natioin with its oddball characters and engaging mystery. This was one fo the earliest examples of how impatient the country was, anxious about finally discovering the truth behind Laura Palmer’s death.

The answer did not come until about halfway through the second season, at a point where some viewers had abandoned the show in impatient frustration. Turned out Laura was killed by a spirit called Bob, who had possessed her father, Leland Palmer. The reveal of Leland as Killer Bob was one of the most violent things I had seen on TV to that point, and it was artistically amazing.

There had been reports that David Lynch had intended on leaving the mystery of Laura’s death unsolved, and only bowed to pressure from the network to give a resolution to the crime.

After the death of Leland, Twin Peaks floundered a bit before it found its footing once again with the arrival of Cooper’s crazy former FBI partner. The show was left off on a horrible cliffhanger where Cooper had been possessed by Killer Bob.

A third season was released 25 years after the end of season 2. It was released on Showtime where Twin Peaks was originally on ABC. The third season wrapped up that cliffhanger from the end of the original series, but left off on another one in the final episode of the Return.

Dale Cooper was played by Lynch favorite Kyle MacLachlan. Other cast memebers included Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Ontkean, David Lynch, Peggy Lipton, Mädchen Amick, Sheryl Lee, Jack Nance, Frank Silva, Ray Wise, Piper Laurie, James Marshall, Russ Tamblyn, Catherine E. Coulson, Eric DaRe, Ian Buchanan, Miguel Ferrer, Richard Beymer, Chris Mulkey, Dana Ashbrook, Joan Chen, and Michael Horse. There were dozens more cast members over the three total seasons.

Twin Peaks was at the heights of what television could be. It was bizarre, weird, funny and dramatic. The sad story at its core brought people into one of the most iconic shows of all time.

Jay Kelly

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This movie popped up on Netflix recently and I added it my queue. I was able to watch it this morning.

I have never been a huge George Clooney fan, but I can’t say that his presence has ever kept me from watching a movie. I can say that about his co-star Adam Sandler, who has a bunch of movies that I never watched because he was the lead. I went into this with the knowledge that Sandler has had some Oscar buzz about him so I hoped this would be more like Uncut Gems and less like Billy Madison.

According to IMDB, “Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron.”

I really liked this movie. I thought George Clooney did a sensational job of playing this iconic action movie star who was going through an existential crisis, and I was very impressed with the work of Adam Sandler in this film. He still was able to provide some of the best comedic lines without sacrificing character or intelligence.

Director Noah Baumbach provided a sharp satirical look at Hollywood and how the life of a movie star can be a lonely one. A couple of times, Jay Kelly’s daughter said that he was “never alone” but the film does a great job of showing how he absolutely could be, even while surrounded by his entourage. It showed, as well, the lack of understanding Jay Kelly had on his daughter’s lives.

There were some solid supporting appearances in Jay Kelly. Laura Dern, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, and Grace Edwards.

It does feel a touch long, but I don’t know what I would remove. There are scenes that focus in on Adam Sandler and his life and background that really develops his character that I would not remove at all.

Clooney really does make this role feel like it is something that he has lived through. I believed every thought and feeling jay had during the course of the movie. The film had some neat sequences where something was shot in a way that was original. For example, there was a scene with Jay and his daughter where they were on the phone, but the film shot it as if they were walking beside one another.

Jay Kelly was a engaging movie with some really well developed characters. I was very impressed by the film overall.

4 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #8

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#8

M*A*S*H*

Based on the 1970 movie of the same name, M*A*S*H was a comedy/drama series (perhaps one of the earliest examples of a dramedy) based in the Korean War. It ran for 11 seasons on CBS. Pretty impressive for a war that only ran for just over three years. Truthfully, much of the show was based on the Vietnam War, which was still going on when the show started.

M*A*S*H was set at the 4077th M*A*S*H, which stood for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and showed the humor, spirit and dedication of a group of doctors, nurses, coremen who faced death daily and battled while standing in blood. There were moments of complete jocularity, and then deathly serious moments as well. Some times in a matter of minutes.

Led by Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda), the cast of M*A*S*H was amazing. It included Mike Farrell, Wayne Rogers, Larry Linville, Harry Morgan, McClean Stevenson, Loretta Switt, Jamie Farr, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, and David Ogden Stiers.

Teh first three seasons of M*A*S*H are my least favorite. Don’t get me wrong, these episodes are still very good, but my favorite time of the show was when BJ Hunnicut came to replace Trapper John and Col. Potter replaced Henry Blake. This time frame, while still with Frank Burns, is some of my favorite television ever.

These characters developed and changed over the run of the show. Margaret Houlihan changed the most, going from a one-note antagonist for Hawkeye and Trapper John, to a deep, three-dimensional character that was more than just what she started as.

The series finale was the highest rated shows ever on televison for years. It was entitled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” It showed the final days of the Korean War and the departure for each of the main characters from the 4077th M*A*S*H.

M*A*S*H was one of the most original and brillaint shows on TV. I can sit down today and watch M*A*S*H, enjoying each episode.

Stitch Head

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I had intended on renting and watching Stitch Head, the animated movie in the style of 3D CG animation, during this past weekend’s post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I did not think about Stitch Head until I was filling in the list of films and I saw the character of Stitch Head on the banner. Oops. So I rented it from Fandango at Home and planned on watching it this week.

The time was tonight and I watched the film.

According to IMDB, “Follows Stitch Head, a small creature awoken by a Mad Professor in a castle to protect the professor’s other creations from the townspeople of Grubbers Nubbin.”

My first thought was that this, particularly the character designs, reminded me of the old Rankin/Bass animated shows like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The colors of Stitch Head also made me think about the old Christmas shows. That was all good things.

The story was cute with the monsters that were being created by the mad Professor were all scared of humans, expecting the angry mob to burst through the door of their castle at any minute. Stitch Head, the first monster created by Professor, was the one who could keep the monsters calm.

When circus ringmaster, Fulbert Freakfinder, came across Stitch Head, he knew that bringing Stitch Head to his circus would make a lot of money. He manipulated Stitch Head to agree to leave the castle and join his circus.

The voice cast was led by Asa Butterfield as Stitch Head. There was also Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Seth Usdenov, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Fern Brady, Jamali Maddix, Sway Clarke and Paul Tylak.

Stitch Head was simple in a lot of ways. It was weird as a couple of times, the film seemed like it was about to burst into songs, but they ended about as quickly as they started. The animation was great, bringing me back to those old Rankin/Bass shows and it was fun.

Character design was quirky and creative. Yes, there may not have been anything groundbreaking about this animated movie, but it was solid and enjoyable.

3.75 stars