Tag Archives: movies

Venom: The Last Dance

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The final film in the trilogy featuring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, the man who would become Venom, was released this weekend. I have never been a big fan of the previous Venom movies, but I have enjoyed the character some so I was curious to see what Sony was going to present for us.

The first three minutes of this film was a huge exposition dump involving the scary villain known as Knull, who was being played by Andy Serkis. The problem, this reminded me of the opening to 2011’s Green Lantern with Parallax, which I thought completely failed to start off that movie. I was laughing at Parallax during that opening and the fact that this reminded me of that was a bad sign to start this movie.

Sadly, the film continued to be a mess after this beginning. It went back to the post credit scene from No Way Out, with Eddie in the bar, drunk and getting pulled back to his own universe.

Knull sent some monstrous symbiote hunters to earth in search of Venom, who was now some kind of McGuffin, and they were after him. The monsters had zero personality and was fairly boring.

The best part of all of these Venom movies are the relationship between the symbiote and Tom Hardy. Hardy is great as Eddie Brock and some of the best scenes of the film are when Eddie meets up with a hippie family with the father played by Rhys Ifans. I think more with this family on the road would have made this more enjoyable. However, what the family wound up doing did not make a lot of sense as the film moved on.

I did love the soundtrack to the film, with banger after banger throughout the movie.

Why did we need to introduce Knull in this movie. He was not used, and if this is the final Venom movie, why do we introduce Knull at all and not use him? I feel as if Sony wanted Knull to be their Thanos, but they brought him around too late if that is the case.

This movie is not horrendous, but it is just not very good. Tom Hardy is the strength, but the story around him is not good and the dialogue is weak. The other symbiotes have the “Michael Bay Transformers disease” as none of them have personality or any way to distinguish them.

Will there be more Venom movies? Who knows. Will Knull be involved with Kraven the Hunter? Doubt it. None of the Sony Spider-universe films seem to fit this concept. The final Venom movie is just not that good.

2.4 stars

Only Murders in the Building S4 E9

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Spoilers

“Escape from Planet Klongo”

After a down week for me last week, Only Murders in the Building had its penultimate episode of season four with an episode that included all of the best things that Only Murders does.

“Escape from Planet Klongo” gave us the following:

  • One of the classic Oliver and Charles arguments – this time over a Bachelor Party .
  • We got another murder- Glen Stubbins (this is the second… maybe even the third time Paul Rudd has been murdered on this show).
  • Only one major cameo – Ron Howard! Ron Howard was sensational here with Martin Short. Ron-Ron. Hilarious.
  • Project Ronkonkoma became the key point for the mystery. A movie directed by Ron Howard and one that Sazz’s protege messed up badly.
  • W.A.N.S: Whiskey, A-List Celebrities, Naughty Secret!
  • A wonderful interaction with Oliver and Charles that showed their friendship.
  • Charles and Oliver wind up as background actors as aliens- in mo-cap suits
  • A script discovered about Only Murders in the Building-The Movie, by Sazz Pataki.

And most importantly, we had a reveal. We discovered who the killer was thanks to a flashback from Ron Howard. It was Marshall, the writer of the movie. He also killed Glen Stubbins with a pillow, and he wound up alone in the apartment with Mabel.

Everything makes a lot of sense for Marshall, especially with how they showed us what happened with Sazz on Project Ronkonkoma. Sazz was writing a script that Marshall wanted to write. Then, Glen replaced him on the movie and he must have been the actual intended victim when the group of Olivers were shot a few weeks ago.

The cameras in the place must have been planted to figure out what Oliver, Charles and Mabel were like as characters. I’m not sure about the whole plot holes bit or the text messages, but I’m sure that will fall into place next week in the finale.

The limited use of cameos is in stark opposition from last week which was cameo overload. And… who knew that when you are around Ron Howard, you should never mention the fishin’ hole (from Andy Griffith). What could have happened at the fishin’ hole?

One more episode which should include a wedding (if they pull it off).

Great episode.

Bates Motel S4 E9, E10

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Spoilers

“Forever”

“Norman”

In my mind, I thought I remembered that the whole gas thing was an accident. I misremembered that because, seeing episode nine again, it was painfully clear that Norman had intended for them both to have died in that room. Had it not been for Romero, they both would be dead.

I will forever remember Alex desperately trying to give Norma CPR and holding her corpse, sobbing uncontrollably. It was a horrific punctuation to this relationship that, in very short order, became one of my favorite relationships in the history of TV.

Norman really goes crazy in the season finale as he kept waiting for Norma to tell him the plan and eventually digs her up out of her grave. We know that Norman from Psycho did dig up his mother’s corpse, although it sounded as if his relationship with his mother was considerably different than the TV show. In Psycho II, Norman says he poisoned his mother when he was young. I know that Bates Motel Norman may not be exactly the same version of Norman Bates from Psycho. Perhaps he is a multiversal variant.

The cruelty of Norman not telling Dylan about his mother was unbelievable. Yes, there were some strange coincidences with Dylan, so he remains unaware of the death. They felt a little too on the nose, but I know it works for the story.

When Norman glued Norma’s eyes open… I mean… how creepy was that. Was that Vera Farmiga being the dead body because, if so, she was brilliant.

When I originally watched this show, I really thought that these episodes ended the series, but there is a whole fifth season to go. This felt like a good wrap up for the series, at least for Norman and Norma, but there are 10 more episodes to go. The side characters all need more of a wrap up, but I could see this having been the end of Bates Motel.

Not sure I liked the Christmas lights popping on at the end of the episode though.

Kill List

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The October 10 of 13

After a poor stretch of films in The October 13, I was hoping for a really great one to balance out the list. I had been watching The Breakroom, which is a YouTube show from the New Rockstars and they gave a list of horror movies to watch before you die. One of the panelists brought up Kill List and I had never heard of it, so I hoped that it would break the unfortunate run I had been on.

It did. It was good. It was not great, but I found it a good time.

According to IMDB, “Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.“

This is a British psychological horror film directed by Ben Wheatley. It was a real slow burn, so slow that after the first act, I was afraid that this would be just another failure in the October 13. However, the film absolutely picked up and wound up with a batshit ending that tied the whole film together in a tragic tapestry.

Neil Maskell played Jay and Michael Smiley played Gal, out two lead protagonists in the film. They were partners in this hired killers job that led to them getting involved in this story. MyAnna Buring played Shel, Jay’s wife and the mother of his son Sam (Harry Simpson).

Throughout the first two parts of the film, you can see the mental instability of Jay as the killings he was hired to do became all the more brutal as they progressed. You would begin to think that the horror would come from inside Jay’s mind, but then things got considerably more real.

Hit List was not what I expected when it started, but it morphed into a wild ride that kept the tension to the final moments and a dramatic final scene.

Smile 2

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The original movie Smile was a surprising hit a couple of years ago. With it making a lot of money, you knew that there would be a sequel. This weekend brought us Smile 2.

Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is a hugely loved pop star who was preparing to make a return tour after being involved in a tragic accident the year before. When she was trying to get pain killers from her drug dealer friend, he brutally killed himself in front of her, transferring the parasitic demon to her. This demon goes into the victim’s head and slowly drives them crazy.

Naomi Scott does a fantastic job in this lead role. She carries so much of the movie on her shoulders, with so much fear and confusion and anger. She is easily the strength of the film.

The film keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, filled with anxiety as you want Skye to get through the problem. There may be too many jump scares in the film, but a lot of them are effective.

The film does feel too long at 2 hours and seven minutes. I think it could easily have shaved off 15-20 minutes of playtime and it would have helped the movie. However, the finish of the film was just horrifying. I really thought the final shot of the film worked very well.

Smile 2 was a worthy sequel to the huge hit. Is it better than the original, I’m going to say no, but this is very solid. Naomi Scott does tremendous work and the effects are great. The film will keep you thinking.

3.75 stars

We Live in Time

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I do love Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield so I had planned on seeing this movie after seeing a trailer for it. However, the title was not recognizable so as I was looking at the Cinemark movie list this week, I almost missed it. I saw the title and thought, “What is that?”

After seeing the movie poster, I realized that this was the Pugh-Garfield film, and I knew I wanted to go to it.

According to IMDB, “Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken, in filmmaker John Crowley’s decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.”

Starting off, the film’s narrative structure is told in a non-linear manner. It was as if time is not a line, but a flat plane. The film leapt around from all parts of this relationship, from where they meet to where they are giving birth. It did make following the story a little challenging for awhile until Florence Pugh cut her hair (thanks, Florence!)

The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh was absolutely off the chart and this is the main reason this movie worked as well as it did. Both showed their acting chops in these roles and I loved them together. Every scene with them in it was wonderful.

The story was very emotional at several times and it worked well. The melodrama of the film was over-the-top at times, but it worked because of Garfield and Pugh. Perhaps the time jump storytelling technique kept the emotion in check.

This was a solid film with great performances.

4 stars

I Was a Teenage Zombie (1987)

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The October 9 of 13

I found this on HBO Max and, because of that, I mistakenly believed, this movie would be a good one to include for The October 13, or at least was a real movie. It was five minutes into it when I discovered that this was the most amateurish, ridiculously bad film I have seen in a long time.

When the sound quality of a film does not reach the quality level of Birdemic: Shock and Terror, you know there is something wrong.

According to IMDB, “Six high school buddies accidentally kill a drug pusher and dump his body in toxic waters. When the pusher returns as a zombie and goes on a killing spree, their only recourse is to dump the body of one of their own recently dead, and have him return as a “good” zombie to face off with the “bad” one.“

I have seen this referred to as a cult classic, but if this is a classic in any form, I have to question the choices of the viewer. I know film is subjective, but I don’t think anything should be that subjective.

The budget of this movie must have been $25 dollars and a box of donuts.

I take that back, they did have some real music involved in the film, with a soundtrack involving real bands and musicians. At times the music was played so you could not hear what was being said. Best part of the film.

I seen better acting on SNL, you know when the host clearly has not learned any lines and is just reading off the cue cards off screen.

How bad was the dialogue? I don’t know, you could barely hear it.

This was not fun. There was a time or two where I laughed at the movie. Not because it was funny, but because it was so embarrassing that the only thing you could do was laugh.

The zombie make-up was more like blackface. Or eventually green face.

Then there was a zombie rape scene. I’m not kidding. Offensive as it could be.

The quality of the movies in this year’s October 13 has been really down. With Piranha, Sorry About the Demon, and this film, I really need to find a good film for #10.

Psycho II (1983)

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The October 7 of 13

One of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films of all time was 1960’s Psycho. Twenty three years later, there was a sequel to the film featuring the return of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.

Of course, I have been watching Bates Motel for the last several months, which is not necessarily canon in the Psycho universe. It gave me the opportunity to start to love the character of Norma Bates. So with this October 13, I thought it would be a good thing to watch the sequel to Psycho.

While this is nowhere near the level of the iconic original, Psycho II was not bad. Anthony Perkins was wonderful in his return to the role of Norman Bates. You could never be sure whether or not Norman had actually regained his sanity. I wasn’t sure until the very end, which was nice.

The story had an impressive twist to start off that I did not see coming. I am not sure it worked all the way through, but when we found out the surprise, it worked for most of the middle of the story.

It did feel like it went a little too long and I am not sure I loved the resolution of the film… at least part of it. No spoilers from me, but I did like the very end of the film… just not what led to it.

This was better than I expected it to be, but if you were to only watch one Psycho movie, make it the original Hitchcock classic.

Saturday Night

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Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!!!!

Jason Reitman directed this biopic of the 90-minutes before the debut of Saturday Night Live (called NBC’s Saturday Night) and the chaos that was ensuing.

Of course, as with most biopics, not everything is exactly as it happened as many details are switched or moved around for dramatic purposes.

The film follows Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), the producer of SNL, as he moved around the studio putting out fires (both figuratively and literally), managing talent, and desperately trying to get the show ready to go at 11:30.

This is a fun film with a frantic pace leading up to the debut. It was very possible that the show was never going to happen as there was a reel of a Johnny Carson repeat waiting to roll if the show was unable to overcome the myriad of troubles.

The cast is the strongest part of the show. Gabriel LaBelle does a great job as the eyes of the audience. Corey Michael Smith is fantastic as Chevy Chase. Dylan O’Brien loses himself in the role of Dan Aykroyd. Matt Wood was very entertaining as John Belushi. Lamorne Morris was great as Garrett Morris. Rachel Sennott had a strong performance as Lorne’s wife, Rosie. Several of the cast did not have the amount of screen time as it seemed as if they deserved, in particularly the women SNL cast members.

While we see a lot of Lorne, there is an issue with the rest of the cast. If you are not aware of who these people are, there is not a lot of time spent with them. The film seems to depend on the audience knowing who Chevy Chase, John Belushi, George Carlin, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner are coming into the film. If the viewer does not know much about SNL, they do not go into detail about these people. It does work at one level, but I did have knowledge going in.

The film depends on its energy and the nostalgia of the audience to craft together a hectic ninety minutes prior to the debut of Saturday Night. There are some very funny moments and some amazing character bits for these people whom we know as celebrities. Roles for Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons are exceptional and the whole cast’s performance was well done. This is a film that fans of SNL will truly appreciate.

4 stars

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

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EYG Hall of Famer Christopher Reeve, who sprang to fame playing Superman in several movies int he late 70s and early 80s, gets the biographical documentary treatment going into depth about his life, his family and the horrific tragedy that changed his perspective for the remainder of his life.

The doc interviews Reeve’s children and his ex-wife, revealing the deep relationship that Reeve had and how his time as Superman affected his career and how people’s POV changed him.

There are some amazingly personal scenes and imagery of Christopher Reeve struggling post-accident that was difficult to watch at times. The emotions were in full example and heartstrings were pulled as the story moved from pre-accident to post-accident. There were plenty of times that I teared up watching the powerfully poignant moments.

Some of the toughest scenes for me was the parts including Robin Williams. Williams and Reeve were roommates during their time at Julliard, forming a lifetime friendship. The relationship had several vital moments and it nearly broke me when it was said that had Christopher hadn’t died, Robin would be alive today. Heart-breaking.

Directors Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhôte painted a moving portrait of the actor and how he was able to overcome his adversity to help many individuals with their own handicaps.

4.6 stars

The Pool (2018)

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The October 4 of 13

The October 13 continued today as I pulled a film from Amazon Prime to watch. It was the Thai thriller called The Pool.

According to IMDB, “Day, an insecure art director of a commercial production company is left alone to clear up a 6-meter deep deserted pool after the shooting. He falls asleep on an inflatable raft due to an unbearable fatigue. When he wakes up again the water level has sunk so low that he cannot climb out of the pool on his own. He screams for help but the only thing that hears him is some creature from a nearby crocodile farm.“

Starting off, I have an illogical fear of alligators and crocodiles. It makes no sense, but they give me a lot of stress and anxiety. I always joke that I am never going to Florida because of the killer alligators like I saw in Crawl. It is a joke, but that movie absolutely scared me. So seeing this man vs. crocodile survival tale, I was ready to be unsettled.

I will say that there were some good moments of anxiety in the film. Day, played by Theeradej Wongpuapan, and his girlfriend Koi, played by Ratnamon Ratchiratham, made an attractive couple stalked by this angry and hungry crocodile.

However, at the end of the day, it was hard to get past one simple fact. These two are dumb as shit.

I understand some things need to be exaggerated for tension, but when characters continually do the stupidest things during a film, it just pushes the level of believability. I found myself yelling at the computer screen over and over, wanting Day to do something smart once. There were so many opportunities to do something else and he constantly chose the wrong one. It was frustrating.

Then the CGI on the crocodile was at times wonky. That can be forgiven because of budgets, but when it is combined with the dumb characters, that makes a tough combination.

And for the dog lovers out there, there is a scene with a dog that is perhaps the single most horrific scene I have ever watched anywhere. The imagery of the scene will disturbing even if you are not a big dog fan, like me, and for the dog lovers out there, you will not be prepared for the shocking moment.

I had seen this receive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes so I was hopeful this would be a hidden gem. However, looking closer, the audience score is at 53%, and I can see why that is. This had some positives, but the stupid decisions, the CGI, the crocodile, and the horrific scene near the end dropped this one down for me.

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…

Yellowjackets S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“Pilot”

“F Sharp”

Two episodes in an I am hooked.

Yellowjackets arrived on Netflix a few weeks ago and I wanted to add this to my watchlist. I have heard some positive things about the show and I thought that it would be great to watch despite the increasingly large list of shows that I am currently watching.

A group of high school female soccer players, who were on their way to nationals, have their plane crash in the wilderness and they are forced to survive.

The scene with the plane crash was right up there with the best plane crash scenes I have seen on TV. Clearly, the best plane crash scene is from LOST, but this one was right behind it.

In fact, part of the reason I was so imbued by Yellowjackets is that the show reminded me a lot of LOST. LOST is my favorite show of all time and Yellowjacket certainly shared some traits with it.

First, the plane crash in an isolated location. Here it is in the wilderness. There is something weird going on around this area too, although I do not think we will be seeing any Others. There is some strange design carved into a tree that will become more prominent.

Secondly, the show has a large cast of characters and does an amazing job of developing them almost immediately. Many shows with large casts struggle to get me interested in the different characters, but this one has a group of intriguing characters that grab you attention immediately.

Another similarity between Yellowjackets and LOST is that the story’s narrative function is told with both scenes from the present and scenes from the past through flashbacks. The first episode introduced things to us by showing things that led up to the crash and showing us years later. They allow us to piece things together on our own without feeling the need to lay out ever little bit along they way.

There is also a secret going on. When the Oceanic 6 made it back to the real world, they had a story and kept the truth from everyone. There is obviously something that the girls who had been rescued kept secret, promising never to speak of it again. I have a sneaking suspicion in involves what they had eaten during their time stranded. I am anxious to find out more.

Misty is a weaselly young woman who found her personal strength after the accident, but you can see that she is very manipulative, as she destroyed the plane’s black box so she could remain being seen in the positive light that she had suddenly been seen. I can see a lot of similarities between Molly and Ben Linus.

The entire season one (10 episodes) is on Netflix, but I do not see season two there, which means I may have to go searching for the show somewhere. I know it originally aired on Showtime. I loved these first two episodes and I am excited about continuing the show.

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.