Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Sock Monkey]

WAY behind on posting my Halloween viewing...

Halloween Horror Movie #4:

LAMB (2021): Director Vladimar Johannsson delivers an interesting folktale that strains both the need for the film's 106 minute runtime and it's definition as horror. Set in rural Iceland, an emotionally estranged couple find an unnatural newborn on their farm and decide to raise it as their own. There is little more to this film than this what this brief description provides, but Johannsson and his cast do their best to wring the most out of the idea as possible and it is amazing how unsettling Johannsson is able to make the film by his presentation of how normal it is. Unfortunately, even the unnoticed of a ne'er-do-well family member does little to move the pace and pulse of the film. Likewise, the movie's ending doesn't earn it's glacial pace by providing the thematic revelations of The Witch or the insanity of Hereditary. Instead, the ending, while thematically solid, will leave most viewers thinking it wasn't worth the effort. This assessment may lead one to think I didn't like the film, but I found a lot to admire. Johannsson's directing is assured and the acting was solid. There just wasn't nothing here that couldn't have been accomplished in sixty minutes.

Grade: C+

Halloween Horror Movie #5:

ANYTHING FOR JACKSON (2020): Sometimes movies have nuggets of ideas that are so clever that they elevate it above its flaws. Other times, the flaws snuff out the struggling flame of that good idea. This film was unfortunately the latter. The premise is clever: two grandparents kidnap a pregnant woman to perform a "reverse exorcism" in which they'll summon the spirit of their dead grandson--the titular Jackson--to possess the body of the unborn child. It's a great idea that is surrounded by other little gems, including the idea that other ghosts or demons arrive to beat Jackson to the punch. Unfortunately, the movie is either too enamored with it's monsters or too unsure if the audience has been sold on the scare, but either way, it lingers on the creatures way too long, robbing them of their creepy mystique, reducing them to haunted house actors who outstayed their scare. If you like indie horror, there might be enough here to make it worth your while as there are some flashes of cleverness.

Grade: C-

Halloween Horror Movie #6:

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): For some reason, my wife had never seen the original Nightmare, so I added it to our viewing list. There's not a whole lot to talk about here that other people haven't said before. This is considered a classic and I can see why people love it, even if I don't. Unlike most, I just can't warm up to Langenkamp's Nancy and the movie just leaves me kinda cold. The deaths are incredibly effective, though.

Grade: B-

[Ben Staad]

Hannibal. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

This was a rewatch from many years ago and I can honestly say I wasn't that into it. I had remembered really liking this 19-20 years ago but for whatever reason it didn't do it for me this time.

I thought the final few scenes were ludicrous. Not unwatchable but I feel like they over delivered on the gross out and under delivered on the drama.

[Ben Staad]

Watched Hannibal Rising today. It was okay and I didn't try to pick it apart. I was entertained for most of it but did find their nods to the original movie a little stupid.

Guess it's a 3 out of 5 for me. Slightly better than okay.

[Ben Staad]

Hadn't heard of this one. Just watched the trailer and it looked interesting. Sounds unbalanced.

Based on your rating it appears to be watchable but nothing new or overly exciting.

Saw Barbarian the other night.

Overall, it didn’t live up to the potential of the first part of the movie.

It took a distinct left turn in the second part of the movie with the introduction of the Justin Long character, and at that point it became more weird than horror.

The last 10 to 15 minutes delved into your standard Friday the 13th fair, which didn’t help.

Oversll it was OK and worth a trip to the movie theater,
but it could have been so much better.

B

[brlesh]

Saw Barbarian the other night.

Overall, it didn’t live up to the potential of the first part of the movie.

It took a distinct left turn in the second part of the movie with the introduction of the Justin Long character, and at that point it became more weird than horror.

The last 10 to 15 minutes delved into your standard Friday the 13th fair, which didn’t help.

Oversll it was OK and worth a trip to the movie theater,
but it could have been so much better.

B

[Ben Staad]

Rewatched Nightbreed and still enjoyed it. I'm not really sure what I like about this film but it always grabs my attention. Not going to rate it but find it very watchable.

[dannyboy121070]

The Halloween movie train keeps rolling along....In the past week I've watched:

THE VIGIL, which was a snorefest.

THE INNKEEPERS, which was the cinematic equivalent of watching paint dry. The story could have sustained (maybe) a 20-minute short in a film like V/H/S, but stretched to feature-length, it was just unbearable. The tone was all over the place....ominous opening credit music, which then switched to some weird-ass jaunty music when they're "investigating".....was this supposed to be a Horror film or a comedy? It felt like a lost CLERKS film. My third exposure to Ti West. I think the guy might have talent as a Director, but he shouldn't be writing. I'm going to try THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, and if that doesn't click, I'm out of the Ti West business.

DON'T BREATHE was....OK, I guess? I expected more. It was just an old blind nut chasing kids around his house.

HUNTING BIGFOOT was a bait-and-switch documentary. I came for Bigfoot, but I got a sad story about an old nut who ditched life, career, and family to live in the woods looking for Sasquatch. Didn't scratch my Bigfoot itch, but it was well worth watching.

I'm kind of getting burned out on newer films, so I think I'll devote the next few nights to some oldies that TCM has on-demand. The classics rarely disappoint.

[Sock Monkey]

t

Great review, Jeff. You did the exact same thing that I did....I kept sitting there mumbling "Why...? What were they thinking?"

A movie like this should write itself. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM set up a stupid, but fun, premise for the third film in the trilogy: Dinosaurs are loose in civilization, and running wild. So we're going to finally see dinos running amuck in cities, people fighting for their lives as a T-Rex smashes into their house, kids and pets being snatched up by Pterodactyls!!! Fuck that! Let's do giant crop-eating locusts instead! That's the same kind of mentality at work here. WE KNOW BETTER THAN THE FANS. They want THIS, but we'll give them THAT, and they'll fucking love it, or else. Jamie Lee Curtis and the filmmakers have been giving interviews where they laugh about how much fans are going to hate this film. So....why make it?

I was blown away by the 2018 HALLOWEEN, and it ended on a perfect note. Michael was dead, Laurie beat him at his own game. The film was good enough that I had faith the filmmakers would be able to pull off a trilogy, but I wondered what they could possibly do to fill two more films. Now we know they had no plan at all. I enjoyed HALLOWEEN KILLS for the great gore and kills, and the beast-mode Michael Myers, despite some REALLY cringey dialogue (EVIL DIES TONIGHT!!) and the lack of Laurie, but, taking the trilogy as a whole, it was clear that they had no idea what to do after the first film.

Spoiler!

Soooo many things about HALLOWEEN ENDS bothered me. One year after Michael kills what looked like everyone in town on Halloween night, things are completely back to normal? Everyone is out trick-or-treating, partying, roaming the streets like the HALLOWEEN KILLER ISN'T STILL ON THE LOOSE??? I would expect the streets to be deserted, cops patrolling everywhere, nationwide news crews reporting on the town that banned Halloween celebrations.....

Even from the first scene, Corey is a weird guy. I wouldn't leave my kid with him. And the granddaughter immediately falling in love with him, to the point of wanting to run away with him a day or two after a REALLY FUCKING WEIRD first date? OK.....

So Michael has been hiding three feet inside a storm drain, killing people in front of the old homeless guy for four years....and the police never looked there?

Laurie was chased by Michael for a few minutes 40 years ago, and went nuts and became a survivalist hermit....but after he kills her daughter and half the town, and IS STILL ON THE LOOSE, she decides to become Betty Crocker? Sure, that would happen.

It still would have sucked, but what I was expecting to happen was that Corey was committing all of the murders WITH Laurie's granddaughter, and that the big twist would be the cops finding Michael's skeleton, with him having been dead for years. I expected Pennywise Michael to be a hallucination by Corey, and the murders were being seen through his skewed perspective. He was dressed like Michael, and the granddaughter was wearing the other mask, and the end would see Laurie fighting and killing Corey and her own granddaughter, who had been corrupted by Haddonfield's evil. I mean, the choppy editing showed Corey killing the Doctor and the slutty Nurse, and then he was riding his bike with the granddaughter. That said to me that they were committing the murders together. Which would still have been a shitty movie, just shitty in a different way.

Despite assurances when the first film came out in 2018 that we would learn why Michael was so fixated on Laurie, we never did. So he just randomly chased Corey to her house top pick up his stolen mask...? OK.

This was just....bad. Insulting. The choppiness of the editing makes me think that there is a whole other film out there somewhere, that will probably be cobbled into a Director's cut at some point. It probably won't make it a GOOD film, but it might make it a bit more coherent.

At the end of the day, I can tell myself that three generations of Strode women trapped Michael in a burning house, and evil died there. That was a fitting, satisfying ending.

This seems to be the consensus: that ENDS is just not a good movie. I wasn't too thrilled with KILLS so ENDS was already low on my to-watch list, but between your post and Jeff's, it has sunk even lower. Pretty disappointing considering how well-received the first of the new trilogy was. I'm sure I'll get around to watching it, probably do a marathon of the new trilogy, but it sounds more and more like punishment than enjoyment.

[dannyboy121070]

t

I saw it. I posted a review. My theory is that they realllllly wanted to kill Michael Myers and make sure he stayed dead so they murdered the entire franchise with this atrocious movie. They killed any love anyone could ever have for the series and then they burned it to the ground, salting the earth to ensure nothing new can ever grow there.

Great review, Jeff. You did the exact same thing that I did....I kept sitting there mumbling "Why...? What were they thinking?"

A movie like this should write itself. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM set up a stupid, but fun, premise for the third film in the trilogy: Dinosaurs are loose in civilization, and running wild. So we're going to finally see dinos running amuck in cities, people fighting for their lives as a T-Rex smashes into their house, kids and pets being snatched up by Pterodactyls!!! Fuck that! Let's do giant crop-eating locusts instead! That's the same kind of mentality at work here. WE KNOW BETTER THAN THE FANS. They want THIS, but we'll give them THAT, and they'll fucking love it, or else. Jamie Lee Curtis and the filmmakers have been giving interviews where they laugh about how much fans are going to hate this film. So....why make it?

I was blown away by the 2018 HALLOWEEN, and it ended on a perfect note. Michael was dead, Laurie beat him at his own game. The film was good enough that I had faith the filmmakers would be able to pull off a trilogy, but I wondered what they could possibly do to fill two more films. Now we know they had no plan at all. I enjoyed HALLOWEEN KILLS for the great gore and kills, and the beast-mode Michael Myers, despite some REALLY cringey dialogue (EVIL DIES TONIGHT!!) and the lack of Laurie, but, taking the trilogy as a whole, it was clear that they had no idea what to do after the first film.

Spoiler!

Soooo many things about HALLOWEEN ENDS bothered me. One year after Michael kills what looked like everyone in town on Halloween night, things are completely back to normal? Everyone is out trick-or-treating, partying, roaming the streets like the HALLOWEEN KILLER ISN'T STILL ON THE LOOSE??? I would expect the streets to be deserted, cops patrolling everywhere, nationwide news crews reporting on the town that banned Halloween celebrations.....

Even from the first scene, Corey is a weird guy. I wouldn't leave my kid with him. And the granddaughter immediately falling in love with him, to the point of wanting to run away with him a day or two after a REALLY FUCKING WEIRD first date? OK.....

So Michael has been hiding three feet inside a storm drain, killing people in front of the old homeless guy for four years....and the police never looked there?

Laurie was chased by Michael for a few minutes 40 years ago, and went nuts and became a survivalist hermit....but after he kills her daughter and half the town, and IS STILL ON THE LOOSE, she decides to become Betty Crocker? Sure, that would happen.

It still would have sucked, but what I was expecting to happen was that Corey was committing all of the murders WITH Laurie's granddaughter, and that the big twist would be the cops finding Michael's skeleton, with him having been dead for years. I expected Pennywise Michael to be a hallucination by Corey, and the murders were being seen through his skewed perspective. He was dressed like Michael, and the granddaughter was wearing the other mask, and the end would see Laurie fighting and killing Corey and her own granddaughter, who had been corrupted by Haddonfield's evil. I mean, the choppy editing showed Corey killing the Doctor and the slutty Nurse, and then he was riding his bike with the granddaughter. That said to me that they were committing the murders together. Which would still have been a shitty movie, just shitty in a different way.

Despite assurances when the first film came out in 2018 that we would learn why Michael was so fixated on Laurie, we never did. So he just randomly chased Corey to her house top pick up his stolen mask...? OK.

This was just....bad. Insulting. The choppiness of the editing makes me think that there is a whole other film out there somewhere, that will probably be cobbled into a Director's cut at some point. It probably won't make it a GOOD film, but it might make it a bit more coherent.

At the end of the day, I can tell myself that three generations of Strode women trapped Michael in a burning house, and evil died there. That was a fitting, satisfying ending.

[jeffingoff]

Halloween Ends....oy. Such a disappointment. I need other people to watch this, so we can discuss it.

I saw it. I posted a review. My theory is that they realllllly wanted to kill Michael Myers and make sure he stayed dead so they murdered the entire franchise with this atrocious movie. They killed any love anyone could ever have for the series and then they burned it to the ground, salting the earth to ensure nothing new can ever grow there.

[Ben Staad]

Watched a movie called Flesh and Bone. Dennis Quaid, James Caan, Meg Ryan, and Paltrow. Very good drama with a simple story of past and present. Some fairly impactful stuff in this film. 3.5 out of 4 stars. The last line was fantastic.

Maybe not verbatim but close.

Spoiler!

Female: "What's that on your pocket?"
Male:Looks done at his shirt. "Nothing. <pause> It's just blood."

[Ben Staad]

You are the second person I've seen that was less than thrilled with this. Thanks for the warning.

Halloween Ends....oy. Such a disappointment. I need other people to watch this, so we can discuss it.

[dannyboy121070]

Halloween Ends....oy. Such a disappointment. I need other people to watch this, so we can discuss it.

[Sock Monkey]

Halloween Horror Movie #3:

LES DIABOLIQUES (1955): I've had this movie on Blu-ray for years, but I haven't gotten around to watching it. This movie about the murder of man by his wife and mistress is simply fantastic. It's easy to see why this has been praised so much by so many, even by the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Though nearly seventy years old, there are very few moments in the film that feels dated. The two performances by Vera Clouzot (wife of the director Henri-Georges Clouzot) and Simone Signoret are fantastic. My only wish is that I hadn't known the ending prior to watching the film because it does give so much away and diminishes a little bit of the fun.

Grade: A

[Sock Monkey]

Halloween Horror Movie #2:

I SEE YOU: Probably the easiest way to explain this movie would be: "Estranged by an affair, a married couple and their teenage son begin to experience weird occurrences around their house while the husband, a police detective, begins to investigate the possible return of a serial killer." To say much more about the plot would spoil the twists and turns that the movie takes and, to be honest, that might be the only reason to take this ride. This movie seems to have split audiences quite a bit between people who love it and those decidedly don't. I somehow fall right in the middle. The film is quite ambitious in what it is trying to accomplish and I appreciate the big swings it takes. Unfortunately, some of these twists make some of the characters make decisions that don't quite make sense in the moment. Couple this with the fact that the movie moves at a breakneck pace, the movie starts to show its cracks. If the movie had just taken its time to build up some of the families' motivations better, I'd have walked away being able to give this a higher recommendation. As it is, its worth a watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Grade: C