Tag film review

The team at Warner Brothers are back with three classic films being released in 4k, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator!

Warner Brothers have released 4k versions of three more classic films, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator. Prior to receiving these I had never seen any of the films but knew of them well enough. One thing to keep in mind is that these three films have not aged very well. For example, Blazing Saddles is full of racist comments and jokes.

Blazing Saddles is one that my family have told me for years to watch since I am a fan of Mel Brooks and many of his films. The story follows an African American rail worker turned Sherriff. He must protect a small town from bandits and to prevent the railway from tearing through the town. I was amazed by how the story matched, practically scene for scene, to another Mel Brook’s film, Paws of Fury. The story and the non-racist jokes were great but leaned too far into the racist dialogue.

North By Northwest is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock that stars Cary Grant. Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive that is mistaken as a spy and must clear his name. For a spy thriller from the 50s it was surprisingly well done. I’ve never seen a true Hitchcock film till now and I can see why his name carries so much weight.

The Terminator is the classic film that started the franchise. This film focusing on the Terminator hunting and attempting to kill Sarah Conner. T2 was my introduction to the franchise and despite having seen the original before this was a much needed piece to the overall puzzle.

All three films are currently available for purchase at your favorite retailers. Which one will you be picking up? Is this your first time viewing or are you revisiting a classic you remember?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the film we never knew we wanted or that we needed with the original living cast and some additions.

The original Beetlejuice film was one that my twisted young mind loved and is probably why my tastes tend to lead towards the macabre and twisted. Warner Brothers have brought back the original cast, those that are still living anyway, and brought us the sequel I think no one really expected with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The film follows Lydia and her daughter as they learn of their father/grandfather’s death and return to the home where Beetlejuice plagued them all. Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, is tricked by the ghost of a dead boy into following him into the afterlife to see her deceased father with a secret plan to trade places with her. Lydia must call on the one entity she knows she can’t trust to save her.

With Tim Burton at the helm and a team of master effects artists this film was a treat from start to finish. Even better is we are given several behind the scenes features where at least one goes in depth on how some of these effects were made. The shrinking Danny DeVito effect was fascinating to watch how they figured it out but even more so was the reassembly of Delores’ body. As to be expected, the cast was over the top in the portrayals of their characters. If you’ve seen the original film then you know they played them no differently then they had then.

I’ve read numerous reviews that complained about the fact that there were two villains or about how they were each defeated. I honestly felt like this was very on brand for the franchise and the progression of the story it made sense each step of the way. Overall I thought the film was EXACTLY was what I wanted from a sequel of a classic from my youth. Regular callbacks to previous events and natural progression of the characters completed the formula. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and feel that anyone that didn’t wasn’t a fan of the original or went into the viewing with the wrong mindset. Following the naming, does this mean we might get a sequel? I certainly hope so.

Blink Twice starring Channing Tatum is a thriller that surprises at nearly every turn. The pieces are there but will you see them?

Blink Twice is one of those films where the trailer seemed to imply the film was entirely different than it actually is. The film is a thriller but the premise was not at all what we expected. Almost feels like a bait and switch. The trailer from Warner Brothers made the film appear as a story where the uber rich Slater King was tricking people to come to his private island to then be hunted by him and his friends. There is some truth to that but not any of the hunting.

The film starts with Frida arriving to work her shift at a part for Slater King’s charity. With a change of outfits she attends the party and gets invited to the island by Slater himself, played by Channing Tatum. Other than some weird run ins with staff working the grounds, it all seems like fun in the sun with drugs, booze, gourmet meals and watching the help eliminate the native snake population. Everything seems to be great until Frida’s friend was bit by one of the many snakes and it changes everything for Frida.

For anyone interested in seeing the film, I must warn there are numerous scenes of Sexual Assault that I was not expecting to see. Despite those scenes the writing of the film and how it was filmed was quite brilliant. Without spoiling the movie I will only say that I loved the end. The acting, directing, all it, was fantastically done.

Alien Romulus is the latest in the Alien franchise, this time returning to the survival horror roots that launched it!

20th Century Studios has returned to the roots of the Alien franchise with Alien Romulus, featuring the likeness of Ian Holm, who played Ash in the original film. With the exception of the original film, I have always felt that the franchise was less horror and more sci-fi action film. I have literally seen every seen every Alien film in the franchise. I’ve virtually enjoyed them all, even the Aliens Vs Predator films. Romulus truly is the return to its roots.

Taking place about twenty years after the original, Weyland-Yutani is up to their usual shenanigans and have been searching for the organism that was responsible for nearly killing the entire crew of the Nostromo. As they usually are, they were successful and began experimenting on the creature, but not before it woke up and killed a bunch of the crew. On the nearby mining planet, a group of teens learn about the space station and believe it has been decommissioned. They decide to raid it for supplies to allow them to travel to a planet that is not under the control of the company. As expected this is when things go awry.

The cast was beyond fantastic, especially the two leads that played Andy and Rain, Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson. Set designs, costumes and effects were perfect but were outshined by the brilliant use of lighting and ambient sounds to REALLY set the tone for the film. Overall this is the second best film in the franchise and that’s because you just can’t beat the original, especially on that first watch.

Sideways is a film about friendship, lost love and wine tasting from Searchlight Pictures.

In the world of wine tasting, Sideways does a great job of explaining the reasons behind the behaviors of the wine tasting crowds. They still seem absolutely nuts hearing them talk about wines but some of the things they’re saying actually make a little sense. For the 20th anniversary the film has been rereleased by Searchlight Pictures to 4k. When the folks at Searchlight had send us the film, I had never heard of it. I honestly thought it was a newer film that I just never saw a trailer for.

The film follows Miles who is still reeling from his divorce, two years prior, but also the failure of his novel he is trying to publish. He is accompanied by his closest friend Jack, an actor that is on the verge of getting married. They take a road trip to taste a lot of wine and try to live a little before returning home. Jack spends most of the time trying to cheat on his future bride and to help Miles find himself a woman to spend an evening with.

Despite the education about wine tasting, I found the film to be slow and overall to be quite dull. That’s even with the talented cast delivering great performances through the entire film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street and it’s villain, Freddy Krueger, have haunted audiences for decades and have returned in 4k from Warner Brothers.

Freddy Krueger is back in the 4k edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street and was established as one of the ultimate horror villains when I was a kid. He is still talked about to this day. Of course many of us from the 80’s like to relive those films from our childhood and that is further helped by horror themed conventions and music, like Ice Nine Kills’ American Nightmare. That song was actually what got me not just listening to them but WANTING to see this film for the first time. That’s right, prior to this viewing I had never seen a single movie in the franchise. Thanks to Warner Brothers, this edition also includes the Uncut version as well! Of course, the only real differences between the two is an extension of a couple scenes, making them just a bit more graphic. I’m glad I watched this before letting my son, he doesn’t do well with gory elements.

My understanding about Freddy’s character is that he was simply some sort of demon that killed teens in their sleep and simply put, that is accurate but it goes much deeper than that. He was a man that was hung and is now targeting the children of his own killers. Of course the parents were justified as Freddy was evil even as a man and was already targeting children. Now he is targeting SPECIFIC children.

At this point I should stop being surprised at how well a story is told from the 80’s and learn to accept that to make a great film you don’t need all the new effects and rely more on actual talent instead. Finishing the film I was quite impressed and can easily see why Freddy remains one of the great horror villains.

Today we take a look at Kinds of Kindness from the same director behind of Poor Things and much of the same cast, including Emma Stone.

Some films come and completely change how you viewed the genre or create a new bar to hold all cinema to. Kinds of Kindness is one of those films for me. From Searchlight Pictures and Director Yorgos Lanthimos, the film is broken up into three short films, each more deranged than the last. This film was one of the most difficult I have ever reviewed. I literally spent more than a week just staring at the screen, trying to figure out how to voice my thoughts on the film. For me it was beyond difficult. I even called friends to voice my feelings on the film but even they couldn’t help me voice my thoughts in a constructive manner.

In short, this was probably the worst film I have seen all year, BUT it’s clear, I am not the target audience for the film. The cast, editing, literally everything in the production was done with expert skill, beyond what most films do these days. It just wasn’t a film FOR ME. Now, I have no idea who the target audience really is but they’ve managed to do something great with the film, despite my lack of enjoyment. They proved that a film unlike any other out there, using truly original ideas and stories could not only be well received but also be brilliantly executed. It proves that not all films have to be for everyone. I used to believe that if someone watching it can’t enjoy it even a little then they screwed up. After seeing the film I can respect what they’ve done and what they’ve tried to do and still not enjoy it. If you’re someone that watches a film for the directing, the acting or some other technical aspect then you will love this film. If you focus on the uniqueness of the story then this is the film for you, but if you’re looking for a great story at the same time this one may just fall short.

Deadpool and Wolverine is FINALLY available on Blu-Ray and Digital retailers and we are beyond excited for it!

Deadpool and Wolverine is not only one of the most anticipated films for my household and many others, it is also the highest grossing R-Rated of all time! The film starts with a dance sequence and then jumps back in time to see Deadpool being invited to help the TVA, the same guys Loki fights and then joins in the Loki miniseries. I don’t remember seeing any film by Marvel receive this much attention or receive as much anticipation. I try to leave every expectation at the door but that would be a herculean feat with this film and I failed to do so. My expectations were high considering the first two films were by far some of the funniest films I have ever seen. Once Upon a Deadpool was funny as hell as well, since it was literally Deadpool 2 but modified to allow for more ages to view the film. Part of me was actually worries that this film would be aimed at the all ages crowd, that is until i saw the R rating.

With the death of Wolverine in Logan, Wade learns that without his universe’s anchor being his world was slated for death. He begins are race against time to bring any Wolverine back to his own reality to keep it alive. Eventually he finds himself in The Void and facing off against many new and classic X-Men themed villains, meeting some friends along the way and dealing with an entire Corps of Deadpools. Simply put, this is the funniest damn film I have seen this year and likely in the last decade. Absolutely worth the watch by anyone that likes a good laugh, a better story and amazing performances. Love the film start to finish. Make sure you stay till the end of the credits for the BEST after credits scene to date.

The Team at 20th Century Studios have rereleased three of M. Night Shyamalan’s most famous films including Signs, the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable but we’re only looking at two of them.

The folks at 20th Century Studios sent us copies of both Signs and The Sixth Sense, both of which were written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The Sixth Sense was the first film I had ever seen by Shyamalan and was the first film with a major twist I had seen. I remember just seeing the faces in the crowd with me freaking out at the huge reveal. It was brilliantly executed and STILL holds up. Ironically, about a week before we received our review copies I was telling my oldest I would love to watch this film with her and now we have that chance. The Signs was released about three years later and followed a similar story progression but the subject of the story was centered around aliens and not the badass xenomorphs from Alien.

When Signs was first released, I had seen it in theaters and was disappointed. Having watched it again in 4k I have a couple notes. The first is that the visuals were clean and much more crisp than some footage I’d see online recently of the original release (same for The Sixth Sense). The second is that the story was much better told than I had remembered but the overall story still left me wanting more. The Sixth Sense though still holds up as a fantastic film and thoroughly enjoyed getting to share it once again with my family.

Watchmen Chapter 1 is an animated retelling of the film and comics from DC Comics, Warner Brothers and Alan Moore.

Watchmen Chapter 1 is the first of a two part animated series from Warner Brothers, based on the comic by Alan Moore from DC Comics. Originally released in 1986, the story focuses on an alternative history that includes costumed heroes helping through some of the greatest conflicts of the last 100 years. I went into this film without having seen the live action film or having read the entirety of the story either. The only things I was truly aware of was the death of The Comedian, Rorschach is an absolute beast in a fight and Dr. Manhattan is beyond overpowered. When I saw the title, Watchmen Chapter 1, I was expecting some sort of prequel, not an animated adaptation of the book and live action film. Clearly I was wrong.

Chapter 1 is a direct adaptation of the comic and film. I can’t speak to differences based on my lack of experience with either of the prior properties but I suspect that is part of the reasoning behind this adaptation. As with the main story, this film begins with the murder of The Comedian but ends with Rorschach’s arrest.

The animation quality far surpasses most, if not all, of the animated properties from DC and Warner Brothers. It looks very similar to the art style of the Batman games from Telltale Games. The voice acting is great which isn’t a surprise considering some of the names attached. Without knowing the details of the story it kept me on the edge of my seat, needing to know who the killer was and why. Overall it was a fantastic film.