‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ is a collection of horror short stories from the early 80’s, and early 90’s targeted for middle school age kids by author Alvin Schwartz, and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. I had one of these books as a kid, and if you’ve ever seen the illustrations or read one, you know they are beyond creepy. The illustrations alone freaked me out as a kid, so I was pretty excited to see they were being adapted into a movie. Guillermo del Toro came up with the screen play, which makes perfect sense. He is known for his fantasy, and horror work (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Orphanage). I love his work, and ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ has his name written all over it. This movie relies heavily on Guillermo’s imagery and jump scenes to scare. It reminds of ‘Trick r Treat’ mashed with ‘Goosebumps’ not a scary feel, but more of a spooky. The perfect treat in time for Halloween.
IT Chapter Two
I recently saw an article claiming ‘IT Chapter Two’ was a three hour disappointment. I’m here to say that is not even remotely true. There’s a few reasons I loved this film, 1 I’m a huge Stephen King fan. I’ve read almost all of his work, and IT is a great novel. Also I have an IT tattoo on my shoulder. 2. It follows the Novel almost to a T. Everyone knows the book is always better, and this film really does the book justice. 3. The casting is great. James McAvoy is one of the best actors out there right now. He played twenty three different personalities in ‘Split”. Bill Skarsgard is the perfect casting for Pennywise. I give Tim Curry credit for his role, he is the original Pennywise, but his performance can’t even hold a candle to Skarsgards. He as the creepy factor dialed in perfectly, along with the voice. Also Stephen King has a small cameo in this film. How can you not love that? You’re going to enjoy this film more if you have read the book, but I believe you will still enjoy it even if you haven’t. It’s a non stop scare fest from the beginning all the way till the end. Once the Losers club returns to Derry, it’s on for Pennywise.
The Peanut Butter Falcon.
Let me start off by saying this is a special type of movie, one about overcoming the odds and the power of friendship. I wish this movie was more well known/ popular than what it is. My wife and I were the only two in the theater when we saw it. It wasn’t overly advertised, and maybe that’s why. If you don’t know what it’s about you have to check out the trailer. It’s a modern day Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn story that follows two unlikely friends on their journey. It begins when Zak ( Zack Gottsagen), a 22 year old with down syndrome escapes the nursing home he resides at in order to find a wrestling school he has seen countless times advertised on one of his old VHS tapes. He quickly runs into Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) a small time outlaw who is on the run form some pretty bad men. Tyler learns Zak is also on the run and they form an unlikely bond, and Tyler promises to get Zak to the wrestling school. He slowly becomes Zak’s coach, and mentor. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a worker at Zak’s nursing home, is close on Zak’s trail while the two friends are off on their adventure. It’s also great to see Shia LaBeouf back into the spotlight. He’s had several crazy spells , and became an internet meme/ gif with his whole just do it meltdown. I’ve always been a fan since his early days on ‘Even Stevens’. He’s a great actor and it’s great to see him back at it. Zack Gottsagen did an amazing job that warmed the heart. It would be good to see this one nominated for some awards, it is definitely deserving.
The Good Boys
So right off the bat you know from the previews, and Seth Rogen being the top producer, it’s a raunchy movie. If you don’t like raunchy movies, then avoid this movie like the plague. It’s about three friends since kindergarten who are now going into the sixth grade. The main boy, Max, gets invited to his first kissing party and he brings his two best friends Lucas, and Thor a long for the ride. Things go south pretty fast when they use Max’s dads drone to spy on the teenage girls next door in order to figure out how to kiss. The girls spot the drone and capture it. Once the boys ask for the drone and realize they’re not getting it back they steal the girls purse in retaliation unknowing the purse contains drugs. Now the girls will do whatever it takes to get the purse back while the boys are still in pursuit to get their drone so Max’s dad doesn’t ground him forever. This movie is raunchy, but not only is it hilarious it is also heart warming. I was worried this might be one of those films that show all the good parts on the previews and the rest is a snooze fest, or cringe worthy. This wasn’t the case, the boys go through a lot of growing in their short adventure and learn that is okay to grow together and sometimes it’s okay to go your own separate paths. Casting was also excellent for this movie, I would recommend checking out ‘The Good Boys.’
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
I didn’t do a whole lot of research on this one before I went and saw it. I knew it took place in 1969 and was loosely based on the Mason murders, but that was about it. Anything Quentin Tarantino does is gold, he is a modern day Steven Spielberg. Plus Tarantino has said he’s only going to do ten movies and that’s it. So they have a limited edition feel to them, each one is more anticipated than the last. ‘Once Upon a time in Hollywood’ stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. All of them are amazing in anything they do. Brad Pitt really sold me once he did ‘Burn After Reading’, and ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ So naturally he was great in this, and really brought the movie together even though he was second fiddle to Leonardo. The movie follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo), and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in the dying days of the golden era of Hollywood. Dalton was once a huge star on his cowboy show, but is now only being type cast as a villain cameo in other westerns to help boost the new up and coming cowboy actors. Dalton is struggling to come to terms that his best days are behind him and Hollywood is changing and moving forward with out him. The entire time Booth is becoming more of Dalton’s personal assistant, and handyman rather than stunt double as he is no longer needed in Hollywood. Tarantino finishes up the movie with his unique spin on the Manson murders. All in all Tarantino has put out another great movie, and this is a must see.
The Lion King
This is a hard one to review. I want to get this out of the way, I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about this movie. Some claiming it is the best live action remake and others saying it is terrible and doesn’t do the original justice. I will say the best remake so far, hands down, is ‘Aladdin’. There is only one Robin Williams, and only one genie, but the next best pick was Will Smith. He absolutely killed the role. Now back to ‘The Lion King’ is it a great movie, yes. Casting was excellent, I personally love Donald Glover. He is very underrated in my book, he acts, he’s a successful rapper, stand up comic, voice actor, producer, and writer. The guy is the real deal. So voicing Simba was a great choice.Next great casting choice was Seth Rogan as Pumba. I mean look at the guy, you can not tell me he’s not a Pumba. He was born to play that roll. Now the reason why people may not like this movie as much. One it looks like a National Geographic. They missed the mark on making the animals look similar to the characters, they went for the real look. Two if you’re a purist. The dialog was changed up in parts, and the scenes were as well. A good example of this is when Pumba goes to distract the hyenas. In the original Timon and Pumba put on an entire show where Timon is wearing a grass skirt and Pumba has an apple in his mouth and they go through a hula dance. In the remake this doesn’t happen, Timon and Pumba just kinda run out and the hyenas chase them. Another good example is when Rafiki meets up with Simba. It is arguably one of the most famous scenes in Lion King. He wacks Simba over the head, teaches him a lesson and moves on. That part does not happen in the new movie. So again if you’re a purist, you probably will not like it. Was it a great movie, yes. This is one i recommend, but if your’e a 90’s baby like me. You may or may not be disappointed.
Secret Obsession
The plot of this movie reminds me a lot of the movie ‘the Perfect Guy’. An obsessed guy will do whatever it takes to win the heart of the girl he loves, including killing, great story line. Physcological thrillers are normally pretty good movies and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Difference between ‘the Perfect Guy’ and ‘Secret Obesession’ is ‘the Perfect Guy’ was good. Normally I wait till the end of my review to say whether it is good or not, or worth watching, but Netflix really missed the mark here. Netflix has been pushing this movie pretty hard, and don’t get me wrong most of their original content is great. Somewhere they missed it here, not sure if it was the writing or the casting decision but it just felt cheesey and forced. It seemed better suited for Lifetime instead of Netflix. Now if you haven’t seen the trailer or seen the movie it’s about a woman (Brenda Song, from Suite life of Zack and Cody) who suffers a head injury and forgets everything about her life. This gives this obsessed guy (Mike Vogel, creepy cop from Bates Motel) his chance to step into her life and convince her that he is her husband. Only problem is he isn’t, and he’s a physco. She soon realizes the danger she is in, while a cop (Dennis Haysbert, Allstate guy) battling his own demons is hot on Vogels trail. Again sounds good but not worth the watch.
Stuber
I want to start off by saying how excited I was for this movie. It looked hilarious in the trailers, and I love Dave Bautista. He’s a seriously funny dude, and Drax hands down is the best part of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ I would have seen it just because of him alone. If you haven’t seen the trailer, you have to look it up. It is basically about a cop (Dave Bautista) who’s partner was killed in the line of duty and Bautista has been hot on his trail for two years after the event. When he finally catches the big break he needs to get the guy, it turns out to be on the same day Bautista has Lasik eye surgery. He tries driving himself to the lead and ends up failing miserablely. He is forced to call an Uber to get where he needs to go. This is where his driver Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) comes in. Nanjiani is another very funny dude, he plays a small nerdy Indian guy who can’t say no and is a push over. So when Bautista gets in the car Nanjiani will do whatever it takes to get a 5 star rating. So Mr. Magoo on steroids and Stu are off to find the guy who killed Bautista’s partner. The entire time Nanjiani wants to just get away because he finally has a chance to get with his dream girl (Betty Gilpin). Nothing could go wrong, right? There hasn’t been a whole lot of great comedies this year, but this one is definitely worth seeing. So go check it out if you haven’t.
Child’s Play
I’m not going to talk about the original 1988 cult classic ‘Child’s Play’, but the more recent 2019 remake. Now I was a little hesitant to go see this movie, not because I thought it would be scary. I love horror, and I don’t find Chucky scary. I was hesitant because one, most remakes don’t do the original justice, besides the rare few, and two the new Chucky looks plain dumb. He looks way to CGI. So I went in not expecting a whole lot, but I was genuinely surprised. It was a good movie. They switched it up with a new original story line, and it worked. It starts out in a Vietnamese sweat shop where the Buddi dolls are being made. One the workers hates his life, and his boss is a total jerk to him. He keeps day dreaming which makes his boss mad and kicks the worker out. Instead of going back to the streets, he turns off all of the safety censors on one of the Buddi dolls, packages it up, and takes his own life, and that’s how Chucky begins his journey to the U.S. Andy is an underprivileged kid being raised by a single mother. A Buddi doll is returned to where Andy’s mother works, for being “damaged”. With Andy’s birthday coming up his mother brings the doll home as a birthday gift. Andy doesn’t have any friends and the Buddi doll is supposed to be the perfect companion. The Buddi doll is self learning and can sync itself with virtually any technology, cars, TV’s, thermostats, etc… Without the safety censors Chucky is free to do whatever he pleases. He doesn’t fully grasp right from wrong and will do whatever it takes to be Andy’s one and only friend. I found myself almost feeling for Chucky. With out giving away too much, this is a must see movie.
Bubba Ho-Tep
I came across this obscure movie while scrolling through Sling TV. Now if you’ve never heard of ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ you’re not alone. Here is the synopsis Google provides. “After falling into a lengthy coma following a freak accident involving hip gyration, a now aged Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) wakes up in an East Texas nursing home, where he befriends Jack (Ossie Davis), an African-American senior who claims to be President John F. Kennedy. After residents of their quiet retirement community start dying of dubiously unnatural causes, Elvis and Jack discover that the perpetrator is Bubba Ho-Tep (Bob Ivy), an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.” Now sounds cheesey right? Bruce Campbell is not in a whole lot of well known stuff, but he does have an almost cult like following, so I figured hey why not. I can honestly say I was surprised at how good this movie actually was. The movie is heartfelt filled with redemption and perseverance. Not only that but Bruce Campbell kills his role as Elvis, and had me almost beileveing in the end that he really was Elvis. This is going to go down as a cult classic in my book. So if you’re looking for a good watch outside the box, ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ is a must see.
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