Fear Street Part Three: 1666

‘Fear Street Part Three: 1666’ is the third and final installment of the 2021 horror Fear Street series on Netflix. It stars Kiana Madeira (Fear Street Part One: 1994), Ashley Zukerman (Manhattan), Gillian Jacobs (Fear Street Part Two: 1978), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street part One: 1994), Benjamin Flores Jr. (Fear Street Part One: 1994), and Darrell Britt- Gibson (Keanu).

In this one, we travel back to 1666 and see how Shadyside became cursed. Sarah Fier (The Witch) is blamed for brining the devil to Shady side due to her romantic relationship with Hannah Miller, but we find out it’s not The Witch who summoned the devil.

So they split the third one into two parts, the first half it’s back in time to 1666 to show how it all started , then the second half, we’re back to the first movie in order to end the curse. They did a good job tying that in because if it was all just 1666 it wouldn’t have been as good and left a lot of questions unanswered. My big complaint, like the second one, is the darkness, there’s a lot of outdoor scenes at night, and you can’t tell what’s going on. Again not sure why movies like to do this. With that being said they do a good job of tying everything together, and it’s a fun slasher horror movie. I give this one a 7/10. If you average all three parts it gives it just under a 7.5/10 as a whole, so worth checking this series out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Fear Street movies in the future, I at least hope so.

Fear Street Part 2: 1978

‘Fear Street Part 2: 1978’ is the second instalment of the Fear Street horror series, it stars Sadie Sink (Stranger Things), Emily Rudd (Dynasty), Ryan Simpkins (A Single Man), McCabe Slye (Destroyer), Ted Sutherland (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and Drew Scheid (Words on Bathroom Walls).

The year is 1978, it’s summer time at camp Nightwing, all is fun and games until the witch posses one of the camp consolers. Now it’s a fight for survival as an axe wielding maniac wrecks havoc in camp Nightwing.

This one picks up directly from where the first one left off, and answers questions that we had from the first one. Who is C. Berman, what is her relationship with Sherriff Goode, and what do they have to do with the witch? This one answers those questions, this one is their story. This one is great, it has all the feels of a 80’s slasher movie, Friday the 13th vibes, an axe wielding maniac is running around killing campers. How can it not be good right? The thing stopping this movie though is it’s dark scenes, a lot of the movie takes place at night or in a cave, so it’s really hard to tell what’s going on. I always hate when movies do that, what’s the point of adding dark scenes if you can’t tell what’s going on? Other than that it’s another solid movie, and it sets up for the third one ‘Fear Street Part 3: 1666’ where we get to see the witch’s story. I can’t wait to check it out, I give this one a 7/10.

Charlie Says

‘Charlie Says’ is a 2018 crime/drama/biopic starring Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why), Marianne Rendon (Imposters), Merritt Wever (Signs), and Chace Crawford (The Covenant).

‘Charlie Says’ is based on the book “The Family” written by Karlene Faith who worked with the Manson girls at the California Institute for Women. She viewed them as victims, and lobbied for early release.

A lot of people are obsessed with serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. The one I find most fascinating though is Charles Manson. He never physically lifted a finger in the nine grisly murders in the summer of 1969, but brainwashed others to do the dirty work. It’s all fascinating. ‘Charlie Says’ focuses on the three main girls involved in the murders, and Tex Watson (Crawford), where as Charlie Manson isn’t the lime light. It’s an interesting view point and makes for an interesting movie. My only complaint would be is Smith is too tall for Manson, he plays a great role, but Smith is 6’0 and Manson was 5’2. Almost a whole foot difference, Manson was known for his small stature, and would supposedly go crazy when someone mentioned it. If you didn’t know how short Manson was, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but it was a little distracting for me. Other than that it’s great, and I loved the perspective of the film. I give it a 7/10.

Good on Paper

‘Good on Paper’ is a 2021 original Netflix romantic comedy starring lliza Shlesinger (Spencer Confidential), Ryan Hansen (Fantasy Island), Rebecca Rittenhouse (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), and Margaret Cho (The Masked Singer).

A standup comedian, (Shlesinger), who is trying to make it as an actress in L.A., meets a man who is not her typical type. They quickly become friends, and then boyfriend and girlfriend. Everything seems to be coming together in her life until she finds out everything about him is a lie.

One of the funny things about this movie is it’s based on some real experiences Shlesinger had, not sure how much is real and how much is for entertainment purposes, either way it makes for a good movie. It’s not as funny as I thought it would be after watching the trailer, it still has its funny parts but not laugh out loud funny. It still has a great story and everyone plays a good part. I give it a 7/10

Wrath of Man

‘Wrath of Man’ is 2021 action/thriller starring Jason Statham (The Transporter), Holt McCallany (Mindhunter), Josh Hartnett (30 Days of Night), Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice), Niamh Algar (Raised by Wolves), Babs Olusanmokun (Black Mirror), and Post Malone.

A Mafia boss’s son is killed in an armored car heist by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The mafia boss finds out it’s an inside job, and poses as a security officer to get a job with the armored car company. He now must figure out who killed his son, and settle the score.

This movie is more of a slow burn than expected of a Statham film. There’s literally zero hand to hand combat, and doesn’t have a ton of action until about the last twenty/thirty minutes. Then there is a huge gun fight scene. I kept waiting for Jason to do his thing but it never happened, if your looking for him to beat up a bunch of people, watch ‘The Transporter’ series, because this one won’t be for you. McCallany plays a great second role to Statham, I really like him in ‘Mindhunter’, and I was happy to see him playing a big role in this film. Post Malone even has a small part in it. Though, there isn’t a lot of action and it is a bit on the slow side, the story is good and the acting is as well. It’s different than what I was expecting but it is still good. Who’s not going to like Statham and McCallany in the same movie? I give it a 7/10

The Virtuoso

‘The Virtuoso’ is 2021 Action Crime/Thriller starring Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs), Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels), Abbie Cornish (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), and David Morse (The Green Mile). A hitman (Mount) is hired for a job, but the only details he is given is a time and place with vague details of the hit. He must now figure out who he’s hired to kill before things go sideways.

This movie has pretty low scores across the board, including IMDb, which I’ve said it in other reviews IMDb typically lines up with my scores. I typically check the ratings before the movie just to see if I agree with it in the end, with an IMDb score of 4.5/10, I wasn’t expecting much, but the description sounded good so I figured I would give it a shot. The movie is set up a little different than most, Anson Mount doesn’t have much dialogue. Instead he narrates what’s going on throughout most of the movie, which is a bit different, but I personally love Anson Mount, so I got really excited when I saw he was starring in this. He’s the ultimate bad ass in ‘Hell on Wheels’ and his personality is similar in this. I read an article one time saying how Mount doesn’t like talking, so as ‘Hell on Wheels’ progressed he gave himself less and less lines. So him not having many lines in this, I find comical, it’s perfect for Mount.

Outside the narration, the movie is a bit cheesy with the action and what dialogue there is from the other characters. They try twists and turns to keep you guessing, kind of like ‘The Usual Suspects’, just not the same level of depth. My wife found the movie just okay, I personally liked it. I think a lot of it was just because of Anson Mount, and my excitement to see him outside of ‘Hell on Wheels’. So my review may be a bit on the biased side, if another actor played the hitman role, I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much. The cheesiest of the movie was probably Anthony Hopkins character, even said, the story is still pretty good, and has you thinking who’s who and what’s going on. For this movie, IMDb is low in my opinion. I give it a 7/10.

Willy’s Wonderland

‘Willy’s Wonderland’ is a 2021 horror movie staring Nicholas Cage (National Treasure), Emily Tosta (Party of Five), Beth Grant (Donnie Darko), Ric Reitz (Safe Haven), Caylee Cowan (Bad Detectives), and Terayle Hill (House of Payne).

A quiet loner’s car (Cage) breaks down in a tiny rural town. The mechanic only accepts cash to fix the car, which the loner naturally doesn’t have, to pay off the debt he agrees to spend the night and clean up Willy’s Wonderland (think Chuck E. Cheese), an abandoned family fun center. Little does he know the animatronic band comes to life to feast on human blood, and he’s just a sacrifice.

I’ve been waiting for this movie to come to Redbox, I was really excited when this was first released. It was 20 dollars to watch on streaming sites, I’m all for supporting movies, especially since the movie industry has taken a huge hit due to the pandemic. With that said though, Nicholas Cage has fallen out of the A list celeb group into the B list Category. I can’t think of any of his movies that haven’t gone straight to DVD in the past few years, so 20 dollars for a B horror movie staring Nicholas Cage is a little steep. Alright back to the movie.

So this is basically ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ turned into a movie, if you’re unfamiliar with ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ it is a horror survival game where you play as a night employee at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a fictional family fun center. Like this movie, the animatronics come to life at night, and you must defend yourself. Someone is a fan of this game and ran with it, and turned it into a movie, just amped up. This is the type of movie, you’re either going to like it or hate it. It’s a weird concept, Nicholas cage doesn’t say a word the entire movie, legit not one word, and Caylee Cowan plays a dumb bimbo who looks like she came out of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. Not to mention once the animatronics start attacking Nicholas Cage, they look like bad mascot outfits. So yes, it’s weird. Surprisingly though, I really liked this film. The thing that bugged me the most was Caylee Cowan’s character, it was pointless, but watching a silent Nicholas Cage fight possessed animatronics to death is pretty awesome. I could easily see this movie becoming a cult classic. It’s not a quality movie, it’s like ‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space’ it’s so terrible and looks so bad that it actually is good, and Killer Klowns is a cult classic. Like I said it’s a weird movie and not for everyone, but I enjoyed it, I give it a 7/10. B list Nick Cage did not disappoint me.

Nomadland

‘Nomadland’ is a 2020 drama starring Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading). It follows the story of Fern (McDormand), a modern day nomad who lives out of her van and travels the countryside.

This movie is about nothing, just a woman living in her van, and trying to make it another year. Not my typical type of moving, not a lot of action, actually no action. However this movie works, it’s interesting, gripping, and has you wanting to know where she goes next. It’s crazy to think there are people who choose to live like this, but they seem to be happy and carefree for the most part. ‘Nomadland’ does a good job of taking a look at this lifestyle, and seeing the friendships Fern builds a long the way. I watched it on Amazon prime, but it is still showing in some select theaters. It’s worth a watch, I give it a 7/10.

Alone

‘Alone’ is a 2020 horror/thriller starring Jules Wilcox (Bloodline), Marc Menchaca (The Outsider), and Anthony Heald (The Silence of the Lambs). Jessica (Wilcox) is recently windowed, she packs up and leaves the city to start anew. While traveling she is followed by a man (Menchaca) who ultimately abducts her and keeps her captive in a remote cabin. She must find a way to escape, her very survival depends on it.

This is a cat and mouse movie at it’s best. Think of ‘Unhinged’ and ‘What Keeps You Alive’, both are great cat and mouse movies with a demented villain, mix them together and you get ‘Alone’. A psychopath is following her on the road (‘Unhinged’), once abducted she manages to escape and is fighting for survival in the woods (‘What Keeps You Alive’). Wilcox and Menchaca both play great roles, if you look up creeper in the dictionary I’m pretty sure you would see Menchaca’s character. Thick rimmed square glasses, a mustache, and the creepy gaze. It gives you the willies just looking at him. I don’t believe in spoilers so I’ll leave it at this, the ending is great. You can currently check this one out in Redbox, I give it a 7/10.

Fatale

‘Fatale’ is a 2020 thriller/mystery that is currently in theaters. I’m fortunate to still be in an area where movies are still being shown in theaters. There isn’t a whole of them left open but there is a few, and I’ll continue to support them as long as I can. ‘Fatale’ has a strong cast starring Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby), Michael Ealy (The Intruder), Mike Colter ( Luke Cage), Damaris Lewis (BlacKkKlansman), and Tyrin Turner (Meet the Blacks). ‘Fatale’ is about a married man (Ealy) who has a one night stand/affair with a police officer (Swank) while in Vegas. When he returns back home, to his already rocky marriage, his and his wife’s house gets broken into. The detective assigned to his case happens to be the same woman he had an affair with, and she is about to make his life a whole lot worse for him.

The trailer is a little misleading, it makes it appear as if Swank is responsible for all his problems. While she is insane, and the cause for a lot of it, she’s not the cause of all of it. The movie is a little predictable, and easy to guess the twist right off the bat, but it’s a good movie. Everyone plays a good part, Hilary Swank is a great actress who nails the psycho role. It’s non stop action and makes for an entertaining movie overall. I give it a 7/10.