As far as
the movies of 2018, the whole year was Christmas for me. So many damn good flicks came
out this year that developing a single top ten movie list was dang difficult.
So, my whittling down a top ten out of the fifty or so movies I saw . . . well,
it came down to which movies stuck in my mind the most. Granted, some of the
movies I viewed at the beginning of the year I had forgotten about by the time
I got to the end of this year’s movies. However, refreshing my memory with a
listing on Google of all the movies released in 2018 helped me remember those
films which I had forgotten but really, really loved. That same list also reminded
me that although I had seen quite a few movies this past year . . . I really, really
(Hmm, I seem to like using “really, really” a lot . . .) didn’t see all or even
close to all of the movies released in 2018. AND horror films? Dudes and Dudettes
2018 was the year of the horror film. And thanks to the movies that blazed the
horror trail, The Cabin in the Woods (2011), Fright Night (2011), and, of course,
the brilliant Mother! (2017) AND the equally superb Get Out (2017), we can joyously
proclaim 2019 the year that 21st century horror was born!
But the thing that makes this movie sing like a
love banshee is the CGI/live action sequences. Man, this is great CGI, a
total feast for the eyes that truly outshines the animation developed for the
1986 arcade game. Mindless mayhem of a movie? Yeah, but extremely well-acted, and
brilliantly directed and, again, great action sequences.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Rampage
April 13: You may well be wondering how Rampage got on this top ten list and
movies like Black Panther, Antman and the Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War didn’t
make the cut. Well, I’m not sure exactly why. I mean, the movies mentioned
above are great, and Black Panther is culturally important, but . . . I really
like most of what Dwayne Johnson does. He’s damn likable in movies even when he’s
playing tough characters. And he and George (he's the giant ape in the trailer pic to your left) are the most likable in this strange buddy movie about giant, DNA enhanced animals that decide to kick the crap out of Chicago, and “of course, the wolf can fly."
The whole cast is a fantastic mix of actors who are probably too good for this simple story about rampaging monsters. But they all work what material they have, to create very interesting and fun-loving characters that have at least a half inch of human depth.
The whole cast is a fantastic mix of actors who are probably too good for this simple story about rampaging monsters. But they all work what material they have, to create very interesting and fun-loving characters that have at least a half inch of human depth.
GRADE: 87% = B+
09. A Quiet Place April 06: Holy CRAP! You have any idea how long I’ve been watching horror movies? Since I was 6 years old . . . and I’m now 70. So, you’d think I’ve seen it all . . . and I have. But I got to tell ya, A Quiet Place really fried my brain bucket. What an original approach to a horror movie . . . if you open your mouth, make a sound . . . the boogeyman will come and eat you. A brilliant and dangerous idea to have a movie without much (except for the use of American sign language) spoken dialogue (people who count this sort of stuff say there are only 90 lines of spoken dialogue in the entire movie). I say brilliant because it engages the audience in a way that is so unique and so disturbing. Yes, there are sounds, soft sounds of people walking, running, breathing . . . but be careful! The slightest sound will bring the monster . . . Oh, and did I mention . . . it’s a dangerous approach making a movie in the 21st century without dialogue being the main feature!
But it
works and it works so well that when there is a sudden noise, a door closing to
hard, some one knocks an object over . . . all these “normal” sounds in real life
makes you, the audience, jump out of your skin. Such a wonderful use of sound
and silence in this movie. The only “problem” I had with this movie is that
fact they did use music to enhance some of the scenes where people were
running. But the use of scene enhancing music is so subtle that I really can’t
fault it . . . but it was not needed at all.
Another great thing about this horror film is that they don’t “explain” away the movie. There’s some foreshadowing but it’s handled so gently you don’t realize it’s even there. For instance, Blunt’s character is pregnant. You don’t really pay attention to the fact that she’s pregnant . . . until she goes into labor! And there’s another scene that they do a definite foreshadowing about long before the scene happens, and you KNOW something bad’s gonna to happen! AND . . . I ain’t telling you anymore. When you see the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Oh! The ending! Okay, okay. I won’t say anything about the ending. BUT there is gonna be A Quit Place 2! And I wanna see that!
GRADE: 99% = A
08. Hereditary June 08:
07. Spider-Man:
Into the Spider-Verse December 14: Okay, I’ll straight-up admit it . . . I saw
the previews for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and I had one of those
(which I rarely have!) negative fan reactions! What the Huckabee did they think
they were doing?! Going backwards artistically. I mean, it took forever for the
technology to catch up so we could have a live action Spider-Man! And we had
the best “human actor” Spider-Man ever in Tobey Maguire! And the first and
second Spider-Man were brilliant, special effects were off the charts . . . I literally
cried when I saw the subway fight between Spider-Man and
06. Mission Impossible—Fallout July 27: My friend David Slemmons will NEVER go to see a Tom Cruise movie with me. He doesn’t “like” Tom Cruise, and he’s not alone. A LOT of people hate, no I mean HATE, Tommy Boy for all kinds of reasons: he’s not a good actor, he’s a Scientologist, he dares to “remake” an iconic TV show (Mission Impossible) AND— the biggest sin of all—Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch! I must admit. I didn’t care for Cruise in the beginning of his career because I DO not like non-actors taking jobs away from real actors who have studied a long frigging time to be good at their art. Tommy just lucked out. He didn’t have to spend years in acting school because he had a pretty enough face, I guess, and he could talk . . . a little. BUT for me, in those beginning years, I didn’t like his work. It had no depth, he was just a flesh mannequin up there mumbling a bunch of words that made no sense to him or the audience that had to listen to him say . . . nothing. But that was then, and this is now, and Tom Cruise has somehow learned enough about the craft of acting and moviemaking to turn out a damn good movie or two, and Mission Impossible—Fallout is in my opinion one of the best action movies ever . . . this side of the original Die Hard (1988).
First and
foremost, the three-man rumble in the bathroom scene with Tom Cruise & Henry Cavill vs. Liang
Yang, is the most beautifully painful hand to hand combat scene in ass-kicking history!
Dude, I bruised myself in my comfy theatre chair just dodging all the punches,
kicks and chops that the fantastic Liang Yang threw at Tom and Henry. So,
realistic was the washroom smackdown that both Henry and Tom complained about
their aches and pains. “We’re movie stars not stuntmen!” No, they didn’t hate
it, in fact Cruise’s box office success lately is based on part on his desire to
do as many of the stunts, fight scenes action sequences that he can possibly
do.
And the action sequences, car chases, helicopter chases are the real stars of this show. No, don’t get excited. The dialogue may not be Shakespeare on a glacier, but it’s good dialogue and the actors deliver every gag, punchline, meaningful word with great expertise. BUT it is all there to support the action. I don’t want to describe any of it because it may be in your best interest, reader, to just sit down and view it for yourself . . . IF you haven’t done so already . . . But I’ll tell you this, all the action sequences, fight scenes are brilliantly choregraphed, directed and edited AND the CGI effects used are so clean, blend so will with the live action you can’t tell it’s actually a visual effect.
09. A Quiet Place April 06: Holy CRAP! You have any idea how long I’ve been watching horror movies? Since I was 6 years old . . . and I’m now 70. So, you’d think I’ve seen it all . . . and I have. But I got to tell ya, A Quiet Place really fried my brain bucket. What an original approach to a horror movie . . . if you open your mouth, make a sound . . . the boogeyman will come and eat you. A brilliant and dangerous idea to have a movie without much (except for the use of American sign language) spoken dialogue (people who count this sort of stuff say there are only 90 lines of spoken dialogue in the entire movie). I say brilliant because it engages the audience in a way that is so unique and so disturbing. Yes, there are sounds, soft sounds of people walking, running, breathing . . . but be careful! The slightest sound will bring the monster . . . Oh, and did I mention . . . it’s a dangerous approach making a movie in the 21st century without dialogue being the main feature!
Another great thing about this horror film is that they don’t “explain” away the movie. There’s some foreshadowing but it’s handled so gently you don’t realize it’s even there. For instance, Blunt’s character is pregnant. You don’t really pay attention to the fact that she’s pregnant . . . until she goes into labor! And there’s another scene that they do a definite foreshadowing about long before the scene happens, and you KNOW something bad’s gonna to happen! AND . . . I ain’t telling you anymore. When you see the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Oh! The ending! Okay, okay. I won’t say anything about the ending. BUT there is gonna be A Quit Place 2! And I wanna see that!
GRADE: 99% = A
08. Hereditary June 08:
Okay, no doubt about, Hereditary is the biggest WTF! movie of last
year. I’m not pulling your legbone here. After almost every scene in this movie
I’d turn to my movie pal and silently mouth, “What the FUCK?!” and he would
smile and shrug. Even less fore shadowing in this movie than in A Quiet Place,
and yet it really keeps your interest because what’s happening on screen is so
creepy and at times so horrifying that it doesn’t matter why it’s happening . .
. IT’S HAPPENING! And you don’t find out what it’s all about until you get to
the end. Like Mother (2017), Hereditary is so fascinating that the audience doesn’t
really care about plot or exposition. Not knowing WTF! is going on is a big
part of why this damn film is so enticing.
Spoiler! Don’t Read If You Don’t Want To KNOW!
I’ll Tell
you one negative thing about this movie. The ending isn’t as exciting as the rest
of its parts. I mean, the ending could have been executed better. But still,
this movie is one to watch with a friend because it’s scary and you want somebody
there that you can turn to and say WTF!
GRADE: 98.5 = A
Doc Ock.
Beautiful. Yeah, I know we had some bad decisions made during the making of Spider-Man
3 And the studio-suits freaked out and fired everybody connected with 3 including Toby
. . . and then . . . the most dreadful reboot of a franchise ever . . . and then another reboot franchise, which is
working better than the first reboot but still not close to the original. So, they
decide to reboot one more time and make the new Spider-man . . . A FRIGGIN' CARTOON? Are you kidding me? No, I will not go see my hero transformed back
into a bloody cartoon . . . But a friend had an extra ticket for the IMAX at
the Warren Theater . . . and I went.
Spider-Man:
Into the Spider-Verse Is the best reboot of the Spider-Man franchise to date. One good
reason? Well, it’s just thought out better. Based on the Marvel comics about
the Spider-Verse, this animation stays true to the original idea of a web
slinging hero while expanding on the mythology in a way that hasn’t yet been
explored in film. AND the animated film really tries to bring the comic book to
life. Yes, it has been tried before with some success with the Sin City movies
. . . but Spider-Verse is straight -up a blinding of CGI elements with old
school comicbook art . . . and this changes the whole animation world for me. I
do admit the animation was a bit mind altering for me. At first, the movement of
characters through the animated world gave me a headache. As wimpy as this may sound
I got a bit dizzy because my brain just couldn’t process what it was seeing!
Fortunately, my brain finally securitized itself with the imagery on screen and
. . . Look, this is more than a great animated movie, it’s the start of a new
era in cartooning.
GRADE:
99% = A
06. Mission Impossible—Fallout July 27: My friend David Slemmons will NEVER go to see a Tom Cruise movie with me. He doesn’t “like” Tom Cruise, and he’s not alone. A LOT of people hate, no I mean HATE, Tommy Boy for all kinds of reasons: he’s not a good actor, he’s a Scientologist, he dares to “remake” an iconic TV show (Mission Impossible) AND— the biggest sin of all—Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch! I must admit. I didn’t care for Cruise in the beginning of his career because I DO not like non-actors taking jobs away from real actors who have studied a long frigging time to be good at their art. Tommy just lucked out. He didn’t have to spend years in acting school because he had a pretty enough face, I guess, and he could talk . . . a little. BUT for me, in those beginning years, I didn’t like his work. It had no depth, he was just a flesh mannequin up there mumbling a bunch of words that made no sense to him or the audience that had to listen to him say . . . nothing. But that was then, and this is now, and Tom Cruise has somehow learned enough about the craft of acting and moviemaking to turn out a damn good movie or two, and Mission Impossible—Fallout is in my opinion one of the best action movies ever . . . this side of the original Die Hard (1988).
And the action sequences, car chases, helicopter chases are the real stars of this show. No, don’t get excited. The dialogue may not be Shakespeare on a glacier, but it’s good dialogue and the actors deliver every gag, punchline, meaningful word with great expertise. BUT it is all there to support the action. I don’t want to describe any of it because it may be in your best interest, reader, to just sit down and view it for yourself . . . IF you haven’t done so already . . . But I’ll tell you this, all the action sequences, fight scenes are brilliantly choregraphed, directed and edited AND the CGI effects used are so clean, blend so will with the live action you can’t tell it’s actually a visual effect.
GRADE:
99.4% = A
05. Aquaman
December 21: Okay, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but there were a lot of
folks who said that they only went to see Aquaman because Jason Momoa was going
to have his shirt off for most of the movie. I know, I know what you’re going
to say, “The folks that said that were only kidding!” Yes, I’m sure they were .
. . but he did have that shirt off a lot. And do you know how many posters I
came across for the Aquaman movie where Aquaman had his shirt off? Yes, quite a
few.
But despite
what I believe to be a blatant attempt to use sexual stimulation through the
use of a beautiful man with his shirt off to sell tickets. . . Aquaman (the
movie) is a brilliant, totally satisfying action/superhero movie. In fact, I’m
willing to suggest that Aquaman is the best of the new DC superhero movies,
Batman vs. Superman and Justice League, and though I love both movies . . .
Aquaman transforms the franchise into another genre . . . the epic. Yeah, it
stands up there with the other epic movies like Avatar (2009), The Lord of the
Rings series (2001-03). And I'm not just comparing it fantasy franchises. I think it holds it's own against one of the most luxurious looking epic films ever, Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Aquaman has so many interesting fantasy creatures and humanoid creatures in this movie and none of the CGI characters look cartoonish. The giant seahorses where beautifully crafted mounts for the sea warriors. One of the effects that a lot of people oohed and aahed over was the way the mere people talked and moved underwater. It looked so realistic. This was the way characters would move and communicate underwater IF humanoid fish people existed in this environment. And the fight scenes, hand to hand combat, great epic underwater sea battles where . . . well just breath taking.
Aquaman could easily be one of the very best superhero movies of all time. And yeah, Momoa looks good without a shirt.
Aquaman has so many interesting fantasy creatures and humanoid creatures in this movie and none of the CGI characters look cartoonish. The giant seahorses where beautifully crafted mounts for the sea warriors. One of the effects that a lot of people oohed and aahed over was the way the mere people talked and moved underwater. It looked so realistic. This was the way characters would move and communicate underwater IF humanoid fish people existed in this environment. And the fight scenes, hand to hand combat, great epic underwater sea battles where . . . well just breath taking.
Aquaman could easily be one of the very best superhero movies of all time. And yeah, Momoa looks good without a shirt.
GRADE:
99.7 % = A
04. Overlord
November 09: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS HERE!
D-IX—Due to increased Allied pressure on the German war effort, Nazi Germany had grown desperate for new soldiers to continue the war effort, and one way to mitigate the massive losses was to increase the combative power of the remaining soldiers in the Wehrmacht. Though simpler drugs such as Pervitin and Isophan helped to keep soldiers properly stimulated, Vice Admiral Hellmuth Heye in March 1944 requested a drug that could also provide the users with superhuman strength and a boosted sense of self-esteem. -Wikipedia
Okay,
lets get something straight . . . Overlord is not a friggin’ zombie movie! Yes,
the Nazis experiment on the dead with a super soldier formula, and yes, the
dead come back to life . . . But they are not friggin’ zombies . . . they are super-soldiers
who are extremely pissed off and extremely dangerous if you decide to pick a
fight with them because—well—they were dead and now they’re not. But they have
nothing in common with The Night of the Living Dead (2968) or the TV series The
Walking Dead. IF the super-soldier characters in Overlord have anything in common with any other movie, that
movie would be Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) because that’s what
the first part of Captain America 1 is all about. Finding that “right” man to experiment on by pumping his body full of super-soldier super-hero juice! But
that’s where the two scripts Captain America 1 and Overlord part brain waves.
Overlord is one kick-ass WWII/horror film. Yes, mixing horror with WWII has been done before but Overlord mixes the straight up horror with the horrors of war and doesn’t shy away from either. The first scene in Overlord is one of those bloody action sequences involving A plane of fully armed paratroopers who are on their way to blow up a Nazi radio tower the night before D-Day and . . . well they are shot out the sky by German ground artillery in one of those stark, naturalistic scenes that could’ve fit right into movies like Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Man, it is crazy brutal. It depicts graphically that sensation of not having control over your own life. Whether you live or die is all up in the air and all you got to help you survive is blind luck! One of the most devastating war scenes ever made . . . and it's in the very beginning of the movie.
Overlord exploits our natural, visceral response to danger and violence better than a lot of movies that venture into this realm of body horror. Yes, I’m not that squeamish when it comes to movie violence and torture, but almost every scene of violence and/or suspense in Overlord had me either physically squirming, averting my eyes, covering my eyes so I could only partially see what was go on—which doesn’t at all work—or making me squeek that inverted hissing sound people make when they feel extremely uncomfortable . . . physically and/or mentally.
But there's more to Overlord—Oh! The title of the movie was the title of: Operation Overlord, the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II.—Wikipedia . . . Anyway, there’s plenty of story and not just chop ‘em up action sequences. The paratroopers are hidden in the town by the mysterious Chloe and her younger brother and . . . Okay, I don’t want to say anymore . . . I’ve probably said too much already! This is a movie worth seeing. Yes, it is violent in places but there is also such an interesting, intriguing storyline that you can’t really turn your eyes away from it . . . for very long!
D-IX—Due to increased Allied pressure on the German war effort, Nazi Germany had grown desperate for new soldiers to continue the war effort, and one way to mitigate the massive losses was to increase the combative power of the remaining soldiers in the Wehrmacht. Though simpler drugs such as Pervitin and Isophan helped to keep soldiers properly stimulated, Vice Admiral Hellmuth Heye in March 1944 requested a drug that could also provide the users with superhuman strength and a boosted sense of self-esteem. -Wikipedia
Overlord is one kick-ass WWII/horror film. Yes, mixing horror with WWII has been done before but Overlord mixes the straight up horror with the horrors of war and doesn’t shy away from either. The first scene in Overlord is one of those bloody action sequences involving A plane of fully armed paratroopers who are on their way to blow up a Nazi radio tower the night before D-Day and . . . well they are shot out the sky by German ground artillery in one of those stark, naturalistic scenes that could’ve fit right into movies like Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Man, it is crazy brutal. It depicts graphically that sensation of not having control over your own life. Whether you live or die is all up in the air and all you got to help you survive is blind luck! One of the most devastating war scenes ever made . . . and it's in the very beginning of the movie.
Overlord exploits our natural, visceral response to danger and violence better than a lot of movies that venture into this realm of body horror. Yes, I’m not that squeamish when it comes to movie violence and torture, but almost every scene of violence and/or suspense in Overlord had me either physically squirming, averting my eyes, covering my eyes so I could only partially see what was go on—which doesn’t at all work—or making me squeek that inverted hissing sound people make when they feel extremely uncomfortable . . . physically and/or mentally.
But there's more to Overlord—Oh! The title of the movie was the title of: Operation Overlord, the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II.—Wikipedia . . . Anyway, there’s plenty of story and not just chop ‘em up action sequences. The paratroopers are hidden in the town by the mysterious Chloe and her younger brother and . . . Okay, I don’t want to say anymore . . . I’ve probably said too much already! This is a movie worth seeing. Yes, it is violent in places but there is also such an interesting, intriguing storyline that you can’t really turn your eyes away from it . . . for very long!
GRADE: 102% = A+
03. BlacKkKlansman: August 10
Yes, I understand the sentiment. The popular art of our youth is always important to us, it's after all . . . our youth! But to base your opinion on whether a movie is a good movie or not solely on a desire to keep the memory of your "youth" forever alive is ridiculous. When they remake a movie or create a new sequel to an original script, they don't destroy all the copies of the older movies, the ones you grew up on. They are still there, and you can watch them whenever you want. There. Problem solved.
For this lover of the original Halloween and the Laurie/Michael storyline, I think this sequel is the best of them all. Okay, Yes! I am a big fan of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, WHICH I just learned there is sequel in the works for 2019! Yea! BUT it is NOT a sequel to the original Laurie/Michael storyline and ANY sequel worth it's horror socks should be based on the original, a continuation of the original story . . . but I digress!
Halloween 2018 is a "perfect" sequel; it does two thing that I think a sequel needs to do:
1. The storyline doesn't "repeat" the story of Laurie and Michael but expands on it. Yes, I can hear you yelling at me, "What do you mean?! It's exactly like the storyline in the original Halloween!" Yes, I understand why you're yelling at me (please, use your diaphragmatic breathing skills you acquired in your Voice for the Stage class when yelling . . . it will save your voice.) because it might look like the same storyline . . . but it's not. It is a continuation of the story but from forty years later. Of course, that doesn't mean that the screenwriter couldn't just repeat the same story . . . but they don't. One big difference, and maybe the only difference, between Halloween today and Halloween forty years ago is Laurie and Michael. Laurie is nothing like the high school girl she was before she "met" Michael:
Laurie Strode: Do you know that I pray every night that he would escape?
Hawkins: What the hell did you do that for?
Laurie Strode: So, I can kill him. -moviequotesandmore.com
So, though I hear a lot of bad mouthing going around on Facebook, I think this sequel will appeal to most lovers of the franchise. And I hope this is just the beginning of beautiful relationship between Blumhouse Productions and Halloween.
03. BlacKkKlansman: August 10
Historification
was a term Brecht used to define the technique of deliberately setting the
action of a play in the past in order to draw parallels with contemporary events.
—the drama teacher
Spike Lee:
That was the intention of Kevin Willmott, my co-writer, and myself. We felt
like this film could not be as powerful as could be if it was strictly a period
piece. Now, of course, we had to be true to the story, the subject matter. We
couldn't make this take place today. But there were elements of what happened
in the late '70s we could apply and the audience can make the connection
itself. And, with the coda of Charlottesville, everybody would understand the
very, very sticky situation we live in today. —USA Today
You may
like or not like Spike Lee movies . . . but one thing you can take to the bank?
If you go to see a Spike Lee movie . . . you will damn sure see . . . something.
Spike’s BlackkKlansman is a masterpiece of contemporary observation of the American way of life and stands as a testimony that no matter how hard we try to make the American World truly the “Land of the Free!” we just can’t seem to stop or out run American racism. And yeah, I know! White people in America are tired of hearing about racism . . . but it’s there, you know it’s there and saying you don’t hear it, see it . . . won’t make it disappear. And Spike is here to make us pay attention, see that racism isn’t just in the history books but is still alive in— oh! I’m supposed to be reviewing a movie. I forgot.
Spike Lee is one of the most prolific movie artists that America offers. Yes, he is really into the exploration of racism in almost ALL his movies, but he does it in such a deep and artistic way. Accused often of being “one sided,” Spike Lee doesn’t just draw caricatures of white and black characters in his movies. We see why people are the way they appear in the film and in real life. No one is one dimensional in this film. Spike is at his best here telling this unbelievable true story about a black policeman who infiltrates the KKK. And yes! It’s often shocking, disturbing particularly when we hear the story of the real-life lynching of Jesse Washington, but it has its on sense of humanely funny scenes, beautifully human scenes that makes Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman a great movie that history will never forget.
Spike’s BlackkKlansman is a masterpiece of contemporary observation of the American way of life and stands as a testimony that no matter how hard we try to make the American World truly the “Land of the Free!” we just can’t seem to stop or out run American racism. And yeah, I know! White people in America are tired of hearing about racism . . . but it’s there, you know it’s there and saying you don’t hear it, see it . . . won’t make it disappear. And Spike is here to make us pay attention, see that racism isn’t just in the history books but is still alive in— oh! I’m supposed to be reviewing a movie. I forgot.
Spike Lee is one of the most prolific movie artists that America offers. Yes, he is really into the exploration of racism in almost ALL his movies, but he does it in such a deep and artistic way. Accused often of being “one sided,” Spike Lee doesn’t just draw caricatures of white and black characters in his movies. We see why people are the way they appear in the film and in real life. No one is one dimensional in this film. Spike is at his best here telling this unbelievable true story about a black policeman who infiltrates the KKK. And yes! It’s often shocking, disturbing particularly when we hear the story of the real-life lynching of Jesse Washington, but it has its on sense of humanely funny scenes, beautifully human scenes that makes Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman a great movie that history will never forget.
GRADE:
102% = A+
02. Halloween October 19:
02. Halloween October 19:
The
new Halloween SUCKS! –Nameless Facebook Troll
Hee! I'm
starting my review of the new Halloween with the first review I read after
seeing the movie! And yes! I totally . . . DISAGREE with the "reviewer"
who wrote the above quote. But he's not alone. There are WAY too many negative reviews about Halloween (2018) to
take any of them seriously. What I've read of the reviews so far? There's a
dislike for the new sequel because . . .
"well, dang it, we don't like new movies based on the movies we grew up
on! Nothing can replace the movies of our youth!"
Yes, I understand the sentiment. The popular art of our youth is always important to us, it's after all . . . our youth! But to base your opinion on whether a movie is a good movie or not solely on a desire to keep the memory of your "youth" forever alive is ridiculous. When they remake a movie or create a new sequel to an original script, they don't destroy all the copies of the older movies, the ones you grew up on. They are still there, and you can watch them whenever you want. There. Problem solved.
For this lover of the original Halloween and the Laurie/Michael storyline, I think this sequel is the best of them all. Okay, Yes! I am a big fan of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, WHICH I just learned there is sequel in the works for 2019! Yea! BUT it is NOT a sequel to the original Laurie/Michael storyline and ANY sequel worth it's horror socks should be based on the original, a continuation of the original story . . . but I digress!
Halloween 2018 is a "perfect" sequel; it does two thing that I think a sequel needs to do:
1. The storyline doesn't "repeat" the story of Laurie and Michael but expands on it. Yes, I can hear you yelling at me, "What do you mean?! It's exactly like the storyline in the original Halloween!" Yes, I understand why you're yelling at me (please, use your diaphragmatic breathing skills you acquired in your Voice for the Stage class when yelling . . . it will save your voice.) because it might look like the same storyline . . . but it's not. It is a continuation of the story but from forty years later. Of course, that doesn't mean that the screenwriter couldn't just repeat the same story . . . but they don't. One big difference, and maybe the only difference, between Halloween today and Halloween forty years ago is Laurie and Michael. Laurie is nothing like the high school girl she was before she "met" Michael:
Laurie Strode: Do you know that I pray every night that he would escape?
Hawkins: What the hell did you do that for?
Laurie Strode: So, I can kill him. -moviequotesandmore.com
And that
is the big change in Laurie's life that made me sit up and pay attention. She's
no longer fodder for a psychotic killer, she IS the cunning, ruthless killer .
. . just like Michael. AND Michael? Yeah, he's changed too, at least, to me.
He's even more dangerous because they brought back the idea that there is something
more than human about him.
2. A good sequel needs to pay homage to what has gone before in the franchise. And this movie has some kind of Easter Egg from every franchise sequel out there. Okay, at least that's what I'm told . . . I have seen all the sequels and the remakes but I don't remember everything that went on in them. But I do know the writers throw in some Halloween III goodies, AND there's a bunch of tips of the hat for the original Halloween 2. Oh, there's one neat little bit of juxtaposing characters in a scene that received a small round of applause from the audience. ANNNNNNNNNND . . . Not gonna tell you what it is.
2. A good sequel needs to pay homage to what has gone before in the franchise. And this movie has some kind of Easter Egg from every franchise sequel out there. Okay, at least that's what I'm told . . . I have seen all the sequels and the remakes but I don't remember everything that went on in them. But I do know the writers throw in some Halloween III goodies, AND there's a bunch of tips of the hat for the original Halloween 2. Oh, there's one neat little bit of juxtaposing characters in a scene that received a small round of applause from the audience. ANNNNNNNNNND . . . Not gonna tell you what it is.
So, though I hear a lot of bad mouthing going around on Facebook, I think this sequel will appeal to most lovers of the franchise. And I hope this is just the beginning of beautiful relationship between Blumhouse Productions and Halloween.
GRADE:
104% = A+
01. The
Old Man & the Gun December 07:
Okay, not many people saw this movie as far as I know, and it hasn’t (as far as
I know) won any awards. BUT it did get nominated for this award or that award,
AND they actually got nominated for Best Actor (Robert Redford) and Best Grown Up
Love Story at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, 2019! Yep. You got it. The
Old Man & the Gun is a geriatric heist/romance movie. So, unless you're 60 or
70 something you probably had no interest in seeing a movie about an aged
career criminal and his jolly band of bank robbing old coots, and that's too bad because it is the
BEST geriatric heist movie this side of Going in Style (2071).
The Old Man and the Gun is a brilliant script that dives right into the idea of what it would be like to follow around a gang of “seasoned” bank robbers . . . very slow. But not the slow you might be thinking of, that ponderous kind of slow where it feels like the movie is standing still going nowhere . . . fast! No, it's physically slower than a teenager but at the optimate speed that old folks can move. It’s a different feel. Most aging heist movies have older actors trying to do things at the speed that younger characters would do things . . .like . . . robbing banks. There’s a wonderful scene where the cops are involved in a car chase with Redford’s character. Redford’s trying his best to out maneuver the school of cop cars chasing after him but . . . Redford can only drive so fast because . . . he’s old! So, the big chase scene in this flick more closely resembles the low speed car chase to “capture” OJ than it does the epic car chase in Bullitt (1968).
And as good as the script is, as good as the directing is (and both are more than damn good!), the real stars for this movie go to the actors who not only have the skills to play ancient armed robbers but have a very nice handle expressing what it’s like to get old. Danny Glover as the thief who treats being shot during a bank job as if it was just another annoyance of getting old, is so laid back wonderful in this movie, and Tom Waits, the lonely old guy who hates Christmas so much, and is absolutely not shy about telling his pals just WHY he hates Christmas in a long drawn out monologue that leaves you laughing out loud . . . Yeah, he’s great too. And then there’s the young cop (Casey Affleck) who’s chasing them around the state, the only cop who seems to be at all interested in catching these guys, who doesn’t understand why everybody else thinks these bank robbers are sort of “cute” and they should be left alone. The audience can really get into his Hamlet like desire to capture this “law breakers” and send them off to the iron bar retirement home. Oh, and the romantic scenes between Sissy Spacek and Robert Redford are . . . well, just some of the best “getting to know you in a romantic way” scenes ever made. Sissy and Robert know how to play the thrill and awkwardness that new-found love can spark in anyone no matter what their age.
According to trailers, The Gun and the Old Man is Robert Redford’s last film as an actor, he’s retiring. Well, they say that a lot about actors and rock bands but both groups never seem to let go all the way. But if it’s true this time, The Old Man and the Gun is a damn good swan song of a movie to go out on.
The Old Man and the Gun is a brilliant script that dives right into the idea of what it would be like to follow around a gang of “seasoned” bank robbers . . . very slow. But not the slow you might be thinking of, that ponderous kind of slow where it feels like the movie is standing still going nowhere . . . fast! No, it's physically slower than a teenager but at the optimate speed that old folks can move. It’s a different feel. Most aging heist movies have older actors trying to do things at the speed that younger characters would do things . . .like . . . robbing banks. There’s a wonderful scene where the cops are involved in a car chase with Redford’s character. Redford’s trying his best to out maneuver the school of cop cars chasing after him but . . . Redford can only drive so fast because . . . he’s old! So, the big chase scene in this flick more closely resembles the low speed car chase to “capture” OJ than it does the epic car chase in Bullitt (1968).
And as good as the script is, as good as the directing is (and both are more than damn good!), the real stars for this movie go to the actors who not only have the skills to play ancient armed robbers but have a very nice handle expressing what it’s like to get old. Danny Glover as the thief who treats being shot during a bank job as if it was just another annoyance of getting old, is so laid back wonderful in this movie, and Tom Waits, the lonely old guy who hates Christmas so much, and is absolutely not shy about telling his pals just WHY he hates Christmas in a long drawn out monologue that leaves you laughing out loud . . . Yeah, he’s great too. And then there’s the young cop (Casey Affleck) who’s chasing them around the state, the only cop who seems to be at all interested in catching these guys, who doesn’t understand why everybody else thinks these bank robbers are sort of “cute” and they should be left alone. The audience can really get into his Hamlet like desire to capture this “law breakers” and send them off to the iron bar retirement home. Oh, and the romantic scenes between Sissy Spacek and Robert Redford are . . . well, just some of the best “getting to know you in a romantic way” scenes ever made. Sissy and Robert know how to play the thrill and awkwardness that new-found love can spark in anyone no matter what their age.
According to trailers, The Gun and the Old Man is Robert Redford’s last film as an actor, he’s retiring. Well, they say that a lot about actors and rock bands but both groups never seem to let go all the way. But if it’s true this time, The Old Man and the Gun is a damn good swan song of a movie to go out on.
GRADE:
105% = A+
