-------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated
1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going
to review every single movie I see. I’m
going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the
rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future). You can always ask me why I gave the ratings
for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses
under the ‘About Me’ section).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This entry will be an exception to the above statement since its been longer than usual since my last entry (almost a month; 26 days to be exact), and that was mainly due to waiting for my one computer with lots of my saved stuff on it to be hooked up. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next entry from now on. Anyway, I'm back. Enjoy, or not....
Another Wolf Cop EH/OK
I think Wolf Cop
is one word with the “C” still capitalized, but whatever. Leo Fafard returns as the titular being in
addition to some of the same cast members, and the same director of the first
is behind this sequel. I did enjoy Wolf Cop; it was a flawed yet fun
horror-comedy with more emphasis on the comedy.
This one had its moments, particularly in the beginning and end when the
lycanthropic officer doles out some bloody violence, but it was a bit too silly this time, ultimately
suffering from sequel-itis; not even an appearance from Kevin Smith
worked. It wasn’t quite silly in the
vein of Teen Wolf; well, they’re both
silly in different ways, I just don’t remember the Michael J. Fox film being
gory or containing any other creatures.
It also felt slightly inconclusive before the end credits revealed Wolf
Cop will return. I hate to say it, but I
don’t think we need another Wolf Cop; I don’t think we even needed
this one. 1/13/2020
Boar OK/G
This Shudder exclusive, also available on DVD, bears a title
needing no explanation and delivers pretty much what you’d expect. It’ll likely draw comparisons to Razorback, another Australian movie
featuring a killer wild pig. I haven’t
seen that film in quite a while even though I do actually own it, so I, myself,
can’t yet tell you how similar they might actually be. One thing I will commend this film on,
considering it was made in 2019, is the use of practical effects for the
creature and pretty impressive at that.
A few parts looked like CGI was utilized and you could obviously tell it
was never a real animal, but I will absolutely take unrealistic practical
effects over CGI any day! The critic in
me would’ve liked to know how this boar came to be gigantic and murderous (it
was just labeled “diseased” at one point) and the film sure felt like a
formulaic slasher movie since we as an audience knew when and where someone was
likely going to be attacked, but, like I said above, what do you really expect
from a movie called Boar other than
the titular creature killing people? It
is rather gory too. It’s an enjoyable
creature feature for a decent amount of the time despite its flaws. 1/11/2020
Dracula: Season One G
This Netflix series consists of three episodes roughly 90
minutes each, so it could either be viewed as three separate movies or as one 4
½ hour film, however you see fit. Now, I
haven’t seen every single film containing the titular count, not even close,
but I’ve seen and read my fair share of vampire entertainment to be familiar
with the subgenre. I’ve also never read
the famous Bram Stoker novel so I couldn’t tell you if this adaptation is
faithful or not. I heard that it is, at
least for the first two episodes; obviously the third one wasn’t based on the
novel since it took place in modern times.
Ironically, I liked the first two episodes better than the third (it
felt too modern for this story if that makes sense; almost like a sequel made
many years after the first two episodes/”movies”); I didn’t loathe the last
episode though and I thought it ended just right (fitting for a traditional
gothic tale one could say). I wasn’t
completely enamored with this series in general, but I enjoyed it enough; the performances
are worthy, it looked slick for a BBC production, and it’s violent when it
wants to be. Overall it’s a decent
vampire tale based on “classic” literature (subjective label, yes). 1/12/2020
Girl on the Third
Floor G
This at first appeared to be like one of those shows where someone
completely renovates a house, but it still held my interest knowing it was a
horror movie I was watching. At one time
I was reminded of a certain animated movie released in the 2000s that I don’t
want to reveal in case of spoilers. It
is essentially a haunted house movie containing a gradually disclosed history
and, while not perfect, is more intriguing than not and bears that “maybe I’ll pick
up more during repeat viewings” quality.
There was one part that actually made me cringe a bit too, although I
felt somewhat jubilant afterwards. Mild
recommendation, or medium maybe (like I suggested, my opinion might change if I
watch it again). 1/11/2020
I Trapped the Devil OK/G
I wanted to watch a new Christmas movie (it does take place
around the holiday) and I wanted to see this film, so I paid to watch it via
Vudu on Christmas Eve. This film
involving a man proclaiming to have trapped (wanna guess…) the devil behind a
door in his basement before his brother and wife show up unannounced is
infinitely more style than substance. I
would rate the atmosphere alone as VG.
However, I don’t think it was entirely able to sustain itself as a
feature-length film despite being short.
The whole mystery of the film is wondering if we’ll get to see what’s
behind that door in which we only hear a deep voice speaking and no one likes
to feel cheated, so I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying you do find
out who or what is behind that door and it isn’t necessarily disappointing considering
it felt right in regards to the overall narrative and mythology. 1/10/2020
The Twilight
Zone: Season One EH/OK
You all should know by now (if you actually read and keep up
with my reviews) that I love me some anthology films and TV. I will never get tired of or cease looking
forward to watching short films or reading short stories. The brevity (a.k.a. not taking up too much time) and needlessness for
sequential viewing/reading may be part of their appeal. Now, as much as I love The Twilight Zone, I admittedly haven’t seen every single episode
of the original series or even the Eighties version (156 total for the former,
65 for the latter) and I own them both; apparently there was a series from
2002-2003 that somehow bypassed my radar, so I’ve seen zero of those 43
episodes (I Wikipedia’ed all this information).
I figured since this latest 2019 version was only 10 episodes I’d binge
them with a free week of CBS All Access.
As with any anthology series (film or TV show), there’re apt to be
misses as well as hits and, unfortunately, this version had more misses than
hits. None were particularly
spectacular, my favorites among the bunch being “A Traveler” and “Point of
Origin,” the former an atmospheric Christmas tale set in Alaska (my
birthplace), the latter sort of paralleling recent events while also staying
true to the series in general. As for
the rest? “The Comedian” was lame and the
only one I saw when the series first aired because it was available on
YouTube. The updated “Nightmare at
30,000 Feet” couldn’t hold a candle to the original; the ending may have been a
bit dark, but the story didn’t work without a creature (which makes an
appearance as a stuffed animal).
“Replay” was undoubtedly as interesting as any “Butterfly Effect/go-back-in-time-to-change-the-present” film, but
was ultimately a message movie about race.
I’m more interested in representation than messages, whether pertaining
to race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, etc., since the same ones (however
important they may be) have basically become clichés after continuously being
relayed. I couldn’t take “The
Wunderkind” too seriously since it was reminiscent of outlandish family
entertainment in which young kids hold authority over adults. Yes, being The Twilight Zone, all disbelief is supposed to be suspended, but I
still felt this episode was too childish for the series. “Six Degrees of Freedom” was a space tale
(not really a fan of those types of entertainment) where a group of people
slowly go crazy on their way to Mars that ended just when I thought it was
getting better. “Not All Men” wasn’t a
bad infection tale involving a meteorite although very derivative (I was most
reminded of Slither in plot, not
effects) and obviously a metaphor for these Me Too times. “The Blue Scorpion” was pretty dumb, it
involving a gun with a personality, and the final episode, “Blurryman,” was
kind of decent aside from revealing we were actually watching a TV show the
whole season; and there was a poor digital creation of a certain someone that
made them look more belonging in The
Polar Express. Again, it may not
have been the best collection, but there were only ten and it’s very hard to be
original anymore. There is a second season
allegedly being released sometime this year and I will eventually check it out
while trying not to keep my expectations too high. One thing they might benefit from though is
making the episodes shorter (the original and Eighties ones were generally less
than 30 minutes without the commercials; these ones ranged from 37 to 54
minutes). 1/16/2020
You: Season 2 G
I’ll admit to enjoying season one of this series that
initially aired on Lifetime before becoming available on Netflix which this
season premiered on right away. I never
read any of the books by Caroline Kepnes, but my interest in checking out the
first season happened as a result of reading about it in, I’m gonna say, Entertainment
Weekly since that’s one of the only non-horror magazines I read regularly
(and I don’t believe You would qualify
enough to be covered in Rue Morgue or Fangoria, but feel free to
prove me wrong). Watching it on Lifetime
as I’ve said, I had to wait every week to see an episode (like the old days). It appeared to become more popular once it
aired on Netflix and people could choose whether to binge it or not (which I
imagine most Netflix viewers like to do, especially if engaged with a
show). I liked being able to binge this
season as, like the first season, it was undeniably addictive in making me want
to continue although there’s really nothing truly distinctive about it (like
most entertainment these days). The
anti-hero (debatable description) serial killer from the first season, played
by Penn Badgley, returns in a different location (California instead of New York)
with a new obsession that isn’t quite like his last one (Beck). I thought the conclusion was a bit weaker
than expected, but the episodes go by rather quickly and, much like last
season, I somehow grew to like Penn’s character as well as some of the supporting
ones. Well, I’ll be…I actually kinda do
want to watch season three which is allegedly going to happen. 1/10/2020
Other
movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Crown Vic >>>G
Crypto >>>EH
Dead Kids >>>EH/OK
Freaks (2019) >>>EH
Hell Comes to
Frogtown >>>EH/OK
Joker >>>VG
A Kid Like Jake >>>OK/G
Killerman >>>EH
The Last Black Man
in San Francisco >>>OK
The Lighthouse >>>EH
Low Tide >>>G
Luce >>>OK
Nekrotronic >>>EH
Paradise Hills >>>OK
Primal >>>EH/OK
78/52 >>>G
Wild Rose >>>OK
---Sean O.
1/18/2020
