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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).
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The Invisible Man EH/OK
I can honestly say I’ve only seen the original 1933 film
before this recent version. Apparently,
according to Wikipedia, there have been at least 9 other movies and 7 TV
movies, plus Hollow Man and its
sequel being variations (well, I’ve seen Hollow
Man too then). Being that Leigh
Whannell, he involved with the Saw
and Insidious films for starters,
directed it, and that it received rave reviews (92% out of 356 critics on
Rotten Tomatoes), I was more than a bit curious. Well, the film may look good, has good
performances (particularly that of Elizabeth Moss), and contains a plausible
reasoning for invisibility (in movie world at least), but I just wasn’t exactly
impressed. There’s a twist close to the
end that wasn’t too surprising and the ending wasn’t quite executed properly (making
me feel confused at first). My biggest
gripe though? It was too damn long. Was this an unnecessary remake? I would say yes, but like I said, the
original Claude Rains film is the only other version I’ve seen (made 87 years
ago) and I can’t recall every single thing that happened in it. I would say it was mostly an unnecessary
movie on its own, but at least 326 critics disagree with me, so…5/29/2020
Bonus reviews:
Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes EH
Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud OK/G
I realized I never saw all the Pumpkinhead sequels after reading about them in the latest issue of
Rue Morgue magazine. Writer John
Bowen panned them to no end, but curiosity got the better of me (like always)
and my OCD would never allow me to not finish out a franchise, especially if I
was a fan of at least the first one.
Now, I am a fan of Pumpkinhead,
but I’m not madly in love with it. The
titular creature doesn’t resemble a pumpkin at all, more of an alien with sharp
teeth; it only bears the name due to coming from a pumpkin patch. The first sequel, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings,
wasn’t bad either; I remember it being gorier than its predecessor but more of
a remake. As for these two other sequels
released in 2006 and 2007 as TV movies?
The third one, Ashes to Ashes,
appeared to be a direct sequel to the first one and was the worst entry in the
franchise. I couldn’t wait for it to be
over before the halfway mark! Not even
Pinhead himself, Doug Bradley, could save it.
Above all, the creature was CGI at times! You don’t use CGI for a creature that was
originally practical! Blood Feud, on the other hand, involving
the infamous warring Hatfield and McCoy clans actually wasn’t too bad for a
fourquel. It still contained the same
staples as the rest of the films---someone dies, their surviving loved one goes
to a backwoods witch demanding vengeance, that vengeance carried out by
Pumpkinhead, eventually the one seeking vengeance regrets summoning
Pumpkinhead, there’s only one way to stop the curse---but I enjoyed this one a
lot better than its predecessor, that’s for damn sure! Overall, Pumpkinhead
isn’t my favorite franchise, but it’s not the worst one out there. Skip part three if you plan on having a
marathon (even if you have OCD like me, trust me). 5/29/2020
Bodied G
I didn’t realize this was a remake (or reimagining) of 8 Mile.
Ironically, Eminem is one of its producers. In it, a white college student inadvertently
becomes a battle rapper after competing against a random stranger in a parking
lot following a battle rap session in which he interviewed another battle
rapper for an assignment. Unlike 8 Mile in which Eminem was the only
whitey battling against all black men, these battle rappers are a little more
diverse; one being Latino, one a black woman, one an Asian, and there’s even a
Middle Eastern. Much like Eminem’s biopic, these battle raps
are raw, not unlike being roasted in the worst way, but the majority of battle
rappers understand that that’s the name of the game. Although I thought I was watching a carbon copy
of that Eminem film the entire time (taking place in the West Coast instead of
Michigan), I can’t deny how engaged I was for the majority of its 2-hour
run-time (especially in regards to the battle raps). 5/29/2020
Other
movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Arkansas >>>OK
Girl >>>OK
---Sean O.
5/30/2020
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