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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 Witches EH/OK
I recently re-read the book of the same name by Roald Dahl
(one of my favorite authors) and re-watched the original 1990 movie upon seeing
this remake’s release (currently available on HBO Max) which actually has the
author’s name atop the title. This time,
Robert Zemeckis, helmer of films such as Who
Framed Roger Rabbit, all 3 Back to
the Futures, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, and What Lies Beneath, directed, produced, and co-wrote it with
Guillermo del Toro (he also co-produced this), famous for giving us Hellboy, The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Crimson Peak. The original
film, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Anjelica Huston as the Grand High
Witch (here, Anne Hathaway has the role), was largely faithful to the Roald
Dahl story with just a few things altered.
This film is largely like the original film with some things altered
here and there, the location moving from Europe (Norway and England) to the
States (Alabama) and the main characters race changed (which is good for
representation) being prominent ones.
The modern special effects here (meaning obvious CGI) don’t hold a
candle to the practical ones used in the 1990 film, as is often the case. I didn’t exactly hate this film, but it is an
unnecessary remake, yes, and I expected better from the talent involved. 11/22/2020
Bonus reviews:
Train to Busan
Presents: Peninsula OK
The zombie subgenre was dead (pun intended) long before The Walking Dead premiered ten years
ago. Naturally, there are passable
entries every so often and Train to Busan,
released 4 years ago, was actually one of them (you can read my brief review
for it in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com). You don’t even need to see the first film to
watch this in-name only sequel (with the same director); just know a virus
spread in Korea that turned people into zombies, which is explained in the beginning
of this film anyway. Yes, it’s in Korean
like the first film, so that does mean subtitles (even during the few parts
spoken in English). It takes place four
years after the events of the first film (just like the releases) and involves
refugees living in Hong Kong tasked with going back to Korea in order to obtain
a truck containing cash with promises of them all getting a cut when
returned. This seemed to take a George
A. Romero approach, Dawn and Land of the Dead came to mind the most,
as well as that of a Mad Max-type
film, meaning it wasn’t too original (I know, what really is these days?). It may be an unnecessary sequel, but it
wasn’t a terrible movie on its own, just okay; but like the late Roger Ebert
once said, “Life is too short to see movies that are just okay.” Also, being that it’s almost 2 hours, I
became a bit impatient towards the end. Fans of Train
to Busan are obviously going to be curious, but those that haven’t seen
either film, I unquestionably recommend the first one over this one. 11/24/2020
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist OK/G
Home Alone 5. I knew not of a fifth entry until someone received
the box set at a Christmas party a couple years ago. It came out at the end of 2012 and how did I
not hear about it? There was no sixth
film released yet (I did make sure), but there is one that will eventually be
released on Disney+. They have starred
different characters/performers each time since part 3, which was still a
decent entry, and I don’t remember much about part 4, so it couldn’t have been
that worthy (although a re-watch may be in the near future as my box set contains 1-4). This entry wasn’t as good as Home Alone 1 and 2, nor did I expect it
to be (as I did parts 3 and 4), but it was actually better than I thought it
would be. There were a few times I
laughed out loud, there were some mildly passable homages to the first film,
and there were some slightly clever ways of associating the robbers (one played
by Malcolm McDowell) with ghosts. Decent
enough to get in the holiday spirit. 11/25/2020
Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):
Coyote Lake >>>G
Deerskin >>>OK
Lovecraft Country (Season 1) >>>OK
The Secrets We Keep >>>OK
---Sean O.
11/27/2020
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