Soul

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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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Soul                                                                             G/VG

Welcome back, Pixar!  The last movie I really liked from the studio was Inside Out from 2015 and before that it was Toy Story 3 from 2010.  Yes, I have liked some entries in between, but none I can call great.  Besides the two I mentioned, Pixar’s best include Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille.  It might be premature to say so, but I think this latest offering could be added to that list.  It is currently available on Disney+ for no additional cost.  In it, a middle-aged music teacher ends up heading towards “The Great Beyond” after an accident, but somehow evades it and ends up in “The Great Before”---a place where “souls” are given personalities before entering Earth.  All the teacher, who desires being a musician above all, wants is another chance at a life he feels was unfulfilled and somewhat gets that chance while learning more along the way (as characters in these films often do).  This film is amazing to behold at times, imaginative at that, and manages to be thoroughly entertaining (with representation to boot); it’s funny sometimes too.  The ultimate message may go over the younger set’s heads, but they can absolutely still watch it while their parents/elders can enjoy it as well (as this is arguably more for the adults).  Come awards season, I won’t be surprised if this snags a few wins (maybe even disappointed if otherwise).  12/26/2020

Bonus review:

Making and Unmaking

Shaun Rose reached out to me a while ago on social media about checking out his film, Upstate Story, and writing a review for it (you can check it out in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com).  We have since become friends on social media, which is where I was informed of this new documentary available on YouTube (as is Upstate Story; links provided below).  I’m always asked via social media to review films and am usually up to the task, but I often don’t like the films I’m asked to watch and I always tell the filmmaker(s) I’ll be completely honest before going through with it.  Upstate Story was one I actually liked, it being an entertaining slice-of-life/realist picture that I feel deserved more exposure.  I do suggest you watch Upstate Story (and hopefully you’ll like it) before checking this out, not only because it references that film a bit, but also because why would you care about seeing a documentary on an independent filmmaker you know nothing about?  This makes a good companion piece to that film, both being roughly an hour, making it a 2-hour double feature, and I’m sure you’ve wasted the same amount of time (or more) watching worse.  It chronicles mostly the endurance of making Upstate Story as well as other projects the multi-hyphenate Shaun, who exhibits the demeanor of a serious filmmaker while also having a sense of humor, worked on to no avail.  Mr. Rose, I have a feeling you could be on to bigger and greater things with the right budget and/or distributor.  In the meantime, you all can possibly help make that happen by checking out his two films and spreading the word!  12/20/2020

Upstate Story:  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_klJBcnORZo]

Making and Unmaking:  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRKftjb-jKM]

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

The Call (2020)  >>>OK

            (Netflix; In Korean with subtitles)

The Haunting of Margam Castle  >>>B

Jingle Jangle:  A Christmas Journey  >>>EH/OK

            (Netflix)

The Midnight Sky  >>>EH

            (Netflix)

---Sean O.

12/27/2020

Possessor

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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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Possessor                                                                    OK/G

Brandon Cronenberg’s daddy, David Cronenberg, is a renowned Canadian filmmaker that gave us films like Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, The Dead Zone, The Fly, and even ones like Spider, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises.  I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of David, but I’ve seen enough of his work and liked some of them.  Brandon gave us Antiviral before this one.  I wasn’t a fan of that film, enough for it to land on my worst films list the year it came out.  This sophomore feature from Brandon, in a nutshell, involves a company that allows you, via technology of some sort, to literally become someone else in order to assassinate a specific target.  After the task is completed, the “possessor” is able to return back to their body attached to machinery.  Naturally, things don’t go smoothly for one task and that complicates everything.  This is an intriguing film, for sure, violent too, but it might be perplexing as well for likely a large percentage of the viewing population (I read up on it afterwards and actually grasped most of what I saw), and I feel there may be more to this world than we were presented with because it didn’t seem entirely over when it ended.  That’s why I can’t fully recommend it, or at least give it a strictly G rating, because I kind of do recommend it in a sense (it’s a whole lot better than Brandon’s debut feature, that’s for sure).  I would actually welcome a sequel in order to make it possibly feel more part of a whole.  Or perhaps I just need another viewing?  I’m willing to hear any opinions (I already read enough mostly objective articles in publications).  12/17/2020

Bonus review:

Blood from Stone                                                        EH/OK

(haiku review)

Vamps in Las Vegas.

They meet people, then kill them.

Bloody, sure, but lame.  12/17/2020

*Currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi*

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Christmas Crossfire  >>>EH

            (Netflix; In German with subtitles)

The Christmas Project  >>>OK

A Cinderella Story:  Christmas Wish  >>>EH/OK

Holiday Hell  >>>OK

Radioflash  >>>OK

Widow’s Point  >>>OK

---Sean O.

12/19/2020

Fatman

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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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Fatman                                                                        OK

Mel Gibson as Santa Claus?  It’s not quite like a Santa Claus you would expect though.  For starters, he lives in a town called North Peak (not Pole), works with the military, and can’t afford to pay his power bill.  A hitman, played by Walton Goggins (Vice Principals), is hired by a spoiled rich kid to take the “fat man” out.  The film did start off a bit promising, but it doesn’t really entail much and doesn’t altogether feel like a “holiday” film even though it is.  12/13/2020

Bonus reviews:

Max Winslow and the House of Secrets                      OK/G

Five teenagers from a high school in Arkansas are chosen to play a game in a “futuristic” mansion and the winner gets the mansion.  It may sound a bit like Willy Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but not quite.  The house does have a mind of its own, not in the haunted sense, but in the technological/I-control-everything sense.  The five players must overcome certain “obstacles” in regards to why they were all chosen in the first place.  It may have been a bit of fun, but it could’ve gone to darker places than it did (although it is only rated-PG), and, ultimately, it ended a bit too sappily (meaning positively and/or clichéd) for my tastes; of course taste is subjective and mine differ from many others though.  12/13/2020

Bobbleheads:  The Movie                                            OK

(haiku review)

Not quite Toy Story.

Obviously wants to be.

It’s fine though…I guess.  12/10/2020

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Clownface  >>>B

Don’t Let Them In  >>>EH

Just Another Christmas  >>>OK/G

            (Netflix; In Brazilian Portuguese with subtitles)

Noelle (2019)  >>>OK

Rabbit  (2018)  >>>EH/OK

Smiley Face Killers  >>>EH

---Sean O.

12/15/2020

Deathcember

Deathcember                                                               OK

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again---I love horror films and anthology films and Christmas films, so I had to see this new one that is all three.  This isn’t A Christmas Horror Story anthology though, this is an ABCs of Death anthology.  You are aware of Advent calendars, no?  If not, they consist of little doors to be opened every day from December 1^st through Christmas and traditionally contain chocolates in them.  This anthology film takes the approach of such a calendar and contains 24 stories totaling almost 2 ½ hours, meaning each one is roughly 5 or 6 minutes (give or take; I didn’t keep track of how long each one was), plus there are 2 extra tales during the end credits (hint---don’t turn it off when the credits start).  Oh, and there’s just as many segments with subtitles as ones without since filmmakers from all over the world contributed, just to let you know.  Now, as much as I love short stories, both written and visual, I still like them to be long enough in order for me to be engaged, and these brief vignettes, much like the latter aforementioned anthology film, don’t allow me to do that.  I was still interested in what kind of stories were going to be told in such scant time though.  I think I only counted three segments I hated, many of them were just okay (“Life is too short to see movies that are just okay,” as Roger Ebert once said, and, yes, that applies to short films too), even one helmed by Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust) wasn’t that great, and another one helmed by Lucky McKee (May) ended too soon (yes, even for a brief anthology segment); one was a rather unsuccessful homage to Reservoir Dogs.  A few that stood out are ones that involved dolls (“Santa Is Coming”), a killer reindeer (“They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names”), girls killing Santa (“Kill Santa”), a giallo-influenced slasher (“Five Deaths in Blood Red”), “Santa” granting a kid’s wishes (“Milk and Cookies”), and a guy that is “Getting Away from It All.”  I wasn’t the biggest fan of this film in the general sense, but if you’re a fan of horror films and anthology films and Christmas films, there might be something you like in this collection.  12/4/2020

---Sean O.

12/6/2020

Downrange/The Christmas Chronicles 2

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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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Downrange                                                                 OK/G

This was recently released on DVD but originally released at least 2 years ago and is (was) a Shudder exclusive.  It was directed by Japanese filmmaker, Ryûhei Kitamura, who also gave us Versus, The Midnight Meat Train, and a segment in Nightmare Cinema.  It involves a group of people (3 men, 3 women) driving on a desolate road in (I’m assuming) California before one of their tires is shot by a gunman hiding in a tree nearby.  They then become sitting ducks as they’re periodically shot at while trying to hide the best they can (mainly behind the car).  The use of a single location does actually end up working, it does get violent more than enough times, and I do want to recommend it solely on the fact it’s generally a brutal film with no happy ending, but it does overstay its welcome a bit at almost 90-minutes (which is why I’m not giving it a strictly G rating).  12/1/2020

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two                         OK

The first one was a decent holiday film released 2 years ago on Netflix (you can read my review for it in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com---and this sequel is also available on the streaming platform).  Chris Columbus directed as well as produced (the first time he only produced), he also being behind the holiday classics, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, as well as the original Adventures in Babysitting and Mrs. Doubtfire, among others.  The same family returns, as well as Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, in addition to more characters (as is common in many sequels).  This time, much like the first time (although this one has a different feel to it), something happens that might stop Christmas from coming and some of the characters must work to overcome this hindrance.  It may not necessarily be an unnecessary sequel, and it did manage to avoid being super corny (although it may have come across that way at times), but it still suffers from sequel-itis, namely, not as good as its predecessor and likely forgettable.  Still not that bad for a sequel though, especially a Netflix movie.  11/29/2020

Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):

Amulet  >>>EH

The Holiday Movies that Made Us

            Ep. 1 (Elf)  >>>OK

            Ep. 2 (The Nightmare Before Christmas)   >>>G

                        (Netflix)

---Sean O.

12/3/2020