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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 Reef: Stalked OK/G
The only connection this has to its predecessor, released in
2010, is that it was written and directed by Andrew Traucki (and that it comes
from the “land down under”). The Reef was a decent shark attack film,
and this in-name only sequel was actually pretty decent too. Shark movies (or even natural horror movies
in general), much like zombie movies, are pretty much old hat by now. In order for a successful one to work though,
they need to be suspenseful without trying to be too predictable, should try to
evoke a modicum of realism (I know entertainment should be entertaining above
all, but realistic depictions are often more frightening), and the shark (or
sharks) needs to look good (that factor above all). In this film, four girls go kayaking nine months
after a tragedy and must contend with a toothy predator during this
excursion. Real sharks were filmed and
seemed to mesh fairly seamlessly with the action (I didn’t detect any CGI
elsewhere, except for one obvious scene).
There is some suspense at times too.
Naturally there are scenes that drag, like the common interactions
wherein characters get stuff off their chests and moments with inactivity, but
a roughly 90-minute feature needs to be padded out somehow, I guess. Generally not bad for a shark attack movie
made recently, and for a sequel that really isn’t a sequel at all. It was a better follow-up than the director’s
other sequel, Black Water: Abyss (you can read my review for that
here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2020/08/black-water-abyss.html),
to another one of his worthy natural horror flicks (Black Water). 9/26/2022
The Munsters EH
Confession---I’ve never seen a single episode of the TV
series that originally aired for 2 seasons from 1964 to 1966. I do admire Rob Zombie enough to have wanted
to check out this new film he wrote and directed, which is an origin story
(currently available on Netflix). I will
admit he’s gone downhill over the years, one person I used to know even
labeling him a hack, but I liked him most from his White Zombie days and early
solo days, plus his early films, to want to keep following him. My favorite film of his is probably The Devil’s Rejects, and I also liked House of 1000 Corpses (pretty much his
version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
and The Lords of Salem (aged better
over time); his two Halloween films,
although unnecessary, were entertaining trash (especially the second one). I was disappointed with 31 and 3 From Hell pretty
much ruined the end of The Devil’s
Rejects, although I didn’t necessarily hate the film on its own (you can
read my review for 31 here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2016/11/mooby-reviews-111416.html,
and 3 From Hell here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2019/10/3-from-hell.html).
I can say this is his worst movie so
far, but should I really lump it in with the rest of his oeuvre since it’s
clearly not a horror flick? It still
counts as an entry though, so why not?
Even though I may not have seen a single episode of the series, I still
viewed this as its own work of art (as should all individual films be viewed),
and as if the show never existed. I very
much know the show was a comedy and I didn’t expect this film to be any
different. Frankly, I just didn’t have
any fun with it. The storyline follows
many a rom-com plot (i.e. Daddy doesn’t approve of his daughter’s mate), the
style being the only distinguishable element.
Mr. Zombie sure does have style, there’s no denying that, but style only
goes so far, especially when there’s little to no substance (like here). I’m unsure how I’d feel if I actually watched
the show and/or was a fan. Rob
definitely needs a comeback, in both film and music (The Sinister Urge
is the last album of his that stood out for me, and that wasn’t even as good as
Hellbilly Deluxe). 9/27/2022
Bonus reviews:
Bloody Summer Camp OK
This slasher film released last year is 125-minutes! That’s unusual for such a film. At first I thought it may have been a typo,
but it is indeed that long. All in all
though, despite having several flaws (the runtime being just one), it really
isn’t that bad for a slasher movie made recently. Sure, it may not be on the same level of fun
as a Friday the 13th or Sleepaway Camp entry (Felissa Rose
appears here too), but part of me kind of does recommend checking it out if
you’re looking for a new slasher and/or camp film. The setup is familiar (of course how many
different plots can there be for these films?)---a group of counselors get a
camp ready for the soon-to-arrive campers and gradually get offed by a masked
murderer. After a particular scene
(early on too), it was so obvious who the killer was (seeing so many movies
over the years doesn’t make it hard to figure these things out), but it stopped
being fun trying to guess who the killer was after the Scream films in the Nineties.
As I’ve said in the past, true slasher fans watch these movies for the
characters and kills. We do get to know
the majority of characters here (I would hope so given the runtime), and the
kills generally may not be spectacular, but they aren’t awful either (some
scenes may even repulse the more queasy viewers). The killer’s mask was passable too. To reiterate, aside from the unnecessary length
and not always being of the highest quality (in budget and script), it’s really
not too bad for a camp-set slasher movie released in 2021. I’ve definitely seen much worse of its
ilk. 9/25/2022
Reservation Dogs (Season
2) OK/G
I knew not there was an indigenous community in Oklahoma, a
state allegedly as red as they come (that’s not a pun either), until co-creator
Sterlin Harjo educated me, beginning with this Hulu series. Representation is one thing, but I did enjoy
the first season enough to want to check out this one (there are 10 instead of
8 episodes this time, all roughly 30-minutes, give or take). There isn’t too much Native visual media---hell,
they don’t even make up 2% of the U.S. population; let that sink in; the
original inhabitants of this country don’t even make up 2% of it---and often
they include stereotypes (I’m not just talking about Dances with Wolves either).
This season isn’t without its stereotypes either, on both Natives and
Caucasians. Aside from White Steve, the
white people are either racist, idiotic, or obsessed with ranch dressing. There were times the Natives were getting a
little too spiritual, something I felt was stereotypical. Sure, some stereotypes for any group may still
to apply to some, but I thought this show was a bit more progressive than that. It mostly has been though, showing a group of
teenagers we don’t often see depicted growing up in a poor community with not
much opportunity. Sometimes it does play
around with stereotypes too (I’ll be thinking of “Free Fallin’” a bit
differently from now on). That’s what I
like about author Sherman Alexie; he juxtaposes traditional stories with modern
ones (I wonder what he thinks about this series). I didn’t think the episodes featuring the
elder women vacationing at the hotel that is like their “Cancun,” or where the
police officer (played by Zahn McClarnon; I’m seeing him a lot these days)
accidentally trips (even though it contained an interesting subplot involving a
cult in the woods) were necessary. Being
this is called Reservation Dogs I’d
like to only see episodes about the Reservation Dogs. It was fine in season one when they each got
an episode about themselves since it still involved them, and it would’ve been
fine if other characters made appearances as long as they weren’t the focus of
attention. Actually, if any other
characters deserve their own episode, let alone series, I think it should be the
two little rappers, Mose and Mekko (they seem interesting). The rest of the episodes involving the main
characters, alone or together, were fine though. A third season has already been commissioned
and, yeah, I think I’ll tune back in. I
think representation in entertainment is great, especially when it’s actually
good (Dark Winds, also featuring
Zahn, released not that long ago wasn’t that great). 9/28/2022
Bring It On: Cheer or Die EH
(haiku review)
There’s seven of these.
Only saw this and the first.
This slasher one sucked. 9/27/2022Other
movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Deep Water (2022) >>>EH/OK
(Hulu)
Gatlopp >>>OK
Ivy + Bean >>>OK
(Netflix)
Ivy + Bean: The Ghost That Had to Go >>>EH/OK
(Netflix)
Ivy + Bean: Doomed to Dance >>>EH/OK
(Netflix)
Lou >>>EH
(Netflix)
Meet Cute >>>EH/OK
(Peacock)
---Sean O.
9/29/2022
