Monsters under the bed are scary enough, but what happens when an entire house is out to get you? Three teens aim to find out when they go up against a decrepit neighboring home and unlock its frightening secrets.
As a “kid’s first horror”, it does the job but the explanation for the haunting is both bizarre and kind of naff.
★★★
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
This review may contain spoilers.
I liked this more on previous viewings.
Now I can’t get passed the fact that Colter now lives as Shaun but knows nothing about him… how the heck is he going to live like that? Seems more like a nightmare than a happy ending.
Also, has Shaun just been erased from existence? Is poor Shaun still in there somewhere? Like, in the sunken place?
Can we have a Source Code 2 where Shaun tries to get out and it plays a bit like Moon Knight with time jumps?
★★★½ (contains spoilers)
Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.
I remember seeing this in the cinema and it was a stand-out experience. It was so loud and disorientating. Clearly watching it on the small screen doesn’t give you that but my previous colours any rewatch.
Since people have written some excellent reviews here talking about 9/11, I won’t rehash those. Although I still think the best post-9/11 film is The Dark Knight.
I’ll just talk about the monster. My wife says this movie is not “scary” once you see the monster. I completely disagree. All the tension comes from the struggle to survive, and the fear from a complete breakdown of security. In the latter parts of this movie, death is constantly a breath away and you have a real sense that survival is mostly blind luck.
In today’s world, I imagine that’s how it feels to live in places like Gaza or parts of Ukraine. And I think this demonstrates that the monster itself is pretty incidental. The monster is just the catalyst.
(I will just add that I love the monster, it’s great)
★★★★
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
I liked this a lot more, and it “worked” a lot better, in those years post-9/11. Most notably the powerlessness of the US military and the expansive threat to the average person.
However, I’m not sure we really meet an average person in this. It’s extremely Cruise-centric and thus Ray has an air of invincibility. This is so pronouced you never really feel like Ray might be in danger. Maybe that’s a good thing as it helps focus our concerns on his children, in the same way Ray begins to.
But it is refreshing that when we first meet Ray he’s a more than a bit of a dick. He’s superficial and highly priviledged (in his own way). We gradually see that stripped away and Cruise totally sells it. However, it’s not anything we haven’t come to expect from him, so…
★★★
When single mom Callie and her two kids Trevor and Phoebe arrive in a small Oklahoma town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
I liked a lot about it but it all felt very “safe”. Did not, however, ruin my childhood.
★★★
An American sniper and his spotter engage in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an Iraqi sniper.
There are many great war films and this isn’t one of them. This movie has nothing to say about, well, anything. Unless… unless it’s US grunts are actually pretty dumb and “the baddies” are much smarter than other movies might lead you to believe…
The most notable moment in the whole film was when he opened the Skittles, and they were all smooshed into one sticky pancake. I fully expected him to roll some out onto his hand like a TV ad.
It was OK, though. I’ve docked half a star for the awful ending, which neither delivers a satisfying conclusion nor is very well executed.
★★½
Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.
This review may contain spoilers.
It takes some skill to telegraph a twist in the first ten minutes and still deliver revelations 2 minutes before the credits and, in fact 30 minutes after the credits, when you’re trying to write your review…
★★★★ (contains spoilers)
In the town of Blithe Hollow, Norman Babcock can speak to the dead, but no one other than his eccentric new friend believes his ability is real. One day, Norman's eccentric uncle tells him of a ritual he must perform to protect the town from a curse cast by a witch centuries ago.
Started off well enough but it seemed more interested in putting the boot into hypocritical US values, then telling a good story.
Also, isn’t this basically the same plot as Netflix’ Fear Street trilogy?
★★★
Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.
When we watched the trailer for this I did a little inward groan when I saw that Woody H was the antagonist. “Here we go, Tallahassee Mk 2…” but he was actually pretty good. The character also had a shade of complexity too, which is almost novel for a villain these days.
Still holds that deeply unsettling mirror up, though. Even in the apocalypse, we can’t get it together as a species.
★★★★
In this Oscar-winning short film, grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
My only take away from this is that, if my kid was a victim in a school shooting, they couldn’t text me because they don’t have a phone.
If Anything Happens I Love You, 2020