Invaders from Mars (1986):
Directed by Toby Hooper, the aliens have great designs and effects, but I think I'm preferring the original 1953 version. The original had a creepier atmosphere despite being one of those cheep B-movies and the Martians were guys in suits. The original was also better paced. The remake is 20 minutes longer and it shows how unnecessary that is with the climax taking way too long to get through.

6.5/10

 

It's not as much as a musical as you might think. It does have singing, but it's regulated to characters who are musical performers in-universe in a handful of scenes, which figures into the plot since a couple of the main characters are a professional singer and her manager, and some stuff happens as a result of their careers. No one breaks the 4th wall by singing their dialogue to the other characters or anything like that. Though if Blues Brothers is your comparison, then yeah it's probably closer to that than what I was thinking of with the likes of Little Shop of Horrors or Les Miserables.

 

SAW-It was awful. Not in like this movie sucks way, but in the "holy shit, I can't bear to look way."

 

Venom - 8/10

I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining this was, critics be damned! I know it’s always so easy to poo-poo on Sony’s efforts with comic book movies (often deserved), but here I can say I liked it enough.

Not perfect by any means: first act starts off with a typical horror/sci-fi vibe (thinking “Life” or “Species 2”) but when things get going it’s a pretty fun ride.

Positives:
-cast is solid. Wasn’t sure about straying so much from the original source material in terms of Brock’s character but Hardy ultimately won me over
-Michelle Williams wasn’t bad either, often the female characters are only damsels in distress or cast aside outright, but here I think she was given just enough (still only a supporting role though)
-fun action sequences and effects

Negatives:
-plot is nothing overly original, but wasn’t expecting much anyways
-as mentioned, started off with a completely different tone, but eventually found its way

Spoiler

Excited for Woody Harrelson as Carnage...but that ridiculous wig’s gotta go! Lol

I guess I’m the other person who likes the theatrical cut too...grabbed the directors cut without hesitation cut for $7.99 from the bargain bin. So much potential with DD, ‘twas in the years before comic-book movies where big money in the mainstream. Just got handled very poorly here, which is a shame.

 

Tremors: Cold Day in Hell - 4/10
Looks like crap. Supposed to be set in sub arctic Canada, but filmed in South Africa. Explained as a heat wave so no snow. There are some scenes set on a frozen over area, but it has the white levels jacked so high i am 99% sure it us actuall sand dunes.

Tremors: Shrieker Island - 7/10
Best sequel since 4. Tropical setting. Good conclusion to series.

Tremors Series totals
Tremors -9.5/10
Tremors 2 -8.5/10
Tremors 3 - 7.5/10 (bad cgi, but i still love it)
Tremors 4 - 7/10
Tremors 5 - 6/10
Tremors 6 - 4/10
Tremors 7 - 7/10


Happy Death Day - 8.5/10
Fun horror film concept.

Happy Death Day 2U - 9/10
Hilarious! Great job subverting and building on jokes and tropes of the first film.

 

Hills have Eyes 2 (1985) - 6/10
Very poorly lit. Hard to see what is on screen. Did get a big laugh that the dog has a flashback to the first movie.


Billy Madison - 7/10
Has funny moments, but Sandler can be very grating at times.

 

Moneyball - 4/10

Hard to believe this was nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and both Actor awards. The movie didn't know what it wanted to be and suffered from an unfocused narrative. Jonah Hill's approach to his character appeared to be "always on the verge of shitting my pants, and desperately trying not to." And the concept of introducing a new strategy that has relatively minor success is not an enthralling story to tell in the first place.

 

Isn't that Jonah Hill's approach to every character? Except for possibly when he played himself in This Is The End. There he only had that going on until he got possessed.

 

The emoji movie: -10/10

I wanted to die

 

Yep, I agree w all of what you said. I went in only seeing the trailer and low expectations. I enjoyed it!

 

Baby’s day out 10/10

I haven’t seen this movie since I was 7 years old and it’s still hilarious

 

Weirdly enough, 2 is the only one I've seen because they had it on constant rotation on cable when I was a kid. I've always meant to watch the first one someday.

 

Argo - 8.5/10

Saw this movie a few years ago, and I got the urge to revisit it the other day. It's just as good as I remember (if not even a bit better). They really know how build up the suspense until the last second. From what I understand, they take some creative liberties with the real history...but that's expected for a Hollywood film. I really liked the characters.

My only (sort of) complaint is that I recall there being a stronger payoff to the fictional movie they created in the climax. Don't get me wrong...it's in there, but not as much as I remembered. I wanted a bit more of them trying to convince the guards that this is a real movie. Like, the guards could have questioned them about the script and pointed out plotholes...stuff like that. They could have had a bit more fun with it, and used that to build even more suspense. But there's enough of that to be more than serviceable, as it is.

 

Xanadu = wat/10
I used to watch this movie relentlessly as a kid. Saw HBO put it back up. Strangely, that's the same place I always saw it back in the early eighties.

So the wife and I watched it and I can't believe how much of it I either forgot or twisted around in my head from back then. Some of it was definitely what I remember, but some was so different I kept wondering if there was a sequel somewhere down the line that I had seen.

Definitely a product of its time. Entertaining for the dance numbers and music (except for the generic 80s rock band that was terrible). I know on some level they were wanting Gene Kelly to "pass the torch" to the next generation, and I suppose in a certain way they did for Olivia Newton John.

Definitely trippy and quirky. If you were a seventies or eighties kid you might appreciate it. Most anybody else would probably just think somebody took too much acid and then cranked out a script.

 

Ready Or Not (2019):
Dammit do I regret not seeing this in theaters because if I did I'd totally put this in my top 10 best films of 2019.

So the film is about a woman who marries to family of lunatics who play a game of death with whoever marries to one of their members, and it's all hell from down there. It's a dark comedy, so prepare to laugh more than shocked, and it's really funny with its share of funny twists here and there.

9/10

 

No, he has some range as an actor.

 

News to me. Granted, I don't exactly seek his films out as he tends to grate on my nerves something fierce if he doesn't have the right people around him to balance him out.

 

The Exorcist:
Gave it another watch. Now I don't know if it's me being desensitized, but I didn't see it as scary as the first time. Ironically the one scene I still could not get to watch without getting extremely cringed at was where they poke Regan's neck and let her blood spray all over her. But for the rest of the film... didn't have the same effect.

6/10

 

Glad I could clear that up for you.