Reviews

"The Cottage" is a unique dark comedy with a very intriguing twist to it. Situated in an isolated area in the countryside of Great Britain, two constantly bickering brothers along with some accomplices commit an ultimate kidnapping that just never went as fully planned. Things go from bad to worse as they encounter a deranged lunatic whose purpose is simply to kill. Though it's played for both laughs and scares, there really is much in terms of high octane scares.

When it comes to horror, movies from different parts of the world have a unique way of exhibiting their stories to give us provocative twists that are both riveting and shocking, but new and exciting angles come into effect that are both daring and original. Director Paul Andrew Williams gives us "The Cottage"which follows a duo of brothers named David and Peter (Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith) who kidnap a rich man's step-daughter named Tracey (Jennifer Ellison) all for ransom. Sadly, their plans were not as smoothly done as they thought they would be as it appears that Tracey is a lot more resourceful than expected.

In addition to the siblings, they are joined by a third accomplice who also happens to be Tracey's stepbrother, Andrew (Steven O'Donnell) and two Asian hitmen (Logan Wong and Jonathan Chan Pensley) arrive on the scene to break up their fiasco. While this botched kidnapping is going on, something far more sinister is awaiting for them, which would change the landscape of the narrative. At a nearby cottage where the kidnappers get lured into, a diabolical psychopath with a face that resembles Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" arrives on the scene and all hell breaks loose. Being another fine line of European filmmaking that brings together plenty of dark laughs mixed with brooding horror, "The Cottage" succeeds on some levels, but doesn't make an impact on other areas.

While the horror scenes come off raw and in your face, there really is not a high adrenaline level of genuine frights to make it completely scary. It can be forgiven because the horror stuff is not to be taken very seriously and is combining itself with dark comedy as well. The scare effects consist of a high level of blood, grizzly deaths, and a hideously demented farmer (David Legeno) has looks to kill that's equal to his mindset. Though the deaths lack originality or creativity, the blood induced scenes are gory enough to give you nightmares for weeks.

The kill scenes consist of a lot of dicing and slicing that might gross you out, but fails at any level of sensibility. Just when you think the diabolical farmer has his victims in the palm of his hand, he only just stabs them instead of completely murdering them like other slasher icons veterans like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. This leaves the impression that he's either a novice slasher killer or one that might have a miniscule ounce of humanity.

Maybe the farmer's humanity is to avoid copyright infringement from the other more calculating villains, which in this case might work on some levels like underneath his insane persona there is a small hint of sympathy hidden behind his physical and mental outlook. While the kidnappers are just a ragtag bunch of idiots who deserve no sympathy for me, at least Jennifer Ellison's Tracey in spite of her overly done use of swearing she is clearly the best performer of them all and also the one we can get behind the most.

Perhaps the hard part is that she is the most hostile. Personally "The Cottage would've been better executed if the kidnappers were younger and in their 20's instead of being early middle-agers. I liked how the movie has a satisfying ending with a few unpredictable twists that caught me off guard. Sadly though, there were still many questions that remained unanswered. There's no origin story regarding The Farmer and the sudden abrupt ending seems to leave me with an impression that they're planning on a sequel if it scores big at the box office. At least it was refreshing to see a horror film that doesn't rely on repeated tactics. However, it was far from perfect and had a lot of issues going for it. While it was original in delivery, and has a strong female lead, it still failed to offer character development towards the killer, many plot holes that needed a fix and the kidnappers were too stupid to be believable.

After finally coasting through the verbal regurgitation that affected my senses from the 2019 movie "Booksmart", I was relieved that it didn't manifest into a severe haemorrhage. Ironically, there was a scene of a girl regurgitating on another as they were getting it on. That's all I needed to know. Now my moments of consolation have been expunged as "Booksmart" carried on. I hung on until the very end like a good soldier, though the best part was when the credits rolled and that I never have to see this movie again for as long as I live.

"Booksmart" is really just a gender-swapped remake of the 2007 film "Superbad" and sure "Superbad" was no quintessential milestone of a movie, at least it had some quality about it that "Booksmart" only desired. With "Superbad" we have a memorable character who utilizes a superficial ID and goes by the alias McLovin. "Booksmart" doesn't even have a character that one will remember once it's over.

"Booksmart" has a tedious dialogue and frenzied camera work that lashes out at you at an alarming pace. People just can't control their urges to expose their inexorable exchanges. The scenes jump back and forth with no hesitation, while the hip-hop soundtracks are noisily rubbed in our faces unapologetically. It seems to have the intention to drive its audience insane and seems to be the only thing it does correctly.

The movie doesn't offer anything new and the plot is not entirely original. However the real red flag about "Booksmart" is that there is nothing remotely interesting in its message or any kind of scenes that we will remember once the movie is over. Beanie Feldstein stars as Molly Davidson (the Jonah Hill variation) who is best friends with Amy Antsler (Kaitlyn Dever). Molly is the more extroverted person out there of the duo, while Amy is the low-prolific friend who has a crush on a girl named Ryan (Victoria Ruesga). During their time in high school, the friends disavowed the party life that most girls at that time gravitated through to concentrate on their academics top priority. Sadly, with graduation slowly creeping on them, the friends are soon going to be going to different colleges where they won't be seeing much of each other or at all in the worst case scenario.

While Amy seems to be infatuated by Ryan who loves skateboarding, Molly seems to have a crush on Nick Howland (Mason Gooding) who has in the past made Molly an easy target for ridicule. Amy's aspirations after high school is to travel to Botswana for charitable purposes and then wants to settle at Columbia University. Meanwhile, Molly has her sights set on Yale and wants to tell the whole world about it, if anyone even seems to care less. Much to Molly's chagrin is that the party people who she rebuffed are all attending Ivy League colleges and universities. She tries to get Amy to attend Nick's party as a way to make up for the fun they have missed for the last four years.

Amy decides to tag along after much persuasion from Molly, and pretty soon, all the teen party tropes start to transform. We get a house where it gets trashed, guests get sloshed and lots of loud music going full blast. As a youngster in the 1980's with the old John Hughes teen comedy/dramas, the party scenes were the catalyst for perfectly executed comical moments that will linger in your memory for a very long time. "Booksmart" features three parties in one is situated on a yacht and the guests engage in an improv murder mystery. By the time we get to the grandeur party, we discover that none of these parties have any funny or memorable scenes. Then there is the cliched moment where Molly and Amy have a fall out temporarily, but eventually work their problems out in the end and they're best friends once again.

Sure I sat through "Booksmart" in all its labouring glory waiting impatiently for it to end. However, I still managed to take the time to do some observations. While graduation in high school seems to land in the month of June, I couldn't help notice that many of the characters are dressing like it's late March or early April with their wool hats, sweaters, winter jackets and yet the movie is set in California. Call me ignorant, but isn't it scorching hot in California to be wearing heavy layers of clothes in the month of June? To go into further research the movie was filmed in the San Fernando Valley in May of 2018. Was there an unusual cold spell when this movie was made?

Under the direction of George Miller who brought us "Mad Max: Fury Road" a few years ago, "Three Thousand Years of Longing" takes on a modern day fairy tale told through brilliant vibrant CGI, great storytelling and bombastic colours. The thing that stands out around this movie might have a reflection to the functionality and fractured landscape of our society. The movie completely disregards the feeling that science and technology are not as ingrained as one would think in reshaping our future, but by way of the human psyche is our own destination in how we want to go to create further generations. Released in the year 2022, we were still at the time put under voluntary house arrest while trusting science and putting on those masks in the public spectrum. The only means of entertainment was through Netflix and Zoom.

"Three Thousand Years of Longing" stars Tilda Swinton as renowned narratologist Dr. Alithea Binnie who's made a career out of diving and unraveling the origins and theories of popular folklore, fables, fairy tales, from all over the world. She's pretty much read and heard about these stories, characters, creatures and all that's presented from the well known to the obscure. There's never been a story she has never read. After a failed relationship with a handsome academic, he eventually betrayed her for somebody else. This led to Alithea embracing her solidarity by focusing on her academics without any distractions, hypocrisy, and dependency on others and focus primarily with her own responsibilities.

With this feeling of emancipation from the backstabbing the human race has been known for, she feels there is no need to be given a wish, let alone three when a mysterious and colourful Djinn (Idris Elba) offers it to her, after she buys a valuable bottles which she took to her hotel room in Istanbul, where she is to attend a conference. The Djinn is a remarkable manifestation of his own with a desire of fulfilling every woman's desires, with a naked belly, hairless with the exception of a specked goatee and triangular ears and seems larger than life in terms of both appearance and character. However, Alithea doesn't feel the need to be given wishes knowing quite well from her research that wishes usually come at a catch that always has a consequence underneath it all.

Overtime, the magical creature lures her into believing in wishes as he tells three anecdotes during the three thousand years he's been roaming this Earth as they all progressively become quite compelling. His journey includes a romantic interlude with the Queen of Sheeba and how he was punished for committing such an act to which King Solomon imprisoned him in a bottle. Then he tells the story of the slave girls who lived in the palace of well known pimp Suleiman the Magnificent. The third and final story was about how the Djinn granted a Turkish girl, Zefir, a wish for knowledge and gave her tons of books to help improve her mind. They would fall in love and Zefir would get pregnant with his child. However, hesitant to make another, he returned to the bottle which led Zefir to forget they ever crossed paths with each other.

If you think the movie has any subliminal pandemic era references hidden beneath all the layers of colours, CGI and costuming, well that's all not entirely justified. When Miller decided to make this movie, he had it dating back in the 1990's when this super illness was never mentioned or even existed. Sure it brought up the topics of loneliness, isolation, and false hopes, that was in sync with the pandemic, but I assure you those subject matters were only just a coincidence.

Over the years, George Miller has had a diverse range of movies varying from different genres that goes beyond the realms of the "Mad Max" franchise. From such classics like "The Witches of Eastwick" to "Lorenzo's Oil" and "Babe" among others. You can see that Miller has left his mark in the film industry as one of the greatest that ever came from below the Southern Hemisphere. He's the kind of person who has an idea and will remain there in hopes that he can get something out of it.

Something of a vibrant world filled with outstanding visual elements while also taking us into a world that is beyond our limitless imagination, while combining a fantasy world interacting with the real world, while also reenacting fictional stories set in real historical settings, "Three Thousand Years of Longing" stands out among one of the most unique albeit strange, but enchanting movies that was made in 2022. There might be some people who say the message was not powerful enough to deliver through, knowing that our protagonist was in the same place as she was before, but the stories the Djinn tells will truly amaze you.

I'm not going to deny anything about it, but "Sharknado 3: Oh, Hell No" is just the sequel of this franchise that needs to retire, but unfortunately didn't because it made seven instalments total and a sequel to this movie would surely follow. It was an endless barrage of eat, sleep conquer, repeat that followed the same formula as the other two instalments before this one and was just used as an excuse to get many B-list celebrities into the narrative, just to have their moments in the sun, only for them to comically meet their fate in the end. Only this time it's not funny anymore, in fact it's becoming to feel very tedious to the point where we wish the franchise would end, but it wouldn't because the fourth instalment would not be far behind. The weird thing about this franchise was that it had a huge cult following that not only attracted fans, but celebrities, politicians, famous people, you name it have their little cameos only to get eaten by deadly sharknados. Continuing from where the second instalment left off, we find our shark slayer hero Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) back on another shark slaying mission after he was about to receive a Golden Chainsaw Award from President Marcus Robbins (Mark Cuban) only to find himself battling another deadly sharknado that's affecting the Washington D. C. area killing off one celebrity after another.

The only real imagery we get that has some entertaining value was during the opening 15 minutes where director Anthony Ferrante shows us a scene involving an evocative look at the famous raise of the flag of Iwo Jima being raised by Fin, President Robbins, Martin Brody (Mark McGrath), and Vice President Sonia Buck (Ann Coulter). From this image alone, we can see where this movie was going. It was just an endless display of self-awareness that this movie is going to be dumb, and the constant reminders to its fan base indicating that we the viewers are just as dumb watching it too. After the opening scenes, they realize that there's still 75 more minutes to go with viewers expecting an endless action romp of shark frenzy madness. Instead, all we get is an exhibition of them knowing they made a stupid movie and just basking in its goofiness with no apologies or remorse. The cameos are contrived and overly done with poorly executed special effects through every scene.

It's not to say that "Sharknado 3" is a complete abomination of a movie. For one thing, Cassie Scerbo returns as Nova, who is destined to kick some serious shark fins complete with an armoured RV that's perfect for shark slaying. She is joined by her fellow engineer Lucas (Frankie Muniz) who has some of the best stunt scenes in the movie. At first I had expectations that this film might have had the potential to spark a ray of intrigue. Well that was until Tara Reid arrived on the scene and it became an extended long travel commercial to get your kids to visit Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida. When it came time for the underwhelming climax which features a useless appearance from David Hasselhoff who plays Fin's father, sending the characters into outer space (seriously), they engage in battle with these sharks, fighting them off with chainsaws which produce laserbeams. Until then we get some very tedious cameo appearances from one of the most appalling humans on Earth named Michele Bachmann, who's only good at playing one character, herself. As for the cameos from The Today Show on NBC, it was annoying to the core.

I'm not trying to condescend, but don't be gullible to believing the hype that this third installment is anything good. It's arrogant, well aware of its stupidity, and manipulates its viewers into thinking it's cheeky, hilarious and satirical, but those sentiments are not very well justified to say the least. The ideas are poorly thought out and every scene is over-the-top with visuals that meander and cameos offer nothing but annoyance and truly just makes you wish you could have been doing better things with your time than watch this contrivance. Sure I can sit back and enjoy awful films, but "Sharknado 3" is anything but enjoyable and has lost its appeal even though they made more instalments after this one. If you want entertainment, watch the opening scenes and skip the rest.

As far as humanity is concerned, scientists have tried to communicate with inhabitants from other planets. Which leads me to a provocative empuzzlement, what if they actually respond back? Under the direction of Eddie Arya, "Risen" gives us a theatrical indication if such outer planetary inhabitants are not all that we expected them to be. Sure I do read comments from review boards, but I only take their words for it. I personally like to see things for myself before making making any hasty decisions as to whether I like the movies I see or not. Arya, who also wrote and produced the movie took the inspiration of this sci-fi thriller from an event that happened in 2013 in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk where a superbolide zoomed through the area, landing in the city causing thousands of people getting injured and buildings destroyed.

Set in the town of Badger, the opening scenes start off innocently as a family are getting ready to eat dinner, then all of the sudden an enormous explosion ensues, nearly destroying the house and killing everyone in the town. The cause of the death was due to the toxic poisoning from the explosion and inhaling the fumes means instant death. The military enter the town all wearing hazmat suits.

Under the leadership of Col. Emmerich (Jack Campbell), he sends in a duo of scientific experts Dr. Laura Stone (Nicole Schalmo) and Dr. David Santiago (Raoul Trujillo) to get a better understanding of this extraterrestrial catastrophic event. They conclude that an orgaism has inveded Earth and is immune to harsh conditions. On a personal level, Laura has been traumatized by an event from her childhood involving her father (Ken Welsh) who revealed a secret to her never to tell her mother. This led Laura to seek therapy.

At the site, Laura discovers a red bud forming in the background, but she never tells the Colonel about it. While this is happening, the military is invesigating the dead bodies in the town. While performing an atopsy, one of the victims named Rob Windsor (Dominic Stone) a black ooze starts to materialize out of his body. As they were about to start an incision, Rob pops up, though he's lacking in pulse, breathing or heartbeat, and is not technically alive. Suddenly other bodies start to come back to life though they're not dead.

The situation becomes more alarming as the alien plant starts growing underneath the soil, impactfully killing all plant life. At the epicentre of the crash, we see the alien plant has grown as tall as a high-rise building. When Rob finally breaks his silence, the information he tells Laura is quite terrifying.

In an unpredictable twist, a majority of alien contact films either come from the more innocent ones like "E. T.", or something more malevolent and evil. Communication with the outside world whether good or bad in its intentions does share one thing in common. It opend up wider doors for more scientific research. In hope to get a better understanding of life outside the parameters of our Earth.

We also are lead to belive that the contribution to Laura's traumatic condition is from something called Supernova 94 and that it's in sync to her troubled past.

I've seen plenty of sci-fi movies, and though this may not be too original in content, it's still one of the more intriguing ones out there. The script was very well executed and the acting was sincere in its delivery. I'm always up for a great alien invasion movie and "Risen" truly delivers. I highly recommend it.

Though many Gothic stories might centre among deep, lamented sad horror melodrama that may have been done to death, "The Lodgers" might be one of the more engaging ones I've seen in a while. To me I find "The Lodgers" to be one of the more underrrated Gothic horror movies that had me intrigued while also having the feeling of dread throughout, but in a good way which means it did its job nicely. Light on delivery with just a touch of seduction and a hint of horror-themed paranoia, "The Lodgers" is truly a film for those who are into Gothic horror.

Under the direction of Brian O'Malley, this movie centres around twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner) who reside in a rundown mansion that seems to take control of their lives. With the rules written in the form of a nursey rhyme, they must follow these rules or they will have to face dire consequences. Such rules include not letting anyone in the house, they must be in their rooms beore the stroke of midnight, and they must never part ways from each other. For if they should disobey their protocols, they will have to face "the lodgers" who have for many generations have kept a watchful eye on them. While Edward seems to be all right with these restrictions, Rachel just wants to set out on the world on her own and to ignore these draconian retrictions. This all started when she becomes attracted by a young soldier (Eugene Simon) as Rachel takes the liberty to defy the restrictions, fall in love with the soldier and enter the world where the villagers don't take kindly to her or her family.

O'Malley stirs the tension brilliantly by taking on the subject matter that purely dark, disurbing and clearly taboo and under the gently touched script by David Turpin, we are a part of these twins' lives as the script albeit macabre, it is very easy to follow and we can easily sympathize with the characters. The visuals are masterfully done from the dark blotches of the atmosphere to the liquidy universe of their house, even Rachel's seductive nature tells a tale of emancipation, breaking of a curse, and the beauty of independence. Even Rachel's seductive nature tells a tale of emancipation, breaking of a curse, and the beauty of independence. Vega's facial expressions garner one's attention. With her wide eyes, well balanced lips and her determination to go outside the family boundaries, Vega is the epitome of the classic Gothic heroine and is by far the best performer in this movie.

Though this may be original in its storytelling, the script still draws inspiration from other authors from the Golden Age of literature. Like the Bronte Sisters who wrote classics like "Jane Eyre", this movie looks into damaged families, broken minded characters and dark secrets that will amaze you, shock you and make you feel unsettled inside. When it comes to location, the realms of Rachel and Edward's estate is the catalyst for a great haunted house setting. It's not the lodgers themselves that are the true villains in the story but the house itself, that is taking over the lives of two innocent teens, especially Edward who's willing to comply to these tyrannical protocols the house possesses.

"The Lodgers" is one of the most intimacy laden films in the Gothic horror genre. If you're into a non-apology content based movie like this one, then I highly recommend this one to you. This one has all the sedective sensuality injected into the narrative that might be disturbing to some, but pleasing to others. The misery, lament and Gothic arc truly captures the spirit of what a horror movie is while remaining simple in its style.

There is an aura about Julie Christie that screams attention about her when the camera focuses on her. In the 2006 emotional drama, "Away from Her", Christie has that natural appeal that doesn't require very much heavy make-up of prothetics. Her natural looks are both alluring and appealing.

In most films where camera shots only show fragments of serior citizen's faces from various angles. However, Christie goes for the full effect making this experince all the more inviting. We can easily see that her facial features look organic without the use of any kind of surgical procedures necessarily needed.

Knowing she's got the viewers feeding under her, Christie shows great beauty to match with her underlying exposure that brings to life in a very subtle manner as plays the role of Fiona, who's felt a major milestone in her life is remaining married for 44 years. In her spare time, she remains a loner, often taking to the slopes, for some cross-country skiing in a quiet, Canadian town.

It doesn't come as a shock that "Away from Her" will likely make you want to have a tissue box nearby. We see our leading character Fiona suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease as she struggles with remembering basic items in the house, or generally identifying people she knows. It's just plain vague to just say this this movie is about the early effects of Alzheimer's, it's like saying "Home Alone" is about a home robbery during Christmas.

What makes this movie a bit chilling is that it has a feeling that hits right at home with people who have been married for very long time. Sure the love is always there, but sadly there are a myriad of cracks that also spring up in long-term marriages as well. With Fiona, it seems her long-term memories are still very sharp and can be also quite biting too as she constantly reminds her long-suffering husband Grant (an excellently acted Gordon Pinsent) about his past infidelities he committed with several young students when he was a teacher at a university. Pinsent delivers a pixilated look of anguish as Grant when Fiona brings up those reminders. Feeling that she isn't going to get better, she decides to be taken into a long-term care facility for Alzheimer's patients, but Grant is highly reluctant on that. That's because of a hospital procedure states that no visitors are allowed for a month as to ensure the new patient gets adjusted to their new surroundings.

What makes "Away from Her" all the more appealing was that the director wasn't some elderly person, but Sarah Polley who was 27-years-old at the time this film was released. Polley who's been in the biz since childhood, brought her experience and her gift of knowledge to life. Ther white, snowy background is a symbol of a married couple who's days together are quickly becoming numbered. The interiors of the setting are less drab and even has a level of joyfulness thanks to a plucky administrator.

When Grant is finally greenlit to visit Fiona, he is astonished to discover that Fiona is now seeking interaction with a mute patient named Aubrey (Michael Murphy) and her relationship with Grant is slowly fading away. The script by Polley was adapted from the short story by Alice Munro gives us an indication that Fiona's attraction to Aubrey is not entirely due to declining health, but to exact revenge on her husband for his promiscuous ways in the past. Grant tries to get a better grip as to how Fiona found attraction to this elderly mute patient. He turns over to his wife Marian (a very delightful Olympis Dukakis) to see if he can make sense behind it all. It might seem predictable, but you get so invested into the story you hardly care less.

When we first meet Marian, she comes across quite boisterous. But then we later understand what she is going through and that the sentiments are quite universal. We know she and Grant might start a relationship as a way to fill in the void to their lonliness.

Polley deliberately made each scene slow to give us rich character development and to get us invested into them in hopes that everyone pulls through in the end. Murphy even brings his character to life even though he spends the movie in a catatonic state.

When the smoke clears, Grant understood that he did mess up in the past, but he could'nt resist Fiona's presence as she brought the life into him and it saddens him to let her go. Christie truly shows her dynamic ways in an Oscar calibre role. "Away from Her" shows that a director can deliver a powerful message across while not making a lot of noise.

I'm not the kind of person who forces people which films they should like or dislike. To me there are people who have contrasting tastes and as I always say to each their own. I never read people's reviews on IMDB. It's not because I favour my opinions over everyone else's. But it's because I like to look at things from my own perspective whether you agree with the things I write about or not. However after watching "Clinton Road" from 2018, I feel like to those who wrote a negative rant on this movie, well all I can say is, if there's a club for those who hate this movie, can I become a member?

I can't really find anything remotely positive to say about this movie. It is absolutely an abominable, misfortunate trashy film that's insulting to other trashy films. Every aspect of the film spells garbage written all over it. Whether it was the performances, the direction, the script, editing, and the score are all so contrived, instead of making me tremble in fear, i was feeling embarrassed watching this travesty of a movie. After watching this film, you could easily say that this is the worst movie that was ever made of its genre.

The opening scenes manipulate its audience to belueve that big name celebrities like rapper/actor Ice-T and "The Sopranos" star Vinny Pastore are going to featured as important characters in this movie. The only problem is, they're only on for the first 20 minutes of the film, and then we neber see them again. I'm sure their glorified cameos didn't come cheap and maybe that's where the majority of the budget of this movie was paid for. Also for some reason Eric Roberts just walks onto the set and says his lines, "I'm Eric Roberts" and we never see him again. I'm not joking when I said that was his only lines of dialogue. This leads me to ask myself, why? Talk about a waste of talent.

Once those celebrities collected their paychecks, we are treated to group of uncharismatic 30 year olds, embark in the fields of Clinton Road in New Jersey and decide to use these woods for a seance. Hard to believe that the star of film is former American Idot contestant Ace Young who plays the character of firefighter Michael who's wife has sadly been missing for over a year, while a spiritual man who can communicate with the dead who's also blind in one eye (James DeBello) assures Michael and his gang that there is nothing to fear in these woods.

After 45 minutes of circle jerking with our heads, they decide it's time to unleash the creepy crawlies. These spooks are less hokey than the monsters we see in the haunted houses at amusement parks. Such absurdities include the main one is a bald brute who looks like a live-action replica of Dr. Robotnik of Sonic the Hedgehog fame. His powers are to kill people by knocking them out with a mallet. If that's not enough, we get a creepy looking young girl who seems to only a semi-zombie with only her face half-disfigured while she wails out blood-curdling screams just for cheap scares even down to the old "Jacob's Ladder" vibrating reflection moment.

When it came down to searching for who the director was, there were two of them, the first being one of character actor Steve Stanulis, but much to my surprise, the other one was former "21 Jump Street" star Richard Greico. Well though he's been around the block performance wise for a long time, I'm sure his directing is likely to improve. It couldn't get any worst than this.

"Clinton Road" comes across as being quite labouring at times. There's no continuity we can ingest in, because in spite of the 77 minute duration, we can't fully decipher what we're seeing with our very own eyes, because we're unsure whether these scenes are a bad dream, a manifestation or events that are depicted as real since they said originally that it was based on actual events. It's even confusing as to who gets killed off because the climax moves faster than the speed of light. The editing and the camera work is quite shoddy it lack in any coherency.

When it sums down to my rant, all I can say is that with the tedious acting, abysmal special effects, and anticlimactic no ending, this movie will be deemed as forgettable at best. If that doesn't make you cringe, the cherry on top is the horrible final song to the end credits. If you managed to watch this movie in its duration.

Granted when the 2018 movie, "The Predator" was released, it wasn't met with open arms completely. Even at first I had my doubts too. I feared that it wasn't going to deliver, it would be inferior to the horrendous "Predator 2", or worse, it was going to turn The Predator into an inferior alien creature, contrary to the killer monster who graced the scareen in the late 1980's. Much to my surprise, "The Predator" delivered beyond my expectations. Sure it's not at the same level as the 1987 movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the film was both entertaining and had plenty of humour to go with the action.

Under the direction of Shane Black, we are treated to action, thriller, horror films reminiscent to the 1980's and 1990's where the action spills all over the place, the vulgaity is in almost every sentence, plenty of dark humour that will likely turn your face red, and there's a ton of explosions and action that will likely satisfy the average movie junkie.

Black teams up once again with his "Monster Squad" writer Fred Dekker who can bring forth the much needed humour that adds to the surrealistic fun that viewers can gravitate to. Boyd Holbrook stars as Quinn McKenna, one of the military's best shooters finds The Predator creature, but his efforts are for naught as he is arrested as a cover-up. In the prison bus, he finds himself allied with a group of rag-tag insanity laden soldiers including Marine veteran Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key) and fellow Marine named Baxley (Thomas Jane) who suffers from Tourette Syndrome. In a twist of irony, while in town, he discovers that his autistic son, Rory (Jabob Tremblay) has been locked up with a group of scientists including Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn) who are doing research on The Predator. Then, all of the sudden, the creature escapes and all hell ensues. Every character we are introduced to must stop this hideous creature from creating chaos before it's too late. However, the hideous beast is not alone, but an even larger, menacing and scarier Predator is lurking around along with Predator dogs. While people are becoming prey everywhere they go, the jokes are just non-stop.

Shane Black has been an integral part of the action genre dating back to the 1980's who has made a name for himself among the movie fans, critics, snobs and afficionados who like to dissect into his movies to get what his intentions are. What is comes down to is that Mr. Black just wants to make your rainy days brighter, make your moody ways more cheery and simply make a movie that will have everyone satisfied at the outcome in the end. The characters featured here all have many features an audience can invest themselves into as a way that we can all relate and that we can care about as the film progresses. Just to show that this movie is not entirely meant to be taken seriously, Black and Dekker freely take the liberation to poke fun at the franchise, albeit in a subtle fashion. It even goes on making cultural references that made this franchise a success. This movie won't raise any bars at an intellectual level, but it does what its intentions really are. It's a popcorn movie, designed for people to sit back, with your snacks and enjoy the ride. Life doesn't have to be serious all the time, we can enjoy life while it lasts right?

The action featured here comes across as brutal and violent as you would expect from The Predator franchise. The movie solidfies its R-rating to perfection while still having fun behind it all. Sure it was made in small town and the performers here are not at an A-level, the film will neber bore you with its humour, action, blood, carnage and explosives. Black and Dekker succeed once again in creating original content even on am old franchise like this one by adding new features to the Predator lore and seekd potential sequels in the future without keeping it open and not making it feel forced.

I'm not saying this movie isn't without it's red herrings because there are a few weaknesses. In spite of the rapid-speed energy this movie delivers, many scenes are chopped due to poor editing. Obviously there are many reshoots and cuts, but they just make many scenes feel awkward and choppy. It won't change your life, it won't raise your intellectual level by any means, it's just popcorn entertainment and nothing more. The best part is that it shows no apologies for it. This franchise has been around for over 35 years, but still feels fresh in any way possible and this sequel makes it possible that you can take something old and add new things to it.

A story about the Gamestop fiasco has potential to thrill, enlighten and educate viewers, but sadly, "Dumb Money" failed to deliver on most cylinders. Under the direction of Craig Gillespie and written by Lauren Shucker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, "Dumb Money" has the ambition to be like "The Big Short", only it lacks in wit, lack of knowledge in how the financial market operates and leaves you with nothing to learn from it. As I continued watching this movie, I kept getting annoyed by it's ignorance when it came to tackling the real issues at what really transpired. This movie was convoluted, it basks in its sheer idiocy and negligence making this movie extremely overrated.

Sure this movie wants to make a point that any average company can go head-to head with the giant capitalist corporations, and maybe this might appeal or even offend those who run and operate on the financial markets. However, unlike "The Big Short", which gave a much clearer picture when it came to the educating its viewers to how financial markets operate, Gillespie and company decide to create a superficial underdog story with stereotypical corporate villains, while our heroes are nothing more than just petty opportunists destined for a get rich scheme that works for a while, but backfires on all of them in the end.

So the focal point of the the movie centres around Keith Gill (Paul Dano) who is a lower tier investor, decides that a small business gaming company called Gamestop is below the totem pole in the stock market trade. He seemed to take matters in very earnest way, and found that this small company is being overloooked by the giant overlords by the big business conglomerates. I was okay with him at a certain degree. Sadly, once he started getting his message across a Reddit channel called Wall Street Bets, it started to unfortunately inflated his ego. He thought he could play the minds of the giant companies like a game by increasing value to his stock, while thinking he was above them oblivious, that they will catch on in the end.

So our hero Gill decides to manipulate youngsters who are still into hard copy games into valuing the prices of over $100 in stock and getting them into the craze that were going to get easy money and values worth on this product. Harly sounds heroic to me.

The movie never empahasizes on what Gill's real intentions are. It never even touches upon the toxic environment his whole You Tube channel was about. There are some quips that dismiss the mysogeny, racism and his harsh criticisms of his 4Chan opinion as nothing more than a "few bad apples". This toxic manifesto and popular opinion over factual intentions contributed to average everyday people losing everything due to this meme-stock craziness while Gill showcased little to no remorse for the flock who depended on him.

Apparently we are to believe that the villain are those tech guys who created the free-trading site simply known as Robinhood. Never mind that hedge master Glen Plotkin (Seth Rogen) made a similar bet like rival Gill, the only difference is that he did it in a very subtle fashion and didn't go balistic like Gill, but just let bad managment and e-commerce sink to their foundations before stepping up his game. Sure the Robinhood folk closed the trades, but it was an excuse to get Sebastian Stan the moment to have his fun in the sun. It also didn't help that Nick Griffin (Nick Offerman) of Citadel was the influencer for Robinhood.

It's hard to take this movie on serious level when there was a lack of research or fact-checking featured here. These meme-traders were not the trailblazers in the stock trade like we are supposed to believe. They never used their intellect to get themselves to the top. They were lucky, they just gambled their way to success only for them to get over their heads only to lose in the end. They let greed get the better of them, only to end up having everyone lose all they got. You call these guys heroes? Hardly likely!

Though he hasn't played a superhero in movie before, Ryan Gosling who stars in the Netflix original "The Gray Man" comes very close to one. It would be possible that the reason Gosling agreed to star in this movie and that the Russo Brothers hasd an interest in directing this movie is because it cost over $200 million to make which is a record breaker for Netflix, but also because there is potential for a possible franschise for the future. However, like expected, "The Gray Man" had no desires to create anything original and its real purpose was to make money and to ignore anything in regards to quality of its finished product. By the time this movie is over you'll likely forget what had just traspired in hope that this movie does becone a franchise in hopes something wiil come out of the next installments.

Gosling stars as Sierra Six, who is an ex-con who was called upon by a CIA Agent named Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton). The film kicks into high gear as Six is taken under by a new boss named Denny Carmichael (Rege-Jean Page), but his efforts are for naught as the target is the fellow secret agent. The fallen guy reveal to Six that Carmichael is a bad person which leads to Six being now on the run in similar veins to Jason Bourne with the big diffrence was that Bourne had time to develop as a character. Six never had that opportunity. The blank expressions work fine to some degree (like John Wick), but the film feels too loose on its quality and that figuring out the characteristics of Sierra Six is very complex and that's not very good.

While Six is being chased around globally, Carmichael sends in Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) who was an ex CIA man who's now in private sector that has less convoluted rules they must follow like extreme torture and cheesy moustaches. Hansen will go through great lengths to capture Six, even going so far as to abduct Fitzroy's daughter Claire (Julia Butters). But Six like a lot of super spies has a strong moral compass being that he won't kill kids unlike Hansen who couldn't care less if he does. Added to the mix is another spy, Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) who sides with Six in her quest for emancipation. Sadly, her character is even less developed than her male co-stars.

It's really all there is to offer in the two hours, spy on the run, lots of explosions, good vs. Evil, female protagonist showhorned into the narrative, child in danger, and lots of noise. The action scenes, especially the one at Times Square was effective in detail, but the unorthodox dull light actually makes everything feel more mundane than it should. Plus is deteriorates the charisma from the performances of Gosling, de Armas and Evans. The palette during these global missions is very opaque it makes the atmosphere anti-climactic and labouring to watch. Another issue I had was that the film is so stoic in characterization with the exception of Chris Evans' performance as Hansen, there really isn't much personality anywhere else.

Even though Hansen might be the only character that has some moments of pure interest, he really is not much of a menacing villain as he's cut out to be. Just a person who can't do his job right, making him a perfect candidate of what not to do in the spy business. This isn't a typical spy action which the rival spy has equal capabilities as the protagonist possesses. Hansen is more inferior than Six. Gosling comes from the old-school art of spy work while Evan has a more manic edge who feels the need to blow up things to make himself look bad. The script-writing trifecta of Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely make Hansen feel like a capable villain, but in reality, he isn't.

With a lot to make this movie to be original and provocative, "The Gray Man" lacks in that department and feels like it's scared at stepping outside the traditional action spy thriller. There is no driving force behind this movie in hopes that if there is a franchise, we hope the sequel usurps its predecessor.

During its over 100 minute duration, "Barbarian" stands out as one of 2022's most intensely, scary and unpredictable horror movies that will satisfy the horror film afficionados. The feelings of what's below our streets is filled with mystery, suspence, horror but most of intrigue, will likely keep us glued to our seats as we the audience would to be involved with what our hero in this tale is facing whether that she survives or surrenders in the end. It is an endless barrage of secret passages, dark, scary tunnels, creepy armosphere and most of all to explore dark places that very few haved discovered. The overdoing of several horror movie tropes are kept minimal here thanks to the brilliant script by Zach Cregger who succeeded in setting up a compelling climax that ends in a way no one really saw coming. Part of the complex ways a horror film is crafted requires a setup that's easy to follow and then mold into an ending that's original, but effective.

The movie might pertain to the ongoing issues when it comes to staying at an Airbnb facility. Young documentary filmmaker named Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at her destination in a rundown location in Detroit only to discover that the place she rented already has an occupant staying there. A young man named Keith (Bill Skarsgaard) gladly welcomes Tess to stay there as interim roommates. He seems quite inviting, though Tess has her doubts. She eventually makes her way into the humble abode as a way to get out of the rain and calls up nearby motels for any possible accomidations, but everywhere seems to be all booked due to some sort of convention. Keith agrees that he'll crash on the sofa while she'll take the bed in the next room. After awhile she starts to settle down and feels more comfortable towards Keith's kindly spirit. Until later on in the night, her door starts to unexplicably open and Keith is awaken after a horrible nightmare.

Sure it's possible that there is some potential to a romantic hook up between Tess and Keith, by Creeger has other plans and it would all become cliche. Sure I might be giving away spoilers but one thing I know for sure, Tess and Keith are not the only ones staying in the Airbnb. At the basement of the house is a spooky, secret labyrinth surrounded by tunnels, oh yeah, there's also a tall, hideous creature living down there (there goes the rom-com, hello horror). In another subplot which segues into the narrative at midway point involves the owner of the house, an immoral actor named AJ (Justin Long) is desperate to sell the house in order to pay off his attorneys who are on his case after being accused of sexual harrassment.

"Barbarian" shines due to the movie having a slow-burn that will eventually lead to more explosive things to come. At first I fully understand the reason why Tess doesn't fully embrace the trust that Keith has to offer. I mean we're talking of Bill Skarsgaard here who a few years prior was playing the diabolical Pennywise the Dancing Clown from the 2017 remake of "It". Sure Creeger is more familar with comedy, there is some dark humour added to the story, he seems to have a fixation of the usage of flashlights when exploring these dark tunnels. But one of the biggest tropes that's featured here in "Barbarian" that hasn't become archaic is when the lights go out when something or someone is lurking nearby. The soundtrack composed by Anna Drubich pay homage to John Carpenter's "Halloween" soundtrack where the musical vibes repeat itself especially when the scenes intensify.

Sure this movie doesn't stand out from other horror movie past or present, Cregger knows how to twist things around and does what he could to make his movie unpredictable up till the climax. There's really not a lot of new ground he could cover, but the ending was quite anticlimatic in its delivery, though many of the tropes featured here the self-awareness isn't presented in a subtle fashion.

Sure aside from the spooks and the jump scares there are some topics that arise centred around female empowerment and the negligence of inner city communities. However, Creeger doesn't really tap into those subtexts. The condemned city structure won't seal approval to those who live in Detroit, but it still serves as a catalyst for things to unfold. It's still a mystery to me as to how the Airbnb was built under those never-ending array of tunnels, however the monster featured here is not a cheap replica of other horror creatures.

Had it not been for the cheap ending, this horror movie could have stood out above a lot of other horror films, although it would be a stretch to even call that the greatest horror movie of all time. It still has a lot going for it in terms of jump scares, effects, a decent story and stuff likely to fuel some nightmares for a couple of days.

Monday Night RAW was doing quite well at that time. Chris Benoit was doing quite well as the World Heavyweight Champion and was continuing quite solidly in his feud with Triple H. Randy Orton was coming on a seven month run as the Intercontinental Champion, but the WWE had big plans for him. However, this Pay-Per-View Vengeance from 2004 was unfortunately a forgettable PPV, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just overlooked by the other ones. There were some quality matches on the car most of the time, but there was way too much focus on the Evolution /Eugene storyline that was at time a bit overkill. But it still delievered to some extent and the matches didn't wear it its welcome most of the way.

Set at the Hartford Civic Center in Hardford, Connecticut on July 11, 2004, WWE Vengeance featured the commentary team of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler and had a capacity crowd of 7000 people in attendence.

1) Jonathan Coachman and Garrison Cade vs. Rhyno and Tajiri. The match was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. Sure Cade did most of the heavy cargo for his team, but there was some solid chemistry between Tajiri and Rhyno being that they knew each other from their ECW days. Coach was quite effective as a heel. The turning point for this match sees Tajiri spit the green mist on Cade. Coach avoids a Gore from Rhyno, but the Man-Beast hits Cade for the pin. It gets 2 stars for being an average opener, albeit nothing special.

We get Evolution backstage as Triple H is looking for Eugene, but eventually finds him talking to Chris Benoit who's telling him that Triple H is manipulating with him and warns him to be careful.

2) Batista vs. Chris Jericho. Batista was trying to show that he's more than just the added muscle to Evolution and the WWE were starting to take notice that he has character and great promo skills to back up his muscle and power. During this time Jericho was starting to lose some steam in his bravado and wasn't doing much in his babyface role making us think that he may need to reinvent himself. Batista loooked very dominant in his match, but Jericho kept the pace of match going. The turning point was when Batista Bomb for the 3 count, but referee Earl Hebner didn't notice that Jericho's feet was on the bottom rope, but still counted anyways. It gets 3 stars for some great storytelling of speed vs. Power with power emerging victorious.

3) La Resistance vs. Eugene and Ric Flair (World Tag Team Championship). Prior to the match Triple H rewards Eugene with one of Flair's signiture robes much to Flair's chagrin. The match itself is mostly played for comedy in spite of it being a title match. Eugene tries to duplicate Flair's signiture moves, though it does it quite badly. La Resistance works on Flair through most of the match. It ends when Eugene goes on tear through the tag champs, the referee tries to control Eugene but fails ending this match in a disqualification. This match get 2 1/2 stars because of the comedy value if anything else. The heat on Flair was too long-lasting and needed to be cut by a few minutes.

4) No Disqulaification Match Kane vs. Matt Hardy. In an interesting, albeit disturbing story, Lita who was in a relationship with Matt Hardy at the time slept with Kane in order to prevent him from doing futher damage to Matt. It didn't go too well as she might be pregnant with his baby. There is some brawling on the outside, but things seem to go downhill from there. Kane seems more on the offence, but Matt does a few moves of his own. The turning point ends when Kane picks up the steel steps from outside the ring, Lita tries to stop him, but fails. Just when Kane was going to crush Matt with the stairs, he hits a chair on the stairs as it lands on Kane. Matt pick up the win. This gets 1 star being that it was quite a boring no DQ match and felt they needed to pass time making this match last 10 minutes at least.

5) Randy Orton vs. Edge (WWE Intercontinental Championship) Make no mistake WWE was pushing both men to bigger things but Orton was enjoying his role as The Legend Killer and had a banger of a mach against Mick Foley from months before. I was quite surprised that Orton was getting more fan support than Edge being Edge was the babyface and Orton was the heel. No question, this was one of the best matches. Orton was quite desperate that he wanted to remain the IC Champion and both of them worked each other splendidly. Plenty of nearfalls and false finishes but the match ends when Orton get his face planted on the exposed turnbuckle, Edge delivers the Spear for the three count and is the new Intercontinental Champion. Orton will bounce back to bigger things to come. Just wait until next month. Edge is also will be heading his way for bigger things too. This match gets 4 stars of solid 25 minutes of action. Sure it went on too long, but it had a great story and a satisfying ending.

6) Number One Contender's Match Molly Holly vs. Victoria. Still feuding months after their Wrestlemania 20 match which had Molly Holly getting her head shaved. Holly is sporting a cheesy wig. The match was quite good in spite of its short time. Victoria is quite athletic while Molly Holly herself is quite talented too. The turning point ended when Victoria ends the match with a superkick that looked impactful for the win. I give it 2 stars for the short match, but it was great to see Victoria step out of her Widow's Peak finisher to do something different. A shame the crowd was silent.

7) WWE World Title Match Chris Benoit vs. Triple H. Triple H finally gets his one-on-one with Chris Benoit with Shawn Michaels not getting in the way. After having two spectacular triple threat matches between the trifecta at Wrestlemania 20 and at Backlash, Shawn is kayfabing an injury lets see how these compete in in a singles title match. Benoit has two victories with them so far, we were hoping this match between these two competitors would be a decisive one regraining from interference or shenanigans. I guess we had to keep hoping. The match was almost 30 minutes long as Benoit shows just how amazing he is as a technical wrestler and Triple H is a dependable main eventer. However, more Eugene sabotage came into place. After a ref bump that knocks out Mike Chioda, Eugene comes down, Benoit orders Eugene to wake the referee, as Hunter is tapping to the Crippler Crossface. Benoit knocks Eugene off the apron. Hunter low-blows Benoit and hits the Pedigree, but still no referee. Batista and Flair come out to interfere, but Benoit takes them down. Eugene prevents Chris from using the chair. A tug of war backfires on Hunter as the chair hits him Benoit wins with the roll-up. 3/12 stars for this one due to the overuse of the Eugene character and didn't deliver as much as the triple threat matches Hunter, Shawn and Chris had. The two of them delivered. There was no need for any Eugene nonsense.

Overall it was a 6/10 event that featured many great matches that delivered especially Edge and Orton. However there was really one dud being Matt Hardy and Kane. The main event could have been better if Hunter and Benoit had a match without the Eugene shenanigans although it had a satisfying finish.

"National Lampoon's Vacation" is one of the greatest slapstick comedies that came out back in the 1980's. When I was a young child, I used to watch this movie very frequently because I couldn't get enough of the over-the-top silliness, the surrealism into thinking that nothing could get worst for the Griswolds only to discover that it actually does and that it still holds the pinnacle of 1980's comedy gold. Years ago, I purchased the uncut version that solidifies its R rating due to a myriad of scenes that are too outrageous to making this a PG-13 rated film. The raunchy stuff you'll find in the uncut version includes pot, full-frontal nudity, sexual innuendo and other out-dated humour that made 1980's comedy daring, but effective in storytelling. The film may have elements that might be updated due to our modern day sensitivities, but the comedic genius of Chevy Chase and his madcap antics will likely keep you entertained.

Under the direction of Harold Ramis and screenwriter John Hughes, it's fun, raunchy, energetic, and archaic in its comedy due to the politically incorrect humour that eliminates anything that's family-oriented, has a lesson to be taken into consideration, or preaches to you time and time until it gets nauseating. Chase stars as Clark Griswold, a food representative who lives in the suburbs outside of Chicago with his long-suffering wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) anf his two young preteen children Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and Audrey (Dana Barron). Even before all the madness gets underway, Clark is doomed right from the getgo as he is conned by a shady cars salesman (Eugene Levy), but still doesn't phase him much as he never lets his spirit overshadow the many misadventures that he and family endure throughout. In spite of one disaster leading to another, Clark remains a positive individual providing the love and care of his family even if things never work out for them. Clark never loses character along the way even if he does underhanded things, the love of his family will always be top priority.

After he gets conned into buying an appalling car, and decides to spend vacation time at Wally World instead of going to Hawaii like his kids requested, they continue on their journey that goes from disaster to even more disasters as the film progresses. We get scenes where Clark is confused as to where the gas tank is for the car and the visit to Ellen's sister's rural estate where we meet Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) for the first time. When Eddie comes on, the more laughs come from his bumpkin personality. Eddie might be the only character who can upstage Clark in terms of humour and even more social awkwardness.

Many of the gags here have extreme levels of shamefulness which includes Aunt Edna's (Imogene Coca) dog Dinky urinating on their sandwiches, to Dinky himself getting his dead body dragged across the roads because Clark forgot to unleash him from the back of the car, to holding up a hotel with a fake gun and stealing the cash, to taking Aunt Edna's corpse and leaving her at some relative's place and even Clark skinny-dipping with another woman who isn't even his wife. Though a lot of scenes were quite offensive by today's standards it's a breath of fresh air to a time where these subject matters were dismissed and greatly accepted at time when morals in cociety were loose.

Before he became a favourite to John Hughes in his teen dramas of the mid to late 1980's Anthony Michael Hall turned in a very underrrated acting performance as son Rusty who seems to have a higher maturity level than his dad while avoiding the trope of being a precocious know-it-all type. Though very young in his career, we can see this young thespian had potential for greatness. There were some remarkable cameos from comedic greats like Eugene Levy as a shady car salesman, John Candy as a dumbfounded Wally World security guard and Eddie Bracken sporting a Walt Disney visage as Wally World owner Roy Wally.

The uncut version that was given to me has more outrageous scenes that were kept on the cutting room floor when it first came out in theatres. Such scenes that solidified its original R-rating includes Ellen's steamy shower scene with her flashing to the audience to Rusty and cousin glossing over some nude magazines and Audrey smoking pot with her cousin Vicki (Jane Krakowski). Finally doesn't Chrstine Brinkley look smoking hot driving that ferrari. Overall this is a great piece of nostalgia from yesteryear at a time where political incorrectedness was passed off for great comedy.

"Wild Things" centres around a rich socialite high schoolstudent (Denise Richards) who enjoys the attention and seduction of other men, a poor girl (Neve Campbell) who lives in the wrong part of town, a vulnerable but attractive school counsellor (Matt Dillon) accused of rape and a pertinacious dectective (Kevin Bacon) who suspects foul play in this whole situation. All of this evolves into one of the greatest sex crime investigation stories under the direction of John McNaughton. Set in the Blue Keys of Florida, Sam Lombardo (Dillon) is quite the popular employee at the school where he serves as a student counsellor. It also doesn't hurt that he's quite the looker and some of the female students thinks he's hot. His routined life takes a drastic change when confronted by wealthy teen Kelly Van Ryan (Richards) who accuses Sam of commiting rape. The accusation begins to become more one-sided when a poor girl named Suzie Toller (Campbell) concocts her own allegations against Lombardo. However, Detective Duquette (Bacon) finds that this case doesn't fully add up and the real truth to this invesigation is murkier than the swampy settings of this Florida beach town.

Released in 1998, "Wild Things" came out at time when Hollywood was all about taking risks on their subject matter and not worrying about the reactions of their content whether it was being praised or offended by the public mass. It was because of the risque implications that this movie had to offer, "Wild Things" was an incredible movie to watch. Sadly, the movie industry has not been the same let alone for the better either. If this movie would be made today, there would be a major uproar by the masses due to its overly seductive nature synonymous with sexism.

As a crime thriller mystery, it fits in nicely, albeit instead of being in a dark and gloomy atmosphere it counteracts its domain by setting it in a bright web of sex, lies and has plenty of twists that you never saw coming. The twists and the immoral demeanours of the characters are just the right catalysts for the shocking revelation that is to come during the climax. Sure people might sticker this movie as an erotic thriller, that sentiment is a complete misnomer. Whoever has this thought prosess in mind are both dismissive and ignorant.

The thing that stands out from "Wild Things" is the excellent cast of very talented performers at the time like Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon and Bill Murray. While there were others who still very young in their careers, but were getting noticed like Denise Richards and Neve Campbell. Though she has been the centre of criticism for her acting ability unjustifiably of course, but here, Denise Richards was quite amazing in her performance as rich, spoiled popular student who accuses Mr. Lombardo of rape.

The other standout performance comes from Neve Campbell. Though known famously for her role as Sydney in the "Scream" franchise, Campbell is just as wonderful as the sceming poor girl witha story of her own regarding Mr. Lombardo. Richards and Campbell have great chemistry together and it's not just because they're eye candy, but because when given the right script, they can perform magic like no other performer.

In terms of production, "Wild Things" seems to have everything well in its place. McNaughton guarantees that every scene truly serves a purpose. And while it's filled with steamy sexual innuedo, I can assure you that the noir settings hits the right tone for its genre. "Wild Things" will likely take you for a wild ride, as we eagerly anticipate what will unravel next.

"Mortal Kombat", the movie, is based off a violent video game that was popular back in the 1990's has made its way to the big screen. Though the video game has no real story or plot, the movie version surprisingly does albeit still very thin in detail. It's very similar in plot to "Enter the Dragon" with more ninjas and fantasy sequences featured. It has the same plot twists which features a tournament to the death and all our beloved characters from the classic video comes to life in the fight against the fate of the world we live in.

Under the direction of Paul W. S. Anderson, we are given the right person to direct this movie due to his resume featuring campy action movies like the "Resident Evil" series and "Death Race". Anderson does every check mark that we get in typical 1990's fare. Such details include techno vibes during the action scenes, brightly vibrant colour palettes, archaic CGI green screening and finally all the quirks from the "Mortal Kombat" characters made famous in the games.

With the Outworld taking on the Earth, it's a matter of life or death with the addition of what will happen to or world if the Outworld should emerge as the winner. The evil Emperor Shao Khan would be very happy if the outcome is in his favour.

What's holding this evil fiend back are a group of powerful fighters who are not really allies with each other, but understand the fate of the Earth if the Outworld emerges victorious. We have a Sholin Monk named Liu Kang (Robin Shou), a Hollywood actor named Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), and a special forces officer named Sonya Blade (Brigitte Wilson). Liu Kang wants Shang Tsung (Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa) as an act for revenge after his brother's death. Cage wants to win to show he's a legitimate martial artist and not just playing one on television or movies. Finally Sonya Blade wants revenge on Kano for killing her partner, Wilson and to show she can fight her own battles without anyone's help. Wilson replaced Cameron Diaz as Sonya Blade after Diaz was injured on set. The trifecta was led by the powerful God named Lord Raiden (Christopher Lambert) who tells them that teamwork is their only method to prevent the Outworld for winning their tenth tournament or else they will take over the world.

Outside of the main characters we have other beloved characters from the video like Pricess Kitana (Talisa Soto) who helps them along the way and may have a crush on Liu Kang. Then there's the dastardly Kano (Trevor Goddard) who kills Sony Blade's partner Wilson who joins foces with Shang Tsung. We have Sub Zero (Francois Petit) who stangely alligns himself with Scorpion (Chris Casamassa). Keith Cooke portrays the ninja/reptilian hybrid named Reptile who works for Shang Tsung. Tom Woodruff Jr. Is the hideous creature and reigning champion Goro who is challenged by Johnny Cage. Finally we have Gregory McKinney as Jax Briggs.

In spite of Johnny Cage beating Goro, Shang Tsung takes Sonya Blade hostage and now it's up to Liu and Johnny to rescue her. To think that in the early scenes, Blade was kind of powerful and very independent, only to end up in the movie as the damsel in distress. From there Liu Kang takes up the task to defeating Shang Tsung and frees all the spirits that were taken hostage by Shang Tsung (including his brother).

With Earth finally getting the victory, they all celebrate at the Shaolin Temple. But the festivities quickly come to a close when the skies darken and Shao Khan materializes demanding eveyone for their souls. The gang are in fighting mode and the credits start with a possible sequel along the way.

One of the good qualities aboiut this game is that it stays true to it form and never once does it meander in another direction or genre. Also it would lead to further development of other characters from the game who were not featured prominently in the movie.

It's kind of sad that so many people had lambasted this movie. To contradict these claims, I actually had a blast watching this video game adaptation come to life on the big screen. Most people don't want to admit, but it feels like a Hong Kong action films with video game characters taking the place of action stars. People tend to dismiss these kind of films as just guilty pleasure. For me it's a movie that still ahead of its time and still has a lasting impact 29 years later. The effects were solid and CGI though in its infancy was still nice to marvel at.

What's great is that this movie can still be seen as a stand alone movie even if you never touched this game in your life. Of all of those other stupid video game adaptaions out there, this one is one of the more better ones out there.

In 2009, Sony Pictures Animation released "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", a film that had scored high points in originality and creativity and demonstrates that the sky is the limit in terms of our imagination. Based off of a classic children's novel by Judi and Ron Barrett, the visuals in that movie was taken at a highly professional level while at the same that action was over-the-top spontaneous while also being very clever in all essential areas of filmmaking. With a world that centres around the aftermath of a food apocalypse and the townspeople going to great lengths to clean up the town, while opening the gates for a new conflict our heroes have to enconter. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller created a world filled with action, adventure, and comedy that has something to offer for both kids and adults alike.

In 2013, the sequel "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was released and it still captures a lot of the imagination, although the magic is gone in some areas, it's still very satisfying to watch. There is still plenty of entertainment for everyone to see, however the screenwriting is a bit of a red herring and the humour is a bit lowered down compared to the first installment, there is still plenty to love about this sequel and I'm sure kids and parents will have a fun time watching this one.

After the food-making machine which turned Swallow Falls into an edible disaster, the town is ready to move forwards and clean the mess up. With the help of Live Corp led by CEO Chester V (Will Forte), hires the aspiring inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) to work for his company, we later realize it was not for good intentions. Chester informs Flint that he needs to go back to his island residence to look into his food-prosessing device and to shut it down. The reason why is because the machine has created food-themed monsters running all over the town causing mischief towards the civilians. Flint is joined by his girlfriend, Sam (Anna Faris), Officer Earl (Terry Crews), Manny (Benjamin Bratt), Chicken Brent (Andy Samberg) and his father Tim (James Caan) to put a stop to this machine's madness. Flint's focus however is to make a lasting impression on Chester that often times takes over his consentraition by planting a USB device to shut down his machine.

Replacing Lord and Miller and a duo of new directors this time with Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn who succeed in keeping the cartoonish elements that worked successfully from the first movie. From the raw energy that worked effectively from the first movie to creating a Disney themed character-driven narrative that's pure in escapism where surrealism is king and the animators having more fun than labour in creating newly created monsters that will surely either scare you or make you hungry whichever comes first. They also were up to the challenge of creating new dangers and new adventures for Flint and his allies refraining from repeating the same story from the previous installment. The only weakness to this sequel is there is really not much to be surprised about.

With Swallow Falls being taken over by food-animal hybrids, we as the audience don't really know how to react when seeing these creatures because we don't know if they're dangerous or just a ragtag of misunderstood misfits with a physical and psychological unpredictability. One of the more better interaction of the food hybrids is when Tim seems to be on friendly terms with mutated pickles adopting himself as a father as he teaches them how to fish. There are more dangerous villainy food creatures like a crocodile-taco and a cheeseburger-spider with french fries for legs who seems to be transfixed under Chester's persuasions. But we can't ignore that cute strawberry with eyes named Berry, who's very harmless and just wants to be friends with Flint. These creatures are the reasons to be invested into the story and make up for the murky scrpit surrounding Chester V and his real plans. Whenever these critters come on screen, there is never a dull moment.

While the movie is endless barrage of whimsical wordplay especially when it comes to deciding what to named each food themed monster. The details put on display is met with great dedication to the craft at Sony Pictures Animation and truly deserve our praise to circle around original storytelling to an otherwise repeated atmosphere. It's just a shame that not enough heart was put into the story. The only subplot that had some heart was Tim who wanted to spend quality time with his son and had to adopt pickles to fill in the void. The Chester V and his evil schemes were exciting to watch, but felt very rushed with no time to saviour in the moments. The sequel does stand out as our heroes are dealt with another adventure this time dealing with the wildlife that has manifested in their humble little island town. The sequel may be inferior to the first movie, but there is something you can enjoy with friends and family of all ages.

Where is in the world will you find a town that actually rains cheeseburgers? Where meatballs acts like a hailstorm? Where else can you find a town that has ice-cream mountains and children everywhere are indulging on food they can enjoy? Not the food that has essential nutrients and vitamins for a healthy body, but unhealthy meals and sweet treats that will likely give you a tummy ache afterwards. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is truly one of the strangest movies I ever saw, but it stands out in terms of originality and creativity.

The movie itself is a 3-D animated film based off of the popular children's books back in the 1980's by Judi and Ron Barrett and is voiced by Bill Hader as the main character Flint Lockwood who lives in an Atlantic fishing community called Swallow Falls. They're famous for their sardine industry. When the sardine market starts to collapse due to economic constraints, Flint decides to invent a contraption that can help restore the food population just by adding a little water. Next thing you know, it starts raining cheeseburgers, and then ice cream starts to come down from the sky's above. Next thing you know we have a spaghetti hurricane and hail in the form of giant meatballs.

Ever since he was a little boy, Flint had the desire to become an inventor. However, his father, Tim (James Caan) wants him to work at his sardine store. I assume he needs the help knowing that his eyes seem to concealed by a big, bushy unibrow. Flint spends most of his time in his treehouse patenting his new food making apparatus which grows to epic proportions and voila, an instant success. Or so for the time being. Hate to sound cynical, but like all good tales, there is likely going to be some drawbacks, but in this movie, that's a big understatement.

I don't believe that "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" will be approved by health fanatics who have encouraged children for many many years to eat more healthier foods like vegetables or other essential nutrients for a well balanced diet. No the kids in this movie are scarfing down on pizza, burgers, ice-cream, gummi bears and chocolate. This machine can't make broccoli, asparagus and spinach, but who cares? The kids are having the time of their lives not caring about health risks like obesity and diabetes and premature heart disease. However, that's not the only problem. Eventually, Flint's machine ends up losing control and next things you know the island he lives on is now showered with mouth-watering foods. At least they won't have to worry about starvation for a while. It's up to Flint to find a way to stop the machine before things really start to go out of control.

The climax of the film features a dam and in it are leftovers causing a major avalanche to swoop over the town leaving it in a pile of rubble. Flint needs the USB drive to stop the machine which seems to have a mind of its own. He goes into a tunnel, but his girfriend Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) gets pierced by a peanut brittle and gets an allergic reaction. He stops the machine with his spray on shoes causing the machine and giant meatball to explode, the food storms die down and the island gets restored back to normal.

Aside from Flint, his girfriend Sam, and his father Tim, there are other remarkable characters that play prominent roles in the narrative. Bruce Campbell of "The Evil Dead" series was wonderful as corrupt Mayor Shelbourne. Andy Samberg is just a hoot as the voice of Brent McHale, who ever since infancy, has been the mascot for Baby Brent Sardines canned food. However, Neil Patrick Harris was excellent as Flint's monkey assistant, Steve who can translate his thoughts through a translator.

The animations basks in its own surrealism. Sure the hot fudge sundae mountains look bizarre, and the whole concpt of this movie might be appealing enough to keep the kids invested. But to the adults, we just think this movie went a step beyond weirdness. Even the physical looks of the characters. Flint looks like he his nose is bigger than his face and father Tim has one unibrow and no eyes.

I've seen my share of 3-D movies and several of them are either a hit or miss. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is a hit albeit of the stranger kind. From a technical standpoint, the 3-D elements are great upgrade that suceeds in providing an precise, clearer improvement compared to the one's before.

Michael Pare stars as sea-boat Captian Michael Stoddard, who leads a group of environmental activists led by Sandra Cresent (Jerri Manthey), along with her cohorts Jerry Ryan (Ryan McTavish), Carrie Evans (Renee Talbert), Ted Marks (Ted Monte), and Darla Marks (Glori-Anne Gilbert), to a mysterious island to explore a deep, dark secret about this island. As their search progresses, they find a research compound where Dr. Susan Richardson (Michelle Borth) is a lone survivor who's father was also leading the research team. Just then, the military calls in to action and the weary environmentalists are facing danger on every corner of the island as a giant mutated Komodo Dragon and a king-sized King Cobra are squashing humans and having them for a light snack. The surviving group members must scramble to safety to escape this island from these reptilian creatures and the military intervention.

While this is far from being anything Oscar calibre, or anything that will have you thinking because this movie is as stupid as it may come, I still found "Komodo vs. Cobra" very interesting and entertaining. For a monster movie, it had the potential to really stand out. One of those traits being that due to the limited cast, it gives these giant creatures plenty of time to have an altercation with each other. Sure for a small cast, we still get plenty of prey for the creatures to have a feast on, they never let their food go to waste. Sure there are plenty of kills featured here, it's shock value remains intact. The timing of this movie is short, but straight to the point and not a single moment is ever wasted. The climax is very atmospheric and the tension as the quest for survival becomes all the more mandatory is anticipated with excitement.

Of course under this sea of great praise, there is also a myriad of red herrings featured in this giant monster movie mash. It seems that after the success of "Jurassic Park" has progressively been downgraded to schlock like this. The CGI is absolutely pitiful even though CGI is supposed to have improved compared to the CGI from 1993's "Jurassic Park". It feels more archaic for a movie that was released in 2005. The execution of the creatures is almost unintentionally funny it's pathetic. Why hasn't any technological features gotten better over the years. Even when the two giant reptiles clash feels anti-climactic. The action is uneventful it is very unsatisfying. The script felt like it was written specifically to insult the viewer's intelligence. Environmental activists invade an obscure island to revolt against scientific researchers who's experiment went wrong only to find out that their lives are in danger is all there is to this plot? Talk about a story that has been done so many times before. Unoriginal sure, but there was a lot of potential to make this movie really interesting. It was all just a muddled mess of terrible cliche's and wooden performances.

In the end, "Komodo vs. Cobra" had all the makings for a fun and compelling monster movie in all its cheesy goodness. The reptiles were badly downgraded by 2005 standards, they looked like badly don caricatures from 1990's Super Nintendo games it's not that funny. Also the vulgar language is replaced with squacks which can be at times very annoying. It's not the worst movie out there, but it isn't really anything that great either.

Russell Crowe stars in this sentmental drama, "Fathers & Daughter" playing a Pulitzer Prize winning author named Jake Davis who lives with his young daughter Katie (Kylie Rogers). Things take a tragic turn when they get into a car crash which his wife, her mother dead, and Jake has become oppressed with depression and mental instability while also suffering from terrible seizures which eventually leads to him becoming a patient under psychiatric care. Little Katie is now under the custody of her uncle William (Bruce Greenwood) and her aunt Elizabeth (Diane Kruger). When Jake becomes discharged from the hospital, things are never the same as before. Cut to many decades later, Katie (Amanda Seyfried) is now a social worker and is working on helping traumatized kids who have been affected by events that have took a toll on their mental health like a stoic, unresponsive girl named Lucy (Quvenzhane Wallis). She's saving these kids while she herself needs some saving of her own. Then she meets a young man named Cameron (Aaron Paul) and that's where things go from sour to putrid.

I came to see "Fathers & Daughters" with very little expected of me, and in the result for such a richly done melodrama, I got very little out if it making this movie very unsatisfying. It felt like writer Brad Desch seems to have a read a few textbooks on the topic related to psychology and feels like he's an expert when it comes to the sunject so he decides to arbitrarily write a script related to grief and trauma by that book without really going far as to counsel those who have had real experience related to grief and depression. While Katie's depression issues regarding grief of losing both parents at a young age is right on the money, it still feels more like a hack effort created by a pseudo-expert on this subject making Desch a phony.

It's understanding that Katie's heartbreak regarding her father has been a burden within her even more so as an adult and has never overcame it. It might have blown over the water to some extent but I'm okay with that. Some people show their depressions in different ways whether being subtle or extravagant. The whole notion of her having sex with random men as a way to cope with her depression is problematic with me. However, when the beloved saviour of her life, Cameron decides to step in break her cycle to become the void she is missing becaoming the new Jake father-figure is downright unsettling. It's also in her favour that Katie is quite the looker because if she was homely, Cameron would never give her the time of day. It's also unjustified and quite unqualified that Katie, in spite of her being educated in the field of social work and therapy, that she's trying to interact with a trauma stricken Lucy, and yet she can't even save herself. It might sound like a nice gesture to help her out, but she chose this girl because Lucy fits perfectly from the horrific events she's experienced and to mean that approach is wrong. It's not about challenging herself to different children going through the motions, but about Lucy and how she's a mirror-image of the trauma Katie faced in her past.

Sure as a social worker, Katie like most other people of her calibre might pick this career choice because like her other people in that field might have suffered from various tragic events and will use their own personal experience in helping other kids who are feeling the same way in hope that they might overcome what's bothering them. Though she might seem selfless in helping others before helping herself. However, Katie must fight her own inner demons before passing on her knowledge to others. She clearly isn't eligible to help others and yet people want to turn a blind eye on that. Perhaps a more level-headed social worker would be more sufficient in helping out kids. Katie is just not reliable just yet, at least until her self-conflicted ways are expunged. I'm sure therapists who watch this film will know just how unprofessional and unqualified Katie is at helping kids.

The movie to me was an unsatisfying watch, although the actors put in their hearts to what was given to them. The cast did a great job capturing the image of people dealing with grief and death, it was still very overly melodramatic and cringe-inducing.

There's a saying that goes, be careful of the things you say and do or else karma is going to get back at you with a vengeance. There are a number of signs that "The Traveler" is going to be an unsettling watch. There's going to be vengeful integrity, ominous whistling, ironic moments, and even great moments that has a crossover between supernatural and crime drama that sadly never seems to develop into a cohesive narrative. By the time you get to the end, you wonder what in the world have I just seen?

Set on the evening of Christmas Eve at a police station, a mysterious blond-haired man dressed entirely in black (Val Kilmer) walks into the station to confess that murdered six people. Several of the officers take him seriously, while others think it's part of the job as there have been plenty of insane people who have walked through these doors saying the same diatribe. As usual, they go through the procedures only to discover that this man is in fact a Mr. Nobody, they examine his fingerprints which he doesn't have and he has no reflection of himself when he went to get his picture taken. He seems to cease to exist, though the police think he looks like somebody they know. When they led him to the interrogation room to confess, Mr. Nobody sits calmly, talks in subminal messages and pauses each time to confess that those around him will die while he never once leave his chair. How is that even possible? It feels like the script was rewritten at the last second without fully carefully knowing themselves.

We then cut to a flasback relating to a horrific incident not far back in time where a drifter was beaten mercilessly by those same cops as he kept pleading to them that was not the one who killed a small child. The beating was graphic and violent to the point where the victim was found lying in a coma. While Mr. Nobody continues his confession, more cops fall victim to their deaths while the flashback of them shows the ugliness and malice these cops had on this drifter. But the more time they keep going back to that incident, it starts to get tedious and repetitive.

As time progresses, the surving at the moment cops see an evil connection between Mr. Nobody's confession and the ironic deaths of the other cops that leads them to belive that they're part of a sinister plot of revenge that might have a paranormal feeling behind it. Even though their ruthless aggression is far from anything to get behind, we do feel a bit of sympathy for these cops due to the fact the aforementioned little girl that was murdered was the daughter of the detective. By the time we get to the climax, the cops realize that their fate is upon them and that they now regret of messing with the wrong person.

The Mr. Nobody character has a certain feeling of diabolical calmness to the character Keyser Soze from "The Usual Suspects", but then it gets dragged down to become a bloated it's either me or him picture in similar veins to "Assault on Precinct 13". Eventually it gets a similar vibe relating to police brutality anti-cop flick that would have Rodney King green with envy. Which would have been okay with me as Val Kilmer really nailed his performance as a cold, calm, and collected Mr. Nobody who presence is convincing enough to send shivers down your spine. In the end, the whole one cop after another gets killed is no different than all those slasher films with cops replacing teenagers who make dumb decisions in how to go to get themselves out of the metaphoric holes they dug for themselves to begin with. When they beat the drifter to bloody pulp, they acted so barbaric and ruthless, now with the situation they're encountering, they all seem weak and vulnerable. When we reach the climax, it all goes down, ruining all the intentions this film had its mind set at. The going back to the beatdown was cringe-inducing because there were way too many plot holes to the point where it becomes overwhelming.

Not only did this truly get the Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) character noticed by millions in his big screen debut, it was also the big picture debut of Tim Burton. It was also the big screen soundtrack debut for Danny Elfman. Therefore, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" was milestone for these three who went onto big things in their careers as the years go by. Though Pee-wee is potrayed as an adult, but his approach and mannerisms might tell you another story. He acts very much like a child, still playing with toys, eating sugary cereal (like Mr. T cereal how 1980's can you get?), and seems to have this child-like innocence that we have grown to love and admire over the years and his schtick never grows old or stale. In his big screen debut, Pee-wee's favourite possession that means more to him than life itself is his prized bike that's filled with cool gadgets and stuff decorated all over it. However, another man-child named Francis (Mark Holton) seeems to like it too and wants to buy it from him, but Pee-wee refuses his and his father's offers and drives off with it. When he comes out of the bike shop, it's stolen and now he makes it his mission to go out on the road to get it back.

Much to the frustrations of bike shop employee Dottie (Elizabeth Daily) who seem to have a crush on Pee-wee, he stop at nothing to get it back. When he goes to a fortune teller (Erica Yohn), she tells him that his bike it situated in a basement located at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

On his way to Texas, Pee-wee meets up with a barrage of unique characters along the way. This includes a dangerous criminal who cuts price tags off mattresses, a mysterious enity of a trucker named Large Marge (Alice Nunn) and befriends a kind-hearted waitress named Simone (Diane Salinger) who wants to go to France, but her jealous, giant of a boyfriend, Andy (John Harris) won't let her go and gives chase to Pee-wee. He eventually entertains a rambunctious motorcycle gang by doing a strange dance to the song "Tequila". By the time he finally get to The Alamo, he gets humiliated by the tour guide when asked about the basement.

After getting hurt and awaken in the hospital, it's revealed that his bike is in Hollywood and is being used as a prop for a movie. Eventually he gets it back and his adventures becomes turned into a movie albeit with a James Bond spin and has James Brolin playing the Pee-wee part with a more suave and maturity to the character. We get plenty of cameos from legendary comedian Milton Berle, slain comedian Phil Hartman, future teen star Jason Hervey, glam rock legends Twisted Sister, and blonde bombshell Morgan Fairchild.

When this movie was released it was a smashing success that made stars out of both Burton and turned Pee-wee into. Burton became quite successful as a director in such films as "Edward Scissorhands", "Batman", "Batman Returns" and "Ed Wood". While Reubens character Pee-wee Herman would have a home on CBS Saturday mornings.

The rating for this movie back in the day have been relatively, though in later years that bravado has took a subtle decline. The teen to young adult ratio loved it more with a 7.5 approval rating. While the older adults love it less with a 6.6 approval rating. Whatever the case, one thing for absolute certain, no one will ever say that they were bored with the movie.

Even though Reubens gave Pee-wee Herman more recognition than he had before, he was already famous on cable television with his live specials on HBO and on David Letterman. He would make other movies like "Big Top Pee-wee" and others, but they didn't live up to the hype. And then his career was dormant due to accusations for rather unflattering situations.

To me, his Saturday morning show outperformed even his movie debut, mostly because on his program, his character was more developed and we can see more of who this character is and how he interacts with the unique, strange people and creatures that inhabit his playhouse. He can relate to kids more than adults because he literally is a kid trapped in the body of an adult and that we can all be kids even as we grow older as long as you're not immature about it.

People just seem to naturally like this individual. Even the less than nicer characters seem to have some level of fondness for him. Dottie seems to like this man just the way he is, even though he acts more like a child than an adult, dresses like a cartoon charcater, and talks with a nerdy nasally voice that most people would be turned off in the real world. But she would not want him in any other way.

"Pacific Heights" is the perfect psychological thriller designed especially for those who are basking in money and wealth, along with your mortgage, finance, and just about anything to protect your investment when it comes to owning your own home. It's about a financially stable couple who move into a 19th century polychrome building located in the trendy Pacific Heights area in San Francisco, and serve as landlords in order to pay off the mortgage of their homes. The tenants consist of a loving Japanese couple (Mako and Nobu McCarthy) and a slick, debonair, but very suspicious Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton). Carter is truly a piece of work as like the the cockroaches he breeds, he freeloads off of them rent free, renovates the home even during late hours of the night and makes everybody's life in complete misery, even forcing the elderly Asian couple to leave at one point.

The thing about Carter is that he will latch onto this couple played by Melanie Griffith as Patty Palmer and Matthew Modine who stars as Drake Goodman just to be a creep and can play off of people like set pieces of a board game. Performance wise it is well acted even though the story is quite thin which gives lessons to aspiring landlords to choose your tennants wisely. They are a young couple who are living their dream lives of owning their own homes, while still tweeking it here and there in some areas. That is until Carter shows up at their doorstep and the nightmare goes on from there.

Carter has the same level of evil as the average slasher film villains, even though he's just incognito as an average slick, well-dressed business tycoon who takes advantage of anyone and manages to successfully get away with it. He acts as though Patty and Drake are nothing more like putty on his hands but they (as least Patty that is) knows that this creep is bad news. The soundtrack indicates that trouble is on the horizon for this couple, and the direction from John Schlesinger has the cameras running in a dizzying way that will truly make your heads spin.

Carter sernades himself as a well-adjusted successful business tycoon who takes great interest in the estate the minute he walk in promising six months of payment rent via wire transfer to make up for refusing to take a credit check. In reality he's a con artist who never gave a red cent to the couple, and locks himself into his apartment hammering at all hours of the night, while also placing cockroaches all over the building. When the couple tries to evict him, Carter goes full-blown psycho and takes his devilish ways to new heights. His mind games forces the couple to spiral in terms of relationship and financial stability. When they try to reach the authorties, they are in shock to realize that they are all on his side making him quite untouchable.

It appears that he has done it many times to other in the past. We also get word that his real name isn't Carter Hayes but James Danforth. He plays this scheme like a game for giggles and money. He cons gullible homeowners and blackmails these authoritative figures by paying them off to take his side.

Patty and Drake are the perfect guinea pigs for Carter to con. They need the money to pay off the estate and are desperate to bring tennants into their apartments without considering back checking on the history of who should move in. However, Patty, the smarter of the couple goes through great lengths to dig the dirt of who Carter really is. While Drake, who's short on brains, takes Cater in to prove that he is the one who's in charge (or so he thinks). Once he's proven wrong and finds himself house bound after a physical confrontation that leaves him wounded, he realizes he's goofed up really badly. Patty decides to play at his game, which drives him insane to the point he wants to kill them, only to end up dead by impalement by a broken water pipe.

The script by Daniel Pyne reflects on an experience he had with a freeloader who refused to leave their premises which cost him and his wife a lot of money. It gives the lesson of be careful who you rent your property to because even though they came out lucky, the same can't account to everyone.

Captain Lee Miller, an astronaut becomes the first person to ride the International Space Station in about 20 years to check if it's still able to function properly. During his time on space, he is alone and isolated which is a feeling no human really wants to position themselves in though mission control is keeping in contact with him frequently. That is until a tranmission malfunctions and communication gets cut off. At first Lee assumes it's all just a stress exercise until he realizes that there is trouble happening back home on Earth. Then for most of the movie, everything just goes silent. From his window he observes lights and explosions hitting Earth, while he's helpless, stranded in outer space all alone and not a soul to communicate with.

Written and directed by William Eubank, "Love" also features a soundtrack by the band Angels and Airwaves and how the human condition needs social interaction and the effects it has upon those who become deprived of it.

I'm a little doubtful if I am eligible to write a review of this calibre. There is a myriad of subliminal elements happening here, a lot of the material is a bit overwhelming to grasp at. I've had a few dreams of waking up only to find no one around to talk to. Though I'm not the social butterfly, I still feel the need to talk to someone every once in a while and I mean in person, not on social media behind a computer. It's both sad and frightening to feel this way even if I am organically introverted.

It must be a worse experience when you're in outer space alone, with no contact with anyone. Sure a lot of kids when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, a lot of had ambitions of becoming an astronaut. To me, being that far away from home is something I would never dream of at all. I prefer the place I call home right here on Earth, even though it's not necessarily that safe with nautral disasters and unpredicatability, I'm okay where I am and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I don't envy Lee and the situation he's facing in this entire movie. Who needs a horror film to get a good scare? All you have to do is sit through Captain Lee Miller going through the emotions that he's alone and has no one to call for help.

To occupy his time, he does stretching excersises, make origami animals, and reads a journal from a Civil War soldier chronicling about his mission to find an unknown object which remains a secret. The more he reads the journal, the longer he is out there and is progressively losing his sanity.

Eubank does a confident directing job for a relative first-timer thanks to his years of experience as a cinamatographer. With inspiration from "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Solaris" and many other sci-fi dramas like this one, Eubank has movie that looks like something that could have been an award grabber.

Gunner Wright show just the perfect pitch of emotion as an isolated astronaut who you deeply sympathize with as his sanity is declining minute by minute. I was relieved when this movie ended and not in a bad way as I couldn't bear to sit through 90 minutes of watching a man lost in space and the number of years he spent alone on that spacecraft.

A lot of credit goes to the soundtrack by Angels and Airwaves led by former Blink-182 guitarist/frontman Tom DeLonge. Their music caught the mood perfectly for what we were about to sit through. It followed the sad and isolated journey our protagonist has to embark and it was spot on in its delivery.

There were moments in the film that at times confused me, but maybe it was done that way on purpose. The ending is an open field for drawing your own conclusions and interpretations and I like that very much. Maybe I feel satisfied that not all my questions have been answered as it maintains a mystery. If this movie was spoon-feeding us, it wouldn't be very effective in its storytelling and would lose all its darkness given to us. "Love" definitely deserves a second viewing or multiple viewing to get a better understanding of what's going on and through those viewings, you'll learn new things every time.

Though it may not be at the same level as Kevin Williamson's other successful thriller ride, "Scream", but I Know What You Did Last Summer" succeeds nicely on a cleverly written script, heavy on tension and sharply developed characters featuring a cast of young performers at the time, who were showing promise at the time. Based on the novel by Lois Duncan, Williamson counteracts from his "Scream" film which was played closer to parody to give "I Know What You Did Last Summer" a more realistic approach to a stressful predicament our heroes have to face as they are dealing with death, remorse, guilt and revenge from someone who knows what they did last summer.

Set on the 4th of July in a small fishing community in North Carolina, we see four young teenagers who decided to enjoy the summer together possibly one last time as they get drunk and start telling ghost stories over a campfire. Then they figure out what their plans are for the future. The brainy Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has plans for college, beauty queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has ambitions of becoming an actress in hopes to star on a soap opera, Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe) who's a jock has plans of getting a football scholarship in hopes to play for the NFL and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) an average guy who has hopes he could get through life as he works at the docks with fellow rival, Max Neurick (Johnny Galecki).

What this movie succeeds to what "Scream" fails is that "I Know What You Did Last Summer" has narrative that strong in terms of morals and a life lesson that the quartet had to deal with. Unlike the novel by Duncan, Williamson made the film more tense, more conflicted, and way more violent as a way to somehow compete with "Scream". Under the direction of first-time director Jim Gilliespie, he ensured that the story and genre are handled in a simplistic, but still clever approach to a film that could've been just another cliche slasher film.

While getting inebriated on their ride home, Barry turns up the radio to loud alernative music, screaming out the roof of the car, drunken like the idiot that he is, when all of the sudden, they run over a person. Shaken, by what they encountered, Ray looks to see if the man, they ran over is dead. Ray assumes that he's deceased. Knowing that Barry's bottle was still filled with booze, reporting the incident to the police would lead all four teens to a possible arrest, the group decides to carry the body and throw him into the water and vow to never mention a word to anyone.

Things haven't been going to well for the four friends who have become somewhat embittered with each other, especially Barry who has become more angrier and hostile towards everybody. Julie's grades have been slipping since the horrific accident and Helen's dreams of becoming a soap opera star has diminished as she's now working at her father's store with her cynical, bossy sister Elsa (Bridgette Wilson).

A year later, Julie returns home and finds in her mail an anonymous latter that says, "I know what you did last summer". Now Julie get the gang together to further invesigate as to who's been sending these letters all the while a crazed madman sporting a fisherman's parka complete with a hook on his hand is on a killing spree might even be the one who knows what they did too.

When it came to casting, it was clever that Williamson casted the right young actors to play the roles that likely fit the roles they have been known for. Hewitt was the perfect choice for Julie James due to playing a similar role she famous for at the time whrn she starred on the CW teen drama "Party of Five" very much in the same vein of Neve Campbell's role in "Scream". Gellar who plays the likable Buffy Summers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has similar likability here as Helen Shivers. Freddie Prinze Jr. Is effective as the more level-headed Ray that's needed for a film like this. Phillippe is believable as the understandably hostile and eterally angry Barry who coceals his fears and worries by acting more toxic with everyone he meets. Even Anne Heche plays a smaller and effective role as an eccentric woman who might be related to the hit-and-run victim.

The rookie director Gillespie succeeds in keeping our heroes in line with guilt-trodden, anxiety ridden, salvation seeking moments and an exciting climax that reveals everything to a satisfying conclusion. It really has a conclusion that will likely make Hitchcock green with envy. Other behind the scenes contributor deserve praise like production designer Gary Wissner, and director of photography Denis Crossan who captures horor fillm effects like smoke and fog along with dark shadows in the background. And finally composer John Debney who relies more on orchestral music, contrary to hard rock music that we are familiar in genres like these.