Beetlejuice (1988)

Image Source

A couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) dies in a car wreck in their small, New England town. They don't realize that they are dead at first, and eventually must contend with a yuppie family. They manage to befriend the goth teenage daughter (Winona Ryder in what may just be her best role and performance). Desperate to get the family out their house, and save their pristine small-town life, the couple, ignoring warnings form others, seeks help from a sleazy, fast-talking poltergeist, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Keaton. Director Tim Burton really found his niche with Beetlejuice. Keaton as Betelgeuse is a star-making performance, and the man is truly unrecognizable. The set design is outstanding, especially when it comes to sights we are shown in the afterlife. It feels Burton-esque. It's mesmerizing, weird, haunting, and a little funny all at once. I also think the makeup work in this movie is some the best in any movie. Period. I'm not just talking about the dead people looking a different color, or the pale-white look of Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, or even Keaton himself. There's also a lot of little touches like the gash on Sylvia Sidney's neck that says her character had had her throat slit. Even some of the smaller characters that you only see once in the movie have such a unique look, you kind of wonder what their story is (a man with a shrunken head and a woman who has been cut in half, for example) The best to way describe Beetlejuice is as something of a demented Looney Tunes cartoon. Keaton's performance sort of seems to be a combination between Bugs Bunny and Freddy Krueger, which works way better than it probably should. This isn't just a good movie to watch around Halloween, it's a movie you can watch pretty much any time of the year. I absolutely love this movie, and highly recommend it if you've never seen it before.  

10 / 10        

The Girl on the Train

Image Source

The Girl on the Train is directed by Tate Taylor and stars Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, and Luke Evans. Blunt portrays Rachel Watson. She is divorced from her husband, and is an alcoholic. She rides the train every day, constantly watching the people she sees, even imagining fictional lives for them from time to time. One day, Megan Hipwell, (Haley Bennett) the woman she watches the most, goes missing. Rachel decides to take things into her own hands. She also has to deal with being one of the suspects because she had been seen in the area, and was blacked out in a drunken stupor. Now, this movie is something of a slow burn, and it’s going to turn a lot of people off. But, I really liked this movie. The mystery itself was intriguing, and I was invested the entire time. Emily Blunt is probably one of the best actresses working today, and this movie is no exception. The entire time, I was engrossed in this drunken, broken, borderline psychotic woman who may just be the best female antihero I’ve seen this year. This is almost entirely because of Blunt herself. The climax works mostly because the entire film to me felt like a powder keg waiting to blow, and this was when things finally blew up. Honestly, I didn’t see the twist coming at the end. On the other hand, this isn’t something I see being put on the same pedestal as Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, or The Empire Strikes Back. They kind of play with the idea of an unreliable narrator in a way I don’t normally see. There are certain characters I started to suspect, but I also wasn’t 100% percent sure if I was right or wrong in my personal suspicions. There are some character moments in the movie that didn’t gel with me all that well, and the slow pace can bog the movie down a touch at times, but it never really compromised the movie for me.

9 / 10  

Yoga Hosers

Image Source

Yoga Hosers is the newest movie from Kevin Smith. It is the second movie in his “True North” trilogy. The horror comedy follows two yoga-loving convenience store clerks (played by Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp) trying to get themselves to a party. But first, they have to deal with Bratzis (Nazi bratwursts played by Kevin Smith himself). They get themselves some help from man-hunter Guy LaPointe (Johnny Depp, in a performance that is practically begging to win a Razzie). I also wasn’t terribly impressed by Haley Joel Osment’s brief cameo either, finding his bad fake accent annoying. Fortunately, neither Osment nor Johnny Depp are in the movie for very long. On the other hand, I actually really liked Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith as the titular yoga hosers. The two girls look like they’re having fun, and they carry a really damn solid chemistry and charm and charisma through their performances. I hope better roles are around the corner for these young women. The GCI is awful. Never once did I believe I was actually seeing the effects in the movie. Honestly, I kinda liked this movie. Keep in mind, Yoga Hosers isn’t good by any stretch of the imagination. But, I feel like the movie kind of knows it. The premise is gloriously stupid, and never really takes itself too seriously. There are a lot of in-jokes in the movie. However, there are some scenes that start off being kind of funny, but go on a bit too long. Some of them work better than others. While I did kind of enjoy Yoga Hosers for being a stupid movie, I can’t quite bring myself to recommend this movie unless you are either a hardcore Kevin Smith fan, or a hardcore fan of terrible movies on the whole.

5 / 10      

Luke Cage: Season 1

Image Source

Luke Cage is the newest Marvel Netflix series leading up to The Defenders next year. Much like the previous two Marvel Netflix shows, Luke Cage is fantastic. Mike Colter owns the character of Luke Cage, playing a sort of black Superman, if you will. Luke Cage is just a good guy. He doesn't really want to be a hero, or hoisted on a mantle, but he has to be in order to deal with corruption in his Harlem neighborhood. Mahershala Ali as Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes works spectacularly in the role of a nightclub owner / drug and weapons dealer who has a painting of crowned Biggie Smalls hanging in his office. Alfre Woodard portrays Stokes' cousin, Mariah "Black Mariah" Dillard. She is a Harlem councilwoman that genuinely wants to save Harlem, but also has her own monsters inside that she must contend with. Rosario Dawson reprises her role of Claire Temple. The character feels as though she has progressed, moved forward, and Dawson and Colter have spot-on chemistry. The fairly unknown Simone Missick shines as Misty Knight, giving a performance that could earn her well-deserved recognition. Theo Rossi likened his character of Hernan "Shades" Alvarez to that of Littlefinger from Game of Thrones, and it totally works, to the point that Shades was my favorite villain in the show. All of the main characters feel well-rounded, and are genuinely well-written. The soundtrack is phenomenal, whether it's recreating the sound and style of old-school 1970s shows, or Luke Cage beating bad guys down in hallway to the tune of Wu-Tang Clan. The music always fits the mood. If I have one flaw, there are roughly four or five main villains, and it does feel a touch overcrowded at times. But, that also works, too. I had an idea of where the show was going. Halfway through, something happened, and I had no idea what to expect from that point on. Overall, despite some overcrowding in the villain department, Luke Cage is a great show that I recommend checking out for yourself if you haven't already.

A  

Red Eye (2005)

Image Source

Red Eye was released in 2005. It is directed by Wes Craven and stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. A hotel manager is going home, and must take the red eye flight. At the airport, she meets a charming, almost unassuming man, and they seem to hit it off. When they are seated together on the plane, he reveals his true intentions. He is a hit man contracted to kill a diplomat staying at the woman's hotel. She must do what he says, or he will have her father killed. This is one of those Wes Craven movies that I feel has kind of been lost in the shuffle. It never really reached the level of movies like Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Cillian Murphy excels in his role as a charming, but coldhearted killer. The chemistry between Murphy and McAdams makes me feel a little uneasy, and I mean that in the best way possible. There's a genuine feeling of possible romantic feelings, but I also am aware that, essentially, these two are predator and prey. Wes Craven is one of my favorite directors of all time, as he was the one who molded my love for the horror genre. He handles the material he's been given by building tension, and much of the film has something of slow burn style build to it. There's a battle of wits between our heroine and villain throughout much of the movie. The last few minutes, where it takes place in the house of McAdams' character is where the movie wavers a little bit. It's not bad, per se, it just isn't nearly as good as what came before. The stuff on the plane is tense, confined. I wasn't quite sure how the heroine was going to get the upper hand. Red Eye is a movie that I would recommend giving another chance.

9 / 10 

Top 10 Halloween Songs

Take note: these are in no particular order

This Is Halloween

Ghostbusters

Thriller

He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)

Monster Mash

Living Dead Girl

Don't Fear the Reaper

Time Warp

One, Two, Freddy's Coming For You

A Nightmare on My Street

Top 10 Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs

#10: Give It Away 

#9: Breaking the Girl

#8: The Zephyr Song

#7: Californication

#6: Scar Tissue

#5: By the Way

#4: Otherside

#3: Can't Stop

#2: Snow (Hey Oh)

#1: Dani California