Well, that certainly felt like the longest November ever! If you haven't started your holiday shopping yet, click this link to check out current Amazon deals or use any of the affiliate linked titles below.
I finally started playing Star Wars Outlaws so I may not be posting as much this month.
Movies
It's been a loooong time since I saw the musical and even longer since I read the book so I can't compare this to the source material but what I can say is that I was thoroughly entertained! So much so that I didn't even notice the 160 minute run time. It's been three days and I still have Defying Gravity stuck in my head...or maybe it's ALL the advertising for the movie? Expect to see a movie musical revival as studios try to cash in on this one.
Rating: 8/10
I've had this on my list ever since I got Shudder how ever many years ago and
finally decided to check it off. This is a fantastic home invasion movie! The
majority of it is a 1v1 with lots of tense moments. My only issue with it is I
don't know why the antagonist didn't just break one of the windows to get in
the house.
Rating: 8/10
You'd think with a title like that, Halloween would be involved but turns out
it's just the title for this anthology series. Having only seen the first with
Art the Clown, I didn't even know this was the fourth in the series. There's a
couple of good shorts in here but the wraparound is a mess and too dark to
tell what's what. Overall, slightly below average horror anthology.
Rating: 4/10, couldn't even find a trailer!
This is a horror comedy that doesn't do either one very well. Most of the
kills are off screen and I feel like if they leaned into the comedy angle
more, I'd be more forgiving. You don't see many horror movies in a bowling
alley so they get some points for that.
Rating: 4/10
I've mentioned it before, I'm more a Marvel guy and could tell you very little
about this story since reading it back in the 80s. I can't really compare it
to the original but I did like it. I wondered after part one if I should wait
to watch them once they were all released. I'm glad I didn't because I don't
know if I would have been as interested to continue them one after another but
the episodic release worked for me.
This is my third favorite in the franchise after the original two. Some of it feels familiar as they pull bits and pieces from the OG movies but I think it's also just how these movies go. People poking where they shouldn't, Alien gets loose, Weyland-Yutani wants a specimen. There's some good haunted house in space scenes but where they go too far is when they re-use a line (arguably the most famous line of the franchise) and it doesn't really make sense to do so. The ending ties it in with the more recent sequels which I guess is good but, like those movies, it's weird.
Rating: 7/10
From the same folks that brought you a lot of those SyFy Original movies that
weren't very good! It's part Gothic soap opera and heavily reminds me of the
stuff Full Moon Pictures was doing in the 90s when they first started out and
I love it for that vibe. It's a little schlocky and if they could have avoided
the bad CGI throw down at the end, it would have been a better movie.
Rating: 5/10
Holiday Flicks
The Christmas Spirit (2022, Shudder)
This...is an odd one. A teen boy witnesses the death of his younger sister who
he was supposed to help hang Christmas lights. Decades later, he is carrying
the "Spirit of Christmas" in his head. The only way to get rid of the Spirit
and assuage his guilt is by kidnapping a girl that looks like his sister and
re-enacting the accident. The Spirit is a jacked up luchador for some reason?
Rating: 5/10
Red One (2024)
If you were thinking about seeing this, don't listen to the internet and
just see it. I really like that they brought in some of the darker European
Christmas myths. They also did a great job with the world building for the
North Pole and other things I won't spoil. As much as I enjoyed it, it
probably could lose 20 minutes and the swearing. It's a holiday movie, why
is there swearing?? Also, where the hell is my anthropomorphic polar bear
action figure?
Hot Frosty (2024, Netflix)
Mrs Dex loves her some Hallmark movies. I told her about this not quite
Hallmark movie (seriously, can Hallmark sue Netflix for this?) and how people online have been talking about how ridiculous it
is. It was kind of cute? The comedy at times is groan worthy. It's worth
a casual watch just for Craig Robinson being in it.
Rating: 5/10
This Month
New: 10 Rewatch: 3
Year to Date
New: 100 Rewatch: 6
I still can't believe the Wicked dolls from Mattel screw up. No one bothered checking the website on the doll packaging. Let's just say Wicked dot com doesn't go to a Broadway site. Someone got fired. I may need to see Hot Frosty.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing most kids aren't reading that part of the box anyway lol
DeleteIt looks like the McFarlane Red One line has the polar bear guy as part of a box set that’s Amazon only and ships well past Three Kings Day.
ReplyDeleteI did just find that recently but not a huge fan of McFarlane figure/statues. I want articulation!
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