Salam’s Lot
I have not read the book, so I cannot speak to Salam’s Lot as an adaptation. But as a film, I can speak to it, and it is certainly a movie. There is one thing I can say for certain, this movie got chopped up to hell as it feels like there is a massive chunk of this movie missing. One moment you are in a peaceful town and in the next the town is all vampires, with no set up, no existential dread, nothing. Events are happening and characters are making decisions with no context and no emotional stakes. Thus creating an empty film that has little bite. And to describe the climax of the film as anti-climactic is a bit of an understatement. Overall, very disappointed with this one.
My Rating: C
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
As someone who is a fan of the original Beetlejuice, I was surprised to find myself disappointed with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Despite Michael Keaton delivering the goods with his iconic character I was surprised to find myself bored and cringing throughout this sequel. It takes about an hour for the movie to get started, and numerous plot lines are introduced that ultimately add nothing to the story and are magically resolved, talking about you Monica Baluchi. The jokes were causing the eyes to roll to the back of my head. The performances were pretty poor, especially from Wynona Rider and Jenna Ortega who gave phoned in and bare minimum performances. Sadly, I am disappointed with this sequel and all I wanted was more Beetlejuice and he was barely in the movie.
My Rating: C
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The Outrun
Saoirse Ronan gives one of the best performances of her career as a recovering alcoholic in The Outrun. She is riveting and captivating on screen as she takes the long, hard, and arduous journey to sobriety. However, outside of her performance, The Outrun is a standard by the book film about the difficult journey to sobriety. This doesn’t make the film bad by any means, it just means that it is a safe film about a subject we have seen many times before and that Ronan is the reason why the film works the ways that it does. Ronan’s performance alone is worth the watch and is worthy of an Oscar nomination, but the film is just two hours of her acting her ass off. Nothing more.
My Rating: B
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Tarot
Tarot is by all means a terrible horror movie. With stupid characters, pathetic jump scares, predictable plot, horrid acting and horrible kills, it is filled with all the worst tropes of modern horror movies. However, because this movie is so bad, you can have some fun with it. Tarot falls into the strange category where the movie is so bad that it is good. With Tarot I found myself having a good time due to constantly laughing at it. Tarot is by all means a bad movie, but it is a bad movie you can have fun with.
My Rating: C-
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The Apprentice
We shall see in a few months if watching The Apprentice will get me in trouble in this controversial biopic about Donald Trump. We follow Trump (Sebastian Stan) and his mentor Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) in their early years of their partnership to its inevitable end. Even though, the film doesn’t really tell us anything we don’t already know, it is still a fascinating character study one some of the most controversial men in American history and how they manage to stay in power. When we are introduced to Trump, he is a bit of a dork who wants to do right by his abusive father as well as prove himself to the world. Here he is portrayed as morally complex, yet human. But all of that changes when he meets Roy Cohn for guidance and apprenticeship. From there it is history as the film pivots into a modern retelling of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, with Cohn being Dr. Frankenstein and Trump being the monster. You see how Cohn makes Trump and his eventual horrifying realization that he just made a monster. Jeremy Strong as expected delivers a chilling performance Roy Cohn. However, the biggest surprise was Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump. He doesn’t do an over the top impression of Trump, but instead chooses a more subtle portrayal. He nails all of Trump’s mannerisms and body language with impeccable precision. Despite the film not getting the financial backing for an Oscar campaign, please consider Stan and Strong from best lead and supporting actor. Overall, The Apprentice is by no means perfect but it is still fascinating.
My Rating: B
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It’s What’s Inside
My only disappointment with It’s What’s Inside is its ending and the fact the film didn’t get a theatrical release because this is a film that is meant for an audience. It’s What’s Inside is a fun and innovative body-swapping comedy about terrible people getting exactly what they deserve, mostly. The film manages to bring new and creative ideas regarding the concept of body swapping. Treating the concept as a game and stuff going terrible wrong, was an incredibly refreshing and fun treatment of the concept that led to some glorious chaos. The acting from the ensemble is sharp as they manage to play multiple characters with all their unique quirks and mannerism. The editing is some of the best that I have seen all year. Overall, It’s What’s Inside is a fun ride that deserves to be watched with a crowd. However, that crowd might be disappointed by the divisive ending like I was. I get it, he is a crappy boyfriend, but he didn’t deserves that and his girlfriend should not have come out of this situation unscathed.
My Rating: B
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Smile 2
The first Smile film was one of the biggest surprises out of 2022. It was nightmare enduring horror that led it to one of the best horror films of that year. And now with Smile 2 they have raised the bar to a whole other level. Smile 2 follows a similar story to Smile, but has raised the stakes from a small down physiatrist to an international popstar. The horror is more terrifying as the cinematic craftsmanship to elevated on every level. The direction, cinematography, score, sound design and make up immerses the audience into this suspenseful and terrifying atmosphere. So terrifying that you would want a cigarette when the film end. This horror is entirely held together by Naomi Scott’s performance. She gives one of the best performances of the year and should definitely be in the best actress conversation this year for the Oscars. She perfectly captures the psychology of a struggle popstar who is grappling with sobriety and stardom. Then when she begins her tragic decent into madness, you see the breakdown of her psyche that is as horrifying as it is tragic. Do not sleep on Scott’s performance. Overall, Smile is an incredibly strong follow-up to 2022’s Smile, and I can’t wait to see where this horror franchise goes next.
My Rating: A-
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Caddo Lake
The only element that is inaccurate about Caddo Lake, besides the obvious, is that you would not be able to see 10 feet into the water. The water down there is so murky that you would be lucky if you are able to see 6 inches into it. Caddo Lake is a surprisingly good mystery thriller set in the Texas bayou. It has a captivating, yet foreboding atmosphere filled with dread and the unknown. We navigate this atmosphere with our two leads, Paris (Dylan O’Brien) and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen), who are navigating their own stories, but are more connected than what we think. It’s an engaging mystery filled with enough twist and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. However, there does come a point in the narrative where you know where the story is heading, and causes the mystery and atmosphere of the story to disappear. But with that stated, I still had a good time with Caddo Lake.
My Rating: B
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Woman of the Hour
Anna Kendrick makes a chilling directorial debut with her true crime film, Woman of the Hour. Inspired by true events surrounding serial killer, Rodney Alcala (David Zovatto), we follow Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) a struggling actress who reluctantly decides to go on the dating show, The Dating Game, where Alcala is one of the contestants. During the show, we flash back and forwards in time to see Alcala murder several of his victim. These murders are presented as cruel, twisted, and tragic. You see the failure of society and the justice system to catch Alcala sooner as he was already known for his violent behavior. Then when the film transitions back to the game show, you see the charisma that initially makes Alcala charming young man, then he slowly transitions into a frightening monster the moment his victims are isolated. This dramatic transformation is perfectly captured by Zovatto, and is further elevated by Kendrick’s direction. Overall, an incredibly strong directorial debut from Anna Kendrick.
My Rating: B
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Terrifier 3
Just for some context, I have not seen any of the Terrifier movies, so I didn’t know what I was going to expected other than an incredibly gory slasher. To which Terrifier 3 does succeeds at being an incredibly gory slasher. I respect the fact that the movie masterfully uses practical effects to create some truly insane kills that caused my own stomach to turn at points. But outside of these practical kills and the amazing charisma of David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown, I found myself rolling my eyes throughout Terrifier 3. For this being a slasher film, it doesn’t really feel like it. The movie is so focused on these over-the-top and gory deaths that it doesn’t put in any work into its narrative and characters. I personally found the characters annoying whose personalities were boiled down to exposition dumping. Their performances didn’t help either as they were crying and screaming throughout the majority of the runtime. I wanted Art the Clown to kill them all but sadly that didn’t happen as the movie was focused on setting up the next pointless movie in this franchise. I can see why this franchise has its fans, but its fans are more terrifying than the Terrifier himself.
My Rating: C-
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