The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) review

In 2016, I did a ‘Directorial Retrospective’ on the filmography of the most eccentric filmmaker in all of Hollywood, Tim Burton, who’s brought us classics like Beetlejuice, Batman, Ed Wood, and Edward Scissorhands, just to name a few. However, I decided to leave off one of his most notable films mainly because he didn’t direct it, and yet, seeing how it’s celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, I figured that it was now the perfect time to finally talk about one of Tim Burton’s most iconic creations, The Nightmare Before Christmas. But again, to debunk one of the internet’s longest-running myths, this film was not directed by Tim Burton. Instead, it was only produced by him as an adaptation of a poem that he had written in 1982 while working as an animator at Disney. Directorial duties ultimately went to Henry Selick, who would later go on to direct other stop-motion animated classics like 1996’s James and the Giant Peach (which Burton also produced) and 2009’s Coraline. And while The Nightmare Before Christmas was initially restricted to Disney’s Touchstone Pictures banner for fear of being too scary for younger audiences, calling it one of the most beloved films of all-time nowadays would be a massive understatement. Upon its release, it became the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of its time, and it would eventually get properly placed under the Disney banner several years later thanks to annual 3-D re-releases. But this film’s massive imprint on the world of pop culture doesn’t stop there. Its characters have made various appearances at Disney parks, Disneyland’s iconic Haunted Mansion attraction does a special Holiday overlay every year based around the film, and it’s also been featured in several installments of the popular Kingdom Hearts video game series. And when you watch the film that started it all, it’s easy to see why it’s become a holiday tradition for its many devoted fans as it’s truly one of the all-time greats.

In a world where all the major holidays are represented by a collection of fantastical realms, one of the most prominent is the one found behind a pumpkin-shaped door in a tree known as Halloween Town. This land of monsters, ghouls, demons, and all the creatures that you’d expect from this kind of place is ruled by the benevolent ‘Pumpkin King’, Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon, with singing vocals by Danny Elfman). However, unbeknownst to the residents of Halloween Town, Jack has begun to grow bored of all the usual Halloween routines and is desperate for something different. Luckily for him, that ‘something different’ soon comes around when he finds the entrances to the other holiday-themed worlds and is immediately drawn to the one themed around Christmas, Christmas Town. Amazed by the sights and sounds of this wondrous landscape, Jack decides that it’s time for the people of Halloween Town to try their hand at this ‘Christmas’ thing. Thus, despite the skepticism of Sally (voiced by Catherine O’Hara), a rag doll who has feelings for Jack, the Pumpkin King leads the rest of the town in preparations to develop their own Christmas, blissfully unaware of how people will react to their unique methods. This plan of theirs also includes them kidnapping the one they call ‘Sandy Claws’ (voiced by Ed Ivory) so that Jack can take his place as the one who gives out all the toys to folks all over the world. However, things get a little more complicated when the three kids who Jack sends to kidnap Santa, Lock (voiced by Paul Reubens), Shock (also voiced by Catherine O’Hara), and Barrel (also voiced by Danny Elfman), instead bring him to the sinister Bogeyman, Oogie Boogie (voiced by Ken Page), who has sinister plans for old St. Nick.

Even after 25 years and all the various stop-motion animated films that have come out since then, the stop-motion animation in this film still stands as some of the best to come from the medium. For those who aren’t that familiar with the process, stop-motion animation is usually quite a laborious procedure to the point where there are often only a few frames of animation that are finished in a single day, and one can only imagine how long it must’ve taken to film some of the sequences in this film, especially the final fight between Jack and Oogie Boogie. Tim Burton may not have been the director on this one, but his trademark visuals are on full display, with director Henry Selick and their team of over 100 artists doing an amazing job when it comes to honoring Burton’s unique style. Plus, while the folks at Disney may have been initially fearful of the film being too intense and scary for younger audiences, this ultimately isn’t that big of an issue. Because the film maintains such a lighthearted and lively atmosphere throughout, its dark, macabre humor (which, of course, is another Burton trademark) manages to undercut the darkest moments in the story without completely neutering any of its horror elements. Just look at the classic sequence where the people of Earth witness Halloween Town’s distorted rendition of Christmas, effectively making the film a fun, twisted spin on classic holiday specials a la Rankin-Bass. And, of course, this film is backed by one of the best soundtracks of all-time courtesy of Tim Burton’s most frequent collaborator, Danny Elfman, with a wide variety of classic tunes ranging from lavish show-tunes like ‘This is Halloween’, ‘What’s This?’, and ‘Oogie Boogie’s Song’ to wistful solos like ‘Jack’s Lament’ and ‘Sally’s Song’.

This film also benefits heavily from a tightly-written script that never skimps on its plot or characters throughout its breezy 76-minute run-time. Nothing ever feels underwritten and nothing ever feels overdone in this endearing story of someone who’s just trying to find a new way to spice up his life. With that in mind, the one and only Jack Skellington proves to be an incredibly sympathetic and likable character right out the gate, even when his optimism about his Christmas plans makes him a little naïve (though not in a ‘bad’ way, to be clear…) when it comes to the consequences of where it’ll lead him. This also applies to a lot of the other characters in this film, because even though they come from a world of scary monsters that regularly celebrates everything that there is to do with Halloween, a lot of them are just as good-natured as Jack is and their passion for the holiday is apparent throughout. There’s Jack’s main love interest Sally, who helps to keep the Pumpkin King in line (after all, she is, as Santa puts it, ‘the only one who makes any sense around this insane asylum’) while also pining for his affections, leading to a sweet romance between the two. There’s the two-faced (figuratively AND literally) mayor of Halloween Town (Glenn Shadix) who consistently (and hilariously) reminds everyone that he’s ‘only an elected official here’. And as for the main villain Oogie Boogie, while his screen-time is mostly reserved for the second half of the film, cabaret singer Ken Page very much steals the show as the exuberant, gambling Bogeyman.     

Now I’ll openly admit that I didn’t necessarily ‘grow up’ with The Nightmare Before Christmas the same way that a lot of people from my generation did. At the very least, I was generally familiar with it thanks to Jack and company’s many appearances in Kingdom Hearts and some instances of seeing it in print and whatnot, but to the best of my knowledge, I never watched the film in full until I was already a teenager. Thankfully, though, this did not have a negative effect on my thoughts on the film after that initial viewing. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a meticulously crafted masterpiece, and yes, ‘meticulously crafted’ is a fitting advective in this scenario given that this is a stop-motion animated film. All the hard work that Selick, Burton, and their team did to make this film happen can be seen on-screen, with gorgeous stop-motion animation and a delightfully wacky visual style that is one of the best representations of the artistry that has made Tim Burton the legendary filmmaker that he still is today. This is then paired nicely with a well-written script with layered characters that, in turn, features some of the best songs to ever come out of an animated musical. And at the end of the day, one of the biggest reasons as to why The Nightmare Before Christmas is such a timeless classic is that it manages to work as both a Halloween film and a Christmas film, perfectly representing the best of both holidays to produce what is easily one of the most enjoyable films to watch this time of year.

Rating: 5/5!

And that concludes this review of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Henry Selick (Remember that, internet!). Thanks for following along and be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own personal memories of this legendary film.

Halloween (2018) review

In 1978, director John Carpenter and co-writer/producer Debra Hill began working on a low-budget horror film about a serial killer who breaks out of a mental institution and enacts a string of murders in his hometown. Set during the holiday of Halloween, the film ended up sharing its name, resulting in the seminal classic that was Halloween. Upon its release, the film became a landmark entry in the horror genre and helped launch the careers of both Carpenter and lead actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who played the main protagonist Laurie Strode. After that, the series then continued with a bunch of sequels that varied heavily in terms of overall quality, with some serving as decent follow-ups to the original while others effectively killed the franchise for a few years at a time due to how poorly-received they were. But now this classic horror franchise is back with a new film that once again shares the title of the holiday that it’s set during, Halloween. Following the same path as 1998’s Halloween H20, which ignored the events of everything after 1981’s Halloween II, the new film goes the retcon route to remove itself from the franchise’s lesser sequels. In this case, however, it ignores the events of every single Halloween film that was released after 1978, meaning that John Carpenter’s original film is now the only one to precede it. Set 40 years after the events of its predecessor, this new film is directed by David Gordon Green, who co-wrote it with frequent collaborator Danny McBride. The two even have the honor of having John Carpenter return to the franchise for the first time since the ill-received 1982 spin-off Halloween III: Season of the Witch as an executive producer along with Jamie Lee Curtis making a much-heralded return as Laurie Strode. And with a pedigree like that behind it, the new Halloween film proves to be a worthy follow-up (arguably the first truly worthy follow-up, depending on who you ask…) to the 1978 classic.   

On Halloween Night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers murdered his older sister Judith with a kitchen knife. 15 years later, Michael broke out of the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and returned to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he began a new Halloween killing spree before he was stopped by his psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, and apprehended by the local police. 40 years later, Michael (played by a combination of newcomer James Jude Courtney and series veterans Nick Castle and Tony Moran) is still being held at Smith’s Grove. During this time, podcasters Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees) look to initiate a reunion between Myers and the sole survivor of his massacre, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), before he’s permanently transferred to a maximum-security prison. The two discover that, in the years since that fateful Halloween night, Laurie has been preparing for a potential return from the man who once tried to kill her. However, the physical and emotional scarring that she has been constantly dealing with ever since has also caused her to become incredibly distant from her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), although she does maintain a decent relationship with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). And unfortunately, her past ends up coming back to haunt her once more when Michael manages to escape from his captivity and return to Haddonfield to finished what he started 40 years ago. But this time, Laurie is ready for him and hellbent on making sure that the infamous being known as ‘the Shape’ is stopped once and for all.

As I noted a few days back in my retrospective on the Halloween franchise, the series eventually moved away from the slow, suspenseful atmosphere of John Carpenter’s original film in favor of a more traditional horror film mood and bloodier aesthetic compared to the first film’s generally non-graphic kills. In fact, this all began to take effect as early as its original sequel, Halloween II. Despite director Rick Rosenthal’s plan to have the film maintain the same general atmosphere of its predecessor, Carpenter decided to have the film be more violent given some of the horror films that had come out since his film was released. But with this new Halloween, director David Gordon Green delivers what is easily the closest to the original in terms of replicating its general mood. Granted, this film isn’t a ‘primarily bloodless’ affair like the original film, as it doesn’t hold anything back when it comes to some of Michael’s kills. Plus, the film even gives Green and McBride some opportunities to flex their comedic sensibilities with some humorous bits of dialogue here and there. But as far as tone and atmosphere are concerned, this film maintains the same narrative method of a slow buildup leading to an incredibly effective payoff that helped to make the original Halloween the classic that it still is today. Just like in that film, it takes a while before Michael officially starts to do his thing, but when he does, it paves the way for some incredibly suspenseful moments that, just like the original, are backed by an equally suspenseful score from John Carpenter. And while it can be argued that the plot is perhaps a tad bit predictable at times in terms of where it ultimately goes, along with having a few of the usual stock horror film characters who are just there to be killed by Michael, Green and McBride do a phenomenal job when it comes to all the ways that they pay tribute to the original film.  

Just like Halloween H20, the biggest coup that this film manages to achieve is getting Jamie Lee Curtis back to reprise her role as Laurie Strode. And simply put, she is just as fantastic as she’s been in the other Halloween films that she’s been in, as the film does an excellent job of showing Laurie’s transition from the timid ‘final girl’ of the original film to someone who’s fully prepared to take on Michael Myers. In other words, this film ends up going the same route that Halloween H20 did in further developing her character, but in this case, it works a lot better here because the arc is more prominent to the plot whereas H20 didn’t really get into it until its finale. A lot of this is due to how the film explores all the psychological trauma that Laurie has been going through ever since that fateful Halloween night 40 years prior, and we see how it affects not only her but her loved ones as well. As such, the other two major standouts of the film are Laurie’s daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson, effectively providing the film with a phenomenal trio of female leads. With Karen, Judy Greer gets one of the more prominent roles of her film career thanks to a nice arc that showcases what Karen has gone through due to her mother’s over-protective nature. And without spoiling anything, this leads to one heck of an awesome payoff at the end. As for Allyson, newcomer Andi Matichak basically serves the same role that Curtis played in the original as the innocent teen who gets caught up in the whole Michael Myers situation. Matichak handles the role incredibly well, especially when it comes to Allyson arguably being the only one in the film to fully sympathize with her grandmother’s struggles, making her just as sympathetic of a protagonist as Laurie’s been all these years.

In short, for those who were disappointed by some of the franchise’s weakest follow-ups (e.g. Resurrection, Curse of Michael Myers, Rob Zombie’s heavily polarizing remake, etc.), you’ll be pleased to know that this new rendition of Halloween is easily the series’ best sequel to date. Ignoring everything that came after John Carpenter’s original film, this new sequel excellently showcases the evolution of Laurie Strode from the vulnerable heroine that she once was to a badass who’s ready to take on the man who nearly killed her while still maintaining the same sense of vulnerability that has helped make her one of the most iconic horror film heroines. This is then highlighted further by the film establishing her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson as equally fleshed out protagonists who are just as capable as she is when it comes to dealing with their current predicament. And as for the rest of the film, it succeeds at being a natural follow-up to Carpenter’s film by maintaining the same slow-burn atmosphere that leads to an incredibly satisfying climax while still utilizing aspects of the many horror films that have come out after the original. Plus, it also serves as another excellent example of a director stepping out of their comfort zone to produce an excellent film in a genre that they’re usually not known for. To reiterate, this film was directed by the guy who did the 2008 hit comedy Pineapple Express and he co-wrote it with one of the most prominent comedic actors of this current generation. Simply put, this sequel clearly reflects David Gordon Green and Danny McBride’s admiration for the original film, and with the backing of both John Carpenter and one of the horror genre’s most prominent producers in Jason Blum, their collaborative efforts results in one of the most satisfying revivals of a classic horror film franchise in recent memory.

Rating: 4.5/5

Halloween: Series Retrospective

It’s the Halloween season once again, and this year, there was no contest when it came to what horror franchise I’d be covering for this site’s annual Halloween post. With its newest installment set to hit theaters this weekend, it’s time to look at one of the most iconic horror franchises of all-time, and it’s the one franchise that the holiday season directly shares its name with, Halloween. It all began in 1978 with writer/director John Carpenter’s low-budget horror film about a man named Michael Myers who killed his older sister when he was a child, breaks out of the Sanitarium that he’s been locked up in, and embarks on a spree of killings in his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. Upon its release, the film became a staple of the horror genre and spawned numerous follow-ups that underwent a fascinating journey in terms of how they continued the story. But this year, writer/director David Gordon Green helms the latest installment of this series, once again simply titled Halloween, which sees Jamie Lee Curtis return to her role as series protagonist Laurie Strode. The most prominent aspect of this sequel, however, is that it will be ignoring the events of all the sequels and instead serve as a direct follow-up to Carpenter’s original film. Still, even with that in mind, today’s retrospective will be covering every single installment of this franchise so that we can go through the unique history of one of cinema’s most famous slashers. And yes, this includes everything; the franchise’s early installments, Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill’s promising but failed attempt at an anthology series, not one but two different attempts to ‘revitalize’ the franchise, and Rob Zombie’s highly controversial remake and its sequel. Thus, without further ado, beware of the man in the William Shatner mask (and yes, for those who are new to the franchise, Michael Myers’ iconic mask was originally crafted from a mask of Shatner’s iconic Star Trek character James T. Kirk) as we look at the ten theatrically-released films that currently make up the Halloween franchise.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

The first time that I watched the original Halloween was on October 30^th, 2014, when I saw it with my best friends Alex Corey and Danny LaPlante in theaters as a special re-release. By this point, I’d already seen plenty of horror films that have followed in the same narrative footsteps as John Carpenter’s iconic film. Despite this, though, this film still stands as one of the best films of its genre. Instead of relying on violent kills like many of the horror films that came after it, Carpenter instead goes for a horror film that’s light on the body count but is full of suspense from beginning to end, especially whenever we see things from Michael’s perspective (e.g. the opening sequence where a young Michael kills his older sister Judith). As you might have guessed, this helps give the film an incredibly eerie atmosphere that’s only strengthened further by having most of the action take place in a few houses on the same street. And then there are the outstanding performances from the two main leads, Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis. Pleasance, who was considered quite a steal for a low-budget horror film at the time, is fantastic as Michael’s psychiatrist Samuel Loomis, who goes all out, Van Helsing style, to ensure that his former patient is stopped once and for all. Curtis, meanwhile, is also excellent as main protagonist Laurie Strode, who gets put through the emotional wringer once she begins to be hunted by ‘The Shape’. Admittedly, the rest of the cast is more hit-or-miss, but with two strong lead performances and excellent direction from John Carpenter, there’s no denying that the original Halloween is still one of the most effective horror films ever made.  

Rating: 4.5/5

HALLOWEEN II (THE ORIGINAL – 1981)

Three years later, Carpenter and producer/co-writer Debra Hill returned to the town of Haddonfield, Illinois for a follow-up, Halloween II, and unlike other sequels that often take place quite sometime after the original, this film takes place just a few hours after the events of the first film. As such, it does do a nice job of continuing the story, which sees Michael Myers escape his apparent demise at the hands of Dr. Loomis to hunt down Laurie at the local hospital. On that note, this film also introduced one of the series’ main plotlines by revealing that Laurie is really Michael’s younger sister before she was adopted by the Strode family following his arrest. While this plotline is set to be retconned for the upcoming film, it isn’t really that bad of a plot twist and did contribute to this franchise having its own identity compared to other classic horror franchises. As for the rest of the film, it’s mostly on par with the first film in terms of its overall quality. The new cast of characters are quite forgettable compared to Loomis and Laurie, but Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis are excellent once again in their respective roles. And while Halloween 2 does lose a bit of the effective suspense and atmosphere that made the first film the classic that it is, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any great suspenseful moments.  It’s also worth noting that this film’s death scenes are a lot more graphic compared to those in the first film, which was presumably a decision made by Carpenter, who was not the director this time around. Instead, then-newcomer Rick Rosenthal stepped in to direct, and while his plan to have the sequel be more like the original was ultimately waylaid by Carpenter’s changes, he does do a solid job when it comes to following in his predecessor’s footsteps. Because of this, Halloween II is a respectable follow-up to the original film that served as a fitting conclusion to the story of Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis, and Laurie Strode… for about seven years…

Rating: 4/5

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

With Halloween II providing a very conclusive ending to the story of Michael Myers, Carpenter and Hill decided to take the series in a different direction by turning it into an anthology series a la The Twilight Zone. And thus, this sets the stage for Halloween III: Season of the Witch, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who had previously served as the co-editor and production designer of the original Halloween and had even done some stunt work in the Michael Myers costume. Instead of being another Michael Myers film, the film instead revolves around a sinister plot by the owner of a Halloween mask company to stage a nationwide series of sacrifices, effectively bringing back the old Celtic rituals that the season originated from. If anything, this film does deserve a lot of credit for being its own unique thing instead of just rehashing the plots of the previous film. However, the overall execution is off in a few places. For starters, the film takes quite a while to properly get going, as it doesn’t really get into its main premise until about 30-40 minutes in. And while this main premise is an interesting one, its overall set-up (which involves the main antagonist utilizing energy from one of the Stonehenge pillars via a series of microchips) ultimately isn’t that well-developed. This also applies to the film’s secondary ‘plot twist’ revolving around another secret project that the main antagonist has been working on. Because of all this, Halloween III is a bit of a mess, though it is far from being the ‘worst’ of the franchise. And to be perfectly clear, none of this film’s shortcomings have to do with the fact that it doesn’t feature Michael Myers (something that, I assure you, always gets brought up in reviews for this film). Like I said before, the potential was there for an interesting new anthology series, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who would’ve loved to see this series go down that route. Ultimately, though, to compare this to another anthology series, this first attempt ends up being more like The Cloverfield Paradox instead of 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Rating: 2.5/5

HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988)

Halloween III proved to be a major dud with both critics and audiences who were confused by its complete lack of Michael Myers. And while it wasn’t necessarily a ‘box-office bomb’, it also ended up being the series’ lowest-grossing installment to date. Thus, without the direct involvement of John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the series revived its iconic villain in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. The film establishes that Michael and Dr. Loomis survived their apparent demise at the end of Halloween II and sees the former embark on another murder spree ten years after the events of the original film to hunt down Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), the daughter of Laurie Strode, who died prior to the events of the film. What follows is a far more traditional horror sequel that lacks a lot of the suspenseful atmosphere of the previous films. It does have its moments, however, including a solidly tense climax where the main characters find themselves trapped in a barricaded house with Michael. But then there’s also a lot of oddly over-the-top moments as well, usually due to the repeated use of slow-motion or whenever Michael commits an arguably ridiculous kill. At the very least, the lead duo of Jamie Lloyd and her stepsister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) are a very likable lead duo, with Danielle Harris making a solid first impression in her feature film debut. And, of course, there’s also Donald Pleasance returning as Dr. Loomis. Admittedly he doesn’t get that much to work with this time around, but he is still just as good as he’s always been in these films. In short, while Halloween 4 is as much of a ‘by-the-numbers’ horror sequel as you can find, it manages to coast by with some good lead performances and a few great suspenseful moments here and there.

Rating: 3/5

HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1989)

While Halloween 4 didn’t necessarily do that better than Halloween III at the box-office, it was clear that audiences were far more receptive towards it given the fact that it brought back Michael Myers as the main antagonist. Thus, the next film was immediately greenlit and released in theaters the following year… as such, you can tell that it was rather rushed. It doesn’t go forward with the previous film’s ‘cliffhanger’ ending in which it’s implied that Jamie Lloyd is becoming more like her uncle when she attacks her stepmother in a similar manner to when Michael killed his sister. Instead, it just has her coping with the traumatic events of the previous film. Now, to the film’s credit, aside from not addressing the ending of the previous film, it still does a decent job of continuing the story the same way that Halloween II did for the original film. However, it’s ultimately just as much of a basic horror film sequel as its predecessor, and in this case, this one is worse. Even with a meager 97-minute runtime, this film drags a lot, and that includes the ending in which Jamie Lloyd is being chased by Michael in his old home that’s ironically the best part of the film. It also doesn’t help that, along with having another bunch of generic supporting characters for Michael to kill off, Jamie Lloyd’s stepsister Rachel is killed off early on, robbing this film of the strong sisterly bond between the two that was a key aspect of Halloween 4. Thankfully, Danielle Harris is still excellent once again as Jamie Lloyd and Donald Pleasance is solid as usual as Dr. Loomis despite a few moments where he acts a bit out of character. Ultimately, though, Halloween 5 is the very definition of a mediocre sequel to the point where it even ended up doing worse financially at the box-office than Halloween III. Not only that, but this film ends up laying down the seeds for an even worse follow-up.

Rating: 2/5

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995)

(Disclaimer: The following review is for the film’s theatrical cut as it is the version that is included in the series’ Blu-Ray box-set that I own. I have, however, viewed scenes from the film’s infamous ‘Producer’s Cut’. Thus, both versions of the film will be discussed here.)

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers serves as a conclusion to the story arc that first started in Halloween 4. Because of this, fans refer to films 4-6 as the ‘Thorn trilogy’ given the prominence of a thorn symbol in the latter two films. But while this film does address some of the mysteries that were left unanswered in Halloween 5… it’s also one of the worst films in the franchise. The plot is incredibly messy to the point of being incomprehensible. The reveal that Michael Myers’ actions were the result of an ancient Druidian curse that was laid in place by a cult, thus why he’s been killing all his blood relatives, severely diminishes the character’s long-standing portrayal as an unstoppable, emotionless killer. Other plot-threads are extremely underdeveloped as well, like the reveal that the leader of the cult is Loomis’ former associate Dr. Wynn, the cult’s efforts to kill the infant son of Jamie Lloyd (who’s killed off early), and moments where Danny Strode, the youngest of a group of relatives of Laurie’s adopted family, is starting to hear a voice telling him to kill people just like Michael. This film also suffers from some extremely poor editing, with some of the death scenes being nothing more than a series of flashing images and quick cuts. It also doesn’t help that this film boasts one of the series’ worst cast of characters, with the only saving grace being, of course, Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis in what would ultimately be his last film appearance. Sure, the main character Tommy Doyle, the kid who Laurie babysat in the first film and is now grown up, is played by none other than Paul Rudd in his feature film debut, but Doyle’s extreme obsession over Myers following the events of the original film makes him a little too weird to be likable. Plus, let’s just say that, performance-wise, Rudd got better as the years went on. With all this in mind, Halloween 6 is nothing short of a train wreck, as it does a piss-poor job of trying to continue this franchise.  

But, of course, that’s not the end of the story. The film that I just described was the theatrical cut of Halloween 6, which underwent an extremely notorious production that ended up having to go through major reshoots when the initial ‘Producer’s Cut’ was rejected by test audiences. It wasn’t until recently that this version of the film was finally given an official release, and while some feel that it’s the superior cut of Halloween 6, it also has its own share of problems. Most of the reshoots ended up giving Michael Myers a more substantial role in the climax. By comparison, the producer’s cut severely limits him to the point where he doesn’t kill anybody. Plus, it then establishes that the father of Jamie Lloyd’s baby is none other than Michael himself… yes, seriously. This version also gives more for Donald Pleasance to do, as he passed away prior to the reshoots and a lot of his scenes in the theatrical cut were removed as director Joe Chappelle found him to be ‘too boring’. But it also ends on a mediocre cliffhanger where Loomis is set up to take Wynn’s place as the leader of the cult, which obviously must’ve been scrapped following Pleasance’s death. In other words, neither version of Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers is any good. The Producer’s Cut may give off a more Gothic feel, but its plot twists are terribly handled. And while the theatrical cut gives Michael Myers a more prominent role in its proceedings, it’s still poorly edited and the narrative cuts end up making the film even more incoherent than it already is. Thus, it’s easy to see why this film effectively killed the franchise for a few years as it was very clear at this point that it was running on fumes.

Rating: 1/5

HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER (1998)

Following the, for lack of a better term, horrendous turnout of Halloween 6, the series was effectively rebooted with a film that straight-up ignored the events of the previous three films. Ultimately, though, the film’s biggest coup was the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode for the first time since Halloween II. Set 20 years after the events of the original film (hence the admittedly awkward H20 title), Laurie is now the headmistress of a secluded boarding school in California, having faked her death to avoid being found again by Michael. But, as she has long feared, her brother ends up coming back to try and kill her once more… this time, however, she’s ready for him, and as you might have guessed, the biggest selling point of this film truly is Jamie Lee Curtis’ triumphant return to the franchise that started her career in the first place. Seeing Laurie evolve from being the timid survivor of the first two films to a more confident woman who manages to fend off her murderous brother makes the film’s finale one of the most satisfyingly entertaining sequences in the franchise’s history. There are also some solid performances from the film’s supporting cast, which include Josh Hartnett as Laurie’s son John, Michelle Williams in one of her earliest film roles as John’s girlfriend Molly, and Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother Janet Leigh (AKA the OG ‘scream queen’ from Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal classic Psycho) as Laurie’s secretary Norma. After the previous trilogy of films produced several bland supporting characters, this one manages to have one of the series’ better ensemble casts overall, even if a few of them are still just your basic bunch of traditional horror film characters.

With that said, though, admittedly it can be argued that the film is rather light on its horror elements, mostly opting for a bunch of cheap jump-scares. It should be noted that parts of the screenplay were influenced by Kevin Williamson, who of course wrote 1996’s Scream, which effectively revived the slasher genre that the original Halloween kick-started back in 1978. And while he ultimately wasn’t one of this film’s credited writers due to rewrites that nixed his plans to maintain continuity with the previous three films, he was still involved as an executive producer. Plus, the film was directed by veteran filmmaker Steve Miner, who directed the second and third Friday the 13^th films along with several episodes of Williamson’s hit show Dawson’s Creek, which coincidentally starred Michelle Williams in one of the lead roles. As such, there are a few instances in this film where it does manage to give off some of the same self-aware vibes that were one of the definitive aspects of Scream. Despite this, though, the film doesn’t quite reach the same suspenseful heights of the original film. At the end of the day, it’s mostly worth watching just to see Laurie finally fight back against Michael, which she does in spectacular fashion. But for what it’s worth, Halloween H20 is easily the best of the Halloween sequels since Halloween II, and thanks to the welcome return of Jamie Lee Curtis, it served as a respectable follow-up to the original that was poised to be a fitting finale to the series after everything that it went through. However, as we’d soon find out, that ultimately wouldn’t be the case…

Rating: 3.5/5

HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION (2002)

After a string of increasingly mediocre sequels, Halloween H20 was very much a return to form for the series, but most importantly, it ended in a way that could effectively end it once and for all. However, it was also the highest-grossing entry in the series to date, and four years later, its ending was officially retconned in 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection. And as you might have guessed… this is a low point for the franchise. It’s truly saying something when the high point of this film is Jamie Lee Curtis’ last major appearance in the franchise until the 2018 reboot… and yet Laurie is killed off just 15 minutes into the film. After that, we follow the series’ worst cast of characters (yes, even worse than Halloween 6) on a reality show streamed online as they explore Michael Myers’ old house, clearly capitalizing on the found-footage craze that had begun to set in thanks to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project. Granted, it does give the film somewhat of a different spin to its proceedings compared to the previous installments, but it’s all for naught when you don’t give a single crap about any of these horribly cliched characters. And how does it all end? With Michael Myers, one of the most famous horror antagonists of all-time, getting his ass kicked by a kung-fu fighting Busta Rhymes (yes, seriously…). Simply put, this film is cheesy to an embarrassing degree. Sure, it might have had the distinction of being the second entry in the series to be directed by Rick Rosenthal (who, of course, directed Halloween II), but this in no way saves the film from being one of the cheapest horror sequels ever made. And just like Halloween 6, it effectively killed the franchise, thus paving the way for…

Rating: 0.5/5

HALLOWEEN (THE REMAKE – 2007)

Five years after the Halloween franchise hit rock bottom, musician turned filmmaker Rob Zombie helmed the inevitable remake of John Carpenter’s original film. However, while Carpenter did request that Zombie ‘make it his own’ when the two met prior to filming, ultimately the film isn’t that far off from the original film. The biggest difference between the two films is that the remake starts off with scenes of a young Michael Myers and his family to go into detail over the events that led to him becoming a psychopathic murderer. Ultimately, though, these scenes don’t really add much. As someone who isn’t big on the horror genre, I don’t think that this backstory completely ‘ruins’ Michael Myers like I know a lot of people feel about it, but at the same time, it doesn’t make the character any more interesting than he was in the previous films. And after that, the film then goes for a straightforward redo of all the key moments of the original Halloween with just a few cosmetic differences here and there (e.g. unlike the original, this one immediately establishes that Laurie is Michael’s sister). The only thing that sets it apart from the original is that Zombie’s version is far more gratuitous in terms of both the kills and nudity to make it more in line with the recent horror films that were being made at the time. Thus, this new take on Halloween really doesn’t have any of the subtlety of the original and gives off a far more mean-spirited tone overall. However, despite everything that I’ve just said here, I don’t think that it’s ‘terrible’. If anything, it never really drags at any point despite it boasting a far longer runtime than any of the previous films.

Plus, there are some good performances from the cast. The biggest standout is Malcolm McDowell, who proves to be an excellent successor to Donald Pleasance in the role of Dr. Loomis. And while McDowell’s take on the character is more reserved than Pleasance, he still does a great job with this rendition of the character. By comparison, Scout Taylor-Compton isn’t quite as good as Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie Strode (despite being more ‘animated’ than Curtis’ take on the character) but she still does a decent enough job with what she’s given. Aside from the two leads, there are also a few notable supporting roles as well. Zombie’s wife Sheri Moon is quite good in the role of Michael’s long-suffering mother Deborah, who’s quite easily one of the sanest and most sympathetic characters in a film that’s full of folks who are arguably even more sadistic than Michael himself. Brad Dourif, who of course played a different iconic horror villain as Chucky in the Child’s Play films, does a good job in the role of Sheriff Brackett, and as for his daughter Annie, she happens to be played by Jamie Lloyd from Halloween 4 and 5, Danielle Harris, who’s just as solid here as she was in those films. In short, Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween is… ‘okay’. Back in 2010 when I was still writing film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I gave this film a generally positive review. However, it should be noted that this was back during a time when I hadn’t even seen John Carpenter’s original film. Since then, I’ve obviously now watched the original Halloween and it goes without saying that it is the far superior take on this story. At the end of the day, though, as much of a ‘trashy B-film’ as this one is, it’s far from being the worst remake of a horror classic.

Rating: 2.5/5

HALLOWEEN II (THE REMAKE’S SEQUEL – 2009)

Despite the negative reception towards Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween, it was a hit at the box-office, and thus, Zombie and crew returned for a follow-up in 2009. And save for a sequence that mirrors the previous Halloween II by being set at a hospital, this Halloween II is, at the very least, not just a straight-forward remake of the 1981 sequel as was the case with the second half of its predecessor. Zombie was clearly given the opportunity to do his own Halloween film this time around without having to directly rely on anything from other installments of the series. However, that’s really the only positive thing that I can say about this film because… oh boy. Like the previous film, Zombie’s Halloween II sports one hell of a mean streak with its wide collection of despicable characters. Even previously likable characters like Dr. Loomis and, yes, even Laurie Strode (AKA the main protagonist of the film) aren’t sympathetic this time around. And while I will say that this film does boast more of an artistic vibe to it compared to the previous film, a lot of it just comes off as being visually ugly to look at due to an extremely grimy visual aesthetic that was also apparent in the first film but is more problematic here. It also doesn’t help that this film has an extremely mediocre plot that often veers into nonsensical territory with a bunch of fantasy sequences that often make no sense. Because of all this, I can safely say that this iteration of Halloween II is easily the worst entry in the Halloween franchise. Even Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween: Resurrection, AKA the other ‘worst’ installments of this series, have a bit more to them compared to this, which is ultimately up there with the likes of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother and Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch as one of the worst films that I’ve ever seen. In fact, all three of these films coincidentally serve as prime examples of what happens when you let a director’s creative vision go way too far.

Rating: 0.5/5

And that concludes this retrospective on the Halloween franchise. Yeah, it didn’t necessarily end on the best of notes considering that it concluded with what is now one of the worst films that I’ve ever seen, but if anything, this serves as a great example of what I love about doing retrospectives like this. They provide a unique look at how a franchise has evolved over the years in both good and bad ways. And thankfully, the new Halloween film from David Gordon Green is getting a lot of good buzz, so I think it’s safe to say that fans of the franchise will be getting what might end up being the best follow-up yet to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic. And yes, you can expect a review of the new Halloween sometime in the next few days. Until then, be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own thoughts on this iconic horror franchise. 

First Man (2018) review

While he’s only had three feature films under his belt prior to this year, Damien Chazelle has quickly become one of the most prominent filmmakers in the entire industry. The Rhode Island native first got his start in 2009 with a black-and-white romantic jazz musical called Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, which received great reviews after its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Then, when Chazelle’s plans to make an even more lavish musical ran into some issues in terms of getting a studio to finance it, he then helmed the 2014 drama Whiplash about a jazz drummer who found himself constantly getting harassed by his abusive instructor. Like Guy and Madeline, the film was a big hit with critics and ended up earning three Oscars at that year’s Academy Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Picture. And with all that success, Chazelle was finally given the opportunity to do his big musical, which eventually turned in 2016’s La La Land. This charming tribute to classic cinematic musicals proved to be another critical hit for the young director as well as being his most commercially successful outing to date. And while nowadays it’s known more as ‘the film that almost won Best Picture’ following the infamous gaffe at the end of that year’s Oscars ceremony, it also won six other Oscars that night, with Chazelle becoming the youngest director ever to win Best Director. But now Chazelle and La La Land’s leading man Ryan Gosling are back with their next big project, First Man, a film that explores the story behind one of the most iconic moments in American history, the 1969 spaceflight of Apollo 11, where astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men ever to walk on the moon. Gosling takes on the lead role of Armstrong in this adaptation of author James R. Hansen’s best-selling biography from 2005. And with tension-filled spaceflight sequences and a script that takes an unfiltered look into the mindset of an American hero, First Man turns out to be yet another masterpiece from Chazelle.

It is the 1960’s in America, and at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency, there is one important situation at hand; staying on top of the Russians during the Space Race. The situation becomes even more imperative when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to ever make it into space in 1961, with NASA chief Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler) immediately establishing NASA’s new goal of landing a man on the moon. During this time, one of the most committed members of NASA’s crew of pilots is Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), who makes the conscientious decision to stay committed to helping NASA land a man on the moon even after he and his wife Janet (Claire Foy) suffer an unspeakable family tragedy. However, as Neil and the rest of his fellow NASA coworkers soon find out, this endeavor proves to be a lot more challenging than they initially anticipated. During the test phase known as Project Gemini, Neil and his fellow astronauts are subjected to life-and-death situations on a constant basis. And even after NASA transitions into the Apollo program, the first Apollo mission ends up being an unprecedented disaster when an onboard fire kills all three of its crew members during, of all things, a pre-launch test. This, in turn, effectively casts a dark cloud over the company in the eyes of the public, who feel that the country is wasting a lot of money on a seemingly impossible venture. However, NASA soldiers on, and Neil soon finds himself selected to lead the first official mission to the moon as part of the crew of Apollo 11.

The tension that Chazelle manages to craft for this film is second to none, which is even more impressive given that it’s based on such an iconic moment in this country’s history that basically anyone going into it knows exactly how it ends. He does this primarily through the film’s numerous flight sequences. Instead of relying on shots of the rocket ships’ exteriors like many other films with this premise, the film instead gets up close and personal with the astronauts housed within their interiors. And to be clear, this isn’t just a case where these flight sequences are nothing more than non-stop shaky cam, as it does make them more intense by highlighting what it must’ve been like cramped within those command modules. However, this sense of confinement isn’t the case for every spaceflight sequence in the film. Once it finally gets to the Apollo 11 mission, that’s when Chazelle and his usual crew (cinematographer Linus Sandgren, editor Tom Cross, and composer Justin Hurwitz) utilize more exterior shots, resulting in a truly grand finale with beautiful cinematography, tight editing, and epic music. And yes, this is very much one of those films that’s worth seeing in IMAX, as all the sequences that were set on the moon’s surface were filmed with IMAX cameras. This is then bolstered further by the film’s decision to not glamorize any of the events that led to the Apollo 11 mission. It clearly establishes that a lot of trial and error had to occur for the mission to be successful, and unfortunately, all this trial and error did lead to some men losing their lives.

The other key aspect of this film’s narrative is how it ultimately tells the story of Neil Armstrong. The film makes it clear from the very beginning that, unlike many of his fellow astronauts, Neil Armstrong was not a very outgoing person. He often distanced himself from others, even his friends and family at times, so that he can stay fully committed to fulfilling NASA’s goal of landing a man on the moon. Thus, it can be said that the film doesn’t necessarily show too much about its main character, but by the end of the film, you will genuinely understand where he is on an emotional level, primarily thanks to one crucial moment during the finale where Neil has a moment of true emotional catharsis. And performance-wise, Ryan Gosling handles all of this excellently, perfectly conveying the stoic persona of someone who’s very much a reluctant hero. Gosling also works well alongside his primary co-star, Claire Foy as Neil’s wife Janet, who’s put through the emotional ringer via the same stress that several of her fellow astronaut wives have gone through when fearing for their husbands’ lives. And although she does support Neil through and through, you can tell that there are instances where this is put to the test. Finally, while Gosling and Foy have the most prominent roles in the story, the film also boasts an excellent supporting cast. This includes, among others, Kyle Chandler as NASA chief Deke Slayton, Jason Clarke as Neil and Janet’s neighbor Ed White, who was one of the tragic figures of the Apollo 1 fire, and Corey Stoll as fellow Apollo 11 crew member Buzz Aldrin.   

Once again, Damien Chazelle delivers another outstanding directorial effort. First Man is an intense and emotionally raw look into the life of an American icon, and it does this in a manner that’s drastically different than most other biopics. It doesn’t romanticize any of the work that went into getting Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon’s surface. It shows that the mission to land a man on the moon was incredibly dangerous and threatened the lives of the men who directly participated in it. But in showing all the failures, this then makes the success that was the Apollo 11 mission incredibly satisfying to behold on film, and on a technical level, the transition from intense, claustrophobic, and often perilous flights to the magnificent launch of Apollo 11 is outstanding. This film also succeeds in conveying the emotional turmoil that Neil Armstrong went through during this time. Just like how the film doesn’t romanticize the process that put him on the moon, this take on the life of one of the most famous figures in American history is unfiltered in its overall execution to show how the Apollo 11 mission allowed him to overcome one of the darkest moments in his life. In short, as someone who obviously wasn’t around when all this went down, I feel that this film does a fantastic job of conveying the aura of what it must’ve felt like at the time to witness, as Armstrong himself famously stated, that ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’. And because of this, I’d say that First Man is one of the most culturally relevant films in recent memory and a must-see on the big screen.

Rating: 5/5!

Venom (2018) review

When it comes to classic comic book villains, many will agree that Batman boasts the greatest collection of what has since earned the affectionate fandom term of a ‘Rogues’ Gallery’. Foes like the Joker, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn are only just a select few of the Dark Knight’s legendary antagonists. As for the best rogues’ gallery from Marvel, many would give that honor to everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Spider-Man, and for the most part, his villains have gotten solid portrayals courtesy of the web-slinger’s many cinematic outings. One of his most famous foes, however, didn’t quite get that the first time out, and that character is the sentient alien creature known as Venom. The character first appeared in issue #252 of The Amazing Spider-Man as an alien symbiote who bonds with human hosts. Spider-Man himself is temporarily subjected into being the symbiote’s host, which ends up having a negative influence on his personality. But while he manages to reject the symbiote, it ends up latching onto a new host in issue #300, reporter Eddie Brock, turning him into the monstrous creature known as Venom. And this character proved to be quite popular with fans, later making notable appearances in other forms of media including the 90’s Spider-Man animated series and hit games like the PS1 Spider-Man in 2000 and 2005’s Ultimate Spider-Man. The character would end up making his first live-action appearance in the third installment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy that was released in 2007. However, to call this move a ‘disaster’ would be a bit of an understatement…

Originally, Venom wasn’t even meant to be in Spider-Man 3. However, Raimi was, for lack of a better term, forced to put the character in by producer Avi Arad to please the fans. Raimi obliged… resulting in the character having a limited screen-time and Topher Grace (who played Eddie Brock) considered as one of the worst casting decisions in the history of the superhero genre. This proved to be one of the major contributors behind Spider-Man 3’s less-than-stellar reception and Raimi’s eventual departure from the series given his creative conflicts with the studio. With his departure, the original Spider-Man series concluded and plans for a Venom spin-off were canned. This spin-off was put into development again, however, when Sony rebooted the series with the Amazing Spider-Man films, with Star Trek/Transformers writer Alex Kurtzman slated to direct. But, like the Raimi trilogy, the Amazing Spider-Man series ended up getting canned as well following the mediocre reaction to Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Sony making a deal with Marvel Studios to let Spider-Man appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus, with another franchise reboot underway, the Venom spin-off was put to rest once more… until 2017, when it was revived yet again. And this time, despite conflicting reports over it having any connections with the MCU, the film has successfully managed to avoid another cancellation, with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer behind the camera and Tom Hardy in the title role. But with a lot of hesitation surrounding its production, the biggest question, ultimately, is whether the film manages to live up to the expectations surrounding it. Well, while it doesn’t quite reach the exact heights that it wants to achieve, that doesn’t mean that it’s terrible.

In the city of San Francisco, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is an investigative journalist with a habit for bringing down corrupt individuals through his titular TV show, The Eddie Brock Report. However, when he lands an interview with Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the CEO of the bioengineering corporation known as the Life Foundation, he gets into serious trouble when he starts to question the company’s disreputable practices. This, in turn, causes him to get fired from his job while also destroying his relationship with his fiancé, lawyer Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), after he used some of her classified information in the interview, effectively leading to her being fired from her job as well. Six months later, Brock once again investigates into the company’s practices with the help of Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), who has been against Drake’s plans for quite some time. Through Skirth, Eddie learns that Drake intends to use alien lifeforms known as symbiotes as a means of ensuring the survival of humanity by testing their ability to bond with a human host. While investigating the company’s headquarters, Eddie comes across one of the symbiotes, which immediately bonds with him. And unlike Drake’s various test subjects, Eddie manages to withstand all the weird tendencies of the symbiote, which refers to itself as ‘Venom’. Thus, with Drake and his subjugates now directly on his tail, Eddie is forced into an uneasy partnership with Venom to ensure that they will both survive.  

Let me just start by saying that if you’re going into this film expecting a serious/dramatic take on this classic comic book antagonist, then you might be a little disappointed because this is not that kind of film. Despite it not having any major connections to the MCU (to answer your biggest question, no, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man does not cameo in this film), tonally it is in line with those films. A lot of its action is undercut with MCU-style humor, primarily through Eddie’s relationship with the symbiote. And for me, this did ultimately help to make the film a decently entertaining entry in the superhero genre. That said, though, this doesn’t mean that the film is ‘perfect’. For starters, some of the action sequences suffer from some extremely choppy editing. And to be clear, this is regardless of rumors about how the film was originally intended to be rated R before it had to be toned down to a PG-13 rating to allow for crossovers with Spider-Man, while other reports say that it was always going to be PG-13. Whatever story ends up being true, the erratic editing ends up affecting quite a few, though not all, of the action sequences. And as for the plot, it’s your basic ‘stop the evil businessman’ plot that a lot of people have critiqued some of the MCU films for having only without the emotional gravitas that helped those MCU films’ plots be more than just that. But for what its worth, the film manages to overcome a rather slow start and truly shines once the symbiote bonds itself to Eddie.

Venom serves as Tom Hardy’s second major foray into the superhero genre after portraying Batman’s classic adversary Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. And in the context of what this film ultimately is from a tonal perspective, he does do an excellent job in the title role. Along with playing the sympathetic, down-on-his-luck Eddie Brock, of course, Hardy also provides the voice of the Venom symbiote, whose comedic banter with Eddie is the primary source of the film’s comedy. Everyone else in the cast is fine as well, though admittedly they don’t necessarily have as much to work with compared to Hardy. One who does manage to overcome this, for the most part, is Michelle Williams who, between this and The Greatest Showman, is clearly starting to try some new things when it comes to the films that she’s been appearing in. She has nice chemistry with Hardy, even in the scenes after Anne and Eddie break up, and while she doesn’t necessarily get a lot to do in the film, she’s no damsel in distress, either. Plus, there’s one moment in the film that I’m sure will satisfy comics fans given its allusion to one notable aspect of her character from the comics. And as for Riz Ahmed as the main antagonist Carlton Drake, he at least manages to work decently with the material that he’s been given. To be clear, though, there isn’t that much to the role, even after they have him bond with another symbiote known as Riot who isn’t that different in design when compared to Venom. And yes, this does become a bit of a problem when the two start to fight, partially due to the previously mentioned editing issues. Thus, at the end of the day, Drake’s just your basic ‘corrupt businessman’ stereotype.  

Well, it seems like I’m going to be part of the minority on this one. Call me crazy, but I rather enjoyed Venom. To be clear, though, I’m not saying that it is the best superhero film to come out this year, nor is it one of the genre’s all-time best. It does suffer from having some frenetically-edited action sequences and the plot’s nothing to write home about. As such, I do understand why this film isn’t exactly getting a lot of good reviews from critics and how some have viewed it as one of the genre’s weakest outings in recent years. However, I’ve also seen some folks compare this to the last big superhero ‘disaster’, 2015’s Fan4stic… and that is rather unfair if you ask me because this film is not ‘that bad’. At least Venom remembers to have more than one major action sequence while also showing some genuine signs of brilliance along the way without being affected by blatantly obvious reshoots. Ultimately, though, the biggest question is if this film does justice to the title character… and that, I will admit, is rather debatable. Given this film’s status as an MCU-style comedy, this will probably be a major turn-off for those who were hoping for a darker R-rated take on the classic Spider-Man antagonist. And to put it quite simply, you’re not going to get that with this film. But for what its worth, I had a lot of fun with this film and it is worth seeing primarily for Tom Hardy’s excellent performance in the lead role.

Rating: 3.5/5

A Star is Born (2018) review

After years of being one of the most prominent leading men in the film industry, Bradley Cooper has now taken his first step behind the camera. And for his first directorial effort, he goes the ‘old-school’ route with a new spin on a famous tale of a sweet but tragic romance. Yes, this happens to be the fourth rendition of A Star is Born, which sees an aging celebrity take an aspiring ingenue under his wing while also falling in love with her at the same time. First, there was the 1937 film centered around the film industry, with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the leading roles. The film was well-received upon its release and earned an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It was adapted again in 1954, where the focus was shifted more towards musicians. This version was most notable for being touted as the big comeback for the one and only Judy Garland, and she ended up earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress as did her co-star James Mason for Best Actor. A third adaptation of the story was produced in 1976, now focusing on rock stars, and starred Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in the lead roles. But while the film was a financial success and spawned a Platinum-selling album featuring music from the likes of Paul Williams and Kenny Loggins, it was ultimately a flop with critics, many of whom felt that it was a blatant vanity project for Streisand and her then-husband, producer Jon Peters. With all this in mind, this now brings us to the 2018 version of this classic story. Not only does Bradley Cooper direct it, but he also stars in it alongside music superstar Lady Gaga. And with their terrific chemistry, fantastic musical performances, and a strong sense of emotional depth, this new take on A Star is Born ultimately proves to be one hell of a directorial debut.

For many years, singer Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) has had much success in the music industry. However, as the years have gone on, he has slowly descended into alcoholism and drug abuse, a trait that was partially inherited from his father, while also suffering from gradual hearing loss due to tinnitus. One night, during a drunken stint in a Los Angeles bar, he meets Ally (Lady Gaga), a waitress and aspiring singer-songwriter. However, despite showing much potential as a songwriter, Ally tells Jackson that she’s consistently faced rejection from all the big record labels because they feel that while she has an amazing voice, she doesn’t quite have ‘the look’ of a music star. Regardless, the two begin to bond and Jackson ends up inviting Ally onstage at one of his shows to sing a song that she had recently written. This little stunt of his proves to be a major success, and soon enough, Ally starts getting major attention from all over the country to the point where she eventually gets signed to a major label and begins a solo career. And while Jackson and Ally continue to fall in love, to the point of them getting married, this romance soon finds itself put to the test due to the vastly different trajectories of their respective careers. Plus, Jackson also begins to have some major issues regarding the decisions made by Ally’s manager Rez (Rafi Gavron) to give her an overly sexualized persona.  

At the time that I’m writing this, I haven’t seen any of the other versions of A Star is Born, though I have at least read up on their plots. As such, and without spoiling anything major, if you have seen any of the other films, then admittedly this one isn’t that different in terms of its overall plot, especially when it comes to its ending. To be clear, though, this is not a bad thing in this instance as the film is ultimately a showcase for Bradley Cooper’s excellent direction. From a technical perspective, everything in this film is very well-handled. The cinematography is solid as is the editing. And as a musical, this film is second to none when it comes to its soundtrack. Performed live on set (per Lady Gaga’s request) instead of the more traditional lip-sync method that’s commonly seen in musicals, the musical numbers in this film are fantastic and really showcase the vocal talents of its two main leads. Gaga, of course, has already made a name for herself as one of the most iconic singers of her generation, but Cooper majorly impresses in his first big musical, showcasing the fact that he clearly prepared for his role. And even with a rather hefty runtime of nearly two and a half hours, the film very much succeeds at fully engrossing you in this tragic story of two sympathetic but flawed musicians whose budding romance ends up going astray because of their respective careers going in entirely different directions. This is then bolstered further by some additional emotional depth that delves into themes like the fear of one’s voice being lost when forced into becoming something that they’re not.

Chemistry is also a key factor in producing a strong romantic drama, and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga have quite arguably some of the best onscreen chemistry that I’ve seen in recent years. Their camaraderie is so strong that while the film is, of course, primarily a drama with emotional moments that are handled beautifully, it also leads to a lot of strong humorous moments as well, arguably making this one of the best ‘dramedies’ in recent years. More importantly, though, is the fact that neither lead overshadows the other, providing an excellent balancing act when it comes to the two main characters’ efforts to support one another. Bradley Cooper excellently conveys his character’s southern charisma along with the emotional gravitas of someone who’s quickly becoming a ‘lost soul’. And as for Lady Gaga, in her first leading role in a feature film after some cameos in a few Robert Rodriguez films and her role in the fifth season of American Horror Story, she is fantastic. She holds her own against Cooper and perfectly captures Ally’s vulnerability and the confidence that she gains over the course of the film; in other words, it’s an emotionally raw and extremely captivating performance. The film also boasts some highly memorable supporting roles, with the most prominent of these being Sam Elliott as Jackson’s older brother/manager Bobby Maine. And while he may not be the main character here, his scenes with Cooper are some of the most emotionally powerful in the entire film given the story arc surrounding their strained relationship. Other notable standouts include Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s supportive father Lorenzo and Dave Chappelle as an old musician friend of Jackson’s who helps him out during one of his many ‘low points’ in the film.

In short, there’s a lot of good things that I can say about this film. Even as the fourth rendition of a classic romance story, Bradley Cooper’s take on A Star is Born, for lack of a better term, hits all the right notes. It eases you in with the wonderful chemistry of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, producing some solid bits of humor to lighten the mood. Then, it rouses you up with its fantastic musical numbers that use the vocal talents of its two main stars to their fullest effect. Finally, it dives into the most emotional moments of its plot, resulting in the heartbreaking conclusion to this tragic story of star-crossed lovers. This all comes together nicely thanks to the phenomenal direction from Cooper, showing that he clearly has a lot of potential as a director. And like I said before, it’s really saying something of how effective this film is at conveying all its emotional depth considering that this isn’t the first time that this story has been told. Thus, any way you look at it, this new rendition of A Star is Born is a worthy update of its source material. And just like the three films that came before it (yes, even the 1976 film won an Oscar for Best Original Song despite its mixed reception), this film is sure to be a major frontrunner at this year’s Oscars for its direction, musical numbers, and most importantly, its performances.     

Rating: 5/5!