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The Hateful Eight (2015)
A MOUNTAIN OF A FILM
THE HATEFUL EIGHT
(MOVIE REVIEW)
A
MOUNTAIN
OF A FILM
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff/Film Critic/Movie Enthusiast)
The Hateful Eight is a great film, it tells the story of four people seek shelter during a snow blizzard, with two bounty hunters, one played by Samual L. Jackson, named Major Marquis , and the other named John Ruth who is played by Kurt Russel who is taking a female criminal named Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Red Rock to be hung, and end up at Minnie's Haberdashery. The rest of the film turns into a thrilling mystery of a who done what, and the viewer has to really take everything in to understand this movie throughout. Like the movie Pulp Fiction you actually have to watch this movie. It has a great story, but you have to focus on everything that's going on. Quentin Tarantino does a great job blending in the genres of crime, drama and mystery. This movie has warmth, and even though the opening of this movie is set during a blizzard storm, there's a welcoming feel to it that invites the viewer into the film and your immediately taken along for the journey ahead until the very end. This movie is for people who want characters who are fully developed and not cardboard cut outs, much like the character development in Killers Of The Flower Moon for instance. This movie isn't for children or for adults with the mindsets of a child aged ten and under, I would say. This movie is crafted with artistry and Tarantino delivers a mountain of a film that people should not pass up. This movie glows and stands out amongst the rest of his work, unlike Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown this movie doesn't have a whole lot of scene changes. For the most part we are in one location once we're at the point in the movie where the characters have taken shelter at the haberdashery, which is at the haberdashery. They stay there because the blizzard is so bad, and for those of you who haven't seen the actual movie, when you watch it, you will see what I mean and how bad the blizzard actually is in the film. Which is extremely awful. When I watched this movie, and learned that the temperatures were actually real and so was the blizzard I wondered if any of the cast and crew got worried about frost bite at all, and if they had any medical teams on set in case there was an emergency like or related to frost bite. One of the things that impressed me in this movie is how the camera operators were able to maintain great control of the cameras while they were filming in the conditions that they were filming in. That was very impressive work, and I would describe the cinematography as rich and silver. It had a silvery and rich look. It was very neat looking and very nicely shot. What I mean by silvery is sort of a Christmas kind of a look during the blizzard scenes. But the tone isn't friendly at all, don't get me wrong about that though, this is a very serious and violent film from start to finish. But the graphic violence is spread out through the movie. Don't expect this movie to be fully action packed and loaded with shootout scenes from beginning to end. There is graphic violence, but it's not throughout the whole movie, as long as you go in with an open mind and know that this movie is a drama, crime and mystery film, then you will be entertained to the fullest. I loved Samual L. Jackson's performance and Kurt Russel's Performance as well. Jennifer Jason Leigh was very good as well. To me though, there's always an actor in a movie who makes the movie worthwhile more than the other cast members do, for an example, in Django Unchained if I had to pick between Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, I would say it would be Jamie Foxx, and there's a number of reasons why. DiCaprio's character was introduced way to late into the movie, which is the most important reason, and it caused the character to be less developed than the characters who came in at the beginning of the movie. DiCaprio's character did have character development but not as much as Jamie Foxx's Character (Django) . In The Hateful Eight the actor who made the movie is Samual L. Jackson, his character, Major Marquis, is the best character. I think he had the best lines and his performance out did everyone else's. Samual L. Jackson's character had great wardrobe as well, I think the style of clothing that they chose for him from top to bottom was perfect for what Tarantino had envisioned for the character to look like dressing wise. The music score is decent and it did keep me engaged with the movie. But the music is where the weak point is. I would've given this movie a five star rating, but the composition is a big disappointment. The music is very forgettable. It may set the mood and set the stage for what is going on, but it's not as good as the music in Tarantino's other movies like Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Django Unchained. It doesn't have that classic feel and tone to it. I did enjoy watching The Hateful Eight and during the action scenes there are plenty of great special effects that provide realism and I did like seeing Channing Tatum in this film. I won't spoil anything, but again, because of the weakness of the composition of the music I can't give it a full five stars or even four and a half stars. Anyone who is looking for a Tarantino movie to watch, I would recommend checking out Pulp Fiction, Jack Brown and Django Unchained first. But this one is still a really good movie and is worth watching, despite the music being the only downside, another thing that I did enjoy was seeing Jennifer Jason Leigh sing a little bit at one point during the movie, while she played a guitar during a scene, it was very soothing and interesting. I am hoping that everyone will check out Quentin Tarantino's new movie, The Movie Critic, once it comes out in the movie theaters.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino's Got Style
PULP FICTION
(MOVIE REVIEW)
TARANTINO'S GOT STYLE
With Pulp Fiction, written by Eric Roth and Quentin Tarantino, and also directed by Quentin Tarantino, Tarantino proves that he's got filmmaking style. With great screenplay, a great cast and unique story of characters that cross paths with one another and are intertwined, the viewing experience for this movie makes it just that much more interesting for film buffs, film critics, film scholars, movie fans and film enthusiasts alike. Everything that Tarantino usually does, he does in this movie, although in this movie you really have to pay attention or else you will easily lose track of what's going on in the picture. This is an easy movie to follow, as long as you're not looking at an electronic. I can't stress enough how important it is to pay attention to detail in this film. As far as everything else though, John Travolta, Samual L. Jackson, Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis, all give all star performances that should not be overlooked in anyway, and I even enjoyed watching the brief dancing scene that John Travolta did with Bronagh Gallagher. The music that was composed in the movie was also a nice touch, I found this movie to be thrilling, adventurous, serious toned and yet still very entertaining. I really like how the ending shows how we ended up to how we got to the beginning. Samual L. Jackson's character, Jules, seems to be tougher than his friend Vincent who is portrayed by John Travolta. But that statement is up for grabs, that's just how I see it. If you haven't seen Pulp Fiction, you absolutely should, it's one of Quentin Tarantino's best works, With lots of elements that appeals to me about this film, this one easily makes my top three list on my favorite Quentin Tarantino movies list.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff/Film Critic/Movie Enthusiast/Film Scholar)
It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)
A Shout Out To Scream And It's A Wonderful Life With A Horror Take
It's a Wonderful Knife
(Movie Review)
A SHOUT OUT
TO SCREAM
AND
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
WITH A HORROR TAKE
It's a Wonderful Knife is a terrific horror movie to watch for the Christmas season. I can definitely say that both Jessica McLeod and Jane Widdop are both very talented actresses and I can't wait to see what movies are next for their acting careers. I saw this movie earlier this month and I thought that it was just marvelous. Filled with plenty of shout outs to the classic horror film, Scream, it doesn't let up until the ending, and the entire cast makes sure that they breathed life into the characters that they play. This horror movie does have plenty of blood and gore, but it doesn't have as much as other horror films of the year 2023, like ThanksGiving and Saw X. It's a Wonderful Knife of course does reference the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life in certain scenes in some ways, both with some horror twists and in a scene of excitement. I really lke this movie for all of its' special effects, the writing is extremely good, and I can tell that Michael Kennedy wrote a great screenplay. Tyler MacInTyre did an amazing job directing It's a Wonderful Knife, he directed it combining the ideas of turning It's a Wonderful Life into a horror story and turning the main character into a teenaged girl and making it his own, and Scream, one of the Characters is named Gale Prescott. Anyone who has read the Trivia for It's a Wonderful Knife knows that in the Scream movies the main character that Neve Campbell plays is named Sidney Prescott and Courtney Cox's Character's name is Gale Weathers. Another cool thing is that in this movie The Angel Killer wears a costume that is all white, including the mask, In Scream, GhostFace wears a costume that is all black except for the mask which is white, but not in a Christmas style like fashion though, except for the mouth and eyes which are black. There's a lot to like and love about It's A Wonderful Knife. If you're looking for a great Christmas horror movie and want one that is recently made then this is the one for one. It's full of twists and turns, and if you haven't seen it yet, then you definitely need see this one, it's worth the time and the money. Justin Long does terrific and for me this is one of his best performances since Jeepers Creepers. I haven't seem him in many horror films except for The Barbarian, which sucked in many ways, and could've been way better. It's a Wonderful Knife gives us all of the horror treats and candy snacks that we so crave, even if it isn't during the Halloween season. I admire this movie a whole lot, and I do have to say that we need a lot more horror movies in quality like this one to get made, ones with a great story to be told, I mean, I would've definitely seen this one in the movie theater if it had gone to the theater, it's just that good. It's a Wonderful Knife is a super high quality horror film that you need to watch and see for yourself.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff/Movie Enthusiast/Film Critic/Movie Fanatic)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
THIS IS THE MOVIE THAT SHOULD'VE WON BEST PICTURE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
(Movie Review)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DiNero & Lily GladStone
MPAA rating (R)
Written by: Eric Roth & Martin Scorcese
Directed by: Martin Scorcese
Star rating 5 out of 5
THIS IS THE MOVIE THAT SHOULD'VE WON
BEST PICTURE
Killers Of The Flower Moon which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DiNero and Lily GladStone is about a series of murders that takes place on an Oil Reservation which is owned by the Indian Osage Nation Tribe. GladStone plays the role of Mollie Burkhart who is trying to save her Indian Community from anymore harm and killing, while Ernest Burkhart who is portrayed by DiCaprio think that his uncle, William Hale, played by DiNero has his best interest at heart and is looking out for him, but what he's really doing is looking out for himself, what it comes down to is choosing his wife's side, his uncle's side or nobody's side at all, and what will his final decision be in the end, because DiCaprio's character Ernest has an important decision to make. I saw Killer's Of The Flower Moon in November of 2023 on the seventh. I didn't know going into this picture that this was based on a novel, I was rating and reviewing this movie as a film buff according to Martin Scorsese's other movies, like Goodfella's Casinos' The Irishman, which came out not that long ago, Mean Streets and The Wolf Of Wall Street. I still need to see his big picture Raging Bull, I just wanted to take some time during this review to mention that movie really quick. I really do love the writing in Killers Of The Flower Moon, the movie script is magnificently written and I could tell that Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth wrote the heck out of this script. They worked incredibly hard, which is super rare nowadays. Most filmmakers just want to slap a movie together and get it out there. A lot of the professional movie critics slammed this movie and talked about how bad it was and other movie fanatics gave it a hard time because of how long it is. Even Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars made a joke about how long this movie is. It truly is sad to see how low our standards have become, and how even as adults our attention spans have gone down and we only want to see movies that are an 1 hr. 30 minutes. - 1 hr. 35 minutes. Long. It just breaks my heart. Sure this movie is incredibly long, but that's because it is necessary in this case, it has a lot of character development and a lot to say. People just can't appreciate the serious art form anymore. The Oscars have become a joke now a days, I haven't seen Oppenheimer yet and I surely will see it, but I can't wrap my head around why so many movie fanatics say that this movie is way to long and how they always have to find something wrong with a movie that is clearly Oscar winning material. The script is solid and Martin Scorsese directed this movie with pride, and made sure his vision went from script to screen smoothly and the transition happened without any hiccups that I could spot. The acting from everyone was great and was solid. DiCaprio and DiNero were in the movie, This Boy's Life and they great together in that movie as well. They played alongside each great again in Killers of the Flower Moon. From the first scene they were in together both of their acting were spot serious movie fanatics and movie buffs who really watched this film can tell you that this movie means business, whether you saw this movie in the theater or at home on streaming. Out of all of the movies in 2023 that I saw this is the one that should've won Best Picture. The editing is really good, I could tell that the editor worked with Scorsese and they trimmed the film up nicely as all filmmakers and editors do. There's plenty of good realistic wardrobe costuming that gives a great historic feel to this film that makes this movie all the more real and adds realism, along with the special effects and props during the murder scenes that aren't to bad at all and look quite realistic to be honest once the killings do begin in the movie. Lily GladStone's performance is very good, especially when she's with Leonardo DiCaprio, I think the both of them shine together very brightly and bring out the best acting in each other. I hope Lily GladStone gets more acting roles I would love to see her in more movies, seeing here in Killers of the Flower Moon does showcase her true talent in acting. The cinematography is really good at times it gives a western type of vibe combined with a gangster style. There's a scene that has to do with an explosion of a house which I didn't see coming and there's plenty of things in store for audiences. I highly recommend Killers of the Flower Moon and no matter what the members of the motion picture of the institute of arts and science say this the film that should have won best picture right here ladies and gentleman, without any doubts in my mind. We saw both sides of the story of the gangsters and the Osage Nation Tribe, anyone who says we didn't see enough of the story regarding the Osage Nation Tribe wasn't really watching the movie or they just don't understand that it's impossible to cram everything that a entire book has into a movie. If Scorsese did put everything that the book had into this movie then we all would've been sitting in the theater or in front of our TV screens for probably fifteen - seventeen hours straight. There's no way that anyone is gonna sit there for that long. He did a great job, and people are talking about how he needed to shorten it down, if he had shortened it down then people would be complaining that it was to short. This movie was done to perfection and everyone should see this one and when you watch it you will see why it is a real masterpiece.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(film buff & Film Critic)
A Good Person (2023)
A THRIVING MOTION PICTURE
A GOOD PERSON
( MOVIE REVIEW)
A
THRIVING
MOTION PICTURE
Starring: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Chinaza Uche, Molly Shannon, Alex Wolff, Oli Green, Zoe Lister-Jones, Celeste O'Connor, Jessica Rose Weiss, Drew Gehling, Toby Onuwmere, Ryann Redmond, Sydney Morton, Jessie Mueller, Jackie Hoffman, Alex Mandel, Shirley , Soojeong Son, Lauren Yaffe, Nichelle Hines, Cary Brothers, Preston Truman Boyd, Chip Hamilton, Brian Rojas, Nancy Ellen Shore, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Emilia Suárez, Anthony Cedeño & Victor Cruz
Written by: Zach Braff
Directed by: Zach Braff
release yr. (2023)
Production Company: Metro Goldwyn Mayor
Distributor(s): Metro-Goldwyn Mayor & United Arts Releasing
5 out out of 5 stars.
Without any doubts this is definitely one of those movies in 2023 that should've been nominated for best picture at the Oscars and taken the place of Barbie. I mean this movie has everything going for it, and seeing a movie like this one not get on the list because of a ridiculous movie that is meaningless and senseless like Barbie is just ridiculous and it shows that the members at the Academy Of Motion Pictures of Arts and Science don't have any clue what as to what in the world a great movie actually is. I have yet to see Oppenheimer but I am betting it is a billion times better than Barbie. Barbie shouldn't have even have been made. A Good Person should've been nominated instead. A Good Person focuses on a young woman named Allison, whose life falls completely apart after a tragic accident and she tries to develop a relationship with her would've been father in law, who gives her a second chance in life, without spoiling the movie this film does deal with a lot of heavy topics that average viewers maybe sensitive to, like, strong drug addiction, and a down beat depressing theme. The tone of the movie is very sad and depressing from I would say towards half way through the beginning and then all the way through to the end. This is a heavy movie, but it does tell an amazing story and it sends great messages about friendship and having the strength to persevere and go on through the darkest times even when it seems like there's no coming back from rock bottom, and this movie does provide a message of hope for those viewers who can put themselves in the shoes of the character of Allison in the movie (Florence Pugh) . Writer and Director Zach Braff really poured his heart into his work, and it truly does show. When I see a drama film like this one that keeps me engaged throughout the entire movie and pulls me in from beginning to the end I try my best to take in all of the images on the screen, either if I'm at home or at the movie theater. Because these are the kinds of stories in movies that should be getting told, ones that people care about, and ones that actually matter. If you look very closely at this movie you'll not only see that every single cast member gave an amazing performance but everyone wanted to be there, and everyone wanted to make this movie. Sometimes you get actors or crew who don't want to be there, and that can really break a movie, and ruin it. But for this movie, everyone wanted to be on set and everyone wanted to make sure that this film was the best that it could be. That's why that this should've been nominated for Best Picture. I'm not sure if this movie went under the radar and didn't get that much attention or what the deal was. Another shocking thing about this movie was the box office numbers. A Good Person should've made a whole lot more money at the box office. Barbie made billions, and this movie only made a little over $3 million, and that's just sad. This movie is beyond amazing, it's incredible and this movie deserves a whole lot more recognition and a wider audience than it has received. When you watch A Good Person you'll see why I feel so strongly about this film, Morgan Freeman, who portrays the character of Daniel gives us a very bold yet gentle like performance. He knows when to add the boldness in his performance and when to add the emotion of gentleness. The movie script is great and Zach Braff wrote it with great intelligence, and he directed the movie as if he was creating his own world, yet bringing his world to us, after its' creation, and giving it life. The cinematography was detailed and balanced out every aspect of what was needed to be represented. Zach Braff did everything right to achieve getting nominated for Best Picture and in all honesty, I am not sure why he didn't get nominated. There's some drug scenes that are disturbing and other film critics have given this movie bad reviews but I have no idea why.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff & Film Critic)
Marlowe (2022)
A TRUE BEST PICTURE WINNER WITH EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES BY NEESON AND KRUEGER
MARLOWE
Movie Review
Written By
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff/Movie Fanatic/Movie Critic)
Star rating: 5 out of 5.
Every film buff and critic knows that as time goes on it gets harder to make quality movies, and that's understandable, and real movie/film buffs, movie fanatics can really see when a filmmaker is trying his or best to make the best movie possible, no matter if it's an independent film or a Hollywood film, which is a big blockbuster. Marlowe which stars Liam Nesson and Diane Krueger, is the kind of movie that should've won best picture in 2023 from the movies that came out in 2022. Looking back, I still have no idea why Everything EveryWhere All At Once Won Best Picture and a movie just like this one didn't. Liam Neeson and Diane Krueger's performances are top the best that a movie buff can hope for. I really need to watch the other movies that Neeson is in, the other ones that I have watched for sure that he has starred in are, Star Wars Episode !: The Phantom Menace and NonStop. Before I saw this movie I found out that this was based on a series of movies that involved a main character named Phillip Marlowe who is a Private Investigator, and I thought that was cool. I haven't seen those movies, but I should get around to watching those at some point. Another actor who is in this movie who I am a fan of is Danny Houston and he does do a great job of playing his role and portraying his character, this time around until we get to the ultimate climax for his character he plays his role more subtle and less in your face, unlike in his previous roles like in Magic City for instance when he played the whacky character Ben Diamond, even though that was a TV series. On another note Ian Hart plays the role of Joe Green who is a detective and I do have to say that with the combination of the full set of hair, the mustache and brilliant American accent he did I never would've remembered that he portrayed Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone since 23 long years have past if it wasn't for the internet. So I do give him a big hand for doing a great American accent that was awesome and I was truly impressed by that. The Cinematography in this movie is very good and it gave me a lot of Noir vibes and to me it was a colored Noir style of storytelling of filmmaking for a movie like this rather than shooting it like how Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez shot the two Sin City movies in black and white, which I believe for this kind of movie which is a Private Investigator film that gives the audience a kind of Noir storytelling kind of feel to it, having it in color of a change is the right call. The writing and directing are equally good. The screenplay/movie script is good. There was only one part in this movie that I had a problem with. There's a scene that raises a question and that question is never answered. I hate when that happens. The script is throughly written and thought out and putting aside the scene that raises a question that doesn't get answered, with that part aside, this movie does have a very good story to tell and I can see that they took the time to do their very best in trying to make the best Phillip Marlowe movie they possibly could for the newer generations. The editing is neatly done and the movie runs nicely, the wardrobe is done greatly and I hope the producers know that the Motion Picture Institute of Arts and Science members are dummies for not voting for this movie to win best picture. Back in 2023, out of all of the movies that came out in 2022 it's very easy to pick which one should've one best picture, this one should've one. I would've voted for this one in a heartbeat. I strongly recommend this movie for all movie fanatics and other movie buffs alike.
Fast X (2023)
THERE'S NO SCHOOL LIKE THE OLD SCHOOL, RIDE OR DIE, LIKE NEVER BEFORE!
FAST X
Movie Review
Written by
Bailey Giannini
( (Film Buff/Movie Fanatic/Movie Critic)
Star rating 5 out of 5
Starring the one and only Vin Diesel as Dom Toretto, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty and Jason Momoa. I had a blast watching this one. Everything fell right into place. If there was an Oscar for best sequel for an action picture of 2023 and I was the movie buff who was able to chose which one to give the Oscar to, Fast X would be the one. This one has it all, a great movie script, superb cast, production design, amazing visual effects, realistic stunts, which I do give big compliments to the stunt coordinator on a beautiful job well done, incredible cinematography, without a doubt the most believable acting you could ask for by Diesel and the rest of the cast and great directing by Louis Leterrier. These are this is an example of the kind of action sequel and action franchise that we need more of. Vin Diesel has stated that Fast and Furious 11 will be the very last installment in the very long running Fast and Furious action franchise. After I recently heard the news about a seventh Jurassic Park movie being made under the working title: Jurassic World 4, it is hard to be that the Fast and Furious Franchise will end at an eleventh film, but no one knows for sure, except the filmmakers who are the ones who make these movies. But if the eleventh film does perform amazingly and makes a ton of cash at the box office when it releases in theaters, then the filmmakers, the cast, the producers, the production companies and the studios just might change their minds and continue the franchise and make more installments for a little while longer for the Fast and Furious fans. I do hope that Fast and Furious 11 isn't the end, I will say that. Getting back on track to reviewing Fast X I did love every moment in this movie, not just the action sequences, but also the scenes that had to do with just dialogue, especially the opening scene, which had a moment of taking us down memory lane, but I won't go into to much detail because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone. One thing that I love about this sequel is that not only did it keep me engaged the whole and had twist, turns and a major jaw dropping surprise at one point that I did not see coming at all, but it was so amazing that it made me go back and rewatch all of the other Fast and Furious movies. I've been a fan of this franchise ever since I was a tween and I can with confidence say that this franchise will always be classic one of the 21st century. I can compare the Fast and Furious movies to other films that have won academy awards/Oscars and Golden Globes. There's a lot of movies being made nowadays and I don't know why movies like this one don't get nominated and win Oscars and/or Golden Globes. It's sad and heartbreaking. I do think for the Golden Globes and The Oscars there should be a brand new category, titled, Best Sequel. If other movie enthusiasts are asking each other and debating what is the best movie sequel in recent years in general, well look no further everyone, I've found it for ya. Fast X is it and I can't wait to go to the theater when Fast and Furious 11 comes out and so I can see it on the big screen. This tenth installment is obviously a must see.
Mean Girls (2024)
THE WORST WAY TO START OFF A BRAND NEW CALENDAR YEAR
MEAN GIRLS (2024)
Movie Review
Written By
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff/Movie Fanatic/Movie Critic)
Star rating: 0 out of 5
THE WORST WAY TO START OFF A BRAND
NEW CALENDAR YEAR
I saw Mean Girls (2024) in the theater back in January and my lord not only was it a waste of money but I wish I could contact Tina Fey. For me this movie is the most awful way to start off a brand new calendar year. I just want to pretend that this movie never happened and had never been made. I have no idea if Hollywood is going for a world record of making the worst movies ever, but no one should be paying to see movies like this one. It's commonsense. This is a repeat of the 2004 movie, you can compare the original script to the 2024 script and you will see they copied the dialogue the same, how much is the same, 98% and that's horrible. Watch the original unless you love wasting money, spend your money on a movie that is worth your money. The only difference is that it's a musical, the acting is crappy and the cinematography looks like something out of 2023 film Barbie, which sucked as well. The directing is awful and this is a perfect example of when two directors aren't on the same page and probably don't even share the same vision for a movie that their supposed to be directing together. Mean Girls (2024) is just a horrible attention grabbing movie that only exists to take the money of movie fans and movie buffs alike. I really do hope that movie buffs, film influencers, movie critics and movie fans like me rip this movie apart and tell Hollywood to get it together. As fans of movies at the end of the day we need to stop paying to see trash like this. To me the reason why we are getting so many crappy movies is because movie fans keep on paying to see low quality movies. Mean Girls (2024) is yet another dumb low quality movie that is supposed to be a combination of a remake and a musical but doesn't deliver a single thing, unless you're looking for predictability and absolute boredom. Renee Rapp is very talented, but she can do so much better than this movie, I have no idea why she decided to be in this, my guess is just for the money, which is normally the case. Tina Fey did a great job of crapping on her own storyline and if she set out to destroy her own story creation, then congratulations, you have achieved that goal. Unfortunately for the fans of the original movie like myself, we were all extremely disappointed, and I felt scammed. I thought that they were gonna take the story in a different direction and we were gonna get Regina George's perspective of things instead of Cady Heron's. But that didn't end up happening at all. From the moment Cady got North Shore High School I felt like Tina Fey was labeling me as a sucker for buying the movie ticket. I was upset and I wanted my money back. I was shaking my head throughout the whole movie and asking myself what I was watching, because it was the same exact story over again. If you take out the musical part of the movie then you have strictly the 2004 movie again, just with some slight minor differences. I felt tired and exhausted watching it, not only to mention frustrated. If someone asked me would I rather watch this or Football with one of my family members, I would chose Football. At least I don't know which team is gonna win. The editing restored a scene that had been cut out from the original movie that had to do with Cady and Regina talking in the Bathroom, but the the original bathroom scene in the original film can be found on YoutTube and on DVD and BluRay and it is much better than the bathroom scene that the 2024 movie gives us. Also with the editing it seemed like things were kind of rushed for time and there were dialogue that was cut out during the editing process for the runtime, and I'm not sure but there might've been some dialogue cut within the script during filming as well. It just seems like a mess of a film. The only time filmmakers should be doing remakes is to do something that wasn't done the very first time around, in this case, we have been here and we've done this all before. In one scene there was some poor wardrobe designing. Renee, as Regina George, looked like Elvis, she wore all black and it just didn't look good at all. As far as the casting and the acting, it was very blah. No memorable performances at all here. I felt like Jaquel Spivey who played Damien and Ali'i Cravalho who played Janis were trying to copy Lizzy Caplan's and Daniel Franzese performances from the original movie, it seemed like they didn't know how to make the characters their own. Same thing with Angourie Rice, I felt like she tried to copy Lindsay Lohan's performance in the original movie. Having said all of this, my take away from this movie is what Tina Fey gave us is a massive crap storm and a remake/musical that needs to be ignored at all cost, this movie has already made to much money, and this is another film that should and needs to be pulled from all major streaming services. We have been getting a lot of crap movies, from 2022 to this year like Halloween Ends, Miller's Girl and Barbie. It's time for movie fanatics and movie buffs to take a stand and tell Hollywood that it's time to start making quality movies not trash that the majority of us don't want to see.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff & FIlm Critic)
Ricky Stanicky (2024)
A GREAT START FOR AMAZON PRIME VIDEO'S ORIGINAL COMEDY MOVIES OF 2024
A GREAT START FOR AMAZON PRIME VIDEO'S ORIGINAL COMEDY MOVIES OF
2024
RICKY STANICKY
MOVIE REVIEW
Starring: Zach Efron, John Cena, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler, Lex Scott Davis and Anja Savicic
Directed by: Peter Farrelly
MPAA Rating (R)
Yr. 2024
Star rating 4 & and 1/2 out of 5
Prime Video strikes gold, by giving us this comedy, starring: Zach Efron, John Cena, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler, Lex Scott Davis and Anja Savcic and directed by Peter Farrelly. The story follows three friends who get into all different kinds of trouble throughout their childhood and teenage years and to avoid facing the consequences of their actions they come up with a fake friend named, Ricky Stanicky. I found myself laughing a great amount of the time and I had a blast watching this movie. This one is a great must see if you're a big movie person. As a movie buff and critic I do ask others to give some consideration on how hard filmmakers try to make comedies these days. There are plenty of great parts that are balls to the walls funny, and the characters are three dimensional, unlike some characters in other movies that we've all seen. I would put this movie up there with Horrible Bosses. This is one of those comedies that your average movie fan might not appreciate, so I will have to dissect this one a bit. I will talk about Zack Efron and John Cena primarily. Both of their acting are done very good. I will say that having John Cene in the movie did help Zack Efron in his performance, because they had certain way of how they played off of each other. When we talk about other movies like The Other Guys or Daddy's Home for an example, how Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg did an amazing job together. Same thing here, John and Zack were a good choice for a combination of actors. The only difference is that Ricky Stanicky is the kind of comedy that you have to watch from the beginning to the end in order to understand the story and to get the jokes, whereas in The Other Guys and Daddy's Home you can watch it at any moment in the film and have a laugh. Ricky Stanicky is a movie with an important nonpolitical message that is one that you won't want to miss. Zack Efron's character and one of his character's friends both have office jobs so they present themselves very professionally but Zack Efron does a great job of knowing how to switch from being professional when shooting those office scenes in the movies to being quite wild with the Ricky Stanicky scenes, although not as wild as you're thinking, just drinks at the bars is what I'm saying. John Cena does a great job of playing his role as Rod who is down on his luck drunk actor who can't get a get gig until a huge opportunity which is unexpected comes along. John Cena at first comes across at first as how he did in Trainwreck, which seemed to not do much for me, because his character was just there in the movie to talk, but to my luck there was a lot more to his character, a whole lot more and I ended up really liking his character and caring about his character. The whole male lead cast in this movie and the characters that they portrayed in the movie are like the brothers that you wish you had in real life, with great and funny times that you don't want to ever end. Script wise, thie movie script was written good, the writers did a very good job in coming up with the jokes and comedic aspects that make the comedy in this movie work. Any other movie fanatic or other movie buff who can't appreciate a comedy movie like this either wasn't paying attention when they watched this and they need to view this a second time or they're someone who loves movies that are mindless that you don't have to pay attention to. Anyway, the dialogue is very well said and delivered. I can tell that this movie had a great script because whenever the cast delivers great performances and they have done well, everyone knows that making movies is a team effort so whoever wrote the screenplay did a good job as well. The screenwriting portion is great, and that is very good, moving on to the directing, that was also very good, and Peter Farrelly knew how to direct this movie and knew in what direction he wanted to go in. Sometimes the directing can be sloppy, and sometimes the directing can ruin a great movie script, but in this case it was good and the writing and directing were both on the same page. For this movie there were six screenwriters and that can cause a problem, because six screenwriters can all have different ideas, and there can be arguments and fights over how to tell the story and how the story should begin and end. But luckily I ended up with a movie that I think worked, and one that I think that most movie fanatics should be grateful for. Onto cinematography. The cinematography kinda reminded me of blending the cinematography in The Wedding Crashers and Neighbors. It's the kind of cinematography that lets the audience know that this is a movie that's not serious and it's a laid back kind of a film. I really do appreciate the cinematography in Ricky Stanicky. This movie is edited well, the editor knew what to take out and what to keep in, I'm sure there's some extra footage that is funny but is not needed, and would've been just filler content. The wardrobing was done greatly. If I do have any questions as a movie fanatic and movie buff it would be if any of the outfits were made from scratch or if they were store bought. The suits look like they were either bought online or either at Kohl's or Macy's. The wardrobe person, Katherine Milne did a great job, so a big round of applause to her. Ricky Stanicky is a fantastic rated R comedy movie and I highly recommend you watch this one. It's on Prime Video right now, and I do have to say, if this movie had gone to the movie theater I would have seen it in the movie theater, it is that good, I give Ricky Stanicky a big thumbs up, so please check this movie out.
Written
by
Bailey Giannini
(Movie buff/Movie fanatic/Movie Critic/Horror Buff)
Miller's Girl (2024)
Jenna Ortega needs to do a better job of picking her next movies
MILLER'S GIRL
MOVIE REVIEW
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Martin Freeman, Gideon Adlon, Bashir Salahuddin and Christina Adams
Directed by Jade Bartlett
MPAA Rating (R)
YR. 2024
Star rating 0 out of 5.
I watched the movie Miller's Girl yesterday and it's truly one that everyone should avoid. As a movie buff I have never seen a movie in recent years with so much cringeworthy and nonsensical dialogue. The acting is terrible and the cinematography is shot in a very strange atmospheric way and the tone of the entire film is extremely psychedelic. The opening of the movie was interesting but after that it just gets weird and makes no sense. I felt like this was a student film project that was quickly shot in order to meet a deadline for a grade in a four year film school program. The controversy surrounding this movie and the fact that Jenna Ortega is the main female lead are the only two main reasons why I watched this movie. I knew what this movie was about, but I didn't think that this was movie was going to result in being so psychedelic and so cringeworthy of dialogue that it makes anyone, even a movie buff to see that this movie is complete garbage. Miller's Girl came out in select theaters this year and there's a great reason why that is. Jenna Ortega has lost credibility from me. How in the world she went from doing Stuck in The Middle on Disney Channel, to Scream 5 and 6, to the Fallout (movie) , X (movie) to Wednesday and then now to this piece of trash is beyond me. Smart movie fans will skip this one and see a movie that is worth seeing. Remember if you pay and watch crappy movies then Hollywood will keep giving us crappy movies. We receive enough crappy movies as it is we don't need more. I felt bad that I paid $7.99 to watch this on streaming and I gave the filmmakers, the producers, the production companies and studios money. This movie only kept me engaged in the story for about five to ten minutes because of the cringey dialogue and poor acting due to the terrible movie script that was written. When the movie ended I was happy because then I could find something else to watch. Just to recap the story of this horrible movie, the film is about an 18 yr. Old high school student named, Cairo Sweet, who is very talented and is given a creative writing assignment by her english teacher, Johnathan Miller, but as the days go on they became unusually close and things become complex. The writer and director of this movie is Jade Bartlett who also did the movie, The Accountant which starred Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, which was an entertaining and unique movie but it was a little out there, I found it to be a good one though. Unfortunately Miller's Girl isn't unique, it's just boring and very unusual cringey after the first 5 or 10 minutes. This Is both Jena's and Jade's worst work ever in the film industry in my opinion and I'm being very honest. At the end of a very long day Miller's Girl Is just downright awful and I would much rather spend my day watching Someone build a fence than watch this movie. This movie officially confirms that if anything we need brand new talent in Hollywood with amazing and brand new fresh ideas that actually work for the majority of the movie fans and movie buffs. On an end note everyone involved should really be ashamed of themselves, the producers, the writer and director, the select theaters who showed it in their areas and even the streaming services for putting it on our small screens in our homes. The streaming services really do need to take this piece of garbage off of their services, I mean come on now, what the heck are we paying to watch here, 'cause it sure isn't anything good.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Movie Buff/Movie Fanatic/Movie Critic/horror buff)
Black Christmas (1974)
Black Christmas (1974) Is A Must See Christmas Horror and Slasher Film For all Horror Fans To See During Christmas.
Black Christmas (1974) is a horror and slasher film that I have seen over and over again ever since I was a teenager. It is written and directed by none-other than the talented filmmaker Bob Clark and it stars, Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder and John Saxon (from Wes Craven's original A Nightmare On Elm Street 1984) The film centers around a group of college aged women who are in a sorority house, and they get killed off by an unknown serial killer after and while he makes very disturbing obscene phone calls to the home, which is probably located near a university that they attend during the college school year. This is the best horror and slasher movie that is set during the Christmas holiday. The script is magnificently written, the dialogue provides very realistic conversations. If Olivia Hussey didn't get more movie roles after her performance in Black Christmas then I would really love to know why. All of the kills are very brutal in this film, and much like the original Halloween movie that John Carpenter would later write and direct in 1978, Black Christmas has the same technique of using violence that is implied rather being graphic and gory. Unlike the 2006 remake of this film, it's what you don't see and have to you use your imagination to imagine what the kills look like graphically that is terrifying and scary to anyone who watches this movie. Black Christmas (1974) is on my top five favorite horror movie classics, it's very much on par with Halloween (1978) and the only other horror movie that is on par with the original Halloween and the original Black Christmas is Scream (1996) . I love the cinematography and the camera use in this movie. Like how the camera glides from place to place at times, and the ending is very good. I'm very happy that Bob Clark didn't turn Black Christmas into a horror franchise like how the movie studios did with the Halloween franchise. The opening kill scene with the use of a white bag being placed over Claire's head and face to suffocate and kill her is super graphic for 1974, but now a days it is very tame compared to the graphic and explicit violence that we see nowadays in horror films. Even though Olivia Hussey did an amazing job at playing the role of Jessica Bard ford, I do wonder if Margot Kidder would've played that role a little bit better. But nonetheless, Black Christmas is an amazing classic horror movie of the 1970s that strongly recommend and suggest that all horror fans watch for the Christmas season if you're looking for a great classic horror film to watch. A very high thumbs up for me.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(movie buff and amateur film critic)
Old People (2022)
A NETFLIX HORROR SLASHER THAT FOCUSES ON TRYING TO MAKE THE ELDERLY SCARY
I thought that this movie would be enjoyable to watch, since I saw the movie X which was directed by Ti West, and since I X is one of my favorite horror films of 2022, and in that movie both Pearl and her husband are elderly. Old People is horror and slasher movie that focuses mainly on the elderly residents of a retirement home who aren't being cared for, and then they decide to break out and cause sheer terror and horror by trying to killing a family and their daughter who had visited their grandfather in the retirement home earlier in the film. Old People is directed by Andy Fetscher, and stars, Gerhard Bos, Melika Foroutan, Bianca Nowrath and Eveline Hall. This horror movie isn't among one of the worst ever made, but it isn't a good one either. The dialogue is messy at times, the scenes are to short, and besides the fact that these elderly residents never got taken care of by the staff in the retirement home, we never fully understand or find out why these elderly people went to the extreme and started to kill people. The film opens with a scene that involves an elderly man with facial hair who is on oxygen and kills one of the staff members who comes into his room at night. When they show the mom, dad and their kids who are visiting their kids grandpa, we do see just how disgusting and unkept that retirement home really is. We do see that the elderly residents are already sort of crazy to begin with, my guess is by both mental illness and aging, but what drives them to kill people is never explained to the audience. The filmmakers who are making horror films with Netflix haven't been doing a very great job of coming up with scary stories that work. I wasn't scared of this movie and I didn't even find it suspenseful. Another thing about this horror movie is that it was made in a different country and I had to switch the audio from the German which is the language that this was filmed in, to English. I don't mind that the English language had to be dubbed over the German language that the actors and actresses really speak, what I was upset with was that the story wasn't good. As always with these horror films on Netflix the special effects, visual effects and makeup are very well done, and the filmmakers accomplished that element, but they didn't accomplish the goal of making a great film. Anyone can do very good special effects, but if the story and the movie script isn't good then the special effects don't mean a thing. The dialogue in the movie is poorly spoken and I can't stress the underperformance and terrible acting that the cast did in this one. The Jump Scares are predictable and there is no build up of any sort of tension or suspense whatsoever in Old People. I'm not the only film critic who has given this movie a negative review and it's really not surprising. How anyone will find this one even being remotely good I couldn't even begin to guess, besides the special effects the cinematography was good, but again, those two aspects don't work because the movie script and the acting are very poorly don. I am not recommending Old People and this horror movie is certainly a thumbs down for me. Hopefully in 2024 there will be more horror movies that Netflix will make that have a great story and a very good movie script, with good acting.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Movie buff and amateur film critic)
Lake Alice (2017)
A Horror, Slasher and Mystery film that surpassed all of my expectations
Lake Alice is slasher and mystery movie about a young couple and the girl's parents who go up to their cottage for Christmas. But once two serial killers start killing the family questions get raised, who are these killers and who if any will survive. This horror film surpassed ever expectation that I had for it. I watched this one with super low expectations, because on TUBI, there have been a lot of horror films that have that are currently being crowdfunded that absolutely suck. I'm not saying all of them suck, but at least 95% of them do, as of right now in 2023 anyone with a camcorder and a bunch of friends can call themselves filmmakers. But this horror movie is a diamond in the rough. The fact that I found this on TUBI really surprised and shocked me, because it's done very professionally. Great cinematography, amazing acting, the special effects are very realistic, and both the movie script and the directing is spot on. This is a golden horror, slasher and mystery film. I don't think many people have seen this one, and that's a shame. Most horror fans aren't movies buff/film buffs, so they have extremely low standards for horror films these days. This one needs a sequel, and I'm not kidding. This is how horror movies should be made. Just like with the Scream movies, there's the guessing game of who the killers are, and I really enjoyed that element. This horror movie is brutal, savage, and very grizzly, bloody and gory for a rating of TV-14 on TUBI. I strongly recommend this movie, there's a lot of great scenes, and the first kill is awesome in this movie, as is the rest of the film.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Cinephile and online film critic)
Wicked Ones (2020)
THE WICKED ONES IS WHAT THE FIRST MOVIE SHOULD'VE BEEN
After I had watched the first film that was made in 2017, I wasn't really interested in seeing the sequel. Once I found out that the sequel had a higher budget than the first one and had read what the sequel was about, I decided to give it a try. Wicked Ones follows the two main characters, Alex and her boyfriend, now her husband in the sequel, as parents of their three children, and they must confront Collin Miller, (The Wicked One) who is still on the loose, and two unstable serial killer psychopaths who escape during a prison bus transfer (which reminds me of Halloween {2018} . Once their two teenagers fall victim to them and are held captive. This sequel is quite an improvement from the first one. The first film Wicked One was made with very little creativity as I noticed that there are lots of similarities between that movie and the Halloween films. I felt like Tory Jones who wrote and directed both the first one and this sequel, had in copied off of the first Halloween film back in 1978. This sequel is without any doubts a lot more original with way more creativity and this is what the first film should've been. If you were to put Michael Myers in a farm setting instead of Haddon-field then that's what you would have with the first Wicked One movie. You will notice in the first film that Collin Miller rides a horse, which is his source of transportation. In Halloween (1978) Michael Myers's transportation is an old station wagon car. Instead of a car for the first Wicked One we had the serial killer ride a horse. I'm not sure if Tory Jones didn't think that most most film buffs and horror fans wouldn't notice a difference, but yeah, we did notice a big difference in transportation. Wicked Ones is more original in a lot of ways, but there is a problem with this sequel, like the 1981 sequel Halloween II, Michael Myers doesn't drive a car in that movie, he's just travelling on foot to get around. Collin Miller doesn't ride his horse in Wicked Ones, so I do see a similar pattern here. That being said, the cinematography is way better, the acting is also much better, and the special effects are done wonderfully. The music for this sequel is also better than the first movie. Everything is a lot better this second time around. I really do hope that going forward Tory Jones does uses inspiration but he doesn't try to completely get an idea by practically copy another horror movie, but just change the setting and try to pass it off on his own. I'm letting the fact that Collin Miller was on foot in this sequel slide, because there are lots of other parts of this movie that I really enjoyed and had made up for that small similarity. I do want to point out that this is a good example of a crowdfunded horror film in which that when you raise more money and have a longer financing campaign going to get the funds to make the movie, it will for the majority of the time pay off. I do recommend Wicked Ones, you'll have to see the first movie in order to know what's going on and to get introduced to the characters, but just be aware that it's not at all as well done as the sequel. The only aspect in filmmaking that I give the first movie credit for, is having really good special effects and visual effects, but nothing beyond that. All horror fans and horror buffs should watch this sequel.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Cinephile & online film critic)
Strays (2023)
A Great Adult Comedy
Strays is a comedy movie that stars, Will Farrell and Jamie Foxx. The film follows a dog named Reggie whose owner named, Doug abandons him, and once he meets a three dogs who become his friends he sets out on a mission to get revenge on Doug, once he realizes that he never loved him to begin with.
This is a movie that every movie lover and film buff alike should definitely watch. I found myself laughing very hard, and the story is one of the best, that I have seen in a long time. If you've been a fan of comedy movie and have seen films like Shrek, Toy Story and Monsters Inc when you were a kid, then this movie will be a blast for you to watch. There are a lot of funny parts and I could tell that the actors who did the voices of the dogs gave it there all and they were completely in the zone. This is definitely a comedy movie to remember and it does deserve a sequel. This movie isn't for young children though, I suggest the minimum age to be 16 to let your teens watch this one. There are quite a lot of sex and nudity jokes, along with non stop swearing of the F word, and other obscene language, that is pervasive. All in all the movie does tell a great story and I strongly recommend this one.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Cinephile and online film critic)
Star rating, 9 and a half stars out of 10.
Killing Them Softly (2012)
AN AMAZING CRIME FILM, ONE OF THE 21st CENTURY"S BEST
Killing Them Softly Stars: Brad Pitt, James Ganolfini, Ray Liotta, Scot McNairy, Richard Jenkins and Ben Mendelsohn. It's directed by Andrew Dominik. The film tells the story about a Heist involving the mafia that goes wrong and the consequences of two thieves actions. All of the performances in this movie are terrific, and this is the kind of mafia movies that I wish that Hollywood would make more of. There are a lot of intense and powerful scenes that are not only quite graphic in terms of violence but are also very suspenseful. The writing and directing deserve an Oscar or an Academy Award, the acting is top notch and very realistic, to the point where regular movie fans would forget that they're watching a movie, and would believe that the footage and scenes are real. The cinematography in the movie is a modern version of the some of the older mafia movies, like Goodfellas and Casino, in an updated style. This is also a movie that people shouldn't take lightly, it is depressing and serious, yet, it's also very entertaining. I was engaged in watching this movie and for me this movie never missed a beat. I strongly recommend this movie for anyone who is seventeen and older.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Cinephile and online film critic)
Tourist Trap (1979)
Not One Of The Best Slasher Films Of The 70s.
Tourist Trap's biggest star is Chuck Connors, along with Tanya Roberts, Dawn Jeffory and Jocelyn Jones. The executive producer is Charles Band, and this film was directed by David Schmoeller. This horror film centers around a group of women who have a male friend and they're on a road trip. A detour goes wrong and the women come across an unknown stranger named, Mr. Slauson who has not only a split personality but also has deadly plans for them, that involve Mannequins. While I watched this movie, I couldn't believe the terrible turn this one made for the worst. The film opens with an amazing first kill that draws the audience in, and they believe the rest of the horror film is going to be very good. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The acting goes from very good to god awful. The first part of the movie script works greatly, but the rest completely sucks. The cinematography is good, but we also have cheesy special effects that don't work. I think that the director wanted to make the killer's mask and outfit cheesy because Tobe Hooper had made LeatherFace look cheesy. But the difference is, when Tobe Hooper made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre he was focused on making a scary and terrifying horror film, he wasn't purposefully trying to make it as cheesy as possible, which is what made that horror film work. David Schmoeller failed, it's one thing being inspired by a serial killer, but trying to duplicate what another horror film director did just wasn't a good idea. There are a lot of weird scenes within this horror movie, way to many to count. Only the first 10-15 minutes of this one is good, and the rest of the film is like a terrible and tragic life event that you tried to avoid but it ended up happening anyway. This movie has a pointless ending and a music score that is only half way to decency. I do not recommend Tourist Trap, no matter what else you hear about this movie online, it's not worth watching. Viewing it a second time would be an even more terrible choice.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Cinephile and online film critic)
Killing Ground (2016)
A poor attempt to make a horror and thriller movie
There's really nothing much here. Just a bunch of lousy acting, and a pace that never really picks up. I have seen plenty of Australian horror movies, and most of them have been awful, pure trash, and could definitely have told the filmmakers how they could've drastically improved the story, the writing, the directing and the editing. The only good horror film that Australian filmmakers have made is Wolf Creek, and that has been a long time. Aaron Pedersen and Harriet Dyer are both terrible at acting, especially in scenes that are supposed to be scary. At times the editing was god awful as well. Jumping from scene to scene way to quickly. First we're at one location for about three seconds and then we jump to a different location. This horror film has a lot of past and present timeline jumps. The filmmakers focused on the before and aftermath of a tragic and terrifying crime committed by two grown man, and how a couple who is dating goes on their camping trip and finds a lost toddler and they find out what the crime is that was committed before their arrival and must try to survive when the killers find them and they discover that the couple knows about the crime in which they have committed. It is truly amazing how a horror and mystery film like this one can have such a great plot and concept, but somwhere down the line the screenwriter(s) and the director both screwed up. Some of the visual effects are okay. This movie though, is a complete waste of time and I don't know any horror fan or film buff who would pay for a horror and mystery movie like this one. Seriously, besides the violence in this movie there's nothing really here, the opening scene is pretty good, but it all goes downhill very quickly, I'm not really sure if filmmakers in Australia are trying to set a record for the most foreign horror films that suck, but truly does seem like it. Obviously I'm not recommending this one. All of the movie fans who still have their brain cells intact, please don't watch this, this type of horror movie isn't doing anyone any good here, and this is coming from someone who watches lots of horror films throughout every single season of the year.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Film Expert, Film Advocate
and amateur online film critic)
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
A Mediocre Viewing Experience
This 1981 horror film is quite something and it's sort of hard to review. I will start by saying that all of the characters in this horror film are as weird as anything. This film drags at times, don't get me wrong, it's always great to want to develop the characters, but there's a way to do it without losing the attention of the audience. The cast did a great job in their acting with the weirdness. The special effects are average at best and the directing and the writing were both done decently, but at times I felt like this movie could've been a broadway horror play. This doesn't seem like it worthy of being produced as a horror film. This film isn't terrible but it's nothing special. At times I got confused, and the vision sequences that Virginia had just seemed very unnecessary and the writer could've written the vision sequences much better. This movie isn't getting anything higher than a 3 out of 5 and a 4 out of 10 star rating, because even though this horror film had some good parts, it wasn't enough to keep me interested nor invested throughout the entire movie. I don't recommend this one. It's filled with fluff scenes and some content that doesn't need to be in the film, just there to take up some run time for this movie. The costuming is okay, I think the casting director could've gotten a better cast, the actors in the movie gave off very average performances and at times I found myself uninterested in anything that really happened, and the kill scenes were sort of predictable. Everyone should skip this one.
Thanksgiving (2023)
AN OSCAR WINNING HORROR FILM. NEXT UP, THE SEQUEL.
Having been a fan of Eli Roth since I was a teenager, I went into the horror film, Thanksgiving with high expectations, and I can definitely say that Eli Roth didn't disappoint. He made sure that he was strictly focused on telling a great story. He didn't dive into any political issues, at least none that I noticed. If there is a political issue incorporated into this movie then it's very light and it doesn't draw much attention. Unlike some of the horror movies that we have been getting lately, ThanksGiving definitely will appeal to the masses of horror fans. As both a film buff, horror fan and an online film critic, I had a blast watching this movie, and I am very excited that we are going to be getting a sequel to this horror film in 2025. There are a lot of graphic and violent scenes that are bloody and gory, but the style in which this horror film was shot in brought me back to the more old school horror films. Eli Roth combined elements of Halloween (1978) and Scream (1996) and had created John Carver, a brand new iconic serial killer that hopefully will stand the test of time. I wouldn't be surprised if ThanksGiving bcomes a horror classic in the future, much like how Halloween (1978) became a horror classic years on. This is most definitely the best horror movie of 2023. Even better than Scream 6, and that's saying a lot. It's always great to have filmmakers in the horror genre come up with brand new iconic serial killers, instead of repeating the same serial killers, and giving them brand new stories. Patrick Dempsy is a really good actor, and he did an amazing job in ThanksGiving. He has always been a great actor, but this is definitely a top notch performance for him. He plays the role of the town Sheriff who is trying to solve the mystery of the killings that a serial killer is doing. The name John Carver is the mysterious name that the killer goes and the killer hides behind a terrifying pilgrim mask and outfit. Much like how Michael Myers and GhostFace both use knives, John Carver's weapon is a pitchfork. The story centers around a group of high schoolers much like how Scream has a main cast of characters who are teenagers. This horror film does keep you guessing about who the serial killer is until the very end. The John Carver serial killer isn't a rip off of Michael Myers or GhostFace, but the inspiration truly shines through in the film and all horror fans can see that those two serial killers clearly inspired this new iconic one. I found myself having a great time watching the film, and the opening of the movie sets everything up for the rest of the film. This horror movie sucks you in and it doesn't let the audience go until the very end. Everything is pieced together nicely and all of the actors gave amazing performances that everyone will remember for years to come, and both the writing and directing is golden. The cinematography is great and is stylized so that the look of the movie is very scary and and suspenseful. This movie is now my number 1 favorite Eli Roth movie. I highly recommend for everyone to see Thanksgiving and to encourage others to see it as well. This is the kind of horror that deserves an Oscar. I also recommend for people to check out the behind the scenes features as well.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, Film Expert, Film Advocate,
Horror fan and amateur film critic)
Blue Beetle (2023)
A desperate attempt to rake in money from Superhero fans by Hollywood
Blue Beetle is a superhero movie that only works for audiences who are kids and teenagers. Older audiences who grew up with the older superhero movies that were made in the early 2000s won't like this one. This film contains a cast that has awful acting, and the idea isn't original at all. What they did was take a number of superheroes and they blended them together. Spiderman, Ironman, DeadPool and Batman are the main superheroes that the filmmakers blended together to create Blue Beetle. DC is struggling to create new original supheroes. The superhero genre isn't doing as bad as other genres are doing, like the horror genre, but for creating brand new superheros the idea needs to be original and the superhero shouldn't be so identical to other superheroes that superhero fans can see that they're replicating and copying ideas that have already been done. Even George Lopez's acting wasn't the best at all. George Lopez has done a lot of amazing movies and tv shows. I certainly hope he doesn't return for a sequel if one ever gets made. The whole movie fell apart very quickly and I didn't enjoy Blue Beetle one bit. It was lousy and it's a complete rip off of the superheroes that I had mentioned above. This is just a movie that is better off without a sequel. I am not giving this movie a bad rating based off of any political stuff, I just wanted to get that out of the way. I'm giving Blue Beetle a bad rating because it's unoriginal and it lacks complete creativity. Blue Beetle ranks at the top of my list for the worst Superhero movie ever made, period. Blue Beetle is extremely disappointing in every single way. I watched it because a friend recommended it to me. I don't know what other superhero fans saw, but what I saw was a desperate attempt to rake in money from the superhero fans. It didn't do that well at the box office and it definitely shows. The trailer made the movie look better than what the real movie actually is. To me the trailer looked okay, but the real movie is just pure trash and this is what I call an attention seeking film.
Rating: 1/2 star out of 5.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
I'm Glad This Movie Didn't Win An Oscar.
This movie is very average. I am a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp. They have both done lots of amazing movies that are worthy Of Oscars. Like, Sweeney Todd, Django Unchained, The Wild Of Wall Street, Secret Window, Black Mass and Titanic. But What's Eating Gilbert Grape is not one of them. Leonardo's acting seemed forced and the way he portrayed Arnie, didn't come natural to him. The way he played the mentally challenged part of the character seemed overdone and over the top. There are a few laughs in this movie, I will give it that. But with the average writing and directing, we end up with such an average movie, true film buffs will ask themselves, "How did the filmmakers get two huge stars to be in this movie in the first place?" I mean really, nothing truly exciting happens in this movie. I've seen Titanic and it's much better than this one, and both Black Mass and Sweeney Todd are way better. This movie started to annoy me and got boring within 45 minutes. The story is about how Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is always looking after his disabled brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) , and trying to keep him out of trouble, while he takes care of his family and supporting them as the bread winner. There are a number of scenes in which are terrible. The bond that is shown between Gilbert and Arnie seems fake and both of them aren't at the top of their game in this movie. I cannot understand why so many people think this movie should've won awards and gotten an Oscar. Lots of film buffs and film critics love this movie and they rate it very high. I have no idea why. This movie could've been way better, and the love story subplot is very short and I would've loved for the filmmakers to have developed that part of the movie further. All in all it is ultimately a thumbs down for me. The cinematography is very grainy at times and it has more of an amateurish style look to it rather than a professional look. If you want to see a great drama with either one of these great actors, then watch either, Black Mass or The Wolf Of Wall Street, movies like those are worth both time and money.
Written by
Bailey Giannini
(Film buff and amateur film critic)
Carnival of Blood (1970)
What Is This Crap?
Why was this horror film made? The answer to that of course is money. Carnival of Blood has lousy acting, very poorly done special effects, a movie script that could've been written by a 12 year old and a director who only took the job because he needed a paycheck. The kills are spread apart in this movie and there's no suspense and no scares whatsoever. This is a wannabe Saw film that is set in a Carnival, but it's super low budget, and the budget is so low that the filmmakers couldn't do anything major to improve the story or the special effects. I certainly wouldn't want to be credited in this movie if I was one of the cast or crew members. The actors should've asked themselves why they were there in the first place. It doesn't take a professional paid movie critic to see that this movie is downright terrible and that it's a waste of time for any film buff and any real horror fan. How anyone can find this one entertaining is something that I can't understand. Horror fans who do like this one, have poor taste, the footage looks like it was made with a homemade video camera and a bunch of buddies got together, which is still the case with some of the modern day horror films that are made today. This movie doesn't work for the majority of film buffs and horror fans. Completely ignore this movie. All this one is, is a money grabber. Which is 100% true.
Written
by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff and amateur film critic)
Totally Killer (2023)
The Best Horror Film I've Seen Since I saw Halloween (1978)
Totally Killer brought me back to the old school slasher horror movies, like: Halloween, Black Christmas, Friday The 13th and Scream. It is kind of like Scream, because there is good comedy within this slasher. There's a lot of great action and there's plenty of character development. I can tell that the filmmakers and the production companies took their time on making this one. This'll definitely be a horror/slasher/comedy movie that I'll watch every time during the Halloween seasons to come in the future. The acting is very well, the special effects and the wardrobe outfits are to perfection. The script writing is very good and the directing is great. The dialogue is true to the times, and when I watched this movie the dialogue didn't sound scripted, even though it is, it sounded like real people having real conversations. The cinematography is amazing, and it's some of the best cinematography that I have seen in a horror comedy slasher movie in a long time. The style in which this film is shot in reminds me of some of the other horror films that I have seen, like Halloween (2018) and Eli Roth's horror film, Knock Knock. I highly recommend this one, and if you're a die hard horror fan like me, you'll enjoy this horror movie even more. This one also has great editing and incredible music which helps make and build up both the scariness and the suspense. This horror movie has a great ending that you won't want to miss.
Written
By
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, amateur film critic, film advocate and a
hardcore horror fan)
Saw X (2023)
A great installment, now we need Saw XI
Saw X has everything in store, from brand new traps and special effects to amazing acting and a story that actually provides more insight that the Saw Fans and Horror Fans alike didn't know about John Kramer, aka. JigSaw to begin with. I found Saw X to be an excellent installment in the Saw franchise. I always love seeing Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith in their roles as John Kramer and Amanda Young. With this tenth film in the franchise, they both know how to keep their fans coming back for more Saw films. This time around Kevin Greutert directed the the film and it was written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. The writing and directing is awesome, I can definitely say that this the kind of horror movie sequel along with Scream VI that needs to win awards and Oscars. It's very sad that none of the Saw films have won any major awards, that's heartbreaking, because LionsGate Films, the filmmakers, producers and the cast who made this kind of movie poured their hearts out and they made something that is very dark and terrifying, but also beautiful. The creative minds and the the thought process behind writing a movie script and making a horror film like Saw X for instance needs to be appreciated a lot more by other film buffs. Saw X is an extremely terrifying, thrilling, suspenseful and exciting horror and thriller film that will give all horror fans a great time, no matter how many times they watch it, once this great sequel hits streaming. This is the kind of horror film that I would pay to see a second and third time at the movie theater. I love how the filmmakers always add brand new twists and subplots within the film in order to keep it fresh and brand new. The filmmakers, the producers. The studios and the production companies who make the Saw movies always know how to please the fans and they know exactly what the Saw fans want to see when they watch a Saw movie. They did an amazing job with Saw X, and I definitely do want the filmmakers and he producers to do a Saw XI. As long as the filmmakers can keep the Saw movies fresh, then lets keep 'em coming. Towards the end of the film, the fake blood looked like brown or black chocolate, with Saw XI I would very much like them to make sure that the fake blood looks as realistic as possible. The effects person who did the blood, needs to work on making sure that it looks real throughout the entire film, but that's my only suggestion and recommendation for the filmmakers for when they go to make Saw XI. I strongly recommend Saw X it is a must horror sequel and it's a terrific installment. Saw X gets a super strong thumbs up from me.
Written
by
Bailey Giannini
(Film Buff, amateur film critic, amateur film historian and horror fan)