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TexMex7
Reviews
Baby Boy (2001)
Underrated and unappreciated.
I watched this movie when it first premiere in 2001. Afterward, I thought it was pretty dumb and didn't do anything but was 2 hours. Fast forward a couple of decades, and I did some reading on the background of the movie. Knowing that Singleton wrote the part of Jody for Tupac Shakur, and his untimely death resulted in Tyrese Gibson ultimately landing the role, the performance he gave was amazing, as Tupac was a gifted artist. This movie may not ever make it into the Library of Congress, but it is an underrated movie for sure and went unappreciated, in my opinion, and I'm not blameless in that. Singleton wrote and directed a great movie. Can't quite call it a masterpiece, but great, nonetheless.
Halloween Ends (2022)
Halloween Ends through two lenses.
I understand the hate, truly, I do. Michael Myers basically makes what equals a cameo appearance in the 'swan song' of the Halloween saga. He deserved so much more than he got.
After watching the first two of the Blumhouse Halloween movies, I did not expect the acting to be any good, and I expected more dumb dialogue, although I feel they did dial it down a half notch. I got what I expected even as I tried to shed any expectations for this movie, I only managed to succeed on one front.
Considering that John Carpenter had originally intended Halloween to be an anthology series with different stories based on Halloween night, I honestly viewed this movie with an anthology theme in mind. If we didn't know Laurie Strode for everything she is known for, this movie succeeds. It would get a 6.5/10 rating and earn every bit of it.
The problem is that when brought back to reality, it's not an anthology. This movie had no room for a new character to take over the entire story just to tell Michael "okay, let's squeeze you in here at the end and get you killed, come on, only got 10 minutes left". That narrows down the send off that they felt was appropriate for Michael. I'm insulted on Michael Myers' behalf. Some may feel that 3/10 is being pretty generous, but there were some good moments in the movie. It wasn't a terrible movie, it was a terrible sendoff for 44 years of horror.
Will & Grace (1998)
Used to love this show...
They should have just left it in syndication. Without the reboot, no doubt I'd give it a solid 8/10 stars. BUT, Hollywood decided it needed MORE liberal drivel and used a once endeared show as a vehicle to take aim at the political right. The show used to be hilarious and now it's hilariously cringe. Even with how good it used to be, it's not enough to save its reputation and it deserves every low rating it gets. I look forward to watching Hollywood writers screw up even more attempts to revive shows because they believe they know what America wants to see. RIP Will & Grace. You deserved better.
Ozark: Fire Pink (2020)
SOLID 10/10
An episode so powerful, that all I can really say is that the performances in this episode surpass anything I've ever watched. Tom Pelphrey and Laura Linney KILL. IT. No other words. Maybe I'll find them someday, but today is not that day.
Santa Inc. (2021)
It's official.
IMDb needs to introduce the much needed "0" star rating. If there was EVER a production that earned it, it's this atrocious piece of garbage. Something happened to Seth Rogen. The guy did a hard 180 from comedian/actor/writer to raging leftist. Some may say the two go hand in hand, but it was much better hidden earlier in his career. This show is an affront to Christians and it's obvious that Rogen feels he can get away with it because he's Jewish and a Hollyweirdo. His and Sarah Silverman's eyes would be popping out of their skulls if someone disparaged Jews on this level. One star is too much for this filth.
Halloween Kills (2021)
Could have been SO much more. *Sigh*
I'll preface by proclaiming that Halloween is not my favorite horror movie. It's my favorite movie of all time. Humble brag or not, it is what it is. That's why any movie in its saga, whether part of a reboot or reimagining, gets an honest critique from me. If one is going to flood the movie with fan service, it better be good and it better fit. This was a huge problem in this movie.
I wasn't going to write a review, but after seeing one 10/10 ratings too many with quips like "ignore the low star trolls" I feel that I have to put my 2 cents in. Suffice to say that I've noticed anyone with a glaring 10/10 review just says "the movie is awesome" or "Michael Myers at his best" but they don't take the time or energy to tell you what makes it awesome enough to receive 10/10. The "low star trolls" more often than not will tell you what makes it bad and then explain.
The problem, in my opinion, with Halloween movies is that they have had to fight to be taken seriously every single time a sequel is mucked together and released to the public. The reason they generally receive poor reviews from your average movie goer or critic is that the movie doesn't deliver enough backstory of characters or doesn't pay close attention to details such as the various masks used, which seems small, but magnifies under the lens of a bad storyline. That could be due in large part to some directors just wanting a new three movie deal with a certain studio, or a scenario where they don't get to do their favored project unless they complete another less than preferable movie beforehand. "Halloween" seems to have been the victim of those scenarios. So, when David Gordon Green and Danny McBride chose to make this their preferred project and no one forced their hands to do it, I had the greatest feeling of excitement because I believed we were going to get movie(s) that had people who were going to put their best foot forward on it and deliver the movie(s) that the fans deserved... so if this is their evidence of their best foot forward, then it makes me truly sad as a hardcore fan of this saga. And now that sadness has turned to bitterness over the course of every bad sequel, reboot or reimagining. They had a big opportunity and seemingly embraced the pressure of scrutinizing it and making sure they delivered. They had the attention to detail to ensure that the masks in the movie were as accurate as they could possibly be. Big plus. The costumes were to the point where the footprints from the boots were accurate to the era and time period of the ones Michael wore in 1978. They nailed that and the tone of the original as best they could with today's cinematography tools as opposed to what was available back in 1978 and it's very much appreciated.
What's NOT appreciated is the lack of understanding that Halloween movies have had a reputation problem of not being taken seriously, as stated before. That makes ridiculous lines like "he stabbed his sister in the tits" and "evil dies tonight" being repeated ad nauseum and in the most ridiculous manner, unbearable. And no, that's not the only thing that makes this film take one on the chin. Marion Chambers stating, in a very precarious situation where Michael has just ripped out a chunk of her hair and is inches from ending the lives of everyone in the car, "... hey Michael, this is for Dr. Loomis" before realizing her gun's chamber is empty. She basically deserved to be stabbed repeatedly the way she was. So cliche, which makes it so dumb. Suffice to say that the dialogue didn't just need work, it was on life support. I find it very disheartening that there was a team of writers and between the 3 of them, they all read the dialogue and said "this is fine". To top that off, there's a team of editors that watched those words play out and decided to keep them in the movie. Normally, if a story is really strong, questionable dialogue here and there gets overlooked. But as I said, Halloween entries have not been a beneficiary of that. I'd like someone to watch Tommy speaking to himself as he describes how he's going to make Michael go "night night". It was hilariously BAD.
As much as I loved that former Sheriff Leigh Brackett found a place in this film, it was beyond cringe when he's got a gun, that he doesn't even fire at Michael, pointed at him and spouts with as much gusto as Marion "...hey, Michael, it's Halloween... everyone's entitled to one good scare". What does that mean in that moment, Sheriff?? Halloween II may not be canon anymore, but we all still saw how destroyed you were when you realized Annie was dead and that it was Michael who killed her. I want your passion to come out when you're face to face with him after 40 years, not your cheesy sentiment. It had no place there. It felt like the writers were wanting to pay us some more fan service that I honestly could have done without. If that was a scene that was left on the editing room floor, and made it to the DVD bonus extras, I would have very much appreciated it. As it stands, that line is forever embedded in Halloween lore, so I have no choice but to penalize them for it. I almost wanted to turn it off at that point, but Michael was about to face the wrath of the most inept mob of people so I decided to continue watching. If the tagline would have been "evil gets a mild beat down tonight" it might have accurately represented the tone of their ire.
Big John, Little John, Little John, Big John. *facepalm* And declaring to Michael "you came home" is right up there with "evil dies tonight". I'd rather you mourn over your lover while Michael takes zero pity for those who inhabit his house and he slaughters you as you cry. By the way, I'm glad that Michael thinks so much of your relationship that he decided to play you an Anne Murray classic... *double facepalm*.
By the way, could someone tell Jamie Lee Curtis that you don't need to scream bloody murder just because you're giving yourself an injection of a painkiller that you could have just asked Karen to give you.
Moving on to Karen, I didn't get the sense from her that her husband was killed by Michael just a few hours ago, if that. Coming to the defense of Allyson when she was about to be butchered by Michael was pretty cool... so why stop at one stab in the back with a pitchfork and a mild stomp to the head that dazed Michael for all of 5 seconds, just long enough for her to pull off his mask? What if Michael got up, turned right around and finished the job on Allyson and right in front of you? Or would the rules of horror movies not allow it? This is where attention to detail would have been more appreciated. What made Karen get up, in the midst of caring for her injured and traumatized daughter and look up in the window of the Myers house? Seriously. Can someone explain to me what would compel her to do that beyond saying "she must have had a feeling..." as stated by my lovely wife? A. Feeling. About. What. Exactly?? If you find yourself saying 'you're being really nitpicky, dude', I say to you , I'm not saying anything I wouldn't say to the production crew or to myself if I took it upon myself to procure a meeting with John Carpenter and get his blessing to expound and expand upon his masterpiece. There's a lot of implied responsibility of such an undertaking, and if you ask me, this crew didn't just miss the mark, they ignored their responsibility to do their absolute best. Again, if this is their best, then holy crap!, 'Halloween Ends' isn't looking good. You have a team of people around you, and what is their investment in this?
How would Lonnie Elam end up stuffed into the attic door? How and why would Michael take the time and attention to do that given that Cameron and Allyson immediately charged into the house upon hearing the first gun shot? If you're thinking it doesn't matter, it does when this was pointed out in Halloween (2018) when everyone wondered how Michael stuffed Ray into the closet inside the house after he strangled him to death and left his body lying on the front lawn when he went after Laurie inside the house? Continuity matters, and no one has a logical explanation for it. No one. And is anyone wondering why no one will take Halloween movies seriously? With each entry, they are basically allowing everyone to treat this saga with the same reverence as Child's Play. They basically mock John Carpenter with each entry. It makes it hard to believe he signed off on this as opposed to being money whipped into signing off and giving his blessing.
Evil did not die tonight. Evil was excused tonight. The heinous nature of mob mentality couple with a case of mistaken identity (although I'm still scratching my head how) forced a person to commit suicide rather than be torn apart by the mob, a mob that seemingly had hospital personnel in the fray.
This film would have likely gotten 3 stars from me, but since Blumhouse was able to strike a deal with Peacock and it cost me only $4.99, plus I get to stream "The Office" again, it gets that extra star. That's the best fan service I've had since I started watching "Halloween Kills". If you happen to read this before you watch Halloween Kills, I wish you the best of luck doing what I had to do, even as the biggest fan of Michael Myers and the Halloween saga, which is endure it somehow.