Five Nights at Freddy's 2

My View: Five Nights at Freddy's 2  (2025) PG-13  Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is set a year after Mike (Josh Hutcherson), Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), and Abby (Piper Rubio) escaped with their lives from Freddy’s. All three are trying to put their lives back together, but Abby has started getting messages from her animatronic friends asking her to save them. I did not like the first film, calling it “Blumhouse/Universal’s attempt at getting kids into horror films,” and I was right because Freddy’s 2 is just a continuation of that idea. The scares are small, one of the bad guys is an evil science teacher (played by Wayne Knight, who seems to specialize in playing smarmy bad guys), and even the animatronic rejects that show up aren’t scary at all. After seeing two of these films, I still have no clue why Abby thinks the animatronic figures are her best friends. We have some new bad guys introduced, and like the first film, there are plot holes the size of an extra-large pizza that the film tries to skim on by. The films are based on a bunch of highly successful video games, so I knew going in there would probably be a cliffhanger. And there is. Plus, you'll want to stay through all the credits as there are two bonus scenes that surprise, set up the next film. I think I’ll take that pizza order to go.  My Rating: Cable  Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair  (2006) Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair follows the Bride (Uma Thurman), who goes on a campaign of revenge against the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, and Michael Madsen) and their leader, Bill (David Carradine), who tried to murder the Bride.  Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair Website  The review will be up Friday night

My View:  Fackham Hall  (2025)  R   Fackham Hall is about Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe), a pickpocket who thinks he has hit the big time when he gets a job at the English manor house, Fackham Hall. He soon rises through the ranks and even starts a romance with the oldest sister of the house, Rose Davenport (Thomasin McKenzie). But a murder occurs, and Eric is blamed. No worries, Inspector Watt (Tom Goodman-Hill) has arrived to solve the case. Or maybe Eric should worry? If you really miss the Naked Gun movies or you are a sucker for Dad jokes, then this film is for you. The rest of us will find this film mildly amusing, which rarely goes far enough into the jokes to make them stand out. I did find the reverend who keeps messing up the sermon by not pausing between sentences, making everything sound dirty, was hilarious. Fackham Hall falls apart in the third act when our hero is accused of murder and ends with a whimper. I wanted bigger laughs, and all I got were some mild chuckles.  Rating: Cable  Fackham Hall Website   Now playing in theaters 

Indiefest:  100 Nights of Hero  (2025)  PG-13  In 100 Nights of Hero, Cherry (Maika Monroe) has not become pregnant by her husband Jerome (Amir El-Masry) and has been told that if she does not become pregnant within the next 101 days, she will be killed. The problem is her husband wants nothing to do with her and makes a bet with his friend, the handsome Manfred(Nicholas Galitzine), that if Manfred can seduce Cherry in the next 100 nights, he will give him the castle. Cherry’s only hope of resisting Manfred is with the help of her best friend and maid, Hero (Emma Corrin). 100 Nights of Hero is a take-off of the old story of Scheherazade telling stories in "One Thousand and One Nights," with Hero telling a tale to Manfred, so that he doesn’t end up alone with Cherry to seduce her. I enjoyed this film and the performances, especially Maika Monroe, as the slightly naïve Cherry, who doesn’t have a clue why her husband doesn’t want to sleep with her. The film is a lot of fun, just don’t think too hard on the plot, and it’s rushed to a (spoiler alert) happy ending. Just enjoy the story, or should I say stories being told.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  100 Nights of Hero Website Now playing in select theaters

My View:  Troll 2  (2025)   TV-14 Troll 2 is about three friends who reunite to deal with a giant troll who has emerged from the mountains. To defeat the troll, the three will have to get help from another giant troll to take it down. Troll 2 is a sequel to the 2022 Norwegian film Troll. Think of the first film like an ice-filled Godzilla film, and this one is like Godzilla vs. Megalon with snow. The budget was bigger on this one, probably because of two Trolls instead of one, and the storyline is a little weaker than the first film, but it’s still a fun monster film that gives us a Troll destroying a bunch of buildings and eating a few people. Just sit back and have fun. Maybe in a few years, a particular lizard-like monster will show up to join in.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Troll 2 Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform 

My View:  Oh. What. Fun  (2025)   PG-13  Oh. What. Fun. is about Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer), who always makes Christmas special for her family. However, this year she feels she has been taken for granted and decides to go on a holiday vacation without telling anybody, including her husband (Denis Leary). Will Claire come back to the family Christmas celebration, or is she having too much fun on the road by herself? How do you screw up a Christmas family comedy with a cast that has three Oscar nominees (Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Danielle Brooks) and a bunch of other notable actors? With a script that never should have been made into a commercial, much less a movie. This movie is over an hour and forty-five minutes long. Still, it feels like three hours, with a plot that takes forever to unfold, Pfeiffer having a ‘Southern’ accent but no one else in her family does (they live in Houston), and family members you truly dislike from the beginning, which by the end of the film, that dislike becomes hate. The film is filled with characters that make little sense. I couldn’t figure out if Doug, played horribly by Jason Schwartzman, who is married to Claire’s daughter, Channing (Felicity Jones), was hinting that he was trying to come out as gay or if he was just stupid in his quest to bond with another sister of Claire’s, Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz), Claire’s lesbian daughter, whose running gag is that every Christmas she has a new girlfriend. There are some painful scenes to watch, some of which keep going as if the director wanted to see the actors fall on their faces before yelling cut. If I were Claire, I would have left that family, too. I just would have done it a lot sooner. The title of this film should be Oh. What. Have They Done!  My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  Oh. What. Fun. Website  Now playing on the Amazon Prime platform

Sorry I Missed It (A film that I didn’t see when it first came out but have seen recently):  In Your Dreams  (2025) PG   In Your Dreams is about Stevie and her brother, who magically travel into the world of dreams to find The Sandman. They hope to persuade The Sandman to grant their wish to save their parents’ marriage. Kids are going to love this film because it is told from Stevie’s perspective and there are a ton of fun action sequences. Adults are going to enjoy the fact that the parents are the bad guys, as well as some fun takes from Japanese animation and a few Pixar films. Even what at the start is the bad guy, isn’t one at all, they just have a job to do. The animation is gorgeous, and the dream sequences are fun; even the ‘nightmares’ are a blast to watch. And wait until you meet Baloney Tony, a stinky stuffed animal that becomes a sidekick to the kids. Baloney, Tony steals the movie thanks to Craig Robinson’s voice work, which had me laughing at almost every wise quip Baloney says. And any parent who has tried every trick in the book to get their kids to sleep will enjoy the turtle sleep sound machine that is used almost as a weapon. So sit back and go on a magical ride to a dream state, where Stevie and her little brother set out on a quest to find the Sandman.  My Rating: Full Price  In Your Dreams Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

Forgotten Film:  Troll Hunter (2011)  Shot in “Blair Witch” style, three college students make a documentary for school on bear-poaching in Norway.  The students follow a mysterious man who drives a strange truck, believing him to be the poacher. The students soon discover, though, that the man isn’t hunting bears. He’s hunting trolls. This film is funny and scary at times, but it’s Otto Jespersen in the role of the Troll Hunter that makes it so much fun to watch. He has a worn, weathered appearance, and he describes his job of Troll-hunting almost as if he drives a truck for a living instead of hunting Trolls. This film never takes itself too seriously, which makes it an enjoyable film to watch, especially if you like horror movies.   Troll Hunter Info My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Troll Hunter is available on many streaming platforms 

Weird Credits: From the credits of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2:  Lead Puppet Wrangler

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come  (2026)  After surviving the game where the family Grace (Samara Weaving) was marrying into tried to kill her, she is now been kidnapped by four rival families, vying for a throne by killing her. To raise the stakes, Grace’s sister (Kathryn Newton) is now her partner in the new game. I loved the first Ready or Not film, which was full of comedic moments and genuine horror. So I can’t wait to see this one, especially since one of the hunters is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who strikes a “Buffy” pose in the trailer.  Ready or Not 2 Info The film is set to be released in April 2026. 

Until Next Time!