I See Bad Movies So You Don't Have To!
A weekly look at the movies, both past and present. The name of this blog comes from the fact that I stay until the credits have ended.
Ratings from Best to Worst:
1). I Would Pay to See it Again
2). Full Price
3). Bargain Matinee
4). Cable
5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again
My View: Annabelle: Creation (2017) R Several years after the death of their little girl, a doll maker and his wife let a nun and several orphan girls into their home. They soon become the target of the doll maker’s possessed creation, Annabelle. If you like horror films that use the jump out of the dark technique to scare you, then you will be pleased with this fourth film in the Conjuring series. While not as imaginative as the first Conjuring film, this movie is far better than the first Annabelle film, and this one gives us answers to how and why the doll became possessed. The audience I watched this film with thoroughly enjoyed this movie, almost from the start. While not a great film, it’s still a lot of fun if you like to be scared at something creepy coming out at you from the dark. Fans of the series will want to stay through the first section of credits as there is a short bonus scene. My Rating: Bargain Matinee Annabelle: Creation Website
Family Faire: The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017) PG Surly (Will Arnett) and his friends are back. Life is good with the nut shop giving the gang a huge supply of food. A corrupt mayor (Bobby Moynihan) is out to replace the park that Surly calls home with an amusement park. Can Surly rally the gang to stop the Mayor from his plan? The only time I laughed was during an outtake shown during the closing credits. The film is annoying and other than a Kung Fu fighting mouse, has a bunch of characters we really don’t care about. The kids whom I saw this film with were bored and didn’t pay much attention after the opening sequences. The plot is laughable, and the animation is dark and dingy. While not as bad as The Boss Baby, it’s still not anything you should spend your family money on. My Rating: Cable The Nut Job 2 Website
Indiefest: The Glass Castle (2017) PG-13 A young woman named Jeannette (Brie Larson) looks back at her childhood when she was raised by a mother who was an eccentric artist (Naomi Watts) and an alcoholic father (Woody Harrelson) who kept his family moving to avoid the bill collectors. Based on a true story, the film never reaches that emotional impact that you expect from a movie like this. The film seems every bit of its 127-minute runtime. I think the big problem is that it continually shows how badly the father treated the kids. While he seems to have a good heart, he consistently puts his needs (most cigarettes and booze) over the needs of his family. The film does have a number of superlative performances with Brie Larson playing the grown up daughter who is trying to forget her past and Ella Anderson, who brilliantly plays Jeannette at age 10. Anderson is superb, giving her role depth and compassion. The film just never comes together, and due to its extended flashback sequences, seems disjointed. Fans of the best-selling book may enjoy this film, and anytime I can see Brie Larson perform is a good thing, but the film never hits the mark, making you feel you watched a very long movie for nothing. My Rating: Bargain Matinee The Glass Castle Website
Indiefest: Escapes (2017) Documentary chronicling the life of actor and Blade Runner screenwriter Hampton Fancher. This is a film about a man who isn’t quite as fascinating as he thinks he is. It’s like going to a cocktail party, and one guy tells a story that is an hour and a half long. Portions of the film are boring as a story or two is told that don’t go anywhere. There are times that his tale comes alive, and you see why while Fancher was never a star, kept working as an actor for a long time. The last 15 minutes of the film is about the writing of the script for Blade Runner. If the film had concentrated on this aspect of his life, it would have been a better, more entertaining film. My Rating: Bargain Matinee Escapes Website
Indiefest: Whose Streets? (2017) R A documentary that looks at how the killing of 18-year-0ld Mike Brown inspired a community to fight back and inspired the world to take a stand. The film does an outstanding job of letting us see and get to know some of the people who live in this community and care about it. We visit their homes, seeing how they live and deal with the day to day of running their families, all the while trying to make an impact on their community. Whose Streets? is a gritty and sometimes tough to watch documentary that shows you what it was like as part of the community of Ferguson, what they went through and continue to experience. It's a fascinating film that gives you what it was like from the right there inside the protests and the community of Ferguson. While the film is very one sided, that’s the point of this film, the director’s felt only one side was being told. It’s a movie that’s going to make you mad, sad and wonder how we got to this point in our society. My Rating: Full Price Whose Streets? Website
Indiefest: Wind River (2017) R An FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) teams with a town’s best game tracker (Jeremy Renner), with deep community ties and a haunted past, to track down a killer on a remote Native American Reservation. The film is a slow moving mystery/thriller that will keep you captivated because Renner and Olsen work so well on screen together. The movie isn't just a solve a crime film; we get to see the pain of losing a loved one so suddenly, how it still affects you years later as Renner’s tracker character has suffered a loss that motivates him to work so hard on this mystery. Renner gives the role both depth and warmth, so much so you instantly like his character. Olsen does a bang up job as the naive but determined FBI agent determined to solve the crime, despite the odds and the weather. Beautifully filmed in a land that you have to move quickly or the snowfall will wipe out any trace of clues. This is a movie where you don’t get lucky, you just survive, or you don’t in an unforgiving land. Wind River a mystery that you will want to solve. My Rating: Full Price Wind River Facebook Page
Forgotten Film: Raising Cain (Director’s Cut) (1992) R This is a review of the director’s cut that was released on DVD/BlueRay and not the version that was released in the theatre. A prominent child psychologist (John Lithgow) has a seemingly perfect life, a wonderful practice, a beautiful and loving wife (Lolita Davidovich) and a lovely child. The father, the John Lithgow character, decides to take a year off to help raise their child. There’s only one problem: the father has a secret that could change their family forever. This is a film that messes with the thriller genre and constantly changes the narrative to mess with the audience's minds. It uses humor to make this more of a dark comedy than a thriller, and it works. My Rating: Full Price Raising Cain Info
Weird Credits: From the credits of The Glass Castle: Child Coordinator
Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Battle of the Sexes (2017) PG-13 The legendary true story of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Emma Stone is playing Billie Jean, and Steve Carell is Bobby Riggs, the legendary tennis hustler. Battle of the Sexes Website
My View:War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) PG-13 Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are at war with the humans. After suffering heavy losses, Caesar decides to find the man who is responsible for the suffering, The Colonel (Woody Harrelson), and get his revenge. I have enjoyed this trilogy, and this is the best of the three. If Andy Serkis doesn’t get an Oscar nomination, I will be shocked. It’s a truly spectacular performance and a moving one. Woody Harrelson is fascinating as the villain of the film, an evil man who wants to destroy the apes. The film moves at such a pace that it seems the action doesn’t stop. And, you will fall in love with the chimpanzee named, Bad Ape (played by Steve Zahn). Don’t monkey around and miss this film. It’s one of the best of the summer and the year! My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again War for the Planet of the Apes Website
My View: Wish Upon (2017) PG-13 Clare (Joey King) is given a mysterious music box. She is surprised to find her every wish coming true, but soon she learns that there is a price for each wish. Wish Upon is an annoying horror movie where the deaths are right out of the ‘Final Destination’ series. Joey King is horrible as the teen who causes many deaths due to her wishing, but it takes almost the whole movie to realize that she is the reason for those deaths. The film isn’t scary, and all of the dying is predictable. The biggest problem with this movie is that you just don’t care about anyone in the film. Almost everyone, including the lead character, is a jerk. Be sure and look quickly for the un-credited role by Jerry O’Connell. If I had a wishing music box, I would wish that I had never seen this film. If you do go see this movie, stay through the first set of credits, as there is a bonus scene. My Rating: Cable Wish Upon Website
Indiefest: Maudie (2016) PG-13 An arthritic Nova Scotia woman, Maude (Sally Hawkins), works as a housekeeper while she practices her artwork and becomes a beloved figure in the community. Sally Hawkins gives a powerful and moving performance of a unique woman who, despite her disabilities, became a nationally known artist. Ethan Hawke plays Everett, Maude’s employer, a man who is set in his ways and doesn’t give in to anyone, that is until he has been around Maude. This is a love story, not just between Maude and Everett, but also about Maude’s consuming passion for painting. This is a beautifully shot film that focuses on how Maude sees the world, through the eyes of a painter. My Rating: Full Price Maudie Website
Indiefest: The Little Hours (2017) R A young servant (Dave Franco) flees his master and takes refuge at a convent full of emotionally unstable nuns in the Middle Ages. From the beginning of the movie when the two nuns shout obscenities at the gardener for looking at them, you know that we're not watching an ordinary movie about nuns in the 14th century. The language and actions of the inhabitants of this movie are more like a sitcom on HBO. The language is modern, bawdy and often vulgar with the dialogue mostly improvised. The characters seem to want to sleep with as many people as they can, and they do. The Little Hours is a comedy that pushes the boundaries, like a Monty Python film for 2017. Like Python, the comedy doesn't always work, but don't worry, there will be something new and hilarious right around the corner. My Rating: Bargain Matinee The Little Hours Website
Indiefest: Chasing Coral (2017) A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out to discover why the world’s coral reefs are vanishing. This film is relentless and unforgiving in trying to portray that the cause of the world’s reefs dying at an unprecedented level is due to global warming. This movie works, not just because of its stunning cinematography but also because of two of the stars of the film. One is a former advertising executive who has made it his mission to save the coral reefs and another is a young “coral junkie” whose passion for the reefs drives him to do very tiring and sometimes dangerous work underwater. I will warn you that parts of this film are tough and emotional to watch. It’s saddening when you see the vast areas of coral reefs that have died and turned an ugly brown. My Rating: Full Price The film does not have a theatrical run but can be found on Netflix. Chasing Coral Website
Indiefest: To the Bone (2017) Ellen (Lily Collins) is a 20-year-old anorexic woman who has spent her teenage years trying to beat her disease through what seems like a million programs without much success. Her family sends her to a group home for youths, where an unconventional doctor (Keanu Reeves) and the home seem to finally offer a solution. Now, Ellen must do the hard work to make it happen. I wanted to love this film, but I only liked it. I never quite got connected to the lead character, so it was hard to root for her. It’s a heartfelt movie with some moving scenes, but the plot goes for some easy outs in a film that should have had a harder tone to it. I enjoyed Lily Collins performance and especially enjoyed Alex Sharp’s performance as a former dancer who suffered and knee injury and is trying to lick anorexia. I think people that have dealt with eating disorders will enjoy this film, but for others, it will fall a little flat. My Rating: Bargain Matinee The film does not have a theatrical run but can be found on Netflix. To the Bone Website
Forgotten Film: Read My Lips (2001) This French thriller is about a woman, Carla (Emmanuelle Devos), who is almost deaf but can lip-read. She gets involved with an ex-con (Vincent Cassel). I can’t give away much of the plot which is full of twists and turns, most of which you won’t see coming. I will tell you that Carla’s ability to lip-read is crucial to the plot. This very original film is a lesson about the need to connect to another person and how those connections or dis-connections can affect your life. My Rating: Full Price Read My Lips Info
Weird Credits: From the credits of Wish Upon: Swamper
Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Wind River (2017) An FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) teams with a town’s best game tracker (Jeremy Renner), with deep community ties and a haunted past, to track down a killer on a remote Native American Reservation. Hey, I’ll see anything with Elizabeth Olsen in it. She is one of our best young actors out there. Wind River Facebook Page
