With the latest trend in Hollywood being reboots of franchises gone awry, one could easily become skeptical of a new Halloween movie. Luckily, this movie seems to have returned the franchise to its horror roots.

There’s no convoluted plot points. Well, save one. We’ll see if you can pinpoint the scene that seems wholly irrelevant. Anyway, besides that one scene/character, this movie sticks to the basics.

You’ll see brute force that is surprisingly enjoyable, and relearn to fear simple household objects like a hammer or, well, a knife. And, for the first time in a while, you may actually find yourself sitting with baited breath at a slasher flick. I say the first time in a while because, after A Nightmare On Elm Street pumped out 50 movies, along with Halloween and Friday the 13th and a trillion others, you found yourself laughing at slasher films more often than you were actually scared.

Sometimes I’ll see the trailer for a movie, and, without even glancing at reviews, I know it’ll be right up my alley and be a great film. This film met my expectations and even exceeded them. With a stellar cast that makes even the smallest roles compelling, I don’t think this movie could have been executed any better with the plot it had. Some may find the slower moments of the film meandering, but those are people who can’t appreciate how the slow moments in a movie build character development and make the big moments stand out. A bottle smash in this movie stood out to me and shocked me more than even the most brutal death in Venom. That’s good storytelling.

With the highest compliment I can give to a film, this movie reminds me very much of The Hateful Eight. If your film is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino, you’re doing something right. 

Definitely worth a trip to the theater.

This movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a superhero movie? A comedy? A generic action flick? I know about as well as it does.

This movie also suffers from pacing issues. The first 30 minutes of the movie tries to shoehorn in some exposition, but it feels like the director had the mentality of “Let’s get this shit over with so we can get to the good stuff.” You get the sense that every role in the movie could have been filled by literally any other generic actor. This excludes Tom Hardy, of course. But even Tom Hardy seems to have been unsure of what this movie was supposed to be. 3/4 of his work in the movie is playing the straight guy to Venom’s immorality.

You’d have to be actively trying in order to not enjoy this film. Is it going to win any oscars? Heck no. No, the acting isn’t particularly noteworthy, the character development is damn near nonexistent, and even the cgi and green-screening can be a bit cheesy (I’m looking at you, laughable baseball field scene).

BUT the action is entertaining, the gore you want is *mostly* there, and the laughs keep on coming. You heard me right, the laughs. Let’s face it, folks, The Predator franchise can’t live up to the seriousness of the Alien franchise, and the director knew that full well. That’s why he loaded this action flick with a bunch of comedians and one-liners. It helps you forget how damn stupid the plot points can be.

Anna Kendrick turns everything she touches into gold. Her performance alone makes this movie worth watching. Blake Lively also gives an intoxicating performance that livens (excuse the pun) the film to a purely enjoyable watch.

The movie has twists and turns (my favorite phrase when reviewing thrillers) and keeps you hooked the whole way through. Like any good thriller, I struggle think of a slow point in the movie.

While I don’t recommend you bring your kids along, nor would I be caught dead recommending this to even my Juniors, I do strongly recommend you see this movie if you’re the movie-going type.

With how busy I’ve been getting ready for and starting my first year of teaching, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to watch a movie as of late. That being said, I’m going to share a brief movie review with ya’ll.

I don’t know why I didn’t give this a watch until today, but Gone Baby Gone is fantastic. It has a wonderful cast with many very recognizable character actors, and the twists and turns never disappoint. The movie is also powerful in a way that only good movies are. When you find yourself watching the last shot, you can’t help but sit back in awe —Awe for the honest brutality of the film.

If you don’t mind subtitles, and you don’t mind slow burn movies, this movie might just be up your ally.

There’s powerful acting, and the cgi animals are flawless to the point where, even as I write this, I am not entirely sure when the animals were cgi and when they weren’t. The film is truly stunning with its visuals, and could easily be compared to Life of Pi.

One thought left burning in my mind, though, is that I feel as though I’ve seen this same story played out in another film or tv show before.