On Saturday I finished Netflix's latest limited series Midnight Mass from the same creator of The Haunting of Hill House and I thought it was a good show. I know that Mike Flanagan is a hot topic in horror circles right now but like Hill House I found it too wordy and if I wanted my horror that way we should've at least gotten an Andrei Tarkovsky horror movie. Speaking of Tarkovsky, I watched his last movie The Sacrifice in the evening after three sittings and while it didn't move me as much as Stalker or Solaris did, the ending was still memorable. Here's my full review of the show.
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Report of the Week: 9/25 - 10/1/2021 (w/Links)
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Review: Midnight Mass
From the creator of The Haunting of Hill House comes a new limited series by Mike Flanagan aptly titled Midnight Mass. Riley Flynn commits one of the most atrocious crimes when he gets drunk and smashes his car onto another, killing the driver and pleading guilty to the crime he is sent to prison for four years. When his sentence is over he returns home to his family in Crockett Island, a small island town off the mainland. Meanwhile a new priest arrives in town; Father Paul Hill who's substituting for their local priest Msgr. John Pruitt who was on a trip to the Promised Land - Israel and likely suffered from health problems. And so the story begins, with the sinner and the savior arriving at the same time. This is a slow burn of a show, wordy in parts particularly with the characters Riley and Father Paul but these two aren't the only characters of note that inhabit the island. There's Riley's parents; Annie and Ed Flynn and his younger brother Warren, Erin Greene the school teacher and Riley's high school sweetheart, Joe the town drunk, Leeza the paralyzed young teenager due to a hunting incident caused by Joe, Bev Keane who helps out during mass service and is a particular type of Christian and then there's the sheriff; Hassan and his son Ali. All the characters feel like they came out of a Stephen King novel and that's a good thing. It's a tight knit community where everyone knows everyone and while that's true in this island town, it's also like a ghost and that's where our story starts.
Saturday, September 25, 2021
Report of the Week: 9/17 - 9/24/2021 (w/Links)
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Review: Strange Days
'I'm the magic man.' |
Monday, September 20, 2021
Review: West Side Story (1961)
'Romeo and Juliet: The Musical' |
Here's another musical for you, this time instead of the backdrop of the Austrian sights it's set in a poor neighborhood in New York City that tells the story of two teenagers with different ethnic backgrounds who fall in love but since they are both from rival gangs this becomes a problem for their friends. West Side Story, like The Sound of Music is another iconic musical that found its way to being made into a movie. I guess the main reason why I'm doing this is because of the new version by Steven Spielberg coming out in December and I'm preparing myself for it just as a refresher to the story. Basically, this is the story of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but instead of rival families, it's rival gangs in New York City's West Side. The movie starts out with a dance battle between the Jets and the Sharks as they each try to take control over the neighborhood. The Sharks are led by Bernardo and the Jets by Riff. Later, Riff tries to deal with Bernardo via a rumble but not before calling on Tony, a former Jet into the fold. Meanwhile, Bernardo's young sister Maria who recently moved into the neighborhood plans to have a good time at the dance the same evening. When Tony and Maria finally meet at the dance, sparks fly but their respective affiliations with the rival gangs prevents them from being together.
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Movies From My Childhood: The Sound of Music (1965)
'The hills are alive with the sound of music.' |
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Movies From My Childhood: Jumanji (1995)
As I got older I've become more nostalgic for the movies from my own childhood and so I decided to start a new series of posts that reviews movies from that time in my life and for my first entry I've chosen Jumanji starring the late Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Bonnie Hunt and Jonathan Hyde. When two kids find and play a magical board game, they release a man trapped in it for decades - and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game. I grew up with HBO on our TV set and it was one of the channels I spent most of my time on and I look back on it every now and then. Jumanji is among my favorites growing up and while I've seen it countless times over the years, there's still something special about it. Could it be the CGI of the time or is it because the story has a lot to offer? Having seen it again recently I noticed things that I never did before.