Let's Cee a Movie

One Way or Another

A well-made and well-acted thriller. (Massive Spoilers)

Send Help is a recently released thriller directed by Sam Raimi. I rarely watch trailers anymore to avoid spoilers, and I certainly didn’t need one after reading “Sam Raimi original thriller movie.” Since I think it’s best if you go in blind, and I’m about to spoil the movie all to hell, I’ll say it’s a well-acted, well-made two-hander I would recommend if you’re into that. If spoilers don’t bother you, please proceed.

“Who the hell has a pet chimp?”

An entertaining if predictable horror (spoilers)

Primate follows Lucy Pinborough (Johnny Sequoyah) as she returns home to hang out with friends and family, including her best friend, Kate (Victoria Wyant). The rest of Lucy’s family consists of her dad, Adam (Troy Kotsur), a deaf novelist, her sister Erin (Gia Hunter), who Lucy has grown estranged from since the death of their mother, and Ben (Miguel Torres Umba), the family’s pet chimpanzee who ends up contracting rabies.

Number of the Beast

A well-made horror sequel (Massive Spoilers)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is the middle installment of a planned trilogy, all written by Alex Garland. Unlike the other two, it was not directed by Danny Boyle. Nia DaCosta helmed this one, which is evident from the first scene. The camera moves in a way that makes you go, ‘Danny Boyle did not direct this.’ And that’s not a knock against him. Merely an observation that the two different directing styles are very noticeable.

How Jim Carrey Stole The Show

An entertaining holiday cult classic (Spoilers)

You probably already know the plot, but let me do this one more time. The Grinch (Jim Carrey) is a furry, green creature who hates Christmas and decides to steal it from his neighbors in Whoville, with unexpected results. To pad out Dr. Seuss’ short book, the film adds numerous subplots, like a love triangle between the Grinch, Martha May Whoiver (Christine Baranski), and Mayor Augustus MayWho (Jeffrey Tambor), which is… okay.

Blue Christmas

An underrated horror film (Spoilers)

Businesswoman Angela Bridges (Rachel Nichols) is on her way to a family Christmas party when she’s knocked unconscious by her building’s parking attendant, Thomas Barclay (Wes Bentley). She wakes up with her hair down, changed into a cleavage-bearing white dress, with heavier makeup on, being subject to one of, if not the, worst first dates in the history of cinema. However, I use the term “date” loosely.

One horse open sleigh to hell

A cute holiday film

Oh. What. Fun is a new comedy that has Michelle Pfeiffer suffer her worst Christmas since Batman Returns. She plays the matriarch of a large family, Claire Clauster, who includes her husband, Nick (Denis Leary), and three kids. Channing (Felicity Jones), the oldest and the only one with a family of her own, Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz), who brings a new girlfriend home every Christmas, and Sammy (Dominic Sessa), who recently got dumped by his own girlfriend Mae-Bell (Maude Apatow), which is even worse than having to spend the season with Paul Giamatti.

Slayride

Entertaining holiday movies (Spoilers)

Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 slasher film released during the rise of moral guardianship. As such, it was very controversial because it featured a killer dressed as Santa Claus. However, all that free publicity worked in the movie’s favor, as it made a lot of money at the box office and on VHS despite being pulled from theaters.

Wicked: Part Two

A good adaptation (Spoilers)

Wicked: For Good, formerly Wicked: Part Two, adapts the second half of the stage musical, which in turn was an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name. I highly recommend reading my review of the previous film, if only because the synopsis of this movie gives away several important plot twists.

The Long Run

Both are good, but in different ways (Spoilers)

The Running Man is a 1982 novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The book is set in 2025 and tells the tale of a dystopian America that’s steadily imploding due to a corrupt government, weaponized media, economic inequality, and pollution caused by unregulated capitalism. Thank God real life isn’t like that, because that would be terrifying.

Julie James Trilogy

Each film gets steadily worse (Spoilers)

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 slasher film that was written by Kevin Williamson, who also wrote Scream (1996) and created Dawson’s Creek. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, which I didn’t bother to read because it’s a loose adaptation. There have been three subsequent films and one TV show. For this review, I’ll be focusing on the three most interconnected films that form a trilogy. Unless they make more sequels—which I doubt—but they probably will now that I’ve written that.