The first Insidious I love, the second is pure bonkers, I don't recall much of 3 and 4 other than a few moments but they were fine, the fifth I enjoyed, but now we have the sixth, and it brings in some new characters and feels pretty fresh. The story feels inspired and the imagery is haunting, it is honestly the best since the first though I still prefer the second. Is it hella far fetched? Yes but with this series you have to roll with it.
David Robert Mitchell crafted one of the best horror films this century in It Follows. He has dabbled into noir but now he is back in genre film making with sci fi and dinosaurs in It Dinos. This is a fun flick, not just a fun flick but a great flick. Bad Robot feels like Amblin, and where Steven Spielberg showed JJ Abrams on Super 8, JJ seems to be doing the same for Mitchell here. There is heart, a family dynamic, some great acting, insane tension, amazing and accurate creature effects and designs and some genuine shocks. The film pushed the limit of PG 13 and in saying that it has balls, big ol dino balls.....not really.....but now that you mention it ......any how this is probably the best dinosaur film since Jurassic World if not Jurassic Park.....unless we are counting Godzilla Minus One, but apples and oranges, a tasty fruit is a tasty fruit and unlike the last few Jurassic flicks this one has nutrients.
X Men the animated series was great, it was a cluster of story telling but it somehow worked for the X Men. X Men 97 provided fan service and felt s tad forced being aimed at adults, but structurally it was all the same. The second season is all that but it is a tighter season. Is their fan service? Hell yes, and we loved it. The third episode of the season was 100 percent that and it was the best episode for me. Was it forced? Not really. Was it a cluster? Yes but as always it works itself out at the end. This season had deaths, and ones that show the show. It had heel turns that felt important. It played with time in one of the best and most Marvel ways. Now just time travel to 2027.....or not just stay in 97, I'll still watch.
Spider Man Brand New Day is the Spider Man film I have waited 25 years for. There are spoilers here so warning true believers. I feel the Raimi trilogy(well first 2) truly captured awe. Andrew Garfield captured Peter Parker. Tom Holland has been growing, his Spidey was younger and naive in the larger MCU. Here he has grown and matured. After the events of the last chapter he is now a loner that saves the city. Holland nails it here and injects alot of heart. He has become my favorite Parker. The plot while contrived at the start makes sense at the end and holy fuck is it a ride. Birth of the atom, the mutants walk among us finally. Heels and faces are shades of grey......and it gives this film so many layers. MJ and Ned are part of the heart of this film and the end even pulls the heart strings. This might be right below the 3 Guardians and the last 2 Avengers films as my favorite in the MCU and if not it is neck and neck with No Way Home. This is easily the best of the Spidey films since I would say since Spider Man 2. I am now ready for Doomsday.
Faces of Death was something of legend growing up. I was the horror kid that had all the cool shit like Dawn of the Dead, The Evil Dead, and Phantasm. But there were kids that had heard of Faces. No one really saw it, I didn't until my teens after Lime Wiring it. I have the collection...not a huge fan but I didn't pass up on buying it. I rematched it recently and it certainly sounds like a movie......and now we get a remake....or a meta sequel.....or a film that knows of the original. Whatever the case the concept is great, a killer reenacts the kills from Faces and leaks em online. A girl that works for a Meta/YouTube esque site flags the videos and suspects these are real. Her horror loving roomie owns the original VHS. The paths of Meta Girl. ..I mean train girl, and the killer shall cross. Only problem is the cops and doctors in this are incompetent and should be fired. It is too easy for people not to believe her and for him to keep getting away, but her it happened to Dahmer. Other issue is our lead, she is annoying and honestly quite idiotic. For a girl that works online she doesn't seem to have a clue. I will say Dacre Montgomery steals the show though. I didn't hate it, I didn't like, I simply faced death.
I love Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is probably on my top 30 of all time. With the exception of Only God Forgives I have enjoyed all of his films. Her Private Hell is the film I wished Only God Forgives was. Don't get me wrong, this film is a disaster but it is a beautiful disaster. It looks gorgeous and is scored amazingly and the acting oozes camp but the plot is a fever dream of a cluster but I admired it. It is incoherent and spotty and not much makes sense but it feels purely Refn, this is him unhinged after a decade away.
