The French DIspatch

 So Bottle Rocket cemented Wes Anderson as a master craftsman, but Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, and Darjeeling Limited set the tone for his characters and his overall style. Add in two cartoons in Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs and it shows how his last three live action films are....live action cartoons. Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest Hotel were doses of elevated reality, films that seemed like stories being told with the same quirky characters but in more over the top situations. The French Dispatch follows that formula but is his most unhinged yet. It seems every Wes Anderson film gets odder & odder. This is pure post modern Wes Anderson, all his tropes & techniques are on full blast. A whimsical anthology of dead bodies in the water, murderous artists, political youth movements, and a madcap car chase. His style oozes in every frame and every word is poetic. This might be his most bonkers and his most deranged. 

Last Night in Soho

 Last Night in Soho is the best cinematic experience i have had in about 4 years. The picture is gorgeous, the soundtrack is great,  and the acting is excellent. A tale of two women in two decades, their journeys intertwine through their hopes and dreams and ultimately unravel. A neo noir, supernatural, neon lit, coming of age, giallo infused slice of surrealism.  It has everything that makes an Edgar Wright film excellent, his trade mark filmmaking techniques have never been better because he has never tackled a film this dark and whimsical before. For every moment of whimsy in the first act we are slapped in the face with tension and assault in the last two. The film attacks the viewer visually and mentally, it is viscerally jumping the senses. Part Room 104, part Suspiria, part Black Swan but purely a Wright film though and through. It is Edgar making art and showing how to craft film, his most visually striking film since Scott Pilgrim and his most daring film to date.  The only thing that can top this film in 2021 might be from Wes Anderson, but i'll be seeing that later. 

Creepshow Season 3

 Creepshow season 3 was a mixed bag, here is my ranking of the segments. 

Skeletons in the Closet

Drug Traffic 

A Dead Girl Named Sue 

The Things in Oakwood's Past 

 Time Out 

Those were the good ones, the rest are forgettable. 

Queen Bee 

Stranger Sings 

Familiar 

Mums

Okay, I'll Bite

Meter Reader 

The Last Tsuburaya 

American Horror Story: Double Feature

 When Double Feature was announced i thought maybe we'd get two new episodes a week, instead we got 6 of one "feature" 4 of another. I am glad because this was enough. My history with AHS is shaky at best. I love Murder House, Coven & 84, i grew tired of Asylum and Apocalypse's uneven storytelling, i found Freakshow and Hotel to be spotty and i hated Roanoke & Cult. Stories, their anthology show was pretty sweet and has one of if not THE best episode of all AHS. Double Feature might be the worst season yet. The first feature had decent acting from Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson and Macaulay Culkin but the ploy was a bore and the vampires felt like their commentary could have been stronger. Which for Ryan Murphy is saying something as he is heavy handed but missed the landing even with this. His characters were pure annoying Murphy characters. The second "feature" was the epitome of a mess. 

Dune

 So Denis Villeneuve is an interesting cat. Prisoners and Enemy were solid yet forgettable films, Sicario made me a fan and made me go to his back catalogue. His early work, much like his first two American films are solid yet forgettable. After his masterpiece Sicario he went full on Sci Fi, first was Arrival a film i still don't know how i truly feel about it. Looks gorgeous, is well made but is dull. Same applies to Blade Runner 2049, that is a film that needed hard core trimming. Luckily he split Dune into two stories, no he didn't shoot em back to back or as one film, it will be treated like a sequel, and it ends on a high note but damn if at 2 & a half hours if this was not a snooze fest. Denis you films look great but with the exception of Sicario they are boring as fuck. I am a fan of the David Lynch version even though it is admittedly a messy and weird film. Here we get the political aspects of the Star Wars prequels and the padding episodes of Game of Thrones combined with a dose of pretentiousness. The book i am not a fan of, i forced myself to read it on a train, but i found it boring. I will give the film props for being accurate in adapting the dialect but that is a reason myself and others hated the book. This is not Lord of the Rings, this is a chore. Atleast we have Jodorowsky's Dune to see what Alejandro would have given us! 

Night of the Animated Dead

 Night of the Animated is the follow up to To Your Last Death, a film that reminded me of City of Rot. City of Rot is a cool little zombie film, crudely drawn but it works for the budget. Night of the Animated Dead is Warner Bros doing a Night of the Living Dead film yet the animation looks cheap as fuck. Are they going for a City of Rot look? If so, Rot was crude, this is just a step above MS Paint. To Your Last Death looked cool, but c'mon WB, give us some of the love you give DC & Mortal Kombat. Regardless if you're a Night of the Living Dead fan, check it out. SAME PLOT. But if you want Night animated, go watch Night of the Living Dead ReAnimated instead, 

Snake Eyes

 So i love GI Joe, and my favorite character is Snake Eyes. I have quite a few Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow figures so when a Snake Eyes film was announced i was intrigued, The first two live action GI Joe films are terrible so surely this might be badass right? After all the cast was solid(including Samara Weaving) and the trailer looked way better than Shang Chi. Well Shang Chi was better, this here started off decent but once Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow align the film begins to not just drag but also make no sense. Too many characters turn and you lose track of who is on what side, and even worse the goal and plot begin to fall apart. Honestly the best part was the closing credits which reminded me of Enter the Void. I'd still check out a sequel on video but i wouldn't be excited. 

Slumber Party Massacre

 Slumber Party Massacre, from the director of The Banana Splits, might be the most meta flick of the year. The first half is so self aware it borderlines on parody but it does so in such excellent execution. It's dumb fun with hot babes partying....until it is not. Then it flips the script with gender norms, sprinkles in social commentary and has it's tongue firmly in cheek by doing all of this with a wink and not being heavy handed. The last act becomes less fourth wall breaking and more straight up slasher all while keeping the vibe light and fun. It's not so much a remake of the original as it is just taking Russ and placing him in a film that tackles the tropes of 80s slashers. With the Banana Splits(another film that took a pre existing property but spun it) and now this, i am excited to see what Danishka Esterhazy does next. 

Halloween Kills

 So first off, the Halloween, Halloween 2, H20 timeline will always be my favorite due to my love of 2(and H20) but the 2018/Kills timeline is a close second. I loved the 2018 40 years later sequel, and now we get Halloween Kills, which takes place the same exact night. From the get-go we are thrown into the ramifications of the 2018 night. Right when character's cross paths we go back to 1978 and we see what happened after Michael fell out the window and before he was caught. We get returns of old characters, and some embark on new destinies. Back in 2018 we get a sequel that pays tribute to Halloween 2, 3 & 4, increases the brutality of Michael and is ultimately a fan film with a budget. There is so much to love about returning characters, character connections and throwback lines of dialogue. This truly feels like a long lost/highly anticipated sequel set 40 years after, it is fan service with old characters and it marks you out and i loved that. The ending might be contrived but it ultimately sets up Halloween Ends. And after this, it needs to end. That is not a negative comment but storytelling wise it sets up how a final encounter will happen, especially if it too is set the same night/next day. People will still complain that there is a new film, but we have been getting sequels since 1981 so let it go. This could have(and should have) been the finale but i will gladly take one more trip to Haddonfield. 

The Medium

 The Medium is the new film on Shudder from the director of Shutter and it is one of the more effective fund footage films there is lately. While not found footage perse it uses the gimmick better than most legit found footage films. It embraces the docu style all while spinning an eerie supernatural tale. It could use alot of trimming, as there is not need for it to be over 2 hours, but the effectiveness outweighs the tediousness.  As usual the foreign Shudder titles have stuff to like and dislike but this is one of the better options. 

Match of September

Kenny Omega vs Bryan Danielson: Dynamite 

 Josh Woods vs Jonathan Gresham: Pure Title: Death Before Dishonor 

 Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks: AEW Tag Titles: All Out: Steel Cage 

CM Punk vs Darby Allin: All Out 

Seth Rollins vs Edge. Smackdown 

What If...?

 What If...? was probably my most anticipated MCU show on Disney Plus. Growing up the What If comics were some of my favorites, they were simple tales and single serving stories with fun concepts. The pilot was excellent, Peggy Carter as Cpt. Carter facing some Lovecraftian creatures. T'Challa as Star Lord had a bit too much MCU comedy for me but packed an emotional punch. The Avengers being killed off was a meh episode with a so so twist ending. Doctor Stange's was dull as can be. The zombie episode had some awesome zombie moments but felt generic and forced. Killmonger's could have been great if the show been an hour long. I am not one for MCU films being 2 1/2 hours but these episodes easily should have been 45 minutes or an hour. The Thor episode was quite cringe. Ultron is the type of episode i wanted the series to be, far out exploration of the Marvel Universe, however the finale which was a follow up to that episode is a different story. It felt jumbled and rushed, i loved the idea but the execution was not Marvelous. At the end i want more episodes but wonder What If...this series would have been excellent across the board. 

V/H/S/94

The original V/H/S was a huge event for me when it first came out, it underwhelmed me at the time but my roommate had it on one night and i dug it a bit more. The second & third entrees were so so, 2 i remember enjoying but the the third not so much. I finally bought the first film a couple of years ago and enjoyed it alot, so i rewatched it to prep for the latest, Shudder's V/H/S/94. The wrap around starts off cool with a raid and ends in a what the fuck way. THe first segment is great and reminds me of WNUF, the second one had a great tone, the third segment had awesome carnage but the gimmick did nothing for me. The final segment honestly bored me. It seemed each segment lessened the film bit by bit. It is still a good time to watch but nothing i'd tell people to check out, there are plenty of other great Shudder films, including Seance, from Simmon Barrett, director of the awesome first segment in this film! 

Escape the Undertaker

 Escape the Undertaker is a choppy choose your own adventure but it was dumb fun. WWE humor mixed with early/mid 90s Taker gives us a late 90s Kids WB esque short. Super quick watch for a time waster. I'll honestly probably try the other paths. 

The Long Halloween 1 & 2

 The Long Halloween is one of the best and most epic Batman tales there is. DC Animation is some of the best comic book stories there are. Combine the two you get success. The Long Halloween is another victory for them, but it doesn't quite feel epic, but for a cartoon like this it doesn't matter because this is a tight knit story with plenty of kick ass comic imagery and plot points. DC Animation knows how to adapt their trade paper backs and condense them into flicks with no padding. Now i just need to see Justice Society WW2.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

 Venom  was a film with awful reviews but was a fun B Horror movie disguised as a superhero film. It's sequel however is pretty fucking bad. The opening flashback is not bad but it has a laughable young Cletus but voiced by Woody Harrelson. From there the film becomes pure slapstick comedy for the next hour. Now i give shit to MCU for humor but this here was almost like watching The Mask only no where near as good, hell honestly that film made sense to break the fourth wall and have slap stick humor. This film may not be meta but it might as well have been. It was not a superhero film with comedy, this was a comedy about a superhero. The final act finally picks things up but it is still quite generic. Harrelson is awesome but nothing else really works in this. I will give credit to the ending, glad that they went there with Venom. The post credit stinger is honestly the most exciting thing about the film.