Reviews

I kind of wondered why I wasn't impressed by the trailer to 'Fatman'. I also wondered why I sort of ran to the theater to see it. It's really because movie theaters are open in my area, and I have been enjoying Mel Gibson's career resurgence. Since I didn't really follow "Fatman" leading up to its release, I didn't know much about it except that it sort of is a 'Revenge Santa' movie. Given Mel Gibson's reputation with his films being violent, and my interest in alternate Christmas content ala 'Silent Night, Deadly Night', I was willing to give 'Fatman' a try.

The concept of "Fatman" sounds like something out of B Movie Heaven: When a spoiled brat receives a lump of coal for being naughty, he hires a hitman to kill Santa! Unfortunately, "Fatman" never charters into B-movie territory; but takes itself entirely way too serious. Sometimes this works, most of the time it doesn't. There is entirely too much buildup and not enough payoff.

Fatman has a charming, almost Hallmark movie-of-the-week like quality; such as the location of the film being set in North Peak, Alaska, and that Mel Gibson's character name is actually Chris Cringle. Taking the realism even a step further, Cris' business of bringing joy to the world has been in a steady decline, with the kids around the world seemingly turning more bad. With profits not being what they're used to, the government is forced to step in to subsidize the cost.

The idea of a child hiring a hitman to kill Santa sounds like the perfect opportunity to see a Jolly Ol' Saint Nick from Hell. "Fatman" never dives into those waters, but instead focuses on the Cris Cringle we already know: He is a family man and he loves his elves. I don't think I caught the reason as to why our antagonist Billy had entirely way too much power in his hands. By the end of the film, "Fatman" of course has the opportunity to destroy Billy. If the reason for Fatman letting him get off easy was for a sequel, then my faith in a higher power has diminished.

"Freaky" is the new slasher comedy starring Vince Vaughn who plays The Blissfield Butcher, the brutal killer terrorizing a town and who ends up swapping bodies with 17 year old high school student Millie, played by Kathryn Newton. It's sort of a slasher 'Cinderella' where the protagonist Millie has 24 hours to stab the butcher back with his own dagger, or else she stays The Blissfield Butcher forever!

The story begins with Millie, the unpopular girl at her school organizing a boring evening with her mom instead of getting ready for the prom. That's what her sister thinks anyway, who plays the local deputy with her own struggles; such as distancing herself from the family since their father is no longer in the picture and their mother is an alcoholic.

Millie's mother works at the local discount outlet in her town; and this is pretty much the fodder for the torment she receives from Ryler, the mean girl at school. Millie does however have a few friends at school, Nyla and Josh, who seem to be cooler than Millie and come to her defense against her tormenter.

However, her friends can't save her all the time; especially from her mean shop teacher and being constantly humiliated on the football field while posing as the team's mascot. One night when Millie's mom has one too many drinks and forgets to pick up her daughter, Millie is stalked by the Blissfield Butcher, and ends up being stabbed with his dagger. Millie's sister comes and saves the day, but it's too late, as Millie transitions from geeky nerdy unpopular girl, to brutal and sexy serial killer seductress!

Truthfully, I wasn't sure about seeing "Freaky" so quickly as I have a disdain for horror comedy. I find that sub genre to be almost a parody of itself; overly meta and self aware. I will give "Freaky" credit for knowing what it is from the beginning; with the advertising of the film gearing towards a female and gay male audience.

As a slasher film, "Freaky" may even get some horror fans excited, with its somewhat shocking opening and the many references to the classic films that inspired it: such as "Friday the 13th", "Halloween" and "Candyman". But just like any horror slasher comedy, "Freaky" comes with its inherit flaws.

Although individually, Millie and The Blissfield Butcher have their own personalities and qualities, this seems to be lost during the transition. Instead of acting shy and awkward, The Blissfield Butcher (as Millie) comes out swinging with a new wardrobe and hairstyle; as she slow-mo walks into school in a wonderful nod to the 80s film "Heathers".

This definitely treads into the geek to chic sub-genre; as now the football players want to date her, and even Ryler tries to befriend her, which... let's just say Millie gives her the cold shoulder. Besides some of the kills which are already given away in the trailers such as Ryler freezing to death and the shop teacher's run in with a buzzsaw, Millie does not get all Blissfield Butcher on our ass.

The Blissfield Butcher, when portrayed by Vince Vaughn, seemed like an interesting, brutal, demented serial killer. Unfortunately, Millie is never really given a chance to become him in that way. The same goes for Vince Vaughn as Millie. When he becomes her, he is no longer awkward but conventional and ready to kiss boys.

"Freaky" is not perfect, but at least somewhat takes itself seriously. The concept could be interesting if really approached with darker material. Sort of like if Chucky really did possess Andy, and then Andy started killing. Still, it says a lot when one of the more interesting moments of the film is a clip from "The Real Housewives of New York City".

Da 5 Bloods, the Spike Lee film exclusively available on Netflix, premiered in June of 2020, and lately I have been somewhat lacking in the film reviews because I think if I don't tackle it right away and put a review up within the films premiere that it's essentially old news. And I almost felt my review as old news as I started writing it. I became uninspired and quit the review altogether.

But then I scrolled through some movie forums and became inspired again, especially when I thought about the performance of lead actor Delroy Lindo, who plays Paul; one of four living Bloods who return to Vietnam to retrieve lost gold, where it is buried along with the remains of the deceased Blood, Norman, played by Chadwick Boseman.

Da 5 Bloods begins in a at times awkward first act, opening with all 5 Bloods in Vietnam and the ensuing helicopter crash which sets up the forthcoming adventure to seek the gold. We are then shifted into present with the four living bloods, Paul and his 3 other Vet buddies Otis, Eddie, and Melvin, played by Clarke Peters, Norman Lewis and Isiah Whitlock, Jr., respectively, arriving in Vietnam and begin to get re adjusted to their surroundings. Paul is later surprised at the hotel by his son David, played by Johnathon Majors, who appears throughout the film wearing Moorehouse attire.

Before Da Bloods head out on their adventure, some unfinished business needs to be settled between Melvin and a former lover, meanwhile Paul and David make a decision that David will get the deceased Blood's share of the gold if they are to retrieve it.

Da 5 Bloods gave me feelings of Apocalypse Now from the opening movie themed dance party, to the nostalgic soundtrack filled with songs from Marvin Gaye and others, to the technical aspects of the film: including shifting aspect ratios between the present and flashback footage of the younger Bloods in Vietnam and most importantly the powerful performance from Delroy Lindo, which evokes a often times 'decent into madness' as I like to call it, that needs to be mentioned along with other great performances.

With as much as I did like I did find some flaws with this film, as I mentioned before, the first act felt awkward to me. I would recommend having some patience, to give the story time to build. Spike Lee recently praised the composer of this film, however I felt the score, especially at the beginning of the film did not fit, it just jumped out at me and not in a good way.

I felt the flashback scenes should have had younger actors, with the only one being Chadwick Boseman. The makeup was not convincing, and as great as the performances were, it was another thing that jumped out as pretty noticeable to me.

For the flaws the film does have, I feel is redeemed by the end of the film. And most importantly I felt the film grow as it progressed. And when most of the time I feel, that films fizzle out especially during their middle act, Da 5 Bloods actually kept getting better and better. So thats why I say give the first act a chance because I feel it pays off in the end,

Spike Lee has been in an upward swing lately with Academy Award Winning 'BlacKKKlansman' from 2018 and 2020s Da 5 Bloods, which sees him tackling current political commentary and being able to blend it with past history grievances so well that even if you don't agree with his politics, it is impossible to deny his talent as a storyteller and filmmaker.

Waves, from A24, who right now is probably the leader in independent cinema in America. I pretty much went into this movie blind, only saw the trailer once and that was enough to get me to see it.

The film begins with Tyler and his girlfriend enjoying their youth in South Florida. He lives with his family in an upscale house with an overbearing father who pushes him and plugs into him that he has to work 10 times harder than everyone else and does not have the luxury to settle for mediocre.

Tyler's girlfriend reveals to him that she is pregnant. Unfortunately the scene came off to me as cliché and something you have seen thousands of times as Lifetime, but luckily, the film begins to shift after that scene and Tyler's life begins to collapse around him.

He and his girlfriend decide to get an abortion but are met by protesters, his girlfriend has a change of heart and does not go through with the abortion. As they leave the clinic a woman shouts a racial slur at Tyler, and fights with his girlfriend in the car and kicks her out of the car.

Tyler begins to spiral out of control as he starts to steal Oxycodone pills from his father. His father suspects his son but never confronts him. Tylers performance as a wrestler begins the decline, and it is affecting his mood. Once Tylers girlfriend decides to keep the baby, he goes ballistic and she breaks up with him.

He loses all hope and stalks her through social media on Prom Night, drives to the party she is at, gets into a fight with her and he hits her and she cracks her head on the garage floor and dies.

Tyler is sentenced to life in prison and then the film shifts to focus on his sister, who is pretty much in the background during the first half of the film. After her brothers trial and sentencing, she begins to isolate herself at school, but Lucas Hedges comes up to her and introduces himself, and they start a relationship which is portrayed more mature than a couple of high school kids could handle.

There are scenes of them taking showers and baths together, and end up driving to Missouri to see Lucas Hedges dying father. I found their relationship to be somewhat far fetched and unbelievable.

The story may have a typical after school special narrative, but it is the performances and the pulsating soundtrack that carry the film. Songs from Tame Impala, Animal Collective, Tyler the Creator, Kid Cudi The Glenn Miller Orchestra and a host of others surround the film and will definitely keep you awake.

The opening of the film gave me a lot of memories of past teen films from my time like Varsity Blues, She's All That, even Dazed and Confused and having the film set in South Florida location reminded me of the Larry Clark film Bully which is a true story captures the twisted minds in cookie cutter suburbia. Waves isnt twisted like Bully, but it is another tale of the high school experience that is really lacking in cinema today.

Honey Boy, starring Shia Lebouf, is supposed to be about the life of Shia Lebouf as a child actor and the relationship he has with his father, who is managing his career.

The movie begins on a film set with Lucas Hedges portraying main character Otis, in the year 2005 - he gets into some trouble and is admitted into a rehab facility, where they diagnose him as having symptoms of PTSD. Otis begins having flashbacks of himself as a child actor 10 years prior, set in 1995.

The main focus of the film is the relationship Child Otis played by Noah Jupe and his father played by Shia Lebouf. Otis and his father live in a dingy motel looking apartment complex, where their neighbors sit outside their porch till all hours of the night, and Otis develops a friendship with the character known as Shy Girl who is played by singer FKA Twigs.

It wasn't exactly mentioned if Shy Girl is a prostitute or not, but that's the impression I got. Otis sees Shy Girl being verbally abused by probably her female pimp, and then have a really intimate scene where they get really close together on a bed and share a kiss on the cheek. It's honestly one of the most intense scenes in the film, and although it may be awkward at times, I think the scene works.

Honey Boy is essentially a two man show between Otis and his father. The beginning kind of starts out humorous although cruel where his father comments on his sons urinating skills, but as the film goes on, we dive deeper into the father's jealousy of Otis relationship with his step father Tony, who Otis father lures him to Otis only to beat him up and throw him in a pool.

Otis relationship with his father is abusive but its also mature, with Otis cursing at his father and smoking cigarettes with him, and eventually confronting each others insecurities.

Meanwhile back at the rehab center, adult Otis grows frustrated applying the rehab cliches to his life. He acts like a brat for most of his stay there but who can blame him. His roommate ticks Otis off by enjoying his time at the rehab. Its not until Otis does the cliché go yell in the woods, that he does get his epiphany and begin to battle his demons.

Although most of Honey Boy takes place in a dark motel room, its Shia Lebouf and Noah Jupes performances that carry this film. There is a mysterious and intriguing feel to the film, with Shy Girls character and Otis father appearing as a rodeo clown. It lacks exploring more outside of the motel room. There are only a few scenes of Otis working on movies, and they are all shown in the trailers for the film.

Still Honey Boy is worth watching for both Shia Leboufs transition in cinema, and for watching up and comer Noah Jupe act along side Shia. Be sure to check this one out.

"3 From Hell" is a sequel to both The Devils Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses.

So let me get my rating right out of the way I gave it a 4 out of 10 or a solid 2 stars. While I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, I didn't love it either and out of the 3 films, this has to be at the bottom of the list. The whole movie felt like The Best of Rob Zombie films: a little bit of Corpses, mixed with some Rejects, sprinkle a little Halloween, and you get 3 From Hell.

The movie has a rough start in the beginning and comes across somewhat amateurish and low budget, so if you were expecting something exciting and action packed like the farmhouse shootout from the opening of The Devils Rejects, you will be disappointed . The film opens with grainy and ugly newsreel footage complete with narration, as it replays some of the final scene from The Devils Rejects just before the trio get into the highway shootout with the cops. The film skips over the shootout and we find them arrested and jail, followed by a quick trial and news clippings which show the trio are found guilty. Around this time is when we see Sid Haig's only scene as Captain Spaulding, where he reprises his famous line 'Do I Stutter' and then is shipped off to be executed using lethal injection.

For those who can't stand Sherri Moon be prep red because essentially this is her movie. Sherri Moon pulls out all the stops in this film, and her character Baby is presented here more on the side of the crazy feel she has in 1000 Corpses than that of the laid back feel she has in Rejects. In this film Baby is presented as extremely unstable, she hallucinates about cats, she purrs like a cat, teeters on the fence of lesbianism, and can't make parole. Only during a scene in which she challenges some hombres to a knife throwing contest does Sheri Moon display Baby in the chilled out relaxed character like she does in the Rejects. However like I said, she is very unstable in the film and is essentially a killing machine and has the best kill in the movie, which I won't spoil, because it is indeed a nasty scene.

Let me talk about Otis' escape from jail which not only is it lazy and entirely too abrupt, but it sets up the failure for the rest of the film. Otis and Rondo, who is played by Danny Trejo are in the same prison and end up on a work truck together. Otis recognizes Rondo and says 'I remember you', to which Rondo says, 'I don't remember you' and Otis says 'You will #x27; and ends up shooting and killing him. Fast forward to when the trio decide to escape to Mexico, it takes absolutely no time for someone to recognize the Fireflys and snitch to Rondos brother, who will exact revenge on the trio with his army team of luchador shooters called The Black Satans.

In order for the film to work, there needed to be more time to find out more about Rondo and how he ends up in prison next to Otis. The escapes needed to be written better because Otis escapes first and him and his half brother Foxy end up in a house torturing a few people, while Baby plays a fine line between being a lesbian and a psychotic killer in jail. Entirely too much time is spent with Baby and even after she escapes, they are cooped up in a motel room and nothing is happening to the point where Foxy says something along the lines of, Whats the plan, We need to move this along.

3 from Hell is essentially beat by beat, a re hash of The Devils Rejects. But what is missing is purpose. In The Devils Rejects, Wydell has a vendetta against the Fireflys for killing his brother in 1000 Corpses. We don't get purpose in this film. If there was more backstory on Rondo and his brother, we could've cared a bit more and related to his brother and his revenge on the Fireflies . Instead this movie is basically Sheri Moon's highlight reel as she is given top billing at the end credits, Otis seems bored and his dialogue is lazy which just rehashes lines and gags from the other two films. The one thing I enjoyed is the music which is more along the lines of the songs found in Rejects and the score is a bit more synth-y like 1000 Corpses.

All in all, the film seems like a DVD extra, or a fan made film. It holds absolutely no purpose and now keeps the story of the Fireflies open. See it if you love Zombie and love the Fireflies, but just be aware that this is not better then The Devils Rejects.