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aljmac
Reviews
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Man, I wanted this to be better
You know how sometimes you're just pulling for a movie to be awesome the same way you pull for your favorite team? That's how I was with this. I love all spooky things including the Hunted Mansion attraction at DL. I'm the same way Diz figured out how to bring Pirates of the Caribbean to the big screen, I hoped they'd do the same thing with HM (on their second try). Unfortunately I think they came up flat again.
It's okay, but it was slow, oddly lacking in ghosts and haunty-ness considering the source material. A whiff relative to the potential sitting out there for this IP. If Disney takes another crack at this property I hope they eventually capture it.
(For that matter, I think their Muppet iteration is still the best stab at it.)
The Nun (2018)
Mostly, there's a lot to like
I just watched this again for the first time since seeing it in the theater in its original release. I love the Conjuring universe and would put this 3rd in that group (still having yet to see Annabelle Comes Home).
I liked it the first time I saw the Nun and was surprised to see so many lukewarm reviews. So I was curious to see how it held up on a second viewing a couple years later.
Honestly, I liked it as much or more the second time around. Admittedly, I'm biased toward dark, gloomy, gothic movies like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Burton's Sleepy Hollow, 2010's Wolfman, and Crimson Peak. So that's where I'm coming from. If you like those sorts of movies with moody settings like moonlit, misty graveyards and spooky ruins, this movie will already have a lot to feast your eyes on throughout. It's just a cool movie to look at, like a Joseph Vargo illustration brought to the screen.
Some folks complain that Valek was "barely in it." I disagree. She's omnipresent in hints, shadows, and vibes. The movie featured the Nun perfectly in different ways throughout, which is just how it was best to be. If she had been seen in full apparition throughout the movie like some boogeyman that would have gotten old fast.
There are two or three things I think I would have changed to make it better.
They tried too hard to explain why or how Valek came to be at the abbey. They could have gotten away with much less. Sometimes vague is better.
SPOILERS AHEAD
A couple more small grievances:
The part where the priest ends up buried alive was just one step too far. It was creepy, but also so out of nowhere that it felt less scary. For me it was one of those moments that got me thinking too much about it and taking me out of the moment.
Then the whole blood of Christ relic and the spitting it out to destroy the demon. It was just too literal and action-movie-ish. I'd expect that in a Blade or Underworld movie, not this one. They could have pulled that off differently and chosen a more believable relic than what they went with.
The ending felt rushed and unplanned destroying Valek in some CG-heavy display. I would have preferred a narrow escape from the heroes with Valek surviving. The writer/director went too heavy for a "happy" well-wrapped-up ending. It didn't need it and it took away from making the demon scary and powerful.
SPOILERS ENDED
With all of that said, it's a good creepy movie that I would rate highly. It's worth a watch, and if you like it, it holds up for subsequent viewings. I wish it had been received better because it deserved it.
A Christmas Carol (2009)
It was good
I'm a big fan of this story in general. I love seeing a new version anytime one comes out.
I saw a lot of negative or apathetic critiques of the movie before I saw it on Thanksgiving weekend. After I saw it, I wondered why people were so down on it. I thought it was great! It was incredibly true to the book, and the animation was cool. Jim Carry was Jim Carry, but he didn't try to steal the spotlight with his voice characterization. There was one *small* moment in his portrayal of "Christmas Past" that was a little goofy, but otherwise, I thought he and Oldman brought warmth and depth to all the characters they portrayed.
It was a solid, solid addition to the other versions of ACC I've seen. I rank it right up there with the version George C. Scott was in.
One reason I could see others being turned off a little is that this version ramped up the creep factor; Marley, the death of "Present," and of course the wraith-like "Future" were creepy, but appropriately so. I like, wait... I love ghost stories, so I had no problem with it. My three-year old was *little* scared, but my 5- and 7-year old kids were fine with it.
I'd highly recommend this movie. We'll definitely buy it and it will be an annual view at my house.
I gave it 9 out of 10, and darn near 10 out of 10.
Alpha Dog (2006)
Better than I expected
This movie was pretty solid. I had never heard of it before it came on TV. I expected it to be a typical brainless sex and violence show that I'd channel surf away from after five minutes. The show just got better and better; the story really pulled me in.
Hirch and Timberlake were great. I've read other critiques of the movie stating viewers couldn't buy the wannabe thug nature of these boys. That to me is what made it so realistic. YES, they were spoiled white kids trying to be hard core. But to me, the boys played it perfectly: these were boys trying to be tough gangsters; they were just kids, but they were very dangerous and yet very much in over their own heads in their trouble - JUST LIKE STUPID, UNEDUCATED GANG-BANGERS IN REAL LIFE.
My only complaint was Sharon Stone. She was horrible. They gave her this whole monologue at the end. Stone overacts in this scene full of obvious prosthetic makeup. That whole scene could have been cut and the movie would not have missed a beat, in fact, it would have been better. It seemed like they threw her a bone because she was one of the big names in the movie. A more subtle appearance and performance from her would have been far more appropriate, IMO.
Props to the young cast. You got the full sense of the "living in the now" mindlessness of the kids throughout: the desperation of the older brother who got his younger brother into this, the short-sightedness of the kidnapped brother who never fully grasped how much danger he was actually in until it was toolate, and of course Truelove who was a stupid kid in WAY over his head.
Good movie.
(I'm glad I saw the edited version. I'm not a fan of hearing constant, gratuitous vulgarity, and you could tell a TON of "F" words and others had been cut out.)
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
It's worth seeing again
I saw this when I was five. I liked it at the time and was too young to have heard about the politics and controversy with Clayton Moore or notice the dubbing of the title character's voice. Even watching it again the other day for the first time in almost thirty years, those things were not issues to the movie itself.
It was entertaining. There are things I'd change here or there, but overall it was good. The handling of Tonto still holds up today in our hyper-PC world.
It's not without its warts, but they can easily be seen beyond and the movie enjoyed. Definitely check it out.