‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ Movie Review.

‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ (2018)
Amblin Entertainment

Directed by: Eli Roth
Written by: Eric Kripke and John Bellairs
Starring: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan, Renee Elise Goldsberry & Colleen Camp

‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls‘ opens this weekend. It’s family friendly fright film to cap off the summer movies as we move into fall. The previews did a great job of setting up my expectations for what the film would be and it neither surprised or disappointed based on that. The movie you’ll get is exactly what you think it will be – an orphaned child goes to live with his eccentric uncle in a large house which he inherited from his recently departed friend. That friend died performing dark magic and now it seems the house is counting down towards the end of the world. Only young Lewis Barnavelt (played by Owen Vaccaro), his warlock Uncle Owen Barnavelt (Jack Black) and Owen’s long time friend and neighbor Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett) can save the day!

The acting is above the mark for a movie of this sort. Both Jack Black and Cate Blanchett were perfectly suited for their respective roles (seriously…. when was the last time any of us didn’t enjoy one of Cate Blanchett’s performances?!?!) and young Owen Vaccaro is a star on the rise with an already impressive list of movies under his belt (you may remember him from ‘Daddy’s Home‘ and its sequel as we as ‘Mother’s Day‘). Kyle MacLachlan camps it up as the resurrected evil warlock Isaac Izard and that’s my one real take away from this movie – it’s just plain fun. The story is a bit vanilla and rather predictable but the cast pull it off in a way that leaves you wanting more. For me it seemed one part ‘Harry Potter‘, one part ‘Goosebumps‘ with a little bit of ‘The Haunted Mansion‘ sprinkled in for good measure. Some of the special effects are good (the army of creepy puppets) while some looked a little threadbare (the haunted pumpkins) but I still enjoyed the film and, most importantly, the target audience (aka: children) seemed to really love it as evidenced by the cheers and guffaws I heard in my screening. So if you’re a parent looking for a lightly scary movie to take the kids to as we enter the Halloween season, then this movie would be a great fit. Otherwise, it may be one to hold off on until it hits Redbox or Netflix. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say that “The House with a Clock in Its Walls only manages to tick it’s way up to a 6. If you are on the fence, just watch the preview again and decide whether or not you want more based on that. Depending on your tastes, you may find it to be a bit more “trick” than “treat”.

 

‘A Simple Favor’ Movie Review

‘A Simple Favor’ (2018)
Lionsgate

Directed by: Paul Feig
Written by: Jessica Sharzer & Darcey Bell
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Jean Smart, Rupert Friend & Bashir Salahuddin

Every six months or so, there comes a film that takes me slightly by surprise. It may be better than I thought it was going to be or not nearly as good as I’d hoped it would be or I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, etc, etc. ‘A Simple Favor‘ is a film that certainly surprised me but only because it wasn’t really the type of film I thought I’d be seeing. If you saw the preview, then I assume you thought. as I did. that we were getting a murder mystery type flick with the audience remaining unsure as to who our protagonist (in this case, Anna Kendrick) could trust until the very end. Instead, we get a semi-mysterious, lightly comedic film with a good deal of intrigue containing a rather fun plot. Let me explain: Anna Kendrick plays single super mom Stephanie Smothers who, while taking her son on an impromptu play date, ends up sipping martinis and befriending her son’s friend’s mother Emily Nelson (played by Blake Lively). After a few weeks of play dates and sharing secrets over martinis at Emily’s immense home, Emily asks Stephanie for “a simple favor” – watch her son while she goes out of town for a business emergency. After several days go by without Emily returning, Stephanie finally contacts Emily’s husband Sean Townsend (Henry Golding) who was in England helping his mother at the time of Emily’s disappearance. When Emily turns up dead, things move forward quickly and Stephanie finds herself embroiled in a mystery of trying to find out just who Emily really was, why she disappeared so suddenly and what actually happened to her. To say much more would spoil certain plot points and you know that I wouldn’t do that to you.

Some movies can’t seem to make up their mind as to what type of movie they want to be. ‘A Simple Favor’ was dark and had great elements of humor in it (mostly due to Anna Kendrick’s character being such a perfect fit for this role) but it wasn’t what I would classify as a “dark comedy” in the vein of ‘War Of The Roses‘ or ‘Very Bad Things‘. It’s also technically not a “who done it?” type of film in that we get a reveal fairly fast as to what exactly happened. So where this might be a detriment for some films, ‘A Simple Favor’ uses this to its advantage and is able to straddle the dark aspect of the story without ever totally going ‘Diabolique‘ and also retains some fantastic humor without ever getting campy. For this, I have to not only credit the cast but also director Paul Feig and writers Jessica Sharzer and Darcey Bell. The plot itself, upon viewing, may not be terribly original, but the execution of the tale is where this movie rises above the pack. Add a strong cast that play to their strengths and you’ve got a fun mystery that is quite the palate cleanser from the normal crop of movies that come out towards the end of the summer season. I’d recommend this movie for anyone who is a fan of the actors or for anyone interested in a change of pace from the normal September box office type fare. On a scale of 1 – 10, I’d award this film a 8.5! Grab your tickets, get yourself a cocktail and spend some time with Anna & Blake this weekend. All the cool kids are doing it!

 

‘The Predator’ Movie Review

Everything old is new again. Hollywood keeps giving us remakes and reboots of various movies from the 80s and 90s so it should come as no surprise that ‘The Predator‘ is being revamped for today’s cinema. However, this is one of those rare instances where Hollywood may have found a proper way to go about it. Writers Fred Dekker and Shane Black keep the original film (‘Predator‘) and it’s sequel (‘Predator 2‘) in-play but, thankfully, ignore the later two entries into the franchise. What we get is much more than a remake with a fresh cast and updated effects – this is a follow-up entry that gives us something new while also acknowledging and paying proper homage to its roots along the way.

A quick summation of the slightly complicated plot: A predator crash lands on Earth after fleeing another predator in outer space. A ragtag group of soldiers and a scientist fight to stay alive after they discover that these creatures have not only been to Earth before, but that they are also causing themselves to evolve. There are a lot of moving pieces going on with a multitude of different characters so you definitely have to be paying attention to this film in order to keep up (aka: no bathroom breaks!). That being said, the entire cast does a phenomenal job with their assigned roles in what is truly and ensemble piece. Special credit to Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevonte Rhodes, Sterling K. Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane and Jacob Tremblay not only on playing their parts well, but on appearing to be having a great deal of fun doing so! The action scenes are great if, from time-to-time, a bit too unbelievable. The story was good, but I can’t quite put my finger on whether the plot was just a bit overly complex or if it was a case of having too many characters muddying things up. As I said, you will definitely need to pay close attention to avoid missing a detail here or who a character was there, etc. Overall, this film definitely paved a smooth path going forward for a sequel and made for a very enjoyable 1 hour and 47 minutes of movie-going fun! I saw it in standard format but I suspect that an IMAX showing may help increase the “Wow!” factor. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say ‘The Predator’ manages to hunt its way to robust 8. Get out and see it this weekend at a theater near you!!

‘MacGyver’ Season 2 DVD Review

I will admit that I’m still one of those people who runs out and buys the actual DVDs & Blu-rays of movies and TV shows. I like to physically have possession of them, I like to change the discs in my video player, I like looking at the lithograph and arranging my collection alphabetically. Filing the season 2 of the new ‘MacGyver‘ series into the “M” section of my collection was almost as satisfying as watching the series itself. For those who are somehow unfamiliar, the new ‘MacGyver’ on CBS is a reboot of an 80’s show of the same name. It follows the adventures of the titular character Angus MacGyver (Lucas Till) who is an operative for a covert U.S. Government agency called The Phoenix Foundation. He manages to rig together (or “MacGyver”) some clever inventions with his ingenuity and whatever items happen to be on-hand to help save the day. He is supported by a team consisting of ex-special forces member Jack Dalton (George Eads), savvy hacker Riley Davis (Tristin Mays) and his best friend Wilt Bozer (Justin Hires). This season is a marked improvement over last season in terms of action, effects and story. But this review isn’t about the season itself. It’s all about the Special Features that the DVD set offers. Let’s get to it!

The first two items are “Mac Hacks” from both Season 1 and Season 2 of the show. They walk you through how to, on a much smaller scale than in the show, make things like an electromagnet, a Leyden jar, a pulley system, a floor jack, a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, a chemical detector and many more cool items. A stern warning is given – “DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECREATE” but I am relatively certain that some people will try to recreate a few of these as they are rather cool.

Next up is a feature called “MacGyver In Cuba” in which members of the crew (I.E. Executive Producer Craig O’Neill and Stunt Coordinator Jeff Wolfe) talk about filming the opening of the season’s first episode. It’s a great behind-the-scenes look at filming the actions sequences on location in Cuba and then getting some of the pick-up shots back in their home base of Atlanta, GA (where the vast majority of the series is filmed).

Then we get into “Saving The Day, Season 2”. This special feature basically serves as a quick synopsis of the season and takes highlights of several of the episodes and provides commentary by members of the cast and crew. It’s always enjoyable to hear the people involved comment on what they loved about a particular scene or the difficulty in doing a certain stunt. This was definitely one of my favorites of the Special Features offered.

Our 5th item on the Special Features list is self-explanatory: “MacGyver: Special and Visual Effects”. Other than the Gag Reel, this was probably the shortest entry on the list and we really only got to see 2 or 3 of the mentioned effects. With such a stunt-heavy show, I feel like this could have been given more content and I confess to being quite underwhelmed by this feature.

A highlight, for me, of any movie or TV series is getting to see the actors as real people. That’s right – it’s the “Gag Reel”. As expected, more of the gag clips come from George Eads and Justin Hires, but there are plenty of clips of the entire cast to go around.

Finally, we get to the “Deleted Scenes” which are always interesting. Usually one can understand why a scene was cut, but it’s still a treat to see that missing piece of the episode that, sadly, had to be relegated to the cutting room floor. We get nearly a dozen scenes here spanning the entire season which is perfect for those of us who can’t get enough ‘MacGyver’ in our lives.

Overall, this was a great season with a lot of bonus features. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say there are enough special features included here to cobble together a solid 7. If you’re a fan of this show, then the DVD set has a lot to offer you and will be available for purchase beginning on September 18 at a suggested retail price of $29.98.

‘The Nun’ Movie review

‘The Nun’ (2018)
New Line Cinema

Directed by: Corin Hardy
Written by: Gary Dauberman & James Wan
Starring: Demian Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet & Bonnie Aarons.

 

Fall is nearly here and, with it, the oncoming slew of horror films that inevitably hit theaters for the season. ‘The Nun‘ is due out this weekend and looks to have all of the makings of another solid entry into “The Conjuring Universe” series. This movie is slated to be a sort of prequel for the film group and reveals the origins of the demonic nun who was introduced in 2016’s ‘The Conjuring 2.’

The story begins in an isolated abbey in the remote regions of Romania in 1952. Two nuns seek to gain access to a religious relic that will put an end to the unholy occurrences that plague them. After one of the pair is attacked and killed by an unseen entity, the remaining nun leaps from an upstairs window to hang herself as a means of preventing the spirit from using her body as a vessel to escape into the outside world. Her body is discovered the following morning by a villager named Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) whose job it is to deliver food and supplies to the abbey. The Vatican receives word of the nun’s suicide and dispatches a priest named Father Burke (Demian Bichir) and a young novitiate named Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate and to make sure the abbey is “still Holy.” It quickly becomes evident that a powerful evil has taken hold of the abbey and their only hope is to discover the location of the religious artifact that will allow them to banish the malevolent presence once and for all.

The movie that started this series (‘The Conjuring’) remains, in my opinion, one of the scariest movies to come out in over a decade. Some movies in this connected universe have been less solid than others, but all have been worth the price of admission. ‘The Nun’ is certainly more “hit” than “miss” as it delivers many bone-chilling scares and ghastly imagery. I could have done without a few bits of dialogue that were obviously meant as mild attempts at levity but, since I don’t recall such moments in any of the other movies in this series, they seemed completely out of place here and, instead, only served to bring me slightly out of the moment. The acting is phenomenal and both Demian Bichir and Taissa Farmiga seem to completely embody their roles as they do a wonderful job of building the tension in their scenes with just a subtle look or a change in their body language. Jonas Bloquet does quite well for his part but, from time-to-time, just lacks the gravitas of the other two stars. Director Corin Hardy does a fine job of setting the table upon which the action takes place and the scenes ooze a terrifying atmosphere as the film breezes through it’s brisk 1 hour and 36 minute run. While ‘The Nun’ lacked that real pulse-pounding punch that ‘The Conjuring‘ and ‘Annabelle Creation‘ managed to deliver to me, I still found it a very worthwhile film and among the better of “The Conjuring Universe” offerings. One a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say ‘The Nun’ scares up a very solid 7. Make sure to get out and see it at your local theater this weekend and pray that your soul can survive the experience!!