Sean’s movie thoughts

Scream VII is not good. It was not awful but it feels unnecessary. Neve Campbell returns. She is probably the best thing in the film. This essay will be mostly spoiler free and vague about plot details. The reveal of the killer is bad. Maybe it is worse than bad, maybe it is bad and stupid. Up to the reveal, the movie might have been average or slightly below average. (I have seen worst movies in this genre or subgenre.) I think the reveal makes the film worse. Melissa Barrera and Jena Ortega who stared in the last 2 films in this series are not back. Barrera was fired over politics. There are theories about why Ortega left or maybe she left for a combination of reasons. I have not seen those films but from what I've heard, they were better than this. Jeremy Jahns on his You Tube review called this the Rise of Skywalker of Scream films. I am not sure I’d go that far but I can see his point. The review  from Roger Ebert.com  is also negative and cites the reveal of the killer a...

 Crime 101 was good. Maybe it would better if it was a little shorter. Chris Hemsworth stars as a thief who commits crimes near the 101 Freeway. Mark Ruffalo stars as a cop determined to catch the mysterious 101 thief, who other cops don’t believe exist. (Other cops think Ruffalo’s character is seeing a pattern that doesn’t exist.) Harry Berry stars as an insurance agent who writes and sells policies for the rich. She, correctly, feels she is being jerked around on a promotion. Their lives converge. Hemsworth’s character meets a woman and they start to date. He tells lies about his job and reveals very little about himself. He risks losing the new relationship if he continues  with his career. I didn’t recognize the actress playing this character but I looked up the film and she is Monica Barbaro (she played Joan Baez in a Complete Unknown). This is good, not great. It might be worth rewatching My podcast episode about Crime 101  

I might like the original Running Man too much to enjoy the the new version a lot. I also feel the new version took too long to get started. I like short movies. The new Running Man is decent once it gets started. I am not sure if I would re-watch this. I have not watched the new Matt Damon and Ben Affleck movie, the Rip, on Netflix yet.  Maybe I will get to it after football season. I heard that it is decent. Nothing coming to theaters in the next few weeks interests me. Maybe that will change next month.   

Holy Night Demon Hunters was an attempt to do something a little different for star Don Lee. Maybe it was not different enough. Don Lee, star of the Roundup series, stars as a demon hunter in this film. He has two people supporting him. The fight scenes are good. Maybe I expected too much. I enjoyed it but I am not sure if I would watch it again. I feel the Roundup movies are better and I would rather watch one of those again than this. Lee seems to get show a little more humor in those films. Or maybe the supporting cast played off of Lee better.

I might have corny taste. I don’t try hard to deny it.  (A friend and former coworker would say I have corny taste and sometimes terrible taste.) I have watched a few Hallmark channel movies lately and I have enjoyed them.  Maybe I wanted a break from direct to video action movies or maybe I like romcoms but don’t like some of the modern romcoms. We will see if I continue to watch Hallmark movies in January or take a break for the NFL playoffs. If you, assuming someone reads this, feel like you would never watch a Hallmark movie that is okay. I recently watched  Unexpected Valentine  Three Wise Men and a Baby Three Wiser Men and a Boy  Three Wisest Men The Groomsmen First Look

 How many Focker jokes will be in the upcoming Meet the Parents sequel ? I would guess at least six. At a certain point there can be too many. I remember the last Vacation movie had maybe 5 jokes about the family renting a weird car. Maybe a few were too much or unrealistic for a relatively realistic film. Roger Ebert was not a fan of funny cars in films. He called them a sign of desperation. I saw a good mini review of Wicked for Good . There was a full review later, which was also positive. Most early mini reviews I saw were negative and mentioned splitting a play into 2 films. Wicked, the play,was under 2 hours long, so turning it into 2 movies was going to be a stretch.  The new Deathstalker is decent, more more than decent.  The practical makeup effects are good, and most of the jokes are good. There is not too much comic relief. (Yeah I still complain about too much comic relief.) I think it might be worth watching again.