Films You Have Watched (2018)

[randombs]

I've not seen it at the cinema, but I've got a bootleg copy that somebody filmed in a screening and the quality is awful.

All I could see was a little silhouette of a man...

On any other day I’d say that joke was utterly Ga-Ga. But Now I’m Here, The Show Must Go On and, gun against my head, I’d say it’s Doing Alright.

[Leon Retro]

I watched Halloween 2018. It started off quite interesting -- and then soon went downhill fast. The script lacked imagination and general creativeness, so it all felt like a cheap way to cash in on the franchise. Another thing that really stood out... is the acting was terrible. I'd say this Halloween film is easily the worst I've seen from the franchise. It made me feel really bored -- and I was quite annoyed by then end.

[JazzFunk]

A couple over the weekend, Sin City 2 and The Watch.

Both kicked off great and then went entirely meh and directionless. And Richard Ayoade turning up in The Watch as Moss...but not actually supposed to *BE* Moss. It was meta. Heavy.

More annoyed with Sin City 2, it's just a mess despite an excellent cast, I couldn't tell what da fug it was supposed to be tbh, just messy. Kicks off ace as well. Bah.

[Neon Ignition]

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Elm Street, a franchise that started middling and successfully managed to find new depths with each sequel. It continues with this fifth entry where it's strayed pretty much just straight into the territory of being bad now. It felt like a real slog this time out and I've seen interviews where Englund has said he's too old to do the physical work the role takes but it's hard to see that's the case given how little Freddy does in these films bar posing. The trouble often is that they get too hooked on the 'dreams' aspect and this one does the same with its ruleset now completely broken and the deaths just stupid with the Mad Maxesque bike death, the stuffed cheek woman and the comic book death. There's just no attempt to fulfil any horror elements and instead just long slogs about souls etc as the film has moved so far off the original set up. The laugh is that there's something to actually mine with the idea of the main character being held to the mercy of the baby and its sleeping being a way for Freddy to get to her but it does nothing of worth with it. We've started the sixth film that was supposed to end the franchise, early signs aren't good though.

[Dogg Thang]

If I remember correctly, Englund's main issue with the movies was the time it took to do the makeup. And you can see with 5 that they made some serious compromises with it. It looks much more like a mask and really foamy. I'd say much more of it was pre-constructed to save him makeup time but the visual results just got worse.

[Neon Ignition]

That'd make sense, there are clear differences in the face between each and every film. You put it down to him getting older but then something will remind you about how quickly they were turned out which rules that out.

[Neon Ignition]

A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: Freddy's Dead - The Final Nightmare
There's a moment in the film, when it reveals that it's going to delve in to the history of Krueger and how he came to be the man he became, that I thought this could turn out to be an interesting one to see but that nugget was the sole moment of potential about this one. From the strange set up of teenagers having been wiped out in Springwood to the deaths that are just nonsense at this point (the videogame sequence was unbearable), the film might be an ending but it's a really poor one. We're going to skip the remake, these haven't been great but there's some curiosity because of Englund, there's little appeal to revisiting a bad film with zero fun to it. Still leaves us with two entries though and thankfully they're the best two as far as memory is concerned.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, Freddy's Dead is terrible. I saw that in the cinema back in the day. So many poor choices, not least of which is the Roseanne cameo. And writing the 3D glasses into it... ugh. Anyway, yeah, things get better from here although I have never watched the remake. New Nightmare is definitely a stronger and more interesting film and, no joke, Freddy vs Jason is one of my favourite films.

[randombs]

I haven't seen the remake, either.

I keep thinking about the bad reviews, but I really want to see Jackie Earl Haley's Freddy.

[QualityChimp]

The Christmas Chronicles

I watched this with my wife and son at the weekend and we loved it!
It's not too cheesy, but also embraces Christmas without some of the cynicism of a lot of modern Christmas films.

It stars Snake Plissken as Santa Claus, who has his sled totalled after a pair of kids try to catch him on film.

I particularly like how he remembers what everybody wanted for Christmas and the car he steals.

Good stuff to watch with the kids, but perfectly Christmassy for grown-ups getting into the festive spirit!

[Neon Ignition]

The remake was directed by a guy who's experience comes from making music video's and it kind of reeks of it. There's a slight Bayness to it as it comes from the run where Bay produced a run of horror's. Haley is fine but it's a very vanilla version of Freddy, no wisecracks and little real menace, lots of burns but not made to resemble Englund Freddy much in the face either. The film is a fair slodge and decides that darker is better so strips out every element of cheese and humour and instead retells the story but makes Freddy a paedophile as well to make him extra dislikeable but it utterly ruins the appeal as it destroys the character by making this change. The crux of Myers, Jason and Freddy's endurance is that despite how evil they are they're ultimately liked by the audience - take that away and the film falls apart.

[Atticus]

Citizen Kane. It's been over 20 years since I watched it last ... amazing to appreciate the quality of the 75th anniversary blu-ray. Superlatives don't do it justice anymore so I won't bother ... but it still blows me away and has me in awe of Welles' genius.

[Atticus]

You Were Never Really Here. I'd been looking forward to this one but had mixed feelings in the end. It's very stylish and Phoenix is brilliant, but I didn't quite connect with it ... I just wish it dialled down the art-thriller vibe and bitty back-story a bit. One thing I loved though were all the city night shots/locations ... I'm a sucker for them.

[Neon Ignition]

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
First time seeing the Carrey version, it was better than I expected but he strays into his usual routine far too often and there's a general cheapness to the set design that spoils things a bit

[Neon Ignition]

A New Nightmare
The seventh Nightmare movie, some aspects of it are aged including the concept which has been heavily done since this first came out but by a very, very large margin this is the best of the seven. Being toned down from the hokey tone of the others does the film wonders and the stripped back version of Freddy here is both better and worse visually, its all good in terms of physicality and menace but I prefer the burnt look rather than skinless as he is here. The transition sequence with the Dad late in the film is nicely done too, in the end it's almost a shame the main series ended here because this is such a leap forward for the character. Only one film to go now...