Halloween: Best Revival of a Horror Franchise of the Decade

     Michael Myers is a legend when it comes to the horror genre and this is due to not only Halloween being one of the most iconic films in Horror history, but the franchise has one of the most fascinating history when it comes to film. The series has been rebooted countless times with a string of sequels that constantly continue the original film erasing history of the prior movie. 2018 that time has come again, this time a reboot that’s 40 years after the original film, and as far as reboots go, this new Halloween is about what should be expected in terms of a good revival. It’s cliché and a bit redundant at points but has enough thrills and even themes that made the original so good, that it serves as a very solid reboot.

     As mentioned earlier, Halloween 2018 takes place forty years later as a direct sequel to the original, however it can also be seen as a remake to Halloween H20. Both films take place many years after the first movie and it shows how Laurie Strode became traumatized after witnessing her encounter with Michael Myers and how she has prepared for an eventual comeback from him. In regards to that plot, this is by far the best element of Halloween 2018; it showcases the true trauma of Laurie very well because it emphasized one of the major themes of the first Halloween. The idea of pure evil and how it can affect someone’s life despite being so mysterious with no true explanation, making this movie a lot deeper than previous Halloween sequels. However, the film does suffer from some obvious filler that doesn’t always work. The main subplot between Laurie Strode’s granddaughter seems unfortunately cliché having her be a basic teenager and encountering all the major clichés dealing with teens in horror films which kind of dismisses the film’s otherwise sophisticated nature. Not just that but also the film has a couple of moments of humor that don’t entirely work and feel out of place, along with some odd plot decisions that come out of nowhere and feel there as a last minute resort for characters to go from one place to another. It is a shame that this film has those moments that peg it down a notch, but Halloween 2018 still has many moments that make it a worthwhile reboot. 

     What makes Halloween better than the average Horror reboot is also due to how it explores it’s character, particularly the character of Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis does an outstanding job being the now over protective yet unstable version of Laurie, as not only her character is well written but she gives it her all by making herself incredibly aggressive and sells it well.  The character of Michael Myers is also fantastic in this, he looks great with his giant presence and old wore down mask making him much creepier than he has been in any other Halloween sequel. They also didn’t forget to have the appeal of Michael Myers still intact as despite knowing a bit more about him, they still realize that what makes Myers so appealing is the mystery behind him. Where other Halloween movies try to explain his motives with cliché and convoluted backstories, here there’s still a lot of mystery to the characters that makes him all the more terrifying. The rest of the cast do an adequate job however, the script does feel lacking outside of the main two characters. Some humor can work from some of them and some do have memorable moments but they still feel rather bland and cliché compared to how much effort was put into fleshing out Myers and Strode. Even despite that, the main characters at least make the film worthwhile for sure.

     As far as how Halloween works aesthetically, it makes for a solid entry in terms of direction. A lot of great Halloween style visuals and nods to the original film that don’t quite feel as forced as one would expect. There are some to be expected but there are also some really unique and clever ones including an excellent take on the opening credits to the original that is one of the coolest visuals to be seen in a recent horror movie. The camera work and editing make it a pretty well executed horror movie, but what elevates Halloween 2018 more so is the excellent score done again by John Carpenter. The score obviously has a lot of great throwback themes and the iconic Halloween theme is always a joy to hear, but it also includes some original tracks that fit seamlessly with how the original films sound. It also uses great use of electronic sounding instruments, making it probably the best modern horror movie score since 2015’s It Follows. The sound and look of this movie really gets you in the mood for the Halloween season and feels perfectly in line with the rest of the series.

     Halloween 2018 maybe flawed, but it is an entertaining return to form of a franchise that has arguably a rough history. It’s not the best sequel in recent memory nor is it one of the best modern horror films, but it is most definitely the best horror sequel in quite some time. It shows that Michael Myers can still be a great threat even in the modern age of predictable horror films.

First Man: A Good Small Leap for Chazelle’s Career

    Discovering new talent is always a treat when it comes to watching new films that excel in everything a film should strive to be. No up and coming filmmaker describes this than Damien Chazelle with his film Whiplash, a movie that was so small but so outstanding in every single aspect. His career continues further with his beautiful tribute to classic cinema in La La Land, which was just as outstanding as Whiplash was if not better. Now with a lot of recognition in his work, Chazelle comes back with another film, this time a Biopic on the man who did the impossible at the time, Neil Armstrong. First Man may not be one giant leap for Chazelle’s career as a filmmaker as it is significantly weaker than his previous two films, but it is a good small step for him to further on his path of being one of the true great of modern cinema.

     First Man tells the story of Neil Armstrong’s life from when he started to become an Astronaut, up until he makes his triumph landing on the moon. It also goes over some of the various elements leading up to his trip such as his relationship with his children, him training for the big event and also him trying to cope with the loss of some of the people he loves. The film tells this story fairly well giving us a good idea of the situations Armstrong dealt with over the years, but also doesn’t quite feel as personal as other films of this caliber. The film has a lot of exposition leading up to the climatic moon landing sequence but despite all of it being essential; it also feels a bit slow. The audience feels like it’s taking its time to discuss the process of how they’re going to get there but less time to really get a sense of what Armstrong is going through at points. It seems like the relationship with the family in particular doesn’t quite go as deep as it should have, with us not getting a sense of how his family feels about his journey. However, that is not to say the film’s build up to the trip to the moon isn’t interesting, or there are not some good character moments between Neil Armstrong and his family. The buildup does create for some excellent moments showcasing how training to be an astronaut isn’t as glamorous as one would think with a lot of intense moments done through some excellent filmmaking. Chazelle also uses his filmmaking skills within character relationships as there are a decent amount of very subtle moments with the characters not having any sort of dialogue yet speaking so profoundly with their facial expressions. This is due to some excellent performances from everyone across the board especially Ryan Gosling who is phenomenal in every scene he’s in. it also works due to the fact that Chazelle can portray that very well within his movies, having his best moments of his films be ones where the actions speak much louder than the words. All of this is true here as the film’s final moments do portray a very emotional sendoff without a single utter of dialogue said, and it’s done quite beautifully. First Man’s story maybe on the slow side but does get a lot accomplished despite this.

     Part of what makes First Man a more engaging film despite its shortcoming script wise comes from Damien Chazelle as a director, who still showcases a lot of his skill while also deviating from what he has done before. Being a biopic that has to be regulated to the story of the actual person, Chazelle doesn’t quite have the freedom of showcasing a lot of creativity in the same way he did with Whiplash and La La Land. The film has a much more realistic and period piece look to it which ends up being beneficial, the choice of shooting this on film was excellent as it has an old 60s-70s style look to it that makes you feel like you’re a part of that time period. However the true jaw dropping visual moment comes later when we witness the moon landing sequence, Chazelle makes this moment beautiful giving it a sense of realism with the amount of silence, how practical and real the set looks and also being shot on camera making the sequence larger than life. Even though the true best sequence is in the end of the film, the film has a lot of great moments building up to it from a technical standpoint, making the training for the moon sequence much more claustrophobic with tons of shaky cam and most of the training taking place inside the ships themselves. It makes the film have a great sense of realism that is needed and something that tends to be unseen in space movies like this. The score by Justin Hurwitz is also outstanding, being very calm and soothing to the ears, even if some moments sound vaguely similar to his score of La La Land, the music adds a nice touch to the film. Chazelle’s knack for filmmaking shines through big time being a different kind of film from his other works.

    First Man is one good film from Damien Chazelle, but may seem somewhat of a disappointment considering how his films prior were some of the best of their kind. Then again it’s hard to follow up a movie as perfect as La La Land and Whiplash, that’s completely different and for what it is worth, First Man is definitely worth a watch. It’s subtle, beautifully shot and over-all engaging with some excellent craft on screen, even if the film can be rather slower than Chazelle’s other works.

Venom: Interestingly but Unsurprisingly, Bad.

      Villains are some of the most fascinating characters to appear in cinema, and with a character like Spider Man having such great iconic villains; it’d be interesting to see how that character can interact with a villain like Venom. Unfortunately due to poor decisions making and despite the fact this character was not done correctly in a film prior to this, Sony went ahead and made a movie starring Venom with no relation to Spider Man what so ever. Unsurprisingly Venom’s first official movie comes across as this odd outdated mess of a movie, but fortunately isn’t a complete bore as it is somehow fascinating to witness the atrocity on screen.

     The plot of Venom basically results from Eddie Brock played by Tom Hardy ending up being affected by a symbiote known as Venom, where he controls his personality and actions to end up causing mayhem throughout the world. However, one of the most stands out issues for this movie comes from its first act, which honestly isn’t much of what the actual movie is about with Venom. The movie takes forever to get to that point, which is common for a movie that build up to what the audience is expecting for the movie, but the first act of Venom is one of the most cliché and unexciting first acts in any recent superhero movie. It goes to all the clichés of guy down on his luck, dealing with a breakup, filler of the bad guy being built up and a lot of uninteresting things that we’ve seen dozens of times in a movie. The first act is not refreshing in the slightest; however things take a slight turn once Venom actually comes into the picture. Once Eddie gets hooked with the symbiote, the film gets much more interesting, however not necessarily better. The dynamic of Eddie Brock and Venom is enjoyable to watch, it’s more out of the fact of how ridiculous the film is with many of its insanely over the top moments that don’t quite feel as intentional as something like Deadpool. The writing comes across as some of the most try head edgy dialogue in recent memory and even story structure wise, the film just feels incredibly rushed with characters barely having much development or motivation for their actions. Although not structured well, the film is so oddly paced, so terribly written, that it becomes interesting to watch. You watch the film second guessing what strange bizarre moment or choice that could be made for a film like this, not a good film by any mean, but it’s an interesting one to say the least.

     Partially what makes Venom oddly fascinating to watch is the performances and odd dynamic between Eddie and Venom themselves. Tom Hardy is certainly a talented actor but here, he plays a character that’s really over the top and comes across as it being utterly ridiculous of him to act like a buffoon with all the crazy situations Venom has him encounter. Even taking the ridiculousness of Venom out of it, within the first act, Hardy does this very odd accent that doesn’t seem fitting for a character like him and seems oddly out of place. As mentioned earlier, he’s a talented actor, definitely showcasing his skills of being a professional many times, so there shouldn’t be any fault on him for his performance not being up to standards as what we’re used to. It is honestly hard to play a character written so poorly. Venom also doesn’t fare much better as a character, while he’s the closest thing to a character with an arch, his motivations for why he does the things he does in the film seem very unclear. The script doesn’t give him any reason for why he comes to earth or even betrays his own kind, which makes it very underwritten. But seeing this character say such ridiculous lines including “Like a Turd in the Wind” does bring forth some amusement. The rest of the cast have proven to do well in other movies prior but the script doesn’t give them anything to work with as their characters are as about as basic as one could get. Riz Ahmed plays the typical businessman archetype, Michelle Williams plays the basic love interest, and that’s it, nothing that makes these characters truly stand out. It’s a film filled with many characters except with none of the personality and development needed to make it elevate more than the average comic book movie.

     From an aesthetic standpoint, Venom does succeed somewhat in the visual department but not by a whole lot unfortunately due to some poor choices made. The film does look relatively okay with some decent cinematography at many points of the film and Venom himself for a CGI characters looks aesthetically pleasing to the eyes design wise. When it comes to the rest of it, it ranges from mediocre to downright bad. A lot of effects deal with either Tom Hardy’s transformation or the Symbiote traveling around and it’s all a mess of CGI garbage being thrown on screen. This is especially apparently in the finale as the final action sequence is one of the most clustered CGI fights to ever appear in a recent blockbuster movie. To the point where a Michael Bay Transformers movie has a more cohesive action scene then what Venom has to offer. Add in with a terrible generic music score and song choices and the rest of the acting and script elements that make Venom so laughable, then you got a film that is by no exaggeration a crap show to behold.

     Venom at the very end of the day comes across as a huge mess of a movie, but one of those messes that is at least interesting to see. The bad writing, characters and effect make it fascinating to watch, but it is by no means will be seen as a good movie. There was potential to make a decent Venom movie, but all of that was thrown out the window given that Sony just wants to make a quick buck as soon as possible. It’s an easily skippable movie unless if you want a good comedy to watch this year. Thankfully, Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse will be a good pallet cleanser for a mediocre movie like Venom, as we’ll soon get another film relating to Spider man with a lot of creativity and doesn’t feel like some outdated tripe.