Chappaquiddick

Chappaquiddick is a film about an infamous, real life incident involving former Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy in July of 1969. The film starts off a day or so before the incident, we see Ted Kennedy (played by Jason Clarke) giving a TV interview, and then competing in a sail boat race. After the race Ted goes to a party with some friends and campaign staffers. He leaves the party with a woman named Mary Jo Kopechne (played by Kate Mara), and heads toward the beach. Unfortunately, Ted drives his car off a bridge and into the water, he escapes the vehicle but Mary Jo is not so lucky. From there the rest of the film is pretty much just following the damage control efforts being done by Ted and staff at the Kennedy compound to preserve Ted's public perception. 

Overall, it's not a bad movie but it isn't particularly memorable either. If that event and the days following is a subject that interests you then it's worth watching. I personally found the film to be a little dull. It leaves questions unanswered and ignores famous theories about the crash not being an accident. Maybe this particular film wasn't seen as a good fit to address those rumors, but it would've made the movie more interesting. 

It's an ok flick but I wouldn't recommend it.

2 out of 5

A Quick Review of Venom

Oh boy, this one is a train wreck.

The best way I can think to describes Venom is as a dated piece of 90's comic-adaptation trash that somehow found itself being released in 2018. It's a poorly constructed film overall, with dodgy CGI, inconsistent acting, some terrible (though sometimes unintentionally funny) dialogue, haphazard editing, and a musical score that is comically over-dramatic at times. No, the villain's plan doesn't make a whole lot of sense, there's a chase scene that goes on for a bit too long, and the final fight does devolve into a nearly unintelligible CGI mess. However, if you can look past all of that -and- a pretty boring first 30 minutes, then the remaining runtime of the film is so aggressively dumb that it actually manages to be sort of entertaining... and the AMC I went to was giving out a free movie tie-in comic, so that's something.

Despite a small moment here and there that I found enjoyable, I honestly can't think of anyone I would recommend this one to.

1 out of 5

10 Sylvester Stallone Movies Everyone Should See

With another film featuring Sylvester Stallone (Creed II) due out later this fall, it seemed like a good time to add a new entry to my ongoing '10 Movies Everyone Should See' series. I have previously written similar posts about Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, Tom Hanks, Alfred Hitchcock, and others. If you're not familiar with how I make these lists, they aren't necessarily a 'Best Of' or 'Top 10', It's merely 10 films that I feel are a good representation of someone's overall career.

(and if you're interested in checking out the other entries in the series, you can by clicking HERE)
  

10. Tango & Cash (1989)

This isn't a great film. However, if you're in the mood for a buddy-cop style action flick and you like Stallone and Kurt Russell then it's worth a watch.

9. Cliffhanger (1993)

It's a pretty average action plot, except it's set in mountains which apparently was interesting enough for audiences as this one was a decent financial success for Stallone.

8. Antz (1998)

A bit of a change of pace for the action star, Stallone lent his voice to this computer-animated comedy, and I thought he did a pretty good job.

7. Creed (2015)

In the original Rocky film the late, great Burgess Meredith played Rocky's manager Mickey. In this film it's Stallone that's taking on the old, ex-boxer, mentor role to up-and-comer Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan). Honestly, it's one of Sly's best performances to date.

6. The Expendables (2010)

'The Expendables' movies are not good, but this is worth watching for the novelty of having so many past-their-prime action stars in one movie.

5. Lock Up (1989)

Stallone starred in two duds in '89, one was Tango & Cash and the other was Lock Up. Much like Tango & Cash, if you go into this one with lowered expectations then you might have fun with it.

4. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

First Blood is a legitimately good film, but the sequel Rambo: First Blood Part II is what most people think of why you say "Rambo". This is a big, explosion-filled, bullet-riddled, high body count, action flick. It's pretty awesome.

3. Cop Land (1997)

Just look at the poster: Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta... There was no way I could leave this one off the list.

2.Over the Top (1987)

There just aren't enough movies about a truck driver who is trying to reconnect with his son, while also traveling to Las Vegas to compete in an arm wrestling competition.

1. Rocky (1976)

It's the movie to which every underdog story will forever be compared to. Rocky isn't just a great sports film, but a great film in general and it even won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Hocus Pocus

-As October continues, so do the Halloween-themed reviews.-

1993's Hocus Pocus is an interesting case of a subpar movie that didn't do that well initially upon it's release, going on to become something of a Halloween staple. 

The story about three witches (played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) who return to modern day (1993) Salem in hopes of reclaiming their youth is an entertaining watch. The comedy is hit and miss, the acting is uneven, and it's one of those films that feels like it's struggling to keep the plot on track as characters keep having to remind each other of various supernatural rules and the abilities of the three witches. With that being said, it does have some genuinely funny moments. It is a family film, so there is never anything scary but it does have a lot of Halloween imagery with the witches, costumes, trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, cemetery scenes, etc. This makes the film good background noise for pumpkin carving or putting up Halloween decorations. 

Obviously not a recommend if you're looking for some scares, but if you have kids or just want to take a break from the blood-and-guts slasher flicks and enjoy something a bit lighter then this will do fine.

2.5 out of 5

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Released in 1954, Creature from the Black Lagoon came out at the tail end of horror's Golden Age which mostly takes place during the 1930's and 40's. This may be a contributing factor as to why the Creature or "Gill-man", while usually lumped in with the Universal Classic Monsters, is not more famous. Sure, the Gill-man's look is iconic but not more than the likes of Karloff's Frankenstein or Lugosi's Dracula.

The film starts of with a man named Dr. Carl Maia discovering a unique fossil of an unknown creatures hand. The discovery leads to couple of scientists setting off on an expedition to the Amazon in search of additional fossils. Soon after arriving at the camp, two of Dr. Maia's assistants are found dead. This, for me, highlights one of the films many strengths: The plot moves along at a brisk pace (the runtime is a little less than an hour and a half) and there's very little time wasted. The first creature attack occurs just after the 10 minute mark. Unable to find more fossils, they hypothesize that some of the rocks containing such fossils may have broken off and traveled downstream. Their boat Captain informs them that the nearby river leads to the 'Black Lagoon', and so the group heads in that direction. Shortly after arriving at the lagoon, the lone woman on this expedition, Kay (played by Julie Adams) decides to go for a swim and this leads to my personal favorite part of the film. The scene of Kay swimming along the water's surface with the creature swimming below is a beautiful little piece of filmmaking. After that, the group has a series of encounters with the Gill-man resulting in a few deaths and injuries, and of course ending with the creature being defeated. 

Overall, this is a very entertaining film. Sure, the musical score is a bit generic with overly dramatic cues every time the creature appears onscreen and the human characters aren't particularly memorable. However, though dated obviously, I think the creature still looks pretty cool, and the 'Black Lagoon' setting provides great atmosphere and tension. 
Not a perfect film, but a solid 4.5 out of 5 and one that I definitely recommend.

Ranking the 'Saw' Movies

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the horror genre. Psycho from 1960 is my favorite film of all-time and I love all of the old classics Dracula(1931), Frankenstein(1931), The Mummy (1932) The Wolf Man(1941), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), etc. However, I don't get into a lot of modern horror flicks and when I do it's usually some low-budget, direct to video, schlock I come across on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix that I can get a few laughs out of. That's what makes the Saw series unique for me. It's a modern horror franchise that, for the most part, I enjoy. I wouldn't call any of the films great, but most of them are good enough. So, here is how I rank the Saw films:


#8 Jigsaw (2017)

This one is pretty bad. I watched all of the films in the franchise in the theater and this is the only one that I seriously considered walking out on.

#7 Saw 3D (2010)
I like the 'Saw' films, but this is one of the weakest ones in the franchise. The Jigsaw traps aren't very clever and the plot feels lazy.

#6 Saw VI (2009)
This one isn't awful, it's just kind of forgettable.

#5 Saw V (2008)
This is entertaining enough to watch at least once. However, it is a weaker entry in the Saw series 

#4 Saw II (2005)
It's a pretty good follow-up to the original. Having 8 people involved in one Jigsaw game was an interesting idea, but it wasn't as unnerving as some of the individualized ones from other films in the series. 

#3 Saw III (2006)
This isn't my favorite but it's a solid entry in the series. It's an intense movie with an ending I really like, so I can excuse the overuse of flashbacks.

#2 Saw IV (2007)
I think this is one of the most entertaining in the series and I prefer it over Saw II or III.

#1 Saw (2004)
This is one of those movies that I've seen a number of times and my eyes are still glued to the screen every time I watch it. I enjoy the entire Saw series, but this first one is definitely my favorite. 

Bleed

It's October, so I figured I would start the month off with a horror movie.

Unfortunately, I decided to start with 2016's Bleed. This film is a mess. 

Sarah (played by Chelsey Crisp) and her husband Matt (played by Michael Steger) have decided to have some friends over to celebrate their new home and soon-to-be-born baby. Then Sarah's ghost hunting, deadbeat, brother Eric shows up with his girlfriend. Eric gets into a discussion about ghost hunting and suggests that everyone go check out an abandoned nearby prison, that is supposedly haunted. The setup isn't terrible and I thought there was some potential here, but the film falls apart once the gang heads to the old prison. 

Overall, this one was a bit of a letdown. I'd score this one a zero but, I did get a few chuckles from some unintentionally funny moments.

 1 out of 5. I'd recommend skipping this one.