Ghoulish Grin Films

 Many that are fans of the Mission Impossible franchise consider "M:i-2" (or "Mission Impossible 2") as the worst film of the bunch. I, however, remember the film and the moviegoing experience fondly. Mainly because one of my favorite bands, Metallica, released a single ("I Disappear") for the film. And this may be a bit of a pessimistic take, but as a child of the '80's and '90's, the year 2000 was the final hurrah. I don't want to believe that it was all downhill from there, but it's really been one thing after another. 9/11. The Great Financial Crisis. The division of Americans. Covid. The New Gilded Age. I'm trying my absolute best to see a silver lining and hope for brighter days, and I still think there will be. But sometimes I do feel like it's an unachievable dream. So going to the theaters, pre 9/11, entering a new digital age but not the noisy social media craziness that exists today, and going to see a blockbuster...

 I still insist that the first "Final Destination" film is the best of them all. It opened with what was perhaps the most realistic of the classic Final Destination premonitions and it still gives me chills when I see it. Once the sequels started to pop out, they seemed intent to outdo the previous kills. It makes sense. Most horror films are like that. Even if the elaborate disasters seem contrived it keeps the audience coming for more. And let's just face it...these are fun movies. I've seen a handful of the sequels and they do seem to be cookie cutter, but because they're trying to top the previous films, it's undoubtedly fun to see. And one of them was in 3D, and that was quite a blast! So as this new Final Destination film opened in theaters (titled "Final Destination: Bloodlines"), I wasn't sure I was going to get anything different from the previous films other that even MORE elaborate premonition setups and kills. The real reason I went t...

 Ryan Coogler has officially entered that rarefied group of directors who can sell a film just on their name alone, much like Chris Nolan, Spielberg, or Scorsese. His debut film "Fruitvale Station" showed the promise, and taking on popular IPs like "Creed," part of the Rocky Saga, and Marvel with the Black Panther films, he is a bankable director who will deliver the goods and get people into the theaters. So as the rave reviews were piling in, I had confidence that I would be experiencing another fantastic offering from Coogler. What I wasn't expecting was a brand new folk tale rooted in American history, dealings with the devil as told by classic blues music, and a new take on the old vampire mythology, which is hard to do. What came out was a tale as classic as any, but mixed and mashed into a fresh new tale. Absolutely brilliant. The tale centers around a young blues musician Sammie (played by newcomer Miles Caton), whose playing is so good that it summons t...

 This year marks the 20th anniversary of the final installment of the Star Wars prequels and the final Star Wars film directed by The Maker Himself George Lucas, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith." Being that the Prequel Trilogy was critically panned when they came out, many Star Wars fans regard this final film as the best of the prequels. And an important film in Star Wars canon.  So as it returns to the movie theaters in 2025, it brought back wonderful memories of this period of my life, starting in 1999 with "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." It brought back memories of my childhood and that childhood was essentially extended into my 20s. I didn't know how to deal with it at first, being I was the last generation that followed tradition of leaving childish things behind. We didn't have a geek culture yet, and it was mostly off to work and becoming a young adult. But I was also the first generation to keep those childhood fires burning. ...

 After 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" gave Marvel fans and moviegoers the sweetest payoff in film history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued on its merry way. And most fans (including myself) felt a kind of anticlimactic down after that most satisfying conclusion to the stories of Tony Stark's Iron Man and Steve Rogers' Captain America. Plus the franchise (much like many other popular franchises) got caught up in a culture war among the fans and actors claiming to be fans but were grifters turning the fandom upside down. However, the films following "Endgame" were not up to the standard of the previous Phases, and it gave the grifters cause for criticism, right or wrong. Plus the main villain in the upcoming Phase became involved in his own controversy...causing the MCU to reverse course and bring back some of those familiar faces into the new Phase in unique ways, but staying true to the classic Marvel stories. But it's been a rough go for Marvel ...

 There's something to be said about a good vigilante film. Whether it's seeing a show like "Daredevil Reborn" or past classics like "Taken," and even newer fare like the fantastic "A Working Man," revenge films give you that satisfaction that you may not get when we live in a world where it feels like the bad guys are getting away with it, whether its small potatoes or up at the very top. At least you can get some contentment seeing it on the big screen.  So when I saw the trailer for "The Amateur," I was in immediately. Especially when you have top talent in it like Academy Award winner Rami Malek and other superb actors like Laurence Fishburne and Caitroina Balfe. I knew that if at the very least it didn't deliver that at least they honestly tried. The film is based on a CIA cryptographer Charlie Heller whose wife Sara is tragically killed in an overseas visit. With his exceptional skills as a cryptographer Charlie is able to quickl...

 One thing that I wanted to experience as a kind of bucket list item was to see a silent film accompanied by live music. I'm a fan of the silent film era and I knew there were productions that performed scores to silent films. It was something that if I had the opportunity to see, I would do my absolute best to try and catch it. And a pleasant surprise reared its head. I had decided with all of the streaming and slow theatrical film release season dragging along, I wanted something different. So I headed to my local performing arts center to watch a few classical concerts performed by the young college talent. And as I was enjoying the concert I had noticed the upcoming performances coming to the performing arts center. And one of those performances was "Right In The Eye: Live Movie-Concert of Georges Melies Films." What a pleasant discovery! And as I had declared previously...I would without fail make an effort to see this project.  So arriving to this show I was immedia...