31 Days of Halloween: Week 1 Recap

We've reached the end of the first week of the 31 Days of Halloween experiment my wife and I are doing, designed to broaden her horror movie experiences and provide me entertainment for a month, and spoken about at length here. I thought it would make sense to check in every week and let whoever might be interested know how it's going, what we liked and didn't like, and so forth.

We kicked the marathon off on Day One with one of my favorite horror movies Trick 'r Treat, one of my favorite horror movies and one that my wife likes as well. Despite the fact that we've both seen it before, I wanted to start things off on a good note with something we'd both enjoy before getting into the unsorted mixed bag of nuts the rest of the month will be.

For Day Two we watched The Prophecy, one of my favorite Christopher Walken movies. It's been quite a while since I've seen this and... it hasn't aged well. Walken is still amazing in it as a crazy, evil angel, and Viggo Mortensen pops up with a very chilling performance as Lucifer, but the movie itself is more than a little ridiculous and poorly done otherwise. My wife thought this was just okay; it was a little too biblical and dated for her, and not really a horror movie at all in her opinion.

We watched The Strangers on Day Three. This flick made the list because we watched the sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night, a few weeks ago and it was really, really bad; I had remembered watching this one in theaters and it was way better, so I thought my wife should give it a try. My wife enjoyed this one and found it pretty creepy, especially how it's loosely based on true events.

Day Four brought us to our first TV show binge of the marathon, Hulu's new show Monsterland, which I reviewed earlier this week here. Much like in my review, my wife only liked a few episodes, specifically the first, third, and eighth. She also agreed that there needed to be more monsters actually involved.

There's a movie from the mid-eighties on Amazon Prime called The Stuff, which is what we watched on Day Five. It was recommended to us by two friends of mine on Twitter, and I have to tell you I have no idea why. This movie was just laughably bad. Low-budget, horribly acted, and just utterly ridiculous. Although, Garret Morris was in it playing Chocolate Chip Charlie, who's hands were lethal weapons, so it wasn't a total loss. I asked my wife what she thought about this and she just groaned at me.

We stayed on Amazon Prime for Day Six, watching a new movie called The Lie, which is the first in Prime's new "Welcome to the Blumhouse" series of movies all produced by, duh, Blumhouse. I wasn't too impressed by this movie throughout most of its running time, finding it kind of dull and overwrought, but there's a twist on the end that really changed things up for me a bit. We both agreed that the acting was pretty good, but the plot was pretty flawed, but disagreed about the twist; she liked it a lot less than I did.

For Day Seven we switched back to Hulu for another new movie, Books of Blood, based on the old John Carpenter series. The movie is set up as a three-chapter anthology, and the first chapter is both the longest and by far the strongest. Honestly, the movie itself would have been much better if that chapter had been fleshed out and turned into the entire movie, but the other two chapters have a narrative purpose as framing devices so I understand why they did what they did. It makes even more sense when you learn this project was initially developed as a TV series and not a movie. My wife liked the anthology aspect, especially how the stories were all connected, but thought the other two stories needed more time. She also agreed the first story should have been its own thing, because there's a lot to unpack in that one.

Finally, for Day Eight last night we watched the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead, one of my favorite zombie movies and also one of the only Zack Snyder movies I enjoy (please don't come at me, Snyderbros, my dislike of his movies takes nothing away from your enjoyment whatsoever and I'm not here to bash anything). My wife really liked this one, especially the characterization, some of the techniques used to tell the story, and the zombie baby idea. She also complained there was too much violence... but hey, it's zombies.

It's Friday, and this should be one of the better weekends of the marathon. We're watching Friday the 13th tonight, followed by Friday the 13th Part 2 tomorrow, and then The Haunting of Bly Manor on Sunday, which is really the centerpiece of the whole affair. The Haunting of Hill House was just amazing, so I'm hoping for a good time on Sunday!

31 Days of Halloween

 

I've seen a lot of things floating around the interwebz lately about how Halloween is cancelled because of the pandemic, just like everything else has been in the last few months. Well, we here at SSTAS (the "we" being me, my wife, and our two cats, who are of course very invested in my success here, as we all know cats are never disinterested, aloof little bastards) have very strong feelings about Halloween in general, and even stronger feelings about the cancellation thereof:

Fuck. That.

We're going to go in the exact opposite direction of cancelling Halloween and do Halloween every day with 31 Days of Halloween! Thirty-one days of horror-themed programming, a movie a day, with some TV shows thrown in, to make sure Halloween gets its due this year. And I'm not talking about how some cable channels do it, where they show the same seven movies again and again all month long. No, we're doing thirty-one different programs. Don't believe me? See for yourself!

As you can see, there's a nice mix of everything in there, new movies premiering on various streaming services this month, a bunch of classics, a ridiculous comedy or two, a few binge-worthy new shows (highlighted in blue) and what are probably a few controversial choices too... I'm looking at you, Rob Zombie's Halloween movies!

Aside from luxuriating in horror to celebrate the glory of Halloween, another purpose of this is to broaden my wife's horizons when it comes to horror movies; she never really watched any growing up and hasn't seen really any of Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, and all their friends. I've done a good job in the almost seven years we've been together exposing her to more and more, but since she still tries to only let us watch horror flicks in the daytime with the curtains open wide, it's time to really do a deep dive with her. That's why we're starting off light and easy with Trick r' Treat, taking a break in the middle for what I'm sure will be the absolutely ridiculous Hubie Halloween, and then finishing up on Halloween itself with the Exorcist, a movie even I've been too afraid to watch for a long time. I'll probably write reviews up for the new shows and maybe the new movies and do weekly updates about how it's going, what my wife did or didn't like, how much sleep we're losing, things like that.

Of course, this isn't the extent of what we're watching. There's also Halloween Wars and Outrageous Pumpkins on the Food Channel, Eli Roth's History of Horror season 2 on AMC, and of course whatever various Walking Dead shows make it on the air this month, it's getting hard to keep track. And on Halloween after we watch the Exorcist bright and early (because even I won't watch that shit in the dark at night), we'll fill the rest of the day with various things like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and other Halloween themed TV episodes and stuff. And I'm sure we'll get to the alternates I have listed at the bottom of the calendar too. 

So that's our 31 Days of Halloween plan. Got any thoughts on the movies we'll be watching? Or even better, got anything you know YOU'LL be watching this Halloween? Let's talk about it!

P.S. It's been pointed out that the calendar pic above might not be the easiest to read on some devices, so just to make things easier, here's the planned movies and shows in list form:

Trick 'r Treat

The Prophecy

The Strangers

Monsterland

Stuff

The Lie (Welcome to the Blumhouse)

Books of Blood

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Part 2

Haunting of Bly Major

The Final Girls

Black Box (Welcome to the Blumhouse)

1408

Hubie Happen

Love and Monsters

Leprechaun

Helstrom

Nightmare on Elm Street

Evil Eye (Welcome to the Blumhouse)

Rebecca

Malevolent

Fright Night (2011)

The Amityville Horror (2005)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Emelie

Nocturne (Welcome to the Blumhouse)

Halloween (2007)

Halloween 2 (2009)

His House

The Exorcist

2019 Movies!

So here's a post I used to do every year, traditionally at the start of the year but whatever, March is fine, where I list the ten movies I'm most excited about for the coming year. Obviously its missing January and February, but I checked, we didn't really miss much so far. Trust me. And Captain Marvel is off the list because it literally comes out tomorrow. Oh, and the list isn't in, like order of excitement or whatever, it's in release date order. So, without further jibberjab, here's the list!

Us - The "new nightmare from the mind of Jordan Peele" has already infected my brain. Seriously. I've had two nightmares inspired by this movie already and I haven't even seen it yet! I blame it on the imagery in the trailer and more so the super-effective editing job they did on "I Got Five on It" to turn it into a haunting nightmare siren. This hopefully horrifying flick frops in just two weeks, March 22nd. 

Avengers: Endgame - Big ol barrel of duh. April 26th.

Brightburn - Basically a superhero horror movie that asks the question, "What if Superman was an evil kid?" Produced by James Gunn, written by two of his brothers, and directed by David Yarovesky who's... directed some video games, or something. It looks fun, though. May 24th.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Godzilla vs. Mothra vs. Rodan vs. King Ghidorah in a sequel to the 2014 Godzilla starring Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and also a prequel to the upcoming Godzilla Vs. Kong. So does that make this Godzilla's Empire Strikes Back? I guess we'll find out on May 31st. Side note: It's directed by Michael Dougherty, who directed one of my favorite movies of all time, Trick'R'Treat, as well as the underrated Christmas horror movie Krampus. Should be a blast.

Yesterday - Going by the trailer alone, where a dude hits his head or something and wakes up in a world where the Beatles never existed but he remembers all their songs and becomes famous for "writing" them, this is right up my Beatles-loving alley. It co-stars my girl Lily James, features Ed Sheeran, and is directed by Danny Friggin' Boyle, and comes out June 28th.

Spider-Man: Far From Home - Yeah, this July 5th (who are we kidding, July 3rd) sequel is another huge steaming pile of duh.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Guillermo Del Toro, who loves monsters more than I love peanut butter cups, is adapting that book series that terrified every child that read it. Of course this is on my list. August 9th.

It: Chapter 2 - Yeah, like I'm going to miss this? Chapter One was fantastic, and this one has put together one hell of a cast. We'll see how the story ends on Sept. 6th, although personally I'd love if they held this one out until Halloween. Always nice to have a good scary movie to go see in October.

The Art of Racing in the Rain - When Marisa and I first started dating, we diced to each give te other a book to read, a book we really loved and that we thought would show the other a lot about our personalities. I gave Marisa "N0S4A2," a book by Stephen King's son Joe Hill, one of th emodern masters of horror who has fast become one of my favorite writers (Editor's note: "N0S4A2" is premiering as a TV series later this year on AMC. I'm not saying you should watch, but...). Marisa gave me Gareth Stein's "The Art of Racing in the Rain," a book which is told through the point of view of loyal wonderful pup Enzo as his owner... I hate that word in this context, but it ain't like master is much better... struggles with a lot of heartbreak in his personal life. I can't lie, I sobbed my way through most of the book, and will probably do so through most of the movie, which stars Milo Ventmiglia, who' sbeen making me sob for three years now in This is Us, Amanda Seyfried, and, in a surprising choice, Kevin Costner as the voice of Enzo, the goodest of good pups. I can't wait. Sept. 27th.

Star Wars: Episode IX - Lastly, the biggest, most heaping heap of duh possible. I'm on the side of SW fans who have enjoyed what Disney has done with the franchise since taking over, especially the directions it's taking the main series in. Sure, I'd love to have seen more of Luke being a badass Jedi Master like he is in the EU books, but, we live in a world where Mark Hamill is old, so there we are. Star Wars is, pretty clearly, one of the bigger loves of my life, and I'm all set for what is, by all accounts, the end of the Skywalker Saga, but not the end of that galaxy far, far away...

So there you have my list. There are a few I'm looking forward to that couldn't crack the top ten, Pet Sematary, for example, but this is pretty much it. Anybody as excited for any of these as I am, or think I left something off? Let me know!

"All American Bully" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/07/all-american-bully-review-written-by.html

"Ted 2" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/07/ted-2-review-written-by-jim-herling.html

"Private Number" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/06/private-number-review-written-by-jim.html

"Insidious: Chapter Three" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/06/insidious-chapter-three-review-written.html

"White Rabbit" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/06/white-rabbit-review-written-by-jim.html

Maggie Review... or, "It's Not a Tumor, You're a Zombie!"

Maggie, the art house zombie apocalypse movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, is living proof that art house and Arnold don't mix. Written by John Scott 3 (yes, that's his name) and directed by Henry Hobson, Maggie is the story of a farmer trying to spend as much time as he can with his infected daughter before she crosses over into being a full-blown zombie.

It's not a tumor, you're a zombie!

In the world of Maggie, the zombie apocalypse is known and carefully tracked by the government. The infected are monitored and diagnosed and even treated as long as possible; unfortunately, there is no cure and eventually the infected must be put into quarantine when the time of their change is at hand so they can be euthanized. When his daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) is bitten, silent and stoic farmer Wade (Schwarzenegger) refuses to  send her into quarantine, believing instead that their love for each other will keep her human as long as possible, and that when the time comes, he'll be able to do what must be done to her himself. In the process, Wade drives away his wife Caroline (Joely Richardson) and gets into scuffles with neighbors and the local police in what remains a very boring flick despite it all. There's really none of the violence and bloodshed you expect from a zombie movie, which is fine because the family drama should be enough to keep your interest. Except, it isn't.

The problem is that the acting is nowhere near good enough to carry the drama. Richardson is good in her small role, and she does a good job with taking an unlikable character who is unlikable solely because she is the voice of reason and making her sympathetic. Breslin is solid as well, playing her part with the right amount of both heart and the sullen moodiness you would expect from a teenager in her position. But she isn't up to how much of the acting burden she has to bear alone, because her primary costar is as emotive as an adobe clay brick hut. Seriously. Every time Arnold is asked to actually emote, the results are absurd. His laughs sound like he's in pain. His attempts at crying are absolutely laugh-inducing.  And his words of wisdom fall so short because of the maddening lack of emotion behind them. The few instances he gets to snarl and be a tough guy are the only times he is any good, which goes to show that sometimes action stars should stay just that. Myself and my friends who I watched this with basically spent the whole time shouting Arnold's most famous lines from other movies at the screen in our best impressions of him, that's how awful and boring his performance in this movie and the movie as a whole was.

And I refuse to get started on the ending because there's no way to talk about it without spoilers. Suffice to say it completely failed at anything other than thoroughly undercutting the movie as a whole. Which I suppose makes it fit in perfectly with the rest of this awful movie that gets zero stars from me.

He makes awful movies, that's what!

"God Help the Girl" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/05/god-help-girl-review-written-by-jim.html

"Ex Machina" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/04/ex-machina-review-written-by-jim-herling.html

"Woman in Gold" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/04/woman-in-gold-review-written-by-jim_14.html

"Serena" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/04/serena-review-written-by-jim-herling.html

"The Divergent Series: Insurgent" Review by Jim Herling



http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/03/the-divergent-series-insurgent-review.html



"Focus" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/03/focus-review-written-by-jim-herling.html

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/03/kingsmen-secert-service-review-written.html

2015 Oscars, Part 3: The Scorecard

So the party last night is over, we've all recovered from the incredibly long, filler-filled nonsense, and it's time to see how we did on our predictions. And by we, I mean me on my predictions from yesterday's post. But first, let's just deal with the elephant in the room.

Best part of that hilarious skit was Miles Teller reprising his Whiplash gig on drums. Boy can bang. Moving on.

Last year I was a respectable .500 on my predictions, getting twelve out of twenty-four right. This year I didn't do as well but I came close, grabbing ten out of twenty-four for a .417 average. If this was baseball, I'd still be an all-star.

Leaving the overall total behind, how'd I do on the ten categories I really care about, the ones I posted? Right down the middle, five right and five wrong. I nailed Best Picture, Best Original Song, Best Supporting Actor, and the actresses in both of the ladies' categories. I was wrong about Best Animated Feature, having picked How to Train Your Dragon 2... but as Big Hero Six was my "want to win" pick, I'm not at all upset about it. Likewise, while I had Linklater picked as winner for Director, I wanted Inarritu to get it. I underestimated Grand Budapest Hotel when it came to Original Score and Original Screenplay. And I really thought it would be Keaton's year for Best Actor, and was kind of surprised to see Redmayne get it. Although in hindsight I shouldn't have been; before I had seen all the movies he was my early pick just because his role was everything the Academy loves.

As for the show itself, it was as usual a lot of unneccesary fluff shoved between some performances, some moving speeches, and some comedy. NPH was one of the better hosts of the last few years, and his opening was fantastic. I'm not going to touch the discrepancy he pointed out, whether it was his goal or not, between the movies that get nominated and the movies people actually see, because there's no point, we all know about it. But with all of that behind us, it just means there's another year of movies to dive into. Time to start looking for some early picks for next year...

2015 Oscars, Part 2: The Predictions

Are we all ready for some Oscars? I know I am. With Neil Patrick Harris hosting, we can rest pretty well assured that the show itself is going to be legen... wait for it... wait for it... keep waiting... I hope you aren't lactose intolerant because the last part of this word is... dary. It's time for my annual attempt to compare what I want to happen with what I consider the ten big awards with what I think will happen. But first, let's look at how I rated the eight Best Picture nominees.

8. Boyhood
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
6. Selma
5. The Imitation Game
4. Whiplash
3. The Theory of Everything
2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
1. American Sniper

Best Animated Feature
Nominated: Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Song of the Sea, The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Want to win: Big Hero 6
Will win: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Big Hero 6 was a breath of fresh air, a superhero movie that, thanks to the animated nature of it, could fully embrace the superhero concept without any modicum of reality. The animation was flawless, the cast was great, and the story was wonderful. Plus, it had a breakout character. But, I think we all know the Academy hates superheroes, and they'll' probably follow in the Golden Globes footsteps and go with the safer Dragon sequel.

Best Original Song
Nominated: Everything is Awesome (The Lego Movie), Glory (Selma), Grateful (Beyond the Lights), I'm Not Gonna Miss You (Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me), Lost Stars (Begin Again)
Want to win: Everything is Awesome
Will win: Glory
Everything is Awesome deserves it because it's catchy as hell and it would make up for the ridiculous snub of the Lego Movie not getting a Best Animated Feature nod, but Selma isn't going to win anything else and after the controversy over its lack of nominations, I think it'll get the consolation prize here. And it is a good song, after all.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated: American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash
Want to win: Whiplash
Will win: Whiplash
I'm hoping I get this one right, because the Whiplash screenplay was vibrant and witty as hell.

Best Original Screenplay
Nominated: Birdman, Boyhood, Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Nightcrawler 
Want to win: Birdman
Will win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Birdman screenplay was brilliant, but the Academy loves Wes Anderson, and as much as I disliked the movie itself, the screenplay was pretty good.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated: Robert Duvall (The Judge), Ethan Hawke (Boyhood), Edward Norton (Birdman), Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Want to win: J.K. Simmons
Will win: J.K. Simmons
Tough one here. I think the only real competition here is between Simmons and Norton, but Norton disappears completely for the second half of Birdman, whereas Simmons is almost as much the star of his movie as Miles Teller, so I think he gets the edge.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Laura Dern (Wild), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Emma Stone (Birdman), Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
Want to win: Emma Stone
Will win: Patricia Arquette
I think Stone was the best of the bunch, especially for her little monologue where she rips her onscreen father apart, but I think the Academy will go with Arquette, who was pretty much the emotional anchor of the otherwise awful Boyhood.

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Michael Keaton (Birdman), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Want to win: Bradley Cooper
Will win: Michael Keaton
This is I think easily the toughest category of the night, as these were all monster performances. I think Bradley Cooper put in the performance of a lifetime, but I think there's a good chance Michael Keaton will be rewarded for a lifetime of performances. We'll see.

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
Want to win: Julianne Moore
Will win: Julianne Moore
I think this is a walk-off for Moore. the other ladies were all good, but she was mesmerizing and heart-breaking. It was a powerful performance that had me stifling tears for a lot of it, and I think there's no way it doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

Best Directing
Nominated: Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
Want to win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Will win: Richard Linklater
I think Birdman was an infinitely better movie, but Linklater will probably get recognized for the achievement and unique filming process of Boyhood. I'd be happy to get this one wrong, but I guess we'll see. 

Best Picture
Nominated: American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash
Want to win: American Sniper
Will win: Birdman
I'm honestly unsure of this one, as I think American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, and Birdman all have decent shots, but I have to pick one and my gut says Birdman, just because it seems to be on a roll.

There's still four hours or so til the show, so there's still time for all you reading this out there to chime in with your predictions, and remember to check back in tomorrow to see how we did!
 

"RPG: Real Playing Game" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/02/rpg-real-playing-game-review-by-jim.html

"Paddington" Review - Written by Jim Herling

http://www.film-arcade.net/2015/02/paddington-review-by-jim-herling.html