I did my favorite books, now it’s time for movies.
Normally I’d list out ten movies; 5 movies released in 2017 and 5 movies from any year that I saw for the first time in 2017. However, this time, I’m just going to list out all my favorite movies from last year. I may get to ten, I may not. I literally don’t know. But I watched all of these movies for the first time in 2017. In no particular order.
Baby Driver (2017)
Logan (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)
The Lost Boys is a cult classic. It is beloved by many. It’s not hard to argue since the movie is so good in so many ways. It’s a great addition to the vampire mythos. It has the two Coreys. It has a beefy, oily guy in chains playing the sax. It has a rockin’ soundtrack. It was a literal time capsule of the 90s. Not much to really argue about there. Why didn’t we ever get a decent sequel?
You probably already know about those two The Lost Boys “sequel” movies. The Tribe and The Thirst.
I’ve seen them. They’re terrible. They even bring back the Frog Brothers. Still terrible. Actually, that probably makes them even more terrible.
Back in 2008, Wildstorm put out a sequel comic called Reign of Frogs that also brought back the Frogs and made the story more about them. And it was a bit nonsensical and not very good either.
That first movie is so good and beloved, you really want these projects to work. But for the most part, they don’t.
Flash forward back to 2016. Vertigo starts releasing a Lost Boys comic. Written by Tim Seely. It is billed as the Lost Boys sequel you always wanted.
We’ll see about that.
The story takes place in Santa Carla very soon after the first movie. The Frogs are training with Grandpa who now, we know, belongs to a group of vampire hunters. Michael is dating Star. The mom is back at the video store. Things are trying to get back to normal. Until a group of vampires called the Blood Belles show up and start killing all the resident vampire hunters. So the Frogs have to weapon up with Sam and Michael to stop whatever plans they have in store for Santa Carla.
It’s a decent setup. The writing is mostly solid. The covers are great and the interior art is mostly good but the faces on the characters are off. It was confusing to read because I couldn’t tell the difference between Michael and Sam nor either of the Frog Brothers. So it was tough understanding at first who is talking. Other than that, I felt like Tim Seely represented the characters well and wrote in their voices that I can remember from the original movie.
Other than that the overall plot is good. We get the return of a few more characters from the original movie. It’s fun. Nothing ground breaking or amazing but a solid return to that world.
Or at the very least, a more solid return than any of the other returns we’ve gotten before.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
That’s right, my friends, Cult Film Club is back. Today we are releasing episode 41 where we talk about the 1986 horror flick, Trick or Treat.
We’ve threatened to do this movie before and we thought this Halloween was the perfect time to do it. The movie stars Family Ties’ Marc Price with cameos by Gene Simmons, Ozzy Ozbourne, and Showbiz Pizza’s Billy Bob (not even joking). It’s a classic 80s horror movie that is better than you think it is with a rocking soundtrack.
Download the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Google or any of your usual podcasting places. Or you can listen to it directly right here.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Today I want to talk about another favorite ghost movie of mine, The Others, from 2001.
It was directed by Alejandro Amenabar and starred Nicole Kidman. The only other movie I know Amenabar from is Open Your Eyes from 1997 with Penelope Cruz. It’s the movie Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise remade into Vanilla Sky which would open the very same year as The Others.
I saw this movie in the theater based mostly on the spooky trailer and Nicole Kidman. I had no preconceived notions going in on what to expect.
The movie takes place in 1945 in Jersey, a British dependency located in the Channel Islands. Kidman lives in a remote country home with her two children; Anne and Nicholas.
The children have a rare condition that makes them allergic to sunlight and their father had left to fight in WWII but has not returned.
After three servants take up residence in the house strange things start occuring. The oldest daughter begins talking about seeing a small boy named Victor. Mysterious sounds are heard in abandoned rooms. Doors are left open. Typical ghostly haunted house stuff.
Kidman is not sure if the kids are causing the disturbances, the new servants or some ghostly intruder. The suspense is really ratcheted up throughout the movie. Lots of atmosphere. And the old house is a great part of this whole thing. It’s huge with all of these abandoned rooms. You almost feel lost in the house while you are watching it. There’s so much wood which causes lots of “house noises”. Kidman’s character opens and closes every door of every room she enters and you get the requisite wood sounds every time. The house looks and sounds great. And the “ghostly” events are really spooky.
I’m not going to give away the ending. I really want you to watch it. But the atmosphere and tension are really amped up. Kidman gives a great performance as the mom trapped in an ever increasingly bizarre set of circumstances. The daughter, Anne, played by Alakina Mann, is pretty great as well. She needed to work because she’s the one who goes against her mother for most of the movie as she’s the one who’s seen Victor and the “intruders”. And she brings it 100%. She’s really great in all her scenes with Kidman.
I rewatched this movie for this review and it still holds up. Even knowing what the ultimate climax was going to be, I still very much enjoyed the journey the movie took me on to get to its “final resting place”.
Okay, so next week is the final FULL week of AWESOME-tober-fest. I can’t believe it’s already nearly over. Usually for this final week I’ll do what I call “Greatest Hits” where I revisit topics from previous AWESOME-tober-fests like vampires, werewolves or movie maniacs. However, this year, for the 10th anniversary of this countdown, I’ve decided to do something a little different. For the next week I’ll be doing ALL NEW topics. Topics that I had planned for their own AWESOME-tober-fest at some point. I’ll pick one article from five different topics I’ve never done before. It should be a lot of fun. I’ll even give you a preview of Monday’s topic.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
On Friday I talked about one of my favorite ghost movies, Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners from 1996. Well, as luck would have it, they released a movie novelization for it. It was written by Michael Jahn.
So, I recorded a very special Halloween episode of I Read Movies all about this novelization. I talk about extra scenes, I talk about new plot points, there’s even a good bit explaining the nature of the movie’s ghosts. Lots of good stuff to hear, so either download the latest episode of I Read Movies on iTunes and Google Play or listen to it right here.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
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Cavalcade of Awesome 