Author Bridget Thoreson previously released the cook book “The Unofficial “Hocus Pocus” Cookbook,” a compilation of drink and food recipes for the adult fan of the 1993 Disney cult classic movie. Now for the Halloween season, author Thoreson releases a sequel but it’s for the kids, this time. Officially titled “The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook for Kids: 50 Fun and Easy Recipes for Tricks, Treats, and Spooky Eats Inspired by the Halloween Classic,” this 128 page hardcover book is a treat for the young “Hocus Pocus” fan in your life.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
“Hocus Pocus” has managed to become a huge cult classic since its initially slept on release in 1993. When you release a Halloween movie in the middle of the summer, you kind of expect the movie to flop. But years since its release, movie fans alike have caught on allowing it become an absolute classic. And I for one love “Hocus Pocus.” I loved it since I first saw it on VHS back in 1994. “Hocus Pocus 2” seemed like a far fetched idea until 2022 when there seemed to be potential for a follow up. With “Hocus Pocus 2” you kind of have to meet it halfway. It’s a follow up but it’s different than the original movie. That doesn’t make it bad, it just makes it a different movie and experience altogether.
The CW’s “The Spencer Sisters” is a Promising Mystery
I’ve been looking forward to “The Spencer Sisters” for a long time. I’m a fan of Stacey Farber, and she’s been one of my celebrity crushes since “Degrassi.” Coming off of her fun stint on “Superman and Lois,” her new crime caper series is a breath of fresh air. In a TV space where a lot of series’ are so dark and grim, it’s fun to see a crime series a lot more lighter and less focused on death. A mix of “The Gilmore Girls” and “Nancy Drew,” “The Spencer Sisters” is an entertaining mystery drama series that teams an actual retired police officer with a mystery novelist. Both happen to be estranged mother and daughter.
The Beanie Bubble (2023)
There’s something interesting about the influx of films about capitalism and massive corporations being tailored as approachable biopics. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this growing sub-genre of corporate/consumerism biopics feels slimy and calculated. These aren’t movies so much as they are commercials and often cheerleaders for the idea of humanizing faceless corporations and “average” CEO’s whose life literally depends on a business decision. Despite some interesting aspects to it, “The Beanie Bubble” is yet another dose of corporate capitalism being lionized in a big budget, star studded movie. “The Beanie Bubble” is vaguely about the Beanie Babies craze of the 1990’s, but it’s a mostly fluffed up, mostly fictional account of Ty Warner and how he went from billionaire to has been seemingly overnight.
Storm (2023) [Beyond Fest 2023]
Apparently “Storm” is something of a proof of concept as much as it is a short horror film and I have to say that I love where it’s headed. Director Lena Tsodykovskaya is a wonderful visual director who is capable of creating something of a really polished horror film. “Storm” is such a great meta-horror movie that I was sucked in from the opening. I don’t know if this concept can be stretched in to a ninety minute horror film, but for what it is “Storm” is a well realized and engaging horror film that smashes the fourth wall.
The Bootleg Files: Oceans of Love
BOOTLEG FILES 843: “Oceans of Love” (1956 animated short from the Terrytoons studio).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The rights holder will not make it available.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Cartoon lovers of a certain age will recall the glory days of Terrytoons, an animation studio founded by Paul Terry that specialized in cartoon shorts that were usually lacking in artistic genius but more than compensated with good silly fun. Terry himself acknowledged his studio’s shortcomings regarding its low-budget animation, once describing Walt Disney’s operation as the “Tiffany’s in this business” while his was “the Woolworth’s.”
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Bottoms (2023)
It’s pretty disappointing going in to a movie expecting so much and leaving it felt like it could have been so much more. While many have sung the praises of Jennifer Seligman’s “Bottoms,” I am sad to have left it feeling generally indifferent. It has an interesting premise and has a good time taking its LGBTQ premise and fitting it right in to the myriad coming of age high school comedies, but so much about “Bottoms” felt so under developed and incomplete. Apart from its absolutely bizarre premise, “Bottoms” spends most of its run time trying to figure out what it wants to be.