It’s surprising that “Welcome to Raccoon City” wasn’t very well received in 2021, as I think it’s about as good a movie as I’d have expected for a “Resident Evil” feature film. Surely, it’s by no means a perfect adaptation but I had a great time with it, and enjoyed it so much more than what Paul WS Anderson served up in the aughts. Johannes Roberts injects a lot of life in to this feature film visit to Raccoon City, and his reboot is filled with some great scares, genuinely good zombie carnage, and classic mystery on par with the video games.
Tag Archives: Adaptation
Barbie (2023) [4K UHD/Digital]
Whodathunk that the most successful film of the year would be “Barbie”? Despite the somewhat lingering doubt about the IP’s relevance among the modern youth, Greta Gerwig managed to tap in to a rare element where she took a toy and turned it in to an actual film. Greta Gerwig doesn’t just deliver a comedy musical about a doll and her boyfriend, but a conscious, self aware and often meaningful statement about sexual dynamics, and existentialism. Barbie begins to question her purpose in even her own world, and this sets off the chain of events that follow.
Dark Harvest (2023)
I admit that I’ve never actually read Norman Partridge’s Halloween horror novel, but I was always very interested in checking it out. Thankfully David Slade adapts it for the big screen and introduces the movie going audience to a small town that’s very heavily steeped in to such a horrifying nightmare of circumstances. Although the movie is thin in exposition and exploration of elements like character, and back story, “Dark Harvest” does manage to squeeze by thanks to its enthusiastic direction by David Slade, ace cinematography by Larry Smith, and excellent flourishes of gore and vicious violence.
The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t (1979)
It’s surprising that “The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t” has managed to become something of a mini-cult classic over the years. It was a TV movie that was almost lost to time, and once reclaimed, has survived thanks to nostalgia. The TV movie was much before my time, so I don’t have any real sentimentality directed toward it. In either case, ”The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t” isn’t the best Halloween special, but it has its heart in the right place, even through the cheesy final scene.
Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)
“The Legend of the Vampire” is a bittersweet occasion. As it is one of the many, many “Scooby Doo” animated movies, it is also apparently the first Scooby-Doo movie to feature Casey Kasem, Heather North, Nicole Jaffe and Frank Welker together since 1973. The gang are back together to bring what is a pretty strong and fun mixing of the usual Mystery Inc. exploits and some great rock and roll music. Once again, we see the appearance of The Hex Girls who should, by all rights, have their own animated spin off by now. Ah well, a man can dream.
Hysterics of the Dead in 2003 with Uwe Boll
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
If you’re an avid movie goer and movie lover, most of the time you can tell when a movie is going to stink five minute in to it. Sometimes it’s from the first moment, but sometimes it takes at least five minutes. When I trekked to Manhattan to see “House of the Dead” a week before Halloween, it hit like a gut punch within the opening credits that I was not going to see the next zombie movie masterpiece. Granted, this was 2003, and I hadn’t heard of Uwe Boll. Hell, I barely had any knowledge of what “House of the Dead” was as a whole. I just know that the ads for it on MTV looked pretty damn cool.
I was at a weird mind set in 2003. I’d just come out from open heart surgery in July, and I’d spent the entire summer suffering, especially after the historic black out that took out power from most of America for twenty four hours.
Five Great Minority Movie Heroes: October Edition
It’s spooky season and I thought it’d be a good time to whip out another edition of “Great Minority Movie Heroes” but leaning in to the horror genre. That’s admittedly a hard task, but I listed five really interesting and likable minority movie heroes of the horror genre.