It truly is remarkable what Ryan Stevens Harris has brought to the film world with “Moon Garden.” In a year packed with big films, “Moon Garden” will definitely sneak up on audiences. It deserves a massive crowd of film goers as it’s one of the finest fantasy films I’ve seen in years. A surefire mix of Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, and Mike Mignola, “Moon Garden” is an absolute masterpiece about the loss of innocence and a little girl’s quest to make it back home. I knew “Moon Garden” was something special going in, but I never thought it’d end up being such an emotional, heart wrenching, and inventive fantasy gem from beginning to end.
Tag Archives: Mystery
Pillow Party Massacre (2023)
One of the things I wish horror movies would stop doing is the meta-dialogue drop where a character proclaims “I feel like I’m in a horror movie!” to which someone replies “Well this isn’t a horror movie! This is real life.” Please stop that. I know I’m watching a horror movie. I don’t need to know that the characters know that we’re watching a horror movie. That said, “Pillow Party Massacre” is a mix of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Slaughter High” but with none of the fun hacking and slashing that goes with them. There’s nary a pillow party or a respectable massacre to be had.
Killer Kites (2023)
With “Killer Kites,” you’re facing a movie that’s genuinely critic proof, and has a clear idea about what it is from the first moment it starts. It’s only an hour in length and spends a lot of its time trying to turn kites in to mythological monsters. So, you either go in knowing what to expect, or you turn around look for another means of entertainment. I have to admit that Alan Dale and Austin Frosch’s horror comedy won me over from the opening credits.
The Mother (2023)
Niki Caro is a fine director who doesn’t exactly utilize her talents in “The Mother.” It’s a movie that feels so very meticulously calculated as a means of reforming Jennifer Lopez’s film career from drama and comedy star to action star. Sadly, Caro’s direction is flat in what is pretty much a run of the mill mix of action adventure and family drama. “The Mother” has a ton of potential behind it, and presents seeds of interesting ideas. It just all gets lost in a haze of sub-plots, all of which are under developed, or left dangling in the air without much fallout.
The Third Saturday in October: Part I (2023)
Hey even if you don’t like the experiment that Jay Burleson has concocted, you have to give “The Third Saturday in October” its credit for being so ambitious. The movies seem to have been made on a very modest budget, but director Burleson has an obvious adoration for slasher movies of all kinds. “Part I” of the series is a love letter to John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and seventies slasher films in general, and while embracing slasher tropes, he does a rare thing and gives us an African American movie maniac. Not just that, but a horrifying African American movie maniac.
The Third Saturday in October: Part V (2023)
There’s a ton of creativity and fun to be had behind writer and director Jay Burleson’s pair of slasher films. With the pair of movies you have what is an admirably constructed mythology, along with a cast of performers that are the absolute highlight of the movie. Even the more irritating characters eventually won me over, and that’s saying a lot. In spite of the warts and all, Burleson gets creative from the outset with a pair of films that have to be appreciated and experienced backward.
So, you have to watch “Part V” before you can even watch “Part I.”
Subspecies V: Blood Rise (2023)
Playing at 26 Alamo Drafthouse locations for a special engagement on Monday, May 15th; the presentation will include an exclusive introduction and pre-recorded post-screening Q&A with members of the cast and director, Ted Nicolaou. Tickets available now at drafthouse.com
I have to give it to director Ted Nicolaou, he really does give his return to the “Subspecies” series what seems to be his very best. The “Subspecies” vampire series was one of the crowning jewels of Full Moon Films back in their heyday and cult director Ted Nicolaou re-visits it once more to complete the story of the villainous albeit tragic vampire lord Radu.