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2021 Blind Spot Series: Little Shop Of Horrors

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  What I knew going in: The basic plot Seymour (Rick Moranis) is a loney flower shop worker who crushes on his colleague Audrey (Ellen Greene) while they both dream of leaving Skid Row. Seymour comes across a strange and unusual plant and comes to find out that it lives off blood. Yes, I had to make a quick change to my Blind Spot list because once again, I cannot find Suddenly, Last Summer anywhere. This was a film that I have always meant to see as I love musicals, but somehow missed. Since it was available on HBO Max, I went for it, and I am so glad I did. I loved this! It's so much fun, and I've watched it twice this week already. I was very familiar with the stage show, and I know the movie has a different ending. (I also watched the original ending on youtube, which I liked. My son thinks the movie ending is better) I loved how catchy the songs were, the Greek Chorus was wonderful and I loved how over the top and ridiculous everyone was. Plus, a plant tells Rick Moranis
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Review: Dune

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Paul Atredies (Timothee Chalamet) is the son of the powerful Duke (Oscar Isaac) who has just been given stewardship over the desert planet of Arrakis. There, one of the most important substances in the universe, "spice" is mined. Paul has been having dreams about this planet, mainly about a young woman, Chani. (Zendaya) He's unaware of what his destiny awaits. I'm somewhat of a Dune noob. I never read the books, nor did I see David Lynch's effort before this. I did see the documentary Jodoworsky's Dune , which I hated. I didn't expect to ever be looking forward to another Dune adaptation until they attached one of my favorite directors,  Denis Villeneuve. So I can only speak for myself, someone without a lot of knowledge of the source material, but I absolutely loved this. I wanted to see Dune on the big screen, so I went to the theater instead of watching it for the first time on HBO Max. This is the first Max release that I actually did that for, and I
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Thursday Movie Picks: Horror Comedy

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This week's Halloween Theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is horror comedy! I tend to enjoy these films because camp and horror go so well together. There's a lot to choose from, but here's what I came up with. 1) Deathgasm - This little film from New Zealand about a group of kids in a heavy metal band who summon a demon is as ridiculous as the title sounds.  2) Zombieland - At this point, Zombieland is a classic. The rules Columbus talks about are still pretty widely quoted today. I love this movie.  3) Warm Bodies - This was one that I watched solely for Teresa Palmer and ended up really enjoying. Who knew a zombie romance could be so funny? 
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Review: The Last Duel

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When Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) is attacked by Jacques Le Gris, (Adam Driver) her husband Jean (Matt Damon) challenges him to a trial by combat. The film is told from all three of these characters' perspectives. I have to admit, I've been going back and forth about this movie. Driver is one of my favorite actors right now, so I wanted to see it for him, then I heard how they handled the rape scene and that gave me pause. Ultimately I decided to go for it and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, but it's still not without its faults. The choice to show three different point of views was an interesting one. I was afraid it would go the route Vantage Point did and be repetitive and annoying, but thankfully it wasn't. The overlap is different enough to not grate your nerves, except for one scene; the rape. If you've been around here you probably know I have a hard time watching scenes of sexual assault. As a SA survivor myself, it's just so
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Review: Halloween Kills

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Picking up right where the last film left off, Laurie, (Jamie Lee Curtis) Karen (Judy Greer) and Addyson (Andi Matichek) are being rushed to the hospital to tend to Laurie's injuries. Meanwhile, Michael is still alive, slaughters what appears to be the entire Haddonfield fire department, and he's on his merry way to do more murders. But while Laurie is recovering, the now grown Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) is ready to lead a mob to kill him for good. While I've been a fan of this franchise I didn't think it needed another movie so when the last one came out, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it and how well I thought it handled Laurie's PTSD. Now after watching this, it really made me realize just how much this franchise depends on Laurie. You watch it for gory kills by Michael Myers, sure. But Laurie is the glue that holds this together and despite what the trailers make you believe, she's not the main focus of this movie. In a way, Tommy i
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Review: Lamb

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Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) are farmers in rural Iceland when one of their sheep gives birth to something very special.  The less you know about Lamb , the more it will work for you. The internet went pretty wild when A24 first released this trailer over the summer. To be fair, the trailer gives us the It Comes At Night treatment, where it makes the film seem like a horror film when in fact, it's just a drama basked in uneasiness. There is the feeling of dread as you're watching this, because you this movie isn't going to let this happy little family stay that way. We spend a lot of time just watching Maria and Ingmar do their day to day before the titular lamb is even born. If I'm honest the film could've shaved about 10-15 minutes off of its run time but the cinematography is gorgeous so at least there's a lot of beauty in this mundane life we've been dropped into. It's a quiet film and the ending is going to make or break i
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Thursday Movie Picks - Halloween Edition: Folk or Urban Legends

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  This week's Halloween theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is movies about folk or urban legends. There's plenty of those, and the only rule I set for myself was not to use Urban Legend, because that's too easy. Here's what I came up with. 1) Candyman (1992)- Say his name 5 times.. This is still one of my favorite horror movies, and I have an even bigger appreciation for it after how Nia DaCosta's 2021 remake frames it in retrospect. It made me afraid of parking garages and park bathrooms my entire childhood. 2) When A Stranger Calls (2006) - Yes, I'm going with the remake. I like Camilla Belle and I wish she had a better career. But what better choice than "the call is coming from inside the house!" to use for Urban Legend week. 3) The Ring - You die 7 days after watching the video tape. I still think this is the best PG-13 horror film out there. It holds up even though I've seen this 100 times.
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