Freaky Friday (2003)

Well, look at this…the movies from November’s viewings are spilling into December. These family teen Disney movies had been so plentiful and I just didn’t have the energy to write so many reviews so here we are. With that said, I kind of works with the lighthearted winter holiday movies theme that is going on here. Its just that is taking me a while to put together seeing as I reviewed so many of them before. You can find all the reviews from past holiday marathon in the menu above under movies. With that said, I haven’t seen Freaky Friday so I figured it was a good time to do some catch up (just like the previous The Lizzie McGuire Movie review I did HERE). Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis: I mean, what could go wrong, right?

Freaky Friday (2003)

Director: Mark Waters

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Harmon, Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray, Rosalind Chao

An overworked mother and her daughter do not get along. When they switch bodies, each is forced to adapt to the other’s life for one freaky Friday. – IMDB

 There is a wonderful entertainment value in Freaky Friday. I can’t say that I would watch this all the time but it has this really harmless fun feeling. Exactly how Disney family features usually are. While the plot is a little funky and its weird to see Jamie Lee Curtis play a role like this one especially since in her early days she was a scream queen and then in the recent years, she’s the dean on Scream Queens TV series, its hard to imagine her in such a comedic role but playing a rather uptight character that had to do a flip to act like a teenage girl. I always like these sort of flip personalities sort of thing because most of the time (even in the most ridiculous ways), hilarity ensues.

I have to admit that I don’t quite like this one as much as The Lizzie Mcguire Movie or The Parent Trap. There are moments where it feels like I should find it funny and yet I didn’t really want to. Maybe an overuse of the same humor like the Chinese Restaurant owner who keeps insisting on having the party held at their restaurant for a discount. Although those parts with the owner and her mom felt weird but still rather fun. What does make Freaky Friday good is the message it delivers of not really understanding someone and their decisions until you step into their shoes, maybe not as literal as the movie but it makes a good point about family and communication.

While these types of movies usually go over the top a little with the acting and very guided story lines, this one does deliver emotionally at the end. As much as I was sure about how I felt about Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’s characters respectively, it was hard to deny that I grew to like them more as we connected with them and in the end, it triggered some nice feelings as they embraced what they felt they needed to do naturally. The addition of the supporting characters actually adds a little extra although no one had quite as much as screen time as these two ladies. I did enjoy seeing Chad Michael Murray, who just seems to be hovering over a ton of stuff I’m watching of late and man, it makes me want to watch A Cinderella Story (again!).

Overall, Freaky Friday is a good enough Disney movie. Definitely not my favorite. However, it does have some nice feels and some good humor going on. It kind of hits in a plot territory that I appreciate and have a soft spot for. Still, I don’t see myself wanting to run back to rewatch this one too frequently but I’m definitely not opposed to seeing it again if it ever does occur. I guess what I’m saying is that I had fun but slightly indifferent.

Have you seen Freaky Friday? Did you like it?

TV Binge: Scream Queens (Season 1, 2015)

In the spirit of Halloween, it was time for some TV Binge horror. Well, in this case, horror comedy. Scream Queens has been doing incredibly well and in its Season 2 so I figured that its fresh launch on Netflix meant it was time for me to give it a go! With a cast full of people I like a ton, I can’t imagine not enjoying it. But then, I also know nothing about the story or what its about. That does seem like a trend I’m having of late. It is also probably why I haven’t watched Stranger Things yet because there is just so much talk about it with some phenomenal comparisons. However, we are here to talk about the first season of Scream Queens.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Scream Queens (Season 1, 2015)

 Creators: Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy

Cast: Emma Roberts, Skyler Samuels, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Keke Palmer, Billie Lourd, Glen Powell, Diego Boneta, Oliver Hudson, Niecy Nash, Nasim Pedrad

A semi-anthology series that centers on returning characters being terrorized by a serial killer in different locations, including a university and a hospital. –IMDB

Season one of Scream Queens is set at a university and the focus is with the sorority house Kappa Kappa Tau. It is quite hard to pinpoint how I actually feel about Scream Queens. For starters, it has a lot happening every episode but somehow each episode does feel quite slow and long. Scream Queens has a weird sort of humor that sometimes works and sometimes just induces eye-rolling. However, it does have an outstanding cast. I love a ton of the characters here probably even more than the story it is trying to tell. That doesn’t mean that at times, there are some nice tension-building near the end, but also a good bit of manipulative or guided scenes particularly in the end. A part of it is figuring out whether some decisions would have worked as it is better or if they had did various reveals in the first half a little more slowly which takes away the final unveil of who the Red Devil is and what the story behind it all is. I was happy to make it through the series and it was a sigh of relief to finish it. I’m happy to keep going with Season 2 but after a little break since it is a little harder to get into the story here.

As much as Chanel and her minions of Chanels called by numbers are really exaggerated portrayal of what rich sorority girls are, that play is sometimes fun. However, they are sometimes quite ridiculous and awkward. The cast is spectacular. I personally love Emma Roberts and she takes the role as Chanel incredibly well. Billie Lourd is rather unknown except for her role in Star Wars 7 (which probably you all may know her from there) and I really enjoyed her as Chanel #3. She plays the emotionless girl with a weird background and hidden secret and at times, it comes off genuinely hilarious and she never laughs so it makes it even more fun. While Abigail Breslin is one of the actresses I like a lot, more when she did her younger roles and because she has less roles nowadays, this is something I look forward to seeing her as Chanel #5 grow. New addition fairly early in the group is a pledge from Hester, played by Lea Michele, who is the typical girl with neck brace and all (reminds me of one of The House Bunny’s character) and she is completely different from her role in Glee. In this one, she comes off rather creepy because of her obsession of death.

In terms of characters, I truly liked a ton was the new pledges to the sorority and it takes a while to enjoy the main characters of a show but funnily for not enjoying the pace of a series, the main girl Grace, played by Skyler Samuels was one I liked a lot. She’s tough and smart but at times, very clueless about who to trust and not trust. One of my favorite scenes are above. If anything, I liked it even more when she was with Pete, played by Diego Boneta, who is someone I haven’t seen since his small roles in 90210. Hopefully, he’ll have more TV or movie roles eventually. While he has quite the potential to be a great actor, the fact that he can sound and even looks a little like Matthew McConaughey may be what makes it harder to succeed. However, I loved his role here. He plays as the investigative journalist who is researching the Red Devil killings and a big secret of Kappa Kappa Tau. Keke Palmer is also one of the more dynamic characters here. Talking about awkward, we can’t not mention Jamie Lee Curtis who I questioned as to why she took this silly project on as the Dean of the university. But man, is she a fantastic actress and does the role so well. In fact, she may be one of the more dangerous characters in the season and doesn’t even need a mask because she is smarter than that.

The most ridiculous and somewhat pun-y and awkward people has to go to the sorority boys collectively called the Dickie Dollar Scholars. Oddly, none of them go to class just like a ton of the girls don’t either probably. These guys are just stupid and it makes it more fun to laugh at how silly they are, and I mean every single one of them. The leader of the crowd is Chad, played by Glen Powell, who is quite the douchebag. Funnily enough, he never is the target, probably because he is too stupid to be one but that adds some extra fun. One of the best scenes has to be that one up there as a Backstreet Boys song plays and they are somewhat acting out what the music video would be like or at least reminisces. And that actually sums up what I feel is entertaining about Scream Queens when it reminisces on some very great movies. In the sorority houses, there is even a hint of Mean Girls there with all the not eating and the extreme abuse to the other sisters in the house.

Like I said in the beginning, I think the character designs here are entertaining to watch. However, the flow of the story had its issues. One of the other issues I had was the Red Devil, our killer of this season. It also is one of the main things of slasher flicks that gets me sometimes, at least the not so well done ones. The Red Devil is a creepy character with the mask and the entire costume and it being the university mascot and all that. It can get through here and there and actually is quite stealthy. However, the issue with the Red Devil is that the secret killer itself becomes somewhat apparent near the last quarter. On top of that, the last scenes make too much of an effort to keep whoever is hiding mysterious. It goes a little too coerced (that is the best way I can say).

Overall, Scream Queens is good. Its a little tough to get into but the characters are constructed rather well even if they take a while to love even with all their flaws. The best moments are those that reminisce on 90s pop culture. The Red Devil is effective in some parts but always feels a little too deliberate. In many ways, perhaps Scream Queens is supposed to be a little over the top to mock the slasher horror genre a little while still having some creepy moments.

Have you seen Scream Queens Season 1? What are your thoughts?

Halloween Marathon: Halloween Resurrection (2002)

The FIRST review for 2014 Halloween movie marathon starts with wrapping up the previous one.  Last year, I think, Netflix didn’t have this yet and I simply ran over in November and then writing month started so I had to tuck this away. Although a bunch of you told me that its better that I stayed away, it just didn’t seem right to not wrap it up.  So here we are!

Lets check out Halloween Resurrection! 🙂

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Cast: Bianca Kajlich, Sean Patrick Thomas, Daisy McCrackin, Katee Sackhoff, Luke Kirby, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tyra Banks, Busta Rhymes

Picking up 3 years after Laurie thought she had beheaded Michael Myers and in turn is in a psychiatric hospital, she waits for him to find her eventually.  Knowing he is still alive and out there, Dangertainment, an online reality show chooses 6 students compensated with a scholarship to go investigate the house of Michael Myers when he was a kid to figure out how he became who he is on Halloween.  They will be trapped in the house for an entire night under camera surveillance placed around the house and their own cameras and microphones attached to them while live broadcasting to the public. Except things go horribly wrong when they realize that they are not alone.

Where to start for this review? Lets have a little recap of how I felt about the previous ones up to this point.  Its been a year so who remembers, right? I liked Halloween and enjoyed Halloween 2.  Halloween 3 was random and weird and really not my cup of tea.  Honestly, I don’t remember much except for that really annoying song/jingle because my boyfriend will start singing it all the time when he watches it.  Then, 4, 5 and 6 tried to bring it back to its roots and it was mildly successful although the story made absolutely no sense.  And then, we have Halloween H20, which was only good because of Jamie Lee Curtis but other than that, the story and idea and everything was so meh. Plus, the last few just became so predictable and Michael Myers wasn’t even all that creepy. And thats coming from me. If you’re new here, lets just say, I’m REALLY easier scared.

Finally we get to this one: Halloween Resurrection. There’s really nothing to do with nothing here.  Its just trying to modernize the idea with some live reality online broadcasting thing and bringing Michael Myers back as the man who just never dies because he’s evil or the devil or something.  Jamie Lee Curtis has the most convincing scene in this and then once these 6 teens start and a very laughable appearance of Busta Rhymes starts, everything just falls apart.  Its extremely predictable and not really scary at all.  Plus, this has to be the most uneffective Michael Myers because I don’t know, I just felt he moved so fast.  Isn’t he like 45 now or whatever? I mean, with all the accidents, you’d think at least he’d be even more at his menacingly scary slow-mo walking to create atmosphere but nope, not a chance.

I’m not going to say this was an absolute failure because nothing boggles my mind quite like how Halloween 3 became part of this franchise but there are a lot of downfalls.  Its really hard to comment on casting when its not really a big plus in most horror genres.  The cast wasn’t exactly stellar.  I was okay with the group of six although they were kind of stupid at times but Busta Rhymes was really annoying to watch.  Rick Rosenthal, however, as director does try to bring in some more Halloween atmosphere than previous instalments.  I mean, he did do Halloween 2.  I liked that one well enough and because of that, there was one creepy moment in this.  So like I said, not a compete failure.

I really have nothing to say, so overall, Halloween Resurrection is one you can probably live without.  Its absolutely unnecessary and some of the cast was really annoying to watch.

I am extremely happy that I’m done the franchise.  If you were wondering whether I have watched the Halloween (remake?) by Rob Zombie.  Yes, I have and I actually covered that in my first Halloween month back in 2012.  You can see it HERE! I probably should revisit it and give it a proper full review but that kind of slipped my mind when I was putting together the rundown, not to mention I’d have to dig it out of boxes again….so maybe next year 😉 I did enjoy that one as well 🙂

Have you seen the entire Halloween franchise? Which is your fave? Did  you think that any was unnecessary and if so, when did you start having that feeling?

Christmas Marathon: Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Next up in the Christmas marathon is Christmas with the Kranks.  I figured since I had put up a whole post with a tons of short Christmas animated flicks,  might as well go for a full feature.  I was thinking that I hadn’t seen Tim Allen in ages and was thinking about how long ago Home Improvement was.  Lots of nostalgic thoughts, I guess.  The last full feature I saw him in was The Santa Clause and I didn’t bother with the sequels.  Either way, it lead to me choosing Christmas with the Kranks over the other two on Netflix. Lets check it out!

Director: Joe Roth

Cast: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, M. Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth Franz, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, Julie Gonzalo

Luther Krank (Tim Allen) and Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) are celebrating their first Christmas without their  daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) who has decided to go to Peru volunteering with the Peace Corps  during the holidays.  In turn, Luther decides to boycott Christmas and head out to a cruise instead.  However, their community/neighborhood and friends don’t take it very well and start pressuring them to give in to the traditions.

Lets me start by saying that I have no idea how anyone would put over $6000 on Christmas.  Thats completely ridiculous.  I mean, we had the same Christmas tree for ages and then when my dad passed away and my aunt and cousins moved away and Christmas was just my mom and me, my mom even gave away the tree to Salvation Army for a year before.  Thats until I decided that same year to get a little Christmas tree so that it didn’t seem so gloomy. And now, even with all that, I guess I spend like $100 at Christmas.  Plus, my neighborhood isn’t that united.  We know each other and nod/smile when we see each other but nothing like collectively decorate our houses together.  So, this idea is kind of foreign to me.  Of course, I get the hype of Christmas because my boyfriend’s family is very into it. But then, I do get it because the thought of going away on a cruise with my mom for Christmas has been around for the past two years at the very least.

Other than the somewhat foreign concept that gave this a little weird feeling, I also remembered that I had forgotten Tim Allen’s humor. Does that even make sense? Was his humor like this back in home improvement? Christmas with the Kranks wasn’t really funny for a good portion of it until it went into emergency revival mode nearing maybe 30-40 minutes till the end.  Thats about when I started liking the movie a lot more. During the first half, I was doing my workout at the same time.  Don’t get me wrong though. Its not a horrible Christmas movie.  Its just a Christmas movie with a few references and connections to make it something of a modern day twist of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It has some cliche moments and then turns into a heartwarming ending.  Oops! Spoiler alert? Did you not expect that would be how it would end? Anyways, I like those endings.  Its like the beautiful bow that wraps up the happy festive feeling of family and friends that come together 🙂

As much as it sounds super sarcastic up till now, its just because I’m angry at the fact that I wanted to punch Tim Allen’s character in the face because it irritated me but everyone else was great.  I loved Jamie Lee Curtis, when not being the scream queen in Halloween, she’s pretty hilarious.  My favorite had to be Dan Aykroyd’s Vic Frohmeyer, the leader of the neighbor in a manner of speaking.  He was awesome and so funny.  Loved it! And the kid that played his son Spike, played by Erik Per Sullivan was great as well.  I really enjoyed the guy who played Walt, the neighbor across from the Kranks that Luther had issues with.

Overall, Christmas with the Kranks is a cliche Christmas story but despite the not very funny or entertaining first half, the second half brings in a nice mix of humor and heartwarming moments to make it into an average Christmas movie.  It would never be a first choice but if it ever shows up, it won’t be a complete waste of time.

Thoughts on Christmas with the Kranks? Are you a Tim Allen fan? How about Jamie Lee Curtis?

Halloween Marathon: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

The light at the end of the tunnel is how I feel right now.  Its just right there! This month has been a bit intense with work and keeping up with the blog.  The first time its really gotten to me.  This time really went completely spontaneous and ended up being hectic to finish up the focus of the marathon: the Halloween series.  I had a list before I started the marathon and lets say I pretty much tossed it out the window.  Last night, at something like 11pm, I finally turned on Netflix and saw Halloween H20. I’ve mentioned it, but I will again, I’m not doing the final one due to time constraints.  I will eventually, just not immediately.  So, lets see whats up with this one!

Director: Steve Miner

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, Adam Arkin, LL Cool J, Adam Hann-Byrd, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe

Laurie Strode, now the dean of a Northern California private school with an assumed name, must battle the Shape one last time and now the life of her own son hangs in the balance.-IMDB

The only relevance Halloween H20 had was to the very first (and well, second) Halloween.  That makes it kind of meh, because then its like, should I take in account that 4 to 6 happened then.  I mean, from what I got from the 4th one, Laurie either died or left her daughter.  So  now, she has a son, why did she choose to keep her son but leave her daughter and then her daughter gets stuck with that ridiculous fate and happened from 4 to 6.  She has issues and we know that already. Who wouldn’t, right? Lets say we forget about Laurie. Michael Myers makes no sense either.  He always struck in Haddonfield, so what makes him leave that comfort zone 20 years later and head to kill Laurie in North California now? I mean, if he was all high and mighty and knew all, as he seems to be in the previous instalments, then why not just go straight for her after his first escape back in 4? I know the technicalities are probably they couldn’t get back Jamie Lee Curtis to do that role or whatnot, but still, doesn’t matter who really gets slashed as long as they get hunted by Michael Myers, no? Either way, my head hurts from all the questions.

I’m not saying that I hated Halloween H20, I really am not. I watched this by myself so my imagination went running wild, as always so there were times I’d be tense but then this one was so predictable. I think its the fault of how they shot this one. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking that the purpose of Halloween H20 was to show why the first (or any of the others) was so creepy. For one, even when this movie was dark, it was still pretty bright.  Second, we aren’t supposed to see Michael Myers up close and personal.  He was scary because he was lurking around, and we never got a good look at him.  The shots were quick and we never knew when he’d attack.  This time, Michael was walking faster and always visible.  Plus, the mask was not scary and excuse me but blackest eyes, no they aren’t.  Are you lying to me Dr. Loomis or did his eyes change over the years? Maybe he’s softened up, but then, he hasn’t.

I went into this with little expectations that I was so happy to actually see JGL little role at the beginning.  I’m not exactly sure that part was supposed to yield that much excitement.  And then there was LL Cool J.  Hey, I thought he was pretty awesome in Deep Blue Sea and he was pretty hilarious in this one.  That was probably deliberate.  Not very fitting for Halloween but I liked it! Another thought going through my head for the cast was that I never saw anything with Josh Hartnett since Pearl Harbor and now I have 2 in a week.  I’m indifferent to Josh Hartnett but at least he wasn’t a brainless teenager in this one along with a young Michelle Williams.  So many familiar faces does give it a few extra points, right?

I think at this point, my review is already way out of hand.  Its just a lot of ranting and sarcasm.  Okay, I’m serious, I didn’t hate it because I was tired and by myself.  Overall, some tense parts but not a coherent storyline if you look at this in a whole.  Its predictable and doesn’t really have many scares.  I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to see this.

Happy Halloween everyone! I should have one more post up if everything goes as planned to do this my own way! 🙂 I’m getting that together right after dinner!

There you go! Seven Halloweens done! Have you seen them all? Which is your favorite? Is there something I’m missing in the story to link it better?

Halloween Marathon: Halloween 2 (1981)

On Sunday, right after Halloween ended, we popped in the Halloween 2! Maybe thats how we’ll do the main feature but at least its a good continuity, right? With that said, you really shouldn’t read this if you haven’t seen the first one,k? This won’t spoil the second one but will spoil the first 😉 Let’s check it out!

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Charles Cyphers

Picking up at the last scene of Halloween, the police are rounding up the bodies and cleaning up after the mess that Michael Myers has made.  Laurie is being sent to the hospital to be treated for her injuries.  Dr. Loomis continues to try to search for Myers as he went missing even after being shot and falling from the second floor in the previous movie.  His chase leads him to learn a little more about Michael and perhaps the reason as to why he is after Laurie.  Michael ends up slashing his way through Haddonsfield all the way to the hospital where he continues his pursuit of Laurie and taking down whoever stands in his way.

I’m not exactly sure what to say about Halloween II. Honestly, I found it irritating for a good bit.  It was kind of slow and predictable.  On top of that, the characters themselves were just plain stupid and made dumb choices.  After so many things going on, Michael Myers is still invincible and close to immortal because he just never dies.  Its not that I hated this one.  The concept of it was decent, but the execution was a tad on the iffy side.  It was an engaging as the first one is what I’m trying to say.

The cast pretty much stays the same with the focus on Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie and it gets a lot better when she gets moving.  That was mostly at the end, unless the dragged on. I wasn’t really looking at the clock so I don’t know.  Dr. Loomis, still played with Donald Pleasance was also a welcoming face.  He is really good in this role and frankly, I think he’s my favorite character in this one.  As for the other side characters that each have about 5 minutes on screen total or something, they aren’t really worth my time.  They make stupid decisions and for the most part, I was not alive in 1970s but I never though an hospital would be empty at night…thats just me. That part didn’t make much sense to me.

Aside from all the flaws, was it a terrible movie? I don’t think so.  Sure, it was a bit slow and pointless at times but it did give a sense of continuation and tried to give the audience some answers as to why this was happening.  Although, there isn’t really any explanation even after we know the “secret”.  Its definitely a huge drop from the first one.  Its not really scary and not as engaging.  Its really straight out a slasher flick where all that really happens is people getting stalked and killed in different sorts of ways.  By the way, I really need to know how Michael learns all these things (drive a car, use hospital equipment, etc) when he’s been locked up since he was a kid.

What did you think of this sequel? Did you like this more than I did? Do you think its a worthy sequel?

Halloween Marathon: Halloween (1978)

Finally, the main feature of my whole marathon began this weekend! On Sunday, my boyfriend and I sat down and popped in the first Halloween.  I’ve never seen this before, just the Rob Zombie remake.  I liked that one quite a bit and decided that this year, I’d do a marathon to catch up with all this Michael Myers and maybe next year, I’ll go for the Friday the 13th series ;).  Lets check it out!

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Tony Moran, P.J. Soles, Nancy Kyes, Charles Cypher, Kyle Richards

Michael Myers murdered his sister on Halloween when he was a young boy and afterwards was institutionalized at a mental hospital.  After many years, he manages to escape as a grown man on Halloween and heads back to Haddonsfield.  Once there, he starts stalking a young girl, Laurie and her friends on Halloween.  At night, when she babysits, he lurks around the neighborhood and starts killing anyone that is in his way as he gets closer to her. At the same time, his doctor, Dr. Loomis chases after him and tries to track him down and stop him before he goes out of control.

Halloween is pretty much a classic at this point.  Everyone knows enough about it that I probably didn’t even need to give a synopsis. But hey, maybe you’re like me and extremely late to the party 😉 I know I’m late with lots of these. Regardless, I did initiate with the remake so I was slightly more familiar with the story, however this one does pace itself in a different way and portray a bit different also.  I found its pace a bit slow but one that works well because before I knew it, by the final few scares, I was yelling at the characters.  As predictable as some scenes were, they also had the background music and would make it more intense.

Michael Myers is definitely a creepy villain.  We don’t know what he looks like and the mask is bone-chilling and scary.  Especially since its white, in the dark spaces, sometimes thats all we see.  Then he lurks in the shadows and many times, its hard to know where he will pop out or exactly when, how he will attack.  He defines the unknown factor as there are so many mysteries that make us wonder why he’s hunting down Laurie, even why he would kill his own sister when he was just a boy. Questions and unknown and scary masks, especially kids in clown costumes, all very scary stuff in my book.

Do I really need to recommend this? Just go see it if you haven’t and if you have, well, I’m sure you’d love to see it again, especially for Halloween 😉

How many of you actually watch Halloween on Halloween day? Whats your go-to Halloween movie?