Night at the Cinema

It was almost halfway through last week when it finally donned on me that Halloween was almost here and that's when I realized that I hadn't seen any horror movies or shows. I got the idea to make this list a day or two later but I felt that it was already too late. Despite this feeling I thought 'what the hell, maybe someone might like a few recommendations that will scare you and get you in the Halloween mood. I am planning on expanding on this for next year, I'll try to get more of a comprehensive list together then. This isn't a review post, these are just some of my personal recommendations. Hope you enjoy! Halloween (1978) Directed by John Carpenter Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill What better way to start off a list of Halloween movies than with one of the classics? Halloween follows Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as she is hunted by a masked killer. When he was six years old Michael Meyers (First played by Will ...

Children of Men Directed by Alfonso Cur ón Written by P.D. James (Novel), Alfonso Curón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby "As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices." The world that Children of Men creates is one that is broken and without hope. Nearly twenty years after the last baby was born all major world governments save for the British have succumbed to infighting and social strife, refugees from other countries pour into the relatively stable United Kingdom but face harsh treatment from the government. Out of this conflict comes the Fishes, a group of refugees and refugee sympathizers attempting to change the government by force. The world is broken and bleak, with no hope of salvation. But one day, as if by miracle, a woman becomes pregnant. The first woman to do so in twenty years. The world of Children of Men is perfectly summarized in...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Directed by Andrew Dominik Written by Ron Hansen (Novel) and Andrew Dominik "Poor Jesse had a wife, a lady all her life And three children they were so brave But that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard Has laid ol' Jesse James in his grave" - The Ballad of Jesse James When reading the title of this film, what do you think of? What images and feelings come to you when you think of the famous outlaw Jesse James? What do you think of when you think of the man that killed him, Robert Ford? The zeitgeist of the life and death of Jesse James is absolutely critical to this film as it serves to show the audience the real men behind the myth. The film follows both Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) in the last year of Jesse's life, from the autumn of 1881 to the spring of 1882. Bob Ford and his brother Charley join Frank (Sam Shepard) and Jesse on their last t...

Blade Runner 2049 Directed by Denis Villeneuve Written by Philip K. Dick (Novel: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Hampton Fancher and Michael Green Before reading the rest of this first impressions post, please know that I am intentionally being vague about this movie. I don't want to spoil anything that wasn't in the first couple of trailers. If you want to know if you should see it the answer is you should. This is one of the best movies of the year by far and I hope it's one that gains a large following. Please stay away from in depth reviews and spoilers because it's best to go in as blind as possible. Please note that this isn't a review of the movie, I need to watch it again before I can write one of those, but this is my first impression having finished it for the first time about three hours ago as of my writing this. I'm planning on structuring my first impressions a bit differently from my review format but until then this will...

There Will Be Blood Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Written by Upton Sinclair (Novel: "Oil!") and Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenplay) "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed." That line stuck out to me more than any other over the course of this two hour and forty minute film and I believe it's stuck with everyone else who has seen it. It was one of the final lines in the trailer and explains almost everything you need to know about the main character. Tonight's movie is There Will Be blood, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day Lewis, Dillon Freasier, Paul Dano and Kevin J. O'Connor. I have found this review hard to write because there is so much I want to say about it but I also want to avoid spoilers as much as possible because I feel like going into this movie blind is the best way to experience it. Therefore I've divided this review into two sections, the first being a normal ...

The Big Sleep Directed by Howard Hawks Written by Raymond Chandler (Book), William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman Tonight's movie is Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep released in August of 1946. The film is a post war noir murder mystery starring arguably the most iconic actor of all time, Humphrey Bogart, and his wife Lauren Bacall. Along with these fantastic leads we have John Ridgley, Martha Vickers and Dorothy Malone. The film follows Philip Marlowe (Bogart), a hardboiled private detective in Los Angeles who is called in by an aging General (Charles Waldron) who is being blackmailed by a man named Geiger. He tracks the man to his home where he finds Geiger murdered and the General's youngest daughter Carmen (Vickers) high and barely able to talk. The plot thickens as we learn that Carmen was involved in some kind of pornography in addition to the drugs. Soon after one of the family's chauffer's is killed and Marlowe must descend in...