Expelled Grey Matter

In 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a breath of fresh air.  While not as stale as it is now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was starting to show some problems here and there, and along came an animated movie with a character - Miles Morales - that most people with just a passing knowledge of Spider-Man wouldn't necessarily know, but who perfectly captured the idea of what it is to be Spider-Man.  It also introduced the idea of the different versions of Spider-Man from down the years being from a number of different universes, something that became important in the live-action films by Spider-Man: No Way Home . The important difference is that the "Spider-Verse" concept of a multiverse is quite different than the MCU one.  It's specifically centered around different iterations of Spidey himself rather than logically realistic realities.  That means the first sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , often walks a line between silly and imaginative, while

Better Watch Out is one of those movies I don't even remember seeing ads for, but I guess they weren't exactly on point for what the movie is.  It was presented as being a horror comedy, like a darker humored Home Alone , with a babysitter and her charges defending themselves against a home invasion.  The movie itself is quite dark, and has a few funny spots in it, but despite the marketing it is obvious that writer and director Chris Peckover took the story at the heart of the film quite seriously. Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) is called in to babysit Luke (Levi Miller), a 12-year-old boy that has developed a crush on her.  He reveals his plans to his best friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) to make his move and how he figures it will work.  Unfortunately, Ashley is about to move to Pittsburgh to attend college and is involved with a boy named Ricky (Aleks Mikic) who is her own age. Despite this Luke tries impressing her by drinking and attempting to seduce her while watching a horror fil

John Hughes claims that he wrote Home Alone after making a list of things to take on a trip to Europe, only to be reminded that the kids should be included on the list.  From there he says he got the germ of the idea that became one of the biggest Christmas movies of all time, with Macauley Culkin playing Kevin McCallister, a young boy forgotten by his family while they head to Paris who must defend his home and himself from a pair of bumbling robbers.  Hilarity ensues, although in typical '80s fashion it is made clear that they will murder Kevin if they catch him.  It's a fun family movie, but things weren't as sugarcoated as television makes it appear.  Things also aren't so clear cut on Hughes's origin story.  A few months before Hughes says he got the idea a horror film screened at Cannes called 36-15 Code Père Noël , written and directed by René Manzor.  The movie bombed in France and wasn't released in the United States until 2019, but it was a hit in Asia

I was a bit excited in 2003 when I heard that House of 1000 Corpses was finally going to get a release.  Rob Zombie, both solo and with his band White Zombie, had made a career out of doing music that often sampled as well as aped the feel of the horror and exploitation films he grew up watching.  If anything his music got better once White Zombie broke up.  No shade on the rest of the band; they had improved exponentially throughout their whole existence.  It just happened Rob left after their first solidly consistent album.  There was also the aesthetic of his videos.  I figured if that carried over into the movie it would at least be interesting.  I had also followed the drama behind the movie, as it had been made and completed in 2000 for Universal, only to have them not release it because they were sure it would get an NC-17 rating.  Between 2000 and 2003 Zombie added some footage while cutting quite a bit, including subplots and, though a longer approved version of his is said to

Brazil has a long, rich cinematic history.  Unfortunately, like most Americans, I know nothing about it.  It's a huge, diverse country, and no more a monolithic culture than the United States.  I am sure that Brazil has had its Buñuel, Godard or Fellini, but unfortunately when it comes to movies outside of the U.S. it is usually Europe and Asia that gets the notice. The one Brazilian director I am familiar with is José Mojica Marins, and it may be surprising that I have seen other movies of his outside of the Coffin Joe films that made him famous.  Somehow, although  Brazil was under a brutal military dictatorship during the height of his career, Marins thrived despite running into problems in some Brazilian states for perceived blasphemy.  The blasphemy was part of the character of Zé do Caixão, an evil undertaker in a black hat with long fingernails who was constantly on the prowl for a woman to bear him a son.  Although there are only three movies in the original trilogy the cha

The problem with being a horror and exploitation fan is that most bad movies, regardless of budget, lack any sort of entertainment value.  They may have a concept - take werewolves on motorcycles, which is an actual film - and, no matter what the quality of the rest of the movie, if the concept was used effectively it would at least memorable.  Instead, there is usual something good at the beginning, maybe something good at the end, and a middle that one needs to slog through, usually of unnecessary personal drama or long shots of people going places.  It is a crapshoot on whether the audience will ever get to see a werewolf on a motorcycle. Then, occasionally, something delivers.  It's never intentional, and it certainly isn't with Hack-o-Lantern , which began life as a Halloween ripoff called Halloween Night.  Producer Raj Mehrotra, an Indian immigrant to the U.S. who decided to go into making movies, hired Dave Eisenstark and Carla Robinson to throw together a quickie scrip