Movie Scum

  Sean Dudley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons I have long said that if movie theaters had more repertory screenings of "older" movies (not withstanding the common occurrences of Rocky Horror Picture Show or Big Lebowski ), I would be more apt to venture out. Even if I own the film on one or more versions of physical media, I am called by the siren of a darkened theater, no interruptions, and overpriced concessions that will be the death of me someday.

Photo: Paramount Pictures As I sit smack-dab in the dog days of a nasty, humid Mid-Atlantic summer and yearn for the crisp chill of autumn nights not too far away, let's find some movies to watch and stay away from the outdoors. The Bad Guys 2 I barely remember the first Bad Guys movie coming out a few years ago and mainly because I scroll by it every time on whatever streaming platform it haunts. With all of my kids grown, I have no reason to pay much attention to children's entertainment beyond whichever Disney release is either massively flopping or making half of the global GDP at the box office. Dreamworks has been relatively consistent with their animated fare over the years (allegedly) and the first film has pretty okay reviews so maybe I'll give it a shot at some point. It won't be anytime soon but eventually. The Naked Gun Reboots and requels and the constant regurgitation of past successes repackaged for new audiences has been around for decades and will not ...

Photo: Universal Pictures In hindsight, it's surprising that it took this long for me to get around to The Frighteners . With Robert Zemeckis and Peter Jackson still in their prime, as well as Michael J. Fox who arguably never left his prime (seriously, check out his arcs on The Good Wife ), I must have just presumed this movie was a stupid comedy with horror-like elements and moved on. Only now have I realized how great this movie actually is.

Photo: Sony/Columbia Pictures To be honest, I had chosen this movie primarily because it is a recent film beginning with an 'E' that is easily accessible and I fully expected to hate it. I knew nothing of Escape Room  other than what my almost 14-year-old has told me (she saw it twice in theaters) and the Saw -lite vibes I got from the trailers that I had seen. But shockingly, if not for trying to review random movies over the next two months, I'd probably have never gotten around to this one. But, as it turns out, I would have been missing out.

Photo: Anchor Bay Films "The real monsters were the people we met along the way." - Ancient Proverb (?)

Photo: Warner Bros. Reports earlier today indicated Warner Brothers' 'The Batman' had to cease production after a recent restart due to a crew member testing positive for Covid-19, the novel coronavirus. But it has since come out that the infected party is none other than The Batman himself, Robert Pattinson. If a billionaire vigilante can catch this, what hope is there for the rest of us? Source: Robert Pattinson Has COVID-19, Halting  The Batman  Production | Vanity Fair

Photo: New World Pictures A repeated line in the trailer for Children of the Corn is "it's an adult nightmare." Creepy kids? Religious cults? Middle of nowhere America, surrounded by corn? Yep, checks out. All nightmare fuel.

Like many of you in my age range, you probably have fond memories of roaming the aisles of the local video store and gazing at all the great VHS covers to try to pick that night's movie. Blood Diner  was definitely one of those films with eye-catching box art that has evaded me for years. I prefer it had stayed that way.

Considering Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem takes no more than fifteen minutes to murder a child by way of an alien chest buster, I was pretty stoked. And shockingly, it mostly held up to my grand expectations for it.

Photo: 20th Century Films It's finally happening! At least I presume someone is excited about this weekend's release of the long-delayed The New Mutants from Josh Boone , said to be the final hurrah of Fox's X-Men continuity. The film was shot in summer of 2017 with a targeted release date of early 2018. In case you don't have a calendar handy, that was over two years ago with the delays blamed on test screenings, reshoots, studios changing hands, and of course, a global pandemic.     So, in honor of this long-gestating piece of 2017 nostalgia, let's look at some other films that have fallen into the abyss of release date shuffles and burials.  

Photo: Lionsgate Entertainment This afternoon, I was surprised to see a news article about the directors of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot being replaced. As anyone, I promptly exclaimed "Jesus Christ, another one?"

Photo: Warner Brothers Hey guys! It's been a while since I've posted! Has anything new happened? Oh, global pandemic? That sucks. Is this affecting movies? Oh, it is?