GregTheStopSign95 Reviews

Drop Dead Fred (1991)

An honestly lovely little movie

[7/10 · 7 May 2024]

Although I don't enjoy this movie as much at 47 as I did at 16, I still love it for the message it tries (and mostly succeeds) to send - standing up for yourself, although daunting, can be all the power you need to live your life.

Lots of kids have imaginary friends, and most of us completely grow out of needing them in our lives as we get older, but some people are anxious enough to benefit from a visit with them as we become adults. Elizabeth Cronin is one such person. When her estranged husband tells her he wants a divorce, followed by her losing her purse when her car is broken into and then the car itself is stolen - all on her lunch break - AND she gets back to her workplace only to get fired, she ends up being escorted back to her childhood home by her overbearing mother. There she unexpectedly reunites with her imaginary friend Drop Dead Fred.

Drop Dead Fred then proceeds to try to help her get her husband back and fix her life, in completely unconventional ways, all while trying to also deal with her overbearing mother.

While not a great movie by any stretch, it's still a worthwhile watch if you can view it through childlike eyes AND realise that it's really just an extended metaphor for the spiral one can find themself in when their life falls apart.

Watership Down (1978)

Beautiful, powerful, dark, and sad

[10/10 · 5 May 2024]

What an incredibly moving story, and what a beautifully-made adaptation!

Despite what others may have you believe, there is nothing about the story itself that kids need to be protected from, it's just that this movie is rather more dark and violent than anyone probably expected from an animated movie that was made in 1978. And it truly is quite dark and violent. However, it's also quite beautiful, powerful, and uplifting, and brilliantly voiced by all involved.

A story probably more timely now than when it was written, it's about a colony of rabbits who are told of a vision that comes to one of their number urging them to leave before Men come through, leaving nothing for the rabbits but death and destruction. We follow them on their journey to a new warren, leaving behind them the darkness promised by Men, struggling against the threat of other rabbits who live in a more regimented warren as well as the violence promised by other enemies - known in Lapine as elil - such as cats, dogs, foxes, raptors, and Men.

That closing sequence, though...that's something that will live with you for quite some time afterwards.

Gone Girl (2014)

An incredible adaptation

[9/10 · 5 May 2024]

A novel as brilliantly disturbing as this deserves a proper adaptation, and this movie delivers in spades. It's incredibly faithful, and steers as close to the source material as any adaptation ever did, only changing/condensing/ejecting what it genuinely needs to in order to fit into a movie's runtime without being overly long.

The casting is fantastic, the performances believable, the editing great...everything about the movie is a joy to behold, and does the source material a great service by changing so little of it.

Rosamund Pike, particularly, is a revelation here. The way she effortlessly switches between Amy's multiple facets, from sweet and people-pleasing to determined and conniving, and everything in between. Yes, the whole cast are great, but this is truly Rosamund Pike's movie.

A Drowning Man (2017)

A thought-provoking tale

[8/10 · 5 May 2024]

A quiet, introspective short about the daily life of a young Palestinian man's struggle to make it through daily life as a refugee in Athens.

Far more is conveyed to us through what isn't said, and what isn't shown directly, than what is seen or told through dialogue. The musical cues, environmental sounds, and quietness of each moment tells us far more than any spoken words could tell us without feeling unwieldy.

Though it's 7 years old at the time of this review, it still feels more relevant then any sensationalised news story, and does a lot more to help humanise the struggle faced by refugees everywhere, not just in Athens and not just of Palestinian descent.

Ave Maria (I) (2015)

Quiet, cute, and humourous

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

Although it did elicit at least one actual laugh from me, and a number of quiet chuckles, I wouldn't say this short is overly funny though it IS amusing.

It's a cute little short about a family of Israeli settlers whose car breaks down outside a convent of 5 nuns who have taken a vow of silence, inadvertently crashing into the nuns' statue of the Virgin Mary, and the lengths they all go to uphold their religious beliefs (the Sabbath has just taken effect so the father can't operate a telephone, amongst other things, while the nuns have to weigh the responsibility of their vow of silence against the family's need for their help.

Whilst it's not overly memorable, nor is it entirely forgettable as the characters are all well written and well acted.

Mare of Easttown (2021)

INCREDIBLE!

[10/10 · 30 April 2024]

This show is absolutely incredible. Not a single wasted frame, word, or moment in the whole thing, and not a single weak performance. From the powerhouse performances of the leads all the way down to the 'incidental' characters, every single actor brings their A game to this production.

Kate Winslet is at a career-best as the titular Mare, Julianne Nicholson is brilliant as her best friend Lori, Jean Smart is amazing as her mother Helen, making the central three. Evan Peters as Det. Zabel is his usual fantastic self, Cailie Spaeny as Erin is amazing, Sosie Bacon (Carrie), David Denman (Frank), Angourie Rice (Siobhan), Joe Tippet (John), Jack Mulhern (Dylan)...EVERYBODY is incredible. Everybody.

The story is a powerful one - a young girl is found murdered in a small town where another young girl went missing recently, and the detective who has so far failed to find the missing girl works even harder to find the killer, all while struggling to come to terms with a son who killed himself and a marriage that's fallen apart.

Seriously, do yourselves a favour and watch this NOW if you haven't yet. Don't make the mistake I did and wait longer than you absolutely must.

Children of the Corn (2020)

This isn't your parents' Children of The Corn

[7/10 · 27 April 2024]

Hell, it's not even really King's Children of The Corn. It's not terrible though, and is actually better than it deserves to be.

The plot diverts substantially from the original movie AND the story it's based on, adding a lot more around the adults and steering relatively clear of the religious overtones. It also changes the actual story quite a bit, to the point that it's not even really that closely connected to the King story. It's actually more like a fanfic than a remake or reboot. And that's not bad.

The few adults who get a focus are pretty well acted (and I'm always a sucker for a bit of Bruce "The Gyro Captain" Spence), and the featured kids are great - especially Elena Kampouris (Boleyn) and Kate Moyer (who is INCREDIBLY creepy as Eden. Seriously, she has a huge future in acting if she chooses to pursue it) - hell, even He Who Walks Behind The Rows is decently realised! The movie would probably have fared better if they'd given it a different title, to differentiate it from the original movie and King story...

That ending though? Ditch that. That was naff.

Doom Patrol: Done Patrol (2023) Season 4, Episode 12

I made it home...

[10/10 · 21 April 2024]

Although the series itself may have had some fluctuations in quality, this episode made up for a LOT of that for me.

Granted, it's another episode of a whole lot of not much happening, but what does happen is BIG for the characters that we've come to love so much. Everyone gets their closure, most everyone gets their new start in life and the two who don't get a new start DO get their perfect ending. It really is the perfect quirky, off-kilter, adult-mouthed ending to a series the lived, and died, by being exactly that. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it was perfectly Doom Patrol.

The final scenes hit me like a truck, though, and I wept the entire time. They really couldn't have POSSIBLY chosen a better way to close out the final episode of the final season of such a brilliantly tilted and foul-mouthed series centred on family and on love.

"It's ok...I made it home."

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (2024)

Disgusting. A must-watch exposé.

[8/10 · 14 April 2024]

No, it's not 'new' that the kids TV/movie industry can be toxic and destructive, and anyone who says it IS new is a fool. Anyone who uses that to defend those who contribute to the toxicity, or question why nobody spoke up at the time is being disingenuous at best and is a predator (or potential predator) at worst. "Dan Schneider says it didn't happen that way" of COURSE he said that, of COURSE he's not gonna admit to being disgusting of his own free will!

Nobody said Dan Schneider directly molested any kids. That's not what this documentary series is trying to say, and anyone who says it is trying to say that is a fool. What it IS trying to say, and succeeds in saying, is that he was a garbage human being to anyone he worked with.

Now, granted, the first two episodes do seem to drag on a little with showing how toxic Schneider is to work with and for, but by the same token, if it did less it would be easier to say 'so what? So a couple of people didn't get on with him' but this showed he was controlling rather than just hard to get along with. The man was toxic, controlling and unarguably sexualised children, especially young girls. He's disgusting.

The real power of this documentary, though, is the Brian Peck story. Which, again, NOBODY is trying to blame Schneider for. What Peck did is reprehensible and the fact that he only served 16 months in jail before walking straight back into a job in Children's TV is horrendous and my heart absolutely breaks for what Drake Bell endured. I have incredible respect for Drake, on the other hand, for being able to come forward like he has for this documentary. It takes immense bravery to step up and tell the story of what happened.

It may be widely known that child-stardom is a dangerous thing in a lot of situations, and that child stars are often mistreated at best, and abused at worst, this documentary helps put a tangible face to it all. Rather than just a generic "we know bad stuff happens", it spells out what happens in a lot of cases.

Nickelodeon has a LOT to answer for here. Yes, Brian Peck was the one who committed sexual assault. Yes, Dan Schneider is the one who treated his co-workers terribly and sexualised pre-teen girls. But Nickelodeon are the ones who turned a blind eye to it all as long as the money kept rolling in. Shame, Nickelodeon. Shame, shame, shame.

Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

I just can't with this.

[2/10 · 12 April 2024]

If it wasn't for the fact that I've got other things to do while I watch this, I'd have switched it off in the first 20 minutes. Even for the genre and for Gordon & Yuzna, this is bad. Really bad. Not even close to 'so bad it's good' like the original, either. The original was fantastic but this one is akin to Disney and their live-action adaptations of their iconic animated movies. It's almost like this one was made purely as a contractual obligation rather than because they actually cared about the material.

Which is a shame, really, because the original IS an iconic piece of movie history. The original is up there with The Room as a testament to what can be done with a terrible script and very little money, as long as you have a passion for what you're doing. This one...is not.

Fallout (2024– )

Fantastic adaptation

[8/10 · 12 April 2024]

This show is up there with The Last of Us and Arcane as proof that video games CAN be adapted to TV shows successfully, as long as you treat the source material with respect.

I don't know the games well enough to comment on the small details, but from what I do know of them, Jonathan Nolan and co have definitely got the world right. It feels very authentic to the games, capturing the awe every player feels on exiting the vault for the first time, on seeing the destruction of the wider world around the vault, on discovering the various settlements, on encountering the various weirdos around the Wasteland...taking the route of creating a wholly new story within the established world of Fallout was definitely the best creative decision they made here.

The cast are incredible, too. From relative unknowns (to me, at least) like Aaron Moten (Maximus) and Moisés Arias (Norm MacLean), to better-knowns (to me, again) like Zach Cherry (Woody), Leslie Uggams (Betty), Sarita Choudhury (Moldaver), and Ella Purnell (Lucy MacLean), all the way up to the iconic Kyle MacLachlan (Hank MacLean) and Walton Goggins (The Ghoul), everyone is impeccably cast and each plays their role perfectly.

The story itself is REALLY good, with the three distinct journeys - Lucy's, The Ghoul's, and Maximus' - being woven together brilliantly at times while also getting enough room to breathe and build on their own. I can't wait to see what this series has planned for the future. I only wish it was a couple of episodes longer.

Re-Animator (1985)

INCREDIBLY fun

[8/10 · 10 April 2024]

Way back when I first saw this on VHS, it still had the "Banned in QLD" sticker on it and I think that was actually what pressed me to rent it. I didn't regret the decision for a moment, nor do I regret finally rewatching it all these years later.

It might not be high art, or as good as some of the 'low budget' indie horror flicks of today, but it's still a LOT of fun to watch, especially with all the practical effects used. The glowstick fluid is especially fun to see used.

It really is a shame that it doesn't have a higher profile, or a bigger fanbase these days, because it really does deserve it It's a masterpiece of the genre and era it came from, and there's a reason Jeffrey Combs is spoken of in the same breaths as Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Doug Bradley, Tony Todd, Barbara Crampton, Heather Langenkamp, Brad Dourif and co.

It may not be considered actually scary these days, but it's still an icon of horror.

Waxwork (1988)

What IS this?

[4/10 · 10 April 2024]

Before there was The Asylum, before there was Tommy Wiseau, almost before there was Troma, there was Vestron. I'd actually forgotten Vestron were a thing until I started watching this.

It's a decent enough premise - evil guy runs a magical waxworks, traps locals to enhance his displays, seemingly teleports his mansion around the place to find more victims - and the cast is decent enough for the time - David Warner, Zach Galligan, Dana Ashbrook, Deborah Foreman - but the writing is atrocious, the supporting cast are terrible, and the big fight scene is ridiculous.

Seriously, you should only watch this if you're up for a cringe-laugh. Or because you're a fan of one of the actors.

What If (I) (2013)

A perfectly capable, lovely little tale

[7/10 · 9 April 2024]

It may not set any new standards, or do anything drastically different from others like it, but it DOES have Dan Radcliffe and Adam Driver playing brothers, and that's enough for me. The fact that it also has Zoe Kazan, Rafe Spall, and Mackenzie Davis is just icing.

While it is 'just another young-adult rom-com', it's the interactions and chemistry between all the cast that sets it apart from most. Daniel Radcliffe & Adam Driver are perfect as brothers - and in fact it's a crime it hasn't happened before or since, Adam & Mackenzie Davis play well off each other and share the same kind of loud chaotic and excited energy as each other, and Dan & Zoe Kazan have some great low-key-nerdy and awkward chemistry that all together just lift this movie above its peers.

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

A thing of beauty

[8/10 · 9 April 2024]

If all you know of George Miller is his Mad Max movies, this is nothing of what you'd expect from him. If, however, you know his wider work, it's very much what you might expect from him.

It's a beautiful, vibrant, determined and considered tale of loves and lives, jealousy and anger, desperation and dedication over centuries of existence.

Tilda Swinton is her typically wonderful, understated self in the role of Alithea, a writer of truths and mythologies who has a chance discovery with a delicate glass bottle that later reveals itself to be the home of a Djinn, beautifully played by Idris Elba, who tells her 3 tales of his past.

Creepshow: Twenty Minutes with Cassandra/Smile (2023) Season 4, Episode 1

This might be my favourite episode so far

[8/10 · 8 April 2024]

I barely remember Smile, but 20 Minutes With Cassandra is excellent. And not just because I'm low-key crushing HARD on Samantha Sloyan. Ruth Codd is great in this as the titular Cassandra, too, as is Franckie Francois as the ray-of-sunshine pizza delivery guy Okwe. But the real stars are Sam Sloyan as Lorna, and Carey Jones as The Monster.

It's a pretty standard, kinda predictable premise, but where they take it is, at least for me, somewhere very new. I'm already a confirmed Mike Flanagan fan, but it's looking like Jamie might be almost as good a storyteller as Mike.

Then there's Smile. And yeah, I barely remember it tbh.

Poltergeist III (1988)

They should have stopped after the first.

[4/10 · 7 April 2024]

From a story standpoint, this movie really doesn't need to exist. At all. It's terrible. It's not the fault of the cast, even if Heather O'Rourke does look a bit like someone in their mid 20s with dwarfism by now. No, the cast are actually mostly pretty good at what they're there to do, it's just that there's not really a whole lot worth doing for them.

Why is Carol Anne with her uncle and aunt? Why are they living in some highrise in the middle of the city? Why is the therapist guy such a douche? Why does this movie even exist??

All that being said, it's definitely a well-made movie with a LOT of effort put into it, and the way they made it is absolutely incredible with everything being practical. This is probably the only real reason to watch it though, because of the technical feat that it is.

It's definitely not worth watching for the story...

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

Uhhh...WHAT??

[6/10 · 7 April 2024]

Mandela Effect about the cemetery aside, why was this made? It's not good, it's not even close to as enjoyable as the first one, and it's really low on scares. But I guess it at least has the original cast (minus Dominique Dunne as Dana) back together.

The story is kinda meh, and not because of the Native Shaman - Taylor - being included. I mean, he's not a particularly great addition, but he's not bad, neither is the Reverend Kane dude, he's actually pretty interesting and very well cast. It's a massive loss that they didn't include more of/about him, that might have made it a better movie overall.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Not quite...

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

First off, it IS a good movie. It really is. It's just not quite great, like it should be. Maybe it's the beat or two too many of comedy from Kumail Nanjiani (seriously, that one comic beat with him on the pole? Erase it. It took me RIGHT out of the movie), maybe it's the way they've jumped straight to the End Of The World stakes, maybe it's something I can't quite put my finger on, but this just felt like a noticeable step down from Afterlife. Hell, maybe it's just me and my dislike for Bill Murray being treated like the heart of this franchise rather than Dan Aykroyd. I don't know. I just know that, although I did enjoy it, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Afterlife.

That being said, I like that Paul Rudd reined in his Paul Ruddness a little, I enjoyed Finn Wolfhard's work here, Carrie Coon was also great, and of course Dan Aykroyd - the REAL beating heart of Ghostbusters - was fantastic...but McKenna Grace was easily the star here. I've not seen very much of her work other than when I first encountered her in The Haunting of Hill House, but it's even more clear here that if she chooses to continue to pursue acting, she's got a GREAT future ahead of her in the industry. What an incredible talent she is.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

The cast, and characters, deserved better

[3/10 · 1 April 2024]

Don't get me wrong here, there are a few moments of fun, they're just overshadowed by a whole lot of meh. The cast are all really good in their roles, all of them, even the ones who get given rubbish to work with, but there's a LOT of rubbish given out. Most of them are sorely wasted. Well, all of them aside from Zachary Levi.

I just REALLY wish I knew what the filmmakers were going for here, because it's hard to tell with all the garbage floating around. This COULD have been a really good movie. It really could have. Hell, they had a really good hat-tip in there to Ray Freakin' Harryhausen!! There was SO MUCH POTENTIAL here!

90% of the movie squandered that potential really horribly, though.

Which is a shame.

A low down, dirty shame.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

SO, so close...

[9/10 · 1 April 2024]

No, it's not as good as the original movie, but that would be VERY difficult considering how iconic the original is. On the other hand, I enjoyed it a bit more than the sequel, but that MAY be because it's been quite a while since I last saw that one. This, though. This is a very worthy successor to the legacy. Answer The Call is hopefully sitting there taking notes and realising what it did wrong. And no, that wasn't a cast problem, it was a writing problem.

For my money, the only time this movie really put a foot wrong is in the opening. I don't know how they could have done it better, or differently, and still have it work, but it just kinda feels...wrong, somehow? Keeping 'Egon' in shadows and all...the rest of the movie, though, was spot on. The casting, the writing, the direction, everything...THIS is the call you should answer.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

A worthy entry in the MonsterVerse

[8/10 · 29 March 2024]

I don't know what I expected going in to see this at the cinema, but it wasn't this. I guess I expected more focus on the humans (again) and less on the Titans (again)...but this? This was not that. Yeah they had humans, but they were mostly more of a footnote in the story, which could have been almost completely told without the humans, but they did add a little flavour to the mix. Especially Dan Stevens. But then I AM kinda biased towards him as I've loved his work in everything I've seen him in so far.

All that aside, Kong was great - and MASSIVE - and Godzilla was pretty damn impressive, too - and just as massive as Kong - but more than that, we got a look at a few other Titans as well, and they were ALL pretty impressively brought to life here. My ONLY gripe about Kong himself is that, in the early going the filmmakers tried to humanise him just that little but too much, and it kinda fell flat to me. Once things actually got moving and shaking, though, it all got a lot better.

Slasher: Vengeance (2023) Season 5, Episode 8

A brilliant end to a brilliant season

[10/10 · 27 March 2024]

Don't get me wrong, every season has been good, especially Solstice, but this one just nails EVERYTHING it needs to, and although the gore is turned down a little, everything else is dialed up.

As good as they've been, some of the previous seasons had some of the actors feeling like they're phoning it in, but there was literally NONE of that this season. Everyone was on their A game (except maybe Paula Brancati), especially the writers. The reveal was great, the identity of the killer made sense, and the ending felt 100% earned and not at all ham-fisted. If everyone involved can keep THIS level of quality, I'll gladly sit through at least another 5 seasons of this show.

47 Ronin (2013)

There are 2 good movies here

[8/10 · 24 March 2024]

What the studio did here is a shame, because the real-life story is absolutely strong enough to stand on its own. Fortunately, though, the additions they forced in don't detract from it too much because it IS such a great story. However...if they'd left it alone, and turned their additions into a fully-fledged movie of its own, they'd have potentially had two GREAT movies.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying at all that this is a bad movie, it just would have been even better if they'd left it as is, and then made a second movie about Keanu's character and his love interest.

Keanu is great in his role, the rest of the cast are also great - especially Hiroyuki Sanada - and deserve a chance to really shine in a movie that stayed closer to the real events.

I guess I'd better go track down one of the other, non-fantastical, adaptations now...

The Majestic (2001)

Magnificent

[9/10 · 22 March 2024]

This is the kind of movie we see so rarely now, and even back when it was first released we saw so few like it. Which is sad. It has genuine heart. It was also one of my earliest glimpses of Jim Carrey as an actual actor rather than just some funny guy who got paid to do funny stuff on screen. A lot of it not even really my personal kind of funny. But no, this showed me that he can be a great dramatic actor as well as a comedic actor.

The 'moral' of the story may, on face value, be pure American rah-rah schmaltz, and may play heavily into what it means to be a "real American", but it's a moral that can easily be translated to almost any country, and is especially relevant in this, the Year of Our Lord Brendan Fraser 2024. To sum it up as quickly as possible: don't let anything others say distract you from what it is to be human, to stand up for yourself and others. But I digress...

The cast are entirely brilliant, especially Carrey, and is made up of a number of Darabont regulars - a couple of whom would later go on to play pivotal parts in Darabont's The Walking Dead series. The story is, as mentioned earlier, kinda schmaltzy, but it works. It's never really bogged down by sentimentality, and as other reviewers have noted it treads ground very familiar to Frank Capra's works AND treads that ground just as well as Capra ever did.