THE OPTIMIST - MOVIE REVIEWS

  One of my most anticipated films of the year was one that was meant to come out in 2020 (maybe even 2019?) but got pushed back due to the pandemic. However, that movie is out in theaters this weekend, and just in time for the spooky holiday season. I'm talking, of course, of writer/director Scott Cooper's horror/drama Antlers . From the moment I first laid eyes on the trailer, I was immediately hooked. It promised a sense of dread, a sense of mythology and folklore, and a creature worthy of nightmares. So, did it deliver on that promise? Keep on reading and find out. In an isolated Oregon town, middle-school teacher Julia (Keri Russell) and her sheriff brother Paul (Jesse Plemons) become entangled with an enigmatic student of hers named Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas). Lucas is a troubled kid, who comes from a rough upbringing. The small town that he lives in seems almost decayed due to the rampant drug distribution and addiction found throughout, of which his father has also fallen...

  Director Denis Villeneuve has yet to make a stinker, and I know how loaded of a statement that is given the subjective medium of film. But I would venture to say that of the working filmmakers today, nobody is as constantly brilliant in his execution as Villeneuve...even if people don't like his movies. I've been excited to see his take on the literary classic Dune by Frank Herbert, not because I've read it (because I haven't...yet), but because Villeneuve boasts a visual experience like no other, and I'm always game for that. Some say that Herbert's novel is to science-fiction what The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, and that's another heavy statement to really consider. When it comes to adapting such dense and important material, one can expect there to be vast differences between mediums. But if this literary comparison can be translated to the big screen, then that's something to really consider. The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest film...

  Scary movie season is upon us! I've been looking forward to seeing Halloween Kills from the moment the credits rolled on my first viewing of Halloween (2018). Well, it's finally here, the second installment of a new trilogy within the iconic Halloween franchise. In my book, this movie had a lot to live up to, because the movie that came before was so stinking good. I love Halloween (2018), and how wonderfully it continues the story from the very first Halloween film back in 1978. Seeing Jamie Lee Curtis as a seasoned Laurie Strode taking on the masked menace Michael Myers was thrilling, tense, and an epic ride. So, naturally, the continuation of that story - made by the same people who made the first one in 2018 - should be just as thrilling, just as tense, and just as epic, right?...Right?! Halloween Kills picks up right where Halloween (2018) ended, save for a flashback scene at the beginning which is meant to establish some context for what happens later in the film ...