Michelle Williams

Venom

  • Title: Venom
  • IMDb: link

Venom

Removing Venom out of Spider-Man‘s universe and introducing him on his own as the main character of a horror flick was an odd choice. Originally introduced in the comics as a nemesis for Spider-Man, in recent years the character has evolved into something of an anti-hero given his popularity. It’s that version Sony and director Ruben Fleischer attempted to capture in 2018 film as an alien symbiote from across the stars bonds itself to a loser in need of redemption. Together, they will save the world.

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The Fabelmans

  • Title: The Fabelmans
  • IMDb: link

Steven Spielberg‘s semi-autobiographical Hollywood version of his childhood ends on a high note with one of the best scenes of the year (which I certainly won’t spoil for you here). The journey to that moment takes a little longer than it should and feels a bit like a greatest hits album rather than one coherent narrative, jumping around to important moments in the life of Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle & Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) which would mold him into the man and filmmaker he would become.

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Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

  • Title: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
  • IMDb: link

Released 20 years after the original Halloween, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode while retconning much of the franchise becoming a direct sequel to Halloween II (which, until H20, marked Curtis’ last appearance as the character). After an initial sequence showing Michael Meyers (played here by Chris Durand) back on the hunt, the movie opens with Strode having faked her death years earlier and now living as Keri Tate, the headmistress of a private school that her son John (Josh Hartnett) attends.

Directed by Steve Miner, after John Carpenter proved too expensive for the project, the sequel lacks the look of the early Halloween films feeling much more like any other generic 90s horror flick. We also get LL Cool J in a role of school security guard, Adam Arkin as a love interest for Laurie, Janet Leigh as the school secretary, and Michelle Williams, Adam Hann-Byrd, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Branden Williams, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as teen monster fodder for Michael.

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage

  • Title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage
  • IMDb: link

I wasn’t the biggest fan of 2018’s Venom which reimagined the comic book villain as a standalone horror flick hero. The new sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has many of the first film’s issues, but when it embraces its craziness it can, at times, be fun. Sadly, as with the first film, one of the big failings of the sequel is the writing which takes forever to get the plot moving and, for some inexplicable reason, even abandons its most successful aspect of the series by separating Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the symbiote for an extended period this time around.

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The Not Very Interesting Showman

  • Title: The Greatest Showman
  • IMDb: link

The Greatest Showman movie reviewI never thought I would see Hugh Jackman upstaged by Zac Efron. Jackman stars as the flawed but good-natured conman and showman P.T. Barnum, whose dreams and drive will lead the unemployed clerk into creating the world’s first circus. Director Michael Gracey‘s elaborate musical has several problems, including (but no limited to) the film is far less epic than intended, most of the musical numbers are forgettable, plot issues are immediately solved with minimal effort (sometimes even off camera), and its main character is the least interesting thing about the entire project. Other than that, it’s an okay show.

Jackman’s Barnum is a bland lead compelled to rise above his station and prove his worth. Despite the infectious dream he shares, and the family he creates, he’s often a selfish and unlikable character. The cast of supporting characters include Michelle Williams as Barnum’s wife, Rebecca Ferguson as Barnum’s first legitimate act, Efron as Barnum’s business associate and Zendaya as the trapeze artist he falls for, and a collection of oddities, freaks, and exhibits which Barnum fills his circus including Keala Settle and Sam Humphrey.

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