Mark McPherson's Blog, page 34
October 6, 2022
“Hellraiser” (2022) Review
What a refreshing sight this is! Hellraiser was a horror franchise in desperate need of a revision, having turned the gory terror of Pinhead into a lesser entity of a saga that has lost its way. This film finally brings the series back to its roots. It’s not about Pinhead showing amid gore. It’s all about the torture, the horny overtones, and a greater contemplation on desires amid incredibly vicious displays of bodies being gored. All that good stuff!
The desire for power drives men to seek...
October 3, 2022
“Hocus Pocus 2” Review
Considering that the original Hocus Pocus was an almost TV movie that gained a cult following, my expectations were rather low for this sequel. After all, the original Hocus Pocus was only as compelling for its top-notch performances by the trio of , , and as the witch trio of the Sanderson Sisters. The sequel proves to be a passable continuance of the basic allure which has turned this small witch movie into an unexpected Disney classic of Halloween...
September 27, 2022
“Mobile Suit Gundam Cucuruz Doan’s Island” Review
Cucuruz Doan’s Island is one of those rare cases where we get a superior remake to something that wasn’t that good, to begin with. The film is based on one episode of Mobile Suit Gundam that was regarded as terrible by series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino. It was so bad that he didn’t want the American audience to see it, requesting it be removed from the North American English release. His central reason for this was that the animation was exceptionally awful.
Well, times change, the animation q...
September 15, 2022
“Pearl” (2022) Review
What a treat it is to get a prequel to this year’s horror hit X so soon. Director pushed forward with a new horror saga and apparently wrote up this screenplay in two weeks while X was getting ready for production. For being written in such a short time, West’s Pearl manages to be more than just a bonus film that could’ve been attached to the Bluray as a special feature.
returns to the role of Pearl for this film but not in the old-woman makeup she had for X. She plays a you...
September 8, 2022
“Clerks III” Review
28 years ago, Kevin Smith directed Clerks, a low-budget marvel of Gen-Xers working dead-end jobs, poking fun at pop culture and letting the crude dialogue flow like wine. 28 years later, we have Clerks III, a sequel where the very premise is about recapturing that magic. It’s a meta sequel meant to bring things full circle by having the characters literally recreate the first movie. While there’s certainly an enduring spirit, it’s one that’s hard to appreciate without the thickest of rose-color...
September 6, 2022
“Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.” Review
This is the type of satire served up the way I love my coffee: pitch black and richly bitter. There’s no pussy-footing around what a film like this is trying to say. It doesn’t tantalize its central characters with questionable laughs the same way one would probe into the religious satire of The Righteous Gemstones. It becomes very clear that this ridiculous path is only going to lead to despair. And what a path it is, decked out with garish hypocrisies of American Christianity.
This pseudo-...
August 25, 2022
“Three Thousand Years of Longing” Review
Fantasy stories tend to feel like something for young people. They’re often seen as stories to dazzle those who do not know yet all the realism of the world. Three Thousand Years of Longing feels very much like adult fantasy, a tale to whisk the audience away from the routine and into the transmundane. Sure, it has lots of sex but also a certain maturity with characters who have grown with love and loss.
Accustom to the world is Alithea Binnie (), a scholar who has grown familia...
August 10, 2022
“Prey” Review
With the previous Predator movie being an absolutely absurd mess, what could possibly be done with the franchise? A change in location could do. Maybe even a change of time periods. The result is a Predator film that gets back to basics but feels original in its own unique way.
It is the early 1700s in America and a Commanche tribe is trying to survive. There’s always a tiger on the prowl or French fur traders looming about. The hunters of the tribe keep these forces at bay. Aiming to become...
August 3, 2022
“Bullet Train” (2022) Review
True to its title, Bullet Train is a speedy action picture. It’s loaded with an all-star ensemble of intersecting stories that collide in a caper of crime, murder, assassinations, guns, swords, and an exploding train. So much is happening that part of me loves just getting lost in the frenetic energy of deceivers, hitmen, and mafia assassins all fighting and conspiring for money and family. Another part of me also wishes a film this chaotic could find the brakes for a handful of better scenes.
...August 1, 2022
“DC League of Super-Pets” Review
A DC Comics movie about pets seems like a surefire choice for superhero cinema aimed at the younger crowd. The franchise already has a number of canonical animal sidekicks that have been used in various ways. Sometimes they’re along for the ride and sometimes they talk with their own cute adventures. DC League of Super-Pets is the latter.
In a way, there are parts of this premise that are pretty sweet. It was a pleasure to finally watch a more wholesome Superman () on the big s...
