In 2007, we got the Rob Zombie remake of “Halloween” and now we have the sequel to that. It’s not a remake of the original “Halloween II”, this is its own thing but it does have a little homage to it near the beginning. This is a real mess that feels like several different movies stitched together.

After the events of the last movie, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton “The Runaways”) is struggling to come to terms with what happened. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell “A Clockwork Orange”) is facing criticism for his exploitative new book. Also, Michael Myers (Tyler Mane “Troy”) somehow survived and is out to find Laurie while being guided by visions of a white horse.

The performance from Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie is actually quite good but the movie just suffocates it because it is so scattershot. Many of the scenes with Malcolm McDowell are fairly funny (especially the one that features a cameo from Weird Al Yankovic) and he does a great job but they feel so detached from the rest of the movie. We see Michael Myers without the mask quite a lot in this movie and I do not really like that and I do not care for the whole white horse subplot.

As I said, this feels like several movies. We have an opening segment that tries to be a homage to the original “Halloween II”, we have many scenes where Laurie is trying to cope with her traumatic experiences, we have Loomis trying to be a celebrity and sell his book, with have the routine Michael Myers slasher stuff and we have the weird psychedelic white horse stuff. These conflicting pieces have been violently rammed together and it results in catastrophe. The first Rob Zombie “Halloween” was tolerable but this second outing is awful.

The “Halloween” sequels have got a pretty lousy reputation and while it is not exactly good, “Halloween H20” is easily the most entertaining. Halloween H20” also takes the sensible step of ignoring all the previous movies except the first two. It’s not high art but any means but I think there is a reason why many people consider this a series’ highlight.

It’s been two decades since Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis “Halloween”, “True Lies”) survived Michael Myers’ bloody visit to Haddonfield, Illinois and now she lives as private school headteacher Keri Tate in California. Laurie/Keri fears of her brother’s return are realised when he tracks her down. It all culminates in a very enjoyable showdown.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie/Keri helps make this movie work as well as it does. It’s interesting to see the psychological effects of somebody decades after such a horrifying ordeal and she is smart character. It’s also very satisfying to see her take the fight to Michael in the third act. Michael Myers takes a beating that would make a cartoon character blush. He definitely will not be scaring anybody in the audience after you have seen him take the mother of all poundings from Jamie Lee Curtis. The cameo from Janet Leigh (“Psycho”) is rather good. The other characters are rather lame.

I cannot quite bring myself to recommend it but I will concede that “Halloween H20” is much better than I expected. There are some cheap jump scares and false alarms but there are also a few moments that are handled with skill. While not an outright comedy, there are some very amusing parts such as the little reference to the wardrobe scene from the original. If you have seen the first “Halloween” and are unsure about watching the sequels, you might want to check this one out. People that really do not care for these films are unlikely to be too impressed.

It has taken four decades but we finally have another good “Halloween” film. Despite its title of just “Halloween”, this is 2018 entry in the franchise is not another remake but actually a sequel to the original movie that ignores all the other sequels and reboots in-between. It’s an effective horror thriller that manages to make Michael Myers a force to fear once more.

It’s been 40 years since Michael Myers murdered her friends and went after her but Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis “Halloween”, “True Lies”) has not forgotten about what happened. She has been spending her life preparing for a final confrontation. When he escapes from prison, he returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night and goes on another killing spree.

It’s really great to see Jamie Lee Curtis return to the franchise again (let’s not forget that she was in “Halloween H20”). She does a really good job. Michael Myers is great in this one because he’s an intelligent killer like in the original. I always hated how the later movies turned him into a mindless machine. I also like how he is referred to as ‘The Shape’ because that was what he was credited as in the original film. Some of the other characters are a little annoying but most of them are okay for a slasher film.

The 2018 “Halloween” is such a refreshing film. I thought the “Halloween” franchise could not sink any lower but somehow, the filmmakers have managed to recapture some of the magic that made the first outing a genuinely unsettling experience. They know that it’s not the gore that makes a horror movie disturbing, it’s the ideas and the tension. It’s not a perfect movie as I did not really care for the opening scene and the film ends on a horror movie cliché that leaves the door open for a sequel. However, this is by far the best “Halloween” movie since the original and one of the best horror movies of recent years.

“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” ditched Michael Myers and instead gave us something completely different. The “Halloween” franchise was supposed to have a different focus on something different in every instalment but audience confusion led to Michael Myers being brought back. While not awful, “Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers” certainly feels entirely needless.

A decade after his Halloween killing spree across Haddonfield, serial killer Michael Myers awakens from his coma (I could have sworn he burned to death but the writer’s pen is truly mightier) and goes in search of his niece (Danielle Harris “The Last Boy Scout”). However, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance “You Only Live Twice”) is on the case and he is determined to put an end to this nightmare.

Having seen Michael Myers survive gunshots and being burned alive, it’s hard to take him seriously. Also, the actor playing him in this one looks like an American football player. Donald Pleasance is good as Dr. Loomis but for a lot of the movie, he just seems tired. Danielle Harris is actually really good as Jamie Lloyd; she actually probably gives the best performance of the movie. The other characters are the stupid kind that always show up in horror films. It’s a shame because it means Michael Myers often only succeeds because the shortcomings of his victims rather than his own skill.

“Halloween 4” is definitely not the worst movie in the franchise but it still pales in comparison to the original. There are a few entertaining moments here and there but much of the movie is bland. If you like these films then you will not be disappointed. Like a particularly cheap fast food meal, all the pieces are there, just don’t expect anything especially tasty. I say stick to the original and ignore all the sequels.

I adore the original “Halloween” but after the abysmal sequels and appalling rip-offs such as “Friday The 13th”, it’s easy to forget just how great it is. I went into this remake from director Rob Zombie (“House Of 1000 Corpses”) with mixed expectations. While it is not exactly a good movie, it is better than most of the sequels.

This new version of “Halloween” spends the first third focusing on the child Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch “Hancock”) and what led him to kill his family. Years later, we see a grown Michael (Tyler Mane “X-Men”) escape from a mental institution and return to the town of Haddonfield to restart the killing.

Michael Myers was a cold and intelligent murderer in the original while the sequels made him into sloppy but unstoppable killing machine. There was always mystery surrounding the character because he never spoke, he was almost always behind a mask and we never knew what made him snap. I think the decision to show him as a child takes away from some of the mystery but at the same time, it helps make this new version its own thing. Malcolm McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange”) is really good as Dr. Loomis, who was played by Donald Pleasance in the original.

The new “Halloween” is a shlock horror film and it knows it. The violence, the acting and the dialog is all over the top and at times, it’s almost funny. There are plenty moments where the characters make dumb decisions, the fact that it takes so long to get him back to Haddonfield makes the second half feel rushed and there are some questionable uses of the great theme music. However, I still enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. It’s a lot more watchable than other horror remakes such as 2009 “Friday The 13th” and 1998 “Psycho”.

“Half Past Dead” stars Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”, “Above The Law”) and like a lot of his films, it treads where many films have trod before it. It’s a combination of “The Rock”, “The Fast and the Furious” and about a dozen other pictures; it’s so laughably clichéd.

In “Half Past Dead”, Seagal stars as an undercover F.B.I. guy named Sasha. He’s inside New Alcatraz, a high-tech prison, which finds itself taken over by bad guys and he’s got to fight his way to save the day. There’s pretty much every late 1990s and early 2000s action movie cliché known to man as Seagal makes his way through the prison.

Seagal looks too overweight and too depressed to be a successful action hero; I’ve never really cared for him. By far the most impressive character is a henchwoman played by Nia Peebles, who flips and kicks and shoots the hell out of just about everybody. The villains and the other characters aren’t remotely exciting and that’s the film’s biggest flaw. Many of them are played by rappers such as Ja Rule (“Scary Movie 3”) and they’re really annoying in my opinion. Seagal and Ja Rule are supposedly buddies in this picture but there is zero chemistry.

The characters are bad, the story is convoluted but the action is pretty entertaining. I can’t recommend this film but if the weather is terrible, nobody else is around and this is on tv, watch it and I think you might get a few laughs out of the hilarious action sequences with people kicking in every direction possible and guns firing everywhere but the target (the skydiving is pretty funny as well). It’s most certainly an over the top film but it goes where so many other films have gone and the characters are abysmal.

“Hacksaw Ridge” is a wonderfully engaging war film with some powerful religious messages. It stars Andrew Garfield (“Silence”, “The Social Network”) with Mel Gibson (“The Passion of the Christ”) in the director’s chair. Gibson has arguably matched the violence of “The Passion of the Christ” here but this time he seems to be able to successfully convey the great joy of faith.

“Hacksaw Ridge” tells the incredible true story of Desmond Doss (Garfield), who was a medic during WWII. Doss is a Seventh-Day Adventist and a pacifist but he wants to help his country during its hour of need. He first must win over the hearts and minds of his fellow soldiers before he goes on to save 75 of them from certain death during the fight against the Japanese.

Andrew Garfield absolutely amazed me with his performance as a priest persecuted by the Japanese in “Silence”. Although I think his performance in “Silence” was better (and I think the overall film was superior), his work in “Hacksaw Ridge” is great. This is clearly a devout man that wants to do good without compromising his soul. Hugo Weaving (“The Matrix”) is terrific as Desmond’s father. Vince Vaughn (“Wedding Crashers”) and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) are among the cast and they give surprisingly good performances.

“Hacksaw Ridge” is a brutally violent war picture but it is also a very uplifting experience. The film will no doubt be compared to “Saving Private Ryan” and “Flags Of Our Fathers” but its deeply embedded religious themes do help to separate it from the crowd. The final act of the movie is so intense, so unforgiving and so miraculous that you really do feel stunned by this film. “Hacksaw Ridge” hopefully marks a new chapter for Mel Gibson, a return to a time when his films are of more interest than his personal life.

“Guardians” is essentially a Russian knock-off of Marvel’s “Avengers” films and while the film feels somewhat unoriginal, it works very well for what it is. I really got the sense that the filmmakers of this were having a lot of fun; it’s a shame that this movie has been so overlooked (even in Russia it was panned).

During the Cold War, a squad of superheroes were created by Soviet scientists. For decades, they have remained in hiding across many parts of the former-Soviet Union. When an evil scientist intends to terrorise the globe, the ‘Guardians’ must unite if they are to save the day.

Unlike the Marvel superhero movies, the Guardians are not lifted from any comic books. Ler (Sebastien Sisak) can move rocks with power of his mind, Khan (Sanjar Madi) runs like the Flash and wields swords, Kseniya (Alina Lanina) can turn invisible and Arsus (Anton Pampushnyy) can turn into bear. The one that can turn into a bear is just amazing as in one scene he even gets to use a minigun. The sight of a bear man with a minigun is just hilarious and amazing at the same time. The supervillain looks a little goofy but I guess it works considering this a film with a bear man with a minigun.

The action sequences in “Guardians” are very impressive and the special effects are great, particularly when considering the fact this movie had a tiny budget when compared to Hollywood superhero pictures. If you want a film with deep and meaningful characters with great performances then look elsewhere but if you want an action-packed superhero flick that is going to deliver a few laughs then you have absolutely come to the right place. A sequel is teased at the end but with the film doing poorly at the box-office, I sadly doubt that we will see a “Guardians 2” any time soon.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” should not work but it somehow it does… it really does. This is a movie with a great sci-fi/fantasy world and action sequences that make you feel like you’re watching the next generation of “Star Wars” films but then has dialog straight out a comedy movie and a bunch of pop songs. It’s weird yet hysterical, visually amazing and really detailed in the environments it creates.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is another Marvel superhero movie like “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” but instead it feels more like “Star Wars” (or “Spaceballs” at times) as we see a bizarre grouping of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt “Moneyball”), a talking raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper “Limitless”), a big tree creature named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel “The Pacifier”), Gamora (Zoe Saldana “Avatar”) and Drax (Batistia) trying to save the galaxy from evil.

The characters aren’t fascinating in terms of character development but they’re pretty funny and they’re creative in design. Star-Lord’s costume reminds me so much of the Rocketeer. Gamora and Drax are okay and you definitely can’t go wrong with a talking raccoon. Groot is a little annoying as his lines consist of three words: ‘I am Groot’. The villains are alright too. Watch after the credits to get a nasty surprise (if you’ve seen some of the early Marvel movies that is).

The really impressive thing about “Guardians of the Galaxy” is the universe it creates. The action scenes are phenomenal and right out of “Star Wars” or something like that. The characters and worlds are so creative and the use of comedy (and bad language for a superhero movie) really makes it stick out from the crowd. It’s a really funny movie but more importantly it’s a really detailed movie like “Star Wars”. I loved this film even though it defies pretty much every understanding you have about what works in a movie. It’s sort-of like if you took the “Matrix” movies and instead of having all the high and mighty talks, you use the dialog from the “Bill & Ted” films.

“Grown Ups” is a disjointed comedy with only a few good laughs in it. The movie is basically like gathering your friends and your family for a week and bringing a camera along to record footage of yourselves acting like morons.

Five friends that played basketball back in the late 70s reunite for a Fourth of July weekend after their coach dies. A lot of unfunny things happen with this group of mixed individuals that you’d never normally view as friends. In a messed-up plot that really doesn’t amount to anything I can’t really say much more about it because it is all too weird.

Adam Sandler (“Billy Madison”, “Happy Gilmore”), Kevin James (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop”), Chris Rock (“Lethal Weapon 4”), David Spade (“Tommy Boy”) and Rob Schneider (“The Hot Chick”, “Judge Dredd”) are the leads and they offer virtually no laughs. Sandler who wrote the movie has made a character where he is ‘Mr. Perfect’ at everything (nice wife, good at basketball, rich etc…), which is annoying. Kevin James’ weight is poked at way too much. Chris Rock’s house husband isn’t funny. David Spade does virtually nothing. Rob Schneider creates the worst character as some vegan married to an old lady. The lead characters’ families generate only mild chuckles. Some laughs are generated by a character played by Steve Buscemi (“Reservoir Dogs”).

“Grown Ups” had me giggling at points but it seems like a very lazy film as I’m sure someone had a house in the middle of nowhere, got these actors together, founds they had some free tickets to a waterpark and then brought the camera out. Most of the jokes are really juvenile and unfunny. The movie also tries to have some morals and some realism but all of that is lost due to the weird script. Too many characters, weak jokes and a strange storyline make the film something to skip.