Manda's MovieWatch

I’m not a huge fan of horror films, but I’m a fan of this movie. The first half of this movie is a cinematically beautiful 1932 time period piece. However, it’s hard to enjoy that because you know there’s something darker coming. When the darker hits, it hits hard. I love the music in this movie and the nods to monster lore. It was very entertaining. 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and you can stream this one.

I will be honest I was not excited about seeing this movie. I went with a friend who really wanted to see it, but it was better than I thought it was going to be. not sure that’s much of an endorsement, but usually movies like this don’t surprise me. This was a clear remake of Coppolla’s 1992 Dracula film but basically both are based on Bram Stoker’s novel but veer from the book with the love story plot. This film went a step further than Coppola, making me somewhat empathetic for Count (Prince?) Vlad. I don’t do well with copious amounts of spit/blood hanging from characters mouth (ewww) and this film had a lot of that. Christoph Waltz is a highlight (how does he make this all amusing?). Two watch checks, Ryan would stay awake, I’d recommend the theater over streaming if possible- Elfman’s score is also a highlight.

Great movie, especially if A Perfect Murder or Single White Female is one of your favorite movies. Gotta love a suspense thriller. Highly recommend seeing this if you have not read the book as you will not see the twist coming. I tribute this mainly to Amanda Seyfried- she’s outstanding. I’m already excited for the sequels. 1 watch check, it’s rentable and Ryan would for sure stay awake, mainly due to Sidney Sweeney’s boobs.

What a beautiful story and journey of grief. A new look at the possible motives for Shakespeare in writing Hamlet, although this is really a story about Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, it’s her journey. It’s quite beautiful: outstanding cinematography, sets, costumes, and the acting by all is amazing…but Jessie Buckley: standing ovation. Highly recommend seeing it on the big screen and letting yourself get lost into this world. (Be prepared: it might take you a few minutes to recover after the credits.) 0 watch checks from me! I think Ryan would’ve stayed awake for this one. BP contender for certain.

It was good. Not great, but good. Follow-ups are always hard to pull off. If you liked the first one, you’ll like this one. Ariana and Cynthia still sing amazingly although the music overall doesn’t match the grand songs of the first Wicked. The costumes and sets are beautiful, but I was disappointed that the ending gets Hollywood-ified and is different from the musical. Nessa as a character (and her tie-in demise) was almost laughable- not great editing there. But still worthy of the big screen if you can get there. 3 watch checks. Ryan would be asleep in the first musical number. 

The best monster telling of Mary Shelly’s story I’ve seen so far. It asks who is the real monster- the created or the creator? I was pretty impressed as I don’t usually enjoy monster stories. Jacob Elordi and Oscar Issac do an amazing job bringing the creature and the doctor to life with complexity. It’s visually beautiful in a Gothic and dark way. Expect gore – it is a monster movie after all. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think Ryan would stay awake for this, 1 watch check.

Finally closing the book on these characters, but it’s been a fun read. Downton fans will love this flick because it has all the things we love about Downton: beautiful sets & costumes, a peak at high English society, witty repartee, our favorite characters who just can’t move on and a reminder that some things change and some things never do. I enjoyed it but it also felt a bit boring, it’s what you expect and it’s been drawn on a little too long. I guess I was hoping for a twist or maybe something unexpected? This one you can rent and Ryan would have been asleep in the first 10 minutes- not his cup of tea. 3 watch checks.

Not sure I can be fair with this review as the original Superman is one of my all time favorite movies. All pale in comparison to Reeve but David Corenswet was a pretty good runner up. Visually, this was a beautiful superhero movie but…please DC, don’t try to be funny- leave that to Marvel. We love you for the dark & tragic universe you are. Krypto & Green Lantern were pretty cringe. I thought Nicholas Hoult was pretty awesome as Lex Luther though. Bronson too, was a great Lois. Although it was entertaining, overall I was still disappointed. 2 watch checks, Ryan would stay awake for this and it’s built for the big screen, so see it on one if you can.

This is an overdue post: I watched this movie in summer. It was only released on prime, I believe. I knew about it because my brother had worked on the movie. I watched the trailer and my interest was peaked. It’s shot in a Blair Witch Project type of documentary style but it takes a turn.  I’ve said this before: I’m not a huge scary movie fan but it did surprise me, I thought I knew where it was going with Bigfoot lore but then went boogeyman darker. I’m not sure I can give it a real fair rating as it’s not the genre I enjoy, but I was glued to my television watching it- maybe not for the best reasons; high shock factor. I do love a low budget cult classic and this has the makings for that. I was saying “whaaaaaatttt??” a lot. 3 watch checks, your only option is to rent and Ryan would stay awake for this while looking at me in disbelief and saying “what the heck are we watching?!”

I love a dark horse story, and this is a good one. Puzzle loving nerds can be dangerous too! Some unexpected twists and a good set up for a sequel that I’m guessing is coming. My only complaint is some of the gruff bad guys felt a bit too cliche for me. Only 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and you could rent it but big screen would be better.