Truth or Dare

April 14, 2018 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (2018)
by Hunter Bush

Without spoiling the ending, Blumhouse's Truth Or Dare blows the opportunity to have a series of movies where a Demon corrupts kids' games to make them deadly. Just imagine 2020's Duck, Duck, Goose, where a possessed teen is transformed into a horrendous cygnine creature, honking through a bloody bill full of sharp teeth or 2023's Red Rover, whose poster shows a line of battleworn 20-somethings with interlocked arms holding kitchen knives and meat cleavers.

Love, Simon

March 15, 2018 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by Greg Berlanti (2018)
by Hunter Bush

My pithy review of Love, Simon is that it's a step in the right direction, but doesn't exactly put its best foot forward.

I'm not here to besmirch anyone having a good time and I don't want to belabor the point, so I'll put all my problems with Love, Simon up front; while its message is an important one, as a movie, it's pretty average. 20th Century Fox's big talking point is that it's the first major studio romantic comedy to feature a gay lead, and while that is definitely a big deal, I wish that honor had gone to a better overall movie.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 2: March and April 2018

March 02, 2018 by Guest User in EOINA, hunter bush

by Hunter Bush

Hello there! Welcome to Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 2: March and April, 2018. If you're new to the column, EOiNA is where I spotlight some upcoming films that are inspired in some way by a previously existing concept, work or franchise: remakes, adaptations or long-gap sequels.

Game Night

February 22, 2018 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
by Hunter Bush

Game Night has an absolutely amazing cast but the true star of the movie is the writing. The script, by Mark Perez, takes a pretty straightforward plot, a group of friends involved in a murder mystery party that may not be simulated after all, and continually takes it in unexpected directions. For instance, who'd have thought you could get heart and laughs (and some dry heaves) from a scene where a husband and wife clean up a bullet wound?

12 Strong aka Horse Soldiers aka Them Horse Boyz

January 19, 2018 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig (2018)
by Hunter Bush

I was instructed by Moviejawn HQ to focus solely on Michael Shannon for the duration of my viewing of 12 Strong; his performance, how his character's actions help move the story along, etc., etc. But that gets increasingly harder to do as the movie goes on. Here’s the bad news, gang: there isn't nearly enough Michael Shannon in this flick.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 1: Jan. and Feb. 2018

January 10, 2018 by Guest User in hunter bush, EOINA

by Hunter Bush

Hello all, and welcome to Everything Old is New Again, my new and improved regular column on Moviejawn dot com (the site you are currently reading)! As Jerry Seinfeld once wondered aloud (about Tide detergent no less) "How can something be both New AND Improved?" Well, I can't speak about Tide, but as far as this column goes, I can actually explain.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

November 02, 2017 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (2017)
by Hunter Bush

Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer will end up drawing a lot of comparisons - some of them from me - to his last film, The Lobster, because of Lanthimos' fondness for unusual stories and stilted dialogue and his decision to team with Lobster star Colin Farrell again. But while these similarities are there, Deer is the more grounded and at the same time more intangible of the two.

Mother!

September 15, 2017 by Guest User in reviews, hunter bush

Directed by Darren Aronofsky (2017)
by Hunter Bush

Darren Aronofsky's latest movie, Mother! is a messy film that manages to succeed on one level while ultimately failing on another. Which level you perceive as being more important will greatly affect how you feel about it.

Remakes, Adaptations & Long-Gap Sequels Part 2: The Return of the Revenge

July 20, 2017 by Guest User in hunter bush, trailer review, coming soon

Part 2: July - December, 2017
by Hunter Bush

This summer, in theaters all across the country, if not the globe, Spider-Man is wall-crawling onto screens for the seventh time in 15 years, meanwhile a (Wonder) Woman carries a comic book movie without the help of a man (neither Super nor Bat), and right this minute Apes are at War for the Planet.

Yes, it’s summer time at the Remake, Adaptation, and Long-Gap Sequel roundup and I’m here to break down what’ll be coming at you in the ensuing months. This summer will bring Atomic Blondes and Dark Towers (or at least one of each) and we’ll have the chance to see films based on books, comics, movies (some as much as 35 years old) and even a podcast.

The Grifters

May 02, 2017 by Guest User in hunter bush, reviews

Directed by Stephen Frears (1990)
by Hunter Bush

The Grifters is a fantastic and subdued movie about liars, adapted from the book by Jim Thompson, a crime / noir writer posthumously called “the Dimestore Dostoevsky.” I don’t remember when I first saw it but I’ve always held it in high regard, while simultaneously finding it incredibly hard to explain exactly why. The performances are great: subtle and seething and alluring but despite being a movie where the three leads are con artists there’s no ‘Big Heist,’ no ‘Big Scam.’ It’s a movie about the relationships between these three people, the lies they tell and where that leads them.

Revenge of the Remakes, Adaptations, & Long-Gap Sequels, Part 1

March 01, 2017 by Guest User in hunter bush, trailer review, coming soon

Part 1: March - June, 2017
by Hunter Bush

Which do audiences enjoy more, a fresh idea or something familiar? Someone with a head for box office figures could probably make a decent case either way. Regardless, it seems like every time I go see a major release movie, the majority of trailers are for remakes, adaptations or, more and more frequently, ‘Long Gap’ sequels. This past week I saw The LEGO Batman Movie which had seven trailers preceding it. Two were regular sequels (Cars 3 & Despicable Me 3), two were adaptations (Power Rangers & Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), two were inspired by some outside phenomena (The LEGO Ninjago Movie / toys & The Emoji Movie / emojis), leaving only one as an apparently original idea. That film? The Boss Baby.