Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"Don't First Amendment me, please." -Paul A group of people wake up in the woods and quickly find themselves being hunted by the wealthy elite, but one among them isn't so easily hunted. Spoiler Alert for The Hunt ahead.  I don't recommend this movie and I would even say it's bad, but there will be spoilers ahead.  Do with that what you will. What Works: The best part of this movie is how unpredictable the first act is.  Three times, we are introduced to a character who is played by a recognizable actor.  We assume they are the main character only for them to be quickly killed.  Finally, the 4th time, we get out main character, but it shows us that no one is safe in this film and I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Betty Gilpin plays our protagonist, Crystal, and I really like her performance.  She's a weirdo and a bit on the psycho side, but she is John Wick-levels of competent and it's easy to root for her.

"She's not getting any fresher." -Dr. Herbert West For the past thirteen years, since the end of the previous film, Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) has been in prison.  When the new prison doctor, Dr. Howard Phillips (Jason Barry), who idolizes West, takes the mad scientist on as his assistant, West quickly convinces Phillips to help him start up his experiments again. What Works: I can't say enough good things about Jeffrey Combs.  He plays Dr. West so brilliantly, I sometimes forget he's just acting.  He's always been perfect in the role, even if other parts of the film aren't so perfect. I also really like Elsa Pataky's performance as a reporter, Laura Oleny.  She's actually pretty similar to West in that she's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals, but doesn't necessarily consider the consequences.  Her character gets heavily traumatized over the course of the film and Pataky gets to show off a

"I'm buried in a box!" -Paul Conroy Truck driver, Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up buried alive in a wooden box with a cell phone and little else.  He has limited time and air to get his captors ransom money or he will be left to die in the box. What Works: Being buried alive is my absolute worst fear and this movie did nothing to change that.  You feel like you are in the box with Paul and I've never felt such claustrophobia watching a movie.  It's an absolute nightmare and I have to give the movie props for making me feel that way. Ryan Reynolds gives one of his best performances.  He makes you feel his fear, anger, frustration, and desperation.  It's constantly heart-breaking as his situation and frantic phone calls get more and more desperate.  It's a one-man show and it's a good one. The entire film takes place inside of a coffin.  It's hard to set a movie that takes place entirely in one location, especially w

"Hey, you got yourself a fish biscuit!" -Tom Friendly The season 3 premiere opens with Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) hosting a book club meeting at her house.  When the house begins to shake, they go outside to watch Oceanic 815 split apart above them.  We see several familiar Others and it's revealed that the Others have houses on the island. In flashbacks, Jack (Matthew Fox) has become obsessed with figuring out the identity of his wife's new boyfriend and is holding up the divorce proceedings.  He starts to suspect his father, Christian (John Terry), is sleeping with Sarah (Julie Bowen) and follows him to a hotel.  It turns out just to be an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.  Jack ends up attacking Christian, which lands him in jail.  Sarah bails him out and tells him Christian has fallen off the wagon. On the island, Jack wakes up in an aquarium at the Hydra Dharma station.  Juliet talks to him, asks him questions, and tries to get him to eat. 

"It's one of those infinite time loop situations you might have heard about." -Nyles While at her sister's wedding, the maid of honor, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), and another guest, Nyles (Andy Samberg), wind up in a time loop reliving the wedding day over and over again.  Stuck with each other, Sarah focuses on finding a way out while trying not to fall for Nyles. What Works: Palm Springs is essentially the same movie as Groundhog Day  and you know what?  That's okay.  I love the time loop plot.  I always find it interesting and Palm Springs has a blast with it and pokes fun at some of the tropes.  Is it the most original idea?  No, but it doesn't have to be.  The movie works regardless. The cast is excellent across the board.  I'm a big Andy Samberg fan and this is some of his best work.  I found Nyles incredibly relatable, especially because he is a very flawed character.  Samberg breathes life into him in a very compelling way.

"The world can burn for all I care." -Andy Andy, aka Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), is the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries who are trying to make the world a better place.  When a mission goes wrong, the team finds themselves being hunted and they also discover the existence of another immortal. What Works: The best part about The Old Guard is the characters.  I really like Andy's team.  They each have a unique and interesting perspective thanks to all of the centuries they have survived.  I really hope this movie gets a sequel so we can see more of these characters.  They are better than the story they are in.   The acting is also really solid from the team.  Theron and Matthias Schoenaerts play very jaded and sad characters, while Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli are funny and romantic.  All four of them do a very good job in their roles and I liked watching them interact. There are some solid actions sequences as well

"It's just a color." -Ezra The Gardner family move to rural Massachusetts to live a quiet life.  That is disrupted when a meteorite with a strange pink glow lands in their yard.  Soon everything in the area begins to chance, including the Gardner's. What Works: This is one of the most bats**t insane movies I have ever seen, but it's also one of the most beautiful. The use of color and the visual effects are otherworldly and striking.  I could watch these visuals all day long. The score is also breathtaking.  Colin Stetson matches the visuals with his music and takes us to another dimension with his work.  I left the DVD menu playing for awhile after the movie ended so I could listen to more of the score. I love watching Nicolas Cage go off the deep end.  I'm big fan of Cage and I can't pass up a chance to watch him go full Cage.  We definitely get that here.  While his character isn't likable, he's still very entertaini

"Smells like carrots." -Desmond Hume The season 2 finale picks up with Jack (Matthew Fox), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) swimming out to the sailboat only to find a drunken Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) onboard.  Desmond is told by Locke (Terry O'Quinn) that the button isn't real and they decide to put a stop to it.  They trick Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje into leaving the computer room and lock him out.  Eko recruits Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) into helping him find the leftover dynamite from the Black Rock expedition and they attempt to blow open the blast doors, but only injure themselves in the process. Desmond looks over the sheets of paper Locke took from the Pearl Station and realizes that on the day Desmond was late pressing the button, Oceanic 815 crashed.  Desmond realizes the button is real, but Locke smashes the computer.  Desmond goes beneath the station to the emergency fail-safe switch and activates it, which causes

"Humans are such easy prey." -Dr. Edward Pretorius Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) invents a machine that allows people to see far beyond their normal reality.  A being in the beyond seemingly kills Pretorius and his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), is arrested for his murder.  To prove his innocence, Crawford leads a team back to the house to reactivate the machine, but something hungry is waiting for them. What Works: From Beyond has an absolutely stellar cast of horror legends.  Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton reunite after being in Re-Animator together (which was also directed by Stuart Gordon).  They are also joined by Ken Foree.  All of them are icons of horror and I love seeing them on screen together.  They all do a great job and are a lot of fun. As with any Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna film, this movie is gross and gooey.  The practical effects are awesome and extremely disgusting.  I love the creature designs and t