Viewing Journal: 1/18/2022

20) SCREAM [SCREAM 5]

(2022 dir. Radio silence) Date Seen: January 18 2022

Almost identical to how I felt about parts 3 and 4 ; some of the meta commentary sticks the landing & a lot of it also bombs. Split 50/50 evenly down the middle. there's too much that I loved to say I outright dislike it & then also the inverse of that equation. Many grating moments dragging it down.. I have to imagine Wes Craven would've been cool with this movie, though.

↓personal ranking of the Scream franchise↓

1. SCREAM (1996) ****

2. SCREAM 2 (1997) ***1/2

3. SCREAM VI (2023) ***

4. SCRE4M (2011) **1/2

5. SCREAM 3 (2000) **1/2

6. SCREAM 2022 aka SCREAM 5  **1/2

6. SCREAM 7 ('26)  *1/2

[updated 6/20/26]

Viewing Journal: 1/17/2022

19) THE UNHOLY

(1988 dir. Camilo Vila) Date Seen: January 17 2022

18) GOG

(1954 dir. Herbert L. Strock) Date Seen: January 17 2022

Viewing Journal: 1/16/2022

17) 

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE

(2021 dir. Michael Showalter) Date Seen: January 16 2022

Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker) has always reminded me of so many of the troubled old evangelical women on the white side of my family, so you could say I’ve always had something of a soft spot for her in my heart. And I’m glad the filmmakers, Jessica Chastain, & co. never demonize or outright make fun of her. But Tammy's life could’ve made a far more interesting film than this somewhat conventional biopic. Perhaps this was just a case of ambition exceeding execution, but I found Showalter’s directing surprisingly shallow and superficial for whole stretches. I’ve loved most of the straight forward comedy things he’s made, so maybe he just wasn’t a good fit to direct material that gets this heavy. It’s intermittently entertaining but never wholly convincing either as a chronicle stretching several decades. Positive note: The makeup, hair, art direction, set design/decoration, & costumes are all some of the best I’ve seen for 2021.

Viewing Journal: 1/15/2022

16) LUIS & THE ALIENS

(2018 dir. Lauenstein bros.) Date Seen: January 15 2022

Harmless and entertaining for the most part. The core trio of aliens had cute designs & their personalities were funny in a similar way to "Oh" in HOME (2015). But the conflict at the center of the story could've been more complex & I thought too many scenes lacked tension. Even animated kids movies need writers who can keep raising the stakes in inventive ways. The part where the neighbor’s dog gets body-swapped with the 3-eyed chartreuse one made me laugh quite a bit.. Turns out this was written & directed by the twins that did that awesome 1989 Oscar winning short BALANCE

Viewing Journal: 1/14/2022

15) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: 

          TRANSFORMANIA

(2022 dir. Kluska / Drymon) Date Seen: January 14 2022

I enjoyed the first 2 movies in the series, but now Amazon is just milking the thing dry.

Viewing Journal: 1/11/2022

11) MOTHER / ANDROID
(2021 dir. Mattson Tomlin) Date Seen: January 11 2022

Felt like a zombie movie where the zombies forgot to show up & Skynet just picked up the slack.. I liked a lot of the design & visual effects work + I thought the basic premise had potential for mileage (Think Cormac McCarthy's The Road vs. Philip K. Dick's Second Variety). I only wish the human drama of the film wasn't so bloody turgid

Viewing Journal: 1/13/2022

14) ONCE 

 UPON A TIME IN CHINA V

(1994 dir. Yuen Bun) Date Seen: January 13 2022

kick△ punch○, it's all in the mind!

chop X  block ▢  duck [L1]  jump [L2] kick △ punch ○ block ▢

#Criterion #Bluray

13) ONCE 

UPON A TIME IN CHINA IV

(1993 dir. Hark Tsui) Date Seen: January 13 2022

This was my least favorite in the series so far, & it's still pretty darn good.. I have yet to see part 6 and LAST HERO IN CHINA but they're not included in the Criterion box set for some reason. "Complete" series my ass! jk

#Criterion #Bluray

Viewing Journal: 1/12/2022

12) KING KONG ESCAPES

(1967 dir. Ishirō Honda) Date Seen: January 12 2022

If KING KONG VS. GODZILLA is the Donkey Kong '81 arcade, then KING KONG ESCAPES is Donkey Kong Country SNES. One giant step up in terms of quality 👍

Viewing Journal: 1/10/2022

10) MENACE II SOCIETY

(1993 dir. Hughes bros) 3rd Viewing: January 10 2022

I hadn't seen this since middle school. it still hit my heart like a ton of bricks.

clearly one of the great directing debuts of the 90s.

#CriterionBluray

Viewing Journal: 1/8/2022

8) THE 355

(2022 dir. Simon Kinberg) Date Seen: January 8 2022

Oscar caliber actresses doing vanilla bland action. That thrown together sub-EXPENDABLES style of actioneer studios seem to be churning out more often these days.. But this felt especially rubbish; almost like the shooting script wasn't finished (excusable & not unheard of) but the filmmakers didn't even have a ballpark idea of where they should take the last act. The movie's last stretch cries "winging it" in terms of writing.