Halloween Weekend Movie Schedule

What are you going to do with a whole weekend of Halloween? Watch movies and eat candy of course! I'm not a huge horror and gore fan so here is a list of not-so-terrifying films that are sure to fill your weekend.

Friday, Oct. 31st- Halloween

Work til 5pm (ish)

6pm- Spoon your chilli into your favorite bowl (preferably one with a Halloween theme) and top with sour cream, cheese, and oyster crackers. Pair with an Angry Orchard Hard Cider.

6:10-8pm- "Hocus Pocus" (Bette Midler will start your night right with a song and with a bit of nostalgia)

8:20pm- Answer the door for those kids who are way too old to be trick-or-treating. Glare at them until you know they are too far away to egg your house.

8:25pm-10pm "Young Frankenstein" (Mel Brooks is a comic genius. After the movie go download the Broadway soundtrack. He makes musicals just as funny as movies.)

10:15pm- Do you hear that? What is that whimpering? It's your stomach. Cave into your "diet" and grab the candy bowl. Trick-or-treaters should be all done for the night, and those Clark Bars aren't going to eat themselves.

10:15-12pm- "The Witches" (You need a little bit of scary in this haunted night. Angelica Huston will do that for you.)

12:15pm- Realize there is no way you can sleep after that movie. The witches are coming to get me! How about we put in something a little tamer.

12:30-2am- "Hotel Transylvania" (So much better! An Adam Sandler movie that you don't want to throw against a wall.)

Saturday, Nov. 1- All Saints Day

10:30am- wake up sprawled out on the couch. Did I sleep here all night? Roll over. It's a Saturday there is no way I am getting up now.

11:45am- Jolt awake. Pour yourself a cup of hot cider. real clothes are an option today. Finish off the leftover chili.

12-2pm- "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (let's start out with an easy one. And we haven't had any aliens yet)

2-4pm- "Casper" (Who wouldn't want a ghost friend? Ghost boyfriend? Not so much.)

4-6pm- "Corpse Bride" (Tim Burton needs to be represented here in some way. "Nightmare" is also another option that would work here)

6:15pm- listen to your stomach growl for 10 minutes before dragging yourself off the coach to order pizza. Throw on a sweatshirt and jeans before the pizza guy comes. You don't want him to think you're a lazy bum who sits around all day...oh, wait...)

7:15pm- 9pm "Adams Family Values" (This one ends up being better than the original due to Joan Cusack as a husband-killing, jewelry loving psycho. As well, as the scene where Pugsly and Wednesday are punished by watching Disney movies)

9-11pm- "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (singing and dancing are optional though greatly encouraged)

11:15pm- Where did that candy bowl go?

11:30-1:30pm- "Practical Magic" (Sister Power!)

Sunday, Nov. 2

9:30am- Decide that the coach is not looking comfy anymore. Decide to take a shower, brush cavity-infested teeth, comb tangled knots of hair, and go out today. (bring a friend if you would like)

12pm- Grab some lunch at your local Mexican restaurant. They're still open right?

2pm-4pm "Book of Life" (this one is still in theaters, but totally worth the money you will spend. With intricate and beautiful animation, it's the perfect eye candy)

4:30pm- Invite your friend over, but tell them to wait in the hallway until you can throw all of your candy wrappers and dirty clothes under your bed. Maybe it is a good idea to see a living being this weekend.

5pm- Play the I-don't-know-what-do-you-want-to-eat game until you realize you haven't had Chinese yet.

6-8pm- Any of the HP movies ("I'm a what?" "You're a wizard, Harry.") Share the remainder of the candy bowl

8:30pm- Your friend heads home to get to bed early. Maybe you should too... Nah. We need one more movie to finish off this weekend.

8:45pm-11pm- "Halloweentown"

11pm- Got to bed... Seriously, you spent a whole weekend watching movies. You're crazy.

Until next year, Halloween!

Number of movies finished: 13
Pounds of candy consumed: 3ish... ok more like 6
Regrets made: 0

In Review: "St. Vincent"

In Review: " St. Vincent"

A movie that is "saved" by its talent.

When was the last time you saw a bad Bill Murray movie? "Monuments Men" (2014) comes to mind. But why did you go see the film in the first place? Because it's a movie about the value of art and the evil of the Nazis? No. It had Bill Murray in it. Whatever he touches, people are simply drawn to it. It's nothing that can be explained, but I've decided to call it the Murray Effect.

The Plot

 

A little kid named Oliver whose parents have just divorced and has been uprooted to a poorer new York neighborhood (probably near Queens) is dealing with the "new kid syndrome". But instead of reaching out to the kids who beat him up after school, he latches on to his ill-tempered neighbor (Murray), a senior named Vincent who drinks too much, swears too much, and whose only friend seems to be his cat. Out of desperation, Maggie, Oliver's mom (Melissa McCarthy), is forced to ask Vincent to watch Oliver while she is away at work. Luckily for Maggie, Vincent owes quite a few people money. Craziness ensues of course for the odd couple. Oliver goes to the race track, visits a bar, and meets Vincent's "lady of the night" (Naomi Watts).

The Stars

 

Why does the Murray Effect exist? As we have gotten to know Murray through the years as a fun-loving, wise-cracking, and sometimes cranky man with a big heart, we have learned to love him. So much so that when he suddenly appears in "Zombieland" (2009), the movie sky rockets from "Oh, yeah that was pretty funny" to "OMG! They killed Bill Murray!" We expect laughs from him, and lots of heart. And this movie allows him to do exactly that. He gets to be sarcastic and heartfelt, blunt and deep, recite quick one-liners and meaningful dialogue. It's nothing that we haven't seen from him before. It simply reminds us what we love most about him.

Poor Melissa McCarthy. She is starting to head towards a bad type-cast. The fat, clumsy, stupid funny girl. She did that in "Identity Thief" (2013), "Tammy" (2014), and even "Hangover Part III" (2013). Stop it Melissa McCarthy! Stop right where you are. I know you're TV show "Mike & Molly" is not doing as great has it has in the past, but that is no reason to give up!

This part in "St. Vincent" is a welcomed change for McCarthy. No, she doesn't get to be the punchline of every joke, but she gets to grow on screen. She gets to break down and cry, get mad and get scared. I believe that this is just a glimpse into what could be if McCarthy decides to choose this path for her career. She needs to take notes from her fellow funny girl Kristen Wiig. Yes, Wiig did all the stupid funny she wanted to in SNL, but since then she has turned a corner and did more serious roles like "The Skeleton Twins". She has become more than just another funny girl.

Another "Bridesmaids" alum shows up in this film- Chris O'Dowd. And he could not be more perfect as Brother Geraghty, the teacher of Oliver's new Catholic school. O'Dowd brought me back to those plaid skirts day when I knew the Stations of the Cross between than my times tables. His quick wit and sly comments will make you think if your grade school nun days were as funny as this classroom.

The Message

 

Never judge a book by its cover. Don't judge a person before you get to know them. Miracles come in the most unexpected places. Angels are all around us. The main issue I have with this film is it can't quite decide what it wants to say or it never really gets there. It throws funny lines at you, presents silly situations and circumstances, and gives you a dash of sincerity. So by the end of it all, yes, you love Vincent and wish you could meet him in real life, but that's really all you know.

There is a side plot where Oliver's birth-father wants to get full custody because his mother is basically leaving Oliver with this crazy man all night long. Logically, it makes sense that the father should be questioning his ex-wife's state of mind when she decided to let this senior citizen babysit her kid. But the scenes are so rushed through that the problem instantly gets solved and Vincent's authority as a caretaker is not questioned again. So who is judging Vincent now? Maggie? The world? The audience? I'm not really sure.

Overall

 

 

I loved this Bill Murray movie, and think of it as exactly that. This is a film to enjoy Murray in all of his glory and get to watch a couple other choice actors make you laugh and cry. But would I put this on my must-have list? No, not really. It was fun to watch though.

2.5 out of 4 Halos

In Review: The Judge

In Review: The Judge

I smell an Oscar nomination!! And it's not even Christmas yet!

The Story

Robert Duvall is going to jail! Haha well, his character might be. Duvall plays the always-fair-always-truthful judge of a small town in Indiana. Robert Downey Jr. is his distant son Hank who has run off to Chicago to live his dream of becoming a well-paid lawyer (notice how I said well-paid and not well-liked or righteous or moral). The two have been fighting for years. The only reason Hank comes to visit his father, Joseph (who he refers to as "Judge"), is because Hank's mother has died. While Hank is in town, Joseph is accused of murder. Hank manages to push aside his pride to act as his father's lawyer. The case will test Hank's patience with his father as well as his comfortable distance he has with his past.

The Stars

I do think Robert Downey Jr. should at least be nominated for Best Actor this year. I know it is really early in the Oscar season, but this one needs to be on the Academy's mind. The world knows Robert Downey Jr. as the child star turned junkie turned self-centered sarcastic superhero, but they don't know him like this. He is so vulnerable and honest at moments in the film that you think, "This is Iran Man?" We see his heart, which tends to get fogged over by the sarcasm and one-liners of his other films.

Duvall is, of course, brilliant as well. What I love most about this movie is that we all would love to see Duvall's character completely accept his son into his life with open arms and beg for forgiveness for everything that has happened in the past. But that never fully happens. Duvall never breaks character. A real father who has alienated his son for years would never open up to him fully and ask for forgiveness. We want him to in this fantasy world, but he never would in real life. Because he doesn't know how.

The Message

I want to say that this movie tells all parents to learn to forgive their children for their pasts and ask for forgiveness for the wrongs they have done. But that's not what this is about. After all, this is Hank's story. Not Joseph's. Hank's whole life he is fighting his past- he gets a job far away from home, running away from an old girlfriend who could have been more, running away from a brother with disabilities, another brother whose life he ruined, and a whole other list of passed mistakes. This movie is really about him forgiving himself and faces his mistakes, accepting that they happened and learning to move forward. This is the only way he learns to forgive his father and how he finds the strength to fight for him.

Overall

The only issue I had with this movie is the middle was a little slow to start. There is a long period of time before we get the trial started- we have to pick the jury, find the right lawyer, prepare, prepare, prepare. In real life, that is entirely accurate. Preparation is how you win a case. But for a movie, there is not too much drama. Thankfully a lot of this down time is used to fill the viewer in on the ghosts of the past. Overall, except a family drama with some court scenes. It's not your average court room drama. It's more about the family's development, and more specifically Hank's development.

3 out of 4 Gavels (the judge hammer thing)

 

In Review: Chef (2014)

In Review: Chef (2014)

Finally! I get to write about something worth seeing.

It's another food film (sorry!) but that seems to be the only genre that has something new coming out of the oven (I'm looking at you rom-coms!)

Plot

 

Carl (Jon Favreau) has been working at the same restaurant for years, and yes, has received some amount of success. But just like every artist, he strives to create something new. So when creative differences come between Carl and the restaurant owner, played by Dustin Hoffman, Carl is forced to start over. And by the method of I-know-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy, Carl gets a fodd truck and is finally able to be himself in his food, and find himself as a father.

The Stars

 

Jon Favreau, now known for as the driving force behind every single Iron Man movie and as Happy, the metal man's "bodyguard", looks like he should quit acting and become a real-life chef. He is confident in every movement he makes in the kitchen, and that only comes from someone who feels comfortable behind a stove. Not that his previous roles were bad, but I feel like this is the first time I get to see really see him.

John Leguizamo is on my list of favorite actors. It may partly be because he happens to be a favorite of my favorite director (Baz Luhrmann) and is in one of my all time favorite movies ("Moulin Rouge"), but there are other reasons too. He has a wide range of character. He can be pure evil ("Romeo+Juliet"). He can be the funniest guy on screen ("Ice Age"), and he can do this where he is your best friend and you couldn't be happier that he was.

P.S. an appearance by RDJ makes one of the funniest scenes in this movie!

The Message

 

Unlike the last food movie I reviewed, this film is not about the food. Don't get me wrong, I was drooling throughout the whole thing for cubanos, brisket, and beignets. But this movie wasn't about how food can change people. Mostly because our main character knows how amazing food is.

It's more so about that time-old lesson that work is not life. Taking time to stop, reflect, and connect with those people you tend to forget about on a day-to-day basis is what life is all about. This go-go-go attitude wears us and our families down. This is why family dinners every night at a dinner table are so important.

Overall

 

I really did like this movie, but it was missing something. It was missing that extra push of character growth. By the end of the film, we do see that Carl has spent a whole lot of time with his son and that he wants more of it. He realizes he has really missed out on being a dad to this adorable kid. But the problem is we experience this jump in growth. All of the sudden, Carl takes this kid food shopping with him properly, lets him cook in the kitchen, and basically help run his new business without so much as a bump in the road. It seems as if they have been doing this forever with no real separation. It would have been great to see this real distance between the two characters so it leads us to a triumphant ending. But that would mean that our hero would need to act as the bad-dad for a little while, and that can get tricky.

 

But overall, I really did like this movie, and it made me really, really want to try a cubano.

 

2.5 out of 4 Cubanos