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Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
The series goes downhill from here
Halloween 5 is a disappointing movie for Halloween fans and horror movie fans. It lacks in plot, scares and suspense.
It's one year later after the events of Halloween 4. Michael survives the shootings and on October 31st he returns to Haddonfield. Jamie (the heroine of H4) is in Haddonfield's Children's Hospital after attacking her step-mother the previous year. She is being treated by Dr. Loomis with the aid of her step-sister Rachel and Rachel's friend Tina. Lurking and stalking, Michael forms a plan to lure Jamie out of the children's hospital where events lead up to a confrontation at Michael's childhood house.
OK, I like Donald Pleasence even though his performance went down a little and is a little cheesy. Danielle Harris does the best spending half the movie being mute. It's a great performance. Ellie Cornell is back as Rachael. She is a great character but gets killed off in the first ten minutes. The rest of the movie is filled with terribly acted, stupid teenagers. Even some of the characters from the Friday the 13th movies are better. The characters are all hateful and the script doesn't make much sense.
It's a typical slasher movie, which I don't like that much. Halloween 5 spends too much time on teenagers with silly teen lust combined with slasher stuff. There's even a part with 2 bumbling cops with three stooges like music playing in the background. It's just stupid. The story feels like it doesn't know what to do next. But it does excel when it cuts to the real story of Meyers chasing the girl and the doctor's relentless pursuit.
But the climax wasn't that bad, even though Michael's "demise" was absolutely ridicules with Loomis beating Michael with a piece of wood. Michael's childhood home looks completely different than how it looked in the first. The chase scenes with Jamie and Michael were pretty good. And a scene with Jamie hiding in a vent and Michael stabbing at it was pretty suspenseful. And it was different while being believable. That was the best part in the whole movie. Also the atmosphere is pretty good and very creepy. I would have given this 1 star if it wasn't for that.
So besides the climax Halloween 5 is pretty bad. You can tell it was rushed because of the success of Halloween 4.
2 stars (out of 4)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Ten Years Ago HE Changed The Face Of Halloween, Tonight HE'S BACK!
Well I thought Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis died in the explosion at the end of Halloween II. I guess I was wrong. Halloween 4 brings us back to Haddonfield and I'm happy to be back.
Michael Myers has been in a coma for ten years. Doctors are transferring Michael from a clinic to a different hospital. But Michael wakes up and goes back to Haddonfield. There he's going after his 9 year old niece Jamie Lloyd. But Dr. Loomis knows he's out there. So he tries to stop him (as usual) and save Jamie.
First off the acting is great. I love Donald Pleasance and was happy to see him back. Newcomer Danielle Harris who is only 9 years old delivers the second best performance in the whole film. Usually it's hard to cast a kid but the crew struck gold with Harris. The rest of the cast had great chemistry. They are well acted. We actually get to know the character before they get killed.
John Carpenter is completely missing, the only thing is the score, but the series is in good hands. The film has an eerie feel to it. Director Dwight H. Little brings a sense of atmosphere to the film and creates a number of suspenseful scenes. He is able to build suspense and not just go for the cheap thrill which the Friday the 13th Series did, which the second movie also did. But this one goes back to the suspense and isn't a gore fest. The deaths are bloody but they're different and not just the usual knife or hospital items.
There are many intense scenes in the movie. First off a car chase with Michael on top of the car, and what I think is the best scene in the whole movie, Michael chases the stars on the roof of their house. It's very suspenseful and very intense. Also the ending is shocking and one of the best endings in a horror movie. I won't give it away but I was surprised.
While it's flawed and not perfect I really enjoyed it. It was better than Halloween II and better than Halloween III. I liked seeing Donald Pleasence back and I liked going back to the Michael Myers story.
3 stars (out of 4 stars)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Strange but fun horror movie
Halloween III is a strange film. It's completely different than the first two and has a weird story with some big plot holes.
Dr. Dan Challis treats a scared old man who's holding a Halloween mask and saying crazy things. The mask is no ordinary mask; it's a Silver Shamrock mask that's the number one best selling Mask Company. Then that night a mysterious man kills the old man then blows himself up in his car. The old mans daughter Ellie (Stacy Nelkin) arrives And she and Dan go to Santa Mira, home of Silver Shamrock to uncover what happened. They then meet Conal Cochran, the owner of the mask company. They find out he's planning to kill all the kids of America during a giveaway Halloween night by using the masks. So Dan and Ellie try to stop him before they're too late.
Now why would Cochran want to kill all the kids of America? I don't know. That's the big plot hole in the move. It's never explained and is just weird.
Besides that this is a decent horror flick. No it isn't perfect but it kept me interested and I am a fan of the Halloween series. I like the performances. Dan O'Heary is perfectly cast as Conal Cochran and is very creepy. Tom Atkins does a pretty good job as the hero and Stacy Nelkin is pretty good.
John Carpenter produces again while Tommy Lee Wallace (the editor of the first Halloween) directs. Wallace does a good job. The way he described the movie is it's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And I do see what he means. It's not what you expect it has robots with yellow blood like substance and killer masks. The underground lab where Cochran works with is pretty cheesy. It consists of a few TV monitors on high-tech bookshelves. It also has a mockup of a stone from Stonehenge. I still have no idea what Stonehenge has to do with the movie in the first place.
In all a decent B movie with problems but is OK for a movie on a late Friday night when you have nothing to do.
2 1/2 stars (out of 4 stars)
Halloween II (1981)
Lacking, but enjoyable sequel to the John Carpenter classic
Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis are back in Halloween II. This must be good
right? Well Halloween II lacks a lot of the greatness the first one had but it's still creepy and a good horror movie.
The film starts right where the first left off. Michael Myers got shot six times by Dr. Loomis. But when Loomis came to check on the body Michael was gone. So Loomis keeps searching. Meanwhile Laurie Strode (Curtis) is brought to a hospital. There she will stay till the morning. But Michael is still after her, so he goes to the hospital. When he gets there he starts to kill the staff one by one.
John Carpenter who directed the first film wrote and produced this one. Rick Rosenthal takes over as director. He did a good job recreating the feel of the first but what really screws the movie up is the gore. This film is a gore fest. Where the first relied on suspense this one acts like another Friday the 13th movie. But I did think two of the gory deaths were pretty cool and scary.
Besides Donald Pleasence none of the cast is really mentionable. They're the typical horror movie idiots who make stupid decisions and then get killed. Jamie Lee Curtis is useless and spends most of the movie laying in a bed, barely talking, then being chased by Michael during the climax.
Now here's what I liked about the movie: the setting at the hospital was interesting and different from the usual setting. The climax was cool and the death of Michael was sweet. I stayed interested throughout the movie and liked going back to the setting and seeing the characters again. I liked seeing Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Bracket again even thought he disappears after the first ten minutes.
I'm happy they used the same mask from the first film because it's a really creepy mask. It actually was a William Shatner Star Trek mask. It's very chilling to look at.
In all it isn't perfect, but it delivers some things and disappoints with others.
3 stars (out of 4)
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
Disappointing, but still a fun movie
The Lethal Weapon series by now is running out of steam. Lethal Weapon 3 is a little disappointing, but it still has its good moments. Let's get the worst over with.
First, the story: A ex-cop Jack Travis (Stuart Wilson) who's robbed weapons from the police and Riggs and Murtaugh have to fin d him. He really isn't as good as the villains from 1 and 2. He's the normal action movie villain that I didn't really care about.
Joe Pesci is back as Leo Getz, the character who made Lethal Weapon 2 a good sequel. He has his funny bits but only appears at the beginning and at the end. If you really think about he's just there because he's a popular character. Also Riggs and Murtaugh do not do much new and it relies a lot on explosions and action. I felt that some action scenes at the beginning felt forced.
Now here are the good things which, luckily there's more good than bad. The new addition is Rene Russo who plays Lorna Cole, she works for International Affairs. At first she doesn't like Riggs or Murtaugh but by the end fall in love with Riggs and they become partners. She can beat up five guys single handily. Riggs and her have a pretty funny scene where they undress by showing each others scars. It's cute and funny.
The chemistry between Glover and Gibson is still there even with Pesci's scenes. At the beginning thy go into a building try to defuse a bomb while the bomb squad is on there way. Their chemistry is great and still pretty funny. That and the climax are the two best parts. In the climax they fight at a burning construction sight and it's crazy.
Richard Donner knows his way around explosives and big action scenes which is good. But sadly the series got worse form here.
3 stars (out of 4)
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
a bad end to a great film series
The fourth time isn't the charm for the Lethal Weapon series. Lethal Weapon 4 is a disappointment, more disappointing than Lethal Weapon 3 but still in my mind a decent action flick.
This time the story which is confusing has something to do with China bringing the four fathers of crime to the U.S. while other Chinese people are trying to buy them back with counterfeit money. Now that's the worst part of the movie. It seems so out of place for a Lethal Weapon movie.
All the original characters are back. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are still in top shape as Riggs and Murtaugh. Joe Pesci plays Leo Getz again. I like that he does more than he did in Lethal Weapon 3. He's still a funny character. Rene Russo plays Lorna Cole who now has Gibson's baby and is thinking about marriage. They are all good. And it's really good to see them again.
Here's the new. Every Lethal Weapon movie has its new character. This time it's comedian Chris Rock. He's a pretty good addition. My favorite scene with him is when he talks with Pesci about phones and how the companies screw with you. It's funny. Jet Li plays the villain. He's a better villain than the one from Lethal Weapon 3. They are pretty good additions.
It's well done with the best part: a freeway chase that involves a mobile home and a sheet of plastic that drags Gibson along the road. But the movie is too light. This is supposed to be an action movie, but it feels like a comedy with action scenes. The villains aren't that interesting. The ending where everybody is taking a picture and says: "we're family!" is really cheesy and didn't fit.
What's great is Richard Donner is also back. He's great at action scenes which make them work. But this movie feels like everything's there. The cast and crew must had a good time. But it's still not that great.
2 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Halloween (1978)
Everyones entitled to one good scare
Halloween is a brilliantly, creepy thriller that is one of the best horror pictures and one of my favorite movies ever made.
The film starts in 1963. A 6 year old boy named Michael Myers brutally kills his sister on Halloween night. He gets put away into a mental institution and 15 years later he brakes out and goes back to his home town. There he stalks a baby sitter (Jamie Lee Curtis) and murders her two friends. While that happens his psychiatric Dr. Sam Loomis (the great Donald Pleasence) tries to track him down.
The plot is simple but works and is played out in a believable way. A lot of the credit goes to the cast. Donald Pleasence is great as Dr. Loomis. Jamie Lee Curtis (in her first movie) is the main teenager while her friends are played by P.J. Soles and Nancy Loomis. Now these people aren't looking for Academy Awards, they just play there parts like normal people would do.
Now this plays out the deaths perfectly. They're not over the top or extremely gory. They're quick and bloodless. There's builds up that are very suspenseful. The suspense is what keeps this movie going not the kills. John Carpenter does this very well. There's shots of the killer that has him coming out of the darkness and we see him standing behind trees watching the people. They're very creepy moments that are well done.
John Carpenter does a great job of directing, but he also did the score. And that is probably the most memorable element of the movie. It plays during the opening credits while a Jack-O'-Lantern looms closer and closer to the camera. And right there you know that it's going to be good. Throughout the climax the music builds and builds and it' just scary.
Halloween is a horror movie. It's not a slasher movie but a thriller that keeps you interested the whole time and has you at the edge of your seat. It's just a great movie period.
4 stars (out of 4)
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
A great sequel to a classic buddy-cop movie
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return in a rare sequel that's just about as good as the first. Everything's new; it's not just a rehash.
In the movie, to find the bad guy they have to get help of a man named Leo Getz. He's played by by Joe Pesci who is the new addition the movie. He's an accountant who has figured out a foolproof way to launder vast quantities of illegal drug money. He's very funny and is great to watch in every scene he is in.
What Riggs and Murtaugh stumble over is a complex plot, never quite explained, by which South African diplomats are dealing illegally in gold and other contraband. It is unclear exactly what their plan is, but they are ruthless in its execution.
The action has Murtaugh in the bathroom about to sit up when he finds out if he does a bomb will go off. That scene has Gibson and Glover with their most chemistry. It's pretty funny and dramatic. Also Gibson's trailer being shot up by a helicopter as he escapes is cool. And some pretty good chase sequences.
Richard Donner returns as director as he will do in further installments. The only thing I miss is the Mel Gibson being suicidal. I know he really can't be but it was a pretty interesting thing in the first. And for a period of time in the middle Danny Glover is no where to be found and it focuses on Gibson's character. But in all this is darker than the first and with the introduction of Leo Getz this is a really good movie.
3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Lethal Weapon (1987)
A classic action film that holds up to this day
This is the ultimate buddy cop movie. Danny Glover plays Roger Murtaugh who has just turned 50. He is teamed up with Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), a suicidal cop who lost his wife. They have to investigate a murder. They don't like each other. Murtaugh has a family and doesn't want to die while Riggs doesn't care if he dies. The plot works and is very funny.
This movie has shoot outs, battles with helicopters, jumping off buildings, it's crazy. It's not the usual barely any plot and just action. It has characters that you actually care for. Mel Gibson's character is crazy and you believe him. He really is suicidal. In one scene he tries to help a man about to jump off a building. The scene is done do well by Gibson. Also in one scene he even puts a gun to his chin. You can feel the tension growing.
The supporting roles are good too. Gary Busey plays a killer who works for the bad guy. He chases the characters a lot in the movie. Glover's character has a family which is rare in movies because they barely show the black person having a family. He has a daughter played by Traci Wolfe who has a crush of Gibson. He' wife is played by Darlene Small, she does a good job.
This is a great movie. Richard Donner who's also directed Superman: The Movie throws action scenes at us and they're really good. One of them is in the desert when Glover comes alone while Gibson hides in the bush. There's a big shoot out that ends with a car being chased by a helicopter. The closest thing to a problem I had was that I just didn't like the end fight scene between Gibson and Gary Busey, I felt it went on for too long and wasn't that interesting.
4 stars (out of 4)