Did I enjoy BLACK PANTHER? Yes. Did I think it was the best movie in the Marvel universe? No. Did it live up to the hype for me? No.

Now don't hate me for my opinion. I felt the same way about WONDER WOMAN. So many people were telling me I'd love it and I really thought it was only okay. Everyone should know what this movie is about, but if you don't this is taken from IMDb: T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake. It is really so much more than that though. It was a romance movie with action and family drama, in a place that doesn't exist, but in an Africa that does (yes, the entire continent of Africa).

While the movie has a lot of great cinematography and acting, I thought the plot of it was a little lacking, and it could have used some good editing. For me there was too much backstory, and I wasn't sure why I should care. I don't want backstory unless it is being developed to make me feel for someone later in the movie, or push along my views of a character. BLACK PANTHER flipped too much and didn't stay with one character enough for me to feel anything, and the ease of the end of the bad guy they were chasing from the beginning of the movie seemed a little too defeating and easy, it added nothing and was unnecessary. I don't think it should have happened as easily as it did, nor do I think the end of the movie should have been as flat as I felt it was. How easily does a man go from saying, we should keep Wakanda a secret, to let's go to war with the world! It really didn't make sense, and neither did it make sense that this same man would turn against his friend so easily because of someone who came in and said something that didn't at all make sense. 

There were so many characters, and there wasn't enough of a focus on one or two to have much story development. I would have liked to have the film focus on four of the characters, T'Challa, his sister Shuri, the head of the female warriors Nakia, and Erik Killmonger, a young man with a goal to help his people, but not quite in the right way.

BLACK PANTHER was a fine film, but I feel as if it didn't live up to the expectations I had based on what everyone was saying after they had seen it. I'd also like to say, it isn't the first movie with an African-American superhero, but it is the first movie with a full cast of African-Americans who move the film along, which is pretty cool. So I will honestly give it that for being interesting and including an almost exclusively African-American cast, but was it a great movie or the best in the Marvel universe? No, it was a-aight. I honestly enjoyed the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 1+2 better, partly because the focus was limited, and partly because it didn't seem to try so hard at explaining all of the characters important to that movie with the backstory of the marginal characters being forgotten. We know nothing of why there is a king over the entirety of these different groups, nor do we know why some are treated different that the others.

Now, the last thing I want to say is that the character of M'Baku, played by Winston Duke, is great and I would have liked him to have some more screen time. His character was funny and serious and absolutely fabulous. He was given some of the best lines and scenes and his character was underused in a film where he could have been used more adeptly.

So, go see it if you like, most people seem to like it more than I do. I think I am maybe a little biased, partly because I was a little hesitant to believe the masses chanting "it was the best movie ever" like they did for WONDER WOMAN, which was not the best version of WONDER WOMAN I feel we could have had.

I wish I had seen this movie in the theater because it was that much fun. This movie stars Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbham, a young woman who wakes up on the same day over and over. Each day she wakes up after she has been murdered, and she struggles to figure out what is happening to her, and why. She eventually realizes that she must figure out who the killer is before her nine lives runs out and she is murdered for good.

This movie, as a dark comedy, was fun. Was it a horror movie, possibly only because it did involve the brutal murder, day after day, of the main character. Otherwise this movie was more of a comedy, and of course drew heavy comparisons to the Bill Murray film GROUNDHOGS DAY. In GROUNDHOGS DAY, Murray continued to relive the day over and over, eventually (an no I am not giving anything away by saying this) finding interesting ways to kill himself to try ending the cycle, and because it can become quite tedious to relive the same day again and again.

Tree's day starts when she wakes up in a young man, Carter's, dorm room, not remembering what happened the night before. She runs out and the day goes like it normally would, until she is murdered and wakes up again in Carter's dorm room. This continues day after day until she wakes up, only to end up in the hospital due to things beyond her understanding. Tree believes she figures out who has been killing her, but ends up knowing, when she is killed yet again, that she was wrong.

The cast of characters reminded me of any other sorority group of ladies. There was the head sister, who was a total bitch and made comments about who people were dating and what people ate. There was a nerdy sister, who was Tree's roommate, who you either feel annoyed or sorry for. There were the sisters who told were foils of Tree and were obviously better people. Of course, the movie follows Tree as she goes through each day and becomes a better person, or learns things that she tries to change.

The murder scenes were great, each one was fun although not all of them were clever. I enjoyed watching the inventive ways in which Tree died, even if it was just having her throat slit, and part of this was because of the way the character woke up the next morning.

Now, as a horror movie, HAPPY DEATH DAY didn't cut it. Honestly, just because a movie is about a homicidal maniac doesn't mean it is a horror movie. Since that was the only "horror" element I felt this would fit more strongly in the suspense genre, as it came across as a suspense while I sat here thinking I knew who the killer was and wondering if I was correct. There were things in the movie that were nods to other films like SIXTEEN CANDLES and of course, GROUNDHOGS DAY. So while there wasn't much 1980's nostalgia represented in the music, there was in other elements of the film like nods to the previously mentioned movies and at least one movie poster from the time (THEY LIVE and I want it).

Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely. Why? Because it is a lot of fun and it doesn't end quite as expected. I enjoyed it.

The IMDb plot synopsis for the movie is as follows: A struggling painter is possessed by satanic forces after he and his young family move into their dream home in rural Texas, in this creepy haunted-house tale. While this is partly true, the struggling painter isn't really possessed by satanic forces, although demonic forces are an issue.

The movie revolves around Jesse (played by Ethan Embry) and his family, wife Astrid and daughter Zooey. They move from a small apartment to a huge house. The house is a place of violence as the previous residents, a woman and her husband, are killed. There is a man, Ray Smilie (played by the awesome Pruitt Taylor Vince), who has a serious mental disorder. After Jesse and his family move in, Ray returns to the house because he feels like he needs to be there. Ray hears the voices of someone telling him to kill others.

This movie had a lot of holes in it, but it was interesting to see Embry in this role, a heavy rock loving painter. Jesse and Astrid go looking for a house, but the reason about why they feel like they need to buy a house. They live in an apartment the audience isn't really shown, and complain about the view, but the audience isn't shown what they are seeing. There isn't much character development and it seems odd for the Astrid to be part of this family. She doesn't have a love of heavy metal, and her look is very different that her husbands. They seem to be a very close family, with the daughter sharing her love of metal with her father, but both the mother and daughter are a little flat as characters. 

 On the other had, Ray can live without his parents, but he cannot live without his electric guitar as it make the bad voices harder to hear. This is never explained either and at times it doesn't make sense. He has a past, which is mentioned later, but at the time it is mentioned it is only one incident. And the cops, when they arrive at Jesse's house after Ray enters and frightens Zooey, don't seem to know who the family is talking about. Even though Ray has stopped by and before and said that the house is where he should be (it is his family house).

The audience doesn't learn what the wife does for a job, just that she likely works at a salon. The movie doesn't expand on the demonic presence living in the house. At the the movie alludes to the demonic force being Lucifer, but it isn't conclusive. Throughout the movie, Jesse, looks as if he is ill. He is constantly sweaty and has red spots under his eyes. His hair always looks unwashed as well. This is something that really bothered me throughout the film.

While there was some good acting, this was not a good movie. The only interesting thing about the movie is that Ray is killing because the people he kills are the "Devil's candy" which is a term I liked. So no, I don't recommend watching this movie, even though it is only an hour and nineteen minutes long, it felt like a lifetime.

Anyone who has watched JAWS might have a certain fear of sharks. Now, sharks have become the thing of parody with the SHARKNADO movies, but 47 METERS DOWN bring them back to the surface as movie monsters who will eat your face and not care what happens later.

47 METERS DOWN is a suspense horror film about two sisters (which I didn't realize until later in the film when Lisa states that Kate is her sister) who have ventured out for a relaxing and adventurous time with each other. One sister, Lisa, is attempting to move past her broken relationship, while the other sister, Kate (also the younger sister), has been out living life and enjoying adventures. Kate talks Lisa into going out on a boat to see some sharks, which has Lisa very frightened. However, Kate is able to talk Lisa into pretty much anything, and they end up going, which costs a couple of lives, and a lot of time.

There is a lot of suspense in this movie as the audience gets to wonder continually if Kate and Lisa will survive the mishap that left them 47 meters below the surface, with only a little bit of air, and a couple of man hungry sharks. Mandy Moore does a good job as Lisa, but there were several times in the movie where I wanted her to be eaten by a shark. She screamed a lot, and whined over and over and over about being scared and not being able to do this or that because of her fear. Kate, played by Claire Holt, did a much better job, screaming when it was warranted, and I really didn't hate her character at all. While throughout I didn't care if Lisa died, I found myself hoping that Kate lived.

As someone who doesn't find much scary anymore, I will admit there were a couple of times while watching this movie that I did jump, and I was on the treadmill, which almost caused me to fall off. This of course, would have been hilarious, but I am glad I didn't fall off of the treadmill. This is me doing you a solid though, don't watch this while you are on the treadmill, or prepare yourself for some jump scares (which were well done and warranted).

Now for the bad. There is a section of the movie, towards the end, that wasn't good. It tried too hard to make this one point believable and it only served to annoy me. I don't like any of the following because they are overdone - a dream within a dream, someone hallucination that they live, someone hallucinating one thing which turns out to be the exact opposite of what happened, or someone hoping for something so much that the director decides to show us them escaping, then drags us back down into the hell they are trapped in. While this worked in the movie THE DESCENT, every other time it has been used has been overdone. So, that was the only scene in the movie that I did not like, for one it was an eye-rolling moment, and for two it didn't fit the format or theme of the movie.

Apparently not a lot of people liked this one as it only has 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. The plot is written as this: Every night, four boys trick a young, blonde girl into meeting them in the forest for a date with the intention to hunt and kill her for sport. One night, Veronica is selected and little do they know she is a trained assassin with her own set of tricks for these boys. When the hunt begins, the boys soon realize that they messed with the wrong girl when she turns the tables on them (Rotten Tomatoes).

There are several people out there who think that Abigail Breslin hasn't lived up to her LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE fame, or talent, but I disagree. Both MAGGIE and FINAL GIRL show a different side of Breslin and her talents. While MAGGIE is a quiet zombie flick, that few enjoyed because of the slow space and the talent, or lack of talent, that Arnold Schwarzenegger had in the film. While MAGGIE was a slow burn FINAL GIRL was a slow, but steady burn. The audience knew what was going on from almost the beginning of the movie.

This was an interesting movie, about four young men who liked to hunt and murder young women. This was interesting because the pack mentality was fascinating among the boys, as was the character development. The four young men each have different features, and one even has a long-term girlfriend. The other fun thing for me was the actors were all young men who I recognized from other features when they were younger, so it was interesting.

The idea behind this could have been developed a little more. I would have like there to be a little more direction in the beginning, what facility did Breslin and Wes Bentley (her trainer) work for? How did Bentley get her to go with him as a young child? Where were her parents? Also why did her memory matter as much as it seemed to in the beginning, but not so much later in the film? These were some of the things that bothered me about the movie. 

I like the originality of the film, even if it was somewhat unbelievable. Serial killers are one thing, but the fact that these young men have such a small pool to choose from, and no one has found out who they are, was a little unbelievable. Of course I did like the idea, I wish it had been executed better. However, that being said I wanted to give Miss Breslin props for continuing to develop as an actress. I would like to see her try different things not in the horror genre, but better than the horrible movie that was the DIRTY DANCING remake.

If you have a chance, and one and a half hours to kill, watch FINAL GIRL, it isn't bad.

February is here and it already feels like it has been a very long year. Only two and a half months into 2018 and I already feel like I am ready for the new beginnings of 2019!

This month I don't know how much writing I will be getting done. It has been a rough one. On February 1st my father-in-law, Nicholas von Hoffman passed away. Three years from February 6th my mother-in-law, Ann C. Byrne, passed away. I am also dealing with a very elderly (she is eighteen) and declining cat, and I don't think I can really take another bit of bad news this month. Then there is the looming conflict of a government shutdown. I don't think anyone can really handle that if it happens, and the likely hood of it seems very high.

It almost feels like the entire United States is in chaos and covered in a blanket of bad. With the government idiocy, the rampant flu, and the ups and downs of the stock market, I look to the future and wonder if even next month will be relaxing, or tomorrow. When can we breathe? When can we relax? I'd like to relax.

And so I am trying, I am watching the television show THE EXORCIST. It is much more interesting than I thought it would be. There are a lot of things going on in it, possessions, priests failing their vows, priests and nuns doing more than what you thought they would, horrific and horrifying homicides, organ removal, savage and sensual sex, and young girls who may or may not continue living. There is so much going on and it seems to be moving towards an apocalypse of epic proportions, and to be honest, it is also a great distraction from all of the things going on in actual life. I am a little surprised at how much gore and violence there are in this, only because it is a FOX television show, but then I think back to HANNIBAL (I still wish it had kept going) and I'm not as surprised. If you haven't watched either of these, I highly recommend both shows.

And now off to do stuff for the day job... Oh if only I could be a full-time, well-paid, author....or have a really great sugar daddy who only wanted company not sex.