Moose And The Movies

  Haunt, 2019, directed by Scott Beck and Brian Woods, Prime Video, 3.5 stars. A group of college friends leaving a Halloween party make their way to a haunted-house attraction in a remote area. They're greeted at the entrance by a guy in a creepy clown outfit who has them sign liability waivers and lock up their cell phones before they can go in. Of course, we know that's a flashing red beacon of danger. But our heroes pay it no mind. They're just here for some chills and thrills to cap off their evening. You know what's coming. Our heroes get a couple of jump scares early before they get lost in a maze, and the operators of the haunted house start messing with them. The fun and games that aren't so fun and playful get increasingly chilling and violent. Haunt has the potential to be just another of a gazillion claustrophobic psycho-slasher movies out there. But it does stand well above the crowd with some truly tense, white-knuckle moments and enough surprises to k...

The Substance, 2024, directed by Coralie Fargeat, Mubi blu-ray (2025), 4.5 stars. I spent the first half of this movie nearly hyperventilating, covering my eyes and gasping for breath, trying to decide if I was loving it or hating it. I spent the last half nearly hyperventilating, squirming and cursing out loud at the screen, completely overtaken by this brilliant piece of filmmaking. Part of what was going on is that I am not, never have been, a fan of body horror. That stuff always gives me the heebie-jeebies. I have never been able to rewatch The Fly, the David Cronenberg masterpiece. Don't even talk to me about stuff like Saw and The Human Centipede. I have no interest. Hell, I remember freaking out for a few seconds in every episode back when I binge-watched Nip/Tuck. But The Substance I was kind of forced into. I got caught up in the buzz last fall about Demi Moore winning all those awards and about how this little horror film was making noises about Oscar nominations. I jump...

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, 2012, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, 20th Century Fox blu-ray (2012), 3 stars. I'm thinking the historical accuracy might be a little iffy ... I was surprised to learn that this Tim Burton-produced gothic-horror flick was not an original concept but was adapted from a 2010 novel. It's an interesting concept, a sort of fantasy-action biopic mashup. The ruse is that Abe, at about 8 years old, witnessed his mother being killed by a vampiric plantation owner and grew up vowing to get revenge. He trains as a young law student in the vocation of vampire hunting and becomes fairly proficient. He eventually gets himself elected president with a mandate to put down the confederacy of slave-owning vampires rising up in the South. It's a slow-burner of a story that explodes with some spectacular, stylish CGI action sequences. I found the tale interesting enough and the set pieces glorious enough to stay entertained, though the movie did have its dead s...

Back To The Future Part III, 1990, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 3.5 stars. Two out of three, in the end, ain't bad, I suppose. As disappointed as I was with Part II, I really was pleasantly surprised with Part III. I was dreading watching this but decided to soldier on and be done with it. And I wound have having a blast with it. We got a little too much fat in the first and last 10 minutes of Part III -- mostly having to do with revisiting and doing some cleanup with Part II. But with the 100 minutes or so in the middle, Part III was a fantastic homage to the great Western movies of the past -- with some big nods to Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of the 1960s. Marty McFly adopts the Clint Eastwood alias, dons The Man With No Name's trademark hat and poncho. And the showdown in the street between Marty and Buford Tannen was straight out of A Fistful Of Dollars, as telegraphed on a TV scre...

Detained, 2024, directed by Felipe Mucci, streamed on Paramount+, 2.5 stars. Detained is a micro-budget, twisty-turny, direct-to-streaming crime thriller that's perfect for when you really want to turn off your brain for an evening. Australian actress Abby Cornish, who gets a producer credit, plays a woman detained for questioning about a hit-and-run homicide that she doesn't remember. That's about as much as I'll say about the premise. You don't get much time to get your bearings before this single-set, dialog-driven mystery starts with the sharp turns. There isn't a lot of linear logic or well-plotted storytelling happening here. A lot of the small reveals are predictable. But we get enough tension and good acting performances and bursts of violence to keep this ball rolling through a quick 98 minutes. I'll probably forget most everything about this movie within a week. But it was a fine way to pass the time. 

Back To The Future Part II, 1989, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 2 stars. Dare I say it? I did not like this movie at all. It isn't the worst movie I've seen, even in the past week. But it's the most disappointing one in quite a while. I did see this on opening weekend back in November 1989. I didn't remember much about it at all. I have always remembered that George McFly was only in one brief scene, and he was upside down for some reason. That happened, I knew, because Crispin Glover did not return for this movie. The other thing I've always remembered about Part II is that it was underwhelming and not particularly memorable. I learned tonight that my impression was spot-on. I went into it this time, though, with high hopes. I had just seen the first Back To The Future, and I was floored by how much I enjoyed it after all these years. So I came back to Part II fully expecting to u...

Back To The Future, 1985, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 4.5 stars. I hadn't seen this since its opening weekend 40 years ago. I am astonished at how well it held up to my critical and skeptical eye. I enjoyed it this time around much more than I expected. I went into it with my intellectual, critical eye wide open. But, I'll be damned, it found its way straight into my heart within about five minutes. I really did not expect that. Four decades on, Back To The Future is still damn near a perfect movie. That anticlimactic, sequel-forward ending slipped it a notch off its perch. But until then, it was still a marvel. I came out of this viewing with two big impressions: 1.) Christopher Lloyd was born to play Doc Brown. He was absolutely perfect. I can think of no one else who could have played that part. 2.) This movie was much funnier than I remembered. Most all the gags landed brilliantly -- and...