Get In The Holiday Spirit With A Little Giving
Posted in Site News by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2024
My name is Andrew and as a child at age 5, I suffered severe burns across most of my body which has left me with various lifelong disabilities. I have little running experience beyond some running up to 10k in University almost 15 years ago.
I plan to run the 34-mile Ultra Bach across the Swansea/Gower coastline this October – having never run a marathon or other longer race before. Major surgery in February 2024 has left me back at square one in my fitness.
I’ll be doing this for my charity – The Katie Piper Foundation which is the leading charity in the UK providing burns rehabilitation, dedicated to supporting people who have experienced life-altering burns and scarring.
The Gower Ultra Bach is part of the Gower Trail races taking place in October 2024 https://www.runwalkcrawl.co.uk/gower-coastal-trail-races-2022
All your donations and hugely appreciated and will make a difference to this charity and the people they help.
Andrew and his family are friends to us here at Upcomingdiscs all the way from the UK. You may recall an interview done with his father Gavin a while back for his book: The Execution, Life And Times Of Patrick O’Donnell. I hope during this Holiday time you might share a little to help this young man use his own misfortune to help others.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 19th, 2024
“The juice is loose.”
Michael Keaton is on quite the reunion tour of reprising his old roles, and for most actors, stepping back into the role isn’t always easy. However, for Keaton, it is as if no time has passed whatsoever. Over thirty years since portraying this iconic role, Keaton returns as Beetlejuice, the trickster spirit who attempted to manipulate a marriage to Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz in order to gain a permanent foothold in the living world. Keaton isn’t the only one who returns in this well-done addition to the ongoing trend of continuation series; Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’Hara is back as Delia Deetz, Lydia’s stepmom, and most notably Tim Burton is back in the director’s seat for the sequel. Burton’s return is most pivotal addition in my opinion, as the first film was full of his unique style that would be impossible for another director to emulate.
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Red One (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2024
At first glance it would appear that the crew for Red One is made up of folks who have had long associations with Dwayne Johnson, from director Jack Kasdan, who also directed two of the Jumanji films, to writer Chris Morgan, who wrote many of The Fast And Furious films including the Johnson-led spin-off Hobbs And Shaw. He also wrote the last Shazam film, which led to Johnson’s spin-off black hole Black Adam. It’s a working environment friendly to the actor. But the rumors from this set are loaded with tales of Johnson blowing off work and/or showing up late and unprepared. It’s honestly not his usual vibe, and when you consider his divorce from Fast And The Furious’s Vin Diesel revolved around Johnson throwing the same kind of shade on that actor’s behavior, I was curious if the on-set issues and also word of a ballooning budget would show up on the finished product. I’m happy to report there doesn’t appear to be any disrupted chemistry on the film, and it became easy to dismiss all of that with just a few minutes on the Red One ride.
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Cocaine Werewolf (2024)
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2024
“My, what big teeth you have.”
Werewolf stories go back to Little Red Riding Hood, and likely even farther than that. Lon Chaney, Jr.’s performance as Larry Talbot, the haunted soul who bears the burden of The Wolfman, is the version that still remains the standard. Before that Werewolf Of London in 1935 started Universal’s dip into the Lycanthrope waters, and there have been a few classic retellings of the plights of these men plagued by the sight of the full moon. John Landis was the first to use modern technology to give us a most horrifying transformation in his iconic An American Werewolf In London back in 1981. The Underworld films have been my most recent favorites, and the Universal film is about to hit the box office with a remake of The Wolfman from the team that brought us the clever reimagining of The Invisible Man. Warren Zevon sang about them, and soon you’ll be able to ride a Wolfman roller-coaster at Universal’s new Orlando theme park, Epic Universe,
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The Convent (2000) (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2024
“Nuns, guns and gasoline.”
Mike Mendez released his first film in 1997. Killers was also just released on Blu-ray from Synapse films. The better of this Synapse double release is The Convent. For me this was the peak of Mendez’s low-budget horror films. Synapse must agree with that assessment, because they decided to give The Convent a UHD Blu-ray release in 4K, and that ended up being somewhat of a trick-or-treat combination, with The Convent absolutely being the treat here. Made in 2000, the film took a long time to make it to anyone’s screens. There was a distribution deal in place, and it fell through at the last minute. It’s the kind of luck Mendez has dealt with his entire career. His friend and co-writer on Killers lost his house when it was mortgaged to pay for that ‘ creation. He debuted the film at Sundance, and he had hoped for a wider release, at least on home video, but it took 2 years to finally happen.
Killers (Unrated Director’s Cut – Special Edition)
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2024
“The holiest of holiest days. Merry Christmas, Dad. Boom! Stocking stuffers, Mom? Boom! Inspired. The flicker of yuletide lights, off-green artificial tree, carolers, the patter of eight tiny reindeer and the small jingle bells. Oh, what a silent night; that is, of course, unless you wanna count the 27 double-buck rounds which are blasted pounding and ripping into both you and your better half…”
There’s an ongoing argument about the classic Bruce Willis film, Die Hard. Is it a Christmas movie, or merely a movie that happens at Christmas time? If you think that’s a tough one, wait until you get your hands on the latest release from Synapse Films. It’s Mike Mendez’s first time as a director, and the film is Killers. It’s 1997, and Mendez still has a few small-budget gems in Christmas yet to come, Big Ass Spider and The Convent being two of his best. Mendez would get his first large attention project with the television series Masters Of Horror. But it all started here with one of the craziest films you will ever see. So is it a Christmas movie, or a movie that happens at Christmas? Boom!
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South Park (Not Suitable for Children) (Blu-ray)
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 8th, 2024
“The following film contains graphic sexual content. Due to its extreme erotic nature this program is NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN!”
Duh. I suspect that when we are all dead and gone, there will be two things we can count on continuing beyond the end of human civilization. The cockroaches will inherit the world, and they will all be watching South Park, the only television show still running. It’s already been 22 years, and doesn’t it feel like 50? I don’t mean that in a mean way. I love South Park, but I’m starting to find it hard to remember what life was like without it. I’m convinced it will survive us all, and AI versions of Parker and Stone will be producing it until the planet is finally vaporized … and I’m not sure even that will stop this show.
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Addams Family Values (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2024
” I think their whole family’s like some weird medical experiment. I think they’re, like, circus people.”
Be honest, who hears the theme music when anyone even mentions The Addams Family? I know I do, and then I have to resist the urge to do the finger snaps. Just in time for 31 Nights of Terror as well as the release of the animated version comes the of The Addams Family: Family Values on UHD (4K), featuring Raul Julia and Angelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Gomez, and let’s not forget Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci as Fester and Wednesday Gomez respectively. Based on the wildly popular cartoons that appeared in the New Yorker that went on to find success as television series, the The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal 20th-century American family: an odd, wealthy, aristocratic clan who delight in the macabre and are seemingly unaware, or do not care, that other people find them bizarre or frightening. For me, these movies were my introduction to this family, as the TV series was bit before my time, but a gothic family unaware of their difference from other people.
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A Nightmare On Elm Street (Theatrical & Uncut) (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2024
“One … two… Freddy’s coming for you, three… four… better lock the door, five… six… grab your crucifix…”
Freddy might have been born in the mind of Wes Craven, but he grew and developed in the knife-wielding hands of Robert Englund. Granted, not all of these films are equal in quality, but the first was everything you could ask for in a horror/slasher film of the era. Freddy himself is by far the most colorful and animated of the slashers. His burned face, fedora, striped sweater, and knife-blade glove were all integral parts of the wise-cracking maniac. You know the story already, so I’ll stick the main idea. Freddy was a child molester and killer before the parents of Elm Street decided to burn him to the ground in a boiler room. Good homestyle justice goes wrong when Freddy reappears in the nightmares of the children of Elm Street. He has become a demon of sleep where he is able to manipulate the world into the most terrifying images possible for his victims trapped by their own slumber.
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NCIS: Hawai’i: The Final Season
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2024
“How much do you know about the family business?”
Well, for over 20 years, the family business over at CBS has been the NCIS franchise, and another decade longer if you consider it was a spin-off of JAG, which lasted 10 years on its own. It’s been a busy 20 years, I can tell you that. About seven years into the original show’s run, we got our first NCIS spin-off with NCIS: Los Angeles. That show focused more on action and a lot of explosions. The show just finished its final year after 14 seasons. Then there was NCIS: New Orleans that brought the focus to the unique culture and tastes of The Big Easy. It lasted seven years, and there’s an upcoming NCIS: Sydney which is about to take us down under to grab that shrimp on the barbie. Things continue to expand, and now we have NCIS: Hawai’i, which expands the franchise and solves a situation at CBS. For decades they have kept a Hawaiian studio on the islands.
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Young Sheldon: The Complete Series
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2024
“Everything is always about Sheldon.”
Warner Brothers is very familiar with superheroes. That goes double for the character of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory. A common thread in the superhero business, of course, is the origin story. With the popularity of The Big Bang Theory, and the Sheldon character particularly, it isn’t all that surprising that we would eventually be treated to Sheldon’s origin story. But instead of flashbacks on the series, the decision was made that Sheldon’s childhood was territory that could be mined for years. Thus is born Young Sheldon. For fans of the original show and character, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Parsons just turned down an offer of $50 million for two more years of Big Bang. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be able to turn down that kind of money. But faced with doing the series without him, the smart decision was to shut it down. This will be the final season of The Big Bang Theory, but apparently Sheldon with live on as a kid for years to come. Not sure what Parsons’ paycheck is here, but it requires only his narration.
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A Quiet Place: Day One (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 16th, 2024
“It’s good to be back.”
It’s the little things I supposed. When forced to confront the prospect of your own death, what will you do with the time you have left. Some fight against their own extinction. Some seek help from a higher power. While some cling to the past and seek comfort in their treasured memories. In a Quiet Place: Day One we see a bit of all three. While Day One marks the third installment in the Quiet Place franchise, it serves as the prequel for the series showcasing how the world went silent after sightless aliens with sharp hearing and impenetrable armor plating take over the planet and attack the human population. For me, this is a welcome addition to the franchise because while watching the first two films, one of my recurring thoughts was I would like to see how the world went quiet. Imagine my excitement when I this movie was announced. In my mind, I figured the prequel would continue to follow the Abbott family. However, Day One is comprised of a predominantly new cast, with the exception of Djimon Hounsou, who was introduced in the second film.
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Despicable Me 4 (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 15th, 2024
“Let’s get this party started, people!”
So, I somewhat missed the boat on the Despicable Me franchise but let me see if I got the gist. So Gru, played by Steve Carrell, is a reformed clumsy master villain, (though from what I can see he maintains the clumsy part) who now works for the Anti-Villian League; essentially now helping catch villains instead of being one. Interesting premises and after watching Despicable Me 4, I can see why the studios have deemed to keep the series going. Returning to the franchise with Carrell is Kristen Wiig as Lucy, another member of the Anti-Villian League that originally hunted captured Gru before falling in love and becoming his wife and mother to his son, as well as Miranda Cosgrove, who voices Margo, Gru and Lucy’s oldest adopted daughter, and Dana Gaier as Edith, Gru and Lucy’s middle adopted daughter. New additions to the cast include Will Ferrell as the film’s primary antagonist and old nemesis of Gru’s, Sofia Vergara as a femme fatale and secondary antagonist, and most notably and possible my favorite character of the film, Joey King as Poppy Prescott, an aspiring super villainess who has admired Gru for a long time.
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Joker: Folie a Deux (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on October 5th, 2024
Folie a Deux. French for madness of two. From the moment that title was an announced, it was presumed that Harley Quinn would be making an appearance, and I applaud the selection of Lady Gaga as Joaquin Phoenix’s counterpart. However, I suspect that the reasons for her selection were twofold given the decision to make the film a musical. Perhaps not an official musical, but in my humble opinion, I don’t think it could have been any more official. Unfortunately, this was among my issues with the film. It was too long, and there were too many songs. The film felt like it was movie promoting the soundtrack rather than vice versa. I’ve never been one for musicals, and this sequel did not move me off that mark, as the film essentially fell apart towards the end with a bittersweet ending. I think I preferred the ending to the first film. Picking up two years after the events film, Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) is brought to trial for the five murders he committed, including the one he did on live television. With little to work with, his lawyer hopes to mount an insanity defense, which when you consider the fact that he imagined an entire relationship with a neighbor in the first film, you wouldn’t think would be hard.
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“31 Nights Of Terror”
Posted in Site News by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2024
Well … it’s October, the start of Horrorcane season, and for fright fans that means that all the ghouls and goblins will be coming out to play. Before long it will be All Hallow’s Eve, and many of you will be having a spooktacular time of it all.
Here at Upcomingdiscs, we’d like to help get you in the mood to boo. All month long we’ll be offering up our “31 Nights of Terror” to help unsettle those dreams just a bit. We’ve just been elected your Night Mayor, and now we’re going to officiate a mammoth month of monsters and mayhem. Nearly each and every night in October we will bring you at least one horror related post. These posts will include contests, articles, podcasts, and reviews (of course).
So check back every night before bedtime … but before you turn out the lights.
31 Nights Of Terror Spotlight: Paramount Scares Vol 2 (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2024
Paramount has been getting into the Halloween horror spirit each October. Last year they released a group of horror films on UHD/4K and called it Paramount Scares. I didn’t get a chance to check out that set but they’re back again with a Paramount Scares Vol. 2 and we got a look at it here at the Upcomingdiscs ranch. The set includes both a Blu-ray copy of each film along with the featured UHD Blu-ray in 4K. You get some nice gifts along the way. There are patches that represent each film. There’s a glow in the dark Paramount Scares pin along with an issue of Fangoria Magazine that contains just articles on the films in the set. There’s a big sticker and a mini-poster. It all comes in a rather stylish box covered in a ghoulish collage. The films have their own case in coordinated slip covers. The movies offered this year are Friday The 13th Part 2, Breakdown, World War Z and Orphan: first Kill. Pick it up and invite some friends over for a Paramount horror marathon.
Here are the films:
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Wynonna Earp: Vengeance (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on October 1st, 2024
“Although this feels less like a reunion and more like a reboot.”
I can echo that sentiment, as this continuation movie for the popular SyFy series, which concluded in 2021, has the distinct feeling of a long episode. I’m not complaining, because it means that all the elements that made it work as a television series are now still on display in a longer format. Besides, there was a need for this movie, as the series finale really left things up in the air as to where the characters would go from here. Last we saw the gang, after saving Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkey) from reentering the garden and leading a rebellion against the Black Badge Division, Waverly and Nicole (Katherine Barrell) tied the knot while Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) had to make a decision about her future vis-a-vis whether to remain in Purgatory or leave town with Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon), ultimately choosing the latter. While this provided are our foul-mouthed yet endearing heroine with the prospect of a bright future, it left things rather ambiguous as to what that future ultimately looked like.
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Megalopolis (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2024
“When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No, no … But there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it.”
We all have dreams. There are achievements that some people spend a lifetime to attain. Sometimes we realize our dreams, and it can make for one of the happiest moments in our lives. Other times we find our dreams weren’t all we thought they would be. Often there are dreams we simply never attain. I know what it’s like to spend the better part of your life chasing something. it’s often magical, and the journey is the greatest reward of all. But sometimes our dreams turn into nightmares. For Francis Ford Coppola, he has apparently been obsessed with the dream that is Megalopolis for over 40 years. That dream is about to become a nightmare. What is perhaps worse is that he was compelled to share his dream with the world. Now we all can have the same nightmare. I lucid dream, so I am literally incapable of having a nightmare. But the nearly three hours I spent watching Megalopolis must come about as close as I’m going to get. I guess in a way I should thank the man. Maybe it’s not too late to change the film’s title to Welcome To My Nightmare … oh, wait. Alice Cooper already did that. Too bad.
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Calamity Jane (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on September 25th, 2024
“There are two kinds of people in this world, Jack. Runners or gunners, which one are you?”
I have to be honest; when I first saw the preview for this movie and saw Stephen Amell in that crazy wig, I expected this movie to be a car wreck. However, like all car wrecks, you can’t look away, so I accepted the fact that I would have to watch Calamity Jane, just to see how much of a car wreck it would be. Funny enough, it was not one at all. I mean, I’m still not over that crazy wig, and there were a few periods of inactivity that could have been skipped, but despite that, Calamity Jane actually turned to be an enjoyable movie experience. As expected, the major thing that it has going for it is the main reason that drew me to it: the opportunity for an Arrow reunion courtesy of Emily Bett Rickards and Stephen Amell. Throwing Wynonna Earp’s Tim Rozon into the mix was just a bonus (speaking of Wynonna Earp, be sure to also check out our review for the continuation movie).
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Reacher: Season Two (Blu-ray)
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on September 18th, 2024
“You do not mess with the special investigators.”
Someone didn’t get the memo. The result is a second season of Reacher based on the Jack Reacher character found in a collection of novels by Lee Child, who is really British writer Jim Grant. We were introduced to Jack Reacher in the novel The Killing Floor. It would also provide the material for the first season of this Amazon streaming series. As the popularity of the books grew, it didn’t take long for the character to reach the box office, and while he didn’t resemble the literature character in any physical way, it was Tom Cruise who first brought him to life on the big screen. There have now been two feature films and 30 books released to carry on the exploits of Jack Reacher. Amazon and Paramount Studios have brought him to the smaller screen, and this time I think they did the character far better justice.
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Divorce in the Black (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on September 18th, 2024
This movie has been the talk of Prime Video, and I just had to see what the fuss was about. I’m no stranger to a Tyler Perry movie, but I can safely say that this movie has moved to the front as one of my favorites. Starring Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict, Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black does not shy away from the ugliness of toxic love. Good plays Ava, a good-natured and faithful woman, while Hardrict plays Dallas, her egotistical and entitled husband. Ava has dedicated her life to trying to be a good wife and please her husband, going so far as to diminish herself. Meanwhile, Dallas does everything in his power to keep Ava down and unaware of her worth. Things come to a head when Dallas leaves Ava heartbroken as he abandons their marriage. I wasn’t expecting to get sucked into the movie the way I did, but it definitely had me leaning in as Good’s character works to rebuild and take back her life in the face of a husband who only seeks to keep her under his thumb.
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The Instigators (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on September 17th, 2024
“You’re taking notes on a criminal conspiracy?”
I think a better name for this movie would have been The Amateurs, because it is very much amateur hour in this heist comedy, but in a good way. Well, it would seem that AppleTV is treating us to two Oceans’ movie reunions this year. Later this year, George Clooney and Brad Pitt will reunite for action comedy about professional fixers forced to work together on a job despite their preference to operate as lone wolves, hence the film’s name Wolves. And now Matt Damon and Casey Affleck reunite in The Instigators, a heist comedy about two robbers who must go on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a theft doesn’t go as planned. Interestingly, this film also marks the tenth collaboration between Affleck and Damon, as well as Damon reuniting with director Doug Liman after 22 years (since The Bourne Identity) and Damon reunion with Hong Chau, who he worked with in Downsizing. Lots of reunions are going on in this film.
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Rebel Ridge (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on September 12th, 2024
There are certain filmmakers who are working today that when I hear about them working on a film I can’t help but get excited. Guys like Quentin Tarantino and Ridley Scott are a bit obvious, but for good reason. With the new wave of filmmakers a couple who come to mind are the Safdie brothers (Good Times and Uncut Gems), S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, and Brawl in Cell Block 99), Gareth Evans (The Raid films), and then there is Jeremy Saulnier, who has previously knocked my knickers off with Blue Ruin and Green Room. Saulnier is one of those rare talents who knows how to capture the darkness in his characters and takes them to edge and puts them through some pretty hellish kinds of situations, but he manages to keep it all in the realm of reality where we as a viewer can feel everything we are watching could really happen. The way he depicts violence in his films is one aspect that makes it feel so real. He’s unflinching with bones breaking, stab wounds, or shootouts. This rawness he gives his films, and then there is the grittiness to the way he shoots his films.
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Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on September 12th, 2024
Every year there are a few gems that come along that surprise me. Last year, for instance, Perfect Days and Past Lives were a couple of my favorite films from last year. Now we still haven’t even entered award season, and there have been a few films I feel have been pretty great. Furiosa is one, and then there is Love Lies Bleeding, the violent sexual thriller from A24 I just didn’t see coming. I’ve heard some buzz on this one, but to be honest, having Kristen Stewart in it kind of turned me off. Sure, I liked her as the kid in Panic Room, but since then aside from Adventureland and American Ultra I just haven’t been that impressed. But with awards season coming up, I felt I needed to give this film a shot. Worst case scenario it’s at least less than two hours, so no big loss … Now that I’ve seen it, man, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to see this. Love Lies Bleeding is this unexpected gift that as it continues to play it takes you on this unexpected journey through love and extreme violence that kind of feels like what would happen if the Coen brothers had a cinematic love child with David Cronenberg. Yes, it is that cool, queer, and weird all at once.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on September 6th, 2024
“The juice is loose.”
Michael Keaton is on quite the reunion tour of reprising his old roles, and for most actors stepping back into the role isn’t always easy. However, for Keaton, it is as if no time has passed whatsoever. Over thirty years since portraying this iconic role, Keaton returns as Beetlejuice, the trickster spirit who attempted to manipulate a marriage to Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz in order to gain a permanent foothold in the living world. Keaton isn’t the only one who returns in this well done addition to the ongoing trend of continuation series; Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’Hara is back as Delia Deetz, Lydia’s stepmom, and most notably Tim Buron is back in the director’s seat for the sequel. Burton’s return is most pivotal addition in my opinion, as the first film was full of his unique style that would be impossible for another director to emulate. Also joining the franchise are Justin Theroux, Monia Bellucci, Danny Devito, albeit too briefly, and most appreciatively, Jenna Ortega, who previously and actively collaborates with Burton on the Netflix Series Wednesday, whose upcoming season I am anxiously awaiting.
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