Smallfoot – Well, I didn’t get to check this one out this weekend as my daughter opted for us to go see The House With The Clock In Its Walls (my thoughts on this are below) but this animated film is actually trending quite well on the review sites. Now, as we sit on a Monday after the weekend box office has been tallied, the film made an alright opening with a second place debut and I’d like to think that it was with a little helping hand from the internet, Twitter to be more precise.
Gabriel Gundacker, a staff writer for Our Cartoon President, made a little musical video alongside a wall of the character posters, a little ditty that got lodged inside my brain, never to come out it seems. Now, if Gabe did this all on his own accord? Bravo. But if this is some sick marketing ploy I’m suing for damages.
https://www.imdb.com/videoembed/vi3560422169
The House With A Clock In Its Walls – Amblin Entertainment made a pretty big gamble. Taking known torture-porn director Eli Roth and putting him at the helm of a family film with a horror storyline. It has to be said, I wasn’t too excited to see this when my daughter pushed for it but I was definitely turned around on it about fifteen minutes in.
Jack Black, doubling down on his Goosebumps success, is so much fun along with the forever charming Cate Blanchett as the kind of parental figures to the orphaned Lewis in this film that drips atmosphere with really great production value. Even though my little one was too frightened to make it to the end, I found myself really engaged, almost forgiving Roth for the awfully tone deaf remake of Death Wish earlier this year. Almost.
https://www.imdb.com/videoembed/vi2531441433
Hold The Dark – Those who have followed his work know the greatness in Jeremy Saulnier’s vision and have been rapt in anticipation of his fourth feature film. Thanks to Netflix, we have the absolute privilege to stream this film into our homes but are robbed of the experience of seeing it on that big screen. No matter to me because I was so ravenous about getting this Saulnier film written by his good friend and frequent collaborator Macon Blair.
Roping in some killer talent with Jeffrey Wright taking the lead with Alexander Skarsgard, James Badge Dale and Riley Keough in supporting roles, this is a frozen mystery with Alberta doubling for the harshness of Alaska. People might draw only loose comparisons to last year’s Wind River, another great movie, but, really, only in atmosphere. Hold The Dark holds a death grip on you throughout that is made even more intriguing by the sheer talent of the talent on screen. While it isn’t quite to the calibre of Green Room, this is a worthy entry on Saulnier’s resume, continuing his reign as one of my top directors.
Steve Stebbing 