Spring Part 2: A Wonderful, One-of-a-Kind Amalgamation of Romance, Horror, Comedy, and Self-Discovery (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 1!!!

Spring Part 1: A Wonderful, One-of-a-Kind Amalgamation of Romance, Horror, Comedy, and Self-Discovery (Film Analysis)

An immortal being, thousands of years old, containing the DNA of all its past evolutionary organisms.  A monstrosity of stingers, beaks, tentacles, and claws unexplainable by science.  The creature lurks among us in secret, draining the blood of its victims—whether beast or human—like a vampire.  Spring is about this grotesque abomination…

...finding true love.

Note: This is my second review of Spring.  Here's my original review from 2016, written when I first saw the film.

The Blair Witch Project or: An Electrifying Achievement in Terror and Realism (Film Analysis)

In 1993, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez began development on what would eventually be a low-budget horror film told entirely through handheld cameras from a first-person perspective.  The concept came from how both men found documentaries on the paranormal scarier than traditional horror films.  The end result was a sixty-thousand-dollar indie film called The Blair Witch Project.  The tiny film would end up grossing over two-hundred and forty-eight million dollars at the box office, a ratio of one dollar for every ten-thousand, nine-hundred, and thirty-one made.  The Blair Witch Project would end up in the Guinness Book of World Records for "top budget box office ratio" for a mainstream feature film, becoming one of the most financially successful, well-recognized, and influential indie films from the 20th century.  It spawned a sequel, a remake, multiple video games, books, comic books, and even a real documentary on the film’s production.  The film revived the found-footage genre as well as popularizing the idea of telling stories using the first-person perspective.

Zombieland: Double Tap (Film Review)

This is a treat.

The Dead Don't Die or: Jim Jarmusch Tackles the Zombie Genre (Film Analysis)

See, here's the problem.

Zombieland is Great (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 3: Zombieland is Wonderfully Surprising

Zombieland is Wonderfully Surprising (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 2: Zombieland is Hilarious

Zombieland is Hilarious (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 1: Zombieland is Influential

Zombieland is Influential (Film Analysis)

What if I told you that Zombieland is one of the key pieces that turned me into a film buff?

Monsters or: A Poignant, Highly Underrated Character Journey, Cinematic Spectacle, and Gentle Allegory (Film Analysis)

Things are not what they appear.

Us (Film Review)

Us is a good film that suffers from a case of too much information.  The film starts off with a wickedly enticing premise and set up.  The Wilson family—mother Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), father Gabe (Winston Duke), daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), and son Jason (Evan Alex)—are vacationing at their beach house when confronted and captured by another family that looks exactly like them.  These “shadows” are deformed versions of themselves out for revenge—giving each family member a sporting chance (complete with a different challenge) as they enact their vengeance.  I really enjoy this aspect, though, unfortunately, it doesn’t last long as the family regroup and learn that they aren’t the only ones with shadow versions of themselves—with the entire country under attack by deformed doubles.

Happy Death Day 2U (Film Review)

Sequels are well known for trying to repeat their predecessor’s formula, but Happy Death Day 2U takes this a step further by using the original film’s Groundhog Day loop premise and actually repeating the same day, again, on loop.  That’s literally the definition of insanity, so how the hell does this seemingly uninspired sequel not only make it work but improve upon nearly every aspect of the original?

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Quick Review)

When there’s a family film focusing on a kid or kids, nine out of ten times the kid(s) will not be its selling point.  Sometimes it’s the premise, other times it’s the adult actors starring alongside the kids, and occasionally it’s both.  The House with a Clock in Its Walls is among the middle group.  Jack Black and Cate Blanchett—both endearing actors to me, yet not until now did I realize how much I wanted them together in the same film.

Halloween: 2018 (Film Review)

2018’s Halloween is an oddity among the slew of 2010s’ sequels and reboots.  It’s a direct sequel to the original 1978 Halloween, wiping all previous sequels from the continuity as well as ignoring the Rob Zombie remakes.  This makes 2018’s Halloween the franchise’s second soft reboot (after Halloween H20), third direct sequel to one of its first installments, and third film to be titled Halloween.  Unique and rather strange to this film, however, is it’s the first direct sequel to share its predecessor’s title—done obviously for marketing purposes (easier to market the film as a standalone feature than a sequel to another film made forty years ago) while making it a pain to write about.  As such, I will be referring to the newest Halloween as 2018 from this point onward.

The Nun (Film Review)

One of the stark differences between the main Conjuring films and its spin-off titles (which, up until now, were solely Annabelle stories) is their approach towards the demonic and supernatural.  

Micro Review #27: The Cloverfield Paradox & Open House (Micro Reviews)

The Cloverfield Paradox:

A Quiet Place (Film Review)

Shhh…be vewy quiet, they’re hunting humans.

Annihilation (Quick Review)

Annihilation is a bizarre blend of surreal, existential examination of life and a survival horror popcorn-flick.  The film’s premise is typical of its genre: a group of stock characters are sent on a dangerous mission and are gradually taken out by beasts and mutations until it’s down to a sole survivor.  Yet the film’s straightforward plot is mixed in with an eerily unsettling, horrific even, yet captivating exploration towards evolution.  Annihilation is far from what I consider an avant-garde film, yet too unorthodox to be a conventional survival-horror.

FRJ's Top 10 Films of 2017 (Film List)

It has been a much better year.

10 Hidden Gem Films: 2017 Edition (Film List)

You there!  Tired of seeing the same old genericism within mainstream Hollywood?  Desiring films that take risks, are creative and distinct?  Well, look no further, for you’ve found what you are looking for!