ethaskins Reviews

Suspiria (I) (2018)

Suspiria (2018)

[9/10 · 18 November 2018]

When I watched the remake or what Luca Guadagnino likes to call a cover version of "Suspiria," I must admit that at first I was disappointed that it was more of a slow burn and that I found the pace to be kind of slow. Don't get me wrong, I found the story to be very interesting, but this remake really takes its time to get things going. Luca Guadagnino did a great job at directing this movie. I love the original movie. In fact, the original "Suspiria" is one of my all time favorites. It's gory, dark and unrelenting; and the music by Goblin is amazing. So with that out of the way, the music from new movie by Thom York is also amazing, but a little more mellow than the Goblin's score. I actually bought the soundtrack before I even watched the movie, so it gave me a chance to check out the arrangement; yes, I really liked the arrangement. With my expectations at an all time high and my husband and I didn't know if we're going to be able to see Luca Guadagnino's "Suspiria" in the theaters where it's really meant to be seen, we were psyched that we were given a chance to see it in Boston AMC with only one run time remaining. I honestly expected a totally different kind of movie. The original was dark and very creepy and this version was bleak and kind of depressing, but not as creepy as the original. Also, the story took its time with all of the modern dance scenes which I thought took forever; but I did like what happened to Patricia and Olga in this version. In the original, the characters were just killed off right away; but what was done to these characters in the new version was far more disturbing. I don't want to give away too much about this movie and yes I definitely will not; but I thoroughly enjoyed Tilda Swinton's performance and I love how she played three different characters, one of which being an old male psychotherapist. At first, our reaction to this movie was extreme disappointment because we were comparing this to the original "Suspiria" and because this movie was so different and quite a bit longer from the original source we both thought we "hated" it. Then we realized after talking about the movie that we did like it but felt it could've been trimmed by an hour. Then we realized that scenes we thought were unnecessary were in fact very crucial to the story. Some movies take a little while to appreciate and for this movie I kept thinking about all of the disturbing scenes and the various choices made and both my husband and I realized that we actually liked this movie. The cinematography is quite amazing too. I really liked the setting where this new version of "Suspiria" takes place in a 1977 chaotic and divided Berlin in which we hear about these particular hostages throughout the movie. That setting makes the atmosphere so extremely bleak and hopeless. If you're expecting this "Suspiria" to be similar to the original you'll be let down. This is a totally different movie but it keeps the atmosphere and vibes from the original movie. I like how you got to see more of the coven of witches and how they were discussing the ritual, even though for the majority of the movie it felt like we were watching a foreign movie with all of the subtitles. Also, in this movie the dance scenes were very important because they were actually part of the ritual. All in all, the storytelling is topnotch. And the acting is also very good. I liked Dakota Johnson's portrayal of Susie Bannion; and I liked the fact that her character is very different from Jessica Harper's Susie. As I mentioned earlier, Tilda Swinton is beyond amazing as Madame Blanc and her other two characters. I am definitely looking forward to purchasing this movie on blue ray and checking it out again.

BearCity (2010)

With All Of Its Flaws, Bear City was Quite A Lot Of Fun

[8 August 2011]

It's nice to see a movie about Bears. There are not that many out there. The scene stealers were Brian Keane and Stephen Guarino. If the movie was just about them, it would've gotten a ten. They were extremely funny and very cute together. They had the best scenes. I love the shower/threesome scene; that had my husbear and I reeling with laughter. I didn't quite understand the whole attraction with Roger's character. Tyler would've been better off not having anything to do with Roger. Also, it was a little too sickly sweet with Carlos and Michael, but I still liked it. All in all, an extremely enjoyable film. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Halloween II (2009)

Halloween II was a total waste of time and money!

[1/10 · 28 August 2009]

First off, I am a fan of Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects" and "House Of A 1000 Corpses." Also, I liked Rob Zombie's first Halloween. It wasn't great, but it was decent. I was looking forward to having a lot of fun watching this sequel; only to be set up for extreme disappointment. The movie lacked suspense. Also, for some reason, Rob must have thought that to be extremely loud is to be scary. Wrong! Also, Laurie Strode a/k/a Angel Myers was so whiny and unstable, I couldn't wait for her to be killed, which, sad to say, never happened. Every character was just a cookie cut-out waiting to be killed. There were many of the actors in which you didn't even get a good look at their faces before they were killed. The movie was disjointed and extremely loud and gory. I love gory, but this was a bit over the top. Michael Myers was popping up everywhere. It was too much like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Oh, I guess Sheri Moon Zombie wanted a bigger role. Wow! What a big mistake! She cannot act. And she was annoying. Also, Sam Loomis's character was only there to be killed off. Believe me, by the end of the movie, you'll be cheering for his death. I also didn't like the fact that the movie veered so much into her nightmares that most times you didn't know if it was real or just a nightmare; or was Michael Myers like Freddy Krueger and he could be anywhere. All of the characters were white trash and severely stupid. I never thought a movie could be so violent and gory yet be so dreadful and boring at the same time. As I was watching the movie, I kept thinking about the original Halloween 2. It was a much better movie. Also, Rob Zombie should know better! Introduce the characters and let us get to know them before you go and kill them. In this movie, Michael Myers went on a happy and silly killing spree, popping up everywhere at the same time, with such silly and extremely loud stabbing sounds! Rob, do you know what overkill is? Do you actually know how to write a decent screenplay without excessive "F" words? And can you write a movie without having to put your wife in it? It's not enough to have style, Rob, you also need to have some substance in there. Halloween 2 (2009) was just a stylish piece of crap.