Catching Up On Cinema

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This October marks the return of Catching Up Cinema's annual, “Kyle's Killer October” month!

All month long, Kyle will be taking creative control of the program, with this year's theme being an exploration of the filmography of Rob Zombie!

This week, the last of Kyle's Killer October, we review Rob Zombies', Halloween II (2009)!

One of the more divisive entries in the long running series, Rob Zombies' Halloween II (2009) is a direct follow up to the director's remake of Halloween (2007).

In the wake of the box office success of Halloween 2007, Rob Zombie was granted greater creative control in directing Halloween II, resulting in a more eccentric and visually dynamic film.

Beginning with events and scenarios very similar to Halloween 2 (1981), Rob Zombies' Halloween sequel very quickly transitions into at the time unfamiliar territory for the franchise, picking up narratives of Laurie Strode, Dr. Loomis and Michael Myers as they cope with their mutual traumas brought on by the events of the previous Halloween.

While the films differ drastically in their execution and aesthetic presentation, in terms of thematic content, Rob Zombies' Halloween II covers much of the same ground as David Gordon Green's recent trilogy of films.

Too inconsistent with it's internal logic and overall entertainment value to be considered more than a “good” Halloween film, Zombies' Halloween II nevertheless has much to offer in terms of cinematography and gore, resulting in a film that likely belongs squarely in the middle of the franchise rankings, rather than the complete rock bottom that many have characterized it as.

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This October marks the return of Catching Up Cinema's annual, “Kyle's Killer October” month!

All month long, Kyle will be taking creative control of the program, with this year's theme being an exploration of the filmography of Rob Zombie!

This week, we review Rob Zombie's, Lords of Salem (2012)!

Coming hot on the heels of his tenure on the Halloween franchise, Lords of Salem (2012) would see writer/director Rob Zombie trade the more substantial budgets of mainstream horror, in favor of the creative control offered by operating within the micro-budgeted world of Blumhouse Productions.

Produced on a $1.5 million budget, Lords of Salem stands apart from the vast majority of Zombie's filmography, offering a more existential and supernatural brand of horror than the director's more typically immediate and visceral fare.

Possessed of occasionally psychedelic visuals, and a plot progression that seems intentionally vague and distorted, Lords of Salem is clearly a labor of love from director Zombie, though the fruits of said labor are unfortunately meted out in fits and spurts.

Showcasing many of his strengths in the form of fascinating audio-visual design, while downplaying most of his major weaknesses, namely crass and unnatural dialogue, Lords of Salem is an atypical offering from director Rob Zombie, however in some ways it may one of his very best.

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This October marks the return of Catching Up Cinema's annual, “Kyle's Killer October” month!

All month long, Kyle will be taking creative control of the program, with this year's theme being an exploration of the filmography of Rob Zombie!

This week, we review Rob Zombie's remake of John Carpenter's original, Halloween (2007)!

Produced in the wake of the poorly regarded Halloween: Resurrection (2002), as well as the untimely death of lead producer on the franchise, Moustapha Akkad, Halloween 2007 was to serve as both a new beginning for the franchise, and a radical tonal/textural departure from earlier Michael Myers films.

Produced by Moustapha Akkad's son, Malek, after numerous failed attempts to greenlight crossover Halloween projects in the hopes of aping the success of the earlier Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Rob Zombie was approached to both write and direct Halloween 2007, essentially being given carte blanche in all areas of production.

Half prequel, and half remake of John Carpenter's 1978 original, Zombie's Halloween bears many of the director's trademarks, e.g. vulgar dialogue, a grungy pseudo-70's aesthetic, and a cast populated with a who's who of grindhouse cinema character actors, however it's debatable how much of them are a good fit for the world of Michael Myers.

Mean-spirited and brutal in ways that many “mascot” slasher films are not, Halloween 2007 is wildly effective in eliciting an emotional response from the viewer, however in the case of this reviewer, said emotions detract from rather than enhance the experience.

Halloween 2007 boldly attempts to fill in many blanks in the backstory of Michael Myers that may or may not be best left unfilled, presenting a prologue segment that doesn't necessarily explain Myers' psychopathy, though it does seem to point to his prolonged incarceration as perhaps being responsible for exacerbating it.

A highly divisive entry in the franchise, Halloween 2007 is perhaps best regarded as “Rob Zombies' Halloween,” as it fits cleanly into the director's oeuvre, which by its very nature, classifies the film as one that will only appeal to a very specific niche audience.

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This October marks the return of Catching Up Cinema's annual, “Kyle's Killer October” month!

All month long, Kyle will be taking creative control of the program, with this year's theme being an exploration of the filmography of Rob Zombie!

This week, we kick things off with a review of Rob Zombie's feature directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses (2003)!

The first of a trilogy of films concerning the Firefly family of hellbillies, House of 1000 Corpses is strong debut from Zombie, proudly wearing its numerous influences on its sleeves, and showcasing the director's eye for production design and visual flair.

Employing a plethora of cinematographic, editing and makeup effects techniques and technologies, House of 1000 Corpses bears the fingerprints of a first time filmmaker, giddy with excitement at the prospect of using every tool in the box, regardless of it's practicality for the task at hand.

In spite of being packed to the gills with bizarre interstitial and non-sequitur cut away sequences, House of 1000 Corpses doesn't quite achieve a 90 minute run time, resulting in halting and episodic an experience that strongly favors imagery and energy over narrative and characterization.

Rejuvenating the careers of future Rob Zombie regulars, Sid Haig and Bill Moseley, as well as introducing audiences to his wife Sheri Moon, House of 1000 Corpses is a fine debut horror film from a unique filmmaker with a signature style and penchant for examining levels of brutality and meanness seldom featured in mainstream horror cinema.

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It's once again time for Catching Up On Cinema's monthly Catching Up On Blu-Ray episode!

Join Trevor and Brad from the Cinema Speak podcast as they take a look at the blu-ray releases for September 2022!

Check out Brad's podcast, Cinema Speak on Libsyn at Cinema Speak, or on Twitter and Instagram.

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It's once again time for Catching Up On Cinema's monthly, “Tales From the Shelf” episode! In this installment, Trevor is once again joined by his good buddy Brad from the Cinema Speak podcast for discussion of "Powerful Pairings" of directors and stars!

Brad's Picks:

David Lynch and Kyle MacLachlan

Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi

Paul Thomas Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg

Trevor's Picks:

Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais

Yuen Woo Ping and Donnie Yen

Jesse V Johnson and Scott Adkins

Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon

And make sure to stick around as the 2 wrap things up with a customary “Speed Round” (1:40:00) of runner up films that didn't quite make the cut.

Check out Brad's podcast, Cinema Speak on Libsyn at Cinema Speak, or on Twitter and Instagram.

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This September is “Masterclass Month” at Catching Up On Cinema!

Every September, Trevor and Kyle celebrate the anniversary of Catching Up On Cinema by doing a deep dive into one of cinemas most famous franchises.

September 2022 marks the 4th year anniversary of the show, and to celebrate the occasion, Trevor and Kyle will be reviewing the first 4 films of the X-Men film series!

This week, Trevor and Kyle review Gavin Hood's, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)!

A troubled production in many regards, Gavin Hood's, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) was to serve as the first in a new subseries of X-Men Origin films, however it's critical failure would result the subsequent cancellation and reworking of the proposed X-Men Origins: Magneto film into X-Men First Class (2011).

The first of 3 solo Wolverine films to be headlined by Hugh Jackman as the title character, X-Men Origins is an odd duck of a film that goes to great lengths to draw attention to subtle elements connecting it to the previous X-Men films, while simultaneously completely bungling the same procedure in regards to major plot elements and characterizations.

Produced nearly parallel to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins is an incredibly expensive sequel that often feels like the result of the former films' creative table scraps.

While not explicitly stated (publicly), it is heavily rumored that director Gavin Hood was strong-armed by 20th Century Fox into making a more a cheesier and more lighthearted film than he would have preferred.

Hampered by a clunky and highly utilitarian script, as well as a hurried editing style and evidence of unfinished and/or rushed visual effects work, X-Men Origins bears many of the hallmarks signs of a troubled or creatively hamstrung production.

A fine exhibition of Hugh Jackman and Liev Schrieber's screen presence and raw charisma, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is watchable and largely inoffensive, however in failing to impress on the action and effects front, and failing to fit cleanly into series continuity, Origins is likely remembered as a smear on the franchise to be wiped clean by later films in the series, or not remembered at all.

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This September is “Masterclass Month” at Catching Up On Cinema!

Every September, Trevor and Kyle celebrate the anniversary of Catching Up On Cinema by doing a deep dive into one of cinemas most famous franchises.

September 2022 marks the 4th year anniversary of the show, and to celebrate the occasion, Trevor and Kyle will be reviewing the first 4 films of the X-Men film series!

This week, Trevor and Kyle review Brett Ratner's, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)!

Produced under hurried and less than ideal circumstances, The Last Stand is the third X-Men film, as well as the first to not be helmed by (problematic) director Bryan Singer.

With Singer departing the series after X2 (2003) in favor of directing Superman Returns (2006), bringing with him X-Men alum James Marsden and X2 writers, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, The Last Stand had unfortunate beginnings at Fox as a massively expensive trilogy capper that went into production with neither a finished script, nor a director assigned to it.

Seemingly the studios last choice to helm the project after an industry wide talent search, (the problematic) Brett Ratner would receive the gig, fittingly as a result of essentially being the last man standing.

Significantly less visually interesting, less creatively inspired, and less willing to properly explore it's own thematic content, The Last Stand is not quite an outright bad superhero film, though it fails to live up to the lofty standards set by its more handsome and daring predecessors.

Oddly obsessed with needlessly and incessantly referencing the Marvel comics source material, while simultaneously contradicting and spitting in the face of it in equal measure, The Last Stand is a production that is not without heart or inspiration, rather a lack of organization and purpose prove to be its most damning liabilities.

One of the most expensive productions of its time, X-Men: The Last Stand only occasionally looks or feels its budget, and only occasionally feels like a movie that the majority of those involved were actually enthused about making.

Representing the first critical speed bump in the X-Men series, The Last Stand is a workmanlike effort that serves as the very necessary, but aesthetically and tonally dissonant resolution, to the first leg of a film franchise that would unfortunately need to get worse before it would need to reinvent itself in order to get better.

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This September is “Masterclass Month” at Catching Up On Cinema!

Every September, Trevor and Kyle celebrate the anniversary of Catching Up On Cinema by doing a deep dive into one of cinemas most famous franchises.

September 2022 marks the 4th year anniversary of the show, and to celebrate the occasion, Trevor and Kyle will be reviewing the first 4 films of the X-Men film series!

This week, Trevor is joined by Kyle's brother Nik to review Bryan Singer's, X2: X-Men United (2003)!

Often regarded as one of the best films of the X-Men series, X2 serves as both a bold escalation and remarkably seamless continuation of the narrative of the director's earlier effort, X-Men (2000).

Possessed of a higher budget and longer production cycle, as well as no longer hamstrung by the need for the heavy exposition dumps often required in franchise starter films, X2 features a number of show stopping sequences that largely blow the at times tepid prior film out of the water

Bolder in its exploration of themes and characterizations, X2 is at times melodramatic, though never insincere, with winning performances from new and old cast members alike.

In the 3 years between the release of the 2 films, many production elements of X-Men, namely the cast and visual effects team, proved to cure and crystallize in positive ways, resulting in a larger and more ambitious sequel that beautifully complements, but also betters the prior film.

One of the better superhero films of its day, and easily one of the best of a very spotty franchise, X2 is feels like a more complete thought than its predecessor, and as a result, will largely be remembered as the film that do away with introducing us to mutantkind, and instead insist on truly showing us what they can do.

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This September is “Masterclass Month” at Catching Up On Cinema!

Every September, Trevor and Kyle celebrate the anniversary of Catching Up On Cinema by doing a deep dive into one of cinemas most famous franchises.

September 2022 marks the 4th year anniversary of the show, and to celebrate the occasion, Trevor and Kyle will be reviewing the first 4 films of the X-Men film series!

Produced amid the perfect storm that was Marvel Comics' bankruptcy, (and subsequent farming out of their IP) and the commercial success of New Line's, Blade (1998), X-Men (2000) would go on to spawn a live-action series that persists to this day.

Arriving in time to capitalize on the popularity of the X-Men comics, and perhaps most importantly, the Fox Kids animated TV series, X-Men played a very important role in resurrecting the superhero genre of film in the post-Batman and Robin (1997) era.

Although somewhat tainted by the unseemly reputation of its director, X-Men endures to this day as a very sincere, if not mostly faithful adaptation of the comic book source material, as well as an excellent primer for the uninitiated into X-Men lore.

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