Adam Selvidge's Website Blog
Muppets Haunted Mansion: Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher. With Will Arnett, Taraji P. Henson, Darren Criss, Yvette Nicole Brown. On Halloween night, Gonzo is challenged to spend one night in The Haunted Mansion. I remember seeing this back in 2021, really enjoying it, then tryicng to get my wife to watch, but failing spectacularly. She’s taking part in my HORROR MARATHON this year though, so last night was finally the night, and I’ happy to report that she fully enjoyed the experience, much like I did when I seent it previously. We still haven’t had enough quality content for the...
The Haunted Mansion: Directed by Rob Minkoff. With Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, Marsha Thomason. A realtor and his wife and children are summoned to a mansion, which they soon discover is haunted, and while they attempt to escape, he learns an important lesson about the family he has neglected. This year’s HORROR MARATHON is starting with the first “Haunted Mansion film from 2003 with Eddie Murphy, it takes itself serious enough that some of the scares are legitimate enough, but remembers that it’s based off a Disney walking simulator, so there’s nothing that’s going to make you poop...
The Big White: Directed by Mark Mylod. With Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Blake Nelson. To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen. A goofy ball dark comedy with a soundtrack that doesn’t fit either of the moods that they’ve somewhat successfully mashed together, that’s about the most I can complain about, the rest of the film is competently done, but it’s my impression this one didn’t do as well as Robin’s other films, so if you want to see a...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Directed by Gavin Hood. With Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will.i.am. The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine. One of the few x-men movies that hasn’t been released on 4k disc yet, so when I saw a “3 disc limited edition” for just $5 at a local flea market, I quickly inspected the main bluray disk and bought it. The first disc is the HD version, then there’s dvd version, then third...
Luckiest Girl Alive: Directed by Mike Barker. With Mila Kunis, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton. A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel. A well done look at a woman wrapped up in several situations that have national attention right now with a sexual assault, a school shooting, and a woman feeling out of place in her own life after surviving both events. Mila Kunis is great as a survivor that’s taken life head on but despite her best efforts still not feeling fully in...
The Captains: Directed by William Shatner. With William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew. The Captains is a feature length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed Starship captains within the illustrious science-fiction franchise. A short look at the actors that played captains on the various Star Trek series, all through the lens of the first captain, William Shatner. His interviews range from the surreal with Avery Brooks to the emotional with Patrick Stewart to a friendly chat with the extremely personable Scott Bacula, then...
People say when you want to change your life, you need to think big: swap job, move house, change partner. But they’re wrong. World-renowned habits expert James I read this for a book club that I’m participating in through my local PMI chapter, unfortunately there were only two of us that participated in the meeting, but we had a great conversation about the book. I had my concerns about how dry I was expecting the book to be, but author James Clear really made an excellent collection of narratives and stories to go along with the basic principals for iterative...
Prey: Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. With Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Stormee Kipp. Naru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth. Now out on 4k disk, this movie features some of the most gorgeous and awesome looking clouds I’ve ever seen in a film. The story is pretty light and easy to follow and everything makes sense, which may seem like a backhanded compliment, but considering how the last few Predator movies have gone, I’m happy to see the move back to a...
The Blackening: Directed by Tim Story. With Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo. Seven friends go away for the weekend and end up trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not. I expected it to be a racially insensitive horror comedy and that’s pretty much what we got, though I didn’t find the attempts at humor to be all that effective. Buy On Amazon!
Interstellar: Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Ellen Burstyn, Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, John Lithgow. When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans. Received free as a part of the Universal Studios reward program, I think this is one of the only ways that this film would end up in my collection, because while it’s a great film in many aspects I think it fumbles some of the more important elements and for the love of...
