On 7/17/2026 3:59 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
I am doing this one because I watched three movies the past couple of
day that I wanted to mention:
The Running Man (Pee+) - The 2025 film with Glen Powell, not the 1987 classic with Arnie.
˙˙ Overall, I enjoyed this.
˙˙ But it's quite a different take than the Arnie film.
˙˙ So, here's the thing - I liked that this version appears to follow
the original Stephen King version much more closely. (They still deviate from the ending of King's work, effectively to give it a "happy" ending, which both lessens the 2025 version and makes it a less effective story. (Definitely smells like suit meddling!) But before that point, it's a
pretty good thriller film (with a "message").
˙˙ By contrast, the 1987 version is pretty literally a cartoon, but on
some level, while it cheapens the story, it also makes it more
entertaining.
Yeah, I think I liked the 1987 version more than the remake.
Although I'm not sure this is a remake. I *think* it might actually be a sequel. Or requel, whatever the kids are calling it now days. There
were a few nods that made me think it was the same universe as the 1987
movie. First, the Schwarzenegger cameo. Blink and you miss it, but
it's his face on the money. And second, wasn't there some lines of
dialogue about something that happened decades earlier that prompted
them to revamp the game show? I thought that was Schwarzenegger winning
the show and forces them to on paper, make it more fair, even though
they clearly lied.
˙˙ For example, the 1987 version eliminates the character of the
network executive - largely rolling the character into the game show
host character - and giving all of that to Richard Dawson, who is by far
the best thing about the 1987 version. But contrast, the 2025 version
brings in Colman Domingo (who is generally good in other things) to play
the game show host and Josh Brolin to play the network executive figure.
I can promise you - neither of them register anywhere near where Dawson
did in the '87 film!
˙˙ But, but hewing closer to King's original story, the 2025 version
excels in other ways, being a better and more grounded thriller than the 1987 version.
˙˙ Bottom line: Both versions have their strengths and their
weaknesses, but I definitely think the 2025 version is worth checking
out (even despite the wan ending).
Scream 7 (Pee+) - This, the return of Neve Campbell as Sydney (Prescott)
to the franchise she helped birth (Campbell was a no show for "6" after
they low-balled her on her salary and she told them to pound sand!), was poorly received, at least in r/horror, especially for having a "dumb ending". Though others there said it wasn't so bad, and did have some
good "kill scenes".
˙˙ Well, I fall a lot closer to the latter opinion on "7" - it's not
bad, is decently entertaining, and does have some good kill sequences (though I found the ones in this film to be particularly mean-spirited
and incommensurate, and as with the earlier films they kill off a lot of
the best parts of the supporting cast (e.g. McKenna Grace) too early).
˙˙ But, there's no getting around it - the ending is quite dumb. I
should have figured out half of it, just based on casting, if I had recognized the actor who played one character (they look so old now!).
But the main villain's motive, and actions, stretch credibility beyond
the breaking point. (And it was another example where the casting pretty much gave away who it had to be.)
˙˙ On another front, I had a problem with them bringing on Joel McHale
(in a rare role where he plays it *completely* "straight" with no
"snark") to play Syndey's husband. (Made even more jarring by the fact
that the character's name is "Mark" - Sydney previously had a boyfriend named "Mark" (played by Patrick Dempsey) in "Scream 3", though that's a *different* Mark!!) It seems pretty clear to me that they originally
wanted to get Dempsey back to play Syndey's husband, but failed, and
then pretty lazily brought McHale in to play basically the same role,
and didn't even bother to come up with an original name for his character!
I think I saw an interview with McHale where he joked (or was maybe
serious) that his chair had Dempsey's name on it.
˙˙ Another issue is that Mark Consuelos shows up in this (as a reporter rival to Courtney Cox's Gale), though at least we were spared
Consuelos's IRL wife!!
˙˙ Anyway, if you can ignore the nonsensical ending,
But the nonsensical ending is hard to ignore! LOL
and the mean-
spirited kills, this is an OK entry in the series, likely preferable to
the two previous entries headlined by Melissa Barrera.
Into the Deep (Tubi) - When I started watching this I soon started
thinking I had seen this before, and it didn't take me long to realize
that I *had* seen this film before (I think it was on Hulu at one
point...).
˙˙ FTR, this is the 2022 British-American thriller film starring Ella-
Rae Smith and Jessica Alexander, not the 2025 shark movie with Scout Taylor-Compton (I should see this!!) or the 2020 true-crime doc.
˙˙ One thing you can say about this film - if you have a hankering to
see Ella-Rae Smith naked nudity, this is your film!
˙˙ Anyway, the problem I have with this film is the ending - Smith's character absolutely should not have forgiven Alexander's character
earlier actions, and I think this film would been far stronger if
Smith's character was the only one to "walk" (actually boat!) away at
the end.
I also watched England just give up after 60 minutes into their
semifinal match against Argentina. [roll!]
What did you watch?
This is a multiday catch up. Over the last few days I watched:
Hereafter (blu-ray) 2010 movie directed by Clint Eastwood and starring
Matt Damon as a psychic or something. As far as the plot goes,
something happened then I guess some other stuff happened. I don't
know. The movie was a boring mess. Originally, I was going to pair it
with "What Dreams May Come" because I thought the plot had something to
do with Damon talking to ghosts. And the plot definitely had people
going to Damon asking him to talk to their dead loved ones, but I don't
know if he actually had the power or not. Like I said, the movie was a muddled mess. But the movie seemed to say he really did have the power
to talk to the dead, so sure whatever. I'm pretty sure I saw this in
the theater, but I didn't remember it. But at some point, I bought it,
it was sitting on the shelf still in the shrink wrap so I figured I
should watch it. Turns out I should have left it on the shelf. Bad
isn't a deal breaker, but bad and boring. That's asking too much of me.
The Wild Thornberrys (Paramount+) "Spirited Away" - Season 3, episode
10, from 2000. This is an animated series about a family that explores
the world with a daughter that can talk to animals. I think. And I
think maybe the family is British. This was my first time watching this series. Fred recommended this episode because he worked on it, and the episode focused on the Mexico Day of the Dead festival, and I recently
watched a couple of movies on the same subject. I think this series is
maybe aimed at a younger audience. But I powered through it.
Don't Breathe (blu-ray) 2016 movie written and directed by Fede ?lvarez
(2013 Evil Dead) starring Jane Levy (2013 Evil Dead) and Dylan Mynnette
as young teens who decide to break into the house and rob an old blind
man (Stephen Lang) but the old blind man turns out to be an ex-marine
who is more than a match for them. Now this may sound as if the teens
have it coming, but I assure you, Lang is the villain of this movie!
Don't Breathe 2 (4K disc) 2021 sequel. This is hard to recap without spoilers. Basically, picking up several years after the first movie,
Lang's blind psycho marine character is back. And this time instead of
some teenagers he takes on a group of armed mercenaries. Armed
mercenaries vs. an old blind marine? Is Lang a good man this time
around? No! But the people he murders aren't nice so Lang has that
going for him.
The Odyssey (theatrical) Epic movie directed by Christopher Nolan, with
a score by Ludwig G”ransson, based on Homer's epic poem. I saw this in
IMAX 70mm, the way the movie was meant to be seen! The movie stars
Nolan regulars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne who spends the movie trying to
find his identity. I mean Matt Damon as Odysseus. Anne Hathaway as
his wife Penelope, Himesh Patel as Odysseus's second in command, and
Robert Pattionson as a suitor trying to woo Penelope while Odysseus is
away. Also, along for the ride is Tom Holland as Odysseus' son
Telemachus, who does what he can to keep the suitors away, but what he
can isn't much. John Leguizamo as an old blind servant who helps to
raise Telemachus and does what he can against the suitors, but what he
can isn't much. Along with Samantha Morton as Circe, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Zendaya as Athena, and Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and her
sister Clytemnestra. A few weeks back I rewatched "Troy" and the 1997
NBC miniseries starring Armand Assante (which was really good by the
way) and oddly enough, as far as I can recall, neither version had Clytemnestra, who is sort of an important character.
The movie was great. And the practical effects were greater. Before
going in I had heard rumors that Nolan would drop all the fantasy
elements from the movie. Those rumors were wrong! It's a full on
fantasy with monsters and magic. But done with practical effects like
you've never seen before. The cyclops is a 60-foot animatronic. And
when Circe turns the men into animals you see it happen in real time.
If I didn't know better, I would have assumed it was all CGI. The
closest thing I can compare it too is "An American Werewolf in London"
but that comparison gives a very false impression. It's not done with
latex and air pumps. This was something else.
As an aside, my personal experience watching the movie in IMAX 70mm
(very mild spoiler). Tickets for IMAX 70mm went on sale a full year
before the movie's release and sold out the same day. I had to drive
out of town to see the movie. The movie is 3 hours long. The only
trailer before the movie was a 4-minute scene from "Dune 3". I was
already sold on "Dune 3" but that clip was Wow! Now I'm really sold!
Anyway, about 2 hours and 50 minutes into the movie, Jason Bourne is on screen, doing what Jason Bourne does best. The Ludwig G”ransson score
is blaring in perfect sync with the action. Nolan is demonstrating his
skills as a master filmmaker, the audience is locked in, and I am
literally at the edge of my seat. Then...pfft...the screen went black!
And for a few moments the audience sat in stunned silence. Then I could
hear several people saying out loud what I was thinking, "I waited a
year to see this movie, I am *not* getting out of this seat!" Finally,
some brave souls walked out and after about 10 minutes of sitting in the
dark theater a staff person showed up to say there was a power failure
and the movie would be on in a "couple of minutes." About 10 minutes
later, still waiting, and my bladder could wait no longer, so I raced
away and raced back. Still no movie! Then after about 30-minutes
someone from the theater shows up with a microphone. And she wastes
precious time talking about how she doesn't understand the tech terms
before getting to the point and saying they have to reset the projector
and it will take 30 minutes for the projector to reset. But they will
offer refunds to anyone who wants to leave. Someone asks is that 30
minutes from now or 30 minutes from 30 minutes ago. She says they reset
the projector 5 minutes ago, so 25 minutes from now. Next question, if
we stay for the movie can we get our money back? She says yes, and
concession refund too.
I head out to get my refund on ticket price and concessions. I get to
the front of the theater where there is already a line of about 10
people waiting for refunds. There is a manager up front, except I
quickly noticed the line isn't moving. Nothing is happening. Then the manager without a word walks off and disappears. Now we are standing
there waiting, while half the theater has emptied and standing in line
behind me, just waiting without any explanation as to what's going on.
The manager finally returns and line starts to move, *slowly*. I
finally get up front and the manager explains there is some kind of tech problem, and they can't process the ticket refunds. So, he is
handwriting the ticket information for each customer to send to
corporate headquarters. Fortunately, they were able to process the
concession refunds, in a separate line. So, after about 25 minutes of waiting. I headed back into the theater just in time to see the end of
the movie. But I also walked past everyone waiting for the next
showtime, which has now been pushed back a full hour.
Anyway, great movie. Well worth seeing in IMAX 70mm. I already have
tickets to see it in IMAX 70mm again next month.
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