At The Movies with Bryan, the Wannabe Filmmaker

White Christmas is often described as being a remake of Holiday Inn, but, in truth, they   only have two things in common;   both star Bing Crosby and feature the song “White Christmas.”   I am a bit perplexed at how White Christmas has been elevated to classic status over the years– it’s an entertaining movie, to be sure, and has two dynamic leads in Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, but it’s also terribly contrived and has an unappealing leading lady in Rosemary Clooney. I don’t know if it’s Clooney’s performance, or if it is just the way her character, Betty Haynes, is written, but she is a complete stick in the mud.   Granted, the plot is just a framework to hang all the song and dance numbers on, and Holiday Inn is just as contrived, but here it is just grating.   I like the first hour of White Christmas a lot; Crosby and Kaye are a fun team to watch, there are some good song and dance numbers, Vera-Ellen is likable as Judy Haynes, and Dean Jagger gives a nice understat

The kindest thing I can say about Scream 4 is that it isn’t terrible. That is hardly a recommendation, but given the circumstances, it could have been a lot worse.  There a few touches here and there that help make it watchable – Marley Shelton’s awkward deputy; Hayden Panetierre’s likable turn as the horror fanatic, Kirby; a few humorous moments involving Gale Weathers and two members of the high school AV Club; and the unmasking of the killer, which is genuinely surprising.  The problem is that we have seen it all before and even the reveal at the end isn’t enough to overcome the familiarity. Though, one could argue that the familiarity is the entire point of Scream 4 – the killer is essentially doing a “remake” by recording the murders and posting them online.  What’s even more irritating is that original characters in the first film seem to have regressed since the third movie – Dewey and Gale once again are at odds with one another.  How did Dewey get promoted to Sher

Son of Dracula is one of the most unusual entries in the Universal Monster franchise.  It was released at a time when the series started to become more kid friendly and usually devolved into a full out monster brawls; the franchise would end on a fairly low note with the ridiculous (but amusing) House of Dracula , in which the Wolf Man is cured of his lycanthropy, the Frankenstein Monster stumbles around for a few seconds, and Dracula, despite being the title villain, is killed off half way through the movie.  Therefore, it is genuinely surprising how sophisticated Son of Dracula is on both a technical and thematic level. The biggest flaw (and it’s a huge one) is the casting of Lon Chaney, Jr. in the role of Count Alucard. Chaney was at his best when playing blue collar simpletons, or lumbering brutes, but is completely out of his element when playing the aristocratic Alucard – he lacks the sophistication and mystique that the role desperately needs.  It is interesting to no

A phrase often associated with the Golden Age of Hollywood is, “They don’t make them like they used to." In this age of remakes, reboots, and sequels, it is common to be overly nostalgic about the good ol' days of cinema; when Hollywood seemingly could no wrong and was consistently pumping out quality, and original, movies. Of course, this is one big lie - reboots, remakes, and sequels are nothing new to cinema; they go back to the very beginning of film itself. The 1940s, in particular, may have been of the most sequel heavy decades in movie history – and the studio that was pumping them out on a regular basis was Universal. Modern audiences groan on the endless string of Saw and Paranormal Activity movies, but Universal was basically doing the same thing with their classic Monsters line up - in 1940, they released The Mummy's Hand and The Invisible Man Returns (with Vincent Price); the former being a reboot of  the Boris Karloff classic, and the latter being a belated

The only controversy that really surrounds Halloween: Resurrection is whether it is the worst or second worst movie in the franchise. Occasionally, a brave soul will come out of the woodwork and admit that they “kind of” liked it, but otherwise it’s greeted with absolute disdain from the fans.   I admit, while I find the movie terrible, I am compelled to watch it every now and again, but more on that later. The main reason for the hate is that it completely negates  the ending to the previous movie, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later – which saw Laurie Strode beheading Michael Myers with an axe. Halloween: Resurrection retcons the ending of the previous film, so that instead of beheading Michael Myers, Laurie Strodie mistaken decapitated a paramedic wearing the Michael Myers mask – he pulled the old switcheroo on Laurie. Laurie, haunted by the guilt of killing an innocent man, spends the next few years in a psychiatric hospital, convinced that Michael will come for her.   When aud