Rinzy Reviews ‘Halloween’ (2018)

Release Date: October 19

Budget/ Box-Office: $10M/ $253M

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Will Patton, Haluk Bilginer, et al.

***

Very few movie franchise have been around as long as the Halloween series. Currently at its eleventh entry with Halloween, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it old. But does old automatically translate into beauty and quality in movies? The answer’s no. Halloween, like so many its age grade, would have to continue proving themselves until the day they decide to call it quits, if ever that day comes.

Halloween is a direct sequel to the first movie first released in 1978. In its own way it retcons all the other movies between them, which would be almost impossible to ignore since Jamie Lee Curtis has been in most of them.

In the world of today where the feminism topic is high on everyone’s lips, Halloween portrays itself as being extremely relevant to the topic being that not one, or two, but three female protagonists spread across three generations band together to defeat one male villain who just doesn’t seem to want to die… I still wonder what makes Myers so strong. 🤔

To me, Michael Myers’ iconic mask is the scariest thing about him. Without any serious motivation to his incessant acts of brutal violence, I found it very hard to connect to him even though I know slasher films and concrete plots don’t go hand-in-hand. Like his former doctor’s podcast rightly stated, and I paraphrase, “why keep such an evil alive in the first place?” Honestly, it makes no sense. I understand certain movie franchises need to survive, especially those whose mere mention of their names mint money, but I also believe slashers existence need to be justified with well-meaning, believable story. No one should tell me it’s fiction, please. ✋

Michael’s continued existence needs to be justified! Which brings me to what I disliked most about this movie – it’s ambiguous ending.

We’re not sure if Michael’s dead or alive, which I’m sure was on purpose to lessen the creative burden of explaining why Michael returns for a sequel should the movie excel at the box office. The movie’s done well for itself, news of a possible sequel’s already making the rounds, the producers got their wish. I think it’s all lazy writing, and I refuse to be continuously baited into returning to the same universe without justification.

Halloween is a slasher film; and successfully does what every movie in its genre is expected to do – thrill the mindless audience.

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Rinzy’s Rating: 3/5

Rinzy Reviews ‘The First Purge’ (2018)

Release Date: July 4, 2018

Budget/ Box-Office: $13M/ $135.6M

Starring: Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, 

Rinzy’s Rating: 2.5/5

***

Some movies, by virtue of reading the plot, stirs emotions you never knew you had. Gets you excited because your mind’s already gone ahead to tell you all the possible ways said movie would be good.

Well, that’s what The First Purge did to me when I first heard it was coming. 

 Unfortunately, the movie didn’t turn out to be what it poised itself as. Worse, it isn’t even like the three Purge movies before it. It’s boring, annoying and has extremely boring, annoying characters. Goddamit!

Movies in the The Purge franchise have always been about what America might look like in future if the world continues to head towards population explosion and the need to give her citizens a night off to let out their anger and act without fear of consequences from a government peddling its own agenda.

At its core, they’ve really been about human nature and what we’re capable of doing if we didn’t have to worry about the consequences. 

The First Purge tells the story of how the whole Purge thing started; how the government tricked its own people into becoming serial killers for one night to purge themselves of hate, anger and other common bottled up vices. It’s interesting to see the government portrayed as the real villains here as can be seen in their efforts to make the Purge work no matter the what.

America has become a failed state and must do anything to work again… Who wouldn’t like to see that happen in real life?

The Purge movies have always got me thinking more about the concepts of morality and legality. That something is legal doesn’t make it right. I want to believe murder for any reason isn’t right, and this is something the scientist working with the government discovers, too, late when she asks herself “What have I done?”

The First Purge is very predictable, and don’t get me started on the reason being that it’s a prequel, there are better ways to do a such without making the viewers feel unintelligent. In this movie you see characters making questionable decisions, taking actions without any tangible motivation. Not to even get started about the horrible acting; nobody gets to shine better than the others, not even Insecure’s Y’lan Noel could save this movie from being what it is – a big mess.

Rinzy Reviews ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved’ (2018)

Release Date: August 17, 2018.

Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, etc.

Rinzy’s Rating: 3.5/5

***

To All The Boys I’ve Loved is a a very beautiful romantic drama adapted from a novel of the same name by Jenny Han.

Lara Jean is a 16-year-old girl who loves to fantasize about romance without wanting to have one. Years prior, she’s written five letters for all five boys she’s ever had a crush on without ever sending them. It’s her younger sister, Kitty, who feels she’s letting life pass her by, that sends these letters at once. And all that follows thereafter is drama. Romantic drama. 

Among the boys Lara Jean’s (Lana Condor) loved is Josh, who, coincidentally, is also her older sister Margot’s. (Janel Parrish) boyfriend. 

In Lara’s words, “I write a letter whenever I have a crush so intense I don’t know what else to do. Rereading my letters reminds me of how powerful my emotions can be, how all-consuming. And Margot would say in being dramatic, but I think drama can be fun…”

The words of this letter come into play when Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo), the boy from seventth grade Lara loved receives his own. Lara ceases the opportunity to enter into a fun contract with Peter, with the latter believing he could make his ex-girlfriend jealous enough to want him back. 

The inevitable thing that follows is both of them catching feelings. Yeah, I know, it’s cliche.

Personally, I’m not a sucker for romantic films, but any time, any where, any genre I’ll always appreciate a good movie and a movie that made me feel good (note the difference 😉). And, boy, did this movie make me feel good!

Peter Kavinsky: Fine, tall, handsome, athletic and all; Peter has all the right ingredients to be every girl’s dream and in turn a jerk, but I liked that the movie didn’t toe that line. A reminder that a guy can be fine and still sensible. Towards the end of the movie, I feared some kind of heartbreaking plot twist, but SPOILER… nothing of such happened. 😇 

I haven’t read the novel, so I can’t say for sure what’s in it, even though the novel is almost always better than the live-action adaptation, but I think director Susan Johnson did a great job with the source material.

The music, atmosphere, pacing and lighting are some of the things I liked about this movie. And the cast’s perfect, too.

There are two more books after this one, I really do hope Netflix finances their adaptations, and fast, too.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a feel good movie

Bonus: My favorite scene’s where Lara Jean say Josh coming with the letter in hand and freaked out, leading to her invading Peter’s mouth with hers. 😂

2018 Emmy Nomination List

The Emmys are here again! And, another round of deserving TV shows are about to be rewarded for their hard work.  👏.  

This year, Game of Thrones takes the lead with 21 nominations, followed by Saturday Night Live and Westworld, with 21 noms each. I’m very excited for Westworld (and HBO by extension) I feel the show hasn’t yet gotten the kind of accolade it deserves and with GOT ending next year, this might just be the megahit HBO has been looking for.

Here are the categories and nominees for the the 70th annual Primetime Emmys:

1. OUTSTANDING DRAMA

The Americans

The Crown

Game of Thrones

The Handmaid’s Tale

This Is Us

Stranger Things

Westworld

2. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Claire Foy — The Crown

Tatiana Maslaney — Orphan Black

Elisabeth Moss — The Handmaid’s Tale

Sandra Oh — Killing Eve

Keri Russell — The Americans

Evan Rachel Wood — Westworld

3. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Jason Bateman – Ozark

Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us

Ed Harris – Westworld

Matthew Rhys – The Americans

Milo Ventimiglia – This Is Us

Jeffrey Wright – Westworld

4. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Lena Heady – Game of Thrones

Millie Bobby Brown – Stranger Things

Ann Dowd – The Handmaid’s Tale

Vanessa Kirby – The Crown

Yvonne Strahovski – The Handmaid’s Tale

Alexis Bledel – The Handmaid’s Tale

Thandie Newton – Westworld

5. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA 

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – Game of Thrones

Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones

Mandy Patinkin – Homeland

David Harbour – Stranger Things

Matt Smith – The Crown

Joseph Fiennes – The Handmaid’s Tale

6. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Antonio Banderas — Genius

Darren Criss — The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Benedict Cumberbatch — Patrick Melrose

Jeff Daniels — The Looming Tower

John Legend — Jesus Chris Superstar

Jesse Plemons – Black Mirror

7. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

Jessica Biel – The Sinner

Laura Dern – The Tale

Michelle Dockery – Godless

Edie Falco – Law And Order: True Crime

Regina King – Seven Seconds

Sarah Paulson – American Horror Story: Cult

8. OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES & TV MOVIE

The Alienist

Godless

Patrick Melrose

The Assassination of Gianni Versace

9. OUTSTANDING COMEDY

Atlanta

Barry

Blackish

Curb your Enthusiasm

GLOW

Silicon Valley

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

10. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Pamela Adlon — Better Things

Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Ms. Maisel

Issa Rae – Insecure

Traceee Ellis Ross – Blackish

Lilly Tomlin – Grace and Frankie

11. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Anthony Anderson – Blackish

Ted Danson – The Good Place

Larry David – Curb Your Enthusiasm

Donald Glover – Atlanta

Bill Hader – Barry

William H. Macey – Shameless

12. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Zazie Beets – Atlanta

Betty Gilpin – GLOW

Laurie Metcalf – Roseanne

Aidy Bryant – Saturday Night Live

Leslie Jones – Saturday Night Live 

Kate McKinnons – Saturday Night Live

Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Ms. Maisel

Megan Mullaly – Will & Grace

13. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Brian Tyree Henry – Atlanta

Henry Winkler – Barry

Alec Baldwin – Saturday Night Live 

Louis Anderson – Baskets

Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Ms. Maisel

Kenan Thompson – Saturday Night Live

Tituss Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Did you favourite make the cut? Do tell. 

‘The Wedding Party 2’ Arrives Cinemas Today!

I’ve been trailing reports from the Ebony Life camp concerning ‘The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai’ ever since the sequel was announced. Ever since I watched the trailer, my anticipation has reduced drastically (almost by half).
Why?
Because, like I said in my first article, the trailer makes the movie feel like a recap of the first one.

How would I know this?

It wouldn’t take a prophet to see. It’s more than obvious… characters with story arcs that ‘shouldn’t’ be continued, like Rosie’s obsession with Dozie and Saka’s ori-oke of Ekiti were conspicuously placed in the trailer.

I understand that the ‘powers that be’ want to retain the winning formula, but there’s a big difference between retaining the magic and repeating the action.

At the world premiere last Sunday (10/12/17), most of the casts were interviewed. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Banky W who plays Dozie said, and I rephrase, “everybody is the same, same old same old.”

Beverly Naya who plays Rosie said, and I rephrase, “Rosie is still after Dozie even though he’s married and expecting twins. Basically, she’s still the same.”

Frank Donga who plays Harrison said, and I quote, “You asked for it, we’ve brought it, the same but better. It’s for you all to enjoy.”
Three cast members basically telling em to dole out my cash to go watch the same movie probably because they increased the amount of familiar faces (like my sweet Patience Ozokwor).

The way this movie fares at the box office will teach me the finally lesson on the way the Nigerian movie market works, if the consumers like a repeat of the winning mojo of another side of the action.

– Rinzy Reviews.

‘House Of Cards’ To Resume Production On Its Sixth And Final Season

‘House of Cards’ to resume production on its sixth and final season early next month.
Following the needs of several sexual allegations levelled against lead Kevin Spacey, he was fired and the show’s production subsequently halted.

With this letter, we can rest again knowing production will resume shortly… without Spacey of course.

Here’s the letter.

Dear Cast and Crew,

As we move into the holidays, we want to express our appreciation for all of the meaningful messages of support we have received from you and want to update all of our loyal cast and crew on our progress and where things currently stand.

We continue to work with Netflix with the hope of resuming production soon. As we continue these discussions, we have determined together that the crew will be paid for an additional two week hiatus – beginning on November 27th and continuing through December 8th.

In addition to the writers, there will be a small contingency of office/accounting staff who will remain in the production office on a continuous basis. Our hope is that the entire crew will be able to reconvene when production resumes, but we want you to know that we will certainly understand if crew members need to find other work in the interim, which will prevent them from re-joining us. We sincerely appreciate all you have done.

Cast and other union members who are not actively working will be paid in accordance with applicable union guidelines through this period and we will be reaching out directly to your representatives to work through the details; we will get to everyone as quickly as possible and appreciate all of your patience here.

These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen. The one thing we have learned throughout this process is that this production is bigger than just one person and we could not be more proud to be associated with one of the most loyal and talented production cast and crews in this business.

We will provide an additional update by 12/8/17.

Thank you all.

Pauline Micelli

Kevin Spacey Replaced In ‘All The Money In The World’

News that broke out this morning is, Kevin Spacey’s been replaced by Christopher Plummer in the Ridley Scott’s movie, All The Money In The World, scheduled for a December release.

​

With the breakout of various sexual assault allegations against Spacey, so many things have gone wrong for him in the last one week since they began: Netflix and House of Cards sacked him and now this.

Report has it that Ridley Scott is willing to reshoot all scenes containing former lead, Spacey and replace them with Plummer, a move that’s been approved by the co-stars and financiers.

HollyWood’s Recent Sexual Misconduct Scandals

​

Hollywood is at a crucial stage in its existence now. An uprising, per say, where sexual predators are the latest victims. On Oct. 5th 2017, an article published by the New York Times would start the trend by condemning Harvey Weinstein for decades of sexual predatory acts against co-workers he’d encountered over the years of him being a boss. Many people had come out to support the article’s claim, pointing accusing fingers, these and many more have led to Harvey losing practically all he’d spent his lifetime achieving. Yesterday, he world woke up to the news of another sexual predator, this time, in the person of Kevin Spacey (of the ‘House of Cards’ fame). Spacey is being accused by a certain Anthony Rapp of sexual misconducts on him as a minor, an act Lobby alleges occurred 30 years ago when he was 14 y/o and Spacey 26 y/o. As it is now, Rapp has the sympathy of many Americans as can be deduced from Twitter’s reaction since yesterday, and the latest fallout in a case that’s been described as unsettling, is the unsurprising cancellation of ‘House of Cards’ by Netflix. The streaming powerhouse and everyone associated with Spacey would want to be at a reasonable distance from him as his life and career begins to fall apart – it’s called damage control.

Funny enough, Spacey, yesterday, issued a note of apology for what and might not have happened 30 years ago, he also used the opportunity to come out to the world as gay, but I don’t think that card is working now, things are looking to get continually worse for him.

I take one thing out of this recent mess in Hollywood, whatever you do today as you climb up the ladder, make sure to watch your back that it wouldn’t be enough to soil you in the future.

– The Summarizer.

I Honestly Fear For ‘The Wedding Party 2’

I fear for ‘The Wedding Party 2’ and it’s for a good cause. Expectations are here. People are too excited. December 15 seems so far. But, what if our systems have gotten too excited nothing can gauge it? What if the movie comes out and we feel it’s same as part one, only recycled and more foreigner? What if we get too vexed that we start to notice the flaws we purposely overlooked in the first installment? 

God forbid!

‘The Wedding Party 2’ official poster

​I enjoyed ‘The Wedding Party’ so much, that if a sequel would spoil the memory for me, I’d rather not watch.

A popular trend is that the second never gets to be quite as entertaining as the first, but that has never stopped studio execs from green lighting a sequel when the first gets so popular its now referred to as pop culture. ‘The Wedding Party’ is one of our own pop culture, original and Nigerian, something we seem to be lacking in the scene. Hopefully, it breaks the jinx of Hollywood, and starts something new and great for us here – the new Nollywood we call it – our new way of life. 

The teaser trailer released days ago has done exactly as intented – to get people pumped and tongues wagging – pockets also itching to spend enough money that another box office records is shattered. So many familiar faces, old and new to the franchise, a phenomenal way to build a brand that’ll last a lifetime. Ebony Life has got a goldmine in their hands.

The success of ‘The Wedding Party 2’ is crucial to the way the Nigerian cinematic movie culture improves, we may not know it until 2018 has aged properly, hopefully, gracefully too. Be thou as it may, I’m waiting for the day; that date; December 15, 2017. Mark your calendars, friends, Christmas this year just got litter.

– RR.