Guillermo del Toro Brings Pinocchio to Life, Rian Johnson Let's Some Glass Onion Secrets Slip, and We Offer a Defense of Halloween Ends
Halloween Ends came out over the weekend, and I want to take a moment to give it some praise, especially since the film received mostly negative reviews. Me? I'm pro-Halloween Ends, primarily because I appreciate how many big swings the movie takes. And that's not a bad thing! We should want that in our movies, especially in sequels. Give us something we haven't seen before.
Speaking of which, here are a bunch of links you may not have seen before! I've rounded them up for the latest /Film Newsletter. If you're reading this, you're likely already subscribed. But why not spread the word? Tell all your friends and/or relatives and/or pets to subscribe today!
In this issue of the newsletter, we have reviews of My Policeman and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, some big Glass Onion news that could be considered a spoiler, a look back at the box office of I Know What You Did Last Summer, and more. So much more.
Have You Heard the News?
Rian Johnson recently gave away some info that could be considered a spoiler from the upcoming Knives Out sequel Glass Onion. Then again if he's telling people this now, ahead of the film's release, perhaps he doesn't consider it a spoiler. If you want to see what this is all about, click the link above.
Speaking of spoilers, the actor who plays Sauron on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had a very difficult time keeping the big twist a secret.
Let's keep the potential spoiler stuff going and try to answer the question: does Halloween Ends give us the most definitive conclusion in the franchise?
John Boyega is talking about Attack the Block 2 again, and we're listening.
Ralphie is all grown-up in the teaser for HBO Max's upcoming A Christmas Story Christmas, which is a sequel to, you guessed it, The Santa Clause. No, sorry, I mean A Christmas Story.
Reviews
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio has screened at the London Film Festival, and critic Hannah Shaw-Williams saw the flick there and loved it. She loved it so much that she called it "a jolly little film." How can you say no to that?
We have a spoiler review of Halloween Ends right here from critic Anya Stanley. It praises the film's big swings but argues it also doesn't give Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode the ending she deserves.
Critic Lex Briscuso says that My Policeman is visually stunning but is lacking in terms of how it adapts Bethan Roberts' novel.
In her review of Return to Seoul, critic Hoai-Tran Bui says the film "captures the ineffable angst of not belonging, yet always yearning to belong."
Features and Exclusives
As I mentioned above, I am pro-Halloween Ends. Yes, the movie goes to strange places and makes decisions that are much different from what we expect from this series. But I argue that big, weird swings are part of what makes the Halloween franchise so special.
Speaking of Halloween Ends, here's every main character in that movie ranked from worst to best.
I Know What You Did Last Summer just turned 25, so if you remember seeing it in theaters, congrats! You're old! The latest Tales From the Box Office looks back at how the film rode the '90s slasher craze to success.
Here's a look at how Pinhead from Hellraiser has evolved from 1986 through 2022.
40 Years Later, this exclusive E.T. featurette examines Steven Spielberg's inner child.
Video of the Day
Today's very silly Video of the Day features the trailer for Maximum Overdrive. Maximum Overdrive is the only movie Stephen King ever directed, and the fact that he's never helmed a movie again probably gives you a hint of how that went. The production was notoriously fraught, and the end result, a film about sentient trucks (and soda machines) killing people is ... not great. But this trailer, in which a bearded King is front and center and promising to "scare the hell" out of audiences, is golden.