Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Movie Review

TL;DR – While it does not hit nearly as hard 40-years later, it was still a fun ride from start to finish, if you can get through all the mess.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Beetlejuice appears from the mist.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

While you should never say Beetlejuice’s name three times, today we are in luck because we are looking at the sequel which is just Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. However, delving back into the past and trying to find a sequel after 40-odd years since the first outing is a potentially fraught endeavour. Can you capture what made the first Beetlejuice a hit all those years ago? Well, that is what we will look at today.

So, to set the scene, in the many years since Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) helped the Maitland ghost’s out she has become a mother, and a host of a very popular ghost show called Ghost House with Lydia Deetz. However, every now and again, out of the corner of her eye she sees a man with green hair and striped suit. Lydia was in the middle of taping one of her shows with her producer Rory (Justin Theroux) when she gets an urgent call from her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara). Her father has been killed and the whole family is going back to Winter River for the funeral, including Lydia’s mostly estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who does not believe that her mother can commune with the dead. Mourning for the dead can be a difficult process, but when mysterious woman called Delores (Monica Bellucci) appears in the afterlife killing souls and sending Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) into hiding. Well, a fortunate timed funeral could be just what he needs to connect with his almost wife from all those years ago.

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Memory – Movie Review

TL;DR – An interesting concept let down by sloppy execution.     

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film

bullet smashes through a window.

Memory Review

As we gallop towards the end of the year, it is time to catch up with the films I had missed along the way. The first of these is Liam Neeson playing an assassin with early onset Alzheimer’s, and while that is a set-up that is at the very least intriguing.

So to set the scene, Alex Lewis (Liam Neeson) is a hitman for hire and has no compunction murdering a son while his mother sits in her hospital bed, unable to do anything but watch. The only issue is that he has early onset Alzheimer’s, a problem in his line of work where there is no such thing as retirement. This all comes to a head when Alex is tasked to take out Ellis Van Camp (Scot Williams) in El Paso, Texas. However, he didn’t know the next target was Beatriz Leon (Mia Sanchez), a young sex-trafficking victim, who should be off-limits. But you don’t say no to people like this.        

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Movie Review – Spectre

TL;DR – Not as good as Skyfall in any real respect, but much better than Quantum of Solace

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Spectre. Image credit: MGM/Sony.

Review

If I had been reviewing Spectre right after Quantum of Solace I think I would have been much more favourable to it, simply because any Bond film has to be better than that mess. However, between now and then we’ve had Skyfall, which ditched all the story baggage they had been building upon for a standalone Bond adventure and it was a much better film. Alas Spectre decides you know what’s good let’s go back to all that lore we were building up ‘cause you know what people loved that. Ok look it is not that bad, there are some really great moments, there is just a lot of faff you have to get through as well.

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