Movie Reviews and Updates! And News of Roland Yeomans.

First, a bit of sad news…

Last week I asked if anyone had heard from Roland Yeomans. I was informed he passed away last month. Roland lost everything in Katrina, relocated to another part of Louisianna, and became a rare blood courier. He lost his job earlier this year, which just devasted him. (He was in his early seventies.) He also had heart issues and went into a care center, which is where he passed away. Roland was a great writer, an IWSG anthology author, and a good friend. He was dedicated to writing and I invite those of you who never read one of his books to try one. You can find his books and audiobooks on Amazon. I think my favorite will always be The Legend of Victor Standish.

Movie Reviews

I’ve only been to the theater once this past month but I have multiple movie reviews for you.

RiffTrax Live – Time Cop

Got out to the theater for this one and well worth the price of admission.
Released in 1994 and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mia Sara, and Ron Silver, it’s actually a decent movie. Not A-class material but fun to watch.
However, despite its lack of awfulness, the guys came up with some of the best riffs ever for this film. Looking forward to seeing it again.
Not a lot of pre-movie slides, but there were some good ones:

Thunderbolts

A group of antiheroes band together after coming together in a death trap, going after the woman who sentenced them to die. Starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, and Julia Louise-Dreyfus.
This film was so much fun despite its dark material. Not a ton of surprises but you will enjoy the ride. Certainly one of the better Marvel films as of late.
And the father-daughter team of Harbour and Pugh was great to watch – definitely the best two characters.
Highly recommended!

Monster Summer

Set on Martha’s Vineyard, this film has a group of friends going up against a monster preying on children.
It’s definitely a throwback to 80’s movies with an innocent nostalgic vibe.
The kids are likeable (not annoying) but they do make some dumb decisions. (Like kids do!)
Mel Gibson is the retired police investigator the main kid entices into helping solve the mystery. Both Gibson and the kid (Mason Thames) have incidents in their past that have left them damaged and this helps bring them together.
Probably its only issue is the lack of development in some of the characters, but some of this can be blamed on its short run time. (1:37!) It was still a fun movie though.
Recommended

Greenland

An idea that’s been explored before (most notably in Deep Impact) this movie keeps it on a personal level, following just the family.
The scenes of comet pieces striking the earth are well done and realistic. The acting is solid and the actors fill their roles well. (And Baccarin is still hot at forty-six!) Overall, the movie is top quality production.
Where it failed was the stupid decisions by the leads and a complete lack of urgency. Hello, there’s an extinction level event coming in less than two days! Yet they stop and stare, take time for showers, long chats, more bad decisions – as the clock continues to tick. I’ve never heard my wife scream ‘Move!’ so many times at a movie.
If you can jet past the slow stupidity, it’s worth a watch, but I can’t recommend it.

Movie News

The Labor Day weekend box office was a bit of a surprise. Weapons retook first place but coming in right behind it was the fiftieth anniversary release of Jaws. Considering every streaming service is showing Jaws right now, it’s amazing so many would shell out the big bucks to go see it in the theater.

Sony is releasing a 4K Blu-ray version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, also for its fiftieth anniversary. The restoration is supposed to be amazing.

Twenty years after the first film, Christophe Gans is bringing us Return to Silent Hill. Coming out next January, there is now a creepy movie trailer to watch:

Have you seen any of the movies? If so, what did you think? Ever seen a RiffTrax movie? How many times have you seen Jaws in the past fifty years? And did you know Roland?