Praise4Media #59 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (A Strange Halloween 2)

Children with powers, a familiar game

But this film does not have an X in its name

They still need a home, one hidden from sight

But all will change on this all Hallows night

A boy in grieving, another cliché

His adventures will help him find his way

We enter the house of Mrs Peregrine

It’s a peculiar night on a Strange Halloween

My, does this feel like a Rage Issues callback. Quite a lot of familiar faces in this one, and a few that will become familiar faces soon enough. Mrs Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was based on a book (I feel like we’re starting adaptation month 2 weeks early) by Ransom Biggs. Adapting it to screenplay is Jane Goldman, who has worked on several projects covered through Rage4Media, including X-man First Class and Days of Future Past (aka the good ones) and the Kingsman movies.

Bruno Delbonnel is the cinematographer and did the same for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Darkest Hour. And in the directors chair we have Tim Burton, who you might remember from my early Batman reviews. I’m still not a major fan of Burton’s work, his unique visual style needs suitable projects and they’re not always the projects he ends up doing. I’ll come back to this in my eventual Dumbo review. Either way though, I do credit him for helping revitalise Batman’s image in the 80’s and several of his more independent projects are enjoyable.

Still, the film ended up doing decently, earning just shy of $300m at the Box Office on its $110m budget, although it had a mixed response critically with a 64% Rotten Tomatoes Critic Rating and a 60% audience rating with average scores of 5.93/10 and 3.49/5 respectively. Let’s take a look and see where things go.

Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 9-10 - For Pete's Sake/The Main Ingredient

We’re back with more Luke Cage, and things are beginning to pick up. In the last set of episodes, Bushmaster stole all of Mariah’s money and the club, leaving her on the run without a lawyer as he prepares to finish the job. Misty’s head of police but with the station compromised, her only option is to call in a favour from Danny.

Praise4Media #58 - The House with a Clock in its Walls (A Strange Halloween 2)

A clock on the wall is always heard

But a clock in the wall seems rather absurd

The noise it makes will drive you mad

And could be a countdown to something bad

An orphaned child, innocent and bright

Comes into a house on a dark, long night

If the mystery is solved is still to be seen,

But we visit this house on A Strange Halloween

The House with a Clock in its Walls is based on the 1973 novel written by John Bellairs of the same name. I haven’t read the book, but give me a break, I’m going to be doing a bucketload of adaptations very shortly and I’ve got a lot of reading to do as it is. Adapting the film to screenplay is Erik Kripke who’s only film writing credit was Boogeyman, which was lambasted by critics. He’s gone on to help run acclaimed shows like Supernatural, Revolution and Timeless and also the comic series Jacked… I have never read Jacked and the general premise does not appeal to me.

Directing the project is Eli Roth, who has experience as a screenwriter, producer and director of various things, sometimes all at once. The film was financially successful, making $131m on its $42m budget, but was less of a hit with audiences and critics with 66 and 45% ratings and average scores of 5.98/10 and 3.12/5 respectively. So, where do I stand on this? Let’s take a look.

Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 episodes 7-8 - On and On/If it ain't rough it ain't right

Well, the last episodes of Luke Cage were interesting, Mariah’s got it coming on from all sides. Luke wants to use Piranha to get the cops involved, Bushmaster wants him to steal her fortune, and Comanche is trying to convince Shades his involvement with her is a bad idea, we ended with Bushmaster cheating in a fight and Luke drowning.

RageLite Review - Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster (Summer) Vacation (A Strange Halloween 2)

After 2 Hotel movies, they’ve run out of steam

And needed the action set someplace pristine

A mockery of sorts to Sandler’s film schemes

He films for a holiday with friends, so it seems

A major departure could shake up the game

New prospects for jokes, that aren’t kinda lame

Only the third film is yet to be seen

It’s a Monster Vacation on a Strange Halloween

Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation or Summer Vacation for the Americans reading this was released in 2018 and despite being released in the summer, usually a fairly crowded movie period, it earned $580m on an $80m budget. Why did Spider-verse only make $375m again?

New team of writers, Genndy Tartakovsky, who has experience with CW cartoons including favourites like Samurai Jack, he also directed both of the previous movies so knows this franchise pretty well, Michael McCullers joins him. His most recent other works include Boss Baby, *sigh* and he’s apparently working on Shrek 5, be prepared for when that comes out, eventually. Still, he seems to have experience with comedy which should be good for this, right?

When it comes to critical response, more critics seem to like it than the audience, that isn’t unheard of (see the reaction to The Last Jedi, which I still enjoy btw) but whilst the critic score averages out at 5.45/10, the audience score averages 3.2/5, so is this the best of worst one yet? Let’s take a look.

Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 5-6 - All Souled Out/The Basement

So, in the last batch of Luke Cage episodes, not a lot happened. I mean a few things happened. Claire left, Misty got over her funk, Luke’s ego has lead him to being served a lawsuit and Bushmaster kicked his ass, but this was nearly 2 hours. I guess Mariah is up to some things too but nothing important, yet.

RageLite review - Hotel Transylvania 2 (A Strange Halloween 2)

A Hotel for monsters, cliché, what a bore

But something about it left folks wanting more

Was it the crisp animation, fluid and quick

Or was it the story, that thought makes me sick

The child of Dracula meets the guy of her dreams

But true love is not always as it seems

Will the sequel zing, a love that is true?

A Strange Halloween: Hotel Transylvania 2

Hotel Transylvania 2 came out in 2015, with much of the same cast and crew as the first one, the only difference I can see is in the writers. Before, Robert Smigel and Peter Baynham wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Todd Durham, and Dan and Kevin Hageman, this time Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel wrote the story themselves.

The movie was successful, making $473m on a $80m budget but that doesn’t mean it faired any better critically, it didn’t.

Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 3-4 - Wig Out/I Get Physical

Thanks to the heatwave and several other things going on in my life, it’s been a few weeks since I last talked Luke Cage, it isn’t for you though, so let’s dive right into…

RageLite review - Hotel Transylvania (A Strange Halloween 2)

A Hotel for monsters, a novel idea

Told again and again, for all to hear

Comedians notorious brought into the fray

For a comedy, light-hearted, make of that what you may

3 films have been made, all profitable too

But those that rated it highly were few

So how do they rank among the films I have seen?

Find out as we resume A Strange Halloween

Hotel Transylvania was an idea created by Todd Durham, a comedy writer mostly known for skits and sketches. He created a bible with various idea for characters, plots, theme park rides and such, and sold it to Sony, who saw $$$ in this project and green-lit it. And despite the films themselves getting mixed reception and making but not Disney levels of money at the box office, the franchise, as a whole, has been massively successful, making billions of dollars for Sony.

So, for the first 3 weeks of A Strange Halloween 2 (I’m gonna keep my Luke Cage reviews going for now) we’ll be looking at what goes on in this hotel of Horror. Let’s start with the first film.