Recent Viewings, Part 2

[indianasmith]

CURSE OF THE SIN EATER (2024) - Rick is a down on his luck construction worker who lost his mom to suicide a few years before.  Hired to work on a elderly rich man's estate, he receives an offer he can't refuse:
If he will eat one meal off of the old man's body after he dies, he inherits everything - the house, the multimillion dollar fortune, the servants, all of it.
Little does he know that when he snarfs down that meal, he is eating the old man's sins . . . . and inheriting the ghosts that haunt him!
Marvelous, very creepy film!   4/5

[M.10rda]

READY OR NOT HERE I COME (2026):
No "2" or colon in the title onscreen so none in this review. This was fine, really - we pretty much enjoyed it - but we really enjoyed the original, which stands nicely on its own and didn't require a sequel. The original four writers and directors all return and make an honest, logical attempt to expand the story, yet - eh!

Perhaps one inescapable issue, at least for us but surely for others as well, is RONHIC's implausible and distracting similarity to THEY WILL KILL YOU, which was released in theaters within a week of RONHIC. In terms of plot and characters, the films are very nearly... identical! Granted, RONHIC has better ensemble acting, more consistent production values, and fewer plot holes (though it does have a few). TWKY is a less-well made film in most regards, but it does have two things that RONHIC doesn't. The less important thing is that incredible first fight scene w/ Zazie Beats raining whupass all over the cultists w/ the sawed-off and the sword - RONHIC has no one scene that's quite as much fun.

The more significant advantage is that TWKY, for all its jank and cheez, actually feels like it has something real (and angry) to say about race and class. Comparatively RONHIC is escapist fantasy, and though I feel affinity for Samara Weaving's hapless waitress character, let's face it - she could've spared herself two movies of trouble by not getting engaged to a billionaire satanist.

Just sayin'.    3/5    Shawn Hatosy has become a really good screen creep, however - an even-better one than co-star Elijah Wood, whose entire career now seems to be playing The Creep.

[M.10rda]

I added a couple words to THEY WILL KILL YOU's title in my original post so I guess that doesn't speak highly of that film being memorable, either.       A very quick one:

OH WHAT A KNIGHT! (1928):
Pre-Mickey Disney short w/ Willie's contemporary "Oswald the Rabbit", another proto-Mickey/proto-Bugs. He's just Mickey but he's a rabbit, he's got a mule-ish friend who is sort of Goofy or Pluto, and he has a cute girlfriend who's a cat (so Advantage: Oswald). She's trapped in a tower and protected by a big mean knight ("Pete" in a suit of armor) as well as an enormous lion (her dad, maybe?). This is a refreshing slice of pre-code animation where characters can lose their clothes briefly, the bad guy can get stabbed repeatedly in the @$$, and if Muufy's tail is bitten off by an alligator, he can just pull it right back out to full length again. (Phew.)     3.5/5    Entirely pleasant.