Pretty much everyone has seen this movie, so I won't talk too much about it. Watching it now, it's still really good. It doesn't really feel dated or anything. Just a good, smart slasher movie. For better or worse, this really did help to reinvent the genre.
Rating: 5 stars
Great opening (featuring Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett-Smith)...even if that opening involves people acting in a movie theater in a way in which people would never act in a movie theater: people running around in Ghostface masks, fake stabbing people. People chasing each other around. It was a theater experience that I have never seen, and it begs the question of whether Wes Craven has ever actually set foot inside of a theater. Other than that, I really liked it.
This pretty much carries on the same tradition of the first one. The main characters are still there, and they're dealing with a copycat killer (or killers). Randy is still around to spell out the rules for a sequel. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as the original. It's still smart, but there are times when it seems like they're trying to make it too smart...which is a trend that carries forward to the next two movies.
Rating: 4 stars
Unexpected actor sighting: Aside from Epps and Pinkett-Smith, this movie also has Sarah Michelle-Gellar, Timothy Olyphant, Joshua Jackson, Heather Graham, Luke Wilson, Portia de Rossi (Lindsey Bluth!) and Rebecca Gayheart.
This one takes place on the set of one of the Stab movies. Sidney is off in hiding somewhere, but, of course, Ghostface tracks her down and she is forced to rejoin the world. She finds herself smack dab in the middle of more murders, and this time they're taking place on the set of a Stab movie...and the set looks exactly like Woodsboro, complete with a recreation of Sidney's house. People start dying in the same order as the script. The only problem is the fact that there are at least 4 different copies of the script running around, so no one knows who the next victim is.
It's good. And even if Randy's ominous line of, "Anyone, including the main character, can die. This means you, Sid. I'm sorry," never really leads to anything, it's still a darn good movie.
Rating: 4 stars
Unexpected actor sighting: Parker Posey (always one of my favorites), Emily Mortimer, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Jenny McCarthy, Carrie Fisher and Jay & Silent Bob.
Scream 4
We went and saw this last Friday, which was kind of fun, because there was a tornado warning while we were in the theater, which led to thoughts of, "We might die while watching Scream 4." It was a risk I'm glad we took.
The openings of these movies are always fantastic (Drew Barrymore in the first, Epps/Pinkett-Smith in the second, and Cotton Weary in the third), and this one was more of the same. I loved the opening. This movie is almost worth seeing just for the opening alone.
Thankfully, the rest of the movie was good, too. It had been 10 years (and 7 Stab movies) since the events of the third movie, and Sidney is back in Woodsboro to promote her new self-help book (her agent is played by the terrific Alison Brie, which I loved). Of course, Ghostface shows up and begins killing. Dewey and Gale are still there....married, but facing some issues. There is also an influx of high school kids, including Sidney's cousin.
There are moments where it seems like it's trying to be a bit too smart, but it's never really too distracting. Also, as I covered before, you kind of knew what you were going to be getting with this movie. When a new movie in a series comes out 10 years after the last one, red flags are (naturally) raised. Luckily, there is no cause for concern in this case. While none of the sequels quite measure up to the original, they're all still darn good movies, and this is the same. A good solid slasher movie. Sometimes, that's all you need.
Rating: 4 stars
Unexpected actor sighting: Kristin Bell (love her), Anna Paquin, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody and Anthony Anderson.
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