Day 279: The Darkness (2016)

Kevin Bacon became a huge star in the 80’s and 90’s after appearing in Friday The 13TH, but every now and again he would always make his return to the genre (e.g. Stir Of Echos, Flatliners, Tremors). That was definitely the case this year when he starred in his latest horror film The Darkness which is today’s film. Peter Taylor (Bacon) is a hot shot architect who seems to have everything going right for him until his family returns home from a trip at the grand canyon. Peter’s autistic son Michael (David Mazouz) may have unleashed the kind of demons that nobody wants on their case. The demons begin to slowly rip their family apart until Peter decides that the family needs help relinquishing them from their home. The film also stars Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen) as Bronny Taylor, Lucy Fry (The Preppie Connection) as Stephanie Taylor, Matt Walsh (Old School) as Gary Carter, Jennifer Morrison (Once Upon A Time) as Joy Carter, Paul Reiser (Mad About You) as Simon Richards, Ming-Na Wen (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Wendy Richards, Trian Long Smith (The Company We Keep) as Sammy, Ilza Rosario (Hands Of Stone) as Gloria, Alma Martinez (Cake) as Teresa, and the film was directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 157: The Do-Over (2016)

I was at one point a huge fan of Adam Sandler films like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, etc. Then there was a period of time where I could care less, but today’s film, the Netflix Original Film, The Do-Over, had enough buzz that I had to watch. Charlie (David Spade) is a bank manager of a bank in a supermarket who sort of lives a crappy life with a wife who doesn’t care about him and her crappy kids. An old friend Max (Sandler) offers Charlie a do-over by faking their own deaths and assuming new identities. The only problem is that the identities they take over have problems of their own that Max and Charlie may not be able to handle on their own. What are the duo to do now that they are being targeted for death? The film also stars Paula Patton (Deja Vu) as Heather, Kathryn Hahn (We’re The Millers) as Becca, Nick Swardson (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) as Bob, Matt Walsh (The Hangover) as Shecky, Renée Taylor (The Nanny) as Mrs. Kessler, Luiz Guzman (Boogie Nights) as Jorge the shooter boy, Catherine Bell (Bruce Almighty) as Dawn, Torsten Voges (Funny People) as The Gymnast, and the film was directed by Steven Brill (Walk of Shame).

This honestly has to be one of the best Adam Sandler movies in a very long time even though I was a huge fan of That’s My Boy. At first, I was trying to figure out what kind of movie were they going to present to us because it could have gone any way. They could have given us an all out party fest of two guys enjoying their new identities, but I think they went the right way because it kind of kept you guessing. There were a couple of twists and turns that I thought were clever, but at the same time I should have seen them coming. Now, I am not taking anything away from the film by saying that because it was actually enjoyable to watch. David Spade acted like he never lost a step and Sandler added some machismo to his comedy in this film being the bad ass action Jackson type. This was film number two of six I believe for Adam Sandler and his Netflix deal and they get better by the film and you can only hope that it continues with the next. One of the funniest scenes in the film comes courtesy of Luiz Guzman and I won’t spoil it for you, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Seeing Luiz in this film was one of the smartest moves the casting director made because he is hilarious. There are some great shots of the island of Puerto Rico in the film as well as some other cool shots of Georgia. The film is available on Netflix of course and I think you should check it out. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade because it’s not the best Sandler film ever, but it’s up there.