Movie Night - Halloween 2021

Halloween isn’t really celebrated here in The Netherlands, but I wished it was. Because I love it and everything about this holiday. Like las year, my brother and I had a Halloween movie night.
 
This year we again chose three films. All horror, but three very different films.
 
My brother Frank has seen some of the most obscure films in the genre and is an expert when it comes to scary films.
 

Videodrome (1983)
The first film we watched was “Videodrome”. I once gifted it to my brother after searching for it for a long time. I bought it from a guy for only a few euros. And I actually never saw this movie before. Max Renn is the boss of a soft-porn station and stumbles upon a repulsice collection of sex, torture and violence at pirate station Videodrom. Watching these images results in a brain tumor, after which Max starts to mic up fiction and reality. One of the weirdest horror films I have ever seen, but I understand the cult-status it has gained over the years. Check out my full review HERE
 

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
The second movie of the night was a film that I have in my collection, but my brother had never seen. This Iranian vampire film is a boldly rendered pop fantasy about an America that exists only in movies. Director Ana Lily Amirpour loves a backward America populated by misfits and outsiders. Elderly heroin junkies, dealers, prostitutes and an Iranian James Dean roam deserted streets, along with the one veiled vampire girl who wanders the streets of fiction ghost town Bad City at night. A different take on the vampire film. You can check out my full review HERE
 

Doghouse (2009)
The last film is a personal favorite of both of us. A fairly unknown British horror comedy, with no subtlety whatsoever. A group of friends from London decide to spend a weekend in the idyllic town Moodley, to cheer up their pall Vince who is going through a divorce. Their goal is to get drunk and party all night and it’s rumored Moodley has more women than man. But it turns out that the only ones left behind are indeed women, but they are thirsty for their flesh. Zombie flick with British humor. Love it. HERE is my full review. 
 
This year wasn’t as scary as last year, but it was a fun theme night.

Movie Night - Fairytales

If dragons weren’t magical enough, I decided to stick with the fantasy theme but specified it with fairytales.
 
I watched all three movies on my own.
 

The first film I watched was a rewatch: the live-action version of “Beauty and the Beast”. I really love this film, even though the classic Disney animation is still much better and my absolute favorite when it comes to Disney films. I did like some of the new songs they added and I believe Emma Watson did a great job as Belle. The only thing I didn’t like was how they made Lumiere look. So weird. Check my review HERE
 

Number two was a Disney animation, that has been on my watch list for a long time. And I don’t know why I waited so long to watch this, because I loved it. It’s “Tangled” and it’s a classic tale, with a satirical tone. And I love the bright colors. The songs are really good and my favorite scene is the one where Rapunzel and Flynn are in the boat with all those lanterns. Gorgeous! Check my review HERE
 

The final film is another live-action Disney film. And it’s more of a fairytale retelling. “Maleficent” already has a sequel, which I don’t think I will ever watch. I did enjoy this movie, mainly because Angeline Jolie is so fantastic. But other than that, the film could have been so much better I wished Disney had taken more risk by making the film way darker. Check out my review HERE
 
I enjoyed watching all three film, but “Tangled” was my definite favorite of this movie night.  

Movie Night - Dragon Movies

Since I finally wanted to check out “Raya and the Last Dragon” I decided to make it a dragon themed movie night.
 
I watched all three movies on my own.
 

The first film I watched was the “Raya and the last Dragon”. And I loved it. Disney didn’t disappoint. It has been streaming on Disney+ for a while, but we had to wait to watch it for free. And it was worth the wait. Tuk Tuk was such a cute character and Raya is yet another strong female Disney character that isn’t a damsel in distress. Check out my review HERE
 

Number two was a rewatch. A movie from my childhood: “The NeverEnding Story”. A movie that both traumatized me and gave me good memories as a child. I used to refer to it as ‘that movie with the flying dog’, which we all know is a luck dragon. The film isn’t timeless, it hasn’t aged well. But for nostalgia sake it’s still one of my favorites. Check out my review HERE
 

The last movie was one brought by Netflix. “Wish Dragon”, doesn’t stand out as original, because it has many similarities with “Aladdin”. But it didn’t bother me, since I never really liked Aladdin anyways. “Wish Dragon” I did enjoy, I really loved the friendship between Din and Li Na and also Din and the dragon Long. Check out my review HERE
 
I liked all three films and I really liked doing a more specific theme for a movie night this time.

Movie Night - Pixar Movies

When I was visiting my best friend, her kids gave me the movie “Wall-E” which they had borrowed to watched. That gave a genuine urge to rewatch it. So I decided to make a movie night out of it and watch three Pixar movies. Besides this rewatch, I picked another that I haven’t seen in a long time. Plus one I hadn’t seen yet.  
 
I watched all three movies on my own.
 

The first film I watched was, of course, “Wall-E”. My other friend was bored the first twenty-something minutes, since there is no spoken dialogue whatsoever. I think this is the best part of the film, because it’s so unique from any other Disney/ Pixar film we’ve had. And Wall-E is super adorable. Such a cute robot. And I love his connection with EVE. Read my full review HERE
 

The second film was a first-timer: “Onward”. Set in a mythical world, which turned into a more modern word where all magic has been forgotten. I really loved the message the film gave us and really felt the connection between Ian and Barley. Not one of Pixar’s best films ever, but a movie they can be proud of. Read my full review HERE
 

My favorite of tonight was “The Incredibles”. I love that Pixar took on the superhero theme with an entire superhero family. I believe they should have stuck with this movie, no sequel, even though I also liked that movie. But this film is so cool and I hadn’t seen is for so long. You can read my full review HERE
 
What are some of your favorite Pixar movies? Mine is actually “Monsters Inc.”, which I do need to rewatch too someday.

Movie Night - Monster Movies

I was in the mood for a movie night. I already knew one movie I wanted to watch, so I had to think of a theme. I went with monster movies, which I’m a sucker for. I chose three completely different types of monster movies. I won’t review them here, but will give you links to the reviews of the movies we viewed.
 
I watched all three movies on my own.
 

The first film I watched was the one that gave me this theme idea: “Love and Monsters”,  starring Dylan O’Brien. It’s a new release and it just came out on Netflix. It’s a super fun film, a movie I enjoyed even more than I thought I would. It’s a film I would most definitely rewatch someday. Check out my review HERE
 

Number two is a rewatch. A movie best viewed on the big screen, which I did the first time around. “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” recently dropped on Netflix and I immediately knew I was going to watch it again. Everything you wish for in a Godzilla movie. And the perfect preparation for the upcoming “Godzilla Vs. Kong”,  which I’m super excited for and hope to see as soon as cinemas reopen. Check out my review HERE
 

Save the best for last they say. Well, not in this case. I picked “Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid” after scrolling through Netflix for quite some time. This movie is terrible. It’s a sequel to “Anaconda” from 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez, which was already not a very great movie. And this is just a piece of shit. Check out my review HERE
 
So, I loved two out of three. Not bad. What are some of your favorite monster movies, let me know!

Scary Movie Night - Halloween 2020

Halloween isn’t really celebrated here in The Netherlands, but I wished it was. Because I love it and everything about this holiday. I usually have a scary movie night on Halloween, but I never really shared anything about it on my blog. This year I will. And I will do more of these in the future, whenever I have a themed movie night. My favorite kind of ‘party’ to host.
 
This year we chose three films. All horror, but three very different films. I won’t review them here, but will give you links to the reviews of the movies we viewed.
 
My scary movie night partner in crime this year was my brother Frank, who is a horror fan and has seen some of the most obscure films in the genre and is an expert when it comes to scary films.
 

The first film we watched turned out to be the most shocking and heavy one of them all: “Sinister”, starring Ethan Hawke. The film shines because of its suspense and tension build-up and had some really big, effective jump scares. I realized that my heart rate went way up when I watched “Sinister”. Check out my review HERE .
 

Number two was a rewatch and a personal favorite for both of us: “Fright Night”. The original version from 1985, with Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge. This film is not so much scary, but extremely entertaining, funny with horror elements and a great 80s throwback. It was a nice change from the heavy material we saw before. Check out my review for “Fright Night” HERE .
 

We finished with a movie I had never seen, but is one of Frank’s favorite horror movies of all-time. And I think a favorite for most horror fans: “Hellraiser”. This is scary because of the gore. It’s a body horror film with pretty disturbing and bloody images. Also very eighties. You can read my review HERE .
 

I was a fun scary movie night, with some real good scares. What did you watch on Halloween?