Screaming Sunday - Eli

Movie rating: 63/100
Plot:  A boy receiving treatment for his auto-immune disorder discovers that the house he's living in isn't as safe as he thought.
The heroes: Eli, a boy who may be on his way to getting cured...or murdered.
The antagonists: Ghosts? Doctors? His parents?
Best scene: The last 15 minutes, which are very surprising.
Oh-oh something's not right line: The decontamination chamber is our only way in or out.
What makes it so great? This had the advantage of me watching it directly after Wounds, another horror film that landed on Netflix last Friday. While Wounds was terrible, Eli is quite a decent horror flick with really crazy last act and I always love it when films are at its strongest just before the ending. It also has pretty great cast - Kelly Reilly and Lili Taylor are here, along with Sadie Sink who plays Max on Stranger Things. Sink plays the character here exactly the same way she plays Max, but it's cool to see her outside the show. The film is nothing tremendously unique but it is worth watching for the last few scenes alone.

Screaming Sunday - Ready or Not

Movie rating: 93/100
Plot:  A bride's wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.
The heroes: One very unlucky but brave and capable bride.
The antagonists: Her in-laws.
Best scene: The ending.
Oh-oh something's not right line: You'll have to hide better than that.
What makes it so great? Boy, between this, Us and Parasite the rich are really getting quite the beating this year, huh? This is the most entertaining and creative horror film since The Cabin in the Woods and the most surprising horror script since Get Out. It's hilarious, twisted and so much fun. At 90 minutes run time it's a really engaging movie and Samara Weaving's Grace is a fantastic heroine - resourceful, brave, funny and relatable.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

(spoilers!)

6 years after the finale of Breaking Bad we got the sequel focusing on Jesse Pinkman. I was worried how it will turn out, given how perfect the last shot of Jesse in the series' finale was. A lot of people are complaining that El Camino wasn't necessary. No, it wasn't. But that didn't make it any less enjoyable.

Screaming Sunday - Crawl

Movie rating: 79/100
Plot:  Against all logic, the competitive swimmer, Haley (Kaya Scodelario), drives into the mouth of a furiously destructive Category 5 hurricane on a collision course with her hometown of Florida, to check in on her estranged father, Dave (Berry Pepper). There, in their weather-beaten house amid a rapidly sinking and alligator-infested town, Haley and her father find themselves trapped in the labyrinthine mess of their flooded crawl space, where a merciless pair of six-metre predators is silently stalking them. Now--as Haley and Dave are gasping for air in the claustrophobic basement--only their will to survive can help them stand a chance against the scaly adversaries' powerful jaws. Can they escape without getting eaten alive?
The heroes: A girl, her father and his dog.
The antagonists: Bloodthirsty alligators. And seriously, the Hargans and Pennywise have nothing on those toothy motherfuckers. They are savage.
Best scene: Honestly the whole movie is a bit over 80 minutes long and it's a series of exciting and very well done scenes.
Oh-oh something's not right line: There's two of them!

Saturday TV Special: 20 best moments in Breaking Bad

We are now only 6 days away from the follow up to one of the most acclaimed TV series of all time, Breaking Bad. I wasn't a big fan of finale, which I wrote about at length after it aired. The rewatch did make me appreciate it a bit more but it fixed none of its many problems. So for me this is like another chance to give the series the proper ending. There's the risk they will mess it up - especially since the shot of Jesse laughing as he was driving away was just so, so perfect - but to quote someone else on letterboxd - I hope Vince Gilligan won't fuck us on this.

Visual Parallels: The Witch + Midsommar

The Witch and Midsommar have a lot in common - they both came from A24, they are directed by young, promising directors and they are both led by an incredibly talented young actress - the world was introduced to Anya Taylor - Joy in The Witch and Florence Pugh's breakthrough role came in Midsommar.