Sweetheart's Script Can't Quite Balance Monster Mayhem With Human Drama

We get about five or six Blumhouse Productions movies a year that get major theatrical releases, the likes of Get Out, The Purge and Halloween (2018) but what about the rest of Blumhouse's annual output? The Jason Blum-run production outfit actually releases more films annually than you might realize, they just end up getting way less prolific direct-to-video bows after brief film festival runs. Such a fate is the one seen by their 2019 feature Sweetheart, a new directorial effort hailing from J.D. Dillard, the filmmaker behind the 2017 film Sleight. After debuting at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, Sweetheart basically vanished before getting dropped on digital retailers in October (currently, there is no physical home video release for the title).

The Battle Of Algiers Is A Grim Look At The Enduring Nature Of A Resistance

One of the best things about watching a number of older foreign motion pictures is that many of these titles offer me the chance to explore aspects of other countries histories that I have only heard about passing or never even knew existed, Jean Renoir's The Rules Of The Game was a good example of this, a 1939 motion picture that clued me in on the societal issues of that day and age in France. The subject of this movie review, the 1966 film The Battle Of Algiers, is another strong example of this phenomenon, centering itself on an eight year long North Africa conflict that I had no idea even transpired.

There's Something Strange Afoot On Shutter Island

The 2010's have shown a lovely amount of versatility on the part of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese. He's examined the levels of excess rich white dudes can get away with in America in The Wolf Of Wall Street, confronted experiencing a crisis of faith in Silence and he found time to make Hugo, a 3D family movie that also served as a homage to one of cinema's earliest pioneers, George Melies. Before all of those though, he kicked off the decade with a horror/thriller starring long-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio entitled Shutter Island, which became the directors second biggest movie of all-time at the domestic box office.

Note About Future Reviews: Welcome To The Sight & Sound Voyage!

This is just a brief notice that I've deiced to (after seeing former Dissolve critic Matt Singer suggest people do this in the New Year) undertake the challenge of watching all of the films in Sight & Sound's Top 50 Movies Of All-Time list that I have not watched in a series of reviews I hereby dub The Sight & Sound Voyage! There are currently 36 movies to go and I'm excited for the wide variety of motion pictures that lie ahead of me. Here is a list of the 36 movies I still have to go, which comes from Wikipedia:

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
The Searchers (1956)
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
8½ (1963)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
L'Atalante (1934)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Late Spring (1949)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Persona (1966)
Mirror (1975)
L'Avventura (1960)
Contempt (1963)
The Godfather (1972)
Ordet (1955)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Stalker (1979)
Shoah (1985)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
The General (1926)
Psycho (1960)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Sátántangó (1994)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Journey to Italy (1954)
Pather 
Gertrud (1964)
Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Playtime (1967)
Close-Up (1990)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988-1998)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
La Jetée 

As you can see, I have lots of movies to watch! These won't be the only movies I'll be watching; there's plenty of classic movies not on this list that I've rented from the library that I shall be viewing and then promptly reviewing and I'll still be covering theatrically released new motion pictures. However, this new series of reviews shall help expand my scope of cinema thusly and I hope you'll be joining me for the adventure!

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 Review

Compared to its predominately Adam Sandler led Happy Madison brethren, the original Paul Blart: Mall Cop practically stands as a triumph. While it suffers from some of the faults of its kin (indistinct directing, a supporting cast not given proper depth, etc.), it's more jovial tone was a sharp contrast to the more mean-spirited tone of the likes of Jack & Jill and Grown Ups 2,  and it's plot (people are held hostage by bad guys in mall, Blart must stop them) had an actual cohesive structure to it.