My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

My apologies; I meant to keep this Studio Ghibli marathon going every day, but I found myself super busy the last few days.  But I'm finally free to continue!  Today, we'll be looking at their third official film, My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

SYNOPSIS:
10-year old Satsuki (Dakota Fanning) and 4-year old Mei (Elle Fanning) move out to the countryside with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother.  While exploring their new home, they come across several spirits of the forest whom they befriend.

REVIEW:
Just a forewarning, there will be some spoilers in this review, just because this film is mostly a day in the life of two children, without very much conflict or drama.  It's hard to not spoil a film where the most interesting turn of events is literally the climax of the film and its last-minute resolution.

As I mentioned in my previous review, this film originally released as a double-feature with Grave of the Fireflies (1988).  It was a fun and light-hearted story written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, as opposed to the dark and tragic story of his Studio Ghibli co-founder, Isao Takahata.  Both films went on to become well-known classics.  Studio Ghibli actually derives its famous logo from the Totoro's of this film.

A classic and globally-recognizable logo comes from this film!

As with a lot of Studio Ghibli films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this takes place in an simpler era.  Not too far into the past, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was in the early 20th century.  It takes place out in the Japanese countryside, so it could just be that their technology is a bit behind the times, but our only examples of technology we see in this film is an old-fashioned truck, a motorcycle, and an old-timey phone.

This phone alone dates this film to a long-ago era.

The house that the kids and their father move into is an old traditional Japanese home, but it's a bit run down.  It has rotting pillars and needs a lot of cleaning to make it livable.  The girls find soot sprites living in the house, which decide to float off into the forest once the family settles in.  We'll see these soot sprites again in the film Spirited Away (2001).

A classic fixer-upper Japanese home!

A neighboring old lady was the previous caretaker for the home and insists the kids call her Granny.  She acts as a pseudo babysitter anytime the father has to go into town.  He's a professor at a nearby university, but he seems to do a lot of work from home.  Satsuki starts attending a local school, but her sister Mei stays home with her dad, playing by herself in their yard.

While playing, Mei sees a small furry creature wandering through the yard.  She chases it and another slightly larger furry creature into the forest, where she falls into a hole in the roots of a massive tree. She comes across a giant furry creature, like the other two, napping.  She crawls onto his belly and asks his name.  When he lazily roars out, she replies, "Totoro?"  Apparently, she was trying to say "troll," but the 4-year old couldn't enunciate it well.  It works better in its original Japanese, where their phonetic pronunciation of the English word "troll" would be "to-ro-ru."  A mispronunciation of this word by a Japanese child might come out as "to-to-ro" instead.

Mei meets Totoro for the first time

These trolls, or "Totoro's," are forest spirits, living in the massive tree next to a shrine and protecting the woods.  Mei describes them to Satsuki and their father, but she can't find them again to prove they exist.  The father takes them to the nearby shrine in the forest and bows toward the massive tree, thanking the Totoro's for looking out for them.

Later, during a downpour, the kids try to bring an umbrella to their father's bus stop.  But their father is delayed and they stay alone at the bus stop past dark... until the large Totoro shows up!  They offer him an umbrella in place of the giant leaf he's wearing as a hat.  He's so excited about the umbrella, he offers them a small package of acorns and seeds.  A giant cat bus runs up to the bus stop and Totoro boards it, taking off into the night.  The girls' father arrives soon after and Satsuki excitedly exclaims that she finally got to meet Totoro!

The famous bus stop scene!

One of the nice things about this film is that the adults never tell the kids that magical or spiritual things don't exist, nor do they accuse the kids of lying when they talk about seeing fantasy creatures.  Mei and Satsuki's father tells his daughters that he believes them about the forest spirits, and even provides them with more context on the spirits.  After the children described the soot sprites, it was Granny who explained what exactly they were, speaking about them as if they were fact and not a fantasy creature.  She even claims she used to be able to see them when she was a kid.

Mei finding soot sprites in the attic.

The parenting throughout this film is excellent!  The kids' concerns are handled very well, and none of the adults are just trying to correct the surface behavior, but instead addressing the root cause of frustration and empathizing with the kids.  On top of that, the kids are realistic in their behavior.  They're not super mature and can't always logic their way through their problems.  They actually behave like real children, sometimes being unreasonable or just angry, upset, or frustrated, with no real understanding of how to properly express those feelings.

The kids get excited for their mother to come home in a few days, but then they get a telegram from the hospital stating that she's gotten sick again and will need to stay a bit longer.  This sad turn of events causes an argument between the girls.  Satsuki runs home, where she breaks down crying because she fears that her mother is going to die in the hospital.  Mei, determined to help her mother, decides to walk to the hospital herself.

Of course, the hospital is miles away and little Mei gets lost on her own.  A search party is formed to find her, and Satsuki begs the large Totoro to help out.  He calls the cat bus, which takes Satsuki directly to Mei.

The twelve-legged cat bus with the Cheshire grin. It'd be super creepy in any other situation.

Here's an interesting detail you likely missed: When Mei is found, she's sitting next to a shrine with six figures.  This represents Jizo, a Buddhist deity in Japanese folklore who is known as the protector of children.  So it's implied that Mei, while lost, is still safe and sound.

The shrine honoring the Japanese Bodhisattva, Jizo: protector of children.

Learning that Mei was just trying to get to the hospital, the cat bus changes its destination and brings the children to the hospital.  They see from a distance that their mother is lively and well, chatting with their father.  Satisfied that she'll be fine, they ride home on the cat bus.

Hayao Miyazaki based parts of this film on his own childhood with his brothers.  When he was a kid, their mother was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and suffered from it for nine years, spending most of that time in the hospital.  He's claimed that this film would've been too hard to make if the two kids were boys instead of girls, as it would've hit a little too close to home for him.

In the end credits, we see the kids being read a bedtime story by their mother.  The book she's reading is the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the troll under the bridge looks exactly like Totoro.  In case you doubted he was actually a troll.

Three Billy Goats Gruff, with a familiar-looking character under the bridge and on the back cover.

This film was originally supposed to only have one 7-year old girl as the protagonist, but Hayao Miyazaki felt the ending needed a suspenseful conflict and couldn't do it well enough with the one girl.  So he split the character into two sisters, 10-yr old Satsuki and 4-year old Mei.  They forgot to update the film poster after the change, though.  It still shows a single 7-year old girl instead of the two sisters who were in that scene in the film.

Interestingly, Satsuki is an old Japanese word for the month of May, and Mei is the Japanese phonetic spelling of the English word May.  Also, in the English dub of this film, both sisters are voiced by real-life sisters, Dakota and Elle Fanning.  This was actually Elle Fanning's first acting role ever.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a wonderful film!  It's truly a day-in-the-life style film, without much of a plot to speak of.  But the realistic interactions between the children, and the superb way the adults communicate with the children, makes it a beautifully crafted film for all ages.  It's a must-watch for everyone!

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Continuing my Studio Ghibli marathon, today we'll be looking at their second official film, the tragic tale of Grave of the Fireflies (1988).

SYNOPSIS:
In 1945, near the end of World War II, a 14-year old Japanese boy named Seita and his 4-year old sister Setsuko barely survive a firebombing from American planes.  With their home destroyed and their parents gone, they find themselves fighting for survival in the war-torn ruins of Japan.

REVIEW:
There will be spoilers in this review, mostly because the ending is essentially spoiled from the very first line of the film.  But also, because this film is very dark and tragic, and it's hard to discuss without talking about its plot more in-depth.  This is, without a doubt, the darkest Studio Ghibli film ever made, so beware if you've never seen it.  This is not the happy fantasy world of other popular Studio Ghibli works.

The film opens with a ghostly Seita, mentioning the exact date he died.  We see the lone boy, weak and fading in a public train station as people walk by him, scoffing at the filthy child on the floor.  Later, a station attendant is checking all the small bodies lying around the station. He pokes Seita and comments that he found another dead one. He finds a candy tin on Seita's body, and not being able to open the rusty tin, chucks it outside.  It pops open, spilling cremated ashes on the ground. It's retrieved by a ghostly Setsuko, who meets up with her older brother Seita, and the two board a train together, riding off while snacking on colorful candies from the tin.  The ghosts of Seita and Setsuko appear in a few other random spots throughout the film, watching over their story from afar.

A dying Seita, being denigrated by people in a train station.

The film jumps back in time to the day of the first firebombing and we witness Seita sending his mother off to the bomb shelters while he buries some food and supplies in their backyard.  He grabs a photo of his father, a proud Naval captain who is off fighting the war.  When the air raid sirens go off, Seita picks up his little sister and then runs off as the firebombs drop on their town, narrowly escaping the encroaching flames engulfing his neighborhood.

Firebombs from American planes set the whole city on fire!

He later tracks down his mother in a makeshift hospital, but she's severely injured, with burns covering her whole body.  She dies the next day and is cremated, a fact Seita keeps from his little sister.  He collects her ashes in a box, intent on burying her some day.  He tracks down their aunt in Kobe, who takes them in.  She gives them a place to stay and helps them sell some personal belongings in order to receive their own rations.  She comments how spoiled they are as a military family when Seita returns with the buried food and supplies from the ruins of his old home.  His saved supplies are more luxurious than most families can afford during that time.  He even has a tin of candies, which he gives to Setsuko to snack on.

The tin of candies for Setsuko.

Setsuko starts to annoy the aunt by crying for her mother throughout the nights.  When the aunt suggests going to the hospital with Setsuko to visit their mother, Seita confesses that their mother died shortly after the first firebombing and he didn't want to upset Setsuko with the truth.  The aunt realizes she's stuck caring for the kids; her sister is dead and won't come back to claim them one day.

The longer the siblings live with their aunt, the less gracious she becomes.  With the schools and factories all burned down, Seita has nowhere to go during the days, and his aunt accuses the two siblings of being freeloading burdens, eating them out of house and home at a time when supplies are severely rationed and limited.  She keeps telling Seita to write to other family members in Japan, hoping one of them will be able to take him and his sister in.  But he doesn't know their addresses, so he can't reach anyone.

The aunt and her family, starting to feel the burden of two more mouths to feed.

When Setsuko cries over having porridge multiple times a day and asks for rice instead, their aunt angrily demands that they should just eat separately from that day on.  Rather than apologize for his baby sister and beg forgiveness, Seita uses what little money he has to buy a pot and some dishes of their own, then proceeds to cook for himself and his sister from that day on, using up the few rations they had saved.

Tired of being treated like nothing but a burden by his own aunt, Seita finds a small abandoned mine near a pond and moves there with Setsuko, setting the place up as their new outdoor home.  They're now free to live however they want, without having to deal with society any longer!

Home sweet home...

They collect fireflies at night and let them loose in their mine, admiring all the lights glowing like stars over their head while Seita recounts stories of their father off fighting the war.  The next day, Seita finds Setsuko burying handfuls of dead fireflies outside.  She says she's making a grave for them and mentions that their aunt told her that mother's buried in a grave too.  A teary-eyed Seita promises her he'll take her to their mother's grave one day.  The grave he still hasn't dug, since he still has her ashes in a box in the mine.

Setsuko dealing with her loss via fireflies.

Seita soon discovers that surviving on their own in the wilderness is hard, especially when there's no paid work to be found.  He sells the last of his valuables to afford what little food and supplies he can, then starts stealing from homes and farms to survive.  Ironically, he's grateful for the air raid sirens because it means abandoned homes he can loot before the American planes come.

Setsuko, meanwhile, has a sweat rash that keeps spreading across her body.  Seita does his best to treat it, but it only gets worse.  When he finally gets her to a doctor, he's told it's caused by malnutrition and he just needs to feed her more nutritious food.  Not having any other option, he goes to the bank to withdraw the last of his mother's savings (7,000 yen, roughly $467 at the time).  It's here that he learns that the entire Naval fleet has been sunk and Japan has surrendered.  He realizes his father is also dead.  It's just him and his sister left now.

Upon returning to home, he finds Setsuko lethargic, unable to sit up and barely able to speak.  She weakly offers him dirt balls, insisting that he eat up.  He tells her not to worry, that he's bought her all sorts of nutritious food to eat.  But while Seita prepares her a meal, Setsuko closes her eyes, never to open them again.

Seita trying to feed watermelon to his fading sister, Setsuko.

Seita puts her in a wicker basket with her favorite doll and cremates her, putting her ashes in the empty candy tin she was always carrying around.  The film ends with a ghostly Seita sitting on a park bench, his sister Setsuko going to sleep in his lap with her candy tin, while they look out at a modern city.  Fireflies fill the sky around them.

The ghosts of Seita and Setsuko, watching over the city.

It's been suggested that the fireflies in this film have a double-meaning.  Not only do they represent the fragility of life, but they're also symbolic of the firebombing raids that struck Japan in the later days of WWII.  They also help Setsuko deal with the loss of her mother when she buries the dead fireflies.  And every time we see the two children as ghosts, they are surrounded by fireflies.  The ghosts are always shown in a reddish light, with yellow/orange fireflies all around them, like the firebombs that fell on their home.

My wife and I couldn't stop crying throughout the whole film!  We started it in English because my wife has a hard time paying attention in other languages, but the two siblings didn't sound like kids in the English dub, so we switched back to Japanese where they actually sounded like kids (The director made a point to track down age-appropriate kids to voice the lead roles).  Setsuko was so sweet and heartfelt every time she opened her mouth, it just made her suffering and pain that much more tragic to hear!  It was very difficult to get through this film.

The film is based on a semi-autobiographical short story written in 1967 by Akiyuki Nosaka, which he also titled Grave of the Fireflies.  He and his younger sister survived a WWII firebombing in Japan when they were children, and his short story recounts a lot of his experiences trying to survive the aftermath with her, although she also succumbed to malnutrition.  He wrote the short story as an apology to his kid sister, whose death he blames on himself.  He claimed he wasn't as noble as Seita in his short story, choosing to eat food as soon as he got his hands on it and only regretting not saving more for his sister afterward.  It was a very difficult time to live in, and as proud as he was for having his kid sister look up to him as her sole caretaker, he feels he failed at the role, leading to her eventual death.

Isao Takahata, one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, was moved by the short story and wrote and directed this film to honor it, feeling it would resonate with Japanese teens and 20-year olds of the '80s, who were born in the decade or two after WWII.  To this day, it's still considered one of the greatest war films of all time.

Isao Takahata insists that this film isn't an anti-war film, but rather the story of a brother and sister living a failed life, isolated from society.  It's meant to explore their tragedy, and the ongoing war in the background is just incidental; a catalyst and driving force for the plot.  However, like his Studio Ghibli partner, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata is anti-war and feared that politicians might use this film to defend the notion of war in order to protect people and their way of life.

Interestingly, this film was released as a double-feature with another Studio Ghibli film: My Neighbor Totoro (1988).  The animated kid's film, created by Hayao Miyazaki, was initially rejected and only got approved for production when it was suggested as a double-feature release with Grave of the Fireflies (1988).  Akiyuki Nosaka, the author of the Grave of the Fireflies short story, financially supported the double-feature production.  Which is fortunate, as My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is an iconic film of Studio Ghibli's.  We'll be reviewing that film tomorrow!

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) inspired the classic logo of Studio Ghibli for decades to come!

There was a live action Grave of the Fireflies film made in 2005, based on the original short story. It was made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.  Although it retells the story from the point of view of the aunt.  It shows how a kind and caring woman slowly turns bitter and cruel due to the stress of war and her obligation to her sister's kids, and how her lack of sympathy pushes them out the door to their eventual death.  I had never heard of this live action film before; I'll have to track it down and check it out sometime!  There was another live action film made in 2008 as well, but like the anime film, it just focused on the two siblings struggling to survive.

RECOMMENDATION:
This was a tragic tale of struggle and failure.  Not for the faint of heart.  I guarantee, you will be bawling by the end of this film.  But that's not to detract from its story; it's a hard look at life after personal tragedy strikes and the realistic outcome.  There's no fantasy or Ghibli magic to solve everyone's problems here; this is as close to real life as Studio Ghibli gets.  Watch this at your own risk.  Definitely don't show this to the kiddos until they're in their teens or later, especially if they have younger siblings.

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

Welcome back to my Halloween Month Movie Marathon!  As promised, today I'll be looking at the recently-released Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)!  This film literally released 3 days ago, so if you haven't seen it, go check it out on Disney+.

SYNOPSIS:
A coven of young girls light a black flame candle during the full moon on Halloween, accidentally resurrecting the Sanderson Sisters!  The three ancient witches, intent on surviving their one night alive, decide to pursue a spell that will make them the most powerful immortal witches in the world!

REVIEW:
Note: There will be some spoilers for the ending ahead.  I will mark them so you can skip over them if you like.

In my last review, I mentioned how fun the Sanderson Sisters were to watch and how I kept forgetting they're not who we should be rooting for.  This film humanized them a bit more, opening with a flashback to their childhood.  It showed how they were persecuted by the townsfolk of Salem and set off on their journey to becoming witches.  We learn that Winifred (Bette Midler) values her sisters, Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), more than anything in the world, despite treating them like a nuisance.  They were a fantastic trio in this film and once again, I felt myself caring for their plight and kind of hoping they'd get some sort of a redemption arc.

Young Sanderson Sisters about to become witches

This new film takes place in 2022, 29 years after the previous film.  Our main children are a trio of young girls who love the occult and performing Halloween rituals.  This amateur coven of witches are dealing with conflict though, as one of them has practically abandoned the others for a boy and his circle of friends.  There's a recurring theme in this film of the importance of "family," whether it be blood relations or your own circle of friends.

A young coven of witches

We're also introduced to a witch at the beginning, credited as The Witch Mother (Hannah Waddingham), which is the "mother" that Winifred continually refers to throughout Hocus Pocus (1993).  She informs the Sanderson Sisters how lucky they are to have a coven, and mentions with a sadness in her eyes that her own coven is long gone.

The Witch Mother, showing off her power

This film has a bit of a subplot concerning female empowerment.  The Sanderson Sisters were only banished from Salem because 16-year-old Winifred wouldn't marry a local boy after her father passed away, and because she refused to honor the Lord and live peacefully and respectfully among the villagers.  Her wild individualism is out of place in the mid-1600s though, and so she's persecuted for it and driven out of society.  In modern times, Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) two of the three young girls, are harassed by a boy in their class for practicing witchcraft and "being weird." They're upset at their third friend, Cassie (Lilia Buckingham), for choosing to hang out with the boy and his friends.  We also see how the women in this film constantly solve their own problems, while the men tend to be bumbling comedic fodder.  It was a nice change of pace, especially since the first film had a cringey male lead who (somehow) won the heart of the lead female.

We get another song and dance number from the Sanderson Sisters, putting a spell over a crowd.  Unfortunately, we don't get an original song like the previous film, but we get a pretty fun variant of Blondie's One Way Or Another.  The sisters find out that Mayor Traske (Tony Hale) is the descendant of Reverend Traske (also Tony Hale) who cast them out of Salem, so they bewitch a crowd to seek him out.  The modern-day mayor is oddly obsessed with getting a caramel apple on Halloween night; that's probably his biggest character arc in this film.

Bewitching a crowd with a fun song; a Sanderson special

Fun trivia: While searching for the mayor, Winifred peers in the window of a couple who are watching the original Hocus Pocus.  Specifically, the scene with the Devil (Garry Marshall) and his wife (Penny Marshall), a real-life brother & sister who have passed on since the first film.  The scene was considered a tribute to the sibling actors.

We get the return of the zombie Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones), who has apparently been resting awake in his grave for 29 years.  He claims no one properly laid him to rest after the Sanderson Sisters were vanquished, so he's just been chilling underground all this time.  We get a lot more scenes with him this time around, and his mouth is not sewn shut for most of it.  The one time he gets re-sewn, his stitches now spell KILL.  Doug Jones claimed that he got to re-wear the original Billy Butcherson wig from the first movie in this role.

A more talkative Billy Butcherson

We have another new character: Gilbert (Sam Richardson), who has turned the old Sanderson home into an occult shop.  He is very excited to meet the Sanderson Sisters, until they force him to do their bidding.  He does a lot of their dirty work, along with Billy, while the sisters spend their time seeking out revenge on the mayor.

I should note that Mary Sanderson's crooked jaw is on the other side this time.  At first, I thought it was a mirror-image print of the film poster, but I realized that her mouth gap was on the wrong side for most of the film too.  In a blink-or-you'll-miss-it scene, right after the sisters are resurrected, Winifred slaps Mary across the face, shifting her crooked jaw from one side to the other.  Kathy Najimy (who plays Mary) claims this was due to the fact that she can't really perform the crooked jaw on her right side anymore, so they came up with a canon way for her to switch sides.

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Spoilers ahead: skip the next 4 paragraphs to avoid

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I actually love the end of this film.  Winifred gets all the ingredients for her powerful spell and the three sisters perform the ritual, empowering all three of them.  Becca, one of the young girls, turned 16 on Halloween and discovers she has the gift of magic, so she attempts to fight back against the witches.  But she's no match for their new power.

However, Winifred learns the hard way to read warnings on spells: the all-powerful spell claims that which she cares for most in the world as its price.  She has to watch as her sisters evaporate in front of her eyes.  She turns to Becca in desperation, begging for a way to reunite with her sisters. She offers to give up all her power if it would bring back her sisters.  She gets her wish, and through an incantation by the young coven of friends, is sent to her sisters in oblivion.  It's not much of a redemption arc, but it's pretty close.  Maybe if there's another sequel, we'll see a slightly reformed trio of witch sisters.

The Witch Mother can shapeshift into a crow with red and yellow fringe on her wings.  We see her, not only in the beginning of the film, but a couple times in modern-day Salem, in her crow form.  When she takes human form, we see her eyes briefly glow purple.  As Winifred completes the all-powerful witch spell, her eyes also glow purple.  It's thus assumed that the Witch Mother performed the same spell herself and likely lost her coven to the spell.

Unlike the Sanderson Sisters, though, she is much more subtle of a witch and has managed to live at least 300 years undisturbed.  She claims Salem will belong to the witches one day.  Maybe she'll be a new villain in a sequel?  I would love to see the the Sanderson Sisters become white witches and fight against the Witch Mother in the next film.  It would give them the redemption arc I've always hoped for and wrap up their story nicely.

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End of spoilers

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Finally, there's an after-credits scene that leaves this film open for a potential sequel.  Don't forget to wait through the credits!

RECOMMENDATION:
Bette Midler is credited with getting this film off the ground, by harassing the studio every year about making a sequel.  She saw how popular the original film had become, so she insisted on reprising her role again.  All three Sanderson Sister actresses have agreed to come back if yet another sequel is made.  I really hope they make another one because I absolutely love these films!  Bette Midler is turning 77 years old this year, yet she, Kathy Najimy (65 years old), and Sarah Jessica Parker (57 years old) continued to bring so much energy to this film.  I need more Sanderson Sisters!  If you're a fan of the original film, you need to check out this sequel.  It was a lot of fun.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Today, we'll discuss the final Spider-Man film in the Sam Raimi trilogy: Spider-Man 3 (2007).  But this is not the end of my Spider-Man marathon.  Stay tuned for more Spider-Man film reviews after this one!  Warning: some spoilers ahead.

SYNOPSIS:
All is going very well for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) until an alien symbiote crashes to Earth and bonds with him.  It gives him improved strength while also boosting his confidence and enhancing his emotions.  But who is really in control, the man or the symbiote?  Meanwhile, an escaped convict who actually killed Ben Parker falls into a particle accelerator and becomes the powerful Sandman (Thomas Haden Church).  Peter Parker has to deal with his emotions over his Uncle Ben all over again as the Sandman runs amok in New York.  Peter also has to contend with Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), an amateur photographer who is competing to take Peter's job at the Daily Bugle.  And finally, Harry Osborn (James Franco) has discovered his father's Green Goblin experiments and is preparing himself to take on Spider-Man as the New Goblin.  If all this wasn't enough, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter Parker are having some serious relationship troubles.  Looks like Spider-Man's schedule is about to be very busy...

REVIEW:
Here is the epic conclusion of the Sam Raimi trilogy!  Sam really wanted Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard to be the villain in this film, which he had been building up to in the previous two films.  But audiences had been demanding Venom (the alien symbiote) make an appearance in a live-action film, so Sony decided to go with the fan-favorite villain.  This film is chock-full of villains this time around, though!  Venom, Sandman, and the new Green Goblin all make an appearance, leading up to a full roster and a lengthy runtime.

This film was almost split into a two-part story, but they decided to trim it down and keep it to one film.  Splitting a finale into two films hadn't quite become a trend just yet.  Spider-Man 2 (2004) was re-released as Spider-Man 2.1 with deleted scenes added back in and fans have called for a similar treatment for Spider-Man 3.  But so far, no extended or director's cut has ever come.  Originally, Sony planned to produce six Spider-Man films!  But due to creative differences between Sam Raimi and Sony, this ongoing series ended after only three.

One of my favorite scenes is when Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) is transformed into Sandman and has to learn how to fully form his body again.  It's a wordless scene with beautiful music, showing the struggle to reform and the frustration Sandman feels as he's trying to become human again.  They made Sandman a very sympathetic character. In the original Spider-Man comics, he started out a generic villain who eventually, over a very long time, became a sort of antihero.  In this film, they showed him as a misunderstood character who only did bad things to help his dying daughter.

The CGI to render all the living sand effects did not exist when production started on this film, but through a lot of hard work and tight deadlines, programs were developed that were able to simulate the effects.  I remember being absolutely floored by the visual quality of it in theaters, and it holds up especially well, even today.

Stan Lee actually got a speaking role in his cameo this time!  He showed up to spout some advice to Peter Parker on the streets of New York.  His two previous cameos were so quick, you had to be looking carefully to see them.  This would be the start of his more direct cameos in Marvel superhero properties.

Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi's friend and former star of his Evil Dead trilogy, also made another cameo in this film.  He played a French host at a fancy restaurant Peter invited Mary Jane to.  Peter planned a proposal to Mary Jane, which the French host was very excited to help with.  He got a more involved and silly role this time, which helped undercut the serious conversation between Peter and Mary Jane.

While Peter Parker is having a good time, settling into his role as the beloved superhero of New York, Mary Jane spends the film dealing with nothing but bad luck.  She loses her acting career and catches Spider-Man giving Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) a public upside-down kiss - the kiss that defined Mary Jane's relationship with Peter in the first Spider-Man film.  Every time she tries to talk to Peter, he dismisses her frustration and then turns the conversation back on himself without properly listening to her.  Their relationship is a mess throughout this film because they just don't communicate with one another!  Not only is Peter not listening to Mary Jane, but Mary Jane is just shutting down and not making an effort to effectively communicate back. It's very frustrating to watch.

Gwen Stacy, a fan-favorite love interest for Spider-Man, is introduced in this film as a damsel in distress, saved by Spider-Man.  She's the daughter of the chief of police and happens to be dating Eddie Brock; although she ends up leaving Eddie for Peter later on.  When she presents Spider-Man the key to the city, there's a full parade going on and you hear the old 1967 cartoon Spider-Man's theme playing from a full band nearby the stage.  Finally, a complete Spider-Man theme in a live-action film!

Did I mention that Peter is VERY egotistical in this film?  Tobey Maguire plays a very socially awkward and cringey Peter Parker, but he dialed it up to 11 for this particular film. All right, let's talk about it: the embarrassingly cringey dance scene with "emo Peter."  As I re-watched this awful scene, I noticed that girls are cringing away from him, not impressed or wowed by him.  I think what makes the scene especially awkward is that there's no music playing in the scene itself, it's just emo Peter dancing to - supposedly - music in his head.  We, the audience, can hear it, but in the scene itself, he's just dancing to nothing.  If there was a street performer playing some music that he was dancing to, it would be at least 50% less cringey to watch.

For the longest time, I just hated emo Peter in this film, but upon watching it again now, I realize it's the Venom symbiote that's enhancing his negative emotions and making him a jerk to everyone.  When he finally realizes what's happening, he ditches the symbiote and becomes the superhero we recognize from the previous films.  So I'll give the extra-cringey Peter Parker a pass.  As bad as he is normally, "emo Peter" was not his fault.

In the comics, it was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 (1984) where Spider-Man got his new black costume on an alien ship in space.  But several Amazing Spider-Man issues later, he discovered it was an alien symbiote trying to bond with him and he managed to ditch the suit before it took hold of him.  It bonded with Eddie Brock as well, who became the villain known as Venom.  He really became popular with audiences in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994). In this film, after Peter ditches the symbiote, we see it immediately bond to Eddie Brock, giving us the final form of Venom from the comics.

You may have noticed I have hardly mentioned Harry Osborn (James Franco) much at all in my reviews, and that's because he hasn't really been all that important to the plot.  He's had a 3-film build-up for his character arc and it was... decent.  He was a great friend to Peter in Spider-Man (2002), even if he was secretly jealous of all the attention and affection Peter got from Harry's dad, Norman Osborn.  Then Harry spends all of Spider-Man 2 (2004) brooding over his dead father and blaming Spider-Man for killing him.  His hidden jealousy of Peter slowly starts coming out and he accuses him of protecting Spider-Man from him, assuming Peter knows who Spider-Man is because of the good Spider-Man photos Peter takes for the Daily Bugle newspaper. Upon discovering Peter IS Spider-Man, he swears revenge for his father.  He then finds his father's old Green Goblin lab and, in this final film, we see him turn himself into the New Goblin and take on Spider-Man face-to-face.  It doesn't go well for him, and when he's pretty much a depressed, hopeless mess, only THEN does his butler speak up and give proof that the Green Goblin killed himself.  Oh, thanks!  NOW you mention it, after Harry ruined his friendships and his life.  Still, the climax of the film with Harry teaming up with Peter to take on the villains was pretty cool and a satisfying conclusion to the Harry Osborn revenge arc.

RECOMMENDATION:
This was a decent conclusion to the original Spider-Man trilogy.  I would have been curious about the six-movie deal Sony had planned (they've toyed with the idea of a Sinister Six film - the team-up of famous Spider-Man villains from the comics), but I'm glad to leave Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man for other actors in the role.  At least, until I see Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) in theaters, where I suspect Tobey Maguire will be making an appearance.  My next couple reviews will be on both of The Amazing Spider-Man films, starring Andrew Garfield.  See you then!

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Continuing my Spider-Man movie marathon, today we're going to take a look at Spider-Man 2 (2004)!  Some small spoilers for Spider-Man (2002) ahead, so be aware!

SYNOPSIS:
Two years after the death of Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), his son Harry Osborn (James Franco) still blames Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire).  He has taken over his father's business and invests heavily in a local scientist named Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), who is on the brink of developing fusion power.  In order to control the dangerous power source, Dr. Octavius designs four robotic arms, attached to his spine, which grant him mental control over them.  But when his public test goes dangerously wrong, the doctor decides he will go to any length to complete his life's work.  Even if it means teaming up with Harry to eliminate the meddling Spider-Man!

REVIEW:
This is probably my favorite of the Sam Raimi trilogy. The opening credits are accompanied with scenes of the first film flashed through a spider web, wordlessly telling the story of the previous film.  A very nice way to catch up audiences who hadn't seen the first film in a while.

Throughout this film, Peter Parker struggles to deal with his double life as Spider-Man.  He's constantly late to everything (if he even shows up), he loses his job, he loses his friendship with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), he's at odds with Harry Osborn, who suspects he's buddies with Spider-Man and protecting him from Harry, and of course, he's poor and struggling just to pay rent in his new tiny apartment.  Everything is falling apart in Peter's life, and the stress and anxiety causes him to start losing his powers.  He spends a good chunk of the film powerless, even giving up the Spider-Man suit in a tribute to the famous comic storyline "Spider-Man No More" from The Amazing Spider-Man #50.  Like in the comic, someone finds the suit and brings it to J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons), who declares victory over ending Spider-Man's "reign of terror" on the city.  But when Dr. Octavius sets his sights on those important to Peter, Pete decides he needs to summon the strength to continue as Spider-Man and stop the insane doctor.

Alfred Molina does a great job being a sympathetic villain as "Doc Ock."  Rather than being a narcissistic genius villain like in the comics, he's given a decent background story.  The failure of his work, losing his wife, and being "saved" and also "ruined" by Spider-Man is enough to drive a villain, but they added an additional detail as well: his robot arms are run by an AI, which he has mental control over.  That is, until the microchip keeping them in line is broken.  Suddenly, the robot arms are mentally communicating with him and driving him to extremes in order to complete the work they were designed for.  I like how we don't hear the conversation between him and his robot arms.  I think it would've been weird if we heard something like whispered suggestions in the background.  It would have definitely distracted from the villain.

A wonderful scene with Doc Ock is shortly after his fateful accident.  He's in a hospital, about to have his robotic limbs cut off, when the limbs come alive and massacre the hospital staff in a gruesome but PG-13 manner.  It was brilliant how Sam Raimi managed to slip in a horror scene in a family action film.  He did start his directing career making horror films (the Evil Dead trilogy), so it was incredible getting a taste of the horror genre in a place we never expected to find it.  If you want to see a fascinating but in-depth analysis, check out the Nerdwriter's YouTube video on this one particular scene.  At just under 7 minutes, it's brief, but gets to the point and walks you through the terrifying action.

A hidden comic book villain in this film is Dr. Curt Connors; a.k.a. The Lizard.  He was mentioned by name in Spider-Man (2002), but we actually get to meet him here. He's Peter Parker's physics professor, and true to the comic book character, Dr. Connors only has one arm.  In the comics, he experimented with lizard DNA in hopes of growing his missing limb back, but his experiments had a nasty side-effect: turning him into an aggressive anthropomorphic lizard.  Sadly, as much as Sam Raimi wanted The Lizard in his films, he couldn't convince Sony to include the villain ("Not an interesting enough character to market toys," they said), so small scenes with Dr. Connors are all we'll get in this trilogy.

Speaking of cameos, Stan Lee returns for a brief cameo again.  In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene, we see him pulling a woman to safety before debris comes crashing to the ground.  Also, Sam Raimi's buddy, Bruce Campbell, makes another cameo.  This time, he's the doorman at the theater Mary Jane is performing at - the guy who denies Peter Parker entrance because the show already started.

Tobey Maguire continues his awkward portrayal of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in this film.  Early on, he gets a tip from Dr. Octavius that you can win a woman's heart through poetry.  So he finds a bunch of books on poetry and makes a very cringey attempt to recite some to Mary Jane, at the worst time, which she rightly shuts down.  The relationship between the two is back and forth throughout this film, with Mary Jane pursuing Peter, and when Peter decides he's going to show his affection, suddenly she's no longer interested and dating someone else.

Mary Jane actually dates an astronaut in this film, who happens to be J. Jonah Jameson's son, John Jameson.  He's a character from the original comics, who eventually becomes the villain Man-Wolf, although nothing of his comic-book character is referenced in this film, besides his name and astronaut title.  My wife and I were saying that Mary Jane should've just stuck with the astronaut.  The back-and-forth drama with Peter Parker was just so toxic and cringey, and she'd have a pretty good life as the wife of an Air Force Captain and astronaut.  But Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker were apparently destined for each other, so the audience has to sit through manufactured teen drama instead of adult conversations and real relationship struggles. Maybe we'll see better Spider-Man relationships in future films...

Twice in this film, we get to hear a street performer playing the original Spider-Man theme song, which was a more direct tribute to the old 1967 cartoon than we got in the first film.  Even if it's just a woman singing off-key while plucking a violin string.  Danny Elfman returned to perform the film's score.  In the previous film, I mentioned that the main theme song almost sounded like his original Batman theme music from the old 1989 film, before transitioning into a more unique melody.  Danny Elfman went a lot more heavy on the Spider-Man theme this time around, making it much more recognizable and impactful.

RECOMMENDATION:
If you're going to watch any part of the original Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man 2 (2004) is probably the best one.  You get a visual recap at the start to catch you up, you get enjoyable characters and story, and plenty of Spider-Man action with a more satisfying ending than the previous film.  As we'll see in the next film, there's far more interpersonal drama going on than actual Spider-Man action.  Stay tuned for the next review in my Spider-Man marathon!

No Time to Die (2021)

I promised I'd review No Time to Die (2021) back when I did my James Bond review marathon, and today it finally released!  A year and a half later than it was supposed to (which was technically already a 3-year delay from their first announcement), but better late than never.

Unfortunately, I have to mark this review as having HEAVY SPOILERS because there's no way I can talk about this film without discussing the massive elephant in the room that is the central plot and its ending.  Interestingly enough, I've had to mark the entire Daniel Craig era of films as having spoilers, since they're all one continuous storyline that build off one another.

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Daniel Craig) has resigned from active duty and is living a new life with Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux).  But the past catches up with the pair, and Bond quickly finds himself thrust back into the fray.  His fellow CIA friend Felix Leiter enlists Bond's help in tracking down a missing scientist, which leads to a dark plot of global destruction!

REVIEW:
The film opens with a glance back at Madeleine's childhood, where the masked assassin Safin (Rami Malek) infiltrates her home to kill her parents, but ends up sparing her.

In the present, shortly after the end of SPECTRE (2015), Bond has quit MI6 and is trying to live a quiet, yet passionate life with Madeleine... until it blows up in his face (literally!).  He finds himself running from SPECTRE assassins and blames Madeleine for being a spy, leaking their location and plans to the organization.  Bond abandons Madeleine, swearing she'll never see him again.

I just want to note here that during Bond and Madeleine's romantic holiday, I caught a modern variation of the familiar song "We Have All the Time in the World," originally by Louis Armstrong, playing in the background.  At this moment, I got real tense because the last time we heard this song was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).  It was a common theme of that film, and also the line James Bond said about his new wife, Tracy, shortly after she was murdered by SPECTRE.  So obviously, Bond quitting the service and starting a new life with a woman... I'm starting to see a familiar plot developing here!

Five years later, Bond is now living in a lovely home in Jamaica.  It's very reminiscent of Goldeneye, the Jamaican estate that Ian Fleming, the original James Bond creator, lived in while writing his famous novels.

But one day he runs into his old CIA buddy, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright).  Felix informs Bond that a scientist has gone missing and he needs help in tracking him down.  Bond turns down the offer to get involved, until he runs into Nomi (Lashana Lynch), the new 007!  Bond's old number has been reassigned to a new 00 agent, and she informs Bond of Project Heracles, a dangerous nanobot project formerly commissioned by M and now in the hands of the missing scientist.

Nomi, the new 007!

Determined to put a stop to this dangerous plot, Bond teams up with Felix Leiter to track the scientist.  He meets up with the lovely Paloma (Ana de Armas), a new recruit for the CIA who is nervous/excited to be on her first field assignment.  But what she lacks in confidence and experience, she makes up for in skill, keeping up with James Bond when the action gets heated.

The gorgeous and highly-skilled Paloma

Upon finding the scientist, Bond discovers he's fallen into a SPECTRE trap!  Orchestrated by none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) from his prison cell.  Gas is released with the Project Heracles nanobots in it, but much to Bond and Blofeld's surprise, it kills all the SPECTRE agents instead!  The scientist switched out the DNA profile in the nanobots, killing off all agents of SPECTRE, save Blofeld himself.  A scuffle ensues, and Bond makes it out with the scientist.  But another twist!  The scientist was operating on instructions from Safin and is "rescued" from Felix Leiter and Bond.  Felix is mortally wounded in the ensuing fight, and Bond is forced to leave him to ensure his own survival.

This is the second time in Bond history that Felix has been taken out of the story permanently.  The first was in License to Kill (1989), where Felix and his new bride were captured and fed to sharks.  Felix alone survived - at least initially; his ultimate fate was never mentioned - but he was missing some of his limbs, and we never saw him again, at least not until the Daniel Craig era rebooted the franchise.

Bond is reinstated as a 00 agent with MI6 and goes to meet with Blofeld to learn more about his involvement in Project Heracles.  Much to his surprise, Madeleine is also attending the visit!  Turns out the good Dr. Swann, a psychology doctor, was the only person allowed to visit with Blofeld in the past.  But Safin has infected her with deadly nanobots and blackmailed her into using them against Blofeld, the last remaining SPECTRE member.  Bond unknowingly infects himself with the nanobots while speaking with Madeleine and accidentally transmits them to Blofeld, killing him.  But not before Blofeld revealed that it was his plan to set up Madeleine and turn Bond on her 5 years ago.

Bond and Madeleine have a tense discussion after 5 years apart

Seeking reconciliation (and a lead in this new development), Bond tracks Madeleine to her childhood home in Norway, only to discover she has a 5-year old daughter!  Little Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet) has the same piercing blue eyes as Bond, and he suspects she's his daughter.

But before they can get too comfortable, Safin seeks them out, capturing Madeleine and Mathilde!  Bond, through MI6's resources, manages to track them to an island in the Pacific.  There, Safin is mass-producing his Project Heracles nanobot poison, with the goal of infecting the world and playing god in a horrifying game of eugenics!  Bond and Nomi team up to infiltrate the island, rescue Madeleine and Mathilde, and shut down Safin's operations for good.

WARNING: The end of the film is spoiled beyond this point.  This is your last chance to walk away!

So here's where things get a little crazy.  I have heard that "We Have All the Time in the World" theme at least twice now and I'm getting really nervous, waiting for it to become highly plot relevant.  Also interesting is the song "Good to Have You Back," by Hans Zimmer. It's on the soundtrack for this film, but it's basically a somber version of the main theme for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).  Another chilling callback to that old film where Bond loses someone he loves dearly.

So far, everyone close to Bond has been dying off in the Craig era.  Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006), the original M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall (2012).  Now in this film, Blofeld (and all of SPECTRE) are gone, Felix Leiter is dead, and now we're in the final moments of this film and I'm expecting something awful and dramatic to strike.

Bond succeeds in rescuing Madeleine and Mathilde and gets them on a boat off the island, as Safin plans his own escape.  To ensure Project Heracles is put to an end before it leaves the island, Bond calls a missile strike on the island.  With only minutes to spare, Bond races to open blast doors to ensure the underground bunkers are fully destroyed by the missiles. He has a run-in with Safin and through a scuffle, ends the villain, although not until after Bond is infected with a special strain of the nanobots - ones that will kill Madeleine and Mathilde if he ever touches them again!  He asks Q (Ben Whishaw) if there's a cure for it, but as Q had stated earlier in the film, once they're in your system, they're there forever.

Unable to ever again see his love and his new-found daughter, and completely out of time, Bond finishes opening the blast doors and then radios to Madeleine to let her know he won't make it.  As the missiles come down on the island, we see Bond on the roof, willingly sacrificing his life so his love and daughter can live.

Bond and Madeleine, in love

This was a ballsy move!  I know Barbara Broccoli, the producer (and head of EON Productions), had said that this film would be a definite finale to the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, but I didn't imagine they'd actually kill him off! I stayed through all the credits, just to make sure they posted the classic "James Bond will return" line at the end.  Fortunately they did, so the franchise is not dead.  Which means the next film will likely be yet another reboot of the series, with a new actor.  I wonder if this is the future of the franchise - each actor runs their own era of films.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this ending.  In one sense, it was a perfect end to a classic character.  The odds were always stacked against him and it was always assumed that people in Bond's profession rarely lived to see old age.  He went out at the top of his game, literally saving the world in the process - the perfect hero death.

But part of the intrigue with James Bond is knowing that, no matter how dire the situation, he'll always find a way out.  He's notorious for being impossible to kill, so sticking him in a no-hope situation and having him play the self-sacrificing hero just feels wrong.  It was a very emotional ending, don't get me wrong.  But I just feel like it was a dark turn to take for our immortal hero who's lasted through the decades.

I do kind of like how he went from the cold, heartless "the bitch is dead" assassin in Casino Royale (2006), to eventually learning to love again.  And they even hinted at him possibly having a normal, happy family life.  But in the end, his service to country came first, especially if it meant protecting his family.

I personally see two future outcomes for the franchise after this - either 1.) This micro-story of the Daniel Craig era is over and the next James Bond will be a complete reboot, with new actors and a new story.  Or, 2.) Bond is recovered from the wreckage and somehow still alive, but horribly disfigured.  After reconstructive surgery, he's given a new face - the face of the next Bond actor!

Honestly, #2 would be awesome.  It would not only continue this current Bond reboot without having to start all over again, but it would also be another subtle nod to On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).  You see, when James Bond was recast from Sean Connery to George Lazenby, the script for the new film had a sub plot where Bond went undercover by getting facial reconstructive surgery.  But the plotline was dropped at the last minute, leading to an awkward continuity error where Bond and Blofeld don't recognize each other, even though they just met face-to-face in the previous film.

The theme song for this film, "No Time to Die," was composed and sung by Billie Eilish.  Surprisingly, the somber and subtle theme song works very well with the theme of this film.  I was hesitant when I heard Billie Eilish was picked to make a Bond song, but it's actually quite beautiful!  You can hear it here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This was a thrilling send-off for the Daniel Craig era.  Very emotional, very action-packed, and a fitting finale for this James Bond.  My recommendation is to binge the entire Daniel Craig series of films for the full effect, now that his story is complete. Or at the very least, watch SPECTRE (2015) for a little backstory to lead into this film.

Fear Street, Part Three: 1666 (2021)

Here it is: the finale of the Fear Street trilogy!  Ending today with a review of Fear Street, Part Three: 1666 (2021).  Again, this review is spoiler-free, but there will be spoilers for the previous film: Fear Street, Part Two: 1978 (2021).

SYNOPSIS:
In the year 1666, Sarah Fier, a colonial woman in Union (the original settlement of Shadyside), is promised to Solomon Goode, a kind gentleman from a powerful family in the village.  But Sarah's heart belongs to another - Hannah Miller, the local pastor's daughter.  When the pastor murders all the children of the village and plucks out his own eyes, the men of the village convene to find answers.  Assuming witchcraft, they turn their suspicions toward the impropriety between Sarah and Hannah.  The girls must find a way to escape the village mob, before they're hanged as witches!

REVIEW:
We're finally given the origin of all the paranormal activity in Shadyside!  And what a tale!  In the previous film, Deena believes that uniting Sarah Fier's lost hand with the rest of her bones would settle her spirit and stop the supernatural serial killers roaming the town.  But upon touching Sarah's bones with her own blood, she's given a clear vision of Sarah's life.  And so begins the final film, 1666.

An interesting choice for this film was in recasting actors from the previous two films to play the main colonial characters.  For instance, Deena plays Sarah Fier, her girlfriend Sam is playing Sarah's love interest, Hannah.  The sheriff Nick Goode is playing Solomon Goode, etc.  It was an interesting choice because we had built up emotional connections to these characters.  So seeing them again as different characters, but in similar roles to their modern-day personas, helped to establish our relationship with them without having to spend film time character building from scratch.

It also made for one helluva cliffhanger in the previous film, as Deena touched Sarah's bones and suddenly found herself in Sarah's body in 1666.  I didn't know if she was magically transported to 1666 or if she was just re-living Sarah's past life.  It wasn't until this third film started that it became clear we're seeing a flashback, with familiar characters filling in the main roles.

I was impressed with the accents all the actors adopted for this film!  I can't vouch for the authenticity of their accents, but it was pretty impressive hearing actors speak American English in the first two films, then switch to "Colonial English" for the final film. A difficult acting feat for a single actor, but to have your entire cast switch accents?  Definitely impressive.

The drug abuser theme continues!  Some of Sarah's friends (played by Deena's drug abuser friends from the first film) snuck into an old widow's hut out in the woods and stole some berries that induce hallucinogenic effects. They brought them to a drink party in the woods, where they distributed them amongst the younger crowd.  I'm not positive that some of the murdered children were also at this party, taking hallucinogenic berries, but with the film trilogy's thirst for justice against drug abusers, I wouldn't be surprised.  Without spoiling anything, I'll say that this visit to the widow is the catalyst for all the horrible events in this film, and throughout Shadyside's history.  Really beating home that "drugs don't pay" theme.

What is interesting is this film's focus on gay persecution.  I thought it was odd that the first film focused on two women in love with each other in the '90s.  I grew up in the '90s, and whereas gay culture was starting to have more of a public presence, it was still taboo in most places.  Heck, people still used "gay" as a derogatory slur back then.  And I don't recall any of the Fear Street books having gay couples (although it's been over 20 years since I last read them so I might not be remembering them well).  It just wasn't culturally appropriate at the time; a mindset that is fortunately changing in more modern times.

I thought the concept was just added as a modern-day spin on a '90s tale, as their relationship is not viewed negatively by anyone.  Except for Sam's mother, who doesn't outright say anything anti-gay, but still insists that Deena stay far away from her daughter.  And interestingly enough, Sam's mother also played the pastor's wife - mother of Hannah, who also wanted Sarah to stay far away from her daughter.  The relationship between two women becomes a central conflict in this final film.  They live in a time when that's not acceptable, and leads to suspicion and anger and violence from others.

It also added to the tragedy of the story.  We're told throughout the other films that Sarah Fier was hanged for witchcraft in 1666, but we didn't know the exact story or how it played out.  And this film keeps you on your toes, wondering if an innocent girl will be hanged or if she'll turn to witchcraft as revenge against the village, as the legends claim.  Seeing her motivations (her love for Hannah) helped you relate to her and understand the depths she'd go to in order to protect the person most important to her.

I thought it was cool that they focused on the red mossy crown Sarah made for Hannah, and they even focused real hard on where it landed when it fell off her head.  That same spot was where Cindy was cleaning a red moss infestation at camp in 1978, complaining about the stuff growing everywhere.  The red moss is sort of a symbol of Sarah and Hannah's undying love, persisting in that area over 300 years later.

My wife was upset with Sarah in this film.  She claims that the film was too focused on pushing a modern acceptance agenda to understand relationships of the 17th century.  She said, in that time, Sarah should've (and would've!) been more discreet about her affair with another women.  It's not right by today's standards, but my wife thinks Sarah should've just married Solomon Goode and then continued her relationship with Hannah on the side, in private.  Especially since her suitor knew about their affair and seemed to be cool with it.  But by turning down Solomon to pursue another woman, she made herself a target in the public's eye.  It may be sticking to your morals by today's standards, but in that era, that was literally a death sentence.

And so concludes this film trilogy.  If you're unfamiliar with the old Fear Street novels, you might not understand why the films are called Fear Street when there's not really a Fear Street present in the film.  The story of these films is an original tale, although based loosely on the Fear Street universe.  There was a Sarah Fier in the books, but she was a very different Sarah Fier from these films.

RECOMMENDATION:
This was a fantastic conclusion to a three-part story, nicely wrapping up the tale with some good twists and turns to keep you engaged. I was afraid it wouldn't be as interesting as the other two modern day horror films, but it definitely kept my interest.  If you've watched the other two films, you might as well conclude the story with this final tale.  It comes highly recommended by me!