Chuck's Movie Breakdown

      Hey guys, Chuck here. Happy Halloween. To wrap up this year's  HallowScream , we're going to be celebrating fifty years of the sci-fi comedy musical classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Nell Campbell, Meat Loaf, and Patricia Quinn.        After an opening credits sequence to a song that references classic sci-fi and monster movies, we cut to the aftermath of a wedding ceremony. Two of the wedding guests, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, end up engaged themselves, and decide to share the news of their engagement with their old college professor Dr. Everett Scott. However, their car breaks down in the middle of the woods during a rainstorm, and they follow the lights to a massive castle, where a party is being hosted by Dr. Frank-n-Furter, who claims to be a "sweet transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania."        In the upstairs laboratory, Frank-n-Furter ...

      Hey guys, Chuck here. And, as we approach the end of yet another HallowScream , I think that it's time to also wrap up the trilogy of Mummy films with Brendan Fraser with 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor , which also stars Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Michelle Yeoh, Liam Cunningham, Russell Wong, Isabella Leong, and Jet Li.        So, shifting out of the Egyptian mythology of the first two films, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor introduces us to the legend of a Chinese warlord named Qin Shi Huang, who united the country's kingdoms, forging them into a single empire, and thus becoming the Dragon Emperor. Unfortunately, the Emperor sought the secret to immortality, and he sends his lieutenant, General Ming, to find the sorceress Zi Yuan, who holds the secret of Shangri-La. Unfortunately, Zi Yuan and General Ming fall in love, and the Emperor has General Ming killed. And, just as the Emperor achieves immortality, he and his ...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. The Life and Death of a Pumpkin is a 2006 short film directed by Aaron Yonda and produced by BlameSociety, the same creative team behind Chad Vader .        The short is told, in first-person narration, from the perspective of a pumpkin. It details the process of being taken from the pumpkin patch, taken to a home, cut open, gutted, carved into a Jack-o'-lantern, placed on a porch with a little candle inside of it on Halloween night, and being nabbed by teens who take it to the middle of nowhere to smash it to bits.         The humor of the short is in how the pumpkin narrates in excruciating detail the fear of being taken from the pumpkin patch and the pain of being cut and carved up, and being set outside as a Jack-o'-lantern, and finally feels the relief of freedom from its pain and suffering when it's smashed into many pieces. And, what makes it even more hilarious is in how Matt Sloan prov...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Addams Family Values, released in 1993 and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, is the sequel to the 1991 film The Addams Family .          The movie opens when, after an average night in the Addams household, Morticia is rushed to the hospital, and soon after gives birth to a new baby boy, whom the family names Pubert. And, being an Addams, baby Pubert is born with a moustache similar to his father, Gomez.         However, it seems like the elder two Addams children, Wednesday and Pugsley, are jealous of the newfound attention their new baby brother is getting from the adults, and decide to have fun with multiple attempts at killing the little guy. And this includes everything from dropping him off the roof, only for Gomez to catch him, using a guillotine, which fails, and using a shotgun, which we only hear as Gomez and Morticia sit out in the cemetery. Deciding that the family needs additiona...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. The books series Goosebumps by R. L. Stine are fondly remembered by '90s kids for being spooky stories that weren't specifically nightmare inducing. The books were adapted at the time into a popular Fox Kids television program which featured such actors as Ryan Gosling. So, it should be no surprise that Hollywood would look to adapt the Goosebumps series to the big screen.         However, when Sony Pictures announced the choice of director as Rob Letterman and the choice of lead actor as Jack Black, there was understandable concern, as the last film this actor-director worked on was the disastrous disappointment Gulliver's Travels . But, would history repeat itself, or would Jack Black and Rob Letterman turn in a good movie? Let's find out as we look at Goosebumps .          So, the movie opens with Gale Cooper and her teenage son Zach, as the two are moving from New York to the small tow...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. After the success of 1999's The Mummy , it only made sense for Universal Pictures to produce a sequel. And, in 2001, director Stephen Sommers returned with The Mummy Returns , which saw the returns of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez, and Arnold Vosloo, with newcomers including Freddie Boath, Alun Armstrong, Shaun Parkes, and Dwayne Johnson.        The movie opens with the legend of the Scorpion King, a mighty warrior who once led a campaign to conquer the known world, only to be defeated by an opposing force, and sent the the harsh desert of Ahm Shere. One by one, the Scorpion King's men die from the heat, leaving only the mighty warrior himself. Close to death, the Scorpion King swears his soul to the god Anubis in exchange for the power to defeat his foes. Anubis accepts, and thus where once was harsh desert bloomed the great Oasis of Ahm Shere. Commanding Anubis' army of jack...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera , based on the bestselling novel by Gaston Leroux, is one of the most legendary and influential stage musicals of all time. So, it's no real surprise that, back when the musical first hit back in the '80s, it was ripe for a film adaptation. And, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached director Joel Schumacher to bring The Phantom of the Opera  to the silver screen. But, due to several delays, said film wouldn't finally see the light of day until 2004, and with a different cast than intended. But, does that help or hurt the movie in the end? Today, for HallowScream , we'll find out as we take a look at Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera .        The movie opens in Paris in the year 1919, where an auction is being held in the burned remains of the Opera Populaire, and we see two individuals who've met before: Madame Giry and Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, with the latter ...

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and I can hardly believe it's finally here. Tron: Ares , the long awaited third film in the Tron  franchise, is finally here. Directed by Joachim Rønning, this movie stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Jeff Bridges.        The movie introduces us to Dillinger Systems head Julian Dillinger, grandson of Edward Dillinger, who has created an artificial soldier known as Ares. But, when other Programs and vehicles from the digital world of The Grid emerge and attack the world of the Users, it's up to Ares and ENCOM CEO Eve Kim, who has been seeking Kevin Flynn's Permanence Code, to save both worlds.        Okay, so, how did this movie pan out? Well, the story, while inherently clunky in the earlier points, was mostly decent. The idea of two rival software companies, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems, both going a...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Casper Meets Wendy, directed by Sean McNamara, was the second direct-to-video Casper movie from Fox Home Entertainment and Saban Entertainment. This movie stars Cathy Moriarty, Shelley Duvall, Teri Garr, Richard Moll. Vincent Schiavelli, Blake Foster, Pauly Shore, George Hamilton and Hilary Duff, with the vocal talents of Jeremy Foley, Jim Ward, Jess Harnell, and Bill Farmer.         The movie opens at a baseball game in Deedstown, and the Ghostly Trio of Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie show up and wreak havoc on the townsfolk in attendance at the game. After this, the three, along with their nephew Casper, decide to take a vacation at a resort. Meanwhile, we meet a warlock named Desmond Spellman, who confers with the Oracle, where it's revealed that a young witch named Wendy is destined to be the greatest magic wielder in the world. To cement his position at the top, Desmond plans to banish Wendy into the Mystic Abys...

      Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're looking at an all-time '90s classic: The Addams Family, starring Angelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Judith Malina, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Wilson, Dana Ivey, Carel Struycken, Christopher Hart, and Paul Benedict, and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.        The movie opens, oddly, with some Christmas carolers outside of the Addams house, where we pan up to see the family getting ready to dump some unknown liquid into the carolers. After the opening credits, we see Gomez and Thing contemplating a planned seance to reach out to Gomez's brother, Fester, who disappeared years ago. The Addams children, Wednesday and Pugsley, head out for another day of school, while Gomez and his wife Morticia meet with Tully and Margaret Alford. Tully meets with Gomez about a potential monetary fund, as well as collecting the monthly payments, while Margaret and Morticia locate a relic to be donate...

      Hey guys, Chuck here, and we've discussed the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and the Wolf Man. But, today for HallowScream , we're taking a look at the most memorable of Universal's iconic monsters: the Mummy. And, while I believe that the original classic version of The Mummy with Boris Karloff is an all-time great, that's not the one I'll be looking at. No, I'm taking a look at the 1999 version of The Mummy ,         The movie opens in Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Pharaoh Seti I, and we see the Pharaoh's priest, Imhotep, and the Pharaoh's mistress, Anck su Namun, in a forbidden love affair, and the two kill the Pharaoh. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh's guards, the Medjai, arrive, and Anck su Namun forces Imhotep away, and kills herself. Why? Because Imhotep was the only one who could bring Anck su Namun back from the dead. And, to do this, Imhotep and his priests steal Anck su Namun's corpse and take her to the city ...

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and it's time for the spookiest event of the year: HallowScream . Now, we've previously talked about the 2020 adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Stand . But, I know for a fact that many out there probably prefer the original 1994 miniseries adaptation over the new one. So, to kick off  HallowScream  this year, we will be going into the 1994 adaptation of The Stand .         Directed by Mick Garris and written by Stephen King, this version of The Stand boasts an all-star cast that includes Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Laura San Giacomo, Corinthians Nemec, Jamey Sheridan, Adam Storke, Peter Van Norden, Ray Walston, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Miguel Ferrer, Shawnee Smith, Bill Fagerbakke, Matt Frewer, and Rob Lowe, with additional performances by Ed Harris, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kathy Bates, Richard Lineback, Patrick Kilpatrick, Ken Jenkins, John Landis, Sam Raimi, and Stephen King.      ...