Tag Archives: Samara Weaving

Eenie Meanie

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Vampire Owl: This sounds like a nice name which we can use for a new vampire.

Vampire Bat: How can a vampire be called by such a name in our realm?

Vampire Owl: It is still better than being called Vampire Owl I and Vampire Owl II.

Vampire Bat: So, there is a second vampire who is an owl?

Vampire Owl: We have to be ready for all possibilities in a world of chaos.

Vampire Bat: A world of chaos can only use a chaotic name.

Vampire Owl: That would scare legends like Dr. Frankenstein away.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein already have a scary name for himself.

Vampire Owl: Frankenstein is a name given to legends these days.

Vampire Bat: Uncle Dracula has been fed up with that name for some time due to those illegal and ridiculous experiments involving lightning, which have caused power shortage in the castle.

[Gets a gobi masala dosa and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Edie Meaney (Samara Weaving) had a troubled past which included being pulled over by police while driving her drunk parents who had drugs in their possession, and had ended up crashing the car. Then, as she was aged fourteen, with her mother dead and father paralyzed after the accident which was meant to save them from being arrested, had to go through a series of abusive foster homes, and was almost sold to sexual slavery, but was saved by John (Karl Glusman), a young criminal with whom she had also fallen in love, and stayed together for about fifteen years. Edie and John had carried out multiple robberies for the ruthless mob boss Nico (Andy Garcia), who had nicknamed her “Eenie Meanie”. She was known for her driving skills which had helped them a lot during the most complicated situations, something which had made her the favourite driver of the group, and her getaways have been iconic. Even her rival driver Perm (Marshawn Lynch) had a high opinion about her.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: In the present, Edie has left her life as a getaway driver a long way behind, and had finally found the emotional courage to break up with John. As she works at a bank to support herself in going to college and get a degree, she becomes stuck at the bank counter during a robbery and is hit on the head to be knocked out. At the hospital, she finds out that she is pregnant with the child of John. Even though there are many advice for her to mind her own business, Edie goes and visits John, who is being interrogated by Nico’s men, and after surprising them, reluctantly uses her driving skills to save him. John had kidnapped Nico’s card counter man Leo (Randall Park) for a certain activity, and as he takes them out of the hiding place, ends up killing him much to the dismay of Edie. Once again pulled into the criminal world, this time being pregnant, she gets a call of Nico and him as well as his right-hand man George (Mike O’Malley) provides her with an offer.

And what more is to happen here as one man would dictate the terms? :: This offer would involve stealing a car containing three million dollars in cash, which is to serve as the prize for an upcoming poker tournament at a casino in the state. Only this could cover their losses due to the death of the man and this would be the one thing that could keep John alive at least for now. After getting a new car with the amount provided by Nico, they go and see Chaperone (Jermaine Fowler) as instructed, but he finds John to be liability who slows down both Edie and the mission, but she remains adamant that he is an integral part of the mission, and it is not just because he had helped him a lot in the past when she had no hope. She asserts that he also has the same kind of skills within him, and has helped a lot with the earlier missions, and that leaves the doubts behind for the time being for them. With some help from casino staff, the Dodge Charger which is to be given as the prize with three million inside is replaced with an identical model which is ready to drive as soon as the cash is loaded into it. But can Edie manage to take it out when everyone’s watching?

The defence of Eenie Meanie :: The movie rest on the shoulders of Samara Weaving, without doubt – her style, dialogues, charisma, dry humour and screen presence, all rises all the way above the whole movie, and rarely do we such a work which feels better than the film itself, and as we remember her performance in Ready or Not, we do feel here that she has always been ready, and eternally ready to shine in action movies. Whenever the movie gets weaker due to its lack of anything special, she becomes the one special ingredient. Elle Graham who plays her younger version had also made an early impact. Then, it can be seen that the heist and getaway driving sequences are nicely shot. During these moments, the high-speed thrills look polished and fast-paced. The humour works at times, and we see some elevation here and there. The second half shows a clear upgrade from the dumb beginning moments, and all the memorable moments are right there. Andy Garcia remains solid as the crime boss. Then the movie has its good looks.

The claws of flaw :: The movie feels elongated with not that much of a content to stretch it to the final run-time which it has achieved. Karl Glusman is playing a strange man who is good for nothing, and the main character for a past, remains attached to the person, and one cannot stop being bothered about it – there are not many things absurd than this which seems to cause everything that happens in the movie. One can only wonder if such a step will be taken by a smart modern woman in any case, as there is always limit to everything. The movie also seems to try too many things, some of them unnecessary – there is a pregnancy storyline, family estrangement and a number of unnecessary characters, which leaves the main heist plot feeling rushed and most of the things seem to wait till the end, even when there were so many opportunities to keep planning and talk about the same in between. There was much to be done to add right towards the action and even humour, and the emotional side just goes not useful at all. Some of the scenes including the first meeting of the two former lovers stay ridiculous.

How it finishes :: The movie maintains the brainless fun mode pretty well, but the slow progress does not help the same too much. The tale also does not seem to add anything too interesting in its narrative, and holds back with its action which arrives too late. The final moments do come up with what it was required to do, but it feels rushed, after all those talks in between. There is some poetic justice delivered right there. Then there is Samara Weaving who makes this feel so much better, and as she shoulders this, the quality itself feels very much improved. There is always hope when she is around, and we see the level of the movie elevated, and this much she achieves with that strange character that takes decisions against her own ideas and plans. The ending stays closer to reality, and most of it was something we waited to see happen. There are many thoughts about how this one could be improved. We would expect a more fast-paced full action thriller with a nicely planned heist, but that much is not reached. This one serves as an entertainer in Jio Hotstar which we can watch for time-pass.

Release date: 22 August 2025
Running time: 106 minutes
Directed by: Shawn Simmons
Starring: Samara Weaving, Karl Glusman, Jermaine Fowler, Marshawn Lynch, Steve Zahn, Andy Garcia, Randall Park, Mike O’Malley

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✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ready or Not 2

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Vampire Owl: The thing about me is that I am always ready.

Vampire Bat: You were never really ready in your whole life.

Vampire Owl: I was never ready for human evil; that much, I am sure.

Vampire Bat: Human evil is exactly the same as pure evil as we know it.

Vampire Owl: Pure evil is what humans call what they do not understand.

Vampire Bat: It is exactly what they call each other when time comes.

Vampire Owl: The worst time of humans is considered their best time.

Vampire Bat: They are people of paradoxes and antitheses, aren’t they?

Vampire Owl: Their existence itself goes against their nature.

Vampire Bat: Hell has a special infinite place for them elevated above the eternal fire that burns even further.

[Gets a sweet porotta and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) had married Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), the estranged member of the successful Le Domas Family Games company. The other members of the Le Domases starting from his father Daniel Le Domas (Adam Brody) and mother Charity Le Domas (Elyse Levesque) had a deal with a devilish figure to highly improve the Le Domas fortune in exchange for going through a tradition. According to the same, at the midnight on their wedding day, she was asked to draw a game card from a puzzle box, and Grace had got the “Hide-and-Seek” card. She feels that it’s a harmless game, but then the Le Domases had started off hunting her with weapons. There was a violent fight in which she was never supposed to win with family having the weapons and full control of the house. But surprisingly, against all odds, she had ended up being alive during the dawn of next day while the family was wiped out as they failed to live up to the promise.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After that success, Grace is taken to the hospital by the cops who arrive at the scene. She is handcuffed to the bed as the police does not believe anything that she says, and they feel that she might have brutally murdered everyone in the family and tried to get away with it when the cops arrived on the scene. They decide to keep her handcuffed and take her to the police station as she has a lot more explaining to do in prison. It is then that Grace’s estranged sister Faith MacCaullay (Kathryn Newton) arrives at the hospital as she got the information with her phone number being added in the mobile phone as the only emergency contact of Grace. The two sisters were separated for some time as Grace left her when Faith was only fifteen years old. When the cops try to take Grace to the police station, they are attacked by the members of the satanic group, but they are wiped out as they try to kill her outside the game. A group of members of the cult arrives to take Grace to their mansion to begin the next game with her, and they also take Faith with them.

And what more can happen here as many deaths seem to be certain? :: The two sisters wake up in a room of a giant mansion; both their arms and legs tied to chairs and their mouths gagged. There they find the twins Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula Danforth (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who represents the Danforth family after murdering their father upon his wish as he found himself too weak for another game – it was the most powerful family which held the high seat of the council which controlled most of the world, and now there was going to be a fight for the seat due to what she did. Grace would be set free and the four remaining families must kill her before dawn to acquire the high seat which would leave worldwide power to person who murders her. Grace refuses to participate, but when the families put the knife on Faith’s neck, she agrees, and both sisters are sedated and thrown into the middle of a golf course around the mansion, handcuffed to each other. Now it is to be seen if they can survive against this incoming attack from the heads of each family.

The defence of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come :: Samara Weaving feels like a perfect scream queen, and that return in the blood-soaked wedding dress is a stunner. The addition of Kathryn Newton as her sister in fighting, brings more fun and the chaotic survival partnership is more than just memorable – it is very much unlike her character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which was not something to remember much. Kathryn shows that she is also the scream queen as much as an action star, and she also adds a lot of humour to the movie. The movie gets into action-comedy and horror-comedy mostly because of her interactions with her sister character and those around her. A movie with her fighting vampires, zombies or demons would be delightful whether it’s as a scream queen of horror or in a demon-hunter in action. The two sisters fighting together brings some fine scenes, and the final moments with the satanic terror is worth mentioning too. The whole atmosphere of the movie with huge mansion in the front and a hidden satanic world underneath creates an impact.

Positives and negatives :: The movie has that kind of a supporting cast who manages to come up with a fine job too. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy are just too good, while Elijah Wood and Maia Jae come up with moments to remember. The kills here are memorable, and even though we see a lot of blood around, the violence remains under control, and the splattering blood do not make it unbearable for a younger audience; a perfect example of how to keep creative carnage within the perfect limits. The movie could have had more villains around here with a bigger backstory, as this movie never feels too long with its content, and we are only looking for more and more as time progresses. The use of a demonic presence and the satanic cult create effective danger around there, as it is not just a few fighting families that the sisters need to escape from. Even if they get out of the yard, they cannot be sure what would happen next. The supernatural and the influential spread all around the world would have a lot to say about their plans being ruined. The movie could feel like some originality lost, and the final resolution would feel too easy. Some big scares could also come in here and there.

How it finishes :: Most of us never really had the chance to watch the first movie when it released in the theatres, as it never really graced us around here, but with the OTT option available, this one came to Jio Hotstar pretty much quickly. This one picks up right where the early movie left us. This one does a fine job in expanding the universe from a single terrifying family to a massive battle for global supremacy with many devil-worshipping elite dynasties hunting the woman in trouble and also her sister who almost becomes collateral damage in a world of chaos. It is indeed a highly entertaining sequel to a movie which was watched by a smaller number of people as it was a sleeper hit which never really managed many theatres, and the same can be said about this sequel in this part of the world too. A chaotic, bloody energy has been maintained here, and with two sisters fighting against all odds with influential families carrying weapons coming after them. This reminds one the movies like Breakdown Forest and The Hunt, and remains a true entertainer with a fine leading cast of two.

Release date: 20 March 2026
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, David Cronenberg, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, Varun Saranga, Dan Beirne, Nadeem Umar-Khitab, Masa Lizdek

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Scream VI

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Vampire Owl: Do you have a count of the number of serial movies we have watched?

Vampire Bat: I even have a count of the number of Ghostface films we have watched.

Vampire Owl: The Ghostface is not that scary a face.

Vampire Bat: Not for us vampires, but they are for the humans.

Vampire Owl: The spoof movies have killed that fear effect.

Vampire Bat: Well, spoof movies also have the fear factor.

Vampire Owl: They are supposed to be funny, right?

Vampire Bat: Yet, there is something scary coming from within.

Vampire Owl: We do not get scared that easily.

Vampire Bat: Yet, we have enough to be scared about, including some mean humans.

[Gets a paneer masala dosa and three cups of cardamom tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is a Halloween night and things seem to go really smooth with some fine trick or treat times. Laura Crane (Samara Weaving), a film professor is murdered in the alley by one of her students wearing the Ghostface costume who feels that she has been blaming him too much for failing. But the same person after returning from the act of cruelty is brutally stabbed multiple times to his death by another person in the Ghostface costume who gets into his home. Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), the two sisters who escaped the attack of the Ghostface killer have now moved into New York City with the latter attending Blackmore University where Laura also taught about slasher films from the last century. The other survivors Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding) are also there. Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato), Anika Kayoko (Devyn Nekoda) and Ethan Landry (Jack Champion) are the other three students who are close to them and they are more like one group.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), a survivor of the earlier murders is now an FBI agent, and gets herself assigned to the case. Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) is the original police officer assigned to case, and has no clue about what has been happening. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), the survivor who wrote books about the Ghostface-related murders is also there as reporter again. The situation seems to be more complicated than ever, as the killer is not just out to kill the two sisters, but also prove that they were always the real killers. Gale had also found an abandoned theatre, which was set up like a shrine for the killers wearing Ghostface masks. The survivors decide that it is time to finish the Ghostface forever, with Wayne and Kirby on their side. They set up traps for the murderer, but the person seems to be smarter than that, and there seems to be surely more than one killer wearing the costume. So, how will they find the killers with the Ghostface mask without being killed? How much of the mystery can they manage to solve before most of them get brutally stabbed by the person in black?

The defence of Scream VI :: As a sequel to a slasher franchise that goes a long way from the past’s nostalgia to the present, the movie maintains the standard which we were assured with the earlier films. The first scene is surely among the best, as even with some deviation, there is that murder at a time when were less expecting it to happen. Samara Weaving in the beginning becomes part of that talk which brings the early twist with blood and gore back to the track. There is no better sight than a Ghostface coming after another. You are reminded that Ghostface is forever, and there is no going back from this particular serial killer – we have others for sure, but this is one killer that rises above them all without any superpowers and by not truly coming back from the dead. The final scenes are really well, and we have some nice moments in a train too. The hunt feels very much dangerous, and we know that there is something more to be revealed here. This time, the villain is not just about the movies, as things well be more personal than ever. You will also be screaming for more, as we look forward to a sequel to take this forward even further.

The claws of flaw :: We are looking at another Scream movie here, and after so many films in the franchise, we expect the flick to be a lot better. The case of repetition does not make things better, even though there was the chance to move away from the common ideas – it could have focused on horror which takes a side-seat instead of coming to the front. There is a certain amount of weakness in the horror elements which goes back instead of bringing the terror. There are some movies which focused on slasher horror so well, placing that element over the others, like There is Someone Inside the House and the three movies of Fear Street. Even the reboot of Wrong Turn came back with the elements so well. We have always remembered this movie for slasher horror, but there are so many occasions when we see that this flick tries to go back to the past and feed on the nostalgia even at a time when there is none. The twist is not that much working, as one could successfully guess some part of it. The common slasher elements could have been brought in there to increase the impact.

The performers of the soul :: Melissa Barrera continues her good form as the scream queen here too, and maintains the legacy of the Scream franchise well. The final moments provide her with the opportunity to get close to that legacy and she manages that with ease. The action in the end has her as a possible action heroine at some point, like Kate had its female assassin in full strength. Jenna Ortega does well as the second most important character, the sister who finds trouble again and fights it well with the sibling. She would make no lesser scream queen either. Courteney Cox does the same thing again, as she has been doing for a very long time – while adding to the nostalgia, the feeling of repetitiveness feels a little too much. Hayden Panettiere has been a crush for a lot of us during the 2000s, and it is good to see her again, leaving us with some more of fine nostalgia to add here. Her work remains a highlight in this movie too. Samara Weaving could have had more screen space though, as she was the one who started this film so well. Another seemingly interesting scream queen is Liana Liberato, and the rest also nicely contributes to the slasher.

How it finishes :: I have never been far away from slashers, as they have been part of my journey with horror movies for a long time – I would be teaching them with a lot of happiness if it was part of the syllabus in a university. Here, it can be seen that the one franchise with which we have the nostalgia associated, has another movie to keep us interested in the serial killer whom everyone remembers and uses as a common model for Halloween celebrations regularly. Ghostface is to live forever through different killers, and the murderers of this movie also makes it count. Yet, we feel that this could have been better, and that the movie could have elevated the whole thing to another level through horror. There could have also been some music to add to that horror, and darkness could have also contributed better. It does misses out with the horror as it can be seen here, and we call for sequels of Sinister, Evil Dead, Insidious, Annabelle, The Nun or The Conjuring to serve for the same, as they have done with the first of their series.

Release date: 10th March 2023
Running time: 122 minutes
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Jenna Ortega, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, Samara Weaving, Hayden Panettiere, Courteney Cox

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Snake Eyes

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Vampire Owl: I remember a time when all vampires played with GI Joe toys.

Vampire Bat: Well, that was a very short period of time.

Vampire Owl: Yet, those were some wonderful days.

Vampire Bat: If I remember correctly, those were nights. When we were awake.

Vampire Owl: Both days and nights belonged to games.

Vampire Bat: You mean to include computer games too.

Vampire Owl: Yes, that would make this a very long list.

Vampire Bat: I would start with Age of Empires and Age of Wonders for that.

Vampire Owl: Yet, there was no game like Unreal Tournament 99.

Vampire Bat: Only to be permanently addicted to Mass Effect later.

[Gets a milk peda and three cups of cardamom tea].

What is the movie about? :: A young boy witnesses his father being murdered by a group of armed people, after their leader determines his fate by rolling a dice. Many years later, he has grown up to a skilled martial arts fighter Snake Eyes (Henry Golding). As he keeps winning all the fights and changing cities, a rich Yakuza boss named Kenta Takamura (Takehiro Hira) disovers him in a fighting arena in Los Angeles. Even though he doesn’t like the offer in the beginning, the idea of being able to find the people who killed his father makes him interested. But when he is asked to murder Tommy (Andrew Koji), who despite being Kenta’s cousin, had broken trust, he refuses, and even helps him to escape. Both Tommy and Kenta were next line to become leader of their clan, and the latter tried to have the former killed. Kenta’s plan was discovered before it could materialize, and Tommy had him banished. As Snake Eyes cannot go back to Los Angeles as he would be hunted by the Yakuza, he is taken to Tokyo instead.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Tommy who feels that he owes a blood debt to Snake Eyes, takes him to his ninja world. Sen (Eri Ishida), Tommy’s grandmother who leads the ninja clan agrees to let him join the group under some conditions, even though the head of secutiy, Akiko (Haruka Abe) is not fond of anyone from outside joining them, as it would be an unusual practice. He is supposed to go through three challenges, first two challenges to cleanse him of ego, anger and fear, and get him ready for the third one. Tommy also lets him know that failure means death. He will only has a few days to train for the same. With no recorded history about him and being known only by a strange alias, Akiko continues to doubt him. But she is still confident that Snake Eyes will fail the first test itself, as at least eighty percent of them fail every time. Tommy feels confident that Snake Eyes will be among the passing twenty percent, but there is certainly more than one twist to it.

The defence of Snake Eyes :: There is a lot of fighting going on in this tale inspired from a toy line, and the reboot has started off pretty well with hope for something big to be seen in a sequel with so many characters to come. Four of the most interesting characters, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Scarlett and Baroness have been introduced, and we can keep hoping for more. The sword fights show a certain amount of quality here, and it is not all that we see here, as we have something more in an year which provided us with Mortal Kombat. The final battle is a big one, and it has everyone going after one another. The location of the ninjas is nicely chosen too. Well, one always feel happy about watching Japan on the screen – Tokyo is nothing less than a dream city. When you look at origin stories, starting with the tale of the two ninjas seem to be the right choice, especially as the earlier movies didn’t focus enough on the two. From this beginning, the movie seems to assert that it won’t go the Transformers way, bringing more confusion as the film franchise progresses.

The claws of flaw :: Even with its twists, there is a certain amount of predictability associated with it. The hero here is the one whom we wish to have on the side of the Cobra though, as Storm Shadow is hundred percent a better person of quality than Snake Eyes by any means – it is how things are shown here. We would have wished for Snake Eyes to stay in the Cobra even as the toy storyline states otherwise. Well, just one person is responsible for all these, and he seems to be the good guy in the end. A better introduction for the characters of GI Joe and Cobra would have been better – just having Scarlett and Baroness is not good enough, and the two ninja brothers have only started. Cobra could have actually had a better job to do here too. The idea of vengeance could have been portrayed better, and instead this one seems to go here and there, not sticking to a particular plan, just like the main character himself who seems to be the most clueless one. Maybe, he intends to set things right with a sequel if there is one.

The performers of the soul :: The two leading actors, Henry Golding and Andred Koji seems to be perfectly suited for the roles, and they seem to go on with the action sequences with relative ease, especially the latter who seems to blend in from the beginning itself. Rachel Nichols who played Scarlett has been replaced by Samara Weaving, and it does seem to be a nice change – there is still only a little to be done for her here, even though she gets some of the action. Sienna Miller has been replaced by Ursula Corbero, and let us hope that this time the story won’t have the dumn romance angle, and what was ridiculous about the character played by Sienna won’t be repeated here – Ursula does make a fine entry here, and there is some nice action for her too. Haruka Abe nicely blends into her role of the security in charge of the ninjas, while Takehiro Hira has his interesting moments as the antagonist. The two masters played by Iko Uwais and Peter Mensah remains interesting too. Along with the same, Eri Ishida as the grandmother comes as a surprise package in the action scenes too.

How it finishes :: It seems that this movie will serve as a new beginning, with the origins stories coming one’s way. The earlier movies of GI Joe were entertaining for sure, but it never really used the strengths to the best advantage, and there was even some strange romantic sides to them. This movie could serve as a better beginning for a franchise reminding us of all the toys that we had during our childhood – I still have them in the showcase of the house. Well, there are not many movies which can bring such a nostalgia from figures – actually, there is no other which I can remember. In that case, this film would serve nicely to bring more into the series. Let us hope that this new coming won’t be confused as the earlier journey with the toys. But as this is based on toys, we can only hope for the best, not for it to haunt us. Until then, let us be prepared by watching this movie on Amazon Prime Video in advance. You always have space for movies like these, at least as the big entertainers full of action and style.

Release date: 22nd July 2021
Running time: 121 minutes
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Ursula Corbero, Samara Weaving, Haruka Abe, Takehiro Hira, Iko Uwais

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.