First Trailer for GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN

Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for their follow-up to 2015's Goosebumps which saw Jack Black star as author R.L. Stine in what was ultimately a unique and surprisingly fun take on the children's book series that had seemingly played out long ago. This is the movie that kind of kick-started Black's current run of stealing the show in more family-friendly fare (here's to hoping The House with a Clock in Its Walls doesn't disappoint), but he is nowhere to be seen in this trailer for the sequel subtitled Haunted Halloween. Sony has released this trailer the week that their third Hotel Transylvania movie is dropping in theaters, so it's safe to bet this knows what audience it is playing to and if this official trailer suggests anything it's that this follow-up will be even more kid-friendly and more in the vein of something that might air on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon than in the multiplexes. That is to say, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween looks a little cheap and rather corny with some especially bad writing if the jokes that were chosen to be highlighted here are any indication. It's a shame Sony wasn't patient enough to at least wait on Black's schedule to open up as it is his character's ideas that are the catalyst for any action that will take place in this series of movies universe if not Dylan Minnette's (13 Reasons Why) and Odeya Rush's (Lady Bird) undoubtedly now much busier schedules. Unfortunately, Haunted Halloween doesn't even sport the same director as the original film as Rob Letterman dropped out in the course of production and was replaced by Ari Sandel who is fine enough despite his last feature, Netflix's When We First Met, failing to live up to the wit and heart of his debut, The DUFF. Needless to say, Haunted Halloween boasts a brand-new human cast that includes Madison Iseman (who played Black's real world counterpart in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), as well as IT's Jeremy Ray Taylor. Like the first film, Haunted Halloween combines elements from Stine's actual Goosebumps novels with an all-new plot, this time written by Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit). The sequel picks up in the small town of Wardenclyffe, where Slappy the ventriloquist dummy is resurrected and sets out to unleash the apocalypse on Halloween night. Sarah (Iseman), her brother Sonny (Taylor), and Sonny's best friend Sam (Caleel Harris) somehow wind-up on an adventure to stop Slappy and save the day. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween also stars Ken Jeong, Chris Parnell, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and opens on October 12th, 2018.

First Trailer for THE RIDICULOUS 6 Starring Adam Sandler

After the success of Beasts of No Nation (it's been watched more than 3 million times in it's first ten days of release says Netflix) and on the same day that Pixels arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD the streaming service is ready to move on to it's next original film. The trailer for the first of four Adam Sandler films being made for Netflix, The Ridiculous 6, has debuted and couldn't be further from the tone of what Netflix's first original film offered. While Beasts was an intense thriller about child soldiers in Africa, this new Sandler comedy mainly concerns itself with spoofing The Magnificent Seven by featuring Sandler as Tommy “White Knife” Stockburn as a man who goes on an adventure-filled journey across the Old West with his five brothers when their long-lost outlaw father returns. Directed by Frank Coraci (Click, Here Comes the Boom) I have a bit more faith in the film because of his involvement rather than this simply being another Sandler collaboration with Dennis Dugan who tends to give Sandler his laziest results. The film generally looks like a big-budget summer Sandler flick which is exciting and the cast is beyond ridiculous. While we'll have to wait and see if the quality of the film is better than what the comedian has offered as of late on the big screen, this was without a doubt the smartest move Sandler could have made given his dwindling box office returns and that his films are largely comfort food anyway. The Ridiculous 6 also stars Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, Luke Wilson, Harvey Keitel and will be available to stream on Netflix starting December 11th beating the 70mm release of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight by two of weeks.

ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES Review

I understand that when compared to other genres that those falling into the comedy classification don't really compare no matter how funny or enjoyable they are, but because they are more exercises in pure entertainment than trying to convey raw emotion or serve a bigger purpose. They don't look to teach us anything or expand our minds necessarily and they rarely offer anything innovative when it comes to the world of filmmaking, no, all a comedy really wants to do is make us laugh and while it may seem more admirable to adapt a historical figures life for the screen or create real substance for a man with a cape I'd argue it is probably tougher to make people consistently laugh at the jokes you're spewing. Unfortunately, much of the time the end result proves that and so we don't often get comedies that we feel really connect with a majority of us because 1) humor is extremely subjective and 2) jokes aren't easy to write when you sit down and have to think about them. When looking at the Anchorman films and the group of people collaborating to put these together it becomes clear why they may have more of a pulse on the eclectic tastes of audiences and that is simply due to the spontaneity of it all. There is a freshness to it that doesn't feel forced, no pre-determined jokes that fall flat in execution, but instead just a few master improv artists hanging out, gathering around a central idea and then growing off of it until it reaches ridiculous and often hilarious heights. So, I understand that while most don't consider comedy one of the higher art forms and that films like Anchorman, much less its sequel, don't make critics top ten lists or are hailed as great films for how funny the absurdity of it all is, but the fact of the matter is that I laughed more at Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues than any other film this year and while that still may not be enough in many peoples eyes to verify it as a "film" rather than just your typical mainstream comedy, this is one of the few times in recent memory when upon going into a film with such high expectations that I came out and without any inhibition was able to say that it more than lived up to what I hoped it would be and in many instances, even surpassed it.Yes, in many ways this is better than The Legend of Ron Burgundy, but that is only because it is the continuation of a legend and as I'm sure Mr. Burgundy would attest, "How could it not be MORE legendary?"