The First 10 Movie Reviews

 For those that are not aware I have a youtube channel and that youtube channel has a list of playlists many of them were videos done by me and in one playlist is called JoeLumb's Movie Review.

I started to use Blogger to jot down a series of movies I reviewed which ended up being on youtube months later so what I like to do to day is go back and look at the first 10 JoeLumb Movie Reviews:

We begin with HALLOWEEN the first Movie Review I did for youtube back on October 6,2023

The Original Halloween was released in movie theatres on October 25,1978 it became the most profitable independent films of all time grossing $70 million at the box office. The Film was directed,co-written and scored by John Carpenter. Co-writer Debra Hill produced the film. It tells the story about a mental patient named Michael Myers committed to a sanitarium after he murdered his teenage sister as a child,15 years later Michael escapes and returns to his old town of Haddonfield,Illinois where he stalks a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode and her friends while he is under pursuit of his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis. Well Michael ended up killing Laurie's friends Annie and Lynda along with Lynda's boyfriend Paul before he zeroed in on Laurie,the young boy Laurie babysat named Tommy along with the girl Annie babysat in Lindsay went over to a neighbor's place where Dr.Loomis saw them running knowing he's on the right track for Michael and just when Michael was about to kill Laurie Dr.Loomis came in the nick of time shot him six times,knocking him off the balcony,only to disappear into the darkness.

The Original Halloween spawned a film franchise with 13 films in it the 45 years after it's release. I gave the film rating a 90 out of 100 as it was praised primarily to the direction of Carpenter along with the theme's musical score. Many critics credit this movie for being the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974)

Next was the sequel HALLOWEEN II which I dropped for youtube on October 13,2023 

Halloween II was released on October 30,1981 and it picks up where "Halloween" left off. John Carpenter and Debra Hill wrote and produced the sequel while Rick Rosenthal ended up directing it. See the plot picks up where the first film left off. Laurie Strode is taken the the hospital to be treated for injuries after surviving Michael Myers,who pursuits her there while killing everybody in sight. It was soon discovered in the film that Laurie is the younger sister of Michael Myers and that she was put up for adoption after the death of Michael's parents with the records sealed to protect the family. One of the final scenes of the film saw Laurie shoot Michael in both eyes blinding him,while Dr.Loomis and Michael were immobilized in a room filled with flammable gas and there was an explosion where Michael emerged from the flames only to collapse. Once again Laurie survived. 

Halloween II didn't do as well in the box office but managed to rake in $25.5 million in the box office that took a $2.5 million budget to make. Overall rating for this movie I gave it an 85/100 This one was distributed by Universal Pictures along with Dino De Laurentis' production group there would be a sequel unrelated to the series Halloween III:Season of the Witch which was released a year later and that movie SUCKED!!!!!

We continue on with CREEPSHOW that was Episode 3 on my Movie Review series the video dropped on October 20,2023

Creepshow was released on November 12,1982 it's a horror/comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero (director of Night of the Living Dead and it's sequel Dawn of the Dead) and written by Stephen King making this his first film as a screenwriter. The movie had an all star cast with Adrienne Barbeau,Ted Danson,Ed Harris,Leslie Nielsen and Hal Holbrook to name a few. The movie itself consisted of five short stories "Father's Day" about a family patriarch rising from the grave to get revenge on his daughters for murdering him and get his cake in the end,"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" aka Weeds where a meteor crash lands on this yokel's farm where his skin made contact with it and everything including his own self turned into nothing but thick vegetation. "Something to Tide You Over" tells the story of a heartless millionaire sadistically murders his cheating wife and her lover by burying them neck deep in the sand as the rolling tide washes them away,but the two lovers would return from their watery graves to get vengeance on the evil bastard. "The Crate" tells the story about this furry beast that eats it's victims whole,while stuffed in a wooden crate. This was where a professor decides to kill his abusive bitch wife by having the monster eat her. The final short story is "They're Creeping up on you" Where this Mysophobic Business Mogul living in a hermetically sealed penthouse apartment filled with surveillance cameras and electric locks,suddenly his whole place is filled with cockroaches and it overtakes him. In between the five shorts we had the prologue where an Abusive Father punishes his son for reading a horror comic book and threw it in the trash and the epilogue sees the son get revenge on the father by having a voodoo doll decorated in his dad's image and he stabs it repeatedly in the neck and The Boy was having so much fun in the end. 

With a budget of $8 million to make the film did $21 million in the box office "Creepshow" knocked "First Blood" from the top spot in the film's opening weekend and it remains the highest grossing horror film Warner Bros. ever made. I gave this movie an 80/100 rating and I remember the first time I saw this movie it was on WPIX Channel 11 where I was living in New York on October 22,1990 and it still gave me nightmares to this day. 

That movie lead to it's sequel CREEPSHOW 2 that was Episode 4 on my movie review series and that first uploaded on October 27,1990

"Creepshow 2" would be released on May 1,1987 another comedy/horror anthology film directed by Michael Gornick who did the Cinematography for "Creepshow" now due to budgetary bullshit we only got three stories instead of five. George A. Romero who directed "Creepshow" wrote the screenplay and the three stories are once again Based on the shorts written by Stephen King. "Ol' Chief Wood'nhead" where a wooden indian comes to life and avenges the murders of the owners of a general store at the hands of three thugs. "The Raft" where this blob like creature devours a quartet of college students all because they wanted to skip classes and go swimming on a desolated lake and then you got "The Hitchhiker" a story about this adulterous businesswoman that ran down a hitchhiker,but decides to shrug it off,only for the hitchhiker to come back from the dead to haunt her to her death in the end. The movie cost $3.5 million to make and it only did $14 million in the box office. While there's nothing else to write about on this film I remember when it first aired on WPIX Channel 11 in New York where I lived at that time (July 25,1990) and that gave me nightmares as well,not to mention that George A. Romero and Richard P. Rubinstein created that DAMN Anthology series "Tales from the Darkside" following the success of Creepshow. Because of the way the movie was cursed due to budget constraints and all that other shit the movie got a 50/100 rating from me.

October was nothing but Halloween month,but when it came to November I moved away from The horror stuff and moved into more of the buddy cop genre flicks Starting with "48Hrs" that was Episode 5 on my movie review series first uploaded on you tube on November 3,2023

"48 Hrs." tells the story about a cop avenging the murder of his two colleagues at the hands of an escaped convict and his criminal accomplice,by aligning himself with another convicted felon with an axe to grind with the main villain in the film. The only way to bring the criminals to justice is by catching them within 48 hours. My favorite line in that movie was when Cates (played by Nick Nolte) that he and Hammond (played by) Eddie Murphy are not partners,brothers nor friends he would keep him down until Ganz (played by James Remar) is locked up or dead and if got away Hammond would be sorry he ever met Cates and then Hammond's response was "I'm already sorry" that same line would be revisited later in the film when Hammond reminded Cates that they're not partners and friends and if Ganz got away with Hammond's money,Cates will be sorry he even met Hammond and Cates responds with "I'm already sorry". "48 Hrs" was released in theatres on December 8,1982 and it became one of the most commercially successful films of that year. The film costs 12 million to make and did close to $79 million at the box office plus it launched the film career of Eddie Murphy.

That lead to my sixth installment of my movie review series when I reviewed "Beverly Hills Cop" uploaded on youtube on November 10,2023

"Beverly Hills Cop" was released on December 5,1984 (two years after 48 Hrs) it stars Eddie Murphy as Detective Axel Foley a cop from the streets of Detroit heading to Beverly Hills to track down his best friend's killer,but he got more than he bargained for when he got off on the wrong foot of two top cops on the BHPD and their commanding officer. However by films end Axel bonded with the three fellow law enforcement colleagues. "Beverly Hills COP" was the highest grossing film of 1984 grossing in an estimate of $234 million not bad on a $13 million budget it cost to make. My overall rating for this movie was initially 10/10 when in actuality an 100/100 that became the blueprint for the genre of the buddy cop films that followed Including the sequel

"Beverly Hills Cop II" the seventh episode of my movie review series which first aired on youtube on November 17,2023

"Beverly Hills Cop II" was released on May 20,1987 and in this sequel Detroit Cop Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills reunited with Detectives Billy Rosewood (played by Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (played by John Ashton) to stop a criminal organization that commits "Alphabet Crimes" after their commanding officer Captain Andrew Bogomol (played by Ronny Cox) got wounded by members of that criminal clan. The one thing I didn't like about the movie was Police chief with abuse of power well he got shitcanned by the mayor by film's end and Bogomil got promoted as police chief which was for the best. Despite the mixed reviews from critics it was still a box office success by raking in close to $300 million in the box office. I gave that film a 90/100 overall rating.

On the day after Thanksgiving (November 24,2023) I ended up reviewing  the sci-fi neo noir flick "Blade Runner" 

"Blade Runner" was released on June 25,1982 and stars Harrison Ford,Edward James Olmos and Rutger Hauer. The movie is set in a Dystopian future in which synthetic human replicants that are bio-engineered bya powerful corporation forced to work in space colonies,however when a fugitive gang escape back to earth a human cop hunts down it's gang leader along with his gang. 

In the film's intial run it did $41.6 million at the box office as the movie it self cost $30 million to make it didn't become a cult classic until a decade later thanks to a Director's Cut release in video stores and it became one of the first films to be made on a DVD format,not to mention there was a 25th anniversary Director's Cut version of the film released in 2007.

The movie got a 75/100 overall rating mainly due to the lack of fast paced action and being dragged on repetitively for all it's hype,but at the same time,Blade Runner is credited for the creation of the cyberpunk genre.

"The Golden Child" the ninth episode of my movie review series uploaded on December 1,2023 on youtube. 

"The Golden Child" stars Eddie Murphy as a social worker out in L.A. and he becomes the chosen one to save a Tibetan Boy with mystical powers known as "The Golden Child" who is abducted by a mysterious evil man. The movie also stars Charles Dance as the mysterious evil man Sardo Numspa and Charlotte Lewis as Chandlers love interest Kee Nang. "The Golden Child" was released on December 12,1986 with a budget of $12 to $24.5 million to make but raked in nearly $150 million at the box office. 

I ended up giving this film a 65/100 rating this film connected for me at times in this film but not as much as Beverly Hills Cop did. Besides The film did not meet Paramount's expectations when compared to Beverly Hills Cop.

We get to the tenth episode of my Movie Review series and it's "THE EXORCIST" first uploaded December 9,2023.

We can all agree That "The Exorcist" is one of the scariest movies of all time. Released on December 26,1973 the film stars Linda Blair,Ellen Burstyn,Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller. The film is based on the 1971 novel of the same name written by William Peter Blatty. It's story is about Regan MacNeil being demonically possessed and her mother makes a desperate attempt to save her through an exorcism with the help of two catholic priests.  In the movie's initial run it raked in $193 million at the box office and thanks to subsequent re-releases it has a lifetime gross of $441 million.

I rated this film 80/100 The Exorcist was like the first horror film to be nominated for an Academy Award for best picture as well as nine other awards. The Film's Franchise and Legacy is still going strong after 50 years.

For the next 10 movie reviews TO BE CONTINUED........

JoeLumb's Movie Review Robocop 2 (1990)

 Robocop 2 is an American sci-fi/action flick directed by Irwin Kershner(who directed the Star Wars sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980) written by Frank Miller and Walon Green and stars Peter Weller (reprising his role as the titular character),Nancy Allen (reprising her role as his partner),Dan O'Herilihy(reprising his role as OCP's Chairman) Ton Noonan (as the main villain Cain) and Gabriel Damon (playing the thug kid named Hob) It's is the sequel to 1987's blockbuster "Robocop"

The story is set in Detroit in a dystopian future where the plot follows our hero becoming embroiled in a scheme made by Omni Consumer Products to bankrupt and take over the city while also fighting the spread of a street drug called "Nuke" and it's gang of dealers lead by Cain (Noonan) The film was shot on location in Houston,Texas (the fourth largest city in the United States)

When it came time to do a sequel to "Robocop" Orion had already greenlit the development of the sequel in September of '87 so the writers of "Robocop" Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner began working on the first draft,while also writing for another Orion project called 'Company Man". The deadline to complete the script was December 31,1987. Their draft of the sequel would be called Robocop 2:The Corporate Wars set 25 years after the first film,when they presented it to the people at Orion. They HATED IT!!!! The reason why is because the people at Orion wanted them to to a PG rated Robocop sequel that would target children to see the film unaccompanied by an adult,plus tie in to the 12 episode animated series Robocop that was done by Marvel Productions in 1988. So when it came time to re-write the script to Orion's liking The 1988 Writers Giuld of America Strike happened and the two writers Neimeier and Miner were FIRED for refusing to work during the strike. So they was replaced by Frank Miller and his draft was accepted into Robocop 2,while the draft Neumeier and Miner worked on ended up being "Robocop 3" in 1993. 

Miller's draft was less comic and had a bigger emphasis on corporate facism than the final film,with the last showdown being Robocop fighting OCP forces instead of Robocop 2. Producer Jon Davison was good with that for it's grittiness,inventive action,humor and politics,so were good to go,until the ASSHOLES at Orion rejected it as "unfilmable" and brought in "Wild Bunch" screenwriter Walon Green to re-write it. 

There was material cut out that included backstories for Officer Lewis and the marriage of Alex and Ellen Murphy. That would lead to Miller using his treatment as a story for his own series of Robocop comics published in the 2000's which was in his mind "Giving a BIG FUCK YOU towards the Orion Film Company who were far dictatorial for Robocop 2 than they were in the first movie,by strongly going against the input of Frank Miller,Director Irwin Kershner and the actors themselves,even going so far as to schedule a release date before the story was even completed. Neumeier and Miner reported this activity going on claiming the film company controlled material based on business decisions rather than creativity. The planned release date would have been around Christmas time in 1989 but settled for a June 22,1990 release.

In the movie the Detroit Police Department went on strike after OCP decides to bankrupt the city after their pension plans were terminated and salaries were cut which lead to an increase in street crime,wll the while OCP began to foreclose on all public property taking over the city's government and allowing their master plan to redevelop Detroit into Delta City. Meanwhile Robocop and Officer Lewis remained on duty after raiding a manufacturing plant of Nuke a new street drug plaguing Detroit,The carte;s frontman Cain along with his young henchman Hob escape. We fast forward to OCP struggling to develop Robocop 2 a police droid filled with brains of legally dead cops that were intended for mass production to replace the striking cops. The resurrected cops committed suicide upon activation. ENTER THE MORALLY WARPED DR.JULIETTE FAXX. She theorized that Murphy's strong moreal code and strict Catholic upbringing were critical in it's initial success so she convinced the chairman aka OLD MAN to allow her to lead a project to recover their 90 million dollar research and development investment. What Dr.Faxx's plan was to seek the use of death row inmates that desire power and immortality than the police officers. Meanwhile Cain fears he's losing his grip on the city and used a dirty uniform cop by the name of Officer Duffy to undermine OCP and Robocop's enforcement efforts. When Robocop tracked down Duffy he beats the information of Cain's hideout out of him. So he confront Cain's gang at an abandoned construction hideout,only to be ambushed and chopped apart and then dump pieces of his body at the Police precinct. That lead to Cain having Duffy dissected or as the way I call it Open Heart Surgery without sleeping gas. That scene was the most horrifying thing I ever saw and I seen some horrifying shit.

Anyway Robocop is repaired and the arrogant Faxx reprograms him with more than 300 new directives that severely impedes his ability to perform his duties so that her project can be selected. Suddenly Robocop clears them all by shocking himself with a high voltage transformer and rebooting his system. So now rebooted and out for revenge Robocop rallies up the striking officers to aid him in raiding Cain's hideout. As Cain tries to escape,Robocop wounds and apprehends him,while Hob escapes with Cain's girlfriend Angie as he took over Cain's drug empire. This lead to Faxx using Cain's brain and controls him with a canister of Nuke by selecting his brain for her Robocop 2 project. Surgeons placed his brain into a robotic body similar to ED-209 and Cain is reactivated. 

Then we get to a meeting between Hob and the Mayor and the kid offers him a deal to retire the city's debt in exchange for "hands off" policy towards Nuke thereby nullifying OCP's scheme and preventing Delta City's construction. Threatened by this move OCP has Cain now going by Robocop 2 invade the meeting slaughtering all of Hob's henchmen and killing Angie in the process,but The Mayor managed to escape with his very life. Robocop arrives shortly there after and finds a wounded Hob and he informs him of who did this before he died. 

Then we get to the presentation ceremony conducted by the Old Man revealing Delta City and Robocop 2/Cain,it was when he presents a canister of Nuke Cain's  out of control addiction caused him to be defiant and go on a rampage killing many civilians and cops Robocop arrives and fought Cain to the death,after rpping out his brain and Smashed it to bits. At the end The Chairman and his executive Donald Johnson decide to throw Faxx under the bus for Cain's attack as Lewis complains that OCP is not accepting accountability,Robocop reminds her while tuning his own head to be patient "Were all Human." 

"Robocop 2" was released on June 22,1990 after a budget of $25-30 million to make which did $45.7 million at the box office the film got mixed reviews.

My overall rating for this movie is a 65/100 the common complaint this film got was it didn't focus enough on the title character or his partner and that the film's human story trapped inside a machine was drowned by a sea of violence and the movie's screenplay is a confusion of half-baked and unfinished ideas. Orion shit the bed when they controlled most of the film's creativity as far as I was concerned.