Tag: Jenna Ortega

Scream 6 Review: The Most Brutal Ghostface Yet.

I got back into the Scream franchise a few months after the fifth installment released.
Ever since then, I had been eagerly anticipating Scream 6, to the point that I did not watch any trailers, except for the first one, so I would be going in blind.
However, despite my excitement, I was still prepared for disappointment, considering this would be the first Scream film without Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott.
Her absence in this movie is because of a pay dispute and to that I say she should have been paid what shewas owed as the face of this franchise.
Although, as Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) says in this movie, Sidney deserves a happy ending.
So, if the last we ever see of Sidney Prescott is her surviving in Scream 5, then I will be satisfied with her story.

Sidney’s absence is also explained well enough.

As for Scream 6‘s story, it follows the sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) who have moved to New York following the events of Scream 5, along with siblings Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown).
However, when a new series of Ghostface killings begin, the four are left wondering who to trust, with numerous suspects including the returning Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), Detective Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), his daughter and the Carpenter’s roommate Quinn (Lianna Liberato), their neighbour Danny (Josh Sergerra), Mindy’s girlfriend Anika (Devyn Nekoda), and Chad’s roommate Ethan (Jack Champion).
Alongside this large cast comes an even larger body count, with this Ghostface being the scariest in the entire franchise. 

Ghostface is absolutley brutal in this movie.

I am so glad that I did not watch any of the trailers after the first because it made for more terrifying surprises.  
Speaking of surprises, Scream 6 has by far the best opening scene, since the first one.
It was such a shocking opening and left me wondering just where this film was going.
The film builds from adrenaline rushing scene to anxiety inducing scene, until we finally reach the big third act, which has plenty of great reveals and character development.
I especially enjoyed the development of the Carpenter sisters with Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega doing an excellent job as the characters.

The resolutions to Sam and Tara’s arcs in this movie was great.

As for flaws, there is one very obvious red herring that made me roll my eyes a bit.
Also, the film does stretch believability at times with how many characters survive what should be fatal wounds.
More importantly though, I was not really a fan of Gale’s role in this movie.
She does have some awesome moments but it the way she is presented here went entirely against her ending in Scream 5. 
Along with this, it kind of felt like her ending in this movie may have been rewritten, although that’s just a suspicion. 

The way Gale is presented as a character in this movie really bothered me.

Other than those few issues, however, Scream 6 is a great time.
It has solid character development and callbacks, as well as some incredibly intense scenes with what has to be the scariest Ghostface of the franchise.
I am already eagerly anticipating Scream 7.  

Wednesday Review: Jenna Ortega Murders It.

The Addams Family are pop culture icons who have been around since the 1930s, appearing in sketch cartoons, movies and TV series.
Despite knowing of them, I have never had any previous exposure to their stories before, at least not to my knowledge.
All I knew about them was what I had heard, which was that they are a macabre family with quite a few deathly interests that creep out everyone else around them.
Having never personally seen anything Addams Family related before, this put me in an interesting position when watching the new Netflix series Wednesday, since I had no idea what to expect going in, apart from what the trailers had shown.
Having finished the show, I can say that this I believe this be a good introduction to the Addams Family, if you have not seen any of their movies or shows before, like me.

The show does a good job of highlighting each member of The Addams Family’s crazy personalities.

With the first four episodes directed by Tim Burton, Wednesday follows the titular daughter of the Addams Family who, after being expelled from her school for quite literally neutering a school bully using piranha, is sent to Nevermore Academy, a school for supernatural teenagers.
However, upon arriving, Wednesday quickly learns that the school is being haunted by a murderous monster, and by that I don’t mean Wednesday herself.
The series then follows Wednesday’s journey to uncover the mystery of Nevermore Academy, a mystery which is pretty predictable, to be honest, although I will get to that later.
For now, just like pretty much every person who has reviewed this show, I want to heap praise on Jenna Ortega for her fantastic performance as Wednesday.
She is delightfully morbid, with plenty of excellent instances of deadpan humor.
Even her movements match the character, with one dance scene she has being the best scene in the show, in my opinion.

Wednesday’s dance is a lot of fun, as the dance alone tells you pretty much everything you need to know about her character without dialogue.

The rest of the Addams Family are also quite likeable, with Gomez (Luiz Guzman) being the center of his own mystery, and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) constantly being at odds with Wednesday.
It is also pretty endearing to see how protective Wednesday is of her brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) as his sole tormentor, and how one of the few times she genuinely smiles in this show (other than when she attempts murder) is when she greets her Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen).
The award for best bond Wednesday has with a family member definitley goes to her interactions with Thing.
Thing is a sentient severed hand who Wednesday uses as a servant and sometimes reluctant advisor and it is often morbidly humorous to see her talking with him.
What is less fun is the love triangle Wendesday goes through this season.
Two characters, Xavier (Percy Hynes White) and Tyler (Hunter Doohan), are after her affections, yet I never felt like Wednesday was truly interested in either of them romantically.
To be honest, I was much more invested in Wednesday’s friendships with Enid (Emma Myers), her roommate and polar opposite in every capacity, and Eugune (Moosa Mostafa), a confident bee keeper. 

This excellent shot alone tells you how different Wednesday and Enid are.

The rest of the cast, including Gwendoline Christie, Joy Sunday, and Christina Ricci, who has also played Wendesday in the past, are very good in their roles, as well.
It is Jenna Ortega who really steals the show, however, as she is clearly giving everything she has to absolutely murder this role.
If they had not got Wednesday right, the show would have faltered because, honestly, the whole mystery is really not that mysterious, or at least for me it was not.
It is here where I will get into my biggest issue with Wednesday, but this does come with a slight spoiler warning because, while I do not say what exactly happens, my wording does indicate it.
So if you have not watched the show and don’t want to be spoiled then I would stop reading this review and just go watch it because it is really good.
Now, for my big problem with Wednesday, which is the red herrings.
I honestly cannot remember the last time I encountered such obvious and frustrating ones.
The red herrings in Wednesday are such apparent distractions, yet the writing keeps beating you over the head with them, trying to convince you that they are the culprits, when the real ones are so blindingly obvious.   

The red herring characters are clearly that right from the get-go. Never once did I believe they were actually guilty.

I was literally shouting at the screen whenever Wednesday kept insisting she had solved the mystery, while it was so evident that she had not.
Despite this, and a few other issues, like the love triangle, Wednesday is a good show that has a lot of good morbid humor and a standout performance form Jenna Ortega.
I would definitley watch a second season and, if it gets the green light, hopefully it will have a better mystery.