poignant tragic romance, as i told imdb

Yes, that's right: I've cared enough to leave a review for this movie on IMDB.com.

Just which movie might that be?

"The Crow".

I thank Ernie Hudson for spurring me to do so.

I'd read his quote on 26 August while I was still trying to figure out whether I would see it.

After mulling it over for two days, I decided to see it anyway...

even though I had already completed my A*List and would have to pay for it.

 

That's how important it was to me that I see it and judge it for myself.

I'm so glad I did!

I had loved Bill Skarsgard in "Boy Kills World", and I love him as 'Eric' in this new movie.

Yes, "The Crow" is a new movie, not a remake, not at all.

There is so much confusion out there about that point.

Why?

No one thinks Aerosmith's "Crazy" is a remake of Patsy Cline's "Crazy".

Nor does anyone compare Seal's "Crazy" to Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".

I love all four of those songs and all four of the artists that sing them.

I've even done some of them in karaoke, just to hear them again.

(smile!) 

However, I do not ever remember reading any criticism of those same-named songs.

Not once.

So, if songs with vastly different lyrics are allowed to have the same title with no one even batting an eyelash, then what is the deal?

Other movies have had the same name and not been harshly devalued because of it.

Case in point: "Passengers".

During the pandemic, I wanted to watch again the 2016 movie with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, as it would be in keeping with the social isolation.

However, when I went in search of it on TV, other movies with that same name popped up, but not the one I wanted.

The one with Anne Hathaway, made in 2008, wasn't even science fiction, nor was the 2009 one set in Los Angeles.

Were any of those remakes of each other?

Nope, nor did anyone claim they had been.

Why all the venom and vitriol being hurled at "The Crow"?

Yes, it's derived from the same comic book which was published in 1989.

Yes, the two lead characters have the names 'Eric' and 'Shelly'.

Yes, the male gets killed and comes back to avenge the female's death.

Ooh, aah.

This version didn't have rape, so that was a plus to me.

It also had much more of the love story between the two leads, using about half the movie to set up that tragic, and short, romance.

I consider that a plus, too, as we had scant interface with the female lead in the older movie made three decades ago.

And the soundtrack?

Straight out of the 80's alternative playbook, though not anything anyone would have heard on the radio back then.

Oddly, only Gary Numan and The Joy Division would have been heard back then.

The other bands are all new to me, but they had that sound going for them.

Very nice!

Plus, there was an opera that played well with the choreography of the last fight scenes.

That was "Robert le diable", written in 1831 by German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, in five acts, for the Paris Opera.

I'd like to see that some time, as it was the first 'grand opera' ever and had some incredible scenes in this movie.

(smile!)

What movies did make it to my AMC A*List?

"The Forge" was about refashioning the Christian church into smaller groups of 'disciples', both to promote camaraderie amongst members and to encourage the spreading of The Gospels to future church members.

I recommended that to my brothers, as it seems to be the message currently being taught at the Compassion Christian campuses.

"Blink Twice" was the third Channing Tatum film I've seen this year, with this being the only horror movie in that trio.

I had thought I might see the thought-provoking story one more time, but not after the nightmare I had the day after seeing it.

That's a shame, as it's one of the modern, slick, horror films - "Ready Or Not", "Abigail", "Bodies Bodies Bodies" - that hearken back to the crime spree of "Heathers".

(Note: that last one also starred Christian Slater, as did "Blink Twice", 26 years later.)

"Didi" came with high praise from Carolyn, but I could barely stand to sit through the coming-of-age movie even once.

Dark and dour and just nothing I wanted to be part of.

I really should have seen "The Crow" instead.