I’m a fan of spooky not scary, more fun and adventure filled Halloween movies. Below are my top favorite Halloween movies. They are not all Halloween related, and I would watch them year round but there’s just something delicious about watching them in October.
I recently watched the show Nightmare Tenants and Slum Landlords on Netflix. The show has two seasons it is a reality show following independent eviction specialists working on behalf of landlords and local authority housing officers investigating landlords and unsafe living conditions. It is based in England and during each episode the tenants and landlords change. Sometimes the tenant will be bad – not paying rent, destroying the house and refusing to leave. While other times the landlord is bad – not making repairs, threatening tenants.
What I learned:
Have an application. Do a background and criminal check. Check if there are any judgments against your potential tenant. Get copies of IDs of the potential tenants.
Get a security deposit and ensure that you follow the law in regards to how to manage the security deposit.
Get repairs done in a timely manner and keep all receipts for the work that was done since you will need to show what you did when the tenant takes you to court for not making repairs.
Communicate through email so you have a record of everything.
Do not give into sob stories – they will screw you later on!
Understand that a tenant will be rough with your house and a lot of tenants will not take care of your home. So yes you will need to do a major cleaning and repairs once the old tenants move to prepare the house for new tenants.
Put aside money to pay for lawyer fees, court fees, clean out, etc. There will be a time that you need this so just have it ready.
Make sure you can pay your mortgage with your own salary without financial strain because tenants do not always pay their rent and your mortgage company will not care, they want their money.
Have a fund sent aside for repairs because repairs will always be needed and your tenant will be right there to say that’s why they did not pay rent.
Movie Review: Thriller (2018)
Director – Dallas Jackson
Characters/actors:
Lisa Walker – Jessica Allain
Lisa Walker (13years old) – Teshi Thomas
Derrick Jackson – Luke Tennie
Derrick Jackson (13years old) – Marcus Ryan Doyle
Ty Reynolds – Mitchell Edwards
Ty Reynolds (13years old) – Noah Abbott
Gina Brown – Paige Hurd
Gina Brown (13years old) – Jordan Alexa Davis
Tiffany Rodriguez – Chelsea Rendon
Tiffany Rodriguez (13years old) – Reggie Zavala
Andre Dixon – Tequan Richmond
Andre Dixon (13years old) – Charles W. Greer IV
Amani Morris (13years old) – Bria Singleton
Kim Morris – Pepi Sonuga
Kim Morris (13years old) – Brooke Singleton
Chauncy Page – Jason Woods
Chauncy Page (13years old) – Zachariah Waller
Ronny De Berry – Maestro Harrell
Ronny De Berry (13years old) – Philip Solomon
Eddie Gomez – Michael Ocampo
Eddie Gomez (13 years old) – Angel Bonilla
Principal Hurd – Rza
Unique – Chauncey Jenkins
Mrs. Cruz – Valery Ortiz
Detective Johnson – Mykelti Williamson
Chauncy Page is a sweet 14-year-old who stutters. He bought a hot dog, he sees a homeless man and gives that man the hot dog. Other kids make fun of Chauncy. A girl asks Chauncy to help her find a cat in an abandoned house. Chauncy goes in and a bunch of students in skull masks taunt and chase him through the house. At one point Chauncy ends up upstairs and pushes one of the skull mask wearing kids. That kid falls down to the first floor and ends up dead. The kids gather by the not yet cold body and decide that they will say that Chauncy did it. Chauncy is arrested and spends four years in juvenile detention. I appreciate the fact that they did not show us all the horrors Chauncy went through while in juvenile detention. Instead they eluded to what he went through by showing moving comic like pictures – getting on the prison bus, someone spitting on him when he gets in, getting kicked while on the floor and locked in a cell with a bunch of stronger/older men. I feel that if Chauncy’s mother had money to hire an expensive but competent law firm. Those lawyers would have investigated and figured out that Chauncy was not to blame for the death, it was an accident on his part and so he should not be the one getting punished. But unfortunately, Chauncy did not have a good defense lawyer, the cops heard from the other kids that Chauncy did it and they did not dig any deeper, and the prosecutor charged Chauncy and he ended up in jail.
The next scene is four years later and Chauncy is free! He goes back home to his mother who might be an alcoholic – it was during the day and she was drinking from the bottle but it’s understandable because her son was sent to jail. Chauncy’s mom is happy that he is back but she continues to drink alcohol. At one point Chauncy’s mom tries to get Chauncy to dance and when he refuses she gets really upset with him and verbally puts him down. Chauncy’s mom has issues that she needs to deal with being a single parent, trying to raise a boy into a man as a mom, her son went to jail, not having a great job, living in a not so great neighborhood, etc.
The kids who blamed Chauncy for the death, have continued with life and currently attend Compton High School. Once Chauncy is out, the kids who put him in jail begin to die one by one!
The themes I saw in this movie are:
Bullying – Chauncy was bullied by the neighborhood kids because he was a sweet boy who stuttered. Kids can be cruel and those same kids grow up to be adult bullies.
Feeling stuck – all the kids feel stuck in Compton and some are trying to get out while others have given up.
Ty Renolds is a football star and his chance to get out is through getting recruited by a big college to play football for them.
Lisa Walker got into Spellman and her family is trying to figure out how to pay for it.
Derrick on the other hand, is smart but has been letting his grades slip because he will end up dead soon anyway so as he put it – “what is the point?”
Revenge – Chauncy lost four years of his life because the kids who set up the messed up prank blamed him for it and now when those kids begin to die, they are getting their just desserts!
The ending surprised me because the killer was not who I expected it to be and the one who saved the day was not who I thought it would be! I really liked the fact that all the characters were African American in this movie and I could just enjoy watching brown skinned people just living life and it was wonderful! I would recommend this movie for people who like movies with killers and murder.
nbMovie Review: The Widow
8 episodes
Created and written by Harry Williams and Jack Williams
Directed by Sam Donovan and Olly Blackburn
Georgia Wells (main character, widow of Will) – Kate Beckinsale
Martin Benson (Georgia’s friend) – Charles Dane
Judith Gray (Georgia’s friend, Will’s boss) – Alex Kingston
General Azikiwe – Babs Olusanmokun
Ariel Helgason (blind guy) – Olafur Darri Olafsson
Emmanuel Kazadi (Georgia’s friend) – Jacky Ido
Pieter Bello – Bart Fouche
Adidja (child soldier) – Shalom Nyandiko
Molisho (Adidja’s friend and child soldier) – Likho Mango
Gaelle Kazadi (Emmanuel’s pregnant first wife) – Luiana Bonfim
Will Mason (Georgia’s husband) – Matthew Le Nevez
Sally Newell (Judith’s girlfriend) – Siobhan Finneran
Georgia’s husband (Will) died aboard a plan in Congo, Africa. Three years later, Georgia catches a glimpse of him on news footage. Armed with his picture and the hope that her husband is alive, Georgia goes to the Congo to find him.
As I watched the show I kept asking myself “how far would I go to find my loved one?” And at the end of it all – my answer is until I find my person.
Georgia faces death threats, a car bombing, rape attempt, murder attempts, trapesing through the jungle which is full of armed militia, military, lots of betrayal and a huge helping of corruption. The truths Georgia uncovers put her life in danger and he must decide what to do next. The truth will hurt but I’m with Georgia, I would rather know the truth then live with never knowing. And in the end, Georgia finds her new family.
I loved that they spoke Swahili and French in the show. I was happy to hear my language (Swahili); it was a nice surprise.
Themes throughout the show that I saw:
Love
Georgia loves her husband and that love motivates her to try and find him.
Peiter loves his daughter and that motivates him to do dangerous and illegal things to provide for her.
Judith loves Sally Newell and so she willingly gives Sally the money she inherited from her mother to help with Sally’s business.
Adidja’s love for her friend Molisho leads her to look away and let him escape.
Fear
Will feared coming out and so he just stayed “disappeared”.
Ariel Helgason was too scared to tell the truth because he is the only survivor and so he disappears and changes his identity.
Greed
Pieter tries to edge out the military from taking most of his profits so that he can increase his share of the money.
Will joins the smuggling because he wants to make lots of money.
When Judith loses love, she decides to get all the money and joins the smuggling ring with Pieter and General Azikiwe.
Betrayal
Will betrayed Georgia.
Sally betrayed Judith.
Judith betrayed Will.
Peiter betrayed Georgia and Emmanuel.
Loss of innocence
Adidja and her friend Molisho are children who were taken from their families and forced to become child soldiers for the Mai-Mai militia.
Pieter forces Adidja to shoot someone so that he can keep her secret (which is she let her friend Molisho escape). Adidja is the age of Pieter’s daughter but instead of seeing Adidja as a little girl who could be his daughter and this should not be happening to her; Pieter makes her kill someone.
Survival
Adidja survives her time as a child soldier, she is clever, brave and intelligent.
Georgia survives the loss of her husband and goes searching for him.
If we look out for each other than good has a chance.
All in all, I loved The Widow!
A female main character, no naked women for no reason, fighting for love and not falling apart after discovering the truth. Women = survivors
And after you survive then you can create a new family and LIVE!!!!
Directed by David Bowers
Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy/Toby
Nicolas Cage as Dr. Tenma
Donald Sutherland as President Stone
Bill Nighy as Dr. Elefun
Kristen Bell as Cora
Dee Bradley Baker as Trashcan (dog)
I must confess that I love anime/cartoons! And Astro Boy did not disappoint.
Astro Boy is the story of a father (Dr. Tenma) who has no time for his son (Toby) until his Toby dies. Through his grief, Dr. Tenma creates a perfect replica of his son Toby, the only difference is that this Toby is a robot. Dr. Tenma takes Robot Toby home and tries to make him act like the original Toby. Dr. Tenma realizes that Robot Toby is different. Dr. Tenma rejects Robot Toby and Robot Toby goes out into the world to find out where he fits in.
The themes I saw in the movie are as follows:
Father/son relationship
Not having time for your loved ones
Destiny and finding your place in the world
What defines family?
What makes you human?
Protecting the ones you love
Finding where you belong
What it means to be a friend
Figuring out who you are and what you stand for
I loved this movie and I did get teary.
Olusala Sisters 