tdh_fbi

I really enjoyed "Small Engine Repair", mainly due to its stellar cast and unapologetic graphic dialogue and story line.

The main male cast members do a wonderful job as 3 childhood friends, now adults who have been troubled by life each in their own ways, and that makes them very believable, in my opinion.

The standout performances in this, in my opinion, go to Jordana Spiro as Frank's initially antagonizing ex-wife Karen and Ciara Bravo as Frank's initially spunky and tough-talking teenage daughter Crystal.

In particular, I have to give Ms. Bravo great respect in the way she portrayed Crystal. She gave her a greatly blended personality that was both fiery and vulnerable at the same time. It was nice to see her play a grittier and more mature role here after seeing her play "Katie" on Nickelodeon's "Big Time Rush" for so many years, which I used to watch a lot with my niece. Plus, she nailed the New Hampshire accent quite well.

In closing, I can agree with certain other reviewers here that, as good as this movie was, the ending was disappointing to an extent. In general, though, "Small Engine Repair" is definitely worth an hour and 42 minutes of your time.

"Schoolgirls" (or Las Ninas as I found it) is a very well done coming of age story set during the 1990s against a backdrop of a very traditional Catholic school.

What stood out the most to me here was the absolutely wonderful performance by young Andrea Fandos as the main character, Celia. She did a great job playing the initially naive young schoolgirl who starts to question everything once she meets new student Brisa, also played wonderfully by young Zoe Aranao.

The movie does a great job showing Celia's confusion about her overly strict school setting and budding adolescence, while also being equally frustrated and sad in regards to her relationship with her widowed single mother.

Another strong point of the movie is the honesty with which it treats the nature of Celia growing up. I have to admit that I had no idea that it took place in the 90's until the third time I had watched it, so now that I know that, I have to give it more credit since I grew up in the mid to late 90's myself. The movie showed Celia's adolescence without being overly rough or graphic, but also hammered home how rough things were for her at the time.

What I would've like to have seen was some more resolution between the young characters prior to the end. There were several scenes that showcased their (at times uneasy) friendships and connections, and while I was satisfied with the presented ending, it would've been nice to see something nice like Brisa and Cris visiting Celia at home and them hanging out before the end credits rolled.

All in all, though, "Schoolgirls" seemed to me like the Spanish 2020 version of 1995's "Now and Then", though here there was much less profanity and comedic overtones. Definitely worth a re-watch or three.

I actually really enjoyed "Halloween Ends". I thought the slight time jump really benefited the series timeline, and I thought that highlighting Laurie and Allison Strode's mental and emotional improvements in the beginning made the movie better.

However, as pretty much everyone had pointed out, one thing that did detract from how good the overall movie could've potentially be was the Corey Cunningham subplot. I agree that it did take away a lot of the "Laurie/Michael" conflict that we all were used to seeing by this point, and that takes a few points away for me.

All in all, though, the final showdown was worth the bogging down and the wait. This one is definitely worth a few re-watches and reexamination.