"This is Halloween! This is Halloween!"
Do you recognize that? It's from one of my favorite movies to watch this time of year: the 1993 stop-motion animated classic Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It was released by Touchstone Pictures, a division of Disney, so I consider Jack Skellington and Sally one of the best couples ever in a Disney animated movie. It actually wasn't directed by Tim Burton. He produced it and wrote the original poem that the movie is based on. But it was directed by Henry Selick, who would go on to do "James and the Giant Peach," "Coraline" and "Wendell and Wild." I actually interviewed him on Zoom for "Wendell and Wild," another spooky, fun stop-motion animated feature - released on Netflix in 2022. And he showed me some of the characters he still has from "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
Some other recommendations for movies to check out as we approach Halloween: How about "Bewitched?" Now, of course, there's the classic '60s TV series, which I love and have loved since I was very young. Still watch the reruns. The movie is basically about a television sitcom revival of "Bewitched." Really ahead of its time - the fact that this film came out in 2005. And Will Ferrell plays an actor looking for an actress who's going to play Samantha - and he discovers this woman (played by Nicole Kidman) who turns out to be... actually a witch. It's really fun.
A 2015 Halloween-themed film I like a lot is "Goosebumps." This is based on the family book series from iconic author R.L. Stine, and in the movie, Jack Black plays R.L. Stine, who meets a group of kids and goes on this "Goosebumps"-like adventure. So it's a really cool angle. Got to meet Jack Black and interview him on the red carpet at the premiere of the film in New York City. And I asked him, "What goes into prepping for a role like this when you're asked to be R.L. Stine?" And he said, "Well, I wasn't asked to play R.L. Stine. I had to really fight for this part." To hear Jack Black, one of the biggest comedy superstars on the planet - in so many movies, like "School of Rock" and "Nacho Libre" - to say he still had to fight for this part was very interesting. And he gives a great performance in the movie.
Another excellent performance comes from Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in the 2018 "Halloween" reboot. Many decades later for an actress to return to her iconic, breakthrough role. We've seen it many times over the years: Sylvester Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa in "Creed". You had Harrison Ford returning to Indiana Jones... and Han Solo in "Star Wars"... and to the "Blade Runner" franchise. So that's always really fascinating to watch an actor return to their beloved role. And she's really good in the film. Michael Myers returning after all these years. How does she feel about that? The emotional depth - the layers.
And then I want to spotlight a couple animated features new for Halloween this year. One is "Monster Mia," based on a book series about a human girl who goes to school with a bunch of monster kids. I spoke with director Verena Fels for AnimationScoop.com and the LCJ Q&A Podcast. She loved getting to screen the movie at the Annecy International Film Festival in France earlier this year - one of the biggest film festivals in the world spotlighting animation.
And then also "Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom," which is the third "Shaun the Sheep" feature from Aardman, the makers of "Wallace & Gromit" and "Chicken Run." It is a delightful movie set on Halloween with a pumpkin patch and lots of visual tributes to classic Halloween characters and movies. It's really, really terrific.
Happy Halloween! Enjoy the trick-or-treating and watching these fantastic films.
Upstate New York Native Jackson Murphy has been reviewing films on radio, TV, and online for more than 20 years. The Emmy winner, content producer, and author is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the Critics' Choice Association.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
