Star Wars Triple Feature

My fiance left to visit family for Thanksgiving today so I am fighting the loneliness with a triple feature of the highest order - the theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy. Now that's a good day at the movies.

Buffy

So the producers behind the originally Buffy The Vampire Slayer film starring Kristy Swanson from the 90's, who still technically hold all rights, are rebooting that shit without Joss Whedon's permission into a tween'ed up feature film. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

FUCK.

First off, Whedon is still putting out new material within the Buffyverse with his Buffy: Season Eight and Angel comics. This better not fuck that up somehow. Also, what kind of creativity-deprived idiots disrespect this obviously beloved franchise enough that they would unwillingly pull the big, beautiful babies out from Joss Whedon's loving hands. These are the worst kind of film business douchebags.

The man himself has me feeling like I need to take it a little lighter with his hilarious response, in which he seems to take it in stride:

"Kristin, I'm glad you asked for my thoughts on the announcement of Buffy the cinema film. This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself.

Obviously I have strong, mixed emotions about something like this. My first reaction upon hearing who was writing it was, "Whit Stillman AND Wes Anderson? This is gonna be the most sardonically adorable movie EVER." Apparently I was misinformed. Then I thought, "I'll make a mint! This is worth more than all my Toy Story residuals combined!" Apparently I am seldom informed of anything. And possibly a little slow. But seriously, are vampires even popular any more?

I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER. I don't love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I'm also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly. I can't wish people who are passionate about my little myth ill. I can, however, take this time to announce that I'm making a Batman movie. Because there's a franchise that truly needs updating. So look for The Dark Knight Rises Way Earlier Than That Other One And Also More Cheaply And In Toronto, rebooting into a theater near you.

Leave me to my pain! Sincerely, Joss Whedon."

For those not in the know, the Wes Anderson/Whit Stillman comment was sarcastic. The actual screenwriter working the project is a 29-year old actress who has never written a film. And for a very large number of geeks worldwide this is majorly disappointing news.

I guess if I have to talk about something positive afterwards, then I'm enjoying the shit out of Conan's TBS show... particularly now that I've discovered they replay the episode at 1:00am... so I get to watch it even on work nights. And even better it's just a half-our off from its old Late Night With Conan O'Brien slot... that combined with Andy back on the couch feels just like old times. I love it.

Did I post about the Winnie The Pooh trailer yet? I love that thing. apple.com/trailers, folks. Get the damn Winnie The Pooh trailer.

Also, Fallout: New Vegas for PS3 is owning my fucking soul. This game is proof that graphics aren't everything.

Disney nerds... rejoice!

I can't believe I completely overlooked that, along with the other great trailers this week, Disney released a trailer for its traditionally-animated Winnie The Pooh theatrical film slated for 2011. This looks like a promising move on the heels of last year's The Princess And The Frog that the big D may be planning to release one-off hand-drawn films between its CGI blockbusters. After years of their direct-to-DVD sequel bullshit that began with Aladdin 2 (which I have completely ignored and do not personally consider to be canon) they are actually brining an existing property back to the big-screen in big-budget, theatrical 2D. I have a feeling the box office potential for something like this could merit future 2D theatrical sequels to classic Disney properties. Imagine a theatrical sequel to The Lion King or The Little Mermaid. I'd personally love to see a modern theatrical sequel to The Sword In The Stone. As for the Winnie The Pooh, grab it in 1080p Quicktime at apple.com/trailers

Trailer Mania!

Hot on the heels of the highly-anticipated Green Lantern and Battle: Los Angeles trailers release this past week come 2 even more mind-blowing FIRST FULL TRAILERSs in GLORIOUS QUICTIME (apple.com/trailers as always): Jon Favreau's first non-Iron Man feature COWBOYS & ALIENS (starring HARRISON FUCKING FORD) and Disney/Pixar's next picture CARS 2.

It's a good week to be a film fan.

Holy FUCK, it's the GREEN LANTERN trailer!!!!

Head on over to apple.com/trailers for the Green Lantern trailer in glorious quicktime! This shit looks incredible. They've finally nailed an epic super hero character without compromising any of the inherit scope in the translation to film. This is THE Green Lantern we see in the comics... flying around in space with his fist out, ring first, surrounded by a green aura and leaving a laser-like green trail behind. This is truly a comic book in motion. Just wait til you see Oa. Or Kilowog. The only gripe I have, and its a minor one, is that the Guardians Of The Universe have a human fleshtone in the film from what I can tell. They'er supposed to be blue-ish, but whatever. Everthing else is spot on. This whole movie has the Geoff Johns seal of approval all over it, it looks exactly like it's leaping from the pages of a post-Rebirth Green Lantern book.

CAN'T. FUCKING. WAIT.

Easily one of my 10 most anticipated movies. Let's just roll out that list while we're at it. In order from most anticipated to only-slightly-less anticipated:

At The Mountains Of Madness
Super 8
The Hobbit
Tron Legacy
The Avengers
Batman Rises
The Wolverine
Cowboys & Aliens
Green Lantern
And an unsettlable tie for tenth that actually results in an 11-movie list:
X-Men: First Class & Black Swan

I'm not sure if the fact that 5 of these are comic book movies says more about my love of the medium or just the state of the post-Dark Knight/Iron Man industry where so many great comic properties are getting respectable treatment from major studios and major directors. But there you have it. I am hesitant to leave certain titles (like Cars 2, Battle: Los Angeles, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, and Arietty: The Borrow off the list, but 10 is 10)

Should be a good couple years for film fans and comic fans

Tron Legacy

So the new Tron Legacy trailer (Trailer 3 if you're at apple.com/trailers getting the preferred 1080p Quicktime file) literally has me more excited of the fact that the movie comes out on December 17 than the fact that it's also my 30th birthday. How pathetic is that. It's that good. Two-and-a-half minutes and hardly any repeat footage from the two-minute teaser. This shit is incredible. My one complaint is that the trailers should use the Daft Punk music featured in the film and not generic trailer scores but otherwise this footage looks unbelievable. The CGI effect allowing Jeff Bridges to portray his younger self leaves something to be desired but I appreciate the historic achievement of attempting it. The rest is flawless. If Tron Uprising is half as good as Star Wars: The Clone Wars (and judging from the voicecast and the ammount of love Disney is currently putting into this franchise, it should) then I foresee Tron as being a very huge franchise in the 2010's in a way no really sees coming right now. Marrrrrrk myyyyyy wooorrrrrrrrrrrrds.

But yeah, it is obvious now that bringing in Pixar and Fincher to advise on post-production, the huge budget they've allowed, and just the general ammount of push they're giving this is paying off in a gigantic way. Now THIS is DISNEY quality film.

Last Eastbound & Down To Air in 0:30

I love this show and I LOVE those bittersweet BBC-style 6 or 7-episode seasons. Every show I've personally watched to follow that template has ruled - Ali G, Office, Extras, and now this shit. Short and sweet. I love the BBC format and also the japanese 13 and 26-episode maxi-series format with no continuing seasons are both far superior to american way (which is 'make 24 episodes a year every year until people stop watching')

Here's to Kenny Powers... I hope season 3 sees you back in the majors and may your show live on its beautiful BBC-inspired format

Fuckin' Teevee

Man, so, my Halloween video marathon was a blast. My feature movie selection ended up being House Of 1000 Corpses, which was sweet because I hadn't seen it in a few years and it takes place on October 30th and 31st. Disney's Halloween Treat really took me back, the 1080p It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was so sharp it was bizarre to watch (don't get me wrong, I love it this way), and the fiance and myself had some nostalgiac fun pulling out Count Duckula - The Complete First Season (which now fetches a handsome price on Amazon) and the Halloween episode of The Adventures Of Pete & Pete. The whole thing would have been perfect, except at 10:00PM I blew a sure thing by passing up the next-to-last Eastbound & Down (I'll On-Demand it ASAP, but I post-poned for the sake of the holiday marathon) in favor of the 90-minute The Walking Dead premier, which was to be the culmination of a whole day of video watching. Boy did I set myself up for failure. This thing was TV-Movie material for sure. The Greg Nicotero FX were brilliant when displayed, but the whole thing was just another big, boring zombie rehash. Boooooooooooring. They managed to stretch the let's-get-it-over-with first 30 to 45 minutes of a zombie movie into 90 minutes. The only interesting novelty was the concept of riding a horse around in the zomie apocalypse and they killed the fuckin horse off after 5 minutes. Otherwise this was some bland shit.

I generally hate TV, with a few exceptions. I have a reverence for the classic late night talk show. I plan to catch Conan's TBS show as much as possible as I feel guilty for being part of his cancellation previously by not watching enough. And I do love Letterman as well. I love Eastbound & Down. Glee. Modern Family. Anything Joss Whedon-related. Trailer Fanatic and At The Movies are a good time as far as I'm concerned. Charlie Rose. But most of all, I fucking LOVE Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I recently re-watched the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and as much as that first movie irks me (and I doubt I will watch it more than one or two more times in my life) I fucking love those second two. And The Clone Wars is incredible. The animation is stellar for television, and the whole thing just genuinely feels like the Star Wars universe. It has the feel of the better novels, it's always like "Oh man, I can't believe this is as juicy as it is. This or that character is like a barely-shown-or-mentioned myth in the feature films, but here they're like... really showing them doing shit." I just ordered season 1 on blu while the prices was marked 50% off (I guess a promotion to promote the release of season 2 on the format) and I am sure to fly through it in no time. My children will surely benefit from this purchase, and my other anticipated Amazon package of the week... Toy Story 3 (best movie of the year as far as I'm concerned, and probably greatest animated film of all time.) Also, How To Train Your Dragon was something that I recently watched and I dug it. I'm excited to hear they're making a series, I just hope that they don't kiddie it down at all. Because it was only at an acceptable level of maturity for adults in film form, going any more kiddie at all would be a tipping point.

Shit I'm done rambling. But yeah, Halloween video marathon at my place ruled. It has inspired me to plan a classic war movie marathon for Veteran's Day thursday 11/11. Anyway I am outtie. Party on, Wayne.

Fuck I love Halloween

And I love just watching random shit around Halloween that can otherwise not be justified as a solid investment of time. Case in point: It's 12:30AM, I just finished my night shift at work. I flip on the TV and cruise my movie package for something, anything in a horror variety that happens to be starting at 12:30AM. Only one movie fits the description, so I watch it... Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight. Cool. I had seen Bordello Of Blood, but never Demon Knight, and its the perfect excuse to take in a trivial horror release from the '90's but it's cool in a completionist sense because I am a big fan of the series and had seen the only other Tales From The Crypt feature film. Afterwards I'm finishing a beer and smoking a little, knowing I'll pass out soon so no big investment on starting a movie I don't plan to finish, and the first horror flick I see On Demand, for free, and in HD is Bride Of Chucky. I appreciate the first three but never liked the later sequels much, as I remembered from when the originally released. But the first 15 minutes of this shit is pretty cool to be randomly watching on Halloween night. We learn about Chucky's psycho girlfriend from pre-doll/serial murderer era and she does some voodoo shit to resurrect him, he pulls the lipring out of some goth dudes face and blood starts pouring out the dude's face. Solid stuff and I feel obligation-free as far as voiding the rest of the movie and going to sleep 30 minutes in with no plans to finish or restart later. Halloween is badass.

Tomorrow my real shit will be more selective. We'll wake up early and go see the screening of Rosemary's Baby at theater. Then we'll carve pumpkins, grab some lunch, and then in the afternoon start my Cale-selected night of Halloween programming. I'll replay holiday favorites from our childhood like It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (as I missed the recent network presentation due to work) and the Garfield halloween special I used to love as a kid. The one where Garfield goes as a pirate and there's that creepy ghost. I also plan to screen the unaired Munsters pilot, and a still-TBA horror film, and a Greg Nicotero FX featurette or two leading up to the 90-minute debut of Frank Darabont & Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead on AMC (with FX provided of course by Greg Nicotero and KNB).

I'm pretty big on Halloween. Shout out to Modern Family for having a tight halloween episode this year.

The Dark Knight Rises

Yes, Chris Nolan has confirmed the name of Summer 2012's Batman 3. He also eliminated Edward Nigma from the possible villians list. I'm placing all bets on a 2-villian storyline with Two-Face returning (people who feel he is plainly dead at the end of TDK really confuse me. We see no body, just a casket being lowered. And Dent's final coin toss lands heads-up. Even in the theater I took it as Batman and Gordon deciding the city would benefit from BELIEVING their hero to be dead... instead of transformed into a monster) and a second villian played by the recently-cast Tom Hardy. Judging from his build and the revealed shooting location of New Orleans I am betting on Killer Croc. That would be fucking awesome, because it would be the first instance in the entire trilogy to veer Nolan's take on Batman from a dedicated realism into more actually COMIC BOOK territory. That one thing is what could seal the deal for me. He won't get another Ledger performance from anyone, he won't find another villian as iconic to the canon as Joker, so the one thing he can provide to us is to finally give us a taste of pure comic book unreality. Go with the Return Of The Jedi approach and just make it funner. Also announced is it will be shot in IMAX and not 3D, which is the best choice on many levels, as it will be filmed the same way as the first two installments for the sake of consistency when watching the trilogy, and also the sharper image quality better suits Nolan's photo-centric directorial style (this is the same reason I wouldn't want to see a Mike Bay movie shot in 3D.)

So, yeah, fuck... Batman 3.

COME OONNNNNNNNNN TWO-FACE AND KILLER CROC, god I hope I'm right.

Brock Lesnar fight

Finally got around to watching that...daaaaaaamn. Valesquez was incredible, but I'll be rooting for Lesnar to come back in a big way. Despite his gigantic size I always feel like I'm rooting for the underdog with him, as he's no expert at anything. His NFL career is a prime example of how little of a difference size can make against expert skill and experience. When you think about it like that, and believe me UFC has become extremely sophisticated in its mechanics since its inception, it is pretty incredible that he has fought so well. He's no expert yet, but he has certainly been holding his own. Last week he just had the misfortune of going head to head with a fighter whose skill and experience were too much to compete with. He'll get better and better over time.

Darren Aronofsky + Tron Legacy

I don't know if it's a trailer or a music video, but I fuckin' love it. It's like the music video that Daft Punk couldn't afford to make. I wish this shit was 1080p so bad, I bet it's just awe-inspiring (particularly through a decent sound system). I couldn't see this particular Daft Punk track taking off as a single, but as the soundtrack to what you're looking at here it couldn't be more top notch. As a fun comparison, watch The Strokes' 12:51 video to wrap your head around music video production values, then watch this immediately afterward. Quality, baby.

And I have not brought up the Darren Aronofsky thing in this blog (which I only I read) because he is constantly attached to sweet-sounding projects that never come to fruition, but holy fuck it seems like Aronofsky really is going to direct Wolverine 2. How many times have you seen that in the history of a franchise... where the first movie is absolute shit, and then the second is a genre masterpiece before it even hits film? I can't think of a comparison. I still would prefer the now-cancelled Arofsky Robocop reboot, but I'll be fuckin' damned if this isn't some pretty damn good consolation material.

It's funny, I had stopped caring about Wolverine. The Chris Claremont/Jim Lee X-Men #1 was the comic that got started as a kid, and of course Wolverine was my favorite character at the time... Mark Texiera on the Wolverine solo book at the time really sealed the deal. Overtime, and especially after Bryan Singer's Wolverine-heavy X-Men films, I got Wolverine'd out. But I have to say, his incorporation into The Avengers (along with Spider-Man) is incredible. I love him in that book, because in the comic book equivalent of the 1992 USA Olympic Men's Basketball team...he just plays brilliantly as an equal character among the best of the best fan favorites. This Aronofsky movie is a great start to wooing me back.

Minority Report

It's funny, I caught this movie on HBO in an uncut 720p presentation tonight and I was enthralled. A movie I had seen originally as a pretentious 22-year-old, working at Hollywood Video the week it came out, and absolutely deplored it. Everything about it. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrel, 90's Spielberg (which I still mostly detest)... the whole package. Now, as a veteran couch potato whose earned his stripes watching movie after movie after movie day in and day out for the past few years, I find myself of the complete opposite opinion. The film is stunning to look out, expertly acted, terrific sci-fi narrative from one of the true masters of the genre... a pitch-perfect example of mature Hollywood cinema. It is in every way superior to both A.I. and War Of The Worlds... watching this movie I find it hard to believe The Beard coughed up the dreck that was Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. THAT Spielberg is lost to us, forever a part of the 80's... the Michael Jackson of cinema.

Fuck an R5

Shitty ass telecine transfers with cam audio tracks. No substition for a theatrical or DVD/Blu Ray... this is NOT how the filmmakers intended their films to be seen

Cars 2 Teaser

is up on apple.com/trailers in pitch-perfect 1080p. It shows next to nothing, but as far as microscopic teaser trailers for a movie almost an entire year away, I sure am happy about it.

In my mind it would be nigh impossible to top their opus Toy Stor 3, which for my money is the single best film released this year to date and has a 99% likelihood of remaining so. That being said, it is a smart move to follow up with this movie.

#1 - It continues their momentum of shifting back toward the Disney-styled family films that the company was originally known and loved for. Honestly, with Disney no longer making 2D family masterpieces (though I did love Princess And The Frog, but feat it was a one-off), Pixar is our best and only source of truly AFI quality animated family film.

#2 - This sets the expectations initially a little lower, as Cars remains one of Pixar's least-beloved films among adults (I personally love the film as it reminds me of my hometown... I believe many were turned off by the casting of Larry The Cable Guy, who does just fine). Therefore if they pull off an A+ film everyone will be pleasantly suprised

and...

#3 - This time they are in Eurasia and, although I've only seen concept art of an F1 car, I can only assume we will finally see those McLaren, Maybach, Lamborghini, Bugatti-calibur cars the end of the first film hinted at. Honestly, if you're making a beautifully animated film all about cars, SHOW US THE GOOD SHIT

I hope there are many other great movies to look forward to next summer, but I believe the big one will be 2012 with Joss Whedon's The Avengers and Chris Nolan's Batman 3 with also an obligatory Pixar offering to look forward to I'm betting... (Incredibles 2, Monsters Inc. 2, or Finding Nemo 2... I'll take ANY OF THE ABOVE)

Today's Double Feature

While you bitches are at work, I will be watching an HD double feature of Conan The Barbarian b/w Conana The Destroyer thanks to FiOS On Demand. Tomorrow will be Predator b/w Predators, with the Predators prequel motion comics (voiced by the Predators actors, and included as an extra on the blu) serving as an interlude. My life is real cool right now.

Also, today they announced the sequel to Piranha 3D... which will be released next summer (so soon!) and be titled Piranha 3DD, lolz. But, that is where the good news ends. It will NOT be directed by Alejandre Aja, but instead by a team of folks who worked on the FEAST movies and a few SAW installments. Mehhhhhhh. They might get my $10 if Greg Nicotero comes back for the FX. Ok, they WILL get my money if Greg Nicotero comes back. There were so many FX in the first film that he should have gotten co-director credit. My Piranha 3D blu is pre-ordered on Amazon (comes out 1/11/11 for anyone interested) and is my third most anticipated home release of the year... behind #1 - Toy Story 3 (comes out 11/5/10...YAY) and #2 - Machete (comes out a long time from now...booooo)

No time to blog farther, must begin my Conan double-bill. Too bad there's no time to include Red Sonja... that would be a terrific night at the movies.

Greg Nicotero is GOD... or at least the new Tom Savini

He has ruled my year, especially leading up to Halloween. I particularly enjoy his work on The Mist, one of my favorite films of that year (I prefer the black and white version). I have been watching a lot of his stuff this week, incidentally, and it has gotten me in a big Halloween mood (which is not hard to do). I enjoyed watching his Planet Terror FX extra on the new Grindhouse Collector's Edition blu, and just recieved the Predators blu which I can't wait to watch his creature effects extra on, and am eagerly anticipating the Piranha 3D blu hoping for (along with a tangible copy of my second favorite film of the year) a Greg Nicotero FX extra. Then, today, this pops up on the web! I love it! Greg Nicotero directing a clever short which is a play on the classic Universal Monster Movies, which boasted the best make-up effects of their own era and I'm sure were a huge inspiration to the famous Jaws fan. So I faithfully submit, for your enjoyment...

Universal Monster Talent Agency!

The Tides Have Turned

It's funny the relationship technology has with music. When it comes to recorded music the state of technology, technique, and trend overwhelmingly decide the current musical climate. Aesthetic is simply irrelevant. In the 1970's instrumental rock music and balladry were king. The thick, fuzzy hum of the rudimentary studio technology perfectly suited the type of records that were popular of the era. Instrumental rock music continued its streak of popularity until the early 1990's when the DAT analogue recording era was made obsolete by precise, lossless digital recording and thus the manipulation of such. With the new age of audible clarity and experimentation gave rise to digital pop music that was an escalation of what we had seen in the later half of the 1980's with pioneering popular acts such as Madonna, The Police, and Michael Jackson's solo career, which mostly hedged their bets between instrumental recording and synthetic flourishes signaling the new age in recording. In the 90's when digital recording improved in both capability and ease of recording technology began to dictate that if you recorded instrumental rock music with the latest technology the result wasn't nearly as impressive as if you played to the strength of the technology and created more precise, synthetic pop soundscapes. Suddenly attempts to record instrument country or rock with the new technology did not benefit from the technology from the air, and sounded too safe and sterile. Thus continued the steady decline of the genres in popular culture. It's not the people disliked the concepts or cultures involved any more, but the recorded products did not benefit from the current climate and the genres had failed to successfully adapt to the changes.

The reason I bring it all up is because, of late, I have noticed that with the most current country recordings (notably recordings by Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, and Vince Young) that country music has successfully adapted to modern recording techiques. I listen to these new records and am simply enamored with their ability to make instrumental recording in the modern era regain its blistering instrumental professionality and impressive vocal qualities. I never gave up on the idea of country, but I never dreamed that Nashville would solve the riddle of instrumental music and pop recording technology before popular rock. It's a strange and gratifying world when Country and Rap, perhaps the country's two most maligned cultures, sit undeniably atop the current musical landscape... like adult versions of pure pop, with all the musical success in complexity and recording techique, but with true-to-life cultural relevance. In music history books rock music will be a footnote in the early 21st century. Perhaps next decade will see a return. One can only guess. There are no less people interested in the concepts, but the quality of the products will determine the public opinion, and that lies in the hand of the recording technology and the engineers, as always.

The Hobbit gets greenlit

The biggest Hollywood news of the week just hit with an announcement that The Hobbit, being shot in 2 parts back-to-back for separate release, has been greenlight! Furthermore, in the wake of Guillermo Del Toro leaving the product, it will be directed by Peter Jackson! Even though he specifically said he would not be directing The Hobbit! This is great news for fanboys everywhere as we all want that perfect PJ-Tolkien set sitting perfectly upon our DVD shelves in their glorious extended formats... making even the glorious Star Wars original trilogy seem somehow less impressive. I can't wait to see that fucking dragon in The Hobbit. Silmarillion is legitimitely unfilmable, so for all intensive puposes we have our perfect Tolkien set finally within reach, and PJ can do no wrong with this material. If Del Toro gets At The Mountains Of Madness made then this couldn't have worked out better. Movie bliss.

Eastbound & Down episode 4 on Sunday...

And in the words of Metallica... Nothing Else Matters

Spider-Man update

Rhys Ifans is confirmed to be playing Dr. Curt Connors AKA The Lizard... I'll take it! Good move by the studio on not rehashing a villian from the previous movies. Particularly Green Goblin, although the inclusion of Gwen Stacy as a character insinuates they'll have to have a Green Goblin at some point. If they nail that particular death scene it could make the rehash worthwhile, but I'd give Lizard a whooooooole lot of screen time if I were them. And please, Vulture or Kraven next movie! I'll settle for Electro or Mysterio.

And I was determined to hate this Spider-Man reboot...

Boy am I starting to hate seeing super hero origin stories in the theater. The idea of a Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man 4 with Ben Kingsley as The Vulture sounded so fucking sweet. And then the shit hit the fan. Now we have a totally new Spider-Man reboot on our hands, one made from scratch and completely outside of the guidance of Mr. Raimi. My immediate reaction was FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. But I'll be damned if this thing doesn't start sounding sweeter and sweeter. First they caught my attention by casting The Redhead Chick From Superbad as Gwen Stacy (that's right, GWEN STACY... not Mary Jane Parker, but GWEN FUCKING STACY... finally somebody is sticking to the script). But now they have announced Rhys Ifans will play the as-yet-unrevealed villian. Fucking brilliant! I love this guy! He originally caught my attention in Charlie Kaufman's avante-garde ensemble comedy Human Nature, and I liked his performance in it so much I continued to watch weird ass movies he came out with like Danny Deckchair. I think this is potentially the most inspired villian casting since, dare I say, Heath Ledger. Not that we should expect such a dark, deep dramatic turn from Ifans in this picture... this picture will from all signs carry a lighter tone. It's Spider-Man. Spidey has a lot of real-world problems, but you can't really get but so dark with the character. He's no Batman or Punisher or Daredevil. He's your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. And the great part of the Rhys Ifans casting is that I can't really picture him as playing Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, OR Venom. So that most likely means we will be getting villian that hasn't appeared in a big screen movie! Even in spite of the reboot status! Brilliant! I can actually weirdly picture him as The Vulture! If the villian is Vulture then it wouldn't be too far fetched for me to hope for a Spider-Man Reboot Part 2 with Kraven The (Fucking) Hunter! Let's hope this is half as good as it sounds.

Arietty: The Borrower

Looks to be the best studio Ghibli film since Spirited Away. And from what I can tell, and in lines with my taste for american children's literature, I believe I will probably enjoy it a lot more. I still rate Princess Mononoke, Castle In The Sky, and My Neighboro Totoro higher than Spirited Away, although I'll admit the animation is superior in the latter film.

Lil Wayne's EP is pretty amazing for something slapped together by his label while he is in jail. There are at least 3 powerhouse pop recordings on here that I find it hard to believe they were just sitting on... Right Above It [Ft. Drake], Gonorrhea [Ft. Drake], and I'm Single. Also notable are That Ain't Me [Ft. Jay Sean] is notable as well as What's Wrong With Them [Ft. Nicki Minaj] (on which she absolutely destroys the hook, sounding a lot like Rihanna. With this chorus and her leaked single Right Thru Me she has become an irrefutable pop presence even outside of rap). If this 10-track EP were trimmed of its weaker moments it wouldn't be THAT far shy of a Gaga-calibur EP (Fame Monster being the new gold standard for the format in my book. That EP had bigger singles than most peoples' albums.) Okay I take that back. Nothing is Gaga-calibur. But Wayne's better pop recordings are about the closest damn thing from an engineering/sound production standpoint as well as vitality and creativity on the vocal track. The two biggest pop icons of the decade in fine form for 2010.

Also, the whole 2012 is retarded and I can't wait for Y2K Jr. to just be done with so people will shut up, but damn I love that titular track from Jay Sean. It's like the cornier 1999. Also the Willow Smith mash-up with Nicki Minaj being passed around is < the Miley Cyrus/Biggie mash-up from last year. By far.

And I guess I hope my Packers whoop the shit out of the Redskins tomorrow, but I wish the Redskins well in the rest of the season. Hope Shanahan and McNabb can pull the out of their Snyder/Zorn-induced slump this year.

Also, FUCK, I want to see Let Me In so bad. Love some Matt Reeves. Only other thing of interest in the cinema for me right now is The Social Network, which I only want to see for the Fincher aspect, as I hate Facebook in general. But I hear he's done some amazing things from a directorial standpoint with a story I could otherwise care less about. I just hope Disney's live-action remake of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is still his next project.

Speaking of next projects... Sam Raimi's Oz prequel is now his official next project! Can't fucking wait. And he plans to follow it up with a live-action fantasy film set in the Warcraft universe. After Spider-Man 1 & 2 (we'll forget 3, I know it wasn't his fault) and Drag Me To Hell, old Sam really is clawing his way up to my favorite current working director's list.

Kenny Chesney

The two things I am most excited about this week are the Packers v Redskins game on sunday and Kenny Chesney's album. I understand how much of a Redneck this theoretically makes me but I'm just keeping it real, man. That shit is ridiculously good. I like it in all the same ways I appreciate pop rap... it's authentic genre music (which makes it legitimate culture in my book) with sophisticate pop engineering values. Wikipedia him. He is country as shit. He played high school football. Yet he has the oratory presence of a true country entertainer, as much as George Jones or Garth Brooks or anyone else. Dude is the real deal. I like that Easton Corbin too. Country has been a half-decent detour until Wayne gets out. Or a second Lady Gaga album... whichever comes first.

Basically Nothing

Daaaamn I forgot how beautiful some of the sets and shots from Bram Stoker's Dracula were... or maybe I never knew at all, and am just noticing now because of a 50" 1080p presentation. It's fucking glorious, especially the beginning of the movie. I particularly like the red-sky Vlad The Impaler style battle at the beginning, and Keanu's first ride up the mountain to Castle Dracula, with Dracula's eyes gigantically hidden in the sky. This movie is the most gloriou modern incarnation of a Universal monster movie that has ever been made. If Joe Johnston's Wolfman could have captured even HALF of the visual spectacle of this film it would have been HALF-ALRIGHT.

And WHAT THE FUCK was that bullshit Kanye song at the VMA's last night? I was hoping Power would be the worst of his comeback but am starting to worry it could be the best... that shit was horrible. Even a new Tyga verse could not save it. He is becoming horrible.

RIP Kevin McCarthy

You might not know who he is, but you've seen him in a dozen movies guaranteed. I most recently saw him when I rewatched Joe Dante's original Piranha before seeing the remake in the theater. This guy played a great "mean motherfucker" role at every given opportunity. One of the great and underappreciated character actors. Same can be said for Glen Shadix of Beetlejuice fame who recently passed. You will both be missed very much by movie lovers!

NFL Opening Day

I got a twelver of Corona Light, some limes, and I'm pretty sure Green Bay is a sure thing against the Eagles. It's gonna be a good opening Sunday.

Other predictions? Colts take the Texans, Steelers take the Falcons, and I am not quite sure about the Redskins and Cowboys... that could go either way with McNabb and a new coach on board in DC.

Are you ready for some football?

Elvis, Ebert, and the OTHER Nolan

Well, first off, I never thought I could enjoy a made-for-TV movie as much as I have as I watched John Carpenter's 1979 "Elvis" TV event. Sure, it may be of a SLIGHTLY better directorial and acting quality than the usual TV fair, but nothing compared to a great theatrical drama. I just love all of the parties involved THAT much. I am a humongous Elvis fan (particularly the 50's) and am nearly equally a fan of John Carpenter/Kurt Russell collaborations. 2 of my 3 favorite Carpenter jams are The Thing and Escape From NY... Halloween is the third (as I am a big slasher movie fanatic from childhood). While I can't say this would necessarily be everyone's cup of tea, if you have a similar pop culture jones for the involved parties then you should DEFINITELY check this out!

More good news in the form of Rogert Ebert is bringing his At The Movies show to PBS! Of course he lost his voice to cancer a few years ago and stopped hosting, but Elvis Mitchell will be one of the two new hosts as will Christy Lemire (who I am a little less excited about.) But the big news here is, unlike the Disney version which was recently cancelled after over a decade, this new PBS version will feature the movie clips in High Definition for thos with HD cable... like me... BOOYAH! This sounds even better than HDNet's Trailer Fanatic, which I am addicted to, but At The Movies always shows footage that cannot be seen outside of the show until theatrical release, so HOT DAMN. Starts in January!

The other big news is that Christopher Nolan's more narratively talented brother Jonathan Nolan (who did the heavy lifting on the Memento, Prestige, and Dark Knight scripts) is shopping around a new crime series to the major networks... to be produced by the man himself, J.J. Abrams! Count my ass in. If you asked me a J-Nolan involved in Inception could have elevated a B+ movie to an A-grade movie most likely, as all of its shortcomings were in the script department. Not sure why the more talented screenwriter of the family got the cold shoulder on that one. I suppose that one was supposed to be Christopher's baby, but come on guys, if it's not broke don't fix it.

Sunday's classic movie at Movieland is going to be West Side Story starring the wonderful Natalie Wood. Musical is generally not one of my big genres but, like Wizard Of Oz and Grease, this is one of those undeniable greats. I also have been meaning to check out Dr. Horrible's Musical Blog.

My football hero Brett Favre was showing his age during their 2010 debut game agains the extremely sharp Saints this week... I truly hope the old man is just warming up, because I would hate to see him retire on a down note. This marked his 267th consecutive start without missing a game, so at 16-game seasons, just do the math. He is truly an iron man in a sport where lesser men drop like flies. But equally as important, my Packers are on nationally-syndicated TV for opening day this Sunday... BOOYAH. GO GREEN BAY.

Also my planned DOUBLE FEATURE OF GLORY for tonight is Boris Karloff in Universal's original Frankenstein in a nice 720p On-Demand presentation via FiOS b/w the glorious Bram Stoker's Dracula blu I got for $10 at Kroger last week. HELL YES. I was thinking of saving this for October but I just couldn't wait that long, this is going to be one great night of cinema. I will certainly throw together a few deserving horror marathons in October as the genre is kind of my specialty, so no worries.

Thank you blog world, and good day.

Most Wanted

Man, I was just daydreaming to myself and drooling about the long list of genre blu's I absolutely need to buy from this year's theatrical schedule and its upsetting to me that I have to wait for them. I believe the people who complained about the summer have no appreciation for decent genre film. Immediately I need to own the following:

Iron Man 2 (which is finally possible once I'm paid)
Predators
Piranha 3D
Machete
Toy Story 3

That's like $100 bucks or more I'll have to sink on Summer 2010 in the format. Fuuuuuck. But I will do it, and love it.

Machete

Finally got to screen Machete tonight, which I have been anticipating since I first read it was a full-on script that has existed since Desperado and not just a fake trailer. And, yeah, it lived up to the hype. The film succeeds in its over-the-top Planet Terror moments, but its biggest achievement is allowing the audience to become at least as attached as a true exploitation movie allows. I mean to say that, although self-aware in its lampooning of 70's exploitation movies, it feels more like a valentine to the best of these and attempts to genuinely offer much of the same experience - only with a larger budget and less conversational filler. As Tarantino said when the original Grindhouse double-feature premiered, the exploitation movies of old never could quite live up to the 3 best minutes they shoved into the trailer. Machete has, like Planet Terror before it, succeeded in creating one that more than delivers on what the trailer has promised. Planet Terror b/w Machete will be an excellent blu double-bill when I have them neatly on my bookshelf, and it is one I plan to enjoy frequently.

This is also a good opportunity for me to bitch about the Death Proof unrated cut which I have screened twice in the past 4 months, the last time being 2 nights ago... and BOY DO I FUCKING HATE THIS CUT OF THE MOVIE. I did and still do enjoy the shorter theatrical cut very much, but this super-long, super-boring unrated version sure takes the piss out of the whole thing. The extended bar scene is bad enough, but I could possibly argue that this in some ways extends the tension before the first murder sequence. But after that, slowing down the second portion with the completely unnecessary and plodding picking-Zoe-up/convenience store sequence completely deflates any tension the movie has built. In short, this cut completely fucks over the pacing, includes minutes and minutes and minutes of boring dialogue that never should have left the editing room, and does not even remotely compare to the experience of a slasher film. Sure, this was SUPPOSED to be the most subversive take on the slasher genre probably ever made, but this longer cut does not even remotely resemble a 70's horror film... there is way too much other shit bogging it down. A horror film should not have you checking your watch, and I was doing so frequently on each screening of this unrated version outside of the very first. I doubt I will ever put this in again.

The thing about Tarantino is no matter how good he is, and how similar his taste is to mine as far as genre films, I have seen his movies enough to notice all the flaws. In hindsight it is clear to me that Pulp Fuction and Jackie Brown represented a magical peak that he has been unable to recapture. Inglorious Basterds is a valiant effort and is a damn good B+/A- movie, but when I think about what he originally set out to do -- create a men-on-a-mission genre movie, in the vain of Dirty Dozen or the original The Inglorious Bastards -- he managed to fail. He made a great movie, but for all his little homages to the genre, he made a poor example of a men-on-a-mission genre picture. The various bastards are given ornamentary introductions with much hype, but beyond this we never spend any quality time with any of these characters, much less learn to love them for their various quirks and character depth. I dare you to watch Dirty Dozen and then Inglourious Bastards as a double-bill and attempt to make the case that you care for his Bastards even a tenth as much as the film he attempts to homage. It can't be done. In every other regard I love his movie, but in cramming in tons of cool unrelated shit (a Demons-esque valentine in using a cinema as a central set piece, the masterfully executed bar sequence, the suprise ending) he lost sight of his goal to create a men-on-a-mission film. The same can be said of his second volume of Kill Bill, but this movie, in my opinion, does not succeed "in spite of" as Basterds does, but drowns under its own plodding weight. For every minute of perfect drama Jackie Brown provided Kill Bill 2 drowns in its own dialogue-driven aspirations.

Well the fiance is bored, so that is all for my Grindhouse/Tarantino recap, but as a word of parting advice --

GO FUCKING SEE MACHETE. The end.

Jules Verne rolling in his grave

First LOST, now a Dwayne Johnson-starring sequel to Brendan Frasier vehicle Journey To The Center Of The Eart entitled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Indeed to be loosely based upon the classic adventure/mystery novel The Mysterious Island. How about we stop getting half-assed imitations and somebody actually make a badass modern film version of The Mysterious Island. Fincher is greenlit to do a live-action 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, so I would much rather that team eventually take on this material through Disney. Much like Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming ultra-reverent-and-faitful film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's penultimate classic At The Mountains Of Madness. Those two films have me frothing at the mouth for footage (the Fincher and Del Toro projects).

Machete this week bitches! I may not get to see it until Tuesday after all. I was slightly upset to see the bad ass 7" Machete figure listed on Amazon.com Toys & Games is down to one remaining In Stock item... fuuuuuuck. It is okay, my first real paycheck on the 15th will garner me one 12" Buffy Seth Green as 'Oz' figure and my long-desired Uncle Sam blu through Blue Underground. Can't fucking wait to see that movie in a truly glorious transfer as I am only experienced its exploitation slasher glory in a terrible VHS transfer.

I am soon ready to experience the lost film glory of Kurt Russell's first John Carpenter collaboration, TV's 'Elvis' from 1979! As a huge appreciator of Elvis Presley, John Carpenter, AND Kurt Russell this has been on my to-see list since I heard of its existence a year ago. Bad ass. Let's hope this turns out to be less anti-climactic than when I was able to track down Robert Rodriguez's lost TV movie Roadracers (Meh.)

Also, almost NFL regular season time, bitches! Go Packers! And the boy Brett is back for season 20... can't wait to see that.

Emmys

GLEE and Modern Family had the great nights they deserved, but Ed O'Neil got blackballed. They never gave him one for Married With Children either, one of the ONLY sitcoms of the late 80's/early 90's that I can sucked into a 2-hour block of like nobody's business. That list of course includes Seinfeld, but few others. The other big winners were Mad Men and Breaking Bad, which many had predicted; no comment from me as I have never seen them. I am too big of a film nerd to commit to 22-hour seasons (that's 12 feature films a year, or more!) of what in theatrical film terms would be considered slightly-better-than-mediocre drama for the most part. So I prefer to stick to stand-alone episode shows when I do waste time in front of the boob tube. Twilight Zone and Star Trek are the two best scriped TV shows of all time, I don't care what anybody says. X-Files was at times (especially early on) a breath of fresh air, and I still admire the early platform of mostly stand-alone episodes but with a larger connecting plot for those who cared -- however it opened the door for gratuitously serialized television for the sake of making you tune in next week for another bullshit cliffhanger after an hour of what in feature film terms would be some "only alright" entertainment. Never have I wished a movie was 20 hours longer... not even counting Season 2 and forward. So I say Modern Family, more than any new show, deserves all its damn accolades for giving TV viewers a superior and COMPLETE product in less than a damn hour, with no obligation to tune in weekly like a crackhead.

Making my Machete plans for Friday... trying to avoid the hipster crowd at Bowtie as I know they will be especially obnoxious on a opening night of a "cool" movie... so I am planning to see it at the shitty theatre. I think this suits the mood and environment perfectly because if this was an ACTUAL crappy exploitation movie and not an IRONICALLY PURPOSEFUL crappy exploitation movie this is THE EXACT theater one would HAVE to go to see this film. It's like reading the bible with Jesus, as a funny dude once told me.

Blue Underground wants all my money

... and I am tempted to give it to them. It is almost absurd because they issue ridiculously nice transfers loaded with tons of incredible extra features of movies that were mostly less than earth shattering, but they are all things that you basically have to see as a genre fan, and which cannot be found as a rental or used purchase for a reasonable price outside of their company. And judging from the still-high used prices on Amazon, when people have these things, they hang on to them. I just watched a heavily-edited American cut of Joseph Zito/Tom Savini's essential 80's slasher The Prowler and found out the beautiful just-released Blue Underground blu has legendary ammounts of censored gore... including an extended head-exploding shotgun sequence from the final kill. DAMMIT.

I will also definitely be giving them $30 for one of my top 5 b-horror movies of all time... Uncle Sam, on definitive blu. Which just so happens to be directed by the company's owner William Lustig (director of legendary cult classics Vigilante, Maniac, and my personal favorites, the Larry Cohen-written Maniac Cop trilogy.) The guy has impeccable taste in tasteless exploitation cinema. If you thought Quentin Tarantino was the leading director with expert knowledge on exploitation cinema this guy simply puts him to shame.

They seriously have so many oh-so expensive releases I am drooling over, including some of the only noteworthy non-Leone Italian westerns. This week I plan on a Django/Companeros double feature... many are probably familiar with the first as being the single most famous non-Leone spaghetti western, but their immaculate transfer of the latter (by the same director) is the type of thing that you just have to worship them for. They are also THE go-to company for Fulci... it is just ridiculous the ammount of care they have put into restory his shit into beautiful uncut blurays.

I am done advertising for them for today, but DAMN I want to own everything on that web site (besides Cannibal Holocause AKA Cannibal Ferox... don't get me started on that and the people who constantly praise it... I'm looking at you Eli Roth...)

Kanye West falling off as a producer

Outside his recent production hit with Drake's "Find Your Love" he is falling off big time, and his beat on that song is underwhelming... the success of that song lies in the suprising Drake sung vocal. I first noticed the decrease in quality when the 808's demos starting leaking and nothing snice then has done anything to change my mind. He is getting increasingly better as a rapper and needs to start outsourcing beats from other producers... it is criminal that he hasn't appeared on a Kane Beatz production thus far, as he absolutely killed the 40-produced 'Forever' posse cut, as well as killing it Keri Hilson's 'Knock You Down' and Beyonce's 'Ego (Remix)' last year. As he is now releasing a new song of his own production work every Friday it is becoming painfully obvious that he is now a production nobody. His newest release Monster should be a tour de force of 2010 rap boasting Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj who are all enjoying a prime... but after a few listens all I can muster is a "meh." If they were on a Drumma Boy beat this song would be on heavy rotation right now. Same with last week's 'Power (Remix)' which I actually think is the best of the bunch and better than the original single, or at least more 2010 sounding, but still unimpressive production wise. Though it is a little hot when he throws the grunge over Jay's Axl Rose quip. But when he goes off at the end, in an amazing breathless mega-verse, the underlying production sounds like some shit off of a random mixtape. Nicki Minaj is on a major hot streak with her features, but her solo singles continue to underwhelm, and if she is going to get K-West production for her album as many speculate then she will soon fall out of favor.

Random Bullshit

Last weekend before I start my new job, so I will have to revel in leisure. Last night watched Superman Returns blu, and I have to say, I do not dislike this movie the way most nerds do -- I actually feel it is pretty damn good. I love the Richard Donner feel of the whole thing. I wouldn't place it above Superman I or II, but definitely above III and IV... and I think Routhe is excellent at portraying the goofy Clark and the serious Supes of the Chris Reeves era. I absolutely adore the throwback credit sequence at the beginning with the John Williams score. And Kevin Spacey may even be a better Lex Luthor than Gene Hackman (whom I adore.) He captures the slightly-goofball yet still-menacing nature of those Hackman performances perfectly. This is a real valentine to Donner's near-perfect Superman films... Singer seemed to go with the old "if it's not broke, don't fix it" and I respect that. He did go out on an edge plotwise, and in a certain way you have to do that to make it exciting and new, and here is where he made some missteps. Supes as potential home-wrecker does not suit his character well. I mean this is the guy who has never told a lie, and he's dangerously close to splitting up a happy home throughout the movie. Also, Lois's abandonment of Supes seems equally out of character. And if Supes has only been gone on his trip to the remains of Krypton for 5 years, well... Lois's son seems like he's 5 years old, so she wasted no time hopping into the douchebag who played Cyclops in the X-Men movies' bed. Fuck that. But, aside from the plot missteps, I think Singer did a whole lot right with this movie. Even when I was shaking my head at the characterization my eyes were glued to the screen. The worst thing about this movie is Lois... she needed a different actress and to be written in a more likeable way, and they should not have entered this risque love triangle plot. I still like the movie a lot, though. As I said before -- not as good as I and II, better than III and IV (though I do love those two, as cheesy as they are.)

Not sure if I will go see the special theatrical screening of 12 Angry Men tomorrow or not. Great movie, I love Fonda, and I'm sure the presentation will be unmatchable... but I have not screened the DVD that I recently bought yet, so I may hold out for the sake of saving $11 dollars ($5.50 a ticket for me and the fiance) and just get my money's worth out of the DVD. Especially with our home entertainment system being fairly worthy right now.

My friend Jeremy and I were bitching about the lack of good blockbuster music right now, and really for most of the past summer, and that is really resonating with me lately. I guess I am waiting for Wayne to get out, he seemed to breathe a lot of vitality into the commercial recording scene when it needed it and his abscense is felt. Drake's album, although very good, did not have a summer blockbuster vibe to it at all, Nicki Minaj's album singles have been underwhelming thus far, and I can't think of too much exciting going on outside of that. I can pretty much summarize this summer in All I Can Do Is Win, Miss Me, California Gurlz, Young Forever, and O Let's Do It Remix... in other words, only slightly exciting at points, but mostly dull compared to previous summers.

Snapped up a $10 blu of Bram Stoker's Dracula at Kroger, and the same deal can be had at Target -- if you do not own this movie yet and have blu capability I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this. Easily the best movie to star the great Gary Oldman in the central role. I don't know if it is still running but last week they also had Casino blu marked down from $20 to $10 at target, which is a steal for what is, in my opinion, only second to Goodfellas in the Scorcese catalogue.

I still have yet to screen my blu of Omega Man that was also $10 at Target, so I may do that this week. It is simultaneously the most erroneous script adaptation of I Am Legend and the most fun film version of it. It is a blast. I slightly prefer the legendary Vincent Price adaptation Last Man On Earth, but this is great 70's budget exploitation. For me it stands with Planet Of The Apes and Soylent Green as THE Charleton Heston B-movies.

I am very much enjoying J. Michael Strazynski's run on Superman and Lex Luthor's takeover of Action Comics, as well as Grant Morrison's H.G. Wells style Batman stories that are going on in DC comics right now. In Marvel some okay stuff is happening, Daredevil has taken over The Hand and erected a castle in the middle Of Hells Kitchen and straight up killed Bullseye (finally.) Pepper Pots in Iron Man just had a repulsor surgically implanted in her chest and has a new suit of her own to return as Rescue. Steve Rogers is back and has a group of Secret Avengers doing spy/espionage type shit.

Finaly Fantasy XIII has been blowing my mind. I think that is about all I have had going on.

Can't wait to go see Machete next week... fuck yes.

Piranha 3D is fucking amazing!

No joke, it is the funnest horror film I have ever seen. It seriously makes Cabin Fever look like Precious. It's only an hour and a half, but seriously, there is a 45 minute chunk somewhere in the middle that was a non-stop, full-throttle mind-fuck that never let up. THIS MOVIE FUCKING RULES. I will be standing in line for the blu starting tomorrow resulting in a months-long vigil.

Third Post Today!

I just had to... because I found a 4-and-a-half minute trailer for the 90-minute premiere episode of Frank Darabont and Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" zombie TV show for AMC, which airs on Halloween night. CHECK THIS SHIT OUT! Also, about 4 minutes in... is that the fuckin' dad from Mallrats? No way. Nice soundtrack selection for this trailer, too. Definitely gives it the Darabont vibe. Is this his first non-Stephen King horror project as director? No, I just remembered he had something to do with the Nightmare On Elm Street movies. Anyway, CHECK THIS SHIT OUT!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1119352258?bctid=593569611001

Sookie Does SCRE4M

Damn, had to double-post as I just read on AICN that Anna Pacquin, who I am a fan of not only for her role on True Blood but also from doing a lead voice on the Disney dub of Miyazaki's Castle In The Sky (one of my absolute favorites), has joined the cast of Scream 4! This should be exciting to pop horror fans, as this little project (which promises to be the start of a new trilogy) is looking better and better -- Wes Craven back to direct, Kevin Williamson back to write (his absence is primarily why Scream 3 sucked balls), David Arquette, Neve Campbell, and Courtney Cox back in secondary roles as their original characters, and some exciting young actresses picked for the central roles are making this sound like the most exciting Wes Craven project since the original Scream. I also happen to be a fan of the Craven/Williamson team-up Cursed which was released afterwards, but this movie basically bombed... I like to attribute it as a negative reaction to the oft-maligned werewolf genre. Why do people hate werewolf movies so? Me and the fiance recently watched an HD copy of The Howling, and boy do I love that movie. Joe Dante is the man! And speaking of Joe, I have finalized my plans to see Piranha 3D in 2D tonight... boo-yah.

Alien

So last night I had the honor of showing my gf Ridley Scott's original Alien film last night, and purportedly she had night-long nightmares. Now, I have shown her everything from City Of The Living Dead to Hellraiser to Uncle Sam and never has this happened. I find the whole thing to be weirdly satisfying, as I have always considered the original Alien to be a horror/suspense masterpiece comparable in quality possibly only to John Carpenter's exquisite Body Snatchers remake The Thing. Some consider Alien to "drag" in pace, but I find it to be quite the effective slow-burner. It allows you the perfect ammount of space to soak in all of those gorgeous H.R. Geiger set pieces and the beautifully sinister lighting and photography... to me this is among the penultimate horror pictures. Sure, James Cameron's sequel is a blast of a good time and perhaps one of my favorite blockbusters ever... but it is clearly an action/suspence film and is not quite the devilish excersize in film-making that makes Scott's film so perfect. I cannot wait for Scott's prequels (which will be his first sequels to his masterpiece to be executed by the man himself. Though he did a fine job by getting James Cameron, David Fincher, and Joss Whedon to work on the original sequels.) As I have griped before, I just hope Damon Lindelof's involvement doesn't hamper what promises to be an unprecedented return to glory for the franchise after the utter failures that were the Alien Vs. Predator films (I know, it sounded so good on paper.)

So either tonight or tomorrow I will be going to the cinema and have made the bold decision to see Piranha 3-D in 2D. It is only playing in 2D in run-down/ghetto theaters with no 3D capability as the film is intended to be seen in 3D, but honestly I am only interested in non-converted or extremely expensively converted 3D projects (such as the Alien prequels and Dune). I just prefer to see most movies in full resolution; (Actually it is a matter of lamberts of light, not resolution, but the effect is the same -- blurry picture.) It was hard to choose between this and The Other Guys, and I also wish to see Scott Pilgrim and The Expendables, but Piranha comes out on top dude to my love for Joe Dante, Jaws, Hills Have Eyes remake... this seems like a pop-horror wet dream.

I will update after the screening. If I don't make it until tomorrow then tonight I will most likely watch Casablanca blu as that has been in queue for a minute. During the daytime I will be watching Neil Marshall's Doomsday on HDTV -- I know this was reviewed fairly poorly, but it's not something I would expect critics to like, and so far they have been lackluster about his new feature Centurion, which I had a great, great time with (LOVE that Michael Fassbender). What is it that makes critics squeemish for gore? And what is it that gives Piranha a critical hall pass to have ultra-violence throughout and still rate highly? The answers to this question and many more coming soon.

Also today I will start playing Final Fantasy XIII for PS3, which looks to me like a perfect argument for video game as the world's most under-appreciated pop art/media -- this thing is gorgeous in 50 inces of 1080p! And the story is a truly enthralling fantasy epic unlike anything we've seen on film since Miyazaki's Nausica: The Valley Of Wind. Bring it on!

Need More Money

I am hurting real bad right now, as my new job does not begin until the 30th (so no paycheck until the following 15th.) Sure, I have my bills and necessities covered, but I am missing SO MUCH GOOD SHIT IN THE THEATER RIGHT NOW. I am dying to see The Other Guys, The Expendables, Piranha 3-D, and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. If anything, I ABSOLUTELY have to see Other Guys and Piranha as I have been drooling over both for months. Sure, Expendables isn't reviewing well, and I get that. But I will most likely love it, anyway, as a fan of 80's action who does not have giant expectations. For instance, in one negative review, it was repeatedly compared to the 80's b-movie Commando. Well, I love Commando and own it on Blu, so I get the feeling a lot of mainstream critics are suspect when it comes to the action genre. FUUUUCK I need to see these movies.

Shame on you, Movie Lovers

...if you didn't go all out for this friday the 13th. I went with my personal favorite Friday The 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (love those Tom Savini special effects) and capped off the night with the gloriously ridiculous Jason X (best effort from the New Line years IMO, though I do have a soft spot for Freddy Vs. Jason as terrible as it is). It was also Hitchcock's birthday today, though I had covered my bases on that with a theatrical viewing of Dial M For Murder earlier in the week. Also yesterday was I think the 71st(?) anniversary of Wizard Of Oz and I appreciate any excuse to screen that one - what a gorgeous and iconic piece of film history.

Centurion

is in a special On Demand preview on FiOS and several other services right now... so of course I watched it. I knew I could never convince my fiance to go see it with me in the theater, and the home TV is a pretty sweet 1080p 50", so why the hell not? It was basically pretty bad ass. I don't expect Kubrick-quality work out of Neil Marshall... for me he is kind of similar to Zack Snyder: they make trashy modern B-movies and they get the damn job done. Though, as much as I may have liked it, I am worried he will not produce another Descent-calibur film anytime soon. I think with Doomsday and this he is trying to make a movie that is bigger than the one he can afford to make. They want to be epic and grandiose in scale and are trapped within their own budget (like the original Death Race for instance.) But if you suspend your disbelief on the goodwill that they would have made a more expensive, believable movie if they could... then that shit is pretty awesome. I would proudly admit to being a Neil Marshall fan.

The Stuff (1985)

Larry Cohen is the fucking man, and this is one weird-ass yet oh-so-watchable obscurity. Also, Maniac Cop is my favorite horror series. PLEASE bring an UNRATED, WIDESCREEN version of Maniac Cop 2 to Blu fucking immediately!!!! That I have to watch a damn VHS rip of this movie to get an ideal cut and aspect ratio is literally ridiculous. I am assuming Blue Underground is having problems acquiring the rights to these movies as they are the most famous William Lustig works. They did, however, just put out a sick ass Blu of his glorious Uncle Sam last week, and I WILL be purchasing it with my first Capital One paycheck. How does this movie not have a fucking wikipedia entry? Criminal.

Random Bullshit

So I had a friend leaving town and due to some schedule changes I won't be seeing The Other Guys until Wednesday probably, but at least I got to see my friend one more time. However I did make it to Dial M For Murder and, as always, the Movieland presentation was beautiful. I have never seen a Hitchcock movie look so good. The colorization really popped on the big screen, and Grace Kelly is nothing short of stunning in that one. Ray Milland really irks me throughout that movie, which is a lot less bothersome after the intermission when the narrative begins to follow Halladay and the detective. It is good that he irks you, it is in such a way that he is supposed to bother you... like the young men who commit the murder in Rope. You see Jimmy Stewart come in as this supporting character and that's who you get to root for. The policeman in Dial M For Murder is exactly like that, and I really like that aspect of it.

Tomorrow's marathon? A Roger Corman triple feature!:
Forbidden World / Battle Beyond The Stars / Galaxy Of Terror

Can't wait. That is hot on the heels of watching Joe Dante's great Corman flick Piranha today in celebration of Piranha 3D being ever closer to release. I will have to follow that up with The Howling sometime soon. I am on a B-movie tear lately. Lower-rung genre productions, especially the ones we deem classic in hindsight, tend to be a hotbed of future film talent. James Cameron's set design in these three movies I'll be watching is a good example. Plus they were using actors you just have to love as a genre fan... Sid Haig and Robert Englund are prime examples.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot... a huge song off of the upcoming Lil Wayne 'I'm Not A Human Being EP' leaked on the internet and it is sweet as hell. The song is Right Above It [Ft. Drake] and Kane Beatz is on fire with his recent production work. This one is awesome... candy-coated Southern rap of the most sophisticated pop order. Like 'Steady Mobbin [Ft. Gucci Mane]' it is a "pure southern rap" track, with no R&B chorus or sung hook, and it just has tons of bars. And yet the tweaked/professionality of the beat is on a level of quality that Madonna, Britney, or Timberlake would purchase. It is and has been a golden age for southern rap, as important a genre in the mid-to-late 2000's as funk, disco, or new jack swing ever were during their peak of popularity. I am extremely glad that an authentically regional culture can make a splash on larger popular culture in these culture-LESS days of internet-driven homogenization/globalization. Authentic, un-ironic, REGIONAL culture.

Dial M For Murder

I just looked up the Movieland sunday schedule, because they show a classic movie at 11:00am every sunday, and this week it is Dial M For Murder. So I am totally going to this... the last one I went to was JAWS a couple of weeks ago, which is probably tied with Toy Story 3 for my best theater experience this summer. They could just re-release certain movies into major theatres and make a killing... when are they going to figure that out? Dial M For Murder was made during this magical period of Hitchcock that ran from like the mid-50's to the mid-60's where every picture is like an important, iconic work. The JAWS print they had was flawless and looked beautiful on digital projection, so I cannot wait to see this in such a beautiful presentation as the copy I have is somewhat shitty.

Also, t-minues 50 minutes until my showing of The Other Guys... fucking awesome.

Adam McKay fucking rules

I'll be seeing The Other Guys today (OPENING day) before people get off of work... fuck yes. Friday morning is the perfect opportunity to see a brand new movie without the bother of an excited opening night crowd. Plus McKay is my favorite comedy director currently working, so this one will probably steal the Summer's Best Comedy award from Get Him To The Greek. I'll confirm or deny after I see it!

Damon Lindelof

I just do not like this dude. I was super excited, unlike many geeks, about the idea of a couple Ridley Scott-helmed ALIEN prequels to be released in 3D. I got an even bigger boner about the idea when details came forth that he might focus on the mysterious Space Jockey who appeared to have been fossilized in the original ALIEN. But yesterday they announced it would be written by... Damon Lindelof.

I hate this guy. To me, him and Carlton Cuse are like coffee go'fers for the better, more legit Abrams writing team of Kurtzman/Orci. Please stop giving them important work. I realize that there are many LOST fans out there that would disagree with me about their competence, but to me they are total hacks. From just watching two seasons they were able to take probably the most dazzling television pilot ever filmed, JJ's brilliant LOST plane-crash pilot, and drag the show into some pointless excersize in MYST/David Lynch immitation with very little plot payoff to be had anywhere. That they would make such small, physical, real island details seems important on a week-to-week basis seemed to imply that they had some sort of major plot importance, but by the second season they were piling up so rapidly that it became obvious to me that they were not. It was an exploitation of serialized television designed only to keep you watching. The long con.

On Saturday LOST won some type of TCA award and Lindelof had to give a speech, in which he recited the '5 most hurtful tweets I recieved after the finale'. And he credited the very last of the 5 to my man J.J. Abrams, who handed him the most glorious television pilot in memorable history on a silver platter:

"You're a dirty liar. You never knew, you made it all up, you betrayed us all. You betrayed me and I hope you rot, motherfucker."

Please, for fuck's sake, TAKE THIS GUY OFF OF MY BELOVED ALIEN FRANCHISE AND GET A REAL FUCKING WRITER.

Holy Shit

Guillermo Del Toro has gotten a green light to make Lovecraft's "At The Mountains Of Madness"... and to film it in 3-D from the ground up... under James Cameron's executive production. Avatar was the technical blueprint... but the content wasn't half as exciting as this. This is like the horror/dark fantasy holy grail. I personally never thought he would get it made, or at least never get it made to his ideal (ie. Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote), but he seems to have gotten a no-bullshit greenlight with a big ass budget. I feel like this is going to go over a lot of the general public's head like Watchmen. But it will be a truly glorious day for genre geeks.

Wrong Man, Harryhausen

Last night watched the much underrated Hitchcock feature The Wrong Man... which is carried by a great Henry Fonda performance. For such a downer of a flick this one sure had its grip on me from front to back. On a lighter note, I am extremely excited about the Blu release of Jason And The Argonauts, and have planned a Ray Harryhausen double-bill of Jason b/w his penultimate classic, 1981's Clash Of The Titans. Could more fun possibly be had at home? Results pending.

Trey Songz - Bottoms Up [Ft. Nicki Minaj]

I don't know what this leaked off of, but this is sure to be a radio banger in the near future... on the level of Say Aah. I can't stop playing it. This is the type of single Nicki needs to net for her debut to really get me excited about her album. Something on the level of this, or Usher's Lil Freak. I would say Usher and Trey owe her one, so they should be popping up on her debut. We still have yet to see an I Get Crazy calibur song from her album sessions. But back to Bottoms Up... it's great... and like Sah Aah, Blame It, Silver & Gold, Wasted, and now Shots!, I just can't get enough of a sublimely produced banger that is directly about alcohol consumption. I'll give Yeezy partial credit for my new favorite quotable "How's Ye doin'? I'm survivin'. I was drinkin' earlier, now I'm drivin'." That's all for now. Bout to start a huge marathon of Hitchcock movies in the aftermath of Inception... today's double feature? To Catch A Thief (1955) b/w The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

William Forsythe

is totally underrated. I am now watching Dick Tracy, where I barely recognize him as Flattop, but it reminded me of watching Above The Law last week and he is crazy good in it. I also love him in Devil's Rejects and Once Upon A Time In America.

That is all.

Inception

Man, I am really stoned, so it will be difficult to collect my thoughts on Inception. I will go with the random, jerky amateur review that is becoming my specialty.

First off, I think the solid B rating it has gotten basically across the board is correct. I think it is amazingly shot, logistically marvelous, and wonferully mechanical. The set pieces are incredible, all the architecture is great, the cast is pitch-perfect. I like almost everything. But the thing with Nolan is, the things he excels at are astounding, so the things he has trouble with stand out like a red stain on a white suit. Chief among these things is his lack of talent for editing. Some people may say they enjoy his editing style for its circumvention of direct, chronological sequencing, and that is fine, that is not what the problem is. That whole thing has kind of become his signature, having gotten its test run in indie debut Following, then being perfected in the now-classic Memento, and I like it. The problem is the "flow" or "feel" of his cut-to-cut, line-by-line in-scene editing. There is never a moment's pause between dialogue and it does not feel naturalistic once you become aware of it. The cuts happen constantly, and super-quickly, and if you find yourself dwelling on the "feeling" of the moment-to-moment editing, it begins to detract heavily from the performances. These performances, good as they may otherwise be, have absolutely no room to breath at all. This is one subtle aspect of his film technique that could lead someone to accuse his films of being "too mechanical", or "souless". I mostly believe that is bullshit, but it is at least half-true in the sense that only Heath Ledger's Joker has really had the breathing room to blossom on the screen, being knowingly displayed by his director.

I like to think of Nolan as being Hitchcock-y in his deliberation. I think of Dark Knight as being his Psycho, with its superbly iconic villian performance. Well, this is his North By Northwest. Classicly grandiose, risky Hollywood. Among the director's very best. But you just don't love it the way you love Psycho. It's missing that intangible thing a grand screen performance and unforgettable character bring to a film. Rear Window had it. Vertigo had it. North By Northwest feels less warmly characteristic. It is somewhat characteristic of espionage film.

What we got is still a new classic American film, proof that Nolan can create a buzz in the middle of the summer even without the pop culture advantage of a beloved franchise (given a $160,000,000 budget), and it brings him closer to attaining the smartly obsessive auteur status of his great hero Stanley Kubrick. However, it is simply not The Dark Knight.








****************SPOILERRR**********************************












Off of the record, and having only seen it once, I find myself questioning whether DiCaprio's character was even remotely deserving of redemption (Why in the hell was he putting his wife at danger with this crap? And how did they get trapped there? He knowingly sedated her beforehand? Did I miss something huge somewhere?) And I also feel very sorry for the guy from 28 Days Later/Red Eye/the Scarecrow in Batman Begins. I guess you are supposed to think it is a happy ending because he is tricked into believing his father loved him even though he actually didn't? Fuck that, I would want my business back. The guy basically seems like a nice dude and gets totally fucked over by the supposed protagonist. And then of course is the fact that we are more or less told that planting an idea in someone's head, being done even SLIGHTLY inefficiently, will eventually make them batnuts crazy and completely change the type of person they are. I really feel bad for the dude.

I'm losing my high and my gf is bored so I am outtie. Hope you liked my Inception review.

Where to start?

It's been a minute since I posted. Still working for the census. Pop culture...

Toy Story 3 was incredible, hands down the best theater experience I've had in years. I implore people to go see the 2D, the animation is worlds above Toy Story 2, which I just watched on Blu and I think even that still looks amazing. The story is succinct and perfect, with a great emotional wollop in the third act. It is, in Toy Story 1 & 2 fashion, a "crisis" movie for the bulk of the plot. The new characters all work terrifically. Michael Keaton is a welcome addition to the voice cast. Same with the lady that is the #1 fan on the Flight Of The Conchords TV show.

Pop music... I have been playing:
Waka Flocka Flame - O Let's Do It (Remix) [Ft. Rick Ross]
Jeezy - Lose My Mind [Ft. Plies]
Jay-Z - Young Forever
Eminem's Recovery album
Drake's album
Katy Perry single
Usher - Raymond Vs. Raymond
B.O.B. album
Plies - Goon Affiliated

Playing lots of old stuff during this somewhat boring summer for music:
Buck Owens '53-'64 box set
Louie Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit (1961)
early Beach Boys - Little Deuce Coup (1963) & Summer Days (And Summer Nights) (1965)
Elvis Presley - complete '50's masters
Tupac - California Love [Ft. Dr. Dre] (1995)

Mooooooooovies:
Rewatched all Pixar movies on Blu, and suprisingly to myself, I LOVED CARS. I had never seen it, originally skipping it for being something that "looks like I wouldn't like it".

Watched the DTV Batman anime Gotham Knight. Good stuff. Way better than Animatrix.

Going to see Predators in a few days to avoid opening weekend crowds. CAN'T FUCKING WAIT. Though I already watched the attached new Machete trailer online and it is sweet as all shit, I actually prefer it to the cinco de mayo trailer, though I seem to be alone in that regards. I did lament the cutting of Lindsay Lohan from the trailer... but as one internet poster wittily responded "You can take Lindsay out of the trailer, but you can't take the trailer out of Lindsay..." On the upside I saw some new Seagal footage I believe.

Watched Seagal's Out For Justice on Blu and had a pretty damn good time. They just don't make genre movies like this any more. And all the good ones are just a bit too self-aware for their own good and I find it hard to consider them genre classics because of this. This right here is signature action b-movie stuff. As good as anything with Fred Williamson or Jim Brown. I promise. And this is the coolest William Forsythe performance this side of Devil's Rejects. I love that guy. I saw him at the DC horror convention but was too starstruck to speak to anybody. I also was just feet away from talking to Sid Haig. I would jump at the chance to go back.

Bout to watch Clash Of The Titans and The Crazies remakes back-to-back on Blu, with some new trailers beforehand... Disney's release of Tales From Earthsea, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Seth Rogan's take on The Green Hornet (which looks extremely Rogan-ified, and not very faithful to the character's pulp roots, but I will see it out of Rogan fandom... not out of Green Hornet fandom, as I know it will drop the ball in this area.)

PREDATORS BIATCH! Can't wait to get my pre-Machete Trejo on, although I hear he is criminally underused. People have been bitching about the Larry Fishburne performance too, although that just makes me want to see it more, as I could see it as being a classic camp performance. I mean the original Predator did have The Governator and Jesse The Body Ventura in two of the largest roles...

Be back when more interesting shit starts happening. Has not been the most banging summer, especially on the music front. I would actually defend it on the movie front. But sadly it seems like the modern pop renaissance of the last 5 years is slowing down majorly. Where is this summer's Blame It? I want some radio summeriness. Maybe when King Uncaged drops in August? I would totally take a new Live Ya Life or Dead And Gone calibur song to cap off the summer. So it wouldn't be a total loss. Oh well, we'll always have O Let's Do It (Remix) to keep trunks banging all over the south.

Sawngz

It's a good week to be a pop fan. Just throw Jay-Z - Young Forever and Katy Perry - California Gurlz [Ft. Snoop Dogg] on repeat indefinitely and roll one up, dawg.

So this happened. Thanks LH.

Toy Story 3

Seeing it at a late Sunday night showing to avoid the children and crowds. Can't fuckin' wait.

Tons Of Shit

Eminem album. It is the reverse of Relapse, but in comparison it is better. Basically, I don't care about lyrics in rap. When they're on point (which is quite easy to do, it's like "nice beat = 'weed, club, ladies, whatever'" and "hard beat = 'struggle, manly tough guy shit, cars, guns, drugs, action movie shit') everything is all cool, basic entertainment. But, really, I'm not listening... I'm listening to cadence, delivery, and the fucking beat. Really loud. I mean rap has been going on for 30 years, there's nothing you can say in a rap song that hasn't been said. There's nothing you can say in ANY kind of song that hasn't been said. Lyrics are the least important thing... if you cared that much about prose you'd read a book instead of listening to a record, right? But, interestingly enough, on Relapse, Em was entering territory that actually had really never been hit on with lyrics... crazy, looney tunes tongue twisters revolving around long prescription pill names. It was weird and cool. The whole album wasn't that over and over, but he was doing that on several songs and it was like "wow, what a weird and inventive way to deal with rehabilitation. Wild rhymes based on complicated pill names." I loved it. But the beats were fairly weak, even by his standards. And he's NEVER had good beats. He's only ever had 'okay' beats. And since I mostly listen to rap for the beats, I hardly ever throw on an Em album after I've initially absorbed it.

Cut to Recovery. THE BEATS FUCKING RULE. BOI-1DA, DJ KHALIL, AND JUST BLAZE. EM GOT SOME DECENT BEATS. It's not Thank Me Later, but it's a fuckin start. Some of these beats just rule. Others are whack, but let's overlook that. At least 5 of these beats fucking rule. I like that there's an Eminem album finally that doesn't entirely hinge on his rhymes, again, considering the fact that lyrics don't mean a whole lot to me in music. Not to say the vocals don't matter... I would say in rap the vocals are the most important instrument, but it's the delivery... the vocal acrobatics. And the beat banging or not is pretty make or brake.

BTW DOWNLOAD THE FUCKING DRAKE ALBUM. It's perfect. The production, the weird song structures, and how he will randomly switch from rapping to singing at any given moment (not on a chorus/verse basis, just... randomly...) But, finally, the Drake album is out of the CD player, and something else is in... and it was Eminem that did it.

And the other thing I am freaking out about is that Nick Stoller, writer of the immensely funny Get Him To The Greek, wrote the upcoming Muppets movie? FUCKING AWESOME.

With a lot of cool shit going on, I don't really want to touch on Lil Boosie, but I will. He is one of my favorite rappers, and now he is allegedly facing the death penalty for paying a hitman $30,000 to kill somebody. It's at Tupac moment. I'm mad at him, I can't believe he would do that. I have to think he would not do that if he hadn't been threatened, or maybe even attacked or robbed, but this guy Nussie, but even then... it's monsterous. It is a Tupac moment. For the most part I feel like society created a monster that it couldn't save or redeem, and there is no upside to that. And we're left with terrible, pained, and haunting recordings to mull over. Resonant reflections of the darkest impoverished experiences of modern, violent America. Is there any way we can save this place and save ourselves? I still believe demonizing societies criminals is the path that leads us to these moments, not the one that will save us from them.

Stuff

Apparantly George Lucas is launching a Star Wars TV show with a comedy slant to it, and Seth Green is one of the showrunners? Count me fucking in. Also, dudes, the Cartoon Network CGI series Clone Wars is actually kinda tight. At least as good as the end of Episode II and all of Episode III, which are actually decent in spite of whatever you might hear from the haters. They only pale in comparison to the holy original trilogy because those 3 movies stand as probably THE BEST ADVENTURE MOVIES OF ALL TIME. Suck on it.

If anyone actually reads this blog (and I don't think anyone does) and you get EPIX on demand, watch The Long Riders. It is super tight, and has the Carradine brothers and Stacy Keach in the main roles, which you should be excited about if you are not. It is directed by Walter Hill, the cult director who did The Warriors. I have always liked that movie, but am just now realizing he left behind a treasure trove of obscure cult hits like the movie I just mentioned and also Undisputed, Wild Bill (with Jeff fucking Bridges in the titular role), and Last Man Standing. I also recently read in this dude Vern's column on AICN that Undisputed 2 and Undisputed 3 have been partly responsible for a renaissance of modern action films that have subversively used direct-to-video as an unlikely avenue to release superior modern action films. This is largely due to Hollywood being unwilling to greenlight classic-style action films that rely on practical effects. They make more money off of big budget computer image movies, but if I had my way car chases would go back to the no-cuts/real driving days and all stage fighting would be performed by legitimate professionals. I recently saw Iron Man 2 in the theater, which I loved, but one thing really irked me - that talentless hack Scarlett Johansen's action sequences were all blurred out and edited choppily? And do you know why? Apparantly she insisted on doing her own stunts. BUT SHE IS NOT A STUNT PERSON. So we have to watch some crappily edited and blurred action sequence so her resume can look a little more impressive? BRING IN A FUCKING PROFESSIONAL. Actually, that sentiment goes for her acting roles and singing career too. BRING IN SOME FUCKING PROFESSIONALS. GET THIS NOBODY OUT OF HOLLYWOOD, PLEASE!.

Get Your Ass To Get Him To The Greek

What a great suprise comedy hit. Wasn't expecting that one. Pay the theater price, you will be so happy you did. Great date movie.

Thank Me Later

Drake album is, has, and will be on repeat. Stone cold classic. Similar to the best of the classics - Ridin' Dirty, Illmatic, Enter The 36 Chambers, Blueprint 1, Graduation, Carter III, Paper Trail - it gives you everything; the ups, the downs, the regrets, the shocking admissions, the unhealthy self-medication via spending and drugging, the real r. kelly truth of rags-to-riches madness the bullshit road to big capitol and the resulting suffering of the soul in spite of the euphoria of the moment. And it does so over top of the most mind-bogglingly perfect instrumental tracks the year 2010 can offer anyone. If Hov is supposed to be Sinatra then who the fuck is Drake? Someone more promising. After all, it took Jay 5 albums to put out something perfect, and lightning hasn't struck since. Drake is 1 for 1, big time. Keep that yuppie-rap throne warm, Jigga.

Thank Me Later

The Drake album leaked yesterday, and it is better than both The Carter III and Graduation, which are in my consideration the 2 milestones of pop music quality in the last 3 years. One of the best pop albums I have ever heard. I take back anything I ever said about Drake.

Another Underground Rap Clip And Some Ranting

Pill killing an old Big Pun classic. I just recently found out Big Pun was a wife-beating asshole, I try to separate politics from entertainment as much as possible... it's not like I care about the background of the people who sell me snacks at a 7-11 or make my burgers at a fast food joint; I am actually happy to see ex-cons taking a stab at the straight life and glad somebody isn't too high up on their horse to provide these people jobs, even if it is a notoriously terrible corporation like mcdonald's. So why should I concern myself with the personal lives of the people who prepare my entertainment. That being said, sometimes there is an unavoidable effect...For instance, when the last Chris Brown song Transformer came out with Lil Wayne on it I thought it was clever and catchy as all hell and played it a lot. This doesn't mean I respect Brown as a person, but denying myself the entertainment value of what little he does have to offer the earth isn't going to change shit. So fuck it. But it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel similarly about James Brown and Miles Davis. They were pricks. I wouldn't have liked them as people. But their musical legacy cannot be reduced by their social misanthropies. They just leave behind a terrible history for the gossip and biography crowds to mull over. I swear some people who claim to be so shocked by this stuff get off on reading about it all the time, it's pretty stupid. The guy made records, and sucked as a person, are you really that intense that you have to justify the kind of entertainment that makes you happy by investigating the purity of the source? Probably a lot of the people you listen to and think are probably really good people because they really seem like they are on record...some of these people most likely have a more passive aggressive history of emotional abuse to their spouse or any other number of fucked up things that haven't become public knowledge. It's not worth driving yourself crazy about it. People suck in general. We surround ourselves with ridiculous pop entertainment so we don't have to think about shit like that, that's the whole point.

It's all about the budget, man

I have recently stepped into the realm of blu ray. I don't own a player or an HD TV (like probably a slight-to-decent majority of media-buying americans at this point in time), but never the less, I have began picking the cheap ones up. Well, the cheap GOOD ones. And they are weirdly easy to find gems at say, your local target. I first picked up Robocop for $12, which is a steal for an incredible sci-fi/action movie... one of the best ever, even. Granted, that movie looks pretty shoddy in any form because of the type of film used, but as an owner of the OOP criterion that many so called film geeks claim to prefer (bullshit, you're just trying to justify your purchase of $35 now that a superior version is available for under $15) I can say without a doubt this is the best looking version available for purchase. Today I got a similar deal on Commando, the 1985 Schwarzenegger action movie with a weirdly high 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (and Out For Justice only gets 26%?). Perhaps it is not weirdly though, as it is an early script by genius comic book writer/tv executive Jeph Loeb (Smallville, Heroes, LOST). He had just come off of writing Teen Wolf, so before I even knew who this dude was he had provided me with some pretty good childhood memories. Commando rules, though. Straight up. You only consider this pleasure a guilty one if you have your head up your own ass. People need to learn to admit that a good action movie has some pretty awesome logistics within certain action segments, and an addictive over-the-top low brow aesthetic that certainly breeds cult fandom as much as any old blaxploitation flick or sci-fi or western genre films. The cheese is inherent, but in its own way this genre tends to deliver the goods (as far as the movies that are actually on point.)

That's all.

Young Dudes Holding It Down

Some dudes putting out underground mixtapes that are straight killing it:

SparkDawg:


Whiz Khalifa:

Just saw somebody post under the funniest handle on an Ain't It Cool News talkback... RosemarysBabyDaddy. I always loved Before & After on Wheel Of Fortune and find myself always coming up with these things in my head.