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.