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.