Supper Time

Another random movie review today because I'm not feeling paticularly creative, I'm afraid. I saw this movie back when it came out with my family. What better for a slightly dysfunctional family to bond over a movie about an even more dysfunctional family. Am I right?

When Do We Eat? is a fantastic little independent film. It may not be really original because once you've seen a movie about a family fighting, you've seen them all. (Eulogy, Little Miss Sunshine, etc.) I can't help it though. I love them.

The basic plotline is that this family has gathered for a seder, and everybody is mad at everybody. Fighting and chaos ensues. [SPOILERS AHEAD] At one point, Zeke (Ben Feldman) slips his father Ira (Michael Lerner) what he belives to be ecstacy to make the night go a bit more smoothly.


(picture copyright When Do We Eat? Inc.)

Random little rant to stick in here. I love when I do these blogs, and I read the IMDb page for them. Sometimes they're movies I've already seen (and usually multiple times). I end up learning things about the film I didn't know already. I love seeing the company... especially when they made their own company just so they could release their film. We need more gumption like this in the movie industry, or otherwise, we're gonna keep having shitty Hollywood films dominating what people watch these days.

End random rant. Back to review: It is really hard to surprise me with films. I more often than not guess the ending halfway through. WDWE, however, has a surprise ending that blew me away. I know I give more spoilers than I should in this blog, but I will not let anything slip about that. If you do ever get around to watching it, trust me, it is worth it for the end. Sure, the rest of the movie might make you a bit uncomfortable, but you can do it.

WDEW has many laughs, and for a small independent film with a low budget, it definitely delivers. I think it's a good movie to watch on one of these muggy (Ugh, please winter come save me already!) summer days. Oh, and make sure you gather the whole family. This is a movie you should share with them.

Elementary, Dear Reader

Even though I watch more movies than I read books (It's inevitable. Movies only take an hour and a half of my time while books usually take about 10 accumlative hours.) I have to say that I love reading more. It was my first love, and I would spend many a nights up late reading in bed when my mom thought I was sleeping.

I have written about books that have been adapted for film and how I think that sometimes it can work out, though the book version is always better. Today, I'm trying something a tad different. There is this book series that I would just love to see turned into a movie. Strange for me, I know, but I think it would work out and be a hit.

The series is called the Pecular Crimes Unit. A brief little description of the seires taken from author Christopher Fuller's site:

"Bryant & May are a pair of elderly, argumentative detectives who work in London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit... The Peculiar Crimes Unit is a police division founded during the Second World War to investigate cases that could cause public unrest... These men and women were all in their late teens and early twenties, and were encouraged to think in radical new directions... So, many years down the line, my books find Bryant and May past their retirement age, heading a team of equally unusual misfits who are just as likely to commit crimes as solve them. They’re all based above a London tube station, and led by the technophobic, irascible Bryant and smooth-talking modernist John May."

The first book I read from this series was Full Dark House that actually shows Bryant and May's first case together in the PCU, so I didn't get to see the detectives solving crimes way past retirement, although there were snippets of present time throughout the book. I recently finished The Water House which does focus on a current case, and as much as I loved FDH, I was intrigued in a different manner while reading House.

You don't usually see books, shows or movies with main characters that are past the age of 50, at the most. This is obviously due to the fact that most of the target audience is college aged viewers. ('Tis the truth. We no doubt consume the most when it comes to mass media.) We want to read, watch, etc. about characters our age because we can easily relate, but I think that the PCU could become very popular as a movie series.


(picture via christopherfuller.co.uk)

The crimes are definitely peculiar. I have become really good at solving mysteries since I watch more CSI than can possibly be healthy. However, I was kept on the edge of my seat until the very end of House when the killer was revealed and I had no clue up until then who it could have been. The characters are wonderful, especially Bryant. He's an anti-social crumudgeon who is set in his ways, which are very eccentric. He loves consulting with witches and other outcasts on cases and has been wearing the same patched coat since 1945.

So, dear Hollywood: I know you're running out of ideas. Take this. I'm sure Mr. Fuller would love to assit you in bringing the PCU to life. Crime is a big seller in any form of media, and you toss in some fantastic British accents, and you'll be rolling in the dough in no time.

Take a Bite

I know that technically I already wrote an entry today, but I'm counting that as yesterday's. I would have made it if I wasn't so caught up in Dexter. Such is the life of a complete nerd, right?

To pick up from the last entry, Splice had pretty much disturbed me. I was feeling pretty hopeless and was disappointed in movies. I had begun to wonder where all the good movies had gone. Then, I got my next Blockbuster movie in the mail and it was My Boyfriend's Back. I'd been waiting for it for ages, and my friend Sonya had then told me how good it was.

I popped it in, hoping that I could at least get a few laughs. What I got was definitely more than that. It was a fantastic little movie. I'm a sucker for zombie movies where zombies can talk, think and act like normal humans. Of course, because people are afraid that zombies are different, others are zombiest. (Oh yes, I made that word up.)


(picture copyright Touchstone Pictures)

I thought that this type of zombie movie was just starting, but Boyfriend did it back in '93 and they did it wonderfully. There is no explanation of how someone who died can come back besides that said person had something to do and came back on their own accord. Plus, I just love the way that no one is really scared that Johnny (Andrew Lowery) is a zombie really. Only when he eats people.

Actually, his mother (Mary Beth Hurt) is my favourite character for this alone. [SPOILERS AHEAD] She calls the doctor when Andrew won't eat. She tells the doctor "Well, Johnny just died and I'm worried that it made him sick." Then when she finds out he needs to eat human flesh to avoid decomposing more, she kidnaps him a kid from the grocery store. It's wonderfully sublime.

This movie was just what I needed after Splice. It might sound weird that a zombie movie is more heart warming than a scifi movie with cute little clones. (I stand by the fact that baby Dren was super cute.) I have already blogged about how zombie movies can totally be heart warming, though, so it's all good. (See Fido.) I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves zombies and black comedies.

Moral Standards

It's a bit obvious that cinema doesn't have as high of moral standards anymore. All you have to do is pick up a recent National Lampoon movie, and you have a prime example right there. It's kind of sad that it's not really a shock to pop in a movie and have at least sexual references if not a sex scene of some sort. Oh, and you can't forget to throw in a few boobie shots to keep the guys interested. (I'm sorry. And the lesbians. Sorry girls.)

But there is a point where you have to draw the line. While I'd take a horrible scifi movie over the college humour types, Splice crossed that line. I wish I had broken my rules and read spoilers about this film before I went to the theater. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Sure, I saw that part of it's rating included sexuality and nudity, but I was expecting it between two consenting HUMANS.

I was wrong. Oh, was I wrong. Instead, I'm greeted by Clive (Adrian Brody) and Dren (Delphine Chanéac) boinking in the barn. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let me set the scene up. The only showing of Splice still left at our theater was 9:55 PM. Coco and I enter to see only three other people there. We were just in time for the previews. The first half of the film, the theater is silent. It actually had a good start, too. Plus Dren is adorable.


(picture copyright Gaumont)

Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive are two scientists who have been cloning animals with several different types of DNA to discover new cures for diseases. When the company they work for won't let them incorproate human DNA, they do the experiment behind their backs and thus creating Dren. [SPOILERS AHEAD] At first, despite a few minor setbacks, Dren is doing fine. Unfortunately, she isn't happy being locked up. Oh, and she's developed a bit of a thing for "Daddy".

They had already started losing me by this point. I could tell they were going down this road, and I was silently begging them not to. As soon as the barn encounter happened, the total of five people in the audience just began squirming. I could hear sounds of disgust coming from the other viewers. I was thinking "Thank God, I'm not alone."

But yet I feel alone. Only five people. Splice is actually getting quite alot of good reviews. An A- from EW. A total of B average from entertianment magazines. One of the threads on the board called it "one of the top five horror movies of our generation". The movie isn't even horror for crying out loud. The beginning starts with a bang, and then it focusses too much on Elsa and Clive's feeling. C'mon. I want some action! Then I get it in the form of beastiality/incest.

I guess I have to give them some credit. Splice was definitely different, but it was not the scifi kick I was looking for. It felt more like porn since Dren spent a good portion of the film naked and there was a loose plot. Alot of the actual cloning process and parts of the experiment were left completely unexplained and the ending was so open ended that even I was disappointed after everything else that happened. No witty end of the entry today, folks. Just... I'm speechless again. I'd take Gigantic over this even.

What's In a Name

I like naming things. I know I'm a bit odd, but I do enjoy picking out names. As a child, my dolls had some pretty strange names. For instance, there was the Snickerdoodle family. Hey, what can I say? I love those cookies. As I got older, it became picking the coolest names for characters in "stories" that I would write.

I believe that names are really important. A rose by any other name will not smell as sweet. What if roses were called grubs instead? Yeah, it's a pretty gross sounding word, and I don't think I'd want to send my girlfriend grubs.

So where is all this leading to? Very good question. Right now it seems I'm ranting, but trust me, I'm not. Have you ever watched a movie and though "That title has nothing to little to do with the movie and is a bad representation of the film as a whole." I know I have. You would think the film makers would spend time on picking a good title, but sometimes it feels like they are just about to wrap up and go "Yeah, that sounds good enough. Let's go with that."

The best example I can come up with has to be Gigantic. (See review here for all the other complaints about this awful movie.) To give a quick synopsis, enter dude. Dude wants to adopt a baby. Dude meets crazy girl. Crazy girl might breaks his heart, but we aren't really sure. Crazy girl might be pregnant, but we aren't really sure. Dude adopts his baby. Crazy girl might be leaving, but we aren't really sure.

So, uh, what does "gigantic" have to do with all of that? When I first watched the film, I scoured the boards trying to find a reason. I came up empty. Seriously, if you know why, do tell. Or even if you have seen this film and have a theory, I'll accept that as well. I'm just dying to know why the film makers chose this as a title. You can either comment this post or e-mail me. (I'll post the address at the end of the blog.)


(picture via bsgu.edu)

Chosing a name is (well, it should be) a long, thoughtful process. Even if it's just a doll, take your time. You want the name to be perfect. The title of a movie should be simple. I don't think the long, meandering emo song type of titles really work. I want the title to pretty much let me know what the movie is about before I pick it. I guess some people just don't understand that.

Send all explanations of the title "Gigantic" to weezerbizkit@aol.com.

I Fearlessly Predict

It seems to have become a cliche to say that Tim Burton is your favourite director. I hate that: cliche. Why would it be cliche when he clearly is one of the best directors of our time? I grew up with The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is still a fantastic movie. It's not what I would consider his best, however. It is a a very close tie, but today I'm going with Ed Wood.

Like every film I review, there are so many threads on the IMDb board dissing the movie. Yet, these people have no idea what they're talking about. This line comes courtesy of Ziya80. "Tim Burton means color. Also Tim Burton means creativity. Also Tim Burton means eccentric characters."

Well, my first complaint is that they're offended that this movie is shot in black and white. This decision is stupendous. The movie is chronicling a period of director Ed Wood's life during the 1950's. All his movies during this time period were shot in black and white, and it captures the time period perfectly.


(picture copyright Touchstone Pictures)

I think I'm more exasperated at the fact that the "characters" in the movie aren't "eccentric" enough for Ziya. First of all, this is a movie based on real life. I have watched several documentaries on Wood's life, and I have to admit that Burton kept the story mostly true. Only one person's attitude was altered a bit and a few non-important facts were changed.

Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Wood's life and the people he surrounded himself with were crazy. His entourage included actor Bela Lagosi, TV personality Vampira and Swedish wrestler Thor Johnson. His movies are definitely some of the worst ever made, but you have to admire his tenacity. He never gave up on his dream of becoming a great director like Orsen Welles.

This movie is incrediably interesting whether you're a "fan" of Wood's or not. His life is fascinating and you can't help but feel sorry for him that he just wasn't very good. It's also great whether you're a fan of Burton's or not. Sure, it's not like most of his other films, but I like him best when he strays from the cliche idea of what a Burton film has to be. As Criswell would say, "I fearlessly predict that you will love this movie."

Do Over

It was a rainy day here in NEPA. As soon as I woke up, I was greeted by the rain pounding down and the sky still as grey as when I had gone upstairs. So I decided it was a movie marathon kind of day. I ended up watching the Dawn of the Dead remake, and I realized that I have yet to do an entry on remakes. We can't have that, now can we?

I have obviously touched based on remakes in a few other entries. For instance, I complained about the horror movie remakes that are being made fast than you can say "Leatherface" these days. Then I continued that complaint in my review of the new Nightmare on Elm Street.

It's not just horror movies that are in trouble though. Hollywood has just run out of ideas and continues to steal good (and okay, not so good) movies to "update" which basically means more guts and more nudity. Well, at least pretaining to horror and action movies. If they remade Gone With the Wind, I doubt there would be guts. Definitely nudity, though. Then again, it is set during a war. There are alot of guts in a war.

The point is, a movie shoudn't be remade just to use the new technology for effects. It should be that you want to put your own little spin on it. Take the Dawn of the Dead remake, for example. It's the only remake of a Romero film that I like because I am very picky about the reworkings of some of my favourite films. However, James Gunn gave his own little twist in the script. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Basically, he took the main plotline of the survivors going to the mall, but he added a few characters, a zombie baby and pretty badass busses.


(picture copyright Strike Entertainment)

Unfortunately, alot of other remakes are the original movie with computer graphics, actors who are conventionally "better looking" and a slightly punched up script. Frankly, it's getting really damn annoying. They'd be better off pulling a Lost Boys and making a sequel 20 years after the fact instead. At least then you are writing somewhat original material. I know I could never write a movie script, and I should chastize Hollywood when I don't know how hard it is. But it's your job people. Learn to be a bit creative, even if you're just adding a few new ideas to something old.

Summer Is Here

Well, technically the actual first day of summer isn't for a couple more weeks. Heat wise, it's definitely summer already. It's hit 95 here several times... during May. Ugh, I hate summer weather. I truly do. There is something about summer that I don't hate, though. Summer movies. Letting me near a movie theater during the summer... it's like letting a kid loose in a candy store.

Usually there is at least five movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. I'll end up killing two birds with one stone and frequent the drive in as well as the local theater. However, this year, there really is only one movie I'm interested in seeing. This makes me sad. What else is there to do during the summer besides watch over priced movies in an over air conditioned arena?

Everything that's coming out this year kind of looks disappointing. It's nothing but remakes, sequels and more fricking Twilight. I'm obviously not interested in that and I think the 80's want their crappy movies and TV shows back.

There is some hope, though. That hope comes in the nerdtastic form of Scott Pilgram vs the World. Following up the success of Kick-Ass, Scott is another movie based on a little known graphic novel. (It's actually mentioned by the characters in Kick-Ass when discussing novels they like.)


(picture via blogspot)

I'll be honest: I haven't read the novel. I'm not big into comic books and graphic novels. My dad almost had to twist my arm to read Maus. I did enjoy it, but I'm still not totally into it. The only comics I read as a kid were Archie. My nerdiness comes from other sources. I'll kind of feel lame if I go and buy it now to read right before the movie comes out.

The concept sounds hilarious, though, and I am definitely looking foward to this movie. The tagline on IMDb is "An epic of epic epicness." I really hope that it lives up to that. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to go see The A-Team just so I can see a summer movie that delivers. Lord help me.

King of the 80's

I have already discussed who I believe was the King of the 90's. The title going to, in case you've forgotten, Mr. Devon Sawa. Now let's take it back another decade (now entering an era before my time) and crown the King of the 80's. There is definitely no question here: it has to be John Cusack. If I chose anyone else, well then, I'd have to say I was crazy. (Well... crazier than I already obviously am.)

I have declared today 80's Day. I had nothing better to do, and I needed to pop in a movie that was funny. A laugh was what I needed on this unbearably muggy bust of a Saturday. So, naturally, I went with Better Off Dead. It wasn't as popular as other movies from this decade, but it's my favourite John Cusack film. You know, even if he kind of refuses that he ever made it.


(picture copyright A&M Films)

[SPOILERS AHEAD] Granted, it was a strange little film. Lane's (Cusack) best friend Charles de Mar (Curtis Armstrong) carries around a pig fetus in a jar and snorts snow since "you can't get real drugs" in Greendale. Oh, and you can't forget that Lane's mother (Kim Darby) cooks some pretty strange things throughout the movie including a live octopus and crawling green goo with raisins.

It's this wonderful blend of ridiculous characters that makes this movie the perfect cure if you need a laugh. I would take BOD over Say Anything any day. I actually hate that movie. (Another little movie secret you guys are treated to.) Sure, it's a classic, but I can't stand it. It's just another typical teen movie that I get sick of five minutes into it. I can't stand Sixteen Candles either. It should really go without saying. There, I said it! It's good to get that off my chest.

Cusack started out doing these teen films, and that's how he became famous. Now he's gone on to a very successful film career. He's doing films that don't include singing hamburgers, and I'm happy for him. He is an extremely talented actor. That's not why he's King of the 80's, though. Sure, he did show promise in his earlier movies. He's king, though, because survived the big hair and synthesized music.

Fifty Laughs

First, a bit of a follow up from yesterday. I did a Google search for "donner party zombies" and this article came up. It's about the movie I mentioned in yesterday's entry. The person who wrote the article is a horror fan who enjoyed the film and described it as "disturbing yet accurate" of a film. Just thought I'd share that. (No, no films with the Donner Party and zombies. Sorry.)

Today I offer you a review of a Lou Taylor Pucci movie. Yes, I know that you won't accept my rave review of any of his movies now that you know I love him, but give it a chance. I promise you this review is totally unbiased. Granted, I did rent the movie because he was in it (amongst alot of other fantastic actors) but at the time, I didn't think it would be all that good.

It's a straight foward comedy, which, I usually tend to stay away from unless it's big budget. Odd, I know, but you don't really hear too much from independently made comedies and let me tell you why: they usually suck. I rented it hoping maybe for a couple laughs at that. It isn't a fantastic movie, but it definitely was better than I expected.


(picture copyright Coalition Film)

It was really hard to find a picture from this movie. It was very low budget, and it's definitely noticable from the way it's shot. I could say that it adds to the charm of the film, but it doesn't really. It doesn't bug me, though. [SPOILERS AHEAD] What bugs me more is that Seoul Man (Ron Yuan) is the drug dealer in town, and Petunia (Monica Keena) buys her drugs from Darren (Pucci). I understand that they needed a way to introduce Seoul Man and then neatly tie the movie together.

Other than that, there isn't that much of a plotline. Darren has to sell fifty pills of ecstacy to earn enough money to continue going to college. Throw in a kinda lame love story, and you have Fifty Pills. Yeah, it sounded lame to me too. It does deliver on laughs, though. Coco and I were laughing our butts off throughout the whole movie. It's not Pucci's (or anyone else involved) best work, but we all need a laugh with no strings attached once in awhile.

In It Until the End

My dad and I always say the same thing when we sit down with a crappy low budget horror flick we have rented: "And if it's that bad we can always turn it off." We never end up turning it off. He may end up falling asleep and I may end up coming and going as I please, but we never turn it off.

I'll be honest. In my entire lifetime, I cannot remember turning a movie off because it was bad. I have sat through so many awful movies and not once have I left a movie theater and demanded my money back. (Even if I did ever leave, I wouldn't demand my money. I'm too nice.)

The closet I came to not seeing the end of a movie was actually a misjudgment of time. Coco and I were watching Art School Confidential. We thought we would have enough time to fit the whole movie in before she had to go to work, but we were wrong. When she returned from her shift, her mom had taken the movie back to the store. Months later, we ended up renting it again and actually watching the end. (Bit of a disappointing ending, but we did it.)

So, it's obvious I go out of my way to give a movie every single chance it has. It maybe be at the 100 minute mark on a 104 minute movie, but I'll still be thinking "It might redeem itself in those four minutes." It's weird since I'm so cynical and when I put that movie in, I say "If it's bad, I could turn it off."

I have a confession to make, though. Tonight, I actually did the unthinkable. I turned a movie off. Well, it wasn't just my decision. We did it democratically. We all voted to fast foward, see if there were any good bits, and then turned it off. We being my dad, Nica, Matt and I. The movie being The Donner Party. Not my choice at all. Dad picked it up because Crispin Glover was in it. Unfortunately, it stayed incrediably accurate to the real life story.

I was hoping that they would have taken some liberities... spice the dialogue up a little. Maybe thrown in some Donner zombies. Or a radioactive bear. I'm not picky. (That one made them laugh. At least the movie brought us some fun.) After about 18 minutes of agonizing set up, that's when we started searching for the parts where they ate people. Are we sick, or what?


(picture copyright Flash Games)

It does pain me to say that I didn't give this movie a chance, but even for me, it was boring. I do send my apologies to the members of the Donner Party. I'm sure you weren't expecting a boring movie to be made out of the horrible situation. You probably would have rathered some zombies too, I know. The sad thing is, there probably is a movie out there like that. What's even sadder is that I'm going to check into that.

Man's Best Friend

I believe I mentioned Fido when I did my entry on zombie films. I was watching it again today with friends who hadn't seen it. (And aren't as big zombie nerds as I am.) So I go off on my own little rant about how alot of the early zombie movies are all the same (not that I don't like them) and then in the late 80's, people began to get some unique ideas. Plus they added a dash of humour.

Thus the genre of the zombedy was born. Since this revamp of the zombie movie, there are so many awesome different takes on the zombie. Fido is definitely one of my favourites. [SPOILERS AHEAD] The movie is set in an alternative universe when the zombie apocalypse takes place around the 1930's. Fast forward to the 50's, and we're living in a world were Zomcom's zombie collars control zombies to not eat humans. In fact, they're able to do menial jobs like deliver the paper. Oh, and they even work great as servants.


(picture copyright Lions Gate Films)

Yes, the movie is obviously a bit of a satire. This theme of zombies coming into a world where they are looked down upon as less than human has been in quite a few films recently. I think that Fido handles it perfectly, and the time period definitely helps. It's right before (in our actual universe) the civil movement. Maybe in ten years times, zombies will rise up and not take this any more.

You can speculate on that, but the entire movie isn't taken over with deep messages about how we are mean to our fellow man. (Whether he be alive, dead or undead, for that matter.) It still is quite humourous. [SPOILERS AHEAD] When Helen (Carrie-Ann Moss) goes to kill Roy (Aaron Brown) she is using the revolver that was concealed in her handbag. However, she ends up shooting nine rounds into him. (Obvious overkill since a handgun can only hold six rounds.)

The movie is also wonderfully heartwarming. Timmy (Kesun Loder) forms a bond with his zombie, whom he loving names Fido. (Billy Connelly) [SPOILERS AHEAD] After the Zombie Wars, many people refused to let emotions get in the way because when it came time to pull the trigger, it would be too difficult. Timmy proved, though, that expressing friendship could civilize the zombies, and be much more helpful against a horde of zombies in the end than a gun.

It is kind of odd to call a zombie movie heartwarming. We're just getting used to calling them funny. (And we mean intentionally funny, not "so bad I laughed" funny.) It is true, though. Fido just makes you feel all fuzzy inside by the end. If you do not have a smile on your face, then I'd say you're not human. Not a zombie either.

Creepy Crawlies

My mom and I have started making our way through the Firefly series. We share a love for science fiction that just isn't satisfied these days. There used to be alot of good shows on SciFi, but now it's 20 different Staregate spin offs and, if you're lucky, one of the original movies will come on once in awhile.

So, we love Nathan Fillion. He's pretty much the man, I think it's safe to say it. We have already seen Serenity (so much of Firefly is kind of spoiled for us, but we're loving it anyway.) and of course who couldn't love him as Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible. So much Mr. Fillion put me in the mood to watch my favourite movie of his again. It's been awhile since I last watched it since most of my friends think it's dumb.

They are wrong, of course, because I'm always right. And I say that Slither is a fantastic scifi movie. Now, most people call it horror. I mean, even the case has a blurb that says "A wickedly fun horror flick!" (Yeah, I got up to check that.) Okay, I'll admit there are "zombies". Sort of. Not exactly.

(picture copyright Gold Circle Films)

[SPOILERS AHEAD] The whole premise is that an astroid from outer space (reminiscent of The Thing) crashes to earth and then the monster choses a host, who unfortunately, is Grant Grant. (Michael Rooker He impregnants Brenda (Brenda James) who ends up "giving birth" to a bunch of slug creatures who then turn people into "zombies". (reminiscent of Night of the Creeps except those zombies actually ate human flesh.)

The monster is from space, so I'm gonna say it's a scifi movie. And a darn good one at that. There are alot of great tips of the film makers' hats to classic horror movies, as I have mentioned. It's also got a wonderful, sarcastic sense of humour to it. Alot of the one liners from Cheif Bill Pardy (Fillion) have me chuckling every time. Oh, and I always crack up at Mayor Jack MacReady's (Gregg Henry) little rant about there being no Mr. Pibb.

The movie is a bit gory for scifi, so I can see why it might get classified as horror. My mom definitely won't watch it. She hates blood and guts. When we saw Zombieland she was going "Ew!" next to me during the opening credits. So those with weak stomachs, beware. However, that aside, it's a great little film. Not really original, but it has charm. I like that. There is nothing wrong with giving a bit of a spin on a story we already know. As long as you have Mr. Fillion... I'm in.

Tomato Soup

If you hadn't figured this out already, I watch alot of television. I wasn't surprised to learn the average American watches at least 3 hours of television without interruption. Yeah, I can easily do that. Alot of that time is dedicated to my crime shows, but I watch alot of clip shows too.

Now if you don't know what I'm talking about, the best example would be The Soup on E! The original clip show revamped about six years ago, it has spawned many others such as The Dish, Tosh.0 and The Rotten Tomatoes Show. RT started as a website dedicated to movie reviews. Ripe tomato equals good. Rotten tomato? Bad, obviously. Then a show version was started on the station current_. Sorry if you don't have super awesome cable like me. It sucks to be you.

It is a hilarious show. They begin with new movie reviews. I take their (more often than not cynical) advice very seriously when I'm going to the movies. (Other people I trust is the curmudgeon who writes for Diamond City and Lisa Schwartzbaum.) Plus they also do Top Five countdowns for... well, pretty much everything.



I was actually just watching the sci-fi special. Top Five Best Futures. Number one was in Back to the Future 2 basically just for the hover boards. Man, I totally forgot about that. Now I want a hover board. They've got the same crazy sense of humour as I do. I remember when the latest Harry Potter movie was coming out, host Brett had an HP movie marathon since he "never saw them before". (If he works for a movie show, you know he has.) This line had me in stiches: "Wow. I made it to the fifth movie, and there is finally the first bit of action!"

So, if you have current_, I hightly suggest you check it out. Not just RT, though. Yeah, I'm focussing on that since this is my movie blog, but the channel is basically the channel version of my Mass Media Literacy course. Young journalists with lots of entertaining shows that poke fun at everything dealing with the media as well as very informative shows with investigator journalism. It's good for you, I promise.

Keeping Up with the Competition

One thing I learned from Mass Media Literacy (besides that Dr. E despises Disney and Ryan Seacrest) is that when a new form of mass media is introduced, it tramps the previous top dog. The only exception being magazines. They never really were the top form of mass media. Sad, really. I do enjoy a good magazine. (Read Bust. It's fantastic.)

When television started to gain popularity in the 1950's, the movie industry was in trouble. Television was free. (Yes, there was a time when the popular shows weren't on special channels you have to pay $50 extra for.) The country would much rather sit at home and watch something in their living room than pay (I'm basing this guesstimate on stories from my gram) 50 cents to go to the movies.

This is why we see alot of television formats being turned into the plot lines of movies, and also, tying into another of my entries, movies based entirely on certain TV shows. This is still the case because we are going through another tough time in the country. Money is a bit tight, and it can be quite pricey going to the movies. ($6.50 alone for a matinee showing? Harsh.)

So why, then, has there not been a movie about forensics? Cop shows have been huge for decades, and there hasn't been a lack of cop movies out. However, in 2000, CSI: Las Vegas took the country by storm. Forensic shows have become incredibly popular, so much so that two spin offs of Vegas were born. (New York and Miami.) It would be the logical next step to have a movie based around crime scene investigators. Hell, I know I'd go see it. I'm obsessed with CSI. I'm horrible at science, but I find it extremely fascinating.

I was just reading an article on Las Vegas's tenth season. Unfortunately, Wendy (Liz Vassey) will not be returning next season since her contract was not renewed. This is devastating to me since I lived for the awkward "romance" between her and Hodges. (Wallace Langham) It was, though, what had me thinking that it's amazing that this show is going into it's tenth season, and they never made a movie based on it or a forensics movie in general.


(picture copyright CBS)

As much as I whined that I was upset at the possibility of a Skins movie, I would actually love to see a CSI one made. The show is kind of running out of ideas. Some of the episodes during season nine made me cringe they were so ridiculous. I mean... a panty convention? Really CBS? Maybe a movie is what they need to rejuvenate the series. The article did say they wish to squeeze a couple more seasons out of the show. I hope they can do it, honestly. Oh, and stop firing my lab rats. I love them.

First is the Worst

I know, I know. I missed another day. I have a legitimate reason, though, I swear. I just got season 2 of CSI on DVD. I spent the whole day watching it. Made it through the first three discs. Oh yeah. I'm in heaven.

Okay, so I think by now you should realize that I am a nerd. 100% fangirl. Damn proud of it. Not ashamed to shout it. So I'm going to tell you a little secret, but you are not allowed to tell anyone else: I kind of like sequels. *GASP*

Yes, sequels are usually frowned upon, and I will admit, it's for good reason. Sequels most often do not live up to their originals. There are very few that do and even a select few more that surpass their predecessor. In my opinion Shrek 2 is definitely better than the first one. Yet, you will have people who will argue that you could never make a movie that's better than the first no matter what.

I more times than not would agree with them. I might enjoy sequels, but the first usually is the best. For example, I love the Scream trilogy. Actually, scratch love. I am obsessed with the Scream trilogy. I've watched it countless times. The first one was one of the most original horror movies ever. It scared the crap out of me as a kid. Cell phones were just starting to get popular. I didn't know anyone who owned one. I was terrified until we got caller I.D.

(Random fact: The sales of caller I.D. increased 97% after Scream came out.)


(picture copyright Dimension Films)

Sure, the other two films never did quite pass the first one. [SPOILERS AHEAD] The other killers couldn't even begin to be as crazed and creepy as Billy. (Skeet Ulrirch) He's really good at doing psycho, you gotta hand it to him. Another reason they aren't as good could be that when you have a legend with a killer that can be, um, killed... It's kind of hard to make a sequel. You have to figure out who picks up where the last one left off, why they would, how do they know Sidney. They did do it, though it is a bit far fetched when it all comes together in the third film.

So, we all complain when a sequel is made to our favouite film. We all groan and say "It won't be as good as the first." And I'd agree that 9 times out of 10 it'll suck. 2 times it'll be pretty good and maybe, just maybe 1 time it'll actually be better than the original. So forget the preconception about sequels and give them a chance. For me, your favourite fangirl.

Drain the Lagoon

I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging everday. I think I'm doing a good job, eh? Even though I'll admit it's another day that I have no idea what to say. I haven't really been renting movies as often as I usually would be during the summer. I did recall eventually that I did rent this crazy little film. It had been in my que online for ages, and it finally came the other week.

When I say crazy... I mean, it was pretty silly. It was called Creatures from the Pink Lagoon. (So I browse the gay section on Blockbuster.com. Sue me.) Very low budget. Very DIY ethic. I don't think many people have seen it besides the families of the people involved and me and Coco. It doesn't even have one thread on it's message board on IMDb. That's pretty obscure.


(picture copyright Seattle Theatre Project)

I really wanted to like it. Honest. However, I just wasn't feeling it. The movie is meant to be set in 1967, and for the most part, they did a pretty good job. Only one character, Randall (Philip D. Clarke), was wearing clothes that did not fit the time period. I can live with that.

There were plenty of other mistakes, but they were the kind that you learn to love when you watch alot of cheesy movies. [SPOILERS AHEAD] At one point, you see one of the giant mosquitos bite Bobby (Bill Morrison) and you can obviously see the string. Things like that warm my heart... not make me dislike a film.

Yet, I couldn't really get into it. The character development left more to be desired especially considering the film only clocked in at about an hour long. [SPOILERS AHEAD] I can understand they wanted to keep it short like classic horror movies from the time period. I could tell they wanted us to feel sorry for Phillip (Nick Garrison) since his boyfriend Bobby was cheating on him, but instead I just felt annoyed. He acted like he had no idea, but everyone knew it. Ugh, just admit it already!

It was worth a few laughs. [SPOILERS AHEAD] I did chuckle when Stan (Lowell Deo) realized that playing Judy Garland would cure all the zombies because "no queen can resist Judy". However, I wouldn't say it was worth renting. It's ultra hard to find, and online it was listed as "Really Long Wait" for about five months before I got it in the mail. I would suggest if you want a good gay horror/comedy, you rent Psycho Beach Party instead. That movie is absolutely fantastic. Charles Busch as Detective Monica Stark is brillant. No awesome drag queens in Creatures. There's yet another strike. Ah well. They all can't be winners... or losers for that matter.