Writing about Movies, TV, Comics & Toys. Critically and creatively.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

A quick note on opinions

Not everyone will have the same opinion that you do.

You shouldn't be rude because someone else's opinion is different than yours.

Until you realize that everyone's opinions are subjective and different based on their own walks of life, you will always be a shit-head elitist that doesn't know why people don't like it when they start talking.

What you probably say now: That movie was Awesome/Terrible/Shitty/Great/Okay/Pretty Good
What you should be saying: I thought that movie was Awesome/Terrible/Shitty/Great/Okay/Pretty Good

See the difference? One sounds like you're reading a fact from a book, the other is an opinion. Don't talk about movie opinions like they're facts, because they're just your thoughts.

Sure this blog is full of my opinions, but I won't degrade someone for what there's is.

It is important to have opinions, how can we have discussions without differing sides and respect?

Just something I needed to get off of my chest, not as well written or formulated as I strive for my writing to be, but it gets my point across I think.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Inception.....the video game

Some people didn't like Chris Nolan's latest film Inception, but I really dug it (not like the obnoxious fanboys but just because I like to be entertained by movies and this movie really entertained me).

Anyway, apparently even before it came out that the Inception actors were signed on to more movies, Chris came out and said they want to expand the world of Inception via a video game.

The article above is saying that the game would be an MMO, but that isn't the way I'd go with it, at least not in the sense of how we think of a typical MMO.

It sounds like a good idea to me, I'd play an Inception game if it was good, but will it deliver?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Justified S2 E3

Episode 3 of Justified's second season came on tonight, and it was GREAT. I'm always afraid they're going to run out of things to do and start repeating themselves on this show, but they always surprise me. I like how the show has a lot of stand alone episodes, but the season arching plot threads take up more and more time as the season passes. That's a great way to construct a season's arc, I'll need to remember it when I'm writing my own show one day.

I'm glad that Walton Goggins is now a series regular on the show, and I'm glad a good chunk of tonight's episode was focused on his character and his development.

This is one of the best dramas on TV right now, if you're not watching do yourself a favor and get on board RIGHT NOW.

If you're familiar with the show Deadwood I've heard a lot of people thinking of Timothy Olyphant's character in Justified as a descendant of his character on Deadwood (a good way to get people interested that have seen Deadwood but not Justified).

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Reserve, Part 1

This is the first part of a short story I wrote for my creative writing class last semester. I first envisioned it as a comic series, but wrote it as a short story just to get the story itself down on paper. I hope you all like it.


The Reserve

Part 1
“Aspire rather to be a hero
than merely appear one.”
Baltasar Gracian


Did you know a Boeing 777 is the first airplane ever designed by a computer? And that they can reach speeds of 575 MPH while holding up to 47,890 gallons of fuel? These are just some of the things that the news reported on frequently after it happened, as of now though it hasn’t yet, but it will soon.


        
  I stared out the window of the precinct and looked at the skyline of Olive City. The number of airplanes to clouds in the sky was probably four to one, something that I guess you have to just be okay with when you move into as big a city as this. Olive tower caught my eye on this particular day, the tallest building in this country, and here it was looking right back at me just a few blocks away. A fellow officer entered the room and told me the suspect was ready, I followed him to the interrogation room.
           Another one of the low lives of the Clown gang, a bunch of strung out meth heads with a knack for modifying their own weapons to be even more deadly. We’ve brought him in because he’s a major suspect in the murder of two young girls, they were killed by shotgun blasts to the chest, and based on the genius of forensics we deduced it to have been a sawed off shotgun. This creep was picked up a few blocks from the murder in an alley, a sawed off shotgun thrown in a nearby dumpster.
           I sit down and stare at him; he looks at his shoes ignoring me. He’s just a kid, probably no older than 22 and his life is already ruined by this gang. His clown makeup is pretty much smeared off and dried to his face from spending the night in a cell. I asked him what he knew about the murders. He doesn’t reply, I ask him if he owns a modified shotgun and if he realizes owning such a weapon is a federal offense. Nothing comes out of his mouth, he doesn’t even move. The other officer hands me the folder, I open it and take the photos of the dead girls out and put them on the table; I asked him if these girls look familiar. This time he looks up, he picks up the photo and starts to laugh. I don’t have time to deal with this and leave the interrogation room.
           My partner informs me an hour later they let the clown go because there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him for the murder. I sigh because I knew it would happen, and because I know what’s going to happen tonight now that he’s back on the streets.
           My name is Richard Plank, I’m a Detective for the Olive City Police Department, and I am a superhero. At night I put on my mask and outfit and everyone knows me by my vigilante name, The Hood. I see a lot of people I know are guilty get to walk away free in my day job, which is why I started my night job so I could make sure they knew they weren’t above the law. I’ve worn this black cowl so long that I don’t even feel the weight of it on my shoulders anymore; it has become a part of me. The actual hood itself is something I still struggle with, it cuts off the peripheral vision to a degree, and on those warm nights really makes you sweat.
           There are six of us total in Olive City. We all have different costumes, areas of patrol and expertise. Sometimes we work together, but I do my best work when I am by myself, and right now I’m about to bring a world of hurt down on the clown psycho from earlier today.
           I spot him down in an alley next to a garbage can fire; two more gang members are with him. They remain still for a while, talking, laughing, drinking, then they notice the girl walking by herself pass the alley exit. I follow their movements on the roof tops. They grab her, the boy I’m after pulls out a switchblade, and before they know it I’m on the ground with them. I swing my chain into the face of one of the other gang members it knocks him to the ground, skull fracture and possibly internal bleeding on the brain. The other one holding the girl lets her go and tries to reach for his gun. I swing my arm sideways and it makes contact with the side of his face and as he falls the other side of his face hits the brick wall, concussion for sure. I pull out my signature weapon as my target finally realizes what just happened. I hold the two and half foot club in my right hand, and flick my wrist, the tips of the club extend to six feet and now the strung out mime realizes he can’t win. I leave them all in a pile at the opening of the alley.

        
  I think the superheroes of Olive City do more good for her than harm as some critics wish to think. They are symbols for our people, symbols that they don’t need to be afraid to go out at night. They’re symbols that Olive City is a good place with good people, even though vigilantism is still illegal.
I always knew the Hood has his own special brand of justice, and that was one reason I felt like it was easy for me to write articles about him for the paper. The other reason it was easy was because we had worked together before. My real name is Susan Attenborough, reporter for the Olive City Tribune, and like The Hood sometimes I put on my tights and go hunting for bad guys. They call me Dart. You can guess why, I use arrows and I’m fast.
           The Hood and I worked together only a few times, but I still feel like it gives me the edge on writing about him over some of the other people here. We were a part of the now defunct “The Reserve”, a culmination of masked avengers in Olive City. There was only ever a need for us a few times, and the reason usually being that there was a super villain around. Of course The Reserve was only temporary, hence the name, but it was almost unnecessary because of one member in particular. Everyone calls him the Ultimatian, that being because no one knows his true identity, how he got his powers and when he first came around there was speculation of him being not of this planet, hence the portmanteau labeling of “The Ultimate Martian”.
           There’s almost nothing this guy can’t do, he can fly, he’s really strong, damn near indestructible too; he made The Reserve nearly useless, except that some of us had things he didn’t have: intellect, a connection with humanity, and some of us happen to be very clever. One thing I could never stand about the Ultimatian was his overwhelming shit doesn’t stink attitude and fake nice guy persona. His goody two shoes act was nothing compared to the good old boy in the Reserve, Saber.
           Saber is the nice guy of the bunch. He saves cats from trees, helps grannies across the street, and gives lectures to schools on why drugs are bad. Fighting crime is something he does, but not if he has to, he does all of this for the good press and the PR. The one thing about him that always surprised me was that time he got shot; he didn’t even act like it was a big deal. I was more worried about it than he was, I mean I’m just a journalist what do I know about gunshot wounds? He kept his cool though and patched up his own wounds, Hood wasn’t impressed though, I distinctly remember him saying,
Hit in the stomach? Congrats Nancy you’ve earned your first merit badge. Get set on fire, run over and stabbed a couple more times then we’ll talk about getting you a sash too.

           The other two heroes are our only racially diverse of the six, Bolt Cutter and Hetia. Bolt Cutter dispenses justice like Hood, but to the extreme. If Hood finds you, he might beat you to a pulp but if it’s Bolt Cutter that’s after you he might take a couple of your fingers off just so you remember not to do it again. He’s quite violent in case you couldn’t guess; I wouldn’t worry too much about running into him if I were you though his territory is the ghetto of Olive City….the BAD part of the ghetto. Hetia is from the Middle East, when he was a kid his parents sold him into a traveling circus because of his extra set of fully functional arms. In the circus he specialized in juggling and sword swallowing, you can guess how he fights crime.
           All in all I think the heroes of Olive City important, but in recent years our touch with the public has slipped. People don’t respect us like they used to, especially not Hood and Bolt Cutter. About a year ago a kid died when he and his friends were playing Reserve and he jumped out of their apartment window because he was the Ultimatian. The only one of us that isn’t completely tarnished by people is Saber, fucking pretty boy.

 Coffee really helps after those nights of criminal beating. My partner enters the room with a stupid grin on his face:
Hood took out your boy.
Yeah I heard.
How you can’t be a fan of his style of justice is beyond me Plank.
I like the handcuffs and fingerprints myself.
Even if you don’t like it, you have to admit that it works.

Damn right it works.
          The sound came rushing into our ears like a soul that found the exit to hell, faster than you can imagine something can move and louder than if all of Olive City screamed at once. My partner looked at me, we ran into the hall and everyone else had confused looks on their faces. Someone finally shouted to look out the window, so we did. We saw Olive Tower in flames, with a hole the size of half a football field in the center of it. People started screaming, someone turned on the TV, a few people left to go evacuate people from the tower. I stared at the flaming hole; I looked into it and knew there was a problem coming to Olive City that neither The Hood nor The Reserve could fix.

           The news reports were already on before we could even get to the TV. A plane had hit Olive Tower; there were no suspects at the time, no groups were claiming responsibility, countless innocent people were dead inside the building, the plane and on the ground, but most of all, where were Olive City’s Heroes to protect her?

           Saber was giving a speech to the local 4
th graders on the importance of not talking to strangers when it happened. He was in the middle of an analogy comparing strangers to a dog you don’t know and how you wouldn’t touch a dog you didn’t know would you? They all heard the noise and Saber ran out of the auditorium into the streets to see what happened. He looked up at the smoke pouring out of the hole in Olive Tower. Everyone around him was running away from it, they were scared and they needed to reach safety. Saber knew there was something else to be done, there were still people in there that needed help.
Dodging the people and running as fast as he could Saber ran to the burning building.

           As I watched the TV of the attack being repeated over and over again, they told us facts that we might not know. The FBI didn’t begin to record annual terrorism records until the 1970s. From 1981 to 2000, there were a total of 9,179 international terrorist attacks. The next fact I knew, The Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
                      Saber had a hard time getting into the building with the amount of people that were trying to get out. He just kept repeating it to himself, I have to do something, I have to help someone. He disappeared into the blackness of the building and the overwhelming stream of people trying to exit. Olive City has had her fair share of evil doers and crime. She’s survived it all. She’s emerged stronger every time. This time I think she’s been pushed too far. A body half burned falls to the ground with a wet thud and bounces before resting on the concrete. I don’t know if she’ll ever be the same.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Open Letters, continued?

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about my open letter to Sarah Palin (if you haven't read it, it's just below this post some). So I'm starting to think that writing these long and eloquent (can I say that about my own words?) letters should become a series that I do to various people/groups/companies.

Would you guys be down for more of them? If so who would you want to see me tear to pieces in letter form? If not why not?

I'm also working on ideas for a series of sarcastic essays, interested in these also?

I realize these are a lot of of questions, but I really WOULD like to know your opinions.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

DEATH TO ALL BUT METAL

You should be able to appreciate at least a portion of these lyrics at some point in this song.

WARNING: Strong language inside.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

An open letter to Sarah Palin

I don't want this to become a debate, but feel free to comment.

Dear Sarah,

           I feel it is a part of my civic duty to address you, as it seems almost everyone else in the country with a voice has opted in doing the same. Having failed to partake in these festivities it has come to my attention that now I must shed some light on my feelings of this matter. The matter in question being you.
          Every time I hear your name in the news, regardless of my mood or feelings prior, I am exhausted with rage. I bubble up with an overwhelming sense of hatred and pain. I attempt to circumvent anything related to you in the news, but living in one of the reddest of red states it is a difficult task. There are many driving forces behind this crippling dosage of bitterness I must endure when I see you mentioned in the press, I will take my time in listing them for you.
           The ignorance that I must sustain when reading your words or hearing your voice is a call to a style of living that seems unachievable without guidance in the ways of illiteracy and hatred. Making a list of these remarks is unnecessary (you are aware of them, they are your words after all). But the idea that someone could have achieved a position of power decided by the people and maintain your unruly style of speaking is astonishing. We all say things from time to time that come off as stupid, but I cannot imagine the amount of embarrassment I would feel from speaking some of the fiendish garbage you expel.
           I do not wish to imply that you are not a smart woman, because I am aware of what you've done . It would be a fool's mistake to think you were not intelligent to a degree, after all you have made many smart decisions in the years after your failed bid to be Vice President. These decisions are the evidence that you are completely aware of what you are doing and that while some consider you a dingbat two steps behind the fleshy critters that crawled from the primordial ooze, I know the truth.
           You are a shrewd negotiator and you have tapped into a well that, before your national presence, was seldom opened. It was what Richard Nixon referred to as “the silent majority”. It is from this well that you found your true profession. There are some people in society today that share the same Modus Operandi, and we refer to them as “Professional Celebrities”.You are nothing more than a money grubbing harlot, eager to smile and wave for a dollar. I've seen the figures you make from all your exploits.
           Apparently you were not satisfied with these wages for yourself and have begun the process of grooming your eldest daughter into this line of work as well. I am not foolish enough to think she made these decisions herself, I know your dirty paws were behind those ruddy curtains pulling the strings. Don't think that this is a problem I attribute only to you, I do not like the idea of anyone exploiting their children for financial gain, including Will Smith (and I'm a big fan of Men in Black & Independence Day). Sure your daughter is old enough to make decisions herself but I know how these things work. There isn't a oak tree's chance in hell that you don't make some sort of green from your daughter. By coaching your daughter in the art of the personal appearance market you are fueling a fire that is capable of crumbling American society far quicker than Barack's healthcare plan.
           But enough of my grievances with your personal and financial shams, we should touch on politics after all.

           I know you spout off rhetoric of what you would do if elected president, but have you for even one second actually considered what that position entails? As President of the United States you become one of the most powerful people in the world (and you WILL make less money from that salary than you currently do, trust me). As President you will be making decisions that will affect at MINIMUIM 300 million people. Can you grasp the sheer amount of people that this is? This is as I said the minimum, the maximum being that your decisions will affect the population of the world. If faced with these decisions will you be able to cease worrying about your own hide and work for the people that you are serving?
           Do not for a second pretend that you care about other people, much less anyone except yourself. We are all selfish to a degree, it is in our nature as humans. The level of selfishness that I see you aspire to is a marvel though. Few people can rightfully claim to have achieved a place on the podium of American political deviance and ruin, but consider yourself the most recent addition. Give my regards to Boss Tweed and Richard Nixon you devilish vixen.
           Do not think that the idea of you being President is repulsive to me because you are a woman. I'm more of an advocate for equal rights for women than most men in the state I live in, let alone the entire south eastern region. I have no qualms about a woman becoming President it is something that I am desperate to see happen in my lifetime, because it isn't difficult to see that woman are just as capable as men (if not more so) in nearly every aspect of life. I must say though I'd like my female President to be levelheaded, politically competent and not toiling down the road of wealth thinking it will make her happy.
           I also don't want you to think that there aren't things we agree on politically, because there are two. I am a big fan of firearms, like yourself, and I too worry about the dependence on foreign energy. But I do not worry that the government is “going to take my guns”, it is a constitutionally protected right. In regards to oil though however I do not think we should “drill here, drill now”, the dependence on foreign energy and fossil fuels can be solved with research put into renewable energy.
           It does not bother me in the least to think that in 100 years time that the routine fools on the street will not know my name or what I did as human being; however it fills me with heavenly joy in knowing the same hopeless crowd of doomed patriots won't know who you are too. Both our names will be lost in history and I would gladly sacrifice the ability to have a face in the spotlight to make sure this happened. I would consider asking you how it would make you feel, but after the above paragraphs I think it an obvious notion. I can see it now, you would be a bumbling mess, drowning on the floor in your own tears. You are a vile specimen.
           Do not think that I am some crazed anarchist, fighting to rid this country of order and leaders. Quite the contrary, I love democracy. I don't want to see the United States reduced to ash and rubble. I want to see it prosper, flourish, become a place that we can all be proud to live in once again. I think we're getting closer and closer on track to that but this cannot take place if you're maintaining a position center stage.

           I wish you a merry life and I hope you come away from it scathed and a stronger woman than you were when you entered this fragile and short existence that we must all endure. For how can we know that we've grown and achieved, let alone know anything about ourselves as a person if we have no scars?

With the most sincerity that I can muster to a bitter nemesis,
S. Perry

Solid Ground - Maps & Atlases

I first heard this song a few days ago. A terrible thing considering that it was released several months ago and I have been a fan of this band for many years.

Here is the music video, I cannot stop listening to this song, I wish you the same.




I'm working on a blog post that will be rather political in tone, if you don't want to know my feelings of these matters or read it at all I won't be offended and suggest you do not read it.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

New Scream 4 Poster

New poster came out today for Scream 4 (though I am fluent in 1337 I refuse to call it Scre4m).

Check it out:


 I love the tag line for the movie, and I think this is the best poster they've come out with for the movie thus far.

We're less than 2 months away from the release of the movie, anyone else stoked for this?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem

I'm a big fan of Rob Zombie's films and I have a feeling that most of you are not.

I can't really explain what it is about his movies that I like, perhaps it is his grungy style that he brings to the table on all his films. His ability at conveying the story visually and not relying on his dialogue (not his strongest point) has gotten stronger with every film he's made. His characters are genuinely unique but still pay homage to the things that he obviously grew up loving as a kid.

Having all that said he announced today that he hopes to start pre-production on his next movie The Lords of Salem (fans of his music will know where the title comes from) this coming March and film the movie in June.

From what I can gather it takes place in Massachusetts in modern day but will have strong ties to the states checkered past as witches/witch hunters. I've also heard rumblings about a haunted record or something (slightly reminiscent of the movie The Gate, Peep my review of The Gate here).

I'm glad to see Rob coming back to an original idea (like his first 2 films), but that isn't to say I didn't love his Halloween movies because I did. Rob's movies are something I strive to see the weekend they open, and I'm really looking forward to this one.

If you haven't seen his movies, and have a an interest in weird backwoodsy horror you should check them out.

Teaser poster for The Lords of Salem

Monday, February 14, 2011

WWCD: My Bloody Valentine

I'm starting a new type of post on my blog, titled "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" or "WWCD" for short. In said post I'll compare and contrast one thing and then the remake/adaptation of said thing.

In honor of today I will be doing a special WWCD of the slasher films My Bloody Valentine.

Since they're horror films I'll be comparing them in the following ways: "Story", Kills, Visual Style, Actors/Characters, Scaries and General.

"Story" 

The story is better in the 81 version for a few reasons. Things are definitional more corny in the original but the legitimate mystery in it is more present and better handled. I like the mystery of whether it actually Harry Warden killing people or is it someone else?
Winner: My Bloody Valentine OG

Kills

These movies have great kills, but I have to give the edge to the remake. Though it redoes a few of the kills from the original, it makes them more graphic and not grainy (like the unrated cut of the '81 original). A lot of these kills in the remake are very original even though they reuse the same weapon (pick ax).
Winner: MBV Remake.

Visual Style


I saw the remake in theaters in 3D and it was awesome, and I watched it on DVD in 2D and it still looked good. The atmosphere is great and dingy and plays just as well in 2D as it does in 3D. The original however is very bright and crisp, it just looks like a conventional 80s slasher movie.
Winner: REMAKE

Actors/Characters

Sure everything is cheesy in the original, but I can handle that because it was made in the 80s. The actors in the remake are mostly 2D (see what I did there?) and shitty, especailly Jensen Ackles.
Winner: ORIGINAL

Scares


The remake has way scarier parts, in particular the opening sequence and the grocery store scene. Nothing in the original stands out like these.
Winner: Remake

Overall


The original is easier to watch than the remake, but the interesting parts of the remake are way more interesting than the original.



So I proclaim the winner of the first Winner Winner Chicken Dinner:
 My Bloody Valentine 1981.

Both are decent enough slasher movies, but the original just holds some sway over the remake to me. If they could have taken the story/cast of the original with the kills/effects of the remake it'd be a great flick.


Sunday, February 13, 2011

Toy Fair 2011

In case you don't know, I love collecting toys. There's something about owning a toy of something you love that just makes you feel like a kid all over again.

While I didn't start buying toys for the sake of collecting until about 2 years ago (and I mostly buy just horror movie toys), I can't help but get excited about love all of them. Legos, super heroes, video game figures, I need to start expanding my horizons on the toy front.

Anyway, Toy Fair 2011 started today and here are some of the pictures to surface of toys coming out later this year that I CANNOT wait for.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 Freddy Kreuger with extended arms.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Freddy, torn sweater with faces of Springwood kids on stomach, also an interchangeable head with burned in cross.


And a Nightmare on Elm Street four 2 Freddy, who looks fairly standard but mean as hell too.


Mez Itz (DC's Answer to Mighty Muggs) Batman


NECA is giving us a fully articulated Duke Nukem Figure, COMPLETE WITH CIGAR.


NECA is also bringing us an entire 2 series run of figures solely from the GREMLINS franchise.


Gizmo in Rambo gear from Gremlins 2


Spider-Gremlin from Gremlins 2 also, this one has me salivating, MUST HAVE.




AND Mcfarlane announced they've picked up the rights to make toys of THE WALKING DEAD....and even better than that they're making figures of both the comic AND the tv show. Series 1 (comic book) will consist of the below figures (and one more zombie that I couldn't find a picture of), and Series 2 (TV show) will consist of Rick (again), 2 more zombies, and Daryl (Norman Reedus from The Boondock Saints)





Finally some statues/figures/plushes based on Valve games.


Awesome looking Tank statue


Not a bad looking statue, kinda surprised they went with the smoker and not the hunter


Special Infected Plushes!


Head-Crab Zombie and Aperture Lab Turret. (Awesome? Awesome.)



All photos from Figures.com

Who knows how to draw & wants to work on a comic with me?

I feel blessed that I can easily come up with ideas for stories, whether it be for a comic, a film, or a tv show, I have a box in my closet that I've labeled my "Idea Box" where tons of papers and notebooks with scribblings of story and research are put for safe keeping.

The only problem is when the muse comes at you with ideas for more than one project at a time, or in close proximity to one another, because you don't know what to work on first.

I keep getting ideas for comic books, but I cannot draw for shit. So I'm posting this as a way of saying, if you can draw, and want to work on a comic, get in touch with me.

All I ask is that you be a fan of Horror/Sci-Fi, have a desire to draw things of that nature, and are be willing to work on drawings of multiple things.

Too much to ask for?

Friday, February 11, 2011

The Best Horror Remakes

People like to bitch and moan about remakes coming out, but sometimes a remake is beneficial. It can take what was an okay or decent film and expand on it, and thus achieve something that most purists would say is impossible and achieve a status of "better than the original".

This doesn't happen often, but trust me it has happened.

Here's a list of the best horror movie remakes.

The Fly

Cronenberg tackles this remake of the 1958 film of the same name, and he delivers. Who doesn't love Jeff Goldblum? With the gore and effects turned up to 11 it really makes this film memorable. The flick has an incredibly well crafted screenplay with awesome performances. The Blu-ray is available from amazon for less than $10, if you like horror flicks (and why wouldn't you if you're reading this blog) you should buy this.

The Hills Have Eyes

If you've seen the original Wes Craven flick, it hasn't aged like wine. The Alex Aja remake is visually much more interesting to look at, while still being faithful to the original's story. The effects are better and the story is more coherent with the modern day retelling. A great flick, and an excellent sophomore effort from Aja. Plus it's only $7 on amazon: The Hills Have Eyes (Unrated Edition)

The Blob


Written by Frank Darabont (Does he really need an introduction on a horror blog?) this is WAYYY better than the original. The actual blob itself looks great (when compared to the original) and the creative deaths in it make it a god tier remake. And only $6 on Amazon.The Blob

Peep the trailer here for a look.





The Crazies


We've already established that I love Timothy Olyphant, he is as I said in a comment this generations Clint Eastwood, and he doesn't short change in channeling Clint for his performance in The Crazies. If you've seen Romero's original you know it's cheesy and ridiculous, and the remake is SCARY. I don't say that a lot, but this flick is very unnerving. There aren't a lot of zombie flicks made in "small towns" like this one, and it portrays (in my opinion) how it would all go down in a rural town. The Bluray is actually 50 cents cheaper than DVD on amazon.


Piranha 3D

Alex Aja gets the honor of being the only one to make two flicks on this list. The original Piranha is not scary, and all footage of the fish is stock footage (probably used in a documentary on the amazon). Now the remake pays tribute to the original in that it's very silly campy nature for most of the flick but gore and deaths are AWESOME (and you've probably heard of the underwater naked ballet scene, that should be enough to peek your interest). Piranha [Blu-ray], come for the boobs, stay for the gore, kills and Christopher Lloyd.

And the best horror remake?

The Thing.

Did you really expect something else? Carpenter took a cheesy scifi movie and turned it into one of the best horror movies of all time. The special effects in this movie are practical effects at their absolute finest. Wonderful wonderful movie, I can't say anything else about this movie that hasn't already been said except that you need to watch it.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Television Adaptation.

I want to work in television one day. I'd like to write for shows, and the bigger goal than that is to be a showrunner on a show I created.

Before you read the rest, don't think that I don't have my own original ideas for tv shows.

I think there have been a lot of movies that I've seen over the course of my life that when I think about them, they could easily be expanded/adapted into a television series. They wouldn't have to keep the same cast or title, but the very core of the story itself would make for great TV if done right.

For instance,
The Nic Cage movie Lord of War, a TV series about a gun runner has the potential to be awesome.

The very silly action movie Van Helsing. Imagine if someone made that into a gritty action series and spread out all the famous old school monsters/villains/settings, and made it not so cheesy.

The horror series Saw. If I did it, I'd make it like the tv series The Wire, focus on various aspects of crime solving/city life Police work/the media/the doctors at the hospital, and the people in the traps. Don't make it about the "games" or "kills", make it about solving the cases/reporting the story/helping the injured.

There's plenty more that I probably haven't even thought of, what movie would you like to see redone as TV?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Justified season 2 tonight

Everyone's favorite cowboy stuck in the present day comes back tonight, and shit I cannot wait.

If you've never watched Justified you really should get on it. It's essentially a western set in the modern day.

It has some of the most memorable characters that I've seen in tv recently, Walton Goggins does a fucking fantastic job throughout the series and I'm glad he'll be returning tonight.

One reason this show stands out is because it's a crime show but they investigate crimes that ALL the other crime shows on tv cover. It's more crimes people aren't aware they can be arrested for or simply don't think about, so I find it interesting to see these crimes be investigated.

You can find the Blu ray on Amazon for only $25 and it is well worth your money.

But it is an FX drama, they tend to deliver in spades on their shows.