My Halloween @1976

Halloween recommendation #2: Near Dark

Another gem of a movie that is in the works for a remake, and most likely will suck [pun intended]

This vampire Western cult movie is not for everyone. In the past, I've tried to recommend this to coworkers and I get responses of " Slow" or "Dated".

So if you haven't seen this then let me start off by saying that if you want to see fangs and fast flashy special fx, a movie/video game hybrid --then check out the crappy bloated Van Helsing.

This movie focuses on a vampire "family" and their way of life. How they feed and get around : by driving across the open desert and sneaking in and out of small towns. They take out the drifters and low lifes that no one will miss. Looks like they've been getting away with it for God knows how long. Now in my own travels to Yuma & parts of AZ to visit the Donovans, I passed through dusty El Centro & Brawley, and saw miles and miles of nothing... and ya know, the film's concept of gypsy vamps works for me. Before I didn't think much of it, but now : a new appreciation.

So, the family's good life comes to an end when young cowpoke Caleb gets bit and is forced to join their clan. He is played by the always good Philly boy Adrian Pasdar. Also known from his role as the cinematically neglected Chipper from "Top Gun', husband to one of the controversial Dixie Chicks or maybe all, and now is on NBC's Heroes. [He's the best thing about that show in my opinion.]

As I mentioned, there are very little special fx. No fangs. But for me, the lack of fangs during a feeding scene made me extremely queasy. More damage to my stomach than any gore/horror movie I've seen. Director Kathryn Bigelow & co add in a bit of ripping sound fx for the flesh biting scenes. That, with shots of real saliva and belching from the actors....man, I have to tell you just writing about it makes me want to upchuck. Blaaaah.

What I like best: the vamps' backgrounds are not fully explored. There's just enough bits of info to keep you wondering and fascinated.In the dvd featurette, Aliens' alum Lance Henrikson & Bill Paxton talk about how much fun it was coming up with their backgrounds. Paxton had a great description : "Vampires with a Bonnie and Clyde lifestyle". They even talked about wanting to do a prequel. Unfortunately it never happened. But you can really see their enthusiasm in this flick. My favorite scene is when Caleb asks how old the leader, Jesse is. His answer: "I fought for the South. We lost".
What a great line to say.

The movie does have some flaws. My biggest complaint is Paxton's ending. Kind of anti-climatic. Paxton's characters have an over the top appeal, and he is also responsible for that "fire in Chicago", so I expected him to do a lot more damage. The Aliens cast really does an excellent job with the material and I gotta mention Jenette Goldstein, 'cause she is so cool as the mother figure "Diamondback".
All hail the Alien cast trio, because they made these characters memorable.





Later in the week: Proposition Keegan #1115. Vote Yes!



photos: amazon.com. wwwfxsmith.com

Halloween movie review : Alred Hitchcock's The Birds

This is a favorite of mine. It's a cold disturbing movie, but well crafted and I think a good example of Hitchcock's "women problems"--as my friends would say. The leading female characters are:
Tippi Hedren : a spoiled socialite [from the Paris Hilton variety] She gets traumatized by the birds for her punishment. All she wanted to do was chase her latest obsession , hunky lawyer Rod Taylor, to his hometown of Bodega Bay. But she's not the only one who gets punished.

Suzanne Pleshette: the chain smoking sad sack. She is Rod's ex girlfriend, now the town's school teacher. The poor gal couldn't start a new life of her own. She's hanging on to old memories.Pathetic. The birds put her out of her misery. Comic Mario Cantone has a great bit on Pleshette and the school children's song in his routine. [The famous shot of the birds perched at the playground. Maybe it's on youtube]

Finally, there is Rod's widowed mother Jessica Tandy. Very Clingy. Has trouble remembering that Rod is her son and not her husband and gets resentful and bitchy when young ladies are around him.

Maybe it is Taylor's fault. He's the reason the women can't function in this movie . His Aussie manliness is too much ;)
But yeah, the women characters are depicted so ..negatively.
I'd throw in the freaked out mother in the diner scene too. She loses her sanity in a matter of minutes and stares wildly at Tippi screaming :"Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL! !"
Way to go lady. They need you at the Salem Witch trials now.

Still, I love this movie. I love the attack on the diner/the gas station. Chaos within minutes. It's very believable. I love the claustrophobic last scenes where the only thing you hear are the birds and their screeching.[ It's a madhouse! A madhouse!]
Plus the school children attack always gets me.

So to give you a Halloween scare , I just read that Michael Bay will be remaking this movie
Now that is scary.






[photos: Hitchcocktv.com. Babyatalog.com. yes, babycatalog. Weird]

Taaareeeeeat yourself

....

I watched this over the weekend. The only reason why : because Devo & Jon G actually paid money to see this film. They told me they had a great time laughing at this turkey so I tried to sit through it. I think I put in 60% of my concentration into this, the other 40% was spent doing laundry, surfing youtube and wikipedia.
It is a dreadful film. The film has zero sex appeal and I guess the target audience is 10-12 year olds. So it's the most wholesome, bland, wonderbread Spring Break movie I've ever seen. [wonderbread= Lori's favorite description]

The actors were ok, they're not bad really. Although the only guy to pull off a Fraggle Rock afro and still look sexy is Gary Dourdan from CSI. Not Justin.
I wish the wardrobe and makeup did more with Kelly. She has two other girlfriends with her in the film and they were way more glamourous. Justin is supposed to be the hot stud on the prowl and I had a hard time thinking he really wanted Kelly when her trashy blond gal pal was after him during the movie. Well actually I had a hardtime believing that Kelly and Justin fell in love. Their first scene is when Justin's friends are showing off in front of her friends.The whole scene is in wide group camera shots. Then later on , Kelly's friend tells her that Justin was checking her out and I'm thinking "he was?" How can anyone tell when they're a bunch of people on screen goofing off. I felt like I was back in sophomore year film class. There should have been close ups! Close ups of their smiling faces.Maybe their eyes? Cut to Justin. Cut to Kelly. Eyes locked. It's love. Nobody's confused.

So unfortunately I didn't laugh like I wanted to. At least it didn't make me angry like Jurassic Park II or Van Helsing. But it was almost as bad as the Star Wars Christmas Special because I was waiting and waiting for something interesting to happen. I got the feeling that everything was censored and tamed, like my eight grade Catholic school dances.

[Actually I think nothing will ever top the Star Wars Christmas special re: badness]

photo: moviepoopshoot.com

better off dead

Link: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_better_off_dead_tribute.php

Was reading about Better Off Dead from this website I found through IMDB.com. It's an interview with the gentleman who played "Ricky" [pic above] & Savage Steve Holland. Nice to know they are pals and work together doing a dozen or so Nickelodeon kid shows.
It was great reading about Better Off Dead. Didn't know it was semi-biographical, about Savage Steve. That the heatrbreak over the ex-girlfriend was a true story. And so was "my two dollars" paperboy!
I still remember seeing his movies in the theater. One of the best teen comedies of the '80's because they were smart and funny, and a little twisted. They had an edge to them. Too bad the John Hughes movies took over that teen flick genre.

But what's really disappointing is John Cusack. I've heard 'he's an asshole" stories about him before but anybody who's somebody in L.A. is an asshole really. But jeez, Cusack you were an asshole before you were famous.
I don't get it. How big is that stick up your ass? You didn't find Savage Steve's movies funny?
I still like Cusack but damn. What a lameo. I like the fact that people still come up to him with "where's my two dollars" and it annoys him.
At least Matthew Broderick can joke about the crap he gets when people rag on him for Godzilla

Song mad libs

These few lyrics are from the Pussycat Dolls hit "Don't Cha":

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?
Don't cha
Don't cha
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me?
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me?
Don't cha
Don't cha

After hearing this song several times on the radio now, here's what I came up with on my way to work:

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was __a slut__ like me?
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was __a guy__ like me? [ Ha! ]

continue. you too can play the game.

who needs K.I.T.T. when you got Manimal!

useless

Obi Wan shut down the power generator in my brain today, also threw in a jedi mind trick to boot. Bastard.
Actually , I took an allergy pill this morning. I should have taken it last night. The rest of the day I was pretty much a lump with lungs. 90 % of my day was zoning in and out of consciousness. The other 10 % was struggling to give off the impression that I was working. What a wasted day.


But I managed to put some effort for my next recommendation. Wire in the Blood season 4 begins on BBC America this week. They're very good movie miniseries. Based on a series of books by Val McDermid [which I read too]. I caught the first movie a couple of years ago , and was really impressed. It reminds me of Thomas Harris's Red Dragon & Silence of the Lambs. Only they don't have a star villian like Hannibal Lector. But the main character has some similiarities with Harris' Will Graham.
Shelley--avoid these. Not for you! :)