Posted by Felix Vasquez Jr. in Writer's Corner at 3:26 AM
PDT
When I was a kid, my mom would always sit us down to watch whatever cartoons or action movies were on, while she went off to cook or clean. Back then, we didn’t have cable, but we did have many VHS movies, and most of them were horror movies that my mom kept in a chest in her room, away from us.
My mom would make it a stern rule not to watch these movies. Which is weird considering they never cared when we saw violent action films, or gory science fiction films. And wouldn’t you know it? I never killed anyone in my life. Good parenting goes a long way, folks. As you can guess, she had a library of the classic horror films. You know the classics I’m talking about. But, she’d trained us to be horror fans, and to quench our thirst for the frightening, we’d watch stuff like “The Monster Squad,” and “Goonies,” films that were creepy, but not scary enough to keep us up at night.
And every once in a while, she allowed us to watch frightening stuff like “The Willies,” and, my childhood favorite, “The Gate.” Eventually, as we got older, like a druggie with their fix, the dose of horror she gave us just wasn’t enough anymore. We were thirsty for horror films, and one day, we busted into her chest, stole five of her horror movies, and watched them all day long without her knowledge.
I could watch almost any horror film. Any horror film but the zombie films. You couldn’t pay me to watch a zombie movie when I was a kid. Not even sitting with adults during the day made me re-consider a zombie movie. But every now and then, I’d get curious and peek while my mom watched stuff like “Zombie,” and “Dawn of the Dead.” And I paid for it.
Dearly. I’d stay up all night quivering, and flinching at every shadow and sound, and I lost a lot of sleep. Zombies just scared the living soul out of me. Something about them, to this day, just gives me the case of the cold sweats. Maybe it’s their movement, maybe it’s their need for cannibalism, maybe it’s the fact that they’re humans eating other humans, I can’t explain it, but zombies just scare me, as Dennis Hopper once said.
But still, every Halloween, I sit and watch “Dawn of the Dead” and “Return of the Living Dead” in spite of my penchant for getting the shit scared out of me, because that’s what horror movies are supposed to do. They’re supposed to scare. And these movies do their jobs on me. Being scared is a raw human emotion, and that’s the reason why horror will never die.
We will suffer through PG-13 tame fare, or J-Horror fare, or lame remakes, but horror is a constantly changing beast, as Argento once observed. It’s always changing, always conforming to society, and always going against the grain.
Halloween is an all year affair for me, it doesn’t matter what time of day or what month I’m in. Being in October just gives me an excuse to relinquish most of my duties and drown myself in the genre. It could be July in 89 degree temperatures, and I’d still be sitting down to watch “Halloween.” It could be Thanksgiving, and I could be sitting down to see “Jason Lives.” And of course, every Christmas there’s “A Christmas Story,” and “Black Christmas.”
Halloween for me isn’t a holiday, it’s more like a state of mind. It’s what I basically do all year, and my friends and family just feed it. Thanks to Phil Hall I was finally able to see “Cannibal Holocaust.” Jeremy Knox turned me on to some great slashers I may have missed, including “Leslie Vernon.” My mom always insisted that I dive in to all things horror whether they be movies or books and I’m almost never disappointed, and regardless of the substance, there’s nothing like sitting down to watch a horror movie alone or with friends.
Today I will be having my annual Halloween movie marathon, and though I’d love to share my thoughts with you on the films as I originally had planned for the blogs, I have about thirteen movies I’m watching, all too lengthy to go into, but rest assured, I’ll be thinking of my buddies, and all those people that fed my love for horror while I’m eating chips, chugging Iced Tea, watching Shaun of the Dead, 28 Weeks Later, The Descent and Les Diabolique… and stealing candy from my nephew.
Tomorrow is November 1st.
But for people like me, Halloween keeps going on and on until our pulse fades…
Since Halloween is tomorrow, I thought I’d talk about two of my favorite old school slasher movies that don’t involve Freddy, Michael, Jason, Bubba Sawyer or the dreadful Ghostface. Most of you will have almost certainly never seen (or even heard of for that matter) either of these, but to be a proper horror movie buff you probably should seek them out.
Madman (1982) Easily the best of the two, from what I hear, Madman was in the process of being filmed right across the river from the similarly themed “The Burning” when someone in the crew discovered that the storylines of both films were nearly identical, forcing the producers of Madman to go do quick and dirty emergency re-shoots and editing on the project since Burning was going to be released first. However, unlike a lot of other films where radical changes so late in the production spell death, Madman was actually made much better by the modifications. If I can use “The Burning” as a guide I’d hazard a guess that Madman had originally been written as a revenge flick where some horny camp counselors did something to Madman Marz years ago when they were but wee campers causing him to return in the present day and slaughter them all.
Not bad, but what they ended up doing was loads better. The revised story has the Madman as more of a local legend; a mean drunken lumberjack type that went crazy and killed his entire family a long time ago. The townfolk, a law and order lot if there ever was one, strung him up and bashed him in the face with his own axe for good measure. Exit Madman. Or so they though, but the next morning the body was gone; and now he roams the woods, a living ghost who watches and waits. The legend goes on that if you dare say his real name above a whisper. He’ll hear you, and if he hears you, he’ll come for you.
The film begins with this story being told to a bunch of wide-eyed kids and snickering councelors, ending of course with one of the kids yelling “MADMAN MARZ! MADMAN MARZ!” into the dark night, laughing at how funny he thinks he’s being until he sees that someone perched up in one of the nearby trees was watching them this whole time.
This all sounds kind of fucking cheesy, I agree. But actor Carl Fredericks who plays Max, the head counselor, totally sells the Madman’s story by telling it with the just the right amount of sadistic attention to detail and little boy glint in his eye so that you never quite know if he’s just fucking with people or if it’s a true story or what. That way when the Madman finally does appear, you get the feeling that he might not really exist at all, or at least not as a flesh and blood human being. It’s this sort of internal mystery that makes the film a lot more fun than it was intended.
All around, this is a well made low budget film. When we first see Madman Marz silhouetted by the night as he’s perched in a tree watching the counselors, it’s honestly creepy. The night photography also gives the film a nice dark haunted look. Other little details, like showing scenes from later in the film as a sort of evil premonition during the campfire tale opening, add a nice artistic touch.
Yes, Madman was made to cash in on the slasher craze, but it’s not a by-the-numbers thrown together “flick”. There’s a lot of art and effort put in this movie and I think that the only reason that it wasn’t as famous as its Halloween and the Friday the 13th brothers is because it wasn’t marketed properly. It’s that good.
My Bloody Valentine (1981) Not nearly as good as Madman, but leaps and bounds better most of its contemporaries; just watch how lame and pedestrian Prom Night or The Mutilator are and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Valentine is by no means a classic, but it’s got decent scares, strong direction, a fairly well thought out screenplay and some awesome locations.
Twenty years ago, there was a mine collapse in the small town of Valentine’s Bluff. The lone survivor, Harry Warden, went insane and killed the people who were supposed to watch over the methane levels and prevent such an accident. Because his victims had been at the town’s Valentine’s Day dance instead of doing their job when the collapse happened, he vowed to come back and kill again if the town ever dared have another dance as he was taken away to the loony bin.
So of course the town’s going to have another dance, otherwise we wouldn’t have a movie.
The film is a bit slow (as were most slasher’s back then) but it’s got a lot of clever bits such as the fact that no one in charge of the town is a total idiot, as they are in a lot of horror films of this vintage. When the killer starts sending actual human hearts in heart shaped chocolate boxes to get them to call off the party they take the threat seriously and eventually cancel the planned Valentine’s Day party.
So of course some people are going to have a party anyway, otherwise we wouldn’t have a body count.
The psychotic miner looks very cool, and the whole narrative structure of the thing is different enough from most slashers so as to give you some real surprises. Also, the ending has the best sustained Maniac Vs. Victim chase, second only to Friday the 13th part 2 which arguably has the best. Nobody watching this is gonna be “Blown away” but you won’t be bored either.
Either of these two films would make awesome Halloween viewing, and if your video store has them I’m willing to bet they won’t be rented. So for this year try something a little different and give these a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
As if all the gore you see on Halloween is not enough, you can see more Gore, well, me that is, hosting an all-new G4 special on airing on October 31st!
The show is called GRINDCORE and the idea is that we take schlocky horror films, cut out all the boring plot and character development, leaving only the best parts like the nudity, blood and gore — and then we make fun of it all. I host the show where I get to show off my movie geek knowledge while laughing along with you at the cheesy story, acting and effects.
Oh, and if that weren’t enough, you can also see me in a cameo on the X-Play Halloween Special also airing on the 31st. You’ll see how I got all bloody in those recent pics I posted. I have a few scenes with the amazingly talented Morgan Webb and someone else from G4 named Kevin Pereira. I took these pics of poor Kevin from the set and if you ask me, they look like crime scene photos.
If the Grindcore special is well received, I might actually get to make more of them. Otherwise, you’ll see me turning up a lot more on G4 on Attack of the Show hosting my regular DVDuesday segment each Tuesday, also Asian Underground every other week, and a brand new segment debuting this Friday called Garage Film School. This new segment is going to allow me to dispense real filmmaking knowledge to you in a condensed format with more extras online.
Hope you enjoy Grindcore, it was a blast to make! Gore gone!
Well here it FINALLY is folks: Click right here and you’ll be whisked away to the review for INLAND EMPIRE. And it’s about flippin’ time. I’m all Lynched out. I’m done, fini, over. No more rabbits and gangsters and dreams and Emerald Cities.
As much as I admire the man, I think a month and a half of semi-constant Lynch is enough. I may shortly return with a blog about the new Twin Peaks box set, but I’ll keep it brief. That’s a promise.
Now, before I bring this ride to a complete stop; I’ll just quickly mention that, as an afterthought, I watched the second DVD in the Inland Empire 2 disc set (Which I hadn’t even looked at yet because I wanted to know nothing about the film) and saw that among the extras was a recipe for Quinoa. You have no idea how delighted I was at this. The reason I wrote those recipes for Coffee and Cherry Pie on the blog in the first place is because the precision and attention to detail of a recipe seemed like such a Lynch thing to do, and VOILA, my suspicions were confirmed. It was a genuine surprise to see that. I know it might seem like I’d watched the extras first and then did my own recipes to copy what Lynch did, but no, I had no idea this was even on there.
Even if you don’t think you’d like Empire, but are still a Lynch fan, the extras alone are completely worth the price of the DVD because of a documentary/segment called “Lynch 2″ which shows David working on set, arguing with actors, getting pissed when things don’t quite work right, being a normal strong willed director, and… SWEARING. I couldn’t believe my ears the first time I heard Lynch say “Fuck”. Until I saw that doc I had always envisioned Lynch as a kind of Bizarro Jimmy Stewart. But, what most impressed me is seeing how fairly regular and human and likeable Lynch is. Yeah, he’s got quirks, but they’re not half as profound as you’d expect them to be. For the most part he’s just an ordinary, if a bit obsessive, guy.
Other segments, like the Quinoa recipe thing which shows Lynch making dinner and telling a story about going to Yugoslavia in 1965, do show him as you more or less would expect him to be; but that’s all kinds of awesome in it’s own right as well.
So I hope you all enjoy the review and feel it was worth it. My only wish is that I don’t dissapoint. Thanks for reading!
Now, I Love this site! It’s creepy, it establishes the Joker’s presence, and they say the candle is getting smaller as the days go on, and something may happen on Halloween or before the release date of The Dark Knight.
I may be very behind on this website’s popularity, but better late than never.
Posted by Felix Vasquez Jr. in Writer's Corner at 4:52 AM
PDT
This month I’ve been watching horror movies by the barrel fulls. I’ve been given the advantage to watch some great and terrible Indie horror flicks. Stuff like “Stupid Teenagers Must Die!”, and “She Was Asking For It” immediately comes to mind as highlights of my horror movie month, I discovered new greats like “Fido,” while the new editions of “Poltergeist” and “Twilight Zone: The Movie” rekindled my nostalgia. As well, I’ve also dipped into my library to rewatch some truly excellent favorites. I’ve seen stuff like “28 Weeks Later ” and “28 Days Later” back to back, I’m rewatching “The Descent” and my favorite: “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” and of course, “Hard Candy.”
Though described as a “thriller,” this is a horror movie in the purest sense, and an emotionally draining one at that. A man engages in a horrible crime, thinks he’s gotten away with it and discovers he’s being outwitted, outsmarted, and tortured by a vindictive little bitch about half his size. The irony being that the character Jeff is a good looking man with the ability to pick up any woman he wants and he chooses young children, and yet he’s not above spouting the same crap excuses we hear from all pedophiles, too. Slade’s film is indeed a horror movie.
And then I had to see “Hostel Part II” to review, and it was pretty much the same experience as the first time. Obscenely overrated, recycled, and pretty much every bit of plagiarism, uh–sorry, homage you can expect from a Tarantino flick.
One of my primary gripes with “Hostel Part II” beyond Roth’s whiny message to fans on his MySpace was the fact that “Hard Candy” is sometimes lumped with the rest of the titles in the torture fad of the last three years, and that’s a shame. Thankfully, Slade’s film has managed to come out on its own and not fall into that pit, but often I hear that comparison and I can just cringe.
It’s a revenge film, it’s a thriller, and yes it’s a wonderful antithesis to “The Woodsman” which is still heavily controversial for its supposed sympathizing with the ex-pedophile it centers in on. Watch these two back to back, and they’re really the same movie. A pedo is being tortured for his crimes. And comes across a young girl in a red hood who teaches him a lesson.
“Hard Candy” has a little bit of a “Dexter” vibe to it, which is not surprising that it premiered on Showtime when it landed on the cable doorstep. It features a vindictive psycho who traps and tortures another psycho because they feel they’re providing a service to humanity. Like “Hostel Part II,” it’s still considered a part of that “torture porn” (yes, I hate the term, too) sub-genre, but that’s such a wrong classification.
Unlike “Hostel Part II,” David Slade’s “Hard Candy” is intelligent, has a point to make, garners excellent performances, breaks down the perspective of who the psychos are in this dichotomy, and also garners heavy debate among audiences. Did the molestor deserve this punishment? Was Hayley much more dangerous than Jeff? Wasn’t Jeff also a victim of a crime? And while, yes, it does feature some rather grueling torture, Slade composes the scenes in such a great way where it’s just as painful for us as it is for our character Jeff. Slade really knows how to draw every bit of pain on us and really manages to succeed in helping us feel for Jeff just a little.
It also helps that Patrick Wilson is an excellent actor and really pours himself into this role. His frantic begging and pleading while Hayley has him strapped down to the table is just a marvel to watch. This guy is a Broadway performer and he’s convinced me that he’s a slimy pedo who really shouldn’t get his balls lopped off.
Upon receiving “Hard Candy” in the mail, I watched it immediately, and then again about a week later, and it doesn’t lose its punch. The quintessential virginal character played by Ellen Page provides a beautiful dynamic off of Wilson’s sly and charming wolf in sheep’s clothing, and clearly this is a character based horror film that could easily have been performed on stage.
One of my favorite scenes involves the always likable Sandra Oh. While many thought her scene was tacked on, I thought it was a perfect background on Jeff. The man lives in a quiet neighborhood filled with families, has an attractive neighbor who seems rather intent on seeing Jeff when met by Hayley, and… has a daughter who sells Jeff Girl Scout cookies quite often.
Slade’s film reverses the age old setting for a potential sex crime and asks us to choose sides. While you root for Hayley who isn’t the thin airhead she starts off as, the acts she commits are a bit on the cruel side, and you eventually feel guilty for cheering her on, while Jeff is an instant villain who you will definitely feel some sense of sadness for as the film progresses. Slade sees to that.
And of course Hayley acts as a catalyst for Jeff’s self-realization. Isn’t he just another pedophile? Will Jeff ever actually admit that? A pedophile never actually admits they’re pedophiles, and Slade adds a humanistic approach to both characters and keeps all themes and the narrative in strict shades of gray the entire time. We can never be sure if Slade is rooting for Jeff or Hayley. Even after my fourth viewing, I’m still not sure.
I won’t say that this movie is about a taboo since pedophilia isn’t a taboo, only a filthy crime, but Slade definitely breaks down characters, morals, and means to an end, while asking us to reflect; and the audience may be afraid to when all is said and done.
The message here is clear, even when playing the predator, there’s always someone over your shoulder. Secrets don’t always stay hidden and many times they can just come to bite you in the ass… and balls.
This has become perfect Halloween movie viewing for me, and I suggest you picking it up if you already haven’t. Amen.
I promised myself this wasn’t going to be a movie review. Damn.
David Lynch is a man of habit and routine. He likes things jusssssst so. That’s why he forces you to watch his movies from the beginning, without the usual privilege of chapter breaks. Because otherwise you’d be doing it wrong. And wrong is no way to watch a movie.
Gotta do it right; or not at all.
So I’ve decided that in order to watch INLAND EMPIRE in the waking world, it has to be done in the perfect way. I’ve allowed my mind to roam in Lynch’s thought patterns while I sleep, so it’s only fair that I allow myself to be a little bit more like Lynch when I’m awake.
How to make the perfect David Lynch coffee.
First, we must select an appropriate cup. Not just anything will do. Look at this picture for example.
None of these works, the one on the left is the type hideous shit your grandma drinks out of. The one next to it is only good for tea or Irish Coffee. The blue one is okay for your regular morning cup of joe, but wrong for our purposes. And the one on the far right is acceptable… but I don’t like the little ridges on it and its too tall and cheap looking.
So let’s take a look at more classical designs:
Much better than the first four, nice simple designs without any pictures on the side ruining their looks. However the cup on the right is all wrong. It’s fucking HUGE. Half a gallon of coffee would barely make it to the rim. It’s like something out of a bad 1990’s faux-hipster trendy coffee place like in “Friends”. Thus, even though it’s got the look, it’s still not a proper traditional coffee cup. Due to it gigantinourmous size, it doesn’t have history and tradition behind it.
The one on the left, however, is perfect.
This is what people used to drink coffee out of before everyone became caffeine junkies needing their morning tweek.
Onto the making of the coffee.
While reciting a Tibetan Buddhist mantra such as “Om vajrapani hum” use a measuring spoon and knife to carefully meter out 1 tablespoon of ground coffee for every cup of water used. Since I’m making a few small cups, I’m using about 4 tablespoons/4cups of water.
Hum meaningfully as it percolates.
Once it’s ready, remove the filter and used grounds, they give the coffee a nasty bitter aftertaste if they stay too close to the pot.
Pour while dancing to a jazzy tune.
Add two teaspoons of sugar per cup. You can also add cream, but only if you want to ruin the perfect midnight coloring of this perfect coffee.
Lastly, Enjoy.
How to make the perfect Twin Peaks Cherry Pie.
First, lay out your major items and ingredients in a perfect slanted line. These will include: (1) One hunk of pre-made pie dough. (1) One can of cherry pie filling. (1) One Pie dish.
You will also need: (1) One small knife. (1) Pastry brush. (1) One small cup of flour and (1) Rolling pin.
Before you even start, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
We begin by making a perfect and circular moon shape with the small cup of flour. Then, toss your pre-made pie dough in the center. You’ll need a chunk about as big as your hand. (NOTE: I favor pre-made dough simply because pie dough is a bitch to get just right and if you get it wrong it’s either too hard to roll flat or too gooey.) Separate about ¾ of the chunk away and flatten it with a rolling pin into the most circular shape you can, following the pattern of the moon. Thick is better than thin btw, better too much crust than not enough. Besides, filling has a way of seeping through too-thin crust.
Once the dough round-ish, you toss that in the pie plate and hack off the sides with a knife.
Then take your cherry pie filling and carefully pour it into the pie. Place it aside.
Now get the last ¼ of the dough and roll that into a circle as well. Place it on top of the pie (this is a bit tricky because the pie filling sticks to it) and cut away the extra bits.
Now press down on the edge to give it that Grandma made pinched look.
Then cut three slats in the exact center of the pie, with the middle slat being longer than the two others. Use a ruler if necessary.
Baste with an egg wash. (NOTE: Most egg washes are overly fancy and use egg white only or egg yolk only or add shit like water and milk. I just beat an egg firmly and just baste the pie with that. Nice and simple.)
After that, place pie in over and bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Then, lower heat to 350 and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. (NOTE: Not charred black)
In the end things should look like this:
Not this. This would be incorrect. Funny, but incorrect.
Once pie is perfectly baked, place by the window so that it may be wind kissed properly and once it’s cooled, cut into 4 separate pieces and enjoy.
What we know about video number three now posted at JamieLovesTeddy:
When we last met Jamie she had a bladder infection, then she had a bit of a bowel problem, and now Jamie has a bad stomach virus, which is made apparent by the Pepto Bismol she has in the corner that she opens to drink during the video. This clue is or may factor in during the movie since she makes a case of opening it up during the video to drink it. The declining health of the character has also added a shift in tone with every video. Jamie looks more depressed, much more gloomy, and is not smiling as often. What is this mysterious infection she has?
The present she has from Teddy still isn’t open. Not until December 9th.
Jamie is getting a new cell phone since it was stolen the night before. Simple exposition or a possible factor in the plot or character’s demise?
Jamie tells Teddy that she’s going to prove that she supports his quest to save the world. How? She doesn’t say. I guess Video four will tell us soon.
It’s not really clear yet if these videos will provide clues to the plot or the events that occur or if Abrams has intended these videos to act as a form of characterization before the movie so we can connect to these people. Regardless, the videos hold a great air of mystery to them, especially with this mystery present she won’t open until a certain date.
As for Distribute Slusho, Cloverfield News revealed the letter for Distribution opportunities and their reply to folks with proper documentation. This is apparently Slusho trying to sneak their product into the country from individual to individual and not through a large conglomerate. It’s still not clear yet if Slusho.jp is a red herring.
Dear Mr. ********,
Thank you for sending in the verification documents! I have sent your information on to our Slusho! brand happy drink legal troup. One of our representatives from us will be contacting you if your company is according with our distribution requirements.
Sincerely,
Tzigane Koga
Customer Service
Office of Daiske Kagashima
Posted by Felix Vasquez Jr. in Writer's Corner at 1:31 AM
PDT
Simon Pegg in Star Trek
Now I have a reason to watch a “Star Trek” movie it seems, as JJ Abrams, mad man as he is, has cast probably the weirdest cast in one of the most truly overrated franchises of all time. Rather than stuff the cast of this prequel/reboot/remake/restart with young fresh faces, he’s instead casting a variety of older actors and younger actors. Chekov is Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban is Bones, John Cho is Sulu, and Sylar is Spock. And yes, there’s also the bad ass and confusing cast news that Simon Pegg is Scotty. Simon Pegg as Scotty? Oh yes. As a big “Spaced” geek, this news is again, confusing and rather appealing. Pegg was entertaining in his brief role in “MI: 3,” and I look forward to seeing what he can do for this series. Abrams may prove successful appealing to almost everyone with this unusual and creative casting roll call. I’ll be there opening day.
Two shows can be the same and still be fun
Chuck and Reaper is what I refer to. Both shows feature two inept geeks who work at a major retailer who have a round table of goofy friends, a demanding boss, a supporting family, and get involved in situations way beyond the scope of their world in which they only seek minimal satisfaction and nothing more. “Chuck” has that formula except he has important government information downloaded into his brain and works with two secret agents to foil terrorists and gangsters. One is a gorgeous blond woman, and the other is a gruff officer played by Adam Baldwin. “Chuck,” while repetitive, is very funny and a lot of fun to watch. Baldwin is just hilarious as the straight man who tortures Chuck (Zachary Levi), while Yvonne Strahovski plays Sarah Walker, an absolutely gorgeous but sympathetic mentor to Chuck. And then there’s “Reaper”; basically, it’s the same show, but in this one, Sam (Brett Harrison) discovers his family sold him to the devil in exchange for his dad’s life. Now after his birthday, he’s become the devil’s bounty hunter, catching and trapping escaped souls from hell who wreak havoc on Earth. While the series is also repetitive, what saves it is Ray Wise, who is just slick as the devil who has a bit of niceness to him when talking to Sam, but is not afraid to ruin his life to get him to perform a task. Both are shows that may not be long for this Earth but are fun while they’re on.
Shameless shilling Can still be Funny
“30 Rock” is currently one of my favorite series on NBC as it’s a consistently fresh if not blatantly promotional show that touts NBC and all of its affiliates at every turn, but it’s still a great show thanks to the ensemble cast, and even succeeds in making Tracy Morgan funny. In spite of my huge crush on Tina Fey, she’s utterly hilarious here, and Alec Baldwin is just the icing on the sake. Recently, the show’s writers gave me a further reason to follow this show as Jerry Seinfeld guest starred on the premiere obviously touting “Bee Movie” which was made apparent by constant references, a screen saver of the movie placed in the foreground on a laptop and Seinfeld basically saying “I get to promote Bee Movie,” looks at the camera, “Out in theaters everywhere November 2nd…” In spite of the shameless promotion, his episode was still hysterical as he and Tina Fey played off each other fantastically and made for the absolute best scenes including one where Fey begins bawling and accidentally sounds like a Seinfeld impression. “Are you making fun of me?!” Seinfeld asks, Fey replies in what sounds like a Seinfeld impression, “No, this is how I sound when I’m crying!” Seinfeld glares and declares, “I think I’m a little offended!” Got to love the Sein.
It’s Always Sunny and Funny
I like to compare this show to “Seinfeld,” where we set down on four people who hang out at a specific place, every episode has a theme but no plots, they ruin the lives of everyone they come across, and are all incredibly despicable. Also, both shows are utterly hilarious. I don’t think there’s been a show like “It’s Always Sunny” where I’ve laughed near vomiting, ever. Well there was “The Office” and “The Honeymooners,” but that’s a different story. You’ll be guaranteed to cringe at most of what occurs during this series, but that’s the damn point; strictly a word of mouth series, which is how I discovered it, we follow four young simpletons hanging out at their dive of a bar, and getting into the weirdest situations. In one episode, they attend an anti-abortion rally to meet women, while another episode has them entering an underground fight competition to make money. Filled with excellent comic timing, and great acting, “It’s Always Sunny…” deserves more attention than it gets. Oh yes, it’s on FX.
Jason is Supernatural
So, since they haven’t solidified the actual character of Jason will be in the show, I’m inclined to be hesitant, but the news that Jason Voorhees will be in one of my favorite shows on television is great news. Jason is undoubtedly my favorite figure of the slasher sub-genre, so in which way he’ll be used on this series is still up in the air, but it’s exciting to think he’ll be invading this series. I’m curious how they’ll integrate him into episode 10, and I’m anxious to see how this will play into Sam’s quest to save his brother’s soul, as well as the response from Dean who is a huge movie geek on the series. Either way, this show presents more reasons why it’s utterly the best series on the CW.
If any young up and coming filmmaker deserves a tribute, it’s certainly Steve Balderson. Even Balderson’s goofy B-movie Pep Squad is so beautifully done that it’s like watching a new Kubrick film that just happened to have been written by John Waters. Brilliant.
I reccomend that anyone in the area go. Firecracker got a rave review from Roger Ebert and made #4 in Film Threat’s “Indies To Look Out For In 2005″ Read my review here. Also playing at the tribute will be Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere which got an excellent review from our own Eric Campos and Wamego Strikes Back which again got a rave review from me. If you’re beginning to see a pattern of “WOW!” type reviews, then you’re starting to get what I’m driving at. Film geeks always look at the state of today’s cinema and ask ”Who’s gonna replace the Lynch’s and Cronenberg’s and Coens’ when they’re gone? Who’s going to be the next great auteur?”
I’m giving you all one guess at who I think it is…
“It takes Bal…dersons!” Steve Balderson Tribute - Tribeca Film Center Presented by the Domani Vision Film Society
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!
