Hollywood has been repackaging my childhood for years. And frankly, I love it. You can’t beat the onslaught of movies based on comic book heroes and 1980′s franchises. I’m on the edge of my seat for Thundercats, and I’m holding out hope for a Gobots flick. This weekend I had the privilege of seeing The A-Team on the big screen, which, as a child, I watched in syndication on TV. The experience was WONDERFUL.
I’ve been a fan of David Cross since the late 1990s when his sketch comedy show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, aired on HBO. He is a harsh, vulgar, and insightful comic who calls attention to serious issues through exaggerations so extreme most people are instantly offended. I remember one sketch that assaulted America’s public schools by juxtaposing Hitler and Anne Frank — brilliance. So, when I saw his book, I Drink for a Reason, I was psyched to download the audio book from iTunes and give it a listen. Wow! Does it suck! The comedy takes a turn for the worse about two hours in; it moves quickly from amusing social critique to the trite ramblings of a tired comedian.
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Since the beginning I have claimed to be a Family Guy fan. And I suppose I still am. It’s fun to watch a show push boundaries and earn a fan base purely on cut-a-way gags. But, I was watching Family Guy in syndication and realized the following: I’ve never really liked this show; left to my own devices I’d never watch it; but I love being someone who watches Family Guy when I’m around other people. Yes, I realize this is fucked up. [Read more →]
The memoir craze has been going on as long as I can remember, which is about 10 years. Anyone who wants to criticize my knowledge of the publishing world should remember that 10 years ago I was in high school and spent most of my time trying to discreetly look down girls’ shirts. I wasn’t that discreet. But, let the record show I was never perverted enough to look up anything, nor was I scholarly enough to look up anything. To be honest autobiographies aren’t my cup of tea. Sure, I got curious, especially in college, and I’ve read a few, but generally the genre falls flat unless the person is famous or serious addictions are revealed. Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life by Michael Greenburg is an exception. This memoir is a solid and engaging read as you see Greenburg’s life through New York City snapshots.
I would just like to take a moment, one single little moment, to express how happy DVD packages make me. I bought Star Trek (2009) recently, which is to say it came out on Tuesday and I owned it before this is posted. And it came as a part of what A Christmas Story devotees would call a statue: a model of the Enterprise. It has its own stand. I can barely look at it without needing to wipe tears from my eye.
Horror is a genre of the unnatural: things that shouldn’t exist but somehow do; things that do things they shouldn’t; anything and everything that defies the law of physics, biology, and offends the human sensibility. Zombies are an easy example: they aren’t dead when they should be and they do a lot thing dead bodies don’t normally do like walking around and attacking the living. While zombies don’t unnerve me (not even the new fast running crazy zombies) there are some shows and films that do. [Read more →]
It rarely, if ever, gets talked about, but it is possible to find a good horror movie. To qualify, a good horror movie is a good movie with an element of the unnatural that is scary or at least creepy. These movies are generally easy to spot because you’re shocked at the director’s ability to tell a story. I blame the industry. If there weren’t so many terrible and incoherent horror movies the following titles wouldn’t be so stunning.
Vampires were scary at one point in time. I remember watching the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Legosi and feeling shiver go down my spine from time to time based on nothing more than solid acting. But let’s face it the vampire scene has changed and not in a good way. [Read more →]
My horror movie roundups continue — Not all horror movies are scary and full of dismembered corpses. Some are quirky, funny, and enjoyable as a cross-genre exercise. Horror comedies are a rarity. A horror comedy is a movie that is both scary and funny by intent (Shaun of the Dead). Not to be confused with a horror movie that’s funny because it’s so awful it’s physically painful (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan). Still some do exist and are totally worth seeing when you want something Halloween-esque but not terrifying.
Well it’s October, or as I call it: Horror Movie Month. It’s baffling to me how movie studios release titles like Halloween 2 (the new Rob Zombie version) in late August. Or February in the case of the new Wolfman, which I’d love to see any weekend in October, but not sure I’m interested in it as a Valentine’s Day date flick. Granted, I’m not a numbers guru but basic fucking logic dictates that you release horror movies around Halloween and Christmas movies in December. Anyway, since there isn’t really a cool horror movie in theaters I’d like to take the next five weeks to do a video round up — Yes, I’m that egomaniacal. This first installment will focus on classic and old horror movies.
