11:43 PM
4:36 PM
I know what I want from santa for Christmas.
Click on the picture to check it out...
Click on the picture to check it out...
2:00 PM
I got there late. I only missed LAKE PLACID, and that's no great loss, I've seen it.
Bob had PLANET TERROR playing, and even though I missed the beginning I quickly got into it.. PT is a wonderfully directed, fast paced and tongue in cheek homage to 70s era Zombie flicks. I loved it-- it had all the classic cliches. The scratched film stock, aping film stock from the era, was sheer genius.
This was part of the GRINDHOUSE duet, a big movie composed of two small ones by Robert Rodriguez and Quenton Tarantino. As a single movie it flopped. Broken into two movies for DVD release, it has experienced some success.
Next one (and best one) was THE DESCENT. This is another movie by Neil Marshall, the gent who directed DOG SOLDIERS (which I love!), and it does not disappoint. You couldn't ask for a more different movie from Dog Soldiers-- in story, in performance, in characterization and especially in the creep factor.
I see a lot of horror movies. Obviously, if you read this blog regularly you arlready know horror is one of my favorite film genres. Very rarely do I get a genuine scare. Moments of feigned dread, perhaps, but not fear. The Descent touches on one of my own manias-- claustrophobia, and also delivers one incredibly manic, horrific tale with great protaganist and a surprisingly multi-faceted plot. Does the Descent mean the obvious (a group of athletic young women on a caving expedition that goes horribly wrong) or does it mean something more subtle than that-- one woman's descent into madness? The ending doesn't tell you one way or an other.
Last one on the DVD Player was the second half of GRINDHOUSE, DEATH PROOF. I rather like Tarantino usually, but this film did its very best to sink the Grindhouse project. For one thing, there's too much dialogue, and it's ALL Quentin Tarantino talking to himself. I don't know ANYone who talks quite the way QT does in real life. He writes some clever screenplays but they are starting to sound awfully reverential and larded with endlessly run on sentences delivered in a style that would have done justice to Pam Grier.
An old poster; the incomparable Kurt Russell took the main role as Stuntman Mike, replacing Rourke. In my book, there's no comparison... Russell was the better choice.
Speaking of reverential, every film by QT (except, perhaps, Jackie Brown) makes it into Death Proof in some form. The guy is on an Easter Egg binge-- the movie does share characters, lines, and movie references from QT's earlier movies. Personally, I hated the dialogue. It was overlong and maybe TOO derivative of earlier sources. To a woman, the actresses ALL seemed like they were Quentin Tarantino in drag, enacting Tarantino's fantasy image of what a tough 70s cinema chick ought to be. He badly needs a collaborator..
I hope he can return to form on his next project.
Bob had PLANET TERROR playing, and even though I missed the beginning I quickly got into it.. PT is a wonderfully directed, fast paced and tongue in cheek homage to 70s era Zombie flicks. I loved it-- it had all the classic cliches. The scratched film stock, aping film stock from the era, was sheer genius.
This was part of the GRINDHOUSE duet, a big movie composed of two small ones by Robert Rodriguez and Quenton Tarantino. As a single movie it flopped. Broken into two movies for DVD release, it has experienced some success.
Next one (and best one) was THE DESCENT. This is another movie by Neil Marshall, the gent who directed DOG SOLDIERS (which I love!), and it does not disappoint. You couldn't ask for a more different movie from Dog Soldiers-- in story, in performance, in characterization and especially in the creep factor.
I see a lot of horror movies. Obviously, if you read this blog regularly you arlready know horror is one of my favorite film genres. Very rarely do I get a genuine scare. Moments of feigned dread, perhaps, but not fear. The Descent touches on one of my own manias-- claustrophobia, and also delivers one incredibly manic, horrific tale with great protaganist and a surprisingly multi-faceted plot. Does the Descent mean the obvious (a group of athletic young women on a caving expedition that goes horribly wrong) or does it mean something more subtle than that-- one woman's descent into madness? The ending doesn't tell you one way or an other.
Last one on the DVD Player was the second half of GRINDHOUSE, DEATH PROOF. I rather like Tarantino usually, but this film did its very best to sink the Grindhouse project. For one thing, there's too much dialogue, and it's ALL Quentin Tarantino talking to himself. I don't know ANYone who talks quite the way QT does in real life. He writes some clever screenplays but they are starting to sound awfully reverential and larded with endlessly run on sentences delivered in a style that would have done justice to Pam Grier.
An old poster; the incomparable Kurt Russell took the main role as Stuntman Mike, replacing Rourke. In my book, there's no comparison... Russell was the better choice.Speaking of reverential, every film by QT (except, perhaps, Jackie Brown) makes it into Death Proof in some form. The guy is on an Easter Egg binge-- the movie does share characters, lines, and movie references from QT's earlier movies. Personally, I hated the dialogue. It was overlong and maybe TOO derivative of earlier sources. To a woman, the actresses ALL seemed like they were Quentin Tarantino in drag, enacting Tarantino's fantasy image of what a tough 70s cinema chick ought to be. He badly needs a collaborator..
I hope he can return to form on his next project.
10:34 AM
There's one of those amusing pictures floating about email right now, called "The Real Miss America". Here it is:
The actual story upon which this jape is based is far more interesting than the email joke, which might be amusing, I suppose. I'm impressed with this young lady, and, of course.. there's something almost religous about watching an HH60 lay down devastation. Give 'em hell, Vanessa, and thank you for your service.
The actual story upon which this jape is based is far more interesting than the email joke, which might be amusing, I suppose. I'm impressed with this young lady, and, of course.. there's something almost religous about watching an HH60 lay down devastation. Give 'em hell, Vanessa, and thank you for your service.
9:50 AM
I honestly havent' bought or played a computer game in quite some time. Frankly, I don't have the time any more, and the reality is that online MMO social networking environments are far more interesting to me currently than a standalone game that quickly becomes stale. This was not always the case. Back in the 90s, standalone PC games were the bomb-- I still have several of them (those that can still run that is).
For PC gaming geeks, The Periodical to read was Ziff Davis' COMPUTER GAMING WORLD during the editorial tenure of Alan Emrich. Emrich gave the magazine a distinctively friendly and engaging tone-- one felt part of the greater community of gaming geekery when reading CGW. I was quite sad to see it go when Ziff Davis announced CGW's demise in 2006.
Still, not all is lost. Many, not all, but many issues have been saved online (by a regular columnist named Scorpia), and are currently online for viewing at the CGW Museum website. The coverage is set during what I call the glory years of CGW, from the 80s to the 90s. The information is fairly dated, but it is a nostalgic window into a more pioneering era.
12:33 PM
look twice, it's subtle...
9:50 AM
