This week, I'll be attending a performance of Brat Productions new show "Carrie" for Withersin Magazine.
Based upon the Stephen King novel (and the Brian DePalma film), the show is a twist on what you think you know about the prom queen soaked in pigs blood we've all come to know, love... and laugh at.
Brat Productions description of "Carrie":
In this adaptation, approved by Stephen King himself, Erik Ransom plays the telekinetic teen, alongside a cast of notable Philadelphia actors. Directed by BRAT's Producing Artistic Director Michael Alltop, and featuring some of Philly's leading designers (including a 3-person special FX team), Carrie delivers all of the thrills of the original bestselling novel with surprising and hilarious new twists. Save the date for a prom night you’ll never forget!
So, it should be an interesting evening. I'll be reviewing the show for Withersin, but my thoughts will also be posted here, on the trusty old (incredibly neglected) blog.
With the Platinum Dunes remake having been released just a few weeks ago, I've heard a lot of people say that they either haven't seen the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" in a long time or, *gasp*, they have never seen it at all!
Scandal! Come on people... this one is worthy of at LEAST two viewing a year. Should be federally mandated, actually.
And while it wasn't quite sacrelige, I do think the remake lost a bit of the charm and gut-punch scares of the original. And sure-- perhaps the reason the original stands out so much for me is that I was just a kid when I saw it, but you know what-- I just bought the original on blu-ray and I'm happy announce it totally holds up and still made me poop my pants. Not sure why I'm happy to announce that last part... but I digress.
Check out the trailer for the original. It's truly a classic horror film and a cool trailer to boot.
P.S.-- I like Jackie Earle Haley and all, but who are we kidding? Robert Englund is Freddy. End of story.
So, here are my Oscar picks. No fuss, no muss. It' sort of a blah year in terms of nominees. But then again, it's the Oscars-- there usually aren;t many upsets.
Still, I'll be watching on Sunday. And here is who I think will be bringing home the gold.
The full length trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's latest film The Last Airbender was just released and it looks fantastic!
The film is based on incredibly popular anime Avatar: The Last Airbender. And, though the film dropped the word Avatar from the title (for obvious reasons), I think The Last Airbender is actually a better title.
Take a look at the trailer below (in glorious HD) and tell me you won't be there July 2nd!
I know I'll be there... but then again, I always go to the movies for my birthday, which happens to be July 1st.
I have an iPhone, a MacBook and a Kindle. Why would I want an iPad? What use is it to me?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool. Very cool, in fact. I just don't foresee jumping on any bandwagons hastily.
I'll give it a few years and a few iterations so they can work out bugs, give it a real operating system and add in several other much needed features.
This week's song comes from Love 2, the latest album from the French band Air.
I've been listening to Air for quite some time now. In fact, this March will mark the fourth time I'll see them in concert-- their live show really is that good.
They have a sort of mellow, electronica sound. You can put on just about any of their albums and just let it play through to the end-- something that can't be said for a lot of bands.
Anyhow, I believe "Sing, Sang, Sung" is the first single released form the new album, and it's quite good.
I'd say that I've had the song on loop, but really it's been the entire album. Give it listen.
Yeah, so my "best of" list is a few days late. So what. Wanna fight about it?
As I do every year, I'll also toss in my two cents when it comes to what films I enjoyed most in 2009. I actually think this year has been particularly strong one-- well, at least when it comes to film...
I'm going to keep it short and sweet. In fact, the list is not even really in any order. It's just the ten films that I enjoyed most this year.
My Favorite Films:
1.) The Cove - I'm a huge animal rights guy, and this was one of the more well made and moving documentaries I've seen in a while. Brutal and heart breaking.
2.) Drag Me to Hell - Sam Raimi's Brand of Old School Horror. Saw it twice in the theater and twice on blu-ray so far. Fantastic!
3.) Inglorious Basterds - Great upon first viewing, and infinitely re-watchable. The Bowie song alone makes the film.
4.) Anvil: The Story of Anvil - Seriously touching portrait of friendship, faith and truly never giving up on a dream. Another extremely re-watchable film.
5.) District 9 - Refreshingly inventive Sci-Fi. Despite early reports, it's not necessarily a game-changer for the genre, but Neil Blomkamp is what Michael Bay only wishes he could be.
6.) Pontypool - My favorite horror film of the year. Neat twist on the zombie genre that plays out through what you hear more than what you see. Terrific film. Oddly not yet available on DVD or Blu-Ray in the U.S.
7.) Watchmen - I wasn't the biggest fan of it in the theater, but upon repeated blu-ray viewings at home I have really come to enjoy this film. And-- is it seriously not on anyone else's top 10 or even 20 list? It was released this year, correct? Screw it. I'm a genre guy. It's on my list.
8.) Coraline - A bit dark for the kiddies, but for anyone who enjoys Tim Burton-esque dark fairy tales, you'll love it.
9.) Where the Wild Things Are - First film in years to actually elicit tears from my cynical eyes. Especially meaningful if you are a child of divorce, or of a single parent.
10.) Up - Pixar continues its streak of solid films. Third act was a bit typical, but enjoyed the film overall enough to warrant a spot on the list.
Six films that I wanted to see but didn't:
1.) The Road - Looks interesting and depressing. Not necessarily in that order.
2.) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans / My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done - Werner Herzog. That's more than enough reason to see these two.
3.) The Hurt Locker - I'm not so hot on the contemporary war films as of late, but I have to admit that I want to see this one. And I like Jeremy Renner, too.
4.) Fantastic Mr. Fox - Too many people whose opinions I hold in high regard raved about this for me not to want to check it out. I think it'll be a blind buy on blu-ray release day.
5.) The White Ribbon - Call him pretentious, but I think Haneke is tremendous filmmaker.
6.) Antichrist - I really wanted to see this from the first trailer. Sadly, I just didn't have a chance to. DVD will be released soon, I hope.
Four Films that left me underwhelmed:
1.) Avatar - Pretentious. Ludicrous. It was pretty-- sure. But who cares. As a writer, I was offended by the story being put way on the back burner. Waaaay back there...
2.) Food, Inc. - I'm something of a health nut, and I thought I'd love this film. Don't get me wrong, it was okay. But that's it-- just okay.
3.) Zombieland - Yeah, the cameo was great. It was okay overall. Still liked it, but it could have been so much more.
The variety of weather we get here is one of the only reasons remaining for me to actually enjoy living in Philadelphia.
This weekend we were hit with upwards of 17 inches of snow. I love that. And this pretty much assure us of a white Christmas because there is no way all of this will melt before Friday.
Although, it may be more of a murky, grey Christmas if the snow becomes that mushy, slushy crap that heavy traffic and rock salt usually turn it into.
Eh, oh well. For now, I'm enjoying staying inside and watching movies.
As I've mentioned before, I usually listen to music that has little or no lyrics when I write. It's something that I've learned works for me through a lot of trial and error. Whether it's jazz or classical, bluegrass or a soundtrack-- instrumental music is just what I prefer when I sit down to do some work.
Lately, almost all of my writing time has been accompanied by the trademark musical stylings of Philip Glass.
I first came to know of Philip Glass through his score to Godfrey Reggio's now-famous "Quatsi" trilogy. I especially enjoy the score to Koyaanisqatsi, but he has tons of other work that is equally impressive. Last week I came across his album "Solo Piano", which is comprised of five variations of his piece Metamorphosis, as well as two shorter pieces.
The song I've included here is Metamorphosis #2, which happens to be my favorite. It's a haunting piece that I've been able to listen to on repeat for the past few days.
Give it a listen. Even if Philip Glass is not necessarily your bag, it's hard to argue that this isn't a beautiful piece of music.
P.S.-- I've included his piece Pruit Igoe as well. Originally written for Koyaanisqatsi, you may also recognize it from the extended trailer for last year's Watchmen.
As a child of the VHS generation, I love-- LOVE-- retro VHS cover art. I can remember walking around the video store as a kid studying the cover boxes, especially those that were for films that I would never be allowed to see at that age. Two that stick out in my mind were Ruggierio Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead-- both of which I didn't get to see until I was in my twenties. Gee, perhaps that's why I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with 1970's-80's horror?
Portable Grindhouse showcases a solid selection of cover boxes-- both well-known titles and some of the more off the wall titles. And I love the subtitle (The Lost Art of the VHS Cover Box), because that's what it was-- an art form. Looking at much of the shamefully bad cover art for DVD releases these days really makes you miss the days of Drew Struzan covers, replete with rippling muscles and oversized breasts on cartoonish versions of the movies stars of the day (Romancing the Stone, anyone?)
Needless to say, this book is a great Christmas gift for the film geek in your life. And if you don't have a film geek in your life, feel free to consider me the film geek in your life, because I would love to unwrap this book on Festivus.
Anyhow, watch the awkwardly silent video below for a better idea of what to expect.
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to catch the penultimate stop in Rob Zombie's tour for his upcoming album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2. I went to the show by myself and, well... you may think that's kind of odd. Perhaps-- but I couldn't give a damn because it was one hell of a show.
Zombie's live performances are a throwback to the theatrical rock shows of the 1970's. And he certainly isn't not shy about wearing his influences on his sleeve-- specifically Alice Cooper. The two of them share a similar gruff singing style and I'm actually surprised Zombie's never covered any of Cooper's hits.
But I digress...
This song (What?) is the first single off of his oft postponed new album which is set to finally be released on February 2. There is no official video, so I've posted a live version that is very similar to what I saw the other night at the Electric Factory.
Enjoy the song.
And if you ever get the chance to see Rob Zombie live, by all means go.
You'll have a great time. And if you've got nobody to go with, hell-- drop me a line. Lord knows I've been there.
P.S.-- If you like the song, you can also hear the regular album version here, or download it on iTunes.
So, I went to New York yesterday to catch up with a friend. I got into town rather early, so I decided to walk around and perhaps do some shopping.
Then I found this guy.
Now, the two of us are best friends.
And yes, his catchy jingle was in my head all day.
P.S.-- This was the first time I was able to really try out my Kodak Zi-8. I have to say, it's pretty incredible considering the price and size. Certainly recommended for bloggers/vloggers.
In the age of the crappy horror remake, it's nice to get some news about a true classic being sent back to theaters-- in its original form. Grindhouse releasing seems to have secured the rights to mount a nationwide re-release of Sam Raimi's seminal 1981 horror flick Evil Dead.
Perhaps Raimi is testing the waters for another Evil Dead sequel? It's possible, considering the success of his recent throwback hit Drag Me To Hell. While I'm not totally convinced that this would be a true barometer of how another evil dead film would play, I'm certainly not complaining.
Also-- I seem to be in the minority among Evil Dead fans in that I prefer the first film to the pseudo-sequel, Evil Dead 2.
So far there is no screening planned for the Philadelphia area, but I'm confident that will change very soon. If not I may just have to embark on another road trip to catch this on the big screen.
Let's face it, from Halloween to Christmas is the greatest time of the year. It's full of parties, food, booze and loads of chances for us all to act like kids (read: idiots) again. Personally, I still go out for Halloween... with my nieces and nephews, of course. But it's still an opportunity to dress like a jackass and not only get away with it, but in some cases actually have it make you the life of the party.
Another great thing about this time of year is the number of horror films playing on cable at any given moment. Now, watching horror films is certainly not a seasonal even for yours truly. However, Halloween is the only time that I can usually convince others to join me in the terrifying fun.
So my question is this...
When you are perusing cable channels or looking at the DVD shelf, which video nasties catch your eye? Personally, I am partial to classic 1980's horror. Carpenter, Fred Dekker, Romero, Argento, Coscarelli... these are the guys I look to for some real Halloween fun. How about you?
So, It's been a little while since I've posted anything. I've been writing something new that's taken up a lot of my time, and with getting ready to teach my first college course, I've been a little busy. However, I didn't want to just make up some stupid nonsense to post-- so I figured instead I'd post one of my all time favorite poems.
It's a Shel Silverstein piece that means a lot to me, and was a constant source of inspiration while I was writing my last screenplay. Anyone who has had the chance to read that script will understand why.
The poem is called The Little Boy and the Old Man.
Within minutes of his passing, the keyboards of bloggers worldwide were clacking away with attempts at witty, kitschy ways to deliver this news-- Patrick Swayze has succumbed to pancreatic cancer.
Never quite an A-lister, Swayze made some decent movies (Roadhouse, Red Dawn, Ghost) and his fair share of junk (To Wong Foo, anyone?)
Of course his most famous role was that of Johny Castle in the classic 80's film Dirty Dancing. While not exactly my cup of tea, the film was an undeniable pop culture phenomenon.
However, all things considered, I think his most memorable piece of work came when he was the guest host of Saturday Night Live. The genius sketch is embedded below and, sadly features two guys that have now both passed on before their time.
Enjoy, in memoriam, the terrific Chippendales sketch.
As a kid there were some VHS cover boxes on the shelf at the video store that just always really creeped me out. One of those creatively marketed titles was Tobe Hooper’s 1981 thriller The Funhouse.
Capitalizing off of the success of his underground hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper crafted this film’s story very much in the same mold. Where it differed greatly was in the film’s execution (pardon the pun), which undoubtedly left fans of Massacre wondering when the other bloody shoe was going to drop.
The set-up is a simple yet effective genre staple: four pot-smoking teens looking for some excitement at a traveling carnival that stopped in their town. One of the incorrigibly horny guys has the great idea that they should hide in the funhouse and stay over when all the carnies have called it a night. Amazingly, the others agree and, just like that, we have a horror movie.
Once inside, the teens witness a murder at the hands of one especially demented Carnie (who is essentially a carbon-copy of Chainsaw’s Leatherface.) The rest of the night (and the film) is spent with the teens, as they attempt to escape the creepy killer and his equaly deranged father. The teens are, of course, picked off one by one before the break of dawn.
There is no denying that The Funhouse is a slow film, even compared to other 80’s horror. You can tell that Tobe Hooper really took his time with this one. If you look closely, you can tell that he did put great care into the film—the cinematography is tight, the creature effects are solid and there are a few legitimately impressive long-take crane shots. He even managed to slip in an homage to both Halloween and Psycho, as well as some gratuitous nudity—all in the opening 5 minutes!
And, for what it’s worth, Tobe Hooper turned down a film that was offered to him by Steven Spielberg in order to make The Funhouse. The film he turned down? E.T.
Ouch.
Overall, the film was a satisfying little thriller, with some decent scares and is definitely worth a look if you enjoy 80’s horror.
Score: 3 out of 5
(ALSO: Word on the street is that Eli Roth has been tapped for a remake. Could be interesting...)
It is with deep regret that I am writing this post to commemorate the cancellation of one of the most important and influential television shows of my generation: Reading Rainbow. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that, in today's society, there would eventually be no place for such an uplifting and educational program. But you know what, personally I'm not willing to accept that.
I'm not so presumtuous that I would say this show meant any more to me than any of the millions of people also mourning the loss, but it did mean a hell of a lot to me. It sparked more childhood interest in reading and trips to the library than any other program ever produced. And I don't doubt that the show had a part in me eventually discovering that what I wanted to do with my life was to write stories.
In one respect, it's more unfortunate for my own children, because they will be raised never having known the show. But I'd like to think that my own interest in reading, and ensuring that my kids have a healthy and active imagination will carry them through-- certainly due in some small part to my own exposure to the show as a child.
When I heard that the show was cancelled, I immediately looked up the introduction on YouTube and, upon hearing just the first few synthesized flute notes, nearly got choked up. I'm not exaggerating.
So, I present to you the intro to the show in it's entirety.
Godspeed to the kids of this generation who will only be exposed to the inane, ADHD inducing tripe that passes as children's entertainment these days.
