Uh-oh, Shaggy

This is my version of a press conference to let all of you know that have commented on this photo of me and Scooby-Doo and my nephew. I did not in any way touch Scooby inappropriately at Six Flags. My wife took a picture of me as my arm was going up to Scooby's shoulders. I am not part of the "Furries" movement, nor will I ever be. And if I was I would not do that in front my innocent nephew. Furthermore I am innocent, and will never pose for pictures with a man in suit ever again. I would like to thank my family and friends for there support during this troubled time in my life, but alas they have only laughed at me and pointed... Me and SD have talked it through and we are totally cool. So please, stop calling him for "Furrie" parties. It's not cool. Leave us alone. (Not together, but seperatly...)

Farewell to Analog TV...

Well today is the last day of analog broadcasting. It is kind of a sad day really. I thought about all the old TV's out there, that if found in a barn or an old house will no longer be able to pick up anything other than some pirate signals, that I'm sure will become popular someday. Here are a few of my favorite analog TV moments...



My Grandma's house in the hot summers... watching a 15 inch black and white TV all day. Gilligan's Island, Banana Splits and Godzilla movies. And speaking to that, until I was a teenager I thought all the Godzilla movies were in black and white!



My first TV in my room at my parents was a little 10 inch or so black and white TV. I still remember the first thing I ever saw on it. ABC was showing the broadcast premiere of 1978's Star Trek: The Motion Picture with new footage! It was 3 hours long with commercials, and I witnessed every damn second of it. I had the action figures from the movie too...



Camping in my Grandpa's old travel trailer in the middle of nowhere in the country, I watched "The Shining" on a 8 inch black and white screen in the back of the trailer with sheets pulled up over my head. I've never gotten those images from my mind. Even if it was cut for TV. Shelly Duvall still scares me to this today. And I am weary of any little kids named Danny including my cousin. And now I have twin nieces. Where are my covers?



Next was at home on maybe my first color TV set in my room. I was in the 6th grade and I stayed up late and watched Kubrick's 2001. That movie disturbed me in such a monumental way. I think it changed the way I looked at movies. I remember telling my Dad and classmates how amazing this thing was. Of course my classmates were more into Porkys than existential space movies. My dad told me stories of how he drove to Dallas to see 2001 on this new gigantic screen back in the 60's. he said he went twice. Lucky.



Other great moments in analog TV history for me were the mini series craze of the 80's that brought us North and South, V, and The Day After. Everyone and I mean everyone was home when these things hit. There was no VCR, no going back. You either saw it live or missed it. People would mock you if you didn't see it. I can remember the madness of going to the grocery store an hour before Miami Vice would come on Friday nights. People were in a panic to get back to there house so they could check out Don Johnson's fresh clothes.

There was also this time where my best buddy Joel and I discovered how to de-scramble the Playboy Channel using an analog TV tuner. But that's a story for another day... Electric Blue...



But maybe my favorite analog moment of all time was in college. I got the opportunity to work with the great Bobbie Wygant at NBC 5 for five plus years on her TV shows, and go home and watch what we did live with my parents while eating dinner. Getting to meet all the hosts of Channel 5 shows from my childhood was nuts. And gaining a lifetime friend, like Bobbie was a dream come true. She really taught me what the TV biz was all about. From watching a crappy 10 inch B&W set in my bedroom, to helping produce what came out of it has been a wonderful journey indeed! Farewell analog world, you shall be missed but not forgotten.

Check out these awesome Channel 5 promos!!!

Tetro

Francis Ford Coppola is a God among the legendary filmmakers. His new film, Tetro starring Vincent Gallo comes out in LA and NYC today, and who knows when it will hit the badlands of Texas. Tetro is the second new film Coppola financed himself and is also distributing. His winery is now making him enough money to where he never deals with studios when making films now. In an interview I heard with him on Howard Stern this week, he said his business of making wine has afforded him the luxury of making films a passion again. This is great news. This is what all filmmakers strive for, complete freedom and FFC has it. So if Tetro ever makes it to Texas, go see it and support it!

Assorted Review Madness

I've been on a pretty good tear recently, so I'd thought I'd share a few thoughts on some films I found interesting...



The Reader

I know I'm late to the party here on this one, but I found this to be a very good film. This film has a plot that is Nazi, but to me this is a device to explore some deeply wounded characters. I thought Kate Winslet, David Kross, and Ralph Fiennes were all interesting in their own ways. This is a very extended coming of age story if you will. The characters may grow up fast and get old, but their journey of self extends itself into several decades. I found Winslet's Hanna Schmitz character to be quite fascinating. My wife read the book, and said that is was very cut and dry, but here you get to see the closet that Hanna hides her soul in, and only at the end does she attempt to open it. I found this film to be a brilliant character study of very interesting characters.


Blindness

Everyone starts going blind, except Amber Waves (I mean Juliane Moore) I really liked the look and tone of this movie there are moments in it that are so sick and depraved you want to vomit. I was totally into this for the first hour or so, but after a while you get the point the filmmaker is trying to make, that humans are A-holes when they have sight and when they don't. Human emotions can get worse weather you have sight or not. I recommend this film cause it is different, and raises some interesting concerns, but I'm not saying its a great movie.


Frost/Nixon

Finally! A Ron Howard film I really liked. I often think most of Howard's films are pretty much like eating melba toast. They fill you up but leave you wanting something on them, like some jelly or something. This film is fleshed out. Again another really interesting character study of two people, Nixon and Frost who had their entire legacy resting on this one interview. Someone had to win, and who wanted it more. I never bought Langella's Nixon in the spots and ads, but after seeing the whole thing you totally buy it. He slips nicely into the role, much more effectively than Hopkins did in "Nixon" to me. I thought the contrast of Frost to Nixon was really riveting, and how they both really thought nothing of each other but actually needed each other. A great film worth multiple viewings.


Splinter

A fun little horror monster yarn from director Toby Wilkins. Its about a Splinter type infection that turns various body parts into a collage of a crazy monster. Most of the film takes place in a country convenience store. If there are any Jill Wagner fans in the house, then you will want to see this. It made me wonder why she doesn't get more tough chick work. She's a bad ass in the making. Someone give her a B-movie action vehicle of her own!!!


Body of Lies

Ridley Scott = brilliant (sometimes). Russel Crowe = brilliant. Leo = Growing Pains. Body of Lies = Boredom. This is a film of blown opportunities. I didn't even finish it.


Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I liked this one more than I thought I would. A good little comedy that reminded me of After Hours and other great nighttime urban comedy adventures. Great cameos from SNL people and Michael Cera is again a pleasure to watch. And Kat Denning's Norah is very easy on the eyes.


Phase IV

I sought out this film because of my love of Saul Bass. He did all the great Hitchcock opening credits and James Bond open credits. Not to mention a lot of Scorcese's too. Casino being one of my favs. Anyway back int he day circa 1974, he directed his only feature film called Phase IV, which was about ants, becoming hive brain minded and taking over the Earth! This is greatness you say? No, not so much. There is a LOT of macro ant footage and some Michael Murphy madness, but not much else. I was actually rooting for the ants in this one.

REVIEW: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This is a film that kind of slipped through the cracks to me. I rented it on Netflix and being a WW2 film afficando I was compelled to check it out. The film centers around Bruno an 8 year old who lives with his Nazi general Dad and Mom, and sister. Bruno is aware of the war around him, and the Nazi's that often live in his home in the country, but Bruno is more concerned with reading adventure books and exploring the land around their country home. One day Bruno sees what he thinks may be a farm in the far distance. He notices that the farmers all seem to be wearing striped pajamas. Curious about this "farm" Bruno decides to find a way to get over to the farm, and in doing so makes friends with an 8 year old behind the fence named Shmuel. Bruno keeps his relationship with Shmuel a secret from his family of course. His own sister is obsessed with the Hitler youth, so Bruno must sneak out every day to visit and feed Shmuel tasty treats from the mansion.



One day Shmuel tells Bruno that his father has gone missing in the camps and he cannot find him. Bruno hatches a plan from one of his adventure books, to help him find his father. I can't really say much more about it from here as it would ruin the impact of the film's climax. The film is based on the book for young adults by John Boyne, and it feels light in that respect but in a good way.




The thing I really liked about this movie was that director Mark Herman never strays from the perspective of the boy Bruno. It's about the ultimate loss of innocence. I have read some criticism that even though it features the great actors, David Thewlis and the awesome Vera Farmiga (If you have not seen "Down to the Bone" with her, then shame on you.) it never gets caught up in their own personal drama, it's still seen through Bruno's eyes. I think that's the right thing to do here. Even though this is a film about genocide, it is a very peaceful introspective experience. "Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a wonderful little film that I think everyone will enjoy. It's out on DVD now.

Trailer: The Transforminators

"They're eating all of our sand!"

Fletch Blu-ray review

There is a great review of the blu-ray version of the greatest comedy movie ever made, Fletch with Chevy Chase over at Blu-ray.com. Check it out HERE. And if you don't own at least two copies of Fletch in your collection then get off your ass and get to the store and charge it to the Underhills. And don't forget the steak sandwich and a steak sandwich.

First Clips from the new version of "V" remake...

V is one of my childhood favorite shows of all time. It worked on a fun sci-fi adventure level and worked on a social/holocost level as well. I'm not down with this remake at all yet... but i will be watching when it comes out.

MINI-REVIEW: Star Trek (2009)

OK, I'm not going to review Star Trek here. It was great and it was bad ass. You don't need me to tell you that. There are a hundred other reviews that can tell you that. In fact I'm re-gearing this blog to talk more about movies you've never heard of or may have missed. The ones that may have fallen through the cracks like my own! But occasionally I plan on talking about some big budget stuff. But after its all said and done there is no reason for me to talk about Star Trek or Transformers 2. They get enough pub as it is. Time to concentrate on the little guys more. Having said that there was two big things about Star Trek I didn't like. The way it treated science and humanity. To me the essence of Star Trek has always been Humankind's quest for knowledge. And Star Trek always had that in spades. Now no one loves a great space battle more than me. But is that really the essence of Trek? No it isn't.



Star Trek was about peace and how The Federation was there to promote that and to advance science to make every one's lives better. The new movie is by all means a thrill ride but that's really all it gives you after its over. Back in the day I used to come out of Star Trek episodes thinking about how we can advance as a people without tearing each other apart with violence. It was a good seed that series creator Gene Roddenberry planted, and one that JJ Abrams passed up for a great roller coaster ride. Maybe a sequel will get it right and avoid the trap of having to outdo the space battle of the previous movie. People compare this movie to Wrath of Khan with good measure, but Spock gave his life so that science and the advancement of it would not fall into the hands of evil. So yes Star Trek is back in a big way and I am very happy, let's just hope it does not become Die hard in space!

Martyrs

I don't normally recommend movies that really disturbed me, but in this case, I am making an exception. Martyrs which got little if any release here in the U.S. Martyrs directed by Pascal Laugier is a truly disturbing French film, that leaves you cold inside after viewing. I am recommending it because it has not left my mind since I saw it. It's been over a month and I still think about it. And for that reason I am saying you should go out and get it. It is out on video now, so give it shot.



I'm not going to review it, because the more I say about it will ruin its shock. The film is well made and very well thought out. I can't really say that it is a horror movie per se but it does start out that way, then halfway through it takes a turn into a new realm. Some might pass it off as the Saw-esque torture porn trend, but I think it transcends the horror genre at the halfway point, and goes into a more cerebral area. However it is one that you might not want to visit with the lights off.

ONEDREAMRUSH

ONEDREAMRUSH is a very cool-sounding collaborative effort between filmmakers, writers, actors and actresses that was created by the New Zealand Vodka brand 42BELOW and, as such, is the first implicitly branded content ever admitted to the Cannes Film Festival.

Essentially, a bunch of world-renowned artists were brought together to create 42 films, each 42 seconds long and all of them about the interpretation of dreams. Among those featured are Abel Ferrara, David Lynch, Asia Argento, James Franco, Kenneth Anger, Arden Wohl, Sean Lennon, Mike Figgis, Harmony Korine and so many more. Each director's film will be featured at this WEBSITE for one year, and the complete work will begin a tour following Cannes that will take it through New York, London and Rome. I checked youtube and about 12 of the 42 episodes are on there already. However they could get pulled at anytime! Check out the trailer below!

The Immotion Studios Blog

Now you can follow my work adventures on the new Immotion blog by going to http://immotionblog.blogspot.com or just click HERE.

REVIEW: Timecrimes

OK, You have to see this movie! This one I had heard a lot about and finally got to see it this week. If you love time travel scenarios and theorizing what would happen if you went back in time and did this or did that, and whatnot, this is an incredible film to sink your minds into. The movie concerns an older couple living out in the woods. Nearby is a research facility where we do not know whats happening really. Not yet anyway. After doing some landscaping, The husband, Hector is enjoying his surrounds watching things through his binoculars when he sees a young woman disrobing. His wife leaves to run an errand and intrigued he walks into the woods only to find her knocked out, then he is stabbed in the arm by a man wearing a bloody bandage as a mask and a trench coat.



As he runs away he takes shelter in the research facility and a scientist tells him to hide in this giant liquid tub machine with a cover over it. He goes in and in a second he is transported back in time a few hours. The scientist tells him that there are now 2 of him. He then tries to go back and stop the killing but then realizes that through a series of crazy events the "killer" in the mask is actually someone he knows quite well... And the time loop keeps happening to a point where there are 3 versions of him walking around trying to figure it all out in this 2 hour time frame. You really have to pay attention but if you love that time shifting stuff this is a really fun movie to watch and re-watch. The performances are dead on, and the director, Nacho Vigalondo does a great job here on his first feature film. Look out for this guy, as he could be a director to watch. It's out on video now through Magnet Releasing. Netflix it now!!!

Here is a trailer:

St. Nick (UPDATED)

My buddy James Johnston produced a movie by local filmmaker David Lowery called St. Nick. It made some serious noise at SWSW and won the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Dallas fest. I'm real excited for those guys and to see the movie! I have not yet seen it, because I'm a butthead, but I hope to this Saturday night at 8pm as its playing at The Modern in Ft. Worth as part of the Modern 'Til Midnight series going on. So if you're into cool indie films or films in general go out and see St. Nick. It's made by real filmmakers who love film, and know how to actually express themselves through it. Imagine that? CLICK HERE for a link to the Modern site where you can find ticket and show info.

UPDATE:

We went and saw the movie and I was really moved by the film. I think David did a tremendous job at juggling telling a story and doing it a way that was pure to him as an artist. I felt there was a great balance here, and reminded me of Badlands. I'm proud to know those guys and I think this film will be a huge stepping stone for them. I'm really impressed with the film!!! I will keep people updated on where the film is and how to see it.

Will You Be Here Tomorrow?

Oh my this is so wonderful...

New Trailers!

Here are a few movies that I think might be good...




Lars von Trier's Antichrist - Official Trailer from Zentropa on Vimeo.

Cat Sh1t One Movie Trailer

I would go see this opening day.

Warners Brothers has a brilliant idea!

This is truly a great idea and I am glad the folks over at Warners figured this out. Check it:

Warner Bros has produced over 6,800 theatrical films, but only 1,200 or so titles are available on DVD today. But tonight the studio has announced that they are opening their movie vault, through a new website — WarnerArchive.com. Until now, the limited sales potential of some films and tv shows has prevented Warner Bros from making the titles available to the public. The new site is an on-demand manufacturing operation which allows customers to purchase long tail titles. Movies will cost $19.95, and will be shipped in a shrink-wrapped case with cover art within five days of purchase.

That's one side of it, but you can also for about 5-10 bucks cheaper just get a digital copy of the film you are looking for without having to deal with dvd at all. This should serve as a model for other studios looking to make money and also you bypass the middleman such as Blockbuster (on life support) and Netflix. Access to all those lost films that may never see the light of day is a great way for film nerds to discover new works of art and then spread them to their friends, thus expanding the opportunity for that film to have new life and make some money at the same time. Genius! The Warner Archive is active right now. Take a look HERE.

RIP: Natasha Richardson

Horrible news. Natasha Richardson died yesterday after a freakish ski accident. I always admired her work as an actress, in particular was a movie she worked quite hard on to get made and released called "The Handmaid's Tale" in 1990. It has become somewhat of a cult classic now, so if you have not seen it, I would recommend it highly... Here is the very cheesy trailer for it.

RIP OFF ALERT: French Connection Blu-ray

Having never really picked my feet in Poughkeepsie, I do love director William Freidkin's film, The French Connection. I have the 2 disc dvd set, and was quite excited to pick up the new blu-ray edition of it, because it features a new transfer supervised by Freidkin himself. Awesome right? OMG a man has ruined his own film, and probably got paid well to do so.

If you have seen the FC, you know how cool and washed out the documentary styled film is. That's part the charm the film has. It feels real and gritty. Well for Blu-ray not anymore! It's got vibrant colors and blue skys for all to see. It makes racist anti-hero cop Popeye Doyle seem so much more well colorful. I looked over at High Def Digest and they too had quite a similar reaction to this new "transfer". Long story short director Freidkin started his color correction by using a black and white print then coloring somehow off of that! So when I saw it, it looked like a movie colorized on the old Ted Turner channel of disgrace.

I have also discovered that original Director of Photography, Owen Roizman was not consulted for this version. At all. He has gone on the record now:

"I wasn't consulted. I was appalled by it. I don't know what Billy was thinking. It's not the film that I shot, and I certainly want to wash my hands of having had anything to do with this transfer, which I feel is atrocious." To which Friedkin then lashed out at Roizman in a lengthy interview where he barely stops short of calling the man incompetent. Freidkin has clearly lost his mind on this one. Freidkin has done some truly remarkable work in my book. Exorcist, FC, To Live and Die in LA, Rampage, etc. Maybe he has lost his marbles now. (I thought "Bug" was overrated)



I took my blu-ray back and got a refund and I had sold my old one to upgrade, and they gave me that back as well. It looks so much better than this God awful mess. So if you're a fan of French Connection and you have the old special edition by all means keep it! Boycott the Blu-ray version and tell your friends. You can read the full Blu-ray review over HERE at High Def Digest. Thanks to Joshua Zyber for bringing all this to my attention.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

WATCH IT: Look Around You

There is a British show currently airing on Adult Swim which is a part of the Cartoon Network. Very few shows make me laugh anymore but this show is a parody of BBC educational programs. The show is truly odd and very special! Check it out if you like random off the wall comedy. Here is a LINK to the show's homepage on Adult Swim.

I Married the Eiffel Tower

There is a documentary series somewhere out there called Strangelove. The first episode is called "Married to the Eiffel Tower" and it's about women in love with not men or other women or even animals, but objects. Like a Bridge, or a tower, or a Fence. yes I'm not kidding. They have intimate relationships with a fence. There is a second episode called, "My Car is my Lover" about men who make sweet love to their cars. This is not a joke... Check it:


Watch Married To The Eiffel Tower [Part 1]  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch Married To The Eiffel Tower [Part 2]  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Watch Strangelove - My Car Is My Lover [Part 1]  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Watch Strangelove - My Car Is My Lover [Part 2]  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watchmen Saturday Morning fun!

This is a goof BTW.

REVIEW: The Watchmen

At the age of 12 or 13 the Watchmen comic book series came out, and although I still frequented the comic shops I really wasn't interested so much in reading comics anymore. Obviously you begin scouting for raunchier material. A graphic novel was a "buzz word" at that time in the later 80's. They were comics that were well more graphic in violence and sexual situations. I was always a DC comics guy. I loved me some Superman and Batman, but there was some pretty dark themes in those from time to time but nothing Earth shattering. Then I saw this Watchmen happy face all over the place in the comic store. So I picked up an issue, I think it was maybe the Dr. Manhattan issue of him on Mars. And he did a lot of talking to a chick in spandex. Not having read the other issues in the 12 part series, I had no idea what was going on and it was way over my head. I never read another issue, and probably went on to scope out some Playboys.



Now the film version of the Watchmen has been going on since that time almost with a host of directors most notably Terry Gilliam. When I head that Gilliam was going to make this I was intrigued to read the comics again. I though maybe I had missed something, and perhaps I should start at the beginning. Well that movie never happened for obvious budgetary reasons. So I lost interest until recently when it fired up again with several other directors getting as far as pre-production with Paul Greengrass. Flash forward to X-mas 08 and my wife, Amy gives me the complete graphic novel for Christmas and a companion book. So I knew the film was coming out in March, so I needed to get reading. I read most of it on my X-mas vacation. And as many of you know that have read it, its not in any way a typical super hero yarn. It is in fact almost an anti-hero yarn. I was quite taken with the characters first and foremost. They all had flaws like we do. They were all vulnerable human beings with the exception of Dr. Manhattan who is the only hero with actual super powers. And unlike most super heroes they were all rejects and castaways thought to be part of the problem, not the answer.

The book worked on many levels for me, I think it asks us about what we are as a human race and how foolish we are in times of war. The characters themselves have a hard time defining who they really are. Are they the person out of the costume or the person in the costume. And if they are the person in the costume are they insane to begin with and should they even be allowed to fight crime. But the most important theme of the movie is in the title itself. If the heroes/politicians that protect and watch over us are as human as we are, who watches over them. Who watches the watchmen. Is it a God, which in many ways is what the character of Dr. Manhattan represents. The book offers no definitive answers of course, it's left to you to think about after you are done reading the novel.



So we were able to see a sneak preview to the film last night in Big D thanks to a very special friend... We were searched from head to toe by security and I was wanded twice. It felt good after a long drive. For the first time I actually saw a security person take a video camera from a person in the audience before it started. So as a result we had creepy security people staring at us all night. Anyway on to the review of the movie.

The movie wastes no time by dispatching with the thrust of the story which is the murder of the Captain America like hero, The Comedian. The Watchmen is essentially a murder mystery which serves as a device to reveal more devious Armageddon like crimes about to happen. The opening credits then begin and in them you get a lot of back-story from the comics in a very compressed amount of time. I like how they did it and although it might confuse some who haven't read the book, it gives you all you need for the movie experience. Much like the Justice League, The Watchmen are a retired group of super heroes who have been banned from fighting crimes by Nixon now serving a third term of office. The Watchmen are all stand ins for other DC and Marvel heroes like Superman(Dr. Manhattan) Nite Owl and Rorshack make up the two sides of Batman, and Silk Spectre is Wonder Woman to an extent. And The Comedian is in several ways Captain America gone horribly wrong. The country is on the brink of nuclear war with the USSR. Things are bad all over.



Rorshack played with perfection by Jackie Earl Haley begins to investigate and persuade his fellow heroes that someone is killing "Masks" or heroes. This leads them out of retirement and eventually uncover a hideous plot to destroy the world. Director Zack Snider almost committed career suicide by trying to remake Dawn of the Dead. However that was OK, and 300 was a fun if very inaccurate ride. But it looked cool. Watchmen looks fantastic. I loved how he made it look very 80's in style but didn't try to over stylish stuff too much. Looks like he used a lot of real sets instead of a constant blue screen. It was a very good balance of styles.

The adaptation itself cuts out a lot of stuff that although worked in a novel context for the film it needed to be left out. However there were some major sins committed here. The first being the ending that has been re-worked to implicate one of the main characters. I did not like that at all. It hit me like a speed bump. I thought it was very out of character and kind of a soap operish move. The biggest problem I had with the ending was not so much the device they substituted for the one int he book but a line Dr. Manhattan utters to another character that is replaced by two other characters in the next to last scene. For me that was a very emotional part of the novel for both of those characters and reflected who they were. I did not like AT ALL that Snider shifted that line to another. It lessens its impact in a major way. That one damn thing almost ruined it for me.



But in short I really dug the rest of the movie. And I missed the plight of the people on the street. That plot is all but gone int he Watchmen. In the novel you spend time with the common street people, the inhabitants of whats left of USA. you're left with living with the rich elite and the super heroes almost. The stories of Rorshack and Nite Owl are great. I can't say enough of how perfect those parts are. Silk Spectre is also quite good, but I felt her mother played by Carla Guigino was a little overacted. The Comedian was also played quite well. Although in the novel I think he was more of a shithead than he is here. But that is nitpicking. Dr. Manhattan played by Billy Crudup is quite nice. He is not as talky as he is in the novel, and I missed some of his time shifting speeches and his F humanity scientific speak from the book as well. Overall this is a really good adaptation that for whatever reason rushes too fast to a conclusion and as a result kind of mucks up a perfect ending. I am hoping the Director's cut will find itwa way here soon, and it is about 45 mins longer. Maybe they will fill in some blanks and slow that ending down. Not to harp but it almost felt like they needed to end it because it was getting too long, and so they just made the ending shorter.

So see the movie first maybe before you read it if you plan too, and be prepared to have a blast at the movies. This is what I wanted to see when I was 12 years old on the big screen. This movie will have a hard time catching on for general audiences but I think over time it will grow in legend. This is a movie made for geeks by geeks. And now it can be done! Bring on the Green Lantern!!!!

REVIEW: Friday the 13th: The Remix

So, I got to see Friday the 13th on my 36th birthday last Saturday because the Friday the 13th showing of Friday the 13th was sold out. I did start to feel a bit mortal that day knowing that in my lifetime I have lived through twelve Friday the 13th films, and now with Hills Have Eyes, last House on the Left, and coming soon... A Nightmare on Elm Street all being remade I guess I might be at the top of the hill and about to go down age wise.

Watching Marcus Nispel's remake of Friday the 13th was fun but also somewhat of a missed opportunity in my mind. I am a big Friday fan, so I knew going in they were going to cram Parts 1-3 into one film. That's no biggie, but they crammed 1 and 2 in before the opening credits were done! So there was no buildup really of Jason and why he and his Mom had such a tight relationship. It was all crammed into a fast cutting music video style open. Lame. The slower methodical way of previous Fridays has been replaced with shaky cam. I have no problem with shaky cam mind you, but when it's done poorly it reeks of "hey guess what I can't figure out how to frame?" There is a lot of that here. And as a result it takes away from Jason's creepiness. By far the best scene in the film is when Jason shows up in a long shot as a girl is trying to swim to safety. It's a very eerie shot that actually works in full on broad daylight. And the kill of her under the dock is also the best kill. If only the rest of the film was as good as the lake sequence.




Derek Mears I think plays Jason and he is fine, but I longed for the days of Kane Hodder who played Jason in 7-10. That dude had it down. The rest of the cast shows up at a cabin, gets naked and gets dispatched but I was just really disappointed they didn't do the great 80's Camp counseler thing. (oh and all the actors look like Abercrombie and Finch models or on Gossip Girl) I think if your going to rebuild a legend, then do it in it's natural environment. I remember going to camp in the summer and the first thing we would do is start telling stories to girls about how Jason was out there and how he was coming for us. There is NONE of that kind of campfire-eque fun here. In fact you may as well just called it Friday the 13th Part 12, cause its in present day so if just forget the fact he finds the hockey mask in this one, it's as if life went on at Camp Crystal Lake.



Keep in mind I liked director Nispel's Texas Chainsaw remake, which was also shot in Austin, TX as is this one. But come on dude, maybe its because I'm from Texas but for me this was the most distracting thing about the movie to me. I would have titled it Jason Takes Tejas. Most of the other movies had a kind of East Coast Vermont feel to them. This is summertime dead tree Texas. I kept waiting for him to team up with Leatherface. (maybe that's the plan) But I never in my mind saw Jason in Texas, he lived on the East coast and ended up in New York!

Something popped in my mind though after it was over, The director of the TCM prequel TCM: The Beginning. I think its Jonathan Liebesman was originally attached to this, and he should of stayed on board instead Nispel. TCM: The Beginning is a utter brutal film, and this one is just a fun ride. Nispel just plain does not get the joke here. I had high hopes for my hommie Mr. Voorhees, but alas he has been dissed in another crappy remake. I guess as a fun slasher movie its not bad, but my hopes were higher for something that could have really setup an interesting new franchise. Instead there is really nowhere to go with a sequel without starting over yet again. Or maybe I'm just old.

V: The Redux

V was my favorite show as a kid. I loved me the hell out of some V. I was obsessed with it. I used to pretend I was Queen lizard leader herself, Diana's half lizard half earthling son working for the Resistance. Did I mention how much I loved this show, and that Diana actress, Jane Badler (pic above) and her sister are my Facebook friends?

Now for years series creator Kenneth Johnson has been trying to get a new mini-series or movie made to conclude the thing and start a new deal. But ABC has taken over and signed a deal for a new version by one of the guys behind the Terminator show and The 4400 series. I have mixed feelings about it, because this will be a "reboot" or "re-imagining" of the original. I've read the synopsis and it does nothing for me. It sounds quite boring. But now is a good time for V to come back. With the terrorism scare and crappy economy, people are scared for what's next. Lizard aliens attacking the earth would be the last thing we want to deal with, but could the rallying call America needs.

Click HERE to read the full story thanks to The Movie Blog...

Building a Home Media Player Part 1

Every once in a while on the blog here the subject of DVD and Blu-ray comes up. And usually I discuss the greatness of picture quality with those formats. And right now physical media is still the dominant way to watch movies and other forms of entertainment without quality loss. However, if you have cable and satellite you are all quite familiar with on-demand services and pay-per-view and the greatness of DVR's and Tivo's. I love my DirecTv DVRs unconditionally. They ARE the greatest things ever. The best thing about them to me is not just the ease of use but they got rid of all those pesky space taking VHS tapes, DVD discs, and bulky VCRs. I am a proponent of ditching the physical world of media all together and the convergence of the internet/tv/HD Discs etc. We should be able to come home one day, turn on our TV, check our email, go to a website and watch whatever TV Show, Movie, Sports, or Video game we want. All in one deal. Getting there is the problem now. There are too many cooks in the kitchen.

A few months ago I was talking to my brother-in-law Art, and he like me, is a great tech nut himself. Although he was late to the DVR/Tivo party, he dove in head first and hacked the thing to include a bigger hard drive to have endless recording capabilities. I'm sure many of you have iTunes, and as soon as you buy a CD (if anyone still does that) and you put it on your iTunes to build your library. As for myself I don't have any physical CD's laying around taking up countless bookshelves. They are nicely sitting on a hard drive (with a backup). They can played through out the house wireless on a network in any room. Well we wanted to do that with our DVD collections.



So in essence it's itunes for movies. But you ask, isn't that called AppleTV. Sort of. You see AppleTV only plays AppleTV files. I want all my video formats to play, not just Apple encoded stuff. So the concept is the same as ATV, without all the rules and DRM BS. So I discovered this awesome thing by Western Digital called The Western Digital HD Media Player. It plays EVERYTHING know to man.

Music - MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264),
MTS, TP, TS

I think the only thing it does not play that I could find was VC-1 which was the codec for HD-DVD's. Oh well...



And it fits in the palm of your hand for 99 bux. However before you throw down the plastic, keep in mind you have to provide a flash drive or hard drive with content on it for it to play stuff. So until I get a really good 1TB hard drive, I'm going to use a 32GB flash drive i got at Frys for about 40 bucks. It has 2 usb slots for multiple drives.

So now I have this player, how do you get your DVDs and other crap on it? Easy, but it takes a bit of planning, experimenting and time to convert you DVDs. All your other stuff like Windows media files, AVI's or home movies you might have on a hard drive, just transfer them to the drive you want to use with the Media Player and you are good to go.



No for DVD's... I'm a Mac person, but this program is available for PC peeps too. It's called Handbrake, and it's free! Handbrake will rip your DVD's and then compress them into tiny files that look almost identical to your original DVD. For instance say I have a copy of Iron Man. Let's say the Standard Def DVD is about 7GB. Handbrake will create a mp4 file of the same movie in a 1GB file. How is this possible you ask? Well the greatness of h.264 compression. DVD's are creeping up on 15 years old now. And the tech in them is MPEG2 compression. Handbrake uses h.264 to rearrange that ancient stuff into a similar file but h.264 uses much less space than 90's MPEG2. It ditches a lot of useless 90's compression info. This is the same stuff Apple uses for Quicktime and Apple TV and ipod and iphone movies. So its not that new either.



Now that I've got my DVD compressed into a tiny file, I was concerned about menus, audio commentaries, and other bonus features on the DVD. To my knowledge there is not a way yet to get the menu structure and all that stuff working, but in Handbrake there is something called .MKV files that act as a container for those MP4 files. So now I can compress the movie, multiple audio streams and subtitles all in the same container (MKV). And once played back, on the HD Media player I can select this audio stream or another one. Same with subs or chapter stops. (Although I have yet to get the chapter stops to work on all titles....)



The HD media player has HDMI out so it supports full 1080P output. the menus on the screen are very similar to a PS3 or Sony menu layout. It's pretty simple. You can create folders to sort TV shows and movies and personal home movies. So what does this all mean? It means you can now throw your own movies, and home movies, you tubes, email videos all on your portable hard drive or Flash sticks, and boom you have all your videos ready to go, just like a tivo would. And best of all this saves shelve space if you don't want to have all those pesky discs laying all over the place. You don't have go get the disc load it, wait for FBI warnings, trailers, ads, etc. It builds your library as you want it. So think of this as a giant ipod for your videos.

Now you're probably thinking but hey what about Blu-ray discs. Oh it goes there, but I have yet to get a Blu-Ray computer drive for that. But Art has, and he has done it, and the results are amazing. So that will be my Part 2 of this article. Stay tuned!