review - Sword of the Stranger

A great new anime movie, Sword of the Stranger came as a blessing.
I had noticed that for a while I hadn't seen any anime movies or series. Because they are not as popular or as well represented in the West it comes as a challenge to find those hidden gems that truly do keep coming.

Sword of the Stranger is both really well done in animation, atmosphere, choreographed action and storytelling. The story is subtle in a way as it doesn't wander into fantasy or fantastic dimensions as animation often leads people to (or perhaps they feel with animation there is a need to exploit the possibilities of over-the-top because the medium lets you get away with it more easily).
In ancient Japan we have a little boy being persecuted who meets a traveler. The boy witnesses his fighting skills and hires him to safeguard him and his dog on their journey. They become a cute trio and slowly begin to bond during their travels. On the other hand you have the group hunting the boy - a team of Chinese warriors led by an old monk.

The Chinese team is on a mission for their emperor to build a certain temple in Japan according to an old prophecy. When the time is right, the prophecy says, they must sacrifice a young boy in the built temple and this will give them the essence for eternal life - what the emperor is craving. For some reason this team believes this above-mentioned boy is the one and that they must find and sacrifice him before the time runs out.

Spoiler Alert for the next part -

This warrior team appears supernatural, however we find out that most things about them simply appear to be so from ancient Japan's standpoint - the Chinese for example have gunpowder and what looks like the first type of rifle. They also appear supernatural in their way to withstand pain, but again, we learn they use medicine that eliminates any sensation of pain for a limited time.
For some reason one of them (and this point I find highly...interesting) there is a "blond devil" with them. The most powerful warrior of them all is a European with blond hair and blue eyes, making him stand out from all others. Although in league with the Chinese, he has his own goal, to find a worthwhile foe to battle.

Needless to say, our trio is separated by the foreigners and our traveler must face the "blond devil" to save the boy.

Overall, a solid story utilizing the animation aspect to intensify atmosphere and making the action faster and more brutal then live-action movies can.

Once again Anime teaches us in the West a lesson leaving me humble as always.

rotten youth

A short review of the movie Harry Brown.



The movie follows Harry Brown (Michael Caine) who is retired but lives in a suburb that has turned into a playground for gangster teenagers. His wife dies leaving him a widdower, but when his best friend is murdered in a gruesome way by the teenage gangsters Harry takes the law into his own hands. The police seems clueless as always and thus, Harry goes on a spree...however - this is not an action movie. It is slow paced, but has strong impact at the right moments. It's fun to see an old man take on youngsters and the theme of revenge is always strong. Michael Caine also portrays his character brilliantly as a subtle, calm man, who has a hidden side to him that is revealed when he's had enough of living in fear.
One of the strongest scenes in my opinion is, when Harry goes to see drug dealers pretending to be looking to buy a weapon. The drug dealers are just so... f-'d up and out of this world that they creeped me out.

The theme, one might argue, is the f-'d up youth of Britain. This theme I found in several other movies:

Cherry Tree Lane - not recommending it as it's a highly terrifying view into a home invasion by teenage gangsters. A lot of long drastic scenes with close ups of the character puts you uncomfortably close to the happening. The whole movie seems only to have the purpose to bring to you the very last scene (which I'm not going to tell :)

Eden Lake - also not recommending it. Unless you like nasty...and cruel. That's the theme here. The movie left me feeling very bad which is maybe then successful in its goal. It's the story of a couple on a weekend retreat that is terrorized by a gang of youths. I have to say tho that I never really bought the fact that the man couldn't just whoop those teenagers asses..


The music in this movie somehow sounded familiar and had a very similar touch with The Descent. Indeed, I found its the same composer David Julyan. He is also, turns out, the composer for Heartless - the fourth movie you could count in the category as the movies above. The music for Heartless however had a theme that I noticed was inspired by the music from The Warlock. I am curious if anybody else noticed this.

The movie is interesting. It tells the story of a young man who is deformed by a large birthmark over his face. He is offered a deal by...the devil? to have a new chance at a life he never had. But dealing with the devil is never never a good idea...

remakes that should not be made

Yes folks, that's a new list I'm compiling. I've had it with terrible remakes, so from now on every time I hear of a terrible new attempt at rewarming, re-imagining or re-booting a movie... it goes on my disastrous list of (insert dramatic music) remakes that should not be made

Here recent ones that poked my eye sore..

Fright Night - I may have mentioned this one in an earlier post. Such a shame, because the original is so great. Why soil its memory?

Hellraiser - Ok, they did a ton of Hellraiser movies of which only the first is interesting. A hilarious comment I heard was that the actor who played the main character (the only character who re-appears throughout the series) Pinhead, refused to be in this reboot. Guess what the studio said...so what? We're moving on as planned!

Childs Play - after a series of only 5 movies, time to reboot. Chucky nevah dieeee...

They Live - Are you f...ing kidding me? Why? Well, at this point...why not?

Children of the Corn - after a series of 7 movies...lets start over again.

Red Dawn - Pls, explain this one to me. Original movie was based on the cold war fears of a war with Russia. This time around...who is doing the communist invasion? Obama?

This list is followed up by my second list - sequels that should not be made

28 Months later - (continuation of 28 days later, 28 weeks later) - the first one a brilliant, if not the best zombie movie out there...followed by disaster...so why continue the train-wreck?

Alien - prequel, and sadly it's Ridley Scott who's overseeing this unholy project where he explains more about the mysterious Pilot (giant alien from the first movie) and possibly the background of the Aliens themselves (biological weapon bla bla). Again, a great film followed by a brilliant sequel, not so brilliant Alien 3 and a mind-bogglingly horrendous Alien Resurrection. My question remains, why pick up a series of movies that has been ridden into the ground already. Isn't there a saying about beating a dead horse...or something like that?

Ghost Busters III - really? now? how many years later? That bubble has burst already.

Lost boys: the Tribe - copy paste comment above. This movie is already out! The best thing is..there is another one on the way called Lost boys: the thirst ...(for money?)

Are you feeling it?

Ok... this is so obviously wrong...



and if you couldn't get enough..here the male version



best of all are the slow motion shots! Whaat a workout!

Blurry

Fun trailer from Blur Studios. They have a lot of great, fun trailers on their website well worth looking at (Star Wars: the old republic, The Goon) so check them out at : http://www.blur.com/

2 Reviews - Black Death, Solomon Kane

Time for some medieval glory.

Had the joy of watching these two excellent movies and here's my impression of them.

Let's begin with Solomon Kane.
This is a real fantasy movie. To those who can relate to it - this is based on the novel by the same author as Conan the Barbarian. It was written a long time ago and is a perfectly kitch and cliche filled fable. Perhaps that is why nobody had filmed this story until now, but I was happy with the overall result. Again, I think this movie appeals to people who are into the fantasy genre.

The story tells of Solomon Kane, an evil pirate who is remorseless and greedy. Right in the beginning he is confronted with an agent of none other than Satan to claim his soul. Solomon however escapes and with fear of his soul, turns to God and away from his wicked ways. But darkness seems to spread around the lands and there seems to be no refuge from it. Solomon returns to his old home land where he was once the son of a King (before being renounced by his father) but it is here where he must realize that he cannot live a life of peace. In order to save an innocent young woman he must once again turn into that wicked person he was. There is black magic, darkness, demons and other gruesome things.

Overall it's a very dark movie. There isn't a lot of joy and happiness at all...or any for that matter. There is evil that is fought with evil. Even the whole saving the damsel in distress isn't a merry event at all. I won't go into details here but the positives of this movie for me was exactly that dark atmosphere. The main actor James Purefoy is excellent for the role of Kane but I recognized him from one of the best TV series ROME.
The negatives about the movie are the predictable storyline and the overkill at the end. Just as the climax of the movie is about to be reached, they introduce too much "cgi demoness" that made it feel more of a computer game than a movie. Too bad, because if the end had been a little more in line with the rest it would have given it an extra star from me.
One last thing that bothered me. It may seem strange, but when a characters name is dropped too many times it becomes annoying to me. And here I felt his name came up... well just too *#^&@ many times.

trailer:



On to the next>

Black Death - couldn't be a more fitting title.

This movie gets high rating from me. I just love realistic portrays of the middle ages. Things were not shiny and happy during the "dark ages". People had dirty teeth, poor health, struggled with starvation unless they were noble and kings didn't treat their subjects fair and with respect.

Again, stay away from this one if you don't like dark stories.
The story tells of England during a plague of Black Death (around 1300 A.D.). A young monk leaves his monastery to join a group of men sent by the bishop to investigate a remote village.
This village apparently hasn't seen any sign of the plague that is killing hundreds all around England at the time. Rumors tell of witchcraft and black magic that is being used as well as rituals of raising the dead.
This group of men that the monk joins is a nasty bunch and perfect for the task of bringing in a necromancer if there should be one.
A lot of the story shows how the land was plagued with this disease and the mind-state people were in. The young monk has a secret of his own and everyone is confronted with their fears during this trip.
The fight scenes are realistic, bloody and cruel - just as battles were at that time. People were not "fencing" with smiles on their faces and nobody died by a small piercing to the chest. The real thing were people bashing each others skulls in, slicing throats and chopping limbs. Watching a documentary where they researched and explained an ancient battle ground and the remains of the people that died there took away any illusion I had about those times. But I digress.

Again, I'm staying away from telling too much of the story, but suffice to say that it did take me for a little loop. I was surprised at the end, but then again surprised at being so surprised. That makes no sense I know:)

trailer:



I give Solomon Kane 3 stars out of 5, and Black Death 4 1/2 stars.

Why Inception is so important

I won't be doing a review on the movie Inception but will touch on it in the context of recent movies. Besides urging everybody who hasn't to hastily go and see this movie, Inception is so important because of the standard it follows. It's a clever, original idea, perfectly filmed with little cgi and more live action, great acting and extremely mood-setting music. It was a rare chill down the spine event to watch and I can't really recall when I had that last when I went to the movies...oh wait, The Dark Knight... also a movie by Christopher Nolan.
I think that in the swarm of mediocre to disastrous movies people have become dulled down to expect very little when going to the movie theater. If a movie just occupies them from having a clear thought, that seems just about to do the trick.
The second part is a critique that I kept hearing about Inception. "It's so damn complicated!" Honestly I don't find it that complicated at all. And when I heard somebody saying that during the movie it took them 30 seconds to turn off their phone and that had been enough to make them lose the thread... can you hear my internal screams of pain? If you make the requirement to a movie that you can step outside for a minute and when you return you want to be able to still know exactly what's going on - well then I advise you to watch soap operas instead. There you have ever repeating plot lines, just in case you missed the last 3 episodes.
Are people's attentions spans really that short??

I recently found myself on a blog where people were voting for the most anticipated movies and high up there was Cloverfield 2. A lot of people there seemed to have liked the first one and were drooling over the continuation of that nausiating experience. I remember that I literally got motion sickness while watching it because of all the camera shaking. Why I mention this is because when some people challenged the first movie, those who were in favor of it didn't have any points to defend it other than - it had a giant monster in it.... and it's strolling through NY. Oh, and somebody thought it was so realistic, I mean that party of Abercrombie and Fitch people who then decide to go follow the giant monster to see if the ex-girlfriend of one of them needed help, right...?
The movie literally didn't have a story or a plot other than, giant monster takes a stroll through NY...shot on shaky handy-cam. If that is all you need then fine, but I like to see the concept wrapped up in a compelling story. And again to my original point, THAT is what Christopher Nolan delivered with Inception and why I finally felt having been satisfied after a long dry-spell.

In the end a short newsflash. I read that Guillermo del Toro is going to film At the Mountains of Madness. This is a story by H.P. Lovercraft, one of my favorite old-school horror writers. Unfortunately none of his stories have been filmed in any acceptable way and have instead ended as B-movies somewhere on dusty shelves.
That an acclaimed director who was going to direct The Hobbit now reveals that it has been his dream to film this story is great news. I can't wait to hear more about this one.

Why I hate Disney

If you were used to watching Manga movies you may remember the old intro that those movies used to have:



It still gives me a boner...
And that is in essence why I hate Disney. If you look at this trailer that was made sometime in the late eighties, early nineties, you still get a sense of how awesome these Manga (japanese animated movies/series) are. Their understanding of animation is just a medium with which they can tell any fantastical story. Their genre isn't limited in any way which is why they still appeal to me today. I have watched my share of Manga's and though I'm far from being an expert on the issue I know what they are capable of.
This trailer made me always think as a teenager "wow, someday soon people in the West will understand the power of animation and begin a wave of awesome movies". Now, a decade later I look back and see that it never happened. Stories that couldn't have been told with a film because they were simply too fantastical were no problem for animated films. Animation gives you the ultimate freedom of telling a story. Now that the special effects (cgi) have reached a decent level, that becomes the solution. James Cameron told an interviewer that he waited for many years (10 years I believe it was) to make Avatar because the "technology" wasn't in place to make such a movie at the time. My point is, with animation it could have been done. That is what the Japanese realized a long time ago but still hasn't caught on here.

Our tradition with animation has been left to Disney. And they own everything that is related to animation (ok almost everything). The only genre we (in the West) still understand animation to be is - kids/comedy. Sure you have adults going to see these Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks movies, but they are made for kids (because then you cater to the full spectrum of age which equals more dineros). Animation is in such considered kid's stuff - and that just makes me mad. Plus, to me it doesn't get creepier than an adult telling me how much they just looooove the Lion King and have watched it more than 10 times... (get chills).
Sure, in the last few years these movies have had their humor sometimes more geared for adults and you see gentle first steps with subjects that are not the most common as stories for children.
But we are still sooooo far away from the possible mind-blowing awesomeness that could be achieved. For some time it was my goal to become an animator for that very reason.

That's why that old intro got so many memories flowing back.

Predators - Review

The long awaited movie event. Predators.
Small side-story - I was running late to the movie theater, so I was hurrying through the streets and as I got closer I began humming to myself "Long tall Sally, she's built sweet, she got everything Uncle John need -- gonna have me some fun, gonna have me some fun...". (small reference to the original Predator movie)

I'm not going to give anything away here and do encourage anyone who liked the original to see this one. By that I'm already giving away that I liked it.

It was a great fun ride throughout. As we knew from the trailer a group of people are kidnapped, put together in a jungle and hunted by the Predators.
All the chosen people were real "characters" and although I didn't like them all it still made for an interesting mix. They did an interesting turn of being similar to the original Predator movie in some ways, but then straying away from it to make this into its own movie. What I liked in particular were the WTF and ho-ly-shit moments because this movie has a lot of them. To be more precise, there are a bunch of reveals and surprises for this group of people as they move along in the jungle and you can somehow share that feeling of discovery and astonishment as they move along. That was the original's strong point. You didn't know what was going on until much later in the game. I won't go into the sequels (Predator 2, AvsP, AvsP-requiem) but suffice to say that they didn't have any of that mystery or charm (the AvsP movies actually didn't have anything to offer at all).
So while the story unfolded you never knew what would pop up next from the bushes.
They also avoided trying to "explain" the Predator-alien any further except that they added a little extra on top, which you will understand after seeing the movie.
It's funny because I was actually worried in the first three minutes of the movie, because I didn't like that they used two elements from the original right away (the music & minigun). But as the story went on it got much better.

I read a critique that was complaining about Adrien Brody as the main lead. I disagree.
First, he's a genuinely good actor, second, he wasn't what I would have expected, which is always nice as a little surprise, and third, to try to imitate Arnold with a muscle packed, macho-one-liner tossing hero would just look ridiculous. Those days are unfortunately over.

I won't be going into the small things that bothered me simply because in a long line of disappointing movie experiences, this one actually delivered and made for a really fun time to watch. And that is a lot to ask for in today's stream of sequels and remakes.

My conclusion is a pat on the back for Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal for recognizing what it was that made the original fun and unique and how to develop that into a separate new experience.

Rewriting History

U-751 - it's time to rip this movie apart.
I'm only speaking from memory, but I do remember the points well that I am going to mention. The reason for why I want to tackle this movie is because I recently bumped into a list of "10-best submarine movies" which included this title. It really made me mad and I'll explain why.

During the movie it is noted that the following story is based on true events...
The story is about a US navy submarine that is sent out during the Second World War to capture a German submarine (U-751) that is disabled. The reason that particular submarine is so important is a decoder that is on board which could decode all the German messages giving the Allied forces the upper hand in the War. Of course they succeed in the end to get the decoder and thus making the Americans the heroes of such a strategic advantage. Only, it wasn't the Americans who did that in reality. It was the British navy. At the time the British captured the so called enigma decoding machine the US wasn't even involved in WWII yet.

Such arrogance just makes me wonder. Is this an attempt to rewrite history for people who would buy into it? Movies are movies, but if based on actual events (real world war scenarios) you can't go changing things and claim it's "based on true events". I would accept it if they noted - "the following events are made-up". I mean, this was not a small fact that you could accept for the sake of making that event more interesting as a movie. This was a major war victory that cost lives of British soldiers and turned the tides of the war to a great degree. I later read that British Prime Minister at the time this movie came out, Tony Blair, said this movie to be an affront to British sailors.
Now consider that this movie won an Academy Award!

The other point I feel strongly about is how the movie portrayed the German submarine sailors as remorseless - they shoot helpless British (yep, now their British) sailors on a lifeboat that are trying to ask for asylum after the Germans sunk their ship. Such an event is said to never have happened (according to historians). The Navy of both countries had strict codes of honor in cases as such of surrendering. But again, let's ignore what history says and re-paint it with clear good and baaaaaad.

To conclude. This movie doesn't belong on any "best of" list and until the Academy Award goes to a movie about how the Allied forces invaded the beaches of Normandy without any American involvement I think this movie should be ignored.

Stereo-Types

You notice these things, sometimes they smack you in the face with it, other times you just get a small itch of "uncorrectness" not really consciously taking it in. Racism.
I'm talking about Hollywood and how they have their set race-stereotypes which they seem unwilling to move away from. Since I moved to the USA I noticed how blatantly open racism is and how people treat it as an accepted, understandable element of a multi-racial/cultural society. This is then of course reflected in Hollywood movies. The following movies are all examples that I was able to list up from the top of my head, and I'm sure if I spent more time doing so I would come up with much more.

First example is the self sacrificing black man. Don't know how they came up with this character, but he can be found in many movies where he believes in dying for his white counter-parts.

Day of the Dead (2008) - in this remake we have a soldier who is black, and willing to sacrifice himself for the white woman officer whom he didn't seem to like most part of the movie. He tries to hold back a horde of zombies screaming back to her "run, get out of here". Note, in the original no such nonsense.

Starship Troopers - I liked this movie. It had an ironic view on the military regime and didn't take itself so seriously. But still, when it came to the scene where the "bugs" were about to overrun the barbie & ken-couple, it was the black man who got wounded and offered to stay behind with a grenade taking out as many of those damn bugs on his way out.

U-751 - (starring Bon Jovi? and Matthew McConaughey, both who I have a great dislike for (as actors-love Jovi's music --"shot through the heart"...who don't love that). in this sorry excuse of a movie which I have another bone to pick later, we have the first soldier to bravely sacrifice himself for his comrades, and yes, he's black.

Also, it's more obvious if the gangster in the movie is black, right?

Daredevil - this colossal failure is built on the comic-book character of the Daredevil. In the story he fights his nemesis, Kingpin, which by the way, is a villain also often appearing in the Spiderman comics. Both in Daredevil and Spiderman comicbooks the Kingpin character is basically a mob crime boss with no supernatural powers - a huge fat bold white guy. In the Daredevil movie they decided to make him a black guy. Then why not make Superman a black man? What? did I say something wrong? Fail to see the logic in that decision.

Being married to a beautiful woman from South Korea suddenly made me aware of the Asian stereotypes and has made me more sensitive about seeing how they are portrayed.

Very Bad Things - the story is similar to the Hangover but darker. A bachelor party to Las Vegas ends with a dead prostitute and the guys decide to chop her up, bury, and forget about it.
The prostitute that dies while having sex with one of them (bangs her head) is asian. To be more precise it's an Asian porn movie actress who plays her - Kobe Tai. The point that I'm trying to get at is that if women are to be shown in a really negative way ( prostitute + dead in freak sex-accident + chopped up & buried ) then it's better to have her be Asian. It's less unsettling.

Live Free or Die Hard - on that note: in the fourth Die Hard movies Bruce Willis fights an evil Asian woman. Of course she is good at martial arts... And although Bruce gets his ass kicked most of the time, he fights her as if fighting a guy - real dirty and brutal. I remember being shocked at how they showed that kind of violence against a woman. But again, it was an Asian woman, so not as bad. Oh, and here is one of the lines Bruce says in the movie about her: "Can I get another dead Asian hooker bitch over here right away?"

Another point that my wife made was that you very rarely see a really beautiful Asian woman in American movies - unless they are "Asian hooker bitches".

I hate Valentine's Day - not worth mentioning, but since I did the mistake of renting this with my wife: in the movie the asshole buddy of the male lead character brings one of his constantly changing dates to a party and totally ignores her. Even the main female character, who is supposed to be the "hero" character and sympathetic to the viewer, treats this poor girl, who is Asian, like dirt. But hey, again, it's ok because she looks like a nerdy Asian.

The Hangover - as already mentioned above, it's a bachelor party trip to Las Vegas movie. At one point they finally find their car, which had gotten lost during their drunken night out. In the trunk they find a tied up, naked Asian guy who turns out to be a gay gangster boss(?) of inconclusive Asian background: he uses a Korean word at some point but says "kiss my chinese ***". Love how much they don't care. As long as he acts Asian and has a thick accent. They had basically kidnapped and undressed this guy throwing him into the car-trunk because one of them thought he was like a funny mascot...
Another scene was when they got their kidnapped friend back from the Asian gangster, but found out it wasn't their friend. "Our guy is white, not black!" Yes, the person they got was a black guy. They even suggest the gangster taking him back. But the black guy doesn't even get upset by their remarks.
That being said, I laughed watching this movie, partly because it was incorrect in many ways, but it just becomes obviously one-sided who ends up in what stereo-typical role.

The Relic - the female lead character is a professor working at a Museum. She is fighting to get a grant that will help fund her further research and without which she and her research team would be out of work. Oh, but that evil-nerdy-ass-kissing Asian Professor is trying to steal the grant away from her. He is portrayed as such an asshole, you just want him to get killed (it's a horror monster movie).

The only movie I ever recall having seen an Asian guy with a white female was in Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story - I guess Hollywood didn't decide to change the real story of Bruce Lee although I can really imagine one of the executives going: "Does she have to be white?"

Lastly I wanted to mention one story that I heard in a documentary. It was about horror movies and this older woman was telling how she had heard about this shocking new horror movie in 1968 called Night of the Living Dead. People had been buzzing about it and so many people were curious to see it and as was she. The real reason for that was that for the first time they had a black man in the main role. That was more shocking than the terror of walking dead people at that time. But that movie and it's remake are one of my favorite horror movies of all times because it doesn't follow cliches and treats the story just as something that is happening no matter what status the people may have had in their life previous to the horrors to follow.

They travel in Pairs

I have often found it curious how movies sometimes seem to appear at the same time with great similarities in content. Here some examples just from the top of my head:

Antz - A Bug's Life

The Abyss - Leviathan - Deep Star Six

Finding Nemo - Shark Tale

Now again I found myself wondering if these two are another case of this. Judge for yourselves.

Black Death



Season of the Witch



I am actually excited about both (despite my unexplainable dislike of Nicolas Cage) as the theme is something that I am into.
As far as I understand it Black Death is a British production while Season of the Witch is American. Notice even the similarities in the opening scenes of both trailers - a wide shot of the landscape. I wonder which movie came first?

Gold

the reason Youtube exists.

can we bottle that shit?

Sometimes I really have to picture it happening. How some Hollywood executives sit in a fancy minimalistic feng-shui office eating sushi and snorting coke as they discuss the idea for the next block-buster. And it's in these meetings where they go "what about the karate-kid goes to china? Yeah, and he meets somebody like...like...Jackie Chan who becomes his mentor! And teaches him how to fight and so forth...", "Ok but isn't that kung-fu they do in china?", "Yeah, and your point is?", "You're right, kung-fu, karate, ping-pong...it's all the same crap anyway."

Yes, I am talking about the new Karate Kid movie. Again they are not bothered with continuing the story so I guess it's a re-boot? remake? Don't even know or care. All I know and the trailer taught me is that the KARATE-kid is doing Kung-fu. It's about the principals here folks! Treat the subject with respect and knowledge. Otherwise I feel treated like a dumb ass which maybe the majority of movie goers is nowadays, since they keep going to see this crap.

Another movie I haven't seen and won't see is Memoirs of a Geisha. My wife pointed out to me that this American version of this story was unfortunately badly done though visually beautiful. To begin with most of the main actors and actresses in the movie are Chinese and not Japanese though the story inevitably takes place in Japan. My wife also mentioned at some point the music they played in the background was Chinese as well. Hm, well its Asian anyways so who cares, right?

On the same subject is the American re-do of Martyrs, a french horror movie from 2008 (yeah, just released and already re-make on the way!). It's really interesting to me because I read an interview with the makers of the planned re-do where they fully admit, that there is no way to re-do this movie. So if it's not possible then why...re-do it? What are they planning to film then? Uhm, well the subject was so interesting...so they are going to do a similar movie, not really addressing that interesting subject directly, but a thinned out version of it? I fail to see the logic behind this project or what they intend to be filming considering their admission to it not being re-doable.

The reason why it's not re-doable is very clear to me. Martyrs is the most horrifying, cruel, inhuman, perverted, sadistic movie I have ever seen. I don't recommend anyone watching it unless they are fully aware and capable to stomach it. On the other hand, it's so horrifying because it's really well done. The subject is very interesting as Hollywood recognized, yet only interesting within it's terrifying framework that the french movie delivers perfectly. There is no way to handle that subject in another way thus making a re-do or even a different take on it impossible without totally losing the impact and the whole point of it.

The original is brilliantly acted and the story is very well told. It is not predictable at all where this movie is going as you begin watching it but when you get there it becomes spine-chillingly clear. It has to be said that I am a great fan of the horror genre and am not easily spooked or disturbed by horror movies. This is why I can justify my warning. The french have recently been producing many shocking horror movies putting the terror back into the genre. Well, as some of you may know the french have a history of shocking movies not to mention literature.

This whole project is to me again Hollywood logic with their ever-lasting quest for the next big thing and the question of - can we bottle that shit?

Rule # 1

Once in a while I will watch a movie and find it bad. Then I will think why it was bad, because in some cases the concept, the actors or quality of the film was good. Then I will stumble upon what I have begun to call the "rules" of film. Here an example.

The other day I saw a movie called Walled in. It's a horror/thriller starring Mischa Barton who is probably more known for being in the tv series O.C. - or welcome to the o.c. bitch - as I like to call it. I didn't like this movie. And here is what rule it broke that made me not like it -

Don't derail from a set direction.

The movie is about a demolition company rep (Barton) who is sent to this creepy apartment building in the middle of nowhere to begin preparations for it's destruction. The building has a history as many bodies had been discovered within its walls and the architect was supposedly a genius. We later find out that the architect was obsessed with mythology and ancient cults and the idea is planted that he may have been up to some creepy things. In the building's entrance there is a strange mark on the wall and overall you could imagine something bad going on in that building. When Barton stays in one of the apartments during her assignments she has spooky nightmares and hears a dead girl's voice from within the walls. Many times she hears or sees something ghost-like.

Now all this told me it was going to be about the architect and some kind of unholy rituals connected with the building as well as a healthy dose of ghosts. I was so sure that in the end she would blow up the building and free the trapped souls that had been captured there by the evil architect. pustekuchen (as the German might say).

We find out, yes the architect killed the people who were found walled in and he did so believing that would make the building stronger (?) but there are no ghosts, and there is nothing supernatural going on.... in fact, the evil architect has been trapped in the building himself by a grieving mother who's husband the architect killed... and the mother's son entraps Barta's character together with the architect because he loves her and doesn't want her to leave.... but in the end when the destruction crew comes he finally confesses to her still being trapped in there and she is saved. By this time Barta has killed the architect, not because he was going to hurt her, but because he wanted her to "sacrifice him" so he could die within his building.

My point is, the movie gave every indication to it being about something supernatural. And the idea of some sort of ritual and captured souls within the building was something I was getting warmed up to. But then taking the movie into another direction - a psychotic boy who's in love - left me disappointed as well as frustrated.

As with every rule, there are exceptions. For example From Dusk 'till Dawn. That movie does the derailing in a brilliant way. It takes you on in a new direction half way through but rewards you with a totally twisted, fun and original plot.

I will continue to ponder such rules and will bring them up when I have good examples.

free fall

Just an amazing video:

Finish Him

Ok. Here is a trailer that made my day.



Yes, for every Mortal Kombat fan, this movie seems to deliver the promise of a fun movie! This is one re-boot that I'm in favor of! The first movie was just funny with it's techno music and fight scenes as well as a healthy dose of bad acting. Just by watching the trailer for the new one I see they did so many things right this time... killed off Johnny Cage that boring p.... and instead of Kung Lao we now have my favorite MK character the lead in the story... Scorpio!!! Yes the nerd in me took over. Also a great idea is to make Barraka and Reptile just very twisted humans. Gory glory.

It was first said to be released in 2010 but there is a 2013 date out there as well which I think is more likely seeing that it's been so quite about this movie as well a newsflash saying another production company is suing Warner for whatever reason, thus preventing an earlier release.

But this one goes on the list!

Vikings on acid

Here is the trailer for a movie I was excited about - Valhalla Rising



But what a let-down! If I may summarize: it's a movie about Vikings on acid. There you have it. It's one bad trip in the length of a movie. Actually to be fair, it starts out quite well. It's mysterious, brutal and serious, like a viking movie should be. But then it goes off... and never lands back on the ground. As far as I could tell the storyline is this - one bad-ass guy is a slave forced to fight staged fights for his master, similar to a gladiator. He then escapes killing everybody who enslaved him. On his way through the lands of England(?) he meets christian warriors (sitting around a pile of butchered people) who are about to set sails to Jerusalem. He accepts the invitation. In between he has spaced out visions in red. There are long shots of his face staring into the distance. Next comes a long scene on the boat they travel on. There is nothing but fog, depression and spaced out visions again. Now they have apparently landed in America ! Yes, somebody didn't know how to navigate or was too spaced out the entire trip. And now the real tripping begins. They wander off, bathe in mud, float in water, pile up stones and there are more visions in red. They start killing each other until at the end (spoiler alert) our main bad ass drops his weapons and walks towards a group of hostile looking indians only to be beaten to death. The end.

Jeesh. I felt bad after having spent all that time watching this thing.

So on to the next movie - Kick Ass
Apparently its based on a comic and is essentially a movie about a teenager who decides to try to be a superhero and fight crime. The movie has it's moments and is amusing but very clearly a teen flick. But here's where it lost me a little. It decides to show brutal actions scenes with people being stabbed, shot in the face, blown to pieces, burned alive and so on. It comes as a surprise especially when the person doing most of the mayhem is an 11 years old girl! Yes, she has been trained by her daddy (played by Nicholas Cages) to fight crime in a costume. The scene that I had trouble with was when her father, as part of the training, shoots the girl in the chest with a gun. She was wearing a bullet-proof west we find out, so she survives, but am I the only one who finds just something still wrong about this?
I watch horror movies depicting the most brutal and horrific scenes with delight in my eyes, but I have some areas where I say "don't go there!". Although I had fun watching this movie, I still have to say - that crossed a line for me.
I just think that movies are beginning to push the limit to shock the audience but funnily enough showing nipples is still off limits and we should rather watch someone slowly burn alive. It just feels strange as this is a movie directed mostly to a younger audience (teens).
A totally different point is the music. In one action scene they played a Prodigy song which was kind of cool because I love that song and had actually thought to myself it would fit as a theme to a movie. But then during a dramatic scene I suddenly shouted "HOLD ON you somomab...!!" - in my head. They used the music from one of my favorite movies of all times - 28 days later. Now I don't know the rules here but in my book, that's a HUGE no-no. If you have read my posts you will have noticed I pay attention to movie music and am greatly influenced by it. That's why I associate certain theme songs with that movie. Hearing it used in another movie automatically degrades that movie to me as it couldn't even be bothered with composing it's own music. So a big minus on that account!

Sandwitch

Have a few themes today all squished into a mouth-watering snack.

Let's begin with some news. Just read that another anime title is being made into a feature film - Wicked City. Assume that nobody has seen this but me so I should explain that this is more of a hentai movie. It has strong sexual content which I don't think will be translated into the feature film (too bad). I loved the story-line from the original which is based on a Japanese comic. The story tells of a demonic parallel world that is breaching into our world and a team of agents from both sides, human and demons, which is meant to eliminate any demons that cross over to protect the balance. Heard rumors that the making of this film is still uncertain although preparations have begun. I think it's a cool story-line that could make a great movie, yet as always - I shall remain skeptical as Blood: the last Vampire has taught me to be.

Another re-make that's in the making is Fright Night - a great 80's teen-flick that I watched countless times and doesn't lose its charm. That is why I am not sure why this movie is being made or what it wants to bring to the table. It now plays in Las Vegas and as I read it is to have more links towards modern times ...whatever that means ("dude, when I face-booked him I found out he's a blood sucker!").

Next a movie recommendation. Timecrimes. This is a totally under-played low budget gem that I stumbled upon and comes from Spain. I have a hard time to label this as I found it under the category of horror yet it has strong elements of suspense and subtle science fiction. In fact, this is in my opinion, one of the better movies with the theme of time-travel. The logic of time-travel and the effects of it can often be very confusing and many stories have been unable to keep a strong logic behind these effects. The movies that stood out to me were titles like - 13 monkeys, the butterfly effect, the jacket and terminator. But back to Timecrimes. I don't wish to go into the story as it is delicious for an unsuspecting viewer and often times had me feeling "where the hell are they going with this?" but ended with me going "aaaah." I hope that tells you all you need to know. So now go and see it!

Swede-o-mania

For those who have missed it, there have been a few gems turning up from Sweden recently so I want take the time to introduce some of them.

To begin with there is Let the right one in. This is one of the best vampire films out there and came out of nowhere leaving me baffled when I first saw it.
The story is unusual to begin with as it's about vampires, but the main antagonists are kids. It follows a young boy who befriends a girl seemingly his age that turns out to be a vampire. This movie perfectly balances the childish playfulness and humor with brutal reality. It places vampires as simple reality and treats the fact without glamor, special mysticism or the expected romantic/erotic features that we have come to expect. Also the story is told without the usual drama surrounding the blood-suckers. This was what made the movie stand out to me.
The actors were thankfully brilliant. Children acting in movies are such a big risk because there simply aren't that many good actors that young out there. We have all sat through a movie that placed too much focus on a badly acted youngster, which in turn destroyed the entire movie even if the co-actors did a brilliant job.

Of course, this movie is being re-done by Hollywood (explain to me why?). I knew it was a bad idea from the start, but when i heard the title I let out a long and heavy sigh. After watching the movie I felt the original title Let the right one in could both be seen from the boy's perspective - as he must invite the vampire in before she could enter his place (as is the common rule of vampires) and by doing so is risking his life, but also from her perspective - as she is searching for a new companion that she desperately needs to survive and must equally trust with her life.
The american title is - Let me in. Yep, no need to think on this one. Either they didn't get the original title or felt it was too complicated. The same way I expect the movie will be a watered down version of the original stripped of any scenes or story twists that might have you think for a second.


The second movie is actually a trilogy also known as the Millennium trilogy. A Swedish author and journalist by the name of Stieg Larsson wrote these books passing away just after finishing the last in the series. These have now all been filmed and were a great surprise to watch.
The first movie/book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can actually be seen as a stand-alone as it is a complete totally gripping story with a beginning and proper end (in contrast to the "to be continued...."). The story follows a journalist, who has been disgraced after a seemingly shocking report by him backfires and he is jailed for fabricating allegations. He receives a second chance when a rich old man hires him to track his niece and find out what happened to her. The twist: she mysteriously disappeared 40 years ago.
The journalist teams up with a young goth-looking woman, who turns out to be a brilliant researcher with a story of her own. We equally follow her (to who the title refers to) and the search for the missing girl. Both stories are brutal and tie you to the chair through the movie.
Again the stories are told without being dramatic about it.

The second movie -The Girl who played with Fire is undeniably a filler that leads you to the third and last movie. It is not bad, yet since it lacks the same sense of completion it feels a little weaker than the first one. The story is however very intriguing and takes you on a ride to a destination unknown. We now come to realize that the young punk-girl plays a much greater role and her story expands into the unexpected.

The third and last movie - The Girl who kicked the hornets' nest is the resolution of the entire story. It slows the pace and is more about clearing up the mysteries and finding piece and finally serving justice.

These movies get the highest grade from me and I strongly recommend checking them out.

If you are into horror movies, here at the end two good European slashers as a bonus since you read the whole thing :)

Norwegian - Fritt Vilt (english - Cold Prey)
Austrian - In 3 Tagen bist du tod (english - dead in 3 days

Proven Wrong

Ok, I'm the first to admit when I'm wrong, so it's funny that just one post ago I was complaining about a lack of good sci-fi movies coming out.

Then I watched Pandorum. This movie surprised me as I wasn't expecting much. It was actually really fun to watch and had some great twists at the end. Here is my short review and to be fair - Spoiler Alert! I will be going into some story plot details.

The movie tells the story of the passengers on a space-ship that is headed to a second Earth after the mother-planet is well on the way to ....die? explode? become very very unconfortable?

The main hero, played by Ben Foster, wakes up with a memory loss and finds himself on this ship that seems to have gone to hell. Most of the passengers are missing and he finds corpses that have been brutally gutted. Creatures begin to chase him that look like mutated barbarians. It's overall very confusing, but slowly, as his memory comes back, he is able to find clues and people that explain what happened on the ship.

Dennis Quaid plays another pilot who woke up, but stayed in the sleep chamber room while our hero (B. Foster) goes on his dangerous trip to gain control of the ship. Quaid has not been a brand for quality movies recently but did a good job of playing this deranged pilot who turns out to be the reason for all the havoc on the ship. Ben Foster was excellent and carried the story through some of the rough spots.

Fun fact - one other survivor that Fosters character meets is played by Cung Le, my favorite mixed martial arts fighter. If you go watch some of his fights on youtube - you'll see why. This guy is a f***ing killing machine. And I really dig his fighting style.

The idea behind the mutants I thought was pretty original and cool - the people on board the ship had been injected with a serum that would help their bodies adapt to the new environment on the planet they are heading to - but due to them waking up during the long trip, some of them mutated as an adaption to the space ship.

The other really cool idea was what had happened to the ship and where it had gone since everything had gone out of control. We don't find out until the very end when Dennis Quaid opens up the view of the cockpit and we see ....nothing. Pitch black. Ideas start flying through your head as to what that could mean...and then they see glowing creatures....and realize that they already landed on the planet a long time ago and are under-water.

Over-all the atmosphere, acting, story made this a really good original sci-fi movie. So - take that Geroge Lukas! :p

Smokin'

Here a link to a video of the Icelandic Volcano which everybody should have heard of by now.

http://vimeo.com/11673745

Makes me wonder if this was the islands reaction to the things going on over there - smoking out the bad guys... But a beautiful video non the less.

Once the international community has agreed to cut the debt we will turn it off...promise :)

use the Force

Ok just had to post this ad I found. It made me laugh, and wonder where does the force not flow? Is there something they haven't branded with Star Wars by now?


The best thing I heard was that they will actually be launching a Star Wars animated sitcom/comedy show.... about what the characters would be doing if they were not fighting an evil empire.... omg brilliant. I hope it stars Jar Jar Binks. Hesa ma favorite. Please, somebody..saber me already.

I don't mind if a movie or novel (like Harry Potter) create some products for the fans. Some people really want to have the toy or the costume. But then there is selling out...when you don't even stick to what you originally had anymore. George Lucas has strayed so far away from the original concept because he has branched it out to everything relater or not-related already.
It is my personal opinion that by re-visiting the Star Wars univers as much as he has, Lucas has prevented any significant new introductions in the sci-fi genre. Most things are automatically compared to the now-over-used Univers which was exciting once...in a time...long long ago....

Movie Review II - Blood: The last Vampire

After watching the feature film Blood: the last Vampire I felt it was yet another missed chance. Increasingly (and rightly so) a lot of Anime titles have been filmed. In recent news I heard that Leonardio DiCaprio picked up the biggest title Akira. I have no doubt that if they ever film it they will mess it up completely. That wouldn't even be so much their fault as Akira is very specific in its reference to the japanese culture and about the youth of a new generation taking over to lead a new culture - among other themes. Also the story is extremely complex and multi-layered making it extremely un-fitting for a large-audience action film.

But back to BLOOD. The anime is actually a short movie (50 min. long) and was an attempt of bringing forward an original story instead of using existing stories (from the japanese Manga as is so often done).
Even for being a short film with a simple story it's again layered and feels like much more than just an entertaining short-film. The storyline is a Vampire Slayer (who is an old Vampire herself) is hunting down the Blood Suckers with the help of a secret organization. Her hunt leads her to an American military base (story takes place in Japan). However the story takes place during the Vietnam war, which I thought was a great twist. It made it more easy to connect to it somehow.

The feature film is hard to place as it's a collaboration brought up by the producer of Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger, with the help of PATHÉ (french film company), Manga Entertainment and Production I.G. (who made the original Anime version). The main actress is Korean yet the language used in the movie is English.
The director Chris Nahon is french and had done music videos and commercials previously. Why him?

The Korean actress is cute and has the right look for the role as well as being a decent actress...yet her English is terrible. It's a pain to listen to.
The simple enough story is messed up. Now it follows much more the daughter of a General on the base, a character that never existed in the original story. Next we have a "bad boss", the leader of the Vampires. Oh, and last but not least - the Vampires aren't really Vampires but some kind of Demons. There is a long scene from the past of our Vampire Slayer girl from ancient Japan which is nothing but a weird kung-fu action scene with some ninja-like guys supposed to be Demons. The main bad boss shows up and also looks very human.
I don't want to spoil the end for you who wish to see this movie ...but I can't resist as it made me laugh. As the Vampire Slayer is fighting the bad boss - who is a woman (again someone who can't speak English) - the Bad Boss reveals "I am your mother".

Brilliant. Not only do they use the Luke drama but both are asian women who are very hard to understand while they have this dramatic conversation. Made me cringe.

In the very end I save a scene I thought was a really bad rip-off. Check the clip below (with the kung-fu scene described above) but scroll to minute 7:30.



A Demon attacks them while they are driving a truck. Immediately I was reminded of this scene from Underworld: Evolution




Conclusion. Blood: the last Vampire was a movie I had actually been excited about after I first heard rumors they were making it into a feature film. Another great chance flushed down the toilet because people who don't know the material they are dealing with.

All in all 10 out of 10. ;)

Predators trailer

Should I dare hope...

here is the first trailer for the upcoming movie Predators (note the "sss") and below my thoughts on it.



I have to say, I'm actually excited. But it's the kind of careful "I may be setting myself up for a disapointment" excited. When I first heard of this movie I had gone through the traumatic experience of watching Aliens vs Predator as well as AVP: Requiem and just dismissed it as a disrespectful milking of a perfectly awesome movie concept.
However once again I will bring up the comparison to the Batman franchise as I think it's similar to the extent that it was going from bad to ...excruciating waste of time until Batman Begins turned it into what it should have been, recognizing it's true potential.
The Predator series was last sodomized by the Strause brothers, a director duo of Doom who proudly explained how they were bringing the franchise back to the fanbase by using the original soundeffects from both Aliens and Predator in the movie.....
For you who haven't had the pleasure to see this movie, yes, it sounds as bad as it sounds...if you get my meaning. It felt like copy - pasted sequences from other movies, which, in effect, it was.
Now with Predators I am daring to hope a little that this might be a joyride for an oldschool sci-fi horror fan such as myself. The reason for my optimism is both in the cast and the look/feel of the trailer. Adrien Brody was a great pick because never would I have thought of him and surpsises like that are only good, since a muscle packed Arnold-wannabe just wouldn't have felt right; plus Adrien is a great actor (YES, good acting is important). Morpheus is also a nice choice as he has the badass aura since the Matrix.
The other thing that I liked was the fact that from the trailer I didn't see so much cgi. It felt like hardset (real backgrounds as opposed to greenscreen cgi backgrounds) and real life effects and costumes which brings me back to my critique on overuse of cgi. The fact that you had the Predator there and not a pixel figure made all the difference and why the original Predator movie is still now extremely watchable. Real life effects don't age if they are done well. If you watch The Thing - the special effects still give me a chill down the spine... now that's what I'm talking about.

Lets see what Rober Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal bring to the table in July.

Movie Review I

What follows is my first movie review. I should call it rant though, because I feel a strong burning sensation within to rip this movie into pieces...verbally.

Last weekend me and my wife wanted to have a movie night, an evening I look forward to. "Could you pick a comedy" - my wife asked. So when I rented a movie called Funny People, I expected at least the standard comedy. Instead we sat through what I suspect will be the worst movie of 2010 - and the year just started.

Let the symphony of laughter begin. The movie stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen (recently seen in many comedies). As the titles began we see the hand-held footage of Adam Sandler with friends doing phone-pranks, none of which are funny. This was the first omen of what was to follow...
The basic story follows Seth as an amateur comedian who is picked up by Adam Sandler playing a famous, successful comedian (himself?). Sandler has just heard that he has an illness and may die soon. Ha-ha. We watch as the depressed Sandler struggles with his fame, loneliness, loss of humor and life itself. He hires Seth to write his jokes (which aren't funny) and be his bitch (tasks include talking Sandler to sleep and bringing him his diet coke at request). Sandler then finds out he isn't dying, tries to hit on his former girlfriend, who by now is married with two kids, fails and is a complete d**k the whole time.

Anybody found the punch line yet?

I said this was the basic story because it is actually way more confusing or should I say all over the place. We also follow Seth and his friends, all aspiring comedians - still nothing funny going on. Seth likes a girl who ends up sleeping with his roommate, Seth back-stabs his other friend out of the gig with Sandler and we see Sandler meet with other famous comedians or celebrities. Here is a scene - Ray Romano (from the show Everybody loves Raymond) is talking with Seth while Sandler sits at a table with Eminem. The whigged out rapper begins to shout at Ray Romano for staring at him which prompts Seth to throw this awesome line: "I thought everybody loves you?" Get it? Ray Romano - Everybody loves Raymond - Eminem doesn't.... somebody shoot me already.

NONE of the characters are in the least bit likable. With Sandler being the uber-d**k, rich and spoiled, treats Seth like his slave, ignores his family, easily picks up two girls, one of which was intended for Seth but ends up sleeping with both himself. He also visits his former girlfriend at her house, while her husband is away on a business trip, plays with her two daughters and then has Seth babysit the kids while he sleeps with their mom. He tries to get her to abandon her husband and destroy the family but fails.

By now surely you must have noticed the brilliant underlying humor...no? Me neither.

All in all, this movie didn't know what it was trying to be - a comedy/drama/coming of age story. It fails miserably as it's not funny, you don't like the character to feel sorry for him (instead I was hoping he'd finally drop dead), and there is no realization, no self discovery going on. Sandler is a douche and stays a douche in this movie.

I haven't been this disappointed in a long time and part of it might be that I don't have the luxury to watch movies in piece with my wife very often.

I can only implore that if you see a copy of this movie around, burn it hastily so that it may fade quickly in the history of - the minutes of my life that I will never get back...

All in all five out of five stars. (kidding)

Sounds of the Future

To continue my music recommendations, here something entirely different. This is a band I discovered today and is a rising star apparently. The name of the band is Die Antwoord. It would be hard to put in words what kind of band it is so I shall let the music and accompanying videos speak for themselves (FYI - the videos are almost more interesting than the music). You get a brief introduction by the artists themselves and the last thing I will add to it is that they are from South Africa. Below you find two of their songs.

Enjoy

The Rise of Man & Religion

If Aliens landed in my backyard, this is how I would explain our history to them.





Oh Patton, your my hero.

Ba-bara-baaa

Film Music is something that has greatly influenced me. Often I have felt that movies have been raised into excellence through those grandiose tones that convey so much emotion and tell the story through sound. The music often stuck with me and so early on I began buying movie soundtracks. There are however two kind of soundtracks - the actual classical music that plays during the movie and then the compilation of bands that contribute songs without the songs being played in the movie most of the time (makes me wonder what that kind of soundtrack has to do with the movie? Merchandise! Aaah!)

The first soundtrack I ever bought was, if my memory serves me correctly, Tim Burton's Batman. Although before this I had an lp album of both Ghost Busters and Shocker, both of which are a blast for me to listen to even today. The Shocker album contains Alice Cooper's first and I believe only attempt to rap! Priceless.

But today I want to mention a few great, and I mean great, classic soundtracks that have stood out to me. All of these movies are thus also favorites of mine.
In no particular order let me present to you my list of awesomness:

Solaris



8mm



Perfume: Story of a Murderer



Rome (the TV series-yes, not technically a movie yet belongs to great soundtracks)



The Dark Knight



Aliens (James Horner is a genius)



Watching the making of Aliens I learned that the movie went way behind schedule when James Horner was asked to deliver the music to it. The movie had not been fully shot or edited, so he began composing with an unfinished movie. To top it off he had to do the final resolution piece over night. During one night he composed that great bit! I have even more respect for the man now. The story goes that he pushed for more time but the producer of the movie, Gale Ann Hurd, told him she would fire him and get somebody else to do it. James Horner replies - if you can get somebody else who can compose this piece overnight then I'd like to meet him. (in your face!) How cool is this guy...

You read my mind

A short clip in response to the last video. This guy puts in words my thoughts on the matter.

Fresh Baked

Yes, this blog still has that brand-new-just-rolled-out-of-the-factory smell and I am warming up to it.

Thought of the day: Re-make vs Sequel vs Re-launch

Just when I thought things were getting out of hand - here comes Hollywood with the newest trend. Now when people say there is nothing new around, I don't agree. There is plenty new. You just don't bother to look most of the time and thus have to eat what you are being catered.

Re-makes have been done for a very long time. I don't have much against them - HOWEVER - there are rules. For example, a certain amount of time must have passed. You can argue about how many years, but in my opinion, the longer the better. The second rule is - bring something new to the table. If a re-make is nothing but the same story told over again then what is the point. Just to introduce the awesomeness to the next generation - you are basically saying people are too lazy to go to the video rental and pick up the old one.

Example: Nightmare on Elmstreet. Now a re-make will soon be released. After watching the trailer and being familiar with the original I noticed they had at least two exactly same shots as the original. And this just from the trailer. So what is new?

Sequels are a whole different subject. They were mostly frowned upon until...Aliens. Damn you James! With one brilliant movie he proved sequels don't have to suck and so followed a new era of ...let's continue this and see how much we can milk it. Best thing I heard recently will be or has been made is Lost Boys II.

Returning to the new invention of Hollywood, the re-launch. It would seem Hollywood is in a crisis. They would rather chop off their right hand than do an original new movie. So when a series has been stretched as painfully far and finally snapped its spine they simply re-launch it. That means, they do the whole thing over again. Nightmare on Elmstreet can be seen both as a re-make as well as a re-launch because depending on its success they will continue it. So ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the circle of death. We will now have to watch the same things over- and over- and over- again. Add a little new special effects here, a new face there - voila! (they won't even notice it's the same thing).

But aren't you forgetting something? Indeed. There is a fourth category - the prequels!
Oh man, if this isn't going to blow your mind. Now we get the story before the story.
I recently heard Ridley Scott will be directing a prequel to Alien. A story set before the first one. They have to come up with a oscar-award plot to make this one interesting. Or make sense for that matter. And Ridley taking the project is adding salt to the wound. But then again, when I heard Batman was going to be re-done by a guy named Christopher Nolan I thought "what can he possibly do to make it interesting again?". So should I dare to hope...

Inglorious first Words

Enter the madness that is my blog of doooom. Yes, from herein it shall contain words. No illustrations. Words. Yes, a whole new side of me you didn't know existed.

This space shall contain my ramblings mostly on movies, stories, the entertainment business and, well pretty much anything that comes to my mind. As I am starting to write my own stories I need a space to put some of my thoughts to pixel.

To kick the party off a movie-review a friend of mine recommended (thanks Tyler). (watch all 7) :