Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ahhh, so you found your father's old stag movies, didn't ya?



So Veloute asked me to do up my list of my favorite horror movies. That could be a pretty long list, so I think it might be better in chunks. (No pun intended). First up, to get them out of the way, the gems from my generation. The obvious group, really. This would be anything from the 70s, 80s and 90s...and only one from current releases, as it turns out...it's hard not to put 60s stuff on there...but that will have to be a later list.

And I'm not including thriller-type stuff, like Silence of the Lambs, Seven, etc. even though those may be some scary-ass movies. And these are my personal faves, so there are a few on there strictly for laughs and nostalgia, like #16.

If it's bold, it's Top Ten Material!

25 CLASSICS (for those of us in our late twenties to early thirties?)

1. Halloween (Totally).



2. The Fog (1980)
3. Black Christmas (1974)
4. Cujo (I kinda blame this movie for me never really liking dogs).
5. The Descent (yes, the only one from recent years worthy enough to make the cut!)
6. Re-Animator (ah, truly memorable scenes, this one).
7. Ginger Snaps



8. Jaws
9. The Thing
10. An American Werewolf In London (best opening ever)
11. The Exorcist (remastered)
12. Creepshow (ROACHES!!!!!!)
13. Fright Night (the guy who plays Evil is currently doing gay porn, and lots of it!)



14. From Dusk Til Dawn
15. Lost Boys
16. Shocker
17. Carrie (to date, my best-ever Halloween costume)



18. The Shining
19. Poltergeist
20. Silver Bullet
21. Terror Train
22. DeadAlive (aka Braindead) (no shit, hands down perhaps the goriest movie ever made)



23. Christine


24. The Fly
25. Tenebre (Argento)

And really, it's an incomplete list, after all, I've never seen CHUD, The Howling, it goes on. And go ahead and let me have it, I was never a big Evil Dead fan. Bite me. I debated about Saw, I probably need to see it again, but for now? Meh.

Honorable Mentions....

1. Session 9
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (really have to be in the mood for this one, but there's nothing like it!)
3. Deep Red

I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.



From my dad, Cracked's take on The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World.

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

If your memory was as long as your dick, you'd be in good shape.



I've had that saved on my desktop for a while...I believe my dad sent it to me, with a blurb noting that sadly, that children's book was no longer available. It had been such a long day that it took me a whole three seconds.

So what do you imagine when you imagine Vermont? Cause I tend to picture things like this...



or this....



But I googled images and lo and behold.....



Totally.

Anyway, that's where I'll be til Sunday. Off playing with Veloute and fam! D's first trip up there...hmm, I seem to keep taking him to that part of the country...we'll have to spice it up! (One day).

Currently I'm torn between rejoicing in my red wine that I don't have to go back to work til November (okay, the 1st) and the fact that I'm going to have to wake my ass up around 3:30am to get to the airport. If I were ten years younger I might be able to just pull on through til boarding the plane. Sadly, I also want to appear presentable. And by that I mean not yakking on anyone's shoes.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Is Moose angry?



Alex sent me an article about the new Ed Burns movie Purple Violets, and how it got decent reviews but no one really wanted to, you know, pick up the tab. (And considering the films he made after The Brothers McMullen and She's the One, I too might give pause). But it's a really interesting article and idea, and shit, I might download it. Although I guess they start around $9.99...ok, I'll probably have to have a couple glasses of wine first and then get nostalgic for my freshman year in college (so maybe eight glasses of wine?) when Brothers came out...and then I'll download it. But it's an interesting article.



Cinema Mark sent me this, too cute. This is REALLY Mouche. Except the end, really. (Sound is essential).

Sunday, October 21, 2007

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

Thanks to my dad and Rotten Tomatoes, I now know The Title...



Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me.

I remember when I used to seek out movies by the Coen brothers, but I realized that not since Lebowski in '98 ('98!) has their stuff been any good. Shit, I never did see Ladykillers. But it looks like they may be getting back to their good, dark roots... Saw this trailer before Gone, Baby, Gone...

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Hey, I always notice the bored look in their eyes.

It's way past my bedtime for an early worktime tomorrow, but I must say...it was a really decent movie.



I wasn't creaming the seats, I mean, first of all, Casey Affleck was amazing, he really was. But man, Patrick just needed to be...you know...a little more weathered. And Angie? Jesus, was she the brunette broad standing behind Patrick the whole time? She had five lines and maybe two good tiny scenes. Nothing against Michelle Monaghan, she did great...but the natives of Boston had more screen time than she.

And Bubba needed another ten years and some clout. Bubba is one scary mother fucker in the books. In this I thought he'd rather be off playing Mario Brothers. Does it make me sound old to say that everyone needed to be ten years older?

I have to admit, Ben gets a total high five for staying true to the original material (for the most part...the last half and ending are pretty true, if memory serves...shit, I hope so, that was a pretty big downer). Though I will never understand starting with the FOURTH novel in the series. All that fantastic character development...gone...

But D did like it quite a bit, not having read any of them, so that's good. And I just know it has led to a fairly animated discussion of what one would do in their place at the end of the film. Mine and D's traditional roles seem to have been swapped...I took Patrick's side (the conservative view) and he's taking Angie's (the liberal view). I would have never guessed. Inasmuch as I do agree with Angie, I don't know that I would actually do what she suggests at the end.

And afterwards, we were the only people left in the theatre as they cleaned up. One server asked us what we thought.

EA: "Well, I liked the book better, but it was great!"

Ignorant fucktard: "I don't read. Books don't have enough moving pictures for me."

What do you say to that??

And then OUR server was picking up and asked the same fucking thing. Distancing myself a little, I offered...

"Well, it was pretty true to the original material, it was good."

"Oh, really? It's a book?"


Is it me, am I a total fucking snob?

As long as I'm a total bitch snob, there were some decent trailers, notably Margot at the Wedding, the new Noah Baumbach starring Nicole Kidman and Jack Black.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Oh man. Well, we all gotta die, right? I'm the guy who gets to do it saving the world.

I was going to use the animal cracker line just to creep Alex out but that one was just too awesomely awful. Go, Ben.



Goddammit. I'm really just going to have to bite the bullet on this one and watch Gone, Baby, Gone. Not only have I yet to read a single bad thing (my dad sent a bunch of reviews and I checked out the New York Times' review as well) but everyone seems really impressed with Casey Affleck, which was one of my biggest objections in the first place. (Nothing against him, he just doesn't say "Patrick Kenzie" to me). Apparently everyone is just creaming themselves over his performance. Ok, that may be extreme. Mostly everyone's going, "Holy shit, who knew the boy could ACT??"

I always really enjoy the Times' candid explanation of the ratings. Why is Gone, Baby, Gone rated R? "There are several scenes of intense and bloody violence, and a horrifying subplot involving a pedophile." As opposed to the tame pedophile subplot, ah.

And who knows, I might like it. It's been a while since I read it, so that helps, and I'm a big girl. I don't need to let my loathing for the director's acting choices taint my opinion of this movie. He was, I suppose, fairly decent in Hollywoodland, after all. Shit, I'm actually starting to look forward to it.

But seriously, whoever made that fucking preview should be brained.

On a separate note I got pretty excited today when I realized my vacation starts NEXT THURSDAY. VERMONT!!! Time to break out the sweaters! And I managed to get a few extra days at the last minute so we can sneak down to Austin for a night for the anniversary. *SO STOKED*

Turtles and BBQ on the river, here we come.

If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath - would you be standing in the horror section?

That picture was up for way too long, ick. Here's something much more interesting to look at...(and how serious is this?)



And my dad sent me a NY Times article about how there seems to be a sudden deluge of actual WATCHABLE, GOOD movies coming out in theatres this month, one of which I have below...(and I really hope they aren't showing the whole movie, as one might worry from the trailer). And I never saw the original...

Monday, October 15, 2007

But perhaps we sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my precious. It likes riddles?

I totally stole this from Skyler's Dad's site.

Jennifer Aniston? Are you fucking kidding me? Can Telly Savalas be my godfather, too then? And could they have found an uglier Lara Flynn Boyle picture? Then again, she does kinda look like that all the time.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone.



Never mind the cats were both out cold for their afternoon siesta, or that I had the music in the den on quite loud, Mouche still managed to hear the crinkle crinkle of me wrapping a present. Wrapping paper and bows is the closest I have come to discovering kitty crack. He actually behaved quite well for once. I have found that I simply cannot use ribbon. It is just not an option.

I finally found birthday presents for my soon-to-be-three niece Sophia. I found a foofy princess dress, which will hopefully be fun for dress up and different than the ones she has. She will also now have her own art kit in the shape of Hello Kitty, something her older sister Fiona already has.

I found it difficult to shop for her (do they have too many/will her older sister covet it, thus making it even cooler/will it fit/is she too young/old for it/is it made in China), but on the other hand, suddenly there was a TON of stuff that Fiona, nearly six, is suddenly old enough for. A child's guitar! Lite Brite! (And Sophia is now old enough that she hopefully won't ingest them). You always find what you're not looking for...when Fiona's birthday rolls around in February there will be a ton of good Sophia stuff before my eyes. And then...I found a little corner of an isle with electronic toys.



He's called I-cy. You plug your ipod in and he dances and lights up. He makes noises when he wants attention and he does not like to have his tail flicked (?). His belly has multiple lights. He may dance to music whether or not he's plugged into an ipod, I don't know. I just know I kinda want one for me.

It got better.



Mio Pup! Hellooooo Christmas!

And on a completely different note I recently watched both The Changeling and The Brood and need to write them up for the little site I try to post on. They want me to post pics with film reviews but go on and on about copyright. Hmmm. The Brood was especially tasty, if you're wondering about that first image up there. Cronenberg is pretty dependable, even back in 1979.