Friday, March 29, 2013

Movies you loved but I hated

I've seen over the course of the last few years, lists for topics like this before from other people.  Movies that were considered classics or must sees, that people just didn't care for. 
I thought I would give my list today.   Why today you might be asking?  No reason other then it's been a long day already and it fits the mood I'm in right now.

1. The Sound of Music.    HATED IT!  We had to watch it in school a million years ago (1987 to be exact in 7th grade and again in 1990 in 10th grade English)   I slept through half of it the first time around and the second time I was made sit through it, I honestly feel like time stood still, in a horrible painful way.

2. Wizard of Oz.  HATED IT!  It's way too goody-goody for me.  I understand that the movie was done at the time of the great depression and WWII, but still it's too sugary sweet.  They only give any so called depth to the lead character. And really, she is about as deep as an empty glass of water

3. Doctor Zhivago.  I never finished watching it.  Another one that we were forced to watch in 7th grade, and I went to the toilet and never came back to class that day. 

4. Gone with the Wind.   HATED IT!  I just don't get it? Why is it considered one of the greatest films ever?  Why? 

5. The Exorcist.  This is one of those movies I could take it or leave it.  I think it's good on some levels, but crap on others.  I understand that it has single handedly created a genre all its own, and that for the time it was done it was the most risque thing, but other then that I just don't see why people love it so much?  

6. E.T.   It was too commercial. Would that movie fly now if it came out or would it flop?  I can't say, but I can say I found it sort of creepy when it had originally come out 30 years ago.  The aliens gave me nightmares for months.

7. St.Elmo's Fire.  HATED IT! It was too busy but at the same time went nowhere.  The only good thing about that film was the theme song and Rob Lowe becoming the star he became. 

8. Raiders of the Lost Ark.  HATED IT!  I sat through it once. When I was about eleven years old. One of my cousins had just gotten it for x-mas on VHS back when it was all still a new idea, and we all watched it as a family during dinner.  That's another one of those films that I just don't see what makes it suppose to be classic? 

9. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  HATED IT!  Hated the remake too, and normally I love anything with Johnny Depp.   I just found the whole story to be ...sick. As in a disturbing way. The little imp guys were freaky, the situations the kids ended up in were creepy, and the whole idea of a man luring children to his futuristic world by candy always unnerved me. 

10. The original Planet of the Apes movies.  All of them.  I think it was the masks. I like the idea of the films,  just found them to be boring in the end.  Maybe it was Charlton Heston, I've never been a fan of his.   See now, I loved the remake with James Franco.

Okay, and I could go on like this all day, but that's enough for one post. 
till later

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Quote of the Day March 28th

I haven't done one of these in a long while, and thought it would be a good day to throw one at the wall.

Elinor- "Maryann, you must change or you'll catch a cold"

Mariann- "What do I care for a cold when there is such a man"

Elinor- "You will care very much when your nose swells up"

Mariann-"You are right Elinor, help me up."

From the Emma Thompson version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility right after Willoughby has found her in the rain.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Movie Club Week 13

It's middle of the week and time for another chat about vampire movies.  I've been tossing back and forth in my mind, um-ing and huh-ing over which should be this week's pick, and decided to go with Stay Alive

We open with a shot of a video game, and then see the guy playing the game. We learn he's a game tester, and even this unreleased horror game has his nerves shook. He phones his best friend trying to claim down, then walks into his roommates' room, catching them having sex, before commenting that he found their characters in the video game killed.  They reply that they haven't played in hours and that there must be a glitch in the game as they did not die in the game. He then goes to the kitchen, and we are shown similarities to the scene he just played in the game. Heading back to the roommates, to find them brutally murdered, and He then dies in the exact way his character in the video game did.
We then see his best friend Hutch at his funeral, and is given a bag of his things by his family members, just before a strange woman walks up to Hutch and takes his photo. She informs him that she knew one of the roommates. Hutch invites her over to play a group video game with some of his friends as a tribute to their dead friend.
The group gather for the all night video marathon, with Hutch's boss joining them from the office online. They learn it's a vampire horror game, based on the story of Countess Bathroy, and that it's a voice activated game. Each member of the group has to read out loud a poem to activate their character.
His boss is the first to die in the game and as he is getting ready to leave the office, he starts to hear someone running through the floor. He gets spooked when a door he's just locked, unlocks by itself and a mirror breaks. Before he has a chance to scream, he's stabbed by someone that is never seen.
When the rest of the group find out about the murder the next day, they start to investigate, once Hutch realizes that so far all four of their friends were killed after playing the game, just like their character in the video game. At first they tell the police they think it's a copycat killer who is stalking and tracking people who play the game. But when another of the group is run over by a horse and carriage in the middle of the day on a road, while his character in the video game is on pause, they start to look to the supernatural. 
One of the police detectives starts to play the game, but his character is killed within minutes. Thinking nothing of it, he starts to ask about the game at a local video store. As he leaves the parking lot, he is murdered alone in his truck the same way the character in the game was.
Soon, Hutch is the prime suspect and the whole gang start to go on the run.  Another member is killed, as Hutch decides to visit the game's designer. From there he learns that the designer based everything in the game on a book he read about Elizabeth Bathory, and tells him to visit the author of the book.  Hutch does and soon learns that what the group did was unknowingly preform a seance when they read the poem at the beginning of the game, casting a spell to awaken the spirit of Bathroy. The remaining three of the group then head back to the house of the designer for answers, only to realize they are on the burial ground of Bathroy, who was imprisoned in the wall of the house. They have to find her body and use coffin nails to connect her astral self with her corpse then burn her. They find the video game designer dead, and realize she killed him. 
The three manage to destroy the vampire.   But they forgot about the game itself. We see the same video store owner opening a fresh shipment of the game and put it into the machine, and hear the poem being read by the group over the store's pa system.

I love this movie.  It's different, but still manages to bring in so many elements of folklore. The fact that roses and rose bushes (because of the thorns) are considered a weapon in many folklore, to battle vampires is rarely thought of, but this film uses it to it's advantage.
Also, the idea that vampirism was considered simply the act of astral projection, has fallen by the wayside in so many stories.  Here, it is a main concern.
The subtleties of using similar images between the game and the "real" is done to perfection, making you need to rewind at times to make sure you caught the clues in the movie. Just little hints of something out of the corner of your eye, or an overlay of sound.

I also love the idea that video games are a form of vampirism in themselves. When you get into a game, you loose so much time to it, so much of your energy.  The fact too that the film is filled with the sound of a game controller vibrating whenever something is about to happen, sort of hints that nothing is what it seems.

till later

Friday, March 22, 2013

Top 5 Fav Birthday Scenes

I decided to do my 5 top favourite birthday scenes from movies, cause know.

1. Happy Birthday To Me.   It has one of the most ruthless party scenes at the end of this film. How would you like to come home to find your half sister had dug up your friends and family members, just before cutting the cake?

2. Twilight Saga 2 New Moon.  Bella gets a paper cut and Jasper destroys the living room, including the piano, when he attacks her at the smell of the blood.  That was one gift the girl who runs with vampires didn't want.

3. London Kills Me.  There is a scene in this film where the lead character is standing around in the alley after having been beat up, and just starts screaming and crying that it's his birthday.  It gets me every time, like a total wimp and I just cry. You can't help but feel for the character.

4. Alice in Wonderland.  The tea party.  Okay, so it's an un-birthday, but it's got the coolest song. Who doesn't like a bit of butter in their watch and a fresh cup?

5. Bridget Jones's Diary.  The dinner party she throws for her
friends where she turns the soup blue because of a piece of string, and then Daniel shows up starting a fight with Mark. It spills out into the street, and into the restaurant across the street, into someone else's birthday party.

Movie Club Week 12

And we're back.  Week 12 of the vampire movie club, late as it is.  I'm going to make it short tonight, but I wanted to talk about  Dracula Rising.  It's one of the cult classics in the vampire genre that happens to be by Roger Corman.

A young woman holds an art gallery fund raiser, and manages to grab the attention of a stranger. He spends the night dancing with her, commenting on her paintings which she admits were drawn from dreams. We find out his name is Vlad, and that he's only passing through.  Before the end of the evening, she lets him know that she does restoration work on old paintings as a day job.
That night, she has a nightmare that everyone at the event had been bitten by a vampire. The next few days at work, she can't think straight and the only thing her and her best friend talk about is Vlad.  Then she's offered a job in Romania, working at an old castle restoring a painting from the 1400's.
Taking the job, she is introduced to Alec, who happens to be connected to Vlad.
Through a series of strange visions, it's revealed that the paintings she's been drawing are not from nightmares but past life memories.  She had been alive in the 1400's, there in Romania living during a plague.  She had fallen in love with Vlad, who in the 1400's was a monk, as was Alec.  The relationship that she had with Vlad during the middle ages, got her burned at the stake for being a witch.
We then learn that Vlad is the son of Dracula. He goes to his father and offers up himself in order to live, so that he can reunite with her after she's been reincarnated. On his first night as a vampire, he gets revenge on Alec by turning him as well.
The two vampires then battle back in modern times over the soul of the woman, with Alec taking them all to an alternate reality.  Vlad defeats Alec, then commits suicide. This we are to assume, frees all three of their souls.

This is not the greatest movie ever produced, but it's one of the most beautiful. Shot in Romania, it's use of the location is perfect, not too mention it's one of the first films to shoot there. (I think Subspecies was the first)
The bulk of the film is done in flashback story telling, with little time given to the modern half. This also came out after the major budget Bram Stoker's Dracula, so it does have a few moments that feel like it borrowed from the love story.
I referred to this movie on the vampire blog, as being like the Star Wars of Dracula films because of the sub-story between Vlad and his father.  There are just too many similarities to the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader plot.
I think Doug Wert, who plays Alec is the show stealer. I could have watched an entire film just of his character.

till later

Friday March 22nd 2013

Okay, we've hit a weekend, and it's time for the weekly round up from the vampire blog's vampire challenge.  And yeah, I realize I didn't get around to it last week so here we go...

Sunday (march 10th) was Day 44 and I talked about an episode of Kindred The Embraced

Wednesday (march 13th) was Day 45 and I did an episode of Dracula the Series

Saturday (march 16th) was Day 46, and I covered another Dracula the Series episode

Tuesday (march 19th) was Day 47 and I talked about the Roger Corman movie Dracula Rising

Friday (today march 22nd) is Day 48 and I talked about episode 9 of Dracula the Series

till later

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Thursday March 21st

It's been over a week, and I've not posted.  This is just a quick note to say, I'm not dead... though it feels like it sometimes.  I realize once again, I'm a few days behind on stuff. 
Yeah, I should have gotten the Weekly Vampire Movie Club post up 2 days ago. Week 12 is coming, just not tonight.  (should have it up tomorrow when I have a few hours)
At this point, I am trying to balance all the projects I've got on the burner. All the stuff that was on hold from my knee injury last year, has to be dealt with now.
Yeah, life is kicking my arse hard.

till later

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Movie Club Week 11

Okay, so we are into week 11 now, and I thought, I would go out of the box again... er coffin... for this round.  Yes, it's a Wednesday and that does mean I am once again a day late.  I'm also short on time, so this wont' be as long or indepth as I would like it to be, but  the vampire movie of the week is... Star Trek Nemesis (ST 10)  I know there are a lot of you that are scratching your heads trying to figure out how a Star Trek would make it into a vampire list?  Well, if you've seen the film then you know what I'm getting at, if you haven't, you really should. (I am breaking one of my rules of only  doing vampire movies I've already covered on the vampire blog, for the weekly movie club, but I was in the mood for this)

The main plot of the story is that Captain Picard learns that he's been cloned by the Remans. This all comes to light after the Romulan government was overtaken by the Remans, lead by Shinzon. Shinzon lures Captain Picard's crew into a secret meeting, with the promise of a peace treaty, only his real reason is to capture Picard in order to first learn everything about his life, then kill him and take his place. We learn that Shinzon is the clone and because of a flaw in his design, is dying. In order to save himself, he must have a complete and total blood transfusion from the older Picard.
Meanwhile, Data discovers a clone of himself which was used as a decoy to get the systems programs from Enterprise.
Shinzon uses a form of psychic link with Deanna Troi, to invade her dreams, as he becomes more and more obsessed with her.  This is conducted, by Shinzon's first officer who is from Reman (and is very bat like.)
The final battle is between Shinzon and Picard, on Shinzon's ship. 

Okay, so this is on my vampire movie list because of the Reman warriors looking like the character of Nosferatu, pointy ears, pointy fangs in the front. Also, the psychic link is one trait seen in many vampire stories (and folklore) not too mention the fact that Shinzon's main objective is to drain all the blood out of Picard in order for himself to live.  He literally has days to get the job done or he will die.  And we start to see that in the course of the movie, Shinzon himself starts to resemble Nosferatu.

This for me is still my favourite of the ST movies, maybe because of the vampiric elements in it. It was also the first film I'd ever seen Tom Hardy in, and made me a fan of his. 

Till later

Monday, March 11, 2013

Coffee-Talk Monday March 11th

Everyone has movies that they consider their favourites.  Sometimes, you end up having a favourite because of the actor, or the story, or the look of it, or simply because of the memories it brings up.
Whatever the reason, at some point, everyone will have that near and dear to their heart movie that they get laughed at for liking.

Admit it, I'm right, you all have that one film that you have had to take mockery from your buddies for.  And it's these movies that got me wanting to talk over coffee with you this morning.
This might be your go to films when you're sick, or depressed, or whatever.  (yeah it's one of those days for me today, nothing has gone right and I just want my comfort films)
(ah look at me, having coffee back few years ago, before I got old and Jabba the Hut-ish)

One of those movies for me is Adventures of Ford Fairlane.  My copy is so old, it's on VHS.  Slightly stretched too, so it gets a bit wobbly at times.

Also on the list is  Big Money Hustlas  that stars the Insane Clown Pose and Twiztid. I know when a boyfriend is going to be compatible if he can sit through that film without looking at me with the 'wtf?' look. 

Like so many who grew up in the 1980's, I was a massive fan of Corey Feldman and Corey Haim.  And one of my favourite Feldman films (say that three times fast) is Voodoo. Cheap, cheesy and packed full of mild zombie flavour. Again, a VHS copy is all I have, which actually a former friend taped off of late night tv for me, so it's got a double sentimental value.

Speaking of cheap, cheesy movie goodness, Black Roses, is another movie on my list that I get mocked for. Another film that's got some bad acting, funny one liners, and cliched heavy metal wardrobes.

So that's my story this morning, what's your sick day/depressed/sort of dorky movie list ?

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Sat March 9th

And since no one signed up for today's movie, and the weather is starting to complicate things, no movie club today.

The next for sure movie on the list will be when Star Trek Into Darkness comes out in May.  (I will most likely have another selection in a few weeks. This city doesn't always make it easy to plan ahead as we don't get every film that is released, nor do we seem to keep them for long)

If you are in the Thunder Bay area, and you would like to join me on this, let me know by leaving a comment.  And if you have a scheduling issue or want to see something I haven't suggested, but would still like to do a movie club, let me know. 

Don't forget, those doing the book-movie club, March's selection is Beautiful Creatures. The meeting for that will be March 31st. (more on that closer to the date)

till later

Friday, March 8, 2013

Friday March 8th

So it's a Friday night, and that means it's time for this week's round up from the vampire blog

Monday was Day 40, and I covered the movie Little Vampire

Tuesday was Day 41 and I talked about Wes Craven's Dracula 2000

Wednesday was Day 42 and I talked about Wes Craven's Dracula 2 the Ascension 

Thursday was Day 43 and I talked about Wes Craven's Dracula 3 Legacy

It was a short week, and yes, I started to dig into movies that have sequels. I never realized how many sequels I have in my collection until this week.

till later

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Thursday reminder

Just thought I would post a small note to remind anyone who is interested, that Dead Man Down, is the movie pick for the Thunder Bay movie club get together.
Leave me a comment on the original post before 11pm tomorrow night if you are available for a Saturday matinee showing.

till later

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Movie Club Week 10

As I said earlier, I think having picked Tuesday was a bad day in the week for this.  I'll just jump back and forth between Tuesdays and Wednesdays from now on.
So this week, I think I will go with ... The Little Vampire.

We have a group of vampires trying to preform a ritual, and we see a young boy watching from his bed which happens to be on the water. He sees the ritual get interrupted by a vampire hunter. He then wakes up and we learn it was just a dream.
We learn he's new to Scotland, and has not made any friends yet, as well as his teacher thinking he's crazy with all his talk about vampires.
His parents go to a business dinner, where his teacher happens to be, while he's back at home with a babysitter, and he's dressing up like a vampire.  Little does he know that one of the vampires from his dream happens to be real and flies by his window.  Seeing Tony dressed like a vampire, Rudolph crashes through the window.  He's weak and needs to feed, so Tony takes him to the farm down the road and lets him feed off of a cow.
Meanwhile, the babysitter discovers Tony gone and calls his parents back from the party. 
The next day, his dad's boss gets a visit from a vampire hunter, who sees Tony running around dressed like a vampire and thinks he's really is one.  As Tony and Rudolph try to figure out why Tony has been having dreams about Rudolph and his family and their missing necklace, the hunter goes to the graveyard and lures out the vampires.
We learn that Tony is dreaming about the vampires because the necklace is hidden in his bedroom, and that his dad's boss is the great-great nephew of one of the vampires. And it was her who hid the necklace originally.
The kids get the necklace and take it to Rudolph's father, in order for him to finish the ritual which can only be done once every hundred years because they need to harness the power of a comet. The ritual works, and the vampires become human.

Okay, this is a kids movie.  It's cute and it's based on a series of books and previous television shows. I covered this few days ago on the vampire blog, and thought I'd talk about it on movie club because it's not your average vampire film.
Richard E. Grant plays the part of the vampire father, who you might remember from Bram Stoker's Dracula (the 1992 version)  as the character of Dr. Seward.

I think one of the main themes here is tolerance.  You have a boy who because of his family moving, he is isolated and finds it hard to make friends.  But when he does, it's not the typical kids you would expect.  He befriends a family of vampires, and you're taken through the journey the kids have, of dealing with being different and being bullied because of it.

till later

Wednesday Afternoon Notes

This weekend, Friday  March 8th, starts spring break here in my city-until Sunday March 17th.  That means, matinees.
I have a list of about five movies that will be playing at the local cinema during March break, that I'm wanting to see. And I've been talking about doing a local movie club and can't think of a better time to really dig into that then now.
I've been hesitant to get it really rolling the last two months because of my knee injury and not wanting to go out at night, where I can't see what I'm doing since I'm still using a cane.  So, for me, matinees right now are a great thing.  (That's how my knee got destroyed last year, out after dark in the winter and didn't see the ice patch)

Dead Man Down  is at the top of my list. And an interesting way to really kick things off.

So basically, if you're in the Thunder Bay area, and your schedule is open this coming week, if you want to join me for movie club leave me a comment (maybe a cut off point of say Friday night 11pm? for a Saturday matinee. I'm still working out the glitches of planning)

This is also the weekend that the times change. Daylight savings time goes into effect this weekend.

And speaking of movie clubs, the weekly online one will get done later tonight.  I'm starting to think having it on Tuesdays is a bad idea.  To be honest, I picked Tuesdays because I wanted to start it on the 1st of the year and that's what it happened to fall on.

Till later

Monday, March 4, 2013

Top 5 fav Foreign vampire movies

I'm was sitting here digging through one of my boxes of vampire movies, when I realized, something.  There is a sub-genre in the sub-genre that is subtitled vampire films.

Did you follow that?

If you didn't, don't worry just read my personal top 5 foreign subtitled vampire movie list

1. Night Watch

2.Day Watch

3. Love Bites

4. Let The Right One In

5. Nosferatu 

Night Watch and it's sequel, Day Watch, are two Russian supernatural films, based on the novels by Sergei Lukyanenko.
 (I have the English versions in my never ending to read pile of books 1,2,3 and 4 in the series. And just heard there is a book 5 )

Let the Right One In,   is also based on the Swedish  novel, by John Ajvide Lindqvist (this is on my to buy list)  But if you don't want to sit through the subtitles on this you can rent the English remake  Let Me In  (this is one time when I actually liked both the original and the American remake of something)

Love Bites,  is a French film from 2001. (not to be confused with a million other movies by the same title) that stars Asia Argento and has a small cameo by Vincent Perez (Queen of the Damned, Crow 2 City of Angels)

Okay, I had a bit of a cheat with Nosferatu,  but it's on the list because it does technically have subtitles and it's a German film. 

Bonus movie- Karmina 2 Les Zombies.   This is not officially on the list because it's a Canadian film. But I wanted to mention it because it's just such a unique movie.  (okay I suppose if you are reading this list outside of Canada or even American, this would be a foreign film)

Friday, March 1, 2013

Friday March 1st






till later