The first edition of Ghostbusters was a cultural melting pot...the second one, the pot exploded I guess?

When I returned my movies today I decided to browse around a bit before I left. I noticed something a bit different.

I saw the covers of Ghostbusters 1 and 2. But on the cover of Ghostbusters 2, there was a glaring omission...no Winston Zeddemore aka The Black Ghostbuster.
I can't figure why this is as he is in Ghostbusters 2, and well ONE OF THE GHOSTBUSTERS.

Shit, even Rick Moranis gets mentioned on the cover and he has a smaller part in it.

Why can't Winston get any love?

My vow of celibacy

This weekend I rented 4 foreign films.
Not a big deal?
Well it hit me like a Mike Tyson's NES uppercut...
So to you I make this vow...
I am going three months without renting any Hollywood movies.
I have no problem watching them illegally online, because any way to fuck over Hollywood I am all for...like seriously.

So for three months, it's all foreign, indie flicks, docs, and probably a shitload of internet porn...but why should things change.

*If they make a "Perfect Strangers" movie I am allowed to "indulge"...I'm only human.

See you at the movies (maybe) in May 2008

If violence is your thing.......

I had to work all weekend so I decided to check out some films. I rented two foreign films, one was called "Perth" which was a Singaporean film. I won't get into that one because I want to write about the other one I saw called "Ichi the Killer".

"Ichi" is a Japanese film that by far and away is the most violent film I have ever seen...ever. Believe me, I am a huge horror fan to and what you and I think is violent here pales in comparison to the violence and gore used in eastern Asian films.

Basically, a Yakuza boss (yakuza is the Japanese Mafia) goes missing, and his top man who is a sadomasochist believes he is still alive, so he sets out to find him.
We find out very early on, that his search will be fruitless as unbeknownst to Akihara (top underling to Yakuza boss) his boss is already dead.

Ichi is a very shy young mam, who has been brainwashed by an older man who basically manipulates him. Ichi killed his parents but cannot remember so his "evil mentor" so to speak has created these false memories of Ichi to prey on his insecurities. When Ichi gets scared or sad he turns into a homicidal maniac and kills people with no emotion at all. Oh, and he does all of it with only a razor blade in his boot. Very evident throughout the film, is the use of "dark humour" as Ichi who is a homicidal killer wears a ridiculous looking costume with a neon "1" emblazoned on the back("ichi" in one in Japanese).

The story itself is somewhat interesting, albeit slow and confusing at times, but what it lacks in story, it makes up for in over the top, ridiculous, nonsensical violence. It's not so much the violence I am into, it's the innovation, and the director's willingness to push the boundaries to see how far he can go.

The director of this film Takashi Miike sounds like an "interesting" director. I got this off wikipedia about "Ichi"

Director Takashi Miike reveals on the US TokyoShock DVD release that the semen used in the close-up during the intro sequence, when the film's title raises out of a puddle of semen, is real. It was supplied by Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto (Iron Man Tetsuo) who plays the muscle bound mastermind that controls Ichi. Miike gave a bucket to Tsukamoto to fill but was unable to provide enough material for the shot. He passed the bucket to three other crew members to add the remaining amount.

Director Takashi Miike was supposed to have the pimp beat up a prostitute with three punches. However, in the end, he increased the number to fifteen because he could not stand the actress, Mai Goto.

*credit:wikipedia

Seriously, I recommend watching this movie, but only if you have a strong stomach.
Think Hostel, 300, Kill Bill, any Friday The 13th Movie, mutliply that by about a 100, and you get the violence in this movie.

Dont believe me?
Check out the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, or check the trailer out for yourself.
Warning:The trailer shows a lot of the violence.

Can I see some ID sir?

My apologies for the posts or lack thereof recently. I have just started work again this week and have been somewhat fatigued and went to bed fairly early.
Anyways, I wanted to write about something that has bothered me for some time now. You know how they have a rating system to indicate which movies aren't suitable for children? (IE Kill Bill, Basic Instinct, Peter North's Ukranian gangbang...) This of course makes perfect sense as no young children should see these images at a young age.
But I think there should be an inverse rule to. That unless you are attending with children, adults should not be allowed to watch certain movies. It makes me so angry when people my age (mid 20's) and adults watch things like Harry Potter, Ice Age, or any other bullshit CGI film of the month they make.
Seriously...you're an adult so act like it. I have been subjected to one Harry Potter movie, and by the end I actually considered driving my car into a heavily populated area IE Starbucks where I figured there would be many adult Potter fans.
It's a book written for kids for gods sake! Fuck, I don't go to the library at 26 years old and ask where I can find the newest "Goosebumps" in paperback. I expect that any other self respecting adult would do the same.
When the last Harry Potter movie or book came out, it was all the rage on the news. Anyways, they showed an adult dressed up as one of the characters from Harry Potter waiting in line. This was an adult male who was through his own volition dressed up in a public place as a character from Harry Potter. He didn't lose a bet, it wasn't a costume party, it wasn't Halloween, he wasn't insane, no he actually made a conscious decision to do this. Of course the reporter asked about the costume and he said "I like to dress up like this because it's fun and escape from reality."

WHAT THE FUCK!
Do you know how you escape reality when you're an adult? You drink, you use drugs, you buy a sports car, you change your identity to Michael J Cox, you go to therapy, you wrap your mouth around a shotgun and pull the trigger....that's how you escape reality when you're an adult. You don't dress up as some wizard in public and be proud of it. Seriously, that dude needs to eat a bag of dicks....

Would it kill for you to make an original movie?

The other night I saw CLOVERFIELD at the theatre. As with all movies, they played a series of trailers before the movie started.
It seriously made me cringe......I'm about to give up on Hollywood...I mean it with all sincerity. They couldn't make an original movie that was actually entertaining if their life depended on it. I'm not talking about some gay CGI movie either, because I don't consider those movies. I am not discrediting all of the hard work that goes into making one, but I just don't consider them actual movies.

Now when I say Hollywood, I don't mean independent films. Those are pretty much all I will watch these days because they are actual solid films worth watching. They don't have a huge hype machine behind them because quite frankly they don't need them because the film itself is good enough to stand on its own.
But it's so frustrating with all of the resources, that Hollywood cant turn out a thought provoking, entertaining film that doesn't need to have millions sunk into an advertising campaign, or action figures, or cross promotions with T-Mobile. They are becoming somewhat of a dying breed these days. If you don't believe me, just look at the box office numbers for 2007. Top ten grossing films of 2007 in order:

1.Spiderman 3 336.5 million (part of a series)
2.Shrek 3 322.7 million (part of a series)
3.Transformers 319.2 million (based on an 80s cartoon)
4.Pirates of the Carribbean 3 309.4 million (part of a series)
5.Harry Potter:Order of Phoenix 292 million (part of a series, based on a book)
6.I am legend 248.2 million (based on a book, third remake of this)
7.The Bourne Ultimatum 227.4 million (part of a series, based on a book)
8.300 210.6 million (original screenplay)
9.Ratatouille 206.4 million (original movie...sorry it was CGI...doesn't count)
10.National Treausre 2 199.2 million (sequel)

So for the top ten grossing films, exactly two of them were original ideas. 300 was actually based on a real life event, but I'll give it a pass, and you know how I feel about CGI.

I'm not saying that sequels and trilogies shouldn't be made. Hell, the Bourne trilogy in my opinion is the best trilogy in the past 20 years. But why can't Hollywood make something original.
Has this become Hollywood's kryptonite? Originality? Well maybe I am jumping the gun, but from an actual acting perspective the first film to be recognized for an acting achievement is Ruby Dee in American Gangster (18th highest grossing film 2007 at 129.9 million. Ruby Dee was selected as a nominee for best supporting actress-Academy award)
This leads me to believe that the overwhelming general movie viewing public is more concerned with CGI effects, explosions, big name actors and less concerned about actual acting, a good story or originality. Fair enough, to each their own, but at this rate original ideas in Hollywood will become as extinct as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.....wait how many Jurassic Parks did they make?

In case you forgot......

CLOVERFIELD COMES OUT TOMORROW!
I am totally going to see this movie this coming weekend, possibly tomorrow night. I have honestly not been this excited to see a movie in a theatre for quite some time, but this has me genuinely geeked.
Ever since I saw the trailer during Transformers, I was hooked. I have seen a few extended trailers and such and they even have spoilers online, but I refuse.
So far it received 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I think that should increase in the coming days.
Check the trailer, and do yourself a favor and see this movie, it's meant to be watched on a big screen ya heard.

Takes a licking.......

"....I'm Ad Rock And I Shock And I Tick And I Tock
And I Can't Stop With The Body Rock
See I've Got Heart Like John Starks"

(Excerpt from the track "Get It Together" by the Beastie Boys ft. A Tribe Called Quest)

Sure I would love to post about John Starks, but I won't. Nah, I feel good today as I am fresh off my trip across the pond to England and I need to write as much as possible before I have to start work again.

Anyways, while on vacation I saw a film or two. One of the one's I saw was Home Alone 2. Now I have already seen this movie a few times but I had not seen it for a long while and I forgot most of what happened. Sure I remembered there was unabashed hijinx and tomfoolery, but I didn't realize how much more VIOLENT Home Alone 2 was. In the first one, the traps Kevin set where cute, and besides Joe Pesci grabbing a hot door handle, and Daniel Stern stepping on a nail, it was pretty tame stuff.
But man, in Home Alone 2 Daniel Stern takes the biggest SHIT kicking ever.
Which brings us to today's little question, who has taken some of the most vicious beatings in Hollywood history and come back from it?

Rocky (Rocky 3-Final Fight vs Clubber Lang)
I am sure you could very well pick anyone of the Rocky films and make an argument and that's fine by me. But Rocky 3 is actually my favorite of the lot. Besides his strategy is to actually tire Clubber by letting him kick the shit out of him. I don't know too many fights were one guy just thought "Hey I'll let him get mad and kick the shit out of me, and once that's finished then I'll make my move!"
My sister tried using this strategy on me when we were kids, but she had a glass jaw and went down every time. That's what you get when you steal my "popsicle pete points."
This scene is just great to watch, and made me love Apollo Creed just a little more.


Marv (Home Alone 2)
As I alluded to earlier, the punishment this man takes would have killed the strongest man a hundred times over. Seriously, I don't know how some of these ideas were greenlit considering it was a kids movie.
I will let you be the judge on this hilarious montage complete with lovable background music.
PS-best part of the montage is when Joe Pesci turns into a Chinese gymnast. Great form Joe.

Wiley Coyote
You know my heart goes out to this guy. Poor little fella just can't seem to do anything right. You would think with all his misfortunes, he would just call it a day, but that sumofabitch just won't give up. I got a little misty in this montage of Wiley's attempts. You'd think after all these years that Wiley would have caught him.....he needs to stop buying ACME if he has any chance. I suggest GE, they make quality products.

You could make a case for any of them and it's too close to select one clear winner.
But if we're going strictly based on montages then I totally pick the Wiley Coyote one.