Best Gets Prizes (i.e. Be Superior)

Scary Movie Season

Halloween is in six days, and this year I’m fairly worn out on typical horror movies.  Like I said before, slasher and gore, torture and mutilation, these things don’t work on a 42-yr-old man, but there are some movies that can scare me, and i still haven’t seen Paranormal Activity, so I can’t say for sure it will.

For years, I would faithfully trot out my pet Halloween movie as the main course for friends and family to scream and shudder to: Richard Donner’s The Omen (1976).  THRILL as Damien’s nanny hangs herself!  CRINGE as the photographer’s head is sliced off by a pane of glass! Good stuff, to be sure.  But it’s gotten old, so this year I’m adopting a new favorite; a movie I didn’t think I was going to like, mostly due to the odd title.

The Mothman Prophecies is a well-told, chilling tale of the psychological bent, that creeps into the realm of truth and fact in a jarring climax straight out of Hitchcock’s wet dreams.  Based on a novel by John A. Keel, the fantastic world of cryptozoology sprung clean and new from the Richard Gere vehicle.  It’s a testament to weird beliefs that spread easily, just because someone wrote them in some book.  But now I’ve come full circle to The Omen, again.

Anyways, I can’t wait to screen this new scary favorite this week for friends and family, and hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

Hope For A “Long Walk” Movie

Forget The Road, the upcoming Viggo Mortensen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel.  The bleak, dark story with a somehow life-affirming movie-from-book I want to see is The Long Walk.

As I finish reading this book for the third time, I notice there are others out there who are rediscovering it, too.  Others who also see what I see in this, one of Richard Bachman’s most brutal tales (and that says a lot, since Bachman is the dark side of successful novelist Stephen King, whose mainstream horror at least always has the good guys winning something in the end)…and that is a metaphor for life, and the relationships we forge on our individual, selfish walks through life.

Frank Darabont, the One Guy In The World That Can Make Great Stephen King Movies, bought the rights to the book years ago.  You might remember the trifecta of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist as all being simultaneously faithful to the books, and cinematically gorgeous.  As a fan of both, I sincerely hope he’s just waiting for the perfect cast before going through with filming this story.

It’s a parallel reality.  Germany bombed the Eastern seaboard of America in 1945, and now it’s some distant, unnamed time in the future from that.  America is still America, but there is a highly influential military government.  Each year, they hold The Long Walk, in which male volunteers between the ages of 14 and 18 hope to be picked as one of 100 Walkers.  The Walk starts with 100 young men, and ends with 1, who is then awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life.

Soldiers in half-tracks monitor the walkers, and if one drops below 4 mph he is warned.  Three warnings and then the walker “buys his ticket” courtesy of the soldier’s gun.  Our hero is the odds on favorite, and he makes friends with many of the other guys, sometimes to his benefit, occasionally to his dismay.  It’s dark, serious stuff, but underneath it all is the realization that we’re all on a Long Walk, and while we may think we’re going to cross that finish line, anything may happen.

via Logopolis

Bachman/King even includes a line in the book where a character feels like he’s in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, which is most likely the inspiration for this social dynamo of a story.  I especially love how the Crowd became a sort of villain in the last third of the book.  I’m looking forward to this movie becoming a reality, but as for now, it sits on Mr. Darabont’s To-Do pile.

Feline Breakdance Fail

This looks like something my Jasmine would do.  However, that’s not true, because this isn’t something I would ever do.  Pretty funny, though.

We Were Once A Fairytale

“We Were Once A Fairytale” – Kanye West Dir: Spike Jonze from Yooj‽ – Recording Live From No on Vimeo.

I’m not sure of many aspects of this short film by Spike Jonze, starring uber-annoying celebrity Kanye West.  I’m not sure why Spike made it, cast West, chose a setting like this, and why it’s kind of hard to watch.  I do know one thing: it’s good.  Again, parts are kind of rough.  The payoff is amazing, though, and oh so very Spike Jonze.

One other thing I’m not sure of, as Twisted Sifter pointed out – how long will this video even be up?

Update: Six hours later and the query is answered.  It’s been removed.  But still up at the Twisted Sifter link above.

The Best Scene In Empire of the Sun

I have to agree with the title of this video.  The movie did have many, many great scenes, but these six minutes made the movie.

[too bad the video cuts off right at the part where the doctor screams at Jim: "Try not to think so much!"

Followed by Bale's excellent pause, frightful look, and instant classic, "I can't remember what my parents look like."

A non-sequitur that just nails it to the theater wall.]

Awesome Halloween Costume

I’ve been getting back into the Harry Potter series, and just can’t help but wonder if the dog in my life could pull this off.  Awesome x3.

Thanks, Buzzfeed.

Rare, Wonderful Words

ERIC’S LEXICON OF OBSCURE WORDS

For a lexicomane like myself, it’s quite idoneous.

Kingdom of the Spiders

KHAAAAN!!

The DVD release of William Shatner’s first movie (that I recall)* comes out on January 19, 2010.  From ArrowInTheHead’s Ammon Gilbert:

That’s right bitches, it’s mothaf*ckin’ William Shatner in the house, fighting not just one spider, not just two spiders, but an entire kingdom of spiders!!! Only Shatner and his giant burning dong can save the day from all these damn, dirty spiders. This job smells of so much awesomeness that I can’t even believe I’ve never seen it before. Prepare to get Shatnified this January.

If I recall correctly, it wasn’t a very good movie.  But then again, Shatner.  And his character’s name is Dr. Robert “Rack” Hansen.  Awesome.

*Wrong!  After posting, I looked him up, and that honor goes to some horror film called Impulse.  Also interesting is how many TV shows he guest starred on.  The Six Million Dollar Man?  Wow.

For Lex