As a child “The Willies” was pretty much as horrifying as it got. As an eleven year old it was a disgusting, creepy, and horrifying little anthology horror film with some gruesome special effects. And it was also a childhood favorite, a film I saw over and over further feeding my lust for horror. And almost twenty five years later… it still has great sentimental value, it’s still a movie I’ll always appreciate as a favorite of a simpler time but… yeah, it pretty much sucks. Badly. It’s about as stripped down and derivative as you can get with a plot that really just relies on chestnuts of horror to do the work for writers that can’t really be creative.
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For The Love of the Scare: A Short Word from a Born and Raised Horror Fan Boy
When I was a kid, my mom would always sit us down to watch whatever cartoons or action movies were on, while she went off to cook or clean. Back then, we didn’t have cable, but we did have many VHS movies, and most of them were horror movies that my mom kept in a chest in her room, away from us.
My mom would make it a stern rule not to watch these movies. Which is weird considering they never cared when we saw violent action films, or gory science fiction films. And wouldn’t you know it? I never killed anyone in my life. Good parenting goes a long way, folks. As you can guess, she had a library of the classic horror films. You know the classics I’m talking about. But, she’d trained us to be horror fans, and to quench our thirst for the frightening, we’d watch stuff like “The Monster Squad,” and “Goonies.”
Firefly: Ten Years Later
Back in 2005 I remember going to the movie theaters to see “Land of the Dead” with my mom an equally rabid horror fanatic, and sitting down to watch the previews. I remember fondly sitting in front of the screen watching the trailer for the upcoming movie “Serenity” and marveled at how interesting it looked. It wasn’t love at first sight, it wasn’t immense curiosity, but just a mild interest that made me think about it and push it in to the back of my mind for a good while.
Months later prior to the unleashing of “Serenity” in to theaters, the Science Fiction channel in America aired a marathon of the entire “Firefly” and when I sat down to watch it from beginning to end it dawned upon me why “Firefly” was cancelled and taken off television so quickly many people didn’t even know it was on. “Firefly,” during the marathon, often began every episode with a brief prologue from Nathan Fillion explaining the basic premise of the series. And then it kind of saddened me that the producers or network simply didn’t have confidence in the show. And worse, they didn’t have confidence that the audience could play catch up.
Celebrating the King of Cool: Steve McQueen
“I think if I wasn’t acting, I’d be a street hood.”
Everyone has their Steve McQueen. It’s a prevailing theme throughout the world of movie fandom, be you a man or woman, that everyone has their action icon upon which they find comfort in. It’s a common fact that there’s someone for every movie fan, and it gets weird on many occasions (Van Damne, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck, Casper Van Dien).
My uncle loves Clint Eastwood, my brother loves Jet Li, and my dad loves Sonny Chiba. Oddly enough, everyone has their story upon which they remember first being obsessed or intrigued by said action star.
For me, there’s Steve McQueen, and I’m not overstepping my bounds in declaring that there’s never been anyone cooler than Steve McQueen. Hey, Eastwood is great, Bronson is nice, and I’m sure Chiba is incredible, and sure, you can debate that Eastwood and Bronson were better actors, and even more important to the film world, but there’s never been anyone cooler.
It’s just fact. Case closed. And you’d better not tell me otherwise.
The Finale of "The Dark Knight Rises": Our Interpretation
We Warn you, this article contains spoilers to “The Dark Knight Rises.” If you’ve yet to see the film, display caution.
As is the case with most blockbuster films, many movie fans around the internet are basically picking apart and dissecting what the film means as a whole. Even with “The Avengers” being a fairly straight forward action science fiction blockbuster, fans have spent months since its release trying to decipher what some of the story themes and plot points meant and what they hold for future films.
Paranorman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Digital)
Composer Jon Brion has managed to deliver fans of “Paranorman” quite the enticing and entertaining original soundtrack for the upcoming film, with a series of tracks that will perfectly relay the atmospheric story being told about kids fighting the walking dead.
Among the tracks there are some really excellent titles like “Zombie Attack in the Eighties” and “The Dead Shall Be Raised” that really manage to invoke terror and awe, and Brion provides a truly interesting variety of music palettes that will accompany fans of the film who want to re-live the moments of the film and bask in the magic of Brion’s rather eccentric scores.
Samuel L. Jackson: Bad Motherfucker
“I tend to play characters that I can infuse with certain kinds of humour. Even the baddest guy can be funny in his own particular way. I want the audience to engage with the character on some deeper level so that they leave the cinema still thinking about him.” – Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson just has a presence that makes even his worst films slightly watchable. From shit like “xXx,” to “The Man,” right down to the entertaining “Red Violin,” and “”Die Hard with a Vengeance,” Jackson’s constant appearance in films is really no surprise. So I figured, what the hell, why not a list of my favorite appearances from the man? Be warned: Spoilers are extremely nigh.