For the Love of Westerns

I am taking a few classes in the film major courses, particularly the one called ‘The Cinematic Western’ and I have always loved western movies but after spending a few days in this class I have now found a whole new appreciation for the western genre and how it went from b-movies, to big budget movies and how they struggled with sound and their reflection of the time periods. They are amazing and very violent… even for the 30s, 40s and 50s.

We watched “Stagecoach” and we talked about how John Ford was experimenting with different social cliques and how the rough, rugged and socially awkward people; the kind of people that society frowns upon, turned out to be the heroes where as the ones that are prim and proper, the socially expectable ones, turned out to be the ones that were utterly helpless. I guess that’s what you get when you have an outspoken, alcoholic director and a socialist writer.

Today we watched the movie “Shane,” which has always been a favorite of mine. We compared the old ways with the new ways and how the heroes in most westerns could never return to society… they fix society but they can never return to it. This movie is an example of how Shane is between the farmers (old ways) and the ranchers (new ways) and how he is caught up in between. Joey’s family is the new ranchers where as the Ryker brothers are the old traditional ways fighting against the new guys.

I will be watching “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” and comparing that movie like what we have been with these other movies… well, see ya’ll on the homestead pilgrim! 

Slytherin Beckons

From The Tropical Republics

I was bored so I decided to take a bunch of Facebook “Harry Potter” quizzes and it turns out that the Sorting hat would put me in Slytherin and that with all the evil aside I would stop at nothing to accomplish my goals… plus, I am harsh and pretty pretentious and ignorant, which is what I am. It also said that the “Harry Potter” character that best describes me is Draco Malfoy… that pretty much says the same thing as Slytherin, but I guess I can be an ass most of the time. Well, I better go back to tHogwarts, I better start preparing for the battle tomorrow, there is a huge gathering tonight but tomorrow will be the big finale and I am so excited to the point of sleeplessness.

WISH ME LUCK!!!!

Review - Public Enemies (2009)

So this is my initial thought on the new movie by Michael Mann entitled “Public Enemies.” It was a lot better then I expected and I am starting to enjoy the way that Mann took this movie.

I give it 3 ½ out of 5 stars. 

Pearl Harbor

I just got done watching “Pearl Harbor.” I don’t understand why everybody hated this movie when it really wasn’t that good. I enjoyed it, even with the all the love clichés and the whole ‘romanticizing a national tragedy.” The movie had great action, some amazing shots and yeah, it maybe long and drawn out… the movie was really epic. When I go and see a movie like this, I don’t expect it to be a masterpiece of cinema, I go and see it for the action and the love and that’s why I don’t care if the acting was that bad because it really wasn’t.

I don’t know why people hated this movie so much. Michael Bay has made some really good movies and this is perhaps one of his best. Hell, I even liked some of the cheesy lines that they said during the movie.

Review - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

New video review up on YouTube. This was my initial review of the second Transformers movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” 

I give the movie 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. Which, is an average rating. 

Transformers Character Guide

Actually, this is a good guide to the new “Transformers” movie that I found on Rotten Tomatoes. For me, it was very helpful because since the TV show I lost touch with my Transformers side and when the new movie came out I only remembered a few from the series.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_revenge_of_the_fallen/news/1828745/whos_who_in_transformers_2_a_visual_guide

Right now, our AMC is being swamped with people because it was a sold out show. Damn!!!!

New Webcam Video

YouTube Account

I have created another YouTube account after my previous 3 have been deleted. I am hoping to post some video reviews as well as some of my home videos that I made.

 

IMDb Profile Updates - Collection

Today, or should I say tonight, I updated my IMDb movie profile and added all the horror movies I have in my collection as well as all the horror movies that I wish to eventually buy. I have not yet created a list of all the ‘regular’ movies that I own. My main priority right now is my growing horror movie collection… and I would like to make it public just in case anybody has any suggestions to what I should watch or own.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=29608597

Aside from the usual horror movie, I am looking for hole-in-the-wall movies that nobody has heard of. I hope you enjoy it. 

Review - The Hangover (2009)

Well I just got done seeing “The Hangover” and all I can say is that it is, as of right now, one of the funniest movies that I have seen all year. Its raunchy, perverted, unforgiving, unholy, sinful and wonderfully twisted and I love it. It was truly a Las Vegas movie and the characters were wonderfully casted. It had a very subtle heartwarming story behind it but it was caked over with the stories comedy but if you look carefully you can see how much these friends really care for each other and how their new friend so desperately wants to fit in. It’s very nice.  

Unfortunately, the movie started 30 minutes late because the projector wouldn’t run the spools right so they had to move the people out of the theater for “Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” and put them into another theater so they could start the 11:45 show. Phew. But in the end, it was all worth it. I loved it.

Remember, what happens in Vegas… stays in Vegas. 

Evening Under the Screen

Well today since I haven’t don’t much of anything today except watch two movies and blog, I am going to go see “The Hangover" tonight, which my friend said is one of the best comedies of the year… the camera work was amazing, the soundtrack was solid and it was actually funny… again, this is his opinion but him and I are usually on the same track. Before hand, I will be eating some White Castle, only because I had a craving for it, which is the only way that I would eat that.

When I get back I will have a full review of the movies. If I am not sick because of the sliders. 

Introduction

This is a brief introduction to my new blog. My first blog was on MySpace and it never caught on… after a while, because of some copywrite infringement my account was deleted along with my blog. But, it was an experimental blog and I was writing with a different alias and age. I guess that’s why it never caught on. Also, I am not in the Hollywood Hills, I wish I was, but I am located in ChiTown.

Me In A Nutshell

Like the description says, I am a closet horror fan (I guess not anymore) and I am trying to build up a collection of horror movies and collectables. Ever since I can remember I was a horror fan, starting with all those nights I watched ‘Tales From the Crypt’ with my grandma. I began reading and watching ‘Goosebumps’ until I realized it wasn’t scary anymore… so I began watching ‘The X-Files.’ It terrified me. I really got into horror when I tried watching “The Thing” (1982) and “The Blob” (1988) and I couldn’t so I settled with PG-13. Years later, I would become the horror geek that I am today.

I am also an armature student screenwriter and director. I written 2 stupid movie screenplays (Warrior Wars I and II), several short films and a film that my buddies and me are working on called “Masquerade.” I hope to eventually become a moviemaker, producer and writer but for now my concentration is editing.

I have written numerous movie reviews for IMDb, though my reviews are not professional or professionally published its still fun to write them. I have written 7 movie reviews for my high school’s weekly newspaper and that’s pretty much it. I used to write reviews for a horror forum, which will remain nameless, until I stopped because nobody was paying attention. So, I will let all you guys suffer by reading my reviews.

Other then that, I am pretty much average. I read a few magazines, notably MAD Magazine. I still watch TV here and there and I still watch reruns of my favorite shows. I am a hardcore X-Phile and a loyal ParrotHead. I love any and all 80s music, if there is a song that was in the 80s… I probably have it. I love any kind of rock music ranging from 1950 to 2008. I watching a lot of movies and I love cats. That is pretty much me in a nut shell.