Halloween Watching Suggestions

            I figured for Halloween I would do one of the easiest hack blog entries a person can do, a series of movie recommendations based around Horror.

 Franchise to binge: “Nightmare on Elm Street”

            I don’t think I am ruffling any feathers in the horror community to say that the Nightmare franchise has the highest overall quality, ESPECIALLY for a series with as many entries as it has.

            A special commendation has to go to the second entry as being the one with the best themes and best blend of creative dream nonsense with actual horror elements, but I am betting that number 3 is the one that most people will list as the high-water mark of the series.  The fifth entry is perhaps the worst, a shame because I feel it brushes against greatness.  There is just something off about it which kills it.

            With 9 entries it is enough for a whole Halloween, and I think that Freddy the character, the implied mythology, and the various missteps I see in the series could fill a book.  I have talked about the franchise some before, but it was only last year that I finished watching all of it.

TV Shows to Watch

            As a Netflix and Amazon guy there is a lot of stuff on Hulu that I am not able to access (but there is still stuff I would recommend).

            The first pick would be “Hannibal” which is a series I watched on a lark thinking, “A prequel series to Silence of the Lambs…. I bet this is a cash grab mess.”  Turns out it is one of the most visually arresting series I have ever watched, and I consider the heroic protagonist Will Graham to be a character I identify with to a shocking level (like, while watching the show, I would finish the character’s sentences).  The first season is fantastic and will hook you for the second.

            The second is one people have probably already seen, “The Haunting of Hill House” (I did a review of the audiobook).  Mike Flanagan is a creative person who has instantly entered into my “I will consume anything and everything they make” category.  And as soon as I have more time I will be binging his latest series, “The Haunting of Bly Manor”.

Cartoons Series and Animated Movies

            I have talked before about my infinite love of the “Ghostbusters” franchise, and I can point to two opportunities to experience underappreciated aspects of the franchise.  “Extreme Ghostbusters” (It has one of the best theme songs ever) the 90’s animated sequel to the 80’s “The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon is probably the most underrated cartoon of the 90’s (plenty of people would point to “Freakazoid”, but that show has gotten a lot more love in the years that followed).  It is currently on Hulu, and I love it.

            Continuing with ghost busting, there is “Filmation’s Ghostbusters”, which aside from having a talking TV, Car, and Gorilla on the team is also one of most fever dream of all the cartoons I have ever seen.  I wish, in the depths of my soul that Filmation had been less of a shit about “The Real Ghostbusters” because I think a crossover animated movie would have been a delightful relic of the late 80’s.  What could have been.

            As far as movies, I have talked about my love of stop motion before, and this is going to be a case of me vigorously pointing at the work of Studio Laika and saying, “Watch their stuff!”  But start with “Coraline” an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name (and I love Neil Gaiman).  But then move onto “ParaNorman” a movie that gets the tears welling up at the climax every time I watch it. 

Most Under Rated Movie

            I find myself mentally revisiting the movie “Underwater” all the time.  It is a mix of science fiction and horror tropes that speaks to me.  The acting is great, the use of claustrophobia and aquaphobia are fantastic when coupled with the simple plot of, “We are being hunted and we have to get out”.

            It has perhaps the coolest monster reveal at the films climax I have ever seen.  I was legitimately filled with dread and awe when watching Kristen Stewart trying to deal with these horrifying things in the dark.

            I would also say that this movie benefits from the audience going into it knowing as little as possible to help preserve some of the set piece moments and plot developments.

           Give it more of a shot than the studios did, when they released it to no fanfare, little promotion, and after having shelved it for years.

 

 

______________________________

            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

 

Movies of 2012, Fantasy & Animation

            I don't think it is a secret that I watch a lot of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and animated fair.  Most of my top 5 fall into those categories, this is the grab bag of other movies that also fit.

Better than the Marketing would have you Believe Award: "Wreck it Ralph" (Trailer)

            "Ralph" is a movie about self acceptance, and strangely carries an odd endorsement of caste based lifestyles.  That we all have roles in life that we need to accept and live by and should not be begrudged by others by filling those roles well.  Not a blending of messages you would typically pair: be yourself and know your role.

            It is not as funny and reference driven as the commercials make it seem and I really like the original characters in it, it is an easy place to build a franchise from, and honestly the fact that there were not 2-3 XBLA releases of the fictitious games in this movie is baffling to me.  One of the few films in which a video game tie in would be entirely appropriate and I don't really see anything.  A very well made and fun movie about... Either self acceptance or not lamenting one's lot in life... I am not sure.

8/10

The Award for the most Organic and well timed Opening all Year: "ParaNorman" (Trailer)

            This movie definitely is about being an outsider and trying to get along in life while the world fails to understand you.  It has a lot of emotional strength with perhaps the best movie climax of the year, and definitely the best start to a movie in which the entire supernatural premise of the movie is laid out without a single voice-overed word of exposition.  Other movies have very strong or complex cold opens for the audience to be taken in by, but this one blows those away by just being very smooth.

            Not to mention the gorgeous animation.  Stop Motion has pretty much hit an insurmountable peak at this point, with movements that are so expressive and alive.  This movie is ART and I regard it as the strongest movie this year marketed toward children, beating out "Wreck it Ralph" if for no other reason than the themes of this movie are more coherent... Same arbitrary numeric score though, because I don't want to do halves.

8/10

The Deserves the be Epic-a-fied Award: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (Trailer)

            "Lord of the Rings" is the most important film franchise since the Original "Star Wars", and while "Harry Potter" was longer and more financially successful it had less quality and pushed far fewer envelopes in the technology of movie making.  "The Hobbit" is a return to one of the richest and most well produced universes in the history of film.

            The movie is very pretty, and much of the special effects technology pioneered in "LotR" has now been mastered, with a dozen people on the screen, all of them scaled down to various sizes, all of it seamless.  Sure there are bits of edges showing when a brand new effect appears, but overall it just glistens.  I have no opinion on the additional frames per second thing, but it is worth trying out (and abandoning if it doesn't work).

            The only real issue is one of tone, while I thought it moved rather fluidly from one emotion to the next and I felt comfortable with the moments of comedy and drama in the action I think that other people who found "LotR" too meandering might find this quite uncomfortable to sit through.  I just wanted to spend more time exploring Middle Earth and am glad this movie, and its sequels exist for me to do so.

8/10

The New Gold Standard in Found Footage Award: "Chronicle" (Trailer)

            Found footage is a production style that does two things well: saving money and lowering audience standards.  It is less expensive to film with a handheld which the actors are both aware of and can acknowledge while performing because you don't lose takes to them looking into the camera, the cameraman's presence is part of the scene.  This means you don't have to hide a small part of the film crew in the sets or maneuver hoping not to harm the environment, the cameraman is allowed to stumble and shake a little.  The lower standards come on the part of the audience who will take as part of the production lower film quality and with it lower special effects quality... Fun fact: this movie doesn't really need lowered expectations to work.

            The camera's presence makes sense, as does the title, a group of friends want to document (or Chronicle) their gaining of super powers from some mysterious crystal entity they discovered in a pit outside of a rave.  The story moves at a good clip, you see the protagonists react to what is going on, you feel bad for the main "villain" as he falls into destructive and dangerous behavior.

            There are some missteps: a needless B-plot love story; a weird choice by one character to classify himself as an Apex Predator which robs him of some sympathy; but that crap falls by the way side by the time the final super-brawl at the end kicks into full gear and rips up the city pretty well.  The final action sequence could be used as a really good example for Zach Snyder to follow when he inevitably has Superman start punching stuff, the flight in it looks really natural and cool.  It is a cool movie.

8/10

The Award for being Alright even though it Squandered Opportunities for a much more Impactful Narrative: "Rise of the Guardians" (Trailer)

            For a movie in which Santa and the Easter Bunny team to fight the god of fear this movie is shockingly average.  I wrote a rather long and detailed pick apart of this thing which is riddled with spoilers.  So if you would rather read that. (Other Blog)

            If however you have not seen "Guardians" yet and want an overview without spoilers here are a few things: the Villain's plan moves too fast and is too effective; the background has a lot of gorgeous little touches, in fact most of the art and animation is good especially the Tooth Fairy (Santa's beard is a notable exception, because it doesn't look like hair at all); the main character is not optimal for this story; Much like "Wreck it Ralph" the message is a little unclear; and lastly you will leave feeling just mildly entertained.  I have actually cooled on this film more and more since seeing it, my opinion now is lower than when I first wrote my longer analysis.  So I can't say it will grow on you.

6/10

The Award for a Main Character that got lost on its way to a Better Movie: "Lockout" (Trailer)

            This movie has a lot of problems, not the least of which being: The main Character is the only person who knows how to make good decisions.  It helps that he is played by Guy Pierce, one of my favorite actors.  If an action star with less charisma had been chosen this movie would have been a train wreck, I can just envision this thing starring John Cena or Taylor Lautner and being an unwatchable direct to DVD or Sy Fy network release.

            There is some good action, some obviously forced scenes to move the plot along, a lot of poor writing decisions regarding character relationships in order to justify moving the plot along, and I guess it helps that the plot was ripped off from "Escape from New York" (Trailer) (in fact, if it had been called "Escape from Space" and had Snake Plissken in it the movie might have been totally forgiven and lovable as pure gonzo Science Fiction action romp).  In fact that is what I will call my biggest complaint, this movie keeps having to make up reasons to get the plot going as it otherwise feels like it is about to go stale.

5/10

I need to get back on Christopher Nolan's good side.  I could play a magician.