Don't Make Spontaneous Statements About Your Facial Hair

In my opinion one of my friends is spending way too much time with his girlfriend. For a physical representation of this I came up with an idea. The last time I saw him I told him I would not shave until the next time we hung out. Since I only see him every month or so, the next time I saw him he would go "Whoa you have a mustache I guess I haven't seen you in awhile."

Well this happened over a month ago. And since that time I have not shaved, I have trimmed some spots but kept the main areas of my facial hair untouched. I now realize that I haven't seen him in liked 5 week and I think he is going on vacation for a couple of weeks so I probably wouldn't see him anytime soon. So I need to break my promise and shave it all off. Its starting to feel really itchy sometimes and it's not a good look at all. I also need a hair cut but thats unrelated.

Knowing (2008)

2008
Thriller
Nicholas Cage, Rose Byrne

In Knowing a time capsule is dug up at an elementary school. In the capsule there is a piece of paper covered in random numbers. As it turns out, they are not random as Nicholas Cage's character finds out, they tell the time place and death toll of major disasters from the time it was buried and written (1959) until the present day, and into the near future. When the characters figure this out they scramble to see what if anything they can do with this information to avoid what is coming, which may just be the end of the world.

I never really heard too much positive stuff about this movie. The only reason I rented it was I saw that one reviewer said the disasters shown in this movie look really good, and he was right. In Knowing they probably show the most realistic plane crash I have ever seen in a movie. Not just the impact of the plane on the ground but the aftermath. Flaming bodies and debris everywhere. The disasters in this movie are vey realistic. They do not tone it down. There is a lot of blood and body parts flying around on screen. It is gritty, realistic, exciting, and it all looks fantastic.

This movie stars Nicholas Cage. He somehow is considered a good actor (critically), while at the same time being horrible in a bunch of movies. I think he was perfect for this role. I mean he plays kind of a nervous professor which I think fit him well. Knowing was directed by Alex Proyas, director of the fantastic Dark City. If you haven't seen Dark City, check it out. With Knowing and Dark City under his belt (and iRobot but I haven't seen it) it is clear that he knows what he is doing with a movie. I already mentioned it, but the whole thing looked incredible. I can't wait to see the next movie he directs.

There is a great documentary about doomsday cults and apocalyptic beliefs on the DVD, so if you rent it, make sure to watch that too.

When I said I didn't hear too much positive stuff about this movie it was because most people said the ending sucked. Stuff like "it was okay until the ending." I do not agree. When you look at what is going on in the movie (parnormal things) and everything before it, the ending made perfect sense to me. In fact, I liked the ending.

I say ignore the negative you heard about this movie and rent it. Just be ready for an interesting sci fi thriller that is a little deeper than plane crashes and explosions (though those are probably my favorite parts).

3 out of 5 Stars

Factoid: During one disaster scene there is a shot of the hotel (and the specific room) I stayed at in New York City, blowing up.

Pineapple Express (2008)

2008
Comedy
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride

From Hot Rod we come to Pineapple Express. This is the next movie I am talking about after Hot Rod for 2 reasons: Danny McBride, and I took way too long to see it.

The premise follows Seth Rogen as a process server (gives people summons for court) who is a pot head. After buying some special new weed from his dealer, James Franco, he goes to serve someone with a summons. When he gets there though he witnesses a murder. And the chase is on. He and James Franco are on the run from the murderers because they know they have seen too much. That's the set up. They run into various characters along the way including Danny McBride's Red, Gary Cole, and"that black guy from the warehouse on the Office."

James Franco basically made the movie for me. His character is high and/or burnt out throughout the whole movie, and it's hilarious. He goes on these rambling run offs about random shit and easily gets distracted by anything goin on around him. Basically everything he said made me laugh. Which is sort of ironic because if I with somebody like him in real life I would probably be super annoyed.


Seth Rogen is of course the main character of the movie. He has some funny parts but for the most part plays the straight man for the all the ridiculous situations around him. Danny McBride isn't in much of the movie, but when he is on screen it's great. There is a scene at the end of the movie with three leads having a conversation which made me laugh the whole time it was going on.


Regardless of whether I got the point of across in the above writing or not, Pineapple Express is one of the funniest movies I have seen in well probably forever. Probably my favorite comedy since Superbad. I am so mad at myself for not watching it sooner, especially since my brother had a copy of it the whole time. Even though this was advertised as a pot comedy, you don't have to know anything about marijuana in order to enjoy it.

4 out of 5 Stars

Hot Rod (2007)

2007
Comedy
Starring: Andy Samber, Danny McBride, Bill Hader and many more
"My name is Rod, and I like to party."

Recently I have watched a few movies that when they came out, people told me were "okay" or "had a few funny parts." Basically, nobody gave them rave reviews. One of these movies I put off watching until today was Hot Rod. And I am mad I put it off so long.

For those who don't know Hot Rod follows the exploits of Andy Samberg's character Rod. Who is an amateur stuntman, whose stunts usually end up failing. But he has to pull off a major stunt (jumping 15 buses) to raise $50,000 for what one of the characters calls "a conveniently priced surgery" to save his step dad's life. Of course he only wants to save his life so he can beat the crap out of him to hopefully earn his respect.

The first thing that struck me about this movie was the amount of note worthy actors in it. Basically every major character is somebody you recognize, and most likely found very funny, from another movie. I mean the cast is: Andy Samber, Bill Hader, Isla Fischer, Danny McBride, Ian McShane, Sissy Spacke, Will Arnet. That is quite the line up, for me at least. I should focus on Danny McBride because I didn't know he was in this movie before I watched it. Afer some of my recent viewing I have come to the conclusion that he is one of the funniest guys around. He makes me laugh in everything he has done. In Hot Rod he has what I think is the funniest scene in the movie, where he flips out for no reason.

I will admit that most of this movie is really stupid, but that doesn't matter, because it's funny. Its comedy is a mix of slap stick and one liners, from basically all major cast member. It occasionally lovingly mocks 80s movies, but only for short bursts because it is not a spoof or anything. Though the use of 80s music during montages is perfect for the feel of the movie. I am mad I put off watching this for so long. It kept me laughing throughout, which is all I really ask for

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Factoid: This movie was originally written for Will Ferrel

My Top 11 (plus some) Albums of 2008

* I am only posting this because I already had it written up and figured I might as well post it here. I also added some myspace links for the lesser known acts if you want to check the bands out. My rankings may have changed since I made the list, but how it is now is fine. I am sure there are albums that I like from 2008 that I left off the list but thats okay (like I just added on the Demi Lovato album, it should probably be in the top 10 but I dont want to think about where). Onto the list...

Honorable Mention:
Motionless in White - When Love Met Destruction
The Crosstown Rivalry - Pull Down the Sky
Valencia - We All Need A Reason to Believe
T.I. - Paper Trails
Superchick - Rock What Ya Got
Lil Wayne - Carter III
Anberlin - New Surrender
Underoath - Lost In the Sound of Seperation
Sugarland - Love on the Inside


Runners Up:
16. Fireflight - Unbreakable
15. Driving East - The Future of the Free World
14. Fight Fair - Settle the Score (http://www.myspace.com/fightfair)
13. Jacks Mannequin - Glass Passenger
12. Demi Lovato - Don't Forget

11. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge - Alestorm is a metal band from Scotland. To be more specific, they are a pirate metal band. Which means all their songs are about being pirates and stuff related to being pirates. Its over the top, sort of ridiculous, but totally awesome. I love them. They had an EP come out this year too, but I dont think they both needed to be listed.
http://www.myspace.com/alestorm

10. Taylor Swift - Fearless - I love Taylor Swift and am not afraid to admit it. I expected this album to be #1, but was let down by it. Too many slow songs for my tastes, but no real bad songs. I am excited for her next effort, since she recently got dumped and that usually precedes quality music.

9. House of Heroes - The End is Not the End - Great rock album from a Christian band. Just listen to the song Codename:Raven, its good and like most other stuff you hear.
http://www.myspace.com/houseofheroes

8. Hit the Lights - Skip School, Start Fights - Great pop punk from my boys from Lima, OH. If you want pop punk, they should be in your first few choices. I am not sure if I like this more than their debut or not, but they are both good.
http://www.myspace.com/hitthelights

7. Less Than Jake - GNV FLA - If you don't know what to expect from a LTJ album by now, you are missing out. I have not seen another band keep up the quality after so many releases like LTJ does.
http://www.myspace.com/lessthanjake

6. Lady Antebellum - s/t - A great debut from this country trio. Just quality pop country. They remind me of Little Big Town (one of my favorites), but with less focus on vocal harmonys and more on excellent individual parts in songs that both males and females can relate to.
http://www.myspace.com/ladyantebellum

5. Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure - New singer, but SH still brings it. One of my all time favorite bands, though I can admit I like their other albums more. This is a great album, good imagery, good breakdowns. They invented metalcore and are the best at it.
http://www.myspace.com/profoundhatred

4. Addison Road - s/t - Another female fronted band. Just heartfealt light rock here. Just a lot of great songs you'll want to listen to again and again.
http://www.myspace.com/addisonroad

3. Hey Monday - Hold On Tight - They are basically Paramore, but better. The songs are catchy, the music is good, the singer has a good voice, and she is hot
http://www.myspace.com/heymonday

2. A Day Away - Here We Go Again - The best pop punk I have heard in years. I usually think debut albums have the most heart, and this reinforces that. For whatever reason many pop punk fans have not even heard of this band, which boggles my mind. If you want pop punk, check them out.
http://www.myspace.com/adayawayband

1. Krystal Meyers - Make Some Noise - Usually when an artist decides to drastically change their sound, I don't like it, but I love the change KM has made. She went from a very pop rock, almost Avril Lavigne vibe, to a euro pop dance club vibe, and pulled it off. I don't listed to that kind of music at all, but I love this album. Check out the songs Shine and Make Some Noise, they are my favorites.
http://www.myspace.com/krystalmeyers


Closing Thoughts:
The main thing this list shows, is that I have a hard time making a list of only 10 things. Every few minutes I kept remembering another album from this year that I liked. In all reality the number 1 and 2 spots could easily be switched and I wouldn't care. They are both albums I like a lot. I guess this year was a big year for female vocalists for me, taking almost have of the top 10 spots.
Now time to start listening to 2009 albums...

I need to watch some newer movies

At most I usually am only interested in watching one movie that is released on DVD each week. Well lately not even that many have interested me. Lately all I have been watching is TV shows on DVD or anime. Well Watchmen finally came out and I added that to my queue so I will finally see that. Most of the TV shows I am watching are from HBO since it is one the few channels I do not get. They also take their time (take too long) to release stuff on DVD after it has aired.

What I've watched the last few weeks: Entourage, Eastbound and Down, Neon Genesis Evangelion

DVDs out Soon I want to see: Adventureland, I Love You Man, Flight of the Conchords Season 2, Watchmen

I also need to stop being lazy and write up some recent movies I have seen (Gran Torino, Surveillance) before I forget what I want to say about them.

Push (2009)

2009

Sci-Fi/Action

Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle
Similar to: X Men, Heroes, The 4400

I heard a lot of reviews comparing Push to Heroes, and even though I have never seen Heroes, it sounds like comparison is about right. In the movie a bunch of people have special powers, results of experiment done by the government. Well of course, there are good guys with powers, and bad guys with powers. Based on the previews and the name of the movie I expected everybody to have the same power. I expected them to all be throwing objects and people all around the screen using their mine, but thats not the case. There are a bunch of differnet power sets, each with their own cool name, "Wipers" "Sniffers"etc. "Pushers" seem to be the most powerful, they can make anyone believe anything as the truth just by looking at them. This power causes some problems though, because everytime a Pusher in on screen you never know whether what other people are doing is real, or if they are bein manipulated.
I heard a lot of people describe this movie as "the one where Dakota Fanning wears a skirt." And that is true, she wears a skirt the whole time. Not in this movie, but I am calling it, in like a year or so, she is going to be really hot. I think the only other movie I have seen Dakota Fanning in was War of the Worlds where she was the most annoying character in the history of film. So thankfully she is not that annoying in this movie. This movie also co stars Camilla Belle who I think is probably the hottest actress working today, even though I have never seen a movie with her in it before. Her acting isn't anything special in this movie, but then again this isn't really a good movie to showcase acting talent in.
Based on the trailer for this movie you would think that there is a lot of action. There really isn't though. However the bits (including a big scene at the end) where there is action are really welld done. There should have been more.
One of my favorite things about this movie was that it was set in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is probably the place I want to visit the most in the world. If anybody wants to go with me, let me know, it would be real bonus if you speak Cantonese by the way. I blame my love for Hong Kong on watching too many John Woo and Chow Yun Fat movies. Hong Kong is such a big and colorful city, only Tokyo comes close in comparison. It provides a great back drop for this or any story. I am about to post a link to a picture that shows what an awe inspring place Hong Kong can be WARNING THIS IS A GIANT PICTUE, so it will take a while to load, but it is totally worth it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Hong_Kong_Skyline_Restitch_-_Dec_2007.jpg
The plot of Push starts off okay but gets really muddled down as it goes. All the various powers really just make the story confusing. When you have characters that can predict the future and others that can convince you that you are really on the other side instantly, its hard to know what is real or what is going on, or why. Half of the set up for the finale of the film is just setting up fake events to confuse the people who predict the future but all that does is waste time and probably confuse some people in the audience.
So what did I think of this movie? I really don't know. I can't tell if I liked it or not. There are some things I liked about it, but parts of the plot were stupid and distracting. I also predicted teh final scene with about an hour left in the movie, not to brag or anything. I guess there are worse ways to watch 2 hours watching a movie.

2 or 3 Stars... aka, I am still not sure

The Hangover (2009)

2009
Comedy
Zach Galifinakis, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms

I finally got around to seeing The Hangover. Everybody kept telling me it was hilarious and the funniest movies of the year. Well I agree that it was funny I don't see what all the fuss was about. People were talking about it like it was the funniest movie ever, but I don't see it. I mean don't get me wrong, I thought it was funny, and I liked it, but it wasn't mindblowing or anything. Basically all the funny parts came from Zach Galifinakis. Now I don't like stand up comedy (not sure why exactly) but out of the little I do like, ZG is one of them. So it was no real surprise he was hilarious. I am glad he was the star of this so other people find out how awesome he is. I just wish some of the other characters added to the funny quotient. I guess Ed Helms had some funny parts, but there were dwarfed by ZG.

High Points: baby masturbating, lone Wolf speech

You should all definitely see it. But don't get in expecting OMG FUNNIEST MOVIEZ EVER!!1!!!!

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Factoid: This was the fastest R rated movie to ever gross $200 mill domestically.

Also if anyone wants to watch a low quality streaming (but still watchable) bootleg of this on their computer, just let me know.

Let the Right One In (2008)

2008
Horror/Foreign

I know some people know of a very popular vampire movie that was released last year. However most people are still unaware of the better vampire movie to come out last year. That better movie is Let the Right One In.
It is a vampire flick all the way from Sweden. It is about a young boy who is bullied at school. One night he meets an odd little girl in the playground behind his house. They become friends. Then as violent murders begin to happen all around town the boy realizes that his new little friend is in fact a vampire. Once that secret is out both characters begin to look out for their new friend in the challenges they face, even though they are from different worlds. It also is nice to see how their friendship affects all parts of their lives. Don't you think you would act a little different knowing your best friend was immortal killing machine. It all leads up to a final scene that will make you say "whoa, this is badass." There is one really odd scene ivolving one of the characters genitals that really cofused me until someone online explained it, so if you watch it and are confused by that, just ask me for the explination.

Let the Right One In Trailer


Just make sure to check out this underrated flick. Its on Netflix Instant and apparently its on youtube (in a few parts). Its got great mood, great characters, and tells a very interesting story.

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Summer Heights High: Complete Series (2007)

TV Series

Summer Heights High is a TV series from Australia. It aired in the US on HBO. It is a fake documentary series like The Office. It follows the happenings in the high school during a year. It is probably one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. There are so many funny moments in every episode.
The show follows around 3 main characters:
Mr G - the flamboyant drama teacher
Ja'mie King - spoiled rich girl from a private school who is there for an exchange program
Jonah - trouble making kids who loves to breakdance (see video below)



The amazing thing about these 3 different characters is that they are all played by show creator and writer Chris Lilley. His range to play all 3 of these characters is amazing. The big plot points are the drama teacher putting on a play to memoralize a student who died by overdosing on extasy, Ja'mie trying to put on a formal dance, and Jonah writing dick-tations (basically just a penis with "tation" next to it, it makes no sense, but it doesn't matter) everywhere.
The whole series is only 8 episodes long. So it won't take a big committment to watch all of it. And if you rent it the first 7 of the episodes are on one disc.
Just make sure to check it out, because its hilarious.

4.5 out of 5 Stars

This is a work in progress

I am still figuring out how I should do the reviews on here. I think I might start adding a youtube clip (if I can find one) for each movie. I also might start put the year, genre, cast, etc. at the top of each one. I also might opt for a Good Bad Ugly section and just name off random things for each movie. Since Lenny and Shannon are the only two people that I know might actually look at this, your input is welcome. I will try and put up reviews to movies you might have actually seen here in the next day or so. Right now I am just going through what I most recently watched. None of these have been really funny yet which I hope to accomplish in the future, when the movie permits. So please comment away (here, and for every post you have anything to say about) and tell me what you would like to see.

The Night Before (1988)

What if I told you there was a movie with almost the same premise as The Hangover, made in the 80s, starring Keanu Reeves. Would you believe me? Well you should, because that movie is The Night Before.
In this movie Keanu Reeves wakes up in the middle of the night in an alley and has to figure out what the hell happened to him during the night. Very quicly he remembers that he was taking the popular girl from school to the prom because she lost a bet and had to go with him. Then he quickly remembers that her dad told him that if anything happened to her he would kill him. Then he remembers that he might have sold the girl to a pimp.... And things spiral out of control from there. I think when all is said and done we meet like 3 or 4 different pimps.
I liked how this movie slowly pieced together what Keanu had actually done that night. It does a great job of flashing back and forth from what happened to showing Keanu tracing his steps. His night all started to go downhill when he drank tequilla and ginger ale at a bar in the "bad" side of town, so don't do that. Keanu isn't really known for his acting skills, but he was surprisingly funny and charming in this role. Maybe it was just easy for him to play someone who was out of it and had no idea what was going on...
There are laughs spread throughout. Nothing gut busting, but at least it kept a smile on my face for much of it. A lot of the jokes stem from the fact that they keep being in places with all black people, and they are white. You can see those kind of jokes coming from a mile away, but some of them are still funny. My one complaint about the plot is that the girl (played by Lori Laughlin, Becky from Full House) forgives all the terrible stuff that happened to her that night because Keanu "risked his life" to save her in the end. Uhh, what about the fact that all the problems she faces were all his fault to being with? Whatever, its a movie, I guess they need them to be together in the end for a happy ending.
I have not seen The Hangover yet, but I have a feeling that in the "forgot what happened last night, need to figure it out" genre, that is probably the superior movie to The Night Before. But if you are looking for a fun 80s movie you probably never heard of before, or you liked Keanu in the Bill and Ted movies, check out The Night Before.

3 out of 5 Stars

Legend of the Bog (2008)

One way I find out about movies is to go to a site that shows what new releases are coming out that week. That is how I stumbled across this movie and added it to my queue. Of course right after it was mailed to me I read a review talking about how bad of a movie it is. And guess what? That review was right.
Legend of the Bog takes place in the backwoods of Ireland and stars Vinnine Jones (name might not ring a bell, but you have most likely seen him before). Somehow a caveman comes back to life and Vinnie and some random college aged people have to stop it or something. The plot doesn't really matter because it's obvious the people who made the movie didn't care too much about it. This movie was flat out terrible. The movie is basically two parts. Part 1 shows a big bald guy (the cave man come back to life) walking around and occasionally killing people when he stumbles upon them. Part 2 shows a bunch of people wandering around in the woods trying to avoid the cave man, then later trying to find him to kill him. This is one of those horror movies where the cast is so annoying you want all of them to die. The cave man isn't even remotely scary or intimidating. He is just a big bald guy with a animal skin outfit of some kind.
There was one highlight in this piece of crap. Right after the cave man comes back to life they show him walking down a path and there are two dogs. The dogs start barking at him and he just looks at them. They cut away for a second, and when they come back they show him adjusting some fur shoes he made, after apparently killing the dogs. Its so stupid its hilarious. Of course I don't think the filmmakers meant for it to be funny, which only makes it funnier.
I don't know how anyone would happen to stumble upon this movie randomly, but if you do, run away. It's not even the kind of "bad" where you can make fun it, it's the kind of bad where its just flat out bad.

1 out of 5 Stars

City Heat (1984)

Clint Eastwood is my all time favorite actor. I have seen all of his big movies, so when I watch a Clint Eastwood movie I have not seen, it is a treat for me.
City Heat starts Clint and Burt Reynolds. It is advertised as a copy buddy comedy, though thats not really the case, because the two are not really friends in the movie, they just tolerate each other. It is set in the 1920s and focuses on a private detective (Reynolds) who is trying to track down some money his friend stole from a mobster so they don't hurt his girlfriend, and a cop (Eastwood) following all the mayhem and trying to stop the mobster.
It is advertised as a comedy, but sadly, isn't that funny. Burt Reynolds has a few VERY funny lines, but not many. I wish they would have given him more because a few of his one liners are hilarious. Even though Eastwood can be funny, he plays the straight man for the most part in this movie. Though some of quips towards Reynolds did make me smile. Since it involves cops and mobsters there is some shooting and action, but none of it is really memorable.
There are must better Eastwood and Reynolds movies to watch. So unless you have seen most of those, there is really no reason to watch this. It's not awful, just other movies do this a lot better. For the die hard fans Eastwood fans only.

3 of 5 Stars

Outlander (2008)

Most people have never heard of this movie because it was only in a few theatres, and only for a week, so it is basically a direct to DVD title for the most part.
It is about Kainan, played by Jim Caviezel (you know, Jesus), who is from another planet. He is transporting a dangerious alien being, when his spaceship crashes on Earth in Norway during the time of the Vikings. When the alien starts killing the locals it is up to Kainan to team up with the vikings and kick some alien ass. It is also revealed that the alien's species was wiped out by Kainan's people on another planet, except for the one on the spaceship who sort of killed Kainan's family. So let's just say, it's personal.
Since I know your first question is "What does the alien look like?" I will tell you. It basically looks like a tiger, crossed with at Komodo dragon, and it glows in the dark. The effects for the alien were pretty good. I am not sure how big the budget was for this movie but everything in it looks top notch. The costumes, the viking village, the effects, etc, all of it helps take you back to Norway in 700 AD. The action is exciting and well shot, so you can actually tell what is going on.
I never saw Passion of the Christ so I don't really know much about Jim Caviezel's skills as an actor, but in this movie he is probably the low point. All of the supporting cast outshine him in most scenes. He's not terrible, just not as good as everybody else. Ron Pearlman (Hellboy) plays a rival clan leader in this movie. I don't know what special effects they used in his scenes, but when he is on screen he looks like the largest human being to ever walk the Earth. He looks like he is about 8 foot tall and weighs about 500 pounds. He also carries two stone hammers that would make Thor jealous. If I was fighting against an alien, I would want his character on my side.
I think this movie deserved a wider release in theatres. It was much more enjoyable than most crap released nowadays. This movie isn't deep or groundbreaking, just fun, sci fi escapism. A better viking movie is Pathfinder, so if you want to watch some vikings, check that out.

3 out of 5 Stars

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

There was a remake that came out for this movie last year, I did not see that so I don't know which is better or anything. I probably would have rented the remake first but since it is in 3D and Netflix does not mail out 3D glasses, I just went with the original, and I am glad I did.
The movie is about a guy who almost killed in a mining disaster due to other people leaving the job early to go to the town's annual Valentine's Day Dance (the town's name is Valentine Falls, I think...) So after he gets out of the mine, he seeks revenge. After that he is sent to a mental hospital. But 20 years later people starting dying again....has he returned to exact more revenge?
This movie was a lot of fun. The killer is a guy with a gas mask and a pick axe. Pretty badass in my book. He is upset there is a Valentine's Day party since that is the day the accident occurred 20 years before. After he kills some citizens the only people still trying to party are some young mine workers and their friends, so that is who he goes after. Probably the best thing about this movie are the kills. For a villain with a distinct weapon (the pick axe), he finds a lot of interesting ways to kill people. Another thing I thought was pretty good about this movie were the gore effects. They were far superior to most of the stuff in The Burning, even though they came out the same year. None of the kids he is chasing are really that memorable. The town sheriff is probably the best character since he live through the first set of murders, so he knows now is not the time to be fucking around. One thing I learned watching this, is if I ever get a box of Valentine's candy and blood is leaking out, I won't open it, because there is probably just a human heart in it. There is a twist at the end that I saw coming about an hour into the movie, but thankfully it fits into the storyline and isn't just there for shock value like most twist endings in modern movies are.
If you want to hang out and watch a scary movie, this would be a good one to choose. It's not really that scary, but still has a great sense of suspense and mood throuought. There is nothing quite like being stalked by a madman in a coal mine. You will be screaming "RUN!" at the screen, while at the same time hoping they don't run just to see how they will be disposed of.

3 out of 5 Stars

The Burning (1981)

Last night was Friday, so as per routine it was "Horror Movie Friday" because I watch horror movies every friday night.
Last night's selection was The Burning. A teen slasher movie from the golden age of the genre (the 80s). It has a lot in common with the first Friday the 13th. Some counselors pull a prank on a guy who works at a summer camp and end up burning him very badly. Protip: Do not keep a gas can on the nightstand next to your bed, nothing good can come from that.Five years later the guy, horribly disfigured, gets out of the hospital, and goes looking for revenge against camp counselors (not the same ones who burned him, but close enough).
One funny thing I noticed about this movie was that there appeared to be no kids at the camp. It was always just counselors doing activities together. Like when they go on the big overnight canoe trip, it is only like 10 counselors who go, no kids. The only time they show any kids is during scenes in the dining hall. There are benefits to having no kids in most of the movie though, like random skinny dipping scenes, so I am not complaining. They use the same trick too many times in this movie. They make you think the killer is about to attack, but then it turns out to be just one of the person's friends walking up to them. Doing that once is neat, do it 4 times, and it gets kind of tiring. My main complaint about this movie is the effects were kind of crappy. Which is surprising because the effects (and the killers hands) were done by horror effects mastermind Tom Savini. The effects weren't totally horrible, but movies from the same time frame did them much better. The make up for the burned guy wasn't too bad. It reminded me of Nemesis from the Resident Evil series, if that means anything to you. Another highlight is the movie features Jason Alexander (George Costanza) when he still had a full head of hair.
Overall this was a fun slasher movie. Some good scares, funny parts, naked teens and a very creepy villain. If you want something similar to Friday the 13th but are tired of Jason Voorhees, check it out.

3 out of 5 Stars

Random Movie Fact: This was the first movie ever released by Miramax and the Weinstein brothers. Who of course are now major players in Hollywood.

Here is how it is

I mainly created this to review movies I watch (and music, and books, etc.). Since I watch a movie basically every night at work, I should have a lot of stuff to write about. I have about 800 movies rated through Netflix at the moment. I don't plan on going back and reviewing all of them, but I will go through a lot of them. I will try and review most movies the day after I watch them. I will use the star ranking system that Netflix uses:
* - awufl
** - bad, but not offensively so
*** - I liked it, but it wasn't great (I end up giving most things 3 stars)
**** - really liked it
***** - great, one of my all time favorites.
I tend to rate movies based on how much I liked them, more than how "good" they were, if that makes any sesne.

I have a feeling this won't only be used for reviews. Chances are I will start talking about random stuff every so often.

So here we go...