Friday the 13th

Another Friday the 13th is upon us and yet again I'm spending it with everyone's favorite drowning victim, Jason Voorhees. That's right, I can hardly let one of these days go by without watching one of my favorite horror franchises of all time "Friday the 13th." Don't get me wrong, it's not the greatest series to ever exist, but it's such dumb fun that I've always been drawn to it. In years past I've watched the entire franchise in a single day but I've since cooled off on doing that (maybe one day in the far off future). Instead, I pick out a few choice films and go for it. So what exactly did I choose this year...

"The Final Chapter" was a no brainer. It's legitimately good with some of the best atmosphere of any of the films. It has more style than any of the previous films and adds a layer of brutality. Next I threw on "Jason X" because I wanted some dumb fun. No, it's nothing amazing but dammit, I enjoy how silly it gets. I capped it off with the Remake, which may be among my favorite in the series. Hell, today it is. I just love all the elements that made it more than just "Supernatural Zombie" and brought it down a little bit. Makes it a tad scarier.

I actually added a new tradition this year without even really realizing it. See, we already had a Friday the 13th in April of this year, and I saw "A Quiet Place." Well, that film released on 4K and it was almost like fate, watching it yet again on that day. And, being how weird I am about watching certain films on certain days of the year, I think I may have added another.

And dammit if it's not deserving as all hell. The film is just a powerhouse from start to finish. It grips you with silence in ways that films really don't these days. And the acting is just phenomenal all around.

I'm not sure if you celebrate this day like I do but maybe you should start. Or don't. I mean, it's not they don't teach you super important survival tips or anything.

ki ki ki  ma ma ma

Random Thoughts For June 2018

I am so unbelievably excited about "Halloween." Something about the latest batch of details has really ramped up my anticipation. I just can't believe we're finally getting a Halloween movie with Jamie Lee Curtis and a competent director. This hasn't happened since 1978 when the original was first released. That's 13 years before I was even born! It's hard not be pumped about such a thing. And that trailer... damn.

Relient K has taken over my life. I'm not even kidding. This seems like some kind of a weird joke but I swear I've gotten back into them. Yes, the Christian Alt band. No, I'm not Christian. Nor do I have any religious affiliations (though I quite like the Buddhist teachings) yet here I am listening to some band that randomly sings about God. I think it's a combination of things: 1) they were a favorite of mine in Middle School. 2) They aren't overtly Christian with their music and more talk about the struggles of being a youth. 3) I'm currently writing a book set in High School so it helps tap into my high school self. 4) I'm really weird.

I may be re-thinking Dario Argento. I had dismissed him years ago after a viewing of "Suspiria" left me less than impressed. But as the years have gone on, I've delved more into it. A recent obsession with "Dawn of the Dead" finally helped me make the leap and my god, Goblin is so good. I've always seen the praise and have enjoyed what I've heard of them but it wasn't until "Deep Red" that I was completely blown away. The score is one of the better I've ever heard and set me on an absolute trip. Sure, the repeat theme got a little old but dammit that theme was fantastic.

I'm finally developing some halfway decent reading habits. I try to read at least a chapter of some book a day. It's helped out a ton and I've been flying through a lot of stuff that's been on my bookshelf for a while. I love making progress with stuff like that while simultaneously expanding my own writing knowledge. Speaking of writing...

I wrote a screenplay in four days. As in I wrote a full screenplay, feature-length in 96 hours. I don't even have a name for it yet but holy shit I can't tell you how excited I am about it. I've been really inspired lately but kind of stuck in a rut with my book so I said screw it, I'm gonna just buckle down and write a script. So, with the aid of the background noise of NXT Takeover, I hammered out a screenplay. Is it good? I hope so. I'm going to give it some time to breathe but even it's a steaming pile of dogshit, I wrote a feature-length screenplay in just four days. I still can't believe it. That's an accomplishment I'll always look back on with fondness.

Watching

EDIT: I swear every time I go back to this post, something gets deleted or moved around. If I didn't have such a history with blogger...

He watched her.

He wondered why she was even there. Sitting right there, at that exact time. Didn't she know? This had to be some kind of mistake.

He watched her.

He had never seen her there before. Sure, there were plenty of others just like her, why else would he be here, but not her. Not now. His bloodlust rose.

He watched her.

He tried to avoid the thoughts, those ones that they had told him to stop thinking. He didn't want to have another incident. Another corner to contain him.

He watched her.

The wind blew her hair up and it got in her eyes. Good. She deserved it. He had been thinking of this all afternoon. All week. All month. His entire life! Didn't she know!? This was his destiny.

He watched her.

He could practically see it now: walking over to her--she wouldn't expect a thing. It was perfect. He'd be on top of her in an instant. She would probably scream and cry but he didn't care. That may even be some of the fun.

He watched h--

Why was he being grabbed? No! This was his time to attack! He couldn't stop the tears from flowing and flowing out of his eyes. Didn't Mom know what this meant. He kicked and screamed, trying anything to break from her grasp. But she held on tight. And he saw his favorite sandbox in the distance, the little girl inside taking notice.

She watched him.

Anatomy of a Top Ten List

This is an idea totally ripped off from the Duplass Brothers' book "Like Brothers" but I liked it so much that I took it. Wait... no, I co-opted it. Yeah, that sounds less devious. Either way, my whole plan was to write out all the movies I think could potentially be in my Top 10 Favorite Films of All Time. And I'd start eliminating until I was left with 10. Let's get started....

NOTE: Any excuse I can to use my huge whiteboard and it's happening. Sure, it probably would have been neater just doing it in regular list form via word but dammit, I wanted something different!

Picture #1

This is the main list. A combination of all the films I could think of that I absolutely adore and could see being on this list, as well as looking at my movie collection and thinking the same. I'm probably missing something but I spent quite a bit of time trying to get everything that deserved a place.

Picture #2

Here I went through and starred everything I KNEW needed to be on that list. So films that I watch all the time were immediately starred, as well as films that make me feel amazing when I watch them.

Picture #3

So here's 13 movies. 13 does not equal 10. So you can see where I had my problem.Wait. There's 14 here. Dammit, I added one because I can't believe I forgot it. "American Movie" belongs on damn near every list imaginable. It is so damn good and falls under the "Can Watch At Anytime No Matter How Good Or Shitty I'm Feeling" umbrella. Which is really where most of these came down to. I eliminated based on rewatchability and films I viewed as perfect.

Picture #4

And here it is. No, it's not in an exact order but I threw them on in whatever order felt right. This is what I ended up with. Honestly, there are a few films that I'm surprised didn't make the cut but given there are only 10 spots, it shouldn't be. Still, I guess I surprise easily.

A Slasher Goal

Of all the genres of horror, I always go back to Slashers when it comes to a favorite. It's what brought me into horror with films like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th (films I still watch multiple times a year).

But I've recently come to the conclusion that I haven't seen enough. I went through a phase of seeking out slashers during the early days of Netflix, when my dad allowed me to use up one of our rentals on whatever I wanted. So this resulted in films like April Fools Day, He Knows You're Alone, and Pieces being mailed to our doorstep; movies I still can't believe I was able to get my hands on given the rather limited access I'd had prior to Netflix. I essentially had to take a chance and buy the movie because it was usually too obscure to be at a local video store.

It's crazy to think of just how different things were in those times versus now. Streaming has become so prevalent that nearly anything is accessible within minutes. So I've finally decided to put my resources to good use and go back on a journey I started in my teenage years: watching slasher films I haven't seen before. Most of these are from the 70's and 80's, but I was able to add some more recent ones as well. So let's go through the list:

Madman

Bird in the Crystal Plummage

The Prowler

Hell Night

Mother's Day

Final Exam

Cutting Class

Happy Death Day

The Mutilator

Just Before Dawn

Bloody Birthday

Damn that's a lot of movies. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to accomplish this, especially given the fact that a lot of these films aren't on Amazon, Netflix or HBO GO, so it'll be tough to track some down. Thankfully, I'm up to the task (it's a tough one, I know). Let's do this!

So Bad, It's Rad #1 - "Justice League"

Justice League (2017)

I feel like I need to put it right out in front that I really dislike the DC Cinematic Universe. I have given each movie a fair shot and was only able to enjoy one of them (Wonder Woman, which I find gets less impressive on repeat viewings). So you may be one of those people that don't have an issue with the melodrama involved in these films and just want to see a Superhero on the big screen. However, I think this is going to be one of the few times we can fall into the same category and enjoy the film in similar ways.

The usual problem with the DC Universe is that it takes itself far too seriously but this movie goes the complete opposite direction and goes insanely silly so the film finally is able to go from mediocre and therefore not fun to watch to the crazy mess it's become.

The silliness starts off right off the bat with what may be the worst scene that Batman has ever been involved in (yes, I'm even counting "Batman and Robin") where he's chasing some thief on what is supposed to be a rooftop but is an extremely obvious set. In fact, it's so obviously a set, that the scene itself feels like some kind of weird play. Add on Batfleck's very exaggerated performance this time around and it sets the tone for trouble early. Batman isn't the only character that was completely mishandled...

Wonder Woman becomes a complete joke of a character who's main character trait is that she misses her former love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine from her solo outing). To the point that she straight up brings it up out of nowhere and when it's not even really relevant to the conversation. Oh, she also has insane super speed now too. In fact, everyone that's not Batman has crazy Super Speed that makes Flash's character fairly useless.

Speaking of useless, why is Batman suddenly so useless? He is the butt of so many jokes and often just gets his ass handed to him. I really only liked the scenes with Bruce Wayne and would instantly groan whenever Batman was on screen. And what the hell was the deal with his suits? They looked so lame this time around. After how cool the suit was in BvS, I was surprised to see such a downgrade. It was especially funny when Diana had to pop his shoulder back into place and he just had his dark grey metal tits in her face.

The unintentionally funny moments in this film are so abundant its practically a comedy. They go to a Batman/Bruce Wayne reaction shot nearly anytime something happens and he always seems annoyed by it. They may as well start calling him Tony Stark and be done with it.

I love Joss Whedon and I think he's the only reason the movie is as fun as it is, but I'd love to see the complete Trainwreck that Snyder was directing. You can see there are hints of it in the movie, and those are usually some of the worst parts (overly melodramatic and slow).

Diving Back Into Nintendo (AKA I got a 3DS)

I've largely taken a back seat when it came to Nintendo for well over a decade. It just never really interested me. The Wii always came across as a kiddie/gimmick console, and I've always liked high performance/top of the line graphics, which isn't something Nintendo is known for. So I've been an XBOX guy since nearly 2002 and felt that I was in sore need of a change. Enter the 2DS XL.

For those not in the know, the 2DS is the same as the 3DS, just without the 3D gimmick and therefore cheaper. Seeing an affordable handheld that gave me access to a ton of games that were also on the hard to find SNES Classic and I was sold. But being the gamer I am, if I was going to dive into a new console, I was going to do it right. So I picked up some of the latest entries in all of the big Nintendo franchises and dove in head first.

When it comes to the console itself, I was really impressed with the size and feel. Despite being all plastic, it has a good weight to it and isn't so small that even people with big hands can play comfortably. I'll be honest though, I did kind of regret not getting a 3DS XL after I saw how solid the metal design is on those. I may have never used the 3D portion, but dammit if the sturdy design seemed good enough to warrant the cost.

I never realized that the screens are only 240p which, in the age of retina displays, feels kind of silly. To be fair, the 3DS' life cycle is essentially over. There's not going to be any major releases for any of the main franchises from here on out, with just random games coming out. Which is fine since the system came out in 2011 so it had a good run. And most people getting into a system are likely to just go for the Switch, but for those like me, who just wanted some cheap fun on the go, maybe this will help you finally make the decision.

So here are some of the games that I picked up, as well as what I thought about each of them.

Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Calling this a unique game is a bit of an understatement because I can't remember the last time I saw something so fresh while still looking so familiar. It works as a sort of sequel to A Link To The Past and even includes Hyrule so, as someone who hasn't played a Zelda game since then, it was a welcome treat for me.

Super Mario 3D Land

So much fun. I'll never tire of a good ole fashioned Mario Game. The only annoying aspect is that you NEED to collect the stars. I didn't realize until reaching a part of the game where I couldn't go further simply because I didn't have enough stars to enter the castle. But once I understood that mechanic, I sped through the game and is actually the only 3DS game I've actually completed.

Donkey Kong Country 3D

Similar to SM3L, this game is a platformer, although it goes more along the sidescrolling route like it's SNES predecessors. Donkey Kong Country has always been my favorite Nintendo series so I get a kick out of this game, despite the fact that I haven't beaten it and don't think I will be for the foreseeable future (damn Wave level).

Pokemon: Ultra Sun

Holy shit, there is just so much text to get through. The game never really stops feeling like a tutorial. You're just kind of constantly going from point A to point B, with little sense of exploration. And the number of times I had to spend a full two minutes skipping through text/cut scenes got very old fast. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but it'd be a lot more fun if it didn't hold your hand as much. And that's coming from someone that hasn't played a Pokemon game since the original 152 (Mewtwo is the last of those right? Or is it 151 with just Mew? Fuck, I can't remember). I just want to be able to roam around and collect pokemon but dammit if there isn't always some kind of objective blasting in my face.


Conclusion:

I'm excited about the system and all of the catching up I can do with old franchises. The main thing will be being able to go back and play NES, SNES and even Gameboy via Virtual Console. That's not to mention the backwards compatibility with DS games, which had some N64 remakes on it, which furthers my goal. I'd recommend it, especially if you can hack it.

Random Thoughts for April 2018

Go see "A Quiet Place" immediately. It's so good that I'm not even sure how it's gotten so mainstream. Usually films like this are only appreciated by a certain audience but damn near everyone is loving this movie. When I saw it, I waited for my date to arrive and saw loads of pre-teens and teens entering the theater much to my dismay. But all of that worry was for naught because the moment the film started, the entire room was enthralled and kept their traps shut. Thank god. And it goes to show just how good this movie is, because that's no easy task (especially considering the film only has like 25 lines of dialogue).

I really love me some Resident Evil 5. I had only played it a few times back when it came out and have been having a blast this time around. I love the mechanics and just how much of an action game it is. 4 always made me too tense so, I think after playing so much of 5, I may finally be able to complete 4, a game considered to be the best in the franchise by many.

This is a place for random thoughts, right? I don't know why I've been thinking about this but Man of Steel may have been the worst technical experience I've ever had in a movie theater. And I mean that literally. I saw that film in IMAX in New Orleans, where they boasted the best experience around. Instead I could literally hear the feedback every time someone spoke. I could hear the fades the audio engineer made on every line of dialogue. When someone wasn't speaking, it faded out. I could practically see the project opened up in Pro Tools. I don't know how such a sloppy mixing job made it through the system or if someone at that particular theater just happened to fuck up but, to this day, it's an experience that hasn't been repeated.

I'm going to make this blog a little more active (for a few months at least). Not exactly a difficult task when the only thing I've done on here was a post on January 1st, and the place has been barren ever since. My plan is to do a new article every Friday. I really want to do it more just to express myself a little more as I've gotten into a little bit of a creative rut and having deadlines can sometimes help me. So what does that mean for you? Keep an eye out on this space and you'll be in for at least a few mildly entertaining stories/pieces/blurbs. I have quite the backlog, so the next few months of Friday's should be covered, we'll see how motivated I am after that.

I'm crazy far behind on my "New Movie Quota" for this year. My goal has been to hit 150 films I'd never seen before and I'm currently at a whopping 12 films. It's nearly a third of the way through the year and I'm nearly 40 films behind. Yeesh. So in an effort to make a dent in that number, I decided to give myself the goal of watching a new film everyday until Marc's Wedding festivities. Will it happen? I'm hoping so because dear god have I been terrible at keeping up. I'm also behind in my total book count for the year. Dammit. Speaking of new movies...

Ready Player One was pretty great. I wouldn't say it blew me away like the book did but I was certainly entertained. It wasn't as dark as the book but I really loved the back and forth between Artemis and Parzival. She seems much more playful in the film than she is in the books, but I like the change. Aech's voice annoyed me to no end and that was inexcusable. I already knew the twist but I can't imagine they managed to fool anyone with that poor sound work. Whoever worked on that should feel bad about putting such cheap work in such a big budget film. It really took me out of the moment whenever she spoke.