Happy Belated Birthday To Me

So yesterday was the birthday. Want details? No? What do you mean no? You're gonna get them anyway.

Me, my mom, and my aunt started the day by heading to the Texas Roadhouse for lunch. I had one of the best steaks I've ever eaten, and my sneaky aunt got the staff to sing me "Happy Birthday." That was fun, if not embarrassing (and it was definately embarrassing). After that, we went to the movie theater next door and caught Shrek 2. Not a bad movie at all, if I do say so myself. I thought it was just as good as the first one. I'll give it four stars out of my usual five, because it was just that good. And after the success Shrek 2's had, a third one is more than definately gonna happen.

We went from the theater to various shopping destinations. I picked up "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks, then went to Best Buy and purchased Bubba Ho-Tep, the third Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie. I also got the DVD's of Wrestlemania 19 and 20, Mick Foley's latest DVD, the first season of the Buffy TV show, and the soundtrack to Reservoir Dogs. I'd have gotten the two Freddy vs. Jason action figures, but no place had them. I guess I'll have to save up some more money and buy them off the Internet.

Anyway, that's all that really happened on my birthday. Today, we had a bunch of family over to visit, though not everybody got to come down due to other stuff going on. It wasn't very eventful, outside of my little buddy Gary D. (who happens to be visiting until Tuesday) hanging on me like a shadow. I love the little boy, but sometimes he just makes me want to go away for a while. It's also raining now, and a tornado touched down in Louisville just a little while ago. I want all these freaking storms to go away! I think that ark joke I made in the last update is gonna end up coming to pass.

Whoa, there's a town in Kentucky named Krypton. I saw it on the local news just now, and that is awesome. There should be a town here named "Gotham City." It's only right.

Not much else that I can think of to comment on. If I do think of something, I'll be back. Until then, Sutton out.

Lots of Random Thoughts

Holy crap, it's been raining like crazy lately. It's been raining more than just cats and dogs, it's been raining the whole freaking zoo. And it's been raining like this for the last few days, too. Any more rain, and I'm gonna have to start building an ark.

Tomorrow's my birthday. I feel so old sometimes, then I remember I'm still in my very early 20s.

Brief horror movie news: Bloody-Disgusting.com reported a few days ago that Leslie Easterbrook has replaced Karen Black as "Mother Firefly" in The Devil's Rejects. I think that was a good move, as there's a strong resemblence between the two. They're not identical, but they look a lot alike. The Devil's Rejects is currently filming in Los Angeles with a scheduled release date of somewhere around Halloween.

Also starting around Halloween is The Horror Channel. All I need after that is a 24-hour pro wrestling channel, and I'll be glued to the TV all day. WWE's working on that On-Demand thing, but I think it would be better as a premium sports network. So instead of doing On-Demand is have potential viewers pay one flat monthly rate instead. I like that idea a lot better, especially because I don't have On-Demand. They could run packages highlighting individual wrestlers or classic feuds (which could cover any era or promotion, considering their huge archive), and maybe have "best of" shows to hype their major pay-per-views. For example, they could do the best of Summerslam in late July through August, or do the best of Wrestlemania from February through March. They've also got the tape catalogues of WCW, ECW, SMW, the AWA, and Jim Crockett Promotions, so they should put them to good use. I think they have some Stampede footage (but I don't know for sure), and they should talk to Jerry Lawler about getting the USWA tape catalogue. If Lawler can't get them the footage, maybe they should just give Jerry Jarrett a call and name a price. Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing some Flex Kavana footage. Man, I never thought Flex Kavana would amount to anything when he was a USWA tag champ, and now he's a movie star, he's won a zillion WWE titles, and the tattoo on his left arm is slowly swallowing his whole body. For those of you who haven't caught it yet (and I bet there's one or two who haven't), Flex Kavana is The Rock.

I caught Back To The Future on TBS last night, and their replacements for profanities makes me laugh. Like "son of a butthead." How can you not giggle at that? The movie still rules, however. Anyone who dislikes Back To The Future is either a liar or hasn't seen it.

Another funny movie is Super Troopers. I watched it last night for the first time in a long while. It's like Monty Python if they were made up of Americans.

All that rain I mentioned earlier has caused all kinds of damage. The news says there were trees knocked down, downed power lines, blackouts, roofs being ripped off of houses, and a Waffle House in Lexington suffered some damage. That poor Waffle House. What did it ever do to anybody?

You know, they've brought back He-Man, and they've brought back the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They need to bring back the Ghostbusters cartoon, so all three of my childhood loves can be resurrected. I also wouldn't mind seeing Ghostbusters 3, even though it'll never happen. But a revival of the Ghostbusters cartoon would make me super-mega-ultra happy.

A link I was directed to the other night by Krissie got me to thinking... a Buffy The Vampire Slayer cartoon would be cool. If Sabrina The Teenage Witch can get a cartoon remake, so can Buffy. That link featured what Dawn would supposedly look like if she were in the second season, but the drawing sucked. The idea of a 12-year-old Dawn just doesn't jive with me anyway. The drawings of Willow and Xander on the site were good, however. I'd totally watch a Buffy cartoon, even if all the cast from the TV show didn't do the voices. If Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't want to do Buffy's voice, then they should hire Kristy Swanson. That bit of casting would be the bee's knees. I know a lot of die-hard Buffyverse fans weren't too thrilled with the movie, but having the original Buffy do the voice of cartoon Buffy would be pretty cool.

Thinking of cartoons, they should bring back the Clerks cartoon. That was some great stuff. And I'm still waiting for Clerks 2: Hardly Clerkin'.

I was watching Days of Our Lives today, and all these insane storylines are starting to make my head hurt. I'd watch the show regardless of quality (since there's nothing better on TV at 1:00 in the afternoon), but some of these storylines just want to make me put a brick through my TV. But at least the show is better than Passions. That show is just awful, but I can't stop watching it. Why? I don't know. It has horrible storylines, horrible actors, and one character with a horrible Jheri curl. The only thing going for it is that a certain blonde vampire was a fan of the show.

This post is already too long, so it ends here. Sutton out.

Party Gras, Horror Movies, & Buffy

Amazingly, there hasn't been a whole lot for me to talk about in the last week. However, there was the last episode of Angel, a high school graduation in Alabama (congratulations, K), I picked up three DVDs yesterday, my sister graduates from high school on Friday, and my birthday is the day after that. I guess I've got those two days to look forward to.

On the topic of the Angel finale, I'm sad to see it go, especially since I just started really getting into the show a month ago. I'm doubtful about watching the reruns on TNT. I don't want to jump into the middle of a lengthy story arc, or discover a character that I thought I was familiar with has undergone a weird metamorphosis (or died, in Cordelia's case). Maybe I should pick up the Angel DVDs after I get the Buffy DVDs. Actually, I kinda like that idea. It could clear up some of those pesky crossover storylines.

After watching the last two episodes of Viva La Bam, I've decided that I'm gonna assemble a crew, rent a couple of RV's, and go to Mardi Gras. And it'll rule. "Party Gras" 2005: be there, or don't be there. See if I care.

And now, it's time for everyone's favorite new segment, Horror Movie News.

Story #1: Scary Movie 4 is set to begin in production sometime near the end of the year, with a summer 2005 release date. However, Anna Faris (who's starred in the past three installments in the series) will not be starring in the movie due to a scheduling conflict. She might do a cameo, but she'll be filming Brokeback Mountain with Hulk director Ang Lee. I'm not a fan of the Scary Movie trilogy, but I did like Ms. Faris in May. Good flick, that was.

Story #2: The Ring 2 began principal photography a little over a week ago, back on May 13th. Dreamworks ran a full-page ad in Daily Variety to announce it. If the ad ends up being what the poster looks like, that poster will be cool. You can see the ad here.

Story #3: At the Cannes Film Festival, Aurora Entertainment confirmed the rumors that Eight Legged Freaks director Ellory Elkayem will be helming back-to-back sequels to The Return of the Living Dead. Production is scheduled to start on June 7th in Romania, and the two movies will be titled Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave From The Grave. Judging by the title, the second one will take place at a rave. Call me crazy, but that's how it looks to me.

Story #4: Added to the cast of the House of 1000 Corpses sequel The Devil's Rejects is American Pie star Natasha Lyonne. She's reportedly been signed on to play Candy, a hooker obsessed with Star Wars.

Story #5: I discovered today that the movie Saw, which stars Cary Elwes (who starred in two of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men In Tights), has a rumored release date of September 17th, with Lions Gate handling distribution. It centers around two men (one of whom is played by Elwes) chained to opposite ends of a subterranean room that are being tormented by a serial killer the media has nicknamed "The Jigsaw Killer." According to some of the circles I run in, the movie is awesome, and it certainly sounds like it. As soon as I get confirmation on that release date, I'll add it to the "Blatant Movie Shilling."

In non-horror movie news, Freddie Highmore has been cast as Charlie in Tim Burton's retelling of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Johnny Depp will be playing Willy Wonka, and shooting starts this summer in London, with an intended release date of July 15, 2005. I've never heard of Freddie Highmore, but I'll be definitely checking out this movie. And Burton better make sure to have the Oompa Loompas, or I'm gonna start chucking bricks at cars from overpasses. Or maybe not.

Horror Movie News

I needed to post, so here's some horror movie news stories from your resident Blog Nation horror movie buff.

Story #1: Variety reports that Paramount is starting work on a remake of George Romero's 1972 movie The Crazies, with Romero on deck as an executive producer. The remake will update the original's storyline, which depicted a military quarantine of a small Pennsylvania town infected by a biological weapon that causes permanent homicidal insanity in its victims. I haven't seen the original Crazies, but it sounds cool. I've heard it described as what would have happened in the 28 days that 28 Days Later skipped over, and if that's accurate, then both movies should be awesome.

Story #2: Steve Hoban (producer of the Ginger Snaps trilogy) is set to shoot a remake of the 1975 cult classic Black Christmas. Considered by many as the grandfather of the slasher subgenre, the storyline revolves around an unseen murderer killing the residents of a sorority house. This is another "classic" horror movie I have yet to see, so I'll reserve my opinion until I actually see it.

Story #3: The official website for Seed of Chucky has opened up, and you can either get the link from the "Blatant Movie Shilling" section or by clicking here.

Story #4: There's a few casting shake-ups in Rob Zombie's sequel to House of 1000 Corpses, currently titled The Devil's Rejects. Karen Black and Robert Mukes have dropped out of the movie due to paycheck disputes, and Mukes has been replaced by Tyler Mane. Also joining the cast are William Forsythe, Danny Trejo, Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, Steve Railsbeck, and P.J. Soles, with Kane Hodder signed on as the stunt coordinator. I haven't heard anything on who will be replacing Black, but they better do it soon, because filming is supposed to start at the end of the month.

That's all the news that's fit to print. Sutton out.

Vampires, OVW, & Q.T.

Hey, look! An update! Another week's gone by, and I didn't bother to update until now.

I caught Van Helsing on Friday night and it wasn't bad at all. I thought the ending was a bummer, but other than that, it was pretty rockin'. The "Wolfman vs. Dracula vs. Frankenstein's Monster" concept was neat, and the fight between Van Helsing and Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde was both funny and awesome. The only complaint I have is the excessive CGI. If and when they do a sequel, the filmmakers should watch An American Werewolf In London and see how to do a werewolf with practical effects. Maybe they should hire somebody who can do good looking, realistic effects. Maybe Tom Savini or KNB, I dunno. Anyway, I'll give the movie three and a half stars for being a good roller-coaster ride of a movie.

I also got the chance to attend an OVW show in Bardstown this past Saturday, and it was awesome. The show flew by (lasting only an hour and a half), but I really had a good time. Besides, it was neat getting to see wrestlers I'd seen in WWE (or ECW, in Nova's case) up close for ten dollars. The surprise of the night was an appearance from Lance Storm, who interfered in the Matt Morgan/Johnny Nitro match. It was really unexpected, but then I got home and read that he'd be doing some OVW shows before retiring for good. But if you ever get the chance to see OVW in any way, do so. It gets my seal of approval.

I've got a bunch of new reviews up for you dear readers, as well. First off, we have Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Volume 1, and Kill Bill: Volume 2. I should go rent Jackie Brown, since it's the only one of Quentin Tarantino's movies I have yet to see. I've also got Cube 2 (and you can read my review for the original Cube here). Meanwhile, I'm also working on reviews for Ginger Snaps 2. It's currently a work-in-progress and should be coming soon.

Nothing else to report on. Sutton out.

Quickie Movie Reviews

Wow, what a long week it's been. Time flies when you don't bother to update your blog.

Took in a bunch of movies this weekend. Some good, some okay. Here we go with my mini-reviews...

Kill Bill, Volume 1: This movie was nuts, and it was all thanks to Gogo and the Crazy 88s. That black-and-white stuff during said fight with the Crazy 88 kinda threw me off, though. Sure, I know why it was done (an homage to kung-fu movies being censored on TV, combined with the censorship imposed by the MPAA), but it's just annoying. Maybe I should go find the Japanese version of Volume 1, since that's all in color. Oh well. Anyways, after seeing Volume 1, my appreciation for Volume 2 has gone up. I'll give both of them a combined four stars.

Godsend: I caught this on Friday night, I kinda liked it. Greg Kinnear and Robert DeNiro are both good, but I think a lot of Rebecca Romijn's character development was left on the cutting room floor. The little boy who plays the cloned son is also not bad, but all he really had to do was either look cute or look like he was gonna kill somebody, whichever facial expression the movie called for. The ending was kind of a letdown, but the director says he shot five endings, so maybe a better one will surface on the DVD. I'll give it three stars for effort.

Ginger Snaps 2: I rented this last night, and I was pleasently surprised. I loved the original Ginger Snaps, and this one didn't let me down. Emily Perkins steps up from her sidekick role in the original and kicks butt all over this one, though she's weighed down by her own sidekick, a goofy kid that's obsessed with comic books and likes to occasionally speak in rhyme. The gore effects were good, though most of the really good stuff was relegated to blink-and-you'll-miss-it cuts. GS2's ending has gotten a lot of flack from people, but I actually kinda liked it. Too bad GS3 (which will be out later this year) won't follow up on it. Maybe if somebody makes Ginger Snaps 4. Anyway, I'll give Ginger Snaps 2 four stars for being a fun and scary way to kill 90 minutes.

Reservoir Dogs: Wow. I've never heard a movie drop so many F-bombs in my life. I think Tarantino has Tourette's or something. Other than that, the movie isn't all that bad. QT's work got a lot better on Pulp Fiction, but Reservoir Dogs was a good start for him. I'll give it three stars because while it's good, it could have been better.

The Kentucky Derby was yesterday, and I'm glad it's over. Kentucky's news stations now have nothing to talk about, until college football season starts.

Hey, I've got a birthday in four weeks. You good readers can buy me a gift, but nobody is obligated to.

For those of you who saw my update last Sunday and wondered what Ville Valo was, I'll tell you. Ville Valo is the lead singer of Finnish goth-rock band HIM. You can check them out here or here.

That's really all I've got to say for now. Sutton out.