Reading and Writing

Okay, let's transition to a post that isn't as upsetting as the previous one. The more I look at that post about the Benoits, the more depressed I get.

I've jumped into a new book this week: Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. I absolutely loved the movie, so thanks to the fine people at the Washington County Public Library, I figured I'd give the novel a shot. I've finished the first three chapters, putting me about 35 pages deep, and although I haven't really gotten to the meat and potatoes of the story yet, it's been a pretty good read thus far. The next chapter is where things really start to pick up, which has me wondering just how close the movie stayed to the novel. Though I'm going to have to do the opposite of what I did with Cell and read it pretty darn quickly, since it's due back at the library next Friday because they had to get it on loan from the Grayson County library in Leitchfield. (Which was a surprise to me, since I don't believe I'd ever even heard of Leitchfield before.)

But I do know that if the book is even half as good as the movie, it's going to be pretty good. And thinking of it, I really need to get around to watching the movie again sometime. I think it's been somewhere in the neighborhood of three and a half years since I last saw it. I have to say, though, that I remember Sean Penn being really, really awesome in it. How he went from Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High to the accomplished dramatic actor he is today, I have no idea. You know, I think I'm gonna go head over to the ol' Netflix queue and bump it up to the top ten. Depending on how I'm feeling when it arrives at Sutton HQ, I'll probably end up doing a full write-up about it for S@TM. Though it might be a while, considering I've got three other movies in my top ten that I plan on writing about, along with a fourth I'm thinking about. (I'm seriously debating doing a double shot of Hollywoodland and The Black Dahlia, due to the weird coincidence of two movies with similar plots getting released within seven days of one another. I'm certainly doing one on Hollywoodland, but the other remains to be seen.) Throw in the review that I'm currently in the middle of writing and the chance that I might do its sequel as well, and you've got a little waiting to do before you get a Mystic River review.

And, uh... I can't really think of anything else to add to this one. San Dimas High School football rules!

Making Sense of a Tragedy

Sigh... this is going to be a rough post to write, but I guess I'll tough it out.

If you know me or have been reading this blog for the last few years, you probably know that I'm a fan of professional wrestling. I have been since I was eleven years old. And in the fourteen years I've been watching pro wrestling, I've seen a lot of people that I respected and enjoyed watching die. A couple have gone on due to natural causes, and a handful died thanks to freak accidents beyond their control, but way too many have been taken from this mortal coil due to the repercussions of heavy drug use. Whether it be due to painkillers or the more illicit stuff, wrestlers dying due to overdoses or their bodies just giving out is something that we fans have unfortunately become accustomed to.

But then, there was the story that broke yesterday afternoon. Chris Benoit, one of the greatest technical wrestlers of this generation and a certified Hall of Famer in the making, was dead. And to make matters worse, his wife Nancy (who old-school fans of WCW and ECW will remember as "Woman") and their seven-year-old son Daniel were both found dead too, the victims of an apparent murder-suicide. Now as far as I know right now, the coroner hasn't come out and said that's what officially happened for a fact yet, but I think that's the story they're sticking to right now. But if it really is true and Benoit murdered his wife and young son before taking his own life, I'd go out on a limb and call that the biggest tragedy in a business full of them. I mean, short of somebody bombing Orlando during WrestleMania next year, I think this is going to take the cake.

And as someone who enjoyed watching Benoit's matches, I think this really throws a wrench into what would have been a great legacy to leave behind. If he'd retired or died due to using too many painkillers or something like that, then he would have been remembered as a guy that shed blood, sweat, and tears for pro wrestling and earned the respect of his peers and his fans. But now that this has happened, will he end up being remembered as the guy who wigged out and killed his wife, his child, and himself? Does one weekend of insanity erase twenty years of in-ring brilliance and turn him into pro wrestling's version of O.J. Simpson? I really don't know. Call me in a year or two, and I might have a good idea.

But the idea that Benoit could do something like this is unfathomable. He's supposed to be one of the good guys. He's supposed to be one of the few that you never heard anything negative about. I'd almost expect to hear something like this was done by a wrestler everybody already knew was crazy, like Lex Luger or the Ultimate Warrior. And if Benoit had died thanks to drugs like every other wrestler, then I'd have accepted it and eventually gotten over it. But this?

I didn't know Chris Benoit personally. And unless one of you readers worked for any of the promotions he did, I doubt any of you did either. So I can only wonder what would have possessed him to do something this terrible, and I can only imagine how those closest to him, Nancy, and Daniel feel. What I do know, however, that if it's proven for a fact that what we're hearing is true, then I don't know if I'll be able to think about Benoit with the same warm feelings I did before yesterday.

And after all this, watching pro wrestling seems a little less fun.

I Love Movies Too Much

Remember last weekend when I was posting about seeing Surf's Up and the Fantastic Four sequel at a drive-in theater? I've been thinking about that sort of thing, plus thinking back to a conversation I had with Libby the other day, and it makes me wonder just how hard something like that would be to put together.

Opening a drive-in theater will probably take way too much effort than I could put forth by myself, but it'd be neat if I could convince the Opera House over in Springfield to let me put together - and perhaps host - a midnight movies program in their auditorium. I don't know if it'd be any kind of success in this neighborhood, but it'd be fun for me. Just walking in there every Friday and/or Saturday night with however many people are in attendance and running a movie that everybody there would have a ball watching. Though I will concede that it's just a cheap reason for me to watch late-night movies in anything resembling a theater. That sort of thing is just too much fun.

At the very least, I'd like to bring back something some college buddies of mine put together several years back. They rigged up some televisions and a VCR in the school's courtyard in front of one of the girls' dorms, along with a tent, a couch, and a few recliners and whatever chairs we could come up with. On tap: a triple feature of Fallen, House on Haunted Hill, and In the Mouth of Madness. Once I get back out there into the real world and start networking, I'd like to do something similar to that. Just get a bunch of friends together to party and watch some movies every few weeks. Don't act like that wouldn't be any fun.

Yeah, this whole thing is just me rambling; a few pipe dreams, if you will. But there's nothing wrong with that.

One More "I Got Nothing" Post

So yeah, I haven't had a post up all week. I'm slacking off, I know. But that sort of thing happens when you don't really have anything to talk about.

The only thing that's been going on lately is the repair of the air conditioner here at Sutton HQ. Yeah, really exciting news. I'm sure you guys are dying to hear all about that. But it certainly is good to have it fixed, since the awful heat and humidity has been pretty much unbearable. So things are doing pretty good.

Outside of that little bit of nothing, I'm not really sure about what else there is to talk about. Uh... I am working on a new review or two to kill some time until I get X-Men 3 and Ghost Rider from Netflix. So once I get those, the current work-in-progress is going on hold until I get them finished. Plus I've got a few more reviews lined up after those, along with a couple I'm thinking about writing. As it stands, I'm planning on reviewing seven of the top twelve DVDs in my Netflix queue, and I'm contemplating two more. Plus there's three or four movies that are going to be released over the next few months that I'd like to review sometime. I'm going to be really busy with the writing, I guess.

And that's about it for now.

Drive-In Goodness

Just got back from the drive-in theater in Stanford, and man, I'm sleepy. This will probably be a short one, but we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, the drive-in was showing a double feature of Surf's Up and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The theme, in case you're a dimwit that couldn't tell, is that both of them feature surfers in some form or fashion. (Of course, dorky me is probably the only person who noticed or cared that Brian Posehn had minor roles in both of them too.) So let's break down what I thought about the flicks, okay?

First in line was Surf's Up, the most recent entry in the lucrative "animated penguin" genre. Really, this is a movie that could have been done live-action, and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. It didn't really need penguins or animation. But what do I know, I'm not the one that made the thing. Regardless, I thought it was entertaining in spite of some really predictable parts. It made me laugh, so it did it was supposed to do. The final verdict is three and a half stars.

Up next, after the intermission, was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Maybe it was just the entertaining atmosphere making a silly B-movie more entertaining than it really is, but I liked the movie. It's a very simple story, one that didn't feature a whole lot of plot or character development, but I thought it was a lot of fun. There were a few instances where the CGI work seemed awfully unconvincing (the dance scene at the beginning, for example), but for the most part, it wasn't too distracting. I'd probably put it on the same level as Spider-Man 3; it's not a great movie, but I wouldn't call it a bad one either. So the final verdict is three stars.

In any regards, I'm quite glad I got the opportunity to do the whole drive-in thing again. It's worth experiencing at least once. And lucky me, there's two drive-ins within 45 minutes of here.

I just wish I could get to some more midnight movies. There's a theater up in Lexington that runs midnight movies every weekend during the summer months, and according to their website, they've got The Big Lebowski, a 3-D showing of Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shaun of the Dead, and the original Friday the 13th all lined up over the next five or six weeks. I might have to call in a few favors and/or kiss the asses of the right people, because even though I own them on DVD and have seen them a million times, I really want to see Rocky Horror, Shaun of the Dead, and Friday the 13th on the big screen. Atmosphere is an important thing when it comes to movies, after all, and seeing them in a theater would be so much fun. I'm not going to get my hopes up, but it doesn't hurt to dream.

Bruce Campbell Is My Hero

And here's why!

Rewriting Old Reviews

If you're a regular reader, you may remember me mentioning that I'd rewritten my review of 28 Days Later to coincide with the release of its sequel. Well, with Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween coming out at the end of August, I figured I'd go and do a little work on my review of the original 1978 classic. I probably could have waited until the remake came out so they'd coincide, but it needed a rewrite and I wanted to go ahead and get it over with while I had it on my mind.

I could also stand to rewrite my review of A Nightmare on Elm Street while I'm at it, since it's not as good as it could be. Truth be told, I could probably stand to rewrite a few of my older reviews. But whether I actually do or not is just a matter of if I can come up with the motivation. I'm sure a few of you readers know what I mean.

Eastern Europe Is A Scary Place

Continuing my weekly adventures to the movie theater, I made a trip to see Hostel: Part II. And believe it or not, I actually thought it was an entertaining little flick. It's most certainly a better film than the first Hostel.

I didn't go in expecting a whole lot, considering that I thought the previous movie was thoroughly mediocre and devoid of substance. But Hostel: Part II, while still unabashedly a gorefest, actually has something resembling - gasp! - a plot. Of course, neither the main plot or the secondary plot are very deep, but hey, it's better than the vacuousness of the first movie. Our primary plot is essentially a remake of the first movie, as a group of Americans - this time, three female art students - end up following a little bad advice and end up at the dreaded Slovakian hostel, where they enter a world of pain. The secondary plot, however, reveals just how the "Elite Hunting" organization works as two wealthy American businessmen cross paths with our three heroines.

Eli Roth's direction is well done, but I have to say that I've never exactly been a fan of Roth as a writer. He seems like the kind of filmmaker that I believe would be a far better director if he didn't insist on writing his own material. But I will admit that I thought Hostel: Part II was most certainly better written than some of Roth's other work. The characters aren't as deep as they could have been, but they've certainly more developed than the cheap one-dimensional characters in Cabin Fever and Hostel. The tone of the movie seems to be aiming towards camp, and I think Roth does a decent job with it. The movie also boasts a tighter pace than Roth's other movies, and if you let yourself get drawn in, it almost feels like the movie is over before you know it. However, my biggest problem with the movie as a whole is that there's no real tension or suspense. I think Roth realised that, since he used that void with dark humor. Very dark humor, and lots of it. Kids kicking around a decapitated head like a soccer ball and doing the "pull your shirt off and run around" celebration after a goal? Sure. A torturer scaring his prey by threatening to stick a buzzsaw in her face, then getting upset when he gets the saw stuck in her hair? Why not?

The cast also does an entertaining job, for the most part. Our three female leads - Lauren German, Bijou Philips, and Heather Matarazzo - are all entertaining despite the hit-or-miss writing of their characters. And I feel like I should note something I've picked up on. I mentioned in my post about Bug last week that I felt Ashley Judd had made a career out of appearing in the same movie over and over. But am I the only one who believes that Heather Matarazzo has made a career out of playing the same character over and over? It seems like ever since she did Welcome to the Dollhouse, she's been stuck playing the mousy, awkward misfit in all of her movies. So either she's found herself being dreadfully typecast, or she just doesn't know how to play any other character. I hope it's the former rather than the latter, personally. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the actors that give probably the two best performances in the movie, Richard Burgi and Roger Bart. Going too into detail would give too much away, but I'll say that their performances are fantastically intense, and I'll give them a thumbs-up.

So was Hostel: Part II a good movie? I don't know if I'd go that far. But did I enjoy it? Yeah, I did. So I'm gonna give it three and a half stars, but I'd only recommend it to people who didn't outright despise the first one and those who might have even the slightest amount of interest in seeing it. I hear Eli Roth has the movie version of Cell lined up next, and I'm anxious to see what he does with it. He better not screw it up, because I'll have to raise a stink otherwise.

Paris Hilton: Jailbird

So if you haven't been watching the news today, Paris Hilton's going back to jail. Nice to see a celebrity that isn't above the law after all.

But the news networks have just been crazy with the Paris stuff. It's like Generation Y's answer to the O.J. Simpson car chase back in 1994. It's just been a giant circus, and for what? Some socialite with no real claim to fame getting a ride from her mansion to the local courthouse to be told that she's going to prison, that's what. And as much as I dislike Paris, it's been some riveting television. I've been glued to my television all day watching this nonsense, and I have no idea why.

I think I'm losing my mind.

Paris Hilton Is Above The Law

Paris Hilton is out of prison, and instead of serving her time in jail like she was supposed to, she's being rewarded with forty days of house arrest. The official word is that it's because of a "medical condition," though the rumor going around is that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because she just didn't like being in prison.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm really offended by this stupidity. Paris got arrested for a drunk driving - which could have led to her possibly hurting or killing someone - before getting probation. Then she decided to violate her probation by driving 70 in a 35 while on a suspended license. So she does five days in jail and gets to leave because prison is too rough? I thought prison was supposed to be rough. That's why it's prison! It's supposed to be a punishment, not a vacation to Disneyland. She was getting preferential treatment to begin with, but just because Paris doesn't want to be there, she gets to leave and spend a month hanging out at her fancy mansion. That's like grounding a kid and sending him to his room, where he can sit around reading comic books and playing video games. It's not really a punishment at all. And I'm sure the other inmates at that prison don't like being there either, so why not let them out too? Huh? How about that?

Paris broke the law twice, but just gets a slap on the wrist. I wouldn't be surprised if they took the ankle bracelet off this weekend and apologized for inconveniencing her. Why should Paris Hilton get to be above the law when everybody else has to do their time? Why do the rules not apply to her? Because she's a stupid spoiled whore that has more money than she can count? This is absolutely preposterous. Paris Hilton is a pimple on the ass of society, and I'm embarrassed that I live on the same planet that she does.

High Five!

Got a review for Borat finished and uploaded over at "Sutton At The Movies," so you can go check it out here.

I'm not really sure what movie I'm going to review next. Seems like I go through this every time I finish one. I do have at least six movies lined up on Netflix, and I'm considering a seventh and eighth. But as with everything, we'll have to see how it goes.

Old-School 8-Bit Goodness

So I'm currently working with a temporary replacement monitor, one which I borrowed from a lesser-used computer we happened to have around the house. Again, it's only a temporary replacement, since I'm aiming to acquire a permanent one once I can find one within an acceptable price range. I'd rather get a new computer, but unless I stumble across 700 bucks or so, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

In other news, I did a little digging around my closet Sunday night and stumbled upon my old Nintendo Entertainment System. Like I couldn't find it without hooking it up and playing a game or two. It's almost as old as I am, so I was a bit surprised that it would actually still work. I had a hard time getting some of the games to play correctly, and some didn't even want to work at all. And there were even a few instances of a game resetting itself in the middle of a level. But hey, I'm glad I found it. I don't think I'd seen it since I left college five years ago. So pulling it out of the mothballs for another go-around was great.

I think I might have to fire up the NES again in the near future. Old-school 8-bit goodness never hurt anybody.

It's Dead, Jim

Well, it seems I'm in a bit of a pickle. My computer monitor is, I believe, dead.

Here's the story. I was sitting at my desk minding my own business, then all of a sudden my monitor went all fuzzy and started making this weird buzzing noise. I turned it off, unplugged it, and let it sit in front of my fan for a few minutes, then hooked it back up and tried it again. "Tried" is the key word there. It doesn't make the buzzing noise anymore, but when I try turning the monitor on, the little green/amber light on it blinks off and on, and the screen stays blank. My guess is that the monitor simply overheated and decided to die, which is a real bummer.

I guess my options are that I'll either have to go buy a new one or take it to a computer shop and pay to have it repaired, neither I think I can really afford. So unless one of you tech-savvy readers knows some troubleshooting tips or somewhere I can get a monitor for cheap as free, I'm stuck borrowing my mom's computer until I can scrounge up a few hundred bucks to get a new monitor. I really should have seen this coming, though. The monitor is nearly ten years old and put out a whole lot of heat as it was, and my desk was a haven for giant dust bunnies no matter how much I cleaned.

Sigh, this sucks.

Where Can I Get Some Tinfoil Wallpaper?

So there was a small change in plans. I mentioned a few hours ago that I was planning on seeing Bug tomorrow afternoon with my dad and sister, but that ended up getting changed to me and Dad seeing it tonight. Hey, stuff happens. Regardless, I did see Bug, so I figure I might as well do a little blogging about it.

I should start by saying that I think Bug is a victim of a misleading advertising campaign. The commercials paint the movie as being an intense horror film. While there are certainly a few elements of the horror genre in there, especially towards the finale, it's mostly a weird cross between dark comedy and a thriller. And if you want my honest opinion, I didn't think the movie was bad at all. It's well made and excellently acted, but I have to admit that I don't know how to truly classify the movie as an experience. I say that because the movie is so unlike pretty much any movie I've seen in my lifetime.

If I had to describe Bug in one word, it would be "weird." In two words, "extremely weird." In three, "it's messed up." We watch as two people descend into a world of insanity and paranoia, but the movie doesn't try convincing us that perhaps their paranoia is justified. We know they're absolutely crazy, and we're just along for the ride. And we know that this is all going to end very badly for the characters. There isn't a real catharsis, at least not a happy one. The whole movie is like a bizarre drug trip, like if the characters from Requiem for a Dream were using crystal meth instead of heroin. But the characters aren't hopped up on meth, they've just got a bit of delusional parasitosis, extreme paranoid psychosis, and maybe some schizophrenia too.

The two primary actors, Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, are both great in their roles. Judd has made a career out of doing pretty much the same movie over and over again, so Bug is a surprising change of pace for her. The character is a lonely woman who quickly lets herself get convinced that things might be much more terrifying than they really are, and Judd seems like she's actually having fun getting the chance to act absolutely off her rocker. It's as if, as an actress, getting to craft absolutely preposterous conspiracy theories while standing half-naked in a seedy motel room covered in tinfoil wallpaper and lit by bug zappers is the equivalent of a kid getting free reign over a Toys-R-Us. Shannon, on the other hand, is super-intense. Reprising the role he performed in the off-Broadway play that inspired this movie, Shannon begins as somewhat amiable yet mysterious and quite off-putting, but by the end of the movie, he becomes more and more frightening as his character falls deeper and deeper into his psychosis.

I really cannot in good conscience recommend Bug to everyone. I'm sure the movie will end up developing some kind of small cult following once it's released on DVD, but I think it will be among those folks who are into... well, I'm not really sure if I can put a definitive label on it. Outside of the word "bizarre," I mean. It's a movie that has to be seen to be believed, one that is just as insane as its characters. And I don't even know if I can give it a star rating that reflects exactly how I feel about it. The movie does get four stars from a technical standpoint, I do know that much. The power of suggestion alone is enough to make me start scratching at invisible bugs.

Since I've had a little time to reflect on it, I really want to just curl up in the fetal position and quietly mumble to myself for a few hours. I really haven't felt this way after a movie since I saw The Exorcist for the first time back last October, the irony of which is that both The Exorcist and Bug were directed by William Friedkin. So yeah, I'm going with four stars on from the actual filmmaking standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint... I think I'm gonna be messed up for a few days.

Posting For The Heck Of It

Man, it's June already? With all this heat, I believe it. And I know I've said it before, but where does all the time go?

Anyway, aside from the heat and the mugginess and all that, the weekend hasn't been too bad so far. Gonna try and catch Bug tomorrow afternoon with my dad and sister; we would have seen it on Monday like I thought, but everybody was feeling kinda lazy and we didn't want to get out or anything like that. But I'm looking forward to the movie, even if it is getting mixed reviews and not a lot of hype.

I'm also making a bit of progress with the Borat review. Reviewing comedies is a tough way to go, because humor is subjective. And considering that Borat is kinda like a cross between Jackass and Candid Camera, it might be a bit tougher to review. And that reminds me, I could probably stand to sit down and review Jackass Number Two too. It probably wouldn't take very long to write, since there probably wouldn't be too much to say about it. I mean, it'd be something to the effect of, "It's the same as the first movie, only with a million times more poop, uncomfortable male nudity, and other really gross things. Three and a half stars." That's basically the same as the post I made about it back when I saw it in theaters in September.

And that's about it. Didn't really have much of anything to say, just felt like posting for the sake of killing time. Not that there's anything wrong with that.