Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The reality is that its December and I'm copying this over from dreamrot.com (my other site) because I'd like it to be here as well

Slither, I think I love you. Not in a weird sort of ‘I want to penetrate the hole in the DVD’ kind of way, but in a ‘You were everything I could have hoped for in a movie’ kind of way. It’s more of a platonic thing.

But, really, you were all that I hoped you’d be, and that happens so rarely. Shaun of the Dead was one of those movies. V for Vendetta was another. And, those are the only two that come to mind. So, Slither makes it 3 movies that failed to disappoint me in some way.

What is there to dislike in this movie. You have Mallrats’ Michael Rooker. You have zombie type creatures (I like calling them Grant Zombies. They’re sort of like the Borg, only with fewer gadgets). There are all sorts of slimy slugs and then, to top it all off, the best use of an Air Supply song in nearly 30 years.

I’m kidding, there’s never been a good use of an Air Supply song. EVER.

Everything starts off innocently enough with meteor crashing into the woods…which NO ONE NOTICES. So, it comes as quite a surprise when Mallrats’ Michael Rooker stumbles upon it one night. This is how is all begins. The meteor contains an alien life form that injects itself into Rooker’s character, Grant. Grant then begins to charge, one of the first signs is a quest for meat.

The first half of the movie can be accused of moving too slowly at times, but the payoff in the second half is worth the wait. Once the slugs are released and start inhabiting people everything just starts moving along almost nonstop.

Now, I know with talks of Grant Zombies and Brain Slugs, it sounds like some cheesy movie from the fifties, the only thing missing is the 3-D Glasses and a couple teens talking about what a keen night out it was as the give their class ring to their best girl. And in a way, that is all that’s missing.

Slither is essentially a horror comedy. And it does it well. There’s a trick to doing a good horror comedy. The trick is being funny without making fun of the horror. It’s too easy to make a joke out of the things that go bump in the night, and once you do, your creature is a big joke, and you can’t scare anyone with a joke. A good horror comedy though will never make fun of the creature, the humor comes from the rest of the world, but the horror is (and forgive the pun) dead serious.

Slither gets 9 squirming slugs out of 10.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Goodbye?

I've been working on this now for...a few months shy of a year now, and while it's been fun, I have to admit that I haven't always been able to focus on it. What does this mean to you? Probably not much.

Where we stand right now is here, I think I'm going to leave this at it is now, this being my last post and updates to the layout. However, I'm not quitting altogether, see there's a new project. It's called dreamrot.com. Yes, it's quite the lofty title. It's more general than what I was doing here. I'm sure I'll still talk about movies (even though I don't think I have yet).

Regardless, I do hope you'll join me there. In the meantime, I leave you with this. The trailer for the remake of Day of the Dead. Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Happy happy mutants


Hello, my name is dreamrot. Yes, with a lowercase d. No, my parents didn't hate me. No, it's not my real name. Do I care if you know my real name? No, but what is life without a little mystery?

Let's start over.

Hello, I'm dreamrot, and I'm what some people might refer to as "a collector".

What the fuck does that mean?

I'm glad you asked. See, I collect things. Generally this means I went the best possible version of anything so that my collection is "complete". Now, I'm not like some others (I only have 2 different versions of Star Wars (okay maybe 3)), but I have bought movies like The 5th Element and The Grudge multiple times just because there's a few extra scenes or a new commentary on it. That's just the kind of guy I am. Thats "how I roll", as the kids would say. Or, that's what I assume they would say. I deal mostly with hypothetical "kids" as I'm just that in tune with youth culture.

I tell you this to be able to tell you this, I went to Best Buy yesterday.

That's it! Thanks for coming!

I went to Best Buy to get myself a copy of Xmen 3. You may have heard of it. There's been a commercial or two.

There were 2 versions released. The standard edition and the Special Edition. Notice the capital letters...it's a proper noun, it's that special. So, what makes it so special? Lets make a chart.

Special Edition/ Standard Edition
10 Deleted Scenes w/commentary /10 Deleted Scenes w/commentary
3 alternate endings w/commentary /3 alternate endings w/commentary
2 feature length commentaries /2 feature length commentaries
Trailers /Trailers
Special Edition Packaging
Mini-comic written by Stan Lee


So, the big difference is the little mini-comic and the packaging...oh yeah, and TEN FUCKING DOLLARS.

Ten bucks for a little book and a kinda nifty box. All this for a movie that wasn't that fucking good to begin with.

Needless to say, I went with the plain old widescreen edition (gotta be widescreen). And having seen the alternate endings and the deleted scenes, the movie is still pretty much shit. So, fuck it. At least I only wasted $15 on a movie I didn't care about instead of $25.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Go go Godzilla

I don't care what happens in my life, or what happens when I grow up, all I know it that I hope I never get to a point in my life where I don't enjoy watching people in rubber monster costumes destroy cities and fight each other.

So, I was watching Godzilla: Final Wars again over the weekend. Oh, and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS.

Final Wars is really a pretty fun movie. My biggest complaint about it is that there wasn't actually enough Godzilla. There was too much ancillary Xmen bullshit going on to take away from the giant monster apocolypse that should have been the focus of the movie. I mean, this, according to Toho, is Godzilla's swan song. This is it. After 50+ years he's finally getting the gold watch and a shove out the door leaving a legacy of carnage and destruction that will keep Japanese contractors in business for years.

And it's a shame. I mean, here is an employee who, for half a century, embodied the Toho work ethic. His attendance was perfect, he came to the office early every morning and worked late every evening. But, such is the lonely life of the salary man...err monster.

Regardless, Toho did manage to throw one hell of a retirement party for the big guy, and nearly all of his friends showed up. Mothra, Ceaser, Ghidorah, Rodan, Gigan, hell, even his American cousin made an appearance (even if he does get called a "tuna eating monster", poor kid). The only one missing was Mechagodzilla, but, it's understandable since they sunk him at the bottom of the ocean in the last movie, so, he was occupied. I think the big guy understood though.

Hopefully he's spending his time wisely, enjoying his time, maybe finally getting to spend some time with his son. Taking him to T-ball on Monster Island. Maybe getting in a few rounds of golf. Just, living the so-called "good life", you know? Because, as the ruling King of Monsters for 50 years, Godzilla deserves some time for himself now.