Movies in My Life Lately #1

I watch a lot of movies over the week. I also make my own movies. So I decided it might be a good idea to get a column going where I can sum things up from a particularly busy week of movie watching and movie making.

This past week I watched all the movies from A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Collection that I had not previously seen (I had already seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Dream Warriors (Part 3), and Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Part 7)). My favorite that I watched was Freddy's Revenge (which I featured in the Cult Corner last week). My least favorite was Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Part 6) which was pretty terrible in every way. The Dream Master (Part 4) was a disappointing follow up to The Dream Warriors. I hate that they disposed of the remaining Dream Warriors in the manner that they did. The story was confusing and didn't make much sense. I was surprised, however, at how much I enjoyed that film's follow up: The Dream Child (Part 5). The stalk sequences were inspired, the gothic settings great and Stephen Hopkins' direction was visually exciting. It's a shame that the film was a bomb... it was much better than the successful Dream Master was.

Overall, the series was fun to catch up on and I'm glad that I have finally added it to my film collection.

I recently got Netflix Watch Instantly so I've been watching a lot of movies I normally wouldn't watch. I saw that the panned remake of The Stepfather was on it so, on a particularly boring day, I sat down and gave it a watch.

This movie is pretty bad, which is to be expected. It's not scary (you can see the jump scares coming from a million miles away) and, every time Dylan Walsh tries to be crazy and menancing, it's completely laughable and over the top. Also, the movie seems obsessed with having actress Amber Heard be in either her underwear or a skimpy bikini in literally every single scene she is in (not neccesarily a bad thing but after a while it became glaring that the director liked shooting her this way).

Still, I wouldn't say it was a complete waste of time. I get a certain amount of enjoyment in watching bad horror movies and I can say I got that same amount of enjoyment out of watching this one. There's nothing special about it but it's not the absolute worst way you could spend an hour and a half.

Rating: 3/10

I also finally saw The Coen Brother's much lauded A Serious Man this week. I really wanted to love this movie but, after much thought, I can't say that I did. The film showcased that The Coens are indeed brilliant filmmakers and know how to shoot the mess out of a movie. Visually, the movie is great and has some great pacing. However, I didn't like the story and could not stand the characters. I know that this intentional to an extent-- after all, this is a black comedy. Still, I disliked them to the point where I really wanted to turn the movie off at times.

The movie deals with Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is a college physics proffessor dealing with a lot problems: review by the tenure committee, his pot smoking son Danny's bar mitzvah, being bribed by a Korean-American student, the threat of divorce by his wife Judith (who is leaving him for his friend Sy Abelman), and the ongoing encroachment of brother Arthur and his sebaceous cyst.

In a sense, the film works as a modern day retelling of the story of Job. Larry is being put through some major problems and doesn't understand why God is letting this happen to him. He seeks help and understanding from many rabbis but to no real avail.

While the film's hopeless and grating characters turned me off, I have to admit that the movie really made me think (I actually haven't stopped thinking about it since I watched it on Saturday) and displayed why the Coens are great filmmakers. A few sequences really stood out as great pieces of filmmaking. One was the opening sequence. The opening is an old Yiddish folk tale shot in 1:33:1 aspect ratio that tells a story that doesn't really have anything to do with the story told after the opening credits (at least, at first glance-- there are many theories on the Internet on what this has to do with the rest of the movie). The sequence is haunting, funny and kind of gets under your skin. You can watch it here if you interested.

The other sequence that really caught my eye is the story of the Goy's Teeth by one of the rabbis to Larry. This scene really sums up the film quite well and is a blast to watch. It is set brilliantly to Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" and showcases why the Coens are great at directing. Please watch it here.

Still, I really couldn't get into most of the movie because I didn't really like the characters or care much about their plight. Because of that, I can't give the movie a high rating, no matter how well it was directed, shot and edited.

Rating: 6/10

I also spent a lot of the week working on my own film work. I just finished my second television commercial for Mississippi's Southern Fried Comic Con. The Con lasts from June 26-27 and takes place at the Cabot Lodge in Jackson, MS. The commercial features original music by David Tigrett and narration by Jay Long. You can watch my commercial below.

Well that's been my week with film. Hope you all enjoyed reading about it.

Captain America Costume Revealed

Some concept art hit the rounds on movie sites earlier today showing off Captain America's costume in the upcoming Joe Johnston film adaptation. I thought I'd drop a few opinions on the suit really quick.

I never really thought how hard it was going to be to get Captain America to work on film... but then I remembered how bad the original 1990's Captain America movie was (hint: really, really bad). Captain is just a character that's so blatantly pro-America and patriotic that it's hard to get him to work on film and not seem silly.

So, with all that in mind, the new suit does seem like a nice compromise. Sure, I was pretty heart broken and kind of shocked when I saw that they got rid of the wings on the side of his head but... I dunno... as the day has gone on, the costume has been growing on me. It feels as realistic as a Captain America costume could feel on film I think.

Still, with that said, I don't have the highest hopes for this film. I'm not completely sold on Chris Evans as Captain yet (though he was great in Sunshine). Also, I feel like Joe Johnston has never really made a good movie (expect for maybe The Rocketeer). Lastly, Marvel's been kind of pissing me off lately with their interweaving of characters to add up to The Avengers movie. It was cool at the end of Iron Man but now that it's being worked into the actual plots of the films (see the muddled Iron Man 2) it's annoying and hurting the actual films at hand.

So... not exactly hopeful yet. But the design is intriguing.

Source: JoBlo

Cult Corner: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Welcome to the Cult Corner. I watch a lot of weird movies. And by weird movies, I mean weird movies. I also tend to have a greater appreciation for films that didn't do very well upon their release or that were universally disliked by fans and critics a like. I will cover these films in the Cult Corner articles and explain why they deserve a second look and why I love them so much.

The Cult Corner's first entry is the much panned and controversial sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge has always been the black sheep in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. People have always held a certain amount of hatred and distaste for the film because it takes a very different direction with the series. Gone is the whole premise of Freddy Krueger killing teens in their nightmares. No, this movie has a different story to tell. In this entry, Freddy torments angsty teen Jessie and basically possesses his body, using him to kill people in the real world.

If that wasn't strange enough, this movie is stock full of overall weirdness. I'm talking scenes with killer parakeets that burst into flames, dogs with human faces, and some serious homoerotic undertones.

The biggest thing that people talk about in regards to Freddy's Revenge is the gay undertones that fill the film. The character of Jessie is hinted to be struggling with his sexuality throughout the film, with Freddy Krueger representing his repressed homosexuality. The film has strange sequences like Jessie wondering into a homosexual S&M bar in the middle of the night, his gay gym teacher being stripped naked and having his butt smacked with a towel over and over again in the shower by Freddy before being clawed up, and an interesting scene where Jessie, after a failed make-out session with his girlfriend (which was foiled due to Freddy's intrusion... a.k.a. his homosexual desires kicking in), runs to his buff guy friend Grady's house for comfort and to sleep over. Lastly, Mark Patton, the actor who played Jessie, was gay in real life.

Only recently have people involved in the film come out about the gay undertones of the film. In an interview with Attitude Magazine, Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) spoke out about the intentions of the film:

The second Nightmare on Elm Street is obviously intended as a bisexual themed film. It was early 80s, pre-AIDS paranoia. Jesse's wrestling with whether to come out or not and his own sexual desires was manifested by Freddy. His friend is the object of his affection. That's all there in that film. We did it subtly but the casting of Mark Patton was intentional too, because Mark was out and had done Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean".

In the recent documentary Never Sleep Again, screenwriter David Chaskin also admitted that the gay undertones were intentional (though the director and producer of the film were unaware of them at the time). I feel like these undertones really make the film more interesting than it already was. They are fun to look for and make the film ultimately deeper and a little more thought provoking (much like the undertones in The Hitcher).

But if you're not into overall weirdness and gay undertones, Freddy Krueger is still here to scare the mess out of you. The Freddy here is much like the one in the first Nightmare film. He's angry, pissed off and kind of terrifying. Sure, he spouts off a few one liners here and there but this is nothing compared to the days when he'd be killing kids via video games. This Freddy is a dark, demon-like creature who wants nothing more to possess Jessie and commit random acts of horrible violence.

A lot of people didn't like bringing Freddy into the real world but I loved it. Where else can you see a scene where Freddy crashes a pool party / kegger? This scene alone was worth the price of the film. Also, the scene where Freddy pops out of Jessie's stomach to slice and dice his potential gay love interest Grady was super tense and had some pretty awesome 80's special effects.

But despite all the film's awesome Freddy-in-the-real-world moments and it's overall strangeness, what really made it work was its overall believable nature. I really cared for Jessie, Lisa and Grady for that matter. Jessie's family felt like a real family and the way they interacted with each other was very natural. Because of this, the threat of Freddy intruding in their real world was a violation and the result was often terrifying. I also really liked the ending of the film where Lisa is forced to confront Freddy / Jessie in the boiler room. The scene was uncomfortable and loved the direction that it took. Ever seen a girl willingly make out with Freddy Kreuger? Well, now you have. It also made me wonder what the film was trying to say about supressed homosexuality. It's almost like Jessie is made to turn from the dark side (a.k.a. embracing his homosexuality) and love Lisa (thus making turning hetero despite your feelings and urges the right thing to do in the film's logic?). It's all interesting and ballsy stuff for a slasher sequel.

All and in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It made me think, cringe and just blew me away with its overall weirdness. If you're into Freddy Krueger and his movies, then this is one that I feel like you have to see to believe. It's odder than any of the other entries in every shape and fashion. It lacks the fun of The Dream Warriors but also isn't as serious as the first entry. It's a dark, little odd ball that's somewhere in the middle.

If you're feeling it, watch the trailer below. And try not to get chills when Freddy proclaims, "You're all my children now!" Fun stuff.

Stay tuned for more entries in the Cult Corner in the future.