Year-End Wrap-up 2014: Insanely Belated Edition

Well, we’ve come to an extra-confusing time here, because I’m writing my annual review for 2014 in June of the following year. For those of you who are just tuning in, I suggest clicking on the “Site Update” tag at the end of this post or on the far right of the screen; that should fill you in on what I’ve been up to and why this post is appearing now. For all those people who have been keeping up, and know that I’ve been slowly reviewing the “best” and/or “biggest” pictures from last year at a leisurely pace, then just keep reading.

2014 was a terrible year in my own life, and yet it produced a lot of great films. More importantly, it’s the first time in a long while (since before this blog even started) that I truly kept current with theatrical releases. I saw more high-profile movies for 2014 than in any year before the turn of the century – I’ve been in and out of theaters so much from last Spring to now...

Having reviewed all the movies that I was excited for or felt I “had” to see, it’s time for me to weigh in. Please note that no one ever suggested I change the ridiculous categories that I use (every year, I ask readers if I should), so this will be nothing like a Top 10 list.

Best New Movie (that I actually saw) - This is the most difficult call that I’ve ever made, as 2014 was exceptional. The result of all my viewing is that I’m thoroughly-confused as to which is “the best.” And so, I can only say that my favorite films are Wild, Grand Budapest Hotel, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Babadook, and Under the Skin. If you like, you can tell all your friends that for once in my life, I accepted taking a total f--king copout.

Wild was the most moving, to me. Grand Budapest was the funniest, and may have had the best story. Only Lovers had the best characters and – I think – maybe the best setting and premise. Babadook was a fantastically-scary story, an excellent theatrical experience with a fresh, rich horror tale driving the narrative. Under the Skin was wonderful, partly for being so challenging and different, and partly for the exceptional audio and visual elements.

Rest assured, other movies came close to the mark. Birdman was amazing, joined by Whiplash, The Lego Movie (this links to DJ's review, I never got to do a double dip for it), and Two Days, One Night as all being able to stake a claim to having an outstanding combination of story, acting, direction, character, and script, in addition to displaying superb visual and audio craftsmanship. That’s what “the best film” is, right? I can’t just choose Edge of Tomorrow because I enjoyed the holy hell out of it - this is a laurel that speaks to the power of film, and pure action films shouldn’t make that list very often.

S--t, now this is starting to sound like a Top 10 list. In any case, it’s hard for me to declare a true winner among all those fine and varied entries. I guess I could narrow it down to Budapest, Under the Skin, and Wild, but I’d be hard-pressed to whittle it down from there - and removing one or two just makes me want to add Whiplash and Birdman (especially Birdman).

Best Out-of-the-Blue Release - Three independent documentaries nearly snagged the title, namely Citizenfour (which I very nearly reviewed for this site), Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, and Red Obsession. However, my personal favorite has to be Coherence.

Net-flixation's Sixth Anniversary!

Happy anniversary, everyone! Although this is a fine day, I can not and will not celebrate it the way I have in the past. So, if you were expecting me to go on about my pride, hard work, and gratitude - all of which still hold true - just click the Holiday tag on the far right side of the screen (or below this post), and you can read my prior anniversary entries.

I mean really, why sweat it? Even this week couldn't go perfectly, as I only realized on Tuesday that 5 important paragraphs weren't included in my Recommendation of Justified. All I could do was re-insert them and leave a note saying where the new text was placed.

Instead, I figured I would do something different this year. And it all starts with an apology. See, for a long time now, I feel like I've been misleading everyone here. The most damaging lies are often the ones we tell ourselves, but being untruthful can also harm others.

Reindeer Games, My Holiday 2014 Review

You won't get my annual Year-End Round-up in time for New Year's Eve, but my holiday review is ready for you all. I hope you all have a fun and safe time tonight - unless you're a lousy person, in which case, please have less of those things than I will.

It was a good year for movies, but one of my relatives is dying and a close friend underwent so much emotional trauma as to have a nervous breakdown in my direction. My point: 2014, you were a good year for films, but horrible personally. F off and don't come back.

Reindeer Games is all sorts of insane. It's a John Frankenheimer action film from 2000 with Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Senise, Clarence Williams III, Danny Trejo, James Frain, and Donal Logue AND Ashton Kutcher in a humiliating cameo that will surely warm all our hearts. The movie features violent Santas, gun play, torture with darts, hypothermia, immolation, brutal injuries, prison fights, lots of Charlize naked, implied incest, possible sexual assault, robbery, murder, and betrayal.

So you can see how this is a perfect candidate for my yearly holiday review. It fits right in with shark attacks in the Bahamas during Yuletide, the siege of Nakatomi Plaza, cruel Finnish elves, and a man who dies on his way home before coming back as a snow man who wants to teach his son the perfect slapshot. For now, let's ignore that DJ chose a classy film for his one holiday review.

Rudy (Affleck) and Nick (Frain) are cellmates with a nice rapport. Nick reads aloud the love letters from his pen pal while Rudy does pull ups and teases Nick about what will happen when the woman finally meets him. Over 10 minutes, we get a sense of the friendship between a repentant car thief (Rudy) and a righteous murderer (Nick). But then some guy just out of solitary tries to shank Rudy, and Nick steps in the way for his friend. The cellmates were due for release at the same time, but only Rudy walks out.

Chef takes his cafeteria fare very seriously.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I've seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show on a TV two or three times, and in the theater three or four times. I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend and a roommate who were both well-versed in the live show, and shouted most of the audience lines while we watched a copy at home before doing the live version that same night.

The story is simple. Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) have just attended a wedding. Overcome with love - and being enough of an a--hole to write on a church door - Brad proposes, and Janet accepts. Next, the couple is driving on a stormy night, and their car breaks down. The only sanctuary is a spooky castle... the home of Dr. Frank N. Furter (a very young Tim Curry!). The ominous inside of this large manor houses a dangerous and beguiling collection of unusual nutjobs. Will Brad and Janet keep their lives, or their innocence intact? Will they even hold on to their dignity?

(spoilers on that last point: no.)

(but maybe they think they did)

More than most any film before or since, Rocky Horror is perhaps the easiest and best example of a glorious failure. The same elements that make it a cinematic misfire are what endeared it to audiences so strongly that it's still popular - and still in theaters - 29 years after its release. Movie creators may dream that their work's success could inspire such a following, but no one imagines that their work could fail so well.

And fail it must. If the movie had been merely mediocre, it just wouldn't have generated so much interest. Instead, all of those weaknesses became strengths and the profound way that lines and scenes are dumb or fall flat actually engages the audience all the more... But I don't want to discuss much the things tRHPS gets wrong. Those are obvious: script, acting, execution, and sudden, ill-advised changes in tone are just the flaws at the top of the list.

Our 5th Year Anniversary!

So this is it: FIVE YEARS, EVERYONE! FIVE YEARS!

Today is basically like half of this scene.

Confession time: I wrote most every April post two months ago (& 50/50 on March, really). I've looked forward to today. And, if you read my prior anniversary entries, you know I expected this blog to go for three years, tops... But labors of love can make us aspire to try to do better, to give more, and to accomplish as much as we can with our limited time. And isn't love - of writing, of film, of people - what this is all about? Isn't most everything about that, in the end?

So this is a special day for me, and I hope it's special for whoever reads this.

This anniversary finds me in similar, yet very different, circumstances than at the start of Year 4. I recently moved (just like last year), which made it impossible to keep a very rough draft of my Serenity/Iron Sky review from going up two weeks ago. I passed out from exhaustion before hitting the "save as draft" button.

Yet I'm busier, with more social events straining my time. And I've worked crazy-long hours - which I was doing last year, but I had a harder time getting days off from work than I did in Spring '13. But here I am and, being short on time aside, I am happier, healthier, and more productive than before. This anniversary has a certain contented buzz last year's didn't quite have.

And, hell, this post is sponsored by Hannibal: The Ride: The Dog, so today is absolutely a red-letter occasion:

Since Hannibal: The Dog is such an ardent film fan - with such unusual culinary tastes - I do want to make the most of my 5 minutes. Before I get into my favorite posts of the past year, tho, I'll shine a spotlight on my earliest reviews, in case you haven't read them before. All but two vids here are from those pictures.

After the inaugural, my first review covered Three O'clock High, a superb and fairly-unknown 80's film. From the start, I wanted to promote lesser-known movies that would delight people. I admit the posting schedule has distracted me from that, but: tough s--t, I wanted to try this, & I did leave the suggestion box open.

Post #666! My Satan Kicks Your Satan's A$$!

[An early draft of this post went up on Wednesday. Sometimes blogger makes multiple copies of the same post, and it's easy to lose track. Anyway, milestone to celebrate, so ahem:]

Yeah, I stopped celebrating every time this blog hit post #250 or #350 or whatever, but really the number 666 comes up so many times, in so many films. How can I let this opportunity pass me by?!

And, of course, not to get all Jim Carrey in that lame-ass #23 movie (of course Michael Jordan is evil), but the numbers line up perfectly for publishing this entry today, too. I mean, this is the twenty-fourth, and two + two (for the millennium) + one (January) + one (for the decade) and you get six! Or four + four - two makes six again!

Two + four also equals six! One + one + four equals six as well!

And the timing of this post is 7:06 PM, which is what 6 hours and 66 minutes would be! At night, when evil is strongest! We are through the looking glass, people, and all I can say is that it seems pretty dumb on the other side.

So, in honor of this inauspicious number, I decided to share some of my most/least favorite cinematic depictions of that utter p-o-s jerk, Lucifer:

Al Pacino - The Devil's Advocate

Al chews up a lot of scenery as John Milton, owner of the diabolical law firm, Milton, Chadwick, & Waters. Of course, he does also play several scenes with a great sense of world-weary affability.

But at the start, a subtle-ish creepiness pops up only when he deals with people he knows. While this version of Satan is never a real physical threat, Milton still has a lot of raw malice in him. The biggest thing that's really missing from the character in the film, tho, is that he barely talks as if he were a lawyer (in NY, only lawyers can be law firm managers); Al plays more of a sneaky old-timer, here.

2013 Holiday Review: Jack Frost

Have you all noticed that I have a perverse sense of humor? It's true! And, if you didn't already know this about me, you're about to learn the lesson hard: my 2013 Holiday film review is 1998's Jack Frost. It's such an inspired pic, I might even have trumped my 2010 Holiday entry, Jaws IV: The Revenge.

In case you don't know what that two word title means, or you think it's the 1997 horror film with Shannon Elizabeth, just watch the trailer below.

"That turned into something wonderful?" "Wonderful" isn't the right word, buddy.

So, yes, we have a teen-targeted holiday film in which the child's dad dies... then comes back to life as a f--king living snowman. I don't care about religious denominations, this idea is both blood-curdling and obviously insane.

"My dead father came back a year later as a snowman" doesn't sound like a "one more chance with my family" story. It sounds like a brutal trip through Purgatory, if not that... other place.

The execution on this crazy premise is equally nuts. We spend much time with teen hijinks and tomfoolery, yet it's always underscored by the fact that our protagonist Charlie Frost (yes, his dad is actually named Jack) has been emotionally hamstrung.

Year-End Top Five

This is as close as I've come to having a genuine top five for the year on December 31 in a long, long time. There's the proviso that I haven't watched a lot of films that I expect might make some noise on this list including but not limited to: 12 Years a Slave (geez, title of 160 y/o slave narrative, SPOILERS much?), Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, Frances Ha, All Is Lost, and Before Midnight.

1) Gravity -- I gushed enough about this previously--it's the film that finally convinced me 3D was good for something. The interesting thing about #1 vs. #2 is how close the race is, and how completely and totally different the two films are. Gravity blends CGI and live performance so extensively that it could technically be termed an animated film; meanwhile, I would be fairly surprised if there's a single frame of CGI in American Hustle. Depending on the day of the week, I could flip-flop these picks.

2) American Hustle -- I'm not sure if this will go up before or after my American Hustle review posts, but if it's before, I'll come back and link it here. Let's just say that I was really taken with this subversive con man film, which is, but isn't really, about the ABSCAM scandal of the late 1970s. This is the kind of movie that could sweep the acting categories at the Oscars if the stars align just so.

Year-End Roundup 2013

Since I started doing this, I have posted a recap of the year in films, usually in the last week of December. That wasn't entirely doable this time around, but it's ready now.

Once again, I'm sticking to the unusual categories that I came up with - at least until someone suggests a good alternative. Bonus: DJ's own 2013 recap will be up roughly 30 minutes after mine. I'll see you on Sunday for my weekly Reviewing with Others post.

Best New Movie (that I actually saw) - Upstream Color - Well, Shane Carruth knocked me on my ass again. DJ's review covered it quite well, but I will write about it also, as soon as I can. It's very complicated, and several people I know had issues with it, so I can't quite say what I want to yet...

Best Out-of-the-Blue Release - Due to my off-site indie film reviews for Man, I Love Films, I get exposed to movies that I didn't expect to see. At the worst, I have a little notice that I will receive a particular set of movies. Some films, I choose because I like the premise or the actors. But I'm also lucky that Ben, my distributor contact, has exceptional taste - and, if he really likes a picture, he'll recommend it so strongly that I end up playing the DVD, sooner or later.

This time out, Ben wasn't responsible for sending me to view Short Term 12, the hands-down winner. My review explains it all, but Ben did send me The History of Future Folk, and Bonsai People, which rate quite highly, as does Sushi: The Global Catch. I recommend ST12 above all, and then the rest in descending order. Just keep in mind that the last 2 are documentaries, whereas the rest are narrative films...

Most Internal-Conflict-Causing Film - Django Unchained was the biggest contender for this spot. I hate seeing slavery, religious persecution, sexual assault, and the Holocaust, and it doesn't quite matter what the format is. Over a decade ago, I saw an exhibit on torture devices of the Inquisition, and it both gave me a lot of food for thought while also filling me with disgust.

600TH POST! It's Love/Hate Time!

I am so happy to have hit this milestone. It's taken a lot of work, aided in part by the mass of screener DVDs I have received this year - seriously, I have over 40 sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, just waiting to be watched and reviewed.

I almost don't know where to begin, so I'll start with some site business first. On Tuesday, I added a quick site update, mainly to note that I would be attending an advanced screening of Carlo Carlei's new Romeo and Juliet, which comes out this week. I had a crisis at work, though, and had to cancel.

This is actually kinda fortunate, given the unflattering reviews.

I will have a new Movie Review Quickie up this month, and will try to complete two more for November and December. & I'll continue to write about posters each week until I have fully fleshed-out Question entries. My weekly Review with Others have returned from their September hiatus, but I've prepared several reviews for this site as well - some, of course, are for horror films, as is befitting for the month of October.

So back to the matter at hand: my last milestone post, for Net-flixation's 500th entry, was blessed. DJ's exceptional friend got us tickets to Marvel's employee screening for Iron Man 3 at NYC's premiere movie house, the Ziegfeld. I have no such pre-release gift to share with you today, so I will tell you what work I'm proudest of between #501 and #599, and then I'll talk a bit about the site.

It's been 5 months since that IM3 review, and it's actually not too hard to pick my favorites. If you ever wondered why I turn to poster critique as a break, just consider the amount of time and thought I put into most of the Question entries for which they are a substitute. Talking about bigotry issues in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom took a bit of effort, but I was rewarded by receiving more comments for it than I used to receive in a whole month.

Something I Forgot: My Favorite Posts of Year 4!

Wow! When I was making my 4th anniversary post, I wondered whether I'd missed something: don't I usually add a list of the best posts from that year? I forgot to follow up on that until last week.

Turns out I did. Hence, to the post from April 23rd. It may seem tedious, but I do like that particular tradition - even if I was too busy and tired to remember. So let's get to it now:

When I decided to go weekly with my Question posts, instead of just bi-weekly, it was because I had a nice little collection of things to ask - both little things that movies didn't answer as well as things to speculate about or discuss. But one of the earliest weekly entries was inspired by my pique at seeing the new cinematic Peter Parker sporting a hairdo out of one of the Twilight films.

Honorable mention goes to the one about the third Indiana Jones film, and the entry envisioning Commando with Freddy Mercury as the villain. That one made me so happy!

How to Celebrate a 4th Year Anniversary

How do you celebrate a day like today? How do you do it justice? Well, if you're me, you get ripped on champagne and watch a great film with your roommate!

I picked Hot Fuzz when she said she hadn't seen it before, and I can assure you that there was not a dry eye in the house - we were laughing too hard for there to be one. The review will be up within a week or so, I'm a little too lazy/busy to start rescheduling next week's posts just now. If you haven't seen it yet yourself, I hope you remedy that soon.

Seriously, I've met two people who didn't like it, and I still can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love HF. We'll get into specifics later, but in the meantime, I wish myself no hangover in the morning, and wish you all a good night...

It's Net-flixation's 4th Anniversary!

Four freaking years. Let me thank all of you readers and commenters right now - with an extra-big thanks to DJ for the posts he's added; the guy's a prince, I tell ya.

494 posts, 56 Questions, 100 Fan-made Gems, 83 News entries, over 200 reviews between the regular entries and the MRQs - even excluding 41 off-site reviews. All of this has transpired since the April 23, 2009 inaugural post. It has been/remains a pleasure and an honor.

So what are we gonna do today? Well, f--k, let's celebrate this. If it's after biz hours EST, I'm already drinking champs, or something with vodka/whiskey. On the right here, we've got a nice Fan-made Gem that I found two weeks ago, through geektyrant: someone called DrFaustusAU makes pretty pictures on DeviantArt, and his great wit gave us Seuss-themed Evil Dead images.

I can already start to imagine all the fun that could be had with this idea. It's one of the reasons I chose to blog about film - there's just an endless supply of news and movies to comment on, as well as so many fine creations by talented and passionate film fans.

Rare Exports, My 2012 Holiday Movie

I was comforted, a little, when I learned this week that Netflix had a legitimate "outage" on Christmas Eve and that the problem wasn't on my end. This explains why I couldn't watch my intended Holiday movie in time for my planned review. I'm less pleased that Netflix decided to blame this interruption on Amazon, a bit of news about which you should all read for yourselves, then come back here and share your opinions with me.

I was very grateful to DJ for his excellent Xmas review of The Lion in Winter, an entry which I hope you enjoyed as well. Now, I want to share the post that would've gone up, but for this silly internet outage:

Sometimes, it's best to go in knowing nothing. Certain pictures have managed to meet or exceed expectations with a decent amount of spoilage, but the best surprises come when you really have no damn idea what's coming. As I researched my 2012 Holiday review, 2010's foreign Rare Exports was mentioned by several sites.

The upshot of my impression was: Finnish horror film wherein a demonic Santa Claus wreaks havoc on a group of reindeer herders. The general positivity and unlikely premise made this an easy choice, and I'm glad to say RE matched its rep. It was a fine, controlled little horror/fantasy film.

We begin the film in English (with no subtitles), where an English businessman talks to an excavation foreman. The foreman talks about the unusual stuff they're finding inside a mountain and the knowing exec on the other side of the table assures him that they're after something unique, valuable, and dangerous. The boss then gives the team leader a sign to hang up in the office, a sign with new workplace rules like "No Spitting" and "No Cursing." Only one man in that office thinks its a joke.

Year-End Roundup 2012

It's that time! 2012 will soon be gone, and 2013 will get all up in our business. I'm sad to see it go, as 2012 has been a banner year for Net-flixation! I shattered all my records for hits in a month, and in a day, repeatedly, and I've posted more often than every other day this year.

But I should probably just get to it. Office parties, Santacon, presents, end-of-year business... We're all busy, so I'll stop being so pleased with myself. It's time for a review of the year in movies (for me). I still haven't thought of categories better than what I've used since 2010's Roundup... nor did anyone suggest other categories for me to consider, so if you don't like the sections I have, it's partly your fault. And I gave the winner for "Biggest Vicarious Disappointment" an embed to a Fan-made Gem by the How It Should Have Ended crew...

Oh, well - Enjoy!:

Best New Movie (that I actually saw) - Looper. Which I still haven't reviewed yet. I'll get the DVD and review Johnson's hit soon after. It was imperfect, but incredibly surprising - and I loved Rian for creating a new work instead of every freaking 2012 movie being a reboot, remake or a franchise effort. I'm ashamed I haven't covered it yet. Let's move on, shall we?

Best Out-of-the-Blue Release - Sironia.

I try not to include, in these lists, the work that I do for other sites - in this case, Man, I Love Films. I can't help it, though. By taking over responsibility for their indie movie reviews, I've been exposed to a great many pictures that I never would have heard about - much less seen - otherwise. I loved a lot of those pix, but Sironia really stands out. It's the only 5-star review I've given over there.

For one thing, I only chose Sironia because I watched Angel, which introduced me to the slender acting powerhouse that is Amy Acker. Based solely on her being a lead, I chose this relationship drama, and got floored by how intelligent and touching it was. I had a great time watching it, and my review reflected the same. Please rent/buy it, if you haven't already; you'll have no regrets...

Most Internal-Conflict-Causing Film - The Cabin in the Woods.

Wow, Acker's in this one, too.

I saw this movie at the amazing Night Hawk theater in Williamsburg, with my good friend Scott G. We enjoyed the hell out of this experience, so I was conflicted in different ways than usual. I was laughing so hard I scarcely cared that the end progressed stupidly/unevenly, and it was never especially scary - as a "horror movie" should be... Cabin was a fun pic, despite its flaws, and was meant to be watched on a massive screen, surrounded by friends.

My inner struggle, then, was the point where I realized that this would only be "WB-movie scary" (e.g., Disturbing Behavior), and that there were still tons of plot problems, but that I should just enjoy how clever and funny it was. Finally, I was as pleased by tCitW as I was upset that the movie sat on the shelf for years while MGM went through financial problems. This feeling was even stronger since it would have been out earlier, if not for the studio's choice to convert it to 3-D - a decision which they later reversed. Grr! Argh!

Christmas Movies: The Lion in Winter

[Merry Christmas, and, also, f--k it. I had problems accessing Netflix last night - and, earlier in the week, DJ was kind enough to offer up an Xmas movie review. Serendipity gives me a decent excuse to push my own holiday post to tomorrow, with a thousand thanks to a standup dude who manages to write through a schedule that's far more punishing than my own... I go now to keep resting, and spend time with my family.

Happy holidays ya'll...]

"Well! Shall we hang the holly, or each other?"

There are a lot of dramas about family dysfunction at the holidays. It's a common trope, mainly because the holidays are times when family members that may not spend the rest of the year in close proximity get together.

Most of these holiday dramas suck to one extent or another, because the stakes are pretty mundane. Will Mom and Dad's marriage break up over the pressure of the holidays? Will Dad come to terms with the revelation that son Billy is gay?

One cure for this banality is The Lion in Winter. Just like any other Christmas drama family, the Plantagenets are getting together to celebrate the holiday. Wife Eleanor has been separated from husband Henry, but they're reuniting for Christmas dinner with their three sons, Richard, John, and Geoffrey, and their cousins Philip and Alais. As in other movies of this type, there will be conflict and shocking revelations that threaten to tear the family apart, and family relations will be driven to the breaking point.

Which Holiday Movie Will I Review?

Yes, yes, I'm sure you're all very interested, but here's the update:

The final tally came to 9 pictures. My one requirement was that the Holiday Season, usually Christmas, must play a role in the story. The list came down to 9 movies: Trading Places, Bad Santa, Reindeer Games, Black Christmas, Rare Exports (a 2010 horror film from Finland), The Ref, Better Off Dead, Scrooged, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It's actually 10, if you include the Black Christmas remake as well.

It's a crazy set, right? I don't like making "typical" choices for a seasonal review, and I have plenty of time to cover old favorites like Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story.

Reviewing with Others, Pt. 30: The Russian Winter

3 Quick site notes: I have added "captcha" again to the comment box. Sorry, but I've been getting too many spam comments, and they're genuinely starting to annoy me. It's still easy for people to comment on my posts, (which you can still do anonymously, btw) but if you get one that you can't read, just click the little "reload" button until you get one you can read.

Also, this is the site's 400th post! I'm happy and excited, but I can't do anything special for it right now. My earlier anniversary posts did that, but I wasn't posting 4+ times per week back then and I didn't have as much paid writing and photography work to compete with lawyering and this blog. Maybe I'll put it into the End of the Year posts that I will of course do again at the end of this month...

Finally, I will do a Christmas review this year, as I did twice before to my great pleasure. I'm taking suggestions for this year's entry - just call one out to me...

This weekend, I watched The Russian Winter, a documentary about the life (and resurgent Russian concert tour) of John Forte, a member of The Fugees. Part of the motivation for this doc was that Forte is an incredibly talented musician, but the other reason was Forte's unusual experience:

Halloween Reviews, Videos, and Links

Another year, another Halloween. I said I wouldn't do anything special for it, but I lied. It's a great holiday, one which I support... In fact, I'm wearing my costume now, because blogging is more fun when it looks like you're crazy. In any case, I wanted to give you something to help you enjoy the season cinematically.

Like, for example, this 12 minute, 20 second vid of horror movie quotes. The video, compiled by Harry Hanrahan, and posted on pajiba.com by Dustin Rowles, is put together pretty well. Best of all, it shifts back and forth over films from every era - all the classic lines are here, and some are from pictures like Blue Velvet. Hanrahan recognizes the tension of horror even when it's outside the genre...

I have to point out, however, that this fine video is missing one of my favorite horror scenes. Its absence stands out, since the Evil Dead 2 picture is the cover-photo for the Youtube upload. Yes, of course, I mean this:

I'd include ED2's "Dead by dawn!" scene, but those videos were taken down, sadly... Or, moving, you can get some ideas by checking out the Horror tag here. That'll keep you focused on those specific posts, as will the Slasher and Thriller tags. You can also check out my MRQ Halloween reviews from 2010 and 2011, the latter of which has my list of Halloween rental recommendations.

And, as I've reminded everyone twice this month already, there's still the Red Letter Media horror film that's available free until the end of tomorrow.

There's also this nice post from Flavorwire, listing 10 Halloween cartoons that you can watch in full on Youtube. This awesome collection of embedded videos is very, very gratifying, and includes:

Hendrix, Netflix US v Canada II, Spidey, & Prometheus News Follow-ups

I don't care if it's a holiday and a rare break from the lawyer-mines for me. I can't resist following up on some news I covered before, even if it means you get 5 entries this week. It's true that I'll post more if you comment here more, but since I'm GGG, I'll give you a freebie now and then.

Remember March, when I asked whether Netflix is treating the US worse than Canada? I waited a while to share this, but on June 9th, Netflix revealed that US customers would be able to stream Thor, with Captain America: The First Avenger becoming available to stream in mid-late July.

This same announcement also claimed that, during the June-July timeframe, more new additions were coming - Transformers: Dark of the Moon, that Conan the Barbarian reboot, and Immortals. 2 fantasy movies that are supposedly good-to-decent, paired with 3 other, atrociously-reviewed fantasy films.

Netflix revealed all this in a blog post entitled "Superhero Summer!" I don't need to be negative or persnickety about their upbeat tone, but I have to note: Conan, Theseus, and Optimus Prime are not Superheroes. Thor and Cap, I can't deny...

Anyway, it's harder now to be sure that Netflix treats Canada better than the US - I merely suspect it; hell, our Canuckian neighbors did get those movies first, right? By months, right? And we still don't have those Hulk films, do we?

Oh, damnit, fine - you guys get to enjoy rubgy, soccer, and hockey, and you have Henstridge, and Helfer, and Cronenberg, and Phil Hartman... Fine. Fine. I'm not jealous or angry. But for f's sake, can we at least get more of your TV shows?... Please?