My top 5 movies of 2009

2010 is almost upon us, so im going to give my top 5 movies of the year. I tried to see as many of the movies that came out this year. So if one of the movies you liked isn't on here then it doesn't mean I hated it, it just means that i probably haven't seen it.

5.Drag me to hell
Sam raimi's return to horror was a mix of horror and humor. I liked the gross out effects and the camera angles for some old school horror.

4.Star Trek
I was never really a fan of the star trek TV show, but this movie seemed to make it more accessible to a wider audience. And I don't have a problem with that if it still makes a great fun movie. (unlike another movie that we wont mention)

3.District 9
Wow. Thats all District 9 left me saying after the firsttime I saw it. The effects were amazing, that cast of unkowns was great and the story was intreaging it had alot of social commentary throughout the film, which was the icing on the cake.

2.Inglorious Basterds
I've always been a huge terintino fan (his commentary on Reservoir dogs made me want to be a film maker). The scenes in Inglorios basterds can go from very funny to very tense. As with all of tarintinos movies the movie is full of Black humor. The Dialogue is witty, the action is brutal and I loved every second of it.

I'm not going to reveal number one until new years eve. It will be revealed in review of the movie.

News: Under the Dome

It seems Stephen King wrote a new book called "under the dome" about a town with a giant dome all around it. You say this plot sounds familiar? The Simpson's movie had a very similar plot. Thou according to King hes had this story for a very long time. His latest books have been very rocky with me, I really liked his short story collection called Just after sunset but never really got into Lisey's Story.

Im hoping to read the book over the holidays and post what I think about it. Being a long time fan of king, I feel obligated to read his "final book" as he said it. Some people say that king has lost his touch, I somewhat agree but im hoping he goes out with a bang with Under The Dome.



P.S.

I plan on seeing The Road and writing a review

Animals by Pink Floyd

Since i haven't written a blog all week I decided to talk about one of my favorite albums of all time. This is a very underrated album along with The Final cut and Meddle. These three albums are out shined by there 3 best selling albums Dark side of the moon, the wall and wish you were here.

Animals is a concept album that focuses on the world of capitalism in America. According to pink floyd there are three types of people. Pigs are people with the power and abuse that power, they are generally at the top of the business ladder. Dogs who are business men who do anything to get ahead of the pack, including betraying there own friends. Sheep who follow anyone who are in control, they are the blue collar workers.

There are only 5 songs, but some of them have the length of 3 or 4 normal songs. "pigs on the wing part 1 and 2" are the intro and outro songs. Both of the songs are acoustic and short compared to the middle 3 songs. "Dogs" is my favorite song in the album and it is the easiest to listen to. David Gilmour has a amazing guitar solo half way through the song. "Pigs (three Different ones)" is the second best song on the album. "sheep" is my least favorite song on the album because for me it takes too long to get into.

Also a little tidbit: without Animals roger waters would have never thought up the concept of The Wall.

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal activity the newest installment in the horror movies that have a "real" feeling to it. Movies like "Blair witch project" "[REC] or Quarantine" and "Cannibal Holocaust" (a small note on CH the movie actually contains real animal killings on camera, but ill talk about that movie later). Paranormal Activity is about a couple having some problems, paranormal problems as the movie's title states. They buy a camera and try to catch some of the activity on camera.

This movie felt like a really long episode of "Ghost Hunters" ,except something paranormal happens. Where as in Ghost hunters nothing happens most of the show, but i doubt the filmmaker that made this movie wanted to make a ghost documentary. The camera in the movie almost becomes a third character, where ever the people go they take it with them.

Some of the effects in this movie are very fun to watch, like the spirit leaving foot prints after the guy puts powder all over the hallway. I will admit the girl gets really annoying near the end of the movie with all the screaming , i think the screaming supposed to scare me but it just comes off as annoying.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes to stay up late and watch those history channel documentary's on haunted places.

or any real ghosts who wanna see a good movie

3 shaky cameras out of 5

Zombieland

Zombies are as a whole are horror icons along with Freddy, Jason, and leatherface. They can be scary, gross and in this case funny. Zombieland is a comedy horror movie that stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Emma Stone trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse.

One of the things i like about the movie is the survival tips that show up through the entire movie. Woody's character stole the show easily the best character in the whole movie. The others are okay for this kind of movie, im not expecting award winning acting. Also the movie has one of the best cameos ive seen in a movie, I wont spoil it but when it happens hilarious. The movie is more comedy and almost no horror, which i thought was a little disappointing. Even Shaun of the dead had some horror in it (the last 3rd of the movie).

Also I was expecting a lot more zombie killing in a movie called Zombieland. Sure they killed some zombies but they weren't that creative in the deaths(I wanted to see the zombie killed with the hedge clippers!). Most of the movie was the 4 people talking about what they did before and what they are planing to do. The last battle in the movie sort of quenched my blood thirst with the usual zombie movie last stand against the undead menace.

It was a fun zombie movie and if your a fan of zombies you probably seen it twice already.

i give it 3 zombie clowns out of 5

Trick 'r Treat

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, people dress up, watch horror movies, and have a good time. That being said Trick r' Treat has been hyped for about 2 years and after waiting for a theatrical release im just glad in was released.

This anthology movie has 4 stories that are connected somehow. Its kind of hard to explain the story's without spoiling the surprises. My favorite story's being the first and last one, just because the "SAM" kid is such a cool character. Anna Paquin and Brian Cox do a good job, but besides them its mostly unknown actors. The movie also has a very dark and mean spirited sense of humor.

The movie have one of best Halloween atmospheres I've seen in a while. Watch it if you want to get into the Halloween mood. The movie is not high on gore but there is a lot of blood and I don't recommend showing it to the kids. Overall its a great Halloween movie and I recommend it to anyone who likes Halloween or horror movies.

i give it a 4/5

Killer Albums: Imaginos by Blue Oyster Cult

You probably never heard of this album, and I don't blame you. It was out out of print for a while but I think it got reprinted in 2008 ( according to Wikipedia). Anyways this is a concept album that tells the story of imaginos. Now i cant explain it very good so here is a quote about the story:


"History is a dream, here, in the realm of Imaginos. Access to the dream is not in order. In a dream there is no time but evermore. If there is no time, there is no order. In the saga of Imaginos. between the extremes of the beginning (Les Invisibles) and the end (Magna of Illusion), everything happens all at once. Without a sequence of events, there is a rush of events. The rush of events is horror. This is the key. Ultimately, rhythm is image, and image is rhythm. Ultimately, this myth is random access."

This is from a site dedicated to just this album. Originally a bunch of poems by Sandy Pearlman than it was given to BOC (Blue Oyster Cult), so in a way the album is bigger then BOC. With major influence from H.P. Love Craft and his Cthulhu Mythos. The music also sounds great, it really is my favorite BOC album. Joe Satriani supposedly used to clean up the guitar tracks for BOC. There are some really great tracks in here, some of the highlights are "Les Invisibles" "Del Rio's Song" "Astronamy" and "Imaginos".



The only problem with the album is you might have to listen to it couple of times to really understand the music. I know when i first listened to it I got so confused I didn't listen to it again for a couple of weeks.

Imaginos is not for everyone. But if you like classic hard rock or concept albums with a Lovecraft influence check it out. It may be hard to find but now that its on CD im sure you can find it.

Why a filmmaker?

People are always asking me this question. The first movie that made me want to become a filmmaker was Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. I thought the movie was great the first time I saw it. But when I had a lot of time to kill I noticed that the DVD had commentary on the movie by Tarantino himself. That is what made me want to make movies, and I knew it wasnt going to be easy.

And from personal expriance I will gladly tell you its not(fistfull of buckshot, but thats another story). It also cost alot of money, if you want anykind of production value.

Cult Classics: The Evil Dead

I consider The Evil Dead one of the best horror movies around, and that's say a lot. Evil dead's plot is simple its about a group of friends travel into the woods to party and have a good time. While exploring the house they stumble upon the notes of the people that owned the cabin (who have dissapeared ) while listening to the audio recording's they hear the incantations from the book of the dead. These incantations unleash the forces of evil and one by one they will die offf ( as the possessed girl states).

Before Sam Raimi did the Spiderman Movies he made a trilogy of evil dead movies. If you watch any of the spiderman movies right after watching the evil dead movies you will notice that he uses the same camera tricks in both movies. The whole idea of the camera being some sort of monster that the audience never sees is brilliant. It also works so well because the movie was made very cheaply (and it shows). Sure it may feel dated, but every time I see it I realize how much horror movies have lost there ideals these days.

The special effects are great for such a low budget, I can see why its rated NC- 17 (besides the tree rape scene, yes I said tree rape). Oh how could i forget Bruce Cambell(the chin as i like to call him)! Bruce Cambell's cult following started with this movie . His performance is okay in this movie, he really shined in The Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

Overall I would recommend this movie to anyone who would like to see a nice fun gory movie who wants to see some Blood spurting, heads chopping off, bodies melting in claymation. Or anyone who wants to see horror roots.

New movie review site

Welcome to my all new movie blog. This is where i will post all my movie reviews, top 10 list, and anything that has to do with film or me.