Kevin's Kreapy Korner is up!

Hey, everyone!

It's been a busy week or so, but this week had a ton of posts go up, and I actually had some success this week with a few of them. So, thank you all for your support.

I hope you all have a great, safe Halloween!

Here is another post I did this week reguarding the alternate ending to Paranormal Activity. Obviously, if you haven't seen it, don't see the video. It's a great ending, so don't spoil it.


Here is the link to Kevin's Kreapy Korner (it's a bit much on the illiteration, isn't it?)

the Epic debate to end epic debates - Slow or Fast?

Among the great debates of all time, I decided to tackle one of the more prominent ones; no, not Coke vs. Pepsi, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, or Freddy vs. Jason. No, today, we are talking about slow zombies vs. fast zombies. That’s right, the debate over whether our zombies should be sprinting or slow, methodical monsters rages on here today!


Zombies started out with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. The brain-starved monsters were slow, methodical creatures that were the embodiement of fear, and were representing death, unstoppable, unavoidable, and slowly coming for us all. The fear was balanced between the gruesomeness of brain-eating people and the idea that you will never escape the terror.

After several years of Romero movies that formed a legacy, zombies lost a bit of their dread when they learned to talk, use tools, and all sorts of un-zombie-like behavior. When 2002’s remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead came out, it featured a much more aggressive zombie with blood dripping from their lips as they sprinted to viciously tear apart their prey. Many horror fans liked the new, more modern zombies as they showed a new, vicious kind of terror not seen before in zombie movies. Now, you have to try and out run something that looked like it could’ve been a sprinter in a previous life. The downside here is that it loses it’s primal fear of death following you.

For my money, the zombie horde closing in slow, and methodical like is much more terrifying, as there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide.

So, which to you prefer, the slow, meandering ones, or the running, sprinting ones?

The mother of all geek-outs. Firefly edition

If you haven't seen Castle yet, you are missing something. The show features Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic and involves a horror writer following a detective around and helping solve murders. While the story is good, the true gem is the characters, and the chemistry, specifically Fillion's Rick Castle.

This week, the halloween episode starts off with Fillion dressing up as a "space cowbody" a costume, according to his daughter he last wore five years ago. Does anyone reckognize it?!? Yeah, I haven't geeked out like that in a long time. Bonus points to the people who spotted the power coupling that was the pineapple in Firefly sitting on the shelf. The part in question was the MacGuffin in the episode "out of gas."
Check it out, and prepare to squeal like a little girl.....errr uhh, grunt, yeah, that's it, like a man!

"women are box office poison" - A rebuttle to a rebuttle

In an article that ran in today's tbt* by Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, the writer talks about how strong female leads lead to poor box office results. Amelia was the most current example of a flop, and the writer is saying she is being told, it's because of the fact all movie-goers are male, and they just don't like strong women in a main role (In my opinion, in the case of Amelia, they forgot ugly). The writer also goes on to site Erin Brokovich, Sex in the city and Mamma Mia! as examples of movies that had strong leads, and had financial success. Finally, it seems, the writer is suggesting sexism in the movie theater.

So, I had to rebute this. First off, examples of poor box office results include the recently released Amelia and the Jodie Foster bomb The Brave One. While both of those movies bombed, it's not due to the fact they both had female leads, but rather that both suck, and suck bad. Sure, there are female leads, but that's like saying 'every movie with Dinosaurs will do well' just because Jurassic Park had success. The film also drops a Drew Barrymore movie called Whip It as another example of a bomb, despite the pull of Barrymore. I would say a determining factor in all three of these would be the sub-par marketing done for all three of these films. I've seen one TV commercial, no internet ads and no newspaper ads for Amelia, so, instead of blaming the incredibly untalented Hillary Swank, maybe blame the marketing company in charge of wasting a studio's money.

So, why is it that female leads aren't as popular as their male counterparts? There is a study that shows that women actually buy more movie tickets than men (clearly some cheap-skate dates out there) so why is it that they don't go to see female leads? Let's look at some of them..
Ripley - Aliens - Awesome
Erin Brokovich - Awesome
Clarice Starling - Silence of the Lambs - Awesome
Clearly, if I can think of three great examples, either they are the exception to the rule, or there is no rule.

So, when you have a good premise, plenty of marketing behind it, you have a good movie, despite the sex of the lead.

Kevin's Korner this week

And now, the article you’ve waited all month … err, all week … err, all day … well, you’ve waited long enough, it’s Kevin’s Korner (Insert applause here). This week we have all kinds of fun movie news, a trailer and a bit of a rant. So buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride; well, not really, but you get the idea.


So, are you teased, tittelated, intrigued even? If so, check it out, and if not, well....I guess, don't check it out.....dick!  

Here is Kevin's Korner. Next weeks edition is the Halloween edition. Better get cookin!

Is Chris Farley on TV a bad thing? I think so.

Recently, DirecTV brought out its newest commercial featuring a scene with Chris Farley and David Spade in the movie Tommy Boy. The commercial has caused quite a stir since it features Farley, who died in December of 1997. So, should people quit being prude and get over it, or did DirecTV actually commit a no no?

I think the commercial isn’t exactly offensive, but I don’t particularly appreciate it. It just feels kind of wrong to be trying to get customers by making fun of a dead guy. While it wouldn’t stop me from getting a DirecTV package if I so chose, I think the advertising tactic is low and immoral.

This isn’t the first time they have been less than considerate regarding a deceased actor. Previously, they ran another ad, featuring Heather O’Rourke, a 12 year old actress who died back in 1988. I just find it hard to believe it’s so hard to find a movie with actors that are still alive.

So, what do you think, do you find it immoral, or am I being too serious with a commercial that is meant to be funny? It’s alright, you can tell me!




EDITORS NOTE: This was published in Creative Loafing's website along with a poll. Check out the results HERE.

Top Comedies of all time? That's a tough list...

Alright, so I decided I was going to do a top 10 or 15 list of comedies. The tough part about comedies is that it takes different elements to make different people laugh. So, while some people may find fart jokes entertaining (and who doesn't) some people like a more intellectual approach.

Obviously the list won't please everyone, but I'm gonna do my favorites. Here is where I need YOUR help. Every time I do a list, I always think of one later on that truly should've been on the list. So, what do you guys think should be on there? Is it hard to think of some? I know, it's not easy. But, instead of working, I was busy thinking of great comedies for a bit of a list. Don't worry, I worked a bit, too. So, here is a list of comedies that came to mind, to make your decision making a bit easier.

Thanks for the input.

40 year old virgin
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Airplane
Anchorman
Animal House
Austin Powers
Balls of Fury
Beer Fest
Blazing Saddles
Borat
Caddyshack
Captain Ron
City Slickers
Clerks
Clerks 2
Dr. Strangelove
Dumb and dumber
Fargo
Ferris Buellers Day Off
Ghostbusters
Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle
History of the World Part I
Hot Shots
Life of Brian
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python The Meaning of Life
Naked Gun
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Office Space
Old School
PCU
Raising Arizona
Replacements
Robin Hood: Men in TightsShaun of the Dead
Shrek
Spaceballs
Super Troopers
Support Your Local Sheriff
Swingers
The Big Lebowski
The Blue’s Brothers
The Hangover
The Jerk
The Princess Bride
The Three Amigos
Tropic Thunder
Van Wilder
Waynes World
Wedding Crashers
Young Frankenstein
Zombieland
Zoolander

Box office predictions: Trailer vs. dollars

In an interesting chart this week (because you can't argue with a chart) we have a comparison between how popular a trailer is and how popular the movie is. After looking at this chart, which takes some of the top movies lately; it looks to me like how popular the trailer is may actually hurt the movie. And, in some cases, the trailer has no effect at all.

In light of this data, my opinion should change on trailers, but I still think a trailer can be the most useful marketing tool out there, if done right. The problem is, most trailers are done poorly in my opinion, and either give too much away, or go the opposite and don't pull in the audience. I think there are very few great trailers this year. I think I found another post!

So, what do you think, are the importance of trailers diminishing with all kinds of info on the interweb?

Mos Eisley - the real dialogue

In Star Wars, Ep. 4, Obi Wan Kinobi introduces us to Mos Eisley by saying "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Granted, that is a pretty good intro to a place, I mean, I want to go there now! I would think you could easily find the droids you are looking for there.

However, thanks to this video, we see what Obi Wan was really saying!

The Cove worked!

Just in case you haven't heard about the Cove, it's a documentary about a town in Japan, called Taijii, and how they hunt and brutally slaughter dolphins. The film was so much more than just a collection of brutal shots; it was beautiful, suspensful, and at times comical. It was also one of the first movies I ever reviewed for Creative Loafing. On top of that little milestone, I also got a chance to talk with the director, Loui Psihoyos and star Rick O'Barry about the film. There mission was simple, stop the slaughter of dolphins, and it seems like they have done just that. Here is the link for a story Yahoo! presented today, check it out, and when you read the article, you will see that documentaries really do change the world!

When I talked to both gentleman, they were very kind, and freely anwsered any questions I had, but both were very excited about the project, and the prospect of stopping the slaughter of dolphins. Another thing that I was surprised about, was how much respect they had for the town itself, Taijii. Both gentleman said the town was beautiful, and with the exception of the few fisherman (a couple dozen) the town was very friendly and also completely unaware of the dark stain that layed beneath it.

Originally, it looked like the film would be banned from Japan completely, but O'Barry had promised me that would not stop him and his colleagues of finding a way to get his message out, even if it meant a free showing. Obviously, he was a man of his word.

So, have you seen the documentary yet? If so, what did you think?

What if the Pixar Lamp was a murderer?

So, this is the best video ever, and yet, I just felt dirty watching it. The best part is the "P" in the beginning!
Check it out!!!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Thor is coming...but does anyone care?

Circulating the movie blogs today was a story about how Domonic Cooper is rumored to take hold of the hammer of Thor. Of course, other casting was mentioned, and of course, Stan Lee is set to make a cameo. Now, normally, I soak up all this juicy info like a sponge, but I found myself not really caring at all. That got me thinking, first off; did I have enough coffee? 2 cups, check. Am I awake? Not really. Check. So, why do I not care? I think it has to do with the project itself.

I have to admit, I simply have no excitement or desire about this project at all. Granted it is Marvel, and they have given me some goodies in the past with Spiderman, Iron Man, X-men and the like. And, the casting is looking quite good, but come on, a god on earth, but they're trying to make it a regular world, despite gods wandering around. I mean, come on, it was a weak concept back in the day, and its still weak.

I say, drop Thor and concentrate on more exciting projects. There are a ton for Marvel to choose from, I never understood why they chose Thor.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Chuck is going to Thursdays?

Well, a bumbling move for NBC leads to us possibly getting more excited about our favorite Buy More employee and super spy, Chuck.

There were rumors going around that since some of the shows on NBC were doing really, really terrible, Chuck could be brought back early; as in late October early. Obviously, that got all the Chuck fans excited and trembling, but a bit apprehensive about just throwing the show back on with no warning and no advertising. Well, NBC came out with a banner today, and thanks to Spoilertv, here it is. It sounds like the mest up on the time, but Thursday's, hopefully soon!

FAQ About Time Travel Review

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

I saw a trailer this week on Facebook, and the trailer said the movie was a combination of Dr. Who meets Shaun of the Dead. With that kind of billing, how am I not going to see a movie like that?

The title pretty much explains it all with this one. Basically, you have your text-book movie geeks which right away make me like the movie, and they stumble across a sort of time paradox, Anna Faris, and some beer in the course of 30 minutes, or hundreds of years, I’m not really sure.

Time travel is always a tricky think, and can easily be a cheap way to write yourself out of a corner, but in this case, it was kind of the opposite. The movie was written by someone who had a very good knowledge of time travel theories (minus Dr. Sam Beckett’s theory from Quantum Leap, but we won’t hold that against him) and the movie uses pretty much every theory…together…in the same movie. And, if your not confused yet, you certainty will be.

I liked this movie to a point. It was simple, yet incredibly complicated. The characters were a bit clichéd, and while the time travel was written perfectly, the dialogue was a bit on the rough side. Also, the humor was basically movie geek one-liners. So, if you’re a movie geek like me, the one liners that come are hilarious, and probably something you and your friends talk about. If you haven’t fully embraced your inner movie geek just yet, however, you will find this movie incredibly boring.

Overall, I’m thrilled I saw it, and will probably watch it again. Just, next time, I will have far more alcohol in me.

I give it 6 Deloreans out of 10

Google Wave Demo goes Pulp Fiction-ey

Have you heard of Pulp Fiction? Sure you have; don't be silly. Now, have you heard of Google WAVE?
No? Well, now you have. "Wow, Kevin's Movie Blog, thank you so much!" Your Welcome!!
Google Wave is a new form of IM/Email/Twittering that Google is still working the kinks out on, and is distributing for beta testing as we speak. And no, Google hasn't given me one yet, but soon, I'm sure.

So, check out this video that mixes Pulp Fiction with Google Wave, and see the possibilities of Google Wave while Samule L. Jackson amuses you...