Howdy (not Captain Howdy, just howdy)

Hey everybody, what's up? Sorry, I have been out of the loop while many things are happening here. I am (still) visiting family, and they have all my time pre-scheduled for me. I'm just getting driven around between people's houses all the time, without enough downtime to do anything online. Sorry.

One of the things my family did was to volunteer together with an organization bringing meals, clothing, shoes, etc to homeless camps. Holy fuck you guys, those people have it rough. I was sort of expecting something like the camp of semi-homeless laborers at the beginning of They Live, but Jesus Christ it was sooo much worse than that. At least in They Live they had a certain dirty, gritty dignity. But in real life... holy SHIT life sucks for those people. (When I say "those people," I realize that I myself, and most of us here, could EASILY be included in their ranks at any moment, because the world economy could go down in flames... um... NOW. No NOW. Noooo... NOW. OK, not yet, but it really could).

Anyway... there is just no dignity at all in living in those camps. We visited three, near highway overpasses in the middle of a city. There was trash EVERYWHERE, just all over the place. I could hardly even breathe, partly because of the fumes from the cars on the highway, and partly from the stench of the garbage, and from urine. It was even difficult to think clearly, somehow the combination of the fumes and the constant roar of the traffic zooming by made it hard to hold a thought in my mind. PLENTY of people could not possibly EVER get out of a situation like that. Once they are there, they will STAY there until they die. We spoke with a few people, and they were all so confused and frightened, and humble. This is going to take me a long time to sort out in my brain, and/or my soul.

So, I will get back in the swing of things here as soon as I can. but in the short term it looks like I will have LESS time than I have had in the last week, not more, so I just wanted to say hi. Hang in there, and thank God, your lucky stars, your rabbit's foot, or whatever does it for you, that you don't live in a homeless camp under a highway.

Bandersnatch

Anybody watch this yet? Netflix released their Black Mirror choose your own adventure movie about a young programmer in 1984 who has to create a choice-based computer game, but naturally, he goes mad during the process.

When the time comes to make a decision, you have a timer in which things are streamlined, and in some scenarios, you'll die and have to start over from a previous point, but sometimes... you get different options when you go back, so I'm sure there are a lot of ways to get through this, and various endings.

I watched it, and took some of the darker options, and I got a negative ending, but I plan on doing it again and trying different things. It was a fun experience that I don't think they can repeat, because it seems like it might only work in regards to the theme of that particular "episode", but what do I know? Maybe multi-directional movies are going to be the next big thing?

Remember Final Destination 3? The dvd had a few options for how to change the story, but it definitely wasn't as intricate as this.

Escape Plan 2: Stallone escapes a theatrical release

Remember in 2013 when Stallone did his first legitimate team-up with Schwarzenegger? He plays Ray Breslin, security expert, who must escape from the craziest prison out there, and with the help from another legendary 80s action icon, he kicks everyone's ass and made for a fun, if somewhat forgettable action romp.

Years later, a DTV sequel snuck up on us, and what do you know? Stallone is actually in it again. Usually, they recast the main character for these sorts of under-qualified sequels, which is why it's surprising that he's still in it. Of course, his role isn't as meaty as it was in the original, but he becomes more prominent in the final act. Still, he doesn't have much to work with, but I guess he felt that it was an interesting concept that he didn't want to part with quite yet.

Without Schwarzenegger, the movie has to rely on various other characters, as well as Batista, but he doesn't do much at all.

I'm not sure why this movie was made. Especially without both of the primary talents involved, but for what it was... it ain't the worst DTV action sequel I've seen. Hell, they're already in post-production of the next one. I'm sure I'll watch it eventually, because Stallone movies are great. How many movies does he need to make where he busts out of prison? Tango and Cash, Lockdown, Escape Plan 1, 2, and 3?

It is what it is. I'm sure Rambo V will be way better though.

AVGN talks Big Trouble in Little China... with Macaulay Culkin!

I guess they wanted to get all they could out of his trip to James Rolfe's house for that Home Alone video, but here, they talk about John Carpenter's epic "Big Trouble in Little China".



This 30 minute discussion revolves around John Carpenter, Jack Burton and his status as a "hero", the upcoming film with The Rock, and all sorts of little nuggets of gold that we all thought about at one point or another. Apparently, Macaulay is even cooler than we ever knew.

I've always loved the videos by team Cinemassacre. I think James Rolfe is one of the coolest motherfuckers on the planet, and he's a critic I agree with 99% of the time. The dude is on my wave-length, and hell... I think it would be great if Macaulay Culkin becomes a regular on his videos. Not like he's been doing anything else these days, except Home Alone spoofs.

I'd talk about my opinions of BTiLC, but the nerd and his pals seems to sum it up perfectly. It's a chaotic movie that's fun as hell, and Kurt Russell is awesome. Kinda iffy on the remake/sequel/spin-off, but fuck it. We'll always have the original. You know what Jack Burton would say at a time like this? What the hell.

Rant on 2018

This damn year is almost over. Share your thoughts, if you're capable of thinking and reflecting on this year. Christmas is yet to come, followed by the new year. Time for stress, resolutions, and probably mostly drinking.

Not much to report on my end. 2018 was okay. As always, we lost a few legends, we get a few new movies we fall in love with, and people shun each other over politics. Yada yada, and so forth...

I always want to do something better for TE each year, but my efforts generally go unnoticed. We lose a few more users every now and then, and we dwindle. It fucking sucks, but the pool is drying up. People just don't dig old school forums anymore. It's always facebook this and twitter that. Social media sites that do all, but also sell all your personal data. Go figure. Still, I love this place, and I love all the people who post on here, and I'm always gonna tweak shit and try to add new features. Currently, I'm trying to build an rpg game about my buddy Ken from work.

There's not much I'm hoping for this coming year, but as always, I plan to go to TX Frightmare this Summer, and I'm really looking forward to the new Terminator movie, because I'm a crazy fanboy on that shit. That's what 2019 is to me.

In random-ish news, 2019 is when Blade Runner is set, as well as The Running Man.

Go ahead and rant on the year, or whatever. Share your thoughts.

A Wolf Creek Nightmare

Last night, I got pretty drunk. Big surprise, there. I fell asleep to some Trailer Park Boys Xmas Special, and before I knew it, I found myself in the midst of a familiar territory that I've never been to. The outback.

In the dream, I was with my family, and who shows up? Mick Taylor! He played it cool for a while, and I was discretely trying to convince everyone that he was a maniacal fuck, and nobody would listen to me, even in my own subconscious. Suffice to say, he started killing everyone, and I spent all night running from rifle shots, big-ass hunting knives, and more.

Now, they say you don't dream for but a moment of your entire sleep. In the movie Inception, the deeper your sleep is, the more that can happen in the dream, as if you're in there for quite a long time. I went through a full-fledged adventure in Australia in this dream, trying to outrun one of my favorite cinematic psychopaths, and it kinda freaked me the fuck out.

I was glad to finally wake up from that whole mess, which seemed like I'd spent hours... days running from this fiend, but I'd only slept a couple of hours, tops.

Shaken from this haunting vision of people I know getting killed by a crazy Australian, I had a hard time getting back to sleep there for a few minutes. However, I was still sleeping off the booze, and I konked out once I could find peace with this. Then, I had the same fucking dream again.

I went through same chases, aware that bad things would happen at certain points, and they did. Sometimes, slightly differently, because I was trying to change them, but ultimately ending the same. I went down the same roads, through the same places, trying to run from something I just ran away from. Truly bizarre. Truly unsettling.



Not sure why I dreamt of Mick Taylor, since I haven't even thought about those movies in months, but the dude creeps me out. At the same time, I love him, but I do recall hearing how he had trouble finding work after the first movie, because he played the part so convincingly, which led him to cut his losses a decade later and jump back into the role with both feet. Too bad season 2 of that show sucked. It felt like it took a shit on the first season, which should have been a one-off event. Still, I'd watch more if they made 'em.

Venom wasn't entirely toxic... just mostly

When they announced that a live-action Venom movie was in the works, starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and rumored to be on the Deadpool bandwagon of being R-rated... I got my hopes up. They even had talks of including Tom Holland's Peter Parker into the movie, which would have been even cooler to see Spider-Man in an R-rated movie.

Of course, the studios pussied out immediately and turned this Spider-Man spin-off into a sci-fi CGI fest. They changed it from New York to San Francisco, and right off the bat, we get flooded with extremely liberal sentiments that make you roll your eyes, knowing there was at least a slight push at some garbage agenda, but we'll move past that. If we can...

Tom Hardy is a great actor. He's awesome in "Bronson" and "Dark Knight Rises", and in this one, he still puts forth a great effort. Too bad most of the movie is mindless drivel that comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the trailer for the movie. As always, they give the whole movie away, and nothing comes as a surprise.

So much CGI, and most of it looks pretty cheesy. I'd seen a lot of people compare it to "Upgrade", starring Tom Hardy lookalike Logan Marshall Green. Unlike this PG-13 bastardization of a man getting enhanced with an alien parasite, Upgrade featured a man getting enhanced with a technological implant, and it was a bloody R-rated romp.

We don't get anything new here. It's somewhat watchable, but mostly predictable superhero shit that seems to be holding a lot back. Stan Lee has a cameo, but nothing else seems very Marvel about it otherwise. Tom Hardy keeps it from being a total flop, but it's still some overblown kiddie shit, for the most part. Could have been waaaaaaay better.

Foreign/Subtitled movie Challenge 2018 - Progress Thread

Welcome to the first Foreign/subtitled movie challenge which begins this coming Saturday at 00:01 local time.

To recap: Movies cannot be either in the English language or your native tongue if English isn't your first language (sorry, that's a no if you speak French and you want to watch French movies). And sure, if you are in Belgium or Canada, then British movies are still "foreign", but we are going for World Cinema here which generally refers to movies not in the English language.

Points will be awarded on running time, so the more subtitles you "suffer" through (in the case of Troma), the greater your chances of winning!

A few more points to note:

Ideally the focus should be movies, however as points are based on running time any TV series, including Anime (not dubbed of course) will be accepted.

Can be any genre.

American movies not in the English language will also be accepted e.g. The Passion of the Christ, Letters from Iwo Jima.

Dual-language movies that utilise English will count as long as at least half of the movie (roughly) is in another language.

Silent movies that utilise foreign-language intertitles are permitted.

So those feeling up to it, please pick your spot.

Old Soviet cartoon, adapted from Ray Bradbury story

This is pretty interesting, and also quite creepy and disturbing, in multiple ways at once. I have seen both 1984 and 1987 given as the release date for it. I don't know which is correct, but I guess it was made in the 80's. This was done in the Soviet Union, in what is Uzbekistan today, I think. They changed some things around a little, but it's basically an adaptation of a Ray Bradbury story from the 1950's, which was included in The Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury got the title from a poem that was first published exactly a hundred years ago, in 1918. Anyway, you can find out more if you feel like Googling, of course, so without further ado, here's the cartoon.

Well, I Watched Hellraiser: Judgment (2018)

A couple of days ago, I noticed Netflix added Hellraiser: Judgment (2018). I've always enjoyed the Hellraiser movies, but mainly due to Doug Bradley's performance as Pinhead. Sadly, this was another entry in the franchise without him, but this new actor was ok. Pinhead was now played by Paul T. Taylor, and as I said, he was ok, but one thing about him really bothered me, his voice. I know they deepened Doug Bradley's voice a bit, but this was overkill. He almost sounded like Darth Vader to me.

I did like the story overall, and the inclusion of Heaven into the mythology was pretty cool. I have to give this movie credit, it made me gag half a dozen or more times. I'd probably give it a 5/10.