Ideas for New Challenges

The first two would be just a week long.

The Week of Love (February 11 to February 17)
Points:
1 Points) Movie with the word "Love" or other romance related words in title
2 Points) Individual killed while "making love" (not combined with #3 below)
3 Points) Two or more killed at the same time while "making love"
4 Points) Each person killed by a loved one (husband/wife, father/daughter,boyfriend/girlfriend. Basically immediate family or dating)


Shark Week (whenever Shark Week is this year)
Points:
1 Points) Movie with the word "Shark" in the title
2 Points) Individual killed by a shark (can't be an off-screen death, must be seen)
3 Points) A shark dies (again, has to be seen, not implied or off-screen)
4 Points) Two or more sharks die at the same time
5 Points) Two or more people killed by the same shark at the same time

October Challenge additional challenge
Watch at least one movie from each decade from 1920 on

I'm posting these now for input, since Feb is two months away, and if things go as planned with my PCT thru-hike, I won't be around for Shark Week or possibly part of next year's horror challenge.
So... thoughts on the above?

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

This movie is definitely something. Matthew McConaughey really goes off the deep end in this movie, in all the best ways.

Talking about the Illuminati could be a spoiler but I don't think anyone is worried about that.

What did you think of their appearance in this movie?

Hellraiser: Judgment

It's finally coming out, and like most of us probably expect... nobody really cares. The series turned into DTV shit a while back, even when Doug Bradley was involved. Let's face it, the dude is great, but he was wasted in a lot of lesser entries, and now, he's just gone. Pretty sure he wont come back, because the powers that be don't deem him important enough. A makeup heavy role, perhaps?

The new guy looks alright. Better than that last chump, anyway... At least this one looks to have some cool cenobites, and a small role by Heather Langenkamp. Let's hope that Hellraiser can still raise some hell.

Top 10 Ramones Songs

You know, since everyone was wondering this exact topic? Well, I've finally done it. It's tough to come up with a top-10 for a band that's so redundant, yet so great at the same time, but damnit... I've done it!

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Beat on the Brat



The gist of the song is this: "Beat on the brat... beat on the brat... beat on the brat with a baseball bat, oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh ho! With a brat like that always on your back, what can you lose?"


Chain Saw



A song about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that really has nothing to do with that movie. One of the first songs I learned to play on guitar, because like every song of theirs, it's only 4 chords!


Come Back Baby



I like this song, because it sounds like another Ramones song that I like even better. That's what the Ramones were all about. Great songs that all sounded the same.


Crummy Stuff



Perhaps their dumbest yet, it sumultaneously becomes among their greatest. "I had enough... I had it tough... I've had enough of that crummy stuff. Crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy crummy stuff."


Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio



Ramones give you their tribute to classic classic rock. Definitely cheesy, definitely great.


I Wont Let it Happen



Got a nice simple melody to it that just works.


My Brain is Hanging Upside Down



One of their more intricate songs, with something more to say than the usual Ramones song. Still not saying a lot, but it's still plenty.


Out of Time



A Ramones-ified cover of The Rolling Stones song circa 1966, which is also one of the greatest songs of all time. Ramones nailed it, and cut the song in half, to stick with their usual tendencies to keep the songs short.


Questioningly



Ramones trying to sing a sad song, and it kind of works!


This Business is Killing Me

The greatest Ramones song ever is coincidentally the last in this otherwise alphabetic list of Top 10 Ramones songs. This list is... is a fact... that's subject to change. 🥴

Victor Crowley trailer

That's right... another trailer thread. This movie came out in October last year to select theaters, in honor of the original's 10th anniversary. It's got Perry Shen (again), Felissa Rose, and that guy from "Beyond the Gates". It'll probably be the same old shit again, but I'll watch it.

New Years, Reflections, and Resolutions

How was everyone's 2017? We had some decent tv, some decent movies, a few celebrity deaths, some Hollywood scandals, a new president in the white house, and IMDb killed the fucking message boards.

Best TV?
I really liked The Punisher, but I'm rather indifferent about most everything else. The Defenders sucked, Iron Fist sucked, Wolf Creek season 2 was underwhelming, Shameless is okay, Trailer Park Boys was decent, Lethal Weapon season 2 is kinda losing me, I liked Mr. Mercedes enough. No Ash vs. Evil Dead this year, which was pretty lame. Oh, but the best of the year has got to be Twin Peaks, season 3! What an experience.

Best Movies?
This late in the game, but Brawl in Cell Block 99 probably wins that round. It's on the Trash Epics' best film of the year list, just as the director's previous film "Bone Tomahawk" is listed as the best film for 2015 too. That dude knows how to make cool movies. I loved Logan, and the other Marvel flicks were alright. Other good flicks I'd seen are The Babysitter, The Disaster Artist, Happy Death Day, It, 1922, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.

Politics?
I don't care what anyone says. I think Trump is doing fine. North Korea hasn't nuked us, and the economy is doing great.

IMDb Killed their userbase?
Yeah... those fucking turkeys sold out, hardcore, and obliterated our way of life, but you know what? Life goes on, so long as you let it. We've had months to check out the rival boards, and they all kinda suck. I'm sure people might say the same about TE, but they can all go suck a dick.

Celebrities?
Chris Cornell. Why God, WHY? He was my idol. I thought he was the best grunge artist who was still around. I always thought, sure, Kurt died, and Layne died, and Scott died, but Chris made it. Him and Eddie Vedder, but then, Chris proved me wrong. It's always hard to accept the death of someone you've been listening to all your life. Same goes for Gregg Allman.

Plenty of other deaths, too. Charles Manson, Malcolm Young, Umberto Lenzi, Hugh Hefner, Harry Dean Stanton, Tobe Hooper, Sonny Landham, George A. Romero, Martin Landau, Adam West, Powers Boothe, Michael Parks, Don Rickles, Chuck Berry, Bill Paxton, Miguel Ferrer, William Peter Blatty... God damn! Other than Chris Cornell, the other big death that really broke my heart was John Dunsworth. 😥

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So what about 2018? What are you looking forward to?

The event that has me salivating like a dog is the new Halloween film, set for October 19th. Most anticipated event of my life, at the moment... What kind of life do I live if that's all I look forward to? 🥴

We'll also get a new season of Ash vs. Evil Dead this year, finally. As always, I can't wait for the new season of It's Always Sunny, whenever that is. Plus, Trailer Park Boys will be John Dunsworth's final outing.

Here's to you, Jim Lahey! •chugs booze•

The downfall of IMDb...

I am aware it has been on the downturn for a good while now - with not dealing with the trolling issues etc. I am truly disappointed in imdb. One bad decision after the next.

I gotta admit it use to be my first site I would go to in the morning, and last at night. However, it is worth mentioning how much it has nosedived over this past year. First they get rid of the boards, which even thou they were troll ridden - they are sorely missed, especially the individual movie boards (reading them before and after I see a movie, was what made IMDb great, for me at least)

I haven't used the internet much in the past month, so I go over to IMDb, and I was shocked by all the great features they have removed, and "updated". The reviews are now pre-sorted by "Most Helpful", but there are no options to sort the reviews by positive, negative, most loved, prolific authors etc, as there used to be....truly awful. There is literally no point in writing reviews over there anymore.

Making lists is one of the the things that made IMDb so good - but now the drag-and-drop system for lists, is gone, worked perfectly and very easily but now it's gone. Why was there ever a need to change the lists in the first place? There was nothing wrong with the way the lists worked before. They also got rid of the "views" feature on the lists. How long will it be before the creating lists feature is gone?

The have fucked up the rating pages and functionality....Why would you remove the refine ratings filter? That was one of the reasons that made IMDb. Is IMDb aware that people want MORE functionality, not less? This is a truly bewildering decision. Removing these features is inconvenient and regressive and offers no advantage whatsoever; it just reduces the utility of the website

"Recently Viewed" feature is fucked with too...The recently viewed history is now only displayed in-line at the bottom of the page and includes the (maximum of) 13 items shown. Terrible!

IMDb is officially on its death bed.

Bela Lugosi

I'm watching the condensed version of "The Phantom Creeps", featuring Bela Lugosi. I've always liked Bela. Go watch Ed Wood, and you'll learn about his string of bad luck. He struggled to get into the business because of his accent, and he struggled to maintain it, and after a while, studios didn't want him. He was often typecast, and it wasn't until a superfan came along to give the man the respect he deserved.

Sure, Karloff and Chaney are great, but I'll rant on them another time. Lugosi is just fascinating to watch. He may not be the most faithful to the novel, but I still think this dude is a great Dracula. Ignorant people often use him as a basis for the character, and it's probably because his accent kicks ass.

Also, White Zombie is pretty great. His other two best are The Black Cat and The Raven, because him and Karloff are a sight to see. Then again, I've seen a lot of shitty Lugosi movies too, but I can watch most of them for him alone. Pool da stringz!

Thoughts on Lugosi's Legacy? The dude was buried in his cape. How cool is that?

Wolf Creek, season 2 thoughts

A few days ago, season 2 of the Stan Original spin-off series of the film series of the same name. It kinda makes you wonder about the continuity of these things, and "spin-off" might not be the best word. It's a straight-up continuation. Maybe they're through with making movies and sequels and are focusing just on the show now? Perhaps the 2014 sequel was a test to see how well Mick Taylor is received after almost a decade without a Wolf Creek film. I guess it worked, cuz they went on to make 6 hour-long episodes.

Honestly, I thought the 2016 show was fantastic. It was so well paced, it did a lot of exploration into the psyche of our antagonist, and our female lead (Lucy Fry) was downright awesome. A very strong character worth rooting for, and it was so well paced. Season 1 was the perfect cat and mouse game, strong enough to stand on its own.



So how was season 2? The main premise involves a group of tourists getting ready to see the outback in all its glory. To creeps like us who watch this shit, we already know what's coming. Mick Taylor is out and about, and has no real motive to do anything, so what does he do? He hijacks the bus, and the rest is a fight for survival.

There's no real depth to the plot of this one. For those of us watched season 1, we're all pretty confused as to why this is even able to happen. They barely allude to any other events, and it kind of seems like the writers didn't care this time around. They have different demographics getting picked off, but no real subtext to it.

I think this season existing at all is going to lead to inevitable lack of real surprise in this series, because really... if these things don't kill Mick Taylor, the dude is invincible, and where's the fun in that?

Note that most of the entries in this series have bleak endings. The first was bleak, the second was too, and then season 1 came along and changed a lot of things. Then, season 2 kinda goes back to that same nihilistic mindset. The ending was alright, but it's always kind of a hopeless scenario, and it can only get more predictable as it goes on.

Will I watch a season 3 if they make it? 😞 Absolutely. I'm a sucker for this shit. I love John Jarratt as the killer, but he didn't have much to work with in this season.

New Schwarzenegger Movie - Killing Gunther

This is one of those mockumentary type films about a crew of incompetent hitmen who set out to kill Gunther, the world's best hitman. Yeah, it's kinda funny... but after about 15 minutes, you start to wonder where Arnold is... Then, about 30 minutes in, you ask yourself the same question. Finally, at the 45 minute mark... he still hasn't shown up.

So, about an hour into this movie, when all hope is lost, Arnold finally shows up, and puts everyone in their place. They tried to comandeer this movie, and make us think that it was their movie, but you know what? It's still Arnold's movie, even if he's barely in it.

The movie is in part a metaphor for how great Schwarzenegger is, and he'll make blatant references to his older movies. "Come on! I'm right here! Do it now! Kill me!"

Arnold has always been a surprisingly hilarious man, and while most of this movie is pointless buildup to the main event, it's definitely worth it at the very end, when you get to hear Arnold singing a country song called "Earthquake Love" during the end credits. Oh my God, he's such a bad singer! 😄