Forty-Nine

Little Shop Of Horrors
Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia
Director: Frank Oz
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 94 minutes


Have you seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Take all of it's quirkiness and amp it up by ten. It's a science fiction romcom.
This nerdy little man (Moranis) discovers a new type of plant. The only problem with it is the only thing it will eat is human blood. The bigger it gets, the more it needs. Which of course leads to Seymour killing people to keep the plant alive. (Kinda a false statement. He never actually kills anybody.) He winds up getting the girl of his dreams along the way, but the media coverage of his incredible, murderous plant is putting pressure on him. All the TV shows, magazine covers, and radio spots are pushing his already guilty conscience to the edge. The threat of developing mini Audrey Twos makes up his mind on what he really has to do.
This giant robotic plant is the best thing I have ever seen. This movie was made in 1986 and I've never seen anything that hasn't been computer generated look so amazing. It's so life like. Wonderful special effect. Not to mention it's a musical, perfectly hilarious, with just the right pinch of romance. Everybody should watch this movie. My top ten list for sure.

forty-three --- forty-eight

The Theatre Bizarre
Starring: Udo Kier, Virginia Newcomb, Amanda Marquardt
Director: Jeremy Kasten
Rating: R
Duration: 114 minutes


The poster initially lead me to check this movie out. That's some pretty amazing photography if I do say so myself. The movie it's self has a very complicated structure about it.
This young girl lives across the street from this old, run down theatre. One night, while she is manically drawing, the front lights up and the doors swing open. And what does a person of sound mind do? Close their windows and crawl into bed. So it's safe to say she is completely mental since she not only went to check it out but went inside and sat down as these puppets started to become animated.
There isn't any show being performed on that stage. They are all videos that are in themselves completely separate films. Six to be exact. (Which is why I am counting each short film as it's own movie.) So lets talk about the first one, shall we?


Mother of Toads
Directed by: Richard Stanley
They successfully make this crawl on you skin creepy by the use of oddly shot angles and the whispery overtures. A word to the wise, if an old woman comes up to you in a market claiming to be a witch, I don't care if that is your area of study. You do not go to her house by yourself. Especially if it's out in the middle of nowhere. And if you do, don't accept any food or drink. Common sense man. Use it.
This story borders more along the lines of gross rather than scary. The content might not have been worth while or even very quality but it was shot beautifully. Some really unique camera work went on that was brilliant. Plus some really good special effects make-up. A very believable full toad suit if I may say so.

Cut back to the theatre. Baby girl is still sitting there. If she's not insane she is slowly getting there. We get a bit of foreshadowing with the puppets, which is always nice. Even though the puppet is slighting his wrists in a bath tub and his blood is red glitter. At least it has a more upbeat title.

I Love You
Director: Buddy Giovinazzo
It really sucks when you realize you don't love somebody after you marry them. But of course that's usually when true colors come out and you realize they're a drunk and controlling. I would leave their butt, too. That's always a sign of an unstable psyche, though, and always leads to the problem in a movie. Can you say predictable?
On the non predictable side, it turns out the woman is the horrible person in this relationship and the man, though a drunk, is ridiculously stupid and hopelessly in love.
I like this story line better than the first. It has more emotion to it, though still not very frightening. It's cut really strange at the end as the man starts to loose the finally strings attached to his sanity. A very nice creative element.

Let me tell you, these puppet people are crazy. On to the third!

Wet Dreams
Director: Tom Savini
Do I really have to tell you about this one? Pretty sure the name tells you all you need to know. And if you don't know yet, sex seems to be a running theme in these short films. This one is disgusting and extremely uncomfortable. Especially since they put a Freudian spin to it. Enough said. It's gruesomeness did put me on edge.

Why this girl is still sitting in the audience is beyond me. The main puppet says something I particularly like this time around though. "They can imprison us, stories. Even if they are our own. Especially if they are our own. Power to write your own stories is the power to define your own life."

The Accident
Director: Douglas Buck
This story is told by a mother explaining to her very young daughter why people die. They use flashbacks to show what they had experienced and what is bringing on all these questions. Which makes this one just really heartbreaking

She's full on crying now, but I'm pretty sure it's fear that has her glued to her seat.

Vision Stains
Director: Karim Hussain
Promise me, dear reader, never to do drugs. I do not want this to happen to you. If it can be thought up, it can be done. Please be ever vigilant. I don't want to read about you found in some alleyway with your eye being sucked dry and a puncture wound going straight through your heart.
It is probably the coolest concept I've seen. Being amble to inject yourself with someone else's memories being putting their eye fluid in your eye. The you can write their story and make sure somebody actually know who they are. Disgusting, yes. But bloody brilliant. They could probably take that idea and base a whole movie on it alone. It would be full of murder and blood, but it would be very interesting. This short is probably my favorite.

She finally realizes the awful place she is in, but she has become a half puppet. And the more puppet she becomes, the more human the main puppet becomes Told you this theatre was a bad place. But nobody ever listens to me.

Sweets
Director: David Gregory
If there is one thing I hate it's watching people eat. I loath listening to people chew and swallow. And seeing it all over the place is almost as bad. It's probably because I really don't like spit. I'm sure all the food is suppose to represent something, but it was such a distraction I didn't pick up on it.
High note: in all the flash back the girl's hair changes colors. Not subtle colors like shades of brown, black, or blonde. But ridiculous colors like orange, green, and pink. I loved it.

The freakiest part of this is the shots between scenes with the girl in the theatre. The shorts were gross or disturbing over all, not really scary.  A lot of blood all over the place in the two hours. A lot of sex and nakedness as well that I could have done without. The underlining story is that you need to make your own stories instead of getting wrapped up in everyone else's. You got to live your life for you, nobody else.


*Forever long blog post done. Hopefully there will never be such a long one in the future. 

42

The Ring: Two
Starring: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Simon Baker, Sissy Spacek
Director: Hideo Nakata
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 110 minutes


First off, it is a jerk move to make somebody watch a tape that can potentially kill them after a week. You have to be lower than low to put that on somebody even if it means it saves your life. And I'm glad "the stupid chick from school" was smart enough to cover her face.
Secondly, how in God's name do you fall into the same situation twice?! Especially after the crap you went through the first time around. I wouldn't associate myself with anything remotely similar. Honestly, if anything even remotely similar occurred in my town I would pack up and leave again. You know, somewhere drier with less wildlife. I mean, did you fall and hit your head? Is there some sort of internal bleeding going on? Did yo manage to forget the horrid crap you and that kid went through? You lost one of your good friends for goodness sake. Or do you just want your life to be over. Because, I mean, there are easier and more efficient ways to do that. Not to say I don't appreciate the continuity between movies, I just figure it a little outlandish.
Sequels usually fall flat when compared to the preceding film. They try to hard, they leave the story line completely making it almost a separate film apart from the intended series. Or, they fall into the Final Destination
and Saw categories and make the same film just with bloodier deaths. Also, I don't understand why no one can never make the comparison between incidents. They usually happen with in the same state, sometimes the same city, but no one can manage to connect the dots and say, "Hey, I know what's doing all this killing." Of course, some might and no one believes them which usually ends in an even more brutal slaughter because Mister Killer Man gets angry and hostile over no one believing in them.
They, of course, take the crazy angle. Aiden (Dorfman) ends up hospitalized and everyone starts to think Rachel (Watts) is abusive and starting to go insane. They dig up past problems, like her PPD and Aiden's old therapist.
I do like the story line angle they take with this one. Samara actually wants to live again, picking Aiden as her vessel of choice. We get the same old video, but they inter cut some new equally freaky images along. They uncover what they mean and where they come from a lit quicker this time around, which was kind of a disappointment for me. As well as Samara's mother's back story, which is the craziest thing I have ever heard. But as it turns out it really the only way to save Aiden, crazy times ten. Plus baby Samara is just as bad as ten year old Samara, so, take it or leave it, they really went out of their way for this one. A lot of it gets dragged out and in reality there is no reason why this film should be two hours long. And allow me to truthfully say I am glad a third was never made. But the ending is really nice. A good, "You go girl!" is in order for that one.
On a good note, David Dorfman is an amazing actor for a child and Sissy Spacek really hit it out of the park as well. I still like the first best.

Forty One

Eden Lake
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kelly Reilly, Jack O'Connell
Director: James Watkins
Rating: R
Duration: 91 minutes


This is a messed up movie. I have seen a lot of horror films. Ones were children get eaten, vivisection is performed on people, wax figures are made of any unfortunate that stumbles into towns. I've seen the ones were they show every slice, every impalement, every time a person gets ripped open on the screen. Pools of blood and internal organs splayed all over the place. Believe me when I say this one takes the cake.
Everyone knows teenagers are awful creatures. This film takes all that horrible and amps it by ten. And it's all because a dog got killed in the crossfire. (Plus at the end we see that he has a terrible home life and he gets all of his traits honestly.)
It's not a particularly scary movie. In all reality you go into it knowing some bad crap is going to go down. (Horror Rule #57: Never stay by a lake.) And it only gets worse as the movie goes on. A lot of blood. A lot of violence. A lot of crude language.
One really good point this movie has though is the impact peer pressure has on kids. Every kid wants to fit in and be liked. Add in fear and the ridiculous consequences of not going along with said actions and you know every kids is going to end up involved in some way.
I absolutely hated the ending, but I'm glad it didn't take most routes and allow one person to survive. Especially since they had such bad luck over the span of four days. It fit perfectly, but I hated it with everything in me.

Today I bring you some amazing paintings by Peregrine Heathcote. I don't know what it is about them. Maybe is their simplicity while being so busy. Maybe because they are unconventional  look on woman's beauty. Anyway it goes, I think they are amazing.

There are several more. Some just featuring men, which are rather beautiful as well. I think the one with the large cruise liner is my favorite.

People: Why I Hate Them

Okay, I'll admit it. Hate is a very strong word. Dislike is to weak and loath is much to strong. Well, maybe not given what day it is. I feel, at the moment, hate is the appropriate middle ground at which I stand.
I'm not going to go into to detail about what brought this on. I'm standing on the sidelines of it and don't completely understand everything myself. But I taught myself a long time ago that people will what they want regardless and asking questions about it will leave you with a large headache instead of any real answers. So believe me when I say I know what is going on is uncalled for and it makes me extremely angry.
Not angry because it's directed to me or because it's toward people I love and enjoy spending time with. Angry because it puts us all in an extremely negative light.
Because, let's face it, and organization is judged by the few people that act in a ridiculous manner. That's how stereotypes are started. I'm not exempt from what I'm saying. After all, this whole blog is why I don't like people because of what some of them do. (But let me clarify, I don't dislike individual people. It's when they get into groups is when I start to turn bitter.)
I got sidetracked. People have the tendency to put themselves before anyone else. The thought, "It's good for me, I must do it" continually bobs at the back of their mind. Then add another, maybe two, with the same idea and things snowball. Before you know it, lies are spread, rumors are started, feelings are hurt over things that didn't really happen. People get wound up in their actions and their own sense of "right" and forget what it might do to another living being.
I understand, that person over there disagrees with something you said. Let me be the first to say it gets a little aggravating when someone thinks your beliefs are trash. But that is no reason to turn so coldly on them. You disagree and move on. Not yell and shout and shove. You don't threaten to sue or call the cops. You don't start calling them liars and thieves and slanderers. You disagree and MOVE ON.
But that's the thing with people. When a bunch of persons get together, they will believe anything. It's called "the mob mentality". That's why riots start, people get trampled at an upset win at some sports game, why kids get bullied at school. They don't think about how that person is feeling. What they might be going through. All they want is to have their way, no matter the consequence or how any one might be hurt or seen along the way.
Life is to short to spend it at someone else's throat. Less hate, more love.



*My train of thought wavered a bit. Sorry if it gets a bit wobbly in parts.

Forty: The Descendants

The Descendants
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller
Director: Alexander Payne
Rating: R
Duration: 115 minutes


When you are faced with someone you love is dying and your whole image of them gets thrown upside down, what do you do? Do you ignore it and continue in denial, believing them to be that person you use to know? Or do face what they have done? How can you hate someone who is literally days away from death?
This family has to face those questions. After his wife has a terrible boating accident leaving her in a coma, Matt King (Clooney) is told by his oldest daughter Alex (Woodley) that she has been cheating on him for the past several months. Throughout the duration of the film, both Matt and Alex have to learn to forgive her and it's an interesting journey along the way.
This movie explores how people deal with grief. Like with Matt and Alex, focusing on Elizabeth's affair allows them to ignore the fact that she's laying in a hospital about to die. For Scottie (Miller), the youngest daughter, she starts to make fun of other children as well as hang around some unsavory ones. For her parents, or at least her father, he gets mad at Matt, casting blame. The man she had an affair with completely ignores the fact that she is laid up, causing his wife to come see her.
It's very beautiful. And heartbreaking. Everyone deals with grief differently. I think the ending really sums up the film nicely. The three of them (Matt, Alex, Scottie) sitting on the couch together watching March of the Penguins and sharing ice cream under the quilt that was draped over their mother's hospital bed. You know that all the problems they had with each other are going to smooth out. All the problems that they are going to face are going to be easier, because they are going to go through them together. It really is a touching film I believe everyone should watch.
And it's only rated R because of some heavy language. A whole lot of cursing that was not necessary which is it's only downfall.