Welcome once again to The Year of Freddy Fear, where we take a look at the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise as well as other films by Robert Englund. Our entry today is a bizarre back-to-school special called Jack Brooks, Monster Slayer, a Canadian horror comedy from 2008.
The title character(Trevor Matthews) is a plumber who also takes a community college science class with his eternally cranky girlfriend Eve. Seriously, this girl is constantly complaining about everything, except for the weaselly guy in class who dresses like a hipster and talks like a hippie(his favorite solution to any problem is "hashish").
Jack is usually pretty mellow but with a quick temper,due to seeing his whole family slaughtered by a monster during his childhood(this is a movie not afraid to show flashbacks where little kids get freaked out big time). Naturally, this makes him very prone to violent rages that cause plenty of trouble for Jack in most day-to-day situations:
Since Jack can be a nice guy, he agrees to help out his teacher Professor Crawley(Robert Englund) with a plumbing problem at the spooky old house that he's fixing up. That bout of pipe cleansing leads to a discovery in the back yard, as Crawley finds an old box of bones with a demon heart that he is compelled to swallow whole.
He soon becomes possessed by the evil within and turns into a Sid & Marty Kroft looking monster during class, with huge tentacles that capture his students for either monster conversion or consumption. That leads Jack to a great opportunity to channel his inner rage as he battles the new batch of creatures that have taken over the school:
This isn't a very complicated movie,folks; it's barely ninety minutes long. However, JB:MS is rather decent fun, especially if you enjoy goofy gore and monster fights.
Englund gives a mainly physical performance, as his sweet natured teacher persona slowly deteriorates into a gruesomely gross fiend who stumbles around his classroom and develops a rather nasty appetite. Not even the professor's dog is safe(small spoiler) but that at least happens off screen.
He does make this change over rather believable, giving one of the better performances in the film. Most of the acting is wooden at best, which is fine for something silly like this, but I would've liked a little less screeching from the female characters here.
I know Jack is supposed to be the big hero but that doesn't mean the girls have to be scream machines in order for him to do that. Granted, most of the characters in this film are about as solidly drawn as cardboard cut-outs on both sides of the gender coin yet there was one gal who seemed a tad feisty and flirty towards Jack. She could have joined him in the battle there but was relegated to monster prisoner in the background too soon for my taste.
Back to Englund, his work here is nicely done and shows just how much of a team player he is. It wouldn't be hard to overshadow the rest of the cast here but he wisely chooses to play along well with others. Something tells me that he had a good time making this movie and it shows:
So far, Jack Brooks,Monster Slayer has a small following and there is talk of a sequel but nothing substantial just yet. I think this would make a nice little franchise and maybe that will happen.
In the meanwhile, JB:MS is a great goofy romp that should fit the bill for a monster mash movie watching mood. Tune in next month as The Year of Freddy Fear lets Wes Craven reveals his New Nightmare and remember to bring that apple for your teacher or you might have to stay after class permanently:
Claire's plans to flee Castle Leoch on Outlander this week turned out to be for nought, as the clan gathering provided both distraction from her comings and goings along with attention to her movements as well.
Fortunately,Jamie was able to help her out but had to face the music regarding swearing his allegiance to head of the family Colum. Tricky situation but he managed to make that work for him with some fancy verbal side stepping.
Claire's freedom plans still have a shot, as Dougal intends to take her on the road with him(part of his duties as second in command involves collecting taxes from neighboring areas).
Claire has earned some respect for her medical talents,especially during that boar hunt where she assisted in easing a mortally wounded man out of his misery, and that will go a long way towards achieving some of her immediate goals.
However, slipping away from the Mackenzies is going to lead to running into the occupying British army and that's a clear cut case of out of the frying pan and into the line of fire:
I've been pretty forgiving of certain leaps of logic that have occurred on Under The Dome but this latest move involving Big Jim and the egg has stretched my patience to the breaking point.
Basically what happened is that Barbie announced his return,along with plans to negotiate the freedom for the folks of Chester's Mill by using the egg as a bargaining chip with his dad(who is behind the mysterious outer world forces wanting to claim that sucker).
First of all, I see no reason to bargain with anyone on the outside. The portal to Zenith opens up at a public playground and if dozens of people begin to show up unannounced all at once, there is no way those secret forces can contain them all. Not to mention that they have no control over that exit(or the entrance to the Dome found at Barbie's family home), so what is the point of making any concessions there?
Anyway,back to the action; Big Jim decided that his wife returning was a sign from the Dome(after he got mad at her, of course) that his family was meant to be together. So, he took it upon himself to find the egg but wasn't able to touch it without being knocked down. Joe and Norrie came by and since they're two of the Four Hands, Big Jim forced them at gunpoint to take the egg to the underground portal.
Then, his brilliant idea was to toss the egg in, figuring it would land in Zenith for the secret forces to scoop and then let everyone leave the Dome in peace. Stupid idea, since the egg sealed up that portal instead(as Phil found out the hard way). Stupid,stupid,stupid! I swear, I was yelling at my TV when he proposed this plan and yeah, I know it was meant to extend the storyline but come on!:
While I was far too old to be the target demographic when the original Saved by the Bell series was a '90's teen sensation, I did know of the show and was willing to savor the potential cheesy goodness of Lifetime channel's The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story made for TV movie that aired this past Labor Day weekend.
Sadly, it was more like cold Velveeta on Wonder Bread toast as the watered down tell-all walked on tiptoes as it pulled back the curtain on the teen stars. It was still slanted to make Dustin Diamond(aka Screech) a loner hero of sorts, due to this being based on his "Behind the Bell" book that he has since discredited himself. However, he still comes across as a scuzzy jerk.
While I don't want the actors to be unfairly portrayed or falsehoods filmed about them, this movie did promise a certain level of showbiz insider fun and failed to deliver. Not there weren't some "what the hell" moments(that weird fantasy sequence with Screech entering a hot tub full of girls with a Stretch Armstrong type of body was very bizarre) but most of the big reveals were that not that shocking.
Mark-Paul dyed his hair blond and tried to have a romance with Lark but fell for Tiffany-Amber instead, while Mario Lopez loved the ladies and Elizabeth Berkley really thought she was an impressive dancer-whoo to the hoo! Oh well, it could have been worse,trust me on that:
RANDOM NOTES:
SLEEPY HOLLOW: The supernatural sleeper hit will return on September 22 and based on the previews, should be better than ever. So nice to have something this awesomely cool to look forward to this season:
Happy September,folks, and I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend celebrations. Since the official start of the fall season is a couple of weeks away from now, it'll be some time before the new TV season begins.
While finishing up those summer shows might be enough to fill your prime time schedule, for some of us, a little extra programming might be needed. With that in mind, I have a trio of suggested movies to pair up as either enhancements to your present viewing or to tide you over until your small screen desires are ready to be fulfilled.
All of these films are available on home video or for rental, so set up your DVD/DVR/Blu-Ray/Netflix streaming(is it just me or are there way too many options here?) for these TV dinner delights:
IF YOU'RE WATCHING OUTLANDER:
A great way to capture that old time Scottish flair found in Diana Gabaldon's saga turned into Starz miniseries is by watching the 1995 version of Rob Roy.
Liam Neeson ,as the title character who is forced to flee from his home and family due to the schemes of noblemen and their sleazy cohorts, gives a grand performance but he is not alone in quality acting here. Jessica Lange has one of her best roles as Rob's tough as nails wife Mary, who suffers a good deal in order to protect her loved ones while Tim Roth earned an Oscar nomination for his nuanced villainy as the brutal Archie Cunningham.
This film came out around the same time as Braveheart and frankly, I've always felt Rob Roy was the superior movie. Visually beautiful, smartly written and overflowing with adventure and romance, I would be surprised to not find an Outlander fan that hasn't seen this film yet(although it is certainly worthy of a re-watch):
For a good time-travel romance, a suitable pairing can be found with Kate & Leopold, a 2001 feature that stars Hugh Jackman as Leo, a misplaced Duke of Albany who lands in modern day Manhattan, thanks to following a would-be scientist(Liev Schieber) through a portal over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Leo keeps running into Kate(Meg Ryan), the scientist's ex-girlfriend who lives upstairs and is so busy pursuing her career goals that she's taken romance for granted. Being around Leopold slowly but surely changes her mind and heart yet he must return to his own time.
Granted, some of the jokes are a little slapstick at times and the time travel dynamics are a bit rushed towards the end(the director's cut does clear that up a little) yet there is some nice verbal banter at play here. Also, Jackman makes his role very believable and Ryan is able to do parts like this in her sleep(which means she's good at developing quick chemistry with Jackman here). Plus, how can you resist Hugh Jackman literally riding in on a white horse to save the day?:
IF YOU'RE ALREADY MISSING TRUE BLOOD:I've always referred to TB(and The Vampire Diaries as well) as my "crazy,sexy vampire show" and if you're looking for a taste of the crazy, 1992's Innocent Blood has that on tap.
Anne Parillaud plays Marie, a vampire who prefers to feed on bad guys, mainly mob types. However, her latest dinner date goes awry, leaving her "food"(Robert Loggia) to be unfinished, so to speak. She teams up with a honest cop(Anthony Lapaglia)in order to prevent that particular crime family from becoming immortal menaces to society.
John Landis directed this film, making it with as much zest for over the top humor and gore as his previous horror entry,American Werewolf in London. The special effects are pretty well done, in the best and worst sense of the term, and Parillaud has an understated sinister sweet vibe that makes her character a bit more engaging than the screenplay allows her to be. For those of you who don't mind a messy blood bath, this is your gruesome golden ticket:
If you'd rather have your vampires in a more elegant setting with some Southern charm, the Anne Rice classic Interview with the Vampire is your one stop shopping there.
I did have my doubts about Tom Cruise as Lestat in the beginning but he is very wickedly engaging here. It's a real shame that the only follow-up thus far to this gorgeously rendered 1994 production, thanks to director Neil Jordan and cast that includes Brad Pitt, Antonio Baderas and Kristen Dunst, was the Velveeta cheesy Queen of the Damned.
Apparently, there's going to be a reboot of the series as Universal studios have snapped up the rights to the entire book series and plans to relaunch The Vampire Chronicles as soon as may be. Hopefully, this will result in a good revamp but in the meantime, we do have this lush cinematic vision to enjoy:
IF YOU'RE EAGERLY AWAITING DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY: The PBS Mystery portion of Masterpiece Theater will be airing the P.D.James' adaptation ,that has Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet Darcy dealing with a murder on their doorstep, later this fall.
Such a promised delight only excites Janeites to re-view as many P&P productions as they can. For Austen fans, selecting just one film version of P&P is nearly an impossible task but for the sake of brevity(not to mention sticking with theatrical releases here), I think that 2005 edition of Pride & Prejudice will do nicely for our purposes.
Yes, it does tweak the original story at times but in essentials, the tale of Lizzie and Darcy is the same as it ever was. Keira Knightley is fine as the leading lady and Matthew McFadyen does make for a rather smoldering Darcy(no Colin Firth, but still...). While I am puzzled as to why the whole Lady Catherine confrontation scene was held late at night,that early morning meeting between these two stubborn lovers more than makes up for that:
For a murder mystery at an English estate story, the current high water mark is Gosford Park, Robert Altman's 2001 take on the genre. This multiple layers of character development and interaction is also seen as the inspiration for Downton Abbey(both happen to be written by Julian Fellowes).
While the time period of this film is more in line with Downton than P&P(it's set in 1932), similar attitudes regarding social hierarchy are rather present and displayed with a biting wit that Jane Austen would most certainly approve of.
The abundance of top notch British actors on board is truly an embarrassment of riches. Maggie Smith,Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon,Emily Watson, Clive Owen and Alan Bates are only a handful of the talent set forth here. Funny, some of these actors have appeared in Jane Austen films and the Harry Potter movies as well; interesting what brings such grand performers together, now isn't it?:
I hope these double features help you out on a boring Saturday night or at least inspire you to mix and match some TV related movie nights of your own. Just be sure that if you invite others to partake in your meta entertainment, not to be too rigid in your movie time rules. This is supposed to be for fun,after all, and unless you possess the charms of Lorelai Gilmore, sticking to a set of strict rules will not entice your guests to come back for another viewing party:
As we come to the final entry in this year's Bad Movie Month theme of Sorry Sequels, our meta quota is overflowing with Scream 3, which fortunately was not the last word on this horror franchise.
It is pretty much agreed that the original Scream was a distinctive hallmark in the genre that set off a whole new wave of cinematic terror. The inevitable follow-up to that film,Scream 2, has many of the fan base still debating it's merits(for the record, I really like that one) but in the case of the third time out, there is little dispute over just how boringly bad it was.
Part of the major shift in quality and tone has been blamed on screenwriter Ehren Kruger(taking over for Kevin Williamson, who created the first two films) but director Wes Craven was also on board here again and some of this blandness on screen can also be laid on his doorstep.
Don't get me wrong, I love the man's work but he does have two speeds when it comes to film making; full on creative love or going through the movie motions. Sadly, Scream 3 landed in the latter with a gruesome thunk.
I remember seeing this movie on it's opening weekend in 2000 and realizing right away just how bad this was going to be as soon as the opening credits kill began. The most important element of the Scream series was that first big scene and say what you will about Scream 2, they put a scary smart twist on that sequence that came close to the now iconic Drew Barrymore death one.
Here, we had Cotton Weary(Liev Schrieber) now an obnoxious talk show host living in Hollywood, being stalked on his car phone by a new Ghostface Killer and racing home to save his girlfriend. That scenario did have some potential to be an unexpected thrill ride but it was just another routine thriller moment, no different from anything you could see in a Lifetime movie,only gorier:
Then, our new masked murderer moved on to the cast of Stab 3,the movie series within the movie series, and to tell the truth here, working up sympathy for the likes of Jenny McCarthy and Parker Posey as potential body bag fillers is a herculean task.
McCarthy's character is so broadly developed she might as well be wearing a t-shirt that says "I am an annoying caricature of a bad actress", which would be better and wittier than any of so-called lines written for her in the script.
Parker Posey is no picnic either, as a little of her goes quite a long way and at times you wish the killer would take her down already. She attaches herself like a leech to poor Courtney Cox's Gail Weathers, due to playing her in the Stab series and Gail actually seems a lot nicer than she is in direct comparison. At least Jenny McCarthy didn't wear out her welcome on screen by having the good luck to be picked off early:
Yes, Gail,Dewey(David Arquette) and of course, Sydney(Neve Campbell) are called to Hollywood and reunited, thanks to the new Woodsboro themed kill spree. Gail and Dewey do their usual "I love you/I loathe you" routine, predictable as a toddler's knock-knock joke while Sydney does the whole "reliving my tortured past' thing.
To be fair, Neve Campbell does make a bit of an effort with her performance but it's truly wasted here. Another waste of talent is an impromptu appearance by Heather Matarazzo, as Randy's little sister who drops by to deliver a video recording from her dead brother than happens to relate to this new rash of murders! Talk about your all too convenient conveniences there!
What particularly peeves me about that exposition time-out(other than a lame attempt to appease fans who were upset about Randy being killed off in Scream 2) is that Heather Matarazzo was and is a talented actress and what do they give her to do in this movie?
Give a quick "hi" and "bye" as she brings in the video, sits down to watch it with them and then leaves. Seriously? An extra could've done that or better yet, just have the tape be delivered via express mail. I know she was paid and everything but still, what a blown opportunity there:
A big part of the problem with this movie was the wink and nudge method of meta comedy being pushed here.
Sandwiched between the murky murderous goings-on which involved frightening fax messages and a house being blown up, those comic bits had an obvious bad flavor to them, like a garlic and peanut butter cookie. Granted, they were slightly better than the overly elaborate mystery surrounding the killer's identity that even diehard Scooby Doo watchers would be insulted by.
From Jay and Silent Bob's walk-on where Gail Weathers is called Connie Chung( which is no where near as funny as the Scream parody slipped into Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) to Carrie Fisher showing up as a bitchy Carrie Fisher lookalike, the yucks kept on coming at the worst possible moments. The reason for this was studio pressure, due to the real life mass shootings being covered by the media at the time. Understandable yet not a good excuse for such hokey humor:
Scream 3 did make a respectable amount of box office revenue but it soured the fans on this fear franchise considerably. While the fourth film that came after it in 2011 was a vast improvement in more ways than one, it made a lot less money.
Money isn't everything but still, it was a shame that Scream 4 had to pay for the cinematic sins of Scream 3. At the moment, there are no further plans to continue the series and I think that's for the best.
Thank you all for attending Bad Movie Month this year and horror fans might be interested to know that my Year of Freddy Fear will continue, with a fresh fall look at Robert Englund in Jack Brooks, Monster Slayer sometime in September. In the meanwhile, have a happy Labor Day weekend, folks, and hopefully your playlist for last of the summertime fun won't include Creed's awful anthem from the Scream 3 soundtrack:
Well, the final episode of True Blood has aired and despite the many regrets about what did and didn't happen, I think we can all say that it was a hell of a ride while it lasted.
Yes, I do wish Lafayette had been given more screen time(not to mention Tara being undead and with us as well) and wasn't surprised at the haste of the Hoyt/Jessica wedding but as we all know, the big finish belonged to Sookie and Bill. It was rather presumptuous of Bill to think that he was doing her a favor by asking her to use up the remainder of her fairy powers to kill him but then again, how so like him as well.
I am glad that Sookie did decide to accept that part of herself by the end,which is a positive statement for her character to conclude her run with. Also have to give kudos to the show for killing Bill and not using an instant "Get out of Death" free card there.
There were some hints that he might have been turning human near the end,however, those turned out to be red herrings thrown in by the writers to keep us guessing. Some of the fans would've liked that,I'm sure, but the less BS the better in this case. Sookie and Bill at least deserved to end their connection in a way that satisfied them both and while this wasn't perfect, it was damn near close.
It would've been nice to get a good look at the fellow Sookie hooked up with at that Thanksgiving dinner yet maybe it was better that way. The whole arch seemed to be about Sookie finding a healthy relationship on her own terms,so the main thing was that she was happy with her choices, not who she was with.
On the bright side, Eric did finally wipe out those pesky Yazuka(along with the head of the former True Blood company) and seeing Pam make Sarah Newlin her own personal blood bitch was kind of fun. If any character deserved not to go out the easy way, it was definitely her.
It was good to at least see Eric and Pam cut loose and be their old slick cold blooded selves again as they were in the beginning. Yes, this show was getting rather frayed by the end of the series but we did get some sort of closure. So long, True Blood and thank you for the crazy sexy vampire party that you held for us:
Meanwhile, Big Jim is up to his usual tricks Under The Dome, as he starts to negotiate with the outside forces that are interested in claiming the egg.
Of course, he doesn't have the egg in his possession but a little thing like that never stops a good salesman, now does it?:
However, Big Jim is for quite a shock there, as his faked her own death wife Pauline is back in town. Seems her visions are compelling her to return to Chester's Mill with Barbie and friends, with the primary goal being rescuing Junior.
As sympathetic as I am towards any one trapped in a relationship with the Rennie family, Pauline does strike me as rather stupidly naive in this situation. First off, her main reason for faking her demise was to draw the impending disaster away from the town(which worked out pretty well there,..not!) and protect Junior in the bargain. While telling the truth wasn't the best option, pretending to be dead wasn't a great way to protect her son either.
Plus, did she really think it would be easy to sneak back into town and save Junior without running into Big Jim? Come on, woman, you went right to your old house where you know both father and son still live! Get some smarts fast, lady or this time, you might not have to fake being dead:
On Outlander, Claire is beginning to make the best of her situation at Castle Leoch by using her medical talents to win trust and respect. She's not giving up on finding a way back home but building up a reputation of simply being just another stranded outsider willing to fit in will go a long ways toward getting a golden opportunity to do so.
It's working in some areas(loved how her determination to save that nephew of Mrs. Fitzgibbons' inspired that good lady to tell that interfering priest to back off)yet not entirely in others, as suspicious eyes are not completely off her. Jaime's eyes are also on Claire for entirely different reason, much to the chagrin of the girl he saved from a beating. Ah, love triangles, how complicated they can be! Well, we'll see how long that lasts, as the next episode promises to provide Claire with a chance at taking that much longed for leap home:
RANDOM NOTES:
THE EMMYS: Congratulations to Jessica Lange and Cathy Bates for their AHS:Coven wins, a sincere "better luck next time" to Laverne Cox and Peter Dinklage for not receiving their much deserved awards(although happy for Uzo Aduba from OITNB, who won instead) and can Modern Family give it a rest with the sweeps here?
Granted, I didn't watch the entire show(hey, Under The Dome was on that night!) but glad that I got to watch Weird Al's musical interpretation of certain TV show themes-he is having such a good year, isn't he? I hope they do get him for the half time show at the Super Bowl, that would be actually be must-see TV!:
We're only a few days away from the semi-official end of summer(I consider Labor Day weekend both a beginning and an end) and while many folks are preparing for back to school, I have a few upcoming books on the horizon for September and October that are more suited for after class reading.
Granted, a couple of them are historical fiction which does offer some educational value but I wouldn't set aside those text books just yet. Especially not before midterm time.
Personally, I think that history classes could be a bit more fun if certain history based novels were assigned along with the standard scholarly reading, with extra credit given for a compare and contrast between the fiction and the facts. That's just me, however:
PAGING THROUGH THE PAST
Ken Follett concludes his Century Trilogy this season with Edge of Eternity, which picks up from where this multiple family saga left off in Winter of the World(and began with Fall of Giants).
We arrive in 1961, as Berlin schoolteacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers a spy very close to home, Khrushchev aide Dmitri Dvorkin is facing a nuclear showdown with America and US lawyer George Jakes finds himself hired by the Kennedy White House for rather dubious reasons.
These characters and their descendants make their way through the turmoil of the sixties and seventies right into the complex comforts of the 1980s(with a special nod to 2008 before all is said and done), bringing human faces to changing times as well as riveting tales to tell.
Follett 's grand scale of story telling offers an inviting look at how some things changes while the ones of the truest value remain the same(September):
Alix Christie's debut novel Gutenberg's Apprentice gives the reader an engaging behind the scenes look at the development of the fabled first printing press through the eyes of a reluctant participant.
Peter Schoeffer has been preparing for a major career in Paris of 1450 when his foster father Johann Fust summons him home to Mainz,Germany. Fust is investing a great amount of money in a new invention created by the mad genius Gutenberg but only under the condition that Peter become his apprentice.
Peter is less than thrilled at giving up his current prospects,along with mistrust of publishing a bible for the masses, but to honor his guardian, takes up this new mantle. Turns out that Gutenberg's desire to change the world via the written word is infectious and before long, Peter becomes one of his most faithful assistants and supporter. This fictional tribute to the whole reason why books exist today promises to be a must read for bibliophiles everywhere(September).
CRIMINAL HEARTS AND MINDS
Modern day noir writer James Ellroy is best known for his literary trilogies and quartets, with a brand new one about to start up this fall.
Perfidia sets the scene in LA of 1941, where a gruesome murder of a Japanese family connects the only Japanese member of the police force Hideo Ashida with bitterly disillusioned captain William Parker and his rival, Sgt. Dudley Smith. Also thrown into the mix is Kay Lake, a bored young woman looking for trouble.
The attack on Pearl Harbor may or may not be a key element to this case but other forces are at play with a much darker purpose. Spy tactics, political intrigue and Bette Davis are all potent ingredients in this killer cocktail that old fans and new will set up a serious round of bar drinks for(September):
The subtitle of the nonfiction thriller Tinseltown is "murder,morphine and madness at the dawn of Hollwood", which quite a mouthful but author William J. Mann insists upon delivering just that.
Mann explores the dark side to the film making of the 1920s, with a pointed look at the mysterious death of producer William Desmond Taylor. Found dead by gunshot, there were a number of potential suspects that included many influential movers and shakers of the day yet the crime is unsolved.
Amongst the possible pack of killers is renowned producer Adolph Zukor and actress Mabel Normand, who may have inspired her former love interest director Mack Sennet to have a hand in arranging this murder and it's cover-up. For folks interested in true crime and the hey day of Hollywood, this book is a match made in a rather sinister version of heaven(October):
TUDOR TURMOIL
Philippa Gregory builds a bridge between her Cousins' War series and the Tudor family titles she is best known for in The King's Curse.
Margaret Pole has married a man meant to protect her from the chaos of the old regimen as the new one plants roots yet she is not completely safe from the family politics as widowhood forces her to reengage with the Tudors.
As a member of the future queen Katherine of Aragon's household, Margaret does manage to keep a steady hand but unforeseen challenges cause more than one person around her to lose their grip. Faced with a troubling turn of fortune, Margaret must choose whether to stay on one side or the other in order to survive.
Gregory certainly has a way with showcasing history through the eyes of lesser known women and bringing them up to the spotlight that scholars had denied them. In this upcoming novel, she seems to have a fitting end for the White Queen saga that might perhaps lead to another great miniseries in seasons to come(September).
SOME FANCY FOOTWORK
The light and lively antics of Becky Bloomwood(now Brandon) continue in Shopaholic to the Stars, as our leading lady is given a chance to become a celebrity personal shopper.
In Hollywood with her little girl Minnie in order to stay close to husband Luke, Becky only wants to help both him and his superstar actress client Sage Seymour by offering her expertise in the art of wardrobe selection. However, Luke is not eager to make that happen, due to Becky's track record in that area.
When a golden opportunity to offer her services to Sage's cinematic rival lands in her lap, Becky takes off and running. Earning a nice bit of success for herself, Becky is happy to have been right all along about her skills yet those actions do have consequences that could upset her true harmony. It's been awhile since we've had a Shopaholic novel from Sophie Kinsella and all I can say is Welcome back, Becky!(October)
Alice Simpson's debut novel Ballroom waltzes in with a set of interconnected stories about the erstwhile regulars at the New York Ballroom during the 1990s, who find a few new steps in life as well as dance.
Lonely Sarah hopes to hook up with Gabriel, who is a lover to just about woman but his wife, while ignoring the interest of fellow single Joseph. Dance teacher Henry sees love in his future with Maria, a young woman more interested in the ambitious Angel than her elderly admirer and yet all of them may be without a dance floor as the failing ballroom is on the verge of closing for good.
A graceful look at how romance and friendship can go hand in hand as well as in step with the most unlikely of partners, Ballroom sounds like it has a good beat that you can dance to(September):
Don't feel bad if you still have some summer reading left over(I know I do!) to finish up. As long as you got through a respectable number of titles on your list, look more to the positive side of the page there. In the meanwhile, adding a few new reads is only an incentive to keep on page turning, plus you never know when an old favorite might be new again:
With this look at Sorry Sequels during Bad Movie Month, you would think that there's not much to be surprised about with these halfhearted attempts to recapture the success of a cinematic feature. Well, after sitting through The Howling II, all I can say is "Surprise,bitch!"
This low budget 1985 follow-up(which has two subtitles-"Your sister is a werewolf" or " Stirba, Werewolf Bitch", take your pick!) to the 1981 big studio film that lead to director Joe Dante getting to make Gremlins is a straight to bargain basement affair, which puzzles me greatly.
Why such a drastic fall in both content and budget? You can't blame the time gap between films because when Hollywood did finally make a sequel to American Werewolf in London(which came out around the same year as the first Howling), that one was well over ten years and change from the original and didn't look like it cost a buck fifty there.
Anyway, on deck as one of the major stars of this show is Christopher Lee as Stefan, a werewolf hunter who attends the funeral of Karen(Dee Wallace in the first film who fortunately did not have to turn up here) and informs her brother that his sis needs to be put down properly.
According to the wacky mythos unveiled over the course of this increasingly confusing story, if silver bullets are removed from a dead werewolf's body, they can rise from the grave unless staked,leading to the greatly awful line "No one's putting a stake in my dead sister!". Also, there are werewolves who are immune to silver and can only be killed by titanium. I know this was allegedly based on a book(Gary Brandner, who wrote a whole series of Howling novels) but you do get the feeling that they were making this up as they went along.
To be fair, the movie does sort of warn you about how off the wall it is before the opening credits. It's safe to say that any film that begins with Christopher Lee reading from the Book of Revelation in an outer space background is not going to be Shakespeare unless it's that version of Hamlet that MST3K covered:
Speaking of Mystery Science Theater, Reb Brown from "Space Mutiny" plays the brother who winds up tagging along after Stefan to Transylvania(with a plucky gal reporter at his side).
His performance is not that much of a stretch from being "Big McLarge Huge" in that stinker but perhaps a bit more dignity. He teams up with Stefan to stop a big world wide attack of werewolves due to their witch queen coming into her full power during the full moon(my best guess at the threat at hand). Yes, we have werewolves who can do magic, folks.
As a horror fan, I don't mind a little mixing and matching in my supernatural story lines but even The Vampire Diaries draws the line at who can and can't do magic, okay?
Also, for a werewolf story, there's an awful lot of vampire tropes hanging around the joint. Stakes, saint's medals, the main villain wearing a cape with a bat's head staff in her hand, not to mention being set in Transylvania!
At one point, Plucky Reporter Gal pulls out a strand of garlic cloves for "protection from evil spirits"-give me a break, that is so vampire, it's not funny! All I'm saying is if you're going to serve up a brew of werewolves and witches, vampires shouldn't be left out of the stew pot. Otherwise, people are going to crave it like a good hit of salt there. Alright, rant over.
Back to the movie, Big McDoofus pairs up with a dwarf ally that gets blasted by a werewitch spell, thanks to losing his set of earplugs made from blessed church candle wax (a nice touch, I admit) and has to throw the poor guy out of a window when he becomes evil. Yeah, this does sound a lot like the "deep hurting" they used to talk about on MST, doesn't it?:
The werewitch by the way is Stirba(Sybil Danning, who is the main reason many people watch this movie) who happens to be Stefan's sister-what a coincidence there!
Stirba does have some kind of master plan but for the most part spends her time either wandering through cobwebby rooms in a Gwar meets Party City outfit or arranging werewolf threesomes.
Settle down,Beavis;those werewolf sex parties are basically Sybil and two other actors lying in bed wearing stringy fur attachments and Lee press on nail claws, with plenty of growling and whining. Not too sexy, even by Skinemax standards. Of course, we do get the big intro to her character by having a bored looking old lady show up in animal skins to suck the life force out of a random young woman before turning into the red hot werewitch mamma we've all been waiting for:
Towards the end of the movie, which is only an hour and a half but feels oh so longer than that, Stefan and Stirba have a showdown where their thoughts are spoken aloud as crazy special effects go off all around them and there's a hint of Lannister style love(if you know what I mean and even if you don't watch Game of Thrones, I bet you do).
If you're looking for any type of story line continuity, abandon any hope of that before you get more than ten minutes into this thing. Granted, this may not be the weirdest movie in the Howling series(the third one is titled "The Marsupials"-yep, kangaroo werewolves!) but it certainly is the most surreal pick of this particularly strange litter.
I did see this movie a long time ago but upon re-watching it for this post, the bizarreness so overwhelmed me that I had a hell of a headache by the end there. The things I do for Bad Movie Month.....
Well, tune in next time for the last of this Sorry Sequels spectacular with Scream 3 getting ready to howl. In the mean time, enjoy the insistent theme song of Howling II, provided over and over again by Babel(and no, the infamous Sybil Danning repeated disrobing bit is not included here but it's still probably not safe for work):
As we head towards the very last episode of True Blood, a lot of plot points are being tied up, particularly the whole Hoyt/Jessica/Jason situation. It's good that Hoyt finally knows the truth about his past with both of them and it's not too surprising that he and Jessica are now reunited.
Not sure if Jason is really going to hook up with Bridget(Hoyt's recently jilted girlfriend) despite the vibes between them. I do think that he has some decency in him but this feels like too much of a quick fix there. In other sub plots, Sam leaving town with the mother of his upcoming child sounds right to me and Eric throwing Ginger some very long longed for throne sex was pretty much comic relief.
Ultimately, this is the Sookie and Bill Show when all is said and done so I find it hard to buy that our Mr. Compton is simply going to have his True Death in her arms.
While the entire "Yazuka out to get revenge/make money off of secret knowledge of Nu-Blood" story line is rather ham handed, my best guess for stringing that one along is to get those two crazy kids back together in a permanent way.
In a weird way, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a lot more mature about this noble vampire in love trope than TB seems to be. Bill's determination to die regardless of a cure in order to allow Sookie a chance to be with a mortal partner is touching but also a tad condescending and wrongheaded.
Yes, Sookie may never find a real love who can offer her a more normal life if Bill is still somewhere in the world yet what's to prevent her from comparing any potential suitor to her departed lover(who in death will seem rather perfect) and thus preventing her from finding a new love with someone else?
Granted, Buffy and Angel did have a couple of reunion moments but they did manage to find new romance(or realize that it wasn't completely necessary to their happiness) with both of them being apart and alive.
Don't get me wrong, if Sookie and Bill do find a way to stay together, that's great but I do wish that someone would call Bill out on his grand gesture there. Either way, I won't be the only one tuning in for the finale this Sunday and hoping for the best:
The second episode of Outlander had Claire trying to fit into the strange new world she's found herself in and while she may be able to dress the part, her forthright nature continues to draw a lot of suspicion.
In between doing her best to not appear to be a British spy and wrangling a way to get back to those mystical stones in order to return to her own time, Claire does manage to make a friend. Geillis seems like an outsider herself in some ways but her understanding of how things are done at Castle Leoch is a true boon to Claire, perhaps more that she knows:
Claire is going to need plenty of advice on conduct, as the lord of the castle is not about to let her leave(mainly to protect his people from any British aggression) just now.
Her intelligence and knowledge about herbal remedies will help her achieve some sort of standing amongst her new acquaintances but what Claire is in desperate need of is the ability to lie convincingly. That's something very hard for such a straight shooter to do and so far, she has done well yet not well enough to get where she wants to go.
In the meanwhile, she and Jaime are becoming fast friends and possibly more, as we soon shall see. Granted, I did read the book but that doesn't mean this series won't be able to toss a few twists in my way in regards to those two:
Even with a few people finding a way out from Under The Dome, things are still complicated around Chester's Mill.
Barbie discovers that his well connected dad is part of a possibly government/business conspiracy that knows about the mysterious egg as Sam and his sister team up with a confused Lyle and plot to rescue Junior(of all people!) from the entrapped town.
Meanwhile, Julia and the kids get a couple of messages from Barbie that lets them know he's alive and back in the regular world, which gives them hope for escape. Of course, they all have been keeping Big Jim out of the loop(which wasn't too hard, as naming himself the new Sheriff gave him plenty of distractions) yet that wasn't something that could be pulled off for long. Just how Big Jim will use this new info for his own gain is yet to be seen but I am still willing to ride this crazy train down to the end of the line:
RANDOM NOTES:
SKIN WARS: Game Show Network is doing it's own version of Syfy's Face Off, only with body painters and having Ru Paul as one of the judges. I've caught some of the series so far and it's certainly a new way to look at things, that's for sure:
When M. D. Waters made her literary debut earlier this year with Archetype, a sci-fi suspense tale about a woman in a futuristic world found out the true secret of her supposed amnesia, it was a nice surprise to discover that it's concluding sequel would be released this summer.
Prototype picks up a year later from where we left off with Emma Wade, who knows that she's the Original Clone, the first in a sinister project designed to increase the scant number of fertile women in the dictatorial patriarchy that the USA has become.
Emma has been on the run from both friends and foes, seeking out her true identity by searching for her parents who were once members of the resistance movement she joined up with. That journey has just become more difficult as the man who insisted upon being her husband,Declan Burke, makes a public announcement about her disappearance, including a huge financial reward to anyone who helps to bring his "wife" home. Emma's cover is quickly blown but she does manage to stay free long enough to make a new plan:
Emma decides that her best option is to return to the resistance, which offers quite a few dilemmas of it's own.
Not only is there a lack of trust among the leadership about where her loyalties lie, Emma has to deal with her feelings about Noah, the man who loved her when she was fully human. He is willing to assist her in staying free but more than that intense involvement is a touchy issue.
Emma may not remember everything from her former life yet she does know that her ultimate goal is to live a peaceful life. That serenity is hard to achieve in the battle zone that is her life so despite her inner inclinations, Emma must take up her old warrior ways. Noah is reluctant to include her on spy missions but it is her chance at staying out of the hands of her would-be captors:
One of her worst enemies,however, is within the resistance. While Sonya was willing to use her medical skills to save the first Emma, she is far less inclined to keep the second version around.
Part of that motivation is due to Sonya's falling in love with Noah and becoming a mother figure to Adrienne, the daughter born to Emma and Noah as the transference between host and clone was completed. Emma is also determined to embrace motherhood as well as a new chance at love with Noah but torn as to do so without causing any lasting damage. Those choices become even more limited as a threat to the health of the clones could take Emma down before the bad guys close in. Nevertheless, being a part of her child's life makes Emma very willing to take whatever risks she can to do so:
I'm glad that M.D. Waters chose to make this a two part story instead of stringing this out over a series. I like a good series but some tales don't need to be told longer than they should, otherwise they lose their flavor like a stretched out piece of chewing gum.
Fortunately, succinctness pays off in this instance. Both Archetype(which is now in paperback) and Prototype offer some good solid entertainment with engaging plot lines that only dip into low gear during the romantic portions. The love story is nicely done yet it's the hum of the action as Emma faces off against her enemies that keeps things going along at an agreeable clip.
I do look forward to what's next on the horizon for M. D. Waters, as her first and second impressions make a reader want to clear off space on her shelves for more smartly written female friendly adventure tales from her. Even if her next work goes off in a completely different direction, this is a literary lady to watch out for as her books make a powerful punch:
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