Nit-Picking: Scream

*SPOILERS*

I love movies, but what I love more is nit-picking them. I don’t care if it’s the best movie in the world I will still nit-pick it. It’s just something I enjoy doing.

So, I’ve decided to share my nit-picks with you and the movie I chose to nit-pick first is one of my favorite horror movies – Scream.

Let’s get right into it. The first scene I’m going to cover is the opening scene with Drew Barrymore’s character, Casey.

The scene has a few things I’m going to pick at.

First, why in the hell wouldn’t Casey call the police after the third phone call from the killer? Instead she engages him in conversation about scary movies, yeah because that’s normal. Let’s talk to a complete stranger, who has a creepy voice about horror movies. Why isn’t she seeing any red flags here?

Casey continues to talk to the killer, not knowing it is the killer, and he then says “I want to know who I’m looking at”, she immediately tries to bust him on it and he quickly covers it up. We then hear a dog barking outside. She gets freaked out and then hangs up the phone on the killer. Yet, does she call the police now? NO!

The phone continues to ring and the killer goes from being calm to hostile. Casey now becomes frightened and tells the killer she is two seconds away from calling the police. Um, why didn’t you call the police already? Why are you two seconds away? Why aren’t you on the phone with the police right now?

The killer doesn’t seem fazed by her threat in calling the police, because he explains that they’ll never make it because they’re out in the middle of nowhere. Well that’s great; you know they would have made it if you called them sooner, like when the creepy voice called you for a third time. Yeah if you called then and said I’m being harassed instead of talking to him about horror movies there might have been a chance for you.

Getting further into the scene, the killer tells Casey that she can save her life and her boyfriends if she answers his questions, questions that turn out to be horror movie trivia.

This part is always fun to pick at; Casey is able to get her first question right, correctly answering “Name the killer in Halloween?” The killer then asks for the killer in Friday the 13^th. Without thinking she jumps to her answer saying Jason, which is wrong. Even though she claims to have seen the movie 20 times; either Casey is a complete idiot or she never seen the original Friday the 13^th.

Now, let’s analyze this question. We all know that the killer in Friday the 13^th is Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother. The killer goes onto say that Jason doesn’t show up until the sequel, which is very wrong. Yes, Jason doesn’t start killing until Friday the 13^th part II, but he shows up at the very end of Friday the 13^th, he jumps out of the lake. So, the killer would be wrong too. If Casey knew that she might have been able to beat the killer at his own game. I mean the killer doesn’t even use Pamela’s full name, he just calls her Mrs. Voorhees. Does the killer know Mrs. Voorhees full name? These are the questions I’d be asking the killer.

The killer then asks what door is he at and the chase begins.

In my Scream 4 review I discussed the Ghostface mask. I said “First, why in the hell are people still running away from Ghostface? Haven’t people learned that the Ghostface mask has limited visibility? Come on I know everyone has tried one on by now, they’re all over Halloween stores in October. I’m surprised Ghostface isn’t running into more walls. Just find somewhere to hide and stop screaming.”

That is what people need to do in these movies. But they don’t.

Casey is able to get out of her house and instead of running like hell; she finds it more enticing to look in the windows. This makes the killer spot her. What she should have done is run and hide in what looks like a cornfield right next to her house. Why wouldn’t she do that? Hide in the corn until the killer becomes frustrated and looses interest.

The scene comes to an end and Casey dies, because she did nothing right.

The next scene introduces Sidney and Billy. Billy sneaks into Sidney’s room through a window, nothing much in that scene.

Then we make it to Woodsboro High School and we see Gale Weathers, with a name like that why isn’t she a meteorologist? That’s not the thing that strikes me with Gale though; the thing that strikes me is her bright green or yellow outfit. Who in the hell told her that looks good? Why would someone wear that?

Moving on, we see Sidney get interviewed by the police and the principle (aka Fonzie) who touches her face in a creepy way and we’re introduced to all the main characters. We have Stu, Randy, Tatum, Sidney and Billy. All right lets move onto the killer’s next appearance.

The killer comes around again at Sidney’s house and she falls in the same traps as Casey. First of all when the killer first calls Sidney she assumes that it’s her friend, Randy, who happens to be a horror movie fanatic. She doesn’t call the police she just continues talking to killer not even seeing the threat here. Let’s review what has just happened in this town, two people were just violently murdered! Come on Sidney just call the police, even if it turns out to be your friend, just call them to be safe. That would be the logical thing to do, but this is a horror movie.

Sidney continues to talk to the killer, challenges him and then gets chased around by him. And after all that Billy shows up in her window and drops a cell phone. Do we really need anymore clues that he’s the killer?

Billy is then arrested and interrogated by the police. The police ask him about the cell phone, obliviously, and he responds that everyone has them. Um, this movie was released in 1996. I was in school and no one had a cell phone, people didn’t really start having cell phones to school until after 2000. It could have been different in other places, but that’s what it was like where I grew up.

After all this Billy is cleared and Sidney runs into him at school, a scene that makes Billy very inconsiderate.

Billy’s whole goal in this movie is to get Sidney to sleep with him. Sidney won’t sleep with him, because her mother was brutally murder only a year ago. Billy finds this frustrating and when they run into each other at school, after the arrest thing, Billy tells Sidney that it’s time she gets over it. Really? I mean come on man, her mother was murdered. He then goes onto compare her situation with his, yes Billy’s mother is gone too but she not dead she just left him and his father. SO, really these two situations aren’t the same and Billy doesn’t see that. He does eventually apologies but the damage is done buddy.

After that the killer is still at large and so the police set a curfew on the town, to keep everyone safe. Yet, Stu is having a party and invites everyone and everyone shows up. Again, really? Do any of their parents know that a psychotic killer is at large? Did all these kids sneak out? What is wrong with the people in this town?

The final scene of the movie goes on for 40 minutes and to Sidney’s defense she really puts up a great fight, better then the one before and a lot better than Casey’s.

Now after the killer chases her around we final get to the confrontation between Sidney and the two killers Stu and Billy. This scene I love to nit-pick the most.

OK, so in this scene Billy and Stu explain that all the killings really stemmed from Billy’s mother leaving him and he blamed Sidney’s mother, that’s why he killed her and wants to kill Sidney. They then explain how they kidnapped Sidney’s father, cloned his cell phone so they can make calls and are eventually going to pin all the murders on him. It sounds like a solid plan but they forgot one thing, they aren’t wearing gloves. They are touching the knife, the cell phone, Sidney’s father and Sidney leaving their finger prints behind. So, it doesn’t matter if Sidney won or not these two idiots would have gone down anyway after the police dusted for prints.

Then another thing that always bothered me was why they chose to purposely stab themselves, to make it look like they were attacked, before they killed Sidney and her father. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad Sidney and her father live, but these two killers seemed to have a plan but in reality these two guys really have a problem with executing that plan logically. Stabbing yourself is only giving Sidney and her father an upper hand, only shooting yourself in the foot some more.

The last thing that bothered me in this scene was when Billy and Stu explain how they formed their plan, by watching horror movies. OK, but you can’t say Pamela Voorhees first name in the opening scene? And why are they asking their victims the simplest horror movie questions? Why can’t they ask harder questions? I mean if you studied horror movies for a long time then you should form questions that are complex. If I was in Scream I would survive, because not only can I answer their simple questions I would avoid the following: going to a party when a killer is running around, making noise when hiding from the killer (remember the killer is as blind as you in the dark and the mask makes it harder for them to see, so find a hiding place and shut the hell up), never assuming that the creepy voice is one of your friends and realize in a situation like this that everyone is a suspect!

With all nit-picking aside, Scream is a very good movie. It’s well written, directed and acted. It’s one of the better slasher movies and should be seen by anyone, not only horror fans.

Follow this link http://jamesentertainmentedge.blogspot.com/2008/10/31-days-of-horror-scream.html to find out more of my thoughts on the Scream.

‘Simpsons’ writer from Bristol pens play about CT

It’s been a long, creative journey for Bristol Eastern High School graduate Mike Reiss, who’s a Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy award-winning writer.
He’s been writing for “The Simpsons” for more than two decades and now is returning to his Connecticut roots in a new play he wrote, “I’m Connecticut.”
Reiss expressed pride in the Nutmeg State and particularly his hometown in a recent interview.
“I love Bristol,” Reiss said.

He attended Memorial Boulevard Public School, Thomas Patterson School and then Bristol Eastern.

After he graduated from high school in 1977, Reiss’ family moved to Arizona and he later attended Harvard University. Yet he admitted that he holds a greater appreciation for his high school days.
“I went to Harvard but did not like it as much as Bristol Eastern,” he said.
He explained that a random conversation years later gave root to “I’m Connecticut.”
“The idea was pitched to me at UConn. A guy said I should write a play about Connecticut. I laughed it off then, but the idea stuck,” he said.
Reiss finally sat down and wrote the play and made it about a 30-something Connecticut native now living in New York trying to come to terms with an apparent lack of personality that he attributes to his upbringing in Simsbury.
The production has attracted an impressive cast.
Joyce DeWitt, best known for her role in the sitcom “Three’s Company,” plays Polly; Tony Award-winning actor Jerry Adler, who you might know from “The Sopranos,” plays grandpa; and Harris Doran, who comes from New York theater, plays Marc.
“I’m delighted with the cast. I thought it was going to be a little college production, where students play adults, but they got a bunch of professional actors, which is way beyond anything I conceived,” Reiss said.
Once the play opens at UConn Friday, Reiss will return to his adopted home of Los Angeles and continue to work on “The Simpsons.”
“I’ve been working on ‘The Simpsons’ for 23 years. The hardest thing about doing the show now is finding something someone hasn’t written about yet,” he said.
Reiss and his writing partner, Al Jean, were the first two hired to write for the show back in 1989. Before that they wrote for National Lampoon magazine and shows like “Alf,” “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”
He mentioned that “The Simpsons” is coming back for at least two more years and that another Simpsons movie is likely.
“I think we’ll do another movie someday,” he said.

Interview With Jonathan Edwards

For 40 years, Jonathan Edwards has been eating highway and bringing quality folk music to the masses. This Saturday he will be performing at Terryville High School, sharing his new and older songs.

Many know Edwards from his hit song Sunshine, but his library is vast and his songs have deep and powerful meanings.

His musical journey started 40 years ago, when he picked up his neighbors guitar and instantly fell in love with it. He immediately started to write songs and forge a career that would last for decades, a career that now leads him to Terryville.

“I’m Looking forward to it (the show), it’s going to be great,” said Edwards.

Edwards has a very specific style, a style he melded together by listening to different types of music and artists when he was growing up.

“I grew up listening to R&B and Blue grass and popular folk music,” said Edwards. “I listened to Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Animals,” he added.

The show at Terryville High School will see Edwards performing many songs off his new album, ‘My Love Will Keep’, which is his first album in 14 years.

“I’ll be playing songs from the new album and some older songs. I will also open the floor for request,” said Edwards.

The new album has a total of 12 songs, Edwards favorite on the album is the first track called ‘Surrounded’. A song he wrote when he was living in Nova Scotia.

“I really like surrounded. It came out of one of those afternoons that you remember for the rest of your life,” said Edwards.

‘My Love Will Keep’ is a very gentle album and Edwards made it that way on purpose. He didn’t want to come back after 14 years and deliver something hard he wanted to come back and give us something gentle.

Yet, before all of this could have happened, Edwards had his hit Sunshine, which is a song he is very proud of and still likes performing.

“When I wrote sunshine I just narrowly survived a pre-draft physical. I was an angry young man, had a lot to say and I was disappointed in our leadership,” said Edwards.

He then sat on a bed and started to write this song with a folk sound, which ultimately became Sunshine. It was a late entry in his first album and it became the most popular.

Edwards will continue playing gigs throughout November, but is going to take December off. During his off time he’ll be writing and recording for a new album.

“I want to release a new album by the middle of 2012. I have some songs pent up,” said Edwards.

After four decades in a very solid career this new album tells us one thing, that Edwards still knows how to write and deliver true and intimate lyrics. He is still good at telling us a story and that’s what always seemed to work for him.

If you are interested in seeing Edwards, he will be taking the stage at Terryville High School at 7: 30 p.m., this Saturday. Terryville High School is located at 33 North Harwinton Ave., Terryville.

Batman: Arkham City Review

I finally had the chance to get into one of the highly anticipated games of the year and I’m glad I did, because Batman: Arkham City has become one of my favorite games of all-time.

I know I’m already gushing over this game, but I need to. For months I tried not to read too much news regarding the game, because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I didn’t want to go into with impossible expectations, but after playing it I realized my expectations could have been soaring and I would of still not have been let down.

The plot of the game brings in appearances from many of our favorite villains and also appearances from other characters that I won’t spoil. Yet, the whole story really centers on Hugo Strange’s Protocol 10. I won’t tell you what the protocol is but in order to stop it you’ll be facing off against Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and many more.

There is several things going on in the story, but I can’t tell you because then it will ruin it. I’ll just say it’s a very engaging Batman story.

Now, if you played the first game in the series, Batman: Arkham Asylum, you’ll be very familiar with the game mechanics. The game controls very similar to Arkham Asylum, but has made it more fluent. The combat is still very fun, detective mode is always helpful and gliding across rooftops is amazing.

All right I feel like I gushed enough, but the truth is there aren’t any major problems with the game. Yeah, sometimes when you’re gliding and try to grapple you don’t always get where you wanted to be, but that problem is small and doesn’t affect anything else.

Another thing I will nitpick is the Pay Your Respects achievement/trophy. I don’t know if this happened to anyone else but when I tried to get this achievement it took it a good 10 minutes for it to unlock. I know you might say that I did it wrong, but I didn’t. I did everything I was supposed to and it just took 10 minutes to unlock, that was a pain.

That’s really the only problems I have with the game. Some people might be turned off to the fact that the game doesn’t hold your hand. It expects you to be intelligent, figure stuff out on your own and I love that. Too many games nowadays hold your hand and when I was a kid no game held your hand, it would drop you off in a world and that was it, it was up to get to the end and Arkham City is very similar.

Besides from the main quest you have a bunch of side-quests to complete. Each side-quest has its own story and they’re all pretty good. One side quest that will keep you busy for a long time is the ‘Enigma Conundrum’. This side quest is the Riddler’s challenges. He has scattered riddles and trophies all over Arkham City (I think it’s about 400 trophies) and you have to collect them all. Yeah, it’s going to take awhile.

Another playable character for the main game is Catwoman. She is downloadable, I don’t know if you have to buy her or she comes with the game. She came with my game along with Robin. Yet, if you want to play as Catwoman than make sure you download her pack before you start the story, because then her parts will be intertwined with the main story.

The multiplayer for this game comes in the form of challenge maps, very much like Arkham Asylum’s. You try to take out guys quietly or with brute force and gain points and Riddler medals. In this mode you’ll be able to play as Batman, Catwoman or if you pre-ordered, Robin. All these characters are great, because they all fight differently and they don’t feel like carbon copies of one another.

If you’re disappointed that you missed out on getting Robin, don’t worry you’ll be able to buy his pack next month.

Arkham City is by far one of the best games this year. I really don’t think that any other game can come close to the enjoyment that I got out of this one.

10 out of 10

Star Wars Blu-Ray Changes ...

I'm sure many of you know that the Star Wars saga is coming out on Blu-Ray this month. This is something all Star Wars fans should be excited about, but with the news of more changes and Greedo still shooting first fans are furious.

The first Change I want to talk about is the new Darth Vader kills the Emperor scene. This powerful moment where Vader decides to save his son by defeating the Emperor is now ruined.

In the original scene we see Vader quietly debating what he should do, but now he has dialog. Before he grabs the Emperor he says No and continues to say No as he throws him over into the center of the Death Star. The link to this clip is below, I wasn't able to embed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27RVJJfny4I

The next change is Obi-Wan's Krayt Dragon call form Episode IV. If you watched the original you know what the call use to sound like now it sounds like some drunk guy. Link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0EUjobdavw

Those are the two changes that bothered me the most. The others aren't that bad.

The Phantom Menace now has a CGI Yoda rather than a puppet Yoda, which doesn't bother me and Greedo still shoots first, which I've learned to just deal with.

I don't know if Lucas knows that he doesn't need to change the films. We loved the films for what they were.

Halo 4 Announced

Gagliardi impresses in MMA victory at Mohegan

Domenic Gagliardi stepped into the octagon Saturday night and gained a huge victory in his Mixed Martial Arts career.

The 28-year-old Bristol resident took on undefeated Stafford Springs native, Mark McLaughlin in the Mohegan Sun Arena.

The fight started with Gagliardi landing several punches and knees making his opponent stagger early.

“In the first few seconds I hit him with a huge over hand right, setting him back into the cage and was able to climb on top,” Gagliardi said. “I then threw a few short elbows to his head but he managed to get back to his feet.”

After McLaughlin recovery he was able to get Gagliardi’s back to the cage. McLaughlin tried taking him down, but Gagliardi knew just from his first attempt that he couldn’t.

“I figured I’d stay calm and let him burn energy trying,” Gagliardi said.

Gagliardi then caught McLaughlin with some hard knees to the ribs, which broke them apart. As they broke they both swung haymakers at each other and McLaughlin landed a left hook.

The crowd went wild for McLaughlin’s move, but it only infuriated Gagliardi and caused him to only want the victory more.

Gagliardi moved to the mount and faked a jab, landing heavy leather. McLaughlin worked a sub from half guard, but Gagliardi then got the back and performed the rear naked choke. That move gained Gagliardi the victory 4 minutes and 10 seconds into the first round.

“My opponent came out and I never took my eyes off of him,” Gagliardi said. “I was just going to start by feeling him out, but went there to fight and the crowd wanted to see a show,”

This was a welcome win, not only for Gagliardi but also for his corner men, William Seaver, Jake Pajor and John Roderick, who came up with a game plan that led to victory.

Yet, this fight was never suppose to happen for Gagliardi, because four months before he had hung up his gloves.

“I had no intention of fighting again,” Gagliardi said. “Being that I’m older and have a lot more responsibilities now, I had to think about it. But the opportunity to fight in my home state is what made me take the fight.”

Ten years ago Gagliardi had no idea where this sport would take him. He always knew that he might never make a living at it or be the best fighter, but he gave MMA his best shot.

“Ten years ago I had no idea about this sport and ten years from now I have no idea where I’ll be,” Gagliardi said. “I’ve always been one to live in the moment and concentrate on what’s in front of me.”