Jason's Mask is Wrong on Box Set

I was at Best Buy the other day and came across a DVD box set of all the Friday the 13^th movies.

The first thing I noticed about this set is how wrong they got his hockey mask on the front.

How hard is it to actually get the mask right? All you would have to do is actually watch one of the movies! I mean the mask never looked like that in any of the Friday the 13th movies.

Now, that I got that off my chest, when are they going to release a blu-ray box set for Friday the 13th? I know you can get the first three on blu-ray individually, but I want them all ... in a box set.

Just one thing though, makes sure if you're going to put the hockey mask on the front (they probably will) you HAVE to get it right.

Nit-Picking: Spider-Man 3

*SPOILERS*

The Amazing Spider-Man will be hitting theaters on July 3^rd, rebooting the series, so, I thought it was only right to go back and nit-pick the worst film of the original Spider-Man trilogy – Spider-Man 3.

I liked the Spider-Man movies, mostly Spider-Man 2. Yes, Spider-Man is a little dated now and doesn’t really hold up as well as Spider-Man 2, but it’s still a fun movie. Yet, Spider-Man 3 was a huge disappointment. I mean what happened?

After the fantastic Spider-Man 2 I was, like many, pumped to see where the third one will take us. They seemed to understand how to direct and write these movies and I had a lot of faith that they could give us something just as or even more memorable than Spider-Man 2. I was wrong.

Spider-Man 3 was just all over the place and because of this there were a lot of things that just didn’t make any sense.

Let’s begin with Flint Marko/The Sandman and his run in with the particle accelerator.

In the beginning of the film Flint Mark is running away from the cops and ends up falling into this particle accelerator filled with sand, which is being used in an experiment at the time.

The Scientists running this experiment notice that there is a weight change and they pass it off as it being a bird. Really? How about you go out there and check if it’s a bird. Are they really this lazy? Are you telling me that they don’t have security cameras out there just incase someone jumps a puny fence and finds their way into their testing ground? What the hell?

So, Marko is in the accelerator and, of course, they start the experiment. Marko ends up turning into sand. Yes, his body and clothes all turn into sand, but this locket he carries around with him that is perfectly fine. *sigh*. You’re telling me that his bones and organs are affected by the accelerator but a small locket it not? In what universe does that make sense?

Moving on, let’s focus in on Harry Osborne/The New Goblin. Harry has the pumpkin bombs that his father, Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, had and he uses them to fight, obviously. That’s all good and dandy until the screenwriter realizes he wrote himself in a corner and starts to make these bombs do a host of different things.

In the beginning we see Harry attack Peter and he throws these pumpkin looking things at him. They only appear to be some sort of knife; then at the end these same things are thrown and they blow up to kill Venom. I could be wrong, these things could be two different pumpkin bombs that Harry has, but why do they look all the same? If they are different why not make them look different? If I was The New Goblin I would not know which pumpkin thing cuts or which one blows up.

And why when one of these pumpkin bombs blows up near Harry it only scars him? Then, when it blows up the same way near Venom it obliterates him? Is there a way to up the damage with these things? I don’t know … it’s probably just sloppy writing again.

Now, after Harry ruins his friendship with Peter and scars his face, his butler just decides to tell him a secret. At the end of the movie the butler tells Harry that his father was killed by his own glider. This is another case of the writer not knowing how in the hell to make Harry good again so they throw that in, which makes no sense.

You’re expecting me to believe that his butler watched him risk his life in trying to kill his friend and said nothing? What kind of person is this? Is he in Harry’s will and knows if he dies he would get something? It just doesn’t make any sense that the butler would wait this long to tell him. It just boils down to sloppy writing again.

Now let’s move onto Venom. What happened with Venom? Why is Venom saying “I”? In the comic books Venom always says “We”, because it’s both him and Eddie Brock in there. The symbiote is a being that feels just as betrayed as Brock does when it comes to Peter Parker and they both want to get revenge, which makes sense when they would say “We”. Yet, in Spider-Man 3 they never say “We” and Brock just says “I”. This annoyed me, a lot.

Next, why does Eddie Brock want Peter Parker dead so bad? I mean he was humiliated because he provided a false picture himself, he did it to himself. Maybe, he was pissed that Parker was interested in Gwen Stacey and he liked Stacey? But we never see them establish some sort of romance, they’re only briefly on screen together. In the comics Venom is a better villain because he has more of a reason to hate Peter Parker in this movie he’s really there to be there.

Another thing that annoyed me about Venom is how they bring the symbiote into the story. It just so happens that a meteorite just falls into Central Park right next to Peter Parker and Mary Jane. The symbiote then crawls from the rock and attaches itself to Peter’s scooter. Well, how wonderful is that? An alien being lands on the planet right next to the guy who has superpowers already? Couldn’t we be more creative about this?

Those are the big problems that Spider-Man 3 has. Some of them might seem small, but anything that starts to make you think “what” well that’s not a good sign. Of course these aren’t the only problems the film has. You might ask “what else is there?” Well let’s list them.

-         The symbiote making Peter Parker act like a complete idiot, fool, and ass.

-         Killing Venom

-         Giving the Sandman more screen time than Venom.

-         Not really completing Sandman’s story.

-         A script that has way too much going on.

-         Three villains.

-         Mary Jane.

-         Casting Topher Grace as Venom.

-         Gwen Stacey. Why was she in this movie? She should have been the girl Venom kidnaps in the end. It would have given her more of a reason to be around.

-         The guy shooting spit balls at Peter in the classroom. What? His spider sense didn’t sense that? Come to think of it, he had no spider sense when Harry attacked him either. Maybe it’s because he has become so smug. Oh no, I’m making excuses for them.

-         The movie going over the top with its “silly” moments.

-         Harry’s creepy faces.

-         Peter’s hair.

-         All the scenes containing Peter dancing.

-         The scenes where anyone else dances.

-         Dancing.

-         The scene where we hear the audience clapping but when we see the audience they aren’t clapping.

-         Sandman punching a police dog. What an ass.

CHECK OUT NIT-PICKING: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES at http://jamesentertainmentedge.blogspot.com/2013/03/nit-picking-dark-knight-rises.html

Valenzuela And His Creation Baby Jones

Daniel Valenzuela is taking his love of animation and comics and creating something that is original, fresh and thoroughly enjoyable.

Valenzuela was born in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1980. His parents were immigrants from Mexico. His mother worked in a factory and his father was an amateur boxer. He lived with his family in Mexico for a few months and then they moved to South Chicago, where they lived for ten years.

“I grew up in a rough neighborhood,” said Valenzuela.

After living in Chicago the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where his family still resides.

Valenzuela then moved to San Francisco, where he now lives, to attend art school.

“I moved here in my mid-twenties and fell in love with the city,” said Valenzuela. “It has a good energy,” he added.

Valenzuela never finished art school; he dropped out, but continued to peruse a career in comics and animation.

His love for animation started at a very young age.

“I started to pick things up with classic animation. My parents had a VCR and I would pause it to look what was happening in the middle, all of the little tricks,” said Valenzuela. “My father was obsessed with Golden Age Animation and turn of the century entertainment which I ended up falling in love with,” he added.

His father has had a large influence on his work. His main character, Baby Jones, is a caricature of my father.

“It’s an exact representation of what my father is like,” said Valenzuela. “And the little guy ended up consuming my life,” he added.

Baby Jones, is a very complex individual and can be best described in the description given by Valenzuela below.

“The unholy entity that has been with us since the beginning of time. Eternally trapped in a baby's body but blessed with a mustache that was handed down by the gods themselves. After gaining the title of Champion of the World, Baby Jones then dedicated his time to torturing humanity, time traveling and obsessing over the trappings of Pop Culture. 

His dead, hollow eyes are always watching.”

Baby Jones continues to keep Valenzuela busy; he is still self-publishing comics, which he started to do four years ago.

“My first comic was a horrible, sappy comic series titled, American Objects that sold 13 copies and I kind of learned the ropes along the way,” said Valenzuela.

Comics aren’t the only thing that Valenzuela has worked on. He does some random freelance illustration projects for small companies. He has also inked one superhero comic, which he won’t talk about.

“I did it for money, which was a huge mistake,” said Valenzuela. “I respect the work that DC and Marvel do, but it’s too machine like for me,” he added.

He also randomly contributes art work to various galleries around California.

Valenzuela keeps himself very busy and he keeps producing quality comics.

Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles

So, most of you will already know that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are returning to the big screen for Christmas 2013. The problem is that these won’t be the mutated turtles we remember from our childhood, they will be aliens from another planet … um, what?

Yes during a Nickelodeon event Michael Bay, the films producer, stated the following: “When you see this movie, kids are going to believe one day these turtles actually do exist when we are done with this movie,” said Bay. “These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable.”

Are you *bleep*-ing kidding me. What the hell is going through this man’s head? You can’t just take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and totally obliterate their origin story that we all know and love. Yeah, we love the origin story to Ninja Turtles, we would pay to see that story not some stupid turtles from space crap.

My head hurts.

After this news was released, of course, it was met with widespread negativity from fans. Bay then released another quote on his website.

“Fans need to take a breath and chill,” said Bay. “They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of 'Ninja Turtles' to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world.”

The thing that worries me here is when he says “complex back story”, because lets face it Bay and his team are not the best with coming up with stories. I would give you examples but if you’re reading this you probably already know what I’m talking about. (Mainly the Transformers movies)

So, if they are making the turtles complex expect a confusing, convoluted story that makes no sense and crushes everything we grew to love about the series.

You might say I’m overreacting, but I don’t think I am. I’m tired of people taking franchises and ruining them. Making the turtles aliens is NOT a good idea. I know they want to give it more weight and make it more believable. Yet, having them mutate is much more believable than believing that there is a planet out there that is populated by giant turtles. I mean, where do Splinter and Shredder fit into all of this?

Just give us the TMNT story we want. It's not broken so don't try to fix it.

Strange Happenings at Old Bristol House

By James Drzewiecki
Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Voices, knocking and strange lights are common in a home located at 443 Burlington Ave. and the family wants answers.

Jamie Perchiano moved his family in four years ago and ever since then they’ve been experiencing what they believe to be paranormal activity.

"We just started hearing random noises, like knocks and ticks," Perchiano said. "I spoke to my landlord about it, and he had told me that the house is over 300 years old. He then explained to me that there was an underground tunnel used for slaves."

The tunnel underneath the house runs the entire perimeter of the foundation. In the tunnel Perchiano has found several different items, including animal bones, broken plates and even a shoe.

All these things intrigued Perchiano, but one thing that does bother him is when his 4-year-old son, Aidan, is bothered by whatever is happening inside the house.

"My son has been waking up every night," Perchiano explained, "that’s why my wife and I decided to call a paranormal team from Seymour and we did an investigation. They checked out the basement, they checked out the tunnel and we left a voice recorder in my son’s room."

The voice recorder did pick up some strange things, according to Perchiano who played a tape where sounds like a very strained voice saying "Aidan" can be heard.

The owner of the house, Brian Milano, lived there with his parents years before the Perchiano’s moved in. He didn’t have many experiences in the house, but he did have one that really stood out.

"I do remember seeing an image in the corner of a room," Milano said.

Milano explained how his mother, Marilyn, would always talk about the house having a ghost, but she wasn’t scared of it and believed it to be friendly.

The house, known as Rausley Upson Place, according to the records, was built circa 1830 and stands on what was once a part of the Upson family farm. The land was owned by Asa Upson, who never actually lived in the house. Asa died from a fit in 1807, about 27 years before the house was built.

Following Asa’s death, tragedy seemed commonplace in the Upson family. A year later, Asa’s grandson, Job Upson, cut his own throat, according to Congregational Church records. No one knows where exactly Job died, but because his death was deemed a suicide, he wasn’t allowed to be buried on consecrated ground.

"Most of the members of the Upson family at the time were buried in the Old North Cemetery," said Jay Manewitz, the historical research librarian at the Bristol Public Library.

"I could find no documentation that Job was buried in that cemetery or any other one in Bristol," he said. "I’m wondering what could have been the cause of the suicide. Maybe Job received a much smaller portion of Asa’s estate than he felt he deserved. This, of course, is speculation on my part."

Job’s death wasn’t the last in the records. Asa’s two sons, Samuel, age 12, and his infant brother, Samuel A., both died of typhus fever.

"It’s possible that their spirits inhabit the Upson property," Manewitz projected.

The tunnel beneath the house is believed to be tied to the underground railroad, but there is no evidence that the house was a station on the fabled route used by slaves eluding capture.

Yet, the Upson’s Congregational minister, Leverett Griggs, was an abolitionist.

"It would not be surprising if some members of his congregation felt as strongly as their minister concerning the issue of slavery and actively supported runaways," Manewitz said.

It’s a long and interesting history tied to the land, the house and the Upson family, a history, the Perchiano family, hopes will shed some light on whatever is happening in their home.

"I just want answers," Perchiano said bluntly. "I want to know why and who’s getting in contact with my son?"

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.