Evil Has No Destiny

Since I wouldn’t pay for a ticket to the new Halloween movie, I decided that I would go back and review the 2007 remake. A movie I wanted to like (being a Halloween fan) but found it to be a very, bad movie.
In this film Rob Zombie brings us back to the way beginning and tells us the reasons Michael kills. This is the first misstep, because what made Michael scary in the original movie was the idea that this killer had no motive.
Now, Zombie gives him a motive and the reason he is driven to kill is because he comes from a broken home and he’s being picked on by bullies at school. Come on Mr. Zombie, I appreciate you trying to do something different with Michael, but bullies? Michael Myers became a killer because of bullies? What kind of crap is that?
SO, these bullies push and push Michael until he goes and kills the main bully. After this he brings his murderous rage home and when his mother is at work (oh, yeah his mother is a stripper) he kills his sister, his sister’s boyfriend and his mother’s boyfriend. He spares his baby sister, Laurie, and sits with her on the sidewalk and waits for his mother to get home.
Michael is then sent to Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium and is put under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis, a child-psychiatrist. This is the films only good thing, the performance Malcolm McDowell gives is great and it’s a shame he didn’t have a better script to work with.
Eventually Michael escapes the Sanitarium and finds his way back to Haddonfield, Illinois, to find his sister, Laurie, who was adopted by another family, after Michael’s mother killed herself. This is where the movie becomes a remake of the original, but never reaches the heights the original did.
The biggest thing that brings this movie down is the characters and dialogue. The movie does show signs of trying to be a character driven film, but that becomes a problem if you don’t know how to write characters.
It seems that Zombie has a problem writing dialogue, because everything that comes out of characters mouths is about sex. Now, since the dialogue is bad these characters never were able to take off and evolve as the movie went on. They are stuck being two dimensional and when the movie begins to pour on one horror cliché after another, the characters become boring and dull.
This includes Michael. Michael does what Michael does best and kills everyone who gets in his way, but it’s not scary, it’s tiresome. Since all the characters are boring and never feel like real people, we never really care when they are killed off. Also, Michael does do a lot of pointless kills, which just make you say “Why?”
In the end this movie is just not good. It has a lot of stupid moments, like the title screen (those who’ve seen it, know what I’m talking about), the back story gave the film something different, but ultimately ruined my whole image of Michael Myers, the script was bad, the characters were dull and the dialogue was terrible. The only thing this film did effectively was make me appreciate the original so much more.
Is this the worst movie ever made? No, I’ve seen worse, but this one definitely missed the mark. If some things were moved around and the script had another writer this could have been a decent film, it would have never lived up to the first one but it could have been a good Michael Myers movie.

D-

Steelers will go unbeaten, but Pats win Super Bowl

EA Sport’s Madden has picked the last five Super Bowl winners, so, I thought it would be interesting to have Madden predict an entire NFL season and see how close it can get.

All the rules are the same, there are 32 teams, I had injuries, trades and salary caps all turned on and then I pressed the start button.

I simmed all the way to the end of the season and here are your division champions: the Patriots (14-2) in the AFC East, the Chargers (11-5) in the AFC West, the Colts (11-5) in the AFC South and the Steelers (16-0) in the AFC North.The NFC division champs were: the Cardinals (10-6) in the NFC West, the Cowboys (11-5) in the NFC East, the Saints (11-5) in the NFC South and the Packers (9-7) in the NFC North.
There weren’t too many surprises in those winners as each as a great chance at winning the division this year. As for the Steelers pulling off a 16-0 season, well that’s stretching it a bit, but it could very well happen.

The teams that made it into the wild card were the Bills and Broncos in the AFC and the Giants and Rams in the NFC.The Bills played at the Chargers, the Giants were at the Cardinals, the Broncos were at the Colts and the Rams were at the Packers in wild card week.

The Bills is the team that I would question here, but since they have Terrell Owens this year they might just make it into the wild card; I don’t think they’ll do anymore than that, but Madden and I could be wrong. The Rams also would be a pretty big stretch as well.

After the wild card playoffs we came down to the last eight teams that would make up the divisional playoffs, which were: the Colts, the Steelers, the Packers, the Cowboys, the Chargers, the Patriots, the Cardinals and the Saints.The Colts faced off against the Steelers, the Packers were pitted against the Cowboys, the Chargers were put up against the Patriots and the Cardinals faced the Saints.

All these teams in the divisional playoffs I agree with. I do believe each of these teams have the resources to get them to this point.The Patriots and Steelers made it through and into the AFC Championship game. The Saints and Cowboys advanced to the NFC Championship.

The Patriots were then able to overcome the Steelers, giving them their first loss of the season, and the Cowboys surpassed the Saints and found their way next to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

It all came down to the Patriots and Cowboys and not to my surprise the Patriots were able to come away with the win, sending the Cowboys back to Dallas with their heads down. New England won 30-20.

Now, since Brad Carroll is a huge Jets fan I thought it was fair to mention what they did in the season.Well, the Jets were able to pull off a 6-10 record and came in third in their division. This actually seems about right; I don’t think the Jets will be winning a Super Bowl this season. I could see them making it as a wild card, but who knows, I could be wrong and the Jets could have an outstanding season, I just don’t think so.

So, after going through a whole franchise year with Madden, I’m pretty happy with the results. That’s not because I’m a Patriots fan, (and, no, I’m not a bandwagon fan), it’s because all the teams that progressed are teams that I can actually see making it to the later part of the season, with few exceptions, but for the most part I like the teams Madden had came up with.

If this year sees a Cowboy and Patriot Super Bowl, we might have to put a little more trust in the epic video game — Madden NFL.

Fable III Announced

Lionhead’s director, Peter Molyneux, announced at Gamescom 2009 that Fable III will be coming in late 2010.
The game will read you’re saved game data from Fable II and you’ll be able to play as the son or daughter of your Albion hero.
The goal and selling point for Fable III seems to be able to rule all of Albion. You don’t get to start as the ruler, but you can campaign in the game and eventually become ruler.
The game will also still offer action and adventure like the two other Fable games.

New PS3 Slim, Only $299.99

After months of rumors, Sony has just announced that they will be releasing a new model of the PS3 - The PS3 Slim.

The system will hit store shelves on September 1 and will be priced at $299.99, that would make it the same price of the Xbox 360 standard model and only $50 more than the Nintendo Wii. The system is smaller, lighter and greener using 34% less energy.

Sony is hoping that dropping the price of their system will drive up sales. The PS3 has not been performing well, being out sold by the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and even, in some cases, the PS2.

Dropping the price is the right thing to do for the PS3, but it still needs to make up a lot of ground and can it? The Xbox 360 has the better online experience and the Nintendo Wii has taken the casual crowd. PS3 has also lost a lot of good exclusives, due to it's poor performance, which has made it easier for the 360 to grow and gain a lot of the good exclusives.

The PS3 is fighting an uphill battle and I think that this is a step in the right direction, but the road ahead is still very rocky for Sony and their system.

The Face of the New Freddy

It looks different then the old Freddy, but it still looks cool. I can't wait to see what he does with his performance.

Madden NFL 10: Superstar Mode

The reviews say that there could be more to this mode, but I will still spend a lot of time playing it.

Madden NFL 10: Online Franchise

Looks awesome.

Spielberg Looks To Take On Halo

It has been reported that Spielberg has been blown away by Stuart Beattie's script Halo: The Fall of Reach and Spielberg is looking for a tent pole movie to launch a new independent studio.

With Spielberg wanting to be attached to the project just gives the movie tons of credibility.

This Halo movie has tons of possibility and if they stick close to the mythology of it all, this can be one hell of a ride. They just need to cast someone great for the role of Master Chief, but I rather not see his face much and I don't want him to be talkative. Remember, Master Chief is a bad ass in the fashion of Clint Eastwood, a man of few words.

This can be great and let's all hope negotiations go well so we can see Halo on the big screen.

John Hughes 1950 - 2009

John Hughes, director of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck and his last film Curly Sue, passed away today at the age of 59.
This was confirmed by The Associated Press who confirmed it with a Hughes’ spokesperson.
It has been reported that Hughes suffered a heart attack while taking a walk on his family trip in Manhattan.
He was an Illinois native, who set most of his films in Chicago and had become one of the most iconic directors in the 1980’s.
Besides directing, he also produced a number of films. Those films include of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Home Alone.

Avatar Teaser Poster

Here is the teaser poster for James Cameron's upcoming film - Avatar.
The movie is set in the future. Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet called Pandora. This planet is inhabited by the Na’vi, a race of humanoid’s that have a language and culture of their own. Soon, the ones that came from Earth find themselves at odds with them and their local culture.
The film is set for release on Dec. 18, 2009.

The Hulk Puts On His Dancing Shoes

Lou Ferrigno, the classic Hulk, is going to be joining the cast of the reality show Dancing With The Stars.
He says, "I had a good meeting with the producers for Dancing With the Stars, it was really positive, and they loved the idea of having me on the show.
"I’ve never done that type of dancing before, so I know that I’ll have to train hard. I’m a glutton for punishment, so I’ll give it my best shot."
I never watch this show but it might be fun to see the Hulk doing some ballroom dancing.

Scott Returns For Alien Prequel

Ridley Scott will be coming back to the Alien franchise for the first time since directing the original 1979 - Alien.

This is great news, because this is what the Alien franchise needs after the disappointing Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. The franchise needs a face lift and going back to explore some unseen territory in the series is exciting.

The things I want out of this is the sense of terror and dread that we got from Alien and Aliens (the two best in the franchise).

I'm really happy to see Ridley Scott back and I can't wait to see what he's going to do.

The film is scheduled for a 2011 release date.

A Good But Not Great Entry For Potter

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ was finally released after being delayed for a few months, and the film does have its strong points but it also has its weak ones.
In the movie, Voldemort is asserting his place in the Muggle (non-magical people) and the Wizarding worlds. Hogwarts becomes his eyes focus, making it a very danger place to be.
Harry and Dumbledore become more focused on preparing Harry for the final battle that is coming. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information to Voldemort’s past – information that if they don’t obtain will leave their world to chance.
Mix all that with raging hormones of all three of the core characters and we have the next Harry Potter film.
This installment had a very important and frustrating job and that was to set up the plot for the big finale. It does do that well in some cases and terrible in others.
The pacing of the film seemed a little off to me and some of the plot points seemed rushed. I know they had to get from point A to point B and they only make true progressed to their destination in the first and last six minutes of the movie.
In most of the middle of the film it felt if though someone was reading the book to me, the potions book that once belonged to the “Half-Blood Prince” really fell to the side for most of the film and the hormones of the characters seemed to really take the front and center of this chapter.
I was a big fan of all the Harry Potter books and I didn’t really want to compare them but I think it’s important.
In the beginning of the film we see Harry in a train station that didn’t make any sense to me (having read the book). Harry is just sitting down in a dark, train station in London and then suddenly Dumbledore shows up to take him to Slughorn’s house and eventually to the Burrow.
This is a crucial part of the story but it looses its feel of impending danger that the book did so well.
In the book Harry is not sitting in the train station, because that would be too dangerous knowing that the Death Eaters are after him. In the book he’s hiding out at the Dursley’s home instead of the station, so why couldn’t that just do that. Did they really have to change something so small that ultimately changes the feel of dread that the book had.
Then I really felt cheated when that narrowed down Voldemort’s flashbacks to just two and I rather have seen more of this villain to make him a more well-rounded character.
I also did not like how the film handled the Snape and Dumbledore showdown and also how Snape reveals himself to be the Half-Blood Prince. It just felt like “oh by the way I’m the Half-Blood Prince”. Plus the film had a lot of build up, yet lacked to give us some pay off in the end. The book gives us pay off with the attack at Hogwarts, which was omitted from this film for the reason that it’s happens again in the final book/film.
Those are my major complaints, but the movie also has a lot of great things going for it. Harry, Ron and Hermione are played very well and so are all the other characters. I really liked how they kept Slughorn’s story.
The direction is alright, like I said the pacing was a little off. The music in the film was classic Potter and it really tied some scenes together.
Looking back at this whole experience so far these characters have really grown but I do think this film really lacked magic that other installments had.
My favorite Potter film still remains Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

B-

Freddy Teaser Photo

Another Freddy teaser photo. I don't think we'll get to see the face for awhile.