I’m still in an odd place where I don’t really know what to write about here. I think it might help remedy that if I can stop thinking of this as my “author blog” and just see it as my blog. I also think the creative part of my brain largely Read more…
The long wait between new updates for Marble Hornets left me flailing about a few Sundays ago, scouring Youtube for a Slender Man fix (but not yet willing to commit to one of the other Slender Man series, because the last thing I needed was another thing to obsess over and Read more…
This will be short, because there’s not really a whole lot you can say about this movie without spoiling it. But Husband and I celebrated Independence Day by finally catching this movie at the second-run theater before we missed our chance to see it on the big screen, and I’m glad we did. It’s gotten a lot of hype, both from Whedon fans and non, and it did not disappoint. Y’all, this movie is awesome.
Is it scary? Yes. Well, if you’re like me and you grew up on a steady diet of slasher flicks and are pretty much inured to the genre, then it’s more fun than scary. But if scary movies actually scare you, then there’s a good bet that this one will, because it plays the horror parts straight. I went in expecting over the top jokey horror a la Evil Dead 2, and although there is some of that, I was delightfully surprised at the parts of it that were straight up horror movie. If you are the sort who is bothered by that type of gorey slasher horror, then I’m hesitant to recommend this movie to you — although I’m also tempted to say that if you can at all stand it, then it’s completely worth it, because the last act takes a turn that is purely Whedonesque and fifty shades of awesome.
Of course, I can’t tell you what that is without ruining the whole premise of the movie. And so, naturally, I will do it behind a cut.
I’ve got a new obsession, folks, and it’s taken me by surprise — if you had described this little Youtube series to me a few weeks ago and told me that I shouldn’t watch it because I would spend my days obsessively refreshing all of the relevant sites for updates and reading fan blogs and Tumblrs and what have you (and spending my nights being terrified of every dark corner…) I would have scoffed. And then I probably would have watched it anyway and been right where I am now.
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I FINALLY read this book (seriously, y’all, sometimes I almost want to quit writing just so I’ll have more time in my life for reading, which is not easy to come by as it is). It was an enjoyable read, as always, with lots of tugging at the heart strings and wanting to give Harry a big ol’ hug. The ending was pretty much exactly what I expected, although I kept wondering throughout the book how it was going to end up there, and although unsurprising it definitely set up some interesting dynamics for the continuation of the series. I don’t really have anything to add by way of review, just some fan-girl babble that I will place behind a cut because it is somewhat spoilery and also, fan-girl babble.
The TV season’s halfway over — okay, more than half. I’m a little behind on this — and that means it’s time to see which shows from my start-of-season roundup I’m still watching, which I’ve pulled the plug on, and which mid-season shows have made the lineup. First, the breakups: Survivor/The Read more…
Okay, so we finished the series, and I now feel obligated to say that yes, it did get better in the second season. A lot of that was due to the addition of Esai Morales to the cast, and you can’t help but make things better by tossing an Adama–any Read more…
I missed this back when it originally aired on CBS, but since Matt and I have been on a survival show kick lately and we needed something to tide us over while waiting for the second season of Dual Survival to show up on Netflix, we decided to give Jericho Read more…
I gave up watching half-hour sitcoms years ago, after adding up all of the hours I spent watching TV every week and being appalled at myself, and I’ve never really looked back (the stuff I watch in syndicated re-runs sometimes, of course, doesn’t count). This decision happened back when Niles Read more…
Today we went out to the movies for my husband’s birthday. I’m pretty sure this was the first time we’ve actually gone to the theater to see a movie since Avatar (together, anyway — I have seen a a few movies with other people since then). We’ve been talking all summer long about wanting to see Captain America and Cowboys & Aliens and Super 8, so I was a little surprised when he told me the other day that he wanted to see Fright Night, although
he’s a bit of a Colin Farrell fan, so I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me that much.
I had pretty much written it off as yet another unnecessary remake of a beloved movie from my youth from the moment I heard that they were making it, so I didn’t bother to watch trailers or keep up with the development or anything. I knew David Tennant was going to be in it, so I figured at least I’d get to see my Doctor. Otherwise, I had pretty low expectations going in.
I liked it. It was much better than I expected. Of course, I had no idea it was written by Marti Noxon. I still have mixed feelings about her work on Buffy, but regardless, you could definitely detect a Buffy-esque sense of humor running through the movie, which made it fun. I liked Colin Farrell’s blue collar version of Jerry. At first I was irritated that they turned Peter Vincent into, basically, Chris Angel, but he turned out to be pretty funny, and also hot, and David Tennant really does need to be in all the movies from now on. Especially if he’s going to wear leather pants. Rawr.
So did I like it better than the original? No. Is that because the original was a better movie, or because I’m an old fogey looking at it through nostalgia-colored glasses? I really can’t say for sure. But the new Fright Night is respectful of the original and pays it homage in fun ways, while updating it and adding enough original material that it doesn’t feel like a retread of the same old story. As far as remakes of ’80s horror movies go, this is by far the best one I’ve seen.