Halloween Movies for People who Don't Like Horror

I'm not a huge horror movie fan, but here are some of my favorite movies to watch on Halloween that can appeal to non-horror fans:

Fright Night

Campy fun, doesn't take itself too seriously.  Roddy McDowall is great as the Late Night Creepshow host/Vampire Hunter....

Cabin in the Woods

Joss Whedon has some meta-textual fun with the 'teen slasher' film genre.  Best Scene:  the discovery of the 'menagerie' filled with horror movie archetypes.

Young Frankenstein

A spoof of the classic universal horror films but, as Mel Brooks was a big fan of horror movies, it is one that is done with love.

The Sixth Sense

Admittedly, this film loses something after the first viewing but, still, it is an interesting and compelling story.  Also, take out some of the gore, and it's actually a pretty good family friendly film (as are most of Shamylan's earlier films).

Scream 

When all is said and done, Scream is just a slasher film but it's probably one of the most clever slasher films ever made.  It introduced the idea of deconstructing the genre that Cabin in the Woods would play off of years later, but it did it in much more accessible way that didn't go over the heads of the average horror fan (as Cabin in the Woods kinda did).

Shaun of the Dead

The brilliance of the Wright/Pegg/Frost collaborations (this is also true of this year's World's End) is the fact that you forget that you're watching a genre film (in this case, a Zombie movie) and you get caught up in the stories of the people involved.  Too often, zombie movies are about the zombies, Shaun of the Dead is definitively about Shaun and his friends.

Grind House: Planet Terror and Death Proof

Looking for a double feature?  Look no further! I have already covered this in more detail on this blog, so I will just say that Planet Terror is pure fun--- it might be a bit too gross for the squeamish but is a perfect homage to classic low-budget zombie movies.  Death Proof is a bit more difficult but, the best part, are the phony trailers between the two movies (available on the Blu-Ray edition).

Ghostbusters

My personal choice for Halloween viewing, Ghostbusters is a great comedy with just enough scares to qualify it as a genuine horror movie rather than a spoof and, on top of all that, it's also a big budget action blockbuster!  What more could you want?

Best. Ending. Ever. : The Graduate

I'm thinking of doing a series on this site Best. _____. Ever. where I examine my all time favorite... well, whatever it happens to be.  I think I'll start with the ending of The Graduate which happens to be my favorite ending of all time.  What are some of yours?

The final few minutes of The Graduate has become one of the most parodied/homaged sequences in film history and the basic trope of this ending has become one of the most imitated.  Countless romantic comedies have ended with a boy/girl rushing to stop the wedding/departure/bar mitzvah of the object of their affection.  This can be seen in movies as diverse as Crocodile Dundee, Runaway Bride, My Best Friend’s Wedding and pretty much every other Julia Roberts vehicle.

The difference in The Graduate comes about in that final thirty seconds before the credits roll.  First of all, there is the use of “Sound Of Silence”; not only is this song far from celebratory in its tone but it has also served as a theme of uncertainty and lack of direction throughout the film.  Then, we also have that moment where Ben and Elaine stare forward and take a deep breath before the smiles slowly fade from their faces.  I once heard this referred to as the movie’s “Oh, Shit!” moment.  This is the moment where the consequences of their actions finally set in; both have become so desperate to escape their past that they are willing to burn every bridge behind them by storming out of the wedding.  They have also invested a great deal of their future happiness in one another, in a relationship that still has a lot of issues that need to be worked out, mainly, that they don’t even really know each other that well (they’ve had one date and a few days of Ben pestering Elaine), not to mention the fact that he had and affair with her mother and that Elaine is, technically, married to someone else.  It is only in the final few seconds, however, that they realize all of this.  Their only hope is that their future life, however uncertain, is better than the lives that they are leaving behind.

Had the movie ended thirty seconds earlier, it still would have been a great movie. Perhaps it would still even be a classic but those final seconds that turn all the conventions of  ‘Happily Ever After’ on its ear, beautifully emphasized through the use of “Sound of Silence”, are what truly make this film a masterpiece.

Thoughts on the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer

In short, I like it.

I found Captain America: The First Avenger to be a pleasant surprise; it took advantage of Cap's oft overlooked origin story (a puny guy who, despite his physique, was willing to stand up to bullies) and made it central to who Captain America is. Also, a subtle use of warm lighting throughout the movie helped create the image of a 'Golden Age' of, not only comics, but America; it was an idealized vision of The Greatest Generation and their WWII accomplishments.  It has all of the patriotism, sacrifice, and idealism but none of the Japanese internment camps. In that film's coda, you might have noticed a subtle shift in the lighting; when Cap finds himself in modern day times square, the light is no longer warm and golden but brighter, glaring, more real.

From what we're seeing in the trailer,  Cap finds himself thrust firmly into a much less idealistic, less innocent America.  The best Captain America stories of the last 50 (the ones that take place after his WWII deep freeze) have played off of the idea of him as a man out of time.  It was not long after his initial resurection that Vietnam and Watergate became potent symbols for how far we had come since our accomplishments of just a couple of decades before.  The stories in this era played off of our loss of innocence, just as more recent Captain America stories have played off of the compromises we have made post-9/11.

The new film appears to be playing off of this tradition with Captain America responding to Nick Fury's rationalization of pre-emptive warfare ("SHIELD sees the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be) with, "this isn't freedom; this is fear." Because, unlike Fury, he sees America as as it should be, not as it is (like I said, there were no internment camps in Cap's WWII). And, like the best Cap stories, it seems as though the film is leading to Cap becoming disillusioned with and breaking ties with the U.S. goverment while still believing in the espoused values of his country. In the comics, this ultimately paves the way for him to become independent of the goverment but, at the same time, remain a symbol for ideals that, sometimes, we don't live up to but that we should continually aspire towards. It's a story that long time Captain America fans will no doubt find familiar, but I'm sure this is going to look awesome on the big-screen.

Other Thoughts:

What we're seeing on Agents of SHIELD is supposed to be the 'C' team; the loveable band of misfits Coulson has assembled to run support for SHIELD's 'A' team.  In Captain America: the Winter Soldier, we get to see that 'A'-team: Nick Fury, Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon.

Also, I like the new costume; it's sort of a hybrid of the traditional suit with the more recent costume he sported in the Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier comics. In the first film, I liked his WWII era costume but I felt the Avengers costume was pushing it a bit in; the colors were a little too bright and it looked a little too much like the old long underpants superhero cliche (at least we were spared the buccaneer boots of the comic books of old). The darker blue works better and looks a lot closer to the standard SHIELD uniform that we have seen on Black Widow, Maria Hill, and Melinda May. 

In Utero and Vs turn 20

20 years ago, Nirvana and Pearl Jam released In Utero and Vs. a few weeks apart respectively.  Both are significant in that they were were the follow-up album to each band's breakthrough and, not only that, they were the first of ANY of the Seattle/ "Grunge" bands that ushered in the Alt. Rock revolution of the early 90's to release a follow up to their breakthrough release (This, of course, depends on whether you consider Alice in Chains's Dirt their breakthrough or their follow-up).

In Utero was first, being released September 13th 1993 (just last month a 20th anniversary edition featuring bonus tracks was released) with Vs. following on October 19th.

While Nirvana was clearly the more influential and critically acclaimed of the two bands, people tend to forget that, at the time, Pearl Jam was definitely the more popular, at least in terms of record sales.  Upon release, Vs. quickly dethroned In Utero from the top of the charts and proceeded to sell in much greater numbers. At the time, my meager 10th grade income opted for Vs.; I still do.  In fact, I think Vs. may even be a better album (Nevermind, however, blows away, not only both of these albums, but anything else either band would ever release).  That's not to say In Utero was terrible; in fact, I recently revisited the album and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

What is interesting is there is a similarity to what both bands did with these albums.  Both Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain expressed a level of discomfort with their new found fane (although, honestly, I really think Eddie Vedder might have actually been at least a little bit comfortable with it; Cobain was not). As a result, both albums almost seem like an intentional attempt to alienate their new fans; they're rougher, rawer, noiser, and, overall, far less accessible than their previous releases. In fact, I doubt either record label would have allowed their release a mere 18 months earlier (and, according to some reports, they were somewhat nervous about In Utero, even bringing in Scott Litt to remix the singles: "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies").

Both bands had the right amount of clout and artistic guts to lay down a major challenge to their fans.  And then, something really interesting happened; the record buying public accepted the challenge.  Not only did they not mind that the albums didn't sound exactly like their predecessors, they liked it. For Cobain, this might have been the beginning of the end for his fragile psyche; I almost feel like he wanted the album to fail and was disappointed when it was a success.

Pearl Jam, arguably, got the better end of this deal; Vs. allowed them to inject more of their punk rock roots and make a much more aggressive and primal statement than their previous effort, Ten. Not only that, they showed that a noisier, weirder album could sell.

My point is this, two major artists at the peak of their commercial success took a major risk and, when they took that risk, their fans and the industry supported them.  I wish this still happened.

October's Album of the Month: The Cure- Disintegration

I've been trying to do an album of the month on my Facebook, but I think I'll be doing it from here now on.  I'll pick a favorite album of mine for each month and try to say a few words about it. Here goes: 

It is October and Fall is well upon us; the leaves are changing and a chill is in the air and, as far as I am concerned, there is no better album to go with this weather than The Cure's Disintegration.  The Cure have a reputation for being dreary and moody but, if you think about it, many of their most popular songs ("Friday, I'm In Love", "Just Like Heaven", "In Between Days") are quite sunny and happy.  This is the album where they truly live up to their reputation.

It is a gloomy, atmospheric masterpiece; the romantic lamentations of "Pictures of You" and "Love Song", The perfect-for-Halloween, Tim Burton-esque creepiness of "Lullaby" ("On candy-striped legs, the Spider-Man comes") and, my favorite, the doomy rocker "Fascination Street" all make for perfect autumnal listening.  Sure, lesser tracks like "Plainsong" and "Prayers for Rain" aren't as strong, but Disintegration is truly an album that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Key tracks: "Fascination Street", "Pictures of You", "Lovesong", "Lullaby", "Disintegration"

A re-thinking of Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse project (Planet Terror and Death Proof)

Since Halloween and, with it, the horror movie season is upon us, I thought I would kick things off by revisiting something I wrote a couple of years back for Geoff Klock's blog. In it, I analyze Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse double-feature: Planet Terror and Death Proof.  It's fairly straight forward and simple and, hopefully, it will set the tone for the kind of discourse I expect from this site.

First of all, I maintain that Grindhouse is a single film or at least a singular entity, bottom line being that both films must be viewed in the context of the other to be fully appreciated. This is especially true of Death Proof, which I will explain shortly.

Planet Terror is the least complex of the two and, as a result, the one most capable of surviving on its own, however, without Death Proof as its companion it is merely a fun homage to grind house films of the past (It also makes sense for Rodriguez to do the straight-up homage because he's more of a chameleon whereas Tarantino is much more of an auteur).

Death Proof is the more complex of the two films. Not only is it stronger on a technical level in terms of the actual filmaking; it is far more subtle. This isn't a recreation of grind house films like Planet Terror it is a deconstruction/revision of them (specifically the slasher, revenge, and car chase genres). This is why it relies on Planet Terror. If I say to the average movie go-er "Death Proof" is a revisionary narrative of grind house films" Their response would, most likely, be "Great! What are grind house films?" Few people today would have any idea what I'm talking about. Pop Culture Junkie that I am, even I don't know first hand what grind house is.

This is why Planet Terror (and, in my opinion, the trailers) are necessary. It acclimates the un-ininducted into the experience. Then, with Death Proof, something strange happens: The film begins to evolve. It's no secret that both Tarantino and Rodriguez grew up and drew inspiration from this kind of movie. The thing is, they took what they learned from these movies which were, let's face it, fairly disposable pieces of cheap, exploitative entertainment, not good for much more than a few laughs, and , in their own work, transform it into art (arguably, Tarantino is much better at this than Rodriguez). So, as Death Proof begins we are introduced to typical stock grind house characters only with greater depth and better dialogue (something Tarantino is famous for) but, still they remain characters rather than being real people. Jungle Julia and her crew are the typical victims in slasher flicks: they are 'doing bad things'; drinking, smoking pot, hooking up with/teasing guys. In other words, they're just asking for it.

Then, the change over, the film loses the faux aging and we're introduced to the second group of girls (by the way, the black and white segment in the extended edition adds nothing to the film other than another opportunity for Tarantino to display his foot fetish). This group is a departure, they are completely 'real' characters. It has been pointed out that they're all movie people but, so what, to Tarantino movie people are the real people in his day to day life. In fact, these might be the most believable, realistic characters that Tarantino has created. So, in the second half, he takes these 'real' people and puts them in a grind house situation. Still, take out the false scratches and such, the film can function on its own. Most people would still see it and 'get it'

The point that the film again changes is after the first leg of the car chase (which, by the way totally kicks ass and the use of traditional stunting and Zoe Bell as the star add a tension rarely seen in modern film making). Specifically, things go awry when, after Zoe emerges from the bushes unscathed, the point where any normal, rational person would say "Oh, Shit... we gotta call the cops!" a perky Zoe says "Phew, that was a close one... Let's go get 'im"

At this point, these 'real' characters begin a regression into the revenge seeking women of grind house cinema. Still, I'm buying it... I even buy the one chick shooting him. That's a plausible reaction. Where it falls apart (at least without the context provided by Planet Terror). Is the final few seconds where they drag Stuntman Mike from his car, knock the shit out of him and, ultimately, crush his head in.

So, these 'real', 'normal' characters have suddenly become cold blooded killers? It is also worth noting that during this sequence Abernathy's skirt, worn at a respectable knee length for the most of the film, is now worn at an exploitative point high up on her thigh. It is an, admittedly, cheap ending but it is a grind house ending. Death Proof has now taken us full circle back to the cheap thrill of Planet Terror. When viewed on its own, this ending makes no sense. However, as part of the larger Grindhouse film... project... whatever you want to call it. It makes perfect sense. In fact, in order for it to be a true grind house film. That's how it has to end.

So, in short... Planet Terror is a fun recreation of the grind house experience whereas Death Proof really makes you think about the genre (and all its various subgenres). Both films are great but I still see it as one big movie.

Welcome

Welcome to It's Alright, Ma. I'm Only Geeking.  In my own writing, I often find myself occupying that awkward place between the popular "OHMERGERD I LUV THIS SHOW" fan gushing and more serious, academic criticism.


That's what this blog is for; intelligent discussion of all things pop-cultural: Popular Music, Film, Television, Fashion, etc. It should be critical and analytical, but still accessible to non-academics. Ideally, this will serve as a forum for me and my friends to discuss various things that we love geeking out about in an intelligent and respectful manner. Anyone who wants to join is welcome but, remember, this is about thoughtful, respectful discussion.  Trolling of any kind will not be tolerated. So, strap in, sit tight, and prepare to geek out.