Classical Affairs (Tenacious D, Psycho, Cujo and Alien)

Alrighty, so you may be wondering how Tenacious D is classical, well they have a song called Classico and I haven't blogged about going to see their concert yet, so I'm lumping it in with some short movie reviews. Basically the concert was an amazing experience. First the opening band that played was quite good. They were called the Protomen, they had a slight robot theme to them and were from Nashville. I enjoyed their sound and still need to look them up on the youtubes. Then after some roadie action we had the arrival of THE D! Their arrival was accompanied by the Rize of an inflatable Fenix (I know that rise and phoenix are spelt wrong, but that is how they are spelt on the album so shut you mouth.) When they first came on stage I had a bit of a "Holy shit I'm actually breathing the same oxygen as Jack Black" moment. Also it was exciting to see KG too, but I'm far far more familiar with Senor (I don't have a spanish keyboard) Black. They started out with some epic songs from their new album, which I do not yet own *cough*Christmas*cough*. Then it was on to the songs that I knew and I sang along to every single one, along with everyone else in the audience. They never ended up playing the song Classico, I have a feeling it would not make it onto their greatest hits album. To top it all off I got a super neato t-shirt that combines my love for horror and Tenacious D.

You can read backwards right? No? It says Dawn of the D.

Recently I've also been working on watching some classic horror films, thanks to my local library. Yeah that's where I get most of my viewing and comic reading selection, but you can't blame me, I'm a starving actor. Well the first one I watched was Psycho(1960), an acclaimed film and definitely a classic, BUT, don't place a curse on me for saying this, not really my cup of tea. I found that the pacing was rather slow and I feel that had it been made in modern times it would be considered a psychological thriller, perhaps even a crime drama, but not a horror film. Back then it wasn't too hard to be considered horror, just throw in a kill and some creepy character(s) with a slight twist and bingo, horror movie. Nowadays film in general has developed so many subgenres that everything can be classified into a section that fits it best. The film wasn't really what I had expected, the shower scene came much sooner when I had expected it to be the climax of the film due to its prevalence in pop culture. I do want to reiterate that I didn't think this was a bad movie, just not a movie I personally found entertaining. I much preferred American Psycho and not just because of the wonderful that is Christian Bale's abs.

Is it wrong that I would love to live in a house designed like that?

Here's hoping I'm looking that good when I'm dug up after being buried.

Now on to Cujo. Basically it's billed as being about a family trapped in a car by a rabid St. Bernard. That is about 20 minutes of the film (I didn't actually time it, but that's what it felt like). right before that happens you get a couple kills and it turns out the dog isn't even owned by the people in the car which wasn't the whole family. Most of the focus was on the fact the wife cheated on her husband who's ad firm lost a client, also this family has frequent car troubles. I found this movie disappointing, because here is what I had expected: My understanding going into the film for some reason was that a family was in their car in the winter going on a trip with their St. Bernard. Somehow their car breaks down off the road far enough that passerbys wouldn't notice them. Somehow the dog has developed rabies (I think he had it before they left and when he started to show signs they didn't let him back in the car). So now we have an entire family, trapped in a car, freezing and starving for several days, unable to leave the car for help due to the rabid dog outside. What I think this version would have added is that the family has a relationship with the dog, creating a dilemma, the kids don't want to see the dog die because they love it, but the parents understand that the only hope they have of survival is to kill this canine member of their family. There could be insistences that they just need to get the dog to a vet. This also makes the audience more sympathetic to the dog, our villain, since they have seen how much the family loves it and are devastated to see it act so cruel. This is the movie that I wish I had seen, not the one that I saw.

For some reason I still just want to give this guy a big ol' hug.

And now the last in my list of classics, Alien. I know that it's surprising that I hadn't seen this until recently, but I vowed to watch it before seeing Prometheus which I did yesterday so I have now finally seen the great original. This classic I actually thoroughly enjoyed. It had a solid plot, evil robot and amazing special effects (have you heard me rant about how practical effects are better that CGI when it comes to creatures and make-up yet? We'll just pretend you have). Well first off I love Sigourney Weaver in it, she is strong, knows what needs to get done, has emotions and is beautiful. She even saves the cat, literally, although to Michael Coleman and Blake Snyder's chagrin, it isn't until well after the save the cat moment should have happened in the 15. (Read the books Save the Cat if you didn't understand that reference) The space ship was awesome, and now the creature effects, all I can say is AMAZING! When the face hugger falls off of the crew member, just looking at the detail of it's face hugging side is remarkable. If I didn't know it was a movie I would have sworn it was a real type of animal... and had nightmares for the rest of my life. Then there is the great chest-burster scene which is even more remarkable when you find out that the reactions of the cast are completely real (no one told them they were going to get covered in goop when the fellows chest is split in twain by a baby alien). Additionally there was a great atmosphere of seclusion created in the film (monster in the house) and now I feel the need to see Aliens.

Keep your eyes open for a full length review of Prometheus coming soon and I am making a vow you can hold me to: I am going to review every movie I watch in theatres that pertains to this blog for the rest of the summer.