I'll be Bill Murray and you'll be everyone else.

This is a fun movie, unless you hate Jack Black and Dante "Mos Def" Smith. Its a funny little comedy that plays on your love of movies and takes a shot at "Big Chain Video"stores and movie studios.

Essentially Black and Mos Def play well meaning but bumbling Jersey guys. Black is the more disaster prone of the two. Black is magnetized in a power plant accident, and unfortunately erases all the video tapes at the local struggling independent video store. To keep people from going to the local video chain, they start making their own versions of the destroyed movies (from memory of course). Hilarity and sweding ensues. This is all set against the classic movie storyline of neighborhood development destroying longtime residents and businesses.

All of the acting in this movie is fantastic and very funny. And while Black and Mos Def are typically hilarious for me, the shining star for me is the character of Alma played by Melonie Diaz. She is swept up into the two guys video plans, and provides them with a very levelheaded but still quirky balance for their bumbling enthusiasm.

The best part of the whole movie is the sweded movies (Black/Mos Def's short versions of the movies). I laughed non-stop through this entire section of the middle of the film, particularly at Black's portrayal of Jessica Tandy in "Driving Miss Daisy".

Its a unique comedy with heart, in a season full of sappy sweet comedy drivel. Its sweet with out being sappy, and its edgy without being too much. I wouldn't normally go to see this sort of thing in a theater but I am happy that I did. If you like Jack Black and/or Dante "Mos Def" Smith, if you like parodies of movie classics both modern and old, if you want to find out how bitchy New Jersey folks are, then you will like this movie.

Jesse "Baron Ironfury" Stevens


Trailer

If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut.

Bobby "Linn" Haynes
R.I.P.
1975-2008

Some of you may not be familiar with Linn Haynes. Linn has been a film scholar and enthusiast working behind the scenes for years to get rare and unappreciated martial arts films the kind of release and respect they deserve. Only in the last few years had he succeeded and went to work as an adviser to BCI and Media Blasters. Linn has been a well known fixture at many popular film forums and was one of the most knowledge, polite, and decent people out there. He will be missed. I personally never got to know Linn, but the mutual love we shared for film, the work he did to give foreign film a voice in this country, and even the fact we worked for the same company, make me feel like he was a brother. You will be missed.

Read the news report of his death here.

Also, visit this thread to hear more about Linn and the people he touched.

Quotes of Note - Return of the Living Dead (1985)

"You think this is a fuckin' costume? This is a way of life!"

Green Eyed Monster

I have to get something off my chest and since it's movie blog related, this seemed the best place to do it. While I have a link to it on this page, I would like you all to visit the blog Shoot the Projectionist.

Shoot the Projectionist is written and maintained by Ed Hardy, Jr. I don't know anything about Ed other than what I can glean from his posted writings. It is these posted writings that have forced me into writing this confession. I hate Ed Hardy Jr. I really hate him.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Noah, how can you hate this guy, when you don't really know anything about him?" Well, as I said, what I know about the man is what I've gleaned from his writings, and I've come to the conclusion that Ed Hardy Jr. is an excellent writer and critic. You see, like Ed, I don't really like writing reviews.

To this end, Ed has invented a gimmick called "24 Words Per Film" where he sums up his thoughts about a film in, you guessed it, 24 words. This is truly brilliant and inspired. I'm so pissed I didn't think of this first. This is why I hate Ed Hardy Jr. So, go over to Ed's blog and check out his musings. Oh, and Ed, if your reading this, I hate you, you talented bastard.


P.S. - He's also using a still from one of my favorite movies as a header image. Arg! I hate that guy!

Quotes of Note - Howling II: ...Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)

"Silver bullets are useless against such creatures, quite useless. Only titanium will kill them."