Any New Years Eve Classics?

We're winding down to the end of a year that many wish to put behind them and never speak of again. Due to the pandemic this year's New Year's Eve celebration will also be different for many, with several folks hunkered down at home. There's traditions like Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve, and tuning in at 11:59 to watch the ball drop. However, some folks may want to watch a good movie before the ball drops.

If these folks are like me, they may want to watch a film that fits into the season. Halloween and Christmas have an abundance of films from Big budget to B-movie's to get viewers in the season. Just like Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve is lacking with films set around the holiday.

You may be thinking about films like  Trading Places, Ghostbusters 2, Sleepless In Seattle, Waiting to Exhale, or When Harry Met Sally which have important scenes set during New Year's Eve, but the actual plot of the film does not revolve around the holiday. When I think about movies set during NYE where the holiday is a integral part of the film, I can only think of five movies New Year's Eve, 200 Cigarettes, Four Rooms, About Time and the original Ocean's Eleven from 1960. None of these films are classics by any means, and I doubt many are flocking to watch these movies in the spirit of the holiday.

So I wonder, why isn't the holiday used more as focus point for movies? The closing of the current year into the new year, often has members of society thinking about their accomplishments or loss, mending disputes, looking ahead and starting the new year right.

All of these which are perfect tropes to support a NYE's movie. Either filmmakers believe people are worn out of holiday movies after Christmas, or just dont feel New Year's movies are worth it. Could just be me, but I would love to see more movies based on the holiday. I have to ask are there any New Year's Eve classics out there? 

Read More

Top Ten Heist Movies

It's the 25th anniversary of the Crime/Heist film classic "Heat" starring Al Pacino and Robert Deniro. While thinking about the film, I starred thinking about one of my favorite film genres, heist films. Heist films can be serious gritty crime dramas, or over the top goofy comedies, which is why I enjoy them so much. I also enjoy watching these heist unfold over time and all the deatil they put into them. So I decided to write my top ten heist films. Since I enjoy heist movies so much, I had to include some honorable mentions before digging into the list. 

Honorable Mentions:

The Town

Baby Driver

Jackie Brown

Tower Heist

Now You See Me

10. Quick Change

Quick Change is a 1990 film starring Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards. Murrat, Davis, and Quaid play a trio of bank robbers who pull off a successful heist without a hitch. They're next goal of getting out of town isn't as easy,  everything that could go wrong does in fact go wrong. The film is a quirky comedy with Jason Robard's detective determined to catch them as they try to get the hell out of town.

9. Fast Five

The film that reinvented the Fast and Furious franchise, and without a doubt the best film in the entire series. Fast Five has Vin Diesel and Paul Walker tapping into their network of friends to steal from a shady Brazillian businessman who has gotten them jammed up. All the while The Rock's federal agent Luke Hobbs and his crew are hot on their tail.The movie does provide callbacks to the four previous films and displays how valuable each team member is to the group. That chase scene through the streets of Brazil is also top five chase scenes in my opinion. 

8. Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino's classic 1992 film directing debut is a benchmark for heist films that followed. It follows eight criminals who rob a jewerly store but it goes entirely horribly wrong. The film intersects between how the heist came together to the fallout from it going wrong. Showing eight guys don't know one another can't trust each other and how the every man for themselve mentality can really cause issues. 

7. Inside Man

Starring Denzel Washington and Clive Owens and directed by Spike Lee. This heist film follows Clive and his crew as they rob a Manhattan bank. Denzel Washington play's the hostage negotiator assigned to work with these robbers. Through the process we learn the contents within the bank the robbers are really looking for. It's a smart heist film that you have to watch multiple times to pick up on the many cues.

6. Heat

Heat the epic crime drama starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro starring alongside one another. They both were in The Godfather II but their respective characters lived in different time periods so they never shared the screen. Directed by Michael Mann who later directed Ali, Collateral and Public Enemies. Heat features the typical trope of two men on opposite sides of the law and their personal and professional lives. One of them life is in complete shambles and it's not who you think. The two play a cat and mouse game as De Niro's character plans his next heist, leading to the famous downtown LA shootout scene.

5. Set It Off

The older I get the more I realize how fucked up of a hand was dealt to these four sisters. They all went to work and contributed to society and the system screwed them one way or another. There have been other heist films with all female leads, but none of them took charge like this quartet did in Set It Off. The bank shootout scene is up there with the best of film shootouts, and the fate of characters may have even the strongest folks shed a tear. 

4. Ocean's Eleven

Ocean's Eleven a remake of the 1960 film starring the Rat Pack, it spawned two sequels and a spin-off. The film follows Danny Ocean played by George Clooney assembling his crew to rob a Las Vegas casino. Danny assembles a motley crew of talent that includes Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Carl Reiner, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan and more. This film highlights the carefully detailed planning into their heist, the code names for the team members respective roles..what the hell is a greaser by the way? It also shows how important teamwork is and that everyone plays their role to perfection. When I use to play GTA: San Andreas the Caligula's casino mission always gave me Ocean's Eleven vibes.

3. Den Of Thieves

This film released in 2018 doesn't get the love it deserves, but I feel in time it will. The film stars Gerard Butler, 50 Cent, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Pablo Schrieber. Gerard plays Nick a L.A. Sheriff detective following a group of bank robbers and he thinks he's found his targets. Much like Heat this film plays the cat and mouse game, and show's the personal lives of the men on both sides of the law. This film has some amazing shootouts, including this one in the middle of a traffic jam. The film also has a wild card aspect of a mastermind you wouldn't expect.

2. Inception

Inception the 2011 film starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Cillian Murphy was directed by Christopher Nolan. This film is different type of heist film in that what the captors are stealing is in effect someones mind. The whole premise of the film is to infiltrate someones dream and implement an idea into their head. The film truly requires multiple viewings, as the dream world and layout has many rules and concepts you have to pay attention to understand. The unusual heist, graphics, and action is what makes it my 2nd favorite heist film.

1. Point Break

This 1991 film starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and Gary Busey follows FBI agent Johnny Utah "Utah get me two!" who goes undercover and hangs with some free spirited surfers led by Bodhi (Patrick Swayze). Utah suspects Bodhi's crew is responsible for a series of recent bank robberies, but maybe getting in too deep in the process. Everytime this movie comes on I stop what I'm doing and watch it, the same can't be said for it's 2015 reboot. It may not be as "smart" or drama filled as other heist films, but it is a damn good ride in the process. 

Read More

Where Are The Thanksgiving Movies?

We're a couple days away from Thanksgiving, the holiday sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas that is often neglected. Society isn't as excited for Thanksgiving like they are Halloween and Christmas, and retailers just want to rush to Christmas to get those holiday sales. As I thought about the Horror or Halloween theme movies I watch every year, or the Christmas movies that are a must every year. I started thinking about Thanksgiving movies and wondered why there are so few?

Thanksgiving tradition is to cook the dry ass turkey, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and watch some football. For someone like me movies are a big part of my holiday traditions and I just don't have any Thanksgiving tradition movies because there really aren't many of them.

There are movies that put you in the mind of Thanksgiving but isn't set during Thanksgiving such as Soul Food or The Big Chill. There are films that may have scenes during Thanksgiving such as You Got Mail and Funny People but it's not the focal point likeor have pivotal scenes occur around Thanksgiving such as the classic scene in She's Gotta Have It, but there aren't too many straight Thanksgiving films. When I think of those films,  the one's off the top of my head I think of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Home For the Holidays, my Thanksgiving favorite Dutch, and Pauly Shore's Son-In-Law. There's Tower Heist which uses Thanksgiving as a plot device to commit a crime and also Paul Blart: Mall Cop which is focused on Black Friday.

On the TV front there is A Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving special, but that is nowhere near as adored as the Halloween and Christmas special. Thanksgiving is a prime holiday for good stories, lessons for the characters to learn, and tell stories about families. So I'm really curious why there arent many Thanksgiving focused films. You'll never see a 24 hour Thanksgiving film marathon or anything like Freeforms 31 days of Halloween or 25 days of Christmas for Thanksgiving. 

With all the content and content providers out there, I'm challenging any of them to make a true Thanksgiving classic for all to enjoy and become a tradition to watch for years to come. 

Read More

We Deserve Vampire In Brooklyn 2

 

Today marks 25 years since Vampire In Brooklyn was released in theaters, the film stars Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett and was directed by Horror Icon Wes Craven. During the time of it's release Eddie was just waddling along having fallen from the height of his career in the 80's and not yet experiencing the resurgence of his career that he would just a year later. If you've been reading my blogs lately you can tell that I am a huge Vampire movie fan, and this film is another one I must watch during spooky season.

The movie is a horror/comedy and at the time of it's release reception was mixed and it only grossed $19 million at the box office. As the years have passed, the film has come to be beloved and while watching it recently I wondered...where the hell is our sequel?

One of my favorite parts about the film (besides the hilarious John Witherspoon) was the idea of Black Vampires and their backstory. Eddie Murphys character Maximillian was a smooth ass dude from an unknown Carribean island where it's suggested they existed in abundance at one time and were very wealthy. Max's mission was to get Angela Bassetts character Rita a Dhampir to fall in love with him to sustain their race with time ticking.

Maxmillian displayed traditional vampire powers such as enhanced strength, flying capability, beast like ferocity, and  abundance of thirst while never growing old. He also had additional powers such as metamorphsis and telepathic powers, leading me to wonder does one have to be a vampire for a certain amount of time to gain those additional powers? He also had a ghoul named Julius by his side, who was slowly deteriorating. What was the end game with the ghoul?

At the end of the film the door was left open for a sequel, when Julius becomes a vampire after putting on Max's ring. Which begs the question does one become a vampire in the traditional sense or is a piece of vampire created jewerly all thats needed to become a vampire and have the powers of a vampire? 

    

A sequel could have answered all these burning questions that I have. It could go one of two ways following the ring and a new unsuspecting victim putting it on, learning the ways of being a vampire in modern day Brooklyn. Or following a new vampire going to the Carribean island and learning about their culture. Touch on where Rita and Justice have been all these years later. Is Julius still a vampire or has he been staked for being a damn fool? How does voodoo play a role in defeating these vampires? Why do these batch of vampires dress so immaculate? 

Throw in some comedy, gore and possibly a love story and it would be another B-movie horror classic. We also need more Black horror vampires and vampire hunters.  As the streaming wars grow, these studios have to dig in the vaults to revisit old tales. Besides all that Damnit we deserve A Vampire In Brooklyn 2!

Read More

B's Remake Series-Blacula

What does Grace Jones, Aaliyah, Thandie Newton, Michad Brooks, Adina Porter, Rutina Wesley. Kat Graham, Edi Gathegi, Wesley Snipes, and Eddie Murphy all have in common? They've all played vampires on the big and small screen. The film they have to thank for making that possible is 1972's Blacula.

Starring William Marshall as the smooth laid-back title character. Blacula sparked an series of horror films within the blaxplotation genre during the '70's. The gist of the story is African Prince Maulade is working to free his people from slavery in 1780, but get's transformed into a vampire by Dracula and imprionsed in a crypt. Fast forward to 1972 and he's inadvertently released and comes across a woman named Tina played by Vonetta Mcgee, he believes to be the reincarnation of the wife he left behind.

Making his way around town with the fashion statement of his cape strapped to his back. He makes attempts to woo Tina while wrecking havoc on the town to survive, and keep who he really is a secret. This movie is prime for a reboot.

With the increased focus and embracing of Black culture, and the horror genre overdue for a new Black vampire. Blacula could be the horror film we didn't know we need. 

Maintain the African Prince character and make his personality that of a smooth lothario. Have him awaken in the 2020's unsure of where the hell he is, which has a clear Rip Van Winkle influence and could be used for some comedic effect. One thing the original film didn't address was how awakening centuries later affected Blacula as a person. He just went with the flow and instantly knew how use his new powers as a vampire.

A reboot should focus on the mental psyche of a vampire awakeing alone to a unfamiliar world, a vampire who was of royalty as a man, and show the growing pains of his new life. Keep the love story component of him just wanting to reunite with his true love, because people love a good love story. Throw in some gory bad ass vampire scenes and special effects of how they move, add in classic vampire lore and we have a new Blacula that a new generation can love.

Casting the role, as I mentioned earlier in the blog Blacula is one smooth guy, should a reboot ever occur a smooth fella like Idris Elba would have to play the part. There is an abundance of talented female actresses who could play his love interest so a reboot couldn't go wrong there.

Watching this film it was clear to me Eddie Murphy used it as inspiration when he crafted Vampire In Brooklyn. Maxmillian is the pinnacle of Black vampires for my generation, just as Blacula was for Eddie's generation. The film is by no means perfect but it sparked a sequel Scream Blacula Scream, so it certainly has a legacy. The DNA is there for a rebooted Blacula to be a success, let's hope someone realizes it and inspires a new generation of Black vampires and Black vampire fans.

 

Read More

B's Top Five Vampire Movies

Auburn leaves are falling and the air is getting crisp. Apple cider and candy apples are in abundance. Those who like pumpkin flavor are on cloud nine. It's also Halloween season which means its time for horror marathons. One staple of horror films are vampires.

In pop culture zombies are the pinnacle creatures of the horror genre. Personally I've always preferred vampires and feel the love towards vampires is severely lacking. In all mediums the mythology behind vampires is what draws me in. They have certain rules to abide by in order to survive, they can morph from human form to demonic creatures or bats in a snap. Not all vampires die the same, some explode other's simply dust away, some scream like hell as their bodies burn. All playing a role in the deep mythology of the living dead.

Since I love movies and vampires here are my top 5 vampire movies.

1. The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys on the surface is a campy tonally completely 80's film. The clothes, the hair, the music, the famous beach concert scene all a product of it's times. The film still holds up well and damnit it is a fun ride in the process. Known for it's tagline "You'll never grow old, and you'll never die, but you must feed". The film has so much to offer, Keifer Sutherland who is an underrated actor brings a ice cold cool factor to vampire lead David. Jason Patric shows talent that lead to many thinking he would be a bigger star than he is. Jami Getz  plays her torn lover role well, let's not forget 80's superstars the two Corey's Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. 

The MTV style fast camera shots and quick cuts depictly how fast the vampires seek and destroy it's still an editing marvel. The theme song "Cry Little Sister" is infectious and you will find yourself humming it randomly. The house seige at the end of the film perfectly depicts the many ways vampires go out. Vampire lore in this film includes the "head vampire" of a pack who must be killed to save any half-vampires.

The movie is legendary and  sparked two too late too little sequels in the 2000's that attempted to cash in on name value. There has been a planned TV show in development at the CW for a few years that just can't get new life. One iteration for the show included a pretty cool idea of following the core vampires through various decades . Even if the show never gets off the ground, the demand for more Lost Boys content is there and the first film is undoubtledly a classic. 

2. Blade

Before Marvel Comics as a result of the MCU became the juggernaut that it is today, they were just trying to survive and sold film rights to help stay afloat. In the process came Blade released in 1998 and starring the 1990's Black king of action films Wesley Snipes. Blade is a Dhampir a half-human  half-vampire whose lifes mission is to eradicate the bloodsuckers of the world. He finds himself in a battle with Deacon Frost (bad ass name) played by Stephen Dorff who gives a vicious villain performance. 

Blade has kick ass action scenes, and more kick ass action scenes. It also gives the vampires of it's world a deep mythology and show how sophiscated their society is. They are wealthy, they have mere mortals who wish to be vampires doing their dirty work during the day. "Pure Bloods" or born vampires are considered superior to those who were converted. They keep archives of their history and worship their own religion and blood gods. 

The sequel delves deeper into the vampire culture in this film universe. The third film introduces the original vampire Dracula but falls very flat compared to the first two. Blade is considered a comic book movie above all else, but the inclusion of vampires give its horror attributes. 

Besides the two sequels, Blade also spawned a mini anime series and a  TV show in the mid 2000s starring rapper Sticky Fingaz.  Marhershala Ali is set to bring the character back in the MCU this decade.

3. Underworld Series

This film series all six of them have all the ingredients about vampire lore I love. A full mythology of origins, powers, hierarchies and way of life. Vampires in this film series having ruling elders who take turns hibernating and awakening to lead the species in their war against the lycans (werewolves). Both sides were the result of a genetic mutation centuries ago, and have established their own communities living alongside humans. 

The films are all about the action and have bare plots, especially the first one it's nothing more than a film trying to capitalize of the Matrix's aesthics and special effects, with a Romeo + Juliet love story. All set against the backdrop of a centuries long war between mythical creatures. Despite that I'll stop what I'm doing and watch these films when they come on. 

4. Fright Night

This vampire film released in 1985, and stars Chris Sarandon of Scarface fame and William Ragsdale as  an 80's lovable loser who is obessed with old school horror films,  he suspects something's not quite right with his new neighbor. He set's out on a mission to prove that his neighbor is a vampire and responsible for the recent abductions in the area.

Fright Night is 80's comedy/horror at it's finest. William Ragsdale plays his role well, and Chris Sarandon plays creepy vampire Jerry with enough convinction he wanted to drive a stake through his heart yourself. A sequel was released a few years later, followed by a remake in 2011 starring Colin Farrell and another sequel in 2013.

5. Once Bitten

Released in 1985 and starring Jim Carrey in his first film role as high schooler Mark. Once Bitten has the typical teenage tropes of the 1980's...a teenager just wanting to get laid. Mark has been desperate to lose virginity but his longtime girlfriend won't budge. At the same time there is a vampire countess played by Lauren Hutton who must drink the blood of a virgin three different times by Halloween to stay immortal. A bit of a spin on traditional vampire lore, the film follows Mark as he starts to slowly convert while still trying to get lucky.

Once Bitten isn't gory by any means, and it's a horror comedy but isn't really laugh out loud funny. It deserves some praise for switching up the vampire mythology just a bit on how some may survive. It's one of those films you can turn on and check out from reality for a couple hours. 

Read More

Could Use Dinner And A Movie These Days

 

It's a Saturday Night, its  been a long week and I'm a bit washed. Flipping between cable and the few streaming services I subscribe to, I noticed the abundance of movies from the 80's up to the early 2000's that are played like clockwork on several stations (AMC, VH1, TBS, TNT). It got me thinking...it's time to bring back hosted movie programs. 

I'm not sure what the official name of these programs are called but they go back as far as the 1950's with horror films hosted by personalities. Back in the 90's to early 2000's there were several movie programming blocks hosted by various personalities. Famously airing B-movies and bygone classics, in between commercial breaks the hosts would have skits, interview guest, or just talk about random non-important facts regarding the movie playing. It was entertaining and for a young kid who was big into movies, and was seeing some of them for the first time was quite interesting. 

The USA network had USA Up All Night which aired on Friday and Saturday nights and over it's span was hosted by comedian Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear over it's time. Every Friday Night TBS had Dinner and A Movie a cool concept where dishes were crafted that fit into the theme of the movie playing. I saw Top Gun for the first time at 10 years old watching that show.

One of the more famous personalities to host these shows next to Elvira was Joe Bob Briggs with his Job Bob's Drive-In Theater program on premium cable channel The Movie Channel, and Monstervision on TNT. I saw way too many B-movies watching his program such as Toxic Avenger Trancers and Dollman . I saw the original Swamp Thing watching Monstervision, after seeing the sequel first and was in awe at the complete differences between the two films.

The last program aired on cable like this I'm aware of  was Casino Cinema on SpikeTV in the mid 2000's. In 2018 horror streaming service Shudder bought Joe Bob Briggs back for The Last Drive-In Times have changed and with so much content out there, cable steadily losing ground to streaming services, and several talented entertaining personalities out there. Now's a good as time as any to bring these type's of programs back, and give washed individuals like myself some nostalgia and something to look forward to on Saturday nights when nothing else is on.

Read More