Here we are with another Batch o’ Hatch, and I’m focusing on
three upcoming film events that – in my opinion – are great examples of
escapism at its best.
The Wright Stuff
III
While perusing JoBlo
the other day, I discovered that Edgar Wright, aka director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz aka bringer of joy to millions,
is hosting his third film festival at the New Beverly in Los Angeles,
Californee December 9th through the 16th. This time
around the director is screening films that he's never seen before, which
clearly we shouldn't care about because, if Edgar Wright hasn't seen 'em
they're obviously not important.
But in all seriousness, I'd love to go to this festival, and
I salute anyone lucky enough to attend. If you’ll be there, let me know, I'd
love to hear from you about the event. Read more about The Wright Stuff III at
Mr. Wright's blog.
A Lebowski
Fest will grace the sweet land of Florida on February 10th and
11th and you can bet your pee-stained rug that we’ll be there. I
really can’t wait to meet up with other Achievers, watch the flick, and drink
some White Russians. In terms of events revolving around and/or tied to films,
Lebowski Fest is way up there. It’s a two day fest of drinking, watching the
film, and of course, bowling.
So what, people? Would you go to any of these? ARE you? Let
me know!
I stumbled across this music video for The Black Keys' "Howlin' for You" recently and it caught my eye, for obvious reasons (those reasons being the visual flair and cinematic touches of course).
Of course!
It's more of a trailer for a fake grind house film ala Machete (which became a real movie, hmmm) than a music video but it's not entirely inappropriate for Music Video Monday.
The "trailer" tells the story of an assassin named Alexa Wolff (Tricia Helfer, from Battlestar Gallactica) out for revenge on the man who killed her father when she was a little girl. The clip is fast and pretty funny at times and The Keys themselves show up. The numerous other cameos are cool, although I could have done without seeing Shaun White post coitus.
Without further ado, here's Las Teclas de Negro in "Howlin' For You".
I must begin this post with the confession that yes, for this Favorite Scene Friday!, I cheated a bit. Being that this week celebrates the season of giving thanks, I tried to think about a movie that I am truly thankful for. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is simply a masterpiece. It's beautiful from start to finish - every single scene. There are very few other films that so poignantly portray the human experience - love, loss, happiness, grief, courage, acceptance...the list goes on. With all of that in mind, I truly could not narrow down one favorite scene. I'm actually giving you three, and believe me, it was hard to limit myself to even that number.
The first scene is one that hits me the hardest. It's where a still relatively young (although he doesn't look it) Benjamin takes his ailing father to see one final sunrise on Lake Ponchartrain. It's in this scene that Benjamin evokes the words of the colorful Captain Mike, who he spent time with at sea during World War II.
"You can be mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates. But when it comes to the end, you have to let go."
The second scene pretty much speaks for itself. In the letter Benjamin leaves for his daughter, he writes some of the best advice any of us could ever hope to receive...and these are words we should all try to live by.
For my final scene, I give you the final scene of the movie. Some people were born to sit by a river...
As we enter this holiday season and approach a new year...here's to all of us seeing things that startle us, and feeling things we've never felt before. And always remembering, it's never too late. Happy Friday, everyone!
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (“EVP”) is when mysterious
voices or voice-like sounds can be heard through electronic audio devices. From
Wikipedia:
“Paranormal explanations for the origin of EVP include
living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through
psychokinesis and communication by discarnate entities such as spirits, nature
energies, beings from other dimensions, or extraterrestrials.”
Movies have been quick to utilize this phenomenon in horror
films – there’s not one but two films completely dedicated to
it. I wanted to examine a specific
offshoot of EVP that happens in films more often than one might think – creepy
occurrences on baby monitors.
Let’s start with Insidious,
the most recent film to feature a creepy ass baby monitor scene. See below.
Horrific, right? Insidious
is terrifying for many, many reasons, but that scene might take the cake.
The thought that someone – or in this case, something – could be up in your
baby’s room whispering creepy nothings in its ears…yikes.
Paranormal Activity 2,
another recent horror film,also
features a creepy baby monitor scene.
Ali and Hunter, respective niece and nephew to Katie, the original
film’s possessed protagonist, are playing in one of their home's bedrooms when
Hunter gets spooked by something he sees in a closet and takes off. Ali, who
has been filming up to this point, is forced to put the video camera down on
the bed to take off after her little brother. While unattended, the camera
records the baby monitor picking up some strange activity.
A different kind of ghostly baby monitor scene appears in
the vastly underappreciated 1999 horror flick, Stir of Echoes. Kevin Bacon’s Tom Witzky gets hypnotized at a party
and starts seeing and hearing a smorgasbord of supernatural terrors in his
house. But one of the creepiest scenes features his young son, Jake.
It’s date night for Tom and he and his wife Maggie go out
with some friends to a local sporting event. They hire a babysitter who quickly
plops down on the couch, with a baby monitor to keep an ear on Jake nearby.
The scene is creepy enough with Jake’s heavy, constant
breathing on the baby monitor. But suddenly, his breathing stops. The
babysitter holds the monitor close and Jake suddenly exclaims “YOU SCARED ME!”
The ghost haunting Jake's house has woken him up, and the two begin to casually
talk about the babysitter downstairs.
Ghost flicks aren’t the only films to utilize the creepy
baby monitor. Remember the Wikipedia quote that mentions extraterrestrials? Signs, the 2002 film from M. Night Shyamalan,
features a scene in which Morgan, son of Mel Gibson’s grieving widower Rev.
Graham Hess, reveals that he’s using an old baby monitor to try and pick up on
signals from visiting aliens.
But finally, the creepy baby monitor scene to end all creepy
baby monitor scenes occurs in a film you probably haven’t even heard of – The Baby’s Room, a film practically
dedicated to creepy ass baby monitors. The 2006 Spanish film – part of the “6
Films to Keep You Awake” series – revolves around a family that begins to
notice strange things on their baby monitors. With this film, however, it isn’t
just what they’re hearing – the movie features video baby monitors as well as the
standard audio device, making the film even creepier.
Gah!
The movie starts out a little slow and gets strange when it
starts talking about Schrödinger's cat and evil twins, but it’s got some solid
scares.
I might have to try out one of these baby monitors and see
what all the fuss is about. Surely nothing scary will happen if I leave one in
my bedroom and keep the other next to me while I rewatch Insidious…
In recognition of the amazing news that Dr. Dog will be releasing their forthcoming album, Be The Void on February 7, I have picked one of their best tunes for today’s Music Video Monday. If you don’t know this band, please, I beg you, let them into your ears. Their sound will tunnel it’s way deep down into your soul and you’ll never be able to get it out.
The Philadelphia band, who has been compared to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, first caught my attention as part of a compilation album and then next at the 2010 Harvest of Hope Fest in St. Augustine. Their live show, although cut short because of rain, was incredible. Since then, they’ve become one of my favorite bands and when they performed at Freebird Live in April, I was there to finally hear a full set. I wasn’t disappointed and looking back I kinda wish I would’ve made the trip to Orlando Calling two weekends ago. I have my fingers crossed that they’ll hit the road sometime in spring or summer 2012 to promote the new album.
“The Ark” comes from their 2008 release Fate. An incredible album that features such songs as, “The Breeze”, “Hang On”, “The Old Days”, “The Rabbit, the Bat, and the Reindeer”, “From”, “The Beach” & “My Friend”. Enjoy your Monday!
Today's FSF comes from one of most underrated and under appreciated comedies of the 80's. I first saw Used Cars when I was around 10 or 11. Although I didn't understand some of the comedy at the time, I thought it was hilarious. Plus mom and dad didn't know I watched it, so that made it even better. It stars a young Kurt Russell as a wise talking, shister of a car salesman. A role similar to his character in another funny movie, The Best of Times. Used Cars was written and directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by non other than StevenSpielberg. How can you not wanna a see a movie with those three involved?
Rudy Russo (Russell) and Jeff (Gerrit Graham) portray slacker car salesmen working for used car dealer Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden). Luke's competition is his brother Roy (Warden as well), who is located directly across the street. Roy has plans to take over his brother's poorly run lot, but after Luke dies, Rudy and Jeff have other plans.
In this scene, Jeff and Freddie (David L. Lander a.k.a "Squiggy") have high jacked the air waves to run a commercial for New Deal Used Cars. Jeff, dressed as Marshall Lucky, shoots down the competition as well as the menacing Mr. High Prices (Frank McRae) himself. It's one of the funniest scenes in a movie filled with tons funny scenes. Enjoy and if you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.
The news today (from JoBlo.com
via The
Hollywood Reporter) that old school video game “Rampage” is being made into a
movie means that we’ve got at least three giant monster movies on the way. The
other two are Gareth Edward’s Godzilla reboot and Guillermo del
Toro’sPacific Rim.
I’m honestly the most excited about Pacific Rim because a) del Toro and b) Idris Elba is in it. The
film concerns what happens when giant monsters appear on Earth and a team of
giant robot-operating good guys have to fight back.
The Godzilla reboot I feel meh about. Gareth Edward’s Monsters was okay but a little
boring at the end of the day. Hopefully Godzilla will be more prevalent than Monsters’ titular beasts were. And no
Matthew Broderick or baby Godzillas, please.
I guess we’ve got a bit of a “giant monster” renaissance
going on what with recent films like King
Kong, Cloverfield, and Monsters and these upcoming flicks.My friend had an old copy of “Rampage”
in college which we played quite a bit, so it’ll be interesting to see how the
game – in which you’re just supposed to smash everything in sight – translates to
the big screen.
One of the monsters
was a werewolf, BTW ;)
Anyone excited about any of these flicks? Know of any others
on the way?
Super 8 hits home screens on Tuesday the
22nd and we here on the other side of the Hatch can’t really agree
on what we should watch with it.
Nick
says Stand By Me would make for the
perfect double feature, I think The
Goonies would be awesome,
and Tiff has never seen E.T. and
understandably wants some of that action.
Allof these films would make for great
second features since they’re about a young group of kids on crazy
adventures, just like Super 8.
But we
need your help, dear readers. What do you think would go great with Super 8? Chime in below or, even better, on the poll over at our Facebook page.
The Community Debacle
As you
may have heard, Community has been “benched”.
The A.V.
Club reports that the show is being pulled from the lineup to make room for
30 Rock (man I never thought I would
hate 30 Rock, if even for a brief
slice of time). I guess this won’t happen immediately, however – Wikipedia
shows episodes airing up until December 1.
Nick and
I are huge Community fans. He wanted
me to express his personal anger towards NBC. Words like “heinous”, “repugnant”,
and “quagmire” were thrown around. I’m thinking about organizing a silent
candle vigil for the show, ala Season 1’s “Spanish 101” episode.
I chose today’s video for two reasons (well, two reasons other than the fact that I absolutely love the song).The first is that I was recently on a trip and, as a result, missed what I hear was an amazing Death Cab for Cutie performance in Jacksonville.The second reason is that although I have watched this video several times in the past, I have a new appreciation for it – particularly the main (and really only) character, and all of her wanderlust.I love how she carries herself as she explores foreign, exotic lands all on her own.I love her quiet composure as she takes it all in.My recent trip was a similar experience.While I didn’t go to the exotic Far East, I did travel outside of the country on my own, and I discovered places I had never seen, some that I didn’t know existed. I saw places too beautiful for words, and pushed myself to get out and see different things on my own.It was such an awesome feeling of accomplishment, and from now on anytime I hear this song or see this video, it will bring about that feeling in me.
Aside from my personal connection to the video, I think the storyline is pretty interesting, and fits the song well.It's sad that Ben Gibbard sings of this strong determination to possess her heart, while she is out in these warm, bright, beautiful places, and he is singing to her from a frigid, cavernous room.She is completely removed from him – she might as well be worlds away – and he is very much outside of her heart.It makes me wonder if he will ever even get close.
It’s a bittersweet storyline, but the video provides some amazing imagery.So, whether you think the song is a sad tale of unrequited love or a stalker anthem…I hope you enjoy the video.Happy Monday, everyone.
I knew when Halloween was over I'd wanna post a feel good scene for you guys - Nick had the same idea - and it's hard not to smile as big as Joseph Gordon-Levitt when you watch this one.
I do love this scene but I didn't fall for the film as a whole when I first saw it. Although any movie that pulls off obliterating the fourth wall like this is doing something right.
May you have a great weekend and may marching bands play for you wherever you go!
Word is, some viewers of the Nationwide
Alert yesterday heard Lady Gaga playing just before the alert began. Assuming
FEMA and the FCC will take requests, we thought we’d suggest some appropriate songs for the next alert.
To The Escape
Hatch! Nationwide Alert Playlist:
Robert
“Urgent” by Foreigner
“It's the End of the World as We Know It” by R.E.M.
Tiffany
“The End” by Kings Of Leon
“Death” by White Lies
“Wake Up” by Arcade Fire
Nick
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who
“Steady, As She Goes” by The Raconteurs
Pat
“Left Behind” by SlipKnot
“All
Hope is Gone” by Slipknot
“Hysteria”
by Muse
“The Heretic Anthem” by Slipknot
Any suggestions? Post ‘em below!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
CHRISTMAS IS EARLY THIS YEAR!
Hey Kids,
December is right around the corner so why not check out the spectacular new EP from The Decemberists, Long Live The King. Not sure if you guys have heard it yet, but it’s six tracks of stupendous, non-heinous music. These are basically the tracks that didn’t (for who knows what reason) make the cut on their previous outing, The King Is Dead. Every track on here is worthy of a spot on that album, except maybe the home demo of I 4 U & U 4 Me (not even sure what album that’s off of) and that’s not to say that the song is bad in any way, shape or form; I only meant that demo’s shouldn’t be on a final cut album unless listed as a bonus track.
Anywho, after the revelation of Robert’s enjoyment of The Avett Brothers, I’d venture to say that he would really enjoy these guys as well. Think of The Bros, only with a more distinctive (not necessarily better, mind you) voice and lyrics that make Magic The Gathering fans tinkle their tidy, little nickers with awe and amazement.
Standout tracks: Burying Davy and the groovy Grateful Dead cover, Row Jimmy.
Hello friends, family, Hatchlings, and fellow bloggers. How are you? How’s the gout? Anyway, thought I’d write about a few things for ya.
"I Finally Saw…"
I watched a Brian Dennehy-sized amount of films over the weekend. I’d never seen any of these before.
1. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. Disclosure
4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
5. Dial M for Murder
6. Primal Fear
7. Brazil
I’d love to share some thoughts on all of those, but I’m really compelled to talk about Disclosure. As you may know, it’s a mostly serious film about a sexual harassment dispute between Michael Douglas (harassee) and Demi Moore (harasser) at a big software company and the corporate intrigue that results from it. Here's the trailer in case you're interested.
There’s some odd scenes sprinkled throughout the film, including one where Donald Sutherland sexually harasses Michael Douglas (in a dream) and the gem below. Watch it and come back.
If you haven't seen the film, Michael Douglas enters that virtual reality program to find some computer files. Keep in mind, the whole movie up to this scene had been very serious in tone and mostly just featured people in board rooms yelling at each other. Then all of a sudden Michael Douglas is The Lawnmower Man or something. It was really odd and didn't fit with the rest of the film at all. I figured I'd point that out, since there's obviously some people out there that haven't seen the film, plus, anyone who has seen it probably forgot how ridiculous it was since they saw it in the nineties. What's even funnier is that the scene is glimpsed in the trailer above. Anyone watching that probably assumed Disclosure was some sort of sci-fi film.
Horror Shows
Let's talk about horror shows. There are a crazy amount of them on TV recently (damn near Brian Dennehy levels). The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Grimm – I realize that Grimm is more fantasy/fairy tale oriented but, go with me – and then you’ve got upcoming shows like Alcatraz (I think this is more of a sci-fi show) and The River (which I previously wrote about here). Not to mention SyFy shows and crap like the Vampire Diaries and True Blood (and I realize the latter isn’t crap but it’s old news).
Nick recently predicted the upcoming The Adjustment Bureau TV series (read the Joblo article talking about the actual forthcoming series here) and that, plus all the horror shows as of late made me want to talk about my idea for a TV series version of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Maybe the TV show fairy that granted Nick's wish will read this.
I think the series would lend itself nicely to TV. Think NoES #3: Dream Warriors. The series would focus on the kids at a sleep clinic/psychiatric ward and their doctors. Kids could get picked off from week to week and eventually Freddy would come into play.
The only thing would be getting the right Freddy. Jackie Earle Haley did a pretty good job in the otherwise horrible NoES remake recently, so obviously Robert Englund isn't the end all be all of Freddies.
The Avett Brothers at The Florida Theatre
Tiff alerted us that The Avett Brothers will be playing at Jacksonville’s Florida Theatre in February and I'm excited to hear them play. I was gonna check the Brothers Avett out at Orlando Calling this Saturday, but I’m pretty strapped for cash. I’ll be super rich by February, right?
One of the reasons that I like these guys so much is that they have a good balance of fun songs (check out At The Beach) and sadder, introspective songs (Murder in the City always makes me tear up).
For this week’s installment of Music Video Monday, I’ve chosen a singer/songwriter who I’ve (within the past year) been absolutely enamored with. I’ve chosen him for a couple of reasons. 1) Not only is this dude worthy of our blog, but I also have the fortunate opportunity to see him perform live in St. Augustine, FL later this month and 2) My fellow Hatchers keep telling me they have no idea who he is, hence their hesitation to join me in St. Augustine, so I’ve posted this song to introduce them, and you, to the awesomeness that is Josh Ritter.
I first heard of him in a local Barnes and Noble store when I noticed his most recent album cover, So Runs The World Away. A riverboat graces the cover and the critics cited on the sleeve mentioned something along the lines of “great storyteller in the vein of Twain.” Naturally that peaked my interest and when I previewed the album right there in the store, I thought to myself, These critics are spot-on. Obviously I bought the CD and was immediately blown away. Contained on that album is Folk Bloodbath, which I’ve mentioned in a previous post (but you already knew that, didn’t you?), and remains one of my favorite Ritter tracks. I really hope he performs it in my presence. The song below however is not on that album, but from his 2007 album, The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter – anyone else picking up on the spectacular song/album titles? – and is worthy of any music fan’s ears. It’s an uplifting piece and I hope it lifts you as high as it does me. And yes, my fingers are crossed that I’ll hear this one live too.
If you’re amazed with this track, here are some others that deserve a listen. They’d make one hell of an EP:
Folk Bloodbath
Thin Blue Flame
Change Of Time
Galahad
Girl In The War
There are many, many more outstanding pieces of music in this dude’s catalogue so if you find yourself enjoying these tracks, do yourself a favor and buy his albums. Hell, I did.
P.S. Check out The Escape Plan for an extra added bonus.
