Batch o' Hatch: Doctor Strange, Breaking Beer, 4th of Jaws-ly, and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

Hey, friendos. I hope you’re having a good July! Let’s catch up over a new Batch.

News

Doctor Strange

Early last week, JoBlo (via Latino-Review and comicbookmovie.com) reported that Marvel may want Doctor Strange to serve as their new Iron Man franchise. I’m all for this. Doctor Stephen Strange makes for a compelling character. He’s got a great origin story (he’s a gifted but arrogant surgeon who breaks his hands and ends up learning magic as a way to heal himself) and the tone is a little different from Iron Man (or any Marvel film) so it will surely be fresh.

Wikipedia

Breaking Beer

Breaking Bad is coming to an end soon, and what better way to say goodbye than to drink some beer inspired by the show? This AV Club article points out that, unfortunately, folks outside of the Albuquerque area may not be able to get their hands on the Marble Brewery beer. But it would go so well with these blue meth cupcakes that I’m planning on making!

4th of Jaws-ly

What are your 4th of July plans? Ours involve the beach but Jaws on the big screen is also on the agenda. Yes, Sun-Ray Cinema, everyone’s favorite indie theater, is showing the flick this Thursday, complete with a slice of apple pie. Because if there’s anything more American than Roy Scheider 'sploding a great white shark, it’s apple pie.

Sun-Ray's Facebook

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

Nick brought to my attention that Universal Studios Orlando is using The Cabin in the Woods as their source of horror for Halloween Horror Nights this year. I wanna go!

Cabin turned out to be one of the most original horror movies in recent memory, so this year’s HHN should be awesome. Fingers crossed for a merman.

Wikipedia

Trailers

The Conjuring - via JoBlo

Another trailer for The Conjuring? Sure. This one’s even creepier than the last few because it really sells the fact that the film is based on a true story. I honestly kind of forgot that this was coming out this month, so I’m pretty stoked.



Escape Plan - via JoBlo

This trailer paints the movie as a solid action flick. It looks like it has a little more brains than the films Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been in lately. Why couldn’t Arnie and Sly have made this 20 years ago, though?



And how did 50 Cent get in this? This thing is being released in the theaters, right?

Tweets

LOTTA great tweets for this Batch.

Shyamalan says he's "getting close" to making an Unbreakable sequel. Say what you will about his last few films, but I'd see that.
— Alex Withrow (@shiftingPersona) May 30, 2013

At this point, this is probably the only Shyamalan film I would ever go to the theater for.

Maybe Predator was just angry and violent because he couldn't see well.
— Hummingbird Heart ♥ (@Tiff0728) June 1, 2013

Good point!

To anyone trying to sell your TV: when someone comes to buy it, put the Blu-Ray of DRIVE on. They can't not buy it.
— Alex Withrow (@shiftingPersona) June 4, 2013

I'll have to keep this in mind!

I miss Quantum Leap
— Candice Frederick (@ReelTalker) June 8, 2013

Me too!

WORK SHED
— Lucy (@bmovielass) June 14, 2013

Evil Dead tweet. Groovy.

Summertime...more like CHUM-mertime, am I right people?? pic.twitter.com/AzPSilOAKN
— Hummingbird Heart ♥ (@Tiff0728) June 14, 2013

♫CHUM-mer, CHUM-mer, CHUM-mer tiiiiime!!!♫

Man of Stealing My Time and Money
— Hummingbird Heart ♥ (@Tiff0728) June 15, 2013

Exactly.

Argo fuck yourself. NOW I GET IT.
— George Bell (@CallMeSirPhobos) June 16, 2013

OHHHHH.

Get ready.  In July: it's the 2nd Annual TAG Network Crossover.   6 shows. 13 Podcasters. 1 giant event!  #Podcast http://t.co/QUhk8a7jky
— TAG Network  (@TAGNetwork) June 18, 2013

Fantastic image. Get excited for the @TAGNetwork crossover later this summer. Stay tuned to theatomicgeeks.com!

@zerbert Alcohol poisoning is in your future
— Ron  (@evildeadron) June 22, 2013

I survived!

For the past few days I've been misreading that "Paula Deen: Fired" headline as "Paula Deen: Fried" (which would be a fitting end actually).
— CT (from Nerd Lunch) (@nerdlunch) June 25, 2013

Indeed.

Obsessive Cinematic Disorder: I’m Obsessed with Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is the first film I remember seeing in a movie theater (well, that and The Addams Family). I’m sure it’s the case with many of you, but this was the first time I really lost myself in a movie. Watching realistic-looking dinosaurs eat people and joining the movie’s heroes on their quest to survive the island is an escapist experience I’ll always remember.

IMDb

Culture is nothing if not cyclical, as evidenced by the film’s 20th Anniversary 3D re-release. I’m checking it out again on the big screen this Saturday and I couldn’t be more excited.  Hold on to your butts!!!

Wikipedia

If I’m obsessed with any film, it’s probably Jurassic Park. I’ve got some examples of my obsession below, ranked from “Mild” to “Medium” to “Creepy”. Let’s take a look.

Mild

Books

Yep, I’ve read both of the books. The movies and the novels actually encouraged me to read other Michael Chrichton books such as "Congo", "Sphere", and "Timeline". None are as good as "Jurassic Park".

Wikipedia

Soundtrack

I actually can’t remember if I owned the soundtrack for the original film or the sequel (or both), but either way I loved it/them. The CD itself had a pretty bad-ass pop-up case. I don’t think I have it anymore and I can’t find pictures online, but trust me. It was cool.

Sequel

I’m pretty excited for Jurassic Park 4, which is apparently to be directed by Colin Trevorrow, the guy behind Safety Not Guaranteed. No word yet on half-human machine-gun-toting dinos but hopefully it’ll be a step-up from the last two lackluster sequels.

Medium

Theme Park

I live a few hours from Orlando, Florida so of course I’ve been to Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure and its Jurassic Park section. This one isn’t that weird, but living in Florida near Universal Studios allows me to be a little more movie-obsessed than people outside of the state.

"High fiveOHWAAAIIITTT!!!"

The JP section of the park has a river adventure ride and a few other attractions. One point of interest that (I think) they discontinued was a walking-tour of sorts where you eventually encounter a realistic-looking dinosaur being tended to by one of the park's "vets". You couldn't check the fake dinosaur's droppings for traces of West Indian Lilac, though, so what's the point?

Ringtone

For the longest time I used the T-Rex roar on my cell phone for text alerts. It was assigned to my sister, who loves Jurassic Park as much as me (if not more). I retired it because it started scaring the crap out of me (and others).

*Sidenote - I’m pretty sure someone else in my circle also uses this tone (Nick?). Respect to you, my friend.

Creepy

Dr. Grant Sequels

I’ve given serious thought to how Dr. Alan Grant could have had his own spin-off series. I always thought the third movie should have ended with Dr. Grant as, like, a Jurassic Park tour guide of sorts. It’s what he really wants to do, people! Just let him live his life.

Multiple two hour movies of just this.

I Fished a Jurassic Park Cup out of a McDonald’s Garbage Can

Okay! This is getting embarrassing. Let me explain. I was eight going on nine at the time (when the movie was out in theaters) when I was eating at McDonald’s with my family. I noticed a guy throw a McDonald’s Jurassic Park cup away on his way out of the restaurant. I was like, “WHATAFOOL!!!” and proceeded to pull it back out of the garbage (which is a very, very un-OCD thing to do). I thought it was a rare find at the time but I realize now that it was probably just a cheap plastic cup that came with a combo meal. My dad seemed proud of me for digging it out of the garbage (which is kind of worrisome on its own). I’m sure we washed it before I re-used it. I hope.

So those are the ways I’ve been obsessed with Jurassic Park over the years. Hopefully seeing it again on the big screen won’t cause some sort of relapse. Are you obsessed with the film too? Let me know! We can get through this thing together.

Batch o’ Hatch: Sun-Ray Cinema Opening, Farewell, Jaws Ride: Part 1, and The Cabin in the Woods Trailer

Sun-Ray Cinema Opening

The Florida Times-Union has an article up about the opening of Sun-Ray Cinema this week in Jacksonville. Tim Massett – a Jacksonville native – and Shana David-Massett are behind the new theatre, which will feature a new screen, a kitchen, and other improvements in general.

Sun-Ray Cinema

I’m immensely excited about the new theater opening this week, especially with the potential lineup of initial films we’d get – Melancholia, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, The Human Centipede 2 (probably be skipping that one – I got enough centipede shenanigans from the first one), and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

The theater space used to be home to the 5 Points Theatre, which was a great place for indie movie and film event lovers (which definitely included us – two of our posts about films at 5 Points are here and here).  The theater has been closed since Halloween, so I’ve definitely been jonesing for independent cinema. I’ve got high hopes for Sun-Ray, especially for their special events, like screenings of The Walking Dead on Sundays. 

Check out Sun-Ray's blog right here.

Farewell, Jaws Ride: Part 1

On that note, I probably won’t even be able to check out the theater until early next week. Sun-Ray isn’t really scheduled to open until Friday, and I’ll be out of town. And even if it opens on Thursday (the article mentions the theater could open “a day or two earlier if renovations go well”) I can’t attend, as it’s my birthday and I’ve already got plans. Although that would be an awesome birthday present. I guess there’s always tomorrow.

Anyway, the reason I’ll be out of town is that I’m going to Orlando to visit Universal Studios for my aforementioned birthday. Normally I probably wouldn’t blog about visiting a theme park – even one that revolves around movies – but I figured this was a special occasion since THEJAWSRIDEISCLOSING!!??

The news comes from JoBlo (can you tell I get most of my movie news from them?) via the Universal Orlando Resort Facebook page, and their post explains that the 20+ year-old ride is getting the axe because Universal is putting in something “new, innovative & amazing”. 

Universal Orlando Resort

I’m glad I get to experience the ride one last time because a) I haven’t been to Universal Studios in years and b) I missed riding on the Back to the Future attraction one last time before it was converted into The Simpsons ride. Not this time, uncaring Universal Studios Florida executives. Not this time.

I’ll post something next week about my last experience with the ride.

The Cabin in the Woods Trailer

In other news, courtesy of – wait for it…JoBlo (via Yahoo! Movies), we finally have a trailer for The Cabin in the Woods, a horror/sci-fi flick directed by Drew Goddard (writer of Cloverfield) produced by Joss Whedon, and co-written by both of them. According to Wikipedia, Cabin has been delayed for about two years now. It was filmed before Chris Hemsworth did Thor, look at how puny he looks!

Nope, still more than capable of kicking my ass

To tell you the truth, I’m puzzled by this trailer. I was expecting an Evil Dead knockoff and I got…well I don’t even know. Check it out: