Category Archives: Movies
Addicted to the knife… (or “why I love Repo! The Genetic Opera”)
I’m surprised I haven’t really written about one of my favorite geeky things yet in the past two weeks I’ve been a proud writer here at The GeeksFTW.
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Never heard of it? Let me give you a few reasons why you should go out and pick this up:
1. Much of the movie involves ripping out people’s organs and singing maniacally while doing so.
2. Anthony Stewart Head (yes, Giles!) sings the lead role.
3. Where else can you see Bill Moseley and Nivek Ogre (from Skinny Puppy) play homicidal brothers?
4. Terrance Zdunich as the Graverobber is definitely a hot goth boy.
And the reason that actually gets most people to watch it:
5. Haven’t you always wanted to see Paris Hilton’s face fall off?
Now that you have those reasons, I can give you a quick summary:
It’s in the “not too distant future†and the human race got a little ahead of itself with technology. The population fell victim to a disease called Neural Overstimulation Syndome which cause massive orgran failures. Billions died because of this until a company called GeneCo, headed by the Largo family, came up with a way to create and patent replacement organs. People who couldn’t afford transplants could finance them instead. With this new lease on life “upgrading†your body with surgery became fashionable and very popular. A new anesthetic was developed by GeneCo called Zydrate. This drug was highly addictive and blackmarket (and dangerous) versions of it extracted from dead bodies started being sold as well (with the dealers often being Graverobbers).
The downside to this came if you defaulted on your payments. When that happened GeneCo sent out special enforcers called Repo Men to get back their property…without anesthesia.
It’s in this setting that we find one man, his daughter, a corrupt family and the ties that bind them all in a complex web as one young girl tries to break free of her genetic destiny.
Tell me that didn’t intrigue you a least a little bit.
As you probably guessed by now, this is a rock opera. Yes, that means there is singing. However, with people like Bill Moseley and Ogre singing a couple of lead roles, this isn’t your typical musical. Even my friends who can’t stand musicals seem to love this movie. The gore is the type that is so over the top that it’s funny. (wait till you get to the “puppet†moment….trust me) The comic art sequences that are inserted to give the backstories are amazing and drawn by one of the creators of the movie, Terrance Zdunich. The music is catchy. I promise that “Zydrate Anatomy†will get stuck in your head in a good way.
And finally, the story is well written. As Shilo (the daughter) explores the world outside that she’s been locked away from during her life you find yourself caught up in her discoveries and how she reacts to the strange people that she encounters. I also love the interactions between the head of GeneCo, Rotti Largo, and his three children.
The movie itself has already attained a solid cult status among fans and has followed in the tradition of Rocky Horror Picture Show of being a film that has “official†shadowcasts around the world. Many cities boast a Repo! shadowcast that is well rehearsed with costumes, props, sets, special fx and even their own home venues. I’m the creator and co-director (and Graverobber) of the shadowcast here in Nashville, Testify! And I gotta say, we’re about to have our third performance and even after watching/listening to this movie hundreds of times (I’ve lost count….I lost count about 2 months into creating the shadowcast) I still love this film. It’s one that I just can’t seem to get tired of.
Terrance often describes the movie as one that you either love or hate. I have to agree, though I was originally “meh†about it untill a sudden obsession with it hit me three months after the first watching. Even knowing that, give it a try. Watch it through to the end. Then drop me a line and let me know what you thought.
Testify!
Session 9: Who doesn’t love haunted mental hospitals?
Looking for a suspenseful horror flick that is heavy on the creepy and light on the gore? Want something with an ending that will make you shiver? “Session 9†may be just the thing you need.
I found this movie through a roommate back when I lived in California during one of our weekly movie nights. Since the first watching of this particular film I’ve recommended it many friends. About half of them love it and half of them are more of the “meh†reaction. I admit, if you want a movie that does all the thinking for you, this one isn’t it. There were twists that had me re-watching to make sure that I caught something properly and the whole movie can make you sit there for bit after it’s over just lost in thought.
Here’s a quick summary:
A small asbestos removal crew wins a bid to clean out an old mental hospital in an extremely short amount of time. The crew itself has its own issues: one member who is angry at another who stole a girlfriend, one who is new to the job and has a severe phobia of the dark, one who has problems at home and so on. They each react to the job and the atmosphere of the hospital in a different way. One of the workers finds a box marked “Evidence†while cleaning and begins to listen to the nine session tapes of a patient called Mary who has multiple personality disorder. Through the movie we get to listen to excerpts of these sessions played over the action of the movie. The personalities all refer to an incident that happened early in Mary’s life and another personality called “Simon†that they fear.
I can’t really explain more without giving away spoilers and trust me, you need to watch this movie and be surprised. I will say that the very last line of the movie is my favorite and I often quote it when I’m in full creepy mood.
Overall the movie is a wonderfully creepy look into the minds of several folks, letting us see a fraction of the broken personalities and paranoia that grows through the film. Let’s just add to that mix with the setting of a recently shut down mental hospital. When are mental hospitals NOT creepy? The tapes of Mary’s sessions that we hear played throughout (as there’s not as much dialogue as you might expect between the workers) heighten the sense of anticipation and suspense, all leading to the final line of the movie.
Ha! After writing about it I now want to watch it as soon as I get home. Have you seen it or are you curious to see it? Let me know what you think!
“I thought they smelled bad on the outside!”
About 10 years ago I realized that I had a special power. Nothing quite X-Men worthy but still something to write home about. I have the ability to come up with a completely ridiculous idea and then convince other people that it’s really a great idea and to go along with it. You may think that’s not really noteworthy but it was this power that help me make a film called “Terminator: The Musical?” (no I’m not kidding, it exists), create the first Repo! The Genetic Opera shadowcast in Nashville, TN and start what looks to become an annual event at Dragon*Con known as the “Race of the Tauntauns!”.
Yes, you read that correctly. Race of the Tauntauns. It’s essentially a sack race using sleeping bags that look like tauntauns from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Most are ones that have been purchased from thinkgeek.com but racers can also enter their own homemade ones as long as they are sleeping bags and still look like tauntauns. I came up with this idea after I finally bought one of these sleeping bags and then wondered if I could get anyone to do a sack race with me. The next logical step was to see if anyone wanted to race at Dragon*Con. After that it got put on the official schedule and ThinkGeek offered up prizes for the first three winners.
The first annual Race of the Tauntauns at Dragon*Con was a hit with 7 racers, a Wookie obstacle, a huge crowd and plenty of video taken of the race. It went so well that my friend who is con chair of a local geek convention in Nashville, Geek Media Expo (GMX), asked me to do a race here at the convention in October.
So now, go ahead and dispute my special power. After all, how many folks do you know who have managed to convince a bunch of people to hop a race track in $100 sleeping bags that look like a sci-fi creature avoiding ridiculous obstacles?
“L, do you know Shinigami love Apples?â€
I’m usually very wary of movie adaptations of books, comics and anime…and with good reason (I mean, look at the Harry Potter movies). So it was with a bit of trepidation that I watched the first Death Note movie. At that time I hadn’t finished the entire anime so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Yes, certain plot points veered from the anime (much in the same way that the anime veers from the manga) but overall the movie stayed true. Heck, the final scene of that first movie was an epic moment in and of itself. I actually pumped my first in the air when watching it for the first time and cheered.
The second movie “Death Note 2: The Last Name†picked up immediately after the first one and continued the plot line. Again, it veered, but this time in ways that I not a single problem with. Trust me, if you’re an L fan then you’ll love the second movie.
Then a third movie was released and this one I was lucky enough to catch for a one night showing in theaters with the subtitled version. This one was called “L: Change the WorLd†and it also picked up immediately where the previous movie left off. Even with the chatterboxes behind me in the theater, I totally enjoyed this movie that gave us a deeper look into L’s character and mannerisms. (It was also creepy that I saw this in theaters just before the Swine Flu outbreak…if you’ve seen the movie then you’ll know why that was creepy timing.)
The actors that were chosen for the various roles impressed me. I was quite happy with all of the choices and extremely excited that the seiyuu for Ryuk reprised his character. After all, that Shinigami just wouldn’t be the same with a different voice.
I’m also totally convinced that Matsuyama Ken’ichi is the perfect live-action L. He had the posture, the mannerisms and the look completely down pat. Even L’s way of sitting (or “perchingâ€) was perfect.
If you loved the anime series (especially if you loved the first half best or are a giant L fan) then you’ll adore the films. Even if you loved the second half of the anime (and I’ll forgive you for that) you’ll still enjoy the films. They’re even a good starting point for folks who haven’t seen the anime and aren’t sure when they’ll have time. The movies are good as stand alone sources for the series and yet compliment it extremely well when you’ve been able to watch it all.
Any thoughts or opinions? Favorite parts of the movie? Hated them with a passion? Drop a note!
Alice at Last: A few favorite incarnations
made by Yappichick
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I’ve loved the story “Alice in Wonderland†since I was little. Since the new Disney movie by Tim Burton came out there’s been a large surge of interest in the various incarnations. Earlier this week I got into a brief conversation on Twitter about some of the different movies and I decided to list a few of my favorites.
Disney’s animated “Alice in Wonderlandâ€
How many folks remember watching this as a kid and wishing you could have un-birthdays? I have a nostalgic love for this film and the music in it. Even now I can still hear the Cheshire Cat singing those lines from the Jabberwock poem. While I’m not as big of a fan of it now, it still goes on my list of favorites simply because it was one of the first that I remember.
“Alice in Wonderland†& “Through the Looking Glass†(1985)
This TV movie was memorable for many reasons. It had an incredible cast and followed the plot of the books rather well. I’ll never be able to forget the first stanza of the poem “Father William†thanks to Sammy Davis Jr. dancing and singing it as the Caterpillar. Then there were the things that gave me nightmares such as Carol Channing as the White Queen turning into a sheep (which did happen in the book) and the very scary (at the time) Jabberwock. While I admit the effects look somewhat cheesy today, I recently rewatched this one and was happy to find that I enjoyed it just as much now as I did then.
American McGee’s Alice
I happened across this one while visiting a friend over the summer years ago. I watched him play it all the way through and realized that I loved the storyline. And older Alice who survived a fire that killed her parents (after her first trip down the rabbit hole) is locked in a mental hospital and has to fight her own insanity which is also warping the very real Wonderland that she’s still tied to. Who wouldn’t love that? Plus a Cheshire Cat with piercings and tattoos? And now they’re making a sequel? One of my favorites without question.
Syfy’s “Aliceâ€
I wasn’t sure what I would think of this version of Alice in Wonderland. The storyline is quite different and many of the characters adjusted to fit in the new story. Even the Hatter wasn’t quite as mad as he normally is though the White Knight cracked me up to no end. Still, I have to admit, but the end of this one I decided that I could accept this as one I would recommend and enjoy later. It’s different, the ending is one that made me jump for joy and I admit that Andrew Lee Potts as the Hatter is cute enough to make me watch it again.
Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderlandâ€
To give them credit, they didn’t make a true sequel or reboot it even though this was done through Disney and could have easily been either. Instead they took the original story and decided to set this one years after that. The first time I watched this one I thought it was good, nothing exciting and decided that I preferred the character of Chessur (the Cheshire Cat) to the others in the film. Less than a day later the movie had grown on me like a fungus and I found my love of the Mad Hatter renewed. It’s easy to get distracted by the visuals and score but the storyline is an excellent one and I highly recommend this incarnation.
And that’s my rundown of my favorite Alice in Wonderland incarnations! Do you have others that I didn’t mention or a different opinion on the ones I did? Hit me up with a comment!
Music to make you feel epic: Pirates of the Caribbean
I have to admit, I was a little nervous while trying to decide on my first post here on The GeeksFTW! but it hit me this morning as I was driving to work…
Geeky music. Specifically the scores to the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
If I’m feeling the need for epic, these are the soundtracks that I always pull up to listen to. Nothing can make the morning (or evening) commute more interesting than listening to a track like “The Kraken†from “Dead Man’s Chest†as I’m merging onto the interstate.
Listening to the soundtrack from “Curse of the Black Pearl†can take me back seven years ago to when the movie just came out in theaters. I immediately bought the soundtrack and promptly blew out the speakers in my car listening to it at almost top volume. From the jaunty riffs that remind you of Captain Jack Sparrow’s distinctive walk to the sweeping epic music that makes you wish your car had sails and that you had a pirate hat, the first soundtrack is brilliant.
The score to Dead Man’s Chest is just as amazing if a little darker than the first. My favorite track on that is easily “The Kraken†followed by “Davy Jones†that begins with the sound of the music box locket he wears. “At World’s End†competes heavily with the first movie’s score for the winning place of “most epicâ€. The tracks “At Wit’s End†and “Hoist the Colors†(complete with chorus) and “What Shall We Die For†never fail to make me shiver. Add in the spaghetti western feel of the track “Parlay†and you’ve got a score that might not win “most epic†but easily ties for it.
Even if you aren’t normally a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean or of instrumental scores, give these a try.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sit outside on my break, listen to the score and dream of being a pirate.
Batman: Under the Red Hood(Review)
Its been a while since I’ve viewed anything with The Dark Knight himself. And even then it left a bad taste in my mouth with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Still Batman has been one of my favorites so I figured I’d give Under the Red Hood a viewing. I am breaking this down into three parts. Animation,Voice Acting, and Story will be my three categories for this review. And I will not spoil the story.
Animation
The animation seems a bit off from how I’m use to seeing Batman animated. Batman and Nightwing both look decent. The Joker looks horrible. He looks like he is a drug user. Red Hood looks the best out of all the characters. The main problem I have is the way Bruce Wayne,Alfred, and Dick all look pretty bland. They defiantly focused more on the heroes then their real life identities.
Voice Acting
The voice acting is somewhere in the middle of good and bad. Batman/Bruce Wayne is done pretty well. Its not as good as Kevin Conroy, but way better then others. The Joker is pretty bad. The Joker is voiced by John Di Maggio which is best known for his roles as Marcus Fenix from Gears of War and Bender from Futurama. Di Maggio is great at those roles, but just not a good Joker. Neil Patrick Harris is good voicing Nightwing. Red Hood’s voice is pretty good as well. Overall the voice acting is pretty good,but has a few issues.
Story
The story is pretty generic. The big reveal about Red Hood happens halfway,if not less, through the story. They have recycled a lot of stuff for this story. There was one twist towards the end that was rather cool. Since this is a spoiler free review there’s not much to say more besides it was good enough to keep me watching.
Overall
The problems didn’t effect me too much. As a Batman fan I rather enjoyed this animated movie. I would suggest anyone interested to give this a viewing. I give Batman: Under the Red Hood 3 out of 5.
Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern Suit!
Here is the cover of Entertainment Weekly with the first image of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern. Supposedly the suit is mostly CGI and when you think about the source of GL’s power that seems to make sense. I’m a bit torn on it as we are seeing him here out of context, but I do kind of dig the suit. A lot of people are not sure Ryan is the best choice to be Hal Jordan, and that may be valid. However one of the orignal problems with Hal, and why he was replaced for years by Kyle Rayner, was that he was sort of boring in the same way Cyclopes from X-Men is. Reynolds may be able to breath some real life in to Hal, and as long as his GL does not turn into a green Deadpool I am willing to give him a chance.
Ranting Opinion: Trailers Ruin Movie Plots
Movie trailers today also ruin good plots in movies. Some of the funniest lines of movies are spoiled in movie trailers. Some of the best movie twists are spoiled in movie trailers. With some movies, if you’ve seen enough trailers about the movie all you need a 5 second clip to tell you the ending and you have no reason to see it, because all the characters are introduced, the plot is given away, and sometimes even the ending protagonist and antagonist fight if shown. Guess what 95% of the time the protagonist wins. You can also guess the ending of a movie because basic plots are recycled over and over again. Take the movie Avatar as an example. James Cameron said that he worked on the plot for Avatar for 12 years. From just the trailers I saw of it I could tell someone the rough idea of the plot. Boy is part of an organization, boy gets separated from organization, boy meets girl, girl teaches boy how bad the organization is, organization tries to kill girl’s people, girl’s people blame boy, boy fights organization to win back the love of girl, boy wins and everyone lives happily ever after. I knew all that before I saw the movie because I grew up with movies like Pocahontas and Furn Gully.
Ok here’s what this rant is coming from, I have tried to stay in media blackout over the movie Inception. The keyword there was tried. I watched the first teaser trailer and knew that that movie would be an awesome movie if I see nothing else about it. That’s hard to do when I’m watching TV and a trailer comes on, and I quickly start digging for the remote, and Leo says the word dream just before I change channels. FUCK! Why? Why was that in the trailers? Why ruin the plot of a potentially great movie? To me that’s like putting that Bruce Willis is dead in the trailer for the Sixth Sense. I don’t know, maybe there’s something bigger in the movie Inception. I’ll know more when I see it, but I feel like the movie has been ruined for me. I just wish that trailers showed a lot less of movies and television shows than they do. </rant>
The Greatest Movie Trailer Ever Made?
Let’s be honest guys, action movies have not been what they used to be. Gone is the sense of balls out adventure and bigger then life heroes. Now we settle for Adrian Brody and Topher Grace playing footsies with Predators. We get dragged to see shlock like Twilight and Sex and the City and all the time ask ourselves where did our awesome movies go?
They went here.
*Warning: mildly unsafe for work, be sure to turn the sound down.
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