A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)

I'm always skeptical of Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes' remakes/reboots of horror movies which seems to be all they live on. Frankly, they have produced a lot of crap, but they did make ones where for the most part I enjoyed (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake would be one, Friday the 13th would be another). I understand from a business standpoint why movie studios would make these, but from the perspective of a fanboy, it makes no sense. Why play with history? Why recreate the wheel?

Now, I enjoyed the original Nightmare on Elm Street but I can't say that I was the hugest fan of the series. I was exposed to the series later on in life (during my teen years) whereas I was introduced to Friday the 13th at a more young and impressionable age. For that reason, Jason Voorhees was always a more lasting (and life scarring) figure than Freddy Krueger.

The movie follows a bunch of teens as they unravel a mystery surrounding the grisly deaths of a group of teenagers in town. The deaths are peculiar as they all occurred while the victims were asleep. On their search, they unravel a mystery surrounding the town and their childhood past all leading to a man thought to be dead named Freddy Krueger. But their journey is made tougher as they need to stay awake or risk falling asleep and entering the dream world where Krueger dominates.

This movie was crap. The script that they had to work with was terrible and the direction of the movie left lots to be desired. NOES is supposed to be a slasher style horror movie — a genre that prides on high body counts and creative deaths. If I recall correctly, *SPOILER* the movie had a grand total of two deaths. Maybe three, but that's it. At least in the Friday the 13th reboot, even though there weren't many creative deaths, there were still at least a considerable amount of deaths. That's the fun of slashers. They essentially took away the fun. No Johnny-Depp style waterbed death a la the original NOES. And it's not like they made the rest of the movie compelling. Frankly, it was quite boring and sleep inducing. Is it ironic that I fell asleep for parts of a Nightmare on Elm Street? I don't know.

I think the only positive thing I can think of was the casting of Jackie Earle Haley in the role of Freddy Krueger. He had big shoes to fill after Robert Englund perfected the role in the earlier series. Haley worked for me. While Englund's Krueger was more of a wacky, creepy, psychotic killer, Haley was more dark, serious and to the point. Englund's was always fun for the one-liners while Haley's was more for terror.

So folks, this one is a skip. But hey, we're in the middle of the summer blockbuster movie season, so I'm sure you'll find plenty else to go and watch (I take that back, really, there's not anything really good out). Later geeks!

THE ARTIST!!!!!!!

The Artist is director Michael Hazanavicius ode to the silent films of yesteryear. Not only focus on a silent movie actor and movie making, but it in itself is also a silent movie. The movie follows a silent movie actor named George Valentin through the rise and fall of his career. At the start of the film, we see George as this superstar celebrity; he loves the glitz and glamour of being a famous actor and soaks in all the attention he can get. He loves having his photos taken and being adorned on the front pages of newspapers. He is THAT kind of celebrity. At the premiere event of his latest movie, he bumps into one Peppy Miller – a young woman with big ambitions and dreams in Hollywoodland. The lives of the two intersect and an attraction immediately blossoms. The romance could only go so far as Valentin is a (happily?) married man. George’s superstardom reaches its height at a precarious time. And as the 1920s are ushered out, so are silent movies. The new decade brings w...

The League of Denial (2013)

The topic of concussions in sports is a dialogue that’s been growing the past number of years. Do a search on ‘concussions’ and ‘football’ and you’ll get several thousand hits on the controversy that’s surrounded the sport. It’s a challenging topic as the research is all relatively new, and the topic itself challenges the mentality and philosophy adopted by football loving Americans. Now, I’m not a fan of football or NFL but when I saw this book lying at the local bookstore, my interest was piqued. Although I’m not a fan of football, those that know me know that I’m an unabashed fan of prowrestling. Talks about concussions are also quite a hot topic even within the prowrestling sub-culture. Earlier this year, one of the hottest wrestlers of the current era, Daniel Bryan, retired early at the age of 34 due to a history of concussion related issues. Interestingly, he was not permitted to return to the ring due to the disapproval by WWE’s medic...

Finally, the Xbox 360!!

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I received an Xbox 360 for Christmas from my dad. A great present it was! I've had 3 weeks to enjoy it so I guess I can give you my impressions of it now. First the controller. In truth, I haven't felt a controller this comfortable in my gaming life before. As a child who grew up on the 8-bit generation, with just a directional pad and 2 buttons, there was quite a learning curve getting used to using two analog sticks at the same time. You might say, "Hey Lam, how bout the PS2? You have that machine, and that has analog sticks". True, but of the twenty or so games I have for that, all of them used either only 1 analog stick, or allowed the option to switch on to the directional pad. Using 2 sticks at the same time was at first just uncomfortable. This made for all sorts of trouble as I was playing Gears of War . Luckily for me, I had computer controlled teammates that watched my back. I love the Media Center capabilities...

The Billionty-Oneth Geek: Older Than 8 Since 1991

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