Freddy Found!

A few posts back, I moaned and groaned and complained about how Freddy Krueger could not be played by anyone other than Robert Englund and that I had my doubts about the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street Remake. Quite some time has passed, casting is practically complete, and the movie is set to start filming later this month and now I can officially say that I'm pretty excited to see this now that I feel that they chose a pretty good guy to play Freddy. He probably won't be as charismatic, but he very well looks the part....scary.

The man they chose to play the new Freddy is none other than Jackie Earle Haley. Who the hell is that you ask? Your probably don't know him by name, but he played Rorschach (the dude with the ink blot mask) in Watchmen.


I think he totally looks the part...and yes, I chose those 2 pictures on purpose. Now we just have to see what he brings to the character. This Freddy will probably be more in line with the Freddy from the original movie. In that one, Freddy was actually scary but as the franchise went on, Freddy became more and more of a wise cracker than a horrifying figure saying things such as "Welcome to primetime bitch" right before he smashed a girl into a TV...a TV that was Freddy himself. He became a TV with antennas coming out of the top of his head. Or in Freddy vs. Jason when he says "Oh how sweet, dark meat" referring to Kelly Rowland's character, the only black character. That's not exactly scary.

Other than that, the rest of the cast is forming nicely with young actors such as Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles), Kyle Gallner (I only know him from Smallville, he played the Flash in several episodes), Kellan Lutz (Twilight), and Rooney Mara as Nancy. Its really bothering me that I can't quite put my finger on where i've seen this girl before, but whatever.

Either way, I am dying to see whats gonna go down in this movie. 25+ years of technology advancements can only be a good thing. Then again, you can only make getting sucked into a water bed look so good.

College, Robots, and Teenager/Transformer Hybrids? Huh? What?

Alright, so according to Blogger, I haven't written a blog post since April 5. OOPS! Anyway, have no fear because The Movie Buff has returned with the first of several new posts, WOO! With that being said, lets begin shall we.

Just days ago, the newest (and probably final) trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made its way online. I remember my initial excitement when I found that out. I practically demanded that my friend open it up on his computer so I can watch it. He could not care less since he is not a Transformers fan (freak...you know who you are =p) but that is besides the point. Anyway, he opened up and it began to play as I had a huge smile on my face. I saw Bumblebee (WOO!), Shia (WOO!), Megan Fox (WOO!) and others I didn't care as much about (...!).

As the trailer played out, I was kinda like uhh whats going on here. Apparently there is still a piece of the Allspark left from the first movie and some information gets etched into Sam Witwicky's (Shia LaBeouf) brain and he goes a little crazy. Blah Blah trailer plays on and Megatron is brought back to life somehow and wants whats in Sam's head. Now, after writing that I am thinking that they could have done much better than a somewhat repeat of the original story. Original: Megatron wants a pair of glasses that explain the location of the Allspark; Sequel: Megatron wants the information thats in Sam's head that probably explains the location of something else, or something of that nature. Megatron=mad greedy if you think about it. You don't HAVE to take over the world, Megatron. Last time you tried they pretty much killed you and dumped you into the ocean. Maybe you should retire to a nice junkyard somewhere.

Towards the end of the trailer, Sam picks something up and it seems really dramatic like something big was about to go down. I really really really hope its not what I read a while back about Sam somehow becoming a transformer-human hybrid thing himself. That is just dumb. Cool thought, but pretty stupid to make the human kid become a robot. Either way, I have no doubt in my mind that I'm gonna love this movie even just for the fact that its Transformers and is crazy action packed as you can see in the trailer below. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theater June 24....aka next month, WOOHOO!

LEAK!!!!

UH OH! Someones getting fired. A few weeks prior to it's highly anticipated release, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been leaked! Now, its probably not what you're thinking so don't get TOO excited. The leaked version is completely unfinished. When I read that the version was unfinished and that all of the effects weren't completed, I was just like "oh please, they just don't want you to download it." I was afraid to download it anyway because apparently there's some serious shtuff (yes, shtuff) going down to find people who downloaded it, who is supplying it, etc.

Anyway, I watched bits and pieces of it at a friend's house because his dad had already downloaded it. Let me tell you, when they said unfinished, they weren't kidding. People were shooting guns that weren't even in their hands yet (yea, cgi guns), you could see the wires people were hanging from for the action scenes, obvious green screen scenes were nowhere near finished, etc. So, after seeing that, I decided to wait for the actual version that comes out in like 3 weeks or so. However, this won't stop die hard fans from watching it which brings up the question, will this hurt the box office?

The answer is yes, very much so. A large chunk of people who are dying to see this movie probably already got their hands on a copy of it by now. They can either say the movie sucked, causing people to not even bother going to the theater, or they can say the movie was great which would make more people wanna watch it immediately regardless of it being unfinished. Granted, there are probably a bunch of people who are like me and would much rather watch the final product than see Ryan Reynolds hanging from wires, but that doesnt change the fact that by the time May 1st rolls around, many people will have already seen it.

If you think about it, this is practically one of the first times something like this has ever happened. Sure, my dad has come home with bootleg movies that haven't come out yet and my first response would be "what the hell is that?" But a huge summer blockbuster leaked weeks before its release? That deserves an "Oh S***!" Not to mention that I may have spoiled a major plot point of the movie by fast forwarding toward the end.

If you manage to get your hands on a copy and REALLY wanna get a taste of the movie, then go right ahead. I on the other hand will be a good boy and wait.....or at least try to wait anyway.

Traileritis...DON'T BE FOOLED!

This week, the final trailer for 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released. Now, granted it does look pretty good, I can't help but wonder "what if this movie totally sucks?" I'll admit that after seeing a movie, I would probably be the last one to say that it "sucked". I don't know why, thats just me. Anyway, my reason for saying this is that in the past, there have been plenty of movies with mind-blowing trailers that attract tons of people but in the end, the trailer ended up being better than the movie itself. For the sake of this blog, lets call it TRAILERITIS. Lets journey back to several movies with kick-ass trailers that led to not so kick-ass movies.

Exhibit A) Spiderman 3

The first movie on our list of traileritis victims is none other than Spiderman 3. This movie marked the highly anticipated debut of the ani-hero, Venom. Most of the advertising for this movie centered around the black suit. Everything was like "black suit, venom, black suit, venom." This drew in more people throughout its theatrical run than either of the previous movies. Upon its opening, it was WIDELY criticized for bad acting (which included fake tears, and a sudden "emo-esque" persona taken on by Toby McGuire), horrible dialogue (including the scene in the park or whatever where Peter Parker and Mary Jane break up), and most of all, LACK OF VENOM!! the one major thing they used to advertise this movie in trailers and TV spots! Venom's total screen time was like ,what, 20 minutes out of the whole movie? Lameee. Even though it went on to be the highest grossing of the 3 (because of traileritis of course), it was almost unanimously panned for those 3 reasons.

Exhibit B) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Being a fan of the first 2 Mummy movies, I had high hopes for this movie. However, as more and more details about it were released, my hopes dwindled. First strike against it, new mummy. Not having the mummy come back from the other 2 movies pretty much sets up some kind of failure in my opinion. Second strike against it, new mummy isn't even Egyptian, he was Chinese and played by Jet Li...seriously, wtf. Final strike against it was that it took place years in the future when the son from the previous movie is all grown up and going on his own little adventures (apparently Brendan Frasier's character doesn't age if his son can now be an adult while he looks exactly the same...). Oh, and not to mention the fact that Rachael Weiz's character was played by someone else. Anyway, all doubts were put aside after seeing the trailer. Lots of action, interesting story, etc. Unfortunately, it fell victim to Traileritis. I said earlier that I don't say movies suck, but I will say that this movie is at the bottom of my list. Chinese clay mummy with abominable snowmen? No thanks.

Exhibit C) Cloverfield

I don't even know where to begin with Cloverfield. This was one of the most talked about movies in a looooong time, well before it even had a proper title (which many believed to be "1-18-08"...its a release date, not a title, come one people). Trailers showed NYC being destroyed by some mysterious creature that was never properly seen until the end of the movie. Ridiculous internet hype surrounded this movie too. There were countless viral marketing sites for it as well as tons of people trying to slow down and freeze the trailer in order to get the tiniest glimpse of the monster. Many believed it to be Godzilla, Voltron, or even Jurassic Park 4 (seriously, I read it somewhere). Once the movie was released, everyone and their mothers flocked to see it, only to be disappointed by Traileritis. The trailers made the movie look crazy with so much chaos and destruction when really all that went on was this guy and his friends trying to find his ex-girlfriend...boringggg. The ending was pretty abrupt too. I was recently told that the city was blown up, but I honestly don't recall that happening. Either way, Cloverfield fell victim to Traileritis...crazy trailer that attracted almost everyone to a lame movie about a guy looking for a girl.

Anyone noticing a pattern here? 2 out of these 3 movies were the 3rd entry in their respective franchises. We'll talk more about that later. Anyway, there you have it. Traileritis, the unfortunate plague that haunts many movies these days. Well maybe not so much a plague on the movie as it is on the viewer. The movies still do well.

Take a look at the Wolverine trailer I spoke about earlier and see what you think is gonna happen.

The Dark Knight continues to shatter records!

According to Comingsoon.net, Warner Bros. has announced that The Dark Knight has finally grossed over $1 Billion at the box office. It's about time. I was wondering how a movie with so much commercial success couldn't cross that line and, well, it finally has. The movie has grossed about $1,001,082,160 to date making roughly $533 million domestically and $567 million overseas. After it's 8 Oscar nominations and its re-release into IMAX theaters on January 23rd, The Dark Knight gained its last few million it needed before crossing the line that only three other movies have crossed before (Titanic with $1.842 billion, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King with $1.119 billion, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with $1.o66 billion.)

With all of this crazy success, the pressure is on for Christopher Nolan to make a sequel that can even compare to The Dark Knight. Considering Heath Ledger obviously won't be in it, that might make maters difficult. Since the films release, a lot of crazy rumors have been flying around as to who has been cast as what villain in the follow-up. I recall Christina Ricci and Angelina Jolie were rumored to play Catwoman and Johnny Depp was rumored to be the Riddler. These rumors were quickly denied (as they should be, a script hasen't even been written...geez, calm down people). Let's just hope Batman Begins 3, The Dark Knight 2, or "The Caped Crusader" as many people have been calling it, will be up to Christian Bale's standards so he won't go crazy again...

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

Finally taking a break from writing about horror movies, I have a brand spankin' new post that has nothing to do with Jason, Freddy, Michael or any other slasher you could think of. Unless you consider the Decepticons and Autobots to be slashers, then not only is this another slasher post but you also need to have your head checked.

That being said, it was reported that the new trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen debuted in theaters last week with Friday the 13th (yes, I mentioned that movie again...sue me). I don't know where people are getting their information from because I sure as hell didn't see the trailer when I went. Either way, I was able to see it online just days later and let me just say, they definitely didn't skip out on the action. The entire trailer is pretty much just robots landing on Earth, robots breaking stuff, and robots making stuff explode (with the exception of Shia LaBeouf telling his movie dad to run and Meghan Fox yelling "SAMMM!"). Oh, and Egyptian pyramids... By the time all of the ruckus ended, REVENGE appears on the screen and I don't know about you but when I saw that I was like "Oh, damn". Anyway, with all of that said, I know I will still love this movie no amount of trailer ruckus is gonna change that. Here, check it out for yourselves. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters on June 24, 2009.



By the way, I would just like to inform everyone reading that the word "Fallen" in the title does not refer to the autobots and decepticons that, well, died in the first movie. "The Fallen" is actually one individual robot named...The Fallen.

Friday the 13th: Review

First off, let me just say that I realize that my last few posts are about horror movies. It's just a coincidence. This is not a purely horror movie blog now. With that being said, lets begin.

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS...

This weekend, I saw the new Friday the 13th movie with my sister. I'll just say that you either love this movie or you hate it. I am one of the people who liked it. Two posts ago, I said that this movie was a remake of the first three movies in the original franchise. All that means is it goes from Jason's mother being the killer (Friday the 13th) to Jason being the killer and wearing a sack over his head (Friday the 13th 2) to Jason being the killer wearing a hockey mask (Friday the 13th 3). We go from killer mother to hockey mask within the first 35-40 minutes or so of this movie.

The first 20 minutes of the movie were actually pretty good. A group of young people went on a hike to find a marijuana crop (which I thought was ridiculous, but whatever, I can deal with it). They get a little lost and decide to stop and set up camp. Two of the people then split away and stumble upon Jason's old cabin while the remaining three stayed at camp. Two of the remaining three decide they want to have sex so the one guy remaining goes for a walk. Not more than 5 minutes later, Jason begins to kill each one of them and let me just say, Jason is CRAZY. Here is a quick list of how things went down:

1- Machete through the cabin floor over and over so there is no safe place to stand
2- Wrapped in a blanket hanging over the camp fire
3- Bear Trap
4- Head cut off
5- Machete swung right into the skull

Just after the last death, FRIDAY THE 13TH appeared on the screen and people were actually cheering and clapping. I guess the beginning was just THAT good. However, as the movie went on, the killings became a bit more ridiculous, as did the never-ending sex scene in which one of the characters exclaims "Your tits are stupendous!" Anyway, the main plot of the story is of a guy named Clay (Jared Padalecki) trying to find his sister Whitney, one of the hikers from the beginning of the movie. Turns out she actually survived because she looked so much like Jason's mother that he couldn't kill her. The rest of the people in the movie served one purpose and one purpose only...to die. As the movie goes on, Jason kills them all simply because they are there (as a slasher movie should be). Another list:

1- Arrow through the head
2- Hit by a boat and then Machete right into the top of the head
3- Screwdriver into the chin
4- Axe thrown into the back
5- Thrown onto antlers on the cabin wall
6- Pole through the stomach then pinned to the back of a truck
7- Plain old machete stab then dragged away

Blah Blah movie went on and the two survivors, Clay and Whitney, manage to "kill" Jason and dump him into the lake along with his mask. Just then, Jason breaks through the boardwalk/dock or whatever you wanna call it, grabs Whitney...cue credits. Sequel anyone?

As people were leaving, I heard several of them say it sucked. Well, I actually enjoyed it (even though I had to nudge my sister several times during the movie to wake her up) and i give it a 7.5/10. Go see for yourself. If you've already seen it, voice your opinions in the comments section.