The Overlook Caretaker

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Ken Taylor

Long live the new flesh: I’m sorry but the Big Bang Theory is a terrible fucking show that...

doriandawes:

I’m sorry but the Big Bang Theory is a terrible fucking show that tells the same two awful jokes over and over again.

“LOL! Nerds are obsessive about nerdy things!”

and even worse: “LOL! There are no girl nerds!”

The fact that nerd-culture as a whole hasn’t risen like the great sweeping Borg…

Watching all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion today, the last full day of my Ohio trip. My girlfriend and two best friends join me.

I shall live tweet the whole shindig. Follow me on twitter @ovrlkcaretakr
#EVAthon

365 FILMS - #46 Sinister

I had wanted to see Sinister in theaters but unfortunately it didn’t play in town. Very happy to have finally seen it. Sinister wisely taps the creepy aspects of a found footage film without being a found footage film. It also contains one of the best scare moments in recent memory (lawnmower is all I’ll say). Writer/director Scott Derrickson and writer Chris Cargill dance around certain genre cliches while playing with others. The score and sound design are also effective and favorably reminiscent of Se7en’s. The ending is also admirably grim.

365 FILMS - #45 Hesher

Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Hesher, a “rambunctious sort” to borrow a line from Calvin Candy. An agent of chaos/metal head kind of guy. Hesher shows up uninvited in the home of a boy and his father (rainn Wilson) dealing with the loss of the boy’s mom. He fucks shit up and unfucks some other shit. Piper Laurie plays grandma. Also there’s a Natalie portman if that’s your thing.
A great dark dramedy. Also it might’ve made my eyes well up a bit at the end. Don’t tell nobody.

365 FILMS - #44 North By Northwest

This has been on my list of shame for a while. I have a nice DVD collection of Hitchcock films but this and Dial M For Murder are regrettably absent. I’m glad now that I waited though because bluray is really the way to see it at home. Beautiful. Generally loved the film too. Great snappy dialogue!

365 FILMS - #43 Glengarry Glenross

Probably the best film ever made… on the subject of angry real estate agents. Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino. Predictably, Pacino steals the show. Based on the play by David Mamet.

365 FILMS - #43 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

This, like last week’s I Spit On Your Grave, is a film I’d put off for a long time. I had seen the comparable Cannibal Ferox and expected Cannibal Holocaust to be more of the same. In the end I found Holocaust to be much more effective at what it set out to do than Ferox, though I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or condemnation. I was particularly impressed with the makeup effects work on display here and can understand how some believed the effects to be quite real on its initial release (even to the point of the filmmakers being brought up on charges overseas). The editing and camera work is also quite effective at conveying the realism of the picture. If you’re familiar with this notorious horror title then you likely already know this but a word of caution for the uninitiated: this movie is brutal, containing scenes of torture, rape and sexual violence (on both sides of the equation, natives and “documentarians”), cannibalism (duh), and REAL animal cruelty. Consider yourself warned. Not for the faint of heart, Cannibal Holocaust is one of those notorious, grimy little films appealing almost exclusively to the morbidly curious.

A note of possible interest to fans of Cannibal Holocaust (you sick puppies, you): Eli Roth has finished shooting what I understand is a pseudo remake of Cannibal Holocaust entitled The Green Inferno (a direct reference to CH). Roth also used the director of Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato for a cameo as the man dining on a victim in Hostel 2.

365 FILMS - #42 A Mighty Wind

Christopher Guest returns to the mockumentary genre, this time tackling the world of folk music. If you’re a fan of This Is Spinal Tap or Best In Show you’ll find plenty to love here. A Mighty Wind was not available for rent but the store did have the DVD on clearance for $5 so I took the risk. I’m glad I did as I can’t wait to share this with buddies.

365 FILMS - #41 Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

Movies like this one are the reason I’m undergoing this little movie challenge of mine. A fully expected to like this flick, but I ended up really loving it and I’m disappointed I didn’t seek it out sooner. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford play aging actress sisters, Baby Jane and Blanche Hudson respectively. During the peak of Blanche’s career, her sister, jealous of Blanche’s success, apparently runs her down in the driveway of their home, paralyzing Blanche from the waist down. The bulk of the film concerns Baby Jane’s sadistic treatment of her sister and Jane’s descent into complete madness.

Baby Jane Hudson is played pitchfork perfect by Davis who earned a best actress Oscar nom for the role and the grim, macabre tone of the film makes it a must for horror enthusiasts and general film geeks as well.