RIP Betsy Palmer/MY Friday the 13th list

Besty Palmer left our world today at the age of 88, my thoughts go out to her family. Recently i watched all the Friday the 13th films,  here is my order for best in the franchise! 

Friday the 13th.
The first was seems like your basic 80s slasher, the kids that get killed off aren't totally unlikable and the make up is done by Tom Savini.

Friday the 13th 2.
The First with Jason as the killer, it too has a pretty decent line up of victims.

Friday the 13th 6 Jason Lives
I love the atmosphere of this one, has an old school horror vibe, especially in the cemetery. The look of Jason in this one is top notch in my opinion.

Friday the 13th 4 The Final Chapter
This one was to be the last, Tom Savini returned for the f/x and it has Corey Feldman as an aspiring mask/creature maker plus Crispin fucking Glover doing the dead fuck dance!

Friday the 13th 10 Jason X
Alot hate this one but i tons of fun with it, some of my favorite kills in a F13 film, plus come on, Jason in space!

Freddy vs Jason
Freddy Krueger vs Jason Voorhees....enough said

Friday the 13th 3
The 3D edition is fun but cheesey, plus his first with the hockey mask.

Friday the 13th 5 A New Beginning
This one too gets alot of hate, i love the balls out dirtiness of it.

Friday the 13th 9 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
I like that they did something different with this one, plus i would have loved to have been in the theatre when Freddy's hand first appears.

Friday the 13th 7 The New Blood
I used to hate this installment, and folks always said it is pretty much Jason vs Carrie which it is, but i enjoyed it alot this time around, love the mask less Jason .

Friday the 13th 8 Jason Takes Manhattan
Yeah this one i hate, always have. Though the moments with Jason just shoving folks in NYC are rather humorous.

Louie season 5

So Louie I have always felt is the rawest sitcom on tv, it is brutal, it is honest, and even when the show is surreal it pulls no punches. It is a sitcom almost stripped of all humor, Louis CK pretty much makes short indie films on his series, and they are brilliant.
Season 5 was a tad bit shorter than previous seasons, but it was possibly the best, and it delivered in shocks too. The first episode features a party with a possible cult, another party with a cunty stick up your ass lesbian couple that is using a girl as a surrogate whom Louie later fucks. The next features a young comic that isn't very good but adds a gimmick into his routine and takes off, as well as Louie's girlfriend Pamela and the two decide to become an open relationship couple, the show doesn't shy away from unconventional topics that the mainstream refuses to touch. The show highlights how rude & bitchy folks can be, whether they be young business owners or people that hate hearing the truth(and later beating innocent folks just trying to help). Michael Rapaport as a obnoxious cop that used to date his sister, he is the obnoxious friend yet you stick by him, and then must clean up his mess, we can all relate. Hell it he suffers heart break, deals with idiotic family members this show represents those of us that shake our head a the assholes of life, of course we can't all relate to surreal episodes but fuck it, cinefiles will love it! The final two episodes are the sort of film that Funny People should have been, showing the downsides of life on the road and the people that will annoy you, the people that want to change you, and death. I can't wait for season 6!

San Andreas

It is refreshing to have a film where you can just turn off you mind relax & float down stream....a stream caused by a tsunami. San Andreas is a fun flick, it have moments way out of the realm of reality but oh well, it it fun, and that is what you need in a summer blockbuster. The Rock is charismatic as always and actually does a pretty good job delivering heartfelt dialogue. In a day & age where disaster films are all over the place because of Asylum & the SyFy channel, this stands out, sure a few others have come to theatres in recent years but none grabbed my attention, this one did, and i am glad it did. What works is the characters, you actually get a chance to know them and invest in them, there aren't too many films that do that in this genre, usually cause by over stuffing it with minor characters and red shirts, in this film the red shirts are everyone else. This is a disaster film on every level, people are getting smashed, being swept away, on fire, drowning, shit is happening in the background, they went all out, it is chaotic and it works Alot ironically watch SyFy flicks, or buy Asylum films on dvd packs and watch em drunk.....do that with this film, it is a great drunk with your buddies, cut loose & have fun flick. If ya smell what the Rock....is cooking!

Big Time in Hollywood FL

So Big Time in Hollywood FL is a fucked up, hilarious & bloody sitcom. Jack & Ben are two brothers, two filmmakers, filmmakers living in their parents house, jobless & seemingly sexless, but full of ambition. Their parents decide to kick them out but the two hatch a plan to con twenty thousand to fund their films. They get Jimmy Statts(played by Ben Stiller) to pretend to be a drug dealer that needs paid up by Ben. The parents get the police involved and Jimmy is shot to death....this is the pilot.
The show features the brothers entering rehab, befriending Cuba Gooding Jr(playing himself), breaking into houses, assault on the innocent, betrayal of their friend Del, Del nearly giving Harvey(Michael Madsen) a blowjob, Harvey sucking off a gun and blowing his head off, Jason Alexander(playing himself) shooting off Cuba's hand then being shot to death by him, drugs, drugs, more drugs and an awesome finale which had a fantastic shootout with a chimp & a cop played by Keith David.
How can you not love that? In a way parts of the show remind me of myself, at least the film making aspects, then as the show went on, i began to see this resembled some of my screenplays, this is the kind of dark comedy i aspire to make, and for a television series to be this balls out i applaud. I don't know if this will get a second season, if it does, i am all for it, if not, i am happy how it ended.
If you haven't watched this show, please do, it is obviously made in the time where stuff is a reaction to Breaking Bad, people doing shit out of their comfort zone(involving drugs), and that evolving into murders, lots of murders. Thank you Alex Angfanger & Dan Schimpf for creating this, thank you Ben Stiller for believing in this, thank you Comedy Central for taking a chance, and to everyone else for being a part of it!

Poltergeist

This is not a review of sorts but more or less things that stuck out in the remake of the Poltergeist. The original Poltergeist is a great film, to this day it is debated as the whether is was directed by Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg, alot see Spielberg is the film with the family element and suburban setting, that Spielberg charm, charm, that is key, and that is what is missing from the 2015 remake. There is no sense of wonder, even when the siblings are getting static shocked by the closet, it feels forced, in the original when events happened, it sent the family in awe. When the scares happened they meant something, in this everything happens at once, some of the key elements of the original just get forced into this one and wind up being rather lack luster. Ghost films are greatly influenced by the original, James Wan's Insidious being one of them, however to me that film's other world the Further, seems to be a go to for this films portal to the spirits world, the original had it in the unknown. Another film that felt semi inspired by the original was James Wan's The Conjuring, but that films paranormal experts the Warrens, seem to be the driving force behind the experts in  this film, not necessarily in the way they are portrayed but in the gaining trust sort of way, The Zelda Rubinstein character in this to me felt just like the Peter Vincent in the Fright Night remake, sure different career paths but it still felt to be a way to introduce a character by making them an icon, and the house is clean line gets beat like a dead horse in this film. I actually enjoyed the film but it didn't feel organic at all.

The Following

About one year ago i began watching a show on Netflix, a year later, it is over. When the Following debuted two years ago, it looked good but i never tuned in, both my mom & my buddy Fister were huge fans and kept telling me how awesome James Purefoy was as Joe Carroll, and they were not wrong.

The first season sees Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy tracking down Joe and his followers, Ryan was smart and you rooted for him, he was flawed, Joe was charismatic yet menacing. His followers were just as, if not more vicious than he was, especially the lovely Emma. There were multiple forms of manipulation and the crimes were multi layered, sure it was contrived but i was hooked.

The second season saw a family, the Gray's, of Lily and her twin sons Mark & Luke, fans of Joe's form an alliance with him, only for the falling out to lead to an almost babyface antihero turn for Joe, sure he was still a villain but you began to root for him at the same time. Ryan, along with his fellow officer Mike & his niece Max were stuck in the middle of an insane war between killers, Joe's story got even further out by taking over a religious cult, if that wasn't crazy enough, Luke has full on conversations & dinners with corpses. The body count took many characters in this season, and the body count on the whole show, is fucking huge. For network television, the show pushed the blood, i wish it had been on FX so it could have shown more.

The third season has many villains, some say too many, Joe, now a prisoner, and later the spiritual guidance of Ryan, as the two dream of each other as friends, and even later on as a vision that is there for Ryan hitting rock bottom in his struggle with alcoholism and there for his reemergence. Mark, who takes on a split persona of his brother Luke(died the previous season), Dr Strauss( the teacher of Joe and many other killers), Theo(a student of Strauss, whom is a master hacker with many identities throughout the country and total sociopath, with the only person he shows love for is his sister Penny), Kyle & Daisy(two more Strauss students), Neil(a man who specializes is removing spines and torture, such as fitting victims into a box), and Duncan(who has a whole cemetery with ears dangling from trees), as well as two crooked FBI agents.

The show is highly contrived but it is fun, all the characters are engaging and the blood is splattered everywhere.

Mad Max Saga

The Mad Max trilogy was one of my favorite series growing up. I fell in love with flicks similar to it or inspired by, such as The Rover, and films that are a love letter to it such as Bellflower.  Here we are with the fourth in this kick ass series. The first is pretty much the Night of the Living Dead of the series, it is right at the beginning of the downfall. The Road Warrior is the Dawn showing what is happening after shit hit the fan. No, Thunderdome isn't the Day......moving on. Fury Road is the film Land of the Dead should have been, a long wait for fans but with a kick ass payoff!

1. Fury Road
Early to say but this could be my favorite in the franchise, it is non stop action, from beginning to end. Sometimes people complain that the trailer gives it all away, it reality for this film, there was no other way.

2. The Road Warrior
It takes the apocalyptic nature of the first but goes balls out for it, the end shows a glimpse of what the third one should have been, instead the fourth was the answer!

3. Mad Max
The original is pretty straight foward, a man on a mission, it steamrolls the entire film getting better and better until the finale where you know the sequel will be great.....and it is. In terms of escalation it lays the foundation, the Road Warrior steps it up a notch, and the third film should have been insame, instead that was Fury Road.

4. Beyond Thunderdome.
Okay, well this films looks awesome, it looks batshit, but it isn't batshit, in fact the plot.....kind of sucks. I don't hate this film like many but it isn't that good, makes sense since it wasn't originally supposed to be a Mad Max film.

Agents OF SHIELD & The MCU TV shows.

                           
                                       Agents of Shield is a show that i wish never happened, mainly because i wish Agent Coulson had stayed dead after the events in the Avengers. None the less it started off with a good pilot, then it dwindled down to a by the numbers sci fi version of NCIS. Right before Winter Soldier is found it stride again, and then it followed through the rest of the remaining couple episodes. I thought they should have ended it there but they brought it back for a second season. Okay so SHIELD is still around, so um, let us fit this into the MCU canon, meh, not working so well so let's use it as a launching pad for the Inhumans. On paper it is a great idea to use this show to debut characters and plant seeds, however i have no interest in these characters, except Skye....and Hydra enlisted Ward. Anyhow back on topic, why would i want to watch a film based upon dull characters?
                       
                                Well the show was renewed for a third season, so hopefully they use it as a final season and fix mistakes, admit Coulson is some sort of android, let Shield either die or show it morph into the new Avengers Facility. Make it more of a Hydra show to set up future MCU films with minor super heroes, make the Inhumans do something that will make us want to follow them into the MCU films. The show's second season finale was decent, and showed off more of said characters, though the plot was still a tad jumbled. On the flip side the spin off was cancelled but now it looks like they may do it anyhow, i say let it be, we don't need it. In my opinion Agent Carter was a weak show, save for the Howling Commandos, which is what the show should have been, strong female lead Carter and the badass Commandos kicking ass & taking names.

                              Marvel needs to focus their tv attention to Netflix. Daredevil was amazing, the acting was solid, the humor worked, the story was strong and the action? Holy fuck! What a well show show, i say bring on season 2, i say bring on Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones. Make the Defenders show amazing, hook us in for the Infinity War. Make the Defenders & the Inhumans matter, make the Defenders want to defend their home, team with the Avengers, make the Inhumans need to stop a threat, a threat of Thanos, add in the Guardians, boom bitch, we got an amazing team up on our hands. So the point is, less focus on Shield, more focus on the Inhumans.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night starts off in a quirky manner but as soon as the credits roll you can tell it is going to be something else. Pretty atmospheric flick to say the least, the black & white helps. The message of misogyny  is strong but doesn't feel forced. When the vampire attacks it acts as a savior of sorts. I'd rather have a straight up vampire story but i enjoyed the undertones none the less, also like how it was left open ended.

MCU Ranked

Guardians of the Galaxy
This is the closest thing to a new Star Wars i have seen, if i was a little kid i would be going nuts over the GotG toys. This is a odd pick as my favorite as i knew next to nothing about most of these characters, mainly the villains i knew, but the heroes i did not, but it didn't matter, this is a fun flick with a great soundtrack. Not only is it a fun flick but the film's premise is weird, who the fuck thought a talking raccoon and a walking tree would kill at the box office? Oh and it is directed by Troma alumni? Thank you!

The Avengers
This is pretty much a perfect comic book film, i prefer The Dark Knight and think it is a better made film, but if you want a straight up comic book film, this is it. This film is fun, action packed, has wit, and is a dream film that many never thought would happen. This film really started making MCU films feel like huge events.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Sure it may be early but this flick was pretty damn kick ass, it made shit from Agents of Shield make sense, though i still hate the show, and set up Phase 3 really well. I almost wish Civil War wasn't happening and that the new Avengers roster was the one we are getting in Cap 3, then let Infinity War be the return of characters such as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, ect, have it be the big event, but i will shit up, sit back & enjoy.

Iron Man 3
I love Shane Black, this film feels like Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and i love that, i wish he had more work after that film and am damn happy it was a Marvel flick, he helped resurrect Robert Downey Jr, and now RDJ has done the same for him. I almost wish this had been Tony Stark's swan song, and that he needed to come out of retirement in AoU but that flick is awesome so let it be. They threw alot in this film but it all works, sure the Mandarin wasn't the Mandarin but it works in this flick.

Captain America The Winter Soldier.
This here is the closest we have got to a Marvel Dark Knight, well maybe Darevil the series. The action scenes are the best yet, the humor is perfectly times and doesn't feel forced(alot of times in Marvel flicks it feels that way). The plot twists in the film & the way it changes the MCU will always be remembered, sadly much like Coulson's death feeling less impact full due to Agents of Shield, the whole end of Shield feel less impact full with the show aswell. None of those are the films fault, the film is damn near flawless.

Thor: The Dark World
I will get it out of the way, i am not a big fan of the earthling characters, but yet again i love the Asgradian stuff. I LOVE Loki so his evolution of just being the antagonist in the first film, to capturing the character in Avengers, to just running with it in this one. The battle scenes are top notch and the Marvel Universe references are great, i also love the humor of the Thor flicks.

Iron Man
It's funny seeing how different this film feels than the newer Marvel flicks but that is a good thing, who wants the same old same old? This really is almost a perfect origin story, showcasing asshole/smartass Tony Stark into smartass Tony Stark. It came out the year of The Dark Knight but it began the fun Marvel films without studio concern, not even going to mention Disney's involvement these days since they pretty much allow Marvel to be its own thing.

Captain America: The First Avenger
When i first saw this at San Diego Comic Con i was underwhelmed but it gets better & better. It really shows the transformation of a wimp to a soldier, and i love the pulpy aspects of it. Plus Red Skull looks really cool & comic book esque.

Thor
I love the Asgardian aspects of the film, but the stuff on earth is somewhat lackluster, mainly the earthlings and i LOVE Natalie Portman but not in this.

Incredible Hulk
I don't hate this flick, alot do, i liked Edward Norton in the role but i prefer Mark Ruffalo.  The film feels rather unimportant but the action scenes are actually pretty damn good.

Iron Man 2
This entry has awesome performances by Robert Downey Jr & Sam Rockwell, sadly the film itself lacks much in terms of story, it feel very lackluster, Mickey Rourke tries but there is next to no character development in the flick. With that said, it gets better on repeat viewings.