Quill & Claw/Pen & Paw

I guess the first statement out of the box is the most, most obvious. I mean, really. Only 10? As a true cineast, I only watch entertainment news; movies have been my life for so long, they seem to outlive my love of Disney in many, many respects. There's is nothing like the conundrum that I suffer from when I ahve to choose between a new release and a day at the Parks. There's really something in there. However, there's nothing nicer than having two wonderful choices before me. I can't lose. Movies have always been there for me. I've gone alone, gone with friends, gone with people I appreciated and people that I've detested. But the movies, even the truly bad ones, they were always there. And I cannot stop thier impact on me. 10.   sex, lies, and videotape  I'd already known I was a cineast. Years of managing a videotape store had shown me I could always find something. I looked them like I would a decent library. Sometimes you'd ahve something...

Ah, the Attack of the Nadir. Every kid back in school; Hollywood waiting for all the summer production schedules to wind down. When they do? The voting academy, aka Oscar, will have a bit more living room time to pop in their DVDs the promo videos and start looking for the next Best Picture. Whcih means what for us?  It's the Attack of the Nadir. A Cusp of orphaned films. "Bob? What do we do with this picture?" They release it in October. Truly, these are the movies that are very hit-or-miss and do well as counterprogramming against the Hollywood slasher types that come out at this time of year. And I think I found a hit. Yes, it stars Matt Damon. Matt's one of those actors who really had made good on his career and tries really hard to use his star vehicles to his advantage. He was Bourne. Jason Bourne. And he's a good actor, to boot. Good looking, ability to match, he's something of the old school Hollywood types, who keeps cranking out m...

Has it been so long? Have I really not written? That says something-oh, yeah, school started. And, as such, focus has been directed elsewhere. Like lesson plans and my upcoming novel. I need to get that puppy done so I can start a new one with National Novel Writing Month. And I have to do lesson plans before, well, everything. That being the case, I have been still been on the case. I needed something, a spark, a fire to get me to write here again. I've been watching movies, to be sure, but, really, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was...not worthy of a full review. Outside of seeing that Katie Holmes got a job outside of her psycho husband, there was nothing to report. Sure, yes, I saw the original television movie as a kid and it scared the living crap out of me. Part of me migth have been  the fact that I was a kid, but the details I remembered were pretty potent. Scared lady, small door in the new house, strange noises from behind said door. Good stuff. The fact is, ...

Okay, so there's a movie out right now, called,"Max".  You know the story, heck, you can probably figure out the entire plot by just watching the trailer. Obviously, it's designed for children, warmongers, Cheneys and GOP members, but you get the gist. Military good. Dogs good. Mix well.  No names in the credits, save money and you have counterprogramming. But here's the thing. If you look into the eyes of law, a dog is not a person. They are not the military hero the movie portrays. They are a glorified gun, in reality. Sorry, I hate to break it to. Dogs exhibit many human traits, and we, wanting so badly to see them as kin, acknowledge it. But the fact is, they are, in the end, an animal. An animal with severe compassion for our stupid selves. Hey, dudes, trust me, I'm addicted to my corgis. I see them as people, but my point is-we probably shouldn't. The more we see the dog under the fur, the better we can understand who they are and what the...

I was just reading somewhere, in that dark corner of the internet (mostly likely Reddit.com) about why, really, horror movies seem to be the only original works left in Hollywood. And it makes sense. Small cast, don't even need brand name performers, everything happens in the dark, and you can kill most of them off, so the most desparate actors will work for half the price. And the payback will be huge, sometimes earning 100 times more than the budget. We've seen tasty tidbits like the Blair Witch Project and Insidious . Even the Conjuring , which was incredibly true to the book and didn't have one death on screen, played to packed houses when it opened. Now, me, I'm not an addict to horror movies like some in the realm of fandom. My cousin goes to conventions; another colleague has themed nights where he teaches people about the joys of horror movies. Heck, I've never even attended the nearby Universal Horror Nights. However, like many, a decent scare is j...

I am unsure of what brought this film to my attention; I had not read Cormac McCarthy's book by the same name. Strangely, I have read some of his shorter fiction, and his terrific use of language did not go wasted. But they, too, in their presentation, was quite bleak. You might want to get used to that word. It's the adjective today. I like to think of myself as a happy person, a positive, likeable individual. Diplomatic, approachable. And, because of that, perhaps, I seek out the dark, the forced corners of rooms, to balance my manner of being. I read and write horror fiction; I love the Haunted Mansion over any postive future that Future World in EPCOT can bring. I think by exercising such demons, I'm able to keep myself a bit more together than most. It's a risk I take, I'm sure, and one day I may just snap. But perhaps that why I found myself really into the movie based on Cormac's text. No matter how bleak. The tale unfolds after some kind ...

Because I take movies so seriously, I have to, on occasion, give myself over to the fun stuff. Sometimes, movies are just eye candy, really, something for Tom Cruise or Will Smith to blow up stuff with and have us get that large popcorn. Sometimes, too, they are to move us on a level inaccessible through everyday interactions. And, sometimes, they make us all hot and bothered. Today is a hot and bothered day. Sure, yes, I gave these hotties some numbers, but, yeah, they're really not in any kind of heirarchy. Personally? I think this might be the perfect psychological exam to see what I like in my men, what makes me all gaga over the masculine form. Grant you, I'm no idiot. I am so much like that famous quip from Beth, yes, I can call Elizabeth, Beth, but from Beth Taylor-"No, I don't like men. I LOVE men! I want to hold them and squeeze them!" So here's to the silver screen and those wonderful men that make me, and maybe some of you, swoon. Maybe I...

Have you ever gone to a unique restaurant that was so good, you wanted to scream it from the mountaintops-and then realized that your friends hated that style or ethnic cuisine? Have you ever heard an awesome album, but can't share it with your partner because they hate pop music? This is my current dilemma. I saw a really bold movie just this past weekend, and it was delicious, a rare treat. And I know no one would go see it. It was called The Eagle, and I only came across it due to it's Irish and Celtic overtones. It even stars Channing Tatum. And he's acting. He's shirtless, something about his contract, I'm sure, but he's asleep and he has a blanket over him. So there's that negative, if that turned your crank. But, without the nods to his pecs, he was forced to act and, you know what, if he keeps picking titles like this, he might actually have something to go on. In this tale, he plays a Roman solider, a man who's father died in the vast wilde...

Memorial Day weekend of 1998. Nope, no husOtter in sight yet, and that's why I remembered it. I was solo in those days, a competiting mix of wanting to be in a relationship and fighting off loneliness; and just wanting to be left alone so I can read a book for more than an hour. I was so single that when my mother invited me to go for a day hike and picnic in Boulder, Colorado for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I said yes. Now, understand, I was not any kind of outdoorsy kinda guy. It's kinda the reason I eventually left Colorado. So? I did what any guy would do before the invention of ereaders and wifi. I took a radio, a stack of magazines, wore a swimsuit, and found a cheap paperback at the library. I was looking for something spooky. I'd already conquered all the Clive Barkers I could ahve found by that point, Stephen King was already exasperated. But the librarian selling books saw me eyeing the book " The Stranger Beside Me ." "You've not ...

Whoa. Just whoa. A good movie that was worth watching that didn't have violence or sex. Hollywood? Are you paying attention? I had been meaning to watch this title for some time. The thing is, I live out in the middle of no where. To get to any of the good movies, I have to hike. That's okay, but remember, hiking takes money and time. So, sadly, I gotta see the popular stuff. And I missed out on Chef . A simple and direct picture.  And, like the best of them, can be interpreted several ways-as all good movies really can be. Is the Matrix an actioner or another Jesus story?  Get it? On the surface, we have the artist, or, in this case, a chef, played wonderfully smooth by Jon Favreau.  Yes, that one. The dude who made all of those big super hero movies referred to as Iron Man.  After the Avengers, the creative genius Joss Whedon made a small art house Shakespeare piece, Much Ado About Nothing, a calm, direct film with terrific nuance and temperment. And now ...

What if they threw a movie that none one really cared about? I just spent a semi enjoyable afternoon watching the DVD selection for the movie, The Raven, and I have to say, I'm not sure why it's a bad movie, it just is.  You have good actors, a well versed script, and a very interesting premise. But it didn't gel.  It didn't gel in the theaters; it didn't really connect for me either. And I'm not sure why. The idea is wholly creative.  And we know taht audiences are kinda fickle douchebags these days. Unless it's a reboot or a sequel, they won't risk seeing a new movie that might have original concepts. But that's the reason why it was coming together correctly. I'm not sure what it is. Okay, so here's the conceit. Imagine, if you will, someone so impressed with Edgar Allen Poe that they act out his famous homicides in 1849 Baltimore. The design is great, any kid who survived reading any of his stories in high school should nod i...

Wow, that does sound kinda dirty, that idiom for a title, doesn't it? I mean, really. If you're not familiar with the idiom, "a set of pipes," you're probably not going to get that much from this article. RahrahPancakeEater, another blogger, pointed out the musical talent so many in Hollywood are starting to illustrate and I realized, believe it or not, this is a long, long tradition. Heh. Another innuendo. So he and I started the discussion about the need for music talent, not only on the big screen, but for students all over. As Big Government does it's best to gut schools and channel their money into their private coffers, music is usually slashed first and thrown into the trash.  Which is sad, because research has illustrated, repeatedly, that, when we look at the brain, there is a truly activate portion of the intelligence that warrants recognition. Now, it varies in degees from person to person-just like visual arts and the ability to interact with...

Superhero movies are weird. If we see people walking around in our world with such zany costumes, we either figure they're on their way to a convention or some sort, or that they're nuts and loving breaking society's norms.  But superhero movies are the wave right now, the Most Popular Thing. And people are buying tickets. There's sequels and interconnected storylines, bad baddies and do-gooders with great abs. It's wonderful. But it's weird. And, until Deadpool opens, we'll have to satisfy our realization that this world doesn't really work within the rules of reality with such wonderful schlock as Ant-Man. Instead of explosions, we have a brief and sincere tale of a thief hired to heist a piece of superhero equipment-the MacGuffin, if you will-and, of course, he'll become the hero he was meant to be. Of course, we've been down this road before. I'm not giving any spoilers by giving you that one sentence encapsulation. This time...

I just stumbled across this. I say "stumbled" because I don't read the news, I tend towards what's posted on other people's blogs. This is a person running for the Presidency. I just gotta say, "wha?" I can assure him, it's not a choice. ARTICLE (Click to read, video there too) But, really? I would love to know, from my non-gay friends (they seem to be a majority by this point), when, oh when did they choose to be straight? When were they tempted to go gay? Cause I never was tempted. It was just...what I was. I fought it, yes, but there was no choice. Oh dear Fate, this is a concern. Peace, Roo