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Movie Board: My Favorite Movies of 2011

Posted in Academy Awards, movies, Oscars, reviews with tags Movie Board, movies on February 9, 2012 by Paxton

Finally, my thrilling year end aggregation of all of my favorite movies from 2011. Every year, I keep a white board at my desk of all the movies I see that are released in 2011. Hence the name, Movie Board. Here is that board.

This year, I’m going to do something different. I’m going to split the list into two groups. Group 1 will be my 5 favorite movies that were released during 2011. Group 2 will be my 5 other favorite movies I saw in 2011 that weren’t released in that year. Then I’ll give my usual honorable mentions.

So let’s get started with my 5 favorite movies from 2011 in no particular order.

X-Men: First Class – How great was this movie. It was better than every X-Men movie before it. I really hope this cast continues on with more movies. I don’t even care if they try to stick with the established movie timeline. I just want more of this cast and this type of storytelling.

Captain America – We really had a banner year for super hero movies. This movie was amazing and the perfect setup for The Avengers this summer. And Chris Evans. I’ve been a fan of him ever since I saw him in Not Another Teen Movie in 2001 and Cellular in 2004. Not to mention his nearly perfect turn as Johnny Storm in both Fantastic Four movies. I can’t wait for The Avengers and Captain America 2.

Moneyball – I’m not the biggest baseball fan, but I love this movie. It’s only peripherally a baseball movie, it’s more about Billy Beane and his attempt to rethink the evaluation of baseball talent. This movie is written by two of my favorite writers, Steve Zaillian (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, American Gangster) and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, A Few Good Men). Just a really good behind the scenes look at baseball. Brad Pitt is great as Billy Beane and so is Jonah Hill as Peter Brand. Definitely check this out.

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“That Vanilla Ice movie” turns 20 years old

Posted in movies, pop culture, reviews, Vanilla Ice with tags anniversary, movies, pop culture, reviews, Vanilla Ice on November 23, 2011 by Paxton

(Via sts999999)

Vanilla Ice gifted us his movie, Cool as Ice, 20 years ago. It debuted in October 1991. And the world would never be the same. I was going to mention this last month but I was kinda busy.

The movie is a rap-oriented remake of Rebel Without a Cause. The female lead was originally going to be Gwyneth Paltrow until her father, Bruce Dern, advised her against it (good call). Other pop culture celebrities in this movie include Bobbie Brown, the mega hottie in Warrant’s Cherry Pie video and Mr Keaton himself, Michael Gross.

If you are super curious and want to watch this awesome 80s train wreck, you can stream it on Netflix. Trust me, watch it. It’s so quotable and it’s amazing to watch Vanilla Ice beat up like 4 bullies in one fight. You will not be disappointed. This movie is terrible. But awesomely so.

Check out the ground breaking trailer.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Posted in books, Classic literature, Dracula, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, reviews, Uncategorized, vampires with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, Book Report, Dracula, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, vampires on October 13, 2011 by Paxton

Day 4 of Vampire book week. Today, we look at the original vampire novel. The one that began the popularization of the vampire myths. Let’s take a look at Bram Stoker’s original Dracula.

I really enjoy doing AWESOME-tober-fest. It has given me a reason to read and watch books and movies I’ve always wanted to but never really “sucked it up” and made the commitment to do. Two years ago I read Shelley’s Frankenstein and I was surprised at how readable it was. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And based on that success, I was anxious to read Stoker’s Dracula.

Now, to be fair, I tried to read Dracula once already. It was back in the late ’90s when I was going through my “must read classics” phase. I couldn’t get through it. I remember thinking the first third of the book was good, but it completely fell apart after that. However, being older and wiser, I thought I could better appreciate it now. Besides, while not the first vampire novel, it certainly is what made them popular. Plus it influenced the original Universal Dracula with Bela Lugosi which would further the ingraining of vampires into popular culture.

Like I said, Stoker’s 1897 book was not the first vampire story. An essay published in the periodical Ninteenth Century in 1885 called Transylvania Superstitions discussed the mythical creatures. Lord Byron created a vampire story during the same night of ghost story telling that Mary Shelley created Frankenstein. Byron wouldn’t finish the story but John Polidori would polish it up and finish it as The Vampyre in 1819. However it was Stoker’s Dracula that popularized the monster. But it wouldn’t be until Universal’s 1931 movie based loosely (and I mean loosely) on the novel that Dracula would receive the popularity it currently achieves.

(Via Draculas.info)

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Posted in books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, reviews, vampires with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, Book Report, books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, vampires on October 12, 2011 by Paxton

We’ve made it to Hump Day of vampire book week. Click the banner above to see all of the other books and comics I’ve looked at these past two weeks of AWESOME-tober-fest 2011.

Today I’ll be looking at Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the seminal Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (P&P&Z). The success of that book launched a niche publishing empire. Classic lit/horror mashups are still being released in droves. Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. The Undead Land of Oz. Android Karenina. Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters. There was even a prequel to the original P&P&Z called Dawn of the Dreadfuls. I haven’t read any of those other books, but I read the original P&P&Z. It’s a surprisingly subtle book considering the title. Grahame-Smith deftly weaves his more outlandish story into the original Austen story with much success. There is a reason the book became a sensation, it’s well written. Grahame-Smith’s followup stuck to the same genre. It was to be today’s book; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and was released in Spring 2010.

In March 2010, I looked at the trailer for this book. Here’s that trailer:

Judging just from the cover and that trailer, you expect this book to be completely over the top. Like a Zack Snyder fever dream while tripping on acid. However, Grahame-Smith pulls a similar feat with this book that he did with P&P&Z, deftly combining a history of Abraham Lincoln and subtly revealing the secret existence of vampires in early America. The book is based on the assumption that it is revealing the contents of several of Lincoln’s “hidden” journals. All of which reveal the vampire secrets and his efforts to kill all the vampires.

The book begins with a chapter in how Grahame-Smith came into possession of Lincoln’s hidden journals. They were ostensibly given to him one day by a very mysterious person. Unfortunately, Grahame-Smith doesn’t ever go back to that introduction, but the story that follows is fascinating. It really does start off like you are reading a biography of our 16th President. Even after we meet the first vampire, it never completely takes off into Buffy the Vampire Slayer territory. It always stays true to the Abe Lincoln story, while occasionally detouring into vampires. And the way Grahame-Smith deftly integrates vampires into the secret history of the Civil War and slavery is just fascinating.

This book was surprising. I expected a ridiculous sendup of vampire movies/books. Something more along the lines of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel but with Abe Lincoln. However Grahame-Smith has crafted a very good vampire hunter story that cleverly uses famous events in Lincoln’s life and turns them on their ear and somehow manages to make them, in some way, connect to this hidden vampire conspiracy. I was surprised, but pleasantly so. I definitely recommend this book and say be prepared for a story that is better written than this subject has any right to be.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Review of Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak series

Here we are, Week 2 of AWESOME-tober-fest 2011. Last week was comic book week. This week is book week. We’ll start this week’s entries off with a book series I started a few years ago and I’ve talked about on the blog a few times. It’s not about Dracula specifically, but it features a nice twist on vampires and vampire lore. I’m talking about Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak series.

I started Shan’s series back in October 2009. I reviewed the first three books here. The first five books even made it into my year end “best of” book report in 2009. And as of April of this year, I finally finished the 12 book series. I was able to finally acquire the last two books with some help from my buddy Rondal Scott over at Strange Kids Club. So thanks for that, Rondal! Anyway, I thought since I’d talked about this series earlier, and I’ve mentioned it since, that I would wrap things up with a final review of the series.

This series has been very good. The world Shan creates is fascinating. His version of vampires is slightly different but it works. In Shan’s world, vampires are not mindless killers. They do drink human blood, but they are able to exhale a “knockout gas” from their mouth to render a human unconscious and then cut a small scratch into their shoulder or arm from which they drink. They only drink what they need then leave the human to resume his life. However, vampires have a more violent cousin called Vampaneze. They are the vicious “drink until humans are dead” monsters that one normally associates with vampires. Both of these factions are at war with each other in what is called The War of the Scars. The main character is Darren Shan, a boy who is blooded by Larten Crepsley, a former Vampire General. Darren becomes a half vampire, then is whisked away into many different adventures with his mentor, Mr Crepsley, and eventually passes the Vampire Trials, becomes a Vampire Prince and takes part in the War of the Scars as one of the chosen warriors who must defeat the rumored Vampaneze Lord.

One of the fascinating things about this book is the social setup of the vampire nation. Much of the higher order vampires live in Vampire Mountain. Vampire Mountain is ruled by the Vampire Princes, who essentially make all the important decisions for the vampire community. There are also Vampire Generals, who are higher level vampires. And when you come of age, like I mentioned earlier, you have to pass the deadly Trials before you are accepted as a full vampire. The world is just deep and endlessly interesting. Some of the most fun and interesting books took place entirely in Vampire Mountain and had nothing to do with the War of the Scars.

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