AMC's Fear Fest

Be sure to check out the lineup for the AMC's awesome Fear Fest.  Looks like some good stuff.

http://www.amctv.com/movie-event/amc-fearfest

Pancake Saturday

On Saturdays I usually serve up pancakes for breakfast and then reflect on what happened that week.  Think of it like my scatter shooting of the week.  Here is what I have in the barrel this week:

*Fall is here and I am loving it.  Cooler weather (It's still a bit warm), college football, Saturday morning soccer games, Halloween decorations, and horror movies. Good times.

*A month ago the Rangers were 3.5 games ahead of Oakland and took a nose dive into the standings.  Now the last 2 games of the season are must win and they need help from other teams.  Oh well it does make for a great last week.  This September collapse is all on general manager Jon Daniels.

*Congratulations to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera for his retirement.  I will not miss him but he does have my utmost respect.  He is a real class act along with Derek Jeter.

*Remember when Dallas hosted the Super Bowl a couple of years ago and the city caught a lot of flack because we had ice and snow storms that had not been seen around here in 30 years?  Well take notice the big game is in New York this year and will be hosted in an open air stadium in the first week of February.   The Farmers Almanac is calling for a big blizzard that week so let's see how the media treats the Big Apple that week.  We will revisit this in February. 

*I see Clint Eastwood split with his wife a few weeks ago.  When I watched this on TV my wife patted me the shoulder and said "There's still a chance honey."  Ah, I love Mrs. Gauntlet.  Love Clint too.

*So sports analyst wanna be Senator Craig James got fired from Fox Sports after one weekend of work.  Nice.  Craig, that's what happens when you kill five hookers.

*Duck Dynasty is one of the highest rated shows on TV.  It is quite entertaining but there sure are a lot of folks out there that hate on it.  It is a show built on God and family values so I guess the people that hate on it are the ones that don't get that stuff either.

*Have a great weekend!

Movie Poster Friday- Psycho 2

New Release Tuesday

You would think things may become stale in part 3 of a franchise but bringing in director Shane Black really lit a new fire under Iron Man and this was a great movie.  Some real good action in this and timely comedy made this the year’s biggest movie.  Loved the barrel of monkey’s scene! 

Psycho 2 is my favorite horror sequel without a doubt.  I remember this being one of the first movie I ever watched on VHS.  Psycho is the granddaddy of all horror movies and to come back 22 years later in 1983 was a bit risky and it was a job nobody wanted.  But horror was big and Universal wanted to resurrect Norman Bates and cash in.  Writer Tom Holland crafted a great story that really tied everything together from the original and led us to a new beginning for Ma Bates and crazy ol’ Norman. The late, great Anthony Perkins is absolutely fabulous in this as he slips right back into being Norman with no problem.   The highest of recommendations. 

Psycho 3 has Norman back to his old ways as the motel is back in business and business is well, business.  Anthony Perkins directed this chapter as this movie was not well received at the time but over time has built a better reputation as Perkins did a great job in front of the camera and did well behind it.  These are both from Scream Factory so they will look and sound great and will be loaded with features. 

If you check these out follow it up with Mick Garris’ Psycho IV and the excellent documentary The Psycho Legacy.

This is my favorite horror movie of all time.  Director John Carpenter used the boogeyman and created one of the most terrifying horror icons of all time in Michael Myers and he is still in movies today.  This classic was made on a budget of $300,000 and grossed over $70 million in 1978 which was huge money for movies then, which would translate to about $250 million today.  Carpenter, many of the crew and star Jaime Lee Curtis were catapulted to fame after the critical and financial success of this movie.  The highest of recommendations

Director John Carpenter was on a roll from 1976 until 1988 with some great movies.  In 1987 he took a step back from big studio work and went back to his roots on a smaller scale and made one of his best horror movies in Prince of Darkness.  This is a creepy movie with a great cast as Donald Pleasance returns to work with Carpenter in this.  A research team finds this green liquid in a Church as all Hell breaks loose as they begin to study it.  Look for rock star Alice Cooper walking around in this one.

The first V/H/S was a pretty good horror anthology with some up and coming directors involved so I will need to check this out.  I liked the old title of S-V/H/S better though.

Been hearing about this documentary for a long time as it is about an exploration of various interpretations of the horror film, The Shining.  Since it is Horrorweenathon The Shining is due for a watch anyway.

I love Jason Statham’s movies and this one looks to be a bit different and that is okay.  Homeless and on the run from a military court martial, a damaged ex-special forces soldier navigating London's criminal underworld seizes an opportunity to assume another man's identity -- transforming into an avenging angel in the process.  Looking forward to some ass kicking in this.