White Stripes Break Up! I'm sad....

Yesterday I found out some very sad news. I read online that one of my favorite bands, The White Stripes, is breaking up. Apparently they are breaking up to "preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way." I was pretty upset and shocked when I read this because I've been a huge White Stripes fan for years, and was looking forward to their next album which will never come now. What upsets me even more is that I've never seen them live!!! I've always missed their shows and I was planning on seeing them the next time they went on tour, but now thats never going to happen, so I'll never see them live!!! LAME!!! Granted, I could go check out Jack White's other bands, but it's not the same! I wan't to see the White Stripes!!!

My Review: 127 Hours

Wowsers! I wasn't sure if I would like a movie about about a guy trapped under a rock, but it was fantastic! There wasn't a single boring part, and I was completely drawn in the whole time. I was originally going to take notes on this movie for one of my film classes, but there was no way that was happening because I was completely into the story. 127 Hours is about a guy named Aron Ralston who, while canyoneering, ends up with his arm trapped under a rock. While an entire film about this might not sound that intriguing, Danny Boyle does an excellent job with it. For starters, casting James Franco was brilliant. Not only does he give an amazing performance in this movie, but I could probably watch an hour an a half of him just brushing his teeth or combing his hair or something like that. Yeah...he's a good looking dude. I loved watching all of his video diary scenes when he is talking to his parents, and when he starts to lose it a bit. Also, you really get the feeling of claustrophobia in this movie. A lot of it is handheld, documentary style camera work, so you get a sense of the realism with both that and the fact that it is based on a true story. Movies like this get to me because it gets me thinking about what I would do in a situation like that. Would I drink my own urine? Would I have the courage to cut my arm off to escape? Well, for starters, I'm not really an outdoorsy person, so I wouldn't be there to begin with. I mean, the part in the beginning when Aron and the three girls fall down into the water freaked me out, so I wouldn't want to go climbing around all those big rocks. Anyways, I don't really know if I would be able to do the things that Aron did to survive. I'd like to think that I would, but the thought of cutting of my arm with a really small, dull blade just freaks me out. I can sort of understand how people could have fainted during the amputation scene. It wasn't as bad as I was led to believe it was, but it was a bloody mess, and a bit of a shocker to see. What's amazing is that apparently they did that whole scene in one take. Whoever made that fake arm did an amazing job too because it looked so real. My rating: 9/10

Character of the Week: Francis Dolarhyde

I just finished reading Red Dragon, so this week's character of the week is the Red Dragon himself, Francis Dolarhyde. He is portrayed by Tom Noonan in Manhunter and by Ralph Fiennes in Red Dragon. He is a serial killer who believes that he is disfigured and that he is becoming the Red Dragon from one of William Blake's paintings. He works at a film developing company and at the beginning of Red Dragon has already killed the Leeds and the Jacobi family. What I find interesting about this character is that he and the Dragon start at as one person, but when he falls for Reba, he sort of breaks away from the Dragon, who is the evil part of him and becomes two. He then hears to Dragon talking to him and telling him to do things, even after he goes to the Metropolitan Museum and eats the Blake painting.



I really like both Manhunter and Red Dragon, and I don't really know who I think made a better Dolarhyde. I think that Tom Doonan was a bit creepier, but Ralph Fiennes had more of the physical strength and also vulnerability that the character has in the book. I think that they were both great, but their approaches were just different. I honestly don't know why a handsome actor like Ralph Fiennes keeps getting cast as a bad guy, though. I guess its just because he's great at it...

New Superman Cast!!!

Some interesting news today... Ever since I read that Zack Snyder was directing the Superman reboot, I have been curious about who was to be cast as Mr. Clark Kent. Personally, I was hoping that they would stick with Brandon Routh because even though I was not a fan of that movie, I thought that he was great as Superman. But, even though they didn't cast the guy I wanted, I can not complain about the guy that was cast. The newest Superman will be played by the very handsome Henry Cavill. I loved him on The Tudors, and I think he will be fantastic as one of the most famous superheroes in 2012's Superman: Man of Steel. Now I'm curious about who will be cast as Lois Lane...Hopefully, they'll pick someone better than Kate Bosworth.

Song of the Week: Motorcrash

My Review: The Rite

If you have never seen any movies about exorcism, then this movie might scare you. If you are like me and have seen several movies about exorcism, then this movie will seem relatively tame in comparison. Anthony Hopkins is great as always as an exorcist who is teaching this younger priest how to perform exorcisms. The young priest is not really sure what he believes in, but starts getting spooked by this young pregnant girl who is believed to be possessed by the devil. So, some demonic voices and contortions ensue, and everything that comes with being possessed I guess. I wasn't really all that impressed by the exoricism scenes. I mean when you've seen things like this....



and this...



and this...



a little back bending and roaring from a girl isn't really all that scary. I mean, the only thing that made it different was that she was pregnant, which did bring an uneasy feel to her scenes. Interestingly, there was a bit of comic relief in this movie, which I thought was strange during a horror movie like this. During the first exorcism, Anthony Hopkin's cell phone rings. When you're in the middle of an exorcism scene I don't know why you would want to break away from the horror element of it. Anyways, even though there is a great performance by Anthony Hopkins, this movie has been done before, and done better. My rating: 5/10

Spotlight On: Rick Baker

This week's spotlight is one on of the greatest film makeup artists of all time, Rick Baker. He does amazing work in several genres, but I love him for his contributions to the horror and sci fi genres. He has won six academy awards, and is also nominated this year for his work in The Wolfman. Here are some of the films that showcase his amazing talents.

It's Alive

For the film It's Alive, Rick Baker made one of the scariest looking creatures ever, a tiny, veiny, sharp-toothed little baby. The movie is about a baby who, as soon as it's born, kills all of the doctors in the room then goes on a massive killing spree. Normally, I would think, people would not consider a baby to be a threat, but when it looks like this, I wouldn't want that thing to be crawling after me.

King Kong

Not only did Rick Baker create this gorilla suit, he was also the man inside of it. Quite a difference between the stop motion animation gorilla of 1933 and the CGI gorilla from a few years ago. This was the first of his many hairy creatures he made throughout the years.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Now onto what makes me think that Rick Baker is one of the coolest men on the planet. He was a makeup artist for the very first Star Wars movie!! The most well-known work that he did for A New Hope was create the look of Figrin D'an and his band the Modal Nodes. Even if you don't know them by name, you will certainly know them by the song that they play.




An American Werewolf in London

This is the movie that Rick Baker is probably identified with the most, and for good reason. This movie shows that practical effects and makeup kick CGI's ass everytime. Even for today, everything in this movie looks amazing. From the one guy who is in a different state of decay every time you see him to the werewolf himself, everything is so wonderfully done.



Videodrome

I suppose it's not everyday that a makeup artist has to do makeup effects on a TV, but if anyone can do it, it's Rick Baker. There are a lot of really cool effects in Videodrome including a TV turning into flesh, a man's belly opening up, and tons of ooky stuff like that. Here is a little featurette from Videodrome and the part with Rick Baker starts at about 3:41.



Thriller

Do I seriously even have to talk about Thriller?  The greatest music video of all time, great makeup by the fabulous Rick Baker. 'Nuff said...


Wolf

In 1994 Baker did more great werewolf makeup, except this time it was on Jack Nicholson.

Ed Wood

Rick Baker's makeup job in this movie is so good that you don't even notice it. In Ed Wood, Baker completely transformed Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi. In real life, Martin Landau looks nothing like Lugosi, but Baker's did such a great job that one time my mom walked in the living room in the middle of me watching it that she actually thought that he was Bela Lugosi.



Men In Black

All of the creatures in Men in Black look amazing! Bwith all of the fantastic looking aliens, my favorite makeup job has to be transforming Vincent D'Onofrio into a bug wearing human skin.



How the Grinch Stole Christmas

God damn! In my opinion, it just does not get any cooler than this. When I look at this picture in no way do I see Jim Carrey there. I see nothing but the Grinch.




Planet of the Apes

You can say what you will about Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, but there is nothing bad to say about the makeup. I didn't even know that that was Helena Bonham Carter until like a year ago. I mean wow, all of the apes look fantastic. I am amazed that he didn't win a seventh Oscar for this movie.

The Ring

Rick Baker is responsible for one of the biggest scares in the movie. I don't know about y'all, but the short of Amber Tamblyn's character in the closet after seeing "the ring" freaked the hell out of me...

Hellboy

 Some more great prosthetics work here transforming Ron Perlman into a red demon with a right hand of doom.

Norbit

Here is another example of how Rick Baker's excellent work fooled my mother. We were watching this movie one day, and my mom was convinced that that was a real woman, and not Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. She was being so stubborn and saying things like "there is no way that is fake!" and "that is a woman!" Nope, mother, that is not a woman, that is Eddie Murphy with great makeup done by the fantastic Rick Baker, who got his zillionth Oscar nom for this movie.

Tropic Thunder

Now instead of turning a man into a woman, he turns a white man into a black man. It's so funny because he's done all of these great prosthetics works and has made all of these creatures, and in this movie he is putting blackface on Robert Downey Jr...and it looks great!



The Wolfman

WOW!!! I remember being really excited when I heard that this mvoie was being made, but I was concerned about how the Wolfman would look. They, of course, chose the right person in Rick Baker who did an amazing job transforming Benicio Del Toro into this hairy beast. If he doesn't win the Oscar this year I will be very surprised!