So I am on a hunt for art. I don't really have anything up in my apartment outside of a Star Wars clock. I have a Captain Marvel poster that is on deck as soon as I get a frame. I need more life in my life so to speak. This is pretty damn fantastic as well.
I recently watched the movie Real Genius, one of my classic 80's movie favs. Since I can never not think of a house being torn apart by popcorn when this song is playing, I thought this would be a good match for this week's 80's Music Wednesday. Tears For Fears with Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
This would go over my couch so damn fast, it is not funny. This is truly badass! And you Comic Relief, you need to become my friend. I am in awe of your art.
I love me some Erasure. Love, love, love!!!! This is one of my favorite tracks by them. I usually love blaring this loudly from my car and singing along off key. It is fun and catchy. Just the thing your Wednesday needs. A Little Respect by Erasure.
I love tea and am currently trying to build up my mug collection. This would be a wonderful addition.
This is my second favorite 80's song, and the music video is just as badass! Pump up the volume, kiddies, and bust out your best 80's dance moves! Take On Me by A-ha.
I make this statement, but if I am honest, this is one of the most original storylines I’ve seen in any horror or thriller in a very long time. Tusk isn’t the kind of film that is going to blow your mind like something such as Inception. While this film may not be in the running for awards, it should not be dismissed so easily. What this little film is, is a labor of love. It is a happy harmony between creator and creation. It will make you laugh, disgust you, and unnerve you all at the same time. It is these variables that make Tusk so important and watch worthy.
Kevin Smith has been known for films such as Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. While most of his previous films have been driven by story, his films are also known for their outrageous and raunchy comedy. I have personally been a fan a Kevin Smith’s for practically forever. His movies have always entertained me, and I am a great fan of his podcasts. There was a time in Mr. Smith’s career, where he had decided to completely give up on film making. His previous endeavor, Cop Out, left such a bitter taste in his mouth that he saw no other reason to put himself through something so horrible. The simplest of solutions was to quit making movies. It would have been very easy for Mr. Smith to do this as well. His budding podcast business was just starting to soar, and profits from this business were becoming more successful and stable than any of his films before had ever been.
Maybe it was all of his life lessons finally lining up into a conceivable pattern or his newly regular consumption of weed. Perhaps, maybe, a little of both. Whatever it was brought upon an epiphany of sorts that gave Mr. Smith the confidence to stop trying to conform to a specific belief and expectation that Hollywood continues to cloak over the masses flocking toward it. Hollywood is capable of many things, many great things, but the one thing it cannot do is create. People create. Kevin Smith creates, and began to create for himself and no one else. The first film project birthed from this revelation was the film Red State. This was a film so unlike his previous films, that if you didn’t know it was Kevin Smith’s brain child, you honestly wouldn’t know. It was provoking, intriguing, and baffling all at the same time. And it was serious, probably the most serious film that he had yet created. If you have not seen this film either, I highly recommend you looking into it. This revelation and large support for Red State allowed the opportunity for the movie Tusk to happen.
So what is Tusk? It is a movie about a podcaster named, Wallace, traveling up to the Great White North in hopes of doing an interview for his show. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned for Wallace, and he finds himself on a wasted vacation with nothing to bring back. In a desperate search to right his fate, he finds himself journeying to the home of an old man with promises of great stories. The eccentric old man gives Wallace nibbles of stories knowing exactly what to say to bait the curious attention of his guest, but the old man isn’t just a storyteller. He is a creator, and he what he creates for poor Wallace is a nightmare unlike any that has ever come before. But the creator needs time, and the world must continue outside of his walls. This allowed for a small moment of hope for Wallace when he comes upon his cellphone, and he reaches out to his closest friends back in LA for help. He leaves them a voicemail message filled with fearful rantings and desperate pleas, which hastens them to Canada. There they search for Wallace, teaming up with even more eccentric detective in hopes to find their friend. What they do find is something so unimaginable that is changes their world and most significantly, Wallace’s.
Tusk is a well-timed rollercoaster of emotions and suspense. The story is wonderfully crafted to have you laughing one minute and terrified the next. The acting is superb, especially from the underrated Michael Parks, who plays the old man. His character is our generations Hannibal Lector. The moment, when his character unveils his deceit and becomes his true self, is so unnerving that it had to have the same effect on me as my mother and others like her had when Silence of the Lambs first came out. The tension is constantly broken, and I am thankful of that, by the well-crafted antics of an awkward detective, played by an actor known for his fantastic craft. Now now, please do not run to the internet and search for the actor playing this role. It is far more fun to discover the identity of the cleverly disguised man when watching. He isn’t even credited in the film, just his character. This secret is half the fun. We even have Haley Joel Osment, playing one of the first roles I have seen him in as an adult. Not to be forgotten of course is Justin Long, who plays the lead role as Wallace. I have always enjoyed him as an actor, and while he tends to lean towards comedy, his ability in drama is just as stupendous. He is adventurous with his acting and films, this one no different. I just don’t think, that on the day he decided he was going to become an actor, this particular character was ever thought as a possibility.
This truly is a fantastic and original film. If you are a horror and thriller buff, you must make time for this. As for Kevin Smith, I have a small message for you. I greatly enjoy your films, your wisdom, and comedy in your podcasts. Others may give you grief for changing up your film making, but I just want to say that I encourage it. It is clear that your heart has driven your last two films, and they are something to be proud of. I am just as sure that your heart will be in Clerks III when it comes out, because you are doing what you want. That will ensure that it is great. Hell, I think that your heart was even in Jersey Girl. I have heard you side with the general public when it comes to that movie. How I see it. Hollywood already assigned you to a particular mold and viewership when you made that film. That movie just didn’t fit in that mold. Since it seems you have now set that mold on fire, I hope your can find even the tiniest of places in your heart for Jersey Girl, because I have found one in mine. Thank you for all the entertainment, and I look forward to your next creation.
If one have jams as a tiny tike, then this would definitely be one of them. The song has always been a vivid memory as a favorite, and I continue to love it. Let's have a little fun with Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles.
The winter finale of season 2 has solidified the bridge between Marvel Studios movie universe and the television universe. Previously, the show has only taken a reactive stance to situations that were happening the in the film universe, such has the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Captain America: Winter Soldier. Now it looks like Marvel Studios finally decided to birth and develop a storyline that will ultimately become one of the scheduled motion pictures for phase 3.
We learned from the first season how Coulson returned from the dead. His search during that arc being the most focused drive of the season, but they still left questions for the upcoming season 2 to answer. What we have learned so far is that our boy Coulson was indeed not going crazy, but the alien drug in his system was doing a lot more to him than the initial reason of healing. Once his crazy was figured out, not only did he return to the sane, level man that has been a constant in our Marvel lives since Iron Man, but they dropped one fantastical bomb.
A being was shown in some kind of cyro stasis when Coulson first learned of origin of the drug he was injected with called GH.325. It was determined that the being was alien, but they didn’t have anything or access to anything that would give them a solid idea of what kind of alien it was. Now, Marvel fans probably had a good old time guessing, but I am sure there were some out there that had a strong belief such as myself.
I personally guessed that the alien was Kree, based on the color of the skin and the fact that the drug clearly had healing abilities. I know from the comics that the Kree as a race are pretty durable. My guess was even more supported when in season 2, the team discovered that the carvings and symbols that Coulson had been creating and chasing was actually a blueprint layout of a hidden city. My marvel brain clicked to the city of Attilan and the Inhumans. Those little pieces just put this little show into a whole new ballgame.
I am going to be honest, I thought we would spend the rest of season 2 searching for this city and trying to beat Hydra there. That’s a pretty solid endgame for season 2, and that would have been satisfactory. But no, not only did we find the city before the end of the winter finale, we also basically threw in Inhumans and named the aliens as Kree.
To all of my little friends that are not comic book nerds, the only reason you probably know the word Inhumans, is due to the knowledge of the upcoming film. They have not actually come right out and stated the term in reference to the ending transformation at the end of the finale, but that is what you have, my friends.
Revealing who and what they are is not going to end your world or spoil anything upcoming. It will just help you understand the concept a little more. The Inhumans are an ancient race of people that were initially human until the alien race, the Kree, came to Earth and experimented on them. They used what is called Terrigen Mist on the humans that would genetically enhance and transform the individual while it places them in a type of cocoon, which explains what happened in the final scenes of the winter finale. Once the Inhumans were fully transformed, they were judged and killed by the regular humans of Earth, simply because they were different. This forced the small race into hiding by building a secret city where they could live in peace.
I have no idea what the rest of the season involves, but the fact that we are running around in what could be either Attilan or some version of it is a pretty critical play. As mankind evolved, it would not be surprising if the Inhumans left for some other hiding place to stay safe. They have been known to do this in the comics. While Coulson and his crew could have stumbled into the very city of the current favorite Inhumans from the comic world, I would take a 50/50 stance on that city being it or the people left that city abandoned. This would also mean a 50/50 chance that we will get to see the very Inhumans that will grace the silver screen. There definitely was a suspicious teaser at the end of that episode when a man with no eyes called a mysterious individual to inform that someone had activated the mists.
All and all this jump in the series is very exciting. Since they revealed that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D was to be a real series based in the same universe, this is what I have been waiting for. The show itself allows for the unique opportunity to allow characterization and information for some of these upcoming plots and people soon to hit phase 3, without necessarily being forced to create another movie just to explain in depth. The television show allows time for that without having to always specifically focus on it or have something take away from the core group and show that it is made of. They are treating the cinematic and television universe just like they do in the comics, and it’s pretty damn brilliant. How they play out this Inhumans storyline will really open a door for other little tidbits to come. On a side note, still upset as hell that they killed B.J. off. I liked that guy.
Guess we will all just have to wait until March 3rd to find out. Yeah, I know, but they are trying to test Agent Carter, and give her proper breathing room to stand on her own. Don’t know why? It was two very solid episode so far.
I really, really love Duran Duran. It has been just the thing for me to listen to this past week. I have posted the song Rio, previously, and as much as I enjoy the song, it is not my favorite. Alas, my favorite is a track that I doubt they will ever perform live at their concert. Just too many other things to cover, and this wasn't one of their biggest hits. I still love it, and maybe one day they pull out this song at the next Duran Duran concert I attend. I give to you, New Moon On Monday by Duran Duran. Enjoy!
