Turn out the lights, sit in the dark and watch these movies. By today’s standards, they are not scary. By the standards of the time, people screamed in the theaters.

Number 1 on my list, I’ve written about before. Dracula with Bela Lugosi, the first well know Dracula, and one imitated more often than any of the others. Lugosi’s vampire became the standard.

Number 2, The Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jr. State of the art special effects of the day when he changed into the Wolfman.

Number 3, Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. Created life goes out of control to destroy its creator and all the things the creator loves.

Number 4, The Mummy with Boris Karloff. Karloff gets to act in this movie and it is worth seeing. His voice and facial expressions are wonderful

Find them, watch them and enjoy.

Happy Halloween

Full shows available on the internet.  Who would have thought of that.  I also have enough speed to watch one as long as I don’t make the screen too big or watch anything else.

I really liked that show when it was on.  What I thought was great, is that some of the things he did would actually work.  

I can’t remember how many I tried out.  Yes, even as an adult I did try some of the MacGyverisms.   My wife thought MacGyver was good looking, so she didn’t have a problem watching the show either.  She got mad when I sprayed a lightbulb with water once.   Hot lightbulbs explode when they get wet. Who would ever have thought that would work in real life.  Glass shards all over the place…  I was more careful after that.  I waited until the house was empty to try new things.

Well anyway you can watch whole episodes of Macgyver on an IMDb link here. 

What music they make…

In keeping with the Halloween season, I thought that line was appropriate. Bela Lugosi’s role as Dracula still is one for the ages. Today, that movie seems quaint and common, but in 1931 it terrified the audience. I’ve been told and read that the 1922 silent movie Nosferatu was even more chilling. Someday I must see that film.

Other versions of Dracula were horrific, bad, funny and just plain campy. There was Dracula vs Frankenstein, Dracula vs Batman. There was a Son of Dracula (Young Dracula) and an Old Dracula. Dracula was even Dead and Loving It. He even discoed in Love at First Bite. Today there are many more vampire stories out there, they all started with Dracula.

Why this fascination? Hard to say. Terror lurks in dark places. We as a society gather in light areas. We bring light into the dark. We try to chase away all shadows. Vampires, werewolves and their ilk are creatures of the shadows and dark. They strike a nerve with us. They chill our bones. They the moral of a story. Live a good life and evil will not happen to you. Stay with the group, do not go off alone after dark. There is evil out there and it has a name.

Today, we try to scare ourselves and we call it fun. We have horror movies, haunted mazes and houses, horror books. Things designed to get a bit of thrill in our lives. Things designed to get our blood flowing.

I do love the Halloween season. I wish that our haunted theater had been a reality, now I have no plans for Halloween. I’m too old to go “Trick or Treating” and I know of costume parties yet. Last year, even without the party, I put on my Dracula cape and went around the local area. Maybe this year, I’ll shop at Wal*Mart.

And what brought all this up….

The Children of the Night, what music they make…. Owls in the trees, a dog or coyote howling in the distance on a chill dark night. Yes, the children of the night make music, and to my ears there is nothing better….

And yes, this is a play our theater should do… if we don’t do a haunted house in October, we should at least do one themed play…

And then I find this link. An interesting look into the creation of Superman. I will admit that I never looked into the two men that created the Superman character. I knew the names, but never any back story behind it. I guess it never really grasped my interest, but a comic I read started a story line about one of the authors. I’m not sure if anyone here reads Funky Winkerbean, but there is a current story arc about the Seigel home.

All interesting stuff for the 70th anniversary of Superman.

And a special link for a friend about a discussion we had recently. Here it is, Red Son. Have fun, if you find the actual books, let me know….

I just ran across this article and was stunned. Cher as Catwoman? Maybe a few, ok quite a few years ago, but now? With plastic surgery and all she doesn’t look too bad for 62, but still, a 62 year old comic book villain/heroine? That would be quite a difference from most of the comic books stories I know about. Now if this were just an animated film, why not. I think she would have a distinct and wonderful voice for Catwoman. Oh well I guess I shouldn’t get too worked up.

But the same rumor mill has Johnny Depp as the Riddler. Now that may be an interesting casting decision.

We will see

Not exactly, I just never sat down to write a review on this movie, but my “Clone Wars” review made me think of it again.

First question asked and answered. Is it a Mummy Sequel? They say so, but I really didn’t think so. This guy was not a mummy, he was cursed and turned into a statue. Low and Behold somebody had a way to bring him back to life… Hmm

This movie was fun. The time in the theater just flew by. Statue people, unearth skeletons, and even Yetis. (Now where and why did they every find Yetis???)

Fun action flick, lots of comedy to keep it lighter, great scenery, and the good guys win. But best of all NO BUGS. The only thing that really bother me about the other Mummy movies were the various bugs that crawled into or around people. Just enough to make you itch… This movie no bugs.

Fun matinee movie, or a good rental. Don’t bother (and I think it is gone anyway) going to the superplex for this one.

Saw the latest addition to the Star Wars Saga yesterday with my family. Interesting movie, but I’m not sure it did much to fill in the story for me.

As a stand alone movie, without any Star Wars background, I don’t think this movie would even be in the theaters. The animation and story line were direct to DVD quality, or maybe in line with some of the offerings on Cable. Not what I would consider for a theatrical release.

That being said, this was a Star Wars movie. And of course another story in the life of the Skywalker family. Supposedly the time line for this is sometime between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (Star Wars II and III). In that I was hoping it would expand the story a bit. I was disappointed in that.

Good points, well the battle scenes (and there were a lot of them) were interesting to watch, and the interaction of various members of the Droid army were very funny. The voices behind Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and C3P0 (Anthony Daniels) were well done, especially since they were all in the other movies as the same characters. The other voice work was ok, but the main characters lacked some zing. Maybe this is my “the original 3 shows were better” mentality, but this show needed work.

Is it worth going to see? Cheap theater, cheap seats (two for one day, or bring your own bag day) sure, but if you’re not a Star Wars fan, save you’re money — wait for the rental.

The newest Batman movie
The Dark Knight has been breaking all kinds of earning records. The powers of the movie industry do not think that Batman will break the current $ record held by Titanic, a movie I never saw by the way (the boat sinks), but it has a good chance of catching up to the Original Star Wars movie.

But I did some searching, and found out that adjusted for inflation, The Dark Knight is currently in 58th place. The #1 show is Gone with the Wind. #2 is Star Wars.

Just some cool things I found out at Box Office Mojo. If your interested in box office takes at all, this is one very interesting site. They had breakdowns on the days of the week, time of the year and movie ratings. I may spend a little more time there looking for trivial information. (That may help in some games!!)

Ok, all you Dark Knight fans, I want to know who would dress up as one of the Batman bad guys and then try to rob a movie theater of its Batman posters? Maybe he thought there would be many other dressed the same way, but this wasn’t the first weekend of the show. Most of the movie goers that dress in costume will go on the first day, or at the very latest the first weekend. Well, it happened in Detroit. What was he thinking?

Now most who know me, know that I love to talk about ways to commit crimes. Someday, when I grow up, I would like to write a decent mystery/murder story. I just have some problems with developing characters, that is a story for another day. I can come up with good plots, and even a way to write about the crime and throw out a few false clues. But never in my wildest dreams would I come up with this sort of crime. I mean at the very least this guy should have been robbing a bank, but no, he wants Batman stuff. And how does he try to get it? Dress up as the Joker, and steal it during the Sunday Morning show…. Hmm…. There are a lot less people at the movie theaters for those early Sunday shows, but guess what guy, you’re going to stand out like a sore thumb in that Joker getup. He would have had a much better chance putting on a pair of Dockers and a dark shirt. That would have given him a chance of looking like one of the theater workers.

Oh well, it takes all kinds. I think he could make it in a Dumb crooks list somewhere.

Well, it took me two takes of this movie to feel comfortable writing much about it.  The way I was thinking, watching it the first time, made me fail to see some of the better qualities of this movie.  Hint to self, if you are going to see a midnight show, take a nap first.  I didn’t fall asleep, but my mind was thinking of different things way too often (see here ).

Now on to the movie itself. The Dark Knight’s title says it all, this movie was dark. The character of Batman is dark, the character of the Joker is extremely dark. The City of Gotham and its police force is dark. The only light in the movie is the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent. The unmasked hero Gotham needs.

The show starts with a mid-day bank robbery, by guys in clown masks. One by one the clowns off themselves and others. A Joker run scheme to rob banks that hold mob money. This was a great introduction to the character of the Joker. Harking back to various stages in DC comic book history, this Joker is not just a raving lunatic, he is also a cold and calculating killer. Anything that will forward his plans is OK with him. This is the darkness that the Joker brings to the movie.

Batman and his past bring up his dark side. His actions may be making the criminal element of Gotham react with the likes of the Joker. Confronting these inner demons is the life of Bruce Wayne/Batman. This Batman has depth. The perfect counterpoint to the Joker. He says he has one rule, where the Joker has no rules. This one rule separates Good from Evil, and Order from Chaos.

In watching this movie it is easy to be taken in as to exactly what the Gotham Police, DA’s Office and Batman are fighting. The movie is about the confrontation between Batman and The Joker. Every other plot device, and character development drives home that point. Batman on one hand is trying to protect the people and City he cares about. The Joker is trying to destroy the same. A big game devised by The Joker to test the mettle of Batman. The Joker and Batman are polar opposites again, destined to battle for the control of the city of Gotham.

To get this across the acting need at a very high level. The main actors all portrayed there parts very well. I really think the ‘new’ Rachel Dawes was a much better fit. She seemed more like a hard nosed attorney to me. I don’t think I would have wanted to get in her way. Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman again) again made this role his. Even the minor roles were good, I really liked the fake cop Rachel Dawes, he seemed like someone the Joker would hire.

Now my biggest concern of this movie is that it is 2 1/2 hours long. That is a very long movie. I saw this movie the first time at our little local theater for the Midnight show. At the prices that you pay for a movie, the $5 and $3 matinee prices usually make up for the fact that this is not the latest in movie theater seating or comfort. For this movie it was definitely a factor. The second time I saw this movie was at a newer theater with full stadium seating. The extra room and comfort of the chairs made the movie fly by. I no longer had the feeling that the movie should be ending soon, based on the number of times I shifted in my seat. I’m sure that seeing the movie once before helped to keep my attention up too, but I know the seating comfort helped a lot.

The sick and twisted plot of the Joker is to cause as much panic and chaos as possible in the City of Gotham. He is working to get control of all of the Mobs in place. He is working to cause panic in the streets. He is working to destroy Batman and the New DA. And for most of the movie it appears that he succeeds. Destruction, violence, murder and mayhem are his stock and trade. He robs a Mob bank and then breaks into their meeting saying he wants to be hired to kill the Batman. He then takes over one of the mobs.

Many people die until the Joker finally reveals most of his plan to Batman just after he is captured. The end of the show Batman is in a different place than he was at the beginning. At the beginning he is an overlooked vigilante, at the end a hunted vigilante, never to be overlooked again. Did the Joker win this battle?

The saddest part of the movie is this line from the Joker:

You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

This looks like a lead in to a certain sequel, but with the death of actor Heath Ledger, if one comes about it, this quote will remain just that a quote. I can’t see them putting another actor in the place of this Joker. Played in a way never seen on the screen before, and probably never seen again.