TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2015

Tonight I watched the Family Guy episode "Dr. C and the Women". In this episode, Meg gets a job working at the TSA, and is actually the "hottest" employee there! Meanwhile, Cleveland works as an unlicensed therapist.

Supernatural

American Horror Story:Hotel

Adventureland

Pawn Stars

Modern Family

Once again impressed by American Horror Story. I love the Gatsby characterization of the hotel owner. Plus the deco meets 80's nouveau set design is eye candy. Easily the best season of the series so far.

I've honestly never seen so much sex and violence in a cable show before.

corplhicks wrote:

Once again impressed by American Horror Story. I love the Gatsby characterization of the hotel owner. Plus the deco meets 80's nouveau set design is eye candy.

The carpeting of the hotel reminds me soooo much of the hotel in the Shining. In fact, that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it.

007 wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Once again impressed by American Horror Story. I love the Gatsby characterization of the hotel owner. Plus the deco meets 80's nouveau set design is eye candy.

The carpeting of the hotel reminds me soooo much of the hotel in the Shining. In fact, that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it.

And the two blonde kids at the outset of the first episode. I'm waiting for blood to spill out of the elevators haha.

Also forgot to mention Lady Gaga isn't too shabby in her role.

The exterior used for the hotel in American Horror Story: Hotel is the James Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles.  It's an art deco structure completed in 1928 and is a protected historic cultural landmark.  All the interiors on the show are filmed in a 6-story set constructed on the 20th Century Fox lot.



I had a hard time locating a good photo of the building online, I'll try to snap a few pictures of it the next time I go downtown.

S.D. wrote:

The exterior used for the hotel in American Horror Story: Hotel is the James Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles.  It's an art deco structure completed in 1928 and is a protected historic cultural landmark.  All the interiors on the show are filmed in a 6-story set constructed on the 20th Century Fox lot.



I had a hard time locating a good photo of the building online, I'll try to snap a few pictures of it the next time I go downtown.  

Cool; when they first showed the exterior shots I thought for sure that was downtown LA. It looks amazing.

What goes on today on the inside? Being that's it's a protected landmark, is it just unused space? Office space?

It's an office building with a fancy restaurant/supper club on the first floor. On Sundays they have parties with a full big band and fancy dress ball.

Historic landmark designation just means it cannot be demolished or altered in any way.

"Halloween" (2007)


Serial killer Michael Myers escapes from the sanitarium on Halloween night and returns to his old home town to eliminate his long-lost sister. Hilarity ensues.

Rob Zombie's ultra-violent remake of the John Carpenter classic digs into the back story behind the Myers character and reveals that he's... a white trash kid with Mommy issues. That's it? Pfft. I think I liked it better when his motivation was a mystery.

^^I can't stand what I've seen of Rob Zombie's filmography so I've left his Halloween remakes alone. I heard he bowed a bunch to studio pressure on those films. And I agree, leave Michael's backstory alone.

Speaking of Halloween...

Halloween III: Season of the Witch - C+. There's only two cool things about this movie: John Carpenter's score and a decent gore shot. Otherwise this was a poorly paced slice of turkey that didn't make a lick of sense (why. kill. children.). This was my second viewing since I was a young 'un but I can't say it's improved much. But I really want the soundtrack. Creepy synth stuff abound.

Oh and F*ck that ridiculous commercial.

Bad Taste - A-. What the hell did I just watch?? There is nothing like this movie. Nothing. Peter Jackson's directorial debut is the epitome of low budget horror. The making of this film is even more fascinating than the film itself, which is a whimsical, gross, witty, and utterly ridiculous landscape of misadventure. Peter Jackson fighting himself on a steep cliff, a flying house, ugly looking aliens--all shot over a four year period on the cheap. It's not for everyone--and like Dead Alive could really turn your stomach into knots--but it sure ain't boring. I may watch this one again, in fact.

I love Bad Taste!  And now you can watch "Meet The Feebles" next. 

I like Halloween III too though.  The part that really makes no sense is the main premise about putting a chip from Stonehenge inside a mask so that a signal to the chip makes snakes and bugs come out.  Regardless, that movie has become a Toho tradition while handing out candy on the 31st.

tohostudios wrote:

I love Bad Taste!  And now you can watch "Meet The Feebles" next. 

I like Halloween III too though.  The part that really makes no sense is the main premise about putting a chip from Stonehenge inside a mask so that a signal to the chip makes snakes and bugs come out.  Regardless, that movie has become a Toho tradition while handing out candy on the 31st.

I've seen Feebles and damn that was an eye-crosser as well. But even that couldn't have prepared me for Bad Taste. I really think Jackson was a better and more creative director before the LOTR junk. Perhaps he worked better within limitations. And his comic timing was sheer genius for being so young. Some of the editing in Bad Taste really impressed me. Like the exploding sheep lolol.

I recently found out Joe Dante was slated to direct Halloween III. Now that would've been different.

I seem to remember a scene in Halloween II where Donald Pleasance is talking about the history of Samhain and alluding that Michael might be some kind of physical incarnation of an ancient pagan deity or something...of course it's a plot thread that just dangles. But I think it was the same basic seed for the "let's break off pieces of Stonehenge and insert in computer chips" plot device used in Halloween III.

Now I have the song "Chip Away At The Stone" stuck in my head....

S.D. wrote:

I seem to remember a scene in Halloween II where Donald Pleasance is talking about the history of Samhain and alluding that Michael might be some kind of physical incarnation of an ancient pagan deity or something...of course it's a plot thread that just dangles.  But I think it was the same basic seed for the "let's break off pieces of Stonehenge and insert in computer chips" plot device used in Halloween III.

Now I have the song "Chip Away At The Stone" stuck in my head....

That's basically the way the bad guy explains it in III, but again like you said it's a loose thread. There's not much of an explanation beyond that. I just don't understand the motive. Killing kids won't help anone take over the world, so there goes the theory of world domination. Perhaps Samhain was some form of genocide? My knowledge of that is nil.

Quote :

^^I can't stand what I've seen of Rob Zombie's filmography so I've left his Halloween remakes alone. I heard he bowed a bunch to studio pressure on those films. And I agree, leave Michael's backstory alone.

I hadn't seen RZ's Halloween since it first hit video back in the day and didn't really remember much about it, so it was worth a re-watch. Turns out I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I did see his Halloween II recently, on the other hand, and that was god-freakin-awful.

You can count me in as one of the minority who actually loves Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Yeah, it's random as hell and has plot holes in it you can drive a truck thru, but it's so much bizarro world fun....

Halloween III is my favorite of all the Halloween films and the only one I actually saw in a movie theater.  After we watched that, we went to the theater next door and saw First Blood. Good times.

I've only seen the first three Halloween titles and H2O, but I'll give III the credit of being the best of the sequels I've seen so far (although H2O wasn't half bad either). Of course, the issue there is should we consider III to be an actual Halloween movie...?

If I remember correctly, Halloween III was supposed to be the first in an annual tradition of Halloween horror movies that Carpenter wanted to do; it wasn't really intended to be a sequel to the Michael Myers series at all but they slapped the "Halloween" label on it as a marketing ploy. Of course all that did was piss off most of the audience who were expecting a sequel based on the title. And also of course because the reception was so terrible the planned series of Halloween-themed movies never materialized.

I used to remember this marketing story every year around Halloween when a new Saw movie would come out because the Saw franchise actually ended up doing what people thought the Halloween movies would do, release a new sequel every year at Halloween.

corplhicks wrote:

I just don't understand the motive. Killing kids won't help anone take over the world, so there goes the theory of world domination. Perhaps Samhain was some form of genocide? My knowledge of that is nil.

Human sacrifice.  Children (and/or virgins) being a more powerful offering. Any historical accuracy about pagans/druids, etc. you can forget about. This is just a lazy screenwriter throwing ideas up against the wall to see what sticks.

tohostudios wrote:

If I remember correctly, Halloween III was supposed to be the first in an annual tradition of Halloween horror movies that Carpenter wanted to do; it wasn't really intended to be a sequel to the Michael Myers series at all but they slapped the "Halloween" label on it as a marketing ploy.  Of course all that did was piss off most of the audience who were expecting a sequel based on the title.  And also of course because the reception was so terrible the planned series of Halloween-themed movies never materialized.  

I used to remember this marketing story every year around Halloween when a new Saw movie would come out because the Saw franchise actually ended up doing what people thought the Halloween movies would do, release a new sequel every year at Halloween.

It actually wasn't Carpenter that wanted the yearly films, it was the studio. They wanted another Michael Myers film, Carpenter said "been there, done that, forget it". He came up with Season Of The Witch with basically little or no connection to the earlier series...the studio demanded the name "Halloween" be in the title. Carpenter said "whatever". After the film flopped because of the mass confusion caused over the name Carpenter sold his interest in the franchise and got the hell out.

Continuum series finale, glad they got to do a last season, but the finale felt a bit rushed. Ending was ok.

Checking out my vhs collection to see if all the tapes are still good. Started out with Liar Liar, the 1997 Jim Carrey vehicle about a conniving lawyer who is unable to lie for 24 hours due to a birthday wish by his disappointed son. Carrey is at the top of his game here and makes for an enjoyable flick.

Next up, Jurassic Park III (2001) - Sam Neill returns as Alan Grant, who is tricked into going to a second island inhabited with bio-engineered dinosaurs to search for a divorced couples missing son. This is a rather entertaining film, and is better than the first sequel, The Lost World.