Off to Texas!

Have a fun and safe trip everyone and see ya’ll on the flip side….

So what mischief should the rest of us get up to while the proprietor’s out?

There is an author who is suing Amazon and the Tolkien estate saying they plagiarized his novel, stealing from it to make The Rings of Power. The kick, though, isn’t that someone is trying to coat ride on one of modern times’ biggest flops. It’s that his book is called The Fellowship of the King, and is an unauthorized sequel to The Lord of the Rings. On sale at Amazon for almost $12.

The mind boggles.

I watched “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and “independence Day,” both in 4K. They’re both great examples of the format.

$12 Kindle and $27 for a hardcopy. That guy is optimistic.

I’m amused how he’s suing the people and company he trusts to sell his book.

Watched “Alien” in 4K. I saw the film in its theatrical run, and I don’t think it looked (and sounded) this good.

I hope you enjoy Cocaine Bear. Just a warning, there are one or two scenes that may be a little much for the younger children.

Since the two that were home when we watched it are 17 and 21 and I just took to the wildly more gory Renfield, no worries.

Gonna be honest, Jamie and the boys thought it was hilarious, I was fairly indifferent. Just didn’t hit the sweet spot for combined horror/humor for me. Either needed a bit more real horror/suspense amid the sillyness, or buckets more blood to play up the absurdity. But degustibus non est disputandum.

I also can’t really figure out how they spent $35 million on shitty CGI and a generally cheap cast. Then again Marvel can spend $350 million for shitty CI, so…

I do like Henry.

I did notice that when Sigourney Weaver has her space helmet on at the end, it looked an awful lot like painted styrofoam….still, the 4K really looks incredible.

Ohhhh, that sounds insane! Looking forward to it!

Goldurn it man, how could you! You let the whole team down by not watching something stupid!

Joking aside, I’ve been watching a nice dose of high quality Horror flicks. I’ve also been on a theme, with people going into the wilderness and being killed. Not sure why I’ve done it, but I’ve done it.

At least one of those was stupid. In case you cared.

Is the orangutan voiced by Christopher Waulken?

Sure thing! I’m just going to talk a little about all of them, in order of worth. These are on Prime, by the by, so you can easily find out how bad my judgment is.

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The Prey: I’m not actually recommending this, just mentioning it in passing. I watched because I’d had such good luck in this type pictures I thought it worth the risk. It wasn’t. Packed with pointless scenes, characters you can hardly tell apart, and the sense it was only made to capitalize on Slasher flicks, it fits the stupid label all too well. I found the ending particularly irritating.

The Final Terror: It has some real unlikable characters in it, and the occasional implausibility, but I thought enough of the story worked. It’s closer to Deliverance than Friday the 13th and has a trio of future stars in it, including Cypher from Matrix. It’s what started my kick of Stalked-in-the-Woods kick.

Bachelor Games: Far better than the previous two, it also suffers from unlikable characters. However I think its better shot, better directed, and has a better story. I will say that this is the rare film where I thought it would have been better served without the Supernatural angle. Or at least if the Supernatural was better handed. The ending is also kind of a dud.

Friday the 13th: This is on the cusp, as the previous three have the characters out camping/hiking when disaster strikes and this one is focused on a camp ground. Still, watching the others I got in the mood. My opinion of this has risen a great deal over the years, especially after seeing it in theaters. Of the four, I give this one the nod if you haven’t seen it before.

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If you don’t mind a little indulgence, let me point out a couple more that I’ve seen, but didn’t watch recently:

Rituals: There’s a ton of movies with this title. The one I’m talking about stars the always great Hal Holbrook. It’s the one I kept comparing the others to, and they always came up lacking. I’d recommend this one over the other Stalked-in-the-Woods flicks. It also has its share of unlikeable characters, but Holbrook grounds things a decent sort protagonist.

She Came From the Woods: This one isn’t on Prime, and, like Friday the 13th, on the cusp of the same subject matter. Worth checking out in any case if you get a chance. A homage to 80’s Horror, it’s less Slasher and more Supernatural Horror, though the Supernatural angle isn’t as well thought out as I’d have like it. That said, it’s unlikable characters is down to one and it has several really well done moments in it.

If you’re interested in paranormal weirdness, there are a pair of YouTube accounts by the names ‘Bedtime Stories’ and ‘Wartime Stories’ that have some good creepy stuff that’s rather professionally made.

They have outstanding artwork.

Well, given how cheap weiland-yutani is, maybe the future space suits *will* be made out of cardboard!

I watched Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye,” which is not stupid or bad, but is actually a really great film. Highly recommended. Early role for Ahnold, too. Mark Rydell is a much better actor than director.

Yeah, I’ve following ‘Bedtime Stories’ and ‘Wartime Stories’ for years. And the artwork is excellent!

That’s what I was talking about. I was looking for it here on Jabootu but just couldn’t find it.