KISS Rocks German TV

KISS was on the popular German television show, "Wetten, Dass..?" (Wanna Bet?) yesterday and here's the video. They played a track off the new CD Sonic Boom and a classic track off Dynasty.

Kiss performs "Say Yeah" and "I Was Made for Lovin' You":

Movie Review: The Crazies

Synopsis: A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George Romero horror classic.

I realize these horror remakes are a dime a dozen lately but every once in a while one of them really works for me, like for example Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake back in '04. Well much like that one, The Crazies comes out with a little bit of Johnny Cash (We'll Meet Again) but then slowly builds some tension before letting all hell break loose. It's very well made, has a nice tone and pace and actually is pretty intelligent (for a horror film).

There's nothing really new here as horror films go. Most of the whole big government cover-up, deadly virus, contamination thing has been done to death, it's just that is hasn't really been done this well in a while. It's part Cabin Fever, part The Stand and part Dawn of the Dead. They do a good job of investing in the characters so you care about them, and a good job of keeping you guessing who is infected and who isn't. It delivers plenty of psychological horror that gets you to thinking, then injects action scenes to get your heart racing again.

As for true scares, there are a few jump scare moments and some genuinely creepy scenes. One of my favorites is at the beginning, as seen in trailers, when the guy walks out onto the baseball field with a shotgun. In today's society that's a scary picture because it's so realistic.

I like Timothy Olyphant (A Perfect Getaway, Hitman) and he's the main man for most of the movie, along with his wife played by super sexy Radha Mitchell (Rogue, Silent Hill). I've professed my love for her many times, I'll add that I'd fight a town of zombies for her any day.

Overall this is a slick, stylish, spooky, smart, gory remake that should please horror fans. An early candidate for my favorite horror film of the year I'm sure.

8/10

Sunday Funnies

New Airbourne Video

Here's the video "No Way But The Hard Way" for the lead single from Aussie hard rocker Airbourne's second album "No Guts, No Glory" in stores 8th March on Roadrunner Records.

I dare say this is the best band I know from Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia.

Mama, There Goes That Man Again

Yes, another brew festival has popped up near me, so obviously I'm there. This time though I'm only doing it because the money is going to a good cause, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. I mean what better way for me to do my part? Any guilt from drinking too much will instantly be canceled out by the good feeling from... ah who am I kidding. If the money was going to a puppy farm I'd still be going probably. Thankfully, it does happen to be a really good cause.

Sadly, we just don't have many good beer festivals around here. We do have Little Rocktoberfest every fall, but it's really just a bunch of beer we can already get and a few brewers. We also have Foamfest which is sort of the same. I wish we could have a big brew festival with a bunch of beers from breweries we don't normally get, but I also want female mud wrestling to be an Olympic sport so what do I know.

This festival is new, and will be in Memphis on March 13th at Handy Park on Beale Street. It's called the River City Brewers’ Festival and will have two sessions: one from noon to 4 p.m. and one from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., followed by an after-party at the Rum Boogie Cafe just across the street. The festival is $30 and the after party will be free to beer fest attendees.

Local breweries Ghost River Brewing and Bosco’s will be participating and also big name breweries like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Samuel Adams, Leinenkugels, Yazoo, Lazy Magnolia, Schlafly, Abita and Victory. Sounds awesome. And let me not forget the usual souvenir mug.

This should hold me over until the Memphis Brewfest in April at Autozone Park.

Movie Review: Sorority Row

Synopsis: A group of sorority sisters try to cover up the death of their house-sister after a prank gone wrong, only to be stalked by a serial killer.

I only recently watched 1983's The House on Sorority Row and wasn't too crazy about it, so when this hit the theater back in October I completely ignored it despite the load of sexy gals on the poster. Now having seen it I think it's only fair to say it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be and better than the original. In fact, it shares very little in common with the original other than the fact that it involves sorority sisters and a prank gone wrong.

There are definitely plenty of eye-catching women running around in next-to-nothing so that's a major plus. My personal favorite is the incredibly gorgeous Jamie Chung, who I could just pause the DVD and stare at for hours. Briana Evigan, Audrina Patridge and Leah Pipes all do similar things to my dreams. There are plenty of other sisters in Theta Pi that make me want to go to their parties even at the risk of death by psycho slasher. The sorority parties are ridiculously over-the-top but it's sort of funny really, as it seems to be making fun of the sorority lifestyle, not trying to be realistic.

The movie is definitely nothing original but hell it's a slasher film, what do you expect? It reminds me a lot of the Scream films and the Urban Legend series. I like the way it's very slickly and stylishly shot, enjoyed the inventive death sequences, laughed at a lot of the cynical and snide humorous dialog and played along with the classic murderer guessing game. I felt like it never really took itself too seriously and played right along with what it was.

It's nothing special nor is it exactly Bill Shakespeare, but if you're into slasher films I think it's a fun little flick. And the eye candy. Oh my, the eye candy.

6/10

Cops vs Crazies

I'll be damned if it's still isn't cold here. I keep thinking every weekend that Spring will start poking it head out but no chance. So... more inside activities for me! A couple of movies and such, a pub or 2... etc and so forth. Possibly a road trip tomorrow up north but I haven't decided, since I've already got trips coming the next 2 weekends. If you're wanting to stay indoors but get out of the house 2 new movies hit the googleplexes... 1 buddy comedy and 1 horror remake:

Cop Out

Synopsis: A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop (Bruce Willis) whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner (Tracy Morgan) to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.

My Thoughts: I think this actually looks pretty funny in sort of a classic 48 Hours way. Rplace Nick Nolte with Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy with Tracy Morgan and presto. Morgan is a pretty funny guy and Sean William Scott seems to have a pretty big role so I'm sure the laughs will be there. Also, the tagline for this is "Rock out with your Glock out"... I mean, seriously? Brilliant.



The Crazies

Synopsis: A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness in The Crazies. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George Romero horror classic.

My Thoughts: I never was a huge fan of the Romero original, but I like it alright. From what I've read about this and seen on the trailers and clips it looks like a great horror film. I'll find out this weekend for sure. I love the scene with the guy walking onto the little league field with a shotgun (about the 20 second mark). Creepy.

A Day At The Races

I promised some pics from my day at the Oaklawn horse track in Hot Springs this past weekend so here are some misc ones. I did OK really that day, mainly because I bet on a horse whose name I really liked, Stout Hope. I thought, well I love stouts (beer) so there is hope I might win one. Anyway it did win and paid me back 3 to 1 so I got another Shiner Bock and corned beef sandwich and went back to trying to pick winners based on real evaluations. I should have stayed with just reading their names. Between the slots, blackjack and ponies I really didn't come out too bad though.

I've said it many times but I'll say it again... Oaklawn is a real jewel for this state. I've been to other horse tracks (2) and neither was anywhere near as nice and classy as Oaklawn. It's a great place to people watch, enjoy some races, gamble, have some beers and good food and when the weather is warm enough it's just a good place to enjoy that too.

A Definite Gold Medal Winner In My Book

So I won't watch any of the Winter Olympics other than hockey just because they'll all "sports" that I don't watch for the 4 years in between and have no interest in seeing. I do however have interest in gorgeous gold medalist Lindsey Vonn's photo shoot for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue 2010. She won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in downhill, the first American woman to do so, but unless she skis in a bikini I'm still not watching. I'll just keep playing this video over-and-over. I have no idea how she's not melting the snow.

New Video From Creed

Here's the latest video from Creed for the song "A Thousand Faces" which is the 3rd single from Full Circle. The video is a pretty standard live video, but I love this song. My favorite part about it is guitarist Mark Tremonti's vocals on the chorus, especially about the 3 minute mark when he starts to let it go. I think this is the first time he does vocals like this on a Creed song since "My Own Prison" maybe.

Check Out Down From Up

This is a cool band from Knoxville, Tn which opened for Sevendust and Drowning Pool on Sunday night called Down From Up. I hadn't heard of them at all but it didn't me to long really get into them. They played a 10-minute or so Zeppelin medley during their live set that was just smokin plus some solid originals. Consider me on the bandwagon.

Check 'em out for yourself. Here's their electronic press kit and a video for their song "Victim":

Movie Review: Shutter Island

Synopsis: A drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.

Not really a horror movie as it seemed to be advertised but a smart, stylized psychological thriller that I thought was pretty well done. There's a twist, but it all fits together quite nicely and isn't a reach really. Leo DiCaprio is fantastic I think and the supporting cast does a solid job as well.

Honestly though, it's got quite a few cliches as psychological thrillers go really, but the tone and direction is so nice a lot of them felt fresh. Wait, is a fresh cliche possible? Well, I say it is I guess.

The story is complicated and a bit distrurbing a lot of times, but it stays creepy and engrossing enough that I wasn't staring at my watch even though it could probably have been trimmed back a bit. The real horror comes in the form of how your past and guilt can haunt you and even overtake you, and this takes time to develop. It's not like a slasher film where it doesn't take a lot of backstory or thought to know you need to fear and run from the guy with a knife. This is a sharp movie in another sense.

Overall, I don't think it's right at the top of Scorsese's films, but it's up in the top half as it's definitely memorable, haunting and a hypnotic movie.

8/10

Sunday Funnies

I'm Cuckoo For Kaley Cuoco

I don't know if you watch The Big Bang Theory or not, but this might help convince you of what you're missing. This is Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, on her Maxim photo shoot. Wow. Just wow.



If she look familar, it might be that she's been on TV for quite a while. She was on 8 Simple Rules for years and Charmed among other shows.

UFC 110: Nogueira vs Velasquez

In my opinion, the UFC pay-per-view cards of late have been a bit lacking. This weekend's card is a much better top-to-bottom card for my liking. That said, I doubt I order unless I win big at Oaklawn today. There's just so many free MMA fights available on TV now it's hard to want to pay $50 more per card once a month. But anyway, here's some on UFC 110, headlined by Nogueira vs Velasquez. It's a really nice mix of guys who are already legendary in the sport (Nogueira, Silva, Cro Cop) and some hungry younger lions (Velasquez, Bader, Bisping).

Main Card

•Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
•Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva
•George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson
•Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine
•Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Anthony Perosh

Prelims

•Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
•Brian Foster vs. Chris Lytle
•C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic
•Igor Pokrajac vs. James Te Huna

Here's a load of videos, including a massive 2 part Countdown to UFC 110:

Ride The Pony

It's a beautiful day to go to the horse races at Oaklawn Park. Not just the nice weather but since they had a lot postponed last weekend, today is now a massive day at the track.

The 9th race is the $60,000 Spring Fever, the tenth race will be the $250,000 Southwest Stakes and the CLASSIX carryover pool stands at $5,384.

What does all that mean? Well, it means I'll be eating the world's greatest corned beef sandwiches, drinking beer, playing Blackjack and betting on horses all day today. It's my first Oaklawn trip of the year too. I'll post some pics from the world's best horse track tomorrow.

Re-Scheduled Southwest, Spring Fever Stakes Highlight Saturday at Oaklawn:: Oaklawn Jockey Club - Horse Racing in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Here's a video to set the mood... ride it, my pony... OK, well it has nothing to do with horse races but it does talk about riding a pony. Sort of.

Marty and Leo Sittin' In a Tree

One big new film opening today and it's from director Martin Scorsese, so of course it makes perfect sense that it's also got Leonardo DiCaprio in it, right? Well it does. This is their 4th collaboration in the last 8 years. The excellent Gangs of New York, the just-as-excellent The Departed and The Aviator, which I've never seen, are their previous efforts. Best cinematic duo of all-time? Hard to say I guess until I at the very least see the one I missed and today's release. So here we go...

The Plot: Set in 1954 when a psychotic killer (Emily Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Mark Ruffalo and Leo DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.

My Thoughts: The trailer looks equal parts creepy and interesting. Seriously though, how can this possibly miss? In addition to the power team of Leo and Marty, the supporting cast includes Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams and Jackie Earle Haley. Score!

Sevendust... Black... Live

Sunday is getting here pretty quickly, so here's more Sevendust. Check out the intensity these guys bring live. Here's them doing "Black", still my favorite song of theirs since I first heard it back in 1997:

Pass The Cheese: Classic Sci-Fi Monsters

I got out one of my cool TCM collections over the cold weekend and watched all 4 films by the end of it. The set was TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures and it included 4 classics from the 50s.

I used to love these back in the day when we only had a few channels and I'd spend Saturdays at my Grandparent's house. I can remember laying in the floor so close to the TV that every time Grandma walked through she'd tell me to back up. I would of course. For a few seconds.

But anyway, some great memories among these films.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Based on a Ray Bradbury story, it's really the best film of the bunch. The monster is awakened by a nuclear blast and decides to start snacking on ships, lighthouses and people. The legend Ray Harryhausen animated the monster and it looks pretty cool really as it channels King Kong and goes on a car stomping, people chomping spree in New York. The name of the film is a bit baffling as a fathom is 6 feet, so 20,000 fathoms is actually over 3 times deeper than the ocean at any point. No wonder he's so pissed off. The only people you might recognize are Lee Van Cleef and the guy who went on to play Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard TV show.

Them! (1954)

This one is for sure a classic on my list. I can actually remember being scared while watching this somehow. More nuclear weapons being blamed for the deadly GIANT ANTS! Yes, "them" are ants. Of course they munch people (and sacks of sugar) and make loud funny ant sounds. The ants look hilarious, but the plot is actually pretty fun and James Arness and James Whitmore make a pretty formidable duo with acting chops. Lots of fun and it actually builds up some good tension at the beginning before the big pinchy guys show up and open a can of ant-whoop-ass. It also took a real lack of any creativity at all to come up with the name for this one. A little girl snaps out of a coma and starts yelling "them!" and I've never really been sure why she didn't just start yelling "ants!" or something a bit more descriptive, but whatareyagonnado?


World Without End (1956)

4 astronauts returning from a mission to Mars wind up on earth 600 years in the future. And, you guessed it... atomic war has made the earth a wacky place full of men in bad costumes and horny women in pointy bras. The "civilized" men are all sissy boys so our modern day dudes (well, 1956 modern at least) have to show them how to build weapons and slaughter each other again. Best part? The awesome hats the future dudes wear. No wonder the women want the new men. There's a great scene at the beginning where they fight a couple of giant spiders that's just awesomely hilarious. This one really reminded me a lot of a lost episode of Star Trek or something. I always thought it was so lucky of these guys to crash land on a planet the size of earth and just happen to be right where the guys who run the show live, instead of maybe Boise, or even the 2/3 of the planet that's water.. such luck! They should buy future lottery tickets. Another fun film.


Satellite in the Sky (1956)

A rocket crew carries a powerful new type of bomb into space for a test (Here we go again with the bombs! Just how paranoid were people in the 50s?). However, the morons don't plan correctly and the bomb becomes attached to the ship's hull somehow, in a really head-scratcher. Screwed in space, they try to figure out what to do. This one is a bit too talky and dull and I thought it was the worst of the 4 films. The effects are fun for the time, but you can even see the string on the toy rocket during some scenes. Awesome.

So what did I learn from all these? Well, obviously atomic bombs cause a lot of mutations. Also, monsters hate lighthouses (and who can blame them really?). Oh, ants are also very noisy and enjoy human flesh as much as they do sugar. They pass on the bones though. And if you ever happen to land your ship on what you think is an alien planet, the best way to test to see if the atmosphere can sustain human life it to take your space helmet off and sample the air. Lastly, sci-fi movies in the 50s kicked ass and could be made for your allowance.

Paisley Live

Brad Paisley was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and played "American Saturday Night". I don't listen to a lot of country, but this is one of the guys I do like.

Story of the Year Vid

St. Louis band Story of the Year has a new video for their song "I'm Alive" from their new CD "The Constant". Cool track from a the post-hardcore band I think.


Story of the Year - "I'm Alive"

STORY OF THE YEAR | MySpace Music Videos

Sevendust!!!

It's Sevendust Week 'round these here parts. I'll be seeing them for the 6th time (I think?) on Sunday night. Here's a live teaser followed by the "leak" of a new song from the upcoming CD, Cold Day Memory (due April 20th).

*language warning*

Judge This

Has anybody else but me noticed how Kara DioGuardi is extremely hot? Judging by her Maxim photo shoot, I'd say the answer is yes. I'd probably ask her out except I feel like she'd be judging me all the time, and I'm probably not golden ticket worthy. Also I refuse to date anyone whose name I can't pronounce when I'm drunk. I'll just watch the video on repeat for now.

Movie Review: The Wolfman

Synopsis: Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Benicio Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf.

The main knocks I've heard on this film are that the script is weak and that it's not very scary. To that I say that from the moment I heard they were remaking this a few years ago I knew exactly what to expect from the script. Who didn't know the story? And I never looked to it to be scary, it's more of an action/monster type film. There is more than enough action and excitement to make up for the lack of true scares, highlighted by a whole werewolf battle at the end.

Personally I thought what stole the show was the really awesome Gothic look of the whole thing. The production values are just top-notch, matching the entire special effects effort. Everything looks great and sets a very cool, creepy, dark atmosphere. There are great shots of the moon and classic shots of the werewolf, when it sits still long enough.

I've also read that Del Toro "mumbles" his way through the movie, but I just never found to this be apparent. I easily understood every word out of his mouth and enjoyed his part. Anthony Hopkins as his father does his usual fine job as well and Emily Blunt was a good choice for the love interest.

What's wrong with it? Well, even though it's just 95 minutes long it did drag a bit. The story is a really simple one and probably shouldn't take as long to tell, so there's some drawn out boring chatter about this or that occasionally when most of us are just waiting for the monster to start some ass-kicking. The extra time could have been better used to flesh out some characters I thought.

So it's a simple story, with more action than scares, and it's sort of 2 parts. 1 part is a lot of fun and excitement and other part is a bit dull. It does look great though and I thought the fun outweighed the boredom.

7.5/10

Wolfmother Video

I'm still playing the new Wolfmother CD quite a bit. I think it's mainly because they don't really sound like anyone out there. Wolfmother songs are pretty instantly recognizable. This is the latest video for "White Feather".

New Marriage Law?

New Law Would Ban Marriages Between People Who Don't Love Each Other

Sunday Funnies