Here Comes Halloween: Phantasm II

Phantasm II - Look-a-like

LOOK-A-LIKE

Naturally it would make sense to review the first "Phantasm" before I get to it's sequel, but there is a logical explanation; I simply enjoy "Phantasm II" better than it's predecessor.  An odd way to begin a review, I'm sure, but I just wanted to get the semantics out of the way before I get into this review.  Welcome back to October, and an entire month of scares, frights, masks, blood, gore, inferior sequels, and more blood.

"Phantasm II" is the 1988 sequel to the 1979 cult classic, "Phantasm," written and directed by Don Coscarelli.  If you're unfamiliar with "Phantasm" here is a quick refresher; A kid named Mike begins experiencing strange happenings around his town, with a sinister figure called The Tall Man behind said happenings.  As things begin to reveal themselves Mike finds himself stalked by The Tall Man in nightmarish visions involving corpses, metal flying balls with a taste for blood and a body full of embalming fluid and dwarves created from the reanimated corpses of the town's dead.  Throw in a Bruce Campbell look-a-like named Reggie, and you got yourself "Phantasm."

The sequel picks up right where the original leaves off, so for the purposes of this review, and if you don't want to be spoiled, even though these would be 34, and 23 year old spoilers, respectively, tread lightly.  Mike is about to be taken away by The Tall Man but is rescued by Reggie.  We skip ahead roughly 10 years to an adult Mike who is being released from the local mental hospital.  After tragedy besets Reggie, the two spring into action to track down The Tall Man and end his reign of terror, forever.  Joined by a young girl, named Liz, with a psychic link to Mike, the trio head out to, once again, stop The Tall Man's devious plans, including the creation of more zombie dwarves and to rescue Liz's grandmother.

What I love about "Phantasm II" is the excess.  You can see clearly that the sequel takes a lot of it's cues from another famous cult classic sequel; "Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn."  While the original "Phantasm" relied on real scares and it's tone to convey a feeling of dread, just like "The Evil Dead," it's sequel relies on banter between Mike and Reggie and a lighter tone, which includes a chainsaw fight and the creation of a quadruple shotgun, smells like "Evil Dead II."  Consider the time frame between all the films as well.  "Phantasm" was released two years before "Evil Dead" and you can see some similarities in the tone, but that was also the sign of the times in the late 1970s and 80s.  Fast-forward to 1987, when "Evil Dead II" is released with a more comedic tone, and a year later "Phantasm II" is released with a lighter tone as well.  I'm not saying that "Phantasm" and "Evil Dead" share much with one another, but in comparing the two, you can see where there are similarities and the fact that each franchise borrowed a little from one another.

Now back to the "Phantasm II."  I'm sure purists who love "Phantasm" will kill me for saying the sequel is superior, and I'm not actually saying that, I'm just saying that "Phantasm II" is more accessible for non-fans than the original.  Just as he was in the first film, Angus Scrimm literally stands out, again, as The Tall Man, the series' main antagonist.  While The Tall Man never received the fanfare of Jason, Freddy, or Michael Myers, there was still something very creepy about an old supernatural man who steals corpses to create evil dwarves.  I liken The Tall Man to Henry Kane from the "Poltergeist" series as they both share a similar, skeletal look.

Like most sequels in the late 1980s, there is an extreme case of style-over-substance in "Phantasm II" with more special effects, spotty acting, and plot holes big enough to throw a million of those killer metal balls into.  However, the cheese doesn't take away from the fun.  There are some excellent creature effects, done by a than relatively unknown Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman, now of "The Walking Dead" fame.  And of course, it's no surprise that Nicotero also did effects on "Evil Dead II."  The comparisons continue!

While not exceptional, "Phantasm II" is a fun little sequel that lives in the zeitgeist of horror during the late-1980s.  It's over indulgent, silly, campy, and not as good as it's original.  But, it gives horror and gore fans what they wanted; MORE!

Fun Fact:  For even more The Evil Dead/Phantasm fun, take a look at one of the bags an undertaker is filling up and you might catch the name on the name.  That name being Sam Raimi.  Meta!!!!

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Simplistic Reviews Presents: Simply Horrifying featuring Tales from the Crypt Ep. 01

October is here and now is the time for the creeps and ghouls to infest your web browsers, and I"m not just talking about those adult sites that you frequent when your wife or husband aren't around.  No judgement.  But October is that time of the year where things get a little spooky and Simplistic Reviews welcomes everything creepy with open arms, paws, claws, webbed-feet, anything else that some mythical or murderous creature might have to grab things with.

HBO's "Tales from the Crypt" was a show that paid homage to the EC Comics from the 1950s.  Grisly images, paired with tales of morality which caught the ire of the US Government who went as far as to hold Senate Hearings about how comics were corrupting the nation's youth and driving a hearse straight to Hell.  Sounds like my type of comic books.  William Gaines, creator of the Tales from the Crypt comic line, was a pioneer in the industry and you can call him the Stan Lee of Horror Comics.  Come 1989, the geniuses at HBO decided it was time to pay tribute to EC and create a weekly half-horror horror show every Sunday, aptly named, "Tales from the Crypt."  Running nearly 100 episodes, from 1989 to 1995, "Tales" were comics come to life way before we had the Marvel Comics films.

As this series progresses, your host, Matt, will present his favorite episodes from all seven seasons.  The episodes will not be ranked and will only be classified by the season in which they appeared.  It's like trying to pick your favorite child, unless its the child that cries in public, throws food on the floor, and wets the bed.  That one is a winner!

So, in this first installment, "And All Through the House" is explained away.  There are a lot of cool aspects to this episode, namely, director Robert Zemeckis helmed this episode, and this is the only episode from the series that uses Christmas as the backdrop.

Check out the video companion above and prepare to enter "Tales from the Crypt."  If you dare.......

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Simplistic Reviews Presents: Cinema and Suds, Unforgiven and The Wild Bunch/Ranger Creek Mesquite Smoked Porter

Who hasn't dreamed of being a cowboy at some point in their lives?  Riding the open plains, looking for outlaws, or even being a outlaw.  Upholding or breaking the law.  Getting drunk in bars, enjoying the company of a young lady on the 2nd floor of a saloon, or even shooting the gun at the feet of someone yelling at them to "Dance!"

In the case of cowboy/western films, there are three eras of great westerns.  In the 1950s and 60s you had the John Ford and John Wayne epics.  The late 1960s and 70s ushered in "The Man with No Name" trilogy and the cowboy anti-heroes in "The Wild Bunch" with it's ultra-violence being the trademark.  After the late 1970s, the western genre was dead, until the early 1990s with a little film called "Unforgiven," a modern classic that dissected westerns from the 60s and 70s and re-ignited people's love for classic Westerns.

Now, it's no mystery that drinking is a huge part of Westerns, case in point, William Munny from "Unforgiven."  It's not until he goes back to the bottle during the climax of "Unforgiven" that you see the "real" William Munny.

So in this edition of Cinema and Suds we have the modern classic Western, "Unforgiven" and the classic classic Western "The Wild Bunch." and a big bottle of Ranger Creek Mesquite Smoked Porter, which is plenty for this double feature.

Enveloped with Texas Mesquite, this smoked porter, which clocks in at 6.8% ABV, is bold beer with an old school taste perfect for a former-gunslinger.

Check out the video companion above for a more fun and cowboy-like hijinks!

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Breaking Bad Predictions (Justin's Take)

Okay so this is it.

Today its all over.

One of the most brilliant shows ever to be placed on the boob tube is ending, and it might go out in a bang! After 61 episodes Breaking Bad is ending on the 62nd episode in-titled; "Felina".

and if you haven't heard yet:

FeLiNa = Iron, Lithium and Sodium aka, Blood, Meth and Tears.

Now the great thing about the writing of Breaking Bad is it can go in a completely different way. How many times have Walt and Jesse got themselves in a corner and boom! Using their minds problem solved.

So this is just how I see it going and how I would like to see it play out.

Blood: Walt brings that big ass machine gun to take out the Neo-Nazi gang.

Meth: Taken back control of his product, then destroying it all.

Tears: Walt dies. He takes the Ricin, because like he said before, He isn't going to let the cancer get him and it's over when he says its over.

Now lets back up a second. I think its safe to say Walt is going back to get his meth. That was his empire that he himself built. This is triggered after seeing Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz lie on TV. I wish he went to go kill them, but I don't think that's going to happen.

When Walt goes back to get his meth he will run into Jesse. He's going to be surprised since he's under the impression that Jesse is dead. This could lead to a team up in order to get Lydia and The Neo-Nazi gang. Now there is a good amount of bad blood between the two and maybe Walt takes the ricin to show Jesse no matter what I will be dead. Both Lydia and Todd will die, maybe together in a fire at the meth lab.

Now Jesse "kinda" has a clean slate. Yes he told Hank and Gomez on tape everything that happened. But both are dead and the tape was taken by the Neo-Nazi gang. So if Jesse knows any good he will go grab Andrea's son and run off to a safe place far far away because the DEA is pretty much just looking to get Mr. White.

With Jesse gone and Walt on the verge of death, Skyler, Betsy and Flynn might just all move into a house together with both their husbands now dead. Now let me take this one step further. Last episode "Granite State" the movie, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium popped up. This could be a clue using it's plot of a man who thinks his time has come and is giving his business over, maybe Walt hands it over to a family member? Far fetch? Maybe but cool none the less.

I think that's pretty much it. I wish the episode was a good few hrs so a lot can play out but I think it will be a fast, bumpy ride.

But I would like to see one more thing, even if its by a long shot. But hey I could dream right? With Walt walking into the darkness of his own death (We don't see him die onscreen) his hat remains. Like Charlie Chaplin, Walt's hat is what makes him. And maybe just maybe in that Chaplin moment, the hat gets pickup with a gust of wind and rolls. It rolls and rolls till it is stopped by someone's feet. They bend over and pick up the hat and place it on their head.

Heisenberg is back!

---Cut to Black---

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What We've Learned From Breaking Bad

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Simplistic TV: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

TIE-IN

Agents of Shield - Tie-In

What do you do when you have a billion dollar IP and you are a billion dollar network?  Well, you try to make few billion more.  Just like what Justin Timberlake said in "The Social Network;"  "A million dollars isn't cool anymore.....You know what's cool?.......a billion dollars."

The same holds true for what Disney is trying to do with Marvel.  If you go back 20 years ago, the Marvel name was essentially worthless.  The comic book market wasn't worth the paper it was printed on and there didn't seem to be any hope in sight.  Sure, you had Dolph Lundgren's "The Punisher" and who could forget Roger Corman's "Fantastic Four," but those attempts to translate comics to celluloid were busts.  Fast forward a decade, where "Spider-Man," with Toby Maguire as the aforementioned web-slinger, hits the theaters and everything changes.  With the help of "Spider-Man," comics are once again viable options, sales went up, and every major studio snatched up as many comic properties as fast as they could, just ask Jay and Silent Bob.  While it was the catalyst, Marvel Studios was also the outlier compared to Fox and Sony.  It always seemed that Marvel Studios had the comic fan's best interest at heart.  It wasn't until 2008 with "Iron Man" that you saw what Marvel Studios really had up their sleeve, and what DC Comics wishes they could even get close to sniffing.

But I'm not here to knock DC Comics, I'm here to praise Marvel's newest tie-in "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," the next step in both Marvel Studios' and Disney's passive takeover of our minds and wallets.  "Agents" follows the unsung heroes of the Marvel Universe, secret agents who work under S.H.I.E.L.D, or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (no wonder Tony Stark had a hard time remembering them when he first met Agent Coulson).  In the first episode we find out that Chitauri technology has been stolen and is now being sold on the black market.  There is an unknown hacker group known as The Rising Tide hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's databases obtaining classified information, and guess what, Coulson is back!  His death was apparently faked in "The Avengers" and he was sent into hiding by the Agency.  Oh comic book logic....

While the show will be eaten up by comic book fans and fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can see this show becoming a niche.  I say a niche mainly because of the way topics are brought up in the pilot.  To the lament who has never seen any of the Marvel films, especially "The Avengers" you will be lost.  The Battle of New York is brought up casually, the reveal that Agent Coulson is still alive is made to seem like a major revelation, and if you haven't seen "Iron Man 3" the term "Extremis" will likely go right over your head.

The concept of having a tie-in being this tied-in, is a double-edged sword.  Yes, on one side of the coin, if you love the Marvel Universe, you will hang on to every plot point, reference, and every little detail to see if you can find out how "Agents" will fit into the upcoming Marvel films.

On the other side, this show is catering to one audience; the die hard comic head, whereas the lament will be left to ask questions to his friend who loves comics and it might result in the murder of said lament......maybe.  But, Disney is genius at marketing.  Even if you haven't seen any, or very few, of the Marvel films this will be an extremely accessible show.  One, because it's on regular network TV, and you don't have to have cable to watch "Agents."  Two, if this show interests you, wouldn't it be enough for the newbie to seek out the past Marvel films and maybe even start buying comics?  I'd have to say so.  And three, well, Disney has more money than God, so even if this little experiment doesn't succeed all the way, at least Disney knows where it's bread and butter is; at the multiplexes.

Overall, "Agents" has huge upside, and it's a calculated risk that will likely payoff, mostly because this show is going to be a launching point for more niche heroes.  I'm just spit-balling here, but you could end up seeing the likes of Luke Cage, Iron First, The New Warriors, Hercules, and other heroes that could find their place in the Marvel Universe, even if it's on the small screen.  As most pilots can be, "Agents" is uneven, but will leave nerds wanting more and more each week, just as "Heroes" did nearly a decade before, but hopefully "Agents" doesn't suffer the same fate as the lack-luster show that preceded it.

Fun Fact:  DC Comics and Batman legend, Jeph Loeb, who wrote classics such as The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, is an Executive Producer for "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,"

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It's a Disaster

It's a Disaster: Splendid

2012 / 88 min / Comedy | Drama

If you're looking for a film to watch this week I found it.

With all the crap that is around these days on TV and even in the theater, check out; It's a Disaster.

The film itself is far from being a disaster. It's very witty, funny and down right enjoyable.

It's Splendid.

My favorite part of the whole film is how it does a turn in the story. At first you're presented with a simple friends meeting to have dinner type of film. You know the type. Each character is having his and hers relationship problems, cheating and simply falling out of love. Everyone knows each other, there all good friends and this is something they have been doing for quiet a while now.

The only new person at the table is David Cross, who I've always thought steals the show of which he's on, even in interviews, he just steals the spotlight in his funny way.

The dialogue is lovely and the random characters like the next door neighbor and the call center guy, don't just pop up without the viewer noticing. They pop up and steal the scenes making you laugh.

There is a ton in this film that I feel will make you smile ear to ear and keep your eyes glued to your TV.

The ending might upset a few, but I thought it was just downright perfect... Enjoy!

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