Yesterday I read about a remake of Disney’s movie The Black Hole (1979). Surprisingly I'm looking forward to this. There was such a huge potential for good horror and science fiction in the original that I hope gets the attention it deserves.

Just a quick reminder. hollyqueen and I are opening doors for folks this Friday at 7pm for movies. The selections this time are Galaxy Quest (1999) and The Cannonball Run (1981). Given the time we weren't planning on dinner but snacks wouldn't be turned away at the door. ;)

Friday November 20th starting at 7pm is another movie night at the Polar Palisade. Come! Bring snacks! Laugh at my cheesy choices! The selections for the evening are Galaxy Quest (1999) followed by The Cannonball Run (1981). How's that for a pair?

Depp to give Lone Ranger's Tonto the Jack Sparrow treatment

What the fuck? If you didn't bother to read the link Jerry Bruckheimer is developing a Lone Ranger movie is attached to play Tonto. I thought the world had progressed where we don't have to suffer through Caucasians playing Asians. (And I like Joel Grey and John Wayne!)

As a Caucasian (really look at my skin) I find this offensive and unacceptable. This is beyond remaking a favorite movie of mine and trashing it because it needs to be "modernized" with more action (read violence). There are plenty of Native American actors who do great work in Hollywood. Why not hire one of them?

Update: I've been called on the carpet and I agree. It's not for me to decide race to play a role. I still think that Johnny Depp is a bad choice to play Tonto. I would hope that the character is more than a "mystical Negro" who can drop dust from his hand and tell which way the bad guys went on their horses.

Sunday I saw the trailer for Sherlock Holmes (2009) which has Rober Downey Jr. as Holmes. I know sirriamnis doesn't care for the film and my first reaction to the trailer I saw on the web wasn't positive. Then I read an interview with Downey where he said that his film was true to the Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books. Downey went on to say that a lot of the popular view of Holmes wasn't from the books, but rather different actors portrayals in earlier movies. This made me curious about the new movie.

When I saw the trailer in the movie I tried to keep a more open mind. It still doesn't look like the Holmes I know, but having not read the original books I admit I don't know if it was wrong. Well there's one way to know for sure. Read the books and see for myself. I'm fairly sure these will be books to keep. So does anyone have any particular editions they would recommend?

Speaking of books I have a list of other books I want to read. Yes, I know... Lots of books to read. Like you are any different? But this list was chosen because they are all epistolary novels. Have you read any of these? Are there others you would recommend?

• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Book of Renfield by Tim Lucas
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Carrie by Stephen King
• The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

In the 80's there was a fun movie called Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985). It was stupid, but fun. For example, Joel Grey plays Chiun, an 80 year old Korean. As hollyqueen said, "were there no asian actors in Hollywood?"

I just read that there is a remake in the works. I bet they'll try to be serious.

A stuntman filming a car chase in Times Square for the new Nicolas Cage movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice crashed his Ferrari into a storefront and two pedestrians suffered minor injuries, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Well I thought this could have been an interesting movie...

This Saturday (April 18th) we'll be opening the doors at 2pm for another movie party. Thanks to the IRS taking all my money the theme is alternative revenue streams. The two movies for the day are:

1. Quick Change (1990)
2. Ocean's Eleven (2001)

The outline for the day is to watch Quick Change, take a break for food and then watch Ocean's Eleven. After that we'll break out some games rock the house with Lips and other party games.

Show up when you can for as long as you can.

So here are a list of movie pairs hollyqueen and I picked from our collection. Which ones should we all watch?

Which movies should we watch?

Last night I inflicted one of my movie joys on jedifreeman, kittee and raingirllori. (Well not really on Lori as she spent the entire time playing Spore instead of watching the movie.) I showed them Phantom of the Paradise (1974) (Wikipedia entry). The story in the movie is a mashup between Phantom of the Opera and Faust set in a 70s glam rock style.

In searching for the soundtrack and some images I found the Swan Archives, a website dedicated to the life of Swan. There’s a lot of great memorabilia by one obsessive fan cataloged on that site. There’s an idea… No! I need no new hobbies!

interests
Originally uploaded by hollyking

From the right to the left that is the book Clock Repairing as a Hobby, the DVDs Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and the Platinum Edition of Sleeping Beauty (1959). Too bad I have plans to play LEGO Indiana Jones tonight or I would watch the DVDs. ;)

The Armchair Commentary blog posted a list of 10 "must see ghost films" for this Halloween season. So I thought I would turn it into a little meme. Use italics for the ones you've seen and bold for any you own.

10. The Orphanage (2007)
9. The Others (2001)
8. Poltergeist (1982)
7. The Innocents (1961)
6. The Fog (1980) - The remake wasn't nearly as good.
5. House On Haunted Hill (1959) - I love William Castle films. For a better horror film the 1999 remake was better.
4. The Frighteners (1996)
3. Carnival Of Souls (1962)
2. The Haunting (1963) - Hands down this is my pick for the best horror film of all time. No dependence on special effects or gore. Just a solid tale of horror that oozes from Hill House. For the love of anything holy skip the 1999 remake.
1. The Shining (1980) - I like this version and the remake with Steven Weber.

What films would you add to the list?

Stolen from christhegeek:

1. One movie that made you laugh: Oscar (1991)
2. One movie that made you cry: Across the Universe (2007)
3. One movie you loved when you were a child: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981)
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit: Superman III (1983)
6. One movie you didn't like: The Haunting (1999)
7. One movie that scared you: The Haunting (1963)
8. One movie that bored you: Zodiac (2007)
9. One movie that made you happy: Superman (1978)
10. One movie that made you miserable: I'm sure there are a few but I can't think of any right now.
11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see: I can't think of any. I won't go see the Saw movies but that's because I think it's a stupid premise, not that I'm not brave enough.
12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with: Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
13. The last movie you saw: Babylon AD (2008)
14. The next movie you hope to see: Captain Blood (1935)