Check Out Movie Jerks!

Check out the sister blog of the Dragonfyre Association, The Movie Jerks! http://moviejerks.blogspot.com

This will be the general dumping spot for movie reviews, including reviews of the AFI list as we go through them. Check it out and let me know if you want to be added as a contributor!

AFI List Schedule July/August 2009

The journey has begun. As a bit of background, I recently realized I had not seen most of the movies chosen by the American Film Institute (AFI) as the 100 best movies of the last 100 years. A sad state, to be sure, given my love of movies. But I didn't want to just watch them, no no no. There were other people out there just like me who had yet to see some or most of the list.

So I cleaned up the Theater in the Garage a bit (still need a new couch) and dove right into the last. Starting last Thursday night at midnight we watched #100 on the AFI list - Ben-Hur. 3 1/2 hours of Ben-Hur. Oi vey.

We followed up with #99 on Saturday night at midnight - Toy Story. Much easier to take. Only 98 more to go, so I thought I would post a general schedule. This schedule assumes showings on Thursday and Saturday nights at about midnight (give or take depending on who's attending).

7/23/2009, Thurs - Yankee Doodle Dandy
7/25/2009, Sat - Blade Runner
7/30/2009, Thurs - Do the Right Thing
8/1/2009, Sat - The Last Picture Show
8/6/2009, Thurs - Pulp Fiction
8/8/2009, Sat - The French Connection
8/13/2009, Thurs - NO SHOW, GENCON 2009
8/15/2009, Sat - NO SHOW, GENCON 2009
8/20/2009, Thurs - Goodfellas
8/22/2009, Sat - Sophie's Choice
8/27/2009, Thurs - Swing Time (1936)
8/29/2009, Sat - NO SHOW, CALIFORNIA TRIP

That covers the schedule through August. All are welcome, admission is free, and I'll try to have beer and snacks available. People are also welcome to bring beer and snacks, which is always greatly appreciated. But the show goes!

December 21st - Lord of the Rings!

I have a theater in my garage. Well, sort of - I have the beginnings of a theater in my garage. Why do I have a theater in my garage? There are a whole pile of reasons, but the one that always stands out in my mind is thus: to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's been one of my goals, and I don't think it's going to happen in the Garage Theater for a couple of months.

But we don't have to wait. Riverview Theater in Minneapolis is showing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Sunday, December 21st, including the extended editions of Fellowship and Two Towers. It starts at 10:00 am and ends at 10:30 pm, with intermissions between each film. Pizza and hot dogs will be available and you can leave the theater during the intermissions to get other food. The best part? It's only $10.

$10. For the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In a theater.

Mark your calendars, folks. December 21st. You're either going to be there, or wishing you were there. Your choice.

Horror Movies in the Garage Theater

It's that time of year, when the air gets chilly, the sun goes down earlier, and the wind howls a mournful cry across the landscape. It's fall, or close enough regardless, and that means Halloween is approaching. And that means horror movies. And that means ... well, it means what it means.

Now that I've got the Theater in the Garage setup (need more seats, but that's easy to get) I think it's time to start planning some Garage Theater Nights. Maybe Friday nights, maybe Sunday nights, maybe whenever. Two movies a night, get some popcorn and other treats, and watch some horror movies on the big(ish) screen.

Movies in my collection that fit into this category nicely:

Cabin Fever
Evil Dead
Evil Dead 2
Dawn of the Dead (old and new)
Night of the Living Dead
The Thing
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Cannibal Holocaust (just kidding ...)
Frankenstein (original Karloff)
The Mummy (original Karloff)

Those are the ones that come to mind right now. But the point is I think I'm going to post a schedule and have a midnight movie showing Fridays (maybe Saturdays). Watch for it!

More MovieJerking Ideas

So I was thinking about this yesterday, and I think for each Moviejerk session we should go around and everybody rates the movie ... with a letter grade and something odd and very nonsensical. For instance, rate this movie on the following scale:

* Jellybelly flavors
* Comic book heroes
* Crayon colors
* Comic book villains
* Calendar months
* Weekdays
* Meat
* Cheese
* Presidents
* Mammals

Or anything else, but the rating should be as descriptive as possible. For instance, let's say we were MovieJerking Star Wars Episode III and we decided that it was going to be rated on the Jellybelly flavor scale. I would give it a D- and call it the Sour Ear Wax flavor - it's got a rush at first taste but quickly fades, leaving only the waxy buildup that tastes just like regular ear wax. Things like that.

For this nonsensical rating scale we should come up with it beforehand in order to put as much time and thought into them. It's hard to come up with a good rating on such a nonsense scale off the top of the head.

Moviejerking ... Or Something

I think we should start being Movie Jerks. Well, we already are, but I think we should start posting stuff. And by stuff I mean videos of our movie discussions. Reviews - kind of, but more than that. Anyone can read or watch or do a review. It's just an opinion. But a discussion about the movie, for people who have already seen it or are thinking about seeing it, I can't think of any precedence. I'm sure it's out there, I just can't think of it.

So what do we need to get this started? Not much. A topic, a video camera, and a place to have this round table discussion. I suggest Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the first to be "moviejerked". We try to keep it civil but these discussions would probably get emotional. Off the cuff kind of stuff, not much planning just thinking beforehand.

We start with an introduction of the Movie Jerks and then initial reaction. Discussions follow from there. We should shoot for 15 minutes and see where that takes us. Once we're done we can post it up on YouTube or some other media sharing site. I bet we could get Cracked to post it.

Let me know your thoughts.

The Death of HD-DVD

As many of you should know by now, there are two formats in the next generation of high definition movies - HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The differences between the two are fairly minor technically speaking, but everything else about them couldn't be more polar opposite. HD-DVD is published by Toshiba while Blu-Ray is published by Sony. HD-DVD earned the support of Microsoft early on, which put two of the multimedia giants in direct competition. Sony vs. Microsoft. Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3. The lines couldn't be drawn any more down the center of the industry.

And that's the way it's been for the past couple of years. HD-DVD would enjoy the support of most of the studios, including a few exclusives (notably Universal) while Blu-Ray did the same. And then Warner Brothers announced a few days ago that they would support Blu-Ray EXCLUSIVELY. You can pretty much stick a fork in HD-DVD - it's done. Very likely Universal will start supporting both formats rather than HD-DVD exclusive, but that won't make a difference.

Watch this video to see what has transpired in the secret bunker that houses the think tank behind HD-DVD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ

Weird Dave's Cinematic 2007 Year in Review

I'm going to start the posting of the Cinematic 2007 Year in Review with my Top 10 movies of the year and Bottom 10 movies of the year. Enjoy. I might post reviews of the top 1 and bottom 1; maybe more; maybe less.

Best of 2007
10. I Am Legend
9. Grindhouse
8. Knocked Up
7. Stardust
6. Sweeney Todd
5. Beowulf
4. Hot Fuzz
3. The Mist
2. Smokin’ Aces
1. Shoot ‘Em Up

Worst of 2007
10. The Golden Compass
9. 30 Days of Night
8. 1408
7. Number 23
6. Epic Movie
5. 28 Weeks Later
4. Shrek the 3rd
3. Wild Hogs
2. No Country for Old Men
1. Transformers