Ghost Town and other Movies!

Bored and anxious for a real, good laugh, I went to the movies with my Mum and saw "Ghost Town." It wasn't bad at all, but I did expect more laughs from Ricky Gervais. Plus, realistically, he'd never be a leading man to Tea Leoni's lead woman in any normal sense of romantic comedy. It felt like the director was trying to lead it that way, but still maintain that awkwardness that Gervais is so well known for. I still giggled and "oh-ed and aw-ed" but that's it. It's a cute movie.

Finally, FINALLY, "Parasomnia" is being debuted here in Los Angeles on October 17 at the Grauman's Chinese Theater. ScreamFest is the organization who has brought this film to town. I've been waiting for this film to make its way out West for a while now. William Malone directed and produced, funding the whole project himself. It is truly a "labor of love" as he has reportedly said. I've loved everything I have seen so far and am very excited to finally (sorry, last one) see it on the silver screen. The lovely Kathryn Leigh Scott I was surprised to see is actually credited with the main cast. Unfortunately too often former Dark Shadows alumni are secondary cast members, probably because older actors are not given the kind of screen time as young ones. Also, and I absolutely love Malone for his unintentional "nod" to DS, her character name is Margaret Evans. "Maggie Evans" was Mrs. Scott's first role (since she played other characters later on [Thayer David played the most with 12 different characters]). Malone in an interview with HorrorFest didn't realize what he had done until, of course, the interviewer asked him about it. He takes full credit now.

What I like most about this movie, is that it is not funded by nor under any big studio "guidance." It is truly an independent film. You don't have the execs demanding scenes cut because of their nature or because they thought it was too scary or too sophisticated for the audience. That's a major problem with movies today. They are geared for the "uninformed, unintelligent" audience. As an audience member I'm offended by that way of thinking although it saddens me to admit that most people are not the brightest crayons in the box (thus spending their money on movies that should never have seen the light of day or rather, the darkness of a cinema). Hollywood is slowly dying. More productions are coming from overseas and across the border. Mexican filmmakers have been setting the bar pretty high for their American counterparts. Europeans like "Let the Right One In" Swedish director, Thomas Alfredson, are making their way into the States and showing that creativity and imagination are well and alive. I'm happy to say that a lot of critics are saying that "Let the Right One In" is the best genre movie for 2008. I have to agree it has been the best film I've seen so far this year.

Now this next movie, I can guarantee you that it will not be widely publicized nor shown for long in theaters because of it's nature and politics. "An American Carol" comes out October 3rd but I haven't really seen any coverage for it... Hm... [insert sarcasm]. Oh, you bet Hollywood is annoyed a group of Republican actors have banded together to create a satire film. Come on, people, it's suppose to be making fun of how our politics work now a days, not a hate fest. Hollywood has such a blatant double standard when it comes to conservative politics. It's ironic how they preach intolerance as an evil, but censor those who they do not agree with. Way to go to be "open-minded" people, guys.