How Greasy do you find Grease (1978)?

Well the title pretty much says it all. What's your opinion on this flick?

This musical came out in my birth year and I remember at primary school 4th grade doing a Grease tribute, 6th grade something Star Wars like and me and my classmates being in 5th grade did some dance at the song "Straight Up" from Paula Abdul. One of the Kindergarten classes did a Ghostbusters theme on the well known song.


Anyway about Grease it didn't really trigger me checking out the movie until recently. Sure I had seen something in that period with my family that reminded me of the story with different songs and a guy falling for a popular gal in school but she wanted a biker as lover. Much later I found out that was Grease II.

But the original Grease with John Travolta and Olivia Newton remained a unknown even though I had heard most of the songs thanks to various revivals and them being played on parties. Organising a 70s movie challenge however was a chance to give myself the challenge to finally tackle this classic. I mentioned this to Onyx she promptly gave me the heads up reaction saying she found it overrated. Well I can understand the frustration when you got promised to watch a horror movie and they decide to play Grease instead

Well I wouldn't actually call myself a Travolta fan but than again it's not that I have seen that many movies. While most people probably remember him as the 'cool' Danny in Grease I remember him mostly as dickhead Billy Nolan in Carrie. And actually thinking about it he plays pretty much an ass in Grease as well. The other cast members well I possibly have seen them in other movies but just like Travolta not any of them showed me a memorable performance.

I don't say the acting was bad. There is only so much you can do with a weak script. It doesn't allow for deep characters, it all remains pretty shallow and stereotypical. The only character who seemed to have a bit more depth was the girl being called a slut lying to her boyfriend she was pregnant.


I'm not so fond of the SJW's and feminists but I wouldn't blame them for criticising the movie severely. It's an all white movie, there is a few homophobic comments and the girls are portrayed as being helpless without a man. Ok this fictional story took place in the 50s so we are supposed to accept that's how it was. Still this is sending a rather weak (and not really hopeful) message to girls and is viewed a bit too much from a male perspective.


Now wait Danny did an half-assed attempt to get Olivia's attention and love back after giving her the cold shoulder because he didn't want to come across as a sissy towards his hyperkinetic friends who somehow were convinced their silly walk was supposed to look cool. He tried a few sports which I have to admit was a bit amusing. The only other time I could express a smile was the monkey face he made when he proposed to Olivia with a cheap ring which was just an excuse to get into her pants. That Olivia actually fell for this little trick and would believe Danny being a good boy (as in not having sex) until marriage, it's hard to take serious and not wanting to bash her head against the wall for such naivity. Again not her fault but the ones writing such nonsense.

Another good example of this weird script is during the dance contest. It's easy to predict that Danny and Olivia would win the contest not because they are the best dancers or have the best chemistry. They are the protagonists you know. But towards the end some other girl shows up to push Olivia away and stupid Dany so full of himself (as he remains throughout the whole movie) didn't even notice even didn't seem to mind.


You wonder after all these stupid actions from Danny's part how he can win her love back. Oh yehaw he won a race against the school's biggest macho man (he wasn't supposed to do the driving but surprise surprise his friend was unable so Danny got a chance to impress his driving skills, huh what where did he learn that?). Ok his rival was possibly even a bigger ass and womanizer than Danny but if he tuned his own cars I gotta say respect. Of course Danny wins and Olivia noticed. Will they fall into each other arms, apologies I was such a dick and oh you are my hero, nope.

The movie reserves the reconciliation for the final scene at graduation day. Danny surprises everyone presenting himself as a jock (now hey didn't he suck at sports). Anyway he could just have borrowed a jacket from a friend. If the viewer didn't endure enough silliness the last and biggest insult came when Olivia showed up having transformed into a supposedly cool girl. Of course she needed to drop the nerdy girl act so Danny would love her again. And so we are back to where we started if you want your dickhead boyfriend back just change in something you are not. Because even if he is a jerk it's better than having no boyfriend. A tribute to shallowness...

X2: X-Men United (2003) 7/10

I have no idea when I saw the first X-Men movie, but I do know it was at least ten years. So I figured it was about time to watch the next in the series.Basically, everything I know about the X-Men is what was in the movies. So I didn't go in to either movie with preconceived notions about who and what they are.It's an enjoyable film, with a lot of action, interesting story, and really well done effects. I especially liked Jean Grey's struggles, and Nightcrawler is an interesting character as well. And of course Storm and Mystique.Getting some background on Wolverine's origin was good to have as well (even if it isn't canon), especially for someone who knows next to nothing about the characters.

Slaxx (2020 Canadian "horror"-comedy)

First of all, I did enjoy this movie, but to call it horror isn't really right. It's a like a horror-COMEDY... which is good!

It's about a bunch of people working at a trendy Canadian clothing store, right before they release a new line of blue jeans. The blue jeans are all possessed, but whether they are evil or not sort of depends on your view of the international economy... this is a Canadian movie, not American, so there isn't really any reason to get too pissed off from the viewpoint of an American conservative, sooooo... whatever, I just thought I should mention that in passing.

It has a pretty hilarious actor as the crazy manager of the store, who just wants everything to be perfect. He is kind of like a male version of the crazy aunt in the beginning and ending of Sleepaway Camp, just in terms of his mannerisms. He's not THAT crazy though, he just wants everything to go perfectly in his job so he can get promoted. OK, so this does lead him to cover up the fact that dead bodies keep appearing, and he isn't necessarily completely averse to contributing to the tally of said body count, but... anyway, yeah, he's mostly just hilarious.

The synth music kept reminding me of The Guest, or maybe Stranger Things, with a few Bollywood songs thrown in there now and then.

It is mostly told from the point of view of Libby, a 19 or 20-ish new employee with the company, who starts out really excited and happy to be part of the company. She reminds me a little of Kelly from the British miniseries Dead Set (2008), but more innocent... Her positive outlook on the company gradually changes as the movie goes along... The company is closer to a cult than a company, in some ways. The CEO visits the store and tries to get everybody all excited about their new line of jeans, and it's exactly like a cult meeting would be. I guess he's supposed to be sort of a Green Steve Jobs.

Anyway, it has sort of a low key, Canadian style and sense of humor, and it has some plot stuff and characters relating to India. Sooo, yeah, just to mention that again, it's not an American movie.

If you liked Drones (2010), or Severance (2006), with the general theme of a bunch of co-workers trying to deal with an unusual menace, then you might like this movie. There are some scenes with carnage and mayhem, but they don't really glory in it, it is mostly implied. So, don't expect TOO much of those things.

Practical Magic (1998) 6/10

A couple of witches do some bad magic and raise the spirit of a psychotic murderer.I had no idea what this movie was going to be about. My brain was thinking it was going to be like Hocus Pocus (1993). But it was more along the lines of Witches of Eastwick (which, BTW, I have the unsold pilot of the TV show on VHS somewhere).Pretty fun movie, with a decent story. Not super original, but enough changes to make it stand out a little.Sandra Bullock was very good as Sally, but Nicole Kidman stole the scenes when they were together.Kind of surprised to hear a song by one of my future ex-wives (Faith Hill) pop up.

Rate my lastest haul.

My latest (mostly horror) haul. Would love to know what you think. It's been over a year I actually bought something. Too long this covid crisis kept me inside and racking up money from 'homeworking' which I only spend on food. So I thought oh wel I can just spend some money on those movies I put on my wish list a long time ago. And of course I would love to get some kind of rating from you horrorfans.

I hope this picture link works: https://scontent-bru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-0/s640x640/180827748_4484125441600765_3058311362915444825_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=VDa2N6Klc5sAX9eC9yX&_nc_ht=scontent-bru2-1.xx&tp=7&oh=b673a8e9e06d127a902f7bb881fc5db0&oe=60B53218

Enigma Rosso aka Red Rings of Fear: a giallo that is not so atypical in its execution but in the way that the police inspector is doing his investigation in an onorthodox way even using the young sister of one of the teenage victims as an assistant.

Deliria aka Stagefright: Well it's a slasher that takes place in a theatre. The setting allows for some thrilling moments with cat and mouse and varying kills/deaths. Not psychological chitchat from shrinks about the killer thank you.

Errementari: One could call this a horror version of Pan's Labyrinth where the faun is replaced by a demon. Focus lies more on horror and fantasy rather than drama.

Mansion of the Doomed: Eyes without a Face (1960) with some changes as here we have a doctor not wanting to restore his daughter's face but her eyes. More focus on the victims the doctor makes and it is quite graphical.

Deadly Friend (yes the one which has the Spanish title Amiga Mortal on the cover): I'm not really a Wes Craven fan but a few times he could entertain me. Deadly Friend is more of a sci-fi drama with some horror elements. Where many movies with robots in human skin or humans revived as robot usually lose itself in overly sentimental stuff with usually unsatifying end results. Deadly Friend does manage to succeed in its concept. I love when bitches and dickheads get a comeuppance.

The Poseidon Adventure: No horror but hey it was part of the package. I don't think I really need to seek for the best Titanic or ship disaster movie any more. This one does the trick. No need for visual empowerment, long introductions, romancing stories and more of that shit that puts me to sleep before the ionteresting part starts. Short introduction, focuses on the survival of the introduced characters, they have their conflicts but they have to cooperate. A small cast and some really good effects considering the buget wasn't anything like the James Camerons of today have.

Mortal Kombat!

It's been a while since I actually had a movie I was looking forward to seeing. I was obsessed with the 1995 movie when I was a kid. I had the games, the action figures, clothing, sticker books... then MK Annihilation came out and I lost all my faith in something I once loved... I even tried revisiting that turkey a few days ago, but goddamn it was terrible. Couldn't make it past a few minutes, but we're washing our hands of all that! It's been decades, so they had to finally get their shit together, right?


Let's face it. Scorpion and Subzero are the faces of Mortal Kombat, and they're given much better characterizations this time around, because before... well, they didn't have any characterization. They were just henchmen, but the story revolves around them a lot more this time around.

I used to think Scorpion was the bad guy, but this movie paints a new picture (that fans of the newer games ought to know already). The intro shows us their history way back in the 1600s, and you can tell right away that this movie isn't fucking around.

I was a bit disappointed to find out that there was no Johnny Cage in the movie, being replaced by a newcomer Cole, and he's alright I guess. Most of the gang is there though, and they're well represented and well cast. Kano happens to be the comic relief this time around, and there's a fair amount of buildup and training that leads to a bunch of big fights in the end.

They tried to work in a lot of character details and a few fatalities and flawless victories. None of that stupid shit like friendships or babalities though, obviously. Some brutal scenes, but nothing I would call a brutality though (onslaught of attacks until the opponent explodes), but don't get me wrong... there are still exploding heads and severed limbs and soul sucking and freezing and burning and stabbing and slashing and blood and guts. This movie knows its audience and earned it's hard R rating.

There is some resolution, but it's definitely set up for a sequel, which I would definitely watch. I'm pretty satisfied with it.

#Review

Going to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail (Again) (4/9)

Back in 2018, I headed out to Cali to attempt to hike the 2650 mile long PCT. I got to about mile 580 before I had to come back for family reasons.
Had a blast, met people from all over the world, got up close and personal with a rattlesnake. Plus, unfortunately, was present when another hiker died.
Most people end up with trail names, and I did as well. And I earned the name Faceplant the hard way. Including biting a hole through my mouth below the lower lip.
I had every intention of going out last year, but something happened in 2020 that prevented me from going. Forget what it was.
So anyway, next week at this time I will be two days and around thirty miles in. It will be interesting on day three when I get back to mile 33 where Happy Days died.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) 5/10

A simple misunderstanding causes Batman to kick Superman's ass.
Nowhere near as good as I was hoping it would be. Ben Affleck is not a very good Batman. Maybe around George Clooney or Val Kilmer status.

Small Soldiers (1998)

I put this on for my nephew since it was a childhood favorite of mine. I had the VHS and watched it a bunch, but I hadn't seen it for years since then. Surprisingly, it's still pretty entertaining. It has one hell of a cast, too. I guess that's to be expected from a Joe Dante movie, especially one where Dick Miller plays Walter Paisley. The CGI isn't terrible either. Good stuff.

Have you ever wanted to kill someone?

Not just saying you want to, but you actually wanted to kill someone? Generally, I'm apathetic as can be, but when stressed out, I get severely bent out of shape. And I've been stressed as fuck lately, which is why it's for the best that I keep myself isolated from most people. And if not killing someone, I'd probably just want to beat the living fuck out of someone. I'm talking Ed Norton going to town on Jared Leto, Fight Club style.

Maybe I wouldn't actually want to kill anyone, but I'd make an exception for Dorian Gay, just out of principle. Just sayin'...

You?