Spring Break 2018

Here's to a week that everybody in school gets off, so I'm expecting a pretty busy week at work. We have some decent movies at the theater, so people might actually want to get out this week.

I want to see The Strangers: Prey at Night, not because I liked the first one at all, but simply because it's white trash horror in a mainstream cinema. We had to have this standee removed because of a single complaint. 🙄

I've been kinda stressed out lately, because I've got to move, probably find a new job, finish building someone else's business website for them, and also finish my next novel. But instead of doing all that, I've been playing Left 4 Dead 2 with @ballz, @cyborg, and @der. That's probably what I'll be doing all week actually. I love that game.

So life is kind of a mixed bag, and with that said, I haven't had time to give it my all for this trash challenge, and that makes me weep. My head is all mixed up, so I'm hoping to get back on the right track and simplify my life, so I can focus more on filth. I'll probably watch Spring Breakers this week...

Ah fuck... I got to go to work! 🥴

Jean-Claude Van Johnson

I just started watching Jean-Claude Van Johnson this afternoon. Two episodes in and I'm already hooked. In the show, Jean-Claude Van Damme portrays a fictional version of himself who's both an actor and a spy. Because he's egotistical and kind of a dumbass, he's not very good at either job, frequently screwing over himself and others.


I'm not the biggest Van Damme fan. As an action actor, he's fine. I just haven't seen many of his movies and what I have seen hasn't always been good. However, there's something about an actor poking fun at their own life that usually works out to be entertaining and that's definitely the case here. Both episodes made me laugh several times.

Season one's only six thirty-minute episodes. Unless the quality takes a sudden nosedive, I'll probably finish watching by tomorrow. If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it there. If not, there's always Kodi. Headed back there myself after I post this.

Has anyone else here watched Jean-Claude Van Johnson yet?

Death Wish - The Remake!

For the love of God, I don't know why I always forget that Eli Roth has a "Death Wish" remake due out this year, starring Bruce Willis as Paul Kersey! Now, we all know Bruce Willis is a bit of an asshole in real life, but we choose to overlook this because he's always bad-ass in the movies. I figure a Bruce/Roth combo can be great, so long as Bruce doesn't step on Eli Roth's toes. Kevin Smith worked with Bruce on "Cop Out" and said Bruce was a real diva, and he hated working with him.

For some reason, that sticks in my mind, but then again, I can never overlook how great John McClane is, or how cool 12 Monkeys and Unbreakable are. So Bruce bashing aside, I'm into the idea of this remake.


Eli Roth is bad-ass. Love him or hate him, but I've always enjoyed his movies immensely. The dude is fun. I watched Cabin Fever a dozen times, and both his Hostel movies combined a dozen times. Green Inferno is good, Thanksgiving's trailer was amazing, "Knock Knock" is SOOO good and SOOO obnoxious at the same time... suffice to say, I love Eli Roth's work, and his enthusiasm for the genre (and his role in Inglourious Basterds).

The original "Death Wish" is great. I say that, but I prefer the sequels, for their more gratuitous bad-assery (that's a word now). Charles Bronson is one of the coolest bad-asses from the 50s to 90s, and Paul Kersey was a great franchise character that Bronson was always ready to come back to. There was talk of doing a Death Wish 6 where he passes on his revenge lore to the next gen vigilante. Could have been good!

Fun Fact: I met Michael Parks, who played a great villain in Death Wish V: The Faces of Death. Even when Bronson was old, he was still the coolest. Bruce might be able to pull it off!

OTHER Fun Fact: Sylvester Stallone was interested in the role for the longest time, but declined due to fans' protests. Stallone may charge a shit-ton at comic-cons, but I still gotta respect him!

Black and white "Classics" you haven't seen

I already have my watchlist https://trashepics.com/post/1/366/ , but like most of you would already guess, the list is never-ending. You always find more shit to watch, and somehow, there are always more movies that you missed.


Some black & white titles I'm hoping to scout out this month:

The Night of the Hunter (1955) - in the TE top 100, at # 57
The Haunting (1963) - I feel like I might have watched this, but I don't remember anything about it.
The Innocents (1961) - Ditto.
Diabolique (1955) - You'll see this in a lot of fave lists.
Dead of Night (1945) - Some kind of anthology? Also in a lot of fave horror lists.
Metropolis (1927) - Some sort of innovative film for back in its day? I heard there's a version with a Queen soundtrack.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - Lon Chaney, right? Man of thousand faces... ugly ones!
Casablanca (1942) - Something about nazis and a train? Probably why Bogart is regarded so highly...
Eyes without a Face (1960) - The imagery of that not-face/mask has become somewhat iconic.
The Elephant Man (1980) - David Lynch?!
The Body Snatcher (1945) - Some classy-looking Karloff movie?


There's probably a bunch of good William Castle flicks I've never seen, too. So are there any black and white movies regarded as classics that you still haven't seen? Even after knowing about them for years?

I finished Twilight Zone season 2, and I need to focus on movies now.

Job Interviews

Completely off topic. How many interviews have been to in your lifetime and how do go at them? I've been to countless, probably about 30 plus. I'm really good at putting an application together but suck at the interview process. I think it's an Australian cultural thing to feel like a complete wanker when you talk yourself up so it doesn't come naturally and feels very forced.

I was interviewed recently and the one thing that does piss me off no end is when you get that vibe they've already made up their mind about someone else and are just going through the motions. I'd much rather they call me and cancel than put me through that bullsit charade. A complete waste of mine and their time.

How are you at interviews? Do you have the gift of the gab?

Other Forums

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of losing it without other forums to use. 🥴 The other imdb replacements aren't proving themselves to be very competent, or they're just dead. I need new stomping grounds. We need more trash addicts!

What forums do you lurk, and perhaps even post in? Are message boards like this fading away in favor of sites like Facebook with groups and whatnot?

The Crow Remake

Ugh... there's talk of this happening again. 🙄

Everyone has been reluctant to make this movie happen, because Brandon Lee did such a terrific job in the original, and it always falls through. I've heard about this happening on many occasions, with many directors and actors attached, and every version was scrapped.

Now there's talk of Jason Mamoa taking over the role, and I'll be honest... I don't like that guy. Hasn't impressed me once, in any of the shit he's been in, but they keep casting him in any movie they can. He's already been in one shitty remake that nobody EVER talks about (Conan), and now they're casting this 6'4" beefcake to play Eric Draven? As if!

My hopes aren't very high for this movie. If it's like any of the other attempts to remake the movie, it'll get cancelled too.



Now, I know this movie has a stigma of Brandon Lee fanboys dismissing any possible new entry, but a remake is completely unnecessary. The crow mythology could be taken in various other directions, but the damn studios always tend to rehash everything.

Personally, I loved The Crow: City of Angels, with Vincent Perez as the title character. He did a great job, but nobody gives a fuck because everyone's too busy sucking Brandon Lee's rotten cock. They could make a new story about this stuff... but they don't have a fucking clue how to do it.

😞

Thoughts on The Crow '94 and/or the rest of the series?

The Crime Challenge Results

Now that everyone's had a few days to add up any final points, here are the results for the Crime Challenge https://trashepics.com/post/8/38/.

foz: 4711
Ballz: 4209
Box_a_Hair: 3789
BarkingBaphomet: 2202
Messiah_Of_Doom: 1326
iceflamez: 1292
Gymnopedie: 1256
ZombieCPA: 1101
Amon_101: 831
markus-san: 607
rogerthemoviemaniac8: 0
OnyxHades: 0

That makes @foz the winner. I tried to keep up, but he eventually managed to slip away from me. Congratulations.

Any favorite or least favorite FTVs?

My favorite FTVs were Casino (1995), along with Death Wish 4 and 5. I thought the Death Wish movies would get worse as they went, but they never really did. Had there been a part 6, I would've gladly watched that too.

The FTV I regret watching most was Guilty as Sin (1993). Took me two tries to even finish it. For a movie whose poster quotes a review calling it "an erotic thriller", it wasn't very erotic or thrilling.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge. It's probably not a challenge worth having annually, but maybe we can try it again in a couple years.

Light up a smoke, cause life is no joke.



I just came back from seeing my favorite punky folky comedy rock band, The Dead Milkmen. Shortly after I got there I saw their singer Rodney Anonymous standing right in front of me. I shook his hand and had a brief chat about how much I love them. It was pretty amazing.

There was an odd mix of opening acts, all local. First was Mr. Kitty, who assume are named after Cartman's cat, a weird industrial electronic duo, not really my thing. Then came Chant, just one guy with an enormous drum set and recorded electronic music. His drumming was super impressive, easily the best of the openers. Then a kind of bland indie rock/punk band called The Golden Boys.

The Dead Milkmen were awesome of course. I was right up front, close enough I could read their set list taped to the floor in front of them and sang a few lines into the mic when it was stuck in my face.

Afterwards, while I was waiting for my bus, this pretty little hispanic twink came up to me, said "como estas", shook my hand and just held onto it and caressed it. He told me I was beautiful and asked if I was looking for a boyfriend. I politely told him no, then he asked if I would give him a hug. As flattered as I was, I had to shoot him down. Yikes. Besides, I bet he says that to all the guys.

Any chance to have a Documentary or Found Footage Challenge for the upcoming month?

Title says all!