Musical Monday: It's Not Over Yet & Zydrate Anatomy (#5 And #4).

[Every Monday, I'm going to be counting down my 52 favorite musical numbers from musical movies and TV shows. I might not like the full movie/show, but the number makes the list for various reasons: 1) I have to like the song, 2) the visual of how the number is performed is most likely unique or fun, 3) both song and visual mixes well to create an exciting or powerful number. So let's get to the next on the list.]

NOTE: Sorry about last week! I completely forgot to put this up thanks to a lot of busy-ness and writing of other things. So I'm putting #5 and #4 on this post to catch up. So here we go...

#5: A Very Potter Sequel - It's Not Over Yet

"What? Your #5 of all time is from an internet video and not an actual movie?" To that, I say... so what? To be fair, it's a hugely popular set of plays that stars Darren Criss who is now one of the stars of Glee (take that however you will). I've said many-a-time I love villain songs, as well as opening numbers. This just happens to be both. It's super catchy, and I'll listen to this song more than any other from either play. It's that fantastic... and meta (though... the entirety of both plays are incredibly meta... but still).

#4: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Zydrate Anatomy

It's my favorite song in the movie, and it's the song that got me interested in seeing the movie in the first place. It's catchy, it's fun, and it's just plain bizarre. It's Zydrate Anatomy. Unfortunately, I can't embed this video, so you'll have to go to a link. Click here.

Musical Monday: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Night Surgeon (#13).

[Every Monday, I'm going to be counting down my 52 favorite musical numbers from musical movies and TV shows. I might not like the full movie/show, but the number makes the list for various reasons: 1) I have to like the song, 2) the visual of how the number is performed is most likely unique or fun, 3) both song and visual mixes well to create an exciting or powerful number. So let's get to the next on the list.]

This was a very difficult one to choose. I knew it would be from this movie... but which one? Obviously not the one that will be a little higher on the list, but there are so many others (I could have really done at least half the other songs in the film). The big ones, of course, include the catchy "Let the Monster Rise," the emotional pain-filled "Legal Assassin," and the damn near almost winner, "Chase the Morning." But I went with this one for a few reasons. First, yeah, it's catchy... and it's a haunting and creepy tune with a man fighting with his inner demons. Second, they use a very easy and basic set to great atmospheric effect. The overall visual of the scene mixed with the song just won me over the others.

Unfortunately, the video is not allowed to embed. So Click Here to go see the video.

REPO MEN.

I was conflicted as to whether or not I wanted to see this movie. My reasoning is because Repo! The Genetic Opera is one of my favorite movies, and this seemed to be a total rip-off. Sure, the plot's a little different, but there are so many other similarities... and the Repo! Opera people can't sue because it's not a direct copyright infringement (you can't copyright an 'idea'), not to mention they'd be going up against one of the biggest production companies in the U.S., and they really didn't feel like bankrupting themselves. Also, the producers said they were basing this movie off a book (Repossession Mambo), which (get this) wasn't even published until last year, a year AFTER Repo! Opera was released--and, ironically, about a year after the movie began production itself--and a full decade after the Repo! Opera stage play first began. But I digress. I decided to check it out before I damned it completely. So what did I think?

Let's start off with the plot, one of the only non-stolen things in this movie. In the not-too-distant future, a company is formed to give the dying or the vain the option to get new organs and other body parts on credit. But if you can't pay your credit, they send Repo Men to hunt you down and cut the part(s) out of you while you're still alive. Remy (Jude Law) plays a Repo Man who doesn't care for his job and wants to keep it and his family separate from each other (especially from his child). But his wife is tired of the late nights and killing, so she gives him the ultimatum of taking a job in sales or leaving. His partner and best friend Jake (Forest Whitaker) wants him to stay in Repo. But after one last job that, well, backfires, Remy is forced to get a new heart from the company. He starts seeing things from the victims' perspective and can no longer go through with repossessions, which really puts a damper on paying off his credit on his heart. So when he goes past due, Remy has to go on the run and try to figure out a way to clear his debt and stay alive.

Before I get into the movie itself, I have to get all the similarities out of the way first. Of course there's the obvious Repo Men of organs idea (which in and of itself wasn't original to Repo! Opera, as there was a sketch from Monty Python that dealt with the same subject--that sketch, in fact, is actually shown in this movie briefly). But both are in a dystopian near-future. Then there's a dark-haired female singer with, I kid you not, altered eyes--among other things, but they actually made a point of the eyes at one point--and she's a pretty big part of the movie. There's the fact that both Repo Men are a bit reluctant, but still drawn in by the job. Both Repo Men have family issues that stem from the job. Both movies have an illegal street drug that helps dull pain and becomes an addiction to some people (Q in this one and Zydrate in the other); though Q is red and Zydrate is blue, so, you know... bit leap there. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but I really wanted to mention the ultimate slap in the face: Marty Adams plays a brief role in both films that indebted to the respective company. And let's take a gander at his character names in both films: In this, he's "Obese Man" and in the other he's "Big Man." Uh huh.

One last one I wanted to bring up isn't even a rip-off of Repo! Opera, but I felt it was worth mentioning. At one point, Remy is fighting his way down a narrow hallway against a bunch of "hitmen" (for lack of a better term) and even uses, at one point, a hammer. Now, it's not one continuous shot or anything but... Oldboy, anyone? And then the ending--which I'll get to later--is another total ripoff to another movie that came out in the early 2000s.

But let's move on to the actual film. Besides the complete and utter unoriginality (it even pimps the book it's apparently based on in the movie, despite the book coming out after the movie already started production), it's honestly a decent movie. In fact, I might have enjoyed it more had I not been educated in films the typical American hasn't heard of. Now, this review will be mostly negative, but I'll say it now: I really did find entertainment here.

For instance, the action was decent and there were some truly wonderful music choices. But like the music, sometimes the movie felt uneven. While there were great and unique choices in music, sometimes it just stuck to the bland, basic tension-filled orchestral stuff that every other movie has. Where else the movie falters is in its tone. It seems the movie doesn't know whether it wants to be a gory action thriller or a dark comedy. There are some darkly humorous moments, but they're so scattered throughout the movie that they nearly feel out of place at times.

Another issue I had is the CGI blood. This is the second movie of late where this has really bugged me, the first being Ninja Assassin. The CGI blood is so obviously fake, sometimes laughably so, that it takes you out of the moment (and an otherwise attempting-to-be-realistic movie). At least Repo! Opera had the decency to use real fake blood as opposed to this rising trend of fake fake blood. I mean, seriously, it has to cost more to create buckets of CGI blood than buckets of the 'real' stuff.

A few final notes and then I'll shut up: The wife character was stupidly annoying and didn't make sense, especially on the subway sequence near the end. But the acting was pretty good, for the most part. Finally, I'm not sure if the ending of this movie pissed me off or not. It certainly irked me. They do one of the only original things this movie had going for it--what the characters do to get around being Repo'd--which is actually pretty damn cool... and then the ending slaps you in the face (which is already pretty raw at this point). Again, I know it sounds like I absolutely loathed this movie, and on some level I think I do, but taking out all my predispositions against it, it was actually pretty enjoyable.

*grumble grumble*


Stop Saying Okay! Okay.

(P.S. I was actually going to give it one score higher, but just for the hell of it, I knocked it down one, just for being a rip-off incarnate).

R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #7 - Musicals.

[For the last 10 days of the decade, I'm doing a Top 10 list a day, all culminating into an ultimate post of Top 10 lists. We have previously seen Top 10 Comedies, Dramas, Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, and Foreign. Now we're moving on.]

Top 10 Musicals of the 2000s

I grew up with a musical family, and, as such, with musicals. However, while, say, my mother is more into the classic musicals such as The Sound of Music, I like more quirky musicals, musicals with interesting concepts and catchy songs. And now that I've seen Nine, I can officially release this list. So, that being said, let's get on with it.

10. August Rush (2007)

Not a musical in the classic sense, this is more of a movie--a fairy tale--about music. With a couple exceptions, most of the music doesn't even have words. But it's a great story/modern fairy tale surrounding the magic of music. But as it isn't a musical in the classic sense of the word, I placed it in the #10 spot.

9. Nine (2009)

Yeah, a mixture of purposefully clever placement and coincidence, my #9 spot goes to none other than Nine. It's a movie about movie making and thus has some clever cinematography. The movie is lax in the plot department, and it suffers because of it, but it has some decent musical numbers, especially Fergie's number, "Be Italian."

8. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Tim Burton's adaptation of the blood-thirsty barber out for revenge. Sure, the singing is decent at best, and only about half the songs are overtly catchy, but it's still a fun movie. And who doesn't love the delectably humorous song "A Little Priest"?

7. Chicago (2002)

Rob Marshall, whose other big musical has already been on this list, gave us this Oscar-winning film about murder and the attempt at getting away with it. Beautiful and scantily clad women dance around singing numerous catchy songs, the best of which include "The Cell Block Tango," "And All That Jazz," and the surprisingly good performance by John C. Reilly, "Mr. Cellophane."

6. Enchanted (2007)

There are really only 3-4 main songs in this movie, the two biggest being "Happy Working Song" and "That's How You Know." After a while, the singing dies down to correlate with Giselle adapting to the real world. So it's mostly a pseudo-musical, but that's enough musical to make my list. The movie was a lot better than I expected, too, with its homage to previous Disney films and their cliches. Self-deprecating humor while still respecting the source material. It's like Shaun of the Dead, but without the zombies.

5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Based on Homer's "The Odyssey," this film by the Coen Brothers is also not your typical musical. But there is enough singing interspersed throughout that I would label it as such. Between the song of the Lotus Eaters (baptism folks), the song of the Sirens, and all the Soggy Bottom Boys stuff, it's a fun little musical. Granted, it's really not the musical aspect of the film that makes me love it, but the modern adaptation of a classic story. Oh, and it's funny ("Damn! We're in a tight spot!"). But ever time I watch it, I can't help but get "Don't leave nobody but the baby" (the Siren Song) stuck in my head... catchy tune.

4. Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)

If you've never heard of it, the original Reefer Madness came about in the 30s (then titled "Tell Your Children") to warn people that weed will cause you to play the piano at excess and want to have giant orgies. It spawned an off-broadway musical adaptation which was then adapted into a film... and it's freakin' hilarious. It takes a couple prim-and-proper, overly naive 50s-esque teens and introduces them to marijuana, resulting in a funny chain of events that involves selfishness, forgetfulness, sex, and murder. And the cast is great, too. It involves Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, Neve Campbell, Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Steven Weber, and John Kassir (AKA the voice of the Crypt-Keeper, actually reprising his stage performance for the movie). It's hard to pinpoint my favorite songs, but they'd have to include "Jimmy Takes a Hit," "Little Mary Sunshine," and "Murder."

3. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)

I wasn't sure whether or not to include this on the list, considering it was more of a web-based, 3-episode long movie/mini-series. But it's just so good I couldn't not include it (double negative and all). Directed by Joss Whedon, the story follows a wannabe supervillain named Dr. Horrible played by Neil Patrick Harris. He's in love with a woman from his laundromat named Penny (Felicia Day), but she starts seeing his arch-nemesis, the self-absorbed Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). It also has an ending that, well... that I can't spoil. If I absolutely had to pick a favorite song (which is near impossible at this point), I'd have to say "Brand New Day." But I haven't even mentioned the greatest part of all this. If you purchase the DVD, there are a couple different commentaries for the movie, one of which is a musical in and of itself. Yes, they made a musical commentary. Now that is brilliance right there.

2. Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Brought to us by the guy who did Saw 2, 3, and 4, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a gory rock opera about a future where there is an epidemic of organ failure, and a company is set up to loan you organs. But if you can't pay up, they send out Repo Men to come kill you and take the organs back. And yes, if you've seen the recent trailer for the film Repo Men with Liev Schreiber, Jude Law, and Forest Whitaker, it's a complete and total rip-off of this musical... but without the music, and more action-based. It has a totally interesting cast, and its biggest shock is that Paris Hilton is actually good in it (because she's basically playing herself). Practically the entire movie is sung (it is an opera, after all), but the sung dialogue is just like an interlude in between the big musical numbers... the best of which include "Legal Assassin," "At the Opera Tonight," "Chase the Morning," and, the best song in the movie, "Zydrate Anatomy." It's full of fun acting, cartoonish humor, great songs, intense moments, and a great (operatic) story.

1. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Interesting that my number one on the list has the most creative songs, yet they're (mostly) songs that have already been written... and not for musical purposes. It's a fantastical (and visually stunning) film about love and the bohemian lifestyle. It takes big, popular songs of the past and uses them in a musical setting. Some of the most creative uses are the medleys, like the "Elephant Love Medley" and "Zidler's Rap." But my personal favorite, in correlation with the drama of the scene, is "El Tango de Roxanne." It's a beautiful, powerful, and chilling scene that always gives me goosebumps. So, great acting + great visuals + great music + great story = great movie, and my #1 musical choice of the decade.


End Note: This list would be much different had it been a list of "Top 10 Songs from Musicals of the 2000s." In that case, "Falling Slowly," the main song from Once, would have topped the list... because while I think the song is incredibly beautiful, I didn't care all that much for the movie itself. Hence, why the movie didn't make the list, so go ahead and shoot me now.

Five Great Things About Joss Whedon.

The last time I did one of these was almost a year ago with Keanu Reeves. I felt it necessary (and timing-appropriate) to do another... this time about Joss Whedon. Unlike Keanu, almost everybody who actually knows who the hell Joss Whedon is either appreciates, likes, or loves the guy. He's the guy that brought us the ever-so-popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. But besides those two shows, Joss has had the worst luck creating anything lasting on television. And you could even argue it only worked with Buffy, since Angel was canceled before it was meant to end, as well. But almost everything he touches these days is either canceled almost immediately (from Firefly to the current show Dollhouse, which even star Eliza Dushku doesn't seem to have much hope for in the 'lasting' department... at least from what I've heard). Luckily, most of it hits a cult status almost immediately, so he still makes some kind of money. But now, I want to honor 5 great things that have come about because of Joss Whedon... outside of the obvious (Buffy, etc.).

1. Nathan Fillion. Joss popularized the guy, even though Nathan had been around for nearly 10 years before Joss got a hold of him. First giving him a leading role in Firefly (and the later spin-off film Serenity), then a villainous role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then yet another villainous (though superhero) role in the most recent Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, Joss has made the guy into the Bruce Campbell for this generation. Granted, this generation still worships Bruce Campbell, too, but they're like two peas in a pod. They really should work on something together...

2. Repo! The Genetic Opera. I know, you're saying to yourself "But Joss didn't have anything to do with that movie." And you're right. However, Joss' brilliant work with "Once More With Feeling," the musical episode of Buffy, brought notice to Anthony Head's amazing singing ability. And it was actually because of this episode that director Darren Lynn Bousman requested Anthony Head for the role, and the very episode that got the producers to agree with it instead of going with a more big-name star. And I have to say, with anybody else besides Anthony Head in that role, the movie would have been, as the Spaniards would say, el terrible.

3. Neil Patrick Harris as a triple-threat. We all know Neil Patrick Harris. But it wasn't until Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog that we realized Neil Patrick Harris could do amazing acting, show brilliant comedic timing, and sing magnificintly... sometimes all at once. For me, he went from "Doogie Howser" to "The best part of Harold and Kumar" to "Doogie Howser is gay?" to "the guy from How I Met Your Mother" to "Holy crap, it's Neil Patrick Harris. I wanna see more of him." But I didn't reach that last point until Joss Whedon got a hold of him.

4. Titan A.E./Toy Story. Does anybody else remember Titan A.E.? Personally, I think it's vastly underrated to the point where nobody ever talks about it. It has some great voice acting from the likes of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, Drew Barrymore, and Ron Pearlman. It also has a fun, imaginative, and interesting story. And the story, along with its witty dialogue, was brought to us by none other than one of its screenwriters, Joss Whedon. Similarly, and I didn't realize this until not too long ago, Joss Whedon was one of the four screenwriters of Toy Story. He was up for the Oscar and everything. A man of many talents, huh? For the record, I included both of these together as more of a 'hidden writing credit' category.

5. Feminism in television/movies. Joss Whedon, in almost everything he does (especially if he's more personally involved), has strong female leads--oftentimes literally, physically strong. But where most filmmakers wouldn't risk it for whatever reason, Joss always shakes his finger at the male-dominated industry and does things his own way. Then again, maybe that's why he can't keep a project going very long (Hell, even his attempted adaptation of the popular Wonder Woman fell through, as no producers could agree with his vision... or he just couldn't get around to writing it. One of the two). But one thing is always certain where Joss Whedon is involved: females will never be mere damsels in distress.

DVD Review: Repo! The Genetic Opera.

So the nearly year-long wait is over. I’ve finally seen it. I would have reviewed this sooner, but I honestly needed to watch it twice. After the first viewing, I was left without any real words to describe how I felt about the film. After the second viewing, I’m almost in the same boat as the first viewing, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got some better thoughts in order.

In the not-too-distant future, a worldwide epidemic of organ failure spreads death and chaos. But then Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) builds GeneCo, a company that will lend you brand new organs and other such body parts, but at a price. And if you can’t pay your debts, they send out a Repo Man, a legalized assassin, to come and kill you and take back whatever it is you had put in. But now Rotti is dying and needs to give his company to somebody, though he hates his three children: the violent Luigi Largo (Bill Moseley); the face-wearing Pavi Largo (Ogre); and the surgery-addicted Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton). So he then sets his eye on Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega), the daughter of Repo Man Nathan (Anthony Head), whose deceased wife Marni (Sarah Power) used to be his own lover. Shilo has been kept locked in her home all her life by her father due to having the same lethal blood disease that killed her mother. And everything culminates at the epic Genetic Opera, headlined by Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman). And all of this is tied together with the use of comic strips and the Greek Chorus-like Graverobber (Terrance Zdunich).

If you couldn’t tell, the plot is a bit complicated. But at the same time, it isn’t. There is a lot going on, and there are a ton of plot twists, just like any normal Opera. And that’s the thing to keep in mind when going into this movie: you have to think of it like an Opera. Practically every line is sung, no matter how inconsequential. But I also think this is one of the movie’s few downfalls, as well. The movie is described (quite appropriately) like mixing Rocky Horror Picture Show (due to its absurdness) with Blade Runner (due to its dark, dystopian setting). But I also would like to attribute it to Sweeney Todd (due to the gore, as well as a few other things that I’ll be getting to).

So let me start by discussing the music, as that’s the most important part of the film. Honestly, the music is hit or miss. Like Sweeney Todd, I felt the movie had a much stronger second half (as soon as Zydrate Anatomy begins). There are two types of songs in this movie. The first type is the ‘talky’ songs, in which there are countless numbers of all throughout. These are the ones that basically get the plot from one place to the next. They can sometimes seem awkward and forced, too, like the creators just had to have every single line sung, no matter how weird or out of place it sounded. The second type is the ‘musical’ songs. These are the ones that really make the movie shine, the types of hit songs you would expect from a musical. They aren’t just little snips to go from one point to the next, but great, toe-tapping, (sometimes hard-rocking), make-you-wanna-sing-along songs.

Now, the first half of the movie was made up of a lot of the ‘talky’ songs and only a few ‘musical’ songs tossed in. But while the ‘musical’ songs were good, they were just too few and far between. And the first half was much more focused on the gore than the music, it seemed. But once the second half starts up with Zydrate Anatomy (personally, one of my favorites in the film), the gore nearly disappears and becomes a more alluded-to thing. And then the movie has almost completely become one great ‘musical’ number after the next, with only a couple ‘talky’ songs thrown in.

And even though it’s a Rock Opera, there are many different types of songs to find in the film. There’s the heavy rock, the grunge rock, and even a bit of actual Opera. But ironically, it’s the Opera, I feel, that seems most out-of-place in the movie. Luckily, though, the Opera-esque songs are few and far between, and they’re only sung by Sarah Brightman and Paul Sorvino, who both have amazing voices.

And to get on to the actual singers/actors, let me first start with those aforementioned two. Sarah Brightman is, by far, the best singer in the film, even though she’s physically not in it a whole lot. But her Chase the Morning is another one of the best songs of the film, and it’s one of the most inventive, as the refrain is sung by Sarah Power’s Marni through a hologram ejected from her eyes. It’s nuts. On the other hand, Paul Sorvino, while he has a great voice, gets the worst songs of the film. They have him singing all over the place, doing a huge chunk of the ‘talky’ songs, and sometimes even interchanging mid-song from the ‘talky’ voice to his ‘Opera’ voice. Needless to say, that did not bode well with me.

But after Sarah Brightman, the two I felt had the best voices (and songs) in the film were Anthony Head (whom you might recognize as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Terrance Zdunich (who is actually one of the co-creators of the original stage play, as well as reprising his role as the Graverobber). These two men actually had the ability to make even the ‘talky’ songs entertaining, which is good, considering a good chunk of what they did were along those lines. But of course I had to give it out to Terrance, as Zydrate Anatomy is basically his big number. But the only thing about Anthony Head that seemed a bit weird was he had a Gollum/Sméagol (or maybe Batman/Bruce Wayne—Christian Bale version) thing going on. He would flip back and forth from loving/caring father and crazy Repo Man, altering his voice to go along with it.

Then, of course, we have Alexa Vega, who actually does really well (I would hope, since she’s basically the main character). Her voice cracks every now and then, but I think that was a character thing. And finally, the Largo siblings: Paris Hilton, Bill Moseley, and Ogre. Let me just put it this way: Paris Hilton was the least irritating of the three. Actually, I agree with most reviews of the film. Paris Hilton was born for the role and does it perfectly. But then again, that’s not hard to do when the role you’re playing is a spoiled, talentless heiress to a multi-billion dollar corporation. Ogre wasn’t too bad, either. He just had a distractingly cliché Italian (for no reason) voice. Though he did wear the (painted white) faces of his female lovers that he’d killed, which is neat. Though the worst casting, by far, in the entire movie, was Bill Moseley. He acted the part way too over-the-top, annoyingly, and just plain silly. It was totally out of tone for the movie, and his singing wasn’t that hot, either. He and Ogre were like the unneeded jesters of the film, ruining the overall mood.

So I’ve talked about the plot. I’ve talked about the music. I’ve talked about the singers/actors. I guess I could comment on a few of the littler things. For instance, I’m still not sure what to make of the comics-o-exposition that are scattered throughout the movie. The movie itself begins with a 3-minute sometimes-animated comic strip that gives the backstory of the movie. And then, at random intervals, the movie will freeze-frame on a character and give their sketched self to segue into the comic book ‘backstory’ of that character. I suppose it’s an interesting and unique way of doing it, and it does save time showing the little strips of explanation. But at the same time, it gets somewhat old after a while. Not to mention, depending on your TV, some of the text on the comic strips can be cut off on the screen, so you have to make some quick (though usually easy) guesses as to what’s written there (as none of it is read to you in voice-over or anything).

Overall, the movie fell a bit shorter than what I had expected. It tried a bit too hard at times to keep its non-stop singing ‘Rock Opera’ thing. The ‘talky’ songs only worked half the time; the other half they were just forced and awkward. But the ‘musical’ songs, practically every single one of them, were excellent. And the movie does have its fair share of those. But the film also has trouble with its tone. Sometimes it tries to be dark and broody. Sometimes it tries to be slapstick and silly. I think it should have picked one or the other—either it took itself seriously or it didn’t. Like I said, even though there are some really good songs in the first half, I much preferred the second half of the film. Finally, something I didn’t really comment on before, the movie itself (visually) looks excellent. There are so many great visuals, from the costumes to the settings. My final verdict? I’d say check it out, but make sure to know what you’re getting yourself into beforehand. Plus, any movie that can actually make Paris Hilton look good (by any definition of that word—looks, acting, singing) is a movie to check out.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

DVDs Or Death!

Again, I haven't done one of these since October! But I thought it was high time to bring it on back. It's time for DVDs Or Death!

Moonlight: The Complete Series.

Brief Synopsis: Vampire Detective Falls In Love With Human Reporter.

Comments: How very Twilight-esque, I know, but it's so much better. I caught this short-lived television series while it was still on TV, and it was quite original. It's so sad that it only lasted so short a time, but if you're a fan of vampire stories, I'd really recommend this series. It's a lot of fun.

Viewing Option: T.V. (if I can find reruns... though I recommend others who have not seen it to rent).

Saw V.

Brief Synopsis: The Fifth Installment In The Saw Series.

Comments: It's certainly not one of the strongest in the series, but it's required for any fan. Like many penultimate chapters in a long series, it's mainly the calm before the storm. All the questions start to rise to the front, there's less action, and you get antsy for the conclusion. And it's been known for a while that Saw VI is going to be the end. So I think of this installment as just that: the slow, questionable calm before the epic storm.

Viewing Option: Buy (What? I have all the others).

Henry Poole Is Here.

Brief Synopsis: A Story About A Guy That Finds Jesus... On His House.

Comments: I wanted to see this, but not only did it not come to my town, but it didn't get the greatest reviews. I still want to check it out, though.

Viewing Option: Rent.

Max Payne.

Brief Synopsis: A Detective Hunts For The Truth Behind Drug-Related Murders.

Comments: Well, I didn't think the movie was terrible. It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't as terrible as most people say. It had some really cool visuals, even if the story was a bit of a mess. But I don't think I'll be going out of my way to see it again.

Viewing Option: Skip.

City Of Ember.

Brief Synopsis: An Underground City Loses Power... And It's Up To Two Children To Help.

Comments: Again, I thought the premise sounded fun, and I heard the book is good, too. But then I heard the movie was quite a mess. I might just wait for this one to hit the old telly.

Viewing Option: T.V.

Igor.

Brief Synopsis: What Would Happen If Frankenstein's Helper Helped Himself.

Comments: It looked cute, and it has a great voice cast. It didn't get terrible reviews, either, from what I remember.

Viewing Option: Rent.

The Express.

Brief Synopsis: True Story Of First Black Guy To Win Heisman Trophy.

Comments: I was never a big fan of sports movies, especially football movies... which got very old after a handful being released every single year.

Viewing Option: Skip.

Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Brief Synopsis: Rock Opera About Organ Donation.

Comments: I've been waiting for this movie for a very, very long time, regardless of its including Paris Hilton (who I've actually read is, honestly, good in this movie. Perfect for the role). But I'm incredibly excited that it's finally hitting DVD. It has endlessly brilliant reviews on both IMDb and Amazon, with only a negative one sprinkled here or there (and those people always sound like crotchety old men with sticks up their butts), so that's even more exciting. And on top of that, it's been described as Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Blade Runner meets Sweeney Todd. How awesome is that? I also read that, at some point, three of its songs were up for Oscars. Obviously that's not the case with all the songs chosen in the Globes and elsewhere, but it still says something, right?

Viewing Option: Buy.

I Can't Believe I'm Anticipating This.

Repo! The Genetic Opera has every reason to suck while simultaneously every reason to be awesome. Here are some facts about this movie:

- It's produced by the same guys who brought us Saw.
- It's directed by the guy who directed Saw 2, 3, and 4.
- The cast includes Paris Hilton.
- The cast also includes Alexa Vega, Bill Moseley, and Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy).
- It's a musical.
- It's very disturbing.
- It seems to be comic book-y and a bit cheesy.
- It's very B-Movie-esque.

It also has every reason to become a cult classic (as it even states in the trailer), and I'm sure it'll do just that. You can see the international trailer here. I don't know what it is about the movie, but it's got me all excited... regardless of the fact that one of its stars is Paris Hilton. And actually, a clip was just released that has Paris Hilton in it... and, I can't believe I'm saying this, she doesn't do half bad (and the song is catchy). The clip can be found here.

So yeah... am I alone here, or is anybody else anticipating this movie?