5 Possible Musicals Based On Non-Musical Films.

Lord of the Rings. Spider-Man. The Evil Dead. Harry Potter (kind of). What do these movies have in common? Well, OK, they're a bit on the fantasy/unrealistic side. But that's not what I'm getting at. No. these movies have all been transformed, in one way or another, into a stage musical (Harry Potter not being official, but still damn good). And the upcoming Spider-Man musical is going the rock route with U2 taking the helm as composer. So I wondered what other films could be made into stage musicals that probably shouldn't be.


Movie: 28 Days Later...
Composers: Coheed and Cambria
Possible Songs: "Blood Red Eyes," "Wake Up To Nothing," and "No World For The Rageless."

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Movie: Apocalypse Now
Composers: Korn, Disturbed
Possible Songs: "I'm Hiding In My Heart Of Darkness," "Napalm Gets Me Off," and "Up the River, Down With The Sickness."

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Movie: Citizen Kane
Composers: My Chemical Romance
Possible Songs: "His Famous Last Word," "He's Dead!" and "I Don't Love You Anymore."

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Movie: Inception
Composers: Aerosmith
Possible Songs: "Dream On... And On... And On," "Dude (Can Look Like You)," and "Standin' On The Edge."

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Movie: Let The Right One In
Composers: Queen
Possible Songs: "Let Me In," "Keep Yourself Alive With Blood," and "My Best Friend Is A Vampire."

R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #5 - Horror.

[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, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Now we're moving on.]

Top 10 Horror Films of the 2000s

The day after Christmas... crazy sales... more shopping... going to wal-mart is like a horror film in and of itself. So it's only fitting that I discuss the best horror films of the decade now. Let's get it goin'.

10. Identity (2003)

Basically 10 Little Indians with a psychology twist. What I will always remember about this movie is that I was able to call the killer based on the trailer alone. Not because it was easy, but because I decided that the killer would be the least likely character. Granted, it actually made sense in the context of the movie. Anyway, it had one heck of a cast, too. John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, John C. McGinley, Jake Busey, and Pruitt Taylor Vince. I also love the ending, especially how it ties back in a poem repeated earlier in the film. It's quiet and creepy. Love it.

9. Planet Terror (2007)

Robert Rodriguez's half of Grindhouse (the better half, if I say so). It's wild and crazy and totally fun. Mutant "zombies." Fuzzy screens. Missing reels. A chick with a machine gun leg. Bloody action. It's almost too awesome for its own good. I put it this low on the list because it's really not scary whatsoever. I wouldn't even say it's marginally scary. But it's a horror film nonetheless. And, therefore, it's on my list.

8. Silent Hill (2006)

Video game movies aren't known for being the best films ever created, but sometimes you get something at least halfway decent. Silent Hill is one of those. Sure, it has some flaws. If you know anything about the making of the film, it was originally going to be an all-female cast, but the production company didn't think that'd work. So what'd they do? They forced them to re-write the script and give the husband character a bigger role. And you can tell in the movie. Pretty much every part of the husband's part of the story is meaningless and somewhat boring (I always wanted to go back into the "Silent Hill" world when it flipped to the husband). Also, the ending is terrible and demands a sequel (which, luckily, I think they recently greenlit). But every other part of the film is fantastic and creepy. Pyramidhead is scary, as are all the other creatures. And the climax gets surprisingly violent. Fun stuff.

7. Frailty (2001)

So... have you seen this movie? It's freaky. Not really much more to say after that. It has Matthew McConaughey in a role that isn't his usual. Is also has Bill Paxton (who also directed). It's a religious horror film, and you're never quite sure if all the religious stuff is true or not. But either way, it's unsettling. That's probably the best way to put this movie. Unsettling.

6. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Most horror films these days are all about the shock factor. The jump scares. The blood and gore. The Mothman Prophecies has virtually none of this. And I don't know about you, but this movie scares the living crap out of me. What does it have? Creepy occurrences, telephone conversations, unexplained scenarios, and subtle scares that you have to be paying attention to get (the mirror lag, anyone?). Not to mention those red eyes. I always get scared to drive at night whenever I watch this movie. I know the first time I saw it, I had to drive home at night afterward, and at that time, I lived out in the middle of nowhere. So at one point, in the pitch black, my brake lights reflected off these two, well, reflectors that stood on either side of this little bridge... and in my rear-view mirror, they looked JUST like the two red eyes. I about had a heart attack. So it might not have the blood. It might not have the overt musical cue scares. But this is by far one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen. So why, if it's so scary, do I have it at number 6 on the list? Because sometimes "fun," "concept," or even "depth" can trump ultimate scares.

5. Final Destination (2000)

Talking about the original here, of course. This is the case where "concept" and "fun" can trump scares. Is this movie scary? Not really. But its concept is super fun, and I love the heck out of this little film. It has some wickedly dark humor. It has creative kills. It's also the film that, believe it or not, really first introduced the world to Seann William Scott. And who didn't go "oh crap!" when you see the plane explode in the far background outside the terminal, right before the windows explode?

4. Feast (2005)

One of my favorite horror/comedies, and I place it under horror, as I believe there are more scares than laughs (though there are some good laughs). This is a film that totally takes the horror genre and turns it on its head... and then laughs mercilessly at it. From the opening moments with the "title cards" to the breaking of all horror rules, this movie is hella fun. It's just incredibly unfortunate that its two sequels are two of the most disasterous, unholy abominations ever put on celluloid (and I'm not being hyperbolic here).

3. 28 Weeks Later (2007)

It's rare to get a great sequel to a great film, but this was apparently one of the exceptions. It starred none of the original cast, nor did it have Danny Boyle behind the camera. But after the brilliant opening scene, you know you're in for a good ride. Sure, it doesn't have the depth of the original, but what it lacks in overall social commentary (I mean, it's there, but it's not as explored, I suppose), it totally makes up for in suspense.

2. Saw (2004)

Unlike the previous choice, this began a series wherein the sequels never quite lived up to the original. I mean, there's been some pretty good ones (2, 3, and 6 being the better ones), but there have also been a couple... not so great (4 and 5). Ironically, movies 4-6 were written by the same dudes who wrote Feast (and its sequels). So I suppose their record is for every good film they write, they also write two... well... not so good ones. But also, the guys who wrote and directed the first one didn't do that for any of the others (well, they acted as executive producers and helped with script ideas, but that was about it). Long story short (too late), the first Saw had a brilliant story and a jaw-dropping twist ending that's gone into the history books. I've seen this movie a ton of times, and I'll probably see it a ton more. And I love the main theme song, too. So... yeah.

1. 28 Days Later (2002)

I don't think I'll get a lot of arguments here. Danny Boyle created a horror film with complex characters, heavy themes, and strong social commentary. With a brilliant (second) opening that is essentially 15 minutes of Cillian Murphy walking around an empty London saying "hello?", the movie starts out artistically fantastic. It also had the balls to show full-frontal male nudity (Yes... yes... pun intended). I also love the main theme for this film, as well (the whole thing is nearly 30 minutes long in and of itself, but it has great pacing from slow and steady to fast and chaotic). And no, for the bajillionth time, they are not zombies.

BOO-EFFIN-YA!

A couple days ago I posted this, linking to an article wherein Simon Pegg discusses zombies. Today, I read an article about none other than Danny Boyle himself, director of the amazing 28 Days Later..., who was asked about a possible third film in the series. This led to a brief mention in the article that I would like to showcase:

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What else? Not to go all Columbo on you here at the end, but Boyle, well, he does have just one more thing he wants from you: for the love of all that is holy, stop calling his infected monsters zombies.

“There was an article in the paper the other day by Simon Pegg. He wrote this article begging people to let zombies stumble again and not run. He was trying to turn the tide back because everyone has zombies running now. He’s like, ‘No, please. Can we go back to the old days when you knew you could get away from them?’ That was sort of the thrill. These idiots didn’t lock themselves in car and died,” Boyle laughed. “That’s why I keep saying, ‘It’s not a zombie movie, everyone. It’s not a zombie movie!’ Because the aficionados - it’s sacrilegious what you’re doing by changing things like that. They’re infected. They’re not zombies.”

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So to that, I say BOOYA, BITCHES.

Thoughts On The 28 _____ Later Movies.

I thought I should do a thoughts on on two of my favorite horror movies: 28 Days Later… and 28 Weeks Later. Unlike the previous thoughts on segments, however, this one will be both a discussion and a set of reviews (including scores). So why not just do a 2 In 1 you ask? Because there’s more I want to talk about than just the acting or cinematography or whatnot. Plus, it’ll be easier to focus on both movies simultaneously.

So first and foremost, I need to bring up the most discussed topic on these two movies: What, exactly, are The Infected? Well, they’re not zombies. I repeat:

They are not zombies.

I love zombies. I’m a zombie fanatic. I’ve studied them left and right, from the voodoo variety to the heights of George Romero and the lows of Uwe Boll. So I can safely say that to be a zombie, you must have the following three primary characteristics:

1) You must be dead.

This is key to being a cinematic zombie. You have to be a reanimated corpse, whether slow or fast for whatever reason.

2) You must eat human flesh.

This is second most important, and most obvious, trait of being a zombie. Zombies eat people. That’s why they’re so fearsome. They don’t just go for brains (as the awful Return of the Living Dead movies portray), but any bodily flesh.

3) You can only be killed via brain damage (such as a gunshot) or decapitation.

Shoot them in the knees, they’ll get back up and continue stumbling for you. Cut them in half, they’ll pull themselves with their guts dragging behind them. Set them on fire, they’ll keep on after you (at least until the fire damages the brain). No matter what, the only things to keep a zombie down is damaging the brain or severing it from the spinal column.

So, taking all of these three key characteristics into mind, let us look at The Infected:

1) They are not dead. They’re living people (albeit very angry living people).

2) They do not eat human flesh. In fact, they don’t eat period (they end up starving to death by the end).

3) They can be killed just like any other human being can be killed (as portrayed quite a few times in both movies).

The Infected follow none of the key traits of a zombie. Therefore, they’re not zombies. They’re highly enraged humans who have lost all other thoughts except for the primal urge to destroy. And that’s what they do. They use what they have (teeth, fingernails, etc.) to attack a person until they either die or become infected themselves.

So now that all of that is out of the way, we can get to my thoughts on the actual movies. I think both movies are extraordinary in what they do, and they both do different things. Days is the more philosophical one with strong characters and strong character growth. You really feel for the main group and their plight and journeys. And you feel awful when things happen to them. Weeks, on the other hand, focuses more on the heart-pounding, nonstop suspense and the family unit. But that’s not to say you don’t feel for the characters of the sequel. You do; just not in the same way. Days had a slow pacing with the suspense spread out, allowing you to really get some calm, character-knowing moments. Weeks, however, was almost non-stop action, so while you might have really liked a character and felt for them (such as Doyle), you really don’t get to feel you really know them, if that makes sense.

The next big thing to notice about each movie is the visual styles of each. Days has more of a grainy, hand-held, realistic approach, while Weeks is more mainstream high-def camera work. However, where Weeks loses in the grainy picture, it gains in the unique situations that the main characters get put into. When Andy gets stuck in the dark garage full of people, and they start becoming infected, you wonder how on earth he’s going to get out. Or when they go into the subway tunnels and it’s pitch black, so they have to rely on the night-scope and vocal orders to get through safely. Both movies have a unique style for what each does, and both work amazingly well. I would also like to take this moment to mention one of my favorite shots out of both movies, which just so happens to be in Days: When Jim first enters the church (and after passing the ‘the end is fucking nigh’ in blood on the wall), he looks down from the balcony to see a bunch of dead bodies sprawled out right underneath a painting/stained glass window of bodies sprawled out on the ground. It’s just beautiful imagery.

As for acting, Days is far superior. Cillian Murphy knocks it out of the park as Jim, and his character growth is astounding. He begins the movie as a nervous, naïve-to-the-situation, what-the-hell kinda guy. But by the end, he’s a badass, taking charge and wrecking havoc against the military guys. Naomie Harris as Selena probably has the biggest character change, though, going from heartless, tough-as-nails, take-no-shit, I’ll-kill-you-in-a-heartbeat kinda gal, to a caring, loving, compassionate individual (though still pretty tough). Brendan Gleeson as Frank the loving, though worried and protective father was great. You can’t help but feel for him and his dead-set mission on finding the military base so that his daughter can be in safe hands. If there were any downfalls in the acting, it would be Megan Burns as Hannah, Frank’s daughter, who talked really blandly half the time as if she were stoned (though, she is stoned for the entire climax, so that might be alright…).

The best performances for Weeks, on the other hand, were Robert Carlyle as Don (mostly because of his eyes and facial expressions)--at least early on in the movie, anyway--and, of course, Jeremy Renner as Doyle, who is the most likeable character in the movie. And I like him even more, as I saw in a behind-the-scenes that he shares the same opinion with me on the not-zombie issue. As for the kids… well, with real names like Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton, who needs anything more?

It really goes without saying that the winner on the suspense level is Weeks. I’ve said it before, but Weeks has one of the greatest and most suspenseful movie openings ever. And the openings for each movie really show the differences in the two movies. After the monkey sequence, Days has about 10-15 minutes of Jim walking around a beautifully desolate London all alone, slowly realizing that the entire city has seemingly evacuated completely. And then he reaches the church, has the run-in with the priest, and then is chased for about a minute or so before there’s a huge explosion, and that’s it.

Weeks, on the other hand, has a few first slow minutes before there’s a break for quick suspense, then another minute to catch our breath, and then about 5 minutes of non-stop, heart-pounding suspense. And not only that, but there’s so much emotion in that little time frame, especially with Don’s escape.

The two movies were compared in level of greatness with George Romero’s original films. Days was like Night of the Living Dead: classic and amazing. Weeks was like Dawn of the Dead: taking everything great in the first, and making it even better. I used to agree whole- heartedly with that statement, but I really think now that both movies really do two different things in amazing ways that it’s hard to say which is better than the other. The style of Days, uneasy and slow-moving, worked for the story it had to tell. But the style of Weeks, fast-paced and terror-filled, worked for its own story, as well. So in the end, they’re both great, and they’re both two of my favorite horror films. The third one better come soon. But for now, I have to give the two that are currently available both an equal score.

Royale With Cheese

(P.S. I totally forgot to mention this, but the main musical theme in both movies is one of my favorite horror movie themes ever. Purely amazing.)

Aw... Why'd They Have To Die? (Top 10).

Warning: Spoilers from here on in! Continue at your own risk! If you’re spoiled, it’s your own fault!

You know when you’re watching a movie and then suddenly one of your favorite, if not your exact favorite, character(s) die? Yeah, it sucks. This here will be a Top 10 list of characters that upset me a lot when they died, wherein number 1 is the most upsetting. To note, this list will not include characters you know are dead or going to die from the beginning of the movie. As such, Alien 3 is not in this list, because Newt and Hicks died before anything else even happened (Well, Ripley dies at the end, too… but still. It’s Newt and Hicks!). Damn you, Seven and Fight Club director David Fincher!

Anyway, on to the list!

10. Ben – Night of the Living Dead (1968)

What can you say? There’s only one black guy in the whole movie, and he dies last! Take that, other token black characters of horror movie genre!

But seriously, Ben (Duane Jones) makes it through the entire movie as the only freakin survivor of the zombie invasion... on that house! He was the only guy that was the voice of reason in the house (everybody else was freakin out the entire time. I guess he’s used to this kinda shit down in da hood or something).

How he dies: He makes it to the next morning and hears the distant sound of help. He peeks out the window, only to be shot in the head by a bunch of drunken rednecks. Then he’s stabbed by a pitchfork and burned. Yeah, I know… racism allegory and all that.

9. Ed – Shaun of the Dead (2004)

To continue with the zombie theme of the previous movie on the list, I really didn’t see this one coming. Ed (Nick Frost) is the best friend of Shaun. He’s bumbling, foul-mouthed, and not too bright. He causes one or two issues here or there, but he was always good for a laugh.

How he dies: While trying to hold a few zed-words back for Shaun to shoot, one of them bites him. Then another one bites him. Then he just stays behind while Shaun and Liz leave and becomes a zed-word himself, to later be chained up in Shaun’s shed to play video games for the rest of his undead life.

8. Chas – Constantine (2005)

Chas Kramer (Shia LaBeouf) is Constantine’s driver, basically. He takes him around wherever he needs to go, even though Chas thinks he should be upgraded from driver to partner. Chas is funny and overall innocent in the scheme of things.

How he dies: He gets beaten to death by Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). Poor Chas.

7. Kevin – Hostage (2005)

Kevin (Marshall Allman) was the innocent brother of Dennis (Jonathan Tucker) who just got caught up unwillingly in this big hostage situation. He hates what’s going on. He freaks on his brother. He’s scared of Mars (Ben Foster), but really, who isn’t? When the helicopter scene shows, he has the chance to run and get out of there, but he doesn't. He really should have.

How he dies: Kevin attempts to get the hostages and get the heck out of there, but runs into Mars on the way. He tells Mars what he’s doing, and then turns his back on him (his mistake). Mars then proceeds to run up behind him and throw him over the second floor railing to slam onto the hard first floor.

6. Jack/Kyra – Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

In this sequel to Pitch Black, the character of Jack had not only been renamed to Kyra (Jack wasn’t her real name anyway), but was recast as Alexa Davalos albeit the original actress willing to take the part.

Anyway, Kyra is now this badass girl, having been arrested and learned everything that her hero Riddick learned. The only thing she discovers is that she couldn’t get the shine-job on her eyes like he did. So when Riddick shows up at her prison to save her, she’s less than happy to see him. But they get out of there and fight and work together and all that jazz. But then Kyra is kidnapped by the bad guys.

How she dies: After snapping out of her brainwashing, Kyra tries to protect Riddick, but is flung back against a spiky pillar, getting one of the spikes right through her chest. Granted, there was supposed to be another couple of movies in which Riddick goes to search for a way to bring her back to life… but it doesn’t look like that’s happening.

5. CJ – Dawn of the Dead (2004)

This guy probably has the most character development of any of the characters on this list, which is why he’s on it. Oh, and I swear this is the last zombie movie on the list.

CJ (Michael Kelly) starts the movie as a major a-hole, but as it goes on, his character is still an a-hole, but he’s become a lot more likeable than he was before. He’s helping the good guys now instead of being a jerk and yelling the whole time.

How he dies: While the others are running from all the zombies and trying to get to a boat and go out to sea, CJ stays behind in the bus and blows up himself and some zombies with a flare and some propane to help the others get away. Aw, how nice.

4. Frank – 28 Days Later… (2002)

This is NOT a zombie movie. Anyway, Frank (Brendan Gleeson) is introduced a little less than halfway in as the loveable ex-cop (or something) and father of Hannah. He’s a joy to watch on screen, although sometimes a bit too protective. You really like his character almost right from the time you meet him and hate to see him go.

How he dies: He’s pissed off that the radio signal that the military sent out was seemingly a lie, so he’s storming about this dump site. He starts yelling at a bird that won’t shut up and, looking up, a drop of infected blood falls into his eye. Frank gets infected and a heart-wrenching scene where he quickly tries to tell Hannah how much he loves her before telling her to get away ensues. Then the military that he was looking for shows up and shoots him down. Ironic.

3. Wash – Serenity (2005)

This was incredibly unexpected. This was also one of the first times I actually let out an audible gasp in a theater. The rest of the theater, along with me, began going “nooo!”

Wash (Alan Tudyk) was the pilot of the Serenity. There really isn’t much more to say than that. He was really funny and just a really likeable character (Come on, it’s Alan Tudyk. What isn’t likeable?).

How he dies: He flies everybody safely through an outer space war zone between the Alliance and the Reavers. He crash lands quite safely on the planet. “I am a leaf on the wind.” And then half a second later gets a giant sharp, pointy thing through his body.

2. Zack – Alpha Dog (2006)

I know this was based on a true story and all, but I had never heard of it, so I didn’t know what happened. That being said, I was completely and utterly shocked when they actually kill the kid.

Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) has Zack (Anton Yelchin) kidnapped after his brother (Ben Foster) fails to pay up on this drug deal (or something like that). And no matter how many times Frankie (Justin Timberlake) tries to get Zack to go home, he won’t do it (Zack liked it where he was). He’s a great kid and way too innocent for what happened to him.

How he dies: In the end, Johnny orders Zack’s death, so he’s taken up to some cliff, taped up, and shot down. There was absolutely no reason for him to be killed. That was messed up.

1. Leaven – Cube (1997)

No other movie’s ending has upset me as much as this one. It’s a great ending, don’t get me wrong, but I just totally did not see it coming.

Leaven (Nicole de Boer) is just this randomly innocent math student who wakes up in a trap-infested cube o’ death with a bunch of other people. Most of the other people are jerks or something of the sort. But Leaven figures out just about everything. She figures out how to get through the cube without going through the trap rooms. Hell, she was even right when she told the group they never should have left the first room they all met up in. She’s one smart cookie.

How she dies: Leaven, Worth (David Hewlett), and Kazan (Andrew Miller) make it to the bridge room that would let them get the hell out. They are on the run, as well, from the psychotic Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint). They open the doorway and are blinded by this great white light that is their escape to freedom. So what happens? Worth SITS DOWN, too exhausted and depressed to go on. He has nothing to look forward to back in his real life. Leaven tries to talk him into getting up and going, as the exit is right there. While she’s doing so, Quentin finds them and stabs her from behind with one of the door handles, lifting her up into the air with it, and dropping her to the ground. I was so mad.

Anyway, that’s it. I have a couple Runners-Up as well that didn’t exactly make the list:

-Doyle (Jeremy Renner) from 28 Weeks Later… (He’s burned to a crisp after saving the others).

-McCord (Steve Buscemi) from The Island… (He’s shot down after saving the others).

Oh, and one last random note: Snape kills Dumbledore in the next HP movie. I warned you!