Freddy's Back

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of horror films especially the slasher classics of the  1980s. But in the last few years, these movies have been getting a Hollywood makeover to appeal to the audience of today and the most recent revamp is Nightmare on Elm Street (my favorite BTW!). So opening night my sister, friend and I decided to give it a try. Let me start by venting that there was some idiot couple that decided to nix the babysitter idea and bring their 7 month old to the movies that night and instead of going to How to Train Your Dragon where there would be a large group of squealing and crying children decided to bring their baby with them to an R rated slasher movie with violence and sex as well as interrupt everyone else's $12.50 movie experience...REALLY!?! Okay...back to the movie.

Let's start with the positive:

• First, let me say that if I were rating the movie without comparing it to the original then I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. The movie on its own was very good and filled with all of the elements necessary to make for a thrilling and scary experience.
• The new Freddy Krueger is perfect for the part. The role has been filled by actor Jackie Earle Haley who is best known for his roles as Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears as a kid. Haley had a bit of a career slump for a while in the 80s and 90s but re-emerged strong in recent years with roles in Watchmen (he played Rorschach) and Little Children as the creepy child molester Ronnie J. McGorver. I knew in my gut that Haley would get the part of Freddy once the remake was announced because physically and from prior film credits he was the perfect choice. He has definitely reinvented the role of Krueger to mold into his particular style without losing the soul of the character. (FUN FACT: Jackie Earle Haley went with a friend to audition for the original Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 but didn't get the part while his friend who accompanied him ended up starring in the film and going on to be a huge Hollywood star...his friend was Johnny Depp)
• They didn't try to re-write the original masterpiece. Although there are some changes to the story line and the characters but the sequence of events that took place in the original stays the same. This film does provide more flashbacks which makes me question if there will be a sequel to the film even though the ending did leave the option open but I am glad that today's audience is seeing what I saw twenty years ago.

Now to the negative:

• If I were to compare this effort to the original, I would give the movie 2 out of 5 stars just because the original was SO good. Wes Craven became the slasher movie master with the original Nightmare on Elm Street whose movie stunts and visual effects were not seen or done prior. In the original, Glen's death scene (Johnny's character) gets sucked into his bed followed by a volcanic eruption of blood saturating the room and when Freddy throws Tina around her bedroom before slashing her to shreds right in front of her boyfriend, Rod....CLASSIC. Craven didn't need all of the computer tricks that the film industry relies on today to trip out the audience. This was a time when sound effects were produced with watermelons and soda cans not green screens and PCs. A time when after watching it you said to yourself "how did they do that?!"
• The new Freddy Krueger is good but he sure is different. His appearance is definitely not the since he favors Jackie Earle Haley in looks than the original Freddy Krueger who was masterfully portrayed by Robert Englund. The new Freddy is more menacing and very quick to kill his victims; but the original Freddy was more of a jokester and would toy with his prey much longer before finally ending their lives in his gruesome style. The new Freddy is more bent on revenge with the kids whereas the original Freddy was more interested in screwing with the kids minds so bad that the parents who murdered him were equally if not more tortured by what they had done and what their kids could not escape because of their actions. The original Freddy not only made the movie scary but in a way kind of fun which made him a cult classic. The new Freddy just scares the shit outta ya!
• They didn't completely re-write the script but they did change aspects that made the original much more intersting. In the original film, Freddy was a child murderer who was killed by the parents of the town in a raging fire. The kids who Freddy eventually comes back to haunt are tied together by their parents who murdered him, not by a former pre-school class. Also, the original Freddy's evil went even deeper than the new one. His mother turns out to be a nun who was raped by the patients at an insane asylum making Freddy the son of 1000 maniacs. The original Freddy made a deal with the devil in order to come back and kill. The new Freddy is a child molester who is more hell bent on punishing the kids who turned him into their parents which resulted in him being burned alive by the angry mob. Now I am not saying that being a child molester compared to a child killer makes him less dangerous but in the real world wouldn't the parents just demand justice from the proper authorities instead of forming a lynch mob to scorch the guy.
• Also the key in the original movie was Nancy. It was Nancy's parents who led the mob to kill Freddy in the original film which is why she became the source for Freddy to get to her friends. Her drunken mother and police officer dad were key characters in the story whereas in the new version Nancy's dad is nowhere to be found and her mother is way too calm about the entire situation. Besides the fact, that the original Nancy (played by Heather Langenkamp) was much fiestier and more of a fighter. She stood out from the rest of the teenagers so that you knew there was a specific reason that the story was focused on her character unlike this Nancy who just blends in with the rest of the group until the end of the movie. Langenkamp's Nancy goes on to fight Freddy in two other films, the new Nancy could just disappear for all I care.

It may seem that I have more gripes with the film than good comments but the truth of the matter is that I am always up for a good scare and this movie in the end definitely provided it. I recommend that everyone who loved the original movie goes out to see the remake and let me know what you think. But my heart belongs to Wes Craven's version.

Betty White ROCKS SNL!!!!

 When the Facebook campaign "Betty White to host SNL (please)" began in January 2010, I was quick to sign up. I have always loved Betty White!!! I can remember watching The Golden Girls in college with all of my friends including the jocks (it was the top watched show on campus confirmed by a campus poll my junior year) and thanks to TV Land I was able to catch episodes of Mary Tyler Moore as well. White was able to master the ditzy character who became the most lovable character on both shows. And as of late her return to television via Superbowl commercials, sitcom guest appearances and late night interviews has made her the Hollywood "IT" girl once again. And I am glad that the moment is finally being spent on a person with some real talent, career experience and professionalism. So on March 11, 2010 when it was announced that the Facebook campaign was a success and Betty would be hosting the Mother's Day SNL show I was elated and after watching the show last night and again this morning before writing this blog, I was far from disappointed.

White's appearance will go down in history for many reasons. In my opinion, it has been one of the best SNL shows to air in a very long time. At 88,White is the oldest host SNL has ever had and her appearance brought the highest ratings for SNL in a year and with musical guest, Jay Z, along for the ride SNL audiences young and old were treated to great comedy and music on the evening of May 8th. Not only did we get Betty White, but the greats of the female cast members returned as well including Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon and Rachel Dratch to round out the show but the great thing was that the skits were chosen specifically to make Betty shine and not be overshadowed by the SNL titans that were joining her.

White's opening monologue was hilarious as she mocked the very thing that got her on the show...Facebook. White admits that she hadn't even heard of the internet social network until this campaign came about and she sincerely thanked all who voted to have her on the show. But her comedic turn on comparing how youngsters in her day communicated as compared to our internet saturated society of today was extremely funny in that it was painstakingly true...loved the poking under the blanket on a hay ride bit.

The writers and cast were superb in picking skits that made Betty the star even with the old pros returning to include her in their most popular bits. MacGruber was absolutely amazing with Betty playing his grandmother. I couldn't stop laughing at The Manuel Ortiz Show which is one of my favorite skits anyway because the guests come in with that crazy latin dance and when Betty couldn't stop I thought I would just die. I LOVED the return of Delicious Dish with Gasteyer and Shannon who were amazing and though Alec Baldwin's "Schwetty Balls" bit will go down as the best Delicious Dish skit ever, I can safely say that Betty's "Muffin" bit is the definite runner up. The master of the digital short, Mr. Andy Samberg, created the heavy metal version of the Golden Girls theme song with Betty rocking out. Her appearance as Keenan Thompson's granny in the Scared Straight skit was classic as well (the wig alone was funny)...The Wizard of Ass!!! Also there are some dress rehearsal skits that didn't make the show that definitely should be checked out (http://www.hulu.com/), it was great to see that there was so much material to choose from the show was going to be good no matter what.

Other show highlights included the return of "REALLY!?!" with Seth and Amy which also included Tina Fey this time around as well. Jay Z dedicated his song Young Forever to Betty White which was perfect as Betty White has shown us all not to take life so damn serious. And finally in her closing remarks, Betty thanked the cast for being kind to "a very scared, but happy host". Well, I am here to say that she had no reason to be afraid because on Saturday, May 8, 2010 Betty White went down in history as one of Saturday Night Live's greatest hosts!!! BETTY IS MY HOMEGIRL!!! :-)

Tyler Perry Inc.

A few weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to see Tyler Perry's new flick Why Did I Get Married Too? and have to admit that I did have a specific level of excitement at seeing the movie as I was such a fan of its predecessor. Well....that all ended about twenty minutes into the film...

There were so many things wrong with the movie (at least for me) that I am not sure where to begin and if you have not seen the movie yet please do not continue reading this post as I am going to go into detail. Okay...so where do I begin...

First, let me say that I like Tyler Perry very much. I like him because I think the man is a genius for tapping into a money making machine that went untouched and unrecognized until he came along and claimed it as his own baby and made it his dynasty. I like him because the man is genuinely very funny as his main character, Medea, and his plays and films offer along with comedy (1) an opportunity for black actors to develop their talent and pursue their passion (2) a strong promotion of spiritual and personal growth and (3) really good and important life lessons. I like him because he has also opened the door to more blacks being involved in the film and television industry where they have not had the opportunity to do so prior to his success. I like him.

I think, however, that he is beginning to bite off more than he can chew when it comes to his films which is causing his work to lose its detail and this last film effort proved that. The film was all over the place from the plot to the characters to the editing. It never really came together and made sense which was sad because the first film at least went into a specific direction with all of the characters and yes there was drama (which us black folks love) but it didn't cloud the story instead it added to the entertainment. With this movie there was so much going on that at times it was overwhelming and in the end completely too far fetched. I left the movie very disappointed and a little insulted as I kind of felt like Perry didn't think his audience was smart enough to remember what even happened in the first film. This whole journey started out with four married couples who dealt with general marital and family issues that arise and some were more unfortunate than others but in the second act to there was so much going on at once the movie should have been titled When Will The Divorce Be Final?

The characters were not the only thing that was off because time between this vacation and the last vacation they took together was muddled from the beginning of the film. Terry and Diane apparently had another child but the little boy looked to be about five or six which didn't make sense in regards the time of the last vacation they took in the mountains and the rest of the dialogue which would have made the boy three years of age at the most (Tyler, you need to talk to your casting department). The entire Sheila, Troy and Mike love triangle was a joke...who just settles for their abusive ex-husband to hang around during their vacation that they spent their last dime paying for to spend with their friends...WHO?!! And who told the man that they were going to be down there anyway...that is the person who should be slapped. I never really understood what the hell was going on with Patricia and Gavin. Why they were getting divorced was never really set in stone and it felt like all of a sudden they were at war with each other. Our of nowhere he's this raging alcoholic who is burning the last pictures of his deceased son and chugging vodka from an Absolut bottle (REALLY??!!). And she has lost all control, swinging golf clubs and sitting in the house not taking showers until finally getting herself together enough to go to the man's job and completely make the situation worse. And Marcus should have left Angela after the last vacation because the woman is completely nuts and became psychotic in this movie.

But the old characters were only the beginning of the problem. I was delighted when Louis Gossett Jr and Cicely Tyson came on screen until they started talking. Gossett Jr lost his island accent about two sentences into his dialogue and everthing was wrong with Cicely from her hair (she looked like a voodoo witch), her speech (I couldn't understand a word she said) and she looked lost throughout her scene. Also, when do we as black people just invite stangers to our homes for dinner after first meeting them on an island we are visiting for a vacation (REALLY??!!!).

There were so many issues that plagued the film from scenes being way too long (the opening scene with the men on the beach took about 20 minutes) to bad editing (throughout the film it felt more like a play being passed off as a major motion picture due to the choppy editing) to story details being missed. I walked out vowing that Tyler Perry's movies would be a strictly DVD rental for me from now on. It is a bit unfortunate because to me he had seemed to be getting the hang of drama. I thought that his last few have been pretty decent. I really liked The Family That Preys. The story was well thought out and wasn't to over dramatized, the characters were pretty relatable and a bit easier to identify with. I was glad that none of the black characters were your usual drug addicts, prostitutes and struggling single mothers that we always see in films (most of which are Tyler Perry's) but instead these were two families of successful people who were intertwined in a bit of mess and none of the mess was far fetched but could and has actually happened to people. Unlike most of Perry's characters which I find a bit stereotypical, I was able to at least identify with the female characters on some level.
I think it is time for Perry to start utilizing his resources more. He does way too much on his own which may be clouding his judgement in what is best for and will work for his films especially the dramas which audiences have a tendency to pay attention to more. With comedy, the audience can be easily distracted by the laughs which can cause the minor details to be missed but with drama the audience should be completely engaged because with a good drama there is an emotional investment in what happens to the characters. So maybe it is time for Perry to take a step back and let some one else take the reins in some aspects of putting the film together. When you are the writer, director, producer and star of the film of course you can experience tunnel vision but another creative voice being involved can help with the tiny details that could have been missed. It kind of reminds me of when Spike Lee re-emerged from his creative slump in a point in his career when audiences started to tire of the moving side walk bit and Lee making appearances in all of his films. But with the help of Martin Scorsese (and others) along came Clockers, which joined the likes of Do The Right Thing and School Daze as one of Lee's best films.

I want to make it clear that I am not giving up on Perry, I really do like him...I really do. But I will be thinking twice for a while before I spend the cash on a movie ticket to see his work (movies cost $12.50 a pop in NYC). But I am very excited that Medea is making a return.