DarkJedi's Blog

Development Hell Cleanup #2

Wtf Moment: Bee Movie vs American Gangster

I'll put it here because I've been pondering these thoughts for the last few days..The very same thoughts that we all get when a studio does something which baffles the hell out of me.

I'll go into more detail on Sunday's box office but I can sum up my thoughts with this...

"What the hell are they thinking???"

That's what comes to mind when trying to rationalize Universal and Imagine Entertainment's release of American Gangster this weekend.

What the hell are they thinking??

I've been having Grindhouse flashbacks all week long on this one. The Weinstein Company released a 3 hr & 20 minute Grindhouse film against three family movies which ran around 1 hr & 30 minutes. These three family movies had more screens distributed as well and were rated PG or PG-13. Did the Weinstein Company think they had a shot at that kind of competition on Easter Weekend, a family effing holiday??

Enter the same thoughts this week..

Universal and Imagine Entertainment are releasing a film made by three Oscar-categorized stars...Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington and director Ridley Scott.

They're releasing this 2 hr & 37 minute Rated-R film against a 1 Hr & 40 minute Rated-PG family film called Bee Movie?

Why?

Do the math, Universal and Imagine Entertainment. Please do the math...

Bee Movie---1 hr & 40 min--Rated PG---3,928 Screens

American Gangster--2 hr & 37 min---Rated R---3,054 Screens

Who the bloody hell makes these types of release decisions?

Watch Night of The Living Dead

Right here if you want to...I'll put up the disclaimer from Freeclassics in notifying you that we are not ripping off George A. Romero by putting this movie up..Here's the disclaimer:

I just want everyone to know... It is public domain. The reason it's public domain is because the Walter Reade Organization failed to put a copyright notice on the original prints. Back in 1968, the United States Copyright Law required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright, but Walter Reade failed to do so, so then the movie fell into public domain and George Romero states that Walter Reade ripped him off. And now over 20 DVD companies release Night of the Living Dead and make money off of Romero's film, while Romero makes none. By posting this movie online, people can watch the movie with out having to give money to these DVD companies that don't deserve it.

Enjoy and Have a Great Halloween!

Great Horror Moments in Hollywood

Since I'm having fun uploading these kick ass horror moments in our Video section (add your own if you have some cool ones), why not make a blog so we can discuss them. These are the moments of Horror classics that I truly can't get enough of...Every once in a while, a horror film will come along that gives us great moment-after-great moment. Obviously, in recent years, this is very hard to come by...

I can put up literally 5 kick ass scenes from American Werewolf in London but only find ...say one clip from the original Hostel film. I'll admit it's nostalgia playing a factor in old school horror having better scenes for me. It's also my lack of respect for the latest fads inside the horror genre from Hollywood.

I like more subtle moments. I'll take 10 The Things and 25 Halloweens from John Carpenter over ONE Rob Zombie Halloween or Eli Roth Hostel moment. Again, that's my perogative...If you disagree, chime in below!

But enough about that...Time to put up some cool clips.

1. An American Werewolf in London--The Transformation

http://www.youtube.com/v/AKgjUop81Tg&rel=1

This shows FX make-up artist Rick Baker at his best at a time before CGI came into effect inside Hollywood. If Rick Baker does ANYTHING as good as this for The Wolfman (2009), I'm reserving my seat for that film right now!

2. John Carpenter's The Thing--Norris Transformation

http://www.youtube.com/v/Mk_TEbr7IGU&rel=1

How can anyone do wrong by referencing this wonderful film by Carpenter. It didn't do well at the box office being released in the same summer of the cute and cuddly E.T but nearly 3 decades later, it has become a definite fan favorite for many horror fans.

3. Nightmare on Elm Street-Freddy Kills Glen (Johnny Depp)

http://www.youtube.com/v/s4JwoAg0jnA&rel=1

Long before there any Edward Scissorhands or Jack Sparrow gracing the big screen, Johnny Depp accepted this first feature film role not knowing how popular a movie it would come to be inside the horror genre. Not knowing that this film alone would rescue a studio like New Line being dubbed "The studio that Freddy built".

In a time when other slashers were finally taking heat due to the oversaturation of the slasher genre and the controversy of Silent Night, Dead Night, this film from Wes Craven still stood on top.

4. Ghostbusters---"Cats and Dogs...living together!"

http://www.youtube.com/v/w91-GMc3j7I&rel=1

I know, I know...This is more of a comedy than a horror film, Jarrod. Still, the moments in this film are truly classic. From the opening libary scene to Murray getting "slimed" to Gozer turning his girlfriend (Weaver) into a dog...Some truly classic scenes in this film. As such, it deserves a clip or two. :)

5. Friday the 13th Part 1--The Ending with the boat.

http://www.youtube.com/v/01_qzROR6YQ&rel=1

Knock the series all you want but that kid jumping out of the boat at the end of the first film really scared the shit out of me when I was young. The original, starring Kevin Bacon, was pretty damn good and deserves a mention on the list...Even if the last 5 Jason films didn't hold up very well.

I'll return with more horror films later today..Be sure to share your own favorites too..Let's talk some good ole' fashion horror..After all, it's Halloween. :)

Hey ALIEN, here's some Site Help

Hey hey Mr. Alien. Nice to see a new face and welcome to our community.

You asked for some tips but nobody can contact you or post comments in your blog so I'll do it here. First, go to your My Profile in the top right of the page. Click on it. You're now looking at your many new features for the site. If I were ya, I'd first click on your Profile tab on your homepage. Go to the "Options" right near your profile picture icon. Click on it. Click the box for "Allow comments on Blog"...That way, people can respond to you. :)

Now, I understand why you put that link in your first blog..Well, the last few blogs have been used for news links. In actuality, this practice is wrong. I have blogged before that I would prefer people to use either the Scoops email (found in the top right hand side) or my personal email:

jarrodhsarafin @ yahoo com

Be sure to title the email "Scoop" or something related to the subject at hand and be sure to leave a name or a "codename" if you prefer so I'll credit you with the scoop if it's good enough to publish.

Nope, our Blogging should be used for Blogs..Life experiences in the world of genre, our various and crazy thoughts, etc. We need to get out of the habit of just linking to a news stories. There's emails for that.

But you did nothing wrong, Alien. You were only doing what you saw others do and you're not familiar with our many site features..Here's something I wrote on one of my first blogs here last year. In fact, if you click on my name or anyone else's name, you can see their entire history of Blogs, Videos, Images, Cheats, etc...Just click on the name and peruse all their uploads. You can read every one of my blogs since the beginning..

But here's the one spotlighting the many site features.

Previous Blog Entry:

Upon the top of that screen you will see the following link options:

-News

-Movies

-TV

-DVD

-COMICS

-Games

-Books

-Toys

-Music

These are accesses to many of Mania's new and older columnists that have come aboard...Quite a few have been providing reviews and news for these sections for a few months now and some are relatively fresh so welcome them aboard when you get a chance. Our many columnists of Mania's sections look forward to hearing from you all..

Below the individual official media sections, you will see the banner and below that, you will see where the new interactive additions come into play, titled "Maniac Stuff"

You will have fun with these new features, Maniac users.

These new features are solely for the users here to play with as a method of releasing their particular messages, building a community of users in a more interactive file sharing manner then before..

There are 8 tabs for Maniac Stuff. (These are the Green Links you see above this Blog).

New Interactive Features: Maniac Stuff

-Forums

The link to our crazy Maniac forums here. They look forward to hearing from you.

-Blogs

If you have Xanga, Myspace, or....Blogs :) , you are quite familiar with this feature. It gives you a chance to catalog your thoughts in a manner similiar to posting on messageboards. Feel free to see my first few blogs about the wonderous experience of The Thing and how I was in Walmart once when some kid didn't even know who Jimi Hendrix was..Basically, blogging is cutting loose with your fellow community members.

-Fiction

If you have a love for writing entertainment scripts, fan fiction stories, fiction stories, poetry, etc...This will be the feature for you to share it to a much larger medium of people. Alot of people will see your imagination here, including people in the industry so have fun spreading your written artistic skills.


-Videos

This tab is for uploading your favorite entertaining videos for everyone to see. From favorite YouTube comedic clips to favorite movie trailers, the choice is in your hands. Go into your "My Profile", click on the Videos tab and select "Add Entry".

-Cheats

Another tab of sharing your knowledge, this time in the manner of video games. If you know any great cheats or hidden eggs on a particular game or console, here's your chance to share it with your fellow Maniacs. Go to your "My Profile", click on the "Cheats" tab and click on "Add Entry".

-Images

Much like the Video sharing option, this is for great Image files on your computer or around the web that you feel like sharing. Just upload whatever gif, jpg, etc you have in mind and it will be there for all to look upon.  Go to your "My Profile", click on the "Images" tab and click on "Add Entry".

Movie Posters and Screenshots are very cool to upload when you get a chance. Check out my collection and feel free to put yours up too.

-Reviews

This is a new function which corresponds with the official media sections of the new site. Under the official sections at the top....News, Movies, TV, DVD, Comics, Games, Books, Toys, Music.....If you click on a certain review by one of the many columnists, you will have two options. One is to make a regular comment for the article/reviewer in question and the other option is to make your own review of the movie, dvd, game, comic or show in question. By clicking on the review link at the bottom of the article in question, you will have a couple of options to make your review look more presentable. First is to give your review a title, a grade level(A+,A-,B+, etc), a sub-summary and then you can upload a picture which corresponds with the review(of the main star, the cast, a clip, etc). Type in your review and send. By clicking on the "Reviews" tab, you will see a compilation of all the Maniac's reviews in the database.


-Development Hell

Much like our older site, this is an archived system where the user may find a list of movies or games being developed in Hollywood/Gaming Industry. Each movie or game listing has the articles corresponding with their subjects in terms of news dating back to whatever years the production began.

Here's the interesting new feature though that goes along with YOU, the user. Now, you may add your own development heck updates to any number of our Development Hell archive files by going to the Dev Heck article in question and clicking on it. Once there, if there is a update or tidbit of news that should be added from a article across the web that you remember, you can now upload it to that Development Heck piece. Click on the "Add update" link at the bottom of the Dev Heck article and from there you will get transported to a submission form. Be sure to provide the link to the site's article, a title for the update(Iron Man, Spiderman, Eragon, etc etc), and the text of the update itself. It will show up on our main page and all of our profiles under the "Mania Stuff: Development Heck tab, plus be added to the Development Heck article in question.

Done reading? Think you have it figured out? Still have questions? Feel free to ask me any old time.