I haven't seen this one in years, in fact I don't remember if I've ever seen the whole thing, although I'm sure I have, I just can't remember it. But Jeri really wanted to start a tradition of watching it every year as Halloween approaches, especially as Owen grows up.

I guess most everyone knows about this one as it is a classic, bu just in case: The Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween, with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin; while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party.

It's one I'm looking forward to seeing again, almost for the first time as I remember nothing about it. And if you can't get enough of people waiting on Pumpkins I've got two bonus shows for you to watch this year, one's I know I'll be watching.




First up: The Simpsons Tree House of Horror XIX and the segment "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse": A parody of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, in which the Grand Pumpkin comes to life and becomes upset with human beings carving up pumpkins, so it tries to eat everyone. Of course as is a Simpsons Tradition you'll have to wait until after Halloween to actually watch it. It airs on Nov 2.




Second: One of my favorite Halloween episodes around, from the first Season of How I Met Your Mother "The Slutty Pumpkin." Ted spends his Halloween waiting for the "slutty pumpkin" (which has strategically placed holes) that he met at the Halloween party on his roof in 2001. Ted knows that the girl has studied penguins and can make an alcoholic Tootsie Roll (by combining Kahlúa and Root beer) however, he lost her phone number when Lily gave out a Kit Kat with the girl's phone number on it. Thus, he waits around at the same party every year, dressed as a hanging chad (his "hilarious" costume from 2001), waiting for the "slutty pumpkin" to come.

And there you go folks: 3 prime Halloween treats all featuring characters waiting on a pumpkin. Enjoy!

Labels: Halloween, How I Met Your Mother, Things I'm Watching This Halloween

Holy Crap! That's about all I could say when I finished The Strangers last night. But I'll get there eventually.

First off I have to say I was already scared as I sat down to watch the movie. I'd been waiting quite a while to see this one and I'd worked it up in my head as just about the scariest thing ever. Well it may not have been the scariest thing ever it did have me on the edge of my seat, yelling at the screen, and jumping at ever noise in the house. (All houses make noise but why, oh why did mine have to pop right by the front door just as someone banged on the front door in the movie?!?!)

And I have to admit it apparently shook me up more than I'd realized as I slept horribly last night, tossing and turning and constantly looking up to see if there were any masked faces in my bedroom. Clearly the movie had the desired effect: it scared me, a lot.

The movie begins with an ominous warning that it is inspired by actually events (something I'll get to later) and begins by showing us the aftermath of the evening, a bloody knife, blood on a wall, cars with large holes in the window, and lets us know that the exact nature of what went on is still unknown. Then we cut back to the previous evening.

James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler giving an award winning performance*) are returning to his families summer home from a wedding and a disastrous proposal attempt. As the couple tries to figure out how to act around each other following their fight we get a sense of the house and the open area around it. Writer/Director Bryan Bertino gives us plenty of time to get to know James and Kristen as we ratchets up the suspense and it works wonderfully making you care for the characters, unlike most horror movies. Once the couple answer a knock at the door the movie becomes a study in suspense and terror that does not relent.

Normally I'd go into lots of details about the movie, but to be honest its one that needs to be entered into without much information. Most of what you need to know can be found elsewhere on this blog or in the trailers but I'll do a quick recap. Before long James and Kristen are terrorized by three strangers, a man and two women, wearing masks that are honestly creepy as hell. The girls wear porcelain masks that look like dolls, while the man, clearly the leader wears only a burlap sack with eye holes in it.

I will say that the most terrifying moment in the film can be glimpsed in the trailer it's the moment, seen above in the poster, when the man enters the house while Kristen is there alone. For what seems like forever, but was probably less than 2 or 3 minutes we see him simply standing in the back staring at Kristen with her not having a clue that he's there, or that anything is wrong. It is a truly unnerving scene and left me curled up on the couch.

Included on the DVD is a short making of and I liked what one of the crew said. He described the movie not as a horror film but as a terror film. It's job is not to scare you with clever jump scenes, but instead to terrify you throughout the entire film. In this sense I felt it succeeded.

Now I would be remiss if I did not mention the fantastic score and sound editing for this film. These guys should win an Academy Award, not be nominated but win. Without the score and all of the sound this movie would not be a tenth as scary as it is. But the movie makes great use of the sound to play with your feelings, scare you, and keep you on edge. The numerous sound people did not miss a single beat in this film and the movie is seriously rewarded because of it. If you do not leave the movie haunted by the sound then something is seriously wrong with you.

Now about this "Inspired by True Events" warning: Some feel it's placed there to scare people more, and maybe it is. But, Bertino wrote the movie because of an incident in his life. Now nothing like what happened in the movie actually happened, but Bertino says that one night when he was younger he was home alone and someone knocked on the door asking for a person who didn't live there. The next morning he found out his neighbors house had been broken into. From there it seems he spun off this terrifying tale. And that's the extent of the "True Events"

I'd recommend this one to anyone who likes to be scared, but you might not want to watch it alone.

*She won the Spike Scream Award for best Actress in a Horror Movie

Labels: Halloween, The Strangers, Things I'm Watching This Halloween

Well friends with The Incredible Hulk out on DVD the folks at Universal are giving us some more goodies.

First off you can Hulkify yourself! so why not try hulkifying yourself and watch yourself transform from human being to The Hulk!

Hulkify! Morph Yourself Into the Hulk!


Also, for those who are in need of an awesome entertainment system to watch The Incredible Hulk now you can enter for a chance to win a home entertainment system of your very own! (I know I'll be signing up for this one!) The system includes a high-def TV, Blu-ray player, and movie collection, plus an exclusive The Incredible Hulk script signed by director Louis Leterrier and Hulk creator Stan Lee. (A must for the ultimate fan!)
Sign-Up Here!!

Enjoy!

Labels: Giveaway, The Incredible Hulk

Yesterday I started a new column for the next couple of weeks "Things I'm Watching This Halloween," and this is item #2. Today's entry is a movie I have never seen but which has been on my radar since last summer when I saw a panel for it at Comic Con. The director and stars were there and showed a couple of uber-scary clips and I was hooked. Then I kind of forgot about it until I saw the preview for it back in April. You can see my review of that trailer here. So without further adieu today's entry is:


The Strangers is "inspired by True Events" which means it's basically made up, but that makes it scarier. From what I know it's about a couple of are staying at a friends house following a wedding and get terrorized by three strangers. The scariest part is that the strangers seem to have no motivation or reason except that they can. And so the couple must fight for their lives or die trying.

And that's about all I know. As I said I've been looking forward to this for awhile and when it finally came out I did have the chance to see it one night. But I'll admit I was too scared. I had just moved into my new house, and my wife and son were gone for the weekend. So as much as I wanted to see it I was too scared to come home to an empty house I didn't really know and freak myself out.

But now I'm ready, I got it in the mail today from Netflix and I'm hoping to sit down and watch it tonight. I know it looks scary as hell and that I can't wait to see it. I'll get back to you on whether or not it's actual as scary as I've made it up to be in my head.

Labels: Halloween, The Strangers, Things I'm Watching This Halloween

Here's a special gift for all you readers out there. Make sure your speakers are turned up for all the Random Goodness that is the Llama Song!!!

Labels: Llamas, Random

Every year the month of October means it's Halloween time in the Tidmore household. We love Halloween, we decorate, we watch supernatural movies of varying degrees of Scare-itude. (I like a bit more frightening than the wife. So this month I thought I'd bring you a new feature: "What I'm Watching This Halloween"
First up a modern classic that both Jeri and I have loved for years. It's a movie that I loved as a kid and that I still love today. So it's become a tradition to watch Hocus Pocus every year before Halloween.

Hocus Pocus is the story of three witches, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, who were burned at the stake in Salem, Mass. Now it's modern day (early 90s) and they get set free one Halloween night by the new kid, Max ("Eerie, Indiana's" Omri Katz) and his sister, Dani (Thora Birch) who have just moved from LA. Along with Max's crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) and a cat who can talk (voiced by Jason Marsden) they must spend Halloween trying to stop the Witches from gaining full power and coming back to life for good.

Now I'll be the first to admit it's a cheesey movie, but it's fun and it's got a great mix of supernatural and laughs for kids. So it's one I'm sure Jeri and I will be sharing with our kids when they are old enough to watch. I remember watching as a kid and wanting to be Max and have this fun adventure (that could totally happen in my 12 year old mind) plus I remember thinking that Allison was hot and so any adventure with her would be fun.

Now it's a little slice of nostalgia with the perfect amoung of cheese on the side. Plue it's always fun to go back and see how little Thora Birch was in this movie. Long before she showed her darker side in America Beauty. It also features nice smaller roles and cameos from people like Doug Jones, now known for his make-up covered roles in Pan's Labrynth and the Hellboy films, NCIS' Sean Murray, Larry Bagby, who you'd recognize if you saw him from things ranging from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Walk the Line, and Gary and Penny Marshall.

So if you're looking for a fun Halloween film, especially one to watch with your younger kids, there's not one I can recommend more than Hocus Pocus. So go out grab a copy and enjoy it this Halloween.

Labels: Halloween, Hocus Pocus

There's a bunch of new trailers out there so I've rounded up some intriguing ones for your enjoyment! I've embedded the first couple and then linked to the rest.

Franklyn:
This move looks unbelievably weird! It's a “split narrative set simultaneously in contemporary London and in a future metropolis ruled by religious fervor.” The movie stars Ryan Phillipe and Eva Green.



Sunshine Cleaning:
This movie is a dark comedy starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as sisters who get into the business of crime show cleaning.



Let The Right One In:
Warning! This is a red band trailer and I haven't watched it yet, so beware it might have some material not suitable for work or youngsters, mainly blood and gore I believe. The movie is one I mentioned a few months back in my article about the Six Shooter Film Series and comes from Sweden. It's a story of a lonely boy and his new friend who is not who she seems.



Seven Pounds:
The new Will Smith Drama (you can tell because it's released at Christmas Time instead of in the summer) focuses on Smith's IRS agent whose secret will change the life of seven strangers.
See the Trailer Here.

Bride Wars:
Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are friends turned enemies once they schedule their weddings on the same day.
See it Here.

The Broken:
I can't make this stuff up - "On a busy street in London, Gina thinks she sees herself drive past in her own car. Stunned by this strange event, Gina follows the mystery woman up to her apartment. From here, events take an eerie turn for the worse until Gina’s awareness slides from solid reality into a world that will haunt more than just her nightmares." Your guess is as good as mine.
Check it out Here.

And finally we've got JCVD:
That's Jean Claude Van Damme for you not in the know. JCVD plays a version of himself, down on his luck after a series of Direct to DVD flicks who gets involved with some real life action, thanks to an ill-timed arrival during a bank robbery. The movie has been getting Rave Reviews for months and I'm dying to see it. Oh and it's in French.
See it Here.

Labels: Trailers

NBC's Chuck is one of my favorite shows on TV. It's mixes the funny, intrigue, and action into a wonderful amalgam of a show that I look forward to watching each week. And now we've got some new webisodes to tide us over between episodes!!

I've already seen the first one, "Employee Health" which features Casey showing how to handle shoplifters, it's brilliant! The second one "Leadership" looks funny, but I've yet to watch it.

You can watch them both by clicking the links below and then come back here to tell me what you think.

Labels: Chuck, TV

Labels: DVD releases, The Incredible Hulk

So I just had to link to This if only for the very last picture of the post. It's Wonderful!!!!!

NBC's Crusoe premieres this Friday and NBC wants you to know it. They've got some big promotions going on, including a giant tree house in Manhattan, and I've got some links for you to possibly win big prizes. So keep reading and if you lie in/around Manhattan head on over to the tree house and get me some pics!

Robinson Crusoe is currently living in a tree house erected from the remains of his wrecked ship in the middle of an island -- and that island happens to be Manhattan. Lucky for him, we can all help him survive in this urban jungle by visiting SaveCrusoe.com -- we can keep up with what he's up to through a live cam and vote in polls to influence what he does throughout the day. Crusoe is still tech savvy it seems because we can all communicate with him via Facebook and Twitter.

Each day folks will have an opportunity to win a Microsoft Zune as well as enter a larger sweepstakes for a Sharp Aquos LCD Flat Screen Television, 120 gig Zune and a Microsoft XBOX 360 Elite.

Remember Crusoe makes his 2-hour debut on NBC this Friday 10/17 @ 8/7c -- check out the latest preview and interview videos and tour the tree fort below:

"The Tale of the Legend": http://www.nbc.com/Crusoe/video/clips/the-tale-of-a-legend/751522/

Behind the Scenes Interview: http://www.nbc.com/Crusoe/video/clips/crusoe-behind-the-scenes/748544/

Tree Fort tour: http://www.nbc.com/Crusoe/video/clips/crusoe-tree-fort-tour/748542/

Save Crusoe Contest and Live Webcam: http://www.nbc.com/Crusoe/savecrusoe/

Labels: TV

So here's a couple of fun things I found purusing the Interwebs this morning:

You may recall seeing around the Nets that Captain America's shield had been an Easter Egg in Iron Man. If you don't remember look right below for some pics:

Cut to the present and with the upcoming release of The Incredible Hulk on DVD we've got an Easter Egg which was cut from the movie, where you can see Captain America on Ice!

First a Little Background info: Back before the movie was released Slashfilm had an interview with the movies director Louis Leterrier who claimed that even though we had seen Cap's Shield in Iron Man we'd be seeing the man himself in Hulk. But the movie came and went without anyone seeing Cap. Well it now appears it was in a scene that was cut from the movie as the studio (and supposedly everyone involved, although I bet Edward Norton might disagree) had decided the scene was too dark for kids.

Well Slashfilm now has a couple of pics which I have posted below that come from the above mentioned deleted scene from the film. Here's the screen capture. Be patient as it took me a few seconds of staring before I saw anything, kind of like those old Magic Eye posters:

Now I realize you're probably going "Huh? I don't see nothing." So here's a slightly better image with the area you should be looking at zoomed in for you:

And now just for good measure is the image with an outline to show you where everything is:

Now I understand it's not much, but it does mean that Marvel is working on getting things right with their film franchises. The movie interlock, see Robert Downey Jr's appearance as Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk and the mention of The Avengers Initiative in both Iron Man and Hulk and connecting Cap to both of them. (Although this scene was cut the Hulk movie's plot had a lot to do with the Super Serum which originally turned Steve Rogers into Captain America.) And we at least know that Captain America's origin will stay in tact with him being frozen in ice to get him from WWII to the Present. All in all for a film and comic geek it's pretty exciting.

And now for something completely different. Here's a match up of Toy Story 2 and The Dark Knight. I'm at work (I was told to surf the net as my project is not ready so don't worry) so I haven't watched it yet, but Cinematical says it's great. So enjoy:

Labels: Captain America, Comics, Iron Man, News, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Trailers

I'll admit I'm a pretty big fan of Jason Statham. If I hear he's involved with something it will usually peak my interest and I'm more interested in seeing it. In fact I've almost watched 'In the Name of the King' several times, but my disgust of anything involving Uwe Boll has overcome each time.

So of course when I heard there was going to be a Transporter 3 I was excited. I loved the Transporter, it was a great mix of great martial arts-y action and sweet stunt driving with just a dash of humor thrown in and a hint of romance. I even liked the sequel even though it had some problems. Although it still had some great action and stunt driving, I think they lost me with the horrible plane crash cgi which looked like something I could have made with some legos and a video camera from the late 80s. But it was still a fun ride, even if the action was a bit more over the top.

And from the looks of this trailer for the new 3rd movie it looks like it's going even more over the top. Don't get me wrong I'll probably be there opening day, but I don't think it's going to compare with the original. But go ahead and take a look for yourself and let me know what you think of the series as a whole and how this new one looks.

Labels: Jason Statham, Trailers, Transporter

I didn't watch USA's miniseries "The Starter Wife" when it aired last year. I really thought it felt like something my wife would like better than I would as it was based on a chick lit book. She watched a couple of the episodes and then stopped watching as she didn't care that much for it. So it was with a bit of skepticism that I sat down to watch the 2 hour premiere that airs tomorrow night on USA (9pm/8c).

The series starts with a quick recap of the miniseries: Molly Kagan, a shopaholic, is woken up from her life of shopping when her husband, a studio head, asks for a divorce. She begins to rebuild her life and starts to date, but of course her new boy is not all he's cracked up to be. Here's a more thorough recap:



The new series starts with some weird spoof of Elizabeth as Molly tells her friends she has sworn off men and sex (and petting). Molly has decided instead she needs to focus on making her own life and raising her daughter. Of course just because Molly says she's done with men, doesn't mean men will be done with her and Zach, the leader of her new writing class, may just be able to break her. Molly joins the class in hopes of reinvigorating her writing career, but it's not her books that impress the class, instead it's her journal, where she writes down her fantasies, the gossip she hears, and so much more.

While attending a party at Zach's Molly takes her journal tries to get a deal writing a weekly column, but what the publisher really wants is the scandalous gossip that's inside Molly's journal. And when the journal goes missing Molly's world turns upside down. It's this sub-plot that really had me enjoying the show and wondering where it will go next.

Now I'll admit I really wasn't looking forward to watching this show, but I wanted to give it a try because I really like Debra Messing. And while the first hour didn't really have me aching to keep watching, the second hour did draw me in. I'm interested to know what will happen between Molly and Zach and most of all to see what happens with that Journal.

But the show is definitely not perfect. As I said the first hour is slow and somewhat strange as it takes a little while to get used to the movie spoofs that seem to come out of the blue (although I loved the Frankenstien and Raiders spoofs) and the pacing seemed a bit off. But I guess that happens when you're trying to take something that had an ending and extend it into it's own show. Also the sub-plots with Molly's friends Joan (Judy Davis) and Devon (Chris Diamantopoulos) didn't really capture my attention. Devon's story was to obvious and although I enjoyed Joan and her first "assignment" the aftermath with her husband lost my interest.

All in all I'll give the who another chance and see where it goes. It's clear USA is trying to capture another audience outside of those who watch it's Detective shows (Monk, Psych, and Burn Notice) and I probably fall outside of their target audience. So if you're a woman between the ages of 35 and 55 you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did.

You can see a clip from the premiere below:



Remember to tune in tomorrow night, USA at 9/8 c (and then 10/9 c in the subsequent weeks).

Labels: Starter Wife, TV Reviews

So in honor of USA's new series The Starter Wife I'm giving away (with the help of USA and Electric Artists Publicity of course) a big old heaping of girlie prizes!!!!!

So check out the Press Release below and then keep going down to see the Giveaway details!

THE STARTER WIFE will premiere as a two-hour episode on Friday, October 10 at 9/8c on USA Network.
The Emmy Award-winning hit original, THE STARTER WIFE, starring Debra Messing returns this Fall focusing on the post-divorce adventures of Molly Kagan (Messing) as she begins a new chapter in her life. On the heels of its stellar ratings and awards success, USA has brought back the hit miniseries of 2007 as a series with ten exciting episodes, with Emmy Award-winner Messing returning to star and now serving as executive producer. Reprising their roles are three-time Emmy Award-winner Judy Davis ("Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadow") as Joan McAllister and Chris Diamantopoulos ("Behind the Camera: Mork & Mindy") as Rodney Evans - Molly's two best friends. Also returning this season as a special guest star is Joe Mantegna ("Criminal Minds") as Lou Manahan, former studio head and former boyfriend of Molly. This season, the series is being filmed entirely in Los Angeles. Visit the official website and join other fans on the official Starter Wife Fan Page on Facebook.

So what do you have to do to win? Not a whole lot as it turns out. Simply send me an e-mail with your name, address, and how you found this contest. A Winner will be drawn at random and notified on October 31th. Contest ends on October 30th at 11:59pm.

1 Grand Prize Winner Will Recieve The Starter Wife Weekend Gift Bag:

• Custom Sujean Rim Shoe Bags (Set of 2)
• Sujean Rim Signature Starter Wife T-shirt
• Boy Shorts (2 pairs)
• Six (6) Makeup Brushes with Branded Case
• Three (3) Piece Revlon Makeup Set

1 Runner Up Will Receive:

• Sujean Rim Signature Starter Wife T-shirt
• The Starter Wife Novel
• The Starter Wife original series DVD
• The Starter Wife Poster

Labels: caption contest, Giveaway, Starter Wife