Another Friday the 13th, This One Not So Bad

Friday the 13th (2009)
Director- Marcus Nispel
Starring- Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Derek Mears

Years after the original slayings at Camp Crystal Lak,e, five teens explore the area, looking for a rumored marijuana crop growing wild, hoping to cash in. That night, after some gratuitous sexual play, Jason Voorhees (Mears) stalks them. One by one, they fall prey as he mercilessly (and creatively slaughters all but one.

Fast forward six months later. Clay (Padalecki) is searching for his sister, Jenna (Panabaker), who was one of the five from that night. He has a run in with a group of rich kids, led by Trent (Travis Van Winkle in an utterly convincing role), on their way to his parents' vacation home for a raucous weekend party. Trent's girlfriend feels sorry for Clay, and eventually agrees to help him look for his sister.

This might lead to a love interest. but that darn maniacal slasher is on the loose!
Keep in mind, this is a reimagining of the original. What's the difference? A remake is virtually a scene-for-scene reproduction, updated to a current genre. A reimagining takes an existing origin and throws a new story into it as though it was the first. Jason starts off with only a cloth bandage covering his face. We find out he was into hockey as a kid from little tidbits around his room. When he sees the hockey mask for the first time, we think, of course he gravitates toward that, it stirs up a memory from his childhood, and it hides his "ugliness".

I can't help but compare this a little to Rob Zombie's reimagining of Halloween from 2007. Is this movie good? Yes. But is it rob Zombie good? No. Zombie set the bar pretty high for making a strong horror movie that just sticks with you long after seeing it, and Nispel's reimagining of the Voorhees legend doesn't quiiiiite measure up to that. Regardless, it is still an excellent slasher flick. It's not very difficult to predict who gets killed, but it's harder to figure out how they get killed. Jason proves himself more human in this movie by actually running after his prey, as well as going into a silent rage every once ina while rather than acting stoic. He still never talks, so that has a pretty good effect altogether.

The ending is classic Firday the 13th, but still felt like it belonged more than any other ending that could have been dreamed up.

Rating: 4 Bonedaddies.

The "Rock 'n' Roll N****r Experience"

Afro Punk (2003)

Director- James Spooner

African Americans are present in the punk scene, though not in large numbers. The question that is asked, and apparently affirmatively answered, is "Can Afro and Punk go together?"

I have some problems with this documentary. First, I cannot take much more of punks (or every other subculture for that matter) thinking that they're incredibly unique in their philosophy of life and music. "This is a fresh and original sound," "we were playing this music/dressing like this before it was cool"... Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Blues was accepted by rebels when it first appeared. Bluegrass as well. Your music is a cultural trend, just like Rock, Country, Blues, Classical, etc. When you get old, chances are good that you won't like the music of today's youth for one reason or another. And stating you did anything "before it was cool" is essentially nothing more than an attempt at aknowledging that you are "ccol" because you were somehow original. I'm heavily into Rockabilly, but I don't kid myself that it hasn't been done. I just love the sound, whether it's Buddy Holly, Reverend Horton Heat, or the Koffin Kats.

One guy stated in the documentary that he was an anarchist who believed in peace. Peace implies maintained order, which is only attainable through structure. Anarchy politically existing without a government, without state/county/city police departments, without a judicial system. Without a judicial system, there is no mandated form of punishment, giving free reign to violence, whether it be present in a crime, or in the punishment. No peace. Sorry, guy, you're an idiot just trying to sound cool.

My last problem is the percieved racial exclusivity of certain genres of music. Whites stole the blues from blacks. Whites are trying to steal rap and R&B from blacks. Blacks steal rock (or rather rock samples) from whites. A couple musicians implied that Punk music may have had more black origins and was more influenced by black music. True or not, it implies that once again, whites have taken black music. This seems to imply that white people should stick to their European classical music, their pianos and lutes and such. Again, bullshit. On all honesty, Puff Daddy didn't steal the melody from Kashmir any more than Elvis stole blues from Robert Johnson any more than Rockabilly stole country from God-fearing whites any more than Sid Vicious stole fashions from the Furious Five any more than Screamin' Jay Hawkins stole piano from Beethoven. It's music, people. Just get a beat going, play something, and shut the fuck up...unless your the singer, that is.

The documentary did, hoever, bring up the important issue of the role of race/culture in influencing musical interests. Many blacks interviewed aknowledged a certain amount of self-loathing at not being accepted by other blacks for prefering to attach themselves to the punk subculture. It is followed by self-acceptance, fortunately, but bitterness still accompanies. There was also a curiously frequently feeling of jealous covetousness involved when one black punk saw another black punk in the same club.

Rating: 2/5 Bonedaddies.

An Incredible Rumble of a Flick

Rumble Fish (1983)

Director- Francis Ford Coppola

Starring- Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane

Rusty James (Dillon) longs for the early days of gang activity, when his older brother, "Motorcycle Boy" (Rourke) ran things. According to all who knew him (except the police), Motorcycle Boy was something special--a great leader, an artist, a genius, a maverick. Rusty James gets his own gang into a scuffle with a rival gang, and just as Motorcycle Boy makes his grand entrance back into town, the leader of the rival gang stabs Rusty James before being knocked out by an incredible motorcycle stunt.

Motorcycle Boy helps heal his brother's wounds, and insinuates himself back into the town he left. Unfortunately, he isn't the same. He doesn't talk, he often goes on walks and simply gazes around him, and makes frequent visits to the pet store where he watches the fish swim. Rusty James becomes increasingly frustrated trying to understand what is going on with his brother, as well as trying to cope with his own perceived "stupidity".

As the movie progresses, we see that Motorcycle Boy is simply trying to get Rusty James to understand that gang life is no life to live, and to get out of town and just ride.

This movie, based on the book by S.E. Hinton, was incredible on many levels. The acting is hit and miss, but still fun to watch. It's funny to watch the cast and see who went on to become a huge star--Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Chris Penn, Nicholas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Waits (he plays the cafe owner and steals every scene he's in), just to name a bunch.

There is a running notion of time throughout the movie. Aside from the fact that there is a clock in every scene, Tom Waits doles out a little poetic monologue about time passing, and Motorcycle Boy seems to be constantly urging Rusty James to get out before it's too late.

The whole movie is black and white except for the fish, and one scene towards the end when Rusty James is looking at his reflection in a police cruiser window. Interestingly enough, Motorcycle Boy himself is color blind. He only sees color when he sees the fish, like looking at something from an entirely different philosophy or mindset, and when Rusty James sees the color in his reflection, he finally understands (a little too late) what his brother had seen.

Even at the end, when I thought I was done with the movie, I was treated to an old-but-great Wall of Voodoo song, appropriately titled "Don't Box Me In".

Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies!