Christian Movies

Christian Slater, who was the epitome of cool to me when I was younger, starred in three of my favorite movies. Here are few scenes from them. Spoilers if you haven't seen them, obviously.

Heathers
This was my real introduction to Christian Slater. Raoul Duke and I adopted "Heather Chandler is one bitch that deserves to die" into our language.


Pump Up the Volume
I freaking love this movie and soundtrack. I found Leonard Cohen in this movie. Concrete Blonde and the Pixies too. The song is this clip rules.


True Romance
It's a top-5 movie for me, and this may be my favorite scene in any movie ever.

Random Thoughs Thursday

-We live a short drive from the Zendik farm, right here in good ol' West By God Virginia. There's something to be said for giving up the trappings of modern life and living off the land with friends, I suppose, but if it's still like it was when Arthur Bradford checked it out 13 years ago, then at a Texas location, I think I'll pass, thankyouverymuch.

-To this day, the scariest, most intense thing I've ever done is hang gliding off the cliffs of La Jolla, California, with Steve Stackable. I almost shat.

-Three of my friends got medals in this year's X Games. Ronnie Renner got a gold in Moto X Step-Up, Ken Block got a silver in Rally, and David Pingree, who I also work with, got a bronze in Supermoto. And my good buddy Ryan Clark raced well in Moto X and almost made the main, sorta. Well done, gentlemen.

-I would pay $2 to hear Steady B's "Yo Mutha" right now.

-If you haven't seen Barry Gordy's Last Dragon, I highly suggest it. Here's one reason why:

Puttin' it to The Man

There's something deliciously appealing about busting into an assembly of snobs and dropping the smack down on them with a little dose of your own brand of reckless reality. But to really have the right effect, you have to be careful how you do it. Allow me to give you a quick lesson in the right and wrong ways to put it to the man.

Right Way



Wrong Way



Then again, James Spader's character snagged Kim Richards' with that number, and Treat Williams' character got killed in 'Nam, so maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

The Sleek Awards: Best Family Picture

Who am I kidding? I loved this movie way before I had a family. This is just one of the best pictures of any genre, ever, end of story. And since the 20th anniversary of its release is only a couple of months away, now is as good a time as any to bestow this award on it. So....

The Sleek Award for best family picture goes to:

The Princess Bride

You've all seen it, so I won't bother with the synopsis. Instead, here's a little reenactment some dude did of one of the most famous scenes from the movie. If you're as familiar with this film as I am, you'll know just how good this kid is.

The Sleek Awards: Best Ending to an '80s Slasher Flick

And the winner is:

Sleepaway Camp





Spoiler warning! If Sleepaway Camp is at the top of your Netflix queue and you don't want to blow it all by watching this ending, skip this post! Also, you may have to have a Youtube account to be able to view this because of what some may deem as objectionable content.

UPDATE: You don't need an account to watch this clip. View away!

Who Would Play You?

We have a feature in the magazine I work for called "2 Tribes," where we find two people who are somehow related -- same name, similar job, same birthday, etc. -- and we ask them an identical set of questions. I'm always interested to see how people answer the "Who would play you in a movie?" question. So I'm going to pose this same question here.

Who would play you in a movie?

I'll start: Zach Braff, because he'd nail the silly-dance scenes.

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On a side note, I'd like to direct everyone on over to Melissavina's blog for a little dose of "What to Watch on Wednesday." Trust me, this is not to be missed, even if you don't get to it until Thursday.

Sarah Smiles (If You Visit Her on IMDB)

Meet my friend Sarah Lieving. Raoul Duke, Spooge, G2theLow and I graduated with her big sister, but she and I have become friends recently because she's into motorcycle racing, and we have some mutual friends. (And she owes me, like, 12 beers.) Sarah's making movies out in SoCal, which is her dream I think, but she's looking to take her career up a notch.

Now, I'm pretty sure I don't have any high-level Hollywood agents visiting RtN, so I doubt this post will do much to affect her career in any significant way. But what my blog buddies could do for Miss Lieving is check out her IMDB.com profile page. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but they've got some sort of rating system, and the more times her page gets accessed, the higher she moves up in the rankings. This is clearly a good thing. So, please!, check her out. (Also at her personal website.)

As for her movies, I'm afraid I've yet to see one. I know The Beast of Bray Road was on the Sci-Fi channel a while back but I missed it, so I'm still awaiting my chance to check out her work. I love horror flicks, though, and that seems to make up most of Sarah's repertoire, so I'm looking forward to it.

I think you owe me 13 beers now, Sarah.

Children of Men: On DVD

A while ago I posted about Children of Men, one of the most awe-inspiring movies I've seen in a long time. If you missed it in theaters, it'll be out on DVD on Tuesday. It's exceptional; I highly suggest renting it.

Eyes on the Apocalypse

Up until about 11:00 am today, my wife had -6.5 vision, which is pretty bad. But thanks to the medical miracle that is Lasek surgery, she could fly a fighter jet now. In celebration of her newfound vision (and the fact that our kids are with the in-laws), we decided to take in a movie this evening. We'd heard good and bad about Children of Men, but it was either that or Stomp the Yard, so, well, you know. Anyway....

Holy. Shit.

I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just run with the official synopsis to give you an idea of what it's about:

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

I will mention that a lack of procreation isn't the lone problem, as England is pretty much the only country that hasn't been obliterated via nuclear devastation or otherwise and is therefore the destination of choice for the world's refugees. This creates a genecidal wasteland of horror, pain, and destitution. Unless you're a card-carrying Brit (literally), you ain't getting a cup of coffee at Picadilly Circus. But hope can sometimes shine brightly in the worst of circumstances.

As a bonus, it's set to a soundtrack that includes Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, and King Crimson, and the decidedly British feel to the cinematography is somewhat reminiscent of 28 Days Later.

As I walked out of the theatre, I doubted that I'll see a better movie in all of 2007. Don't miss this one.