Dan's Discs: Halloween Edition

Hi Folks!

We all know that the Horror genre has staked it's claim to Halloween.

It may cover the ghouls, ghosts, and the blood, but this is not going to be a list of Horror movies.

Instead, let's take a stroll down memory lane, to a time before you knew who Michael Myers was.

I watch all of these specials, every Halloween. 

And through the joys of the interweb, you can have them delivered just in time for the big night.

The classic.

It came out in 1966, but it is still shown on TV every Halloween.

I love the story and the Peanuts gang all dressed as ghosts.

Linus wants to meet "The Great Pumpkin" so badly, but ends up getting destroyed by Sally.

"You owe me restitution!" is such a great line.

And poor Charlie Brown, he's barely featured in his own special, good grief indeed.

Has any show ever done Halloween better than 'The Simpsons'?

The answer is no, although 'Roseanne' did some of it's best stuff at Halloween.

Counting this year, there have been twenty-five Treehouse Of Horror episodes.

This DVD is only $5 and has four of the best, which include some great movie spoofs. 

I love "The Shinning", which is in no way a spoof of THE SHINING (wink).

I don't know why, but this is insanely expensive on Amazon, so you might want to hit eBay.

This DVD has the three great Garfield TV Specials: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I legit cry every single time I watch the Christmas one, it is heart-wrenching.

The Halloween Special may be the weakest of the three, but it's definitely a fun nostalgia trip.

Here's a great article on how it's actually really scary. 

Also, don't be fooled by the Garfield Show: Holiday Episodes DVD.

A bunch of people bought it thinking they were getting the Specials. 

The results made for some hilarious reviews.

This year on Halloween, NBC is airing Saturday Night Live: Halloween.

However, this is the modern Halloween skit collection.

For sure watch it, but don't forget about the original (only $5 on VHS).

This collection has tons of great stuff, including Adam Sandler's Easy Halloween Costumes.

Also, it has what is quite possibly my favorite SNL sketch of all-time:

"Consumer Probe" featuring Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd.

Aykroyd's recurring shyster, Irwin Mainway is simply brillant.

You gotta love the costumes he's standing-by, including my personal favorites:

Invisible Pedestrian- "A sidewalk costume" that's "not for blind kids". It's an all black suit.

Johnny Human Torch- A bag of oily rags and a lighter.

Thanks For Reading and Happy Halloween From North/South Film!

The Movie Lawyer Lists

Dan Here:

Time for another round of Best Of Lists.

Previously we have listed the Best Of Ron Howard, Concert Movies, Movie Bars, 

Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Tony Scott, Michael Bay, Jamie Foxx, Stanley Kubrick, 

Films From 2000-Now, Baseball Movies and Movie/Video Game Combos.

Today, director Ridley Scott's new film, THE COUNSELOR is in theaters.

It's the first screenplay by author, Cormac McCarthy ('No Country For Old Men', 'The Road').
The film focuses on a lawyer known as The Counselor (played by Michael Fassbender).
It's set in the wild world of crime that occurs on the Mexico/Texas border.
Expect shady characters, violence, twists, turns and if it's like McCarthy's other works, something profound.

THE COUNSELOR got us thinking of other famous movie lawyers.
Immediately, Chris and I agreed that the greatest of all litigators was the man pictured above.

Atticus Finch is undoubtedly one of the most famous characters in American Literature and Film.
He's a father, a lawyer, a crack shot and most importantly, a man who believed in justice for all.
The film is a classic and the subject matter is as relevant today as ever.
It gave the great Gregory Peck his Best Actor Academy Award, on his fifth nomination.
Atticus reigns supreme as the Best Movie Lawyer Of All-Time. 

However, there are many more who argued for second place, and so . . .  

THE MOVIE LAWYER LISTS:

This Week in Trailers: Captain America, Anchorman 2, Grand Budapest Hotel, Foxcatcher, The Hobbit, Jack Ryan, American Hustle, Monuments Men, I, Frankenstein, Need for Speed, and much more

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo )

I really liked the first Captain America and this new trailer for the sequel has gotten me even more intrigued for the follow-up. It really looks like no other Marvel/superhero movie before - and that is a good thing. 

Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford and Samuel L. Jackson

Release Date: April 4, 2014

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Dir. Adam McKay)

Cast:  Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, David Koechner, Harrison Ford, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kristen Wiig, Liam Neeson, Kirsten Dunst, Tina Fey, Nicole Kidman, Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Amy Poehler, Christina Applegate, John C. Reilly, Kanye West, and whole lot more awesome people

Release Date: December 20

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Dir. Wes Anderson)

Well that is about as Wes Anderson-y as you can get (which is a good thing). The film, of course, looks delightful – and I know both Dan and I (especially Dan) are really looking forward to this one early next year.

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Scwartzman, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson, Harvey Keitel, Mathieu Amalric, Bob Balaban, and Bill Murray

Release Date: March 7, 2014

Foxcatcher (Dir. Bennett Miller)

It’s a shame that just a few days after this trailer first came out, the studio announced it was pushing the film back to 2014 to the give the director a bit more time to tinker with it. Having loved Miller’s Capote and Moneyball, plus the great cast, this film was highly ranked on my Most Anticipated List for 2013, and now, it high atop the same list for 2014. The intense teaser trailer just blew me away and really amped up interest tenfold. 

Cast: Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall, and Vanessa Redgrave

Release Date: 2014, probably late in year for awards consideration

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dir. Peter Jackson)

The second of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. The first one underwhelmed most (me included), but the second looks a bit more fun and action-packed. Still don’t see the point of splitting the story and making three films (oh wait, yeah I do… money)

 

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Billy Connelly, Stephen Fry, Richard Armitage, and Benedict Cumberbatch

Release Date: December 13 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Dir. Kenneth Branagh)

A reboot of the recently deceased author Tom Clancy’s most famous character – Jack Ryan (previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck). It is clear that they are going for something akin to the James Bond reboot Casino Royale – which is a good start. The film looks pretty good, but we’ll see. Odds on Keira Knightley being killed? If not in this one, then definitely in the eventual (and hopeful) sequel. 

Starring: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, and Kevin Costner

Release Date:  December 25

American Hustle (Dir. David O. Russell)

The second trailer for this film looks just terrific (as did the first). Definitely one of my most anticipated for the rest of the year. Russell and the cast appears to be doing Scorsese’s Casino meets P.T. Anderson’s Boogie Nights, which is never a bad thing. Based on a larger-than-life true story, I really can’t wait to see this movie.

Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Michael Pena, Alessandro Nivola, Jack Huston, and Robert De Niro

Release Date: December 25

That Awkward Moment (Dir. Tom Gormican)

The movie has a lot going for it, most notably the core cast of three big male, 20-something stars (one huge star trying to change his Disney image and two up-and-comers who made big splashes in indies films this year).  But besides all that, the film does look genuinely funny

Cast: Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Imogen Poots, and Jessica Lucas

Release Date: January 31, 2014 

Check out more trailers, including I, Frankenstein, Non-Stop, Need for Speed, The Monuments Men, Dom Hemingway, Charlie Countryman, Rio 2, and much more after the jump:

Dan's Discs-- PACIFIC RIM and THE HEAT

It's Tuesday and we've got some new discs to discuss.

The world is in danger.

Whether it's Decepticons, Zombies, Aliens or Disease, at the movies, the Earth is always at risk.

In PACIFIC RIM, humans are forced to take actions against The Kaiju, a race of giant, scary, amphibious monsters that are invading Earth via an underwater portal.

These things are so mean they can only be killed with nuclear weapons . . . sometimes.

So the world pools their resources and invents Jaegers, giant robots that are controlled by human drivers via a brain linkage called "The Drift". 

Thankfully, we don't get to far into how the technology works, it's unimportant anyway. 

It's a movie that exists for the incredible action sequences, and the ho-hum story takes a back seat. And yes, the action sequences are impressive. PACIFIC RIM looks much better than TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN or TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Guillermo del Toro is a better director than Michael Bay, but I think he is on his way up, with his best work still to come. PACIFIC RIM is good entertainment and left a lot of world to explore for possible sequels. 

I guess you should buy it if you want to see them.

Melissa McCarthy is straight up hilarious.

She is an unpredictable, fast and physical comedian that we rarely see any more.  

Throw in the great Sandra Bullock and about a hundred F-bombs and you've got one the best buddy-cop films of recent memory. The film is a showcase for the extreme comedic talents of both McCarthy and Bullock and they certainly deliver. 

It is directed by Paul Feig, who also directed BRIDESMAIDS. 

That film launched McCarthy's film career and now THE HEAT will shoot her even higher. 

She turns in a great performance and really carries a film that is relying on her charms.

I don't know if THE HEAT will be quoted forever, but it will make you laugh for a few hours. 

The jokes come fast and often. The audience was laughing so much that sometimes you miss the little "after shocks" that improv comedy does so well. 

The Blu Ray is full of extras and I can't wait to see the riffing continue.

Thanks For Reading and Follow Us On Twitter For Daily Movie Links: @NorthSouthFilm

Chris's Review: ‘Captain Phillips’ is a gripping tale of two desperate boat captains

The film may be called Captain Phillips – and deservingly so, Phillips is the hero (and played by Tom Hanks in the movie, so that helps) – but the story itself is actually about two very different captains on opposing sides of the same desperate situation.

5 Reasons Why ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Will Not Be the Hilarious, Nostalgic Trip Back to Your Carefree Childhood You Hope It Will Be

There are a handful of movies that I can easily (and shamelessly) recite every single line of dialogue from: Scream, Wayne’s World, Billy Madison, Ace Ventura, Joe Dirt, Anchorman, and finally, Dumb & Dumber.  

These movies are such an integral part of my childhood-movie-watching experience that I can’t help but look back on them fondly. I also cannot help but to watch them whenever they come on TV (which they do – a lot). 

Many of these films have at least one, if not multiple sequels – some of which are pretty good, others not so much. None of the sequels have or will tarnish the originals, but have they ever really been necessary (certainly not) or even wanted (debatable)? Like most things in Hollywood, it is all about making money.

This actually, and very unnecessarily, exists...

Because I (and many people of my generation) love these films (some more than others), it is hard not to get all warm and fuzzy inside when news comes out about a proposed sequel or reunion – even though you know you shouldn’t. 

As for Dumb and Dumber, there was that God-awful, unofficial “sequel” – actually prequel – released in 2003 and titled, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, which was terrible in just about every way imaginable. (There was also a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon based on the movie that came out in 1995. It was predictably cancelled after only 13 episodes.)

No one from the original was involved (neither writer-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly nor stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels). It is a movie better left forgotten. My, and pretty much everyone’s, reaction to it:

So years pass, and both are all but erased from public knowledge while the original still holds a special place in our hearts. So, imagine the collective twenty-somethings’ mindset when the long rumored “true” sequel to the beloved ‘90s comedy was announced way back in 2011.

The prospect of catching up with Harry and Lloyd after all this years led to a feeling somewhere between uncontrollable wonderment  . . .

. . . and skeptical anticipation, perhaps?

Then, just a few months later, it was confirmed that stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels would be reprising their iconic roles as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. Immediately, that reserved interest quickly turned to rapturous glee, right?

Well finally, after two decades and several false starts (the original studio Warner Bros. passed on the project before Universal stepped in), the official Dumb and Dumber sequel – horrendously titled Dumb and Dumber To – is actually happening.