From reading another post online I was reminded that its been ten years since the release of horror blockbuster Freddy Vs. Jason.
The film had been talked about since the mid eighties when both the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street were hot property in Hollywood and churning out sequels like there was no tomorrow.
For the release of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood in 1988, the idea was first discussed with Director John Carl Buechler, but ultimately came to nothing.
In 1992 New Line Cinema bought the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise and it seemed more than ever that the film made logical financial sense, given the now ailing fortunes of both series’.
The confrontation was first teased at the end of Jason Goes to Hell where Freddy’s knifed fingers dragged the infamous hockey mask to hell.
After hundreds of script ideas and submissions the film was finally released in 2003 under the guidance of Director Ronny Yu, who had previously re-invigorated the Child’s Play series with the very fun Bride of Chucky.
Kane Hodder was infamously ousted as Jason, and replaced by stuntman Ken Kirzinger, with Robert Englund returning for what would be his final appearance as Freddy Krueger alongside cannon fodder and generally poor ‘actress’ Kelly Rowland.
The film certainly does have its moments, and lest we forget it topped the US Box Office and grossed over $100 million worldwide, firmly putting horror back on the map.
Freddy and Jason shootout to the death is certainly a sight to be hold too, with the always amusing ‘man the torpedoes’ line from Englund as well as the slaughter in the cornfields from Voorhees.
Considering the poor effort that was made with the potentially money spinning Aliens Vs Predator franchise, I always look back on Freddy Vs. Jason as a job well done.
I can still recall purchasing the 2 disc special edition DVD, and it was also the first film from either franchise that I was old enough to see at the prime age of 19 at the cinema so it will always hold special memories.
Talk of a sequel that never materialised still persists to this day, but given how long the first film took to get to the screen I won’t be holding my breath on Freddy Vs. Jason 2 coming our way in the next decade…..
So today it was announced that David Beckham will be retiring from football at the end of the current season.
Firstly you have to congratulate Beckham on what has been a phenomenal career littered with league titles from right across the world, as well as the goals there have been the haircuts, the bustups; Becks truly is the modern day icon of the game.
When advertising deals sometimes supercede playing contracts, he set the precedent with deals with Adidas and Brylcreem to name just a couple.
Never afraid to take a risk in his career, you would have to say the trophy cabinet doesn’t lie with league titles in England, Spain, Italy, USA and more recently France.
The one thing that eluded Beckham was international success, even as part of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ between 2002 and 2006 the team promised so much but never delivered on the biggest stages of all.
We did have the drama of the sending off and ridicule in 1998 after kicking out at Diego Simeone, before his ascension to national captain.
I was luck enough to see Beckham score one of his 17 international goals in a 2-0 victory vs Azerbaijan in 2004, in what was a largely poor game by any teams standards.
He proved a rule to his own as he left Manchester United in 2003 under a cloud after one too many bustups with Sir Alex Ferguson, moving to Real Madrid and flourishing in La Liga before the biggest risk of his career joining LA Galaxy in a move that sent shockwaves round the world.
Being on a bumper contract with sponsorship deals coming out of his ears, Beckham put the MLS on the map in footballing terms with many British sides now having a regular influx of players from across the pond.
We could go through his entire glittering career, but I wanted to keep this personal and point out my most memorable Beckham memories.
- Scoring against Aston Villa in a 3-1 defeat in 1995 with a wonderful curling effort, as part of the ‘won’t win anything with kids’ season.
- Penalty vs Argentina in 2002, the emotion of writing the wrong from four years previous just gushed out of him, in one of the finest England performances in the last 15 years.
- Goal vs Azerbaijan in 2004 in a European Championships Qualifier.
- THAT goal vs. Greece, I was working in a factory with just radio coverage and seeing people doing their little victory dances was a sight in itself.
Here’s every freekick he ever scored:
Lately it seems that horror themed television shows are the new ‘in’ thing, and before you know it every US network has one to show off.
HBO has the returning True Blood, Fox has the recently concluded The Following, NBC has Hannibal and A&E has Bates Motel.
Having lost interest in True Blood over a very ropey fourth season, the jury still out on Hannibal, and The Following blowing hot and cold throughout its 15 episode run, I have found myself quietly impressed with Bates Motel.
Given it was from the writers of the excellent Friday Night Lights I was intrigued from the get-go, but having now watched the first five episodes it really has developed a solid mythology far detached from what I thought the general theme of the show would be.
When you first hear of a show called Bates Motel, you expect it to be a momma loving transvestite butchering people on a regular basis, but thus far the show has built the plots around the town Norman and Norma Bates have moved into.
Much in the way that Friday Night Lights built its foundations around a gold fish bowl like town, Bates Motel seems to be following the same blueprint much to its benefit thus far.
Ratings have been decent across the pond with the show already picked up for another season once its 10 episode debut concludes in a few weeks.
Bates Motel will be shown in the UK on the Universal Channel.
Here’s a trailer -
As I am sure many of you who read my many musings on here know, I am fond of a good slasher film.
So that brings me to the new trailer for Hatchet 3, the third outing for modern day monster Victor Crowley, carved very much out of the Jason Voorhees mould.
Now you clearly know what you’re going to get with these sort of films, gory violence and a bit of humour along the way. The difference with the first two Hatchet films is as well as being a love letter to the gory 80′s slasher boom, they seem very self aware and actually have a bit of storyline to them.
Returning from Hatchet 2 is Halloween veteran Danielle Harris, as well as Kane Hodder once again as Crowley and Zach Gilligan of Gremlins fame as the town’s local Sheriff.
The series is the brainchild of self confessed horror fan Adam Green who has also given us the excellent Frozen as well as TV series Holliston.
Anyway here’s the latest trailer, safe to say Hatchet 3 knows its audience.
Almost a year to the day since his last bout, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather steps back into the ring against Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero this evening hoping to keep his unbeaten record intact.
There has been quite a lot of talk this week on social networks regarding ironically the lack of hype for this fight. Many see this on paper as a fight Floyd should win comfortably via a late stoppage or a clear points decision.
At 30 years old Guerrero has climbed his way to the top, and this is by far his biggest challenge to date in boxing.
Outside of the ring he has had much bigger problems than getting slapped round the chops, with his wife being diagnosed with leukemia in 2007 and relapsing twice from treatment needing a bone marrow transplant in 2010.
During this time Guerrero’s life was as a full time dad to his children, but he returned in 2011 beating Michael Katsidis over 12 rounds.
So many will say nothing can intimidate Guerrero, but make no mistake about it, if he doesn’t make an impression early on and give Mayweather something to think about; he could be in for a long night.
Floyd himself has had very different problems over the past 12 months, having served 30 days in prison on an assault charge after an altercation with his former lover Josie Harris.
At 36 years of age he must know that his boxing days are coming to a close over the next 2 years or so, so he will be keen to put on a show and reassert himself at the top of boxing’s pound for pound tree.
It starts tonight with Guerrero, who looks set be another Mayweather victim.
Enjoy the fight everyone!
The latest trailer for what looks like the summer’s most explosive blockbuster (arguable with Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness i’m sure) Pacific Rim has debuted at the Wondercon convention.
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro of Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy 2 fame, in a nutshell its giant robots controlled by humans against giant alien sea serpents.
The cast includes Sons of Anarchy regulars Ron Perlman and Charlie Hunnam, as well as Idris Elba (TV’s Luther).
Pacific Rim seems to be one of those films where actions speak louder than words, so without further delay here’s the latest trailer.
This could prove extremely entertaining in a Transformers vein or it could end up like Revenge of the Fallen or Dark of the Moon.
Pacific Rim is released this July.
With the influx of television and more specifically American comedies, sometimes the best ones get lost in the waves.
This is certainly the case with Arrested Development, which despite a stellar cast and critical praise galore; was cancelled in 2006 after three seasons.
But now due to public demand in the years since its last appearance six years prior, it was announced that the show will return later this month for a fourth season and possibly a movie further down the line.
The most impressive thing is that it has enticed all of its original cast back, of which Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett and David Cross.
It tells the story in an Office-esque way of the disfunctional Bluth family, who get into all kinds of scrapes after head of the family George Bluth Snr. is incarcerated, and in-fighting and hilarity ensues.
The show returns on NetFlix, and much like the recent Hemlock Grove and House of Cards, will premiere it’s entire series all in one go for subscribers to download and watch at their pleasure.
It’s a bold move, but Arrested Development has never done things by the book.
Here’s a clip from the new series:
