What a week so far ...

oh, yeah, Happy Halloween!

SOME DAYS IT JUST DOESN'T PAY TO GET OUT OF BED

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GONE AND STILL MAKING MONEY

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Forbes has released their list of the top-earning deceased celebs. Geez, these folks are making more money in the afterlife in one year than I'll make in my entire life. You can read the story at http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Forbes/TopEarningDeadCelebrities.aspx

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The Top Ten Deceased Money-makers are:

1) Elvis

2) Lennon

3) Charles Schutz

4) George Harrison

5) Albert Einstein (okay, how'd he get on the list?)

6) Andy Warhol

7) Dr. Seuss

8) Tupac Shakur

9) Marilyn Monroe

10) Steve McQueen

MR. BROOKS
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A serial killer movie that tries to be different. Kevin Costner play Earl Brooks, a Northwest businessman who is very successful and has just won a prestigious businessman of the year award. He is also a serial murderer who the police have named the Thumbprint Killer. Costner does well as a man who keeps his true face hidden from all including his family. William Hurt plays Costner’s imaginary and bloodthirsty alter ego. Earl doesn’t want to kill anymore (he attends AA meetings and announces he has an “addiction.”) Marshall wants the thrill and rush. Their by-play is jarring at first but then the film makes it work. Demi Moore plays the homicide detective tracking him and Dane Cook is a witness who is different than Earl Brooks thought. There are some surprising twists and turns in the storyline but the resolution feels lacking. Worth a look if you like suspense films. A rental as they say, not a purchase.

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Question: Why does Hollywood seem to feel that sex and nudity equals death? No answer. Just wondering.

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I like Costner. I think he’s underrated as an actor. I think he usually picks interesting projects. According to IMDb, and I don’t agree with this ranking (I like five of the ten), but his top-ten rated films are:

THE UNTOUCHABLES

JFK

DANCES WITH WOLVES

MR. BROOKS

FIELD OF DREAMS

OPEN RANGE

TESTAMENT

THIRTEEN DAYS

FRANCES
A PERFECT WORLD

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Farther down the list are: SILVERADO, BULL DURHAM, NO WAY OUT, TIN CUP, THE GUARDIAN and still further down are: THE BODYGUARD, WATERWORLD, and THE POSTMAN. Nice body of work. Other actors should do as well.

The Dark Knight is Coming

MORE PHOTOS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

(Sleep well. May your Job be over soon.)

FIRES AND WIND

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All around me, in every direction, smoke blankets the horizon. I live in Riverside. No fires in my immediate area but not far away. The folks who live in Arrowhead survived the 2003 fire but now they are fighting another devastating blaze. The Santiago-Silverado Canyon fire is in an area of Orange County where I grew up. The 15-215 freeways heading north through the Cajon Pass toward the High Desert and Las Vegas have been closed at various times because of fire and wind. The pictures from San Diego, Malibu, and other locations have been heartbreaking. Tomorrow I'm going to the Red Cross to donate blood. Not sure what else to do. I'll think of something though.

BORAT

(Bore-ing-rats)

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Borat (short version of title) premiered on HBO last night. I decided to check it having missed it in the theatres and on DVD. IMBd rates it at 7.7 out of ten. It grossed somewhere north of 130,000,000 dollars during its theatre run. I knew the humor would be lame and politically incorrect. Not a problem. I kicked back and watched.

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I watched for 30 minutes. After Borat made the remarks about the Iraq war to the rodeo crowd, I wondered why I was watching this crap. I get political satire but nothing in the previous half-hour was funny to me. I mean nothing. I guess that somewhere along the line I must've stepped off the humor train. I didn't like 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked-Up either. Can't stand Adam Sandler or Jim Carreymovies . I did enjoy Wild Hogs, which was dorky, however.

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Comedies I like: Galaxy Quest, As Good As It Gets, American President, Notting Hill, Some Like It Hot, and just about anything with Abbott & Costello.

The Terminal

I just like this movie. "America is Closed." That line has taken on more meaning lately.

30 Days Of Night

This looks like it might be creepy.

Dred
The latest issue is now on-line
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Check it out at http://www.dredtales.com/. Includes my movie reviews of Distrubia and The Host and my Top Ten Dred-filled movies and a poll to create the First Top Ten Dred-Filled movies from our readers. {Insert Renfield laugh here}

Flashback to my Youth

DEADWOOD IS DEAD

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It appears that HBO has decided not to conclude Deadwood with two (or even one) movie. Now I have to decided whether or not to cancel my subscription to Home Box Office. They don't have any cool series left that I'm interested in. To read more go to : http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/02/deadwood-actors-respond-with-sadness-to-cinematicals-story/