READY TO RUMBLE
AND
HAMMER HORROR

There are two very different themes to this particular page. I did this for one reason, and one reason only: LAZINESS.
I hadn't put anything in the Movies section in so long, that I decided to add a "review" of the kind of movie I normally would just mention in a journal entry, and wax a little poetic on the virtues of an old favorite...

So I went to the movies for what seems to be the first time in like forever. Because I'm a freak, I feel a little guilty about it. See I have yet to take the Little Gypsy to a movie with , unless you count Disney's Fantasia 2000, which I don't really count because it's an IMAX thing and the whole scenario was such a fiasco (what with LONG lines and a fucked up sound system, etc) that I'd rather just forget the whole thing, even though the more I think about it, the Hirschfield inspired "20's Jazz / Big Band" vignette was pretty freaking cool, and I guess the Steadfast Tin Soldier thing was cool too. But I digress.
So because of my guilt about this, I went to see something She would never even consider seeing, Ready To Rumble.

Now let me say for the record that I am a fan of Professional Wrestling. I don't watch it much anymore (or any other TV for that matter), but I like it's sordid "soap opera for men" antics. I really couldn't care less about the action. I don't consider the participants athletes; They're incredibly talented stuntmen, and a few are pretty good actors.
I also should note here that what I should have seen was Beyond The Mat, a critically acclaimed documentary on the dark side of Pro Wrestling. However, it wasn't playing anywhere near me. My bad.
Finally, I should also point out that I prefer the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as do the majority of wrestling fans (at least if ratings are any indication).

It's the story of two losers who absolutely worship the WCW HeavyWeight Champion, Jimmy "The King" King. (The movie deals with WCW, and includes both fictional WCW characters, and real ones)
Anyway, when "The King" is screwed out of his place with WCW, the two losers decide to go save him. The losers are played by the ever spastic David Arquette and Scott (son of James) Caan. They are very good in their roles. Also good in their roles are Martin Landau and Caroline Rhea. Rose McGowan, the oh so hot yet kinda trashy sex-pot/actress that is in real life engaged to Marilyn Manson plays a bitchy WCW Nitro Girl. She's good at playing a bitch. I don't think I've ever seen her play against type.
The weirdest part about Ready To Rumble is the casting of Oliver Platt as Jimmy "The King" King! HELLO!?!
Look, I actually like Oliver Platt. In fact he's a running joke with me and Pal Joey (He of the illustrious "Joeythefilmgeek.com") because I always say that if someone were to play me in a movie, it would be Oliver Platt! But while he's a great actor, he just can't pull of being a wrestler. I mean it's just not right!

Ready To Rumble is a really stupid movie.
I did laugh a lot though.

Well, this is way too much space to discuss a movie like Ready To Rumble.
Let's move on shall we?

Hammer Horror. I like it!
Thanks to Hammer Horror movies I discovered the ageless beauty of one Ingrid Pitt, the babe in the pic above. I got that pic from PITT OF HORROR, a website all about (and I think from) Ingrid Pitt!
Hammer Films is a British movie studio that made a bunch of movies, but are best known for their prolific line of Dracula movies. They've actually covered all the "big monsters": Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf, The Mummy, and even Dr Jekyll...but they took that further and introduced Ms Hyde instead of the Mr...
They weren't the best film company, and the word "cheesy" is easily associated with a lot of their stuff, but damn it, I like it!

With out a doubt, Hammer's most popular movies have centered around Vampires. Their Dracula movies are considered classics by many, especially 1958's Horror of Dracula, which many consider far superior to Bela Lugosi's 1931 version.
Me? I'm partial to their NON Dracula Vampire flicks...Vampire Lovers, Lust For A Vampire, Twins of Evil, Countess Dracula, a fictional retelling of the life of the very real Elizabeth Bathory, who supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins to restore her youth and beauty, and Vampire Circus.
I just saw Vampire Circus today. It's on video...a bootleg I bought at Mega Con in Orlando, FL.
It's REALLY cheesy...we're talking Ed Wood quality special effects...but I kinda liked it.
If I could do what I guess is the closet thing to "a dream" that I have, it would be to write. I would wanna write all kinds of things, but I would LOVE to write and hell, why not, direct a Hammerish movie! We need more Hammerish movies. The closest thing we've had lately to a Hammer Horror film was the awesome Sleepy Hollow. The mood, the atmosphere, the casting...it was all very Hammerish, albeit a higher classed, much higher budgeted Hammer.
There's talk of possibly renewing Hammer. That would be an awesome development. So who knows, maybe soon we'll all meet the new Ingrid Pitt, though nobody could replace the Original...

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