This Is It – a compilation of interviews, backstage footage, and dress rehearsals of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold out London concerts before his untimely death. Director Kenny Ortega documents some of the last moments of Jackson’s life as he prepared for a big return to the stage. Released 10/28, in theaters for 2 weeks only.

In limited release is the latest from writer/director of Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, called Gentlemen Broncos starring Jemaine Clement as a sci-fi writer who steals a story from a young boy. Also the sequel to the vigilante-themed flick Boondock Saints bringing back the ‘father and sons’ team to get some justice, entitled Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day. Finally for the Halloween season we get The House of the Devil about a young girl babysitting at a creepy mansion where she finds the owners have other plans for her.

Classy. Classy is probably the best possible word that can describe the just released “Michael Jackson’s This Is It.” The most important thing this movie did was treat it’s audience with intelligence and respect, as it never once bonks you over the head telling you Michael Jackson has died. There is never an interview during the movie where some celebrity is telling us how much they miss Michael Jackson. In fact, if this movie was released prior to his death, you would think the man was alive. Director Kenny Ortega made a bold move in displaying the film in this light, and it is all the better and more honest because of it. The goal of the movie is to simply give viewers a glimpse into what would have arguably have been the greatest live show of all time.

Fans might be initially let down at the fact that you really aren’t getting complete concert experience here. Instead we see Michael going through the process of figuring out just how he’s going to perform his songs and how every single detail is going to work. Most of the time he isn’t even singing the words to the music, as he just sort of mouths the sound of the song while mentally piecing together his routine. That is the magic of this movie though, you’re literally watching a master craft his work on camera, and the result is fascinating.

People have always heard stories about how Michael was a perfectionist, and throughout “This Is It” we finally get to see first hand just how professional the guy is. There are a handful of genuinely funny moments sprinkled throughout the film where we see Michael collaborating with the musicians and dancers trying to get the most out of them and explaining his vision of how the songs should play out. We get shots of him with director Kenny Ortega shooting footage for the video sequences in which he’s always adding his input into what goes where. It isn’t a joke when they say Michael was involved with every aspect of this show.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – the sequel to the previous two animated films has Sid getting into some trouble which leads Manny, Ellie, Diego, and Scrat to save their friend. They discover an underground world of dinosaurs beneath their icy homeland. Voices by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and others.

Orphan – after losing their unborn baby, a couple (Vera Farmiga & Peter Sarsgaard) decide to adopt a child as a way to bring some joy to their lives. They adopt 9 year old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) who brings with her a string of unusual and sometimes deadly events.

Nothing Like The Holidays – The various members of the Rodriguez family come to their parents’ house in Chicago for the holidays. When old tensions surface, they must find a way to truly come together as a family and put the past behind them. Starring John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Debra Messing, and others.

My wife hates horror movies, she refuses to watch them with me anymore. When were first dating we used to watch them all the time, but at some point after we got married she decided she didn’t like them any more. Typical bait and switch bullshit, I’m sure you other married guys out there know the deal. Anyway… I really enjoy scary movies, but somehow they’re just not much fun to watch by yourself. As a result, I miss out on pretty much every horror movie that comes out these days.

I don’t quite remember when Repo! became a blip on my radar, but it sounded like it had good potential mixing elements of Horror & Sci-fi with a musical. I figured this might be a good opportunity to get in a quick horror movie before Halloween. After taking a bullet and watching “Away We Go” on Friday night I managed to weasel Repo! into the dvd player last night for a vieweing.

Without spoiling too much of the plot Repo! takes place in a future where a large portion of humanity has died from rampant organ-failure. A large corporation called GeneCo has managed to save humanity by providing organ transplants to anyone who needs them. However, like any company there is plenty of fine print in the contract. Fail to keep up on your payments and GeneCo sends out the Repo man to take back their property.

Okay, sorry that the whole streaming event was a bust. UStream was being a pain and my machine wasn’t running well at all while I was doing the video capture, so I was forced to cut it if I were to get this done.

This project was a little harder than I originally thought. The Frankensteiner shorts are not supposed to be well put together in the least. As you might know, with the original it was just a joke and a jab at poor Flash animation tucked away inside Crapfest Force. With the second episode, Muscle Quest, I just wanted an excuse to use Mario Paint again. You know, a coming full circle type deal, since Mario Paint is where everything started for me. With this new one I felt like it needed to be bad, but a different kind of bad. I wasn’t willing to go as crude as in the original short, The Toughest, but I wanted to make something that maybe looked “serious” even though it’s not. Anyway, there was quite a bit of effort going into making something terrible, which is kind of shocking. It goes to show that to make anything it takes time, even if it’s something as simple as this.

So anyway, you can go check out the latest episode of Frankensteiner over in the Episode section under “Extra Episodes.” Enjoy it, and be sure to leave us your thoughts! There you have it, my Halloween gift to you. Happy Halloween!

Come join us out in the chat!

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Just a little reminder that I’ll be streaming the entire creation process tomorrow of the next Frankensteiner short throughout the duration of the day. I’ll probably start sometime before 12 (once I get up, get showered, ect) and I’ll be working on it until completion. I really hope it’s worth the effort, because I already got myself into some trouble actually. Despite planning this event for the last month, it slipped my mind and I told my wife I’d take her out to dinner tomorrow night for our third anniversary… needless to say she wasn’t thrilled when I reminded her that tomorrow I’ll be working all day. Whoops. Sorry Dem, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

Anyway, so I’ll have the stream up tomorrow and I wish everyone drop in and say hi. I also decided to rename the short, as it is now titled “Frankensteiner: Glutes and Chutes.” Believe me, this title actually has something to do with the short.

Saw VI – if its Halloween, then it must be Saw… again! The sixth installment picks up right where the fifth left off. Agent Strahm is dead and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the new successor to Jigsaw. The FBI is finally getting closer to unraveling Jigsaw’s grand scheme so Hoffman must set his new game into motion.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant – an outcast at school is recruited by a traveling freak show headed by vampires. The lead vampire (John C. Reilly) brings the young boy into their world as his assistant. But the boy soon realizes the vampires are at war with even deadlier counterparts.

Back in September my nephew and I went over to a local game con called “Game Core.” I was curious to see what the con offered and was also in the mood to pick up a couple of classic games so off we went.

While there I happened across a table that was occupied by a podcaster that runs a show called “We Talk Games.” They asked me if I was willing to do a quick take for their show and I mentioned that I too dabble in a little podcasting. Of course they never heard of Shamoozal (who has?) but I went ahead and told them a bit about it albeit off air. Whoops!

So anyway, if you feel like it, head on over to We Talk Games and download their latest show. I’m at the 14:50 mark where you can listen to me totally botch a plug job, take a jab at the 360 (come on, how can I pass it up?) and try really, really hard to describe why I liked Dead Space despite being able to write 6 paragraphs worth of information about a day later.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Sam Witwicky is off to college where he starts having weird visions. Meanwhile, the Decepticons once again invade Earth in order to resurrect Megatron and kill Optimus Prime at the orders of their new boss, The Fallen. The Autobots are now working with the military to stop them. Directed by Michael Bay. Starring Shia LeBouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro, and more.

Imagine That – Eddie Murphy plays a financial executive whose career is in a downward spiral. His daughter invites him into her imaginary world where all the solutions to his problems become clear. Also starring Thomas Haden Church.

Also on DVD and BD: Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead, Blood: The Last Vampire, 100 Feet, and Transformers Box Set.
On DVD Only: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles SE, Cheri, I Am Because We Are, Numbers Season 5, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show entire series, The L Word Season 6, Hawaii Five-O Season 7, Dr Quinn Medicine Woman entire series, and UFC 100: Making History.
On BD Only: Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, Easy Rider, Waterworld, Ichi The Killer and Monsoon Wedding.