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I spent the weekend at Cinema Wasteland with my friends Andy, Beth and Dawn. They've been attending this event for several years now, and have regaled me with stories of the zaniness that can occur there. When I was extended an invitation to join them this time, I quickly jumped at it.

The event this time was marked by the attendance of several cast members from the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, most notably Gunnar Hansen who played Leatherface. Although the show runs from Friday through Sunday, we opted to only attend Saturday's events. We arrived shortly after lunch, and the convention hall was already fairly well populated with shoppers and fans. Most of the tables offered a variety of interesting memorabilia, clothing, and videos. I particularly liked the zombie hamsters.

There were lots and lots of zombies wandering about. There were lots and lots of people wearing a variety of interesting clothes. I was, at first, worried that my own shirt would be out of place at such a macabre event -- where everyone else had zombies and violence, I was sporting unicorns and rainbows. Much to my delight, I was told by half a dozen people that they liked my shirt, and many many more people smiled or laughed aloud as they noticed it.

We wandered around the convention floor for several hours, perusing, and comparing prices. I bought a couple of t-shirts, and took a bunch of photos. I uploaded a number of photos from my phone to keep all my Twitter friends entertained.

Andy was super excited to meet Gunnar, the actor who played Leatherface. A friend of Andy's had given him as a birthday present a painting of Leatherface, and the plan was to have Gunnar sign it. The painting is really superb, with rich colors, and when Andy asked for it to be autographed, Gunnar smiled broadly.

After a few more laps around the convention floor, we made our way into a viewing of Sex Galaxy, "the world’s first recycled sci-fi/horror/soft sex movie ever." It was part Mystery Science Theater, part What's Up, Tiger Lily?, and 100% hysterical. We laughed out loud almost the entire film, and it's absolutely the kind of movie I'd like to own so I can show it to all my friends.

As the evening wore on and our energy diminished, we switched gears to casual socializing. Andy, Beth and Dawn recognized a lot of people at the show, and made some small talk. For my part, I enjoyed watching all the interesting people, and photographing as many of them as I could. I particularly enjoyed meeting Satan.

All in all, it was a superb weekend, and I'm very interested in going back in six months for the next Cinema Wasteland!

While looking to clean up my laptop's hard drive yesterday, I saw that I had downloaded a number of full-length features from Miro, but had never watched them. I transferred them to my MythTV computer with the intent of watching them on the television.

This afternoon I watched The Last Man On Earth, the original movie of which I Am Legend is a modern re-telling. The original was interesting, and I wish now that I had watched it prior to seeing the latter, which I didn't particularly like. I tried to get the kids to watch it with me this afternoon, but they only watched it in small snippets, convinced that it would be scary despite my claims that movies made back then didn't employ the "jump out and scare you" tactics of modern "horror" movies. I've seen Vincent Price in a handful of other films, but I'd really like to explore his works in greater depth now: his performance was very commanding in "The Last Man on Earth."

I made Carina watch The Fountain with me awhile back, and she liked it considerably more than I did. I watched it primarily because of Hugh Jackman, with whom I continue to be impressed, but also because the Netflix description of The Fountain suggested it was a slightly different story than that which was actually told. In particular, I kept waiting for "the 26th century astronaut." When the movie was over I explained to Carina why I was so disappointed in an otherwise acceptable movie. She got a hearty laugh at my expense.

To make up for the lack of astronauts in The Fountain, I next watched Mission to Mars. I generally like Brian de Palma films (I especially liked Raising Cain), and this movie did not disappoint. The star-studded cast was extremely enjoyable to watch, and the three acts of the story each worked to produce a cohesive whole. It was vastly superior to Red Planet and Ghosts of Mars in terms of Mars movies. The special features on the DVD provided some extremely interesting insight into the production of the movie, too.

In an effort to share some of myself with my kids, I've been adding some of my favorite childhood movies to their Netflix queue, and watching them with the girls. They both really enjoyed The Black Hole, which was a tremendous delight for me. During the scene where Maximillian approaches Anthony Perkins' character, Tayler said softly to herself "Oh shit!" which made me cover my mouth and bite my tongue so as not to laugh out loud and thus ruin the feeling of the moment for her. While not thrilled with her language choice, I was pleased beyond words that she could get so into the movie. I had forgotten how tense some of the scenes were in that movie, and it really got me thinking about what constitutes "kids movies" today. We recently watched The Spiderwick Chronicles as a family, and I think it's the closest thing I've seen to a good kid-friendly scary movie in a long time. I hope more films like it are made for adolescents.

Tonight I put on Cool Runnings, a movie in which I have always taken something of a guilty pleasure. It's not a particularly good movie, but it is fun and tells a sweet story. I thought that both of the kids would enjoy rooting for the underdogs, and could share in the value of the lesson taught. Unfortunately, we started late in the evening, and since we all stayed up late all weekend long, Tayler simply couldn't keep her eyes open. She went to bed about a third of the way into the movie. Tyler stuck it out with me, though, and she clapped her hands at the end, as the Jamaicans walked their sled across the finish line. I'm confident that Tyler will want to watch it again, and I know Tayler will enjoy it when she watches it.

Earlier this evening, though, I broke out a few DVDs of home movies I made of the twins from 2003 and 2004. It was so much fun to watch! The girls were so little, and their voices so sweet. They were both fond of putting on "shows" for Carina and I, although they never bothered to prepare or even discuss their plans with one another before doing so, so their "shows" usually ended up being impromptu attempts at hogging the camera from one another. The girls laughed out loud as they watched their younger selves dance and wiggle and read from books and lead the camera on a tour of our house. I asked them if I could put a few of these on YouTube for the whole world to enjoy, but I was resolutely denied.

I need to remember to use our video camera to keep recording the kids: it's such a delight to see those little moving snapshots of history.

I saw the first Alien movie at a drive-in theater with my family. I remember being absolutely terrified. I watched it years later when CBS played it as the Sunday Night Movie, and I was just as terrified, but at least better prepared. Even when I watch it today, I still get more than a little tense.

When Aliens came out, I was quick to see it in the theater. I saw it with my parents, as I recall, and loved every minute of it. I saw it several more times in the theater, and I always enjoy watching it on VHS or DVD when given the opportunity. It's a fun movie that honors the original without trying to duplicate it.

I watched Alien 3 in the theater, and while I enjoyed it at the time, it has never captured my imagination as well as the previous two. Again, I respect the fact that it tells its own story without simply rehashing the previous two films. Charles Dutton, in many ways, carries the film in my eyes. I still enjoy it today, but given the choice I'd watch one of the prior movies first.

My mom and I went to see Alien Resurrection shortly after it was released, as she was as big a fan of the franchise as was I. We were both deeply disappointed with this installment. I've only ever seen it the once, so I probably should watch it again to give it a fair shake (Jeff keeps urging me to do this so that I can recognize the influence of Joss Whedon, as well as to identify some of the embryonic elements that would later become Firefly). I've been loathe to rewatch it because it seemed such a marked departure from the core story of the previous movies that I had trouble accepting it as part of the same world.

In 1999, well after I thought I'd seen the last Alien movie, I was happy to purchase Alien vs Predator for my PC. This was a first-person shooter I was only too happy to play, immersing myself in the game world as a colonial marine, or scrambling through darkened hallways as a xenomorph. The game was extremely fun to play, and I've long lamented the limited multiplayer options: too few maps to really explore the dynamics of Alien vs Predator vs Marine in a cooperative environment. (Hrm, reality doesn't quite match up with my recollections: In my July 1999 post on gaming I specifically detail my objections to the game. I'd forgotten I'd written that!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the Alien vs Predator concept, and my imagination soared with all sorts of Alien-infused conjecture for a long time thereafter. As you might imagine, it was with extreme delight that I watched Alien vs Predator. It was a fun movie, made all the more entertaining by watching it with Jeff and Eric, two fellows equally as enthused about all the little bits of the film that reward long-time fans of both stories. Plus, it's a fun, easy-to-watch action movie. When it hit DVD, I quickly borrowed a copy from the library, and watched it several times. Even the twins watched it with me, and they enjoyed it quite a bit.

Last night Carina and I went to see Alien vs Predator: Requiem. It was a terrible disappointment, and frankly I should have left early and asked for my money back. The characters were all lackluster and uninspired. The action was forced. The story was weak. There was no sense of mystery around the aliens, and the humans involved with the struggle showed no interest whatsoever in the differences between the aliens and the predator. It was clear this movie was going for the action-packed adventure of the middle portion of Aliens, but without plausible, interesting characters I didn't give a wet slap about their conflict. I could hardly root for the predator, because his actions were completely unexplained, and his fights with the aliens were yawn-inducing. I wasn't given a single thing in this movie to make me want to keep watching. My imagination was not engaged, and the primary elements that make all the previous iterations of these complimentary franchises so rewarding were totally absent from this piece of drivel.

When I met George Romero at the Studio 35 horror marathon a few years ago, I asked him what film he most enjoyed making. Someone had previously asked him what movie of his was his favorite, to which he responded "I don't have a favorite", so I thought that my question might be a little more insightful. Romero informed me that Bruiser was his favorite movie to make.

Knowing full well that what made a movie enjoyable for him to make might not translate into anything that would make that movie enjoyable for me to watch, I ordered Bruiser from Netflix and watched it the other day. I didn't particularly enjoy the film, but I can imagine that filming it was probably a lot of fun.

When I think of Romero, I think of zombies. I've thoroughly enjoyed his zombie flicks to date: Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead are both entertaining and thought-provoking films (if a little dated now). While at Netflix I also ordered Land of the Dead, eager to continue to enjoy Romero's zombie flicks. Alas, Land of the Dead was a real bore. I felt a twinge of discomfort when I saw Dennis Hopper's name in the credits.

I've complained before that people do stupid stuff in these movies -- even the trained military professionals whom you would expect to know better. For example, not a single person climbed a ladder or otherwise tried to get themselves into a location that the shambling zombies could not access. Indeed, oftentimes the army guys came down the ladders, only to be gobbled up by the ravenous zombies. I laughed out loud when the lone scout entered a darkened building, only to light a cigarette and then listen to music on headphones! I mean, come on! And not a single person exercised any real discipline with their ammunition, choosing instead to spray shots wildly everywhere as though ammo were in limitless supply. Short, controlled bursts, people!

What I'd like to see (or even help make) is a zombie flick that shows people using ingenuity and creativity to deal with the crisis in ways that make sense, not just ways that make it convenient for them to die so that the audience can watch the zombies chomp on them. I have a host of real-world questions about the long-term consequences of a zombie attack: how long would power generation facilities operate unmanned? how long would running water be available? how long would communications networks operate? (Land of the Dead included one scene with a GPS system: how long do you think the GPS network would remain in operation if a worldwide zombie outbreak were to occur?) how difficult would it be to continue to acquire fuel for vehicles assuming the normal distribution of gasoline (and other fuels) were interrupted?

Maybe Flight of the Living Dead will be better. It's an idea that Mike articulated to me two years ago, and I'm sure he's none too pleased that someone beat him to the punch.

Last night I finally watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. I can't believe I waited so long to watch it -- it was a fantastic movie! Reading the Wikipedia entry, I'm a little disappointed to see that a remake is being made. Tyler watched the film with me, and was entirely engrossed by the story. I figure if Tyler can enjoy a black and white film made in 1951, it's good enough that a remake isn't necessary.

I'm glad to finally be able to have context for many of the popular culture references this movie has inspired; but more than anything I'm simply astounded by what a good movie it was. This reminds me of why I don't often take the kids to the movies any more: I'm disappointed that there are so few family-friendly movies being produced today of the caliber of this 50 year old masterpiece. A quick look at the G and PG films (presumably "family friendly") playing in theaters today shows mostly light-hearted, if not downright silly, fare with many following the formula "stereotypical outsider gets a big break and earns the friendship of the popular crowd".

I've observed before that they just don't make movies like they used to, and I hold by that claim. We've watched films such as The Maltese Falcon, Man of LaMancha and Lawrence of Arabia with the twins, and our girls really enjoy watching the classics. The stories are rich, the characters are nuanced, and the entertainment we receive is more than just mindless escapism or laughing at someone else's misfortune. It never ceases to amaze me that the kids will ask questions about these old movies long after we've watched them -- I'm delighted that these films have caught their interest and that they continue to think about them.

I wish more writers and directors would produce intelligent, thought-provoking films suitable for an entire family.