Author: prawn1

The evil curator of www.onelargeprawn.co.za ;)

Blu-ray Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 20, 2008

Made in 1977 by Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was (and still is) an epic science fiction adventure. The story revolves around an ordinary cableman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who gets caught up in very extraordinary happenings. One night, Roy is sent out to investigate a power failure and experiences a close encounter of the first kind. He, along with other people witness UFOs flying through the night sky. In other parts of the world, scientists experience close encounters of the second kind — military objects that have been missing for decades suddenly re-appear in odd locations.

After his encounter, Roy starts having strange visions of a mountain-like object, and five musical notes play over and over again in his head. He is compelled to discover the meaning of his visions, so much so that he is prepared to give up his job and forsake his wife Ronnie (Teri Garr) and children to find out the truth about the UFOs.

Will Roy discover the source of the music and ultimately meet the visitors from across the galaxy? Find out after the jump.

Tags aliens, contact, UFOs

Entertainment Movie Reviews

Blu-ray Review: The Professionals

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 19, 2008

The year is 1917 and the Mexican Revolution is in full swing. Set against this backdrop, The Professionals is a hard-hitting western that tells the story of a group of mercenaries hired by an arrogant Texan oil baron, J.W. Grant (Ralph Bellamy), to rescue his kidnapped wife Maria (Claudia Cardinale). Maria went riding across the border into her native country Mexico, and was kidnapped by a ruthless revolutionary, murderer, thief, and all-round bad guy Captain Jesus Raza (Jack Palance). Raza has Maria stored away in a hideout protected by a 100-strong army and demands a $100 000 ransom for her safe return.

Will the hired guns be able to reclaim the billionaire’s trophy? Read on and find out.

Tags mercenaries, mexico, westerns

Entertainment Movie Reviews

Blu-ray Review: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 19, 2008
2 Comments on Blu-ray Review: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Walk hard down life’s rocky road with the brilliant John C Reilly as Dewey Cox in this gritty, funny, warts-and-all fictional biopic that parodies the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of great rock artists of the 60s and 70s.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story captures and lampoons the spirit of rock history by following the roller coaster career of Dewey Cox from a down home-country boy to a successful artist to a drugged up burnt out rocker struggling to keep his sanity.

Tags johnny cash, parodies

Arty Weirdness

The Strange Animal Paintings of Laurie Hogin

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 18, 2008
1 Comment on The Strange Animal Paintings of Laurie Hogin

According to Hogin, “The allegorical canvases of faulty fauna, mutant fruit and brand-loyal monkeys suggest the lavishness and opulent detail of the17th through 19 th century European traditions to which they refer, but these painterly flourishes and delicate details belie subversive cultural critique.”

See more of her work at LittleJohn Contemporary Gallery.

Tags animals, oddness, paintings

Lists

The Great Male Survey

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 18, 2008

Who and what is “the modern man”? AskMen.com polled over 75 000 participants to find out the answer to this question, and now you can find out what the modern man feels about dating, sexuality, lifestyle, money, and gender in 2008.

Mug Shots Of The Year

The discerning writers (all three of them) at The Smoking Gun selected 20 booking photos selected from among the tens of thousands to bring you the 2008 Mug Shots of the Year.

Joker Busted

July 28 – Spencer Taylor (20), from Michigan was arrested for allegedly trying to steal Batman posters and other collectibles from a theater showing “The Dark Knight.” The cops made him pose for booking photos in and out of character.

Police Seek Morin (not Moron)

January 2 – Robert Morin (39) was being sought on a warrant for domestic assault. The above mug shot was taken on a previous arrest – Morin had become quite flexible after having removed his teeth.

Mug Shot Metamorphosis

December 4 – Michael Campbell (33) from Colorado has been in and out of jail between 2003 and 2008 and seems to have spent his time getting inked. The first set of photos show Campbell following a 2003 theft arrest; the second set shows Campbell booked six weeks ago. That polka dot bow tie is quite handsome.

See more mug shots at The Smoking Gun – via Blame it on the Voices.

Tags arrests, mugshots, police, tattoos, the joker

Mindlessness

I Like Hores

This 3-grader likes hores.

Tags hores, mistakes, spelling

Cautionary Tales Entertainment Lists Weirdness

Five Historical Figures Who Died The Weirdest Deaths

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 18, 2008

Cracked.com reports on the 5 individuals not content with just leaving their names in the footnotes of history.

Chrysippus: Death By Performing Donkey

Chrysippus (280 – 207 BC), renowned philosopher and party fiend, was boozing it up with his donkey (name still unkown) when the animal tried to eat some figs. The donkey’s attempt were so funny that Chrysippus laughed so hard, keeled over, and died.

President Félix Faure: Death by Bow-chicka-bow-wow

On February 16, 1899 French president Félix Faure made a booty call in his own office with a gold-digger named Marguerite Steinheil. Story has it that Faure has fatal stroke right in the middle of orgasm. At least he died happy.

Aeschylus: Bludgeoned With a Turtle

Sicilian eagles love turtles and have a cunning way of getting past the hard shells of their prey. The eagles lift turtles up to great heights, and then drop them on rocks to crack them open.

Aeschylus, widely regarded to be the founder of Greek tragedy, was loitering around one day when an eagle mistook his bald head for a rock, and proceed to drop it’s catch onto his head. Aeschylus died but the turtle survived.

Arius: Death by Expoding Bowel

Arius one of the most prominent heretics of early Christianity, and someone obviously wan’t happy about him suggesting that there might have been a time when Christ hadn’t existed.

This is what one of this political opponents said:

“A faintness came over him, and together with the evacuations his bowels protruded, followed by a copious hemorrhage, and the descent of the smaller intestines: moreover portions of his spleen and liver were brought off in the effusion of blood, so that he almost immediately died.”

Herod the Great: Gangrene of the Genitalia

Herod the Great, king of Judaea, was responsible for the Massacre of the Innocents. God tends to frown upon acts involving the senseless murder of babies and thus imbued unto Herod what is known today as Fournier gangrene – a horrendous necrotizing infection of the genitalia.

Read the full article at cracked.com.

Tags death, donkeys, exploding bowels, gangrene, penis, sex, turtles

Entertainment Movie Reviews

Blu-ray Review: Broken Trail

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 18, 2008

Broken Trail is set at the end of the 19th century, a time in America when Chinese immigrants were treated worse than livestock. Five young Chinese girls are sold into slavery by their families to the creepy trader Captain Billy Fender (James Russo). The girls are destined to be the new, “exotic entertainment” (prostitution) at a saloon (brothel) in a neighbouring mining town.

Meanwhile, ranch-hand Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) is busy at work when his estranged uncle Prentice “Print” Ritter (Robert Duvall) rides on in. Print has some bad news to deliver — Tom’s mother has died and left the family farm to Print, not Tom. Print also has a business proposition and wants Tom to be his partner. He wants to mortgage the family farm to buy 500 mustangs and transport them to Wyoming where a war profiteer will pay top dollar. Tom agrees to his uncle’s plan and they set out on the trail from Oregon to Wyoming, 800 miles across the harsh frontier.

Are the cow-hands and the slaves destined to meet? Find out after the jump.

Tags boring, cowboys, slavery

Entertainment Movie Reviews

Blu-ray Review: Vacancy

Post author By prawn1
Post date December 17, 2008

David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) are on the verge of divorce after the loss of a child. On their way home from Amy’s parents, David decides to take a late night detour off the highway. He thinks it may be a quicker way home but not only does he manage to get them horribly lost on a remote country road, their car breaks down as well. With no chance of getting a tow-truck this late in the night, David and Amy find a vacancy at a seedy motel run by a seemingly harmless manager Mason (Frank Whaley). Mason hooks the couple up with the “honeymoon suite” at no extra cost.

How do things fare in the honeymoon suite? Hit the jump and find out.

Tags slashers, snuff films, survival horrors