Hi, my name is Jonathan Denard McNeair and I grew up in Lexington, North Carolina, also known as Pig City...Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha...The town is mostly known for its barbeque where they often throw barbeque festivals every October. In my chosen career, I am a self-published author of fiction.
Gosh, I don't know if it's people running out of ideas or this seems to be the norm now. There's one thing to remake movies but to remake tv shows is wholly unnecessary. All three of these reboots are based on proprieties that were practically over twenty-some years ago. It's not that long you guys.
But anywho, these are the shows that I'll look over, which in my opinion comes off like stale copycats of much better source material but I'll save all my negatives for each contained reviews. For right now I'm just focusing on the trailers. Maybe in a lifetime, I'll watch an episode or two of these shows but it is gonna be a while and I might have to be in a certain mood to watch them. There are just not appealing to me, however, I'm willing to be a martyr for my work, so maybe in the next year, I'll give you my word. Here I present to you, the reviews on display...
I am happy to announce that is finally published. I have been working on this for years, so I should have a good pat on the back for the hard work. This is the first in a series of books, so keep a look out for the second one by the end of this year. Be sure to check out Manhattan Girls on:
Kobo
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble Nook
Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a year. Where to start? From months on in, I've been working extra hard on my first novel. And trust me, the process is grueling. Time seems to stray away when you're working on a project. I mean, gosh, it's been like twelve years now that my book is finally accomplished. During July or so, I was planning to do a movie review of Unfriended but there was a lot of growing pains in the way. Getting my life together, getting my career together, getting my sanity together, and planning the seeds of what to come.
So here my future plans in the hereafter:
Hellraiser series review
The Love Witch review
Misery film essay
Witches of Eastwick review
Riverdale review
Book reviews
I know it's a little bit too late in the game for this but I had to get this out somehow. So there is a new Ghostbusters movie coming out sometime in July and everybody's response is...not so good. In my opinion, rightfully so.
The original Ghostbusters and it's sequel was what I grew up with, and to repeat the same beats again is just uncalled for.
Although I'm a fan of Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, I just don't see them saving this movie. They are good actresses, it's only the material that wans their performances down.
When I saw the trailer, I was like, "Been there, done that." It's the same movie but with a female cast.
Director Paul Feig was the one who pitched this movie, and considering Sony, who's known for cashing in reboots, ok'd the idea...That's when the backlash began.
Everyone was pissed off about this, even so far than to have over 500,000 dislikes on the trailer from Youtube. There were even Twitter meltdowns from both director and the actors. Not to mention behind the scenes drama on the set with some of the actors disagreeing with Paul Feig over the poor script and having disdain over how the film is coming out. Sony even bribed half of the cast members in the original to cameo in this movie. Even going so far to sue Bill Murray if he refused. Yeah, it's that fucked up.
All this leads up to me, having the sinking feeling that this movie is going to bomb. HARD.
By the way, if you guys are curious to the movie, just watch the trailer and read the script or Paul Feig's pitch to Sony, There's your whole movie right there. It's all downhill from there. Predictable, by the numbers plot.
Ok, back to the trailer. The jokes were lame, the characters were the same, and the effects were 'meh.' It didn't get me excited (which I'm not anyway) but hell that goes for any trailer. It's like I watched the whole movie, which would spare me my time, no less.
And then there's the introduction of major hottie Chris Hemsworth. Although he's nice to look at, I feel like he's going to be wasted in this beefcake role. He supposed to be a composite of Jainie Melnlitz and the Sigourney Weaver character, which is so tired in my opinion.
As for the rest of the cast, I don't know. Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon are just not funny to me. Their jokes felt forced and how they were portrayed was clearly taken out of their really mediocre Saturday Night Live sketches and I don't even watch the recent Saturday Night Live anymore.
Just so you know, this movie is going to fail. There's nothing to fall back on. Nothing original or fresh in our minds. It's the same tired old bullshit that I see in comedies these days. I mean there was a Ghostbusters 3 in the making, everybody was on board with it, along with a expanded universe and new characters but it fell through and Sony said, "Fuck it, we'll just remake it.
I'm all for Girl Power but this isn't the way to go. If there was a Ghostbusters 3, you can have the original cast along with Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy. You can have Kristen Wiig played this kooky, quirky psychic who sees ghosts and have Melissa McCarthy as an expert on the paranormal, much like her character in this film. But no, it's far too late and far too wasted to come up with a cool concept like that. And it goes to show that Hollywood is clearly running out of ideas. What a sad state we all must live in.
So those are my thoughts. There is an agree to disagree, however, I do not stand by or support this movie.
As you all know, I'll be taking a break for a while to focus on writing but don't worry. I still do some reviews here and there and sometime this month, I'll get to reviewing Unfriended and It Follows. There will be some occasional Hunk Of The Day Post once my mind comes to it but other than that, I'll do my reviewing arcs until April. So Take care and I'll be back soon.
I usually don't do topics about gay porn but what I saw on True Life and the details behind it, truly troubled me. I'm not against "gay for pay". I'm really trying to keep an open mind about it and see where these guys are coming from but at the same time, I really don't appreciate certain ones who seems to regret ever having that kind of career, showing obvious disrespect by insulting their fans and putting themselves on a higher pedestal. These two guys are the prime example:
First we have Ben, who's a father of two and has recently married. He is best known for performing in Sean Cody projects and is a stripper at a gay club in Chicago.
Okay, for starters, he says the reasons why he rather strip at a gay club because it pays more money. Okay...that's somewhat reasonable. However, even though I didn't do my research, male strippers performing in strip clubs for straight women would likely get paid the same amount if they were successful enough. It's all about applying yourselves, people.
Ben's wife seems to be enjoying his double lifestyle by being a total yoai girl, watching his videos from Sean Cody. There's even a scene from the episode where his wife makes him watch some of his scenes and he gets extremely uncomfortable saying, "Having sex with a guy is like having sex with a watermelon." I'm not entirely offended but a hole is a hole, I don't think it was the physical part of the sex that bothered him. Not to mention that in a earlier scene of this episode, he was, no joke, making out with guy during his little strip sessions. Now, I don't know if that was part of his job or whatever, but even the gayest of gay strippers wouldn't do that. It makes me wonder if he's getting pretty comfortable with this second lifestyle of his.
I just have to say this but the guy is clearly in denial no matter how straight he claims to be. He does have gay friends and labels himself as the "gay friendly straight guy" but there seems to be more this picture than what the camera shows us. I even heard news of his ex-wife writing on social media of his cheating ways and him threating that if his son turns out to be gay, he'll beat him. I don't know if I would believe this or not. He's says the allegations are false but I think it's mostly true. I think his whole "gay for pay" analogy is just a defense mechanism. And I think he would likely use the term "bicurious" or "bisexual" in the near future.
Then we have Luke, who is a Russian descendant and is a Men.com regular. The thing with him is that his girlfriend doesn't know that he's a "gay for pay" pornstar and he's comically trying to hide it from her, as if any other idiot has the internet nowadays.
From what I heard from certain social media sites is that he has a really shitty personality, posting homophobic slurs, insulting his gay fans and even going so far by making comments about ISIS. What. A. Jackass. Sure, he has gorgeous eyes, devastatingly dark handsome looks, and an incredibly hot body, yeah the guy is hot, but he is still a jackass. Looks are indeed deceiving.
But here's the real tip of the iceberg. He shows, on camera, the drug he takes for sexual enhancement while filming calling them, "Poppers or whatever." Really? Do you know how many of the studios he work for will be put at risk. He just doesn't give a shit. I honestly don't see how his girlfriend puts up with his crap either.
The main problem is MTV. They're just sugar-coating at this point. Just like how they do their other crappy reality shows like Teen Mom and the longsuffering Real World. It's definitely not the network it used to be. Everything about their programs are artificial and fake. What happened to the raw, gripping, emotional stories that True Life is known for? I can barely call this TRUE LIFE anymore. But at least the guys got their extra paychecks. Money makes the world go round after all, right?
Yesterday was the 30th Anniversary of A Nightmare On Elm Street 2, if any of you know. I wouldn't say this a great movie, but it's an enjoyable watch, especially if you're gay. Be sure to check on the documentary Scream Queen starring the one and only Mark Patton, coming in 2016.
Looking into Scream Queens, I thought the show was a....mixed bag. Once apon a time, I used to watch a show called Glee but that 'like'(I say like not love) has been gone since the writing gotten bad, and I also happen to be a fan of American Horror Story, even with it's writing flaws. So safe to say, my expectations for this show was definitely high. When I heard the news that Jamie Lee Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis, a scream queen legend, was going to be on this show, I was ecstatic, alongside Lea Michelle (Glee) and American Horror Story alum Emma Roberts, who is good at playing bitchy roles.
This has been one of my favorite movies since childhood, around the time where the Wizard Of Oz pretty much resonated in my life. It was something about the Land Of Oz that captured me. Beautiful but dangerous, strange but whimsical. And it was one of the few children's novels I read many times than most fairy tales. I was much more familiar with the 1939 film than the book when I was a wee little child, though about around age 5 or 6, I stumbled upon this little video store called Video Spectrum. It was at the time where I was looking for every Wizard Of Oz adaptation there was.
Once I found what I was looking for I was distracted by adorably cute art cover and in an instant I got my mom to rent for me.
But boy was I in for a surprise.....
I wasn't particularly frightened by the dark, mature nature of the film but this was far from the happy, jolly musical I grew up with. The movie was much more high adventure, with the stakes higher and the villains much more frightening.
I swear both Mombi And The Nome King would put the wicked witch to shame.
But beside all that, I fell in love with this movie. After watching this, I became more interested in dark fantasy kids films that was pretty much underrated among the mainstream. However, Return To Oz was indefinitely misunderstood. Robert and Ebert named it one of the worst films of 1985 because they grew up more with the 1939 movie than the book, and was pretty much upset of the ominous atmosphere of the film when case in point, the books had some dark themes as well.
It was all but forgotten until I discovered it and even since then my obsession with The Wizard Of Oz grew.
Books, Toys, Merchandise you name it. I was all over it until the age of 12.
So this is my dubious honor to Return To Oz, Who celebrated it's 30th anniversary a few days ago. Now before I begin my good points with the film, there are some flaws here and there. My main problem is how Dorothy would run all the way to the Emerald City in what seems like just a mere minute. In my eyes, It was a pretty long journey so it would be in impossible for her to approach the city with no problem. In my opinion though, they should've placed the setting in the Land Of Ev from the Ozma Of Oz novel. That's probably the only minor problem, nothing much else really. But for those of you who don't know, this is more of a semi-sequel to the 1939 movie, having elements from both the film and the books which I liked.
The acting is fantastic, especially from showstoppers like Piper Laurie's small role as Auntie Em and Nicol Williamson as the Nome King.
But the biggest star of them all is Fauriza Balk in her first starring role. Never have I seen a child actress with such maturity and grace, having the exact manifestation of Dorothy in the book. She's brave, practical, and a lot more effective than Judy Garland's Dorothy (just my opinion, guys).
The biggest showcase of Return Of Oz is it's special effects. To the animatronic structures of our favorite Oz characters maintaining the exact same illustrated sketches from the novels to continuing human-like transformation of the Nome King, it shows that the special effects crew put a lot of hard work into their craft. This was way before CGI and I have to say that even 30 years later it still holds up quite well. I like how it's a mixture of both the books and the movie, though the only element I could find was the iconic ruby slippers that would always gives a little color and imagination to the World Of Oz, fitting the film perfectly.
Major props to Walter Murch, which is sadly his only directing credit. It's a shame because he has a really good eye along with the classic music score the feel of a Wizard Of Oz movie.
By and By, it's movies like this that inspire me, Movies like this is the reason I have a rich imagination, and it's movies like this is the reason I'm an aspiring writer. So this is my tribute to Return To Oz, a truly underrated classic.
