This is a selection even smaller than the television shows I am obsessed with. The movie thing kind of rotates depending on what's hot at the moment and what my friends are obsessing over.

. evil dead . lord of the rings . moulin rouge .

The Evil Dead Trilogy are the cult classics that star B-movie actor Bruce Campbell as the not-so-intelligent Ash. The two sequels were filmed many years apart, but nevertheless hold the same amount of cheesey, campy entertainment value created by the mad genius of Sam Raimi.

The Evil Dead (1979, 1981), the first film, is basically about a group of college kids who spend some vacation time in an abandoned cabin in the remote woods. While exploring, they discover a book - the Necronomicon - and a recording of a professor reading passages from the book. Of course, in true horror movie fashion, they play the recording and hijinks ensues. Many, many people die in a spectacular display of home-spun make-up effects.

Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987) is sort of the sequel. There were license disputes that didn't allow Sam Raimi to use clips from the first film to recap, so those scenes were reshot with a different storyline. If you skip the first 10 minutes, you'll be fine. In any case, Ash returns to the cabin in the woods with another girlfriend. A possession and a death later, Ash is stuck there by himself for a bit and slapstick comedy ensues. The professor's daughter, a mechanic, and the mechanic's girlfriend show up to complicate matters and they all have to survive the night. Oh yes, this installment is the one where Ash gets the infamous chainsaw-hand dealie.

Last, but certainly not least, is Army of Darkness (1993). Probably the more popular and easier to stomach of the trilogy. By this point, Raimi has turned the whole venture into a camp-fest. This film also had the same licensing problems as ED2, so the beginning is a little different. Embeth Davidtz also stars as the heroine, Sheila. Ash, our hapless sucker of a hero, is trapped in 13th century England with his car, his shotgun, and his chainsaw. He fights two deadites to prove.. uh.. well, to prove that he'll just kick your ass if you get in his way. He has to find the Necronomicon in order to return home, but recited the wrong words and wakes the evil dead. Ash's evil clone leads the deadite army against the humans and Ash reluctantly sticks it out to help. Note the poke at "The Day the Earth Stood Still": Ash is supposed to say "klaatu barada nikto" to safely move the book.

It should be noted that the video game, Duke Nukem, was inspired by the Evil Dead films and the Ash characters. Actually, one can go so far as to say that the creators of Duke Nukem ripped off the Ash character, right down to the trademark quotes "hail to the king, baby" and "gimme some sugar." Grr.

. bc online . ed interactive . deadites online . deadmart . becker's ed journal .

Okay, so I've never actually read Lord of the Rings, but I'm working on it. Really. It's just so... long. The movie, however, kicked ass all over the place. Almost makes me feel bad about having missed out on the books. Directed by Peter Jackson and featuring a stellar cast with the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Bean, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, and newbies Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd and Orlando Bloom, this trilogy is sure to be an instant classic.

Am I going to have to explain this? Because it could be a while. Basically, the Fellowship of Nine is sent off to destory the evil One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Lots of running, much fighting, cool elvish dialog, Elijah gasping like a girl, the flaming vagina (oh come on, I had to write that!), and enough Sam/Frodo UST to choke a horse. Gandalf falls into Shadow (to return later as Gandalf the White) and Boromir gets shot full of arrows. Glor--I mean, Arwen arrives to save the day and Galadriel has a bad trip. And that's just Fellowship of the Ring.

The next two installments, The Two Towers and Return of the King, are due out Christmas 2002 and Christmas 2003, respectively. In the meantime, try to catch the special edition of Fellowship of the Ring in theaters with a 4 minute preview of Two Towers and be sure to buy all three releases of the first film on: video, double-disc DVD, an the mega 4-disc set. They are still debating on a 3.30 length directors cut or a 4.00 length. At the moment, the scenes of Galadriel presenting each member of the Fellowship with gifts are confirmed to be on the DVD.

. official site . elvish translator . tor.n . fanatic's site . tolkien-movies . grey book .

Moulin Rouge. You either loved it or hated. Obviously, I loved it.

It's the sappy, musical story of love and bohemian ideals in 1899 Paris, centering around Christian, the aspiring writer played by Ewan McGregor. More than half the film is told through a sampling of 20th century music, which may or may not by why some people hated it. "Baz didn't write the film, he just strung it together." Um.. so what? I couldn't do it and besides, it was still shot beautifully.

So let me sum up. Christian is recruited by Toulouse and his group of Bohemian revolutionists to write their play, "Spectacular! Spectacular!" and present it to Satine so they can recieve financial backing. Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke, who she is supposed to seduce so the Duke will fund the conversion of the Moulin Rouge into a theatre. The mistaken identity gag makes for some very funny moments, especially when they are caught by the Duke. Christian and Satine fall in love, of course, and have a secret love affair, which is discovered by Zidler. He "advises" that Satine end the relationship, or they could lose the deed to the Moulin Rouge. She doesn't, of course. The Duke eventually puts two and two together (with the help of a trachy dancer) and much angst happens.

The story is enhanced by the music, I really don't care what anyone else says. It rocks. Ewan McGregor's voice is so lovely. I can never listen to another version of "Your Song" again. Vox meretrix, baby!

. official site . fox site . uk site . visit the moulin rouge . bazmark .