Author: Scott

I started this site back in christmas of 2007, and it is what you currently see today. I am 26, Married to the very beautiful Quinn, with 2 awesome kids..I am a super geek of the largest proportions.

WM3 Week: Henry Rollins tells us about his WM3 experience

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One of my favorite dudes in “Hollywood” has to be Henry Rollins and he is a big supporter of the West Memphis 3. I asked him to do a short write up on his thoughts and experiences with them and he was kind enough to oblige. What you see below is what he wrote up and emailed to me. Enjoy..

I found out about the WM3 case the way a lot of people did, through the HBO documentaries. Like many people, I found them to be upsetting and intriguing. I wanted to know more and I wanted to get involved as there seemed to be something very, very wrong with the case and the way the whole process went.

I contacted their support group and asked if they needed any help and that led to a benefit show, interviews and other activities. Eventually, I, along with my staff, band, crew and countless good people who gave their time and talent freely put together the Rise Above benefit album and subsequent world tour with all the proceeds going to the case.

As this thing grinds on, year after year, I hope for justice. I believe we are getting closer to knowing more and getting Jessie, Damien and Jason out of prison and getting whoever is guilty of this awfulness locked away. One thing is for sure, we cannot give up and we won’t give up until these guys are free. That’s all there is to it.

In Case You Missed It Monday: ‘Paradise Lost’ 1 & 2

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Since this is West Memphis 3 week here on WeAreMovieGeeks.com then its only fitting for us to first talk about the ‘Paradise Lost’ documentaries. Done by famed documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the 2 part documentary chronicles the happenings of the case from beginning, up till the appeals process starting in 2000.

What is so special about these documentaries is the fact that anyone can watch them and immediately start wondering just how the hell a jury was able to convict these 3 young men with ZERO evidence.

‘Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills’ was made in 1996 which is 2 years after the conviction of Damien, Jason and Jesse. The doc follows the events after the murders happened, the arrests, trials and eventual conviction of the WM3.

You get a gruesome look into the real life situations of small town America’s justice system. A system which has allowed for 3 innocent men to be imprisoned for the last 16 years. You also get a very scary glimpse into the life of John Mark Byers, the step father of Christopher Byers. He really puts up a good front in the film and attempts to come off as less of a creep than he really is. I will tell you this boys and girls, living down the street from this guy still gives me nightmares. To think of what he is capable of(for the record: I am not accusing anyone here, I witnessed first hand his abuse and neglect of Christopher) is unnerving.

While watching the first documentary you find yourself questioning whether they are guilty or not and its in ‘Paradise Lost: Revelations’ that will seal your thoughts on the case. The sequel drops a bomb on the reality that these guys are only guilty of trying to express themselves in a small town where it is frowned upon. Any evidence the city of West Memphis presented during the trials, which is very slim, is refuted and you slowly become infuriated at the fact that they are still living out their days in prison.

The onslaught of John Mark Byers is even more present here, but this time he is trying to make you beleive he is a broken man since the mysterious death of his wife Melissa. His scenes in the film are really ridiculous and its obvious that he is attempting to bring himself into the spotlight.

‘Paradise Lost 3’ is currently in post production and hopefully we will get to see it very soon, I cant wait to see John Mark Byers in the movie promoting his book and spouting off at how much of a supporter he is now.

These movies should be required viewing and will really make you sick to think this can really happen. If you havent seen them please go out and buy the dvd’s which now come in a set.

Welcome to West Memphis 3 Week

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You know the feeling you got when you first watched ‘The Green Mile’, realizing that John Coffey really hadn’t committed the violent crimes he was imprisoned and eventually executed for? Imagine for a second of the very real existence that the above three men have to go through everyday of their lives. Waking up each day confined to a cell knowing that as it stands right now you will never get out of prison, and for one of them execution is one denied appeal away.

Since June 3rd 1993 all three of them have been locked up for a vicious crime they did not commit. Some of you may be familiar with them and if you aren’t it is my hope that during the next week on our site we can familiarize yourself with the case, the huge community of people that are reaching out to make a difference and what you can do to help as well.

When they were arrested they were 18, 16, and 17 (in order of the photo above), Jason and Jesse (Middle and far right) were each given life sentences and Damien (pictured far left) was given a death sentence. All of these guys were handed these sentences with no more evidence than a coerced confession from Jesse (who was tried separately), and essentially being looked down upon for being “different”. By “different,” I mean wearing black clothing and listening to heavy metal music. That is enough to get you convicted of murder in West Memphis.

There have been 2 documentaries (‘Paradise Lost’ 1 & 2), and one very notable book written about the subject (The Devils Knot). From this countless celebrities have given their time, and services to the cause. Here are just a few:

Henry Rollins, Winona Ryder, Jack Black, Trey Parker, Eddie Vedder, Robert Smith, Natalie Maines, Michale Graves and a huge list of other famous supporters

The sad thing is that although everyone is reaching out for support these gentlemen are still locked up today, 16 years later. Some of you that are familiar with the book and documentaries may have heard about my Mom (Victoria Hutcheson) and brother (Aaron Hutcheson) who both played a part in the saga of the WM3.

This week, in an effort to raise awareness, we are going to have all of our columns be something related to the WM3. We will also have write-up’s from a few celebrity supporters and some of my close friends.

For more information on the West Memphis Three please visit http://wm3.org, which is run by the amazing Kathy Bakken, Grove Pashley, Burk Sauls, and Lisa Fancher.

‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’ Bar Night in St Louis

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All of my editors are raving about this movie so I decided to inform you guys about a bar night happening Saturday and Sunday night here in St Louis at Heartbreakers.

Come to Heartbreakers to win prizes from the new film GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST. First 50 ladies each night receive a special gift! Ask to try the Ex-Girlfriend/ Ex-Boyfriend shot special of the night. Not to mention some of the movie geeks will be on hand to sign autographs and possibly even offer up free dates, who knows.

Here is the address for Heartbreakers, and all of the fun starts at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday night.
700 N. 2nd. Street, Saint Louis MO

So what are you waiting for, call all of your friends and tell them to come out.

Review: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ – Scott’s Thoughts

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So I am just going to lay it all on the line: I saw ‘Wolverine’ last night and although it isnt an epic revolution, it is fun and should be seen if for no other reason then to get the bad taste of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ out of your mouth. With that being said, I did have some beef with things from the movie that were left very vague.

In my opinion the origin story of Wolverine comes across pretty well. Starting with him as a child and finding out who is real father is that also makes Victor his brother. One of the really great scenes in the film is the opening credits which show Logan and Victor fighting through 4 wars spanning the course of 100 years. They dont follow a lot of the comic books in the origin story but with Stan Lee serving as an Executive Producer on the film I can sleep easy knowing that the man himself signed off on it all(hopefully).

I am still a little confused as to how they are handing the Wade Wilson/Deadpool thing in the movie but that is definitely something you are going to need to see and gauge for yourself because anything I would say here will be riddled with spoilers.

A big complaint in the previous X-Men movies is that Gambit was missing from them, well worry not young children Taylor Kitsch is here and does a killer job portraying Remy LeBeau. In the movie he is an former prisoner of 3 mile island and is the only mutant to ever escape, thus he is also the only one that knows how to get back. When Logan catches up with him they are playing poker(texas hold em) on bourbon street with none other than Daniel Negraneau. After Logan does a great job of pissing him off, we get to see our first glimpse of the flaming playing cards which Gambit uses to readily handle him.

Even though they used a lot of makeup and some CGI to portray Fred Dukes(Kevin Durand) once he becomes The Blob, the scenes of him and Logan boxing are ridiculously awesome. He comes off exactly how I imagined a real life adaptation of him would be.

For me when I go to see a comic book movie I am looking for a fun and entertaining experience. It also helps if there is a lack of cheesiness, good effects, and great action. When I walked out of ‘Wolverine’ thats how I felt, and all in all I really enjoyed the movie, it isnt the greatest superhero movie of all time but it gets us back to an X-Men movie that isnt completely garbage.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

First image from ‘Iron Man 2’ hits

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USA Today got the first official photo from ‘Iron Man 2’ and they decided to post it the night before ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ hits theaters. you get a glimpse at the different versions of the suit, and some pretty badass see through LCD screens.

I am stoked for ‘Iron Man 2’ since the first one ranked higher than ‘The Dark Knight’ last year, I can only imagine how great part 2 will be.

Why is ‘Moon’ not getting a nice, big, wide release?

One of the best movies every big film festival is unanimously Duncan Jones’ ‘Moon’ and now we are finding out from Sony Pictures Classics that its going to get a “limited opening” in New York and LA?

Apparently people outside of New York and LA dont enjoy really great films like ‘Moon’. I really hope that this doesnt end up getting shafted like Jonathan Levine’s ‘The Wackness’ which got its widest release in 142 theaters. Why do you ask? Because it wasnt marketed properly, and it only saw mostly indie theaters.

‘Moon’ is a fantastic indie Sci-Fi film and everyone that has seen it absolutely loves it, so for it to get bogged down by small release of 142 theaters would be a freaking travesty. Sony Pictures Classics please show some love, grow some balls and put this out the way that it should be.

Thanks to /Film and I09

Top Ten Tuesday: Superhero Spin-offs that shouldn’t happen

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Since ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ is coming out on Friday, we thought it would only be right to tell you which superhero spinoff’s should not happen. So we present to you Top Ten Tuesday: Superhero spinoffs that shouldnt happen:

10. Aquaman

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As if the fact that the Aquaman project has been in development Hell longer than almost any super hero project out there and that I haven’t once heard a single person say “Dude, I totally can’t wait to see the Aquaman movie” outside of the cast of ‘Entourage’, the character also happens to be one of the oldest. Aquaman was one of the original characters developed by the Marvel(ED Note: Even the movie geeks make mistakes!) DC dudes. Personally, the whole concept is dated and lacks any real contemporary interest. I mean, really, when a 98% nude guy with Spock’s ears and little wings on his ankles emerges from the ocean for the first time on the big screen, are you going to be saying “Oh my God! My life is complete!”

09. Marvel Zombies

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First of all, as much as I and every other cool person on this planet loves zombies, making a movie of this would definitely be taking things too far. The Marvel Zombies comib book series was cool, but the truth is that it was a nifty gimmick that Marvel came up with that became so popular that it spawned a whole new parallel universe for the creative folks at Marvel to play around with. Yeah, the series was, and still is, insanely popular, but as a movie would just be ridiculously expensive, pointless and would ultimately fail because anyone not familiar with the Marvel Zombies storyline would see this and either be confused out of the ghords or just plain pissed off (especially the old school fans). That is assuming many non-comic book readers even go at all.

08. Superboy

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Quick!   What was the worst part of ‘Superman Returns’?   If you said the fact that Superman had a son/potential spinoff film, you win the golden fleece today.   Director Bryan Singer, evidently, made his passion ‘Superman’ project, and that included a subplot involving the bastard child with superpowers.   I’m sure Warner execs were frothing at the mouth at the idea of spinning this subplot off into another, potential franchise.   Why the hell else would they let a film slip through their fingers that cost upwards of $270 million?   I’m sure makeup artists were even consulted to see what an aged Brandon Routh would possibly look like.   Hey, we don’t need a ‘Superboy’ movie.   We don’t even need another ‘Superman’ movie unless it features any other plotline than Lex Luther trying to one-up the real estate world.

07. Juggernaut

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He’s the Juggernaut, bitch.   Why, oh why, is Juggernaut on this list?   Is it possible that a Juggernaut spinoff movie was even even thunked up?   You bet your geeky ass, it was.   Back in November, 2007, Joe Carnahan, Joe Friggin’ Carnahan!, announced his desire to head up a project that would spin off the Vinnie Jones-filled character into his own film.   Of course, this was right around the time Jones had just signed up for a role in the prequel to Carnahan’s ‘Smokin’ Aces.’   Hey, nepotism lives, right?   Luckily, nothing ever came out of this, but we were that much closer to seeing a film about a guy whose one, true power is he can go through walls.   Seriously, what does Juggernaut have that David Copperfield doesn’t?   Nothing.   That’s what!

06. Any Characters from ‘Mystery Men’

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Although this movie is considered by some a Cult Classic, I still say that it sucks and was a shame to see so many great actors in this film. If they were ever to do a spinoff of the superheroes from this movie I would be very disappointed.

05. Deadpool

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Hey, a Deadpool movie might sound sweet.   Marvel’s answer to Snake Eyes is a pretty badass character.   Unfortunately, from what we can assess from early word off of ‘Wolverine’ and the tv spots that practically give the final act away, this is not the Deadpool we want to have his own movie.   Ryan Reynolds is kickass and hilarious, but, unless this spinoff movie is a prequel of sorts, he’s not gonna be featured in it much, anyway.   Just look at the Deadpool action figure.   That’s not Ryan Reynolds.   It looks like Dhalsim and the creepy girl without a mouth from ‘The Twilight Zone: The Movie’ had a freakishly muscular child, then duct taped knives to its forearms. No thank you, film world.   We’ll pass.

04. Any Character from Fantastic Four

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This super team has been around forever in comic books, but their fan base is a select group of readers. I don’t think many younger fans of the genre are that into Fantastic Four, which partially explains why the first two films bombed. The only human beings that could “love” those movies would be kids. In my opinion, this is another title that is showing it’s age. The team as a whole has some appeal, given their mutual origin story, but if a spin-off were ever made of any of the characters individually it would be distastrous. Even The Thing couldn’t have his own successful spin-off, unless maybe he agreed to a Full Monty scene, possibly satisfying the curiosity of certain ‘Mallrats’ fans.

03. The Joker

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This is a tough one. The Joker is a fascinating character and there’s no limit to what could be done with him in his own movie, but then again… he’s a villain. And as a villain, his rightful place is in a movie pitted against Batman. Thusly, such has occured twice now and both times with great success. I say, be done with The Joker and let him rest in peace while enjoying everlasting immortal iconic fan reverence. Let’s not bring him back merely to fail and die a humiliating and shameful death, only to be remembered by all but the most die-hard fans as the older, fatter drug-addicted Elvis bent over the kamode. Come one, let’s explore some other villains a little, shall we?

02. Any Characters from Watchmen

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‘Watchmen’ hit theaters with less sucess than originally expected and I can just see it now, someone planning a Rorschach movie. Let me tell you that this is a BAD idea, and the only way this film and characters will work as a cohesive unit. To attempt an origin story of just one character without including the rest would be asinine.

01. Storm

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Halle Berry was pissed after ‘X-Men’ and ‘X2,’ because Storm wasn’t given much to do.   Come on, Halle.   She changes the friggin’ weather.   Her special power is basically the embodiment of what Sean Connery’s Sir August de Wynter was trying to do in ‘The Avengers.’   We all know how that turned out, don’t we?   All of Berry’s cryings amounted to nothing more than one of the most retarded scenes in ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ where Storm, feeling dejected, causes the sky to grow cloudy.   Someone snaps her out of her funk, she whites out her eyes, and it’s sunny again.   Wow!   What a thrilling moment that was.   You want two full hours of that crap?   That’s about what you’ll get with a ‘Storm’ film.   Fortunatlely, Berry’s abilities to carry a superhero film on her own register about as well as someone breaking wind registering on a Richter Scale.   It’s a good thing, too, because no one wants to see this spinoff.

‘Anvil: A Night with Anvil’, 22 minutes of epic awesomeness

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On Saturday night we ventured out to have Anvil rock our faces off. First we watched ‘Anvil: The Story of Anvil’, followed by a performance from the band!

Myself, AJ, Brooke, Matt and Bryan hung out down in the loop for a few hours before our screening so we could interview the band, plus I had to intro the film. We ended up getting our wires crossed(Lips was hungry and needed to eat) so our interview didnt go down, but as a consolation prize we recorded the Q&A plus their performance after the screening. We did however get to interview Mike the sound guy and he was freaking awesome.

AJ got some epic footage from Saturday night and he put together a 22 minute video of Anvil Awesomeness for you to enjoy below: