Unless you have been living under a rock the last year or so, you have to know that Showtime has been catching up to HBO when it comes to interesting and well-done shows. Dexter is the show based on the quietly successful series of books written by Jeff Lindsay featuring a serial killer who hunts other serial killers while working as a blood spatter specialist for a Miami Crime Lab.
The books are a fun read. Not deep, nor overly taxing mentally, they are fast paced and entertaining.
Excerpt: “I can’t even keep pets. Animals hate me. I bought a dog once; it barked and howled –at me— in a nonstop no-mind fury for two days before I had to get rid of it. I tried a turtle. I touched it once and it wouldn’t come out of its shell again, and after a few days of that it died. Rather than see me or have me touch it again, it died.” – Dexter, explaining why he isn’t big on socializing with other living things.
I am not usually one to gush over remakes. In fact, most remakes suck ass not unlike the way Oprah sucks the life out of just about anything decent this world has to offer.
Originally, 3:10 to Yuma was a classic western and one of the films on my Top Fifty Films of All-Time. It combined some of the best elements of two of my favorite film genres (western and noir) and delivered a compelling story of vengeance, honor, duty, and ultimately, vindication. Like many films of that era, the heroes were all good, and the villains all bad.
The 2007 version, starring Christian Bale and Russel Crowe, is different in so much as the hero is flawed, and the villain complex. The story is not a cookie cutter lift from the original story, but a fusion of all the best the original offered with some twists necessary to captivate modern audiences.
I love a good vampire story and I love graphic novels. Imagine my fan-boy glee when I came across what I still believe is the pinnacle of Vampire fiction back in late 2002. Originally published as 30 Days of Night in a three issue miniseries of horror comics written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith and published by IDW Publishing, the series told the story of a family of vampires who lay siege to a small town in Alaska during the annual 30 days of night.
The movie version takes some liberties with the story, but the few changes were necessary and I believe make the story much better for the medium. Josh Hartnett does a good job of playing the role of the hero who ultimately has to choose between love and death.
Until I Am Legend is released, this now tops my list of vampire movies. And since you asked, here are my Top Five Vampire movies:
5. Brahm Stoker’s Dracula
4. The Hunger
3. Lost Boys
2. Near Dark
1. 30 Days of Night
I’ve been hearing so much about Dexter I finally decided to check it out. I saw the 1st two episodes of the 1st season last night. I can’t say yet that I *like* the show, but it is interesting. I think I’ll stick with it for a few more episodes.