All posts by Bryan Dressel

Bryan is the Host and Producer of After the Hype. He loves talking. About everything. But mostly Batman, Star Wars and Green Lantern. He also lives in Los Angeles and works in TV Post Production

A Hype to Remember: Fast & Furious (2009)

There is a solid argument to be made that the Fast and Furious trailer from the 2009 film is one of the greatest teaser trailers of all time.

We here at After the Hype are unashamed FF fans. Well, 3 out of 4 of us are — looking at you Ryan! But I’d argue that without this teaser, there would be no franchise for us to be fans of.

 

I was living in Chicago in a lovely little apartment when this came out.

 

Not anymore
My actual apartment!

 
I had just gotten into this new band, Does It Offend You Yeah?  Then I saw online that they had their music featured in the new Fast and Furious trailer so I decided to give it a shot.  Up to that point, I had enjoyed the first, laughed at the second, and like the rest of the world, skipped the third… But the band is cool, so let’s give it a whirl…

 
W. T. FUCK?

 
I’m so ready to watch that movie!! I ran to my room mates room (Friend and guest of the show Graham) and made him watch it with me. We both agreed, whatever they were smoking when they made Tokyo Drifting to Sleep, they were done with.  I couldn’t have been more pumped.

Now I’m going to watch it again, and beat-by-beat tell you what I’m feeling, as if it were the first time.

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Friday the 13th Series Ranked

Since movies began filmmakers have been trying to scare the pants off us.

First with a train, then with a gun pointed directly at the camera, and later with a young man or woman pitted against a larger than life monster.  As these movies play out, people die, people fall in love, then die, and a hero arises, and maybe dies.  With main characters dropping left and right, producers quickly realized, people are coming more for the bad guy than the good and then… Great horror icons are born!

 

Through the years we’ve seen many villains come and go, yet, only a select few never fade away.  One in particular has steadily walked his way into nearly all forms of mass media.  After twelve movies, twenty some books, a TV series, countless comic book appearances, and one hugely anticipated video game, Jason Voorhees has sliced and diced his way into the hearts of millions of fans.  No matter how many different places Jason slaughters those pesky teenagers, movies are where he shines brightest.  Not all are masterpieces, one or two might be horrible, but they all have something special, something new to offer.  So I present to you, my ranking of the Friday the 13th franchise.

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Go Home Movie Theater, You’re Drunk

 When I was eight years old my parents took me to a movie.  

I wanted to see Baby’s Day Out, I mean, who wouldn’t?  It was a sure fire classic!  Alas, my parents wanted to see Forrest Gump.  Kicking and screaming, I was dragged into a sold out theater, in Davenport Iowa.  The local Showcase Cinemas, ran by National Amusements.  The first of its kind multiplex (in Davenport) with a whole TEN SCREENS!  

 

 

We were late, of course, so there weren’t four seats together, just three, next to a wall… gross.  But it had to do!  My sister, father and mother took the seats, and I got the armrest of my mother’s seat leaning against the wall.  Then the movie started.  All troubles in the world were washed away, and I was totally entranced by the movie.  The audience was quiet, they laughed when things were funny, and cried when sad.  All in all it was the perfect movie going experience.  It was the first moment I knew, I want to make movies.

 

Let’s fast forward twenty some years to seeing Neighbors 2. (I’m well aware in the vastly different quality of the two films)  First, my chair had ketchup smeared into the headrest just thin enough to not see before leaning back, but thick enough to call me ketchup head the rest of the night. Second, after moving seats, the movie starts, then the ENTIRE row in front of us starts “phoning” it up.

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2016’s Most Over and Underrated Movies

The hype machine is an unavoidable beast.  No matter how much you want to ignore it, it’s always there, lurking in the corners of your internet browser.  Cruising by on buses as you sit at a red light.  Plastered on the side of buildings!  Everywhere you look… movies.

Being the the host of a movie podcast, I feed right into this situation.  I love talking movies, and I get really excited about them.The problem is, sometimes, I think we all get a little too fired up.  We end up launching mediocre films into the stratosphere.  On the flip side, we are so worked up about some of these movies, we totally ignore others.  In this vein I present to you, the top five over and underrated films of  2016!

 

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