When Bad Movies Happen to Hot Actors

Last night I went with a friend to see the new remake of Friday the 13th. My friend is a horror movie junkie and has loved this particular franchise since he was a kid, but I only had one shallow reason for wanting to see the film: Jared Padalecki.

I went in with no illusions, since I'd heard online that Jared showed no skin in the movie. He was, however, playing the male lead (unless of course you count Jason as the male lead), which meant plenty of screen time. Besides, who doesn't like a good scare now and then when you know you're perfectly safe?

One of the most intense movie going moments I ever had was when I saw Scream 2 in the theatre, during the scene where Sidney & her roommate have to crawl over the seemingly unconscious killer to get out of the crashed cop car. I figured if this movie could deliver one good scare like that, along with the chance to see Jared on the big screen, it would be worth it.

Sadly, the movie never scared me once. Every single scare scene was utterly predictable, down to the last few seconds of the film. Not only was it predictable, it was cliched as hell. Not in the good, Scream kind of way, either, where the filmmakers and audience are all in on the joke. No, it was just one completely unironic cliche after another, from the drinking and drug use to the gratuitous female nudity.

On the latter point, would it have killed them to have at least one shot of male nudity? Women and gay men do see horror films too, you know!

So, as a film, it was an even bigger waste of time than I expected it to be. Jared, though he was the male lead, didn't even really have that much to do other than the usual running, hiding, and fighting. He looked damn good doing it all, though! My God was that man filling out his t-shirt! It has been forever since he did a shirtless scene on Supernatural (well, shirtless from the front; we've seen his bare back a few times this season) and that's a real shame because he's clearly been working out like crazy.

Other than Jared and cutie Ben Feldman, who played one of the doomed campers at the beginning of the film, the guys in the movie didn't do much for me. Don't get me wrong, they were all nice looking (hottness is obviously a prerequisite for being a victim of Jason), but no one else really stood out for me.

So, really, it was a waste of time all around, except for ogling Jared's pecs in that shirt. Even my friend was disappointed with the film, finding it to be more of a 'decent sequel' (his words) to the earlier films rather than a re-imagining of the series like he'd expected.

I knew I'd see this movie and I knew I'd have no respect for myself after doing so. The things we do for celebrity crushes!

TV & Film Talk

I'm not going to blog about The Mayor of Castro Street tonight. I was supposed to have the day off today, but things didn't quite work out that way. Hopefully I'll have time at some point over the next few days to write about it.

Just a few quick things tonight. First, fans of Pushing Daisies have started a campaign to save the show by getting it moved to another network. These fan campaigns are not always successful, of course, but sometimes they do work.

Take, for instance, the Kiss Campaign and accompanying media blitz enacted by Nuke fans that lead to the end of the months long dry spell between kisses for Luke & Noah on As the World Turns.

Shows moving between networks isn't unheard of, either. It has happened in both daytime and primetime, most memorably in recent times when Buffy The Vampire Slayer jumped from The WB after five seasons to run for two more years on UPN. For the most current example, there is the sitcom Scrubs which will be moving to ABC this January after seven seasons on NBC.

Moves like this are the exception, of course, not the rule. Still, we can always hope some other network will take a risk on the show and fans showing their support certainly helps.

Of course, Bryan Fuller has already returned to Heroes, starting with this season's 19th episode, so saving Daisies might not even be an option, at least not with him involved, unless he could do double duty on both shows.

I do have to say that I'm looking forward to his return on Heroes, especially after I checked out his exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly. I think he's just what the show needs.

Second, I wanted to confess that I watched a really cheesy movie last night about an artist that I don't even like. Why did I sit through an hour and forty five minutes of saccharine Hallmark Channel-esque nonsense? Two words: Jared. Padalecki.

I'm talking, of course, about Christmas Cottage, the film 'inspired by' the life of artist Thomas Kinkade. As an artist, Kinkade reminds me of our Christian Fiction section at work. The same ladies I see browsing there for books that present a safe, idealized version of the world (usually without any troublesome minorities of any kind, let alone of the LGBT sort, around to muddy the waters) probably love his paintings.

Okay, to be fair, my own Grandmother, who is an open minded, intelligent woman, names him as her favorite artist. So, I know I really shouldn't make sweeping generalizations about fans of his work. It's just not my cup of tea.

At any rate, if you'd told me a couple of years ago that I'd see a movie about Kinkade, that in fact I'd move it to the top of Netflix queue and wait impatiently for its arrival, I would have had one response: which hottie is starring in it?

Jared Padalecki has to be one of the hottest guys alive. My God that man is beautiful! Plus, he looked really adorable in his little scarf and hat combo:


I already knew, from Supernatural, that he knocks any emotional scene out of the park, but this mediocre movie definitely gave him a chance to shine in that regard. There are a couple of scenes where Jared gets a chance either to cry or to be on the verge of tears, and he totally blew me away. I just wanted to grab him and hug him.

Jared really rose above a script that should have been filmed for a cable channel at best (as it was, it was released directly to DVD). Peter O'Toole hammed it up in his part as a dying artist trying to paint one last picture, while Marcia Gay Harden had one decent scene opposite her character's ex husband (Desperate Housewives' Richard Burgi) but was otherwise bland as Kinkade's mother. Aaron Ashmore was cute as the younger brother, but had absolutely nothing to do, and the cast was otherwise filled out by familiar faces from old TV shows. So, if you're anxious to see Bull from Night Court, Mrs. Garrett from The Facts of Life and Lou Grant from The Mary Tyler Moore Show get a chance to do their thing, it may be worth checking out.

As for me, Jared made it worthwhile, but I really do hope he can pick a better film next time. I mean, after the remake of Friday the 13th, which he's also the lead in. Yet another movie I'll have to see that I otherwise wouldn't have! Thanks a lot, Padalecki! Maybe you'll at least show some skin in that one?