Jenn - Finish Him! I’m sure you’ve heard this line on multiple occasions-- whether it be from the game or the movies. If you haven’t guessed it by now, yes I’m talking about "Mortal Kombat". No, not the games, though I very much enjoy playing them, I want to talk about the movie, with a little bit of the new one that just came out Friday in theaters and on HBO Max. One thing I've already noticed that I like better with the new movie is the background history that they give you on the characters. I won’t say which ones because spoilers but this backstory was sorely needed especially for these two most recognizable Mortal Kombat characters. Don’t get me wrong. I liked the older version, but it was just missing a lot and watching the newer version that just came out, made me realize that. If you’ve ever played the games or just watched the older movie you basically know the storyline. A bunch of humans become earth's heroes and have to fight in an all-out battle called Mortal Kombat. Don’t go into these movies thinking that it will be like the games because it won’t be. My advice is to keep them separate, like most adaptations. That way it won’t be so hard to enjoy. Doing so will also ensure that gaming fans will enjoy the movie for what it is. Now, though I like the newer version better, the old is still just as good for its time. Things change and so do movies. Oh, before I forget, an interesting fact about the actor who plays Sub-Zero in new film, they say his martial arts skills are right up there with legendary Bruce Lee. They actually had to ask him to slow down for the camera, now isn’t that interesting? Jennifer Rhodes met Melanie back when True Blood was popular and they have been friends ever since. She loves TV (especially things that make you smile), Doctor Who, Finding new shows, and regularly provides awesome fandom items for Muser Giveaways. Jennifer is now a proud member of the VIPers - the Melanie's Muses Spotlight Feature Team! Dave - (Side Note)Jenn said everything perfectly. The only thing I'd add is slight R-rating warning. If you have an aversion to red, avoid the new movie. Like the games, the violence and bloodshed are used early and often. But really, you wouldn't expect anything less from Mortal Kombat. You need a few fatalities. Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more. He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses. Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies" Melanie -MORTAL KOMBAT *starts singing techno music* ...... OK so I LOVED this game back in the day, and honestly, I would still play it now if I had a newer game system ... and the game! Greg and I both loved the original movie too so when we heard there was a sequel you know we had to watch it! Before I get to the movies though - in case you wondered what me singing techno music might sound like here's a clip from Sunday's Live where I do just that ......... and the ACTUAL game music for comparison!
So the 1995 movie is definitely cheesy, but that doesn't necessarily mean bad. The biggest problem it has is that it was edited to a "more acceptable" PG 13 version. For whatever crazy reason, known only to the movie studios, they thought their key demographic would be teenage boys whose parents wouldn't be taking them to an R-Rated movie. Total fail! One of the things about the game was the insane death scenes, to epic cries of "FINISH HIM" and of course "FATALITY". With a 13 rating there was no way to get in all the blood, the gore, and honestly all the violence I wanted to see. That being said it does have the game's iconic music, and it does feature the epic tournament, and for that alone I will applaud it. Moving onto the new 2021 version, this is where I have to disagree with Jenn and Dave. I wasn't interested in the character backstories. When I used to play I was the kind of person that skipped all that stuff and just wanted to fight ..... and that's what I wanted in this movie - FIGHT SCENES! With that being said, when this version had them, they were epic. Blood and gore and everything that I would have LOVED to have seen in the earlier version. I feel it is important to note that this isn't a sequel. Whilst it does feature new characters, the main story is a different version of the stories of the well known characters from the 1995 version. The two big misses though were 1. The lack of the techno soundtrack (although it might only have been me and Greg that missed that lol), and 2. NO TOURNAMENT! Lots of talk about the epic tournament with the champions for Earth Realm, but no actual tournament itself, with the movie focusing more on the set up and various other fights. Overall both movies work in their own way. For me Christopher Lambert stole the role of Lord Raiden giving the 1995 version a huge advantage, but the R Rated violence of the 2021 version was just a far better plan and felt more like the game I used to play. Check out the trailers for both movies!
The new Mortal Kombat movie is in select theaters now and available for the next month with your HBO Max Subscription (which for one month is cheaper than a movie ticket ... Just saying .... lol All Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!)  GIVEAWAY DETAILS & HOW TO ENTER!
Melanie's Muses will be giving away an "Mortal Kombat" featuring The Mortal Kombat DVD, from Dennifer Rhodes Christy, Spider Web Earrings from Vicky Pond, and random stickers and a Sin Eater Movie Card from Melanie's Muses Swag Hoard! For your chance to win- leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE WEBSITE (comments left on shares around other social media WILL NOT COUNT) - Did you ever play the game Mortal Kombat? The winner will be picked randomly from qualifying comments. Other comments about the article are very welcome but only entrants with the qualifying comments will go in the hat! What your answer is will not influence whether you go into the hat - Only that you answer the question! Winner will be announced during the Live show on May 16th (and then posted here on the blog as well on May 17th. Full Rules Below! Good luck everyone! Rules
Win It Wednesday - The Blues Brothers - A Double Feature by Dave Christy & Jennifer Rhodes4/20/2021
Dave-
"Blues Brothers". Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi. Top comedians of the time and a sure-fire winning combination. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher and John Candy also appear. And an eagle-eyed viewer may spot Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman). Upon Jake's release from prison, he and Elwood visit their old orphanage and learn they need $5000 or else it’s getting sold.
A vision during church leads them to believe they need to get the band back together as a mission from God to raise the money to save the orphanage. What else can I possibly say about this movie? It’s a comedy. It’s a musical. With the all the car chases, and explosions, sometimes it feels like an action movie. It’s pure chaos and it’s a classic that is not to be missed!
Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more. He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses. Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies"
Jenn -
You may not have heard of this sequel, but in my opinion it’s way better than the first. That movie is "Blues Brothers 2000". I’m not saying I haven’t seen the first one, of course I have. Who hasn’t? I just prefer the sequel.
This movie starts off will Elwood Blues getting out of prison and finding out that his beloved brother and band partner has died. Not knowing what to do, he starts singing at a club owned by a former band member. That’s how he comes to meet Mighty Mack and Buster, who in this movie is my favorite character!
Melanie note - No gif here because I could NOT find one for Blues Brothers 2000 no matter WHAT I searched - so you get a picture instead lol
Now nothing is easy for the Blues gang and just like in the first movie they break the law and have a trail of cops and mercenaries after them. Heading to Louisiana and the battle of the bands is their goal. Do they make it? Do they win the battle of the bands? Well, I could tell you but if you haven’t seen this brilliant, underrated sequel then you really should check it out for yourself!
Jennifer Rhodes met Melanie back when True Blood was popular and they have been friends ever since. She loves TV (especially things that make you smile), Doctor Who, Finding new shows, and regularly provides awesome fandom items for Muser Giveaways. Jennifer is now a proud member of the VIPers - the Melanie's Muses Spotlight Feature Team!
Any Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!) Any Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!) 
GIVEAWAY DETAILS & HOW TO ENTER!
Melanie's Muses will be giving away a "Blues Brothers" Prize Pack containing the Blues Brothers Double Feature DVD, Stickers, and Emoji From Dennifer and Earrings and a Scrunchie from the Melanie's Muses Prize Hoard! For your chance to win- leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE WEBSITE (comments left on shares around other social media WILL NOT COUNT) - Have you seen one, both, or neither of these movies? (If you have which one was your favorite?) The winner will be picked randomly from qualifying comments. Other comments about the article are very welcome but only entrants with the qualifying comments will go in the hat! What your answer is will not influence whether you go into the hat - Only that you answer the question! Winner will be announced during the Live show on May 2nd (and then posted here on the blog as well on May 3rd Full Rules Below! Good luck everyone! Rules
Dave - Usually the first response when you about a show or movie you like being remade is "Why????" I have to agree with that response for the most part. Especially if it’s something more recent. Something older, you can kinda see. We have the technology to expand, make it more marketable. But when it’s been more recent, the DVD’s are almost always readily available. There is no need to make a new version when the old version is most likely streaming somewhere or available at several different retailers. Case in point-- the new Charmed series. You can always make a show about magic and witches, but the story of the Charmed Ones and sisters has been told, told well, and told pretty recently. It isn’t old enough to warrant a retelling. Melanie - UGH I am not even going to get started on the new Charmed series - that can just stay a HUGE pass from me! I'll stick with the original! Dave - The Spider-Man saga is the same way. After 3 movies with Tobey Maguire, they rebooted and retold the origin story with Andrew Garfield. It hadn't been that long! And that origin story is one of the most famous origins in the history of comics. It doesn’t need to be retold after a few years. And don’t even get me started on the issues I have with "Homecoming". It’s like they took everything from the comics and threw it against the wall. Arrrrgh!
Dave - Someone said, “why try to remake a successful movie when there are movies that underperformed that have room to be improved upon?” I try to go into the remakes and reboots with as much of an open mind as I possibly can. Sometimes they can be good. It doesn’t mean they needed to be made though. Rob Zombie's Halloween delved into Michael Myers childhood and expanded on that a little more. The Friday the 13th reboot trimmed the Mrs. Vorhees history and focused on Jason, giving a little more psychological input and introduced the mask much earlier. The Nightmare on Elm Street remake got a little into the original storyline of Freddy's background. A lot of people when they watch them, they don’t like them but give odd reasons. "The first one was original and unique. This one isn’t." Ummm, it’s a remake. How is it supposed to be original? It’s a double-edged sword. If they make it too much like the original (like the shot-for-shot "Psycho" remake), the question is asked "Why bother?" If they change too much, they don’t like the changes that are made and say "It's different". You can't win with them. Melanie - I see what you mean here but I can think of a few examples that have done a really good job. Fright Night is one that immediately springs to mind. I will admit - having David Tennant prancing about in leather, dressed as a Cris Angel wanna be WAS extremely tempting in itself .... but the movie was actually a really good version. It updated to make it more relevant, whilst still playing a good homage to the original - even having a cameo from Chris Saranden himself! So this proves that it CAN be done - sadly it just usually isn't!  Dave - They even tried remaking movies but gave them different names. "The Roommate" had the same exact plot as "Single White Female". "Due Date" was basically the same as "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" except it wasn’t at Thanksgiving. Melanie - Yup with you on that one! Stealing the plot from a movie and remaking it with a new name is a total cop out! Dave - Even the current hits, what if someone gets the idea to remake them 10-20 years down the line? Imagine them trying to remake the Harry Potter films at some point? The only way I can see that being successful is if they make it exactly like the books where the movies strayed a little-- or a lot in the later ones-- and go animated. But then again, that could lead to some long movies!!! Could we sit through or 4-5 hour movie? Everything from Goblet of Fire and after would be at least 2 parts. Melanie - I would totally watch the completely unedited - as the books were - versions of the Harry Potter movies in animated forms. That being said there are a couple of examples where I think TV / Movie adaptations are better. Twilight is the first one - yes I know - haters keep your hate because I don't care .... not a fan of the books (mainly the writing style but Midnight Sun was awesome), but the movies were great. 50 Shades of Grey too - and most recently Discovery of Witches. A lot of text was cut from the Discovery of Witches TV adaptation and in my opinion it improved the overall flow exponentially. Dave - To finish with I will say that my conclusion is that I am afraid we are forever doomed to be living in a world of remakes. Hollywood has become a drone. Churning out copy after copy with the logic of "it was popular before, so we should make another one". Lightning in a bottle can rarely be caught twice. It takes a special magic to make it work the first time. It won't always work the second time around.
About The Authors -
Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more. He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses. Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies" Melanie Newton - Founder of Melanie's Muses - You should know who I am lol If not click - All about Melanie!
Jennifer -
So, if you know me by now then you know of my love for everything different and unusual, and that includes the strange and crazy too. The person I’m talking about in this article definitely fits all of that, and that’s my main man, Tim Burton. Whatever he does is gold, well at least it is to me. I’m also a huge fan of his wife Helena Bonham Carter. She’s also been in most of his movies as well, and I guess they’re not really married but they’ve been together long enough they might as well be.
Melanie - I love her too - I also think it's hilarious that he didn't want to cast her in Sweeny Todd! I mean can you imagine ANYONE else?
Back to our main man though. His movies range from “Corpse Bride” & “Nightmare Before Christmas” (producer) and pretty much everything in between. “Big Fish”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Batman”.
I should stop there. As much as I would love to talk about every single movie, I can't because then we’d be here all day ...... with a 93-page article. That would take a long time for you to read and you probably wouldn't make it to the giveaway! . Though I will mention my top five in no particular order. “Nightmare before Christmas” “Beetlejuice”, “Corpse Bride”, “Sweeney Todd” and the new “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and then maybe you can tell me yours..... (CHECK THE GIVEAWAY QUESTION!)
Also, fun fact if you happen to notice Johnny Depp is also in a lot of his movies, and I mean really how can you not? Well I’m also huge fan of his. He’s also great friends with Tim Burton and if you have any hate towards Johnny, please keep it to yourself.
Melanie - AGREED!!! All Johnny love here! Also if you LIKE Johnny you should defintely check out his band with Alice Cooper - The Hollywood Vampires! We saw them live - not long after some of the Johnny Depp controversy came out and all I can say is #TeamJohnny!!!! ALSO THESE VIDEOS WERE RECORDED LIVE - You can find actual recordings of the songs - but I love the live vibe!
Anyways I’m sure you’ve heard of the awesomeness that is Tim burton but if not, I suggest that you check out his movies immediately.
Jennifer Rhodes met Melanie back when True Blood was popular and they have been friends ever since. She loves TV (especially things that make you smile), Doctor Who, Finding new shows, and regularly provides awesome fandom items for Muser Giveaways. Jennifer is now a proud member of the VIPers - the Melanie's Muses Spotlight Feature Team!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS & HOW TO ENTER!
Melanie's Muses will be giving away a "Tim Burton Prize Pack" featuring Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride DVDs, Stickers, and a Decal From The Dennfer and Melanie's Muses Prize Hoard! For your chance to win- leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE WEBSITE (comments left on shares around other social media WILL NOT COUNT) - What’s your favorite Tim Burton Movie? (Yes you can list more than one if you have to lol) The winner will be picked randomly from qualifying comments. Other comments about the article are very welcome but only entrants with the qulifying comments will go in the hat! What your answer is will not influence whether you go into the hat - Only that you answer the question! Winner will be announced during the Live show on April 25th (and then posted here on the blog as well on April 26th Full Rules Below! Good luck everyone! Rules
For today’s Win It Wednesday we bring to you something a little different. The story of the Muser Poop Emoji – and of course a giveaway to go with it! As mentioned in the previous “Emoji giveaway” – the poop emoji was apparently originally designed as “Ice Cream”. Let’s be honest here – everyone thinks it’s a poop emoji, a cute little poop emoji, but poop nevertheless. When Facebook started acting all rubbish we would say it was being “Ice Cream” …. And it sort of grew from there. Back when we used to have Trivia every week we wanted an old fashioned “booby prize” type option. We had 3 envelopes that the winner could “gamble” for, and the booby prize was a Poop Emoji Sticker mainly because I had a couple of sheets laying around and we thought it would be funny! (There is actually a set of them IN the prize pack!) Little did we know what we had started. Musers started collecting the Poop Emoji stickers as a sort of Muser claim to fame! It was like the elusive “Blankety Blank Check Book And Pen” (which probably means nothing to Americans – click here to learn more lol). And it just sort of grew and morphed into a Muser thing! At Christmas we adopted a rainbow singing poop emoji at Christmas (Sir Patrick Poopsalot – you can see him in action at the video below), Greg made some Muser Exclusive Pencils (One in the prize pack), and now it is just something every Muser comes to know and love! From stickers, to pencils, candy, and now a Mug – The Muser Poop Emoji Love is here to stay! (That and Pineapples lol) And that is the Muser Poop Emoji Story ..... so far!  GIVEAWAY DETAILS & HOW TO ENTER!
Melanie's Muses will be giving away an "Poop Emoji Prize Pack" featuring A Rainbow Poop Emoji Mug (with lid), Poop Emoji Key Chain, & Sucker, A Crazy Face Emoji Bag, Rainbow Poop Emoji Stickers & A Melanie's Muses Cookie (Sent in by Dennifer), An Exclusive Rainbow Poop Emoji Pencil (customized by Greg - as seen in the video above), And some of the original Poop Emoji Prize Stickers (Sent in by Jennifer Bollnow). For your chance to win- leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE WEBSITE (comments left on shares around other social media WILL NOT COUNT) - Letting us know how long you have been a Muser! Were you around when the Poop Emoji Thing Started - or are you newer? Everyone is welcome! The winner will be picked randomly from qualifying comments. Other comments about the article are very welcome but only entrants with the qualifying comments will go in the hat! What your answer is will not influence whether you go into the hat - Only that you answer the question! Winner will be announced during the Live show on April 18th (and then posted here on the blog as well on April 19th Full Rules Below! Good luck everyone! Rules
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