Sunday, 29. November 2009, 19:31:34
Movies, The Republic of Bullshit
"WTFs with these people?"
Last night I watched 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) on late-night cable.
And I have to say I was tremendously saddened by the treatment given
to the creature from Venus in this movie. Stolen from its native planet
when just an egg. Taken millions of miles to a strange world. Kept in a
cage for the first weeks of its life by a crazy old Italian zoologist.
Attacked by dogs, farmers, and elephants. And then of course killed
simply because they didn't know quite else what to do with it. Hey,
why didn't you think of that from the beginning, dumb shits? I mean,
come on...
Well, here's a word of advice to any future interplanetary travelers:
Keep your damn hands off other people's eggs!
(Just click on the pic to play the vid.)
Thursday, 19. November 2009, 22:38:58
Movies
Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio.
I finally saw Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006)
the other night. Yeah, I know it's three years old --
it takes me a while sometimes. The fast skinny is that
as soon as I get around to it I'm going to add it to
my list of Best Detective Movies.
The movie is a remake of 2002's Internal Affairs
from Hong Kong. It really didn't surprise me then that
the plot was excellent -- Hong Kong has had the "gangster"
flicks down pat for decades now.
Leonardo DiCaprio just keeps getting better and better.
Especially with his beard and the little bit of extra
weight he's put on he reminds me so much of the young
Orsen Welles both in looks and in acting ability.
Tuesday, 17. November 2009, 21:20:26
Cultural Ecology, Movies, Culture
Manhauling a wounded friend outside the
New York Public Library.
I watched The Day After Tomorrow the other
night. The movie portrays quick and massive
environmental disaster on a world scale.
It snows in New Dehli, multiple tornadoes
hit Los Angeles, there is 12 feet of snow
in most of Europe. And as if that is not
bad enough, 3 mega-storm centers merge to
bring the Earth back to a new Ice Age. Jeez,
and I thought I was pessimistic.
As far as I know the science was completely
exaggerated. Not that any of that stuff couldn't
happen, but it wouldn't happen within the short
time period portrayed by the movie. It was a
movie, after all, and certain things were needed
to keep a story together. But nevertheless
that kind of thing could occur -- not in months
but quite possibly in the span of a century.
I think the damage is currently too great. That
there is simply not enough time, given our nature
as human beings, to turn things around to prevent
major disaster. Already we are in the 25th hour.
I guess that's one thing about the movie that I do
think was accurate.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
-- William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
Thursday, 5. November 2009, 17:09:17
Movies
Yesterday I picked up a discount video over at the grocery.
So after I finished watching the New York Yankees win the
World Series (damn Yankees!) I got a glass of Pepsi and put
on my headphones and watched Into the Wild (2007).
The story is based more or less on fact and the life of Chris
McCandless. When the movie opens McCandless has just graduated
from college. He briefly considers law school. But Chris has
always been a bit of a Thoreauean rebel, and ultimately decides
to get away from his troubled relationship with his well-to-do
parents and go “into the wild” -- away from pretty much all of
the trappings of civilization. As such he packs his backpack and
hops in his old Toyota and goes on the road Kerouac-style. Once
in Arizona he even abandons his car and from then on walks. His
travels take him from the Dakotas to the Gulf of Baja and north
into Washington, and of course points in between. Along the way
he takes the intermittent job. And he meets people -- a odd-ball
farmer, an old hippie couple, an ex-military man who has lost his
family. But foremost in his mind, forming a kind of golden thread,
is his desire to realize his “Alaskan Adventure” as he puts it,
to get to Alaska and as far away from civilization and other human
beings as possible, truly “into the wild.”
It’s a compelling story. But as the movie progressed I began to
feel that Chris’ golden thread was actually a steel wire. As great
as it was that he realized his dream it was sad how he so utterly
abandoned his family and how too his desire for self-actualization
eventually took precedence over a true gift -- his ability to help
and inspire others. So my view by the end of the movie was that his
coming to terms with his past family life and learning that we are
seldom meant to live alone in the world came far to late.
Directed by Sean Penn, the movie in its course piles up more filming
locations than any movie I can think of, and I imagine the crew got
awfully tired of packing all the cameras and equipment into the truck
over and over again. But the result is certainly worth it. You truly
feel as if you are on the road with Chris because of this.
Into the Wild is one of those little gems that makes sitting through
all of the typical action films and romantic comedies worth it. I highly
recommended it.
Tuesday, 8. September 2009, 19:53:14
Music, Movies
Giant Octopus grabs hold of a submarine.
The other night I stretched out on the couch and turned on the Sci-Fi
Channel on television and watched Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009).
The set-up is typical for this type of movie: Something really stupid
we humans do awakens a couple of havoc-wreaking sea creatures from
far back in geologic time -- a giant shark and a giant octopus. The
shark is about the size of an aircraft carrier and the octopus is as
big as Mt. Ranier. Oh and I should say too that the two were/are deadly
enemies. Before you know it all hell breaks loose, as hell always seems
to do. The giant shark eats the Golden Gate Bridge and a U.S. Navy missile
cruiser; meanwhile, the giant octopus takes out an off-shore oil rig and
a passenger plane and a few whales. The Japanese and U.S. governments of
course don't want the public to find out about the shark and the octopus
and starting a panic. So they keep everything a secret and send the Navy
in to try and kill the shark and the octopus.
One of the first to get wise to what is happening is a marine biologist
named Emma. Together with an Irish biologist and a Japanese scientist
they discover what is going on. The governments don't want them causing
any problems of course. But when they are unsuccessful at destroying
the creatures they pretty much forcibly recruit Emma and the others to
help them. The scientists are saddened that such a great research
opportunity will be lost. But eventually even they realize that the two
gigantic creatures aren't exactly fitting into the contemporary
ecosystem and will have to be put down. They come up with a plan to
lure the two creatures together, upon which the shark and octopus fight
a mighty battle against each other and are destroyed. And then the
world can get back to normal. Unfortunately.
Pretty much from the get-go it occurred to me that the actress who played
Emma looked very familiar. But I couldn't figure out where I had seen
her before. So I got onto Internet Movie Database and found out her
name was Deborah Gibson. Well that wasn't much help really, so I dug a
little deeper (it's nice being able to do this stuff on the Blackberry
while watching television) and discovered that Deborah Gibson was in
fact Debbie Gibson -- the famous 80s pop star. If you are too young to
remember her, Gibson was sort of the progenitor of teen singers like
Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus.
Since the 80s Gibson has continued to put out the occasional album and
has made a few movies besides Shark vs. Octopus. She also did an 8-page
photo spread for Playboy back in 2005 at the age of 34. So if there's
anybody out there who lusted after Debbie back in the 80s but was nervous
about the Jail Bait Mind Police as you tossed and turned in bed, it's
okay to lust after her now. Seriously, it really is. It's okay.
After Shark vs. Octopus I started watching Spring Break Shark Attack (2005).
But by that time I was on my third movie in a row where sharks go around
eating people, having seen one the night before that also, and was kind of
tired of it. So I turned off the television and went to bed.
Deborah "Debbie" Gibson.
Saturday, 18. July 2009, 18:50:11
Culture, Movies
Helen Mirren in 2010.
The other night I watched 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) again
on one of the cable channels. More generally known simply as 2010,
the movie is the sequel to 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey and continues
the story of the investigation into the strange monolith begun in the
first movie.
I saw the movie again a few months back. But at that time I guess I
concentrated more on the plot, on the voyage of the Leonov to Jupiter,
the awakening of the American ship Discovery and the HALL-9000 computer,
and the investigation of the monolith -- which at that time had taken
up orbit near Jupiter's moon Io.
This time around I confess I watched 2010 primarily for Helen Mirren.
I first came across Helen in the movie Excaliber (1981) when I saw it
at the theater, and I fell immediately in love with her. After Excaliber
I followed her in Red King, White Knight (1989), White Nights (1985),
and of course 2010. Helen may not have looked more beautiful than she
did back then in the 80s -- already in her late 30s and early 40s.
She's still looks pretty amazing even now.
Helen has been appearing nude or semi-nude in movie roles ever since
one of her first movies, Age of Consent (1969). And in fact her role
as Caesonia in Caligula (1979) was pretty infamous. But she never has
crossed the line into "skanky" like some actresses who have done similar.
Sex and nudity or not, she has always come across as "proper English"
and in fact is a Dame of the British Empire. Put her in a pair of black
fishnet hose and heels and a black dress pulled off the shoulder and
she somehow remains far away from skanky.
Helen's father was Russian, and she grew up with the language. She
claims not to be fluent in it, but when it comes to speaking it in
movie roles she obviously has no problem with it. Her ability with
Russian came in very handy in 2010 in her role as Tanya Kirbuk, the
commander of the Leonov.
There are a number of good scenes in the movie featuring Helen. In my
favorite, Commander Kirbuk is sitting down with Dr. Floyd (Roy Scheider)
to disucss how to best find out information about the monolith. Mirren
wants to send a manned craft down to investigate. "Max will take the
pod" she says. Scheider protests strongly, saying that they have no
idea what the monolith really is or how it will respond, and suggests
sending down an unmanned probe. Helen sticks with her decision. "Max
will take the pod" she says again, firmly. With the Russian accent, it
comes across more like "Max weel take the pawd."
Oh yeah. Max weel take the pawd. I don't know why I find that so sexy,
but I do. Perhaps it's just the accent. Or maybe it's the accent and
Helen's eyes. Or the accent and her eyes and the look of her mouth as
she says it...
Helen and me are at dinner. Candlelight, wine, good conversation. And
eventually she reaches out and takes my hand and half-closes her eyes
and elevates her chin in that way she has and says "Max weel take the
pawd."
Strange how eroticism can come in many forms.
Saturday, 27. June 2009, 22:32:56
Movies, The Four Seasons
(Just click on the pic to play the video on youTube.)
When I was a young teen our television went out. Until it was fixed we
had to watch this little crappy television that only got 2 channels. One
night me and my sister were sitting around watching an old Gunsmoke
episode when I got bored. I started making jokes about the show and adding
my own dialog to the thing. It was fun. And it started a habit that I
continue even today if I happen to find a bad movie which is particularly
good for that kind of thing.
In 1988 a show came on called Mystery Science Theater 2000 (later
3000). In case you've never seen it, the set-up is that a man and his two
robots are trapped aboard a spaceship and forced to watch bad movies.
And as they watch them they poke fun of them.
The guys that did MST2000 were to my mind the masters of that type
of thing. I didn't start watching the show until 1991. But I became
immediately addicted to it. And I continued to enjoy the show until I
went back to school in 1998 and time became a premium commodity.
Last night I happened across this particular MST clip. Unlike the norm
it isn't a movie they sit through, but a very odd short. Wishing that
he would never see another spring in his life when his wife wants the
couch fixed, the main character in the short gets his wish. And let's
just say that when things reverse themselves and get back to normal
that the man becomes a little on the Obsessive Compulsive side about
the whole spring issue.
"That damn spring loving bastard!"
LMAO.
This post brought to you by the
International Spring Cartel.
And Bass Ale.
Thursday, 11. June 2009, 19:32:38
Movies
Judith Vittet ("Miette") and Ron Perlman ("One").
The other night I watched City of Lost Children (1995). I had passed
it by on my freebie movie channel several times in favor of other
movies. But having finally gotten to slim pickings I decided to give
it a view.
The movie is now 14 years old. It is very well known in Europe, but
here in the U.S. not so much. So for those who might not be familiar
with it I will say that City of Lost Children is an adult fairy tale that
evokes the best of the classic tales by Andersen and the Grimm
brothers. And I seem to pick up a streak of E.T.A. Hoffman in it
also.
It is dark and very moving and stunning from a visual standpoint.
It is much darker than Stardust, another recent fairy tale, and much
more evocative of the classic elements in the genre and its archetypal
themes. It is probably closer in most respects to movies like Kafka or
Brazil. So if you liked those you will probably like City. My own
opinion is that it is better than either. And that's saying something,
as I really like those two movies.
I would also highly recommend it to any of my artist friends here on
Opera or who may visit, simply for the visuals.
Like a fairy tale this one affects on a deep level. What happened for
me I think will happen to most who watch the movie: Days afterward
haunted by this or that in it, aware of my own deep possible failings or
insecurities -- which (of course) must remain unspoken, secreted from
the glaring light of day.
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