Category: Cinema

I stumbled upon this on cable a few weeks ago, coming into the story about halfway through. Bagdad Cafe was one of my favorite movies of the late 80s and I had completely forgotten about it.

In case you're unfamiliar with the film, here's a brief synopsis:

This West German film is set in the California Desert. A husband-and-wife pair of Bavarian tourists become stranded when their car breaks down; after a quarrel, the wife, Jasmine (Marianne Sagebrecht), gathers her luggage and stalks off. She stops at the Bagdad Cafe, a fleapit truckstop run by outspoken Brenda (C.C.H. Pounder—yes the same C.C.H. Pounder of NCIS New Orleans and Warehouse 13 fame), who is also having husband problems. The Cafe has become a magnet for some of truly odd characters: temperamental Hispanic cook Cahuenga (George Aguilar), tattoo artist Debby (Christine Kaufmann), and onetime Hollywood set designer Rudy (Jack Palance). Despite obvious personality differences, Jasmine and Brenda become friends.

I had forgotten what a sweet, innocent film this was, and immediately ordered a copy from Amazon to add it to my collection.

Personally, it came into my life during a period of great exploration and expansion I found myself in during the first few years after I'd moved to San Francisco. Seeing the quirky, indie films that would never have come to Phoenix or Tucson become one of the great joys of living in The City, and the late 80s especially, seemed full of these films: Bagdad Cafe, Prick Up Your Ears, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Eat the Rich, Personal Services, Parting Glances, Maurice, and many, many more.

If you haven't seen it, here's the trailer…

"It's all about magic."

From The Maze Runner outtake reel…

…that they don't know shit.

Jupiter Ascending is a marvelous, visually stunning film. Yeah, there were a few plot holes, but it was by no means the hot mess that reviewers have been painting it to be. If anything, it could've used a bit more character development in the first act, but other than that I found it wholly original, fun, and—unlike the majority of critics—I had no trouble following along with the storyline.

And speaking of visually stunning, it also didn't hurt that Channing Tatum was half-naked for a quarter of the film…

Just sayin'.

I give it 9 out of 10 and one I'll probably add to my library once it's available on BluRay

Part of the 2015 Sundance lineup, this is the first look we're getting at the mockumentary that asks how the world would respond to alien life.

Here's the official synopsis from Sundance:

The Visit / Denmark, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Norway (Director: Michael Madsen) — "This film documents an event that has never taken place…" With unprecedented access to the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs, leading space scientists and space agencies, The Visit explores humans' first encounter with alien intelligent life and thereby humanity itself. "Our scenario begins with the arrival. Your arrival." World Premiere (Part of World Cinema Documentary Competition)

I think it's time to break out the DVD again…

What would happen if today's movie trailer standards were applied to a classic like The Empire Strikes Back?

Cameron Arrigioni decided to take a stab at it, and except for the "A George Lucas Film" part, I have to say the results are phenomenal.

Interstellar was one of the must-see movies on my list this year. I'm by no means a fan of Matthew McConaughey, but the story itself intrigued and excited me.

We saw it last night, and I came away impressed. I'd give it an 8 out of 10, and the only reason I didn't rate it any higher was that I had to suspend belief for some of the "sciencey" things the film; the whole surviving a trip into a black hole among them. I know a lot of critics hated the "love transcends time and space" theme that figured so prominently in the final acts of the movie, but that aspect of the story didn't bother me at all..

The visuals—as expected—were stunning, and the homage payed to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was brilliant: everything from the practical effects the filmmakers used to the very real total-silence-in space shots of the spacecraft themselves.

It was nice to see woofy Wes Bentley cast in a non-adversarial role for a change, and Matt Damon—not to mention Topher Grace—popping up (I hadn't seen any mention of their involvement in the film prior to actually seeing it) was a total surprise.

Movie of the Year? This generation's 2001? I wouldn't go that far, but definitely left an impression.

We didn't see it in IMAX, which I kind of regret because this film definitely deserves it—but there's nothing to say we won't see it again…

…a lot more than I expected, considering some of the reviews I'd read.

Disclaimer: I have never read the book(s), and frankly one of the main reasons I wanted to see it was because I think Dylan O'Brien is cute. And at my age I realize that makes me a bit of a perv, even if the guy is 23 years old.

Anyhow…

It was an engaging story. There was plenty of attractive eye candy in the casting and I didn't find myself nodding off, or reaching for my phone to check the time. I didn't leave the theater feeling like I'd been cheated out of $6.50.

Some reviewers had issue with the "ending" (there's a sequel in the works, natch), of the film. Even I found it a bit of a letdown as the expected "it was aliens" storyline didn't pan out, but that's not my beef with the last act.

[Spoilers ahead]

My beef—and it's not something that immediately slapped me up the side of the head while watching the film, but only came to me as a WTF moment when I was thinking about the film much later—comes from the fact that Gally, one of the characters who chose to remain behind in the Glade when Thomas and the others left to find a way out, miraculously showed up in the control room shortly after they arrived there and started to (pardon the pun) put the puzzle together.

So wait, let me get this straight: after Thomas's group dispatched several of the dreaded and deadly grievers in the maze by bringing down the huge stone doors and blocking further access to the promised exit as well as having the only key to open the portals—not to mention the knowledge of the numbers necessary to unlock the final door—Gally somehow manages to recreate all that by himself?

Seriously?

Okay, I realize he was a bit of a dick character from the get-go whose offing wasn't exactly mourned by the audience, and whose presence at the end of the movie was necessary to dispatch one of the more sympathetic players, but still…HOW DID HE GET THERE?

And while I'm thinking about all this, the perv in me keeps asking, "So we have this group of (presumably hormone-addled) teenage boys thrown together for the last three years with only each other for company and there wasn't one instance of bump-bump going on out in the forest or even any romantic pairing? Or more importantly, when a girl arrives, she isn't immediately passed around like a party favor?

I guess I really am jaded.

"Well, at least we didn't pay full price."

I don't remember what I was originally looking for when I stumbled across this on YouTube, but it brought a ton of memories flooding back. I was absolutely obsessed with this movie as a young adult. I was in eighth grade at the time, and being the same age as as the character, developed a huge crush on "Francher."

From Wikipedia:

The People is a 1972 television film, broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week on January 22, 1972. It is mostly based on a novella by Zenna Henderson, "Pottage", but also contains elements from her stories "Ararat", "Gilead", and "Captivity". It stars Kim Darby and William Shatner.

This science fiction film tells the story of Melodye Amerson (Kim Darby), a young teacher who goes to a remote area to work with a group of individuals who have isolated themselves from civilization and maintained an independent community, vaguely similar to the Amish or a religious commune. Melodye is unnerved by the secretive behavior of her students, and the fact that all fun, games and activities she proposes are forbidden to them. Valancy (Diane Varsi), an elder in the community, advises Melodye to stay, because she senses that things are about to change in the valley, and Melodye herself is a part of that change.

Melodye soon discovers that the secluded and "backwards" residents are actually aliens with mild paranormal powers. A natural disaster destroyed their planet, and they are hoping to establish a life on Earth. Landing in the late 1800s, initially they shared their secret with local residents, but found themselves condemned as witches. Many were killed, and the survivors forbade their children ever to use their abilities, even with extreme discretion. Young adults like Valancy (and even some of the older people) have been pushing for an end to these restrictions.

What surprised me the most about seeing this again some forty years later is how I remembered not only the music, but also most of the dialog. This is amazing considering this was many years prior to VCRs, so I couldn't have seen it more than a couple times yet somehow managed to commit so much of it to memory. This speaks volumes about what an impression this movie left on me.

It also explains the origin of a lot of the themes contained in a short story I wrote a couple years later in high school; something else I had completely forgotten about until I found it while going through my Dad's effects a year ago.

Intriguing title, no?

On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses, and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not yet dead. As the group begins to fall apart it seems their only hope is the imminent arrival of the relief ship Aurora.

Interesting premise, and the trailer was intriguing:

I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, but oh my lord…

We all know Liev Schreiber is a certified hunk and a decent actor. But if I ran into him on the street, I'd have to ask, "Why, Liev? Why?! Were you bored? Needed money? What, for Chrissake prompted you to sign on to this stinker?"

It's not out in theaters yet, but I read the other day it was available through VOD. There wasn't anything else on the teevee machine tonight, so I agreed to the $10 charge and ordered it up.

All I can say is at least it wasn't two ten dollar tickets plus concessions in a theater

Alien meets Ghosts of Mars meets 28 Days Later meets The Thing meets…

You get the idea. To its credit, the visuals were awesome. The Martian landscape shots were beautiful. The story, however…well Zombies in Space would've been more apt a title and from the way the characters reacted to the threat, it was painfully obvious none of them had ever seen a zombie apocalypse movie of any kind. If they had they would've known instinctively that the only way to stop the damn things is with a steel spike through the head. But no!

 

Ben and I saw the new Carrie yesterday. I went in with low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. While my memories of the original film are kind of hazy at this point, I think this re-telling of the story seemed much more faithful to the original story—or at least it fleshed out a lot of what had been missing from the 1976 film.

While I thought Sissy Spacek provided a much more vulnerable and abused Carrie, Julianne Moore brought a whole new level of cray-cray to the role of Mrs. White. Dat bitch be insane!

When the film ended, I didn't feel like I'd been cheated out of seven dollars, but on the other hand, I had no immediate desire to see it again until it shows up on cable…

Final verdict? Recommended. It's a fun little escape.

The same cannot be said for the pay-per-view movie we saw last night: Pacific Rim. The only redeeming feature of that stinker seemed to be the eye candy provided in a nicely matured Charlie Hannam. Setting aside that the whole premise was ridiculous, it seemed to be yet another in a very long line of  films where the firm providing the CGI just perfected one of those Wow! special effects (in this case, creating millions of bits of shattered glass) and immediately thought it would be a good idea to use everywhere. Again and again.

This was one of those films that I had wanted to see when it originally came out but never got around to. I'm glad now I didn't waste money to see it in the theater…

For the first time ever, I don't have a single negative thing to say about a movie.

It's even worth paying for a full-price ticket.

…for a viewing.

Instead of heading to the theater to see White House Down last night as I'd originally planned, I came home and curled up in front of the television and ordered Europa Report on cable.

I read yesterday that this geekly-anticipated film—while not released to theaters until August 2nd—was for some reason immediately available via VOD.

Europa Report was something I caught wind of several months ago and found the premise intriguing: a "hard" science fiction story (aka 2001, or Moon) without the usual epic space battles and prosthetic aliens we've come to expect from the sci-fi genre.

When all was said and done, I wasn't disappointed—but I wasn't wowed either. Good, but not great. I didn't feel like I'd wasted ten dollars to see it, but it left me wanting more. If you've read any of the speculative fiction written about Europa since the Galileo mission back in the 1990s, you knew how the storyline was going to play out from the very first scene, but it was still nice to see  some of those ideas finally realized on screen. It was interesting, but not particularly surprising.

I was hoping the film would be more along the lines of The Frozen Sky by Jeff Carlson, a book I highly recommend and another one of those novels that's begging to be filmed.

Oddly enough, it's still something I'd like to add to my library when it's available on disk. Take from that what you will.

Today, while reading this, I was reminded of one of my favorite short stories—and one of my most despised movies of all time—Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov.

When I first read this as a young adult, the story fired my imagination, and actually inspired a painting that I started but never completed. That's why—some twenty-five years later, I was thrilled to hear that it had been made into a film. It was with great anticipation that I went to one of the first screenings, and never have I been so throughly and completely disgusted. Most of the audience had walked out long before the film finished, but I—and probably about a couple dozen others—lasted until the bitter end.

As we were walking out something happened that has never happened since: the theater manager actually offered to give us our money back without anyone asking.

It was that bad.

While there are many, many films that should never be touched because they are already perfect in their original incarnations (The Women immediately comes to mind), there are  hundreds of others that beg for an update. So my question to you is this: what film would you remake if you could?  Nightfall is definitely at the top of my list, but there are others. What piece of literature (of any genre) would you like to see on the silver screen that hasn't been put there yet?

 

I saw Man of Steel yesterday. I know I'm going to catch a lot of flack for saying this, and based on the reviews that are pouring in it's obvious that I'm in a decided minority, but I wasn't thrilled.

It wasn't one of my "must see" summer movies, but since I had the day to myself and Ben had no desire to see it I took advantage of the situation.

I started yawning about half way through. Two hours into it I began checking the time on my phone.

For me, it was one of those movies that made me wonder if it was ever going to end, and more than once I thought about just getting up and leaving.

I have no problem with each generation feeling the need to put their own cinematic mark on our cultural mythology, but what annoys me the most about this continually re-telling is that these stories (which we all collectively know by heart) are never moved forward. I mean, how many Superman/Batman/Spiderman  origin stories must we endure without ever adding to the narrative? By now everyone knows how Superman came to be on Earth; how Spiderman was bitten by a rare and/or radioactive spider, and how Batman's deep-seated psychological issues stemming from the death of his parents led him on his path to become the caped crusader.

So why does this story have to be retold again and again? We know it. Let's go on with something new and original. God knows the original comics provide more than enough story lines to sell tickets.

Which reminds me…aren't we about due for another Three Musketeers reboot?

And—ducking—unlike the majority of my gay peers, Henry Cavill just doesn't get my motor running. Sorry, guys. He's decent enough looking (especially when bearded) and has a killer body in this film, but he's still far from leaving-a-wet-spot-on-the-seat hot in my opinion.

Being of a certain age, there will only be one cinematic Superman for me, and that will forever be Christopher Reeve.

And lastly, maybe it's because I'm getting old, but I'm also over all the gratuitous violence in these films. I've never been a fan of it, but I think Man of Steel really went over the edge and could've cut a full half hour of that shit and nothing would've been lost from the story. The time the final fight between Kal-El and General Zod occurred, I kept thinking, "Oh for Chrissake can we please wrap this up already?"

I give it a 5 out of 10. But then, I'm in a mood today.

Last Thursday, Ben and I treated ourselves to a date night. It had been a while since we'd done one, and was a welcome change from our usual routine. We grabbed dinner at Larkburger (the grilled portobello Amy Burger is delish!) and then went to The Landmark at Greenwood Village to see This is the End.

You know from a previous post that I find Seth Rogen un-bear-ably delicious, and his appearance in this movie did nothing to lessen that. But the movie itself? Uneven is probably the best review I can muster. I'd give it maybe a 5 out of 10. This is the End just didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a full-on self-referential comedy or if it wanted to be taken seriously. Yeah, I loved the not-so-subtle homoerotic jokes (Danny McBride alluding to how he was regularly ass-fucking Channing Tatum—who appears in the film in a dog collar and leash, no less!) and there were several laugh-out-loud and jump out out of your seat scenes, but overall I have to say my feelings overall can be summed up thusly:

Coming in August…