Category: Cinema

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Released 31 Years Ago Today

Addams Family Values (1993)

The two Addams Family films are among a very few movies—which include The Fifth Element and Breakfast at Tiffany's—that if I happen to stumble across while channel surfing, I will immediately stop and watch, even if they're three-quarters of the way through the story. They're absolute classics.

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And Then There's This…

I've loved Disney's foray into the Star Wars universe. From The Mandalorian to The Book of Boba Fett (an absolute surprise as I was not expecting to enjoy it at all since I've never been a big fan of the character), these journeys are what the last six feature films should have been. They pay loving respect to the original trilogy and don't beat the viewer over the head with overwrought CGI effects. For the most part, everything in the effects department is practical, and it shows.

You can tell that the team behind these new stories are first and foremost fans of the franchise and pay it the respect it deserves.

That's why I was looking forward with great anticipation to Obi-Wan Kenobi. And yet…now that I'm one episode from finishing this first season, I'm left disappointed. Yes, the sets and the effects are what I've come to expect from Disney, but the story itself has left me disinterested. I hated the prequel films, and while I understand that in context revisiting the events of those three films are necessary to tell this story, it's left me cold. I know that when I find myself fast-forwarding through the stream every few seconds, I am not relishing the experience.

And my final gripe (Get of my lawn!)…why is so much of this story (and to be honest, a lot of things I've seen broadcast recently) filmed so darkly? It's like the lighting levels are designed for viewing in a theater; not in someone's living room—and most certainly not during the day. Even at night I find myself turning off the room lights to see everything that's happening on screen.

So that's it. I really wanted to love Obi-Wan Kenobii, but I just can't…at least not in its present incarnation. Will I keep watching and even watch a second season? Of course—because I keep hoping (though it may be in vain) that it will get better.

UPDATE 6/26: So I finished the season. I missed fully half of what happened in the last episode because it looked like it was filmed at night under a moonless sky. I literally could not see anything that was happening on screen. The television might as well have been turned off.

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Cinematic Anniversaries

The Empire Strikes Back broke the May 25th mold, being released on May 21, 1980.

On that date in May 1980, I was working as a legal messenger for Lewis & Roca, a large law firm in downtown Phoenix. I was still living at home, not yet having made that fortuitous overnight trip to Tucson where I met a man who would light the fire that finally got me to move out and get a place of my own (with him, initially at least). I was still 21 years old (something that would change in a few days hence and an age I used to consider ancient), my folks were still married, no one had heard of AIDS, Jimmy Carter was president, and all of my friends were still blissfully alive, totally unaware of the horror that was about to descend upon the gay community.

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Freaks

Emile Hirsch

I stumbled across Freaks on YouTube yesterday.  It had a slow start and I almost gave up on it several times, but I'm glad I stuck with it. And it's obvious why I chose this particular screen shot to post, isn't it?

This review from IMDB rings true, at least for me: