Category: Cinema

Like so many others, I was so completely disappointed with the mess that was 2007's The Golden Compass, that I really wasn't all that upset that they weren't proceeding with filming the other two books in the series. In fact, I was wondering how they'd even film them, considering they'd so throughly removed the spiritual aspects of the story in order to make it "family friendly" and not offend  any Catholics in the audience.

HBO, however, seems to be throwing that philosophy out the window, promising to remain faithful to the source material. The series—unseen—has already been renewed for a second season, so the possibility of actually seeing book 2,  The Subtle Knife, on screen looks good.

My absolute favorite film of all time: Personal Services (1987)

So I went to see that superhero movie everyone's talking about the other night.

To be honest, the only reason I did it was to hopefully get answers to the many questions I had after stumbling upon that other superhero movie on HBO several weeks ago. Ben had no desire to see it, and while I'm loathe to go to a cinema these days (it's not your personal fucking living room; corral your spawn, shut up, sit down, and behave yourself), Ben was attending another event and I figured it was a good a time as any.

Little did I know I was walking into another one of those seemingly never-ending movies where I found myself reaching for a non-existent remote to fast forward to the end about two-thirds of the way into it.

Yes, I got my questions answered, and as I suspected it involved time travel (of course), but JUST END THE THING FOR CHRISSAKE! Did they really need to get Thanos involved once again after finishing him off? Did we really need another planet-shattering battle where it seems every damned Marvel character in existence showed up? Did we really need the tearful [spoilers!] send off of Iron Man with—again—every Marvel character every created attending the funeral? Are there really that many unemployed actors, desperate for a paycheck, in Hollywood right now?

And is Tony Stark really dead? Did Robert Downey Jr. say, "Enough of this bullshit!" or will payments on his mortgage force him back into the red suit at some point?

It wasn't a bad movie per se, but it was ultimately disposable and way too long. I got in on a movie pass, so I didn't feel like I'd been cheated (if I'd actually paid the $11 admision fee I might've felt different) or that I'd wasted three hours of my life. I just didn't leave feeling…entertained.

And BTW,  GET OFF MY LAWN!

It Chapter Two

I will be the first to admit that over the years I've lost track of the Marvel cinematic universe, but that was my reaction after finally seeing Infinity War on HBO last week.

I've never read a single comic, and of the nineteen (!) films released so far (don't worry – there are at least a half dozen more in the pipeline), I've seen only 8—and even fewer in an actual theater. It's not that I don't enjoy them; I'm just not a big enough fan to justify putting the time or effort into the following the franchise.

While I understand Infinity War left wet spots in fanboy panties, it left me scratching my head—maybe because I'm not really up to speed on what's been happening? Keeping that in mind, my take away was that it seemed like little more an excuse to bring pretty much all of the characters together in a single film and then kill half of them off—for what purpose? (And quite frankly, I found bringing the humorous Guardians of the Galaxy aesthetic into the much more serious environment of the rest of the Marvelverse was more than a bit incongruous.)

Just call me a heretic and burn me at the stake.

And questions…so. many. questions!

Did Thanos' magic gauntlet wipe out half of all life everywhere or was it just half of sentient species? Is half the biosphere of every planet everywhere now just gone? Instead of restoring balance (as was his intent?), if that's the case isn't that likely to make an even bigger mess of things?

Just askin'

That being said, of course now I have to see Endgame just to see how all this is rectified—because you know all those superheroes aren't just gonna stay dead. Keeping in mind my obviously limited knowledge of the franchise, I predict a deus ex machina. Or time travel. Or magic. Or all of the above. Maybe tacos.

(Feel free to post spoilers and save me $15 that might be better spent on tacos.)

…this is how I got to Amadeus, because of a conversation I was having with some friends (one of whom could've been a dead ringer for Mr. 74 below when he was younger) about this piece of music being used in the latest Apple commercial. Go figger.

Don't ask how I stumbled upon this, but it's one of my favorite scenes from Amadeus. I'm sure I'll show you how I got here on the next post.

There have been rumors of a rebooted/reimaged Dune movie in the works for years now. But it looks like it's finally happening.

As I may have written before, when the original Dune came out in 1984 I was ecstatic. The Dune series remain my favorite books of all time, and while it was a difficult, convoluted story, I knew the first time I read it that it was deserving of a proper screen adaptation.

That being said, when I saw David Lynch's version, I walked away sorely disappointed. Visually stunning, what I saw on screen matched almost exactly what I had visualized while reading the novel. But halfway through the story had been changed to such a degree that it was almost unrecognizable. And Paul making it rain at the end? Water is poison to the sandworms, so he would've effectively destroyed all spice production then and there.

I had my hopes dashed once again with the Dune and Children of Dune miniseries that appeared on the SyFy Channel in the early 2000s. This time the story matched the books almost perfectly, but the visuals were off. They looked cheap and I not-so-affectionately refer to the production as "Planet of the Hats." Still, it was better than nothing, and better than Lynch because at least it followed the original storyline.

That's why when I heard that Dennis Villeneuve (most recently known for Blade Runner 2049) would be taking the helm this time around, I had my hopes rekindled that we'd finally see a Dune worthy of its beloved status.

This production will star Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) as Paul Atreides. The cast will also include Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible) as Lady Jessica, Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Beast Rabban, Charlotte Rampling (Broadchurch) as The Reverend Mother Helen Mohiam (perfect!), and Stellan Skarsgård (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) as Baron Harkonnen. The other major roles have yet to be cast, but I'm optimistic because of who has already signed on.

The film is expected to begin filming in Budapest and Jordan this spring.

Precious few details have leaked out, but today I found these enigmatic photos on a Dune fan taken in Jordan that were simply labeled, "Arrakis, Jordan. Wadi Rum. Our New Home of Dune."

Squee!

Even though the film came out sixteen years ago, I'd never seen The Hours in full until today. I ran across the soundtrack sometime during 2005 while browsing at the public library and it became my go-to writing music for quite a while, without ever really knowing the story behind it. (I love all things Philip Glass so that point was moot.)

Several months ago I noticed it playing on IFC one day while channel surfing, but it was nearly over so I set the DVR to record the next showing. I attempted to watch thereafter but I fell asleep halfway through. (It wasn't the movie's fault; I was exhausted.)

Today I started it over and watched the whole thing. All I can say is "Wow."

I'll leave it to a review I found online that mirrors my own feelings about the film:

"…it is impossible to fault at any level: Acting, dialogue, costumes, locations, soundtrack, scenery, settings or storyline.

"Films like this don't come along too often–beautifully made in an almost understated way, it relates to no major event or cataclysm, it chronicles no turning-point in history and it poses no worrying conundrum for the future. It is simply a quietly-told story that will criss-cross between various points in time and take you deep into the characters' emotions and portray the effect that they have on their lives. When you have seen and come to understand the events that take place, by the time it concludes it will leave you feeling refreshed and perhaps a little better in touch with the emotions in your own life–just like good films should, but sadly, so rarely do…

Easily 9 out of 10–If you watch this one, you will not regret the time spent."

The Addams Family (1991)

Another one of those films (along with its sequel) that when it appears on cable I drop everything I'm doing to watch. Raúl Juliá's death in 1994 was an absolute tragedy. The Addams Family films had the potential for becoming such a wonderful series. Watching Pugsley and Wednesday grow up would've been delightful…

It turns out that the film had a very tortured birth and that there actually was a third film with a totally different cast, director, and production company that went direct to video and crashed horribly—as it should have. You don't mess with classics.

…time for Charlie Sheen and his immaculately groomed goatee in the bathtub scene!

This of course was long before Mr. Sheen's numerous personal issues came to light.

Name three movies that no matter how often they show up on cable, you'll stop to watch.

For us, they're:

● The Fifth Element
● Pitch Black
● Resident Evil

What are yours?

We finally got out to the movies yesterday and saw A Quiet Place.

All I can say is, "Wow! What a great movie!" and I'm so glad we got to see it in the theater instead of waiting for Netflix. This is one film what needs to be experienced in a dark theater without any sort of outside distractions.

While the general structure of the film echoes many a sci-fi trope (The Waveries by Fredric Brown immediately comes to mind), A Quiet Place ramps up the fear factor to 11 and immediately turns it into a good old-fashioned monster movie. No explanation is given as to how the creatures came to be, where they came from, or what their ultimate goal was—other than to ravenously eat any living thing that makes a noise.

The sense of claustrophobia in this movie telling the story of a seemingly isolated family in the aftermath of a global apocalypse is compounded by a skillful use of absolute silence punctuated by the movie score.

And without giving anything away, the ending is one of the best I've seen in years. It's been a while since I was in a theater that spontaneously erupted in applause when the credits started to roll.

If you're a fan of the genre—or only want to spend some quality time with a very hunky bearded John Krasinski, set two hours aside and go see it. You won't be disappointed.

(I just read there is already a sequel in the works. If they must do this, I seriously hope it isn't a sequel, but rather a prequel. Considering this film starts on "Day 89," I want to see what happened Day 0-88.)

50 years ago today, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey had its galactic premiere at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 2, 1968, forever changing my young—and ultimately providing wholly unrealistic—expectations of the future

How Call Me By Your Name should have ended (and may yet, if rumors of a sequel are to be believed).