Sunday, September 1, 2013

Matt’s Week in Dork! (8/25/13-8/31/13)



    What did I do this week?  After a good start on Sunday, with a surprise trip to DC and Maryland, the rest of my week seems like a haze.  I’ve done a bunch of reading, sure.  But that doesn’t seem to justify the blank that is my memory of this week.

    On Sunday morning, I watched the first disk of Shogun, the classic TV miniseries.  I remember seeing it when I was a wee lad, and I’ve been wanting to revisit it for some time.  The first part is quite good, with a good cast and surprisingly good production value.  Later, Brad and I headed into DC, and stopped by Politics & Prose on Connecticut Ave.  I like that area of DC, and the bookstore is pretty good.  More character than most box stores, but more proper organization than some of the smaller businesses I’ve seen in these parts.  The café was unimpressive, but the rest of the store was quite nice.  From there, we headed up to favorite haunt, Silver Spring, where we hit the AFI to see Razorback.  Yeah.  Razorback…at the AFI.


Razorback:  On my long list of movies I never conceived of seeing on the big screen, Razorback would be pretty high.  This art-film/giant-boar film is crazy.  I mean, it’s CRAZY.  Don’t go to Australia.  That seems to be the moral of the story.  So 80s.  So Australian.  So much Dicko.  It’s kind of a must for fans of weird film.


Twixt:  OK, so this movie really isn’t good.  It’s watchable, but not particularly well made.  However, Val Kilmer is great.  I like this bloated, middle-aged Kilmer.  He has an odd, slightly desperate charm.


Myra Breckinridge:  One of the worst films of all time?  I can’t argue with that.  This is one of those famous turkeys that turns out to be just as bad as everyone says (like Ishtar).  Everyone feels miscast.  The direction and editing are atrocious.  The humor is broad and clumsy.  And the big sin: it’s boring as all get-out.

Still more fun than watching the movie!

Oklahoma!:  Some catchy tunes and good performances make for a fun musical from that genre’s golden age.  It’s not amazing.  It’s not gonna go on my list of best musicals.  But it’s still a good, solid film.  The humor in it is quite cheeky for an American film of that era, with some jokes I’m surprised slipped past the censors.


    I did some prep-work for trying to put together a game group again.  I’ve got some stuff going on in my life right now that may keep that in a holding pattern for a bit.  But I have more hope about getting something going than I’ve had in a long time.



-Matt

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