Not a lot of movies in this week. I’ve been busy, though. I’ve been listening to a bunch of music (really gotta do a write-up on some of that), reading, and out on the town. Still trying to work my way through Preacher. Man, I know people love it, but it’s a chore.
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| See you in your nightmares! |
The Long Ships: OK, so this movie isn’t very good. It’s certainly not historically accurate. And it’s got some weird, bordering on silly performances. But, I enjoyed the heck out of it. Richard Widmark as a Viking? OK, sure. Why not?
Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack: I enjoy some parts of this movie, but it’s really not very good. And man, does it look cheap. It’s also weird, because it makes Godzilla a straight-up villain, with other monsters (including Ghidorah) being defending monsters(?). It just doesn’t work for me.
A Field in England: This is a heck of a fun, strange movie. It’s like the lowest brow characters from a Shakespeare play stumbled into a drug-fueled nightmare. Magic, mayhem, madness, and mushrooms. It’s hard to describe the film. But for those with a taste for the weird, it’s a must.
Futurama Season Seven: The show never hit the levels of its first three seasons again, but was still quite fun throughout. This last season has several good episodes, and the final episode is a good exit for the show, assuming it never comes back. I love the characters, the various running jokes, and all the fun they have with various clichés and tropes of science fiction. Any buff should watch this show, for sure.
Tobacco Road: When I fell head over heels for Gene Tierney after watching Leave Her to Heaven, I found many fantastic photos and movie stills of her on the internet (love the modern world). Images that kept coming up were of her as a young woman, dirtied up in a hillbilly outfit, which I found was from Tobacco Road…By John Ford. Readers may have picked up something of a negativity on my part toward Mr. Ford. With the exception of The Grapes of Wrath, I’ve pretty much disliked everything I’ve seen from him. Oh, The Quiet Man. I f’in HATE The Quiet Man. I was skeptical of this Depression era film. But Tierney looked so good. Having now seen the film, I can attest to Gene Tierney looking all kinds of amazing, and you can certainly see why people took note of her. The rest of the movie? It sucks. A comedy about what trash, in which their ‘down home’ ways, which keep them impoverished, are lauded as being wonderfully rustic. And it’s NOT funny. Not at all. Skip it. Unless you’re the sort who finds The Quiet Man or Donovan’s Reef amusing. Then you might like this.
In the Blood: Gina Carano has a certain quality. She’s not especially good at acting or especially beautiful (though, by no means terrible), but she’s sexy and cool in a way that makes her fun to watch. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to base a film on, as this one clearly illustrates. It’s boring, it’s poorly thought out, and it’s shot like an amateur vacation video. The story is dumb, the action is uninspired, and Carano has little to do but make you wish you were watching her in a better film.
On Saturday, Rebecca and I headed in to DC, where we ate at a swell restaurant called Founding Farmers. From there, it was off to the National Archive to see the Making Their Mark exhibit. Some very cool items in there. Then it was off to the National Portrait Gallery to view the American Cool exhibit, and the Presidential Portraits. Definitely better then the last time I went, to view that lame video game art exhibit. And no weird smells, either. After that, we were off to Politics & Prose, where we caught Sam Kean giving a talk on his new book about Neuroscience. That was quite interesting, and I’m thinking I might have to read the book at some point. I also found a couple cool hardcovers on the cheap. Then it was on to eat at Paragon Thai Restaurant, one of the better Thai places around. From there, home. Man, I love DC. A good day and a nice end to a Week in Dork.
-Matthew J. Constantine
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