For a long time, Christopher Lee existed as photos of various monsters (often Dracula) in creature books I’d pore over as a kid. Though I’m sure I saw him in a few things (Man with the Golden Gun?), it was with my delving into Peter Cushing’s filmography that I began to get into the venerable old gentleman’s work. You could write books on the man, about his various exploits and esoteric knowledge. He’s a Tolkien fan (maybe THE Tolkien fan). He’s former British Special Forces. And he speaks several languages. His voice is like the cracking of the Earth. And yes. He’s in a metal band…at 92.
Five Favorite Christopher Lee Movies:
5. Hannie Caulder
4. Hugo
3. Horror of Dracula
2. The Man with the Golden Gun
1. The Wicker Man
I've never read the book. I have met Orson Scott Card for about ten minutes of my life; he was a nice enough man despite his insane morals & opinions. So I'm not one of those kids freaking out about Hollywood's latest adaptation. But like Matt, I'm always rooting for big sci-fi movies. Fingers crossed on this one. Can't really say the trailer grabs me. Ben Kingsley & Harrison Ford cashing their supporting role check. As much as I loved Martin Scorsese's Hugo, I can't say that Asa Butterfield gave an amazing performance and it looks like he'll have even more greenscreen to act against. I did really appreciate Hailee Steinfeld in the Coen's True Grit, and hopefully they'll pair well. The director is Gavin Hood, the man who helmed the abomination known as X-Men Origins - Wolverine. One of the absolute worst comic book movies to ever seer my vision. I'd watch Ghost Rider 1 a hundred times before I pained myself with that flop again. So...that's troubling.
Work continues to dominate my time. Though I’m reading a couple really good books right now. One on the Byzantine Empire and one the autobiography of the pretty awesome Ayaan Hirsi Ali. And Friday boosted my Dork cred with another meeting of the graphic novel club.
Lincoln: This epic of American history manages to make many of the names from the history books seem a bit more like real people. Though still holding Lincoln up as the wise old god, passing down justice and always on the right, it is a bit less one-sided than most portrayals. Not nearly as maudlin as the trailers would have you believe. But getting past the cynicism, the film is uplifting and sweeping. The cast is excellent, and the relationship between Lincoln, his friends, his opponents, and the common man is very powerful. An array of ‘that guy’ actors lend support to the stars, and they bring their most excellent facial hair. Good stuff.
Anna Karenina: Highly stylized, even more than Joe Wright’s work normally is, this lavish production is beautiful, but perhaps a bit too concerned with visual flair than with story or character. The actors all do a good job, but at the end of the day, Anna is a horrible, flip-flooping, self-involved bitch, and her boyfriend is a vacuous pretty boy. It’s hard to feel for them, as they crush and destroy everything and everyone around them in the name of their empty passion they mistake for love.
Hugo: I still find this a bit odd. It starts out as a fairly typical kids’ adventure film, set in a train station some time after World War I. There are hints of mystery, the magic of books, that sort of thing. But then, about a half hour in, it takes this turn, becoming a tale of movies and the love we have for them. A broken old man in a run down old toy shop is more than he seems, and a boy with noting left is driven to find out the truth. For any film buff, this movie is a must.
Immortal: This movie is certainly visually interesting. Sadly, the script is absolute garbage. The characters make choices and say dialog that doesn’t seem to have any logic. The world created is interesting, but so vague that it’s nearly impossible to feel grounded enough to care about anything or anyone. Egyptian gods, alien incursions, mutant red hammerhead sharks, a girl with blue hair (got to have blue hair), and lots of CG people. You can kind of tell that writer/director Enki Bilal used to write comics that appeared in Heavy Metal. It has that European comic feel (beautiful but stupid). I can’t recommend the film if you’re looking for a good story. But if you want to turn your brain off for a while and enjoy some interesting imagery, go for it.
Men in Black 3: “You’re distressing. Everything about you upsets me.” It’s the sequel that nobody was asking for. The boys are back. Somehow J doesn’t seem to have come to terms with the nature of his job, in spite of more than 10 years passing. The time travel gags are actually pretty funny, though. And the 60s aliens are cool. The villain, Boris, is genuinely disgusting. The script was a heck of a lot more clever and the story more interesting than the second film. All in all, a pretty entertaining film.
Dark Shadows: Finally, Tim Burton had a chance to redeem ten years of spitting on his early success with a franchise nearly tailor made for his style. With Dark Shadows, he could embrace the Hammer Horror vibe he reached for in Sleepy Hollow and run with it, ramping up the Gothic dread and mystery. Or, he could do a crappy Adams Family rip-off. Set in “Maine” (seriously, it’s totally not the England!) in the 1970s, I genuinely think this could have been something…other than crap.
Killing Them Softly: Ouch. This is a collection of sad bastards, dumbasses, and scumbags. They all get together in the ugliest city outside of OCP occupied Detroit, to screw over, smack down, or murder each other. And all while being depressing, awful people. And the Ray Liota beatdown has to be one of the most horrible things I’ve seen. He’s so sad, and gets so much kicked out of him.
The Package: The Cold War is winding down, and an old soldier gets wrapped up in a conspiracy to keep it going. A trip to The Fugitive’s Chicago and a team of crack character actors are needed. Everything looks good and depressing as the chess board takes shape. There’s really nothing especially good about this movie, but it’s a fine bit of action/espionage fluff.
Life of Pi: Wow. If you’re looking for vacuous pap, the kind of garbage some ‘spiritual healer’ might blather on about on Oprah, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the ultimate expression of the idiocy, ‘it doesn’t matter what you believe (what silly, made up BS, that is) so long as you believe something.’ And as that ultimate expression, it is about as vapid and useless as it gets. Basically a kid wanders around and stuff happens; he’s on a boat with a tiger and stuff happens; then he’s not on a boat and stuff happens. Or not. So warm up the drum circle, pop on the Shadowfax cd, spark up a doobie, and just let the universe flow, man. And if the mumbo jumbo chicanery of the story isn’t condescending and trite enough, you can always watch the Richard Dryfus wannabe, hipster author listen with exasperated, ironic but sensitive interest to Yoda…I mean adult Pi tell his Grandpa Simpson stories (“I was wearing an onion on my belt!”). Twelve years ago, Ang Lee made one of my all time favorite films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Now he’s making something worthy of latter day M. Night Shyamalan. What happened, dude? You used to be so beautiful.
The Campaign: “I crapped GOLD.” Featuring the best baby punch I’ve seen in film, this goofy political send-up has its moments. The jealous dogs crack me up. Everyone seems to be having a good time being silly and saying stupid stuff. But it’s not quite as tightly scripted or consistent as I’d have liked. Worth a watch if you’re in the mood for some stupid comedy, but it’s not amazing.
I watched another disk of Winds of War, this one dealing with the attack on Warsaw and the aftermath. There are some interesting characters, for sure, but most of them drift in and out of the story for only the briefest of times. The main cast is kind of drab. Even Mitchum’s character has little to do but stand stiffly and look disapproving. It’s just interesting enough to keep watching, but not much more. And I watched another disk of Magic City, which is starting to grow on me. The characters are becoming a bit more interesting. I’m just hoping that at least one of the big ‘problems’ gets resolved by the end of the season. I like Danny Huston, but his snarling ogre villain is too obvious and too pointlessly evil to stick around, and I’m hoping one way or another, he’s out of the picture in the finale. We’ll see.
Friday night, Lisa and Brad hosted another night of the Justice League of Extraordinary Book Club. This time up, The Avengers: Children’s Crusade. Opinions were split, with some people really enjoying it, and others totally hating it. I fell on the hate side, as you’ll see in my full review. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out the massive array of characters and any motivations they might have had. And trying to figure out the good guy/bad guy ratio.
With the Oscars just days behind us it's nice to snatch up my favorite movie of the nominated as my--
Must Buy DVD of the Week!
HUGO: Yes, yes, I'm happy enough that The Artist won Best Picture. It was a great movie and I don't care what all the backlash haters have to say about it. That being said, Hugo was my #1 movie of 2011 and it's been several years since my Top Film of the Year even got a nomination at Academy Awards. And that's nice for me. Sure, the Oscars are nonsense but its always fun to find an excuse to talk movies whether they're bought or naught. Anyway, Hugo is a film that just fills me with great gobs of pleasure. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You want to have an inkling of how & why I love movies? Watch Hugo. And it's the first Blu Ray release that tempts me to purchase a 3D Television. It took a true master like Scorsese to teach me the true joys of environmental 3D vs gimmicky Jaws 3D. Both have value.
Buy!
SCARLET STREET (BLU): Watched this for the first time a couple years back. Fritz Lang's direction doesn't knock you on your feet the way previous efforts like Metropolis or M do, but Scarlet Street is still a damn fine looking noir. And Edward G Robinson is so wonderfully pathetic in this film and Dan Duryea is such a wonderful tool. Thank you Kino for giving the film the top blu ray treatment.
Rent!
THE SPIDERS (BLU): And then Kino has dropped there keen eye onto the earliest surviving Fritz Lang silent (1919) and I have never seen it. And I so desperately want to. Strange Western Adventure, sign me up.
JUSTICE LEAGUE - DOOM: I do enjoy these DC Animated films, but there last batch of Justice League films have failed to impress. This one comes from the same creative team as Crisis on Two Earths film and that was mediocre at best. This one is based on Mark Waid's Tower of Babel story arc and involves all the baddies discovering all the goodies weaknesses. It's a fun trade with serious animation potential. Fingers crossed and all that.
BENEATH THE DARKNESS: The first time I saw the trailer to this movie I cracked up. Dennis Quaid's serial killer looks oh so serious. But the movie itself looks like garbage. Still, I'm gonna check it out for the Quaid factor.
MISS BALA: Apparently this is a pretty badass flick from Mexico. Gotta check it out.
BABA YAGA (BLU): I'm pretty sure I've already seen this film, but maybe all I've seen are the various Euro Slut stills splattered around the internet. Whatever the case I totally need to see it again. And in high definition!
Avoid!
THE MANIONS OF AMERICA: Look, I know it's tempting to finally see James Bond make out with Voyager's Captain Janeway but make no mistake, this is terrible.
This is rather interesting. Mondo is marking the 84th Academy Awards with a Four Poster series highlighting four of their favorite nominees in four of their favorite categories. First up we have Tom Whalen's 18 x 24 Rango for the Best Animated Feature category. And for the Best Picture category we've got Kevin Tong's two Hugo variants. I like Whalen's Rango and I think it would look great next to his Mondo Disney prints, but I don't have those and I'm not really chomping at the bit for this one on its own. Tong's Hugos are pretty but don't really grab me either. But I'm definitely curious to see what's next.
The Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards came in early this morning and they are pretty much what everyone expected with a few exceptions here and there. I am very happy to see Hugo get so much love with 11 Nominations, but the buzz right now is that The Artist is the film to beat. Both films are excellent and they both sorta feed into the same sorta Nostalgia porn that's so popular of late.
Okay, so if Harry Knowles can blather on about this stuff, so can I.
BEST PICTURE:
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE HELP
HUGO
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WAR HORSE
THE TREE OF LIFE
MONEYBALL
As stated earlier, The Artist appears to be the film to beat. Don't listen to all the backlash rolling around out there in Internetland, it's an amazingly emotional film that deserves all the technical and emotional love that's flowing it's way. I'm still baffled by all the Moneyball love. It was a decent film, and I definitely had a good time while I was watching it, but it was an experience that left me the moment I walked out of the theater. The Descendants was excellent, and I could see this upsetting both The Artist & Hugo (since those films could easily split The Academy). Midnight in Paris is my third favorite film on this list, and it also speaks to the same kind of feelings as The Artist & Hugo except it tells us to let go of our geek love and live a real life. War Horse was okay. Typical Spielberg emotional manipulation with some stunning visuals. The Tree of Life is the bonkers film on the list and the critical darling. It was definitely a cinematic adventure and I totally respect that. Haven't seen The Help, guess I'll have to rent it before Febuary 26th. And Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the real shock here. From all accounts it's a terrible movie, but now I'm going to have to check it out.
Prediction: THE ARTIST
Desire: HUGO
BEST DIRECTOR:
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Alexander Payne, THE DESCENDANTS
Martin Scorsese, HUGO
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Terrence Malick, THE TREE OF LIFE
This is a bit of a tough call. I think Scorsese will take the prize over Hazanavicius cuz that's really the way I want it to play out. This just feels like one of those year's where The Academy splits the love between Picture & Director. Again Payne could steal the votes from a split Academy but I think that's less likly in the Director category. But I would totally be happy if Malick walked away (or at least one of his representatives since there's no way he's showing up for the party) with the gold.
Prediction: MARTIN SCORSESE
Desire: MARTIN SCORSESE
BEST ACTOR:
Demian Bichir, A BETTER LIFE
George Clooney, THE DESCENDANTS
Jean Dujardin, THE ARTIST
Gary Oldman, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
Brad Pitt, MONEYBALL
Man, who would have thought in the mid 90s when George Clooney was starring in From Dusk Till Dawn and Brad Pitt was chasing serial killers in Seven that the two pretty boys would be duking it out in the same Best Actor category in 2011? I DID! The 90s is where I discovered the badassery of Clooney/Pitt and I'm so glad that the Academy has joined in the world's celebration of their ridiculous People Magazine domination. I definitely want Clooney to have this for The Descendants. Yes, it was my single favorite performance of last year and Clooney deserves the cred for choosing odd, small roles in an arena where he could be cranking out Batman & Robins over and over (well, maybe not Batman & Robins but definitely some generic Peacekeepers). Again, Pitt was decent in Moneyball but that film was just blah for me. Gary Oldman is my personal runner-up for this category cuz no one does chameleon work quite like that man. Jean Dujardin was joyous in The Artist and spawned Matt to grow a pencil thin mustache for a week so that's gotta count for something. And I haven't seen A Better Life so I've got nothing to say on Demian Bichir.
Prediction: GEORGE CLOONEY
Desire: GEORGE CLOONEY
BEST ACTRESS:
Glenn Close, ALBERT NOBBS
Viola Davis, THE HELP
Meryl Streep, THE IRON LADY
Rooney Mara, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Michelle Williams, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Well, this is a tough category for me cuz I've only seen one film on the list: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And I thought that was only o-kay. Mara was violently strong in her depiction of Salander but I just can't get too enthused about this movie. She wins my Desire by default. And I don't really have confidence in my prediction here. Part of me wants to say Streep gets it for The Iron Lady cuz she got the Globe and all, but word has it that The Iron Lady is a flat film. I think I'm going to go with Viola Davis cuz the world seems to be completely in love with The Help these days. Really do need to see what all the fuss is about.
Prediction: VIOLA DAVIS
Desire: ROONEY MARA
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kenneth Branagh, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Jonah Hill, MONEYBALL
Nick Nolte, WARRIOR
Cristopher Plummer, BEGINNERS
Max von Sydow, EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Oh My God! What is Jonah Hill doing on this list!?!?!? Seriously people! Moneyball was only OKAY! But there you have it, good for you kid, but I seriously doubt we'll see you here next year for 21 Jump Street. This award is owned by Christopher Plummer. He was amazing in Beginners and he's amazing in everything else. Nick Nolte was solid in Warrior but that movie was more blase than Moneyball. And again, very strange seeing Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close getting love but you have to dig Max von Sydow. Haven't seen My Week With Marilyn but good show for Branagh. The real crime here is that Albert Brooks got nothing for his scary ass turn in Drive.
Prediction: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
Desire: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Berenice Bejo, THE ARTIST
Jessica Chastain, THE HELP
Melissa McCarthy, BRIDESMAIDS
Janet McTeer, ALBERT NOBBS
Octavia Spencer, THE HELP
Here's another category that I have no clue about. I've only seen The Artist, and I thought Bejo was absolutely charming in the film. Was I knocked outta my seat by her performance? No. I'm guessing the award is going to Spencer based on the Globe win. But McCarthy could surprise everyone and take it for Bridesmaids, another film I have absolutely no desire to see but critics & fans seem to think it's the bee's knees. Personally, I'm just sick and tired of gross out humor whatever the gender.
Prediction: OCTAVIA SPENCER
Desire: BERENICE JEJO
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, THE DESCENDANTS
John Logan, HUGO
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, THE IDES OF MARCH
Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (story by Stan Chervin) MONEYBALL
Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
I've never been good with my screenplay predictions, but I'm betting on The Descendants. HUGO could get the Best Picture prize and will most likely snag Best Director, but I don't think Logan has a chance here. But having read the children's book he should totally get it cuz he brought a lot of much-needed character to that film. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy though was an absolutely amazing film and deserves to be on the Best Picture list (especially if Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Moneyball snuck their way in, so I want O'Connor & Straughan to walk away happy.
Prediction: THE DESCENDANTS
Desire: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo, BRIDESMAIDS
J.C. Chandor, MARGIN CALL
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Asghar Farhadi, A SEPARATION
Another tough call. Could Bridesmaids take it? Don't think so. Again, populace choice. The Artist seems to all be about directions, style, and performance. Margin Call is your Glengary Glen Ross wannabe. And I haven't seen A Separation and I don't think a lot of others have yet either, so good luck. No, I think Woody Allen takes it for Midnight in Paris and I am shocked to say that I think that's the right choice. Midnight in Paris is a charming film, and a great geek film! And a film that I should probably pay close attention to, but really don't want to walk away with the message...
Prediction: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Desire: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
A CAT IN PARIS
CHICO AND RITA
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
RANGO
I guess the surprise here is that The Adventures of TinTin didn't find it's way onto the list, but I have a feeling that's because The Academy doesn't know what to make of Motion Capture quite yet. Hence, Andy Serkis not winding up on the Best Supporting Actor list for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But I think they can get behind what Gore Verbinski tried to do with E-Motion Capture and Rango. That's my prediction and my desire. In fact, if I made up these lists Rango would be on the Best Picture list as well. It's a stunning film, with even more amazing visuals. ILM's first animated film will be a tough one to beat. Puss in Boots was fun though, much more so than those god awful Shrek pictures. And Kung Fu Panda 2 was as well. But I don't remember a single thing about it. As goes for A Cat In Paris & Chico and Rita...but that's because I've never even heard of those films.
Prediction: RANGO
Desire: RANGO
Okay, that's all the energy I have for the day. Don't know how Knowles gets through all these awards every year. Fingers crossed that I'm somewhat accurate with my predictions, but who really knows. Not me. Check back here on 2/26/12 I'm gonna try and do a live-broadcast kinda thing. We'll see.
My first week without reliable access to the internet has frequently reminded me of the old Onion headline about an internet outage plunging the nation into productivity. I read a graphic novel and finished a book in the first two days. And in the latter half of the week, I started working on some various writing projects while also doing some major cleaning/rearranging around my living space. Got a lot of my books out of boxes and up on shelves, which is really nice. And that let me see a bunch of books I will either never read, or never read again. Three plus boxes of books are now ready for a trip to the used book store. However, without NetFlix instant and with being fairly busy, I got very little in the way of movie watching done.
Doctor Who: Season Six: The Doctor and friends are up to their old tricks in another round of the updated series. Matt Smith has become my favorite of the new actors, I think, and his companions Amy and Rory are excellent. In fact, by the end of season six, I think Rory may be second only to Leela as my favorite companion. Lots of strange, mind bending stuff is revealed, playing on several ideas that have been introduced over the seasons. Though it certainly has some major differences, especially in tone, to the classic series (which itself had vast differences over the years), everything still feels right, somehow. Good stuff. And, I think The Silence may even top the Weeping Angels in the creepy factor.
Hugo: Another great love letter to Film, Hugo is filled with all the wonder and excitement that the movies bring out in me. Two really good kid actors anchor the film, but the cast of adults is also fantastic, as is the story and imagery. What starts out as a fairly standard lone-kid adventure movie turns into something so much more as the mysteries begin to be revealed. One of 2011’s best movies, and one any fan of the movies should see.
Doctor Who: Enlightenment: The third part of the whole Dark/Light Guardian story is certainly weird, if not especially great. A bunch of detached beings run a crazy race through space on classic naval vessels. Weird. Worth a watch and it’s got some excellent guest actors. Alas, it’s fairly forgettable.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: While watching Insidious last week, I was reminded of all that I didn’t like about horror films of the late 60s and 70s. Watching this movie, I was reminded of the good. It too had the feel of a horror movie from the 70s, but where Insidious failed, this succeeded. Cool, creepy creatures, a mysterious location, shrouded history and myth and even a connection to Arthur Machen. Some of the characters are a bit broad, especially Guy Pearce as the put upon father who can’t see past his own career to notice his kid in danger. But, Katie Holmes is surprisingly good. An unusual modern horror film in that it didn’t bore me to tears.
Appaloosa: Star and director Ed Harris along with cinematographer Dean Semler sure can make a beautiful looking film. Harris and Mortensen are excellent as two hired lawmen, exuding the gruff cool of dangerous men. Unfortunately, Renee Zellweger as the female interest in the film is straight-up annoying in every scene she’s in, dragging down the overall quality of the picture. Her character is interesting, but the actress simply isn’t up to it. However, the film is pretty good. And there are some interesting moral quandaries presented, too, with few answers even suggested. Probably the most realistic shootouts I’ve ever seen, too. Upon second viewing, I’m struck by the relationship between Harris and Mortensen. I really enjoy watching the friendship between partners, and all the subtle exchanges between the two.
I also watched a handful more episodes of Space Academy. The show is OK, but never quite reaches the levels of imagination it could have. And the cast is wonky. The little kid annoying, and the ‘dashing’ lead guy looks like an extra confused Joey Lawrence. Jason of Star Command was certainly better, not just in production but in writing.
I managed to finish The Defiant Agent by Andre Norton. I’d been picking away at it on my commute to work for a couple weeks, but wasn’t putting in any serious time/effort. Without the internet to suck up so much of my time, I banged out that book in very little time.
And, I still had time to read the Harlan Ellison graphic novel Phoenix Without Ashes. Look, I know he’s beloved, but I’m not the biggest Ellison fan. 90% of that comes from the man himself. Seeing him in interviews, on Politically Incorrect, and reading about his litigious antics, he just comes off as the worlds biggest ass (please don’t sue me, Mr. Ellison, for expressing my reaction to your public persona). Now, that said, he has frequently been attached to projects I’ve enjoyed quite a bit. He wrote one of the best episodes of Star Trek, wrote some pretty good Outer Limits (even one of the better New Outer Limits episodes was based on something of his), worked on Babylon 5, and though he struck his name from it, the short lived, but very cool 70s show, The Star Lost.
It is that final tidbit, his work on The Star Lost that ties in to the graphic novel. Phoenix Without Ashes is pretty much the pilot episode of that show done as a comic. The idea is great, and it introduces a lot of potential, which the show went on to explore, though it never got very far. I love the concepts. Classic sci-fi stuff, with semi-primitive folk discovering they’re living in the ruins of a once great civilization. Exploring not only the ruins, but the mysteries that created them. Very cool. However, here’s my frustration. This seems to be a stand alone project. I’ve seen no listing for a volume 2 or any kind of continuation. This is an introduction, but it seems to have been left to stand on its own. Erg. To a degree, that’s more frustrating than the show, which got a season, but ended at a really interesting place. Anyway, for the ideas alone, it’s worth checking out. Sure, they’re nothing really new, but they’re done well. And if you find out there’s going to be more to it, please let me know.
On Sunday, Ben and I traveled once more into the DC, where we visited The National Archives. If you’re in DC, check it out. It works much better as an American History museum than the actual American History Museum. It has lots of very cool exhibits, including some very interesting stuff about patents and inventions. And, of course, the documents on display are impressive, though the room they’re in is quite dark, and many of the documents are faded past the point of being legible. Still, you can almost taste the history.
So, I’m learning what people did before the internet. And you know what? It’s not all bad. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is awesome and a great tool. And as soon as I’m able, I’ll get myself plugged back in. But sometimes it’s nice to tune out for a while, take time to look around, and get back to some things you liked before instant communication became an everyday thing. Heck, I almost feel like writing letters to folks. Just for fun. I’m not going to, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I watched only one movie during the first week of 2012. After the massive amounts of cinematic cramming that I was doing at the end of the year, I think I just needed some downtime from the movies. But I did watch some TV. And I had one fun Dork excursion.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK!
Hugo: A second viewing for me. Matt had managed to miss this film last year and I thought that his Top Ten just wouldn't be legit until he consumed the delights of Martin Scorsese's first family film, as well as first 3D film. I was also curious to see if the film still held as much power over me as it did the first go 'round. I'm pleased to say that it most certainly did and I am quite happy with it's placement as my Favorite Film of 2011. I paid particular attention this time around to Scorsese's use of the 3D format and there is at least one particular "Hitchcock shot" near the climax that just melted my heart on the second viewing. There seems to be some serious backlash towards this film in the last few weeks, but dammit! Hugo genuinely speaks to my joy of cinema and the young version of Michael Stuhlbarg's Rene Tabard is ME! And the old version of Michael Stuhlbarg is the ME! I want to BE! A minor character to latch onto for sure, but what ya gonna do.
The Magic Of Milies: Got this 3 Hour + documentary in from Netflix and I'm watching it now as I type this. It's more than a little dry and all I really want to do is watch the films of Milies rather than all this talking head business. But it's interesting to learn how close the events of Hugo mirror the reality of the filmmaker. And if you really want to check out the actual films of Milies all you have to do is turn to youtube...
TV SHOWS OF THE WEEK!
Star Trek The Next Generation Season 3-4: Started back up with Next Gen. A year ago I bought all seven seasons of the show during one of those Barnes & Noble Buy Two Get One Free sales and after stalling out on the Shockingly Crappy to Somewhat Mediocre episodes of Seasons 1 & 2, I've whipped through the third season and started the fourth. It's only just started to get consistently decent with the Best of Both Worlds climax of season 3. It's funny how characters like Geordi and Data, who were favorites of my youth, have becomes some of the least compelling characters for me. And a guy like Shatner-wanabe Riker keeps me coming back for more. Lisa caught a few episodes with me and now she's started the show from the beginning with season one. That pleases me to no end. First I turned her onto Kirk & Co and now she's eating up Picard's bunch. Long Live Trek.
Mildred Pierce: I read the original James M Cain novel nearly twenty years ago and as I was watching the first two/three hours of this HBO mini-series I kept asking myself, "Where's the murder?" Well Todd Haynes took it out of the story and presents us with an excellent melodrama of a Depression era divorcee who works her way up from nothing to great wealth and a miserable home life. Sound like fun? If not, turn away. But I found this event to be absolutely captivating and it's five hour run time flew by. Kate Winslet definitely gives the year's best performance as Mildred and her battles with her villainous daughter brought loud shouts of aggression from this viewer. Also, it's a gorgeous looking picture with some of the most beautiful costume setting I've seen. Felt like I could walk right into that world.
Justified Season 2 Episodes 1-7: This week, whenever my wife and I were in the apartment we were watching Justified Season 2. Maybe not as good as Deadwood, but Justified fills that void. Obviously, Timothy Olyphant has that cowboy swagger down pat but the stories just have everything I want out of a cop show. It's sure footed with proud, over-confident Elmore Leonard characters. I love the surprising turn of events between Olyphant's Raylan and Walton Goggins' Boyd; the way those characters have come together--my favorite tv couple since William Shatner & James Spader in Boston Legal. And having read an Advance Readers Copy of the new Raylan novel I can now report that a lot of that book stems right out of this season. Really looking forward to seeing how this all plays out and I'm definitely going to have to download the new season as it airs.
DORK EXCURSION OF THE WEEK!
The Nerdist at 930 Club: I enjoy the Nerdist podcast, but my wife LOVES it. On Friday night, we ventured out into DC to the 930 Club for a live recording of the podcast. I was amazed at the crowd. The line wrapped well around the block and I was in awe of the number of nerds/dorks/dweebs dressed as The Doctor (I saw mostly 11s, a couple 10s, and a 4) and Firefly Jaynes. How did we become so prevalent in the mainstream? In some ways it makes me quite uncomfortable. I liked being on the fringe, a weirdo. But the internet has made us all weirdos. And the Nerd explosion has allowed for such cinematic miracles as the upcoming Avengers movies. So, I just gotta get used to the fact that Nerds Rule now.
