Matt’s Week in Dork! (6/8/14-6/14/14)

    In spite of some difficulties, I’m loving life right now.  This week, I even managed to get in some good Dork living around the other stuff.

All You Need is Kill (aka Edge of Tomorrow):  With a good amount of humor and plenty of balls to the wall action, this science fiction adventure film was a pleasant Summer Blockbuster.  Unusually, the fast cutting and hand-held camera work was good.  Tom Cruise, for all his wackiness off camera, is still a charming dude.  And Emily Blunt is awesome.  Truth be told, I wish she’d been the star of the film.  She’s a close second in an Obi Wan Kenobi sort of way.  The Groundhog Day storytelling works well and the overall vibe of the film is great.  I think the ending could have been better.  But it’s not bad.  Well worth checking out.  Give me more of these, and less Transformers/Avatar type movies.  Give me movies where the effects help tell the story, not where they take the place of the story

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Girly:  Super boring.  Super British.  It’s another movie about upper-class twits going crazy and being evil.  There was a cinematic epidemic of this sort of thing in the 60s and 70s, and this is a lackluster entry.  If Steed & Peele had shown up half way through, things might have gotten interesting.  They did not.

    On Monday night, I went with Ben and Nick to a place I’d never been to before, and frankly, probably never otherwise would have gone to.  Hooters.  So, here’s the thing.  Every time anyone brings up Hooters, someone says ‘they’ve got great wings.’  I love wings.  And it’s certainly not that I’m put off by beautiful women in skimpy outfits.  But somehow (well, I think the "how" is obvious), Hooters has always had a certain something about it, in the cultural zeitgeist, that I found off-putting without ever actually going.  So, we went and yes, the wings are great.  I got all-you-can-eat, and made it worth the money, eating three plates.  The best were the lemon & pepper.  I want to go back and try all the other flavors I didn’t get to (there are like 10).  That said, the place has a very, very weird vibe.  It feels like an uncomfortable mix of family restaurant, sports bar, and strip club.  No, the women aren’t stripping, but their outfits are so out of keeping with the rest of the place that you can’t help but notice.  Whatever the case, I had a good time and ate some good food.  And yeah, I’ll probably go back, because I want more wings.  In stead of Hooters, though, they might want to call it Wedgies.

The Best Years of Our Lives:  I found this film pleasantly honest.  The lives of three WWII vets get complicated when the return home and try to pick up their old lives.  One is haunted, one is wistful, an done is physically damaged.  Each one faces his own set of demons, each one must find his own way, while forming a bond of friendship.  It’s a good movie about men, and about soldiers.  For a film made in 1946, I found it’s frank look at the damages of war to be refreshing and surprising.  This would be an excellent capper to a WWII movie marathon.  It is rather long for its type.  It isn’t an epic, but it’s nearly three hours long.  However, it’s not boring, and well worth the time. 

    What’s a little apocalyptic downpour?  Wednesday night, we went to the Alamo, and were treated to a massive thunderstorm with out Spaghetti Western.  About 20 minutes from the end, the power went out for a bit, giving folks a break to get up and walk around.  But all was well, and the show went on.

For a Few Dollars More:  Dare I say it?  Is this the best of the Man With No Name trilogy?  I kind of think it is.  Everything works here.  It’s beautiful.  It’s funny.  It’s violent.  The music is flippin’ amazing.  Lee Van Cleef is so danged good.  And that finale?  Awesome.  Straight-up awesome.  I saw these films when I was a boy of maybe 12 or 13, and I didn’t really get them.  Though I knew I was seeing something different from the ‘black hat-white hat,’ John Wayne strutting Westerns I’d disliked on Saturday afternoon TV, I didn’t get what I was seeing.  A quarter century later, and I get it.  Darned fine stuff.

The Cranes are Flying:  Russia.  World War II.  Yup, this film is super depressing.  However, it’s also beautifully shot and filled with uplifting moments and relatable characters.  With a strong anti-war message, and a weirdly non-political (at least, non-Communist VS Capitalist) spirit, I’m not surprised that this went on to international success when it came out.  The camera work alone is more than worth the price of admission.  Forget Alfonso Cuaron’s gimmicky long-shots.  The camera here is an intimate partner of the actor in a way I’ve rarely seen.

The Horror of Party Beach:  Ultra-campy, and a ton of fun, this movie about a bunch of kids (played by very adult actors) having fun in the sun while being menaced by terrible looking fish-creatures (who are really Zombies!) this is a must see.  The MST3K boys took their turn at it, but honestly, it’s just as much fun without ‘em.  If you’re in the mood to watch a stupid movie with friends, this is a great choice.  Check it out.  And stay groovy!

The Curse of the Living Corpse:  Roy Scheider and Candace Hilligoss in a movie together?  OK.  Sign me up!  Unfortunately, that’s the best part of the movie, right there.  No, not them in the film, but that they were cast in the film.  The film is stupid.  But worse, it’s boring.  Other than some laughably bad acting, there’s nothing to see here.  Move along.  Move along.

    Saturday morning, I finished Authority, the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy.  Pretty darned good.  Can’t wait ‘til the third volume comes out in September.  Saturday afternoon, even though I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the book club, I finished off volume 1 of Preacher (thank goodness, I didn’t have to suffer through volume 2).  I know.  People love it.  But I am not one of those folks.  This was my second try reading it, and while the first time (about 10 years ago) I found it boring and didn’t finish the trade, this time around I outright hated it.  The further in I read, the more I hated almost everything about it.  I won’t be writing an extended review, so I’ll just say here that I thought the dialog seemed to have been written by a 13 year old boy trying his little heart out to be shocking.  The characters are all cardboard.  And the plot twists range from obvious to stupid.  I’ve heard the series gets better as it goes.  But I don’t care.  I got the same gut-level hate feeling I got from Saga, and like Saga, have to stare at the people telling me it’s great with a slack-jawed, dumbfounded look.  There’s obviously something I’m missing, and nobody has been able to explain to me what it is.

Colour From the Dark:  Another adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Color Out of Space.  It’s not too bad.  Fairly well produced (though the footage looks made for TV, the editing and composition are more ‘theatrical’), with some good creepy bits, it does fall a bit too heavy onto the Good VS Evil fallacy that is so wrong with Lovecraft.  The actors are a mixed bag.  And considering that it is supposed to take place in WWII era Italy, the fact that there are so many different accents is a bit weird.  Not nearly as good as Die Farbe, it’s still worth a watch, and better than many adaptations of the author’s work.

Riddick:  I know, I know.  I enjoy these Riddick movies.  I liked Pitch Black a lot.  I thought Chronicles of Riddick, for all its many faults, was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed Dark Fury, the animated short bridge film between the first two.  And I like this one.  This third feature is more in keeping with the original, and not just because the latter part of the film is something of a carbon copy of the first, but because it feels like it’s set more in an Alien type universe, as opposed to a Star Wars type universe (as Chronicles of Riddick did).  I really like the first half hour, where he’s kind of Robinson Crusoe on a desert world.  Once the Mercs show up, it’s not as good, but still watchable.  I’ve said this of several films in the last couple of years, but this is the sort of thing that should be a dime a dozen these days.  Mid-level, entertaining science fiction films.  Yes, I’d love for there to be great science fiction films.  But in between the great ones, I want to see a dozen or so of these more pulpy efforts.  This movie also reminds me that there’s no valid reason for not doing a live action Warhammer 40,000 film.

Oblivion:  My second viewing of this film, and darn it, I just really like it.  Absolutely, many of the ideas, if not all, are lifted from other science fiction films and books.  But so what?  My problem isn’t with lifting ideas, it’s with using them poorly, and this film isn’t guilty of that.  The movie is a feast for the eyes and the ears, with stunning visuals, gorgeous location shooting, and an excellent semi-electronica score.  Like Moon before it, Oblivion raids sci-fi of the 60s and 70s, and comes out with some very watchable stuff.

Chef:  This is definitely what the internet has termed ‘food porn.’  But it’s also a Capra-like comedy about a guy who falls on hard times, then learns valuable lessons about life and fatherhood (with WAY more swearing than Capra).  On occasion, it does stretch credibility (like, everyone talks about needing money, but they all seem to have enough to do whatever they want at any given time, including quitting good jobs with no prospects…and I’m not just talking about El Jefe).  And the very end?  OK, that seemed silly.  However, the movie has a great deal of heart, and the cast sells the familiarity of close friends.  In fact, the scenes between Favreau, Leguizamo, and Cannavale feel more true to what men are like without women around than most movies manage.  Like The Big Night, this movie makes you want to do a serious restaurant crawl.  I wanted to reach into the screen and eat some of everything.  I never had any interest in going to Miami, New Orleans, or Texas before, but suddenly the idea of a food tour is sounding amazing.

    I’m still listening to a bunch of Black Mountain.  I tapped into that 70s rock/metal vibe and can’t seem to shake it.  I may have to load up some Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Blu Oyster Cult this week to keep the train rolling.

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (9/15/13-9/21/13)

I'm no flat tire. How 'bout a Gin Rickey?

    Trying to fit some reading and some writing in, but mostly just working and recovering from working.  Got a little cycling in.  Otherwise, mostly just stared at my walls.

Riddick:  “It matches your nipples.”  This movie is not horrible, and that’s about all I wanted from it.  I really enjoyed Pitch Black, and while I kinda enjoy Chronicles of Riddick, it never quite worked for me, seeing how it seems to take place in a totally different style of science fiction universe.  This third film feels more like Pitch Black in style, though it holds over some elements of the more fanciful Chronicles.  It starts as a Robinson Crusoe story, with Riddick left for dead on a hostile world, learning to live and thrive in the environment.  This is the best part of the movie, and I was a little sad to see him push the button that would summon more characters and shift the tone.  From that point on, it began to smell more and more of Pitch Black rehash, though it still wasn’t bad.  The dialog is frequently awkward (though nothing tops ‘you keep what you kill’ and a dozen other idiocies from Chronicles’ Necromongers).  As a science fiction movie?  This is pretty crappy.  As a fun, silly adventure film in space, this is exactly what I was looking for.  Again, if movies like this, After Earth, Oblivion, etc. were just more common, I’d be a bit harsher on them.  But as it is, big-idea, out there science fiction is still all too rare.

Beyond the Rocks:  I’m always happy to hear about movies thought lost that are rediscovered and recovered.  But, while the fact of its recovery is good, the movie itself is so-so.  A fairly bland romantic film with little to make it stand out.  Apparently, putting two big names in one feature (here, Valentino and Gloria Swanson) was unusual.  Sadly, neither seems to be especially energetic or interesting.  I’m assuming Valentino is better elsewhere, because as far as silent actors go, he did not impress in this film, and I know ladies went nuts for him once upon a time.

The Delicious Little Devil:  Not much to this short film.  It’s mildly amusing.  But it’s also pretty darned forgettable.

The Bad and the Beautiful:  Kirk Douglas’s eyes should be registered as deadly weapons.  The man can hate-stare so intently it makes women pregnant and men into women (who subsequently discover they are pregnant).  The rest of the cast is quite good.  I especially like Walter Pidgeon and Barry Sullivan (who was also awesome in the recently viewed Tension).  But it’s Douglas’s movie, and he’s a mad genius who takes no guff.  Hollywood is skewered from the inside by this expose sort of movie.  But it makes all the dirty backstage dealings seem sort of charming and exciting, anyway.  Gloria Grahame shows up briefly (somehow earning an Oscar for the part, which isn't much more than a glorified cameo) as a conniving, luxury hungry wife, and she’s quite good.

    Friday night, we all gathered at Robert’s place for a Barbeque and graphic novel club meeting.  We discussed Astonishing X-Men volumes revolving around the marriage of Northstar and his idiot boyfriend Kyle.  I was unable to read the whole assigned work for various reasons.  But as far as I made it, it was bloody awful.  I have come to hate the X-Men (and the Avengers right along side).  Just dreadful writing and awful characters.  Enough of this status quo maintaining mandated garbage.

Looks like Kyle read this garbage.

Valley of the Dragons:  I had never heard of this particular adaptation of a Jules Verne story, and I guess I can understand why.  It’s not especially interesting.  Still, I do love lost world stories.  And a lost world that is also on the Moon?  Cool.  Two big problems present themselves, however.  I don’t like when real animals are used as ‘dinosaurs.’  Partly, because they look terrible.  But mostly because I don’t like that so often it is clear that the animal was being mistreated to get the shot right.  No, I don’t think lizards have a great deal of mental capacity, nor are the self aware.  But needlessly causing pain to an animal, even to reptiles or insects seems barbaric and lacing in a degree of class.  The second problem is Rodan.  Yes, Rodan.  The giant kaiju from Japan seems to be flying around this moonscape.  I guess they had access to the footage and thought nobody would notice?  But I noticed.  Getting past that, the story of two rivals forced to work together on a hostile world is pretty good, and their adventures with the local population are nice.  The Neanderthals and whatever the heck the albino things were (Morlocks?) are especially disgusting.  Worth a watch if you’re into this sort of film, but not one to expend a great deal of effort tracking down.

    Saturday found me feeling pretty crappy, my weeks of not sleeping and stress finally catching up with me.  Some kind of cold or something.  Oh, boy.  I started going through my various con acquisitions and other sundry things that have been piling up of late.  In doing so, I read through three comics I got from local artist/writer Andy K.  Mind Games is a pretty gross little horror short.  The Secret Origin of John Elway is nuts.  And Neon Super Gladiator has a cool feel.  His stuff reminds me of something that might have been on Liquid Television back in the 90s.  Weird and uncomfortable.  I also read Jennifer Hachigian’s Pocket Editor Two, which she gave me because she liked my shirt (“Arthur Turing Fought Nazis With Science”).  It plays on that old video game thing with “All your base are belong to us” but manages to correct the grammar.  I flipped through super-nice guy Alex Fine’s Il Brutto, which re-imagines various movie characters as played by Charles Bronson.  And lastly, I looked through Sam Wolk’s Alpha Beasts and Alpha Bots, two collections of 26 drawings, each based on a letter (T is for Twiki, J is for Jersey Devil, etc.).  Quite cool.  I still have more stuff to get to, and some prints to frame.

    When I got home Friday night, I had a package waiting for me.  I keep forgetting that I’m a patron of the arts.  My old high school chum Serena Andrews is a musician and artist, and has a project she’s working on that involves a tour and a book.  I got some perks for my donation to the project, including a CD of music by Serena, which I listened to on Saturday afternoon.  Buried somewhere in the attic of my mother’s house is a cassette of Serena's music she put out back in the mid 90s.  I always liked her stuff, and still do.  It has a Tori Amos/Regina Spektor kind of thing going, with a bit of Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson.  All good in my book.

    And late Saturday night I picked up and finished the very short, but fun book Bright Young Things by Alison Maloney.  It’s a hand book for Roaring 20s living, with phrases, cocktails, party plans, and fashion, mixed with historic notes and cultural gossip of the time.  The book doesn’t go into a great deal of depth, but I think it would be a handy guide to have while reading fiction of the time (like The Great Gatsby), or history texts (like Flapper), or for those inclined, playing period roleplaying games (like Call of Cthulhu).  If you're looking for a sweet biscuit for barney-making, and you need to know if the bank's closed, this book ain't banana oil.  It's the elephant's instep, see.

-Matt

A Fistful of Fall Anticipation 2013! (Matt’s Picks)

    I know I’ve been bemoaning the drab and lifeless films dumped onto the silver screens this year.  And I’m sure I’m not going to stop.  But, in the meantime, I’m trying to keep some hope alive.  In that spirit, here are my five most anticipated films of the Fall season.


5.  The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet:  Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s newest film may or may not play in the states this year.  It danged well better.  I love his weird fantasy reality, crazy characters, and bent sense of humor.  He’s one of the only French filmmakers who adds humor in ways I don’t find annoying.  Here’s hoping we can see this soon.  Because 2013 needs a major shot in the arm…or 8.

4.  47 Ronin:  OK, look.  I know.  This has a high, maybe even very high, likelihood of sucking in a most profound way.  But I hope (it’s just a hope) that it’s a fun, Pirates of the Caribbean style, Japanese mythology based, fantasy adventure film.  I hope it is.  I’ll be thrilled if it is.

3.  Her:  I don’t think much of Juaquin Phoenix.  He’s got a Brando vibe I find very off-putting.  And Spike Jones’s last film, Where the Wild Things Are was one of the worst films of 2009.  Still, the trailer is intriguing, and Jones did show a lot of early promise, so he might turn things around with this one.  Fingers crossed.

2.  Under the Skin:  I’m not sure if it’s a first-look high, but after seeing a quick montage teaser, this catapulted out of nowhere and on to this list.  I loved Sexy Beast, and this looks like a surreal nightmare…which I also love.  Bring it on, Jonathan Glazer.  Give me your best shot.  I can take it.  (I found out since writing this that the movie doesn’t have US distribution, and is only playing at festivals or some such.  I don’t care.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this sneaks out before the end of the year like The Artist did back in 2011).

1.  Inside Llewyn Davis:  The trailer for this film hardly thrills.  And I don’t care about folk singing or singers.  But I have liked every Coen Brothers film I’ve seen (except Intolerable Cruelty…duh).  So, I hope they strike gold one more time, and help rescue this year from the blahs.

    There are a few other movies I want to see, like Riddick, The Hobbit, Man of Tai Chi (if it plays), How I Live Now (if it plays), and Thor.  But it’s hard to say that I have any particularly strong ‘anticipation’ for them.  Oh, and I want to see Prince Avalanche, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be carried in theaters anywhere I’ll get to.  So, my Fall season is up in the air, as many films I want to see, films that might potentially make this year less abysmal than it's been, may not even come out this year.  I don't get it.

-Matt

You sir, are no Conan.

A Fistful of Fall Anticipation 2013! (Brad's Picks)

Just four more months left to the year.  September, October, November, December.  Summer is behind us; it's time for Hollywood to unleash the Oscar Bait heavy hitters.  Don't know if you've picked up the mood around ITMOD lately, but Matt & I are desperate for some real-deal cinematic entertainment.  So far this year I've seen 54 films.  I've liked a bunch, but I've only LOVED two films (Only God Forgives & The World's End).  That's fairly depressing.  And going into this prestigious Fall Season, I don't see a lot of options to perk up my mood.  None of the films listed below are there due to their content.  The plots do not really interest me, but the filmmakers behind the camera certainly do.

Honorable Mention - Oldboy:  I am not anticipating Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, I'm dreading it.  Josh Brolin & Sharlto Copley are perfectly paired as the tortured & torturer, but I just cannot imagine this film sticking the original's epic revenge twist.  And judging by what little I've seen of the trailer, this Spike Lee Joint doesn't even seem bothered with pulling off the Korean climax.  So...good, right?  Be it's own thing.  Maybe focus more on the original comic?  Well, except the trailer seems to rob every other beat from Chan-wook Park's film.  Beards, umbrellas, hammers.  Color me cautiously curious.

5.  The Monuments Men:  I think George Clooney is one of the most fascinating, if not all-together successful, actor-turned-directors out there.  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck, Leatherheads, Ides of March.  Each of his movies are wildly different from the next.  Not just in plot or tone, but in visual style.  Name me another actor/director that has as strong an eye as Clooney?  You can't.  Good Night and Good Luck is probably his strongest effort, but I've also really enjoyed the oddity of Confessions, and I think Leatherheads is ridiculously charming.  But Ides of March was just a basic political melodrama with strong performances, but a blah predictable screenplay.  I'm happy to see him tackling this oddball WWII art caper flick, but is this just a period piece Ocean's 11?  There could be worse things.

4.  The Wolf Of Wall Street:  Martin Scorsese makes a movie, I get excited.  And with its Kanye score and Matthew McConaughey chest thumping, I absolutely adored the first theatrical trailer.  My only concern is that this is just a Social Network wannabe.  Asshole Leo tossing midgets, lobsters, and orange juice and making boatloads of cash off all us American suckers.  We've had a lot of Rise & Fall stories throughout the years, and Scorsese himself delivered two of the greatest with Goodfellas & Casino.  Does he have a third one in him?  I sure hope so.

3.  Thor - The Dark World:  Pre-Avengers, Kenneth Branagh's Thor was my favorite of the Marvel Studios movies.  Chris Hemsworth is the single greatest spandex discovery since Christopher Reeve.  His smile owned that movie.  It was a romcom fish-outta-water adventure that didn't need to bother with brooding responsibility a la Iron Man or a dozen other super hero flicks.  All Thor cared about was having fun at the movies.  But now Branagh is out, Game of Thrones's Alan Taylor is in, and The Dark World promises to deliver the Empire Strikes Back.  Not sure if that's what I want from the mighty god of thunder, but Jason Aaron's comic has brought new levels of enthusiasm to the character, and I'm fascinated to see if Hemsworth's lackadaisical brute can handle the doom & gloom.

2.  The Counselor:  Frankly, given my absolute frustration surrounding Prometheus, I am simply stunned that Ridley Scott's latest has not only made my Top Five, but my Number 2 to boot.  Just goes to show you the power of Michael Fassbender.  Not too mention Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz viciously chewing up a scenery supplied by Cormac McCarthy.  Guns, drugs, and jaguars - Oh My!  This project was born out of the director's inability to adapt McCarthy's hateful western, Blood Meridian, so cross your fingers that this flick brings the rage found within the printed page.  Although, I'll simply settle for some Black Rain blood squibs.

1.  Inside Llewyn Davis:  IMDB's short synopsis reads, "A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961."  That doesn't really get the heart pumping, does it?  Of course, that's the charm of the Coen Brothers.  They can seemingly take any subject and transform it into a comedy, a drama, a western, a noir, a whatever.  With the exception of Intolerable Cruelty, every single one of their movies has landed in my end of the year Top Ten.  I expect the same here.  You've got Coen stalwart John Goodman, but a lot of fresh faces as well.  The lead Oscar Isaac has been on the verge of a breakthrough for nearly the last ten years (Robin Hood, Sucker Punch, Drive), and given enough critical praise & audience acceptance Inside Llewyn Davis might be his ticket.  Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, F Murray Abraham, and Neelix round out the supporting cast.  I certainly like these faces.

--Brad

Dork Art: Riddick IMAX Poster + Comic Con Photos

Here is Alex Fuentes's exclusive IMAX poster for the 8PM screening of Riddick on September 5th.  The film's very existence is kind of a movie miracle blessed this world by the sheer willpower of its star, Vin Diesel.  Nearly ten years in the making, the previous film (The Chronicles of Riddick) barely recouped its budget and certainly didn't capture a fanbase with its Dune delusions.  Of course, I personally admired its attempt to reach beyond a Pitch Black rehash, taking its character in a bold new direction even if the end result was a little tepid.  The new film looks to be returning to its monster mash roots, and the first few trailers did not look too promising.

I really had no interest in Riddick before Comic Con this year, but after my front row experience at the Hall H panel, the undeniably charming & sweet Diesel won me over.  As he chatted about how his experience as a Dungeons & Dragons DM crafted his talent as a storyteller, I found myself swooning for the Fast & Furious lug.  At the very least Vin Diesel is passionate about his characters.  He may spend the rest of his life as Riddick and Dominic Torretto, but I think that suits him just fine.  The photos seen below were taken by yours truly on the Friday of the San Diego Comic Con.

--Brad