Category: movies

Normally we see movies at the local Alamo Drafthouse theater, here in Richardson (normally I would link to them, but as you’ll see I don’t think they are link-worthy anymore). Last year (or was it the year before?), the franchise owner for a bunch of Alamo locations shut our theater and some other locations down. They were reopened by Alamo corporate, which I suppose is now owned by Sony Pictures. The auditoriums were remodeled in such a way as to enshittify the movie-going experience. We used to enjoy going there for dinner and a movie, but the food it noticeably worse now. Some is actively horrible. And it is a lot more expensive. We went to a movie there a few weeks ago and noticed that the pre-movie experience is also worse. It all seems more corporate (because it is). It feels like what once had a living, shining soul is now a dead carcass that thinks it’s still alive, but still…

…still it is better than the experience of of going to a huge “normal” theater chain.

Last night we went to see Becoming Led Zeppelin at a nearby AMC megalo-maximo-giganto-plex. At the concession stand you pick your order on a touch screen and pay with a card. It spits out a receipt with an order number. Eventually a person working in the concession mine behind the “stand” puta your order up and you are summoned to get it. If they could make you prepare your own shit, they would. I’m sure that’s on the way.

Once in our seats we were immediately bombarded with advertising, “movie trivia”, and then more advertising, all designed to keep the attention of a society of people who can no longer stand the be alone with the horror of their own thoughts.

Then the lights dimmed slightly and we were shown previews of coming films (all of which look horrible. Sorry. I know I’m complaining. This is complaint-worthy.), as well as AMC (American Multi Cinema) propaganda, demonstrations of the sound system, etc.

This went on for at least 25 or 30 minutes. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to start freaking out. I’m not kidding. I really wanted to see this movie, but had I not been with my wife I think I would have left. The pre-movie torture session really was that bad. I honestly – no joke here – thought “maybe this will never end.”

The movie was, however, great and made up for the water-boarding we took beforehand. I mean c’mon – Led Zeppelin. The greatest rock band of all time. Totally worth it. It all sounded great. The interviews with the surviving band members were great.

Tonight I watched the 2nd of the Hammer Frankenstein movies, The Revenge of Frankenstein, with Peter Cushing of course as the kindly doctor.

I love that there’s a continuity so far with these movies. Keeping Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein and actually following his life through six movies is pretty cool. Other than the classic universal monster movies I’ve really never been much of a horror movie fan. Much more into science fiction. I’m aware that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel is really considered to be the first work of science fiction and literature, but let’s face it. The movies really are about horror. That being said these films aren’t exactly scary or even that shocking by today’s standards. But there is something disturbing about them. And they’re tremendously fun.

I’ve actually had to watch these films on three different streaming services. Tonight I watched on Apple TV. Not sure where I’m going to pick up the next one.

After watching Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell last week, I decided last night to watch the first of the Frankenstein films by Hammer, The Curse of Frankenstein.

The film was made in 1957, and stars a relatively young Peter Cushing. I say relatively young, because I’m not sure he ever actually was young. It’s hard to imagine, and I’m refraining from a simple web search for “young Peter Cushing” because really I don’t want to know. He really elevates this part, like he seems to have done in everything he was in. I found his performance in this film fairly complex. Threatening, weirdly naive about the way others might perceive what he’s doing, arrogant. He conveys a lot of qualities. One quality he does not convey is “I’m a nice guy.” Which is just fine.

The film follows a typical but altered Frankenstein story. No real surprises. While the makeup for the monster isn’t great, it is also less comical than the classic Boris Karloff style makeup. The Hammer films, if my viewings thus far are any indication (and I think they probably are) enjoy hitting the viewer with more gross-out moments than the classic Universal monster films did. Eyeballs being taken out of a jar. The hands of a great sculptor brought back to the Frankenstein estate, all pale and dead looking. Sawing through a skull to get at that precious precious brain. Hammer digs that, and so do I.

So, no spoilers here. I mean, I don’t want to slip up and tell my readers than Baron Frankenstein creates humanoid monster from the bodies of the dead. Not gonna ruin that for anyone.

Hammer made six Frankenstein movies, all with Cushing. I’m not including 1970’s Horror of Frankenstein, which was a parody and did not star Cushing. Pretending it doesn’t exist. So with two down, I only have four more to watch and I’ll have earned my PhD in Hammer Frankenteinology. My Uncle John, who loves this stuff, will be so proud!

Tonight I’ll watch the second of the films, The Revenge of Frankenstein. Looking forward to it!

I watched Blade Runner last night. It was the “Final Cut”  version, released in 2007. Such a great movie. Blade Runner was originally released in 1982. Like a lot of great films from decades ago, it did not predict the ubiquity of wireless communications (Deckard has to use a futuristic phone booth), but otherwise it holds up really well. Visually it’s as stunning as ever, and it’s great to be able to stream it in HD to a fairly large screen in your own home.

The look and feel of Blade Runner is often cited as being the quintessential atmosphere of cyberpunk. I don’t really know about that.  For one thing, the film has nothing to do with computer networks — there is no cyberspace. And while portions of Los Angeles look crowded, the streets often look deserted, presumably due to migration of people to the Offworld Colonies. I usually think of cyberpunk as being crowded everywhere. Still, I guess the noir feeling the movies carries off so well is somewhat compatible with William Gibson‘s Sprawl Trilogy.

I’ve never read the Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the story by Philip K. Dick, upon which this film is based. I should add it to my reading list.

Whenever I watch Blade Runner, I find myself wanting to know more about the world and its characters. There has been some additional fiction written about the setting, but that all just seems kind of ridiculous. Fan Fiction at best? Other than seeing Blade Runner 2049 when it comes out, perhaps it’s best to just let the film stand on its own.

I just read that a sequel is being made to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

Here is a brief synopsis of what it would be like if I wrote it.

In the upcoming sequel to It’s a Wonderful Life, in 2014, George Bailey’s grandson is given cybernetic enhancements and is transported backwards in time by the ghost of ZuZu, to kill the mother of Ayn Rand before Ayn can be conceived. He returns to the present to find that Democratic Socialist Rand Paul has just been elected president of our solar system-spanning utopia, and the great grandson of Mr. Potter has just invented a cure for all disease, which he will make available to humanity free of charge because it’s the right thing to do. In the final scene, the Force-Ghosts of Potter, George, and Ernie the cab driver look blissfully upon George Bailey III.

I can’t believe I haven’t gotten to this yet…well…here it is…

Marvel has been KILLING IT with their superhero movies. Every one of them has been great. I’m talking about the ones from Marvel Studios, not the shitty ones like the two horrible Fantastic Four movies. So, to be clear, let me list the killer ones…

• Iron Man
• The Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man 2
• Thor
• Captain America: the First Avenger
• Marvel’s The Avengers
• Iron Man 3

OK — that’s out of the way. Marvel Studios has done a great job of 1)creating a cohesive cinematic universe for their characters to inhabit, 2) they’ve done a great job of making live action costumed super-heroes not look stupid, and 3)they’ve more or less kept the characters’ personalities and abilities like those of the comic book characters. No huge deviations, and the deviations that are there tend to improve the films.

Sooooo…where the heck is DC Comics?

Overall, the recent Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale was pretty good. I have no complaints about it. I enjoyed all three of those films. Again — the writers and director took existing comic story lines and did a nice “real world-ish” adaptation of them. I would love it if one of them had showed Batman being “the World’s Greatest Detective”, as he is depicted in the comics, but let’s face it — the general public is waaaaay to stupid to enjoy something even a little bit cerebral. Remember, we’re talking about a population dumb enough to elect people like Ted Cruz, and who think that requiring people to buy insurance from private companies amounts to a socialist takeover of health care. See what I mean?   And you don’t make multi-multi-multi-million dollar movies for smart people only. So there you go. We got what we got, and it was pretty good. We were lucky on these Batman movies.

Oh – if you were offended by my Ted Cruz remark or the healthcare comment, I don’t give a shit and please go kill yourself. Thanks.

Hmmmm…now after three successful Batman movies, what character should DC do next? The answer is quite obvious — a certain Kryptonian who escaped a certain doomed planet called Krypton. Yeah.

So with heavy involvement by Christopher Nolan, of the aforementioned Batman movies, they crank out Man of Steel, a very much needed reboot of the Superman mythos. I say very much needed because the old Superman movies as well as the attempted relaunch by Brian Singer entitled Superman Returns, well, they were all stupid. Yes, stupid. As beloved as at least the first two of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies were and are, and as much as they got a few things very right, they simply don’t hold up well in the world of the 2000s. Superman Returns might have succeeded but fell victim to its attempt to carry on a long-dead storyline. It was a beautiful movie, with some really fantastic scenes, but sorry — we want to see Superman go up against people with super powers. Lex Luthor sucks.

The creative team got it right on Man of Steel.

They modernized the character without stripping away what makes him great. He is a demigod walking among us, and they made this clear. They didn’t waste time with a linear origin story, but worked that stuff in via flashbacks.  They gave him enemies of his own power level to fight. And then — the let them fight! Glorious, city-leveling, violent, super-being combat. Lots of flight? Check.  Super speed? Check. Heat vision? Check. Super Strength on a proper Superman level? Check and check.

I’ve read some complaints by people who need to get a life and/or settle down that 1)there is too much collateral damage in the big fight scene (that people would have died) and 2)Superman kills Zod at the end. Well, hell yes people would have died! What would you expect. Do you blame Superman for not saving all of them? Dude is trying to save the entire planet. OK? Got it? And at the same time, two or three or four other Kryptonians are trying to beat the shit out of him and kill him. So lay off.

As far as his killing of General Zod at the end — well hell yes he kills him. The guy is about to incinerate a whole family with heat vision. First the mamby-pambies complain because Supes doesn’t save everyone and their uncles from getting crushed by falling buildings, then they complain because he kills the guy who wants to destroy humanity and re-engineer the plant and is about to smoke an entire family to do it. What’s he supposed to do? Reason with the guy?

No, this isn’t Chris Reeves’s Superman. He KILLED a dude. It is part of his character development in this new movies series (at least I hope it’s a series).

Oh – the special effects in this film were incredible and flawless. Finally they show super-speed. It was cool.

So to sum up…

• Movie – great
• People who got mad because Superman doesn’t save everyone and kills a villain — stupid
• Do I hope there are more of these? Yes.

There is now talk of a new Batman/Superman team-up type movie. If they can work these two together, using the kind of atmosphere they have achieved with the Batman trilogy and Man of Steel, I say they should go for it. There is always talk of a Justice League movies. I’d love to see it down right, but I’m not convinced they can do it yet. They need to get at least two more characters done right in their own movies. Green Lantern was not very good. They need to scrap that one. I’m gonna say Wonder Woman and the Flash. At a minimum they need those.

Actually, maybe they don’t. If they can get the characters right, I don’t think they need an origin story. We all know who all these characters are. Just go for it.