Enough About Burt?

A man's man..Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

TODAY

It is the last day of January and it is springtime gorgeous – 72 degrees. It is a fluke of the weather gods; cold weather is predicted for the balance of the week. I just had an incredible “world salad” here at Central Market. I had Thai tofu, lemon humus, and Greek cucumber salad among other things. It was way good. In previous blog articles, I think I misinterpreted this wonderful place. For me, it isn’t so much a place where you go to buy groceries. It’s where you buy a delectable lunch, sit in the sunlit café, and people watch. Also, you can blog using the HEB wi-fi.

STREAMING MAELSTROM

I just purchased the Amazon Fire TV stick, and I’ve been binge watching “Mozart in the Jungle”. There are now so many TV and streaming options, I cannot keep up. We’re getting “Baskets” on FX and a new “X-Files” on Fox. We’re about to be blessed with the OJ Trial on “American Crime” and “Grease” performed live. Throw in a couple of purchased seasons (“The Affair”, “Man Seeking Woman”) and I can scarcely keep up. I now have Apple TV, ROKU and Fire TV.. They are all good and a person could be pretty well served by any of them. Apple TV is conspicuously missing a viewer for Amazon Video – they need to fix that one shortcoming.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT

My actual topic is the Burt Reynolds memoir “Enough About Me” that I just heard on audiotape. It is a great audio experience for someone who grew up watching and sometimes idolizing the great Mr. Smokey. The book covers his entire lifetime and I won’t attempt to recap the whole thing. I’ll just cover some main impressions and direct you the blog reader to the complete bio at the iTunes bookstore.

I’ve long suspected that there was more to Burt than his action star movie persona. I mostly think of: "Dan August", "Deliverance", "Longest Yard", Car Chase movies and "Evening Shade" when I think of Burt's roles. It turns out Burt did several other movies (eg, "The End", "Paternity") and longed to establish himself as a serious thespian with great range. Alas, even though he was number one male lead at the box office from 1976-1981 he was pretty well typecast as a bubba in a Firebird. He regrets that he chose so many movie roles based on travel perks and the fact that his good friend Hal Needham was directing.

Burt’s father was a WWII war hero, construction manager and police chief – an ultra-macho man who sounds like he could’ve played ¾ of the Village People with such manly roles. Burt’s dad was grim and disapproving – he never liked Burt’s acting career. Burt spent the better part of a lifetime trying to win his Dad’s approval. It might explain his penchant for doing dangerous, body-wrecking stunts and macho buddy roles that pretty much closed the door on being the next Sir Laurence Olivier. In truth, Burt was quite macho – he would’ve been a pro footballer and pro coach if a college injury hadn’t cut short that career.

Burt’s relationships with women were kind of star-crossed, like his mid-life movie roles. His one true love was Dinah Shore, a lovely talk show maven old enough to be his mother. They parted amicably and stayed friends. Sally Field was another Burt lady friend. Sally distanced herself from Burt after their breakup and said little about the aborted romance ever after. The two women Burt actually married – Judy Carne and Loni Anderson, ended up as “frenemies” to Burt. The marriages were short-lived and not much love lost. Familiarity must breed contempt. Burt also had a coterie of male friends which included Dom DeLuise, Jim Nabors and Charles Nelson Reilly. One only guess if there is another dimension to Burt’s bio but nothing more is shared in the memoir.

THE LION IN FLORIDA WINTER

In later life, Burt settled down as a happily confirmed bachelor. He worked for many years as an acting coach at his Jupiter, Florida theater company. He was then visited by “the plagues” in recent years. He had to have a heart bypass and then went through a 2014 bankruptcy which rid him of most conspicuous possessions. Friends and a favorite niece helped him to rearrange his finances such that he could keep a nice home and live comfortably.

ENOUGH ABOUT BURT?

This book was hardly enough about Burt. There are so many things in the book that might beg a question or arch a curious eyebrow. His career bridged across eras from the MGM star system of the 50’s to the hip, indie, sexually frank films of the 90’s. Burt’s life is an unqualified success, if you go by excitement quota and living every minute to the fullest. I’d like a Burt bio II, but that may not be in the offing as he is 80ish, walking with a cane and talking with a very hoarse rasp.

© 2016 Snillor Productions

Metropolis Revisited

Robot temptress.. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

TODAY

Today is a crisp, chilly 44 degrees with a deceptively bright, blue sky. Kind of invigorating really as a crowded White Rock suggests. I’m now at Arboretum Starbucks, enjoying my Thanksgiving week off.

CLASSIC SCI-FI

I recently watched a classic sci-fi movie, and actually one considered to be the first feature length film of that genre. Directed by Fritz Lang, Metropolis was filmed in 1925 at Babelsberg Studio in Germany. Considering the year was 1925, some of the special effects are remarkable. The movie, which is silent with captions, even has a fusion of live action and animation that has characterized much later films.

Metropolis took so long to package and edit, it wasn’t released until 1927 at which point talkies had made their debut. The film had elaborate sets and was the most expensive production to that date. It was a commercial-critical dud partly because of its timing. Decades later, the movie was rediscovered for its huge contribution to the sci-fi concept.

The movie depicts a future society in a highly industrialized city (“Metropolis”). Peon factory workers are imprisoned in a subterranean factory setting while a rich elite lives in the ultramodern towers above. It appears (my interpretation) that the workers are cloned offspring of the elite, born to do their bidding. Freder, a scion of the elite falls in love with Maria, a factory wench. Maria also sidelines as an evangelist, urging the workers to seek independence.

Freder’s father has a mad scientist kidnap Maria and project her physical appearance onto a robot creation. Then, the robot is programmed to deceive Maria’s followers, leading them far astray into a life of mindless decadence. I won’t give away the rest of the plot, although it’s safe to say that good wins over evil in the end.

RECEPTION

Critics at the time panned the movie for being a simplistic morality tale (which let’s be honest – it was). Robot Maria’s plunge into decadence had her appearing as an erotic dancer in an adult cabaret. The dance numbers are stunning though some of the facial expressions are comically exaggerated probably owing to a lack of sound as a method of conveyance. The movie seemed to caution against madcap dancing and drinking – even while making it a prominent attraction in the film. The screenplay was written by Lang’s wife, Thea Von Harbou. Her gift of plot structure was not on a par with George Lucas by any means.

TECHIE COOL STUFF

The movie had ultra-modern cityscapes and cars streaming through tubular connected bridges. Freder’s father used video teleconference to reach underlings. The laboratory of the mad scientist had all manner of lightning bolts and energy streams zapping Maria’s visage over to a metallic robot. Some of this is pretty cool even now. I don’t think Star Wars or Total Recall have exceeded the total vision of Fritz Lang circa 1925.

I watched the movie wondering how it played to Weimar Germans of the day, who were still smarting from World War I and flirting with Nazism. The dystopian, monolithic themes must have registered in some way. The Nazi state buildings of the 1930’s almost seem to have the soaring majesty of a Fritz Lang set.

If you have time to kill, this movie is a good way to kill it. One note – the movie was highly censored, edited and even butchered by morality police of the era. Whole sections were cut, so the captions are sometimes paragraphs to explain weird transitions and gaps. Still, it sort of flows. And still, it's a fascinating piece of cinema.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Things That Crawl in the Night

Neo-Noir tour de force .. Poster courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
THE LATEST

I’m at Arboretum Starbucks in Lakewood.. I can only assume that Knox Street Starbucks wants fewer customers – they took out most of their tables and all their comfortable seating. They were aiming at something with that remodel, I know not what. Since my last blog entry, my 1995 GE Washer expired on me. I’m now getting used to a new Whirlpool “high efficiency” machine that makes weird shushing noises. It does get the clothes clean with less water and detergent – guess I’ll get used to it. I’m also enjoying a new Cuisinart Extreme Brew coffee maker. My house is becoming the everything-new house but not necessarily because I want it to.

This hot, baking summer is approaching its end – can’t say I’ll miss the heat and dryness. Bring on Labor Day and Halloween.

NIGHTCRAWLER

Yesterday, I watched a neo-noir thriller from 2014. The film, Nightcrawler, was a low budget independent film that flew under the radar of Oscar or Golden Globes. It is nonetheless one of the best movies I’ve seen in many months. I was on the edge of my seat for all 117 minutes of this remarkable movie. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a videographer, Lois Bloom, who hawks footage of accidents and shootings to a local TV news station. Rene Russo plays the morally ambiguous Station Manager who encourages Lois to take ever greater risks in capturing footage that is grisly, authentic and news-grabbing. Lois is also morally compromised in his single-minded drive to succeed as the King of Gruesome Footage.

There are so many things to like about this film.. Gyllenhaal lost 30 pounds for this role. He morphs into a slender, polyester weasel with a frightening hypnotic stare. He pursues a relationship with Russo, a woman old enough to be his mother. The air between them is erotically charged although in fact they never even kiss on screen. The overall movie made me think of Postman Always Rings Twice with the romance-fueled evil doings. First-time director Dan Gilroy had camera angles of a seedy, steamy otherworldly Los Angeles that made me think of Blue Velvet.

One review that I read said that the movie is darkly comic. I never laughed at any of the proceedings although in retrospect it is funny. It’s also a serious indictment against the news industry if any measure of it is true. Lastly, I will warn you away from this movie if you like to see justice prevail in the end. The ending of this movie is as shocking and duplicitous as the proceedings leading up to it. It’s almost an allegory for life – not just the news industry. We have to hope that Karma will catch up to them later. If you have two hours to watch pure evil unfold, catch Nightcrawler on Netflix.

STARBUCKS REDUX

This Starbucks is nice and new -- gets a pretty decent crowd of people. I'm in a nice window seat with a 180 degree view. For some reason this new Starbucks could afford tables the other one could not. Bloggers of the world unite -- we must be accommodated with good lighting and confortable seating.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Tales Sauvages

Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord .. Poster courtesy of Corner Productions

by Trebor Snillor
JOURNAL UPDATE

This blog has become as much a diary as an e-zine anymore.. We are back to having “freak show” weather with thunder showers, wind and weather alerts. In the last week, my 2001 RAV4 developed a bad leak in the moon roof and a short in the electric window wiring. I’m now re-repairing things that were fixed fairly recently -- to the tune of $200. May be time to find the RAV4 a new home.

LYFT

I used Lyft for the first time, going back to pick up my RAV4. The total fair for 9 miles was $11. That’s about half of a regular cab fare. The driver was a pleasant young man in a new Sentra and the iPhone app gave me progress updates of where he was in the approach to my house. Seems almost too good to be true – probably is. Uber drivers in San Francisco are apparently suing Uber to recover car repair expenses. I hope nothing happens from that to destroy this most excellent business model we have.

MERCEDES BENZ

For the first time in my life, I visited Park Cities Mercedes. I wanted to look at the new GLA crossover that retails for $34K. They had one in stock (Jupiter Red) and it was very nice, at the advertised price. I couldn’t get the attention of anyone but I did get to look it over. Very impressed. The dealership was crowded like an Apple Store; you would think they’re giving the cars away. There was a mixture of West Texas farmers in ball caps, rich housewives and Arab business men sporting more jewelry than Liberace. A young man in Prada was scolded by his Dad for looking at models deemed too inexpensive. The waiting room looked like a plush Hilton lounge with 72” TV and a coffee bar fitted out better than Starbucks. It’s enough to make me hang out and pretend my car is in the shop.

DOG PARK

The White Rock dog park has been beautifully revamped with new fence, drainage, landscape, lights and a water ramp for dogs to fetch toys out of the water. I visited Saturday evening as part of my evening walk. There was a boxer with a backpack, an amorous Yorkie and a black lab with nails painted white. As interesting as the dogs were, the owners were at least as interesting. Whoever would give her black lab white toenails has got to be interesting. I love dogs but don’t own one – the dog park is a great way to get my dog fix without all the fuss of ownership. Lazy I know.

WILD TALES (Spoilers follow)

I just watched an Argentine movie, Wild Tales, with 6 vignettes about violence and revenge. Each story presents a situation of righteous anger and indignation. The characters handle these situations variously and for the most part badly. Most would be remanded to anger management rehab. You do not get to crash planes, run people off the road or plant bombs as a reaction to life’s insults and injuries. The last vignette is the best because it features a nuclear melt-down followed by ultimate redemption. It was so excellent I may have to watch it again. There is a stereotype of Spanish people being filled with passion and bigger-than-life emotions. This movie plays into that image marvelously – sometimes we need those big emotions to wake us out of our comfortable American numbness. This move was a new addition on iTunes – well worth $3.99 and two hours of your time.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

50 Shades of Silly

Forbidden Love - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor

This week we’re having typical Texas roller coaster weather. 78 degrees yesterday and 30 degrees tomorrow. It’s a nippy 53 right now, as we make that transition. My house is in complete disarray as my kitchen gets rebuilt. I must learn patience which has never been one of my shining qualities. Now, on to our topic.

50 Shades of Grey (spoiler alert)

To avoid getting in the way of workmen at my house, I went to see 50 Shades the first day it came out, 2/13/2015. This move has recently been done to death by critics and social media, so I’ll offer my entire movie-going experience – not just a review of the movie itself.

I thought that AMC 15 would be swarming with people, even on the matinee but it wasn’t. The theater was maybe 30% full – probably still a good headcount for a weekday matinee. I thought I’d be the only man and was surprised to see a lot of other guys. It was probably 60% women, 40% men. There were many couples and quite a few older people.

50 Shades is a romance movie, of sorts. A wealthy handsome business titan, Christian Grey, sets his sights on sweet demure Anastasia Steele. He wants her not as a wife or a girlfriend but as a sex slave. The premise is one of “forbidden love” – it alternately reminded me of Brokeback Mountain or Looking for Mr. Good Bar.

Having seen a few S&M videos before (by happenstance rest assured) I wasn’t sure what to expect. The S&M scenes in this movie were lame and tame by practically any measure. This was S&M sanitized and softened for the tastes of suburban women’s book clubs. Anastasia was in no real danger. I found myself laughing sometimes nervously and then later deliberately because of unintentional humor. The whole audience giggled inappropriately all throughout the movie. It seemed like a women’s soft-core porno building slowly to its peak -- pardon the orgasmic wording.

It’s interesting that feminist females and right-wing chauvinist men are oddly in full agreement – they feel that movies like this are the “downfall of civilization”. The women are exploited like chattel! But Madonna and Miley have informed us across the years – it’s not exploitation if the woman chooses it. She might just really be kinky and wild. One of a modern woman’s options is to be as chaste or as chased as she wants to be. The rule is really that there are no rules. So everybody chill and put your judgments away.

In this particular movie, Anastasia is a sweet, virginal lamb – falling for an emotionally blocked wolf. She ultimately decides she has no taste for whips and chains. In fact, as the movie draws to the end it seems that Anastasia is breaking Christian out of his S&M delusions and bringing him into the world of real feeling and emoting.

Was this a great movie? Absolutely not. Even the characters’ names sound cheesy and made up like something from a XXX grind house. Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely! It was unintentionally hilarious. If you have some fun friends who enjoy double entendres and silliness you will be able to laugh it up together. This movie entertains us with guilty pleasure and naughtiness. If you have a spare two hours – it’s worth the price of admission.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Material Girl

I'll take one in every color - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor

Hunky’s
Today I’m writing from Hunky’s Café on Cedar Springs. I wanted a change of scenery and wi-fi is available here. We’re having a late October heat wave, so I won’t be baking in their sidewalk seating area. It’s sunny and festive inside here – we have the ambience of a 50’s diner. I love the atmosphere except for the loud foursome behind me.

Film Noir for Moi
I just watched 1944’s Double Indemnity on Netflix. Directed by Billy Wilder it is possibly the best film noir ever made. Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were at their peaks and I barely paused the TV while watching it. It has a couple of interesting twists which I forgot about. Hard to believe that Walter Neff was later the genial father on My Three Sons.

Queen of Versailles
Last week I watched a documentary about the wealthy Siegel family in Orlando Florida. David Siegel owns the largest timeshare corporation in America. I figured it would be like a fun Donald and Ivana Trump special – wasn’t quite expecting what I saw. Queen of Versailles actually focuses more on David’s wife Jackie. The ex-1993 Miss America is shown indulging their 8 children in extravagant toys and making plans for their new, 90,000 square foot Versailles knock-off (largest house in America).

The movie is a documentary that began filming circa 2007 before the financial crisis. The producer had access to the Siegel’s and their home for extensive interviews. What struck me immediately was the question “How much is enough?”. Mr. Siegel is quoted as saying, “I’m not materialistic”. Jackie belies this by declaring that their 26,000 square foot mansion is “bursting at the seams” and they need 90,000 square feet. Jackie clearly feels that if a dollop is good a truckload is way better. She has @ 10 white Pomeranian lap dogs gracing every scene. The maids are shown picking up dog poop while the boy actually steps in some. Every commissioned oil painting of the couple shows Mr. Siegel dressed as a knight or a king. Nothing low-key here.

The 2008 crisis hits and the Siegel’s are seriously affected. It seems the timeshare business needs plentiful, cheap loan money. They must suspend construction on Versailles and lay off thousands of employees. David at one point says that his kids may have to apply for student loans – I’m wondering if one of their gaudy lamps couldn’t pay for at least a year in Harvard for one kid. They lay off all but four maids, who are still needed to push 5 loaded shopping carts out of a local toy store at Christmas. A new bicycle has to fight for space in a garage already overflowing with bikes and sports gear. Jackie visits an old high school friend – she’s shocked that her Avis rent car doesn’t come with a driver. David tells her to cut back, but at no point does it seem like it looms large in her mind.

My impression from all this is not that the Siegel’s are terrible, bad people. Jackie is a friendly people person with a lot of exuberance for life. I think she seems more like an addictive-personality who doesn’t know how to apply the brakes on the materialism gravy train. She just has more enabling than your average hoarder or shop-a-holic. Even one of the teenage children says that enough is never really enough.

Recovery
Since 2008, the timeshare industry recovered and the Siegel’s are back in the saddle. Mr. Siegel restarted construction on Versailles. The Siegel’s filed a lawsuit against the producers of Queen of Versailles.. They felt the portrayal was defamatory. The case was decided in the producer’s favor although more litigation could follow. I’m still at Hunky’s and a schizophrenic man has started talking either to himself or me – not sure. Will take that as a cue to wrap this up and enjoy what remains of this extremely hot afternoon.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

Hitchcock, Gallic Style

Eyes Without a Face - Pic courtesy of Lux Films

by Trebor Snillor
This was a long holiday weekend and it gave me time to watch some excellent TV shows. I finished off my binge of Orange is the New Black and will just say they exceeded all my expectations. I also watched two movies in the HuluPlus “Criterion Collection” which were formidable. Each of these movies were considered bold and cutting edge, each in a different way, when they were made. Both are black and white with subtitles -- things that might otherwise send me running the other way. But I was entranced by each movie within minutes of pressing the play button.

EYES WITHOUT A FACE

This movie was made in Paris, 1960. The French country manor, new Citroen automobile and avant garde fashions all make the movie visually compelling. The elegant setting calls to mind Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. Eyes tells the macabre tale of a brilliant plastic surgeon -- one whose 20-something daughter has been badly injured in a car accident. He has a renowned talent for doing skin grafts and he attempts several operations to fix his daughter’s face. What we come to realize (it took me a while with subtitles) is the horrific thing the doctor is doing to procure skin donors. The movie has eerie music and light play which lend it a dreamlike quality. Edith Scob, playing the daughter, bears a resemblance to Mia Farrow. Her slight, pale presence lends a beautiful, ghostly quality to all her scenes.

DIABOLIQUE

In this 1954 movie, a woman conspires with her husband’s mistress to murder him -- he apparently has been a brutal cad to both women. (How very French to treat a mistress so matter-of-factly).. The women drug him, then drown him in a bathtub. They dump his corpse in a pool only to find two days later the body has been removed! The movie has a twist the likes of which was later seen in Vertigo or Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte. I didn't figure out the plot conundrum until the movie was nearly over.

Diabolique gives us Simone Signoret as the mistress and she is a beautiful standout. There is an exquisite change of place and time. We see an antique Renault truck, a small, squalid apartment still with a lavish sink and ornate bathtub. We see a post-war Europe which still listened to radio and lived in 4-story walk ups. The incidentals of the period are as fascinating as the plot line itself.

Both of these movies channel Alfred Hitchcock -- in fact he might wish he’d made them himself. Both feature beautiful blonde women (a Hitchcock fetish), powerful musical scores and spellbinding cinematography. They have lavish backdrops and frequent scene changes -- things which also made Hitchcock’s movies as visually engaging as a travelogue or a fashion show. My two years of high school French actually came in handy -- I followed a tiny percentage of the dialog without the subtitles.

These two movies, as well as several others are available virtually for “free” on HuluPlus (@ $9/month unlimited viewing).. If you can break free of preconceptions about foreign films or old films, these movies are remarkable.

THIS WEEK AWAY FROM TV

I have a frantic week approaching. I’ll be on call for a new software system at our designated command center. I’ll be moving from a private cubicle to an open “collaborative” table at work. And I’ll be getting a large, complicated sprinkler system installed. All this in one week -- it may be more of a nail biter than the movies I just described.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

Chicken Fried

Cage in top form - Pic courtesy of WorldView

by Trebor Snillor
Today I’m on vacation, sitting at the Knox Street Starbucks. Thought I’d have the whole place to myself and I’m amazed to see it crammed with people. I’m having to type this from an arm chair -- a first for this blog. The weather is overcast and cold -- 54 degrees outside. The national news isn’t too exciting. Kathleen Sebelius just resigned from Health & Human Services.. considering the disaster that was the Affordable Care rollout I’m surprised it took that long. From various summaries I saw, the IT aspect was almost an afterthought for the senior politicos involved. Obamacare finally signed up 7.5 million people but not without a protracted period of apologies, fixes and finger-pointing. With that said, I’ll move along to my movie review..

SOUTHERN GOTH

I love movies with a Southern setting. There’s something about the crazed emotions and perverse trajectories of faded gentry in a Louisiana swampland -- it gets right down to the business of human frailty. There is but a thin veneer of politesse to conceal the criminal pasts and sexual improprieties of the characters at hand. Why this has to happen in Jackson, Monroe or Dallas (never Detroit) I don’t know. I guess the North just lacks tempestuousness.

This weekend I watched two movies that easily rise to the occasion -- August: Osage County and a sleeper movie titled Joe. Osage County is an all-star movie giving us the highly dysfunctional Weston women in a large farm house near Tulsa. Meryl Streep is a standout as the bitter, nasty, pill-addled matriarch battling mouth cancer. Her three grown daughters all bear the marks of that turbulent upbringing, with their own individual baggage to carry along. The movie does not disappoint -- it gives us a suicide and incest before the day is done. Southern gothic movies walk a fine line between serious storytelling and self-parody. Unfortunately, so does real life, so maybe that’s OK after all.

JOE

Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors and to me at least -- he’s a living legend. His bearish persona is balanced by a smart sensitivity that is rarely seen. The 50ish actor has lapsed into some silly exploitation films like Ghost Rider, but in the movie Joe -- we get to see Cage at his best. In this movie he plays a burly ex-convict trying to rehabilitate himself as a foreman on a crew of day laborers who clear trees out of pastures. He extends a helping hand to a 15 year old boy from an abusive home; from there Joe is ensnared in a toxic fight with the boy’s ruthless father and a scar-faced associate. Joe was filmed in Austin, Bastrop and Taylor, Texas -- all places close to where I grew up. The movie has an authentic feel to it -- even if it takes you to places that are squalid and crude. Joe is rated R and earns that in a couple of places -- don’t watch if you’re squeamish. Do watch if like me -- you are a fan of Nicolas Cage.

CONCLUSION

The sun has come back out and Starbucks is less crowded. I have actually composed this entire article balancing a Chromebook in my lap. If you’re looking for some good movies I’d recommend either of the above. Joe is actually in theaters now -- I viewed a “pre-release” on Apple TV for $6.99.

© 2014 blogSpotter

2013 at the Arcadia

Chicago-bound Llewyn - Pic courtesy of CBS Films

by blogSpotter

2013 was a banner year for good movies.. I was motivated to watch all these excellent films:

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Dallas Buyers Club
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks

All of these were exceptional; I plunked down the big dollars to see four of these in the theater. Such a bumper crop of excellence is a rare thing to see. My personal favorite of these is probably Nebraska – a black-and-white homage to middle America and the positive family dynamics that happen in a time of true need. But for today I watched Inside Llewyn Davis on Apple TV – it gives us the story of an aspiring folk singer in 1961.

The Coen brothers who created Llewyn are primarily known for chaotic comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona. This movie is far from that – in fact it’s more a character study than a comedy. The laughs that come from this movie will be dry chuckles, not knee-slapping guffaws.

Llewyn Davis is a young, 20ish New Yorker from a lower middle class family. His father is in a nursing home and his sister is a working mother with little patience for a cast-about brother who sleeps on other peoples’ couches. Llewyn seems to also raise the hackles on a married female friend, Jean, who is a fellow folk singer. Jean is livid that Llewyn has impregnated her in an extramarital one-night stand. (Her character seems incapable of conceding that she had a part in it.)

Llewyn was part of a duo (a la Simon and Garfunkel) but as the movie begins his partner has just committed suicide, jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Llewyn is left alone in multiple ways, trying to restart his career as a soloist and reconcile what happened. Through the entire movie, Llewyn comes across as brooding, pensive and angry. You might even conclude that he has a chip on his shoulder and a bit of a self-destructive streak. Caution – some spoilers might follow..

A college professor acquaintance and his wife invite Llewyn to wine and dinner at their beautiful home. He flies off the handle when asked to entertain them with a folk song. “I’m a dinner guest, not the hired entertainment!” A later scene shows a prominent Chicago music producer actually giving Llewyn an audition. He offers Llewyn a job as part of a trio and recommends that he trim his beard – Llewyn huffs away from the offer, aghast that anyone has questioned his own artistic vision.

Throughout the movie Llewyn frowns or looks sad. I keep waiting for him to smile. I want him to play something jaunty on his guitar (how about “Puff the Magic Dragon”?) Instead he plays sad death dirges like “The Death of Queen Anne”. He drowns in a self-centered, self-pity that limits his possibilities. Toward the end of the movie I almost don’t care what happens to such a wounded, broken bird. The movie does end on a slightly positive note suggesting that he’s repairing his burned bridges and giving the solo career a real chance.

An orange house cat serves as a metaphor throughout this film. Without retracing the whole cat sub-plot, the cat (named Ulysses) finds his way home to the college professor’s house from across town. Llewyn’s great epiphany comes about from seeing a mere animal find his bearings against such immense odds. (That’s this viewer’s take on it anyway)..

Inside Llewyn Davis is an excellent character study but it might frustrate you if you’re looking to laugh out loud or brighten your day. I’d still recommend it for a rainy Sunday on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

© 2014 blogSpotter

Passing 40

Midlife for Paul and Debbie - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
It’s mid-March and the weather has become blustery, cold and wet. Just last week I was wearing shorts for St. Patrick’s day. The weather is changeable like my mood, and like the topic of this blog. Because I’m not “on fire” with any subject, this will be a pot pourri of thoughts.

I bought groceries at Krogers today, and they were giving away samples of everything. I had homemade peanut butter (first time ever) and it was incredible. I was in peanut paste heaven. I didn’t even know it was a thing you could buy. I may still go buy some but it’s something like 100 calories for one teaspoon. They had almond and peanut varieties. I also had several guacamole chips from an untended sample stand. Oink!

Starbucks is giving “Pick of the Week” cards for WikiWeb. You can already get Wikipedia on the web, via their mobile web site. How many apps are really just web sites in thin disguise? I’ve noticed that apps reach overload pretty quickly on my devices. They trigger annoying updates and clutter the screen. Periodically I do spring cleaning -- uninstall things I haven’t clicked on maybe ever.

In politics, Republicans continue to astound me with their inflexibility and insincerity. I can’t imagine any self-respecting person who isn’t a white, mainstream male voting for that party. They remind me of the Whig Party of 1860 -- a party so buckled with archaic nastiness and internal dissension that finally nobody wanted to admit an affiliation with it. “What if you had a party and nobody came?” Mark Rubio, Ted Cruze and Paul Ryan are all tired and lame despite their fresh faces.

Enough blather, I’ll tackle today’s movie review …

THIS IS 40

This Is 40 is a romantic comedy written and directed by Judd Apatow. Apatow is a comedically gifted man known previously for The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. I think This Is 40 is his best work yet. It's a “romcom” centered around the lives of Paul, a music producer, and his wife Debbie who manages a woman’s clothing store. They have two daughters (ages 13 and 8), played expertly by Apatow’s own daughters. Debbie (Leslie Mann) is approaching 40 and having a midlife crisis that sends her into bitchy rants, bouts of self-doubt, endless self-help psychobabble and therapy sessions.

Her husband (Paul Rudd) is at the receiving end of the rants and things aren’t going so well on his end either. Paul is also approaching the magic 4-0 while his music company struggles to keep alive. His moochy father is tapping into money the family needs for itself and his flaky employees seem to work against him as much as with him. The excellence of this movie is that it doesn’t rely on convoluted plot twists or complicated layers. It’s a fairly straightforward presentation of a loving family dealing with life situations. The humor is carried in the back-and-forth dialog of a family “on the brink”. In truth, it’s a loving family on the brink of discovering what’s important. Leslie Mann knocks this one out of the park -- her neurotic mannerisms and midlife freakout are very believable. Watch for the scene where Melissa McCarthy (a friend’s Mother) has a meltdown in the principal’s office. Another solid gold scene is a food orgy in a hotel room (enough said).

OK, that’s my review in a nutshell -- fairly compact this time around. I’m watching the news and nothing has gripped me. I truly hope that Valerie Harper’s recently announced brain cancer goes into remission. Rhoda Morgenstern was a hero to a whole generation of Americans and the wonderful actress who played her should live to see 100.

© 2012 blogSpotter

Totally Inappropriate

We'll need to search you  - Pic courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

by blogSpotter

In the past 3 weeks I’ve been truly entertained by my movie choices -- each movie evoking greater heights of shock, outrage and yes -- titillation.  None of these 3 movies are Oscar caliber in any conventional sense but they all sent me to imdb.com and web discussion boards to glean more information about the actors and surrounding events.  Let me give a brief synopsis of each one.

COMPLIANCE - 2012

This is a small, independent movie -- Craig Zobel’s disturbing, painstakingly accurate retelling of an actual event.   A “police detective” calls the lady manager (a 50ish frump played by Ann Dowd) of a ChichWich fast food restaurant to inform her that a 19 year old girl cashier has been caught stealing in a sting operation.  The manager is to detain the cashier and search her for money in the back of the store.  What follows is a jaw-dropping escalation of invasive acts -- a strip search and next a body cavity search.  The acts are performed by a different series of employees to the instructions of a yet unidentified stranger on the phone. The movie shows in painful detail what horrifically stupid things people will do when directed by authority.   It is said that 25% of movie audiences walked out of the theater in initial viewings, and much anger was directed at Craig Zobel for showing what happened.  Sometimes, it hurts to think and it hurts to reconsider our own density.

WAKE IN FRIGHT - 1971  (Australian)

This movie stars Gary Bond as a public grade school teacher John Grant, working in the remote Outback.  The handsome, blond 30ish gent has to travel by train to Sydney across the holidays and stops in the rough-neck mining town of Bundanyabba along the way.   The town has a 10-to-1 ratio of men to women; the men spit, swagger, gamble, box kangaroos and drink alcohol every waking hour.   The town’s sheriff befriends John and tells him ambiguously that “Some chaps come here and they decide to never leave”.   John is at first aghast by the low-class ways of the townspeople but gets drawn in … He drinks himself senseless and then gambles away his paltry cash.   From here, John becomes indebted to a local middle-aged business owner and his band of odd yokel friends (and one nymphomaniac daughter).   The movie has a couple of climaxes if you will.   It shows an extremely brutal kangaroo hunt where these beautiful creatures are slaughtered.  That is a 10 minute segment that I would advise people to fast-forward past.   The Australian film registry has left the sequence in for its shock value, to enlighten people about the plight of kangaroos.  The last few scenes “go there” if you will to a place you knew it might be going.  I can actually see this movie remade in 2013 as a dark comedy.   Points of despair (as seen in 1971) would be points of extreme levity in my proposed 2013 redo.  I won’t give away the plot because this movie is a treasure that should be seen, not read about in a synopsis.

THE PAPERBOY - 2012

This movie, written and directed by Lee Daniels, is a southern gothic on steroids.  It’s a fast, furious collision of Mississippi Burning, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Night of the Hunter.  Set in the 1960’s, it’s the story of two liberal reporters trying to free a wrongly convicted death row inmate in Lately, Florida.  The movie has bondage, nymphomania, racism and homosexuality -- probably all within the first 10 minutes.  It has an all-star cast;  the stand-out performances are probably Nicole Kidman as the insatiable Charlotte and John Cusack as the horny and somewhat nasty Hillary Van Wetter.   But we really shouldn’t minimize the performance of Matthew McConaughey as the closeted sadomasochist and and Zac Efron as the sweet, sensible, heart-broken Jack Jansen.   

IN SUM

These, to me, are what movies are about. They grip and they entertain you.  They also slap, tease and possibly enrage you.  Without trying to deliver any “deep serious” message in a sealed envelope, they raise all manner of questions and points of discussion.  The Paperboy was dissed as a trashy melodrama but I beg to differ.   I’ve seen trashy, shallow flicks and this was something else. In these last few years, Netflix and Apple TV have given me a pass away from mainstream gloss, and into a cinematic land of thought-provoking magic.
        

© 2013 blogSpotter

Hourglass

Bethany and Chip  - Pic courtesy of Sassy Pictures

by blogSpotter

Welcome to my first blog of 2013... it’s been awhile since my last entry.  New Years is almost as painful now as a birthday -- a reminder that (to quote a soap opera intro) the days of our lives are like grains of sand in an hourglass.  With that happy observation, I’ll proceed.. Today’s entry is a mixed bag of retrospectives and a movie review.  

FACEBOOK SPAM
Retirees, housewives and the self-employed -- you know who you are. You’re on my friend list because I like you and want your unique viewpoints.  However I didn’t expect you to post an update every 3 minutes, all the livelong day.  I have 100+ FB friends and 5 of those dominate my news feed.. they have plastered my news feed with news about waking from a nap, making soup or walking a dog.  Another two feel the urgency to repost every YouTube cat video or Obama cartoon.   Please give it a rest!  If you can dial it back to one a day it gives someone else a chance to shine.  I’ll leave it at that.. don’t want to be “unfriended” after all  :-).

NAMES AND PLACES
Getting back to the age thing, I start to worry.  I have a boss from 20 years ago, and I can’t recall his last name.    Then there’s the branch manager who used to sit across from me until 6 months ago... Can’t remember his last name.   Alas, there is the project leader I had for 3 months in 2011 -- I have her last name but not the first.  It starts with a “P” I’m pretty sure.  It’s as if my brain has done a data purge on any name not in current use.   I’ll have a problem if I can’t remember my catch-all password or where I put my spare key. As my dentist would say, “Let’s put a watch on it”.   I don’t think I’m losing it, but we have that in my family history.

SASSY PANTS
I just watched a hilarious indie comedy titled Sassy Pants on Netflix.  It tells the story of Bethany, an 18 year old girl who’s effectively under house arrest by her recently divorced, domineering mother.   The mother, June Pruitt, is played by Anna Gunn (of Breaking Bad fame); her portrayal of an obsessive control-freak is extremely convincing.   Bethany “runs away” to her father who is newly out of the closet and living with his much younger boyfriend.  I won’t do a whole synopsis of the movie, but it has several twists and turns.  Bethany must navigate a brave new terrain of self-centered adults, mean girls, horny dudes and career upsets.  She happens to be a centered, honest, sweet person whose determination gets her through all the ups and downs. If you haven’t seen Haley Joel Osment in a while, he’ll be unrecognizable in this movie.   His portrayal of Chip is amazing and I’ll leave it at that.

STARBUCKS @ LEMON AND KNIGHT AND ELEANOR RIGBY
I’m in a crowded, wet Starbucks on a Saturday night.  The USA is having “freak show” weather this week -- San Diego is having ice storms while Washington DC is having short-sleeve, balmy weather.   Dallas is on the dividing line -- we had 72 degrees yesterday and it’s a blustery wet 40 degrees today.  I get an Arctic blast with each customer coming in.  Am now scanning across the crowd ..I see a few students, but mostly disheveled middle aged geeks such as myself reading, blogging or checking emails on social network sites.  Most fall into that last category. All the lonely people, where do they all come from.          

CHROMEBOOK DOWNSIDE
For some reason, blog2print couldn’t correctly format the two blogs I did using Chromebook. I know there’s a connection but I’ll investigate it later.   The Chromebook couldn’t find Starbuck’s attwifi network without a lot of cajoling and rebooting.   That’s a little jarring since it doesn't even function without a wifi connection.  I finally got it to connect but am not liking what it took. I guess my dour, chilly wet observations tonight are enough to suffice as a kickoff to 2013.   Hoping you and yours have a drier, more comfy year than I’m experiencing on this winter’s eve.

© 2013 blogSpotter

Ordinary People, Exceptional Movie

A Mother/Son Disconnect - Pic courtesy of Paramount

by blogSpotter

Before I embark on my movie review, I ‘d like to touch on a couple of things...

The blog lives -- Much as the Mayans miscalculated when the world would end, I miscalculated when this blog would end.  I still have some poorly expressed ideas to get out there.   Clumsily, herkily and jerkily -- I will share my point of view.  For a while longer anyway... you lucky few readers.  :-)

Sandy Hook and the NRA -- It looks like the National Rifle Association wants to turn every public school into a preadolescent version of Dodge City.  The idea that every school house should be turned into a military encampment is frighteningly stupid. Enough already -- let’s restrict the sale of assault weapons and be done with it.   

Chromebook -- This blog is being typed on a beautiful silver-green Acer Chromebook.  In my previous blog entry, I errored on the price. It’s only $199.  An iPod Touch costs more than that; accessories for the Surface tablet cost more than that.   My Chromebook has the light, sleek feel of a Macbook Air only at ⅕ of the price.  It boots in 14 seconds.   The Hexxeh USB drive that I used for my Chromium trial was not an officially supported distribution -- thus its problems with Adobe Flash.   This beauty runs everything fine and receives regular updates.  There are of course, limitations. You can’t install “normal” software with drivers -- no Quicken or iTunes.  But, I’m willing to explore options for something so light, beautiful and fast.

AND NOW THE CINEMA...

I took a walk down memory lane yesterday and watched 1980’s Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford.   The movie stars Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore as Calvin and Beth Jarrett; they play an affluent couple grappling with the boating death of their older teenage son.   The younger son, Conrad is played perfectly by Timothy Hutton; Judd Hirsch plays a psychiatrist who guides Conrad and Calvin through the Hellish grief and confusing, sometimes destructive thoughts that accompany such a tragic event.  

The stand-out performance is Mary Tyler Moore, who superficially seems like the perfect Highland Park wife.   But her glib elegance and beauty conceal a vindictive ice queen who hasn’t come to her own terms -- that of losing a favored son and feeling a secret resentment toward the already guilt-ridden surviving son.   She comes across as a surface-level person who is mostly concerned about “how things look” and not ever “how things are”. Such a cognitive disparity creates a giant fissure in a family that needs to move toward forgiveness and not frigid divisiveness.  

The performances are superb in this milestone movie. Ordinary People was ahead of its time by about 10 years -- it dealt intelligently and sensitively with topics of recovery and personal discovery.   It has aged extremely well in 32 years -- the music and styles evoke affluence and traditional comfort in an upscale area. If not for a few scenes with cars you might think it was made in the 1990’s or 2000’s. I found the movie on iTunes, for $2.99 -- a bargain for a truly thought-provoking excursion.   We live in a self-help society -- Ordinary People sheds some light on why we need so much help.

© 2012 blogSpotter

Robert's Excellent Adventures

All the green birds- Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s entry is a little of this and a little of that…some local travels as well as a movie mini-review. I must have a little of Lewis & Clark in me because I love to discover new “worlds” no matter how trivial they might seem to real travelers.

KATY TRAIL REVISITED

A few years ago I blogged about my then-recent discovery – the Katy Trail. This re-purposed railroad track cuts through the Oak Lawn section of Dallas and gives you a view into the backyards of the Dallas well heeled. Until last week, I’d only ever walked from Knox Street down to Lee Park. Last week, I threw caution to the wind… I started near Lee Park and walked the rest of the trail, past Revershon Park all the way to American Airlines Center. I have to say; the trail has beautiful overlooks and entry stairways. Some donors have been very generous. Hillwood/Perot developers provided landscape for portions near AA Center and it looks like a botanical garden. From one or two vantage points one can see several Dallas landmarks in one sweep – the Hunt Bridge, the W Hotel, the Anatole and AA Center. The only negative to this is that it took me until 2012 to discover it existed. There is also now a beer garden, Katy Trail Ice House, open to the trail. It had booming business even in the 100+ late July heat.

DALLAS ORANGE LINE

The Dallas light rail known as DART extended its reach last week to the Irving Convention Center with the addition of the new Orange Line. I partook in the festivities and rode it from Bachman Station through University of Dallas Station, Las Colinas and finally the Irving Convention Center. The ride was bumpy in places and the train languished at a couple of stops for 5+ minutes. Looks like they may still have some schedule and technical kinks to work out. BUT on the whole, it was a mass transit “thrill” ride – soaring high over rivers, creeks, bramble bushes and a few industrial yards. Dallas has the biggest light rail network of any American city now.

DID I SEE A GREEN BIRD?

Rounding out my new (and newish) experiences was the sighting of monk parakeets at White Rock Lake. These beautiful green birds have probably been there 10 years -- they aren’t exactly new. But somehow I hadn’t noticed so many, clustered so profusely near the pump station. In a gray/brown world, it’s cool to see an animal that dares to be different. In fact, they blend so well in the canopy of the trees they become invisible. Sometimes it pays to be different.

TOTAL RECALL – RECALLED

I went to see the 2012 remake of Total Recall with Colin Farrell. The movie has such spectacular special effects, they make it worth the $11 price of admission. The air-cushioned auto chase is incredible...  Just don’t look for the macho insouciance of the first movie. Colin’s character is more like a trembling Hamlet, ever unsure of his next step. Here are my quibbles…

* The whole movie is on Earth – a colony in Australia is the new “Mars”.
* The movie has a decidedly new feminist bent – two females nearly steal the show from Colin. Colin spends much of the movie afraid he’s going to hurt someone’s feelings.
* Gone are the lines of dialog that were famous from the previous movie:
“Consider that a divorce!”
“I’ll see you at the paaahty!” (said while throwing a man his severed arms)
“Let the people have aiyuh!” (Let the people have air, said with Austrian accent)

In sum, the 1990 version wins on style and wit, but the new one is still worth a whirl. Hope you enjoyed my excellent adventures, dull as they are by comparison to most peoples’… I’ll wrap this up now and probably take a walk on the Katy Trail.

© 2012 blogSpotter

Bear Interrupted

The naughty teddy- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I’m at KFC today, waiting for my wheels to heal next door at Pep Boys. It’s 102 degrees outside, and KFC’s a/c is on the fritz. Wonderful setting… I do enjoy the people watching, and I did just have an unforgivably fattening 3 piece meal. I will survive. I have a couple of topics on my mind -- one a movie review, and another is something more personal …

A NOBLE EXPERIMENT
I started this blog in January 2005 with high expectations, borrowing hip phrases at the time like “Web 2.0” and “eZine”. I was sure it would catch fire and have a lot of readers. Over the course of 7 and ½ years, I have these observations:

o My readership fell from the giddy heights of 25 people down to about 2
o My ad revenue fell from pocket change to zero
o My ideas started to become stale and repetitive
o Et cetera

This year will probably be the last one for Strange Fascination. I have written about a lot of things, across many weird topics. If nothing else, I’ve educated myself in doing some of the article research. Wikipedia (aka ”the font of all knowledge”) has been immeasurably helpful.  :-)   I still have a creative writing impulse -- the spark isn’t completely snuffed. I may start a new blog with different stipulations…

o I’ll still host it with blogspot, but use one of their new templates
o It will be less commercial, more of a spare look
o Will post maybe once a month -- I’m not as prolific as I used to be.
o The URL won’t be sent to family or coworkers (important)… I’d like to explore ideas and issues that are more personal or introspective. I can’t really cut loose if my boss or my aunt is reading what’s there.

I probably would’ve gotten more traction if I specialized in a few topics, instead of trying to cover every subject area known to man. My interests cover a wide range but not my wisdom and expertise. I will leave my postings indefinitely -- maybe someday I’ll comb though them to fix grammatical errors and “sudden” transitions. I could probably delete some of the more embarrassing entries. This is just a heads up … I don’t want my last two readers to experience shock at the last posting.

TED
I saw a movie over the July 4th holiday, TED, which had me rolling in the aisles. TED is the brainchild of bad boy Seth Macfarlane, the wunderkind cartoonist who is now one of the highest paid actor-director-writers in Hollywood. I’ve already blogged twice about Macfarlane, and have decidedly mixed feelings about him. He’s brilliant and insightful -- a secular, humanist liberal who informs us with his bold political satire. But then his humor also takes him to very dark places where animal cruelty and violence to women is acceptable and “hilarious“. Macfarlane’s TV shows, Family Guy, Cleveland Show and American Dad are super popular with young men ages 18-24. The class clown “jackass” aspect probably draws in all the young men.

TED is a comedy starring Mark Wahlburg (playing against type) as a nebbish nerd and Mila Kunis as his (highly unlikely) knock-out girlfriend. TED is a childhood toy whom Wahlburg “wished” to life when he was 8. The fantastic aspects of this are minimized and it’s just treated as a cool, trivial aside -- “teddy bear comes to life“. The teddy bear is dubbed Ted. He’s a foul-mouthed, sex-crazed, ne’er do well who is Mark’s roomie even in adulthood. Mila feels that Ted is preventing Mark from reaching adult goals and she decides to send Ted packing.

Ted surprises everyone by becoming a supermarket manager and dating hot chicks. He also captivates a local father-son pair who covet a live, talking teddy bear. I won’t divulge the entire plot but the humorous “humanity” of Ted steals the whole show. He can eat, smoke, drink, drug, cuss, fornicate, laugh and fight with totally credible movements. The special effects are excellent. For people familiar with Family Guy, Ted’s voice is about half Peter Griffin and half Bryan the Dog. Ted has a lot of Bryan’s logical thought with Peter’s Boston crassness mixed in.

I will say that the AMC theater was sold out when I saw this movie. Ushers had to squeeze strangers together in uncomfortable combos just to accommodate all the ticket buyers. It’s very much to Macfarlane’s credit that his less-touted, less-than-blockbuster movie has made a very strong box office showing. If you’re not easily grossed out, and like over-the-top gags go see this movie. It will help if you’re that category of adult who hasn’t completely let go of adolescence. That would certainly be me.

© 2012 blogSpotter

76 Trombones Led the Way

A slice of American pie - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I’m enjoying my 5 day July 4th weekend. The Texas sun has relented and we’re having a mild high temperature of 95 degrees – it’s a cold spell! Am sitting in Starbucks and happened on the last available inside table. It gets pretty competitive.

But enough small talk, let’s discuss my movies. In the last couple of days I watched 2004’s The Anchorman with Will Ferrell. How I missed seeing this silly but hilarious 70’s satire I don’t know. My favorite scenes are the animated “Pleasure Island” sequence, and the dog talking sense into the Kodiak bear. As with all Will Ferrell movies, approach it with a high tolerance for over-the-top nonsense. I have that tolerance and laughed my a** off.

Today, I watched The Decoy Bride, a 2011 Scottish import on Netflix. The movie’s title almost gives you the romantic plot line and predictable resolution in its three words. But – it has stunning visuals of the Hebrides Islands, beautiful music and fun people. Its plot is as obvious as a knock-knock joke, but the visual escapism makes it well worth watching. In all of moviedom there are probably 5 basic plot lines, and this is certainly one of them – well done none-the-less.

The movie at my “centerpiece” is 1962’s The Music Man, which I watched on TMC Tuesday night. In a discussion a couple of years ago, I was in agreement that Music Man is probably among the top 3, best ever American musicals. That’s saying a lot considering what all there is. Music Man was a Broadway hit just before it found greater permanence on celluloid. It’s a joyful slice of 1912 Americana – Meredith Wilson’s retelling of his childhood in small-town Iowa. It calls to mind a Mark Twain boyhood remembrance or maybe even a Norman Rockwell painting. It’s a snapshot of a wholesome era that maybe never actually was but we still reach back to it fondly. The song “Ya Got Trouble” warns of the evils inherent in billiards games and expressions like “Swell” or “Gee whiz”.

The movie plays out across summertime, and culminates on July 4th – a perfect dessert for this holiday week. Music Man is a romance which paired Robert Preston as huckster Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian the spinster Librarian. It’s said that the studio bosses wanted Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant in the role of Harold Hill – thank heavens they kept Robert Preston (Frank and Cary turned it down out of respect to Preston). He channeled Harold Hill in a way no others probably ever could. The movie also gives us Buddy Hackett as Harold’s friend and Ron Howard as the adorable Winthrop. Music Man is a mixing together of veteran actors and new faces all in one incredible film set.

Most of the zany, love struck madness takes place on one summer night, with characters running in circles of confusion and desire. There is something almost Shakespearean about it – maybe A Midsummer Night’s Dream recast in early 20th century America. The songs are memorable and hummable and the overall message is one of hope and innocence (maybe even innocence regained).

How does one gauge the cultural impact of one movie? It was remade in 2003 as a Mathew Broderick vehicle. The “Shipoopi” dance number was meticulously recreated by the animators of Family Guy in recent years. The movie is shown frequently and almost always around July 4th. If you’re overfed with hot dogs and ice cream, give yourself another kind of treat – watch The Music Man and you too will hear the bells on the hill.

© 2012 blogSpotter

Midnight Movie Mania

Plan 9 for Weekend Viewing ... - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Miscellany

Today’s blog will bring two movie mini-reviews which were viewed on my fun new toy -- the ROKU 2 streaming video box. It’s similar in appearance to an Apple TV box, but even smaller. I’ll reserve anymore ROKU commentary for a future article, there’s a lot to report on. I also got real and put my VCR in the Good Will giveaway pile. Haven’t watched a video cassette in @ 4 years and that was a pretty grainy, low-res experience. Most of my old video cassettes went into File 13… no big losses there. Enough chit-chat, now let’s cover our movies…

Plan 9 from Outer Space

1959’s sci-fi movie Plan 9 received a lot of publicity when Tim Burton did a biography of its director, Ed Wood, back in the 1990’s. Plan 9 was billed by many as “the worst movie ever made” and it was the punching bag for aspiring film critics everywhere. With its cheesy props, non-sequitur WWII stock film insertions, and loopy dialog it would be difficult to elevate Plan 9 to Oscar level status.

The plot is about outer space aliens who land on Earth and reanimate recently dead Earthlings into zombies (or “ghouls”). The alien goal is to scare humans into discontinuing a new solar technology that could destroy the universe. The aliens look like humans in fast food uniforms. Some of the props (gravestones, spaceship portals) appear to be cardboard and it’s a known fact that the flying saucer itself was a toy suspended by a string. Plan 9 was filmed over 5 days on what must have been a $1000 budget. Leftover footage of the late Bela Lugosi was used as a basis for Plan 9. Lugosi and Vampira were the two “stars” of the movie.

Before writing it off as the worst movie ever, I’d question the director’s overall goal and the effects (intended or otherwise) on the audience. The fact is that the movie now has people rolling on the floor, laughing their asses off. That by itself makes it much better than “worst”. A truly bad movie is one where you click stop after 5 minutes and don’t come back. Some intrepid viewers have even suggested that Plan 9 actually has a good message alluding to nuclear weapons although that’s a stretch.

I actually think Plan 9 could be remade… I would have John Waters direct it and cast people like Mink Stole or Pee Wee Herman. John Goodman could play the role of Tor Johnson. You could put some new spin on the cheesy effects and play it all for laughs – you might need to goose the dialog just a little bit. You could also go a different direction and have David Lynch direct it. You could play up the surreal, nonsensical aspects of it – Lynch is the master of that. I heartily recommend Plan 9 from Outer Space as a movie for anyone studying the film industry or film history. It’s really a gem that should be polished and appreciated.

She Done Him Wrong

I also watched 1933’s She Done Him Wrong with Mae West and Cary Grant as a very young man. I probably haven’t watched a feature-length Mae West film since I was a kid. This movie has her playing Lady Lou, a Gay 90’s dance hall siren who’s wronged her boyfriend by seeing other men while he’s serving time. Mae West is positively magnetic and owns every scene – star power magnified by ten. She sings “Frankie and Johnnie” and "Easy Rider” – numbers that make the movie worthwhile by themselves. Some of her lines I recall ..

“Come up and see me some time” (a classic, said to Cary Grant)
“Honey I was so poor.. at one point I didn’t know where my next husband was coming from”’
“When a woman goes wrong, a man goes right behind her”.

Mae West was fantastic – sort of a smart-aleck spitfire Dolly Parton of yesteryear. She was a prime asset to Hollywood, and a thorn in the side of censors at the time.

So there you have two reviews in one. Both movies make us realize that black-and-white “Midnight movies” of times past can still inform us, amuse us and mesmerize us. You don’t need high tech, car explosions or high definition 3-D to be thoroughly entertained.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Occupying Wall Street

When the rain comes ... - Picture courtesy of Lionsgate

by blogSpotter
I’m sitting in Starbucks on my 54th birthday...yes, I’m 54 years young. There has been so much weirdness in my life lately, I’ve fallen behind on my blog entries again. Will try to do a system reboot here at Starbucks ….

Quick Update on Android

After 6 months, I lost my LG Optimus V phone. Think it fell off my belt in a 7-11 parking lot on Harry Hines Blvd. To be honest, I wasn’t loving that phone … it had some issues. The 3G was slow and often unavailable. The pop-up keyboard had tiny little keys. The screen had lots of glare and the contrast was poor. Worst of all, the Android operating system has a rigidness to it that I never mastered – I kept exiting an app when I wanted to look at its menu options. Esthetically, Android OS reminds me of the spare Linux Ubuntu compared to the lush and beautiful Mac OS X. It was a prepaid, pay-as-you-go phone so the separation shouldn't be too traumatic. OK, enough about phones, let’s talk about Wall Street Occupation…

Margin Call

I just watched Margin Call with Kevin Spacey and Demi Moore. The movie is loosely based on actual events that transpired on Wall Street in 2008, just prior to the epic meltdown of September 14, 2008. My initial prejudice was that the movie might be wonkie and dull, appealing mainly to bean counters and political science majors. It wasn’t like that at all – it was a gripping, financial thrill ride that moved at a good pace. Nobody in the whole cast of characters is blameless but the shades of moral slippage go from light indiscretion (junior analysts following orders) to pure, vile nastiness (Jeremy Irons as CEO using people as collateral blame objects). A warning – there are aspects of this movie that may remind you of things still on-going. You may walk away feeling like you need to occupy Wall Street yourself. This leads me to me next topic…

Occupying Wall Street

Ann Coulter who is my favorite mean-mouthed conservative wench wrote a hilarious piece recently about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Though I’m from the opposite side of the political aisle from her, I have to agree with Ann. Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is without a leader and is without a manifesto. Its members are all over the map in their opinions – sometimes at odds with each other. Some are staunch pro-Obama liberals and some are libertarians angry about Obamacare. When I saw their profiles in Newsweek, I saw jobs like performance artist, life coach and unemployed actor. These don’t sound like people who would ever be working at anything resembling an office job in the concrete jungle.

I like the idea of OWS in general, but am an overly practical, middle-aged guy. I think OWS should have structure, goals and leadership. I know that rains on the parade of 20-something potheads who are mad at …the men who did … that thing… that was really bad. I totally support their right for civil disobedience – carry on. But do it with some semblance of knowledge and direction. I have my own thoughts about Wall Street and why it’s so discouraging…

Nobody went to jail – The only people who have done time are over-the-top con artists like Bernie Madoff. Where is anyone being held accountable for the largest loss of national net worth in history?

The insiders were recycled back into the Bush/Obama Administrations – What of people like Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Henry Paulson. These men weren’t necessarily directly involved in the 2008 debacle but their fingerprints are all around it. Why do we keep having the foxes watch the hen house? What was clear from the 2008 events (and made clear in Margin Call) is that many people in business and government saw the disaster coming. The insiders’ last 2-3 months were spent with damage control, blame mitigation, and how to break it to the public.

There were already laws on the books – My first impulse in 2008 was to say, “There ought to be a law!”. There were and are a host of laws – there should’ve been 3 layers of protection. But when SEC, Federal Reserve, Attorneys General and so many others turn a collusive blind eye, it doesn’t matter what laws were on the books. Why weren’t the laws enforced?

This is late 2011, and basically nothing has been done to rescue or mend the situation of 2008. The only reason it hasn’t happened again is that the American public has a newly cynical attitude – American’s are actually in a mode of frugality right now, much like Japan in its "lost decade".

I’ll close by saying to Occupy Wall Street – Keep it up! Wall Street needs to be occupied. But academia, the White House and Congress might also need occupy themselves – with a greater sense of what “doing the right thing” means in the aftermath of 2008.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Mind Odyssey

Exploring the moon and the ultimate meaning of life - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Stanley Kubrick

Before reviewing 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’d like to briefly mention the director, Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick was a cinematic mastermind who left a small, but outstanding legacy of movies in markedly different categories – Lolita, Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining. The son of a Jewish doctor in Brooklyn NY, Kubrick was a modest, unpretentious young man and is said to have been a mediocre student grade-wise. In a bio passage similar to other super-accomplished people (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs), Kubrick was restless in school – he quit NY City College after less than one year. He became a well-known photographer and from there he phased into making films. He was known as a stern perfectionist in his later directing career. He would require sometimes 50 takes of one scene – he incurred the ire of many actors due to that. He’s generally considered one of the greatest film directors of all time and many of his movies rank in top indexes for various film institutions and critics. He’s considered one of the lucky, “unfettered” directors who held almost total artistic control of his projects while getting the financial backing of major producing studios. He was also a workaholic who is described by peers as working himself to death at age 70, on Eyes Wide Shut.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I watched 2001 on Apple TV last night. The last time before that was in 1969 at the Air Force Academy Theater when I was 11. I have to admire the fact that I could grasp some of what was happening at age 11 – an adult RTF / Philosophy major might have trouble deciphering the final scenes of the movie.

Act I

The movie was delivered in a quiet tone with little dialog and stunning classical music as a backdrop in several scenes. It basically plays out in 3 “Acts”. In Act One, prehistoric ape men stumble upon an alien monolith – a black rectangular box planted by a superior civilization. They touch it and suddenly acquire the knowledge to make tools, and also war. The first act just covers this one phenomenon but it sets the stage for subsequent appearances of monoliths.

Act II

Act Two is really the main body of the movie and is truly enthralling. What I like is the “near-term” sci-fi it conveys. There aren’t yet any Death Stars or Starship Enterprises. It shows humans making regular space plane flights to a permanent lunar city, Clavius. It shows lunar buses, space meals, interplanetary phone calls and mundane activities as they might really play out in a few decades. The writers ambitiously thought we might have reached this technology point by 2001 – a scant 3 decades from when the movie was made. Humans are way too selfish, self-involved and disorganized to do anything so grand, so soon. We do have iPhone 4 which gives us Facetime – that’s about the closest contrivance we have. Else, 2011 looks depressingly similar to 1968 when the movie was made. In fact, our NASA program is being gutted as we speak. Let’s hope that Richard Branson gets his Virgin Air “space port” up and running some day soon.

But I digress – back to our synopsis. In Act Two it’s revealed that a monolith (identical to what we saw in Act One) has been found on the moon, near Clavius. It’s clearly been planted by an alien intelligence and is sending a strong radio signal to Jupiter. Two young astronauts are sent on a mission to Jupiter to see what’s at the other end of the signal. They’re on an advanced ship which is piloted and monitored by the amazing HAL 9000 supercomputer (called “Hal”). The writers imbued HAL with human motives and emotions – something we are nowhere near at the moment. HAL becomes suspicious that the astronauts intend to unplug him. This is justifiable – they are. They think that HAL is making some wrong calls, technically. HAL preemptively (and vindictively) removes life support for the 3 hibernating astronauts on board. He cuts off oxygen to Astronaut Frank who’s on a space walk. This leaves Astronaut Dave as the sole human survivor, in an outside space pod. Dave outmaneuvers HAL and slips back into an open portal. He summarily disconnects HAL's circuits causing HAL to sound drugged and dying as he sings “Daisy” – a test tune he was initially programmed with. Dave assumes command and successfully guides the ship to Jupiter.

Act III

Act Three is so bizarre, I can synopsize it a little but not a lot. Even Kubrick said that the 3rd act might mean one of several things to the viewer. The space ship encounters another monolith orbiting Jupiter. The monolith directs the spaceship into a “Star gate” or “Worm hole” depending on who does the telling. You see the ship race though a strange series of brightly colored, shifting landscapes. Dave loses consciousness and upon awakening his pod has landed in an elegant, surreal luxury hotel room. Here I’ll recount what I thought I saw … He sees an old version of himself eating at a table, dropping a wineglass on the floor. He appears to merge into this older self, who is aging in a matter of seconds. He’s next lying on a death bed, looking at a monolith that’s appeared before him in the bedroom. A beam connects Dave to the monolith and suddenly Dave is transformed into the “Star Child” – a giant embryo floating in space next to the Earth.

Conclusion

2001 was based on a short story, The Sentinel, by renowned sci-fi writer Arthur C Clark. Clark was a pantheist who thought that what we see as God might in fact be a superior civilization that started out like us and achieved a bodily form of “pure energy” over millions of eons. Kubrick was on a similar page with Clark and favored sci-fi allegories over conventional religious stories. I, the blog author, don’t really understand what is meant by terms such as star child or pure energy. I can’t officially join a bandwagon which bandies what to me is nonsensical jargon. I’m open to new ideas and interpretations – maybe at some future point I’ll become enlightened about Clark’s ideas but maybe not.

2001: A Space Odyssey is considered the absolute best sci-fi movie ever made by many enthusiasts. Acts One and Three will possibly elude you – they may even bore you at points. But Act Two is stunning for the incredibly elaborate, realistic technology props. Some of these were actually custom-created by a British aircraft company. I have to count myself as an avid fan of such a dramatic, thought-provoking movie.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Beyond the Planet of the Apes

Now entering the Forbidden Zone - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
This past week I watched a movie which can only be described as a guilty pleasure – Beneath the Planet of the Apes. It’s the 1970 sequel to 1968’s seminal, highly acclaimed Planet of the Apes, based on Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel. The original movie was well-structured and conveyed some important messages about human arrogance and technology run amok. You might think it should be left alone, intact with its Academy award for ape costumes and all its thought provoking monkey business.

In fact, Apes spawned a business, media empire – 4 sequels, a comic book, a TV show and (very recently) a prequel “reboot” called Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This is a healthy franchise that will live forever; it rivals Star Wars in its staying power. Who knew that such a role reversal would have such a hold on us? There have been various spins placed on Apes … some liken the simian masters to the primal essence of humans (maybe a devolving of humans back into apehood?). In some ways this would hark back to King Kong of the 1930’s, where Kong was symbolic of a masculine, human id. Others have perceived a racist bent in Apes – maybe apes were used as a substitute for a race or nationality. I never really saw that angle myself.

Whatever the case may be, the first sequel, Beneath, is laughable. It involves the discovery of a race of subterranean, mutant humans. They inhabit the ancient Queensboro subway station and worship an undetonated nuclear warhead as God. I won’t give away what happens (does it matter?) but the chief impression I carry away is that the movie’s budget had to be in the thousands, not millions. The special effects are comically crude – fire that looks like orange cellophane and lightening that looks like something a kid might scrawl with a white crayon. Aspects of the movie remind me of Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space. The mutants look like current day Teletubbies and the actors are robbed of all dignity – how many careers must this movie have squelched?

I think that if you must go from the sublime to the ridiculous, you could do better than this. Much in the tradition of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, we should have Beyond the Planet of the Apes. In this sequel, a 3rd space ship lands in the Forbidden Zone. Astronaut Scott Smith strays into ape territory; he’s captured and brought in for observation by Zira the zoologist chimp. But Scott sees something in Zira’s eyes – a soul connection that transcends species. Zira feels the same. Scott and Zira escape (and elope) but not without enraging PETA and the Ape equivalent of Moral Majority. Because of their bestial love, they must run to the Forbidden Zone (double entendre is unavoidable). They stumble into the old subway station at Rockefeller Center. Here they discover a race of ape-humans who are very accepting of alternative lifestyles and who embrace the performing arts. At this point … the author is momentarily out of ideas – he needs a Starbucks refill.

The reader may email me with ideas of how to finish it, or give me guidance in the comment section of this blog. I feel that my Beyond version has as much validity as Beneath. Furthermore, the special effects would be minimal. It could be done for pennies and maybe be up for some musical awards. Will wrap this up by saying I have utmost respect for the original novel and its premise. I’m all the more thankful that we have these fertile imaginations – to take cinematic gold and turn it into unintended comedy gold.

© 2011 blogSpotter