Movie Ramblings
Oct. 3rd, 2007 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerOur house has become infested with stink bugs.
I just put eight outside in the last few minutes. When I caught a funny scent on my fingers, I said, "Hey Edd, smell this, I think I got sprayed." After a diligent, rather curious sniff, he instantly recoiled with, "AW GOD! IT'S LIKE BAD CUCUMBERS!"
Hopefully our infestation of spiders will take care of them.
So onto movie stuff.
I finally saw DOUBLE INDEMNITY last night, with my brother Edd. He was just going to watch a bit, then go back to working on the mosaic. We were glued to the screen for the next couple hours. Fucking great classic film noir, and I'm ashamed to have seen it only yesterday.
It was followed on HBO by BRICK, which is a bloody perfect double-feature. Maybe it's just that I generally hate teenagers and teenage culture with the fiery burning passion of a thousand flaming Hot Topics and GAPs, but BRICK had no right to be as good as it was. It should not have worked in a million years, and yet it absolutely, totally did. In my opinion, the keystone scene was the moment with the Pin's mother. If it weren't for that scene, I think the whole film would have prolapsed into its own dour self-seriousness. As it was, that perfectly played scene took the piss out just enough, while never winking at the camera once. Perfect.
Also, it features HEROES' Nora Zehetner, who is as hot as she is vapid, devoid of charisma, and not so much "terrible" as much as "lame."
So they're remaking NEAR DARK. Fucking hell. If you haven't seen it, do. It's one of the very few vampire movies I love*, and it features Lance Henricksen, Jenette Goldstein, and Bill Paxton (who's awesome as the psycho main vampire thug)! Yes, Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson (see icon), reunited as western vampires by the lady who did POINT BREAK! What's not to love?
I showed my Mom John Carpenter's THE THING. Yes, I am proud of myself. Still my favorite horror movie of all time. Incidentally, I'm watching ICEMAN (No, not Bobby Drake! Nor Eugene O'Neill! The caveman movie!) right now, which was filmed about three years, and I keep waiting for the Thing to burst out and attack the caveman. Possibly out of Timothy Hutton's afro
Speaking of ICEMAN, can someone please find John Lone work? The man was fantastic in THE LAST EMPEROR, YEAR OF THE DRAGON... hell, even THE SHADOW! What's he being wasted on these days? WAR? RUSH HOUR 2? Crimminy. Couldn't Jon Faverau have at least gotten him to play that other classic "Yellow Peril" villain, the Mandarin, for the IRON MAN movie?
(and seriously, who the hell IS playing the Mandarin? That whole plot point has been kept pretty hush-hush)
Which reminds me: Even Jackie Chan doesn't like his American movies. Apparently, he never understood why the hell anybody would laugh at them, nor does he understand Amercian humor, and just did it for the freaky huge paycheks. He also says that his upcoming film with Jet Li really isn't good either.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, he's absolutely right in his opinion of the RUSH HOUR films. On the other hand... well, CHUD.com's Nick Nunziata got me thinking about this in his editorial, "Fuck You, Jackie Chan."
Speaking of CHUD.com, my love-hate relationship with Devin Faraci has struck again, this time in the form of his BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT review. Not only does he admit to never liking BLADE RUNNER (which I don't hold against him; I have a whole list of universally beloved thing I just do not get), his remarks on the death of a certain character--not going to spoil it, but let me just say that it's modern classic sci-fi scene--reminded me why this opinionated hobbit gets on my nerves sometimes:
The crystal example of this is the death of ________ - a moment so over the top and overwrought that even in my most angsty teenage years I couldn't embrace it. His speech is nonsense, all pretty word sci-fi signifiers that mean absolutely nothing whatsoever (the Tannhauser gate? You're just stringing syllables together here) , until he gets to the cloying finale: "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." Like, because he's crying... and it's raining! I heard a similar sentiment once expressed on an episode of Mork & Mindy where an upset Mindy took a walk in the rain because no one could see her crying. There's about the same level of profundity at play here, except that he releases a dove that he got from who the fuck knows where. I hope to have the foresight to be so symbolic at the time of my passing.
Granted, I of all people probably shouldn't throw stones at someone for being so picky and critical... and I suppose he's right, in a sense... but really, that death is one of my favorite in all of films. I think it really works, and who cares if they're nonsense words? It's sci-fi poetry! Or maybe I'm just sucked in by the Vangelis music and the man-god that is... er, the actor in question.
Okay, this post is ass-long as it is. I'll stop here for now, as I think the stuff from the Onion's A.V. Club recently deserves a post of their own.
*I really, really, really, really hate vampires. Like, to the extent that I almost want them to be real, just to justify how much I hate them. (I think Joss Whedon has admitted to feeling the same way about God) I don't even hate them enough to want to be a vampire hunter, I just hate them, period. God damn angsting, smug, superior, whiny, arrogant, evil, sociopathic, selfish parasites. They're like a combo of zombies and body snatchers with added self-satisfaction and frilly shirts.
I just put eight outside in the last few minutes. When I caught a funny scent on my fingers, I said, "Hey Edd, smell this, I think I got sprayed." After a diligent, rather curious sniff, he instantly recoiled with, "AW GOD! IT'S LIKE BAD CUCUMBERS!"
Hopefully our infestation of spiders will take care of them.
So onto movie stuff.
I finally saw DOUBLE INDEMNITY last night, with my brother Edd. He was just going to watch a bit, then go back to working on the mosaic. We were glued to the screen for the next couple hours. Fucking great classic film noir, and I'm ashamed to have seen it only yesterday.
It was followed on HBO by BRICK, which is a bloody perfect double-feature. Maybe it's just that I generally hate teenagers and teenage culture with the fiery burning passion of a thousand flaming Hot Topics and GAPs, but BRICK had no right to be as good as it was. It should not have worked in a million years, and yet it absolutely, totally did. In my opinion, the keystone scene was the moment with the Pin's mother. If it weren't for that scene, I think the whole film would have prolapsed into its own dour self-seriousness. As it was, that perfectly played scene took the piss out just enough, while never winking at the camera once. Perfect.
Also, it features HEROES' Nora Zehetner, who is as hot as she is vapid, devoid of charisma, and not so much "terrible" as much as "lame."
So they're remaking NEAR DARK. Fucking hell. If you haven't seen it, do. It's one of the very few vampire movies I love*, and it features Lance Henricksen, Jenette Goldstein, and Bill Paxton (who's awesome as the psycho main vampire thug)! Yes, Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson (see icon), reunited as western vampires by the lady who did POINT BREAK! What's not to love?
I showed my Mom John Carpenter's THE THING. Yes, I am proud of myself. Still my favorite horror movie of all time. Incidentally, I'm watching ICEMAN (No, not Bobby Drake! Nor Eugene O'Neill! The caveman movie!) right now, which was filmed about three years, and I keep waiting for the Thing to burst out and attack the caveman. Possibly out of Timothy Hutton's afro
Speaking of ICEMAN, can someone please find John Lone work? The man was fantastic in THE LAST EMPEROR, YEAR OF THE DRAGON... hell, even THE SHADOW! What's he being wasted on these days? WAR? RUSH HOUR 2? Crimminy. Couldn't Jon Faverau have at least gotten him to play that other classic "Yellow Peril" villain, the Mandarin, for the IRON MAN movie?
(and seriously, who the hell IS playing the Mandarin? That whole plot point has been kept pretty hush-hush)
Which reminds me: Even Jackie Chan doesn't like his American movies. Apparently, he never understood why the hell anybody would laugh at them, nor does he understand Amercian humor, and just did it for the freaky huge paycheks. He also says that his upcoming film with Jet Li really isn't good either.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, he's absolutely right in his opinion of the RUSH HOUR films. On the other hand... well, CHUD.com's Nick Nunziata got me thinking about this in his editorial, "Fuck You, Jackie Chan."
Speaking of CHUD.com, my love-hate relationship with Devin Faraci has struck again, this time in the form of his BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT review. Not only does he admit to never liking BLADE RUNNER (which I don't hold against him; I have a whole list of universally beloved thing I just do not get), his remarks on the death of a certain character--not going to spoil it, but let me just say that it's modern classic sci-fi scene--reminded me why this opinionated hobbit gets on my nerves sometimes:
The crystal example of this is the death of ________ - a moment so over the top and overwrought that even in my most angsty teenage years I couldn't embrace it. His speech is nonsense, all pretty word sci-fi signifiers that mean absolutely nothing whatsoever (the Tannhauser gate? You're just stringing syllables together here) , until he gets to the cloying finale: "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." Like, because he's crying... and it's raining! I heard a similar sentiment once expressed on an episode of Mork & Mindy where an upset Mindy took a walk in the rain because no one could see her crying. There's about the same level of profundity at play here, except that he releases a dove that he got from who the fuck knows where. I hope to have the foresight to be so symbolic at the time of my passing.
Granted, I of all people probably shouldn't throw stones at someone for being so picky and critical... and I suppose he's right, in a sense... but really, that death is one of my favorite in all of films. I think it really works, and who cares if they're nonsense words? It's sci-fi poetry! Or maybe I'm just sucked in by the Vangelis music and the man-god that is... er, the actor in question.
Okay, this post is ass-long as it is. I'll stop here for now, as I think the stuff from the Onion's A.V. Club recently deserves a post of their own.
*I really, really, really, really hate vampires. Like, to the extent that I almost want them to be real, just to justify how much I hate them. (I think Joss Whedon has admitted to feeling the same way about God) I don't even hate them enough to want to be a vampire hunter, I just hate them, period. God damn angsting, smug, superior, whiny, arrogant, evil, sociopathic, selfish parasites. They're like a combo of zombies and body snatchers with added self-satisfaction and frilly shirts.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 07:59 pm (UTC)a REMAKE?
WhowhatwhenwhereHOW?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:36 pm (UTC)Similarly, in terms of adaptations rather than remakes, but I think it still applies... I don't think the title LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN will ever been redeemed to the public at large.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:53 pm (UTC)I have Stuart Townshend hate. It's a thing.
See, the JAWS remake's got me worried for that same reason you mentioned about remaking classic flicks. I just know some dillhole's gonna think, "THIS MOVIE NEEDS MORE SHARK" and strip away the incredibly cool reveal of the shark. And when a cult flick gets remade, people always end up forgetting there was ever an original. I wind up having that conversation constantly. It makes me want to set people on fire and stomp them out with golf shoes.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:59 pm (UTC)Uhh... there's no JAWS remake. I've heard nothing about it on aintitcool nor CHUD, and I would have by now, because everyone would be fucking furious. Because JAWS is a near-perfect movie, even with the fake-shark shots. I see nothing about a remake on the wikipedia page either.
Don't scare me like that, man.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:23 pm (UTC)Zombies>any monster ever. I always thought vampires where dumb, but that's what I get for reading Anne Rice as a child.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:30 pm (UTC)According to Devin's review, the remastering is fantastic. I'd love to see it for that alone, no matter what screwed-up additions Ridley Scott might Lucas-ify onto the new cut.
Speaking of which, have you seen the original STAR WARS movies on DVD? As much as I hate all the shit Lucas added and messed with, the transfers and remastered works are gorgeous.
I'm not sure zombies are even really monsters, honestly. I mean, sure they can be scary (and while I dislike the DAWN OF THE DEAD REMAKE as anything other than popcorn fare without the insight and bite of the original, the fast zombies are frickin' scary) let's face it, in any good zombie movie worth its salt... it's humans who are the real monsters.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 12:41 am (UTC)I HAVE THE BOX SET! Seriously, I love it to death despite the strange and unnatural appearance of Hayden Christensen at the end of Jedi. The explosions went from *pfft* to KAFABLOOOM! Good stuff.
Have you read Kirkman's THE WALKING DEAD? That's a great example of why I love the zombie genre: the complete annihilation of humanity, regardless of who and who isn't a reanimated corpse, and the hopeless despair of waiting to die. Because if it's a truly good zombie story, everybody dies. No exceptions.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 01:07 am (UTC)Kirkman is one of my favorite writers. Any time I discover a customer is a fan of Brian K. Vaughan, I point them towards Kirkman. He mentioned in an interview recently that he's considering just killing off everybody at issue 50. Just letting the book go on from there. In my opinion, the focus could go right back to that black father and son we saw at the start of the series who showed up in the Image Christmas special.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 03:04 am (UTC)In my opinion, the focus could go right back to that black father and son we saw at the start of the series who showed up in the Image Christmas special.
YES. I pretty sure I've heard people mention them in the letters section, but I stopped reading that after the whole thing with Michonne.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 03:19 am (UTC)What whole thing with Michonne? I don't read the letters.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:35 pm (UTC)Dammit! *loves Bobby Drake*
Oh, you might want to add that's it's also not ICE MEN which has gay sex and stealing people's mistresses and possibly someone dying in a frozen lake during a childhood hockey game, I haven't watched it yet.
Maybe it would help Faraci to read the story that BLADE RUNNER was based on?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 08:41 pm (UTC)... seriously, THE ICEMAN COMETH is brilliant. Track down the DVD with Jason Robards and 24-year-old Robert Redford, if you can.
And I dunno if Faraci has. He's a pretty well-rounded geek, but sometimes he surprises me with the things he hasn't read or seen. He'd still be opinionated and assholish (but entertaining and insightful, which is why I still read him).
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:43 pm (UTC)Although I think I watched part of it once when I was younger, at my grandmother's, and then she turned off the TV and made me eat at the table.
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:11 pm (UTC)If only because I can't find anyone else who'd be up to watch THE ICEMAN COMETH with me. It might well be my favorite non-Shakespeare play of all time, and that DVD film version is utterly fantastic. I haven't seen the Lee Marvin 70's version, but I can't imagine how they could measure up, even with the director of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (see that one? The original, I mean? Wow!)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 01:13 am (UTC)(No, I never saw the original. :O *maybe adds that as well*)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 01:18 am (UTC)Yeah, my netflix queue is regularly maxxed out at 500 films.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 09:55 pm (UTC)Yes indeedy. Hmmm.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 11:06 pm (UTC)I personaly hope they don't put Mandarin in the Iron Man film, he just always seemed like a bad stereotype to me. And being one of the main villians, a guy with magic rings, of a technologically powered guy in battle armor? Didn't make much sense, but then again I never saw Hulk as fighting a bunch of mainstay Marvel villans either. Just the army, other radiated monsters, etc. Just read Future Imperfect...it was interesting but I had issues with it.
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:09 pm (UTC)I'd rather see someone make the Mandarin work than try to ignore he ever existed. That's the far more challenging path, but the far more rewarding one. The Mandarin's canon, for good or bad. Let's make the best of it and reinvent the character.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 02:35 am (UTC)But it's even better when paired with an actual classic noir. Because BRICK is totally classically styled as well!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 05:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-05 04:45 am (UTC)