Appropriate for the month

The blog lives, I've just continued being lazy. A real update tomorrow, just wanted to post this because I love this movie.

Review of "Pacific Rim" Item 2 - Watch 6 3 movies at the theater

Pacific Rim/Jaws by Matthew Ferguson, this mash up is much better than the movie

I am on a roll recently for consuming bad media. I actually had highish hopes for this movie, I didn't expect it to reinvent the wheel or anything, but I respect Guillermo del Toro and figured he had something in mind. That something ended up being every summer action movie ever. He hit every single cliche that you can think of. Impassioned eleventh hour speech by the elder statesman? Heroic sacrifice? Protagonist's rival comes to begrudgingly respect him? Generically handsome lead ends up with the only female character given more than two lines? Yup, "Pacific Rim" ticks all the boxes essential to make a boring actioner.

And it's not just the writing that puts you to sleep; Idris Elba, who is usually such a powerful actor, sleepwalks through the entire film. Charlie Day and Ron Perlman do their best to inject some sense of life into this film, but they aren't enough. It was beautifully shot and there were some great props, which is no less than should be expected of Del Toro, but it lacked the practical special effects that made "Pan's Labyrinth" so amazing and "Hellboy" so detailed. I will rescind my previous assertion that it was a bad movie, it was just a rehash of something that we should all be tired of by now.

Review of "Monsters University" Item 2 - Watch 6 4 movies at the theater

(Source)

At the current rate I've been seeing movies in the theater I should reach my goal by the time I'm 31, I'm definitely going to have to step up my game. I went to this one with my niece, who recently moved to town. She loved it, but she's three and not terribly picky. I liked it, but felt like it didn't have the same earnestness or heart that the original "Monsters Inc." had. I'm not really sure that there needed to be second film in the series, honestly. With this prequel we just take several giant steps back for the characters and their world without much payoff. It's a cute movie, but I'm obviously not the target here.

Item 16 - Finish 30 8 books - "The Big Lebowski" by Jenny M. Jones

The Polish poster for "The Big Lebowski" (Source)

I've lost count of how many times I've seen "The Big Lebowski". It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I remember my mom told me about when she introduced a friend to it and the friend's immediate reaction was to say "I want to write an essay about that movie." A couple of years later in college I managed to live that dream not once but twice, milking the movie for two papers in two separate classes. Apparently I was just a little early on that trend; the last few years has seen the publication of a fairly large number of books about this wonderful little film that was barely a blip when it came out (including one by El Duderino himself).

There are worse things to devote your time to

This is the first time I've read one of these books, I bought it when it was on sale on Amazon. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at it, but the overall feel was a bit too much like reading a lengthened Wikipedia article or the trivia section of IMDb. The author used very few original sources and instead depended primarily on other publications, interviews and documentaries. I would have appreciated a bit more of her own interviews or thoughts, because when she did have them they were interesting. She has a very good voice, I just wish I could have read more of that.

I think I might have too many t-shirts

Item 16 - Finish 30 18 books - "They Live" Deep Focus critical viewing and interpretation by Jonathan Lethem

They Live by RustyShakelford

You guys, I seriously love this movie. So much that I bought and read this book. It's worth a read if you love it as much as I do. But if you do, you've probably already read it.

Seriously, I love this movie.

Item 12 - Introduce 3 1 people person to movies I love "They Live" and "The Thing"

They Live by deathink

(Source)

I watched these movies for the umpteenth time in a single viewing with my friends Marquelle and Kyle. I think "They Live" is one of those movies that should either be watched in conjunction with another film, preferably one that is objectively great, or with friends that will enjoy it and can still laugh at it's absurdities. I lucked out with this viewing as I got both.

I don't think that there is a finer alien horror film than "The Thing." I doubt you'd find many people that would disagree with that statement. There are films that approach it or are as good ("Alien" and "Aliens" of course being the benchmarks, but "Slither" is another highly underrated film in the same camp) but most will always be in it's shadow. It works as every kind of horror movie: monster, slasher, gore-fest, unseen terror and psychodrama. And it has Cronenberg levels of body-horror that other movie makers could only dream of. If John Carpenter made no other films he would still have been considered a genius for "The Thing."

To have had the chance to watch these two movies back to back with my friends that hadn't seen either was a real treat. They loved every action movie line that Roddy Piper delivered; howling with laughter as he got tossed through plate glass windows. They appreciated Keith David's performance in both films (how could you not: he's one of those few modern character actors that have Presence, and not just because of that voice). And of course they loved the fight (the real deal of course has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons, but how cool is it that South Park based that whole scene on that movie?) and wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over.

So much of watching and appreciating certain movies depends on the environment and mood that you are in and I'm happy that I was able to help facilitate a great viewing experience for these two movies for these two friends.

Review of "Django Unchained" Item 2 - Watch 6 5 movies at the theater

Django by *aerettberg

I went to "Django Unchained" with two friends and on leaving the theater I said that it was Quentin Tarantino's best film since "Jackie Brown". At that time I couldn't honestly remember exactly how many films he'd directed in the interim between "Jackie Brown," but it felt like it must have been a lot in those 15 years.

Four full films. He's directed four films in that time. So why did it feel like I'd seen so many pictures by him? For me, I think it has to do with the fact that his last few films have been... large. I've said in the past that Tarantino is the Girl Talk of directors, taking a sample of this western and putting it over that samurai film and speeding up the results. That isn't meant to be a slight. I like Girl Talk; All Day is one of my favorite albums to listen to when I need that little extra kick at the end of a long run. But the result with films like "Kill Bill" and even more so with "Inglorious Basterds" was to just tire me out. Knowing that every scene is so carefully composed to evoke something from another film left me saying "I get it, you're a smart guy who has seen more movies than most people ever will. Show me something from you."

That's a big part of why "Django" works so well. It both is and isn't a reboot of a franchise that most people have never heard of (but really should watch). It's also an homage to those same spaghetti westerns without the overt shot for shot remake of "Fistful of Dynamite"/"Duck You Sucker" (whichever title you prefer) being forced down our throat. And it's good revenge western without a harmonica playing badass awkwardly shoehorned in. And it's a ret-con origin for Shaft (or rather his great-grandparents), which is simultaneously hilarious and awesome.

I'm glad that I got to see this movie on the big screen, one of the things I mentioned to my friends after leaving was that the way I felt then must have been the way my dad felt when he first saw "Fistful of Dollars," like I'd just witnessed the start of something. Because this isn't just the best Tarantino film in 15 years, this might also be the best western made in the last two decades. Hopefully, as with "Dollars," it's just the beginning of a movement.