Time for all the “I’ve never watched Game of Thrones” comments.
Go ahead.
I’m watching it.
Category Archives: Movie and TV reviews
Food for Thought – 3 April 2018
Princess Leia – RIP
I was middle-aged when the Star Wars thing kicked off. I saw Return of the Jedi in a theater when it first came out. I bought the VHS, then the DVD, and sorry if I’m sexist for saying so, but this is the view of Carrie Fisher that sticks in my mind:
Dead at sixty.
Saturday Song #157
A bit of a departure from pure music. Okay, in the middle of this clip is Men of Harlech. It’s wrapped into the final battle scene of the movie Zulu which is about the Battle of Roark’s Drift in the British-Zulu War.
The movie is worth watching.
Food for Thought – 24 March 2016
The Thirteenth Warior
There are some movies that I will watch time and time again. The Thirteenth Warrior is one of them.
It’s dark and brooding and contains a lot of mayhem, and the music score isn’t what I’m there for, unlike Master and Commander: Far Side of the world. I don’t know what the attraction is, but it grabs me.
Two sets of quotes, prayers before battle:
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: Merciful Father, I have squandered my days with plans of many things. This was not among them. But at this moment, I beg only to live the next few minutes well. For all we ought to have thought, and have not thought; all we ought to have said, and have not said; all we ought to have done, and have not done; I pray thee, God, for forgiveness.
Buliwyf: Lo, there do I see my father. ‘Lo, there do I see…
Herger the Joyous: My mother, and my sisters, and my brothers.Buliwyf: Lo, there do I see…
Herger the Joyous: The line of my people…
Edgtho the Silent: Back to the beginning.
Weath the Musician: Lo, they do call to me.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: They bid me take my place among them.Buliwyf: In the halls of Valhalla…
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: Where the brave…
Herger the Joyous: May live…Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: …Forever.
It’s on right now…
Favorite movies
A lot for people have a favorite movie or several.
One of mine is Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World. When it comes on, I’m likely to watch it. I own the DVD. I just watched it again for the gazillionth time.
I know a bit about history and sailing and this movie mixes those. It’s not filled with horrible errors like crew members wearing wristwatches and such.
And the music…
“As God Is My Witness…”
Becoming a Thanksgiving story tradition, like the TV Christmas Grinch and Frosty the Snowman, there’s WKRP’s Turkey Drop:
I loved this show when it was on the air. Bailey Quarters (the brunette played by Jan Smithers) was particularly delectable among a crazy crew.
Happy Thanksgiving
Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s there was a wonderful show on TV, “WKRP in Cincinnati“. I loved the thing. The humor was topnotch, and there was the delectable Jan Smithers playing the character of Bailey Quarters to help things along. On October 30, 1978, an episode aired that is in my opinion one of the funniest episodes of an TV show ever:
Talvisota – The Winter War
We students of World War II history (that’s me, unprofessional and somewhat infrequent, but still a student) often forget that while German was mopping up Poland, safe behind a non-aggression pact with Stalin, the USSR saw an opportunity to invade Finland, thinking to regain some territory populated by freedom-loving people who’d declared independence from Czarist Russia in 1917.
Most people outside a few of us history buffs (and the entire nation of Finland) are oblivious to the fact that for a few months brave little Finland stood alone against the Soviet armed forces.
Since Finland is still, well, FINLAND, you can probably derive the outcome.
But this is a movie review. On the advice of a few of my blogosphere buds, I did an Amazon purchase of “The Winter War (Talvisota)” and let me tell you in two words: GOOD MOVIE!
Bloody, violent, realistic, you get the feeling of utter hopelessness when you see the ill-equipped Finns facing off the Soviets who out-manned, out-gunned, out-tanked, and out-aired them. The Finns had their backs against the wall, their homes and families behind them. They stood between their nation and the rapacious (really! Read about the tender ministrations of the Soviet Army as it advanced against Germany a few years later) Soviet military might.
It starts off with the soldiers being called up, leaving homes and families, heading out with almost NOTHING, and then progresses to first contacts and full-blown battles where friendships are formed and friends lost in horrific battle.
Technical? This is me: gun nut enthusiast, right? Watch this, and you’ll be haunting Gun Broker, looking for a Finn Moisin-Nagant. And this is NOT a sterile, “war is noble”, movie, either. Makes “Saving Private Ryan” look like a Saturday morning cartoon at times.
Downside is that it’s sub-titled.
Bottom line is that if you’re a history buff or a war movie enthusiast or a lover of freedom, you really ought to find this movie and watch it. Do you some good, you know…
Gyergghhh!
A cold… Feeling poorly. Had a “Baptist toddy” before bed last night. That’s a shot of Nyquil. I slept pretty good, attended in my sleep by watchcat Ding and a rotation of the others.
I’m up and around now. The housework isn’t going to do itself, and son is only slightly useful. I had laundry to do, preparatory to my trip up to the north end of my pipeline next week.
I feel… Well, I don’t actually FEEL better, but my outlook is improved as I sip a sweet espresso while watching old movies on TV: “Fitzwilly”. Barbara Feldon is an absolute DOLL in that movie…
Top 100 “Cult Films”
Since Bayou Renaissance Man is doing it, that makes it plenty cool enough for me to tag along. NPR is touting a book of the 100 top “cult” films. Like BRM, I don’t fare well on this list. Some are just pure porn, some are foreign, and some, well,…
2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Angel of Vengeance, Abel Ferrara, 1981
Bad Taste, Peter Jackson, 1987
Baise-moi, Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi, 2000
Begotten, E. Elias Merhige, 1991
Behind the Green Door, Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell, 1972
La belle et la bête, Jean Cocteau, 1946
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Russ Meyer, 1970
The Big Lebowski, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1998
Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, 1982
Blue Sunshine, Jeff Lieberman, 1978
Brazil, Terry Gilliam, 1985
Bride of Frankenstein, James Whale, 1935
The Brood, David Cronenberg, 1979
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920
Café Flesh, Stephen Sayadian, 1982
Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato, 1979
Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942
Un chien andalou, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí,1928
Coffy, Jack Hill, 1973
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero, 1978
Deadly Weapons, Doris Wishman, 1974
Debbie Does Dallas, Jim Clark, 1978
Deep Red, Dario Argento, 1975
Dirty Dancing, Emile Ardolino, 1987
Django, Sergio Corbucci, 1966
Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly, 2001
Don’t Torture a Duckling, Lucio Fulci, 1972
Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton, 1990
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Aristide Massaccesi, 1977
Emmanuelle, Just Jaeckin, 1974
Enter the Dragon, Robert Clouse, 1973
Eraserhead, David Lynch, 1977
The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, 1981
Fight Club, David Fincher, 1999
Flaming Creatures, Jack Smith, 1963
Freak Orlando, Ulrike Ottinger, 1981
Freaks, Tod Browning, 1932
Ginger Snaps, John Fawcett, 2000
The Gods Must Be Crazy, Jamie Uys, 1981 – Funniest movie of ALL TIME
Godzilla, Ishirô Honda, 1954
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1972
Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby, 1971
Häxan, Benjamin Christensen, 1922
Hellraiser, Clive Barker, 1987
The Holy Mountain, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973
The House with the Laughing Windows, Pupi Avati, 1976
I Walked with a Zombie, Jacques Tourneur, 1943
Ichi the Killer, Takashi Miike, 2001
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh, 2008
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, 1956
Invocation of My Demon Brother, Kenneth Anger, 1969
It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, 1946
The Killer, John Woo, 1989
Lady Terminator, H. Tjut Djalil, 1988
The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, 2001–3 – Just parts. Couldn’t get into it…
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, George Miller, 1981
Man Bites Dog, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992
Manos, the Hands of Fate, Harold P. Warren, 1966
The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman, 1964
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, 1975 – Big Monty Python fan here…
Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
Nekromantik, Jörg Buttgereit, 1987
Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero, 1968 – Saw this one for the first time at an army rec center in Korea. Cost me a quarter.
Pink Flamingos, John Waters, 1972
Piranha, Joe Dante, 1978
Plan 9 from Outer Space, Ed Wood, Jr, 1959 – Late night TV on Saturday nights as a kid: Local station had “Shock Theater” and showed a LOT of B movies.
Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon, 1985
Reefer Madness, Louis Gasnier, 1936
Repo Man, Alex Cox, 1984
Ringu, Hideo Nakata, 1998
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman, 1975
Rome Armed to the Teeth, Umberto Lenzi, 1976
The Room, Tommy Wiseau, 2003
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975
She Killed in Ecstasy, Jesús Franco, 1971
Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven, 1995
Soul Vengeance, Jamaa Fanaka, 1975
The Sound of Music, Robert Wise, 1965
Star Wars, George Lucas, 1977–2005 – Special effects. And it’s a MOVIE, not a physics lesson. Or history lesson. Or whatever else. Don’t listen TOO hard…
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Todd Haynes, 1988
Suspiria, Dario Argento, 1977
Tank Girl, Rachel Talalay, 1995
Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974
This Is Sp?nal Tap, Rob Reiner, 1984
Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Bo Arne Vibenius, 1974
Thundercrack!, Curt McDowell, 1975
El Topo, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970
The Toxic Avenger, Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, 1984
Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman, 1971
Two Thousand Maniacs!, Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1964
The Vanishing, George Sluizer, 1988
Videodrome, David Cronenberg, 1983
The Warriors, Walter Hill, 1979
Witchfinder General, Michael Reeves, 1968
Withnail & I, Bruce Robinson, 1987
The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming, 1939
The Scary Version
Many people don’t know that the movie “Home alone” had a much scarier version.
The idea and the graphic of the promotional poster is so horrible to behold that I placed it below the fold.
You have been advised. View it at your own risk.
Continue reading The Scary Version
Waiting for the movie…
I’m sure that with the furor over the dead of Osama bin Ladin, Hollywood is already working on the movie for consumption by the waiting masses.
And I have figured out how they’ll do it.
They’ll pick some light in the loafers fop, maybe Tom Cruise or Leonardo Dicaprio, and a set of his current and former paramours to play the SEAL team. The entire cast will look like the top one hundred contributors to any anti-gun organization in the USA as well as frequent visitors to Obama fundraisers.
On the day of the premier, most of the cast will show up wearing towels on their heads to show solidarity with HAMAS.
The movie will show Osama as a loving father figure who regularly bounced innocent little children on his knee.
The shooter will have several scenes where he battles with the angst and trauma from being forced to summarily execute a man who was only subject to his upbringing. Further, the shooter will determine in a tear-ridden soliloquy that the reason for his career of brutality is that since the age of six he has been suppressing his feelings of being a woman trapped in a man’s body. The demise of “don’t ask, don’t tell” under the brave leadership of Barack HUSSEIN Obama finally gives him the release he has so sadly sought, but alas, too late, he has pulled the trigger on a paragon of alternative culture.
And THAT is how the Left will do the “Osama is Dead” movie…
(But I’m not cynical or anything…)