The Big Bang (2010) a (mildly) belated review

In the What-The-Hell-Could-They-Have-Possibly-Been-Thinking Department I present to you: The Big Bang.

No, not the popular TV show with the similar name, we’re talking about the 2010 direct to DVD feature film starring Antonio Banderas as private eye Ned Cruz on the trail of hulking Anton “The Pro” Propov’s (Robert Maillet) lost girlfriend…a woman we find he never actually met but interacted with through mail she sent to him while he was in prison.

Right away the more perceptive out there will recognize the movie’s initial plot is a direct rip off of Raymond Chandler’s classic novel (and several times filmed) Farewell My Lovely, wherein private eye Phillip Marlowe helps hulking Moose Malloy try to find his lost girlfriend after he leaves prison.

Anyway, the film goes off on its own (very strange) directions from that initial point. The story is told in media res, with our hero shackled, bleeding, and blind and being interrogated by three police officers over the events that have led him to this point.  We start with the conclusion of a very strange -and as far as I can see completely irrelevant- previous case involving an actor (James Van Der Beek in a cameo) and some dirty laundry he has that’s about to be aired.  That segues into our hero being hired by the hulking Anton to find his girlfriend….and eventually some missing diamonds.

Much of the dialogue and settings in the film makes references to physics and scientific concepts (hence the title) and it is there we find the movie’s first big flaw:  Using Antonio Banderas as the lead.  Mind you, I like Antonio Banderas.  I think he’s a pretty damn good actor but let’s face facts:  He speaks English with a strong accent and this is a terrible hindrance in a movie where he’s called upon to spout plenty of “clever” dialogue…with scientific ideas sprinkled quite liberally into them.

Still, there is stuff to see and enjoy in the film, including one of the most bizarre (though undeniably sexy) love-making sessions committed to film.  Its rare when you don’t know how to react to a scene wherein a character in the movie (played by the stunning Autumn Reeser) makes love while spouting very physics heavy dialogue involving such sexy subjects as protons and electrons.

I can only imagine how they went about filming that scene.  If anything, the lovely Mrs. Reeser deserves some kind of award for playing it with a straight face!

Alas, despite being so “smart”, this film is ultimately pretty dumb.  The plot devolves as it plays out and the revelations of who the “bad guys” are were simply too obvious almost from the beginning.  Finally, the ultimate “reveal” of who was sending the notes to our hulking ex-con elicits unintended laughter (The filmmakers were trying to go for tragedy here…weren’t they?!).

No, I cannot recommend this film to your average movie goer.

…and yet…

This is such a bizarre movie experience that its hard not to recommend it to at least one group of people:  Those looking to see something that’s truly waaaay off the beaten path.

You can’t get farther than The Big Bang.

1922 Kodachrome test footage

Fascinating article, found on Slate magazine, concerning 1922 test footage of Kodachrome film.  This represents some of the very earliest color film footage ever:

 http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/02/08/early_color_film_from_1922_actresses_vamp_for_the_camera.html

If you don’t want to read the article full article (it’s brief but quite fascinating), here’s the actual footage:

Bank Robbers going the way of Blacksmiths?

Another fascinating article, this on on Time magazine’s website, by Brad Tuttle concerning the declining rate of bank robberies around the country:

http://business.time.com/2013/02/06/bank-robbers-going-the-way-of-blacksmiths/

I tend to agree with the article:  Bank robbery is too high risk/low reward.  Interestingly, ATM machines are hit and electronic types of theft continue, but it appears actual, physical bank robberies are on the decline.

Extra-Terrestrial Discovery could happen in…10 years?

Fascinating article by Lee Spiegel for HuffingtonPost.com concerning members of the World Economic Forum (yes, the World Economic Forum) at Davos wondering what the social implications might be if evidence of Extra-Terrestrial is realized within the next decade:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/alien-life-discovery-implications_n_2568280.html

Given the advances we’re in discovering what lies in other solar systems, it appears logical that eventually we will find a solar system, and subsequent planet within that solar system, that is near identical -or close enough- to conditions on Earth to wonder if there is life on said planet.

As with the previous decade in terms of scientific advances, I look forward to see what happens next.

News of the not-too-terribly-surprising:

From CNN, Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/06/news/economy/postal-service-cuts/index.html

They will, it should be noted, continue their package delivery on Saturday.  Package delivery, in this modern computer (Amazon) world, remains a vital way of getting products to people and therefore has a definite future.

Mail, on the other hand, is becoming less and less important as a way of communicating between people and/or paying bills.

It’s fascinating to see how much of an impact computers have had on the general economy.

Record/Music stores?  Pretty much a thing of the past thanks to MP3s.

Bookstores?  Rapidly going the same way thanks to Kindle, Nook, and tablets in general.

Someone much smarter than me (sorry, don’t recall who exactly who) noted in a business column that the future of certain retail stores may be small kiosks.  You go into them, look at the latest models of, say, computers/tablets, then go to the counter and pay for your order.  Your purchased order is sent to your home by the same or next day (package delivery becoming more and more important).

If this is true, the U.S. Post Office -and indeed all package delivery specializing companies- should focus on improving their package delivery.  Regardless of whether the kiosk idea comes true, it seems logical that the business of package delivery will continue to be lucrative in this day and age.

 

Football’s Death Spiral

Fascinating article by the always readable Andrew O’Hehir for Salon.com regarding the possibility that Football, the King of Sports in the U.S.A. today, may be in trouble:

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/03/footballs_death_spiral/

I’m a big fan of the sport of Football but I totally agree with Mr. O’Hehir’s article.  In fact, I’ve even written about this before (you can read about it here).

The fact is that as the sport of Football has became more “professional” over time and athletes had the time and means to build their bodies to their absolute best, the subsequent hits between players became harder and harder.  And while their bodies may be at their peaks, there is simply no way to build one’s head and brain so that it too can take all those jarring hits.

The other scandals Mr. O’Hehir notes are worth mentioning as well, but I think Football’s eventual downfall will come because of the continuing revelations of just how much brain damage the players who participate in the game receive.

As I said before, I happen to love the sport.  But one has to be truly blind and uncaring about others to defend a sport which slowly kills a person’s mental -and physical- abilities.

Blitz (2011) a (mildly) belated review

When I was young, I was hyper-critical about movies.  There were precious few I felt were “perfect”, and even some of the better ones had flaws that just had to be pointed out…by me…to anyone willing to listen.

As I grew older, I adopted a far more mellow attitude.  I became more forgiving and, instead of starting to watch a film with a razor-sharp critical eye, I sat back and let the film envelop me as best as it could and tried to put my mind in neutral throughout the entire viewing experience.  After all movies, like all forms of entertainment, are made by people and nothing in this world is perfect.  Further, what may be brilliant to you could be terrible to someone else and vice versa.  Live and let live, enjoy what you can.  Don’t take these things so seriously.

Which brings me to the Jason Statham film Blitz.

What a terrible film.

Sorry but even my more mellow/forgiving attitude has its limit and Blitz crossed it.  I suspect going into making this movie the producers/writers/director had in mind the idea to re-make (in a way) Dirty Harry only set it in England and add more (uninteresting) characters to the mix.

The villain of the piece certainly operates on the same level of the Scorpio killer from Dirty Harry.  He is clearly a maniac, one who kills cops in this story (instead of anyone he feels like in Dirty Harry).  He calls a reporter to brag about what he’s doing/about to do (much like the Scorpio Killer left behind notes about who his next target would be), and even wants to be known by a nickname, Blitz (natch).  As the film marches on, he is eventually captured but because he’s oh so clever in how he does his crimes, he is eventually freed and comes back after our protagonist (something very similar happened in Dirty Harry as well, though the killer ultimately was released not because of his cleverness but because of Harry’s inappropriate actions).

Perhaps sensing they needed to do more than just emulate coughripoffcough Dirty Harry, the makers of this film added a homosexual new department head our protagonist works with (there is much homophobic-but-really-said-in-good-fun interaction between the two) as well as a female police officer who once worked undercover as a drug addict but fears she is really a drug addict working as a police officer now.  That side-plot never really goes anywhere, except that she almost falls victim to our villain.

I could go on and point out the fact that the film meanders when it should be tightly focused and that Jason Statham, an actor who I feel often is better than some of the lesser movies he’s sometimes starred in appears to be phoning his role in this time and that the villain, once he is captured by the police, should have stayed in prison (did no one in the police station notice the huge wad of cash he was carrying when captured, cash that a reporter gave to an informant who was subsequently -immediately!- killed, should have been enough to connect our killer to at least that particular killing?)…

What is perhaps most frustrating about the whole thing is that the film is certainly put together fairly well.  The cinematography and direction are generally pretty good and the actors appear competent.  But that story…I simply can’t figure out what anyone saw in this to make it worth their while.

Needless to say, I recommend anyone interested pass on Blitz.