Monthly Archives: December 2013

Movies

East Meets West…

10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood:

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/12/05/east-meets-west-10-asian-movies-remade-by-hollywood/

Not to sound too full of myself (I know, I know…too late! 😉 ), but the main reason I checked the list out was to see how many of the features I already knew about…and, conversely, to see what might surprise me.

The one that wound up surprising me was entry #9, Il Mare, a film that was remade as…The Lake House.  I’ve always had a fondness for The Lake House, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, because it presents an intriguing romance pleasantly mixed with time travel/sci-fi elements.  Perhaps that’s the way I like romantic films: When they feature elements not usually associated with them (check out, for example, Grosse Point Blank, perhaps my favorite romantic comedy, a film that featured hit men!)

For those who don’t know about either Il Mare or The Lake House, the plot involves a man and woman who communicate with each other via mail left in a mailbox in front of the referred to lake house.  The two come to realize that they live in different times: the woman lives in the lake house in “the present” while the man occupied the same residence two years before.  As the film plays out, there are indications the man may have met his end in the interval.

The two develop a romantic attachment even as the present day woman tries to figure out what happened to this man.

No, the American film is far from perfect, but the charisma of the two leads and the intriguing story line made the film a pleasant diversion.  I’ll have to check out the original.

General

45 Most Badass Lines Ever Uttered in Real Life…

…according to Cracked.com:

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_713_the-45-most-badass-lines-ever-uttered-in-real-life_p45/

Try the above link and check out the very first quote.

SPOILER:

“Where the hell do you put the bayonete?” Chesty Puller, after seeing a flamethrower for the first time.

If that doesn’t get you interested in the rest of the list, I don’t know what will! 😉

Movies

About that Khan reveal…

…so director/writer J. J. Abrams noted in an interview that the reveal that Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in Star Trek Into Darkness (from now on I’ll refer to it as STID) was Khan was perhaps not handled as well as it should have been:

http://www.slashfilm.com/j-j-abrams-admits-keeping-khan-secret-in-star-trek-into-darkness-was-a-mistake/

I think Mr. Abrams states the obvious by this point and, no, I’m not trying to be snarky.  In fact, this is perhaps why Mr. Abrams has succeeded as well as he has in a business as cut throat as the one he’s involved in.  It shows he’s capable of looking around, assessing, and adjusting.

I’m certain there are plenty of directors who in his shoes would never in a lifetime admit something they did was “wrong” in any way.  For that matter, there are plenty of people in many other lines of work who would be loathe to admit they ever did anything wrong (I have yet to hear a mea culpa for anything that occurred during the previous Republican President’s term).

I suspect that those working behind the scenes of STID came into the venture clearly wanting to put their spin on the Khan storyline.  Unfortunately, they got so wrapped up in trying to “surprise” their viewers of the character’s identity that they ultimately tripped over their own feet in that reveal.

The fact is that the original 1982 Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan had the villain’s name in its title and yet other than die hard Star Trek fans, few knew who the heck Khan was or why he was all “wrathing” on the Star Trek characters.  But the movie filled you in on all the information you needed in very short order.  In his introductory scenes, Khan and his group were given a complete backstory that allowed audiences to know he was a very dangerous and clever villain.  By the time Captain Kirk and Khan were about to cross paths for the first time, my stomach was in a knot, knowing that Kirk and his crew were innocently walking into a lion’s den…and there was a real doubt as to whether he would be able to survive that first encounter (check out Kirk’s reaction to seeing Khan at the five minute mark).

Excellent, excellent stuff.

But STID tried to hide Khan’s character from audiences until he was face to face with Kirk by the film’s second half.  Then, when Khan reveals his identity, actor Benedict Cumberbatch delivers the line as if it is some major revelation…yet in this Star Trek universe, this is the very first meeting between the characters and therefore the whole thing is decidedly anti-climactic.

In The Wrath of Khan, Kirk is surprised, amazed, and more than a little horrified by the return of this very bad man.  In STID, however, since the characters haven’t met this person before and have no knowledge of his backstory until he tells them, this big reveal is a big…nothing.

In the end, all that effort to hide the identity of the villain proved useless or, even worse, distracting from the overall film.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I enjoyed STID when I saw it in theaters but thinking about the film and the passage of time have certainly dulled my enjoyment and thoughts of the film.  I’m not completely down on it, however, but feel that while it did succeed in certain respects it surely did fail in others.

General

Claustrophobics need not apply…

…fascinating (and very short) article with intriguing photographs of Japan’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, an example of the “Metabolism” movement in Japanese architecture.  Never heard of it before, but it obviously involves some seriously small rooms for people to live in.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/12/02/nakagin_capsule_tower-in-tokyo-is_a_claustrophobe_s_nightmare.html

Still, I find the look of the rooms, tiny though they are, intriguing.  Too bad that the tower appears to have so many problems (leaks, asbestos) and will probably in time have to be torn down as the costs to rehab the place are very high.

So, see it while you can!

General

Commercial banned from Super Bowl…

…read all about it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/nfl-gun-commercial-banned-super-bowl_n_4373234.html

It’s fair to say this commercial managed something I didn’t think possible: It made my skin crawl.

Given the proliferation of guns and the all too familiar tales of tragedy witnessed in the past few years regarding their use and abuse, seeing something like this is just so…wrong.

Then again, the article notes that the commercial’s maker got what they wanted: Publicity.  The commercial makers knew the National Football League wouldn’t allow them to run the ad as it is counter to their list of permissible spots.  Therefore, they got their publicity without having to pay the several million dollars necessary to actually air the ad during the game.

How perfectly cynical.

General

Because you had to know…

…thousands of dangerous erection cases seen in ERs each year!

http://www.everydayhealth.com/mens-health/1202/thousands-of-dangerous-erection-cases-seen-in-ers-each-year-study-finds.aspx

Just goes to show, whenever you see any of those erectile drug commercials (here in the US, of course, where ads for pharmaceuticals are waaaay too common) and the announcer states something along the lines of “Call a doctor if your erection lasts more than five hours”, you best do this.

Otherwise, you could face this very, very scary scenario…

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/man-abuses-erection-drug-has-penis-amputed/nZ4pZ/

Music

19 Best Cross-Genre Covers of All Time…

…at least according to Noah Berlatsky at Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/30/the_19_best_cross_genre_covers_of-all_time/

I’m intrigued by the notion of a “cross-genre” take on a song.  I suspect that its a harder concept to cull than initially proposed.  The genre of “rock” covers so many different styles that Mr. Berlatsky felt he couldn’t include any Led Zeppelin covers of blues artists…though I don’t see why.

If we were a little more forgiving in the genre ideal, I’d put these examples as really wild cover versions of songs.  First up, Jimi Hendrix doing a wild -after a bit almost heavy metal- version of The Beatles’ Day Tripper:

Also really liked this, Megadeth’s metallic version of the Sex Pistol’s Anarchy in the U.K.:

TV

What in the world..?!

Author Harlan Ellison is set to release his 1966 pitch for a never produced episode of…Batman?!

http://io9.com/harlan-ellison-releases-his-never-produced-1966-batman-1474360216

If you’re at all familiar with author Harlan Ellison, you know he’s a cantankerous yet very gifted author whose two scripts for the original Outer Limits TV show (Soldier and Demon With A Glass Hand) were the inspiration for James Cameron’s The Terminator.

But there’s more!

In  the 1960’s Mr. Ellison worked on several TV series and his perhaps best known work is the script to the classic City on the Edge of Forever for the original Star Trek series.

Changes were made to the script and the end result were bitter feelings between Mr. Ellison and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.  When the original script was eventually published (available here), I eagerly bought and read it and…frankly, I liked the TV episode as aired a little more than the original script.  While the central story was clearly there (and filmed), Mr. Ellison’s script went into some directions that I felt wouldn’t have worked as well.  For example, a crew member dealing drugs is the character who sets the events in motion versus the episode having it be Dr. McCoy (a far better choice). There’s also an extended bit involving a WWI amputee which, while quite interesting on its own, would have taken away the focus on the primary characters.  Finally, the ending in the episode was stronger -and far more emotional- than that of the script, at least in my opinion.

Regardless, I’m intrigued to see the proposed script to the Batman TV show.  I’ll have to put that on my “to get” list.

General, Movies

Busy weekend…

…at least for me.  Plenty of stuff to do and things to see and read.

Perhaps the one thing that stunned me the most was the death of actor Paul Walker.  I was never a huge fan of his though I have to admit I’ve seen a large number of his films.  Early reports of his death via a terrible automobile accident state he was a passenger and not the driver of the car but that “speed was involved”.  I feel for those he left behind, particularly his young daughter and family.

At the time of his death, he was scheduled to film more scenes for the upcoming Fast & Furious 7, obviously the seventh film in this popular movie franchise.  Hopefully without sounding too crass, I couldn’t help but wonder what the status of that film is.

Given the fact that he was scheduled to film some more scenes, Mr. Walker obviously didn’t finish all his work for the movie.  Was there enough to finish the film without making major changes to the script?  Or will extensive reworking become necessary?  Unlike the death of Heath Ledger before the release of The Dark Knight and given the way Mr. Walker died, the idea of seeing him in a film about people who recklessly drive fast cars might seem a tad…uncomfortable.  In light of this, is it better to remove his character entirely from the film?

I suppose all that is irrelevant for the time being.  A life was lost in a most tragic way.  It reminds me of the death of James Dean so many years before, also in a car accident.  Both were young men who were peaking in their fields and likely had bright futures ahead of them.

James Dean made only three feature films before his career was prematurely ended.  He also made an eerie public service announcement that I’ll embed below.  Getting behind the wheel of a car and driving fast can be an exhilarating, adrenaline rush.  But our bodies are fragile and we must be sure that whatever we do, we do it with safety in mind.  Otherwise, the consequences can be tragic.