Monthly Archives: June 2018

General

Oh boy…

Beware: POLITICS.

Turn away, turn away…

We live in interesting *ahem* times.

After years of hearing outrage regarding morality -and, to them, the lack thereof- of people within the Democratic Party, we’re at a time when someone like Donald Trump, a man whose own morality is just about as low as it can be, engenders in these same people a bizarre disconnect where they look the other way while applauding actions which, at best, can only be described as abhorrent.

Bill Clinton got a blow job by an intern in the White House, lied about the affair, and the outraged Republicans tried like hell to impeach and throw him out of office.  Yet we have a person in the office today who has at best only the barest grasp of reality who huffs and puffs and pays off porn stars to hide his affairs while his children -and he!- make big money while using the office and there’s compelling evidence to suggest his campaign was in cahoots with the Russians (the RUSSIANS!) to win the election and now is separating children from their parents at the border…

…and the silence is deafening.

I know there are many different types of people in the world and I know there are some very smart people whose politics are diametrically opposite of my own.

But how in the world does one react to something like this?

Corey Lewandowski was one of Donald Trump’s more controversial campaign workers during the election and, to be fair, he supposedly is no longer involved in Trump’s White House.

Yet the blase dismissal/mockery on display here is… staggering.

There was a time not so very long ago when a group of people were portrayed as below human and the government that did this went down a particularly dark road which resulted in the deaths of many millions of people.

It has been said that when one is in an argument and invokes the shadow of Nazi Germany, the argument has clearly gone off the rails and into absurdity.

Yet what is one to make of a Government whose leader views those attempting to come into our country as nothing more than “rapists” or “drug dealers”?  Is that so very different from the Nazi Party’s views of Jews?

Image result for nazi propaganda

Is it a surprise when this same Government then starts to imprison all of them and separate the children, some infants, and feel this is somehow an appropriate measure?

The only thing that gives me a little bit of hope is the fact that there is outrage in this country and finally, finally, people may be seeing Donald Trump and his hench-men and women for what they are.

Perhaps.

UPDATE, and related:

Just found this article by Hayley Miller and over at TheHuffingtonPost.com:

GOP Strategist Steve Schmidt quits “corrupt” party of “feckless cowards”, will vote for Democrats

If you don’t know who Steve Schmidt is, he ran John McCain’s presidential campaign and has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration.  While I believe he does have some responsibility for where we stand in politics today -he was in charge when John McCain brought Sarah Palin in as his VP candidate- his “defection” is the type of thing that brings me hope that things will change, hopefully for the better.

The November elections can’t come quick enough.

Movies

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) a (mildly) belated review

There are some films I can’t help but feel are “unreviewable”.  By that I mean that almost anyone that goes to see such a film will likely walk away if not loving what they’ve seen at least feeling they’ve had a good time.

So it is with me and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Is the film some kind of cinematic classic?  No.  Did it feature a plot that was so out there and so expansive that it shook/wowed me to the core?  No.  Did it play on my heartstrings with such precision and/or make me laugh or cry hysterically until I was a puddle of emotions?  Was the acting within transformational and re-define to me what it means to be an actor?

Nope, nope, nope, and nope.

But the film moved along at a brisk pace and provided enough laughs  -both big and small- and smiles and, yes, even a few surprise twists (which I won’t give away) that the film was certainly worth seeing.

The plot is essentially the same as the original Robin Williams starring Jumanji only presented with a video game twist.  In this case our four heroes, High School students who for various different reasons are sent to detention, find an old video game machine in the basement they’re serving their detention, connect it to a TV set, choose their characters in the Jumanji video game, then find themselves transported into the game proper, where they -very amusingly, IMHO- take on the video game characters who, of course, look like Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan.

Which High Schooler becomes who is part of the fun, and I’ll just say that Jack Black in particular really does well in a role that might have proven difficult for others.

Now, there are a few things one can quibble over.  The special effects, especially some of the CGI, isn’t always great.  In fact, there are moments where it is surprisingly crude.  But, again, that’s something either you’ll accept -I’ve personally seen worse- or not.

A little more troublesome is the movie’s main villain, who unfortunately barely registers.  Granted, this is a movie where we have to get up to speed with four characters really quickly and spending precious screen time with yet another might have been hard to accomplish in the movie’s running time.  Still, I kinda wish there was a little more meat on this character’s bones, even if he is an NPC (see the film to understand!).

Obviously, I recommend this film!

Movies

Pardon me a moment…

I know many out there simply don’t care, and I understand.  There are many out there that absolutely cannot stomach Zack Snyder’s run of DC movies, from Man of Steel to Batman v Superman to… well, whatever hybrid Whedon-esq film Justice League was.

Regarding the later film, there has been curiosity by those who enjoyed the Snyder DC films (or, as some smug people have called us, “idiots”) as to when/if the Snyder version of Justice League will ever appear.  Further, there is even a question of whether such a thing even exists.

Well, here’s some of the latest on that.  Ana Dumaraog over at screenrant.com notes that artist Jay Olivia, one of those who worked on Snyder’s Justice League, has stated…

Snyder had a full cut of Justice League before leaving

Essentially -and at the risk of completely spoiling everything in the article, Olivia stated that before he left Justice League, Mr. Snyder had indeed left behind a full cut of the film, albeit one that needed some work.  From Olivia…

It may not be 100% polished but all of the planned scenes were shot and edited into a full timeline.

So we have what may amount to, using a literary term, seems to be a full “rough draft” of the film that requires some “polishing,” likely some editing to trim whatever fat is unnecessary and likely quite a bit of effects work.

In other words, what’s keeping the Snyder “cut” of Justice League from being released looks to be a matter of a) Warner Brothers deciding it is worth doing (I suspect, rather strongly, that Mr. Snyder would love to finish the work up), and b) money.

The later is the big issue, of course.  There are some rumors that Warner is willing to release a Snyder cut of the film but only if Mr. Snyder or his production company pay for the remaining work needed to be done to finish it up.  I imagine this could be a big amount, but who knows.  Further, this could be a negotiating tactic: Warner is willing to pay some monies to finish the film up, but they don’t want to take the whole hit.

Stay tuned… if you’re not one of us idiots.

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 78

Released in 1958, The Colossus of New York isn’t one of the better known horror/monster films of yesteryear, yet its one that, despite my having seen it one time when I was a kid, has stuck with me.

Basically the film was a 60/40 mix of Frankenstein and King Kong, with a man’s brain placed in the “colossus”, a robotic body, with tragic results.  The man who would become the Colossus was played by Ross Martin, who would go on to greater success as Artemis Gordon in The Wild Wild West TV show.

General

This just might be too much…

…or perhaps not enough?

A few days ago IHOP (used to be called International House of Pancakes, but in this ADD era, it was shortened to this) noted it would change its name to…

Image result for ihob

IHOB, they announced, and then asked people to figure out what the “B” stood for.

I, and I’m sure many, many others, figured it would be “Breakfast”.  After all, they are a breakfast oriented and they don’t just serve pancakes, right?

Except…

The “B” turned out to stand for…

Image result for ihob

Burgers?!

What the…

I mean, I’ve been to IHOP… er… IHOB a few times and, yes, I knew they had burgers and all but I can’t ever recall ordering a burger from them, given that the times I have gone to the place it was to get, you know, breakfast.  And burgers just ain’t on my regular breakfast menu.

Anyway, I mention this only to serve as background to this:

Burger King is trolling IHOB by claiming (with tongue firmly in cheek) they are now calling themselves…

Image result for pancake king

They’ve even posted some amusing twitter statements to that effect…

Related image

Some more:

Image result for pancake king

You know, given some of the extremely grim news we’ve gotten today (don’t even get me started on the Trump’s Children Concentration Camps), I enjoyed getting at least one good laugh.

Movies, TV

So… about Wonder Woman 1984…

Yesterday director Patty Jenkins took to twitter to offer a still from the now filming Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to her very popular Wonder Woman film, starring Gal Gadot, and set in (duh) the year 1984.

The image caused much curiosity:

Yep, that’s Chris Pine in an 80’s getup (though check out the people behind him… if nothing else, the movie sure does seem to want to get the aesthetic of 1984) … thing is, and SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT, Chris Pine’s character in the original Wonder Woman appeared to, well, not make it out alive.

Which begs the question: How the heck is he in this film?

If you have even a casual knowledge of the Wonder Woman TV show featuring Lynda Carter, you should know that the series had the character appear in both World War 2 and, in subsequent seasons, the “present” of the 1970’s.  What was curious about that series is that actor Lyle Waggoner played two roles in the series.  In the first, taking place during World War 2, he was Major Steve Trevor…

Image result for lynda carter lyle waggoner wonder woman

In the “new” adventures of Wonder Woman, set in the then present, he played… Coloner Steve Trevor Jr.!

Image result for lynda carter lyle waggoner wonder woman

So it would seem the Wonder Woman movies are perhaps doing something similar, having Chris Pine appear in both eras.  The question is, will this be a distant relative of Chris Pine’s original Steve Trevor from the first WW movie?

You know what?

I don’t really care too much about that.

What intrigues me much more is the fact that this movie is set in 1984.  Clearly there must be some reason for setting it in that year versus, say, in the “present”.

Thinking back to 1984, I recall world events of that time and wonder if those will play a role in the movie.  The Soviet Empire was on its way down but the Cold War was still in effect (the Berlin Wall would come down in 1989).  There was a feeling, at times, that nuclear conflict might happen.

Conversely, and within the U.S., there was the issue of cocaine and drugs in the U.S.  The TV show Miami Vice premiered in 1984 and for better or worse it became something of an aesthetic of that era…

So I’m wondering… could this movie take a little more from something like Miami Vice rather than world events at the time?  Or will it be a little of column “A” and column “B”?

Stay tuned… same Wonder channel, same Wonder time!

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 77

There have been many films that, unfortunately, were lost over time.  Perhaps the most famous of these is the horror/mystery film London After Midnight (1927).  Directed by Todd Browning (Dracula, Freaks), the film starred Lon Chaney (the “man of a thousand faces” is probably best known today for his starring roles in the original 1923 The Hunchback of Notre Dam and 1925 The Phantom of the Opera).

Unfortunately, the last known copy of London After Midnight was lost in a fire at the MGM studios’ vault fire in 1965.  Though there still exist stills from the film, a copy has yet to be found, though there are plenty of people looking for one.  In 2002 Turner Classic Movies aired a “reconstruction” of the film using stills and dialogue from the script.  Frankly, the film’s story is really creaky by today’s standards, but there’s little doubt Lon Chaney’s makeup was top notch, at least based on those same stills!

General

You learn something new every day…

Found this fascinating article by Jon Bordsen and found on CNN.com…

Marceline, Missouri: The tiny town is the site of Disney’s “lost” park

Never knew about this place, which apparently was a source of much of Walt Disney’s nostalgia as the family lived there in the early 20th Century, and wanted to show his appreciation for it by creating a mini-park there.  Ultimately, Mr. Disney’s death signified the death of that particular dream, but it is fascinating to see some of the photographs of that town and realize it was the blueprint to the Disney World Main Street.

Interesting stuff!

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 76

In a six year period from 1942 to 1948 actors Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake would team up in four films, three of which are considered classics and the fourth… well, not so much.

The first movie they made together was one of their very best, 1942’s This Gun For Hire.  A terrific noir where Veronica Lake took top billing and Alan Ladd would be a featured -but very important- player in the film.  A great work and one you should catch.  By the way, the other three films they made together are The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), and Saigon (1948).

General, Movies

What a weekend…

So much happening, so many things to note… or not.

First off, the Trump-G7 summit… blah.  How surprising Mr. Thin-Skin got all huffy with the other leaders when he arrived late and left early.  And all that crap he -and his sycophantic underlings- heaped on Canadian PM Justin Trudeau?  Really?  (Wanna read more?  Here’s an article by Matt Spetalnick for Reuters and presented on HuffingtonPost.com, Trump blasts NATO Allies, EU, and Canadian PM Trudeau).

Then there was the Tonys which featured one truly beautiful moment in the Parkland students singing Seasons of Love…

…and Robert DeNiro giving some… uh… rough shout-outs toward Mr. Trump…

Man… I’m really conflicted about the later.  On the one hand, I’ve been shouting the same in private to my television for quite a while now.  On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that this sort of public insulting is exactly the type of crap that feeds Trump and his supporters and makes those who are against him look terrible.

Ah well.  Given the way that the news cycle is running (at about 5 million RPMs), it’ll probably be forgotten very soon.

Finally, Solo: A Star Wars Story continued to underperform though it looks as if it won’t bomb quite as hard as John Carter or The Lone Ranger did.  Ron Dicker at (again) HuffingtonPost.com writes about director Ron Howard’s twitter reaction to the movie’s box office:

Ron Howard tells fan he “feels badly” about Solo’s Box Office

To be more precise, when asked about his feelings about the movie’s box office, Ron Howard wrote:

I’m proud of and the cast & crew worked hard to give fans a fun new addition. As a director I feel badly when people who I believe (& exit polls show) will very likely enjoy a movie… don’t see it on a big screen w/great sound.

I mean, what else would Mr. Howard write?

You fucking fans blew it!  BLEW IT!  Why won’t you go see my film?!  It’s getting good reviews!  YOU CAN STILL  MAKE IT A SUCCESS!!!!  FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO SEE IT!!!! #AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!

I kid, of course, but despite his too-polite tweet (the real one, not my phony one) I’m sure Howard must feel considerable frustration.

Yet the reality is the reality: Sometimes you create something that may be good -or, if you search out a variety of reviews, something that is decent or even mediocre-yet-better-than-expected- and despite the fact that it may be at least decent-and-possibly-good, audiences will either come or they won’t.

And its maddening.

How many times has a film come out and it explodes at the box-office… despite the fact that it is at best mediocre?  How many times does a film get released with tons of great reviews and it… does ok?  Or perhaps worse?

Audiences are fickle.

There was a time that westerns were box office gold and audiences couldn’t get enough of them.

Then, one day, people no longer cared for westerns and, with few exceptions, they are hardly made today.

Superhero films are incredibly popular nowadays, but who’s to say they will remain so five years from today?  Or next year, for that matter?

Consider the Transformer films.  Despite getting slaughtered by reviewers and many fans, they nonetheless made tons of money, until the last one did only “ok”.

Solo may be a good film.  It might be a typical Ron Howard film, decent but not terribly extraordinary.

Regardless, audiences weren’t terribly interested in seeing it.  Perhaps it was due to the fact that people are tired of Star Wars films.  Perhaps people were so bothered by The Last Jedi -at least those who hated it- that they wanted to punish Disney.  Perhaps it was due to the fact that people were suspicious of a film with all the baggage this one had (previous directors fired, Ron Howard brought in at the last minute, etc.).  Perhaps people simply didn’t feel the need to see a Han Solo “origin” story… with or without Harrison Ford in the role.

Perhaps it was a combination of all those elements.

Ah well.