Nirvana fans…

…you should probably check out their YouTube channel (you can find it here) as they are posting alternate takes/practice rehearsals from their famous MTV Unplugged session, which featured some brilliant “acoustic” interpretations of their works, as well as the very famous take on David Bowie’s Man Who Sold The World.

Here’s a version of it…

Many, many people were first introduced to this song via Nirvana’s version, and to many of them this is THE version of the song.

It makes sense, of course. The first time you hear a rendition of a song you wind up liking a lot winds up being the version you prefer, even if it isn’t all that different from the original…

For me, the opposite was true.

When David Bowie burst out to worldwide fame with the release of Let’s Dance (album and song), I was mesmerized by his music and immediately started to look into his back catalog.

There were many songs I discovered at that time which I already knew but hadn’t linked Mr. Bowie to them. Songs like Space Oddity, Changes, The Jean Genie, Fame, Fashion, etc. etc.

But there were other songs that hadn’t reached the radio much at that point that were incredible gems.

Like Panic In Detroit

And the incredible Lady Grinning Soul (both songs are from the album Aladdin Sane)…

There were many others (and bear in mind, we are talking about his works released up to the release of Let’s Dance).

But there was one work -you guessed it- the album The Man Who Sold The World, which really spoke to me. Unlike many Bowie works, this album had many covers because the original was so controversial. This is the cover I first saw when I first purchased the album…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

Then, a little later, I found the album with this cover…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

The original cover, and the cover that the album now has (and which you can see in the video of the song above), is this one, which, as I stated, was quite controversial in its time, though not so much anymore…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

The Man Who Sold The World, to my mind, is David Bowie’s first real accomplished album. While he had a bunch of oddball singles and the album Space Oddity before this one, it was with this album that, to my mind, everything came together.

Further, it features Mick Ronson, Bowie’s guitarist through the Ziggy Stardust era, as well as Tony Visconti on Bass (he would be Bowie’s main producer for many of his best albums, including the last he would release), and drummer Woody Woodmansey (also featured through the Ziggy era).

The album is quite dark, thematically. There are songs about insanity, supermen, and alienation.

It was the song the album got its title from, The Man Who Sold The World, that really intrigued me.

If I were to create a “best of” list of David Bowie songs, I may well say that to me this is his absolute best song.

I like it that much.

Sadly, the song didn’t receive all that much airplay or interest, that is, until Nirvana so famously covered it.

Now, its among David Bowie’s best known songs, and for good reason.

Oh, and by the way, that Nirvana version ain’t half-bad either…! 😉

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) a (almost right on time!) Review

I’ve spent the last few posts talking about Terminator: Dark Fate (let’s refer to it as TDF from here on out) and now, having seen the film, offer my opinion on it.

To begin: I very much recall going to the theater way, waaaaaaaay back in 1984 to see The Terminator. While viewers who watch the film today may not realize it because of the inevitable passage of time and cribbing of ideas, seeing the original film when it was originally released was a ferocious experience. It was, to my mind, the first time the action and horror genres were merged.

Once the film got going, it felt absolutely relentless, and despite what we now see as an obvious low budget and dodgy effects (again, this is the product of the passage of time), The Terminator essentially made director/writer James Cameron’s career. He would go on from this film to make the equally tense action/horror Aliens and from there Terminator 2 (which many, but not me, consider the very best Terminator film) before eventually becoming a box-office champion with Titanic and Avatar.

The Terminator franchise left James Cameron’s hands following T2, and he had no part in either Terminator 3, Terminator: Salvation, or Terminator: Genysis. Neither did he have a part in Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles TV show, which I found quite good.

Unfortunately, the Terminator films that followed T2 were not that good, IMHO. Almost all of them had good elements, but the overall works simply didn’t carry each film into “great” movie territory.

Recently, the Terminator property reverted to James Cameron and with Terminator: Dark Fate, he’s “back”, though this time with the story and production credits while Tim Miller (Deadpool) directs.

If you’ve read my previous postings, it is worth noting that in making TDF, it was decided to create a story that actively ignores all the Terminator works that came post-T2. So going into the film, audiences should try to wipe their minds clean of all those works and stick with the first two.

The movie begins with a rather shocking development that reminded me in many ways of the opening of Aliens 3. I don’t want to give too much away here (I will talk about it toward the end, so BEWARE SPOILERS!) but if you’ve read online anything about the film, chances are you already know what happens at the very beginning of the film…

We then move to Mexico and, specifically, car factory worker Dani Ramos (Natalie Reyes, quite good), and the arrival -natch- of two visitors from the future, Grace (Mackenzie Davis, quite spectacular as an “augmented” human) and the evil Gabriel, aka REV-9 (Gabriel Luna, quite good), the robot sent to the future to take out Dani.

The story thus far isn’t all that different from all the other Terminators that came before: You have your “ordinary” person being alternately hunted and protected by two people who have come from the future. The early action set pieces are quite spectacular and Gabriel’s evil robot, while essentially still incredibly similar to Robert Patricks’ T-1000 from T2, has the added trick of being able to split into two Terminators at one time.

The opening action sequence terminates (ouch) with the arrival of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, looking as grizzly as can be but dangerous and smart assed to boot). The three form an uneasy alliance which eventually takes them to you-know-who (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and together the four of them form an even more uneasy alliance in trying to take on and destroy Gabriel.

Watching TDF, I realized how much better the film was compared to those that followed T2. Again, I don’t feel all those films are horrible, but clearly the people behind the making of TDF spent the extra capital in developing the relationships between the characters so that when we got to the ending, it was something of an emotional gut punch, at least to me.

TDF still falls a little below T2 (my second favorite Terminator film behind the original) yet rises IMHO far above the others and, for someone who was there when the first came out, felt it was almost a love letter to the fans of the series, even if it didn’t necessarily move out of the general Terminator comfort zone, story-wise.

Still, I liked it quite a bit and would easily recommend it to anyone interested. If you worry that these old-folks simply can’t do it in an intense action film, let me say they handle themselves quite well. I fear, however, that people are not giving this film a chance (it has been noted it underperformed despite generally good critical and audience reactions) because of the run of so-so Terminator films, including the not so-very-old Terminator: Genysis.

And that’s really too bad. If I could go back in time, maybe I’d convince the makers of those sequels to lay off and, by the time TDF shows up, people might be more willing/eager to give it a shot.

TDF is an easy recommendation for me. A film that, while not necessarily reinventing the Terminator-wheel, nonetheless respects the original two films and provides us with some genuinely good thrills and action set pieces, along with a story that is also quite good (if familiar) and some very welcome humor.

Go see it with an open mind… or at least without thinking about the last three Terminator films that followed T2.

Now then…

SPOILERS!!!!!

BEWARE!!!!

Still here?

Ok, you’ve been warned.

TDF opens with a post-T2 Sarah Connors and a young John Connor (both actors were digitally de-aged) resting from the end of T2.

Then, the T-800 (a de-aged Arnold) appears and kills John Connor.

It’s a rough scene, especially given we had a full film in T2 whose whole reason for being was to keep John Connor alive. However, in the course of that film, the future was changed and Skynet was destroyed.

What TDF does, somewhat cleverly but still kinda/sorta grimly, is show us that John Connor’s death no longer matters. That the T-800 that kills him turns out to have completed its programmed mission for a future that no longer was going to come into being.

Thus, the T-800 we see later in the film is that same robot, only he spent the next 20 plus years adapting to humanity and realizing what he did was terrible.

It’s an interesting notion and one that I felt made the relationship between Sarah and he that much more intriguing but… man, what a bummer of a concept! As I said, it was not unlike Alien 3, which opened with the deaths of two very likeable characters who survived the massacre of Aliens.

Still, for me not something that ruined the film.

Your mileage, as they say, may vary!

Terminator: Dark Fate Box Office…

It’s the Monday after the release of Terminator: Dark Fate (let’s refer to it as TDF from here on, OK?), and it would appear the film underperformed and might even be, as Jason Guerrasio writes in businessinsider.com, an outright bust…

Terminator: Dark Fate is a bust at the box-office, taking in only $29 million

I’m still curious to see the film but it is something of a surprise -or maybe not?- the film underperformed. Note that the original estimates were that TDF would rake in either in the high $30 to low $40 million for the weekend. The $29 million it managed is actually quite close to the opening take Terminator: Genysis did in 2015 when it scored $27 million.

Which kinda/sorta indicates that this seems to be roughly where current audience interest lies with regard to Terminator films.

It’s a sad fact of life that time marches on and while when I was young the original Terminator and Terminator 2 did incredible business and were very much in the public eye, the years have passed and (sadly) Arnold Schwarzenneger and Linda Hamilton are much older now, which may be a great negative to the younger audiences out there.

An admission: When I first saw the trailers for TDF, my first reaction -and I’m more than willing to accept this is a sign of my own shallowness- was surprise at Linda Hamilton’s aging.

I fully accept the fact that it makes me sound shallow (like I’m somehow immune to the passage of time!), but the reality is that film has a way of “freezing” people in time if they leave the public eye.

Arnold Schwarzenneger has aged too, obviously, but he’s been in the public spotlight with other films and, in my mind, I know what he looks like these days. Linda Hamilton, on the other hand, has kept a relatively low profile since Terminator 2. Looking over her IMdb listing, while she’s continued to work over the years, her “biggest” appearances post T2 were in the TV show Chuck (which I never watched) and a turn soon after the release of T2 in the film Dante’s Peak. Otherwise she’s appeared in relatively smaller works and often as a voice actor in animated features.

Which means that seeing her in the trailers for TDF was the first time since the 1990’s I’ve had a look at her.

So we have two older actors in what is, sadly as well, a “young person’s” genre: The action film. And, further to that, a film in a franchise which, let’s face it, has now reached its sixth theatrical film (and we’re not even counting Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles TV show).

Given that Terminator: Genysis just came out a few years back and only did so-so business, it might in retrospect be that people are a little tired of the whole Terminator franchise and what you can make on these films is roughly in/around that amount.

Having said all that, I remain interested in seeing TDF and plan to do so soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

Linda Hamilton may no longer be the striking, young kick-ass warrior we saw so memorably in T2, but I’m intrigued with the notion of seeing her play an older, hopefully wiser warrior, whose scars -internal and external- give her that additional edge.

In reading the reviews of the film, it seems that while a slight majority of critics and audiences reacted favorably to the film, there nonetheless are many who feel TDF is a miss. That despite the return of Linda Hamilton, the film is yet another lackluster Terminator sequel.

Potential audiences out there are wiser to critical views of films and these negative reactions may have swayed many to not bother showing up.

Regardless, I will see the film.

Let’s see how I feel about it…

Terminator: Dark Fate and Continuity…

Over at io9.com, Germain Lussier interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger regarding his just released film Terminator: Dark Fate.

Terminator: Dark Fate, Interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth film in the Terminator franchise. It follows the original Terminator, Terminator 2, Terminator 3, Terminator: Salvation, and Terminator: Genysis.

What’s interesting about this film is that it effectively obliterates the “continuity” established in all Terminator films following the second. In other words, the story presented here ignores -and effectively contradicts/negates- all the stories presented in the other Terminator films that followed T2. In this case, it means even Terminator 3 and Terminator: Genysis, which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, are no longer considered part of the Terminator story line present in Dark Fate.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t care that this film ignores those others.

I find that attitude… refreshing.

Even though he was involved in the films and was effectively their star, he’s not so attached to those previous movies to feel that they should somehow be considered cannon. He’s more than willing to work in this latest film without feeling like he should be defending the others.

I suppose it isn’t a terribly big leap to make. Mr. Schwarzenegger is no doubt making a great salary and working on something he likes. He seems long past caring about all these details and more focused on the here and now compared to the past.

But for those who do like the Terminator films which came post T2, I don’t see much of a problem there either. If you like those films, guess what? They’re still there. They haven’t been burned up or erased from your digital libraries (provided you have them there). They can still be enjoyed, should you want to enjoy them.

And with a franchise that involves time travel and alternate realities, what better series than the Terminator to so easily put those films into these alternate realities?

So hard to talk about anything…

…other than politics nowadays. And I’m so loathe to do so on a consistent basis. I have my beliefs just as others have theirs and we may agree about a great many things and disagree about a great many others but that doesn’t make us mortal enemies.

Well, it shouldn’t. At least not here in the U.S. of A.

Yet it feels like its devolving into just that. You’re on your side and I’m on mine and you can go insane watching/listening/reading about whatever happened today.

Yesterday, of course, and on Halloween itself, a resolution was passed by the House of Representatives concerning Impeaching President Donald Trump.

Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House, has been very cautious in her movement toward impeachment, taking things step by (sometimes painfully drawn out) step but it would seem we’re on the verge of getting televised hearings with witnesses detailing, finally to the public, the inappropriate actions taken by Trump which merit his Impeachment.

Those who don’t know, the House of Representatives can Impeach the President but it then has to go to the Senate, which has a very slim Republican majority, to actually -and formally – throw him out of office. As of this date, it appears doubtful the necessary 2/3rd majority is there to formally Impeach the President but we’ve got a long way to go yet and, unlike the House of Representatives, there are several Republican Senators -perhaps even a majority- who likely would vote for Impeachment if their vote were taken in secret.

Right of the bat, one thinks: Is this therefore necessary? With elections coming next year, do we really need to go through all this?

I say: Absolutely.

Trump is, in my eyes anyway, a deeply flawed human being who very purposely flaunts the laws for personal gain. For him, that’s what it is all about: Personal gain. I suspect he could care less about anyone other than himself. I suspect he could care less about the institutions which have guided the country all these years. He could care less about his supporters, who I also suspect he views as suckers and/or idiots… but useful ones at that.

As we near the end of the year, I have to admit I’m tired of hearing about all this. I’m tired of the way this man and his particular brand of insanity seems to take up all the oxygen of all news all the time.

I fervently look forward to the day we no longer have to hear/read about any particularly egregious act or lie or just plain stupidity he was involved in.

But that’s just me.