Movies

The Expendables 3 (2014) a (very mildly) belated review

Back in 2012, while reviewing The Expendables 2, I wrote the following regarding the first Expendables film:

So you have this old friend who tells you a new story involving people from your youth.  This story plays on nostalgia and features plenty of old faces in familiar situations.  By the end of the story, you smile.  You’ve enjoyed yourself perhaps a little more than you would have because of the nostalgia value.  The story presented, after all, wasn’t all that earth-shattering or, to be blunt, particularly good.

I went on to state that while I enjoyed the first Expendables film and felt the second was an overall better work, the problem with The Expendables 2 was that it didn’t benefit from the lure of nostalgia as much as the first and therefore didn’t appeal as much as the first.

Fast forward to 2014 and the release of The Expendables 3.  This time around, one big name (Bruce Willis) is gone, replaced by an arguably bigger name, Harrison Ford.  The villain of this piece, played by Mel Gibson, is also a far better known and accomplished actor (if more controversial) than either Eric Roberts (E1) or Jean Claude Van Damme (E2).

So, is The Expendables 3 any good?

For my money, this is the best of the three Expendables films.  Having said that, it still isn’t all that great a film.

The movie starts off quite horribly, with a very unimpressive (and filled with absolutely terrible CGI) action set piece involving an Expendables raid on a prison train carrying Doc (Wesley Snipes), one of their “lost” members.  Thankfully, that terrible opening leads to a far better action sequence involving arms dealers in Somalia.  It turns out the Expendables’ target, Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), was the co-founder of the group and one time best friend/partner of Stallone’s Barney Ross.  He is a man Ross thought he killed years before and the hatred between the two is palpable.  It is their hatred that raises this movie’s stakes higher and makes what follows more personal than what we had in the previous two films.  Stallone and Gibson are given wonderful opportunities to play off each other, something the other Expendable films never had.

The hatred between Ross and Stonebanks leads to the Expendables leader dropping his co-horts and hiring a new crew because he’s more willing to risk their lives than his “family’s”.  A cold blooded decision, certainly, but it is a cold blooded business.

But Ross grows to respect and, yes, love this new group just as much as the old and when they fall prey to Stonebanks he is forced to rescue them with the aid of his old team plus a new entry (Antonio Banderas, delightfully wacky).  Much mayhem follows.

Strangely, I had a Wild Bunch feeling for the later half of the film and was hoping we were headed in that particular direction.  Alas, the film goes too soft in the end and the triumph is never quite matched with sadness.

A further note:  It was fun to see Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jet Li in their smallish roles in the film.  I thought they were used just enough to amuse us but not too little (E1) or too much (E2).

In conclusion, if you enjoyed the first couple of Expendables films you should enjoy the third.  The draw, once again, lies in the nostalgia factor and seeing several icons of yesteryear inhabit the same movie frame.

Too bad the film goes a little too soft in the end.

Books/Literature

Long Lost Works of Literature…

Fascinating article by Paul Anthony Jones listing ten literary works that, more than likely, have been lost forever:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-anthony-jones/long-lost-works_b_6271482.html

For some of these works it is quite clear they are indeed lost for all times as we know the only copy(s) of them were destroyed…and we know who destroyed them and have a good idea as to why!

There are others, though, that one might have some hope of eventually finding, like Homer’s Margites and, perhaps, Shakespeare’s Cordenio.

There are also those that frustrate as they are likely lost for silly reasons, like the near complete early works of Ernest Hemingway which, unwisely, were all stored in a suitcase which was either lost or stolen from a train station back in 1922.

Where’s the cloud when you need it!?!

Movies

Best/Worst Movies of 2014

Yeah, we’re not quite done with 2014 yet, but Entertainment Weekly already has their 10 Best and 5 Worst Films of the year:

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20326356_20879243,00.html

As usual, my interest winds up being just how many of these films I’ve seen…or want to see.

In this year’s case, I have not seen any of their “worst” five.  My wife caught Monuments Men on a long flight and thought it was “ok”, but I never had much of a desire to see it.  For that matter, the other four movies on this list are also films I have very little desire to see and, given the huge amount of stuff I would like to eventually like to get to, doubt I’ll catch those particular films.

As for the 10 Best, I’ve seen a grand total of two, Grand Budapest Hotel and Snowpiercer.  I loved, loved, loved Snowpiercer (#8) and thought it was one of the more ambitious sci-fi films of recent vintage.  Grand Budapest Hotel was fun and often laugh out loud funny, but as much as I liked it I don’t know if it was worth being considered the #3 film of the past year (opinions, as they say, are subjective).

I have Jodorowsky’s Dune (#10) on BluRay waiting for me to see it when I have the time and am interested in seeing Guardians of the Galaxy (#6, missed it when it was making a ton of cash in theaters), Gone Girl (#7), and Birdman (#9).  The remaining films on this list also look interesting but, again, I don’t know if I’ll find the time to see any of them.

Off to look for other “best/worst” of lists!

Movies

Dead and Buried (1981) a (very) belated review

Back in the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s, horror cinema appeared to be on a crusade to push the envelope regarding gore.  Unfortunately, many of the films released at the time were either inferior productions or, after a few years, myriad sequels that repeated ad nauseam popular hits from yesteryear.

There are few horror films from that era that stick with me, but those that do, like the original Alien, have stuck with me for a very long time.  The 1981 film Dead and Buried boasts being made by “the creators of Alien“.  Does it come anywhere close to that classic?

Well…not quite, though the film does offer some good, Lovecraftian inspired chills along with some gruesome early Stan Winston effects.

The plot?  Well, that winds up being the movie’s biggest problem.  Not that the story presented is bad, necessarily, only that once it plays out one realizes this was maybe a one hour Twilight Zone/Outer Limits type story stretched out -too far!- into a feature length film.

Basically, the story goes like this: In the very small seaside town of Potter’s Bluff (a place that looks like it could be found in your typical H. P. Lovecraft story), a man goes to a lonely shore and takes nature pictures.  He is surprised when a beautiful blonde (Lisa Blount) appears and becomes very friendly with him.  But all is not as it seems and he is attacked and, it appears, killed.

When his torched vehicle shows is found, the town’s Sheriff, Dan Gillis (James Farentino) investigates along with quirky coroner William Dobbs (Jack Albertson, in one of his last movie roles) what happened to the man.  As the investigation goes on, strange things happen in and around the town.  Further, Gillis finds himself growing increasingly suspicious of the extra-curricular activities of his wife (the gorgeous Melody Anderson).

As I said before, all is certainly not as it seems and before the story is over Sheriff Gillis will uncover the eerie secrets of his hometown.

I don’t want to elaborate any more but suffice to say that despite an obvious very low budget Dead and Buried maintains a good level of suspense and delivers on its shocking gore.  The story, as mentioned, wasn’t enough to sustain a feature film and therefore the filmmakers had to add more victims to the story to fill out time.  Given the conclusion, one couldn’t help but wonder why there was such a need to have each victim so brutally killed..

Still, for a 30 plus year old film, Dead and Buried remains a decent enough horror feature with some still quite good special effects.  For those who enjoy the horror films of this era, this is an easy recommendation.

Movies

Hickey and Boggs (1972) a (very) belated review

So Kino/Loder decides to release the cult noir/detective 1972 film Hickey and Boggs this past week to BluRay aaaaand…could their timing be any worse?

After all, the film stars Robert Culp and….Bill Cosby.  Yup.  That Bill Cosby.

I ordered the film when its release was first announced several months ago, before the current Bill Cosby media blow up.  I guess if this film was in the planning stages for release at this moment, the studios would have scuttled it completely.  Which I suppose means fans of the film should be happy it was released at all.

Now, I happen to be a big fan of good film noir/detective dramas.  I’m also a very big fan of the early works of Walter Hill, the movie’s screenwriter.  I might have seen Hickey and Boggs many years ago.  Maybe not the whole thing, perhaps no more than a scene or two, and I remembered next to nothing about it.  Still, I had to get it, if only for Mr. Hill’s contribution.

I’m glad I did.

Having said that, let me address the obvious: Yes, it is uncomfortable to watch Bill Cosby, even this very young Bill Cosby, given the current stories surrounding his alleged behavior.  I know there are those who refuse to see any films, past or present, featuring Mel Gibson because of his well documented meltdowns and bizarre behavior.  The same will most certainly be the case with Mr. Cosby.

Having said that, if you can divorce artist from art, which is what I had to do, you will probably love the hell out of Hickey and Boggs.

The film’s story involves the two very much down on their luck private detectives (Culp, who also directed this film, and Crosby) and what happens to them after they are hired to find a woman.  The man hiring them is sleazy but in the case of the two detectives, beggars can’t be choosers.  Hickey and Boggs follow their sleazy client’s list of associates the woman might have ties with and sink deeper and deeper into an increasingly violent hole that, in the end, involves much more than a simple missing woman.

The rapport between Culp and Crosby, who had starred together from 1965 to 1968 in the popular I Spy detective show, is what makes this movie hum.  The two act and talk as if they have known each other for a long time (which by that point they had in real life) and their on screen relationship is easygoing and natural…just as their character lives are a disaster.

Taking on this particular case eventually puts them in the bullseye of both hired thugs and the police while tempting them to find a missing stash of money.

As I mentioned before, I enjoyed the hell out of this film and would easily put it up there with some of my favorite noir/detective dramas.  The action is good, the plot interesting, and Culp and Crosby are fascinating to watch as they warily pace the streets of a not so-sparkling L.A.

If you can forget for a moment the terrible stories associated with Bill Cosby and give Hickey and Boggs a try, you will not be disappointed.  If you can’t ignore the stories surrounding Mr. Cosby and find it difficult to separate the artist from his art, then you best stay away.

Movies

10 Greatest Banned Movie Posters of All-Time…

Can’t disagree with many of the choices, particularly the #1 poster!

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/10-Greatest-Banned-Movie-Posters-All-Time-68067.html

And from HitFix, the 10 Best Movie Trilogies of all time:

http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/10-of-the-best-movie-trilogies-of-all-time

Unlike the previous list, I can only agree with a handful of the choices -those I’ve seen- and disagree (sometimes strongly) with some of the other choices.

I would say that of the best trilogies they present, I’d put the Dollars trilogy at the very top of the list.  Each film in that fabulous Sergio Leone directed, Clint Eastwood starring series was better than the one before it, culminating in the incredible The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.  Now, there were further western films directed by Sergio Leone, including the very well regarded Once Upon a Time in the West which many feel is the best of his westerns.  I like the film a lot, but still consider TGTBATU the best.

The Bourne trilogy I would also put on this list, though unlike the Dollars series I didn’t feel the films necessarily got better as they went along.  Rather, they maintained a very high level and were very entertaining throughout.

The Dark Knight Trilogy, similarly, worked very well from film to film.  Even the much derided final of the three films, in my opinion, delivered.

The Star Wars Trilogy.  We’re talking about the original three Star Wars films here.  I’ve noted before I’m not a big fan of the trilogy but can certainly understand if you liked the first one, you liked all three, including the weakest of the bunch, Return of the Jedi.

Near Misses

To me, these trilogies featured at least two really good, even exceptional films in their group but one was a misfire:

The Mad Max Trilogy.  I loved, loved, loved The Road Warrior.  I liked the first film, Mad Max but felt the low budget hampered it along with the general downbeat nature of the story.  Yet that first film was still very good.  The final film in the original trilogy, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, was to me a misfire.  They took what made the first two film so good (the insane car chases) and for the most part eliminated them.  A big mistake.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, like the Mad Max Trilogy, to me started with two damn good films but totally fizzled for the finale.  Understand: I’m a big fan of those first two movies but the third one broke me, especially with its superprolonged “conclusion”.  It broke me so bad I’ve had no interest at all in seeing The Hobbit.

The Godfather Trilogy.  Again, first two films were incredible.  Third simply wasn’t.

No Way

The Matrix Trilogy:  The first film was mind-blowing stuff.  The other two were confusing and anti-climactic.  There were some great scenes here and there in those last two films, but it felt like I was watching a rushed, half-thought out story.

As of yet unseen…

I cannot offer opinions about the remaining trilogies as I haven’t seen them through (if at all).  Toy Story is the trilogy I came closest to seeing all the way through, having seen the first two movies but having my fill and deciding not to check out the third.  The first two films were delightful, though.  It’s just that there are so many hours in the day and spending them with the Toy Story cast once again doesn’t interest me.

Movies, TV

Get off my lawn…!

Rather…um…interesting article by Lewis Beale arguing that Star Wars “ruined” science fiction:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/opinion/beale-star-wars/index.html

As you can tell by this blog’s title, I do indeed accuse Mr. Beale of being a fuddy-duddy regarding this article.  And, unlike him, I was never a big Star Wars fan.

For those who haven’t read my blogs before, I was a very ripe 11 years old when the original Star Wars came out in 1977.  I distinctly recall the hysteria at the time and wound up seeing the film to a very packed house upon the very first week of its release.  The theater was filled with other boys roughly my age (it was an early showing) and they were whooping and hollering at every gee-whiz effect and clapping at every near escape…

…and when it was over, the whole experience left me cold.

So cold, in fact, that I didn’t bother seeing Empire Strikes Back when it came to theaters a couple of years later.  It wasn’t until the film aired on TV that I first saw it…and found it was about on par with the original, IMHO, that is to say: It left me cold.

Please don’t think me some kind of snob.

If you like Star Wars and its sequels, more power to you.  I love science ficiton (which should be obvious given my novels) and certainly loved, loved, loved it with a great fervor back in 1977.  Yet Star Wars didn’t connect with me.  I didn’t hate the film, but just didn’t like it all that much.  Different strokes, I suppose.

Fast forward to Mr. Beale’s article and…come on, Mr. Beale.  You seriously think there haven’t been attempts at more serious science fiction in cinema since Star Wars?  The advent of this film and series certainly has had an impact and, yes, I agree that there are many 1940’s-like cliffhanger serials on steroids released nowadays, but there are also plenty of more cerebral sci-fi works.

Most recently we had Interstellar (still in theaters!), but in recent times and on TV there have been works like Battlestar: Galactica and Lost, both series which ended on a whimper yet delivered some fascinating storylines in their prime.  You mention The Matrix but one can list many recent vintage films that weren’t just about action-action-action, movies like Donnie Darko (forget the “director’s cut”) up to last summer’s fabulous Edge of Tomorrow (a film even Tom Cruise haters will surely like).  Even the absolutely unnecessary (and, in my opinion, failed) Robocop remake eerily probed into the idea of how much humanity a person retains when most of his body is gone.

The point is that culture has a tendency to move along and release a broad range of works which you may like and which you may not.  I suspect there will always be the modern version of those old cliffhanger serials just as there will appear works that try to stretch the genre and offer food for thought.

Just because Star Wars was successful and led to many imitators doesn’t mean the genre is ruined.

Music

Nothing Has Changed (2014) a (very mildly) belated music review

When I heard my favorite musician, David Bowie, was about to release a new “greatest hits” set called Nothing Has Changed, I wasn’t particularly excited.  Looking over the list of songs on the release, I had almost all of them, and many were “radio edits”, which meant the songs were cut down to fit radio playing times.  Sometimes these cuts were simply brutal and harmed the songs more than helped.

David Bowie Nothing Has Changed

Still, after giving the list a second look I found a number of tracks interested me.  There was the new song, Sue (or in a Season of Crime) along with three tracks taken from the aborted Toys album which I heard snippets of but was curious to hear in full (Let Me Sleep Beside You, Your Turn to Drive, and Shadowman).  There were also some interesting curios/remasters.  Of those, the one I most wanted to hear was the remastered The Man Who Sold the World, one of my all time favorite Bowie songs.

Then, at the tail end of the set were five very, very early Bowie tracks that predated his first big hit, Space Oddity: In The Heat of Morning, Silly Boy Blue, Can’t Help Thinking About Me, You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving, and Liza Jane.

Taken together, there were at a minimum ten songs I was curious to hear/have out of the 59 in the set.  Had I bought those ten songs individually, I would have paid roughly $10.29 for them…if they were all available for download (amazon.com does not allow you to buy three of the very early Bowie songs individually).  The full album, on the other hand, was $19.99.

With an approximate $9 difference, I decided to go for the whole thing.

Now, I’m a David Bowie fanatic and willing to make the investment in the overall product.  Even so, I’m level headed enough to warn those who have most of these songs and maybe aren’t as big a fanatic of David Bowie to go over the track list like I did and consider whether you want to spend their money on the whole thing or just some of the songs in this particular set.  As I said, the extra nine bucks for me wasn’t too big a hurdle but to others the price difference might be greater.  Even so, did I get my money’s worth?

Well…sorta.

I really enjoyed the three songs from the so-far lost Toys album and wish Mr. Bowie would officially release the whole thing.  As for the new song…it’s Ok, a jazzy piece that neither blew me away nor severely disappointed.  The very early works of Mr. Bowie, I knew coming in, would be more curiosity pieces than songs worth listening to over and over again.  I was happy to have them in the set, but again, they aren’t necessarily earth shakers.

The remastered works were clear and sounded great, but at least to my ears weren’t necessarily a significant step up from what you find in other recent releases.

My overall impression of the album is that it is a good, pretty comprehensive effort but one that those unfamiliar with Mr. Bowie’s oeuvre will enjoy more than “old fans” like me.

A few days back Keith Harris at the Concourse wrote a snarky column about new boxed sets…

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/2014-music-box-sets-a-guide-for-the-bemused-and-disgus-1664336893

…and basically trashed most of the sets offered this Christmas/Holiday season, including Nothing Has Changed.  Most egregious was this statement regarding David Bowie’s more recent output:

I know a bunch of Bowie fans who, against all reason, continued to buy his albums into the ’90s and beyond, and then sold them back in disgust.

If you were a David Bowie fan up to Let’s Dance and tuned out afterwards, Nothing Has Changed should prove Mr. Harris and his supposed friends’ opinion quite wrong.  While I would agree that Mr. Bowie floundered a bit after Let’s Dance, his output since 1993’s Buddha of Suburbia has been on par, in my humble opinion, with some of his great 1970’s work, though obviously not as commercially successful.

In conclusion, if you’re not very familiar with Mr. Bowie or haven’t checked out his more recent output, you might want to give Nothing Has Changed a try.  Otherwise, consider what songs you want and what songs you need and then decide whether getting this album is worth the investment.

General

I’m back…!

It’s been a loong time, since November 19th, since I last posted and for this I apologize.

I wish I could say I was on vacation or doing something thoroughly enjoyable during that time but the opposite was true.  Others were taking vacations, forcing me to work extra hard to take up their place.  Meanwhile, my daughter came in for an extended Thanksgiving break so whatever time wasn’t devoted to covering others was spent with family.

As of today, the “normal” routine sets back in, although only for a little while.  The Christmas/New Years Holidays are bound to create more time crunches, so we’ll see.

Regardless, I’ll try to make up for lost time!

General

Grim readings…

A list of famous last words…

First up, Ironic Comments:

http://dying.about.com/od/reviews/fl/Famous-Last-Words-Ironic-Comments.htm

Perhaps the most chilling is Vic Morrow’s statement before filming the scene that so tragically took his life and the lives of two boys in The Twilight Zone Movie.

Next up, the last words of some famous authors:

http://dying.about.com/od/reviews/fl/Famous-Last-Words-WritersAuthors.htm

Found Washington Irving’s final line most amusing, in a very dark way.

Finally, several Actor’s last words:

http://dying.about.com/od/reviews/a/Famous-Last-Words-Actors-Actresses.htm

You know, it only makes sense that Groucho Marx would deliver one of the better final quotes.

Morbid stuff, I know, but interesting!

The Blog of E. R. Torre