Well, I actually caught The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian at the local dollar cinema and was suitably entertained. I do wish I had a cell phone silencer, though, for those idiots who lack the common sense to turn theirs off when they are attending a movie, play, concert, lecture, wedding, funeral, etc.
In other news: Gargoyle Gang Defeated Again by Giant Robot!
I saw Get Smart and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D this week. Get Smart was funny and enjoyable, but I couldn’t help thinking it could have been just a little better. Journey to the…3D was acceptable although unexceptional for what it was. (In other words, just about any Ray Harryhausen or Hammer adventure film is more entertaining, but it wasn’t bad.)
In my latest cinema-going update, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Mongol are both very good summer movies. See them whilst they are still on the big screen. I ought to write something on each of them, but I’m not sure I’ll find the time before they are gone.
As for the Joker movie masked as a Batman movie, I plan to miss it and no amount of hype-mongering bluster or whining can change my mind.
There is a good chance I’ll see Get Smart today.
Here is another update of things I have been watching, renting, buying, and reading.
I saw Indiana Jones and the Something About a Crystal Skull. I thought there was a possibility it might be almost as good as the first movie, but it really amounts to Indiana Jones: The Theme Park: The Movie. Not exactly my cup of tea. On the other hand, it had Cate Blanchett, so it wasn’t a total loss.
I recently read Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum. It was an engaging read that made me regret it wasn’t twice as long. I’ll need to write more on this later.
Recent movie rentals: Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924), My Best Girl (1927), The Good Fairy (1935), Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), Samurai Rebellion [Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu] (1967), Kill! [Kiru] (1968), Red Lion [Akage] (1969), A Very Long Engagement [Un long dimanche de fiançailles] (2004). (The best of the above are My Best Girl, The Good Fairy, and Kill!.)
Other movies recently seen (thanks to the public library): Werewolves of London (1935), Bullitt (1968), Hard Times (1975).
Currently, I am reading Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, and I am about to watch episodes 6 and 7 of John Adams.
Movies I want to see immediately: Mongol and Get Smart.
Movies I missed: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (oh, well).
Be seeing you…
;-)
:-?
I awoke this morning with a cold, which is the natural result of sleeping with the window open and a fan blowing on me, but it was too hot to sleep otherwise. I’m not feeling well, and I’m not accomplishing anything today that doesn’t involve an Internet connection — at least, not yet. Danny Boy and I might work on sculpting some puppets later today.
The last two movies I saw at the cinema were Iron Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Speed Racer, which I enjoyed with some reservations. (The reservations pertain to excessively jerky camera work during the racing scenes.)
I finished reading The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue. I’ll comment on it at greater length in the near future.
DVDs I have been renting lately: The Little Fugitive (1953), The Great White Hope (1970), Flamenco (1995), Salomé (2002), La vie en rose a.k.a. La Môme (2007), Amazing Grace (2006).
Television shows I watch nowadays (although some are between seasons): Reaper, Boston Legal, Heroes, Samantha Who? and Coronation Street (yes, I’m on that wagon again… for now). I’ll also be renting HBO’s John Adams, which will be released on DVD on the tenth.
I suppose I’ll be watching the new Narnia and Indiana Jones movies, but I’m only mildly interested in them. Still, if they are any good at all, they are probably best viewed on the big screen.
Partially as research for some puppets I am making, I watched The Wolf Man (1941), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). The only good movie among them was Creature from the Black Lagoon. It truly was a terrific monster costume and a fairly good movie overall.
I’ll post again when I’m feeling (and thinking) better. Be seeing you… :-?
I just saw The Endless Summer II. It wasn’t as good as its predecessor, but sequels rarely are. I am now hunting for a copy of Morning of the Earth, an Australian surfing movie from 1971. I think I saw part of it years ago, but I didn’t know the title. For all I know, this isn’t the movie I saw, but I’d like to find out. All I remember about it is the beautiful cinematography, good music, and an absence of narration. And a sunset.
In searching for this film, I came across the description of another that seems familiar, and which I’d like to see in any event: Five Summer Stories from 1972. Like Morning of the Earth, it appears to be currently unavailable.
I need to start documenting the surfing documentaries I’ve seen.
Saw Leatherheads on the 9th instead of the 8th. Enjoyed it greatly. Glad I saw it on the silver screen. They need to make more movies like that. Wish you were here.
OOO & XXX
Inevitably,
Coop
Today I’ll be seeing Leathernecks Leatherheads with my parents. Unless I am mistaken, I think this is the first movie I’ve seen at the cinema this year.
I recently watched A History of Violence and Eastern Promises (both directed by David Cronenberg) on DVD. I think I’ll wait a few months before watching There Will Be Blood on DVD. (I wanted to see it at the cinema, but the only local cinema that showed it was the one with the most uncomfortable seats in the Toledo area — not a light consideration given the length of There Will Be Blood.) Besides, I still need to read Upton Sinclair’s Oil! first. As an aside, I’d like to see an accurate movie with a really good cast and director on the subject of the oil and gas boom in Ohio during the 1870s. Now that was a crazy epoch. As a further aside, I live in a house that was built at that time — constructed without a fireplace or chimney because natural gas was cheap in Findlay (and free to businesses).
What am I reading now? Synthetic Men of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
What is the last book I purchased? Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations by Craig Nelson.
What is the last magazine I read? The Nation.
What is the last DVD I bought? Blue Crush. (I haven’t seen it, but it was only $5 and it has both surfing and women, which makes sense, since it’s about women who surf.)
What are the latest DVDs to be shipped to me? The Red Dwarf Complete Collection and the BBC television production of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
What have I been watching on DVD most recently? Black Adder: The Complete Collector’s Set, Starhunter: The Complete Series, Hardware Wars, Flash Gordon “Space Soldiers” (the Buster Crabbe serial), This Island Earth, Devo: The Complete Truth About De-Evolution, and Doctor Who “Destiny of the Daleks.”
What was the last game I played? Gobblet by Blue Orange Games Co.
What was the most recent thing to provoke me? Don’t ask.
Origins update: I missed the deadline for submitting events. I also probably missed the chance to make reservations at an affordable hotel near the convention center, although it doesn’t matter as much since I won’t be running any events (except, perhaps, for some impromptu open games). Oh, well. At least now it won’t be necessary to commit myself to particular days except and unless I register to play specific games. Perhaps it is best to test the waters of public gaming as a player before I plunge back into the icy depths of running events. Aye, that’s the positive way to look at it.
P.S. I’d like to abolish March as a month. It has failed to justify its existence to me.
I need a long vacation somewhere faraway.