Way back before the turn of the century, in that distant year of 1997, director James Cameron when asked what sort of project would he do next after producing the massively expensive and massively successful movie Titanic, he quipped to Larry king that he might do a small art film. He did not, his next directorial effort was the wildly expensive and wildly successful Avatar.

Joss Whedon however, after finishing principal photography on Marvel’s The Avengers, a fantastically expensive film, raised a miniscule amount of funds, contacted friends, and in just twelve days photographed his next film as a director, an adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. Continue reading →

So Sunday morning a friend and I headed to a local upscale movie theater and took in a showing of the newest superhero movie, Man of Steel. Warner Brothers, unhappy with the performance of the previous entry in the Superman franchise, Superman Returns, turned to Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David Goyer to reboot the series.

This film has struck like a metro in the fandom with plenty of people loving it and seemingly equal numbers of people hating it. From what I can gather the people unhappy with the movie are general people who have a devotion to the character and cannon of the Superman mythos. I can empathize with their reaction, the latest entry into the Star Trek franchise to me feels like a cheap rip-off created to sell toys and tickets without any hear of soul of the original series. The fact that people feel the same way about a grittier and darker Superman interpretation is no surprise at all. Continue reading →

If I mention Frankenstein to you odds are one of two cinematic scenes popped into your head.  Either you though of the monster itself – and than very likely the monster as created by Boris Karloff and Jack Pierce, or you thought of the creations scenes abuzz with electrical apparatus and a tremendous thunderstorm outside. Of course both of those images come from Universal’s 1931 Frankenstein directed by James Whale.

It is curious that a film produced over 80 years ago should still have such an outsized impact on public consciousness, particularly considering that so many other interpretations of the story have been made in the interim. Why do these other films, some made by extremely talented filmmakers fade from mind and this one stick so readily? Continue reading →

Sunday after a pleasant breakfast and a game of Dominion with my sweetie-wife, I departed San Diego for Hollywood California. Sadly the drive North was frustrating, there were a minimum of  three auto accidents (luckily none looked to have seriously injured anyone) that backed up the freeways and extended my driving time to Universal Studios by 50%.

The sky was overcast and the clouds occasionally spritized on the fairly large crowds attending the park on Easter Sunday. I rode the tram and attended a few shows. (I made a point of seeing the special effects show, because I wanted see how a switch I missed on my last trip had been effected. I did spot it, very nicely done.) After the abbreviated visit, I left the park for my real reason for the day out, to see the 1933 classic King Kong on the big screen.

I parked at the Hollywood and Highland shopping center, had a dinner of pizza, and then walked to the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood boulevard. The Egyptian was the site of the very first movie premier and is a Hollywood landmark. It is now owned by a 501(c) organization that shows classic films to preserve the history of the medium.

I have been fortunate enough to see a number of classic films, both genre and mainstream, projected in actual theaters, but never King Kong. Even though the drive to and from took a total of five hours, and I was quite happy with the experience. There is nothing like watching this film on a big screen. And no, your 55” LCD does not count.

The projection was crystal clear and the special effects stood up quite well for a film that this year is 80 years old. Of course you can always spot stop-motion animation, the lack of motion blue is a dead give-away, but that takes nothing away from the monumental achievement this film represents.

King Kong truly was the Star Wars of 1933. I’ve seen this film many times, but on the big screen I became aware of just how effects packed it truly is. I watched the sides and corners of the screen as artist Willis O’Brien created a reality that was immersive and credible. The frame was packed with information and story, these filmmakers had a true eye for detail and how those details combine to created story. If you ever get the chance to see this in a real theater, do so.

The other day my sister and I were having a discussion via instant messaging  and she mentioned that she wanted to make sure her grandkids see all the films referenced in the song (Science-Fiction Double Feature from The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and I commented that ironically none of the films in the song were produced by RKO, despite the songs explicit reference to that studio.

She tossed up a couple of the films referenced and I pointed out that they were not RKO.

However there was one film reference that was an RKO production and it skipped my mind.

King Kong

Which you know is kind of fitting considering what happens to Rocky and Frank at the end of the movie.

So, continuing my spate of documentary reviews this month, I have now viewed the film Chow Down. Chow Down works as a perfect complement to the film Forks over Knives, exploring the idea that a plant based diet is a healthier diet than the one many Americans follow. Continue reading →

This past week my sweetie and I watched ‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ as I continued my progress through all the Bond films in release order.

Man oh man the 70s were a bad time for Bond. This camp simply does not work for me. My sweetie had never seen this film and could only react to it in an MST3K manner. I really don’t blame her. I don;t know if she’ll endure Moonraker whenever I get around to that steaming pile.

However today I got the blu-ray for ‘Skyfall’ and just going through the bonus material is going to induced a case of whiplash over story quality. Where ‘Spy’ has a plot, and a bad one at that, ‘Skyfall’ has a story.