Tag Archives: Movies

A new link in my sidebar.

So over there on the right side of the page you’ll see I added a link to the website, Darths and Droids. It is a web comic satirizing Star Wars as a loosely run RPG.

This web comic is not for everyone, but man I have found it hilarious. I was pointed towards it by my long time gaming buddy Tom. (not my brother Tom, or my nephew Tommy, or my brother-in-law Thom, or even my other gaming buddy Tom.)

If you have done a lot of RPGs, and I mean table top not on a computer screen, and have endured the Star Wars prequels, then this web comic is likely to hit your sweet spot. This fictional RPG game actually make much more sense than the prequels ever have.

If you decide to give it a spin it really is best to go to the archives and start from the beginning. I did and in two days I burned my way to current.

 

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Just a few tidbits

So I started a new work schedule at my day-job this week. Instead of working 8-5 I will now be working 7-4. Getting home earlier is nice, but my body hasn’t yet adjusted to getting up a little earlier. As such I’m a little fogged of mind and will not likely be doing any writing this week. (Also there is a convention, World Fantasy here in San Diego, starting on Thursday.)

It’s a shame about the writing as I just cracked a plotting problem for my SF noir idea. (Currently titled in my head “The Long Night.”) I did not want my lead character to be a cop or P.I., but rather someone not normally seen in the role of unraveling a mystery. I’ll make sme notes but not much more tonight.

Here are my latest movies on blu-ray.

A first rate superhero film and an excellent lead into next years The Avengers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the price I couldn’t turn down a blu-ray set of all three films with bonus material. (My set does not have the swag, it’s just the three discs. I dislike unusual packaging as it never fits well in my cases.)

 

 

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Politics and Rocky Horror PIcture Show Memories

Way back in the 1980s, when life was rough and fun at the same time, I got involved with a local Rocky Horror Picture Show group. For those not in the know The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a campy failed musical film that found a second life as a midnight movie. During the presentations fans would dress up as the characters and mime out the film in front of the screen, while the audience participated with MST3K style lines shouted back in response to dialog and events in the story. The story is one of mad science, aliens, Rock and Roll, and of course, Sex. The costumes for the film are outlandish, daring, and ignore normal gender roles. Continue reading →

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Sunday Night Movie: Cloverfield

I have always been a fan of the giant Monster movies. I can remember being bitterly disappointed when Godzilla vs The Smog Monster came out and I did not see the film in the theater. Given that background it is a little strange that I missed Cloverfield during its theatrical run. The truth of the matter is that life gets pretty busy these days and the film slipped past me. (It’s amazing just hwo fast a film disappears from the theaters now. I can remember E.T. and Raiders Of The Lost Ark both playing for more than a year at theaters in Sand Diego.) So Cloverfield is a film I have only seen on home video. However I think home video is the right medium for this movie.

Cloverfield is a ‘found footage’ film. The best know example of this style of film making is The Blair Witch Project, a film that is supposedly cut from the film shot by documentary filmmakers who had vanished in the woods and years later the footage is found. The most recent example of this is Apollo 18 which is supposedly made from stolen classified footage. (However it clearly impossible by the events of the film that this footage ever reached Earth and there the whole conceit is thrown into abject stupidity. Apollo 18 is a film to be avoided even on home video.) I have rarely fully enjoyed a found footage film because too often the ending does not work. It is very difficult to craft a satisfying one. Cloverfield is the exception to the rule.

I watched this back in 2009 on blu-ray via Netflix and  throughly enjoyed the experience. The hand-held shaky camera worked very well on the small screen and may have been too much for me personally on the big screen.

The setting is simple. New York, May 2008, a Godzilla-class monster shows up and starts tearing death and destruction through the metropolis. Instead of an objective viewpoint, we see the entire night’s events from one hand-held camera that start the film documenting a going away party. Cloverfield isn’t really about the monster, but rather it is about love and loss and what are you willing to do for love.

The film did stir some controversy when it was released because the imagery of the destruction as such a vast scale to New York evoked for many the memories of September 11, 2001. That is understandable, but I would never call for film makers to censor themselves because of that. We remain free in our actions, our thoughts, and our arts — anything else is real capitulation.

The film is short, just 85 minutes, and moves very quickly. (Of those 85 minutes, 11 are credits as this is a very impressive piece of special-effects works, meaning 13% of the movie is credits, perhaps the high ratio of a major feature film.) Cloverfield is also a film where no one is ‘safe’ by benefits of being a major character. While not everyone dies, the loss rate if very high.

I now own a copy on blu-ray and would easily recommend this movie.

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a trip down memory lane

So on Sunday Night I decided to go to the drive-in. A friend of mine also came along as I was seeing a double feature of Contagion and Apollo 18. (I expected Contagion to be good and Apollo 18 to suck.) After a minor navigational error where we learned that the turn-by-turn software knew my friend’s area better then he did, we made it to the Santee Drive-in about fifteen minutes before show time.

There were plenty of spots to choose from and we ended up pretty much front row center. A quick trip to the restroom and concession stand and we were ready for the show.

I did not expect top flight visual as this was a drive in with a long throw on the projector. There were lines running vertically through the image, almost like a video display had been enlarged. Still I was seeing two feature films, first runs films, for 8$, ($12 after gas) so really there was little to complain about. The sound was transmitted via FM radio and sounded just fine on the car’s stereo.

Contagion was a damn good movie, a very realistic and scientifically  accurate portrayal of a sudden and deadly global flu outbreak.

Apollo 18 sucked rocks as I expected and —–spoiler alert —–

—ends badly when the Command Module Pilot apparently forgot how to pilot the command module. Avoid this film, even on video.

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Things seem to be looking pretty good.

I have finished a new short story, the first in months. I have another edited and ready to send off to a market for it’s customary rejection. I’ve had two good conventions in rather short order and I have two more coming up the as many months, so I really have little to complain about. So I won’t.

This Sunday night I plan to go out to the drive-in theaters and relive that bit of childhood memory. (not teenager memory never had a car as a teenager and only went to the drive-in once as a teenager. By myself, on a bicycle, to see 1979’s Dawn Of The Dead.) This sunday will be a double feature of CONTAGION and APOLLO 18 for $8, hell you can’t beat that.

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Drive-In theaters

A few weeks ago while surfing around local internet sites I discovered that San Diego has two still operating Drive-In theaters. I seriously had though all of those had died away in the era of THX Dolby sound, and crisp laser projections.

This lead me on a brief internet search about the state of Drive-in theaters. Surprisingly they have a devoted following who enjoy the low prices (in San Diego you can get a double feature of first run films for $8), family friendly atmosphere, and privacy of the private viewing from your own car. (No annoying people right next to talking during the film . I once dated a girl who talked through an entire film, never went out with her again.)

Then our of the blue light lightening on a clear day this memory popped up into my mind. As a child I often went with my older brothers to a drive-in movie on the weekend. I suddenly, and vividly, recalled the popcorn being popped in our kitchen, salted, buttered and put into a large brown paper bag. (they kind groceries came in before everyone went over to totes or plastic.) Teh bag then being stapled closed to kept it warm and fresh until the movie started.

I’m very tempted to relive this memeory. Pop the corn, bag it and go to a local drive-in. I’d be the adult and I’d be driving, but some part of me wants that experience one more time.

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Been Busy

So Saturday I worked 5 hours of OT at my day job. Nice money but tiring. Sunday I saw Cowboys & Aliens, decent flick but not good enough to add to my library when it is released on blu-ray. I love Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in the movie, frankly the whole cast was hitting their strong performance. The weakness is the aliens, the more you think about them the less sense they make.

I was pretty tired by the end of Sunday so there was no Sunday night movie.

I printed up copies of Love and Loyalty for the beta read and I will handing them out tomorrow. Here’s hoping that this novel will be the one that sells.

 

 

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