p e n g u i n d e v i l

Ah yes well, the Oldboy still goes unseen, but one down. I finally made it out for Episode 3 today (or yesterday, I suppose). Quite the flashy sci-fi yarn. Finally. The series that we began that long ago summer of ’77 is now done. Can you believe it’s been 28 years since Elvis died and we stood in those round-the-block lines to watch the start of a space opera? Well. I would say that this one was alright. I was dissapointed to Have Christopher Lee die soo early on (and I hope to never hear the word “dooku” again), but the abbey road stylings at the end where Lucas was like, “let’s just play one scene after another that all connect directly to scenes in Star Wars” I could have done without… Darth in his armor, C-3po being handed off to Cap’n Antilles, Chewbacca, The Death Star (I mean, come on…), the sunset on over the moisture farm on Tatooine… I’m suprised that they didn’t show the death of the big skeleton thing and the jawas bumbling around… Just to be sure. Of course, the worst was their fake Grand Moff Tarkin. I mean, leave him out of it. it upsets his purity in Episode One and his standing as the best character in all of the Star Wars universe. Sigh.
But it was still pretty fun.

Another funny thing was the plot: a selfish and evil man cons his way into being the big man on campus then uses a contrived war to get the senate on his side so that he can expand his powers well beyond their normally acceptable limits and then uses the “war” to label the people who really care about truth and democracy as traitors and anti-democratic. Hmmm… Strangely timely.

Anyway. They had a preview of the new Lion Witch Wardrobe movie, which realy just made me, once again, want to go and buy the awesome 1988 Chronicles of Narnia TV series. Oh well, and I also downloaded the trailer for Oldboy which makes me want to see it more. I have no idea.

Yes again with the dentist. Hopefully just one more visit and then never another thing with this one tooth. The all-day feeling like someone is pressing on my tooth is getting a bit annoying. All in all though, it has really been an alright bit of dental experience. Only bothersome due to feelings of betraying my teeth and a discomfort over how much money this may end up costing. Well, all should be just fine.

My movie ponderings are leading me to thinking that maybe the time has come to get rid of the j-horror that I’ve got. Honestly, I just don’t find it entertaining. Not all, mind you… I do like Uzumaki, Evil Dead Trap, the maligned Junk and (as you loyal readers will no doubt remember) One Missed Call. But I tried to watch Dark Water last night. I couldn’t really keep my mind on it but, from what I did see, it reminded me of the others I have of similar ilk: Ju-on, Kairo, Kourei and Tomie. A Little too much on the atmosphere, from dull and boring, to unsettlingly creepy to dull and boring. I mean, I can deal with the boring if there’s a good payoff and/or the boring is pleasing to the eye… But if the boring is just boring and then the payoff is creepy enough that I don’t really want to watch it, that doesn’t make for a very entertaining movie experience… For me.

Who knows what lurks? For instance, on just noticing that the Hollywood is still playing Oldboy, I go and run off to the Baghdad to see Sin City. Well, next time? Oldboy.
I did like Sin City though. I had forgotten it was 3 stories and due to the groovy operating procedures, I (and a good number of others) did miss a fair bit of the beginning of the movie but I would still say that each segment was slightly less interesting than the previous one. It was fun though, and it had a good look to it. Oldboy must being doing alright, it seems that I’ve lost track for how many weeks it has continued to be held over there.

Staying up these late night, to wander about the computer and doze off in front of movies certainly leads to a tired old evening. Plus a big plate of Dot’s food dsen’t help. Well, anyway, back to the pre-sleepy phase. I stayed up too late the last couple of evening trying to finally watch Survive Style 5+, only to finish it this morning. Well, what to say? I admit that I am a fan of the vibrancy of these new Japanese films. Not only the colors, of course, but the decor, characters and storylines. Multiple buryings, some dismembering, a British assassin… What else does a movie need. Some of these films really fill me with a touch of glee. Survive Style 5+ was no exception. Great to look at, lots of fun and I must add, staring the ever grand Tadanobu Asano. Highly recommended, for us folks into these kind of fun and glorious things.

So I finally got around to watching The Saddest Music in the World. Though, yea, it was pretentious, his whole directorial concept is pretentious, so how much can I hold it against him. It was only the second Guy Maddin film that I have seen but I suppose it could be said that, so far, I like his stuff. The main problem I had with this film was the casting of Mark McKinney in the lead role. While I do like the Kids in the Hall just fine, I feel that the way that he played the character brought just a tad too much levity to the movie. Just because the movie is a bit silly and pretentious doesn’t mean that the actors should act like it is.

I also settled down to watch The Devil Rides Out which, while it isn’t the finest Christopher Lee film, I always find Charles Gray’s brand of evil to be a refreshing view. And I always find the Satanic Rites deals to be pretty well entertaining.

A long night of celebrating the trivial victory! Third place! A late evening filled with beer and Matt’s Pecan pie from Blue Gardenia has led to a nice slow morning. Lots of Father Ted & rest are on the menu today. The Father Ted was a necessity. Television this morning seemed singularly irritating. Lots of jokers singing that old war song about rockets, bombs and glare and then someone who went around the country and photographed folks that share names with famous people… In this case, I would have to say that there are a few parts of “clever” and “interesting” that I wouldn’t understand. Someone needs to do something about the proliferation of books that are published. It seems like any jerk can cast a few trees to the ground just to repeat whatever gibberish goes through their head. All in the hopes of some publisher making another buck. I say halt production on 75% of the books being published and give those fools blogs.
Anyway, I just don’t get these holidays. But I found some fun songs at Dr Mysterian, Mabel’s is closed so it feels kind of like a little vacation and Jennifers gathering should be fun. If only it wasn’t soo hot…

Things do come a long ways… So I sat down for a late night viewing of the ol’ Dawn of the Dead. Well, not to sound like a total sucker, but sometimes… Those oldies? They can be a bit odd to watch. I could hash it up to a higher expectations what with the newer levels of special effects and all but man, I just don’t know. Back around 90 when Dean and I would page through “The Gore Score” looking for Italian Cannibal movies to rent. I just gotta say… They’re boring. Yeah, call me a low attention span American or whatever but I’d rather watch a movie that had a little more going on in it. The same with those Italian Giallo movies and most j-horror. I was looking about online about Land of the Dead and someone said that it just didn’t live up to the expectations of a Romero movie. Well, maybe not but… It was a lot funner than Dawn of the Dead and since movies are entertainment, I do prefer a bit of entertaining with mine.

Matt and I were having quite the time staying awake until the end. I did find it entertaining to see Tom Savini again. Looking pretty much just the same as in Land of the Dead, only with a much more substantial role. Anyway, I should digress.

Finally breaking through the chains of my hampering spirit, I made it out and Matt and I went to view the shockingly unpopular Land of the Dead! Well, I thought that it was finely entertaining… just a few times did I have to still my judgemetary waves and think, “remember… It’s a modern day mainstream horror movie”. Taken with that kind of thought, it was quite fine. I have also surely decided that I need to get over my aversion to “the mall” aspect and I should look up Dawn of the Dead for some viewing pleasure.

Of course, most of the previews looked like more of the same swill…. without Zombies or John Leguizamo… So why bother? The motorcross movie looked downright plain ol’ dumb. One of those, “is this a joke?” previews. Like I imagine that Biker Boyz must have had.

Past all of that though? Heading on up to the Hedge House for some good ol’ Friday night relaxation with Paul & Robin and I am still thinking of finding a theater with Old Boy… One of these days.