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

Oh, who knows.. So I’ve been working our way through The Stand. I was hoping that it would inspire me to start reading the book, but its 6 hours of goodness just hasn’t had that effect yet. I imagine that even Molly Ringwald is a better actor than the chops that she shows here. But we are trying hard to keep on target. It looks very cheap, even by TV movie standards, the acting is lackluster, I dunno. It’s just not all that. But I will still, at some point, pick up the book.

I also went to see Oliver Twist. I liked it, I thought it looked very good. The 19th cent England on display didn’t look hokey or staged or melodramatic. I thought that it just look fairly realistic. I suspect that I benefited by not knowing the story or having anything to compare it with, I found it fairly engaging and not boring at all. My only negative comment about is was that I felt like every character was missing about 20 minutes of on screen time. It just seemed like everyone’s parts had been cut. Anyway, the theater I saw it in was a 5 row theater. Just reaffirming the notion that Polanski is still somewhat black-listed in the ol’ usa. I’ve thought that ever since Pirates opened almost at the 99 cent theaters, back in the day. Whoever is working to keep him off of the screens must have been quite dismayed by the success of the Pianist. They couldn’t keep that hidden too well after a point.

I also watched Fever Pitch. Which was pretty mild as a romantic comedy but, as someone who recently had their first bout of Baseball watching (during the Red Sox successful drive to the world series) the baseball part was fun to watch.

I also finally watched some Fassbinder. I put in Pioneers in Ingolstadt to get myself started. I liked it pretty well. I found the characters dry, yet engaging. Maybe seeming a bit stiff, but maybe that’s just the way they are. Not much else to say here, but I think I may try Love is Colder Than Death next… Or maybe Whitey. We’ll have to see.

And then, last evening… After a few false starts I finally started making progress with the bargain of the year, the Universal Hammer Horror Series. I’m watching it in order, even though the first two seemed the least interesting. I watched Brides of Dracula and then Curse of the Wolfman. I would say, if one is into these things, they were both decent. Brides was not one of the better ol’ Vampire movies around, but it looked good (I do so love those ol’ colors)and Peter Cushing is always worth watching. Curse, well, it also looked good. And I got a kick out of Oliver Reed, but I don’t think that I’ve even watched a werewolf films before (not an accident) and this one didn’t sway me to the cause. It was well past too long before the werewolf arrived (maybe that’s the curse part) and then, I dunno, it just didn’t click. But I would certainly say that even one with even a passing interest in Hammer Horror should pick up this set!