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

Slowly but surely…

Again, we watched a Pride & Prejudice. This time though, it was the big BBC version with Colin Firth. As far as these go this is probably the best version we’ve seen. It’s length really helps… A story as engaging as this, the more time to let it play out the better. It had a great cast and was “realistic” to the time and just really well done.

The Hours. This was pretty good. I’m not really a fan of anyone in the movie and I don’t know anything about Woolf, but the movie was interesting. The snipping together of the three interconnected different stories in three different eras worked well and it was certainly chock full of drama.

Oh yes, and speaking of classics… We watched Hellraiser. This was creepy in the 80’s. I especially liked Frank’s return and the nail in the stairs. But It has a hard time now with how dated it is… the cenebites aren’t really intriguing (they’re just hokey looking now, and don’t even look at their pillar), though the mouthy one and pinhead are still pretty fun. It’s also a neat story. But it just doesn’t age well, and it’s certainly far from scary at this point.

Sadly, we also watched the new Stepford Wives. Ok, well. We watched the original version of this not long ago. It was pretty good. This one… I hate to use language like this but… It sucked. Stop with the remakes! Unless you have a some reason. Taking a serious film, yeah maybe campy but still, a serious film with some mystery involved and some social commentary value and remaking it as an insipid comedy of almost unfathomably dumb proportions and keeping no secrets at all. The way that American films are made these days… maybe people are as shallow as everyone likes to say that they are: Formula? Take an unoriginal idea, remove any kind of message or value, replace that with humor so base that even a two year old should be insulted by it, remove any sense of intrigue or mystery and replace it with a plot not only thrown in your face but also hyperbole’d into retardedness (basically, take out anything that requires any thought to watch) and, man. It just stinks. Get me outta here.

Christmas Evil! Yes, it’s that time again. Well, no, I actually watched this Halloween time. Anyway, yes, another classic Christmas movie. It really show how hard it is to find truly good people who are deserving of presents… Soo many bad children out there… If anyone ever disses this, strap them into a chair and make them watch Silent Night, Deadly Night 1&2.

In honor of another election day, I perked up with Unprecedented again. I don’t know, these make me nervous around election time. Luckily it turned out good this time around,unlike the last November that we watched this. It’s a good movie but it’s just more stuff that makes you wonder why Americans (like me) are so complacent and lazy that they don’t take to the street and overthrow the government. How many times can a quarter of a billion people get played over and over again without really doing anything about it (except writing blogs, breaking coffee shop windows and reading liberal “preaching to the choir” books?). Wow. These movies really rub our noses in it. All of the “un” movies are really appalling to watch. So if you haven’t, you should watch them.

The a quick jaunt down the street to see L.A. Confidential… And to see it in a theater! It was great, but it was a little wider-screen than the screen so the ends were cut off. Yes, it could be a big compliant, but I only noticed it really in the beginning when words would disappear off the end. I really just like this movie! I love Kevin Spacey again (he stars in four of my favorite 90’s movies), he is brilliantly wonderful in this role. James Cromwell does a smash up job too! Sadly, I don’t really like Crowe or Peirce (and of course, Basinger is terrible, not as terrible as her cardboard Vicki Vale in Batman, but terrible still)… But the movie is great. You can’t beat police corruption for a story, and this film is full of corruption and backstabbing, and shooting, also… Some great clothes and just a great all around look and a fun, violent story!

Copland? Yes, that again. I don’t know what to say. More folks should see this. It’s a great drama: little that is positive happens, the story is interesting, it’s quite involving and suspenseful and it has a great cast! De Niro in one of his few good roles in the last 15 years, Ray Liotta playing his standardly wonderful “intensity man”, Harvey Keitel is terrific, Sly in his best role since Rocky… I know that lots of potential viewers are put off by the Stallone factor but… It’s a big mistake! This movie is great! Stallone pulls off the lead role as a failed wanna be policeman who is the putzy sheriff of a Jersey town populated by corrupt nyc police. And he pulls it off great! When an opportunity to do something comes knocking, in the guise of internal affairsman De Niro, will he drag himself away from his old Springsteen records and do something? With a fun role for Jeananne Garafallo and a host of future Sopranos (Phil, Gloria, Carmela, FBI Frank, Paulie (sort of), Artie, Charmaine…). It’s a must watch! Be sure and see the Director’s Cut

And after long times of hearing about it, I watched The Last Man on Earth. I don’t know… I’m a big Vincent Price fan… But I’m also a Chuckie Heston fan (at least for his apocalyptic s-f films) and for movies based on I am Legend, I just find The Omega Man to be more entertaining. Last Man isn’t all bad… There are some interesting bits, but the vampire thing doesn’t move me and Price wandering around and doing voice over narration bores me.

In big news… To counter the high prices of the RM films editions of the Russ Meyer movies, I was thrilled to see the release of the Russ Meyer Box Set from Arrow Films! 12 discs and 18 movies! Yes, I’ve seen 6 of them, three of which I already have in the RM films editions, but 18 movies? Great great great! The only complaint so far (and a minor one) is the packaging is ugly compared to the RM films ones, but the price is much, much better. And, of course, it includes films not yet DVD’d in the USofA. I am curious as to the quality compared to the older ones (the original black and white editions don’t look very good) but I decided to start out watching in a more chronological order.

First off? The Immoral Mister Teas. Well, more like fast forwarded through this. I had always wondered what it was like, and now I know. Basically a guy following around women imagining them in situations without any clothes on. Not really anything to watch. It was kind of like a Benny Hill sketch that goes on for too long and doesn’t have the humor.

I then watched, sort of more closely (though I was trying to fall asleep) Eve & the Handyman, featuring Russ’ wife Eve. This one told more of a story, it just wasn’t much of a story. Eve (in the guise of an apparent private eye) follows a handyman around as he travels around San Francisco and engages in handyman business. He has many near-titliating encounter with women (most of whom are Eve Meyer) until his day comes to an end… where a grand twist unfolds, which I will hold off on exposing! The movie sound is all overdub (as with Mr Teas) and the humorous scenes (denoted by close ups of Eve’s character laughing) really lack any humor what so ever. But still, these two movies, as his first real commercial films, are must sees for any Meyer fan… and probably “may as well not sees” for anyone else.

More hiking! Yes, as the season winds down, there was a wonderful hike up around Burnt Lake to East Zigzag… Read all about it!

And then a long birthday weekend at the beach led to a short jaunt own a nice trail. The, um, Hobbit Trail. Read this one too!