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

Oh where to begin… Well, i’ve watched some movies… But it’s been soo long that I may have forgotten some of them.

At the beginning, we watched Ray. I thought it was pretty good. Like everyone else, I have always considered Ray Charles to be a wonderful fellow and a wonderful musician, yet I knew very little about him beyond that, so it was nice to see a spirited rendition of his life story.. There was a good portion of both the sweet and the sour and it kept up some good energy. Also, it was a very attractive film to look at. Nicely shot, nice costuming (some very nice suits), very pleasing. It was also fun to see Larenz Tate, who I’ve only previously seen in his great portrayal of O-Dog in the wonderful Menace II Society, and a nice surprise to have Curtis Armstrong appear.

And then another Woody Allen fantasy. Though I prefer Woody Allen movies with Woody Allen, this one wasn’t a trademark Allen movie, so his absence was fine. In fact, the movie was really good. Match Point has a strong story, some bad people, a very bad person, an endless anxiety of impending comeuppance and some great acting. A really great movie! Though it isn’t totally Allenesque, I definitely imagined that the notion of trying to get away with some kind of secret relationship with a non-blood related family member had some resonance for him.

And we actually snuck out to the theater to see a film. And a good choice it was! We watched Word Play. We both really liked this one! We are big documentary fans, but this was better than most: it was always interesting, and it’s always fun to see Wil Shortz. The rest of the subjects were an engaging bunch of people. The whole darn movie, while it can be tense at times, is lots of fun and seems rife with humanity. It constantly reminds you that there is still joy in the world and people who spend their time doing things that they really derive a great satisfaction from.

Another highlight this time was Metal: a Headbangers Journey. This, strangely enough, turned up on pay-per-view. I again liked it alot. It was interesting to see a real documentary on Metal from someone who was actually a metal person. Not one of those staid “sport-coat and jeans” Rolling Stone types who thought they were hot in ’82 when they smoked weed to Over the Mountain but since then have learned that U2 is what rock is really about, but someone who really knows what metal is about. Knows that it’s not just a genre of music that you can toss off with some grandiose comments about Led Zeppelin and Ozzy and think it died with teased hair. Anyway, I digress, but the movie, while a bit brief on some subjects, is solid. I must pick up the DVD to get a glimpse of the special features. Asides though, of course, I found the inclusion of bands like slipknot to be kinda lame, but then, those bands are lame and some people consider them metal, so I guess it fits. But come on “dudes” drop the masks during the interview. Oh yeah, hands down, the high point of the film is the interview with Necrobutcher, easily the funniest part of the movie!

And, though it’s kind of the other end of the spectrum, it really made me wish that they would release The Metal Years on dvd… My old VHS is so worn that everything has faded to red.

And yes, I’d never seen (nor have I read) In Cold Blood. Well, now that’s done. Another great old classic that, upon watching, I can’t imagine why I’d never seen it (I suppose I’ll say the same thing whenever I get around to raging Bull). Though it probably wasn’t the best part, I really enjoyed seeing John Forsythe (being that I was always on the Dynasty side of the fence). I’ve always found him to be a compelling actor and I really like his voice. Of course, the highlight of the movie is Robert Blake. He turns in an honest portrayal of Perry, in his “cold, yet not cold” manner. The film looks very nice, most of the actors turn in good performances and, even in this era of endless serial killer documentaries on Court TV, something about this story still pulls some strings.

Ok, so I made a second trip to the theater. I saw Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. As one would expect, it was good. It was shot really nicely and it had some great scenes and visuals. Though I’ve heard some good reviews of it, it would be my least favorite of the trilogy. Though it was very nicely made, the plot didn’t really move me. Both of the previous entries I had an easier time falling into, this story just kept me at a distance, I felt like he was just grasping at some other reason someone would be striving for vengeance. But it’s certainly worth watching and though I do admit that the story and characters in the first one seemed maybe hokier than this one, that one still seemed more original at the time.

Then, the next day, came an unanticipated sick day. That, of course, led to the watching of some standard sick day fare.

First up, Fortress. What can I say? Bad, plain and simple. The inclusion of two stalwarts (Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon) with great resumes and the always fun Kirkwood Smith doesn’t help this dog. There are some nice gore effects that are in the Gordon style, but the rest of it just plain stinks. Boring crap. I mean it. No, seriously. How can garbage like this leave the editing room and get shipped out. The only thing that anyone could say would be, “well, that looks like a real cheapo”.

And then, Resident Evil 2. Why? I don’t know. I didn’t like the first one but I figured after watching Fortress, I could use something with an effects budget. Starting off like a homage to 28 Days Later (complete with “13 hours later”), but with a big budget and much much lamer… Well, the list of movies it seems to bring back memories of got longer: LOTR, Land of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead… It was quite boring and uninspired. While I didn’t like the first installment much, it is certainly head and shoulders above this one and though I’m not too fond of Milla, she was perfectly functional in both films and the addition of a second girl action lead who comes across as a cardboard stereotype is unneeded and dull.

There is really no reason to bother with contrived garbage like this, when you can get the same thrills, much better done, from soo many other sources…

Then I watched The Dirty Dozen. Well, though it certainly had an ensemble cast (including two old favorites, Marvin and Bronson), it was just a bit too cheesy for me. Since I’m not a fan of war movies, I like them to be a bit more serious. It’ll probably end up on the “sell” pile, but it was good to actually watch it as an adult, just to, you know, know.

And then The Descent again… Still scary and fun! I noticed recently a trailer for its impending American release. Of course, as is common, they basically give away the whole thing (am I the only one who wants to know nothing about a movie before I sit down for it?), but I will certainly make an attempt to see it on the big screen, especially if’n it comes to a beer theater!

I also watched some of Sid & Nancy. I honestly don’t know how people can watch that film over and over. It was soo annoying that I couldn’t even sit through more then 10 minutes of it. Waiting for those arseholes to shut up and die really tired me out… A flock of losers yelling all the time and making big messes… man. At least there was a playing of Oh Bondage, Up Yours (easily my favorite old punky song), though I’m not sure who they had on the stage for that scene. Oh and seeing Courtney Love in a movie this old made me fell, well, kinda old. Though everyone was annoying I do feel that they cast it well. But, sadly, the movie is boring and irritating.

Oh and finally… Though the hiking has tapered off, a few weeks ago Paul and I made the trek up Dog Mountain. It was really beautiful and great and had some good strenuous parts but, since I took too many pictures, I made a page for it here: The Dog Mountain Journey.