All right. I just finished watching “The Midnight Meat Train” and it is just as godawful stupid as I thought it would be. I actually had high hopes for this movie. I watched the special features before I watched the movie, something I very rarely do because watching the special features usually leads to discovering some plot twist which will surely ruin my otherwise enjoyment of the movie. But since I am not a fan of the genre and didn’t suspect that there could be any revelatory plot disclosure, I watched the special features first.
I watched the feature entitled “Clive Barker, Man Behind the Myth.” I had heard of Clive Barker certainly, but really didn’t have any idea what kind of man he was. He initially seemed to be an interesting, well read, intelligent man. The feature was done in an interview style with occasional cutaways to discuss and display some of his movies. He waxed rhapsodic about his theory of the horror genre and tried to intellectualize what he did. He then discussed “The Midnight Meat Train” in specific, explaining its hidden meaning and import. I bought it. I started to get excited about seeing the film and dissecting its themes for myself. The feature went on to explain that Clive is actually a very accomplished and complex individual. He wrote many in depth, intense, cerebral horror stories. He has brought many of those stories to film, and that is where he garnered his fame. But he is also a painter. And that is his release for all those macabre thoughts that cloud his mind. So they showed some of his paintings. Fairly infantile. Which portends how the film would play as well, but more on that in a minute. So this dark intellect goes about trying to tie fantasy and reality together just enough to allow plausibility, yet still bring chills to the viewers of his work. You know he’s gay. Those two sentences don’t really go together, but they are both true. Anyway that’s what I got out of the Man and/or Myth feature.
So on to the movie. So the deal is that Leon is a struggling photographer. He and his girlfriend live in an unnamed city which has a metro, subway, underground, whatever you want to call it. They are both poor but in love. The girlfriend works as a waitress at a dive and has such hopes for her boyfriend she doesn’t mind that he doesn’t make much money. One day she finally gets one of their friends to give Leon an introduction to this art gallery owner, Susan Hoff played by Brooke Shields. Wait. Brooke Shields? Well she had to find something to do now that “Lipstick Jungle” is off the air. Brookey-babe pushes our young protagonist to delve the recesses of his soul, be a true artist and go take really cutting edge photographs. So he heads to the subway.
There he happens upon some young punks harassing a model. He takes pictures of them and then frightens them off. Yea, a wimpy little white boy with a camera, by himself, scatters three young black hoods in the subway. This will not be the end of the illogical happenings. He takes the pictures to Susan/Brooke. She encourages him to do more. And we are off.
Leon, with the encouragement of his girlfriend, goes prowling the streets at night taking more pictures as he goes. And since he had so much success with subway pictures he has to head down there of course. The previous plot development has been interspersed with vignettes of Vinnie Jones (you may know him from the Guy Ritchie English thug pictures like “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Three Smoking Barrels”) playing the part of Mahogany (that’s really the characters name) galumphing around the subway cars sneaking up on people, whacking them on their heads with a great big shiny mallet, and carving them up. He then removes their clothes, teeth and fingernails. Then he hangs them by their feet on the top handrails on the subway car. When he is finished he heads home and scrapes pustules off his chest. Don’t ask me about that last part; it was never explained.
You know what happens next. Leon happens to run into Mahogany and takes some pictures of him doing his deeds. Mahogany eventually catches up with Leon. He doesn’t kill him, oh no. He takes his camera, strips him naked, tattoos his chest and leaves him to wake up in the basement of a slaughterhouse. Leon must get his camera back. Apparently the tattoo is making him a little crazy. His girlfriend tries to help. She and the aforementioned friend go to Mahogany’s apartment. The aforementioned friend gets caught, and clobbered and cut up and hung up eventually in the subway car. The girlfriend, (because she is cute?) gets away, screaming like a banshee.
SPOILER ALERT: So we head towards the finale in the subway. Leon's girlfriend goes down into the subway looking for her friend. Leon goes into the subway looking for Mahogany. Mahogany goes down into the subway, because that is what he does. They all meet up in a subway car. Much blood splattering. Grunting from Leon. Grimacing from Mahogany. And banshee wails from Maya.
The girlfriend’s name is Maya. I should have included that fact earlier, not that it matters. It just would have been polite to refer to her by her name.
Mahogany is eventually pushed off the moving train. And the subway car stops at the final stop, a dark and foreboding place. The subway conductor (you didn’t think subway trains had conductors, did you? Or at least you thought that the conductor would stay oblivious to all that hubbub behind him in the train.) comes out and asks Leon and Maya to please step away from the meat. Ah ha.
The point of all this - seriously don’t read further, if you don’t want the plot spoiled for you - Reptilian humanoids climb aboard the train and eat the meat that Mahogany has prepared for them.
Mahogany shows up again, looking a little scraped up. He and Leon fight. Leon kills Mahogany. The conductor kills Maya. Leon becomes the new Midnight Meat Train provider. I guess that was the point of his tattoo. Maybe it will get scabby and form pustules eventually, I don’t know.
Okay so I didn’t like the movie. It, like all movies in the horror genre, is stupid. Other genres have stupid movies as well, but I don’t go out and watch them either. So beyond the fact that the plot is implausible, what bothered me was that everyone acted like an idiot. Why would you go into a killer’s apartment? Why, if you did go, would you not have one of you stand guard at the door to warn the other person that a large brute with a big shiny mallet was bearing down on them? Ugh, so many plot incongruities even to mention. I will say this, the idea of the story is good; the plot was just poorly executed.
And one final note and I have harped on this before. So in this move it is okay to show a subway rider being hammered in the back of the head so hard that his eyes bulge out and fly out of his head, roll on the subway floor to be eventually slipped on by another victim. Yes show all of that in perfect gory detail. Close ups, slow motion, blood everywhere. But in another scene where Leon is taking seductive photographs of his girlfriend, no good angles, everything obscured by corners or clothes or hands. Nudity bad. Blood, pus, gore okay. Sheesh, this culture.
Matthew
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Where did I Park my Spaceship?
By popular request, I recently viewed the film District 9. I remember when this film originally was being advertised (and then opening) that there seemed to be some confusion as to the involvement of Peter Jackson on this project. If memory serves, it was originally packaged as either From Peter Jackson or Peter Jackson Presents which led me to believe that he was directing the film. It turned out, of course, that Jackson was just a producer of the film and that money was just about the end of his involvement rope. Never the less, I actually liked this film and though there were some quirky plot points I thought it moved along just fine and had a powerful message.
District 9 is an Alien chase picture set in Johannesburg, South Africa. I knew that the picture was set up to be a side door explanation of Apartheid but I was not prepared for the personal reflection that the story would require. I especially enjoyed the film scenery because I was a visitor to Johannesburg a couple of years ago.
After flying into Johannesburg International Airport (it was a jumping off point for a safari trip to Botswana) I was whisked off to a hotel for a single night. The route to the hotel had me driving by settlements that looked eerily like the shanty town that was District 9. It was very hard for me to reconcile that people still lived in these kinds of shacks, largely without basic services, not only in this day and age but also in such an important city. I remember the bus driver commenting that the Government was trying to figure out what to do with the folks living in these settlements as the pressure of hosting the 2010 World Cup drew closer.
The hotel I stayed at in Johannesburg was very nice and appeared to be in the middle of the banking and financial district probably in what we might consider a downtown corridor. The real shock came when I went to the front desk to retrieve my room key and was told not to go outside, especially at night. It was explained that Johannesburg had a crime problem and that kidnappings were a very real possibility.
District 9, as a film, largely portrayed Johannesburg in the same manner as I found it during my visit.
In this film, a large group of aliens have descended upon Earth in what appeared to be the exact same ship as seen in Independence Day. I have no problem with Directors utilizing existing special effects, no need in reinventing the wheel. It would be ironic though if the aliens in deep space really did all have the same ships. Can you imagine a whole galaxy filled with the equivalent of Toyota Corollas? I do like the idea that aliens leaving sporting events or concerts could have that look on their face (you know the one) when they walk outside and see a sky filled with the same colored ships wondering exactly where they had parked.
For a largely unexplained reason, the aliens that arrived in the Corolla ran out of gas and just hovered above Earth until the humans forced their way in and transferred them to a settlement on the ground. This portion of the film utilized news footage and interviews to set the stage for the present day action. The present day action revolved around a plan by a government contractor, Multi-National United, to relocate the alien population from District 9 to a new settlement further outside of Johannesburg. This plan was going to be carried out by a middle manager named Wikus Van De Marwe.
In an obviously well thought out idea, Wikus plans to go door to door in District 9 having 1.8 million “Prawns” read and sign an eviction notice over the course of one business day (it is a 24 hour eviction notice). I don’t know how the math works out as to how many signatures you would need per hour to get all 1.8 million in a day, but I only saw Wikus get four signatures prior to lunch. At that pace I think he was better suited to work for the Department of Transportation! Unfortunately, we will never know if he would have obtained all of the signatures because he spilled some Corolla Gas on himself and began transforming into an alien (I would use the same excuse if I needed 1.8 million signatures and had 4).
I don’t want to spend a lot of my space on a technical review of the film. I do want to point out that there was a major hole in the film that was exposed at this point in the story. As I previously mentioned the introduction to the film was largely based on interviews and file footage. Once the present day relocation program started the film style turned to documentary with Wikus being recorded by a camera crew and acknowledging both the camera and the audience (think of it as Dwight Schrute meets Alf). Unfortunately, once Wikus spilled the Corolla Gas the Director forgot to change the style from Documentary to Narrative. It did not make sense to have the characters shot in a documentary style when there obviously was not a camera crew following them (they were wanted fugitives). It would have been funny though if Wikus as a fugitive would have shown some good emotional confusion as to why his secret plans and hiding places were so easily deciphered (the full camera crew, hair & make-up team and boom operator tend to give away your location).
Skipping back, once Wikus spilled the Corolla Gas he started to turn into an alien and his own company brought him in for testing, experimenting and weaponry. In today’s security first society, I found it really funny that this top secret testing was performed on the third floor of a public building and the experimentation rooms were conveniently located next to a stairwell that led directly to an exterior building exit. Not only was Wikus able to easily escape the testing room, he was able to find his cell phone, his company identification cards and his access badge.
After Wikus escaped the experimentation center he returned to District 9 to learn that the Corolla Gas actually powered the hovering space ship and that a Prawn and his son could reverse the effects of the alien transformation if they had the gas and turned on the ship. Realizing this was great news, Wikus easily broke back into the public building, utilized his still active access code to gain entry to the experimentation room and obtained the loosely secured gas before dodging a volley of automatically fired bullets from Army sharpshooters and drove back to District 9 in a plane white government vehicle. The plan played out just like he drew it up!
Figuring the rest of the film would play out as a traditional Hollywood script, I was surprised at the twists that finalized the story. The first twist was the use of the Corolla Gas. Although the space ship had been hovering above South Africa for many years and the Prawns were basically a group of dangerous, procreating squatters the Humans were afraid to let the visitors actually use their ship to leave the planet. The second twist involved the Prawn and his son who said they could fix Wikus. It turned out that the Prawn could fix Wikus but it would take three years. As the Prawn explained it he needed to help his own people first.
Expecting an ending where the aliens leave the planet and Wikus is turned back into a human and reunited with his wife, I was very surprised to find the planet still inhabited by aliens, the space ship gone and Wikus fully transformed into a Prawn.
When the film wrapped up I spent some time thinking about the story that Director Neill Blomkamp had told. It was a science fiction representation of South Africa under the rule of Apartheid. Every viewer of this film should take the time to think about what they have seen and to question why Humans let segregation, disenfranchisement, removal, relocation and racism exist and sometimes flourish. There simply is no place in our world for these injustices yesterday, today or tomorrow.
Wow, that last part sure seemed cooler in my mind. As I read that paragraph it makes me think that I was suddenly channeled by Keith Olbermann. “Multi-National United, you are the worst people in the world.”
Warren
District 9 is an Alien chase picture set in Johannesburg, South Africa. I knew that the picture was set up to be a side door explanation of Apartheid but I was not prepared for the personal reflection that the story would require. I especially enjoyed the film scenery because I was a visitor to Johannesburg a couple of years ago.
After flying into Johannesburg International Airport (it was a jumping off point for a safari trip to Botswana) I was whisked off to a hotel for a single night. The route to the hotel had me driving by settlements that looked eerily like the shanty town that was District 9. It was very hard for me to reconcile that people still lived in these kinds of shacks, largely without basic services, not only in this day and age but also in such an important city. I remember the bus driver commenting that the Government was trying to figure out what to do with the folks living in these settlements as the pressure of hosting the 2010 World Cup drew closer.
The hotel I stayed at in Johannesburg was very nice and appeared to be in the middle of the banking and financial district probably in what we might consider a downtown corridor. The real shock came when I went to the front desk to retrieve my room key and was told not to go outside, especially at night. It was explained that Johannesburg had a crime problem and that kidnappings were a very real possibility.
District 9, as a film, largely portrayed Johannesburg in the same manner as I found it during my visit.
In this film, a large group of aliens have descended upon Earth in what appeared to be the exact same ship as seen in Independence Day. I have no problem with Directors utilizing existing special effects, no need in reinventing the wheel. It would be ironic though if the aliens in deep space really did all have the same ships. Can you imagine a whole galaxy filled with the equivalent of Toyota Corollas? I do like the idea that aliens leaving sporting events or concerts could have that look on their face (you know the one) when they walk outside and see a sky filled with the same colored ships wondering exactly where they had parked.
For a largely unexplained reason, the aliens that arrived in the Corolla ran out of gas and just hovered above Earth until the humans forced their way in and transferred them to a settlement on the ground. This portion of the film utilized news footage and interviews to set the stage for the present day action. The present day action revolved around a plan by a government contractor, Multi-National United, to relocate the alien population from District 9 to a new settlement further outside of Johannesburg. This plan was going to be carried out by a middle manager named Wikus Van De Marwe.
In an obviously well thought out idea, Wikus plans to go door to door in District 9 having 1.8 million “Prawns” read and sign an eviction notice over the course of one business day (it is a 24 hour eviction notice). I don’t know how the math works out as to how many signatures you would need per hour to get all 1.8 million in a day, but I only saw Wikus get four signatures prior to lunch. At that pace I think he was better suited to work for the Department of Transportation! Unfortunately, we will never know if he would have obtained all of the signatures because he spilled some Corolla Gas on himself and began transforming into an alien (I would use the same excuse if I needed 1.8 million signatures and had 4).
I don’t want to spend a lot of my space on a technical review of the film. I do want to point out that there was a major hole in the film that was exposed at this point in the story. As I previously mentioned the introduction to the film was largely based on interviews and file footage. Once the present day relocation program started the film style turned to documentary with Wikus being recorded by a camera crew and acknowledging both the camera and the audience (think of it as Dwight Schrute meets Alf). Unfortunately, once Wikus spilled the Corolla Gas the Director forgot to change the style from Documentary to Narrative. It did not make sense to have the characters shot in a documentary style when there obviously was not a camera crew following them (they were wanted fugitives). It would have been funny though if Wikus as a fugitive would have shown some good emotional confusion as to why his secret plans and hiding places were so easily deciphered (the full camera crew, hair & make-up team and boom operator tend to give away your location).
Skipping back, once Wikus spilled the Corolla Gas he started to turn into an alien and his own company brought him in for testing, experimenting and weaponry. In today’s security first society, I found it really funny that this top secret testing was performed on the third floor of a public building and the experimentation rooms were conveniently located next to a stairwell that led directly to an exterior building exit. Not only was Wikus able to easily escape the testing room, he was able to find his cell phone, his company identification cards and his access badge.
After Wikus escaped the experimentation center he returned to District 9 to learn that the Corolla Gas actually powered the hovering space ship and that a Prawn and his son could reverse the effects of the alien transformation if they had the gas and turned on the ship. Realizing this was great news, Wikus easily broke back into the public building, utilized his still active access code to gain entry to the experimentation room and obtained the loosely secured gas before dodging a volley of automatically fired bullets from Army sharpshooters and drove back to District 9 in a plane white government vehicle. The plan played out just like he drew it up!
Figuring the rest of the film would play out as a traditional Hollywood script, I was surprised at the twists that finalized the story. The first twist was the use of the Corolla Gas. Although the space ship had been hovering above South Africa for many years and the Prawns were basically a group of dangerous, procreating squatters the Humans were afraid to let the visitors actually use their ship to leave the planet. The second twist involved the Prawn and his son who said they could fix Wikus. It turned out that the Prawn could fix Wikus but it would take three years. As the Prawn explained it he needed to help his own people first.
Expecting an ending where the aliens leave the planet and Wikus is turned back into a human and reunited with his wife, I was very surprised to find the planet still inhabited by aliens, the space ship gone and Wikus fully transformed into a Prawn.
When the film wrapped up I spent some time thinking about the story that Director Neill Blomkamp had told. It was a science fiction representation of South Africa under the rule of Apartheid. Every viewer of this film should take the time to think about what they have seen and to question why Humans let segregation, disenfranchisement, removal, relocation and racism exist and sometimes flourish. There simply is no place in our world for these injustices yesterday, today or tomorrow.
Wow, that last part sure seemed cooler in my mind. As I read that paragraph it makes me think that I was suddenly channeled by Keith Olbermann. “Multi-National United, you are the worst people in the world.”
Warren
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I Didn't Master the Art of French Cooking
I still remember the first time I visited the mystery movie box. It seems like only yesterday that I caught a glimpse of the box in the front corner of the grocery store and thought “what a terrible idea, what idiot would ever give their credit card number to that machine!” Well, it turns out that I am just such an idiot. Not only do I routinely give my credit card number and email address to this machine, I have also started reserving the films online with my credit card number so that I can just visit the machine and pick up my selection without flipping through the list of available movies. Who could have ever imagined that a simple box that dispenses DVDs would evolve from a niche item into a fully networked company that is bringing down both Hollywood Video and Blockbuster.
Yesterday I went online to try to reserve a film my wife has been begging to watch since it originally left the theaters. My parents have also seen the film and my mom recommended it as a gold star worthy viewing experience. I personally remember watching the preview in horror thinking that this Hollywood formula film would one day hunt down my television and display itself all over the thirteen inches of its screen. In essence, what I did was look up Jason Voorhees’ telephone number, call him to see if he had any plans, pick him up at his cabin near Crystal Lake, drive him to my house, introduce him to my wife, feed him a nice steak dinner, and allow him to terrorize me for one hundred and fifty minutes.
I selected Julie & Julia. I rented Julie & Julia. I paid for Julie & Julia.
Let’s start with the preview. I recall watching this preview mostly because I remember how excited my wife was about the prospect of the film. The preview introduced us to Julie Powell and Julia Child by way of Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. As I recall, the preview also foreshadowed a journey of self exploration by way of French cooking as measured up by Julia Child’s famous cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The preview seemed to indicate that the journey would not only be to complete every recipe in the formidable book but to learn to cook along the way. I specifically remember that the preview showed several cooking “bloopers” as a way of foreshadowing that Julie Powell did not know a copper pot from a Copperfield.
The film itself did turn out to be a journey of self exploration. The rest of the preview did little justice to the length of the journey, the cost of the journey and the actual cooking prowess of Julie Powell.
The basic premise of the film is that Julie is an aspiring writer stuck in a government job which is crushing her creative spirit and aspirations. In order to keep her hope alive, Julie’s husband proposes that she prepare every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook over a one year period. This challenge will be supplemented with a blog entry for each of the dishes which will be monitored by every publisher and literary agent in America and eventually lead to book deals, movie rights and a pilgrimage to Julia Child’s kitchen.
Meanwhile, the film also tells the story of Julia Child herself as she struggles to find her own calling while living in post WWII Paris with her husband. In many ways the film tries to draw parallels between the plight and path of Julie and Julia. While Julie was stuck in a job which was not challenging her creatively, Julia was stuck without an activity to stimulate her own creativity (she is portrayed as trying hat making and card playing to fill that void). While Julie’s husband proposes a challenge for her to accept and follow - whereby proving to herself that she can finish what she starts, Julia’s husband encourages her to follow any and all endeavors until she finds an activity she truly loves. And, while Julie creates a blog about following simple instructions involving measuring and stirring to gain her own literary celebrity, Julia takes someone else’s recipes, translates (converts) them into English, adds a dash of salt and becomes a legend.
The first thing that caught my attention about this film was the performance of Amy Adams. Amy Adams is a good actress, having appeared in a variety of films including Talladega Nights, Night at the Museum 2 & Sunshine Cleaning. I also think Amy Adams is very attractive. In this particular film I thought her performance was uneven and her look was not particularly attractive. Frankly, I have to wonder if the producer of the film was really hoping to cast Hilary Swank. Perhaps when the filming schedule of this movie and whatever project Hilary Swank was tied to couldn’t be reconciled the producer told Amy Adams “Ok, I will hire you for this project but you have to make yourself look exactly like Hilary Swank.” Think about it, ever since she had that pet hawk in The Next Karate Kid, Hilary Swank has looked exactly the same in every movie. We need to petition Hollywood for more features starring Ben Affleck and Hilary Swank. Ben Affleck will always be the same character and Hilary Swank will always look the same. My working title would be “Look like the Devil, Act like the Devil.” Scratch that, how about “The Notebook 2: The Second Notebook.”
The one other issue I wanted to discuss with regard to this film is the ending. I apologize to those of you that have not seen this movie and therefore I am ruining the ending (wait, shouldn’t you be apologizing to me?), but this was totally unexpected and frankly it left me with a puzzled look on my face.
As I have previously discussed, both of the main characters, Julie Powell and Julia Child, are depicted as following similar paths to literary and professional fulfillment in the film. I have to think that every viewer of this movie accepted the foreshadowed path that in the end Julie and Julia were going to meet and share stories and possibly perm each other’s hair. There is a scene towards the end of the film where Julie gets a call about having a surprise guest over for dinner. The film’s writer probably wanted the viewer to think it might be Julia Child in order to build up an even bigger high pitched, hug-frenzy payoff in the end (the dinner turned out to be with Judith Jones). Then, there is a scene where Julie takes a telephone call from a reporter wanting a comment with regard to Julia Child saying that Julie’s blog and cooking journey were disrespectful and unimpressive. After watching this scene I was still sure that Julie and Julia would meet at the end of the film. It never happened. I repeat, it never happened!
I watched a turtle race a snail for two solid hours and in the end neither of them won. I would be contradicting my previous reviews to say that this movie needed a happy ending. Life does not always have a happy ending and neither should all movies. Unfortunately, without a happy ending to this film the viewer is left with only one thought, Julia Child was a grumpy old bitch. I hate to type that thought and I hate reading it even more. It’s not that I know for a fact that Julia Child was not a bitch, she may have been. But the story is clearly about someone following a path forged by Julia Child, and sharing an experience through words and instructions (and to some degree thoughts). How can that experience just end with a third party reporting that Julia Child thinks the whole journey was bogus?
When I first began to contemplate the ending to the film I wondered if the author was showcasing the dangers of false idols and the expanse that can separate larger than life personalities from reality. That is always a good lesson and in today’s pop culture frenzied society it is very relevant. But if that were the case wouldn’t that seed have been planted somewhere within the story? The portrait that is painted of Julia Child is that of a nice middle aged lady who was looking for her calling, found it in cooking and enjoyed every minute of her life and the lives around her. A good portion of the film surrounds the relationship of Julia and Avis DeVoto, a relationship based on a fan letter to a Harvard Professor that turned into a long standing friendship. My point is, there was nothing in the film to project that Julia Child was anything but a nice lady who found a passion in cooking (and eating) and parlayed that into stardom. There was not one inkling that she had any pronounced character flaws or distaste for anyone that supported her along the way.
So what is the truth? Was Julia Child a mean old lady who resented unknown, harmless bloggers who felt a kindred spirit to her? Was Julie Powell a self-aggrandizing writer who wanted to end her story with herself as the victim of an evil cooking plot? Did Kristin really shoot J.R.?
To wrap this one up I want to have another first here on the Movies and Pop Culture Blog. I am going to post an authentic Julia Child recipe. This is a dish I have eaten. It was absolutely horrible. I am confident in saying it was one of the two or three worst dishes I have ever tried. I know for a fact that it was properly prepared utilizing the correct (and freshest) ingredients. The presentation of the dish looked exactly like it did in the photo attached to the Julia Child recipe. I do not encourage you to try making this at your home or serving it to anyone you truly love. Bon Appetit!
Corn Flake Chicken
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 good chicken, cut into serving pieces, trimmed of excess fat
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups Corn Flakes, lightly crushed
1. In a large bowl, combine cloves, onion, oregano, cumin and juice. Add chicken and toss; let sit while you heat oven, or marinate it, refrigerated, for up to a day.
2. Heat oven to 425° F. Spread half the butter on a 9-by-12 baking dish. Put Corn Flakes on a plate and roll chicken in them, patting to help crumbs adhere. Carefully transfer to baking dish.
3. Drizzle chicken with remaining butter and bake, rotating pan so pieces brown evenly, until they are browned and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.
Warren
Yesterday I went online to try to reserve a film my wife has been begging to watch since it originally left the theaters. My parents have also seen the film and my mom recommended it as a gold star worthy viewing experience. I personally remember watching the preview in horror thinking that this Hollywood formula film would one day hunt down my television and display itself all over the thirteen inches of its screen. In essence, what I did was look up Jason Voorhees’ telephone number, call him to see if he had any plans, pick him up at his cabin near Crystal Lake, drive him to my house, introduce him to my wife, feed him a nice steak dinner, and allow him to terrorize me for one hundred and fifty minutes.
I selected Julie & Julia. I rented Julie & Julia. I paid for Julie & Julia.
Let’s start with the preview. I recall watching this preview mostly because I remember how excited my wife was about the prospect of the film. The preview introduced us to Julie Powell and Julia Child by way of Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. As I recall, the preview also foreshadowed a journey of self exploration by way of French cooking as measured up by Julia Child’s famous cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The preview seemed to indicate that the journey would not only be to complete every recipe in the formidable book but to learn to cook along the way. I specifically remember that the preview showed several cooking “bloopers” as a way of foreshadowing that Julie Powell did not know a copper pot from a Copperfield.
The film itself did turn out to be a journey of self exploration. The rest of the preview did little justice to the length of the journey, the cost of the journey and the actual cooking prowess of Julie Powell.
The basic premise of the film is that Julie is an aspiring writer stuck in a government job which is crushing her creative spirit and aspirations. In order to keep her hope alive, Julie’s husband proposes that she prepare every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook over a one year period. This challenge will be supplemented with a blog entry for each of the dishes which will be monitored by every publisher and literary agent in America and eventually lead to book deals, movie rights and a pilgrimage to Julia Child’s kitchen.
Meanwhile, the film also tells the story of Julia Child herself as she struggles to find her own calling while living in post WWII Paris with her husband. In many ways the film tries to draw parallels between the plight and path of Julie and Julia. While Julie was stuck in a job which was not challenging her creatively, Julia was stuck without an activity to stimulate her own creativity (she is portrayed as trying hat making and card playing to fill that void). While Julie’s husband proposes a challenge for her to accept and follow - whereby proving to herself that she can finish what she starts, Julia’s husband encourages her to follow any and all endeavors until she finds an activity she truly loves. And, while Julie creates a blog about following simple instructions involving measuring and stirring to gain her own literary celebrity, Julia takes someone else’s recipes, translates (converts) them into English, adds a dash of salt and becomes a legend.
The first thing that caught my attention about this film was the performance of Amy Adams. Amy Adams is a good actress, having appeared in a variety of films including Talladega Nights, Night at the Museum 2 & Sunshine Cleaning. I also think Amy Adams is very attractive. In this particular film I thought her performance was uneven and her look was not particularly attractive. Frankly, I have to wonder if the producer of the film was really hoping to cast Hilary Swank. Perhaps when the filming schedule of this movie and whatever project Hilary Swank was tied to couldn’t be reconciled the producer told Amy Adams “Ok, I will hire you for this project but you have to make yourself look exactly like Hilary Swank.” Think about it, ever since she had that pet hawk in The Next Karate Kid, Hilary Swank has looked exactly the same in every movie. We need to petition Hollywood for more features starring Ben Affleck and Hilary Swank. Ben Affleck will always be the same character and Hilary Swank will always look the same. My working title would be “Look like the Devil, Act like the Devil.” Scratch that, how about “The Notebook 2: The Second Notebook.”
The one other issue I wanted to discuss with regard to this film is the ending. I apologize to those of you that have not seen this movie and therefore I am ruining the ending (wait, shouldn’t you be apologizing to me?), but this was totally unexpected and frankly it left me with a puzzled look on my face.
As I have previously discussed, both of the main characters, Julie Powell and Julia Child, are depicted as following similar paths to literary and professional fulfillment in the film. I have to think that every viewer of this movie accepted the foreshadowed path that in the end Julie and Julia were going to meet and share stories and possibly perm each other’s hair. There is a scene towards the end of the film where Julie gets a call about having a surprise guest over for dinner. The film’s writer probably wanted the viewer to think it might be Julia Child in order to build up an even bigger high pitched, hug-frenzy payoff in the end (the dinner turned out to be with Judith Jones). Then, there is a scene where Julie takes a telephone call from a reporter wanting a comment with regard to Julia Child saying that Julie’s blog and cooking journey were disrespectful and unimpressive. After watching this scene I was still sure that Julie and Julia would meet at the end of the film. It never happened. I repeat, it never happened!
I watched a turtle race a snail for two solid hours and in the end neither of them won. I would be contradicting my previous reviews to say that this movie needed a happy ending. Life does not always have a happy ending and neither should all movies. Unfortunately, without a happy ending to this film the viewer is left with only one thought, Julia Child was a grumpy old bitch. I hate to type that thought and I hate reading it even more. It’s not that I know for a fact that Julia Child was not a bitch, she may have been. But the story is clearly about someone following a path forged by Julia Child, and sharing an experience through words and instructions (and to some degree thoughts). How can that experience just end with a third party reporting that Julia Child thinks the whole journey was bogus?
When I first began to contemplate the ending to the film I wondered if the author was showcasing the dangers of false idols and the expanse that can separate larger than life personalities from reality. That is always a good lesson and in today’s pop culture frenzied society it is very relevant. But if that were the case wouldn’t that seed have been planted somewhere within the story? The portrait that is painted of Julia Child is that of a nice middle aged lady who was looking for her calling, found it in cooking and enjoyed every minute of her life and the lives around her. A good portion of the film surrounds the relationship of Julia and Avis DeVoto, a relationship based on a fan letter to a Harvard Professor that turned into a long standing friendship. My point is, there was nothing in the film to project that Julia Child was anything but a nice lady who found a passion in cooking (and eating) and parlayed that into stardom. There was not one inkling that she had any pronounced character flaws or distaste for anyone that supported her along the way.
So what is the truth? Was Julia Child a mean old lady who resented unknown, harmless bloggers who felt a kindred spirit to her? Was Julie Powell a self-aggrandizing writer who wanted to end her story with herself as the victim of an evil cooking plot? Did Kristin really shoot J.R.?
To wrap this one up I want to have another first here on the Movies and Pop Culture Blog. I am going to post an authentic Julia Child recipe. This is a dish I have eaten. It was absolutely horrible. I am confident in saying it was one of the two or three worst dishes I have ever tried. I know for a fact that it was properly prepared utilizing the correct (and freshest) ingredients. The presentation of the dish looked exactly like it did in the photo attached to the Julia Child recipe. I do not encourage you to try making this at your home or serving it to anyone you truly love. Bon Appetit!
Corn Flake Chicken
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 good chicken, cut into serving pieces, trimmed of excess fat
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups Corn Flakes, lightly crushed
1. In a large bowl, combine cloves, onion, oregano, cumin and juice. Add chicken and toss; let sit while you heat oven, or marinate it, refrigerated, for up to a day.
2. Heat oven to 425° F. Spread half the butter on a 9-by-12 baking dish. Put Corn Flakes on a plate and roll chicken in them, patting to help crumbs adhere. Carefully transfer to baking dish.
3. Drizzle chicken with remaining butter and bake, rotating pan so pieces brown evenly, until they are browned and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.
Warren
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Everything's Up to Date in Avatar
Let me begin by sending out a Birthday wish to Matthew. The King of Cool turned somewhere between 25 and 50 years old last month and sources say he partied like it was 1999. I even dipped into some of the profits I have earned from this blog's sponsors to purchase him a new, sealed in the packaging, copy of the Midnight Meat Train DVD. We are all looking forward to his thoughts on what is sure to be a timeless cinematic classic. Happy Birthday, Matthew!
Last night I finally made it to see seven time weekly box office winner Avatar. This was my forth attempt to go to the film and with each attempt I became increasingly less interested in returning. My first attempt was on New Year’s Day when my lovely wife and I tried to attend the film with my blogging mentor – Cooking with Jessie and her husband. That attempt failed when we walked into the theater and found three randomly scattered seats. We decided to go to Sherlock Holmes instead.
After we saw Sherlock Holmes we went out to dinner and since the restaurant was crowded I started chatting up the family sitting next to me in the waiting area. I didn’t ask them at the time but I am sure they were out of towners, I can usually tell because out of towners wear their short pants in 50 degree weather while I am in a Parka and Ushanka. At any rate, I asked the male leader of the family what movie they attended (their left over popcorn bag gave them away) and he replied that they saw Sherlock Holmes. I immediately piped in that we had also seen the movie and that the scenes where Sherlock Holmes pre-determined what punches to throw (and in what order) based on their level of damage while brawling were absolutely ridiculous. I also indicated that the homoerotic bro-mance was probably not what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had in mind. The out of towners (male leader, lady friend and two offspring) all said they loved the movie and politely excused themselves.
The very next day I was out for some strenuous exercise on a local golf course and I was paired with some visitors from Michigan. The husband of the group asked me on the first tee if I had recently seen any movies. I replied that I had just seen Sherlock Holmes and that it had these goofy fight scenes, an underdeveloped lead female character (Irene Adler), a questionable relationship between Holmes and Watson, an evil nemesis that look suspiciously like Stanley Tucci, and a contrived ending ala Ocean’s Twelve. The husband was dead silent after I had finished making my declarations about the movie but the wife said “we loved it too!”
In case you were wondering, I just used four paragraphs to say I will be keeping any further opinions regarding Sherlock Holmes to myself!
Getting back to Avatar, the second and third times I tried to attend the movie were both at IMAX screens and both times it was sold out. That might not sound unusual but those two attempts were within the last three weeks. The movie has been out for eight weeks! Each unsuccessful attempt to see the film left me less interested in returning but for some reason I got the itch back last night and my lovely wife and I trekked to the IMAX theater and purchased our way overpriced tickets.
Knowing that we had our tickets in hand and that there were plenty of seats available was actually somewhat exciting but then as we entered the theater we were given our 3D glasses...what a disappointment! In my first attempt to see the film (New Year’s Day) we were actually given the glasses utilized on the Real-D screens and they were cool. It was almost like I was being provided some Blues Brothers Ray-Bans with 3D lenses. Unfortunately, the IMAX glasses were giant plastic glasses recovered from the Captain EO movie. Instead of looking like Elwood I was looking like Jeff Spicoli.
The film itself got off to a quick start and it became evident that James Cameron’s screenplay was going to be heavy on the middle but weak on the beginning and end. That is an unusual way to write a story but I can appreciate what he was doing. Much like George Lucas did, Cameron started his story in the middle knowing that he could build prequels and sequels in the future. Considering the amount of interest and profit this film has already garnered (not to mention Oscar consideration) you can bet there will be many more movies in the future (and a cartoon, and action figures, and Halloween costumes).
There is really no indication as to what year the movie takes place. I know it is in the future but I don’t know how far in the future. Space travel has certainly been figured out because the planet of Pandora has several moons around it so it can’t be in our current solar system. Just as an FYI, the center of our current Galaxy is 27,000 light years away. Amazingly enough, in the future humans have conquered deep space and can travel at a speed faster than that of light but we still dress like Maverick and Charlie from Top Gun.
The rest of the film played out like James Cameron watched Return of the Jedi, Predator, Pocahontas, Rambo and Apocalypto in one all day TBS movie marathon and decided to combine them all into one three hour best-of script.
The main character in the film, Jake Sully is a hardened soldier with no options other than war (Rambo). Jake travels in a spacecraft to a forest planet (Return of the Jedi) where he infiltrates the locals to gain their trust (Pocahontas). While acclimating himself to the locals Jake meets, is trained by, and falls in love with the Chief’s daughter (Pocahontas). With advanced weaponry, the humans fight the locals to gain control of their land (Predator) so it can be harvested for its rich natural resources (Apocalypto). In the end, Jake helps the locals to win a battle with the humans but it is clear the locals have not won the war (Rambo, Predator).
I was really hoping that at the end of the film Jake and the locals would dance in their tree house while the ghostly spirits of Eytukan, Yoda and John Rolfe looked on proudly.
So, what do we think is going to happen in both the prequels and sequels to this movie? If we start with the sequel (I assume they will play out the current characters and then create new characters to foreshadow the current characters) I am guessing that Jake (now fully a local having discarded his human body) will continue to live with the locals, marry Neytiri and start either a traveling family band or open a banana stand. There has to be some conflict so the humans will probably return for a second round of running and explosions which will lead to a destructive and bleak vision of the survival of the locals at the end of this sequel.
In the third installment the bleak picture from the previous sequel will continue to become dark and ominous and I would think that Jake’s wife and the mother of several small locals, Neytiri, will die in a tragic accident probably involving either lawn fertilizer or that man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Devastated by the accident (and probably somehow personally guilty), Jake will forge a new friendship with a horse beaked, long eared, jive talker with a Jamaican accent who speaks in broken English but offers poignant yet surprisingly simple advice. The powerful bond Jake and (let’s call him) Jar Jar quickly develop over two minutes of screen time will propel them to turn the tide of the war and give the humans no choice but to negotiate a lasting peace involving mineral rights and cell phone towers in exchange for the locals opening up Casinos all over Pandora.
Since the visual effects of the second and third installments of this series have no real chance of living up to the standards set in the first film, and since the story is sure to suffer from the lack of new movies being shown on TBS for James Cameron to watch, I assume there will only be one prequel made and it will probably be a mid-budget film directed by someone other than James Cameron. In fact, I would probably give even odds that the prequel will either be a straight to DVD release or an ABC Family Channel movie of the week. This prequel will no doubt have a few beefed up special effects that seem to indicate that in a period prior to Avatar the locals were even more technologically advanced and the forest had stronger, more dangerous plants, animals and possibly a fountain that predicts the future using terms similar to those found in the Magic 8-ball. The story will follow the birth and maturation of both Jake and Neytiri and in a shocking yet undeveloped twist we will find out that Jake was adopted after his real father gave him up to travel to Pandora to become head of security for the humans. Who knows, maybe they will even throw us a real curve ball and develop Neytiri as a discarded human baby who was found in the woods and her consciousness was transferred to a genetically bred local who was adopted by the Chief. Could Jake and Neytiri really be brother and sister...
So, to wrap this one up, if you are going to see Avatar make sure you pony up a little extra money and see it on the IMAX screen. The entire visual experience was pretty phenomenal! And if this movie wins an Oscar then Mark Hamill, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Kelly McGillis and Carl Weathers should be up on that stage with James Cameron.
Warren
Last night I finally made it to see seven time weekly box office winner Avatar. This was my forth attempt to go to the film and with each attempt I became increasingly less interested in returning. My first attempt was on New Year’s Day when my lovely wife and I tried to attend the film with my blogging mentor – Cooking with Jessie and her husband. That attempt failed when we walked into the theater and found three randomly scattered seats. We decided to go to Sherlock Holmes instead.
After we saw Sherlock Holmes we went out to dinner and since the restaurant was crowded I started chatting up the family sitting next to me in the waiting area. I didn’t ask them at the time but I am sure they were out of towners, I can usually tell because out of towners wear their short pants in 50 degree weather while I am in a Parka and Ushanka. At any rate, I asked the male leader of the family what movie they attended (their left over popcorn bag gave them away) and he replied that they saw Sherlock Holmes. I immediately piped in that we had also seen the movie and that the scenes where Sherlock Holmes pre-determined what punches to throw (and in what order) based on their level of damage while brawling were absolutely ridiculous. I also indicated that the homoerotic bro-mance was probably not what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had in mind. The out of towners (male leader, lady friend and two offspring) all said they loved the movie and politely excused themselves.
The very next day I was out for some strenuous exercise on a local golf course and I was paired with some visitors from Michigan. The husband of the group asked me on the first tee if I had recently seen any movies. I replied that I had just seen Sherlock Holmes and that it had these goofy fight scenes, an underdeveloped lead female character (Irene Adler), a questionable relationship between Holmes and Watson, an evil nemesis that look suspiciously like Stanley Tucci, and a contrived ending ala Ocean’s Twelve. The husband was dead silent after I had finished making my declarations about the movie but the wife said “we loved it too!”
In case you were wondering, I just used four paragraphs to say I will be keeping any further opinions regarding Sherlock Holmes to myself!
Getting back to Avatar, the second and third times I tried to attend the movie were both at IMAX screens and both times it was sold out. That might not sound unusual but those two attempts were within the last three weeks. The movie has been out for eight weeks! Each unsuccessful attempt to see the film left me less interested in returning but for some reason I got the itch back last night and my lovely wife and I trekked to the IMAX theater and purchased our way overpriced tickets.
Knowing that we had our tickets in hand and that there were plenty of seats available was actually somewhat exciting but then as we entered the theater we were given our 3D glasses...what a disappointment! In my first attempt to see the film (New Year’s Day) we were actually given the glasses utilized on the Real-D screens and they were cool. It was almost like I was being provided some Blues Brothers Ray-Bans with 3D lenses. Unfortunately, the IMAX glasses were giant plastic glasses recovered from the Captain EO movie. Instead of looking like Elwood I was looking like Jeff Spicoli.
The film itself got off to a quick start and it became evident that James Cameron’s screenplay was going to be heavy on the middle but weak on the beginning and end. That is an unusual way to write a story but I can appreciate what he was doing. Much like George Lucas did, Cameron started his story in the middle knowing that he could build prequels and sequels in the future. Considering the amount of interest and profit this film has already garnered (not to mention Oscar consideration) you can bet there will be many more movies in the future (and a cartoon, and action figures, and Halloween costumes).
There is really no indication as to what year the movie takes place. I know it is in the future but I don’t know how far in the future. Space travel has certainly been figured out because the planet of Pandora has several moons around it so it can’t be in our current solar system. Just as an FYI, the center of our current Galaxy is 27,000 light years away. Amazingly enough, in the future humans have conquered deep space and can travel at a speed faster than that of light but we still dress like Maverick and Charlie from Top Gun.
The rest of the film played out like James Cameron watched Return of the Jedi, Predator, Pocahontas, Rambo and Apocalypto in one all day TBS movie marathon and decided to combine them all into one three hour best-of script.
The main character in the film, Jake Sully is a hardened soldier with no options other than war (Rambo). Jake travels in a spacecraft to a forest planet (Return of the Jedi) where he infiltrates the locals to gain their trust (Pocahontas). While acclimating himself to the locals Jake meets, is trained by, and falls in love with the Chief’s daughter (Pocahontas). With advanced weaponry, the humans fight the locals to gain control of their land (Predator) so it can be harvested for its rich natural resources (Apocalypto). In the end, Jake helps the locals to win a battle with the humans but it is clear the locals have not won the war (Rambo, Predator).
I was really hoping that at the end of the film Jake and the locals would dance in their tree house while the ghostly spirits of Eytukan, Yoda and John Rolfe looked on proudly.
So, what do we think is going to happen in both the prequels and sequels to this movie? If we start with the sequel (I assume they will play out the current characters and then create new characters to foreshadow the current characters) I am guessing that Jake (now fully a local having discarded his human body) will continue to live with the locals, marry Neytiri and start either a traveling family band or open a banana stand. There has to be some conflict so the humans will probably return for a second round of running and explosions which will lead to a destructive and bleak vision of the survival of the locals at the end of this sequel.
In the third installment the bleak picture from the previous sequel will continue to become dark and ominous and I would think that Jake’s wife and the mother of several small locals, Neytiri, will die in a tragic accident probably involving either lawn fertilizer or that man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Devastated by the accident (and probably somehow personally guilty), Jake will forge a new friendship with a horse beaked, long eared, jive talker with a Jamaican accent who speaks in broken English but offers poignant yet surprisingly simple advice. The powerful bond Jake and (let’s call him) Jar Jar quickly develop over two minutes of screen time will propel them to turn the tide of the war and give the humans no choice but to negotiate a lasting peace involving mineral rights and cell phone towers in exchange for the locals opening up Casinos all over Pandora.
Since the visual effects of the second and third installments of this series have no real chance of living up to the standards set in the first film, and since the story is sure to suffer from the lack of new movies being shown on TBS for James Cameron to watch, I assume there will only be one prequel made and it will probably be a mid-budget film directed by someone other than James Cameron. In fact, I would probably give even odds that the prequel will either be a straight to DVD release or an ABC Family Channel movie of the week. This prequel will no doubt have a few beefed up special effects that seem to indicate that in a period prior to Avatar the locals were even more technologically advanced and the forest had stronger, more dangerous plants, animals and possibly a fountain that predicts the future using terms similar to those found in the Magic 8-ball. The story will follow the birth and maturation of both Jake and Neytiri and in a shocking yet undeveloped twist we will find out that Jake was adopted after his real father gave him up to travel to Pandora to become head of security for the humans. Who knows, maybe they will even throw us a real curve ball and develop Neytiri as a discarded human baby who was found in the woods and her consciousness was transferred to a genetically bred local who was adopted by the Chief. Could Jake and Neytiri really be brother and sister...
So, to wrap this one up, if you are going to see Avatar make sure you pony up a little extra money and see it on the IMAX screen. The entire visual experience was pretty phenomenal! And if this movie wins an Oscar then Mark Hamill, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Kelly McGillis and Carl Weathers should be up on that stage with James Cameron.
Warren
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Eat Your Heart Out - Phillip Michael Thomas
It has been almost a month and still there is no sign of Matthew. If I had not just seen him with my own two eyes I would think he might have abandoned me. Have you ever looked into the balcony and seen just Statler (or just Waldorf)? No, of course you haven’t! Here is what we need to do; ask yourself this “do I believe in fairies?” Trust me on this one. Stand up, wherever you are, and say “I believe in fairies!” Start a slow clap and continue saying “I believe in fairies.” You might feel a little awkward but this will work. Keep clapping and saying “I believe in fairies.” I know this brings Tinker Bell back to life, so this has to bring Matthew back to this blog!
Since my last blog welcomed you into the world of Las Vegas musical productions, I thought I would comment on my most recent venture into the world of musical theater. My lovely wife and I went to see Marvin Hamlisch perform with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. Of course it would be extremely difficult to review a musical performance without a plot or largely any talking (I guess I did review Quantum of Solace) but I was intrigued by something that happened half way through the show.
As a little background, Marvin Hamlisch is an accomplished pianist, conductor and song writer who has achieved the pinnacle of Phillip Michael Thomas’ mountain - the EGOT. Marvin has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony (He also won a Pulitzer but there is no such word as EGOTP). The performance we saw with Marvin and the Phoenix Symphony consisted of medley’s and performances of some of America’s great composers and a few selections from Marvin’s own collection (scores from Ice Castles, A Chorus Line, Sophie’s Choice, The Sting and The Way we Were).
I actually enjoyed the concert and Marvin was both an excellent piano player and also a witty master of ceremonies. You might imagine a middle-aged, white, Jewish, classically trained Young MC.
The one thing I did not like about the concert was the selections sung by William Michals and Julia Murney. First, Michals came out to sing Soliloquy from Carousel. This is actually an interesting song which I especially enjoyed on a CD of Frank Sinatra’s 80th Birthday Concert from Las Vegas. Michals is no Sinatra (that just sounds dumb, I mean who is Frank Sinatra). I don’t know much of anything about professional singing but he put way too much “over acting” into the song and not enough casual singing. I realize that they tell these musical performers to sing and pronounce the words for the people in the last row, but why is that? Why do they pander to the people who paid the absolute least amount of money to attend the concert to the detriment of the people who paid the most to attend? Re-reading that last sentence really makes me sound elitist. Ironically, I purchased two seats from the least expensive category!
Getting back to my review, Marvin decided to first introduce Michals with a simple “he is an accomplished performer who has earned his reputation on Broadway.” So, Michals came out and over-acted his way through his song and then proceeded to take about twenty bows. I clapped politely for this guy but when he just kept bowing I started to wonder if the crowd was really that impressed with the performance or if it was just a big game of one-upmanship between the bowing performer and the clapping audience members.
Once that clapping/bowing Russian Roulette ended, Michals was charged with introducing Julia Murney. This introduction turned into a ten minute love fest that then turned into a quandary that kept me occupied for the rest of the evening. I am sure that Murney is a talented performer who has worked hard for everything she has achieved; I just didn’t need Michals to read me her resume. I am sure her guest spots in Law and Order, NYPD Blue and Sex in the City were groundbreaking (Julia Murney stars as Innocent Bystander #2). I am sure her performances in The Wild Party, Class Act and Time and Again were well received; I just don’t care!
So, after the reading of Murney’s resume another game of one-upmanship broke out as she decided she needed to read Michals resume. And of course, as if on cue, every time Murney mentioned another part Michals had played he bowed as if he had some kind of turrets syndrome brought on by adulation. Meanwhile, I am looking around the audience to see if anyone else is agitated by this mess and I notice that the guy sitting next to me has his hand on the thigh of the guy sitting next to him!
Once the resume reading and bowing portions of the performance were done Murney broke into a song from the musical Wicked. I have never seen Wicked and I do not know the plot of this musical. I have seen the sequel to Wicked which is called The Wizard of Oz. I have also seen The Wiz (Richard Pryor was in The Wiz...where was Gene Wilder). As Murney explained prior to singing her song, Wicked is the story of Glenda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Green Witch (both were characters in The Wizard of Oz) as they go to Witch Junior College.
Murney proceeds to sing this song which tells the story of Elphaba being in class in Witch Junior College and the teacher recognizing her potential and telling her she is going to get to meet The Wizard of Oz. So, apparently this is really a big deal to Elphaba and she dreams of them teaming up to really maximize the Wizardry in Oz. Really? Seriously?
Again, I know it is weird to have so many of my reviews dedicated to films I have either not seen or fallen asleep during. I grant you that I have not seen Wicked and I don’t have any idea what happens in the musical either before or after this revelation that Elphaba wants to meet the Wizard. But, how did Elphaba think this dream team of witching and wizardry was going to work? Would she get a display wall opposite of the Wizard? Would her wall be next to the Wizard? How would the day to day business of Wizarding go if there were co-managers? What if someone needed a controversial wish granted, how would that be handled? Would the Wizard and Elphaba have some kind of voting process? What if the vote came out 1 to 1? How would ties be broken?
If there is one thing that fairy tales have taught us, it is that wishes and wish grantors always come in odd numbers. Zoltar granted Josh Baskin one wish, Jambi the Genie granted three wishes on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Jack traded his cow for five magic beans, exactly 131 people saw the Patrick Swayze film Three Wishes, and my wish to rid the world of Heidi and Spencer has not come true exactly 999,999 times.
To wrap this one up, let me just mention that Marvin is also credited (in the concert program) for having composed the score to Three Men and a Baby. He must have some huge grapes to take credit for that one!
Warren
Since my last blog welcomed you into the world of Las Vegas musical productions, I thought I would comment on my most recent venture into the world of musical theater. My lovely wife and I went to see Marvin Hamlisch perform with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. Of course it would be extremely difficult to review a musical performance without a plot or largely any talking (I guess I did review Quantum of Solace) but I was intrigued by something that happened half way through the show.
As a little background, Marvin Hamlisch is an accomplished pianist, conductor and song writer who has achieved the pinnacle of Phillip Michael Thomas’ mountain - the EGOT. Marvin has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony (He also won a Pulitzer but there is no such word as EGOTP). The performance we saw with Marvin and the Phoenix Symphony consisted of medley’s and performances of some of America’s great composers and a few selections from Marvin’s own collection (scores from Ice Castles, A Chorus Line, Sophie’s Choice, The Sting and The Way we Were).
I actually enjoyed the concert and Marvin was both an excellent piano player and also a witty master of ceremonies. You might imagine a middle-aged, white, Jewish, classically trained Young MC.
The one thing I did not like about the concert was the selections sung by William Michals and Julia Murney. First, Michals came out to sing Soliloquy from Carousel. This is actually an interesting song which I especially enjoyed on a CD of Frank Sinatra’s 80th Birthday Concert from Las Vegas. Michals is no Sinatra (that just sounds dumb, I mean who is Frank Sinatra). I don’t know much of anything about professional singing but he put way too much “over acting” into the song and not enough casual singing. I realize that they tell these musical performers to sing and pronounce the words for the people in the last row, but why is that? Why do they pander to the people who paid the absolute least amount of money to attend the concert to the detriment of the people who paid the most to attend? Re-reading that last sentence really makes me sound elitist. Ironically, I purchased two seats from the least expensive category!
Getting back to my review, Marvin decided to first introduce Michals with a simple “he is an accomplished performer who has earned his reputation on Broadway.” So, Michals came out and over-acted his way through his song and then proceeded to take about twenty bows. I clapped politely for this guy but when he just kept bowing I started to wonder if the crowd was really that impressed with the performance or if it was just a big game of one-upmanship between the bowing performer and the clapping audience members.
Once that clapping/bowing Russian Roulette ended, Michals was charged with introducing Julia Murney. This introduction turned into a ten minute love fest that then turned into a quandary that kept me occupied for the rest of the evening. I am sure that Murney is a talented performer who has worked hard for everything she has achieved; I just didn’t need Michals to read me her resume. I am sure her guest spots in Law and Order, NYPD Blue and Sex in the City were groundbreaking (Julia Murney stars as Innocent Bystander #2). I am sure her performances in The Wild Party, Class Act and Time and Again were well received; I just don’t care!
So, after the reading of Murney’s resume another game of one-upmanship broke out as she decided she needed to read Michals resume. And of course, as if on cue, every time Murney mentioned another part Michals had played he bowed as if he had some kind of turrets syndrome brought on by adulation. Meanwhile, I am looking around the audience to see if anyone else is agitated by this mess and I notice that the guy sitting next to me has his hand on the thigh of the guy sitting next to him!
Once the resume reading and bowing portions of the performance were done Murney broke into a song from the musical Wicked. I have never seen Wicked and I do not know the plot of this musical. I have seen the sequel to Wicked which is called The Wizard of Oz. I have also seen The Wiz (Richard Pryor was in The Wiz...where was Gene Wilder). As Murney explained prior to singing her song, Wicked is the story of Glenda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Green Witch (both were characters in The Wizard of Oz) as they go to Witch Junior College.
Murney proceeds to sing this song which tells the story of Elphaba being in class in Witch Junior College and the teacher recognizing her potential and telling her she is going to get to meet The Wizard of Oz. So, apparently this is really a big deal to Elphaba and she dreams of them teaming up to really maximize the Wizardry in Oz. Really? Seriously?
Again, I know it is weird to have so many of my reviews dedicated to films I have either not seen or fallen asleep during. I grant you that I have not seen Wicked and I don’t have any idea what happens in the musical either before or after this revelation that Elphaba wants to meet the Wizard. But, how did Elphaba think this dream team of witching and wizardry was going to work? Would she get a display wall opposite of the Wizard? Would her wall be next to the Wizard? How would the day to day business of Wizarding go if there were co-managers? What if someone needed a controversial wish granted, how would that be handled? Would the Wizard and Elphaba have some kind of voting process? What if the vote came out 1 to 1? How would ties be broken?
If there is one thing that fairy tales have taught us, it is that wishes and wish grantors always come in odd numbers. Zoltar granted Josh Baskin one wish, Jambi the Genie granted three wishes on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Jack traded his cow for five magic beans, exactly 131 people saw the Patrick Swayze film Three Wishes, and my wish to rid the world of Heidi and Spencer has not come true exactly 999,999 times.
To wrap this one up, let me just mention that Marvin is also credited (in the concert program) for having composed the score to Three Men and a Baby. He must have some huge grapes to take credit for that one!
Warren
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Scooby-Doo and The Phantom Too
With an eye towards the 2010 Oscar season, this past weekend my lovely wife and I met up with Matthew in Las Vegas. As with all trips to Sin City, this trip was purely for business purposes and I plan to flamboyantly display all expenses on my 1040 come February. I went to Vegas to personally put a charge into Matthew to get him to watch and review more movies for the eye-gasm pleasure of all of this blog’s readers. I think the meetings went well and I came away with a solid (non-committal) promise that Matthew would watch and dictate his thoughts to many movies in 2010. Stay tuned!
While in Las Vegas, Matthew, my wife and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Since Matthew and I have already broken so many barriers with this blog, I am going to keep breaking barriers by posting the first review of a musical (or was it an Opera?).
My best guess is that when Gaston Leroux was writing The Phantom of the Opera (later set to music by Ken Hill and then stolen by Andy Webber) he probably had Scooby-Doo and the Gang in mind. Here are the characters:
Raoul – Fred Jones
Christine Daae – Daphne Jones
Meg Giry – Velma Dinkley
Richard (Opera Owner) – Scooby-Doo
Moncharmin (Opera Owner) – Shaggy Rogers
Phantom – Each episodes bad guy
At one point during the production, the Phantom was paddling down a river with Christine Daae (Daphne) and I honestly was hoping that they were paddling to the island where Scooby got stranded with the Globetrotters. How cool would that have been? How could the Phantom have kept that menacing look on his half face if he had seen the hilarious antics and ball handling expertise of the ‘Trotters? Personally, when I am thinking about kidnapping someone so that I can give them singing lessons and show them some Doug Henning style magic tricks I always remind myself about the Globetrotters. It really does work nine out of ten times…
Needless to say, the Phantom did not paddle Daphne to that island. Instead he took her to his Phantom-pad with stunning 360 degree views of the sewer and a metal fence that resembled the steel cage from Wrestle Mania 2. Don’t act like you are too cool to remember Wrestle Mania 2...That steel-cage match between King Kong Bundy and Hulk Hogan was a classic.
But once the Phantom got Daphne to his pad I am not exactly clear as to what his plans were. He went to all the trouble to send her notes and sing her songs but he couldn’t even fix up his apartment? Once he showed Daphne that weird magic trick where another gal fell out of the mirror, he put her in bed in the same boat they paddled over in. And, to make matters worse, it was a twin bed. Even if this plan really swept Daphne off her feet did he really plan to have them enjoy their sewer-coast apartment and share a twin bed in a row boat?
At the beginning of the production when Richard (Scooby) and Moncharmin (Shaggy) took over as owners of the Opera House they were told that the Phantom was paid a monthly salary of 20K. I don’t care what the currency is, that is a lot of cheese and the Phantom should have used the money to rent a nice apartment away from the Opera House with room for a queen sized bed and indoor plumbing. When Daphne comes home from a long day of singing her thoughts and wearing corsets she doesn’t want to walk down ten flights of dark stairs and then take a row boat across the sewer to a home that is furnished with a trick mirror, twin bed/row boat and an organ (how was the Phantom powering that thing?). And wouldn’t the Phantom prefer to not to live where he haunts? At some point he is going to be walking around in his underwear and half-mask and someone is going to stumble across him and it will just be embarrassing for everyone. You only get one chance to be a Phantom. Once Fred pulls that mask off the villain he is just “old man Riley” who “would have gotten away with it” if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
The one character that was not very well developed was Meg Giry (Velma). Traditionally, Velma is the smart one who follows the clues and solves the mystery. I am guessing that Gaston Leroux didn’t want to face any lawsuits from Hanna-Barbera so he made this character just different enough to cloud the waters. Half way through the show, Velma started to figure things out and ask a few questions but in the end most of the glory went to Raoul (Fred).
Fred has always had a thing for Daphne so that outcome was not surprising. What was surprising was that he did not have an Ascot on at any point in the show. Plus, for what ever reason towards the end of the show he got locked in a cage and decided that he would feel more comfortable in the cage if he unbuttoned the top six buttons of his shirt. Seeing Fred locked in that cage with his luscious V of gleaming chest pubes made the ladies swoon and I think I heard Tom Jones say “damn it, that was my idea!”
Not to give away all of the details of the show, but in the end things worked out (to a degree). The direction of the mystery turns eerily at the end when Daphne, faced with the choices of (a) marry the Phantom and live in the aforementioned apartment or (b) not marry the Phantom and let Fred die with his chest hanging out in the cage, chose to instead make out with the Phantom. The eerie part was not the making out, it was the pulling away, thinking about what she had done and then diving back in for some more making out (It should be noted that if we were not seated in the second row with the other high rollers I would have shouted out “touch her boob”).
Despite all of the odds, the double make out session did work and Daphne was able to escape with Fred and ride off into the sunset in the Mystery Machine with the rest of the Gang. My lasting impression of the end of the show was that Fred will always look at Daphne and think not about the first make out session, but about that second helping. At some point, Daphne’s looks will go (along with her waist line) and Fred will be stuck as Assistant Manager at the Haberdashery and he will take out all of his frustrations on that Phantom kiss.
Maybe that could be the plot for Phantom of the Opera 2. Here are a few lines from the theme song:
Christine Daae where are you
I’ve got some Phantom questions for you now
Christine Daae we need some help from you now
Come on Christine I see you
Pretending you didn’t go in for seconds
You’re not fooling me because I can see
Your love for the Phantom still beckons
Warren
While in Las Vegas, Matthew, my wife and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Since Matthew and I have already broken so many barriers with this blog, I am going to keep breaking barriers by posting the first review of a musical (or was it an Opera?).
My best guess is that when Gaston Leroux was writing The Phantom of the Opera (later set to music by Ken Hill and then stolen by Andy Webber) he probably had Scooby-Doo and the Gang in mind. Here are the characters:
Raoul – Fred Jones
Christine Daae – Daphne Jones
Meg Giry – Velma Dinkley
Richard (Opera Owner) – Scooby-Doo
Moncharmin (Opera Owner) – Shaggy Rogers
Phantom – Each episodes bad guy
At one point during the production, the Phantom was paddling down a river with Christine Daae (Daphne) and I honestly was hoping that they were paddling to the island where Scooby got stranded with the Globetrotters. How cool would that have been? How could the Phantom have kept that menacing look on his half face if he had seen the hilarious antics and ball handling expertise of the ‘Trotters? Personally, when I am thinking about kidnapping someone so that I can give them singing lessons and show them some Doug Henning style magic tricks I always remind myself about the Globetrotters. It really does work nine out of ten times…
Needless to say, the Phantom did not paddle Daphne to that island. Instead he took her to his Phantom-pad with stunning 360 degree views of the sewer and a metal fence that resembled the steel cage from Wrestle Mania 2. Don’t act like you are too cool to remember Wrestle Mania 2...That steel-cage match between King Kong Bundy and Hulk Hogan was a classic.
But once the Phantom got Daphne to his pad I am not exactly clear as to what his plans were. He went to all the trouble to send her notes and sing her songs but he couldn’t even fix up his apartment? Once he showed Daphne that weird magic trick where another gal fell out of the mirror, he put her in bed in the same boat they paddled over in. And, to make matters worse, it was a twin bed. Even if this plan really swept Daphne off her feet did he really plan to have them enjoy their sewer-coast apartment and share a twin bed in a row boat?
At the beginning of the production when Richard (Scooby) and Moncharmin (Shaggy) took over as owners of the Opera House they were told that the Phantom was paid a monthly salary of 20K. I don’t care what the currency is, that is a lot of cheese and the Phantom should have used the money to rent a nice apartment away from the Opera House with room for a queen sized bed and indoor plumbing. When Daphne comes home from a long day of singing her thoughts and wearing corsets she doesn’t want to walk down ten flights of dark stairs and then take a row boat across the sewer to a home that is furnished with a trick mirror, twin bed/row boat and an organ (how was the Phantom powering that thing?). And wouldn’t the Phantom prefer to not to live where he haunts? At some point he is going to be walking around in his underwear and half-mask and someone is going to stumble across him and it will just be embarrassing for everyone. You only get one chance to be a Phantom. Once Fred pulls that mask off the villain he is just “old man Riley” who “would have gotten away with it” if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
The one character that was not very well developed was Meg Giry (Velma). Traditionally, Velma is the smart one who follows the clues and solves the mystery. I am guessing that Gaston Leroux didn’t want to face any lawsuits from Hanna-Barbera so he made this character just different enough to cloud the waters. Half way through the show, Velma started to figure things out and ask a few questions but in the end most of the glory went to Raoul (Fred).
Fred has always had a thing for Daphne so that outcome was not surprising. What was surprising was that he did not have an Ascot on at any point in the show. Plus, for what ever reason towards the end of the show he got locked in a cage and decided that he would feel more comfortable in the cage if he unbuttoned the top six buttons of his shirt. Seeing Fred locked in that cage with his luscious V of gleaming chest pubes made the ladies swoon and I think I heard Tom Jones say “damn it, that was my idea!”
Not to give away all of the details of the show, but in the end things worked out (to a degree). The direction of the mystery turns eerily at the end when Daphne, faced with the choices of (a) marry the Phantom and live in the aforementioned apartment or (b) not marry the Phantom and let Fred die with his chest hanging out in the cage, chose to instead make out with the Phantom. The eerie part was not the making out, it was the pulling away, thinking about what she had done and then diving back in for some more making out (It should be noted that if we were not seated in the second row with the other high rollers I would have shouted out “touch her boob”).
Despite all of the odds, the double make out session did work and Daphne was able to escape with Fred and ride off into the sunset in the Mystery Machine with the rest of the Gang. My lasting impression of the end of the show was that Fred will always look at Daphne and think not about the first make out session, but about that second helping. At some point, Daphne’s looks will go (along with her waist line) and Fred will be stuck as Assistant Manager at the Haberdashery and he will take out all of his frustrations on that Phantom kiss.
Maybe that could be the plot for Phantom of the Opera 2. Here are a few lines from the theme song:
Christine Daae where are you
I’ve got some Phantom questions for you now
Christine Daae we need some help from you now
Come on Christine I see you
Pretending you didn’t go in for seconds
You’re not fooling me because I can see
Your love for the Phantom still beckons
Warren
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wall-E, have you seen Matthew?
Matthew, Matthew, where art thou Matthew? I remember the days when Matthew was a regular contributor to this blog. I think the world was still in black and white back then!
I know there have been a lot of rumors flying around with regard to Matthew’s current whereabouts but I cannot confirm that he will (or will not) be a part of Matthew and Kate + 8.
So, those four sentences are my excuse for not posting anything on this blog in four months. Frankly, you deserve better.
Instead, you are getting Wall-E.
Why would a grown man with an inordinate amount of free time watch an animated Disney film sans dialogue? Excellent question. My answer; I was asleep about twenty minutes into the movie and woke up feeling refreshed just slightly before the credits. So, for the first time in the history of movie reviews I am going to review a movie I watched very little of. I have a lot of questions and comments with regard to the movie and I fully expect that most of these were answered during the roughly eighty minutes of the film that I did not see. Lucky you, you have chosen a great time to return to the Movies and Pop Culture blog!
As I previously mentioned, Wall-E is a Disney film and I think it was created in association with Al Gore pictures. What Disney has done here is pure genius. They have created a children’s film and inserted adult social commentary while also completely clearing themselves of any responsibility. The basic premise of Wall-E is that mankind polluted the Earth and had to take refuge in space until the planet could be cleaned up by small self-aware robots that look suspiciously like Number 5 from Short Circuit.
Let’s discuss that point, shall we? The future as seen through the eyes of Hollywood seems to fall into two categories. Either we will live in a wildly technological society filled with cute helpful robots that cater to our every need or we will live in a dark time and be hunted by scary, ugly, mean, well armed aliens. Frankly, it appears our future rests in the hands of a battle between B9 (Lost in Space, for those of you who forgot) and Zan-Do-Zan (The Last Starfighter, for those of you who forgot). I for one hope that ALF is the special guest referee in that match-up because we all know that he is firm but fair!
So, Wall-E looks suspiciously like Number 5. Why? Why would movies separated by twenty-two years use the same premise for a robot? What exactly are those things that Wall-E and Number 5 use as viewing devices (I don’t want to mistakenly call them eyes)? I think they might be golf course distance finders that have been converted to robot viewing devices but I am not sure that technology existed in 1986. I mean if we can’t come up with any original ideas when dreaming up the look of a futuristic robot we may be doomed to have every space ship called the Millennium Falcon and all time travel boosted by 1.21 Gigawatts of power.
Wall-E is a member of the clean up crew on Earth while mankind cruises around space waiting to safely return when the pollution problem has been solved. Wall-E seems to enjoy his work and is suspiciously curious and romantic considering his position as a robot. This is another part of Hollywood lore that lives on in pretty much every movie about the future. Apparently, our society is enamored with the idea of robots being self-aware.
The problem with Wall-E’s cleaning is that he appears to be the only one working. There are several early scenes in the film that show Wall-E driving around and doing his clean-up duty. In those scenes there are several similar model robots shown broken down, turned-off or abandoned amongst the accumulated trash. What happened to those robots? If (as the film led me to believe) there are no other robots still working, how has Wall-E continued to persevere? Are we to believe that his apparent self-awareness has also given him the ability to overcome physical obstacles (outliving his battery or the reliability of his solar panels)? In the future will robots be able to give 110%? Think about the philosophical ramifications of that question…could a machine programmed by a human achieve something beyond its programmed ability?
The other interesting thing that I noticed about Wall-E’s clean up is that he did work diligently and seemed to make a great amount of progress in trash compacting (it appears that the clean-up process consists of the robot putting rubbish into its belly and turning it into a rubbish square which is then stacked Lego style). What made this interesting to me was that while the film depicted Wall-E making tremendous progress it also depicted the planet as having made virtually no progress (most of the overview scenes were in and around the area Wall-E was stationed). So, if Wall-E can make a great amount of progress in a couple of days why hasn’t any real progress been made in the entirety of the clean-up process (taking into account all of the other robots that would have been doing the same work as Wall-E over an unknown period until their unexplained end)?
Skipping to the end of the film (because, as I previously mentioned, I spent about an hour of this movie presumably dreaming about Catherine Bach), what is left of the human race comes back to Earth from their refuge in space. It appeared to me that humans returned to Earth in order to get some much needed exercise and to stick a single bean stalk into the ground in the hopes of eventually trading the beans for a cow (what is a Movies and Pop Culture blog without a Joseph Jacobs reference). But why would the humans return to Earth? Is life on an abandoned, overgrown, polluted, dangerous planet better than life in space? What exactly is the message Disney is trying to convey here?
Did anyone else notice that on a planet overrun with trash and pollution there was apparently not one Disney related item depicted as being either trash or discarded? Just as an exercise, spend the day tomorrow looking around as you eat your meals, drive around town and work at your office and see how many Disney related items you notice (don’t forget those spin-offs and affiliated companies). I am willing to wager that you personally could fill up a garbage can with those items. Remember now, there are approximately 6.5 billion people currently living on Earth.
So there you have it. Disney has started an environmental sustainability dialogue amongst part-time movie bloggers while assuring children that their products share none of the responsibility. Genius I say, Genius!
Warren
I know there have been a lot of rumors flying around with regard to Matthew’s current whereabouts but I cannot confirm that he will (or will not) be a part of Matthew and Kate + 8.
So, those four sentences are my excuse for not posting anything on this blog in four months. Frankly, you deserve better.
Instead, you are getting Wall-E.
Why would a grown man with an inordinate amount of free time watch an animated Disney film sans dialogue? Excellent question. My answer; I was asleep about twenty minutes into the movie and woke up feeling refreshed just slightly before the credits. So, for the first time in the history of movie reviews I am going to review a movie I watched very little of. I have a lot of questions and comments with regard to the movie and I fully expect that most of these were answered during the roughly eighty minutes of the film that I did not see. Lucky you, you have chosen a great time to return to the Movies and Pop Culture blog!
As I previously mentioned, Wall-E is a Disney film and I think it was created in association with Al Gore pictures. What Disney has done here is pure genius. They have created a children’s film and inserted adult social commentary while also completely clearing themselves of any responsibility. The basic premise of Wall-E is that mankind polluted the Earth and had to take refuge in space until the planet could be cleaned up by small self-aware robots that look suspiciously like Number 5 from Short Circuit.
Let’s discuss that point, shall we? The future as seen through the eyes of Hollywood seems to fall into two categories. Either we will live in a wildly technological society filled with cute helpful robots that cater to our every need or we will live in a dark time and be hunted by scary, ugly, mean, well armed aliens. Frankly, it appears our future rests in the hands of a battle between B9 (Lost in Space, for those of you who forgot) and Zan-Do-Zan (The Last Starfighter, for those of you who forgot). I for one hope that ALF is the special guest referee in that match-up because we all know that he is firm but fair!
So, Wall-E looks suspiciously like Number 5. Why? Why would movies separated by twenty-two years use the same premise for a robot? What exactly are those things that Wall-E and Number 5 use as viewing devices (I don’t want to mistakenly call them eyes)? I think they might be golf course distance finders that have been converted to robot viewing devices but I am not sure that technology existed in 1986. I mean if we can’t come up with any original ideas when dreaming up the look of a futuristic robot we may be doomed to have every space ship called the Millennium Falcon and all time travel boosted by 1.21 Gigawatts of power.
Wall-E is a member of the clean up crew on Earth while mankind cruises around space waiting to safely return when the pollution problem has been solved. Wall-E seems to enjoy his work and is suspiciously curious and romantic considering his position as a robot. This is another part of Hollywood lore that lives on in pretty much every movie about the future. Apparently, our society is enamored with the idea of robots being self-aware.
The problem with Wall-E’s cleaning is that he appears to be the only one working. There are several early scenes in the film that show Wall-E driving around and doing his clean-up duty. In those scenes there are several similar model robots shown broken down, turned-off or abandoned amongst the accumulated trash. What happened to those robots? If (as the film led me to believe) there are no other robots still working, how has Wall-E continued to persevere? Are we to believe that his apparent self-awareness has also given him the ability to overcome physical obstacles (outliving his battery or the reliability of his solar panels)? In the future will robots be able to give 110%? Think about the philosophical ramifications of that question…could a machine programmed by a human achieve something beyond its programmed ability?
The other interesting thing that I noticed about Wall-E’s clean up is that he did work diligently and seemed to make a great amount of progress in trash compacting (it appears that the clean-up process consists of the robot putting rubbish into its belly and turning it into a rubbish square which is then stacked Lego style). What made this interesting to me was that while the film depicted Wall-E making tremendous progress it also depicted the planet as having made virtually no progress (most of the overview scenes were in and around the area Wall-E was stationed). So, if Wall-E can make a great amount of progress in a couple of days why hasn’t any real progress been made in the entirety of the clean-up process (taking into account all of the other robots that would have been doing the same work as Wall-E over an unknown period until their unexplained end)?
Skipping to the end of the film (because, as I previously mentioned, I spent about an hour of this movie presumably dreaming about Catherine Bach), what is left of the human race comes back to Earth from their refuge in space. It appeared to me that humans returned to Earth in order to get some much needed exercise and to stick a single bean stalk into the ground in the hopes of eventually trading the beans for a cow (what is a Movies and Pop Culture blog without a Joseph Jacobs reference). But why would the humans return to Earth? Is life on an abandoned, overgrown, polluted, dangerous planet better than life in space? What exactly is the message Disney is trying to convey here?
Did anyone else notice that on a planet overrun with trash and pollution there was apparently not one Disney related item depicted as being either trash or discarded? Just as an exercise, spend the day tomorrow looking around as you eat your meals, drive around town and work at your office and see how many Disney related items you notice (don’t forget those spin-offs and affiliated companies). I am willing to wager that you personally could fill up a garbage can with those items. Remember now, there are approximately 6.5 billion people currently living on Earth.
So there you have it. Disney has started an environmental sustainability dialogue amongst part-time movie bloggers while assuring children that their products share none of the responsibility. Genius I say, Genius!
Warren
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