Those of you who have been following this blog in recent months know I've grown increasingly disenchanted with Netflix Instant. It began with what seemed a more-dramatic-than-usual purging at the beginning of the year, followed by the Great BBC Scare, more purges in June, a sneak attack in July, then a complete overhaul of the website's user interface�making it increasingly difficult to navigate beyond basic selection and playing. This was complemented by the introduction of the awful pre-play function to many streaming devices, followed by last month's announcement of nearly 700 EPIX (i.e., popular and classic) movies being dropped for good.
Remember when you could do this?
Then, last week, yet another insulting blow was struck: the removal of the information box that popped up when hovering your cursor over a title in My List (or in accompanying search results). This was a crucial feature for anyone seeking at-a-glance info about a movie or show before playing it or adding it to your queue. It was also a great way to discover if that title was marked to expire (especially TV titles, which often displayed a full month's notice).
But now that's gone, and the only way to see more than basic titles in My List is to switch to the mostly useless Netflix Suggests view (via account settings)�which trounces your carefully ordered queue and eliminates any expiration notices. In other words, just when I thought it couldn't get worse, Netflix snatched yet more control from users.
I'd intended to continue this blog through late November (when I'll be canceling my subscription), but I simply don't have the stomach to stay invested in a service that so blatantly disregards customers who want more than indiscriminate content forced down their throats. As such, I'm sad to say this will be my last post for WoNN, at least for the foreseeable future.
This week I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Expendables 3.
I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews! My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
Kingsman: The Secret Service - Expertly crafted movie.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) Watch Kingsman: The Secret Service Written by: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons Directed by: Matthew Vaughn Starring: Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, and Taron Egerton Rated: R
Plot: The Kingsman are a spy organization recruiting a new member as an evil megalomaniac is poised to wreak havoc on the world. Colin Firth plays Harry Hart who recruits Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton to the Kingsman.
Review: Kingsman is entertaining and stylish, backed with substance due to it's comic book adaptation. It's a fun spy movie that acknowledges how ridiculous spy movies and the typical cliches. It felt a little like Men in Black from the start, with a street smart kid excelling over others groomed for the position. While the movie did a great job by not lingering on the training and conveying how much time passed to make the recruits skill levels believable, it still felt like a lull. This changed with the sky diving scene. Six recruits are left, and they must make an undetected jump. The only catch is that one of them does not have a parachute. This scene was an excellent thrill ride.As onerecruit after another pulls their chute, will the one without a chute have time to formulate a plan? Another standout was the church scene. It was hyper-violent, crazy, and had copious amounts of CGI blood, but captured the style of the movie with slick editing and competently choreographed action.Colin Firth and Taron Egerton do an excellent job as a veteran and amateur spy. I like that the villain, played by Samuel L. Jackson, had a detailed if not highly misguided and ridiculous reason to destroy the world. It's a clever joke, but Jackson didn't seem quite right for the part. I felt like I was watching Jackson and not a character, though the casting isn't bad. His characterization was well done. The villain has a number of quirks that add a bit of depth.
Verdict: Kingsman is a funny, self aware spy movie. It's definitely a product of the times, but everything comes together quite nicely with a number of memorable scenes. It's thoroughly entertaining. Watch it.
Kingsman: The Secret Service - The conclusion of the excellent sky diving scene.
The Expendables 3 - Cue Wesley Snipes tax evasion jokes.
The Expendables 3 (2014) Watch The Expendables 3 Written by: Sylvester Stallone and Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt Story by: Sylvester Stallone Characters by: David Callaham Directed by: Patrick Hughes Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Randy Couture Rated: PG-13
Plot: The Expendables meet an old foe who they thought was dead. With their dwindling numbers, it's time to seek new recruits for their most dangerous mission yet.
Review: For an action movie, it's surprising how boring this movie is. The action scenes are uninspiring. The action scenes aren't as bad as The Expendables 2, but those scenes were unbelievably bad. I knew twenty minutes in I wouldn't like this movie and wouldn't recommend it. Do I continue watching? I did. So my review is complete, despite the fact watching the entire movie doesn't change my review much. The hook The Expendbles series provides is incorporating action movie stars into one movie. While this movie incorporates Wesley Snipes and Mel Gibson, Stallone's character shelves his team half way through for a new more expendable team. Other than Ronda Rousey, I didn't know the actors. This series purpose is to put well known action stars on screen at one time, and this movie opts out of that. Why? Great idea to abandon what made the first movie unique. I wish the movie was more self aware. We get a Wesley Snipes tax evasion joke, but even that is tired now. Why didn't we get a few Demolition Man or Lethal Weaponjokes. Mel Gibson should have had the line, "I'm too old for this stuff." Why not include Danny Glover? We do get Kelsey Grammar. Frasierwas about a secret operative impersonating a snooty psychiatrist, right?
Verdict: This movie is a missed opportunity. There is no attempt to make this a fun movie. It could have added a lot of humor with the action genre and the cast's body of previous work. Did I mention it's boring? It's also too long at over two hours. At three movies in, why have they not not hired someone that can competently choreograph action scenes? Without the big name actors in the movie, it would have been a straight to DVD, bargain bin movie. Skip it.
By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen images from the Get Peanutized! website popping up everywhere in celebration of the upcoming Peanuts Movie. Well, since I’m a movie kind of guy, I thought I would give it a spin…
I don’t know, something’s missing. Maybe it’s the mustache. After all, I started growing the thing when I was fourteen and I’ve only shaved it off once in my life at the request of a girlfriend (something she immediately regretted, naturally). So, let’s try adding that in…
Not bad, but still not quite there. I just can’t put my finger on what it could be. Oh wait! Now I know…
Perfect.
Hey, it’s like the old Delphic Maxim said, “Know thyself.” Of course, since that was just two words inscribed on a temple wall, the maxim wasn’t exactly long on explaining why such self-knowledge is important.
For the Catechism, self awareness is a necessary part of being able to properly live a holy life. “It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience. This requirement of interiority is all the more necessary as life often distracts us from any reflection, self-examination or introspection: Return to your conscience, question it… Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do, see God as your witness.”
So, go forth and Peanutize thyself. Just, you know, keep it honest.
Steve of Movie Movie Blog Blog nominated me for a Liebster Award back in July and this has been sitting around in my drafts since then, as I had just been nomintated for a Liebster and I was away at a family reunion. I have decided to go ahead and publish it. I can't think of anyone to nominate (I had enough trouble with that the first time around) so I am just posting questions for anyone to answer, whether in the comments or in a blog post. And I can't think of 11 facts about myself so I'll just put a few.
First, here are Steve's great questions:
1. “All-time favorite movie” is too tough. What is your favorite genre, and what is your all-time favorite movie in that genre?
Screwball - Bringing Up Baby (1938).
2. “Theatrical” is too easy. What’s your all-time favorite TV-movie?
Well, I've only seen four (to my knowledge) TV movies but the winner is Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).
3. The Great Movie Genie is allowing you to permanently change the ending of one movie. Which one do you choose, and why?
Wake of the Red Witch (1948) starring John Wayne. *SPOILER*I was depressed the whole next day after watching him drown at the end.
4. You’re a Hollywood exec, slavishly following trends. Which movie, good or bad, would you like to sequelize or remake?
A sequel to Donovan's Reef (1963).
5. Name the movie whose screening you’d like to co-host on TCM with Ben Mankiewicz.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) starring Steve Martin.
6. Describe your most memorable movie occasion — not necessarily your favorite film, but a movie you enjoyed with friends, one that evoked a particular memory, etc.
White Christmas (1954). We watch it every year as a family. It's not Christmas without it.
7. What is your favorite line of movie dialogue?
So many... funny, serious, profound... Let's go with a funny one. "I like to kiss this girl because she has just the kind of lips I like: one on top and one on the bottom." Bob Hope in Son of Paleface (1952).
8. Why are movies special to you?
They help me to experience what (movie) life was like in the 30s and 40s. Since I didn't live back then it's the next best thing.
9. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
Sharing my favorite films with others.
10. What is your favorite book about movies?
The TCM 50 Leading Ladies book.
11. You have your favorite movie actor or actress to yourself for 24 hours to do with what you will. Name, please.
Sing with Judy Garland and practice skipping down the yellow brick road - in our ruby slippers of course - OR ride around with John Wayne in Monument Valley.
Okay, now for some facts about myself. I had trouble with this the first time so lets see if I can come up with better facts that aren't ALL movie related:
1. I keep a daily journal. It mostly says what movie I watched or what book I'm reading and what I ate.
2. I want to live on or near the beach, preferably in Cape Cod one day.
3. I collect vintage hats and gloves. One hat I own reminds me of the one Bette Davis wore in Now, Voyager (1942). Mine has a rounded crown though.
4. My favorite Disney films are Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland. I also really like Tangled.
5. I enjoy learning about Britain's Royal family; mainly Kate Middleton (obsessed), Queen Elizabeth II (after watching Helen Mirren in The Queen), the Queen Mother, and Queen Victoria (after watching The Young Victoria). I would love to live in England - at least for a year.
6. My favorite periods of history are: Egypt, Rome, Revolutionary War, Pony Express, Titanic, the Great Depression, and WWII. I do not enjoy the political side of them, just what it was like to live then.
7. I love vintage maps and atlas's.
8. I can play the ukulele.
I can't think of anyone to nominate so I invite everyone to answer the questions below:
1. What remake do you like better than the original?
2. What movie have you seen that you never want to see again (pre-70s)?
3. Favorite movie kiss:
4. Favorite movie animal (Lassie, Asta, Toto, etc.):
5. Favorite celebrity couple and why (pre-70s):
6. What classic movie should get it's own Monopoly board game?
7. Who is your favorite screenwriter?
8. Cagney or Bogart? Why?
9. Top five holiday movies:
10. Favorite WWII film:
11. Would you like to be able to sing like Judy Garland/Bing Crosby or dance like Fred Astaire/Vera-Ellen?
This is one I drew back in March 2013 when Pope Francis was first elected. The tendency of the networks at that time to concentrate their coverage on a handful of protestors while ignoring the throngs of happy thousands gathered in St. Peters Square was painfully transparent. Equally obvious was just how miserable those pitiful protestors seemed in comparison to the joyous Christians they were railing against. I’ve actually experienced this dichotomy firsthand during the various Walks For Life I’ve participated in. One year, during which two sad middle-aged women dressed in vagina costumes stood on the sidewalk screaming obscenities as we marched by, is particularly etched in my mind.
The tactics have changed for Pope Francis’ visit to the States, though. Instead of concentrating on the protestors, the networks are instead working overtime to spin the Pontiff’s words to support their desired narrative. And I suppose I have to grudgingly admit that to some degree they’re succeeding. Still, it’s taking some creative editing on their part, as the Pontiff I’m hearing is doing his best to deny the political gain anyone hopes to make out of his words. Take his speech to Congress, for example, which was a master class in deflating the sails of the political class.
POPE: We must address the problem of climate change for the good of the family.
DEMOCRATS: Hooray!
POPE: An institution, by the way, which your policies are destroying.
DEMOCRATS: (befuddled silence)
POPE: We must also recognize the sanctity of human life at all stages of development.
REPUBLICANS: Yippee!
POPE: Which includes, by the way, the lives of every rat bastard on death row.
REPUBLICANS: (sounds of crickets chirping)
Okay, so I’m paraphrasing.
The point is that the paltry platforms of political parties pale in comparison to the moral demands of religion. As the Catechism states, “The diversity of political regimes is legitimate, provided they contribute to the good of the community… The common good consists of three essential elements: respect for and promotion of the fundamental rights of the person; prosperity, or the development of the spiritual and temporal goods of society; the peace and security of the group and of its members.” Let’s be honest, none of the Frankenstein patchwork of “values” put forth by either party comes close to meeting all of those requirements, so it was kind of amusing to see His Holiness, however gently, call them on it. Naturally, the news selectively edited his comments later for their highlight reels, but still, it was fun while it lasted. Of course, I’m a Christian, so I can always find some reason to smile.
This week I watched Taken 3, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Good Kill, Ferrell Takes the Field.
I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews! My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
Taken 3 - Proving that, yes, they can do worse than Taken 2.
Taken 3 (2015) Watch Taken 3 Written by: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen (written by) and Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen (characters by) Directed by:Olivier Megaton Starring: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace Rated: PG-13
Plot: Liam Neeson is back, and this time it's personal. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, he has to elude the cops to clear his name.
Review: The Taken formula is simple. Have Liam Neeson kick butt. It's so simple, yet somehow this movie can't adhere to it. We get unnecessary drama from his daughter and from his wife. It's not just unnecessary, it's uninspired and cliche. Oh and let's back up to the intro scene with a Russian criminal, I've never seen that before. Why try to shoehorn in a plot this movie doesn't need? This movie is a masterclass in failure. Instead of clever solutions to problems, we get cheap tricks. Find me a police car that doesn't have a divider between front and back. This movie has one and it's completely ridiculous. This movie keeps going down. Even Forest Whitaker didn't work out for this movie. They give him a few ticks to add depth, but it's obviously superficial.
Verdict: If you want to watch a Taken movie, watch the original. There are many things wrong with this movie. There is no situation that involved me recommending this movie. Skip it.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show - A visual and auditory assault.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show Written by: Richard O'Brien (original musical play), Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman (screenplay) Directed by:Jim Sharman Starring: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick Rated: R
Plot: A couple's car breaks down and they seek help at the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. I think you can guess the rest. If you can't, an extremely odd series of events unfold.
Review: It's odd, very different. It's very much a B movie. Viewing this as a cult classic, I don't get it, unless it's just counterculture. Viewing the movie on it's own merits, it's just a very odd movie. We get the B movie staples like a castle with creepy inhabitants, a mad scientist, aliens, death, and a helpless couple. Tim Curry does a great job. It's unlike any role I've seen him in. Susan Sarandon isn't bad either. The movie enthusiastically embraces it's quirkiness.
Verdict: I can't recommend it, but then again as its referenced throughout pop culture, it's difficult to say skip it. Skip it.
Good Kill - Understated but solid film about the effects of war.
Good Kill (2014) Watch Good Kill Written by:Andrew Niccol Directed by:Andrew Niccol Starring: Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Bruce Greenwood Rated: PG
Plot: Ethan Hawke is a drone pilot, questioning the morality of the mission to remotely bomb suspected terrorists and acceptable casualties.
Review: Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, who also did one of my favorite films Gattaca. It's a well done film and Ethan Hawke does a nice job.Ut's a slow burn movie. I wonderedtrhoughout if there would be a big finish, something shocking. It didn't go that route, the movie kept a constant pace and the ending was in line with the rest of the film. It's not a commentary on the military but more the struggles and ethical dilemmas of war. What makes this war different is that pilots man drones. The drones are nearly invisible, and even if one is shot down, a new one would be launched instantly. Ethan Hawke's character becomes increasing distraught about targeting terrorists with little intelligence and having to follow orders that put civilian life in harm's way. The big bad in this movie is the CIA, who orders the Air Force to bomb indiscriminately in the plight to fight terror. As the movie says "How's the war on terror doing?" "About the same as the war on drugs."
Verdict: It's as poignant film, but I was hoping for something more, a big punch in the end that brought everything together. While the movie pulled a punch, it just didn't feel like enough because Ethan Hawke's character felt like he might lose it at any instant. He did lose it, and the action fit the movie, but there's just something missing.While good, the movie comes up lacking. It depends.
Ferrell Takes the Field - That's the same look I had, wondering if the editors purposely wanted the movie to fail.
Ferrell Takes the Field (2015)
Directed by:Brian McGinn Starring: Will Ferrell Rated: TV-14
Plot: Will Ferrell plays ten different positions for ten different baseball teams to raise money for charity.
Review: I like the premise, but not the execution. The opening credits were the best part. This movie pretends that Ferrell is really a rookie and getting traded or released by teams. I thought the comedy would be seeing Ferrell trying to play with pros, but the movie edits out any part where one might see Ferrell actually play. The one field play he has, it cuts right before the ball drops and jump cuts to him throwing the ball. Is the edit to make him look better than he is or to not make him look terrible? We didn't even get to see him take batting practice, instead he espouses the greatness of the bunt. Why didn't the movie focus on charity and the inherent comedy of an amateur playing at the professional level. I don't want Ferrell's jokes. The jokes were forced and not funny. The best ones were already seen in the trailer.
Verdict: There is no conceivable reason to watch this. The gimmick of him being 'traded' multiple times and then let go wore thin quickly. The editing completely sucks the life out of this. Watching the one minute trailer, it has everything you need and then some. Skip it. Attempt to blot it from memory.
Today would have been Lauren Bacall's 91st birthday. She died last year on August 12th.
The first movie I saw Lauren Bacall in was The Shootist (1976), starring John Wayne and Ron Howard. It's the best out of John Wayne's 70s films (in my opinion). Bacall's performance is very good in it but it is primarily a John Wayne picture and I didn't know anything about her at the time.
My next Bacall encounter was on the special features for You've Got Mail (1998), called "You've Got Chemistry." The famous on-screen couples highlighted were Bacall/Bogart, Powell/Loy, Tracy/Hepburn, Flynn/de Havilland, Mickey and Judy, and of course Hanks and Ryan. Since watching it I have watched many of these couples on-screen and love all of them. It introduced me to such classics as the Thin Man series (1934 - 1947) and the other eight movies Powell and Loy made together (yes, I have watched them all as well as nearly 30 of Powell's films - TCM is a wonderful thing). I have watched the beautiful Olivia de Havilland get the better of the dashing Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), and others. I have loved Mickey and Judy since I was a little girl and especially enjoy watching them in the Andy Hardy series. And I watch You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) multiple times a year (all you have to do is play a song from the soundtrack and I'm a goner). And yes, I watched Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). Once. It was more than enough.
The next film they made together, The Big Sleep (1946), was good but a little confusing. Even the author was confused! There are two versions: the pre-release version and the theatrical version with more scenes between Bogart and Bacall.
I did not like Dark Passage (1947). The first 30 or so minutes is filmed so that you are only seeing what Bogart sees, which was kind of weird and annoying. But when Agnes Moorehead fell out the window to her death and they showed her falling and screaming... that was too much. Here's an interesting post on the film locations then and now in San Francisco.
The last film they made together was Key Largo (1948), which is my second favorite of the four films. It has Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, and Claire Trevor in it. I really wanted to go to Key Largo after watching it.
They were scheduled to make another movie together in 1957, but Bogart died before they started working on it.
Following those films I saw Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck, Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - a hilarious movie starring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, and Henry Fonda, the aforementioned The Shootist (1976), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and William Powell, and Blood Alley (1955) - also with John Wayne. I also saw Young Man with a Horn but I didn't particularly like it. Still on my "To Watch" list are Harper (1966) with Paul Newman (and Robert Wagner!), and a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - after I read the book of course.
At the premiere of How to Marry a Millionaire - love her expressions ♥
And now, a brief bio.
She was born on September 16, 1924 in NYC. Her birth name was Betty Joan Perske (she was always called Betty by her close friends). She was an only child and her parents divorced when she was five. She lived with her Jewish mother and grandmother, both of whom she was very close to.
At age 9.
In 1943, at the age of 18 she began modeling. She was discovered on the cover of Harper's Bazaar by Slim, the wife of Howard Hawks, who signed her to a contract and took her under his wing. She took her mother's maiden name Bacal and added an extra "L" on the end for her screen name. Hawks chose the name Lauren. It was during the filming of her first film, To Have and Have Not, in which her character was based and named after Hawk's wife, that she fell in love with Humphrey Bogart. She was 5'8.5" tall to his 5'8." They married the following year on May 21, 1945, at the farm of a friend, Louis Bromfield. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. It was one of Hollywood's greatest love stories. They had two children: Steve, born in 1949 and named after Bogart's character in To Have and Have Not, and Leslie, born in 1952, who was named after their great friend Leslie Howard. Bacall still did work in films, but she took time off to be with her children and travel with Bogart for his films.
On Bogie's boat, the Santana
With their children, Steve and Leslie
On location for The African Queen
I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered. I don't regret it. You make choices. If you want a good marriage, you must pay attention to that. If you want to be independent, go ahead. You can't have it all.
Bacall and Bogart were part of the original Rat Pack, which included Judy Garland and her husband, David Niven and his wife, Frank Sinatra, and a few others. To be a part of it you had to be voted in unanimously and be addicted to nonconformity, staying up late, drinking, laughing, and not caring what others thought or said about you. Their great friend Spencer Tracy was an honorary member, as he preferred a more secluded life.
In January of 1957, Bogart died from cancer of the esophagus. Bacall placed a whistle in his coffin as a reference to the famous line she said to him in their first film together, "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."
A woman isn't complete without a man. But where do you find a man - a real man - these days?
After his death, Bacall continued working. She dated crooner and fellow Rat Pack member Frank Sinatra for a while and in 1961 married Jason Robards, a big stage actor. They had one son, Sam. In 1969 they divorced, due to Robard's drinking problem.
Bacall spent many years on Broadway, which had been her dream before becoming a Hollywood actress. She created the character of Charlie in Goodbye Charlie (1959), which was later made into a movie starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds (1964). She also played the part of Margo Channing in the musical stage version of All About Eve (played on the screen by Bette Davis) in 1970 called Applause and Woman of the Year in 1981 (based on the 1942 movie starring her close friends Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy). In addition to her film and stage work, she also loved to travel, especially to Paris, and was actively involved in politics.
With her Honorary Oscar, 2009
She died August 12, 2014, at her home in NYC of a stroke. She was 89 years old.
Last year, not long before she died, I read her autobiography, By Myself ~ and Then Some published in 1978/2005. It is one you can read without saying, "Wow. I really didn't want to know that about you" that is in so many biographies. I love the style it is written in, just a bunch of short anecdotes separated by a space - no chapters to interrupt the flow. It was a very easy read and I enjoyed learning so much about her, her life with Bogie, and the behind-the-scenes of her movies and plays. I also read her book Now, published in 1994, which had separate chapters discussing her work, children, her house, acting, friendship and loss, and beginnings and endings. I liked the format of it as well. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Now:
There are many kinds of friendship: those from childhood and school; friendships - the passing friendships, the faraway ones; the I-would-do-anything-for-you, the understanding, compassionate; the part-time social and the work friendships. ~ p. 151
Memory is a precious commodity, not to be tampered with, not to be rejected. We have to be glad of its existence, for it keeps alive those special people - the moments, the places, the feelings. So, Memory, I drink a long life - for both of us. ~ p. 166
I have spent a good deal of time trying to figure friendship out, without much luck. Why one friendship survives whether people see each other or not, why another fades for no apparent reason. Why sometimes old friends are easy to talk about everything and impossible to talk about anything. ~ p. 192
Here is a beautiful quote of Bogie's that was in By Myself ~ and Then Some:
(Coming home from the hospital during his illness) This is what it's all about - this is why marriage is worth it... I've been trying to tell these guys [attendants] how great it is to be married - that you can't beat having your wife and kids there to greet you, that there's nothing like it. ~ 265
Watch this featurette just released by Warner Bros. on the magnificent 3D being used in director Joe Wright's PAN.
The Stereographer in the movie is Chris Parks (GRAVITY, EDGE OF TOMORROW), who I interviewed in the past year and is truly an expert in making audiences engage with the movie using 3D. If you saw GRAVITY - you know what I mean. Outstanding talent.
I haven’t been going to see too many new releases lately, so I thought I would try and get back into the swing of things over at Aleteia before awards season kicks into high gear. Alas, 90 Minutes In Heaven probably isn’t going to be receiving any nominations anytime soon. Still, I wasn’t too harsh on it because I’m pretty tired of beating up on faith-based films. They really are making an effort to address all of the criticisms they’ve gotten over the past few years in regards to poor stories, bad acting, and overall lack of quality. They’re not quite there yet, but at least they’re trying.
Speaking of awards, the Bible Films Blog takes a quick look at Cecil B. DeMille’s only picture to ever net him the Oscar for Best Director… The Greatest Show On Earth. Yep, that’s right, not The Ten Commandments, for which he didn’t even get nominated. At least he got one, though. There are some folks who would do just about anything to achieve that. In fact, at ChurchPop, Joseph Sciambra details how there are some famous people who have sold their soul to Satan just to make it in Hollywood.
It’s almost enough to make a person lay off movies and actually read something for a change, isn’t it? Good thing The Sci-Fi Catholic recently popped back up with a recommendation for the Sci Phi Journal, a magazine that harkens back to the pulps of old while also aiming to showcase stories built around philosophical concepts. With something along those lines as a goal, author Declan Finn has an article up at Catholic Geeks discussing what its like to try and write Catholic romance with a bloodsucking twist.
And finally, a kind reader pointed me towards the Comics Are My Religion column over at Comic Attack, so I’m passing it along to you for your reading pleasure. There’s quite a few articles up, though, so you might want to have one of these tasty Bat-Burgers if you’re perusing the selections around lunchtime.
And if that’s not enough to keep you busy for awhile, I don’t know what is. See you next time.
