Sunday, January 20, 2008

Big Cities and The Monsters Who Terrorize Them

So...I went to see Cloverfield. I went in expecting to see Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project. And that's pretty much what we got. The thing that surprised me the most was that it took 8 years for someone to make this movie. It was a fun rollercoaster ride and probably not worth seeing more than once (unless the DVD is so jam packed with extras to "enhance" the whole concept of seeing "footage found by the government"), but it worth paying $6 in the theater (and no sitter needed since the wife didn't care to see the film anyway).

Saying anything more about the film would not only ruin the "surprises" but also be kinda pointless because its just a mindless popcorn film and little more.

I also watched a movie I hadn't seen in years. Someone recently asked me about movies where the actors had bad Chinese accents (she is auditioning for a show that needs them). So I mentioned both The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu with Peter Sellars and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen with Peter Ustinov. I hadn't seen either in AGES and couldn't find my old VHS versions (Fu Manchu was available on LD but I never picked it up for some odd reason). But I did find a bargain DVD of CCatCotDQ (since people love to abbreviate movie titles like this). Now, for $5 I didn't care that the film wasn't widescreen (its an open matte movie, so technically I could do it myself by "zooming" in on the TV screen), but oddly enough some genuine work went into this DVD. The picture looks better than I ever remember seeing it (and I saw the damn thing FOUR TIMES in theaters back in 1981) and there even some half-assed extras that aren't too terrible to sit through.

As for the film itself? Well...that remains little more than a load of dumb fun. With a cast that also includes Lee Grant, Rachel Roberts, Roddy McDowell, Angie Dickenson, Richard Hatch (fresh off of the original cheesy Battlestar: Galactica) and a very young Michelle Pfeiffer how could you go too wrong...especially when you recycle gags from Get Smart among other sources. A silly way to spend an hour and a half, but there are sillier ways.

Be seeing you.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Attend the Tale of Screeney Todd & Other Movies

Usually I hate it when a stage musical makes it to the silver screen and has had musical numbers copped up, rearranged or left out completely. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes understand why this was done...but I don't necessarily agree with it (it tends to be laziness on the part of the writers & directors who can't figure out how to make that puzzle piece work). It also doesn't detract from my enjoyment (or dislike) of the film version at the end of the day as I can see the difference between the two medium.

All that being said, the film version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been stripped down to its core essentials. And this is not a bad thing at all. Don't get me wrong, I love the stage version. It is arguably the greatest musical of the late 20th Century. But it is very theatrical in its construction, especially in regards to the chorus that comes in every so often to sing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and comment on the proceedings. All of that has been eliminated from here. The love story between Anthony and Johanna has also been paired down to the bare essentials by having a few of their numbers also left out.

The removal and changes only cause two musical problems in my mind. The first is in regards to the song "God, That's Good". Because of some rearranging to the story about when and how Todd adds the chute to his barber shop, certain aspects of this number had to be eliminated (since on stage the new chair is being delivered during the number and on screen Todd builds it himself prior to this scene). It is now essentially a short duet sung by Toby and Mrs. Lovett.

The second problem is with the very end. On stage, after all the grisly proceedings have played out, the chorus returns to comment on them and the play is wrapped up on a nice musical note. Being a musical it should end on a nice musical note (using the term figuratively). Having eliminated the chorus, the film just stops musically...heck it just stops entirely. It doesn't ruin the film by any means, but I feel it doesn't give us any real resolution.

As far as the actors are concerned, I was very surprised. I thought Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were a bit on the young side for the parts, but here the entire cast has been aged down (Anthony & Johanna are in their late teens, Toby is just entering his teens) and it all makes sense. Both Depp and Bonham Carter are quite good vocally and both give very different interpretations of the characters (for the first time I actually felt that Mrs. Lovett could have a nurturing mother within her...maybe because the film version is less screechy). The rest of the cast comes off well both acting and vocally with only Timothy Spall's Beadle Bamford being weak on the vocals (luckily his vocal needs have been paired down to one song here).

Director Tim Burton has created a great movie musical that has a wonderous look to it from material that stands the test of time. While the big screen version of Sweeney Todd may be different enough from the stage version to make comparisons inevitable, it is a great version in its own right and is easily one of the best films of the year.

We also got around to catching a few films we missed in theaters:

The Darjeeling Limited -- Wes Anderson's films tend to have a dry humor that I like. I found this to be his "least" film yet. There are some moments and some fine acting, but all in all, I think his previous movies are better (please realize that I was watching this on our flight home from California...so that may have colored my view of the film).

Live Free or Die Hard -- While I love John McClane as a character (we even put the Die Hard Palz action figures on our Christmas Tree/Hannukah Bush/Holiday Shrub in a neat "scene" I should have taken pictures of...maybe next year), this feels like its a day late and a dollar short (well...12 years late and many millions of dollars short). Yeah, its still a fun film with some neat connections to the previous films...but when you've got to fill Samuel L. Jackson's shoes as the "sidekick", I'm not sure Justin Long's gonna cut it. And when the villains are worse than those from Die Hard 2: Die Harder (and played by Timothy Olephant to boot), you know we're moving in the wrong direction.

Waitress -- Hmmm....could be the best film I saw from 2007. You'll have to wait for my Top 25 list to find out (still cranking out viewings until the Oscars...assuming they happen since the strike seems to be killing everything).

Next time: A Multitude of MiniMates Makes Me Mad

Be seeing you

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Happy New Year? Let's Hope So. For All But One.

Hey folks,

So we're back from our annual trip to California to visit the in-laws. As always, its lots of fun, but we're always glad to get home by the end. This year was especially so since we had a two and a half year old with us (it seemed easier with a six month old and an 18 month old the two previous years).

The flight out wasn't bad. We had Malcolm strapped into his car seat which was strapped into the plane's seat. He still fits in his car seat, but when you add narrow plane rows, his feet can easily kick the back of the seat in front of him. He didn't do this too often and the guy directly in front of him was easy going about it. He got a bit fussy during the last hour because as a toddler he HATES being tied down and wants to roam. Being in a flying tube with 200 other people kinda prohibits this.

The flight back was nightmarish. We took a red eye hoping he'd sleep (which is what happened last year). Didn't happen. We even eliminated the car seat and bought a special harness to strap him in thinking it'd give him more room to stretch (it did...he could stand in front of his seat and jump). But he wouldn't sleep. Of course, the guy behind us was pretty much an ass anyway. He kept kicking the back of Malcolm's seat every time Malcolm made a sound (regardless of whether it was a happy sound or not). He also pretty much ignored us later in the flight when we asked him about shutting of his reading light (the only one on the entire plane that was on and by that time Malcolm was over tired and would have fallen asleep if the light wasn't shining in his eyes).

The ass did shut off his light eventually and Malcolm passed out, but woke up again when we had to strap him in for landing. He screamed the entire way from that point on. When we did land, I had Tash try to get him off as fast as possible and I'd stay behind as long as needed to gather all our stuff. There were two very nice, understand and helpful women on the plane (when Malcolm was screaming that he was "stuck" one woman tried to calm him by explaining that "we're all stuck and no one likes being stuck").

But as soon as Tash & Mac were off the plane, the as started making comments about the longest flight of his life...and I'm still standing there! I was about to say something (or deck him) when the woman behind him agreed that it was a long flight "but think about how long the flight was for the child's poor parents". That seemed to shut him up. Thank you, Mrs. Whomever you are.

Flying with kids is not easy, but sometimes it is something that has to be done. We don't like our kid screaming any more than you do. In fact we probably hate it even more because we're trying to not only keep our kid calm but we're worried about your rest and relaxation as well. So until the airlines start a "family only section" on a plane, try not to make things worse by being an obnoxious ass. We're doing the best we can under stress. If you're gonna make the problem worse, I won't hesitate next time to tell the flight attendant that you mentioned having a bomb on the plane. That should make your trip nice and happy.

Next up: Movie Reviews!

Be seeing you.