Super 8 and The Hunger Games

As my tastes (music, clothes) seem to be permanently stuck in the late '70's, a guy at work insisted that I watch Super 8. Oh my goodness!! What a delight!! This goes on my very short list of fav movies I've seen this year. The film is set in 1979 (a very good year, I might add) in a small industrial (back when there we actually jobs in small towns) town in Ohio. I normally don't care so much for special effects; they tend to dominate a movie and any hope of a plot is a pipe dream. The special effects in Super 8 know their place. They merely serve to enhance a great cast, clever plot, and there is such attention to detail that  it's as if it was actually filmed in 1979. I could watch this movie over and over. Apparently, J. J. Abrams is known for his use of lens flare. He's gotten a bit of flack and some goofy parody YouTube videos, but I actually like it. As you can kind of tell in the above picture, it added to the old timey feel and a sort of a play on the title. It is, after all, a movie.

I also watched The Hunger Games. Blah. Yawn. It really didn't appeal to me. The dialogue and characters were so flat. Don't get me wrong - Jennifer Lawrence can act. She's making a silk purse out of a sow's ear here. It just didn't make sense to me that the games would be of such interest if they were held every year. Wouldn't every 4 or 5 make more sense? Do the math - if 2 people are chosen every year from a district, that means 20 kids would die in just 10 years. It also didn't make sense to me that raw materials would be produced by the districts and then used by the capital. Uh…doesn't someone have to convert these raw materials into useable goods? Everyone who works in the capital - folks who prepare the elaborate meals - the guards - train personnel all live in the capital? All the talk about getting sponsors ended up only being marginally important, as it turned out you just needed a little help from your appointed handler. I would think the finale shot entirely in the dark would kill the ratings. 

Lance who?

Caught The Armstrong Lie @ Landmark Cinema last night. I'd followed the story after it broke, but the film manages to shed light on even more fraud, lies, and insider finagling. Great camera shots from bike cams makes for cool peloton shots. There is a section in the film that explains the terms - peloton - domestique - so that non-cycling viewers can understand the importance of some of The Tour racing strategy.

I followed road racing back in the day. Greg LeMond was an American who just happen to win the Tour de France (officially the only non-European to win) three times and I think we all realize, beyond the shadow of a doubt, did it "clean". For whatever reason, America just wasn't really interested in Greg or The Tour. Lance and LeMond publicly battled - LeMond accused Lance of doping. Armstrong managed to squelch LeMond's bicycling manufacturing contract  (LeMond bikes) with Trek (Trek manufactured LeMond bikes and took Lance's side).  America didn't really get interested in The Tour until Lance came along. The French loved LeMond and hated Armstrong.

Lance seems to continue to dole out the fodder. A recent news article about the "reconciliation" meeting between Lance and Christophe Bassons is a classic Armstrong move; it's not enough to disagree with our critics, we must crush them. Think about this for a moment. If everything Lance said was true, "I do not dope", would it warrant  essentially annihilating the critics' careers and characters? In real life, when you accuse someone of something and they get very angry beyond what is required, it's a sure sign they are guilty. Seeing how Armstrong seemed to go above and beyond what would be a  normal reaction points to someone who was ready to cut the tongue from the witness, least he speak again of the horrors he has seen.

It appears that there is a film in works about Armstrong's life. Sorry, I'm not really interested. I think the person here who deserves a cycling biopic movie is Greg LeMond; this is the stuff of real champions.

Of Sea Storms and Cheese

My dreams lately have been quite a delight. I actually have to wake up and fall back asleep in order to get really vivid detail.  The other night, I dreamt that I lived in a corner  apartment in some sort of high rise building. It was storming out and at one point I opened the cream colored curtain to revel a sea. The storm was fantastic - electric blue an much ado about lightening. Breathtaking! The light bouncing off of the sea/ocean was a bit like strobe lights, but in the distance…a lovely ball of light coming from an enormous lighting strike. The image above is almost there on the color, however my dream storm had much more contrast with the clouds and much more lightening. 

Last night's vivid dream had a section where I was in a desert landscape and I could see a caravan coming because of the swirling dust in the distance. The caravan turned out to be (yep) giant cheese wheels - like above only much larger - with exotic animals on top. One had a camel with a bit of light blue paint applied to its neck, lying down on its side and one had the most beautiful tiger all stretched out. Sometime there were a couple of these mega cheese wheels stacked on top of each other giving height to the animal. The wheels had been placed on large wooden carts that I believe were being pulled by horses. 

Street Girls and Alucarda

Cult Movie Night @ Gary's last night.  First out of the gate, Street Girls. Oddly enough this movie really wasn't about street girls at all.  They weren't really strippers either. The tiny glittering gem in an otherwise bleak landscape of bland acting and a non existing script, was the ever paripatetic Michael Albert character. Not only was this character constantly pushing his bike complete with a basket on the handles bars (he is never seen riding, only pushing) he also occasionally shows up as the cross dressing Sabine. Oh, and his sister's name is Sally who seems to just hang out most of the time. The very last scene in the movie is a hoot.

Up next, Alucarda.  So much yelling and screaming. I'm possessed, no, I'm possessed. Hey, we're possessed. The glittering bit of interest here were the gypsies (complete with a gypsy caravan). The nuns (? they had to be nuns, as after all it was  a convent) were dressed in Alexander McQueen-ish mummy wrap blood soaked outfits. Speaking of nuns, there were monks present as well, but they were dressed traditionally. BTW, even I know that nuns and monks don't co-habitate. Some of the scenes were were quite well composed and were quite horrific. Guillermo del Toro has expressed an appreciation for the film in interviews. I would love to know who did the poster above, as it reminds me of the work of Esteban Maroto.

Kill Your Darlings

Checked out Kill Your Darlings @ Landmark in Keystone last night. The movie captures how/when the original members of the Beat Generation met via Lucien Carr and one significant event that changes all of their lives forever. Daniel Radcliffe continues to shed his Harry Pottery skin with his portrayal of a very young Allen Ginsberg. We're all quite familiar with the image of an older Ginsberg; this younger version who is still under his parents roof before embarking to collage, is quite striking. Reading a bit of the background, I think there might have been a few things that needed more clarification. It wasn't clear from the movie that Burroughs and Kammerer had been very close friends since primary school. Speaking of Burroughs, the best part of the movie was any scene with Ben Foster as William S. Burroughs. Oh my - I could not take my eyes off of him. His young Burroughs was just exactly how you'd picture him; oh so strange and oh so into the goodies. 

And…if you'd like to hear a poem from a much older Ginsberg, I blogged about The Ballad of the Skeletons back in October. 

Argo

Watched Argo last via NetFlix DVD. Confession: I almost never sit though a movie in one setting; it typically takes two at a minimum. I watched Argo in one 2 hour session. The movie is so well edited that the 2 hours really seems much less. And...yes, we had to watch Ben Afleck take off his shirt (geezzz....really). And....he's the director. That must make for some pretty awkward moments. (BTW, B. A. does not do it for me) All that aside, Argo is a very, very good movie. 

Alan Arkin and Bryan Cranston are scene stealers. I could not take my eyes off of either of their faces when they spoke. You just sort of hang on every word. Alan Arkin has the most expressive mouth! I'd love to see him chew food. 

Girl on the Run and The Runaways

Girl on the Run is a hoot! These movies are so much fun to watch. It's like watching something that came out of a time capsule. Qwerky characters, well tailored clothing, and "hot dames" abound. I remember the hootch show tents at the county fair when I was a kid. The master of ceremonies would trot out these scantily clad women and tease the audience with what they would see in the actual show under the big tent. He must've known what he was doing as long lines would form for the next show. 

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across these pics from Brad Etleman on CNN and I just couldn't stop looking at them. At some point I stumbled onto a blurb about The Runaways movie.  

I tried watching The Runaways movie about a year ago and I didn't last 5 minutes. Boo! I was a Runaways fan growing up; this movie looked like crap. Well, let's see if I can get past the ridiculous opening scene. Ok, silly opening aside, it's an ok movie. There seemed to be a pretty good effort to at least be true to some of the facts. I read in an interview with Brad Etleman, that Kim Fowley used "dog" as an adjective for everything. Cherie Currie's bed spread in one scene looks exactly like the one in one of Brad's pics. 

The movie reminded me of how feral things are when you're sixteen. I made my own t-shirts like Joan and I hid "special" clothes or jewelry to wear outside of the house like Cherie. I couldn't sing, couldn't play an instrument, and I didn't have looks.